Chapter Text
IMPORTANT NOTE: I rewrote this because I’m no longer going through withdrawals. This story now has zero continuity with canon and legends, you’re welcome. What season of the Mandalorian am I pulling from? I don’t remember. Are Ahsoka and Sabine badasses? Yes. I also treat the prequels and sequels as if Anakin were an unreliable narrator ;D
Dyslexia: I checked with the faeries, they confirmed I still had it. Swiper no swiping for me. Darn.
Brief translation: e - plural, ad - child, buir - parent, verd - warrior.
Mayhem & Magnolias
Life is simply a mix of mayhem and magnolias, so enjoy this gentle riot and collect flowers along the way.
-Kat Savage
Chapter 1 - Storms
Din was relatively prepared to be shot at, it seemed to be a theme any time he had the misfortune of visiting this poor excuse for a waystation on this forsaken desert planet.
He was not prepared for the arrival of Ahsoka Tano and a young Mandalorian to land on their speeder.
He only knew the age of the other Mando because her armour was spray painted in different colors, creating an almost rainbow with the primary colour being magenta. Colours had meaning and only the young and rebellious used their armour as a canvas rather than a sacred skin.
“Who in the hells are these people?” Peli, Din’s delightful Tatooinian mechanic, asked as she navigated the swerve in the speeder to accommodate the sudden extra weight.
“Tano,” Din said as if that were explanation enough. “What are you doing here?”
In answer the female opened her parka to reveal a figure Din had given up seeing for some years to come.
Grogu leapt into his arms for a hug.
Peli grinned, “I guess you found the space wizard.” Then she spit her curly hair out of her face as she directed the speeder round another corner.
Din was too happy to have his foundling back in his arms to give a damn about the mechanic's ever-persistent snark.
“Yes, I missed you too,” Din said as he held Grogu close enough for their foreheads to touch before forcing himself to give Grogu back to Tano. They were, after all, on a speeder being shot at. “But you need to stay down, alright?”
He saw it then, a little flash of steel beneath Grogu’s robes.
“You got it?” he asked, devastated. “You wore it?”
You chose me over the Jetii?
The young Mando cocked her blaster as she turned fully to look behind them, “Um, Master, what is that?”
Tano turned to look behind her as Din straightened to look over her head.
“What is that!?” Peli shouted, sounding earnestly afraid.
The sensors in Din’s visor deduced what it was before he did. Because what he was looking at didn’t seem possible. He saw clouds; large, dark, voluptuous clouds. Peli’s voice pitched as she exclaimed, “We don’t have enough moisture here for cumulative clouds!”
No sooner had she said it then sheets of water fell from the rolling black and grey clouds.
“That isn’t possible!” Peli cried as their pursers disappeared.
Grogu escaped Tano’s hold and Din immediately tucked the child beneath his chin.
A bolt of lightning obliterated a building behind them, causing Grogu and Peli to scream as the speeder shook from the backlash of the explosion.
“Master!?” The other Mando yelled.
Tano grabbed the girl to herself before throwing an arm around Din’s waist and throwing them off the speeder directly into the storm’s path.
When the rain hit them, Din curled one arm around Grogu, while twisting his legs with the two females so they were locked together as they were caught by an impossibly strong gale and pounded on all sides by water.
Instinctively, Din closed his eyes even though his helmet was doing a fine job keeping his vision clear.
So he didn’t see the change as they slipped between worlds and the death of one reality for another.
oOo
Ahsoka Tano had fallen between worlds more than once, but this felt different to her.
An echoing in the Force of something that had been destroyed with the tang of non-existence.
“Ahsoka?” Sabine asked, brushing the sand from her clothes, they stood on the shore of a black horizon and a desert, going on as far as the eye could see. White caps and bioluminescent splashes of blue lapped at their heels.
The star-studded sky still held light from a source they could not see.
“When you said we were returning a foundling, did you know we were going to be thrown through a Force vortex?” Sabine asked, only half jokingly.
Ahsoka didn’t answer that quip verbally as she lowered her shields to reach out to her surroundings.
Din was fussing over Grogu who seemed content to be returned to his family regardless of their current predicament.
They all jolted when two men appeared beside them, the sea water rippling around them despite Ahsoka being able to see through their ghostly visages.
“Masters,” Ahsoka breathed.
The two Jedi ghosts smiled at her, Obi-Wan looking like his High General self, not the old man she had glimpsed in the past, and Anakin, his younger self before his fall to the Dark Side.
“Masters? Like your…” Sabine asked, pressing into Ahsoka’s side.
Ahsoka put an arm around Sabine’s shoulders, “Masters, this is Jedi Knight Sabine Wren. This is the Mandalorian Din Djarin and his son, Grogu. Din, Sabine, Grogu this is my Master, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, and my Grandmaster, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Sabine waved awkwardly, but her attention was focused on Obi-Wan, whom Ahsoka spoke about far less.
Her relationship was far more complicated with her Grandmaster, for all that she had always felt safer with him than her own Master.
Din seemed unimpressed and Grogu seemed a tad fearful of Anakin.
“A grandfather thrice over now,” Anakin bragged, ignoring their non-linage members.
