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Boba Fett riding the rancor in Mos Espa as they fight the Pyke Syndicate and their battle droids. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 7, In the Name of Honor. Calendar by DataWorks.

Rancors are amazing critters. Amazing. Huge. Immensely strong. Fast. Trainable. That’s right. They aren’t thoughtless monsters just tearing things apart because that stuff is in their way. They know what they are doing and they are doing it because they’ve been asked to… most of the time. 

Grogu really enjoyed spending time with Boba Fett’s rancor, who Grogu had named ‘Ranky’. He liked simple names and the rancor seemed to like it too. Imagine naming the rancor something like, Monstrumingensformidulosus, or SM-0013, or Dank Farrik (because that’s what you said when you first saw it). 

First, you couldn’t get Monstrumingensformidulosus on a tag or a registration form. It was simply too long. Then, it was pretty hard to say. No way was the Mandalorian going to learn how to say ‘Monstrumingensformidulosus’. He only knew a little Jawa and Huttese and don’t kid yourself, Huttese is mostly Gal Basic with some minor variations. Finally, are you really going to ‘Come on Monstrumingensformidulosus, it’s time for a bath’? No. No, you are not. So, you’d have to shorten it, right? But to what? Monstrum? Formi? Or even worse, Ulosus? Yech. That sounds like a skin disease Master Drallig picked up on Empress Teta. So that’s a big no way.

Now, SM-0013 (Scary Monster-0013) had some potential. You could just say ‘ess emm oh oh one three’ or double oh thirteen or thirteen for super short. It would fit on forms and tags. You didn’t have to learn a new language. But… you should know what SM-0012 and SM-0014 are and Grogu had no idea and doubted that his dad did either. So, nope, not that one either. 

That left ‘Dank Farrik’ or whatever other exclamation you made when you first saw a rancor up close and personal and that was going to be tricky for other good reasons, mostly having to do with being a member of civil society, emphasis on civil. Other people would call your rancor to them by mistake, like the time his dad had taken off his boots and Grogu had been play with a ball and the Mandalorian had mentioned it was dinner time and Grogu dropped the ball right on his foot. 

Grogu was sure you could hear that ‘Dank Farrik’ all the way back to Mos Eisley. It wasn’t Grogu’s fault that he’d found a rock that looked just like his small silver ball. It was just a couple orders of magnitude bigger. If a Rancor had been named that it would have come running and then it probably would have caused at the very least a civil disturbance. 

Grogu had learned, while doing research on pet registration for the Daimyo, that you couldn’t use a name that was also considered impolite for a registration or on a tag. It just wasn’t done. That was a level of sensitivity he hadn’t expected from the fine people of Tatooine. It just goes to show, don’t judge a book by the pirate who stole it. Civil society had rules and not all of them were just what your next door neighbor made up when they were mad at you about your pet rancor damaging their lawn.

So, Ranky the rancor. It told you what to expect. Unless you were the type of person who liked to name critters ironically. If that had been the case, Daimyo Fett would have named the critter Uneti or Blue Blossom or Lily. Grogu was glad that Daimyo Fett wasn’t like that. In his very biased opinion, Ranky looked like a Ranky and didn’t look the least little bit like a lily or a blossom. Additionally, Grogu could assure you that Rancors smelled nothing like a Uneti flower whatsoever. Uff. No one would make incense from anything that a rancor excreted or shed.

“Hey buddy, what are you doing?”

Din Djarin was there, giving Grogu a strange look.

Grogu hopped to his feet and showed his dad the sketch he’d made of the Daimyo riding on Ranky’s shoulders while the rancor held an unnamed Mandalorian in it’s fist while it performed a kind of ‘taste test’. 

“Ahh. I’d like to think Fett wouldn’t let the critter do that. Hey, is that supposed to be Bo-Katan? She’s never been to Tatooine. How would she end up like that?”

Grogu giggled. This was exactly why it was important to know the difference between SM-0012 and SM-0013. If you couldn’t figure out that Ranky was the name of a rancor, maybe you shouldn’t just run into Ranky’s enclosure… Dank Farrik!

