A Match for the Mandalore

I sighed. “All right, how about you tell me what the signs are of a true mate, and why you think I might be yours.”



“Fair enough. I told you about battle ecstasy. True mates can sense each other’s and grow stronger because of it. They are in tune with one another, able to sense each other over distance and time. One would be able to tell if the other is in trouble, and track them through the connection if they needed to. It’s a sort of telepathy. Once you’re really in tune, you can hear each other’s thoughts.”



I thought about how well I could read him, right from the start, and shivered a little. But I pointed out, “You said all warriors can sense and feed off the battle ecstasy. And what you describe is pretty much like using the Force.”



“True. But the battle binding isn’t individual; it won’t kick in with less than, say, twenty fighters. If I’m fighting with a small band, that power would not be available to us. I’ve heard of it happening in time of great need with as few as five warriors, but that is rare. To sense it on a one-to-one basis is rarer still. A true mate is a huge asset; you both are stronger because of the other, and can feed each other that strength, even over great distances. If I’m right, and you are my mate, you could eventually be able to heal me, even if you were on Duxun, and I on Dantooine. Just for example.”



I gaped at that. “That is unbelievable.”



“I’m sure it sounds so to you.”



“Okay, if this is such a good deal for a Mandalorian, how come everybody doesn’t wait to find their mates? Why the arranged marriages?”



“Because of how rare it is. My people are not particularly Force sensitive. It’s my opinion that the abilities of mates stem from the Force. True mates crop up only once a few generations or so. We acknowledge that it happens, but we’re a pragmatic people. We might look for it from time to time, and part of the Mandalore’s duty is to try and locate his, but we’re not sentimental. If a true mate isn’t available, we are content to marry where it’s practical and comfortable. Even the Mandalore isn’t absolutely required to have one, it’s just better when he does. I don’t think there’s been a Mandalore with a true mate in about four generations.”



I mulled over the information for a while. He was making logical sense, but it still felt too pat to me. We’d just met each other, fer Gods’s sake, and here he was, talking mates and connections and forever. Sure, there were signs he was right, but most of them could have other explanations.



Selfishly, somewhere deep inside, where my female vanity lives, didn’t want to accept it because I wanted him to want me for me, not my possible asset as a mate. I wanted him to love me, just because I was. I didn’t expect him to actually say it, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be with someone who couldn’t.



I sighed. “I don’t know. What you say makes sense, I guess, but…It just seems so damned coincidental.” And I would have been nice if you had considered me a mate without all this.



“I did.”



“Did what?” I asked, confused.



“Think about you as a mate before you sensed my battle ecstasy.” He sounded perfectly matter of fact. But I hadn’t said that out loud, did I? Gods, I’m losing it. I must have.



“No, you didn’t.”



“Didn’t what?” I asked, starting to really get freaked out now.



“Say it out loud. I heard it, well more felt it, and saw it on your face. It’s already working.” He sounded smug.



“Well I’m not hearing anything, and you’ve already shown you’re pretty good at reading me. Doesn’t prove a thing.” I snapped.



“You’re unconsciously blocking me; you don’t want to believe it might be true. Look at it this way: you live by the Force, right?” Watching Canderous in lecture mode was like seeing Disciple provoke a barroom brawl. You know it could happen, it’s just really, really disturbing when it does.



“Yeah,” I said, unhelpfully.



“And your training with the force has taught you that there are no coincidences.”



“Point for you.” I said sullenly.



“Look at the amazing amount of factors that brought us together. You crashed here, leaving you stranded. How did that happen, anyway?”



I answered reluctantly, “The engine blew a power coupling. I had replaced only a month before. Came out of the blue.”



“Yeah, well, you see? You crash because of a freak part failure. The Ebon Hawk has been at this port about five times in the last few months, and we haven’t run into each other until yesterday. It’s a big planet; we might have never met, yet there I was in the cantina when you were attacked by a whole mess of mercs. I did notice you when I walked in, but dismissed you as some kid the bartender let in. I hadn’t even known I was going to that place until the last minute; it was one of about six I had heard about. You get knocked out, which I know now isn’t easy to do. I take you to the ship, which just happens to have a bunch of jetti on board, which you have been avoiding your whole life. If you hadn’t been hiding your abilities from them, you wouldn’t have thrown the first fight, I wouldn’t have gotten mad about it, and that led me to using the stim and pushing you beyond what you usually have to for a simple one-on-one sparring. That, as you know, led to your sensing my battle ecstasy, and this conversation. If ever, by your own beliefs, the Force was at work, wouldn’t you say it was now?”



“Maybe,” I said shortly.



“I meant it. I did think about you as a permanent relationship well before our second fight. I was pissed as hell I was even considering it – called myself all kinds of a damned fool. I asked for that kiss as forfeit because I figured it would be the closest you’d ever let me get.”



“Really?” I asked in a small voice. I was happier with this idea, not so much he’d been mad about it.



“Really. I was only mad because it was unlike me to want someone as – “ beautiful as you, and who was jetti. I could have lost everything if I claimed you, and I didn’t care.



“You were ready to give up everything for me, even then?” I asked, utterly shocked. I hadn’t even noticed that he hadn’t said it out loud.



“Yes.” His smile was triumphant, and I didn’t understand why.



We stared at each other, and he scooped me up and kissed me, hard. Then he set me down, and said “Go into the dorm.”



“Why?”



“Trust me. Go in there, shut the door, and listen for me. Just do what I tell you to.” He gave me a push in the general direction. When I looked stubborn, he smacked my ass, not hard, just enough to get my attention, and asked “Please?”



The ‘please’ got me moving. I walked into my dorm, closed the door, and sat on my bunk. I listened for him, and eventually heard him shout, “Come out now, and put on that shirt of mine you put in your locker.”



How had he known that? I grumbled, then pulled out the shirt and put it on over my other clothing.



When I got to the common room, he grinned. “You did hear me,” he said with satisfaction.



“Well of course I did, you moron, you yelled.”



“I didn’t talk at all.”



“I heard you!”



“That’s a five centimeter steel door. Can you project your voice from here loud enough to been heard in that room without a comm?”



“You have a really big voice,” I said stubbornly. “And you could have been right outside the door.”



He looked at me, his face going very calm. He said in a very quiet voice that made me squirm, “Do you really think I would have so little honor as to trick you like that?”



“Um, no.” I said. I would have hung my head, but he didn’t seem like he needed that much contrition. “I’m sorry. But…I’m having a hard time getting my head around this.”



“Understandable. Forgiven. This time. Now, I’ll go into the dorm, and you call.” And without further ado, strode into the men’s side of the ship. I heard the door slide shut.



I sat for a while, unsure what to do. Then, shrugging, I decided to make it interesting. I called with my mind, Canderous, come out here, don’t say anything, just go to the table and drink off your glass of firewhiskey. Then put the glass on the deck, and stomp it.



Which is exactly what he did. He even thought to put on his boots so I wouldn’t have to heal him. I stared, and suddenly started to tremble.



He held me for a while, just let me shake. Finally, I looked up at him and said “This is awfully big.”



“Yeah. Is it really so bad to be mine?”



“Not if you love me.”



“I’m not good at that.”



“You’ll get better.”



“Probably.”



“Is it so bad to be mine?” I asked back.



He set me back a little, so I could see his face. He didn’t smile, but I saw the truth of his words. “I didn’t know it yesterday when I went to the cantina. But it’s all I ever wanted.”