“A pleasure to meet you, Knight Wren. It is wonderful to welcome another Mandalorian into our line,” Master Obi-Wan said.
That caught Din’s attention, as it did Ahsoka’s and Anakin seemed baffled by this revelation,
“Wait, you mean you were born a Mandalorian?” Anakin demanded. “I thought you were just in love with Satine?”
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.
“I thought your name was Stewjoni?” Ahsoka questioned.
The Stewjoni name Obi-Wan Kenobi meant Child of the River Returned to the River, and like many before him, Obi-Wan had been rescued as a Force sensitive child by the Jedi.
Din spoke then, “Obi-Wan Kenobi is also a Mandalorian name, though rarely used, it simply means Forsaken. To forsake everything it means to be a Mandalorian, including family, honour, and, in extreme cases, your right to defend yourself. It was a name taken by criminals who vowed never to represent Mandalorians, and a name that could only be held as an adult.”
Ahsoka realised quickly that the explanation was for Grogu and Sabine’s benefit, Din being a traditionalist who would like his culture to be known by his son and other Mandalorians.
“I was never–” here Obi-Wan glared at Anakin, “ –romantically entangled with Satine Kryze. And my name was not of my choosing, it was given to me when I was given away.”
“Mandalorians don’t give their children away,” Din said.
Obi-Wan met his gaze, “My family forsake their traditions as Mandalorians. My mother forsake me for she was Stewjoni and I was born cursed and my father because he condemned war and feared what I could become.”
Anakin huffed, “So your family were pacifists, like Satine, your sweetheart.”
“I was not romantically involved with her,” Obi-Wan stated, sounding a bit disgusted. “Whatever you think you saw, neither of us felt that way about each other.”
“We are dead, what’s the harm in admitting it now?” Anakin prodded.
“I was romantically entangled with Quinlan Vos, but Force forbid you stay in a room long enough to notice,” Obi-Wan countered.
Ahsoka felt herself blush as she thought back to all the jokes Quinlan used to make.
“He was annoying! How could you possibly be into someone that annoying?” Anakin asked.
“He merely mirrored your behaviour back at you; it’s not his fault you never caught onto the lessons he was trying to teach you,” Obi-Wan said calmly.
“You mean basic respect?” Ahsoka asked, needling her old Master.
“Don’t listen to them,” Anakin said, pouting at them before motioning to Sabine. “Come, I have some wisdom for you, my grandpadawan.”
Sabine looked to Ahsoka for permission, she gave it with a nod of her head. But Ahsoka also caught Din’s gaze, or at least the glint of his visor.
Anakin and Sabine walked down the beach together, Sabine already laughing, and Din still holding Grogu followed some steps behind them as an almost honour guard.
This left Ahsoka and Obi-Wan behind.
“You did well,” Obi-Wan said.
“Thank you, Master. I thought you might be disappointed in her power level.”
Obi-Wan laughed, “Speaking as the previous least powerful person in our lineage, no, I am quite proud of you both.”
“You?” she asked.
“Yoda was our lineage start, then Dooku, if one thing our lineage has never lacked is power, yourself and Anakin included.”
“You became one of the Order’s finest duelists.”
“Like Sabine, through work,” Obi-Wan said with a sad smile. “Ahsoka, I believe there are some things I should have spoken to you about in life, things I regret never saying.”
She crossed her arms, recognizing her own defensiveness but unwilling to pretend her emotions weren’t heightened in this moment.
She had always looked up to her grandmaster, and she had missed in more than she had words for since she left the Order.
“Do you know why you were chosen as a Padawan for our lineage?” Obi-Wan asked.
She nodded.
“The Council took it upon themselves to make choices for partnerships because many Knights and Masters were refusing to take on Padawans during the war.
“In part, it was the Senate that demanded that. Leading up to the Clone Wars, there was a significant increase of mission-related deaths and accidents; many younglings were sent to the Corps for fear of what the Senate would ask of the Knights. That should have been a warning sign that the Senate was beyond abusing the Order but actively seeking to dismantle our ways of life. It did not help then, in the end, when all Force sensitives were being hunted Jedi training or no. But that is not why you were chosen for our illustrious lineage.”
He sounded almost bitter.
“By Yoda, then?” she guessed. Because Yoda had always been an authority to himself outside of the Council.
She had always liked the old Master, but his voice of patience had been one of a thousand reasons the Order had fallen.
“No,” Obi-Wan said with a sigh. “That was my fate, and after the chaos my partnership caused with Qui-Gon, the rest of the Council forbade Yoda from choosing another's Padawan, ever again.”
Ahsoka raised both brows, “I've never heard either you or Anakin say a bad word about Master Jinn.”
“I loved my Master, but he was a reluctant teacher, and he feared what I would have become. I never quite measured up to his expectations.”
Ahsoka gave him a look. “You're the first Sith Slayer and a High Council Member.”
Obi-Wan winced, in my pursuit to become the ‘perfect Jedi’, I killed a Sith in anger after he killed my Master, and like my Mandalorian heritage that he so disliked, I led a war to both my people's destruction. Qui-Gon used to say that when he looked into my future, all he perceived was sorrow and bloodshed. He was correct.”