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Chapters: 4/? Fandom: The Mandalorian (TV), Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Grogu | Baby Yoda & Original Character(s), Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s) Characters: Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin, Ta'lan Bet, T'ad Nomino Nua'ar, Adora Ka'ra, Shae Vizsla Additional Tags: Loth-Wolves (Star Wars), Planet Lothal (Star Wars) Series: Part 67 of Grogu's Tales, Long and Short Summary:

Grogu travels with his family to Lothal. His mom has been tasked by the Brethren to dismantle the Sith Temple that is present on the planet. Grogu has been assigned to manage his twin siblings, while his parents and grandmother manage the project. Fortunately they have friends who help.

Chapter 4. Best laid plans...

Grogu thinks about the trip a head and finds out from his mom that Ben joining them on Lothal is not the only change to the list of people joining them on the trip. Well, the more the merrier, right?

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Ahsoka Tano receiving the cloth covered beskar shirt for Grogu from Din Djarin on Ossus. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 6, From the Desert Comes a Stranger. Calendar from DataWorks. (Quote is not from this scene)

“May the Force be with you.”

It was a pretty simple sentence. May the Force, an energy that connected all things in the galaxy, be with you. Of course it wasn’t actually that simple, was it? 

If the Force connected all things, and you were a thing, you were connected to it already. If you weren’t a thing, then you didn’t exist and the Force didn’t have to pay attention to you. Also, if you weren’t a thing, would you care that the Force didn’t connect with you? 

It was just this sort of thing that annoyed Grogu about Gal Basic. He was sure in other languages the words that Ahsoka Tano and every other Jedi spoke day in and day out were better translated as ‘The Force connects you. Yippee!’. (The ‘Yippee’ was just in Grogu’s translation. He felt that Jedi should be doing a lot more celebrating about the Force).

He liked being connected to the Force. He liked using that connection to know and feel connected to everything that was around him. Trees. Rocks. Frogs. Gorgs. Dung Worms.  Okay, okay. He liked feeling connected to stuff that wasn’t just food. He liked being connected to the Mandalorian. It was different than being connected to the other Jedi. 

It was Grogu’s impression that Mandalorians didn’t do things in ‘half measures’. They did the whole thing. Sure, Jedi had that saying, ‘Do or do not, there is no try’. That was a whole thing kind of perspective. You functioned in a kind of binary if you followed that path. But that didn’t really embody how Mandalorians did things. Nope. 

They trained, practiced, failed, figured out another path, practiced more and then WHAM! The thing wasn’t just done. It was done as much and as well as it could possibly be done.  Peli had once told him that her philosophy was best described as ‘Don’t do, over do!’. Grogu thought it fit her well. It wasn’t the same way he saw the Mandalorians, or his specific Mandalorian, but he understood why she would like that. 

It was more like Mandalorians managed to do a thing in a manner that when it worked the end result was a celebration. And he liked that. Jedi didn’t do a lot of celebrating. They did a thing and then they moved right along to the next thing. 

Take that moment when Ahsoka told Luke, ‘May the Force be with you.’ They had all been on Ossus. Luke had opened his Sleep Away Camp and Grogu was his first camper. It was going okay… more or less. Then Ahsoka’s there and she doesn’t even say hello to Grogu. Nope. Doesn’t even acknowledge his existence! Fine. It’s not like she had been the one responsible for disrupting his whole entire life. Twice. Nope. Not her.  Uh ah.

She stopped the Mandalorian from giving Grogu his beskar shirt and gave it to Luke instead and then went on her merry way. Uff! May the Force be with you… to do what? Obviously not connect you to each other. That sounds a lot like an attachment. Attachments are forbidden. Or are they… maybe someone should tell the Force that. Or was that the reason the Jedi had to remind each other that the Force might be with them as long as they followed all the rules and didn’t make any mistakes and always listened to their masters.

Grogu began to laugh at himself. He was being silly. No Jedi ever listened to everything their master told them. Not Luke, not Ahsoka, not Anakin, not Obi-Wan… not Yoda. They all had some point where their master had definitely told them not to do a thing or to do the thing differently and their Jedi padawan just did what they thought was best. No wonder they needed to wish for the Force to be with them. They certainly weren’t connected to their Master enough to listen to them. Imagine that. 

So where did that leave him and the Mandalorian? Connected? Attached? Somewhere in-between? Grogu didn’t really care. He was back with his dad and learning ‘The Way’. He didn’t know if ‘The Way’ was better or worse than whatever the Jedi called their philosophy, but since it was based on family, honor, and solidarity, he liked it better already. It was okay to be attached and he was glad of that. 

