#nick gindraux

[richo1915]

Rome in Egypt

Nick Gindraux, 2022

[star-wars-forever]

by Nick Gindraux

[burnwater13]

The Armorer working on a piece of beskar. Concept art by Nick Gindraux. Image from STARWARS.com Concept art from The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 3, The Sin.

Grogu makes a friend Part 3/The advantage of mercy

They remained at the landing site for several hours after the Mandalorian sent his message to Ahsoka Tano. In that time, Ta’lan Bet had made Grogu some food which Djarin didn’t let his son eat. She offered to take them on a tour of the ship, which he declined and then she finally brought Grogu craft materials and markers and suggested that he might like to color. Grogu took the materials to the other table in the room and sat there drawing pictures without once glancing at his father. 

Ta’lan simply sat on the floor and meditated. She looked much like Grogu had on Tython. Just sitting and breathing and almost making him forget that the only people he’d met who were so capable with lightsabers were Grogu’s former Master Luke and Ahsoka herself. But he had to admit that her style was very different. Less artist and more pragmatist. 

Then the ping came again. An incoming message. He went to the engineering desk and activated it. 

“I would trust her with my life. I have trusted her with my life. If she can join you here, have her come. Tell her to meet us at the old Jedi temple. Tano out.”

Ahsoka’s voice hung in the air. The Mandalorian looked over at Grogu who was now organizing his markers and papers and then he looked at Ta’lan. She was still meditating and appeared to have heard none of what transpired. 

“Grogu? Can you talk to her when she’s like that?”

Grogu nodded his head. 

“Please let her know that I would like to ask for her help.”

Grogu coo’d and chirped.

“Yes, what Ahsoka said made a difference.” 

Grogu grumbled.

“Yes, you can eat the food once she has the message.”

Djarin watched Grogu close his eyes and saw the dark haired woman’s eyes open. 

“Thank you. Of course. I’ll get you a cup.” 

She unfolded from her seated position and produced something for Grogu to drink and brought him a plate of food and then walked over to the engineering console and typed in some commands, while Din Djarin sat there in silence. 

He heard the sounds of the HK unit re-board the ship and then the ramp retract and the airlock cycle shut. 

“So you want to go to Jakku with me?” She asked him from just over his shoulder. 

He turned to look at her and noticed that her scars were also etched on her neck. He hadn’t noticed that before.

“Yes. If I haven’t put you off helping us, that is.”

“I try to keep the grudges I carry to the an absolute minimum. So far I have accumulated two and you are not attached to either of them, so we should have no issues.” 

She turned to look at him and smiled. 

“Since I use the HK unit as my co-pilot, let me show you to your cabin. It has its own ‘fresher and you will have independent control of the locking mechanism.”

“I’ve seen what you can do with a lightsaber. Either I trust you or I don’t. Don’t give me a reason not to trust you.” 

“I will do my best, Mandalorian.”

“Call me Djarin.”

“Thank you.”

He felt a bit like an idiot being so stubborn and then just following along with her, but if Ahsoka Tano trusted her and she’d already saved Grogu and healed Djarin’s injury, well, she’d had more than one chance to mess them about and didn’t. He just had to hope that would continue.

When they were underway and had made the jump to hyperspace, she had joined he and Grogu in the lounge area. Grogu ran right over to her and asked that she pick him up. She turned to the Mandalorian.

“May I hold him?”

“Yes, if that’s what he wants.”

Ta’lan chirped and coo’d to Grogu and Djarin saw his foundling jump up into her arms.

“He must like you. He doesn’t do that for many people.” 

She smiled at him. 

“I asked him to show me what he practices routinely. He says this jump is it along with healing you.”

“That’s true. He was raised by the Jedi. I became his…protector, a number of years ago.”

“Yes, he has explained that to me. When we were in the tavern.”

“He knew you could use the Force?” 