Ahsoka took his hand, surprised when she felt it solid beneath her touch.
“I can't believe he would say that about you, Anakin never–”
“Qui-Gon was the one who freed Anakin. Qui-Gon believed him to be the Chosen One and save the galaxy from the impending darkness that Dooku and others had been predicting as our standing as Jedi became less as protectors of Republic citizens and more the Senate’s enforcers across the galaxy.”
“But he didn’t,” Ahsoka said. “He was wrong about you, about you both.”
Obi-Wan squeezed her hand, “But I wasn’t wrong about you. I am sorry my voice in your favour meant so little during your trial. I did cover for Anakin, helping you as best as I was able.”
“You voted for my innocence?” she asked. It had always hurt that when she was accused of attacking the Temple that her Grandmaster hadn’t stood by her.
“Of course. I was told, explicitly, that if I stood with you publicly, the Senate was ready to increase your charges. Regardless, I would not have allowed you to be taken to prison. Quinlan isn’t a Shadow for nothing.”
“So if it wasn’t the Council, or Anakin, why was I chosen for our lineage?” she asked, knowing she would have to deal with these revelations later.
“I chose you,” Obi-Wan said. “I chose you as my Padawan. I was deemed unfit, especially with my upcoming promotion to the Council.”
Ahsoka felt as if the breath had been punched out of her.
She had never truly shaken off Anakin neither wanting her nor expecting her when they first met. She had never shaken off his comment that she would never make it as Obi-Wan’s Padawan, but that she might make it as Anakin’s.
“Why?” she demanded.
Obi-Wan held her hand, “Despite knowing now all the adversities that you have faced, and all the light you have brought and fostered to this galaxy, I knew you would make a wonderful Jedi. I don’t know if you remember my teaching in the initiate wing.”
“Yours were always my favourite saber and history classes,” she agreed.
“I started making time for teaching when we met in the Hall of a Thousand Fountains.”
Ahsoka felt heat rise to her cheeks. She remembered that day, she remembered running with her friends between the fountains, and in trying to get out of her way, Knight Kenobi had fallen back into a fountain.
Obi-Wan smiled at her, remembering the same as he said, “You jumped in after me.”
“I jumped on you!” she exclaimed, but she couldn’t repress a smirk. “I nearly drowned you.”
He grinned, “You were far too small for that. Anakin would have laughed at me, and he did when I returned to our rooms, soaking wet. But your instinct was to apologise for possibly harming me and confirm my well-being.”
“I hardly think that makes me unique.”
“You had no fear of consequences, of my reporting you to your crechemaster. In fact, when I returned you to the creche, you said, ‘I pushed Knight Kenobi into a fountain, he’s okay, just wet.’ I was impressed by your candour and concern for others. Your remorse was for possible harm done, not for the rules set by others. In your position, I would have been terrified by what people would have said and what my punishment would be. I was greatly endeared by you, so when I could, given I was never at the Temple long, I picked up classes to get to know you better.”
“Despite already having Anakin?”
“Anakin stopped listening to me; he wanted to be a Jedi Knight, not for me to be his teacher. Toward the time I became interested in the future, Anakin was turning to Yoda as his Master, and I was more Anakin’s partner than his superior. Ideally, I would have liked him to transfer to the Explorcorps, where he could leave the Senate politics behind and lead his own life, become the finest pilot in the galaxy and help others freely without checking in with Coruscant as much.”
Ahsoka hummed, “He could have gotten publicly married and remained a Jedi, as he wanted.”
Handfasting happened all the time between Jedi and others but Padme had been a member of the Senate and that could have proven problematic for the Knights Corps.
Obi-Wan nodded, “But then the war began, and Palpatine had his ear.”
Ahsoka squeezed his hand, and lowered her voice so no one could have overheard, “I would have chosen you, Master Obi-Wan.”
“Then you would be the first,” he replied.
She frowned at him, this man that in her eyes had always embodied what the Jedi could have been.
But they turned when they heard Sabine’s exclamation.
Anakin, despite being a ghost, was running full tilt, and Sabine, despite her armour, was making quite the show of keeping up with the much taller Knight.
Behind them the desert sands rose up like a tidal wave racing toward the water.
“I hate sand!” Anakin roared as he ran.
“Um, Master Obi-Wan, where are we?” Ahsoka asked, still knee deep in the calm water.
Obi-Wan folded his hands into his robe sleeves, “The question, Jedi Master Ahsoka, is not where you are but where and when you will end up. Do not be afraid of change.”
Din with Grogu were splashing back into, Sabine close at his side. Anakin was last and he winked out of existence as the rumbling sands touched him.
In her full beskar’garm, Sabine crushed into Ahsoka who in turn fell into Din who had been trying to get her to step back into the deeper waters.
“May the Force be with you,” Obi-Wan said, sparkling out of existence as they were swept under into a riptide as the weight of the desert storm fell on them.
Ahsoka, Sabine, Din, and Grogu were pulled away by the current, caught between a clash of sea and surf.
oOo
AN: Thoughts, Australian puppies, or feedback, pretty please.