The Force must have been with him because it had shown him the way to get back to the Mandalorian and the decision to do that may have been the output of a binary system of thought, but it had opened him up to more connectedness and that was a good thing. 

May the Force connect you to everything so you can find your Way.

Ahsoka Tano on Ossus telling Luke Skywalker, 'May the Force be with you' as she prepares to leave the planet. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 6, From the Desert Comes a Stranger.

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Din Djarin repairing his original armor while he and Grogu (not pictured) traversed Arvala-7 on foot. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 2, The Child. Calendar from DataWorks.

‘Grogu wasn’t sure what the Mandalorian was up to. He had some sort of tool out and he was pointing it at himself and kind of grumbling and groaning. He hopped out of the floaty chair (which other people called a pram, whatever) and trotted over to him to see what was going on. It kind of smelled like food, but not like any food Grogu had ever eaten. 

When he got to the bounty hunter he realized, to his horror, that the human was trying to do something to a wound on his arm. Cook it, maybe? Why do that? Sear it? Again, why? It made no sense. That was not how you healed a wound. Master Drallig would be so upset with any youngling who tried to do that rather than use the Force. The mountain of dishes you’d find yourself sorting and putting away didn’t bear thinking about. 

Grogu raised his right hand and began to concentrate on the wound. He was just sensing a change when it happened. The Mandalorian picked him up and whisked him away, dumping him back into the floaty chair. What the heck!? Why didn’t he just wait one more second and Grogu would have been able to show him some appreciation for helping him get away from that gang that grabbed him? Well, the Mandalorian was pretty impatient.

But if Jedi younglings were taught anything, they were taught to be persistent. Grogu watched the human and then hopped out of the floaty chair again when the Mandalorian seemed to be focused on the task he was performing. It looked like the human was trying to fix his armor instead of his arm. Grogu could appreciate that the armor needed fixing, but shouldn’t that wait for his arm to heal…’

Grogu put his data pad down and hopped down from his seat and made short work of leaving the small cabin on Nevarro. He’d been writing his memoirs for over a year and what did he have to show for it? He had input the word ‘armor’ five hundred and twenty-eight times, that’s what! 

But did he know how to make armor? Nope.

Did he know how to mine beskar? Nope.

Did he even know what the Armorer did with the Mandalorian’s old armor? Again, nope.

Why did that matter? Well, good question. 

He supposed that as he wrote about his life with Din Djarin, Mandalorian Bounty Hunter, Best in the Outer Rim, he’d have some sort of deeper appreciation for his dad and the stuff that protected him (see how he didn’t use ‘armor’ there… oops! Dank Farrik!). 

It really protected them both. Grogu now had his own pieces of beskar. A small shirt and a rather large rondel. They were pretty and shiny and he was compelled by his dad to clean and polish them as if they were his teeth and not his second layer. That was annoying, even if it was important. 

How did Mandalorians put up with it and would Grogu ever learn to love his armor (dang!) the same way his dad loved his shiny protective plates with all that high tech stuff shoved between the layers? He doubted it. He didn’t even love his coverall. Sure it was functional and it kept him sort of comfortable. He mostly liked it because it allowed him to carry snacks around. 

He’d once asked his dad where the hidden snack compartment was in Mandalorian armor (womp rats!). Din Djarin had given him a strange look and commented that Mandalorian armor (he said it, not Grogu) wasn’t designed for carrying snacks around. You could have knocked Grogu over with a feather. How was it supposed to protect your stomach from hunger that way? It was absurd!

The Mandalorian had challenged him to sketch a suit of armor (his fault again) indicating where he would stash his snacks. Grogu had taken up the challenge with gusto and presented his dad and mentor with an absolutely beautiful to scale drawing of an updated and improved Jedi-lorian protective suit (ha!). His dad looked at it for less than a split second and began to laugh. Grogu pouted about that for quite a while. 

“Buddy, you can’t bring anyone in warm or cold when you’re towing a whole preserver behind you. I know you can use the Force for that sort of thing, but won’t it get complicated when you have to hide? Or cross a stream? Or use the privy?”

Grogu pouted even more after that exchange. They had both dropped the subject for the time being.

Grogu had been successful at avoiding collecting any additional pieces of the stuff (giggle) since then. He simply reminded his dad that other foundlings needed beskar to protect them, and since he already had all the beskar he wanted as well as the Force, he couldn’t deprive them of the pleasure of wearing the stuff (snort).

