A gentle shake of your shoulder broke you out of your dreams. You hummed, wanting to ignore the touch, but when you finally thought about how you could feel someone next to you, your eyes opened fast. Your heartbeat quickened and you sat up, hair falling across your face as panicked breaths escaped you.

"You're alright," he said. He was on his side facing you. "It's just me."

"Oh." His hand moved to brush the hair out of your face. Embarrassment replaced your fear as you remembered falling asleep next to him last night. "I'm sorry."

"You're alright," he repeated.

You stretched your body out and glanced around. "What time is it?"

"Nearly 06:00," he said. "I thought you might want to go across the hall and change before one of the servants sees that you were in here all night."

"Oh, right," you said, laughing quietly. You sat up and smoothed out the skirt of your dress before you slid off the bed and stood up. You were slightly wobbly, still not fully awake. Din sat up on the edge of the bed, his hand on your back to steady you as you slipped your shoes on your feet. "Thank you."

"I'll walk you to your room," he said, even though you both knew that it wasn't much of a walk at all. It made you feel better to know that he was walking you there.

You left the room as silently as you possibly could, glancing both ways down the hallways for stormtroopers or servants, anyone who could possibly catch you out of your room before it was time for breakfast.

As you slipped inside of your room, Din went back to his to eat breakfast. You knew that after he was done he would take his position in front of your door. You ran yourself a bath and took your time for the next hour, relaxing and combing out your hair with your fingers as you bathed with sweet smelling soaps mixed in the warm water.

When you were done, you stood in front of your wardrobe and debated on what to wear. It was such a silly thing to think about, but you found yourself picturing how you would look in every single one of your dresses when you stood next to Din. You wanted to look like you belonged with him.

"Princess?" Din knocked on your door gently. "It's time for breakfast."

"I'm coming," you said softly. You decided on a crimson gown with swooped sleeves. After you pulled it on and tied the front of the corset, you slipped on the first pair of shoes you could find. They'd be impossible to see under your layers of skirts, anyway. You left your hair down and only paused in front of your mirror to fluff your damp hair a bit before you slipped out the door and into the hallway.

Din was standing there, one hand on his hip again, the other leaning against the wall. He stood up straight when he saw you. You smiled at him and his hand found yours and he gently brought you close to him.

"What's your favorite color today?" you murmured.

"Whatever this color is," he said, his other hand pinching at your sleeve. "It looks beautiful on you."

"Crimson," you said, amused. "I thought you might like it."

"You thought right," he said. His fingers intertwined with yours and his other hand found your waist, pulling you against him. You were pressed against him, looking up at him with lazily hooded eyes, a soft and gentle smile on your face.

"We need to go," you said, whispering, "before we end up getting caught."

"I find it really hard to care about whether they know about this or not," he said, gripping you a little tighter and a little closer.

You closed your eyes. "I care, because my father would kill me for it."

"I'd like to see him try," he said. "No one would be able to lay a finger on you."

You raised your eyebrows. "He'd kill you."

"Not if I killed him first."

You opened your eyes at that and stepped away. You let go of his hand and turned slowly away from him. Your feet moved slowly down the hallway.

"Wait," he said, catching up with you with panicked steps. "I'm sorry. I said that without thinking. That's your father, I know. I shouldn't have---"

"It isn't that," you said. "It's just how quick you are to kill for me."

"I am your bodyguard, you know."

"Yes, I'm aware," you replied.

"So you know that I would kill if that meant protecting you."

"But my father," you said.

"Could still be a threat. And any threat against you is fair game, no matter who it is." He reached for your hand again and you slowed to a stop to look at him. With a sigh, his helmet tilted to the side. He paused for a moment before he managed to say, "You... you mean something to me, Princess. You mean a lot to me. All I want is to keep you safe."

At that your heart fluttered. You smiled again and you knew that it brought Din relief when he saw it. Your hand squeezed his for a quick second before you dropped it and started back down the hallway with your Mandalorian at your side.

Breakfast went by without incident. It was only your father, and he was nearly falling asleep over his plate the entire time. You ate silently and Din sat there, his helmet mostly turned towards you the whole time. He passed you some of the food that you couldn't reach across the table and even took the pitcher of juice from the servant to pour in the glass for you. You hoped your father wouldn't notice the way his fingers lingered on yours when his hand passed by yours. He didn't, and by the time you were finished eating, your father was snoring. You knew he must've had too much to drink the night before. You didn't wait to be dismissed, you simply stood, taking Din's hand as soon as you did.

"Another walk?" he asked.

"Not today," you said. "I'm not really in the mood."

"Did you want to sit out on the balcony again?" he asked.

You sighed. "Not particularly."

"No? I thought it was nice."

"Of course it was nice," you said, looking up at him, "but I think I'd rather go back to your room, where I know no one can hear or see us." You gripped his hand a little harder. "I just want to be with you and know that no one can stop us."

He nodded and silently led the way back to his room. He glanced around as you hurried inside. He checked down both sides of the hallways to make sure it was clear. When it was, he entered the room and turned to lock the door behind him. You smiled up at him as he turned slowly around to you. Even though you couldn't see his eyes, you knew they were on you.