“Yes. He sensed that I could work with it. He is very open to the Force. Mira Ost does not usually display the ability to use the Force. But he is special. He wanted me to know that he was perfectly willing to stop me from hurting you. I explained to him that Ahsoka had asked me to look after you two. So you may have noticed me following you all through Andui. My apologies to you both. Ahsoka did not ask me to do anything else.”

“Then why did you stop those droids?”

She grinned at him and walked Grogu over to where he sat and handed his young charge back to him.

“I suppose I did it because I knew I could deal with them and not allow anyone else to be injured. I’m sorry to say that the reputation of Mandalorian bounty hunters is well known to me and I did not want anyone to die.”

“What about that person you hit with the baton after you threw them to the ground?”

“You saw that? Well, I’m sure I’ll think about regretting breaking their hand as soon as they think about regretting firing upon you. They survived that, even if their weapon did not.”

“What is that baton made from? Beskar?”

“Yes. Indeed. Most people don’t recognize it.”

Djarin could feel his jaw setting. Why the hell did she have beskar? Or speak Mando’a? Or visit Ordo or Concordia?

“May I see it?”

He could feel her sigh. 

“Of course. It is not the only beskar I have.” 

She walked over to the forward hold and pressed a panel and opened the door. He debated whether or not he should follow her, but chose to wait given Grogu’s complaints at him. 

“Buddy, I just asked to see it. Maybe she is a Mandalorian and just doesn’t wear armor. I don’t know.”

“Grogu, it is all right. Mandalorians gave me some of these things and I am bringing others back to their rightful owners. I do not worry about things. I save my worries for people and planets.” Ta’lan brought the baton over to him and let him examine it at his leisure. 

“I don’t know this armorer. I was told beskar should not be used for weapons.” He handed it back to her. 

“The Darksaber is a weapon made from beskar. Many other such items have existed since ancient times. The danger with them is that they take on more significance than they should. I use this primarily for defense. I have never killed a person with an article made from beskar.”

He noticed the sad note she spoke with and couldn’t help but ask, “But you have killed a person?”

“Yes. Long ago. I still regret it and I will not repeat that mistake. The Brethren do not believe that they have the right to take a life through direct action. I may stop you and hold you, but I can not take your life or anyone else’s for that matter.”

“How does a spy manage that?” He asked, incredulous about her claim. 

“Not easily. But mercy is an advantage when you are a spy, not a fault. My purpose was not to kill the enemy, but to mislead them, delay them, and cause them to fail. I did what I could.”

They fell silent at that. 

[karagin22]

Dead King - Nick Gindraux

[illustratus]

Rome in Egypt

[pixalry]

The Mandalorian Concept Art - Created by Nick Gindraux

You can follow the artist on Facebook.

[this-is-cool]

The amazing sci-fi and Star Wars themed concept artworks of Nick Gindraux - https://www.this-is-cool.co.uk/the-sci-fi-star-wars-artworks-of-nick-gindraux/

[gebo4482]

The Mandalorian

Artist: Nick Gindraux / John J. Park / Anton Grander / Jama Jurabaev

[pedroam-bang]

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (2016)

[htis]

👌

[getamovieon]

[manyworldspress]

Ryan Church and Nick Gindraux, concept / end credits art for The Mandalorian, season 1, chapter 1 (November 2019).

__________________________________________________ Our shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/manyworldspress

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Doug Chiang and Nick Gindraux from The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 2, The Child. Kuiil, the Ugnaught, and Din Djarin are depicted sitting near a fire.

Din Djarin smiled to himself as he cleaned the common room that served as their kitchen, dinning room, craft room, and office. Grogu was finally asleep after spending the entire day honoring Kuiil’s memory. The only thing his small apprentice hadn’t done was insist on visiting IG-11-M to provide a tune up and maintenance services. That wasn’t because he hadn’t wanted to, but because it turned out that IG-11-M was on a special mission on the other side of Nevarro. Grogu had reluctantly agreed that honoring Kuiil’s memory had as much to do with knowing when to stop and rest as it had to taking care of that particular droid. 