Din Djarin had taken that as well as any Mandalorian would have and commented that he would be checking the Creed to see if you could swear to it without having a beskar helmet to wear. Grogu had shrugged. If he had to wear something on his head he would just snag one of his dad’s knee protectors. They were about the right size and they wouldn’t smush his ears too much, then his suit of armor would be complete. 

Dank Farrik!

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Concept art by Christian Alzmann and Erik Tiemens, of the Seeing Stone on Tython. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 6, The Tragedy.

“No, Grogu, we don’t have enough room for one.” 

The Mandalorian looked at his petite apprentice and sighed. They had been arguing for over an hour and nothing was going to change his mind.

Grogu grumbled at him and pouted.

“Buddy, like I told you when you first brought this up, we don’t actually have enough land to build it. That’s just the way it is.”

Grogu continued to pout, turned around, and stomped out of the cabin. It was all the Mandalorian could do to not laugh out loud. He’d learned the hard way that Grogu never forgot a slight. 

There was the time that Din Djarin had told the little one that he couldn’t have another fresh frozen froglet because it would upset his stomach. Grogu hadn’t been happy about that, but he grudgingly agreed. Then, as the Mandalorian was clearing the table, he tripped over nothing and the one container that went flying was the one with the frogs. Of course Grogu managed to reach it before Din could and of course Grogu ate the froglets as quickly as he could. The next morning Grogu was groaning because he had a stomach ache and didn’t want to do his lessons. 

But this time his apprentice had to understand that, even if they had the land, the time, the equipment, a much, much larger ship, Nevarro still didn’t have anything like the history with the Force that Tython had. The Seeing Stone and it’s megaliths would never work here the way they worked there. Din Djarin was certain of it. 

Grogu, for his part, was just as adamant that he could make it work. 

It was true that Grogu had done some amazing things with the Force. Things that Din Djarin couldn’t explain. But, despite that, he still didn’t think that Grogu was being reasonable when he asked if they could rebuild the Tython temple in their yard on Nevarro. It just seemed like a bad idea to him. Grogu did not agree.

It all started innocently enough. Grogu commented that he’d like to take a trip to Tython. The Mandalorian asked him why and Grogu said he really hadn’t seen very much of the planet and there was supposed to be an abandoned Jedi temple there and maybe if he found it he could tell Luke about it and Luke could use that one for his school rather than the one on Ossus.

“I thought you liked Ossus?”

Din had heard enough about the planet to feel like he had traveled all around it, rather that just spending part of a day there and then being turned away by Ahsoka Tano without ever getting to speak with Grogu. 

Grogu had grunted and sighed.

“Does he know you call it ‘Luke’s Jedi Sleep Away Camp’?”

Grogu had giggled. The Mandalorian loved that sound. It meant everything to him. The joy and happiness of childhood encapsulated in a single sound.

“Okay. I understand. Anyway, why would the Jedi have more than one temple on the same planet? That seems strange, doesn’t it?”

It had been a simple observation. A simple question. Mandalorians tended to build something once and that was that. Except when it came to capitals. They had duplicated many of the features of Keldabe when they moved the capital to Sundari. He had been happy about that after their trip to Keldabe. 

Grogu however was silent. He didn’t answer the question and he didn’t ask for food or anything else. He closed his eyes and his lips began to move in an out. The Mandalorian had never seen him do that before. 

When Grogu finally opened his eyes and stopped the whole lip thing, he chirped, cooed and chattered at his dad, at a rapid pace that Din Djarin could barely keep up with. 

“Buddy, what do you mean you want to move the temple here? Where here? And which temple? No, not which temple, why? Why do this at all?”

Then Grogu gave the Mandalorian all of his reasons at once. He’d be able to keep track of Luke and Ahsoka and any other Jedi who remained in the galaxy. And he would be able to communicate with them. Then they could build the school on Nevarro as well and Grogu could keep an eye on the younglings. That meant also meant that it would be the first Jedi temple built someplace the Sith had never built a temple. So it couldn’t be corrupted. Easy peasy.

“Grogu, Luke already has his school built. I don’t know if he has any students, but he has the buildings. He must have picked Ossus for a good reason. Ahsoka Tano must have told Luke about the seeing stone and other temple on Tython, but he still chose Ossus.”

Grogu grumbled that Luke chose Ossus because he thought he might find holocrons there, but they were already gone.