You went back to laying on the bed the way you were just this morning. His arm was behind your head, your hand raised to hold his hand where it laid on your shoulder. You both stared at the ceiling and talked in hushed voices, sharing secrets and stories that you had never spoken about before. He told you more about the Creed, more about the memories he had of his parents. And you told him about your mother in return.

"It hurts less when I talk about her to you," you said.

"I know what you mean. I've hardly been able to tell anyone about my parents. We were very close."

"And you don't have any other family?" you asked.

"No."

"No friends?"

"I guess you could say I have friends."

"Mandalorian?" you asked.

"No," he said. "Believe it or not, I've talked to people other than Mandalorian and other than you in this galaxy."

You sighed and rolled your eyes. "Okay, I get it. Sorry. I'm just trying to picture you sitting around a cantina with a few friends, having a beer with them. Or watching them drink beer, I guess."

He laughed. "It's not like that. They're just people that help me when I need them. People that I help when they need me." He paused for a moment. "I've been in a lot of trouble lately."

"Trouble how?" Your eyebrows furrowed together.

Much to your surprise, Din told you a very long story of how he became involved with a job that consisted of him picking up a highly valuable, strongly protected bounty. He told you of how that bounty became precious to him when he realized that it was a child. A child that was being hunted so that the Empire could use its powers. And then he mentioned Moff Gideon, and your blood went cold.

"It's a miracle that your father doesn't recognize me," he said. "I almost wasn't going to take this job. It was too risky, but I figured the Empire was spread out and this was far enough out that word might not travel. And we really needed the credits, the kid and I. And while he's hidden away, I knew I could afford to do this. Although it goes against everything that I am to leave him behind."

You sat up slowly. "You... you betrayed the Empire?"

"They were going to kill the kid."

"And you... said Moff Gideon?"

He nodded. "That's right. Things should be better now. I killed Moff Gideon."

"When?"

"A few weeks ago," he said.

No, no. That wasn't right. You thought back to when you'd last seen Moff Gideon approach your father in the foyer of the palace. He spoke so quietly to him that you could not hear. And his dark eyes fell on you and he smiled...

"Moff Gideon isn't dead. He was here just before I heard you were coming. He visits this place at the start of every change of season," you said, "and he discusses things with my father that I don't get to know about."

Din sat up quickly, pulling his arm and hand away from you. "You've seen him?"

Your hands started to shake. "He... he couldn't be dead. And he could be here any day. The leaves are turning. Din, I don't think you were hired to protect me. I think you were tricked."

"And you didn't know about this?" he asked.

"No! No, how could I? I-I thought they might be having you around to protect them from me, but I can see now that I couldn't be that big of a threat to have you here. It has to be to get you. To get to your kid."

He got off the bed quickly, Wordlessly, he rushed to the other side of the room, where he started to rummage through his supply of weapons. You got off the bed and staggered forward.

"Din, you have to believe me. I truly didn't know. I didn't think of anything like that."

"Is there anything you want to take with you?" he asked.

You stopped. "What?"

"Is there anything from your room that you want to take with you?" When you didn't answer, he turned around impatiently. "If there is, you need to go grab it. Pack light though. We've got to haul it to get to my ship before you don't show up for dinner."

"You want me to come with you?"

"You said you wanted to run away, didn't you?" he asked.

You nodded slowly. "I just didn't think... that you were serious. That you wanted me."

He turned and reached for you, taking your face in his hands. "I promised to protect you. I will take you far from here if it'll make sure you're safe. If Moff Gideon arrives soon and I'm gone, they'll hurt you for it. You're better off coming with me."

"I know I am," you said, covering his hands with yours.

He pulled your face carefully to his and touched his forehead to yours. You shut your eyes for the shortest of moments before he let you go and turned back to gathering and preparing his weapons. "Go pack your things. Meet me back here."

"I'll hurry," you promised.

You snuck back into your room and froze in the middle of it, suddenly completely unaware of what you should do. Where were you going with Din? Someplace warm? Cold maybe? Maybe you'd be floating off in space forever on that ship of his. Whatever it was, you were excited for it. You were finally able to take off right into the sun.

You grabbed a leather knapsack that sat at the bottom of your wardrobe. When you were a child, you packed it with a blanket and food for picnics with your mother. Now it would carry everything you wanted to bring with you on your next phase of life.

You started with clothes. You shoved undergarments and dresses and your nightgown in the bottom of the bag, adding a pair of pants and a tunic on the top. You placed your hairbrush in there and then a piece of jewelry from your mother. Before you shut the bag, you took the jewelry out of the bag. A necklace from your mother, with a long silver chain that ended with a twisted piece of silver that had a single crystal the size of your pinkie finger at the center of it. You quickly put the necklace on and tucked it under the front of your dress before you closed the bag. You took a glance around, thinking of anything else you might want to take with you.

Then you realized that there was breathing coming from the refresher attached to your room.