They had made hundreds of biscuits in their foray into father and son baking and Grogu had actually liked them. Given how much Grogu disliked vegetables in all other forms, Djarin had been pleasantly surprised at that. Declaring that they were the best tasting thing with vegetables in it, Grogu had insisted that they package them up and distribute them to the needy people of Nevarro City. The Mandalorian had agreed and now their work table/meal table/craft table was covered with neat bags of the biscuits. Djarin had insisted that they wait for the next day to bring them to people. No one wanted to be woken up from a sound sleep to receive something like this. Grogu had grudgingly agreed to that.

Now, those packages were a testament to the goodness of a person the Mandalorian had barely gotten to know. It was strange and yet kind of wonderful that the Ugnaught hadn’t seen him as anything but a man. Certainly, Kuiil had seen/met Mandalorians at some point during his long life. But instead of being afraid, he’d been friendly. That had been a first. 

During the years he’d spent as a bounty hunter, he’d never been greeted or treated that way. Most people stepped aside or ran for cover like he was some sort of harbinger of doom. In a way he had been. Bounty hunters were rarely sent after people who weren’t prepared to do whatever it took to remain free. What that usually meant was a mad scramble to escape. Sometimes grabbing a passerby as a hostage or convenient shield. Sometimes opening fire on a crowd, hoping that the chaos would protect them or at least slow the Mandalorian down. It rarely worked. 

His old armor hadn’t been the best, but it had been serviceable. It’s shapes and forms had convinced people as soon as they saw him to beware. It had allowed him to take the time to protect the most vulnerable and to direct the rest to leave with all due haste. Then he would track his prey and collect them, usually cold, but sometimes warm. Not often. But it had happened once or twice before he met Grogu.

After he met Grogu… too many things changed for him to pick any one change out. The strange thing was that Kuiil hadn’t been surprised. At any of it. The Mandalorian had brought peace to his valley on Arvala-7 by finding and collecting Grogu. The Ugnaught had been grateful for his efforts, yet still declined his offer to work together, as a team, which had surprised Djarin. Kuiil had preferred the simple life of a farmer. 

In retrospect it was clear that his diminutive friend had preferred being his own person and doing what he thought best at any given moment. Free to choose. Din Djarin had envied him. Being a Mandalorian meant never being free to pursue your own cause. You were tied to the Creed you swore as a youngling and if you turned your back on it, well… the Mandalorians you knew and grew up with, who clothed and fed you, turned you away. You became ‘darmanda’ or simply not Mandalorian. 

He supposed it was fair. They needed to know that they were all together and focused on the one thing they wanted. All hands were put to work and when they worked together they had done amazing things. But it was also limiting. Controlling. Painful. And, futile. They hadn’t learned to handle change and thus found a hostile galaxy focused on them in the way that few other groups had been. They thought they could fight their way to the top of that pile, as they had so many times before. This time they had failed and it had put a price on every Mandalorians head, followers of the Creed or not.

Djarin washed his hands and then his face. His helmet and gloves were resting on a pile of packaged biscuits. It was the small amount of freedom he allowed himself, despite the risk of Grogu seeing him again. He could hear Kuiil’s gravelly voice chuckling and telling him that whether or not his face was covered with the helmet, his friends knew who he was and what he meant to them. Whether or not they could see the frown or just feel it in his words and actions, they knew he had been frowning. The same was true when he smiled. He wasn’t hidden by the ways of the Mand’alor but revealed.  

That had given the Mandalorian something to think about. You could not hide yourself and be yourself at the same time. Djarin had thought that the Mandalorian Creed had helped him do that. But it had just let him ignore who he had been and refuse to recognize who he’d become. Between meeting Grogu and Kuiil that had all changed. He knew who he was now.

Din Djarin, Mandalorian Bounty Hunter, of Clan Mudhorn, first of his line, father to Din Grogu and friend to Kuiil the Ugnaught, sadly missed, but never to be forgotten.

He has spoken. 

[postersinstarwars]

The Mandalorian

[illustratus]

All Roads Lead to Rome

[st-just]

Airfield by Nick Gindraux