“Does Luke know they’re gone?”

If there was ever a question Din Djarin shouldn’t have asked, that apparently was the one. Grogu had explained to his master that they were gone, but when he was on Tython he felt two of them calling out to him. Luke did not believe him. Grogu even told Luke the names of the two masters, but still Luke didn’t believe him. Grogu reminded Luke that he was older than the young man and had studied more Jedi history than Luke could have in his few years of training. Apparently Luke got very upset with that and told Grogu that Master Yoda had guided Luke to Ossus. Then he had sent Grogu to meditate until he learned how to be respectful to his Master. Grogu had missed lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. That had not been the Way!

“Okay, buddy. I get it. If we go there, we could look for the holocrons, but we are not going to transport a Jedi temple back here just so you can prove to Luke that you are stronger in the Force than he is. I know you mean well, but some people just have to learn certain lessons in their own way and in their own time.”

Grogu started a whole new rant about protecting the temple, preventing Moff Gideon or one of his clones from going back there, giving Grogu a place to train, and saving them time from having to travel back and forth to Tython so he could use the Seeing Stone to contact Luke or Ahsoka if he needed to without going to Ossus. 

That brought them right back to not having enough room on their plot on Nevarro. Grogu couldn’t argue with that…

Din Djarin heard a strange sound and the whole cabin began to shudder. He ran out of the cabin to find Grogu holding both of his hands up. The Mandalorian swirled around and tried not to laugh. IT would just encourage him.

“Grogu! Put the N-1 back on the landing pad. This is not the way to make more room for your temple. I’ll talk to Karga and see if he can find a space for it. Okay? Now, put it down… gently, gently.”

Uff. Now, where was he going to find a transport for megaliths?

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Thank you for reblogging. Glad to see the artist get credit. Saw this on Twitter and yes, this is among the best of all Din Djarins.

din djarin

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Concept art by Christian Alzmann and Erik Tiemens. Grogu is sitting on the Seeing Stone while the Force protects him from the Dark Troopers who surround the temple. Image for The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 6, The Tragedy. Calendar from DataWorks.

“A long time ago in this galaxy right here, someone built a temple on the top of a hill on the Deep Core planet of Tython. Not far from Empress Teta, Tython was an interesting planet. At least it was interesting to the Jedi. It seemed like the Force lived there most of the time, in a way it didn’t live on other planets. 

So the Jedi (maybe), found the spot on the planet where the Force was the strongest. Strangely the spot was fairly barren, it’s rocky peak exposed to the elements. No trees, no bushes, not even tiny grasses. Just the wind blasted stone that seemed to glow, night or day.

Seeing an opportunity to use that convergence of the Force to do things that couldn’t be done from any other planet, someone (again probably some Jedi) moved huge slabs of stone there until the peak of that mountain was fully enclosed. Well, almost completely enclosed. A slot was left open. It glowed blue and shimmered with the contained Force. 

Thinking about what that would mean and what that would do, the Jedi (we think) began to inscribe each plinth of stone with words in an ancient language to warn others of the danger of coming to the site without an invitation. The Force was too strong there for just any person to survive exposure to it. Those who failed to heed the warning became ‘one’ with the Force. They became the collective soul of the temple. 

As there number increased the warnings changed from written words to voices that called out and tried to reason with those the temple attracted. Eventually, so many had been made one with the Force that they were able to change the structure of the temple over millennia. 

A central hole appeared. Fewer people were enticed to enter a structure that appeared to be blasting a constant stream of energy through its roof. It was considered a partial success. The Entity of the Hill continued to evaluate its options and then began to slowly direct the winds to wear away at certain cracks and crevices in the stone plinths until they too were more open, like the central hole. 

The blasting current of the Force that had been directed through the center of the structure ceased to function. The Entity was relieved but worried that people (probably Jedi) would just replace the missing stone and try to damn up the Force again. That is when they hit upon the idea of creating a stone in the shape of a globe that would be balanced between the floor and the ceiling and would be able to focus the energy of the Force for anyone properly trained, while not enticing those who were uninitiated. 

A warning and instructions were included on the Globe of Sight. Anyone trained in the proper use of the Force would be able to use the Globe to see anyplace with in the galaxy. Any system. Any planet. Any  Temple. Any dwelling. It was extremely powerful. If you knew what you were doing. 

Over time it was used well and not so well. As soon as the Sith found out about it’s use they tried to pin point the locations of every Jedi temple in the galaxy. But, because the Sith are both arrogant and impatient, the one’s involved in that trial failed and the globe split in half. The bottom turned to dust and blew away. The top fell to the floor of the temple and became what we now as the ‘Seeing Stone’. 

The Sith that were not consumed by the Force, were compelled to leave Tython by the Entity. That was perhaps their last great act, protecting the whole galaxy from the Sith gaining power from their knowledge. 

Their last act until they connected Grogu with Luke Skywalker, that is. It is my theory that they understood the great purity of Grogu’s spirit and believed that tipping the balance in his favor was well worth the risk. I think those who know you both would agree.” 

Seb Ta’low paused for a moment. 

“You know, Din Djarin, your son is remarkable. I travelled to Tython once, as a youngling. Like every other youngling on that trip, I sat on that stone and emptied my mind and tried to communicate with another Jedi. I listened to see if anyone heard my call. The time I spent on that rock seemed to crawl by and I felt like I was fused to it.”

“Well, what happened, Seb?” Din Djarin hated it when his friend told stories this way.

“Oh, I heard a voice. It was loud and harsh and said ‘Get off the stone immediately!’ I can tell you I practically vaulted off of it I was so surprised.”

Seb waited a beat before he continued.

“Master Drallig had noticed some sort of biting, venomous critter making it’s way up the stone. He thought the critter was going to end me and despite how much relief that might provide to him, he decided to warn me of its presence.”

Seb was smiling a broad, almost dreamy smile as he thought back on that day so long ago.

“You live a charmed life Seb Ta’low. How did the Jedi ever survive contact with you?” Din laughed. 

He looked down at Grogu, who was just opening his eyes, and smiled at his own youngling who was so much more than anyone expected.

“That is a good question, son. Master Drallig often posited that. In this particular case that critter he was concerned about landed on his shoulder when I vaulted off the stone. He was only saved from a nasty bite when I performed my preferred landing and rolled right into him and knocked him off his feet. I can tell you I was the last youngling to ever sit on that stone.”

“For how long?” The Mandalorian asked, still laughing.

“Forever. Master Drallig said it wasn’t worth the risk. I’m sorry about that Grogu. I think you would have impressed them far more than I did.”

Grogu smiled at Seb. He was always impressed by his fellow Jedi.

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Grogu with his right hand raised as a baby-core has jumped onto his face from the bowl of stew in front of him. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 3, The Heiress. Calendar by DataWorks.

Some days just stink. You wake up late. Your arm’s a sleep because you slept funny on your dad’s armor. Your nose is runny because that darn armor polish smells worse than a bantha’s arm pit. You know what it’s like. Some days things just do not work out your way. 

This was one of those days. Practically one of those weeks. Having the critter grab his face was just another part of the whole fiasco. It wasn’t the worst part it was just the part that ushered the worst part in. 

“Don’t play with your food.”

What! Grogu had never been so annoyed. Clearly the thing that grabbed his face wasn’t food yet. That’s why IT grabbed him! He wasn’t playing with the critter. Not in the least. But still Din Djarin had made that comment. Grumbled it. His tone all accusing and annoyed. Like Grogu had wanted to have stew all over his face because having the Mandalorian wash it for him was so much fun. 

He can assure you it is not. Apparently faces were treated as if they were made of beskar and scrubbed rather ruthlessly and then polished to a nice bright shine. Uff. Never again. Grogu refused to let the bounty hunter help him again after that first time. He liked how he looked and he didn’t need anyone using ‘elbow grease’ to clean off bits of gorg or frog or anything else tasty.

Bad enough that before they even made it to the tavern they had fallen into the harbor. That’s hadn’t been pleasant. He hadn’t been in his floaty thing. The Frog lady had the egg container with her, but it wasn’t strapped down. The Mandalorian had watched him like a shriek hawk to make sure he didn’t snack on any more of the eggs. Then they almost landed. Almost. Not quite. Uff. 

‘Uff’ was the sound he made when the egg container fell on him as the Razor Crest tipped over and fell in the water. That hadn’t felt good. He didn’t even have a chance to use the Force to prevent it, so instead he got the wind knocked out of him twice. The first time was from the container and the second time was from the Frog lady who was grateful that he had broken it’s fall, protecting her eggs. Yup, they were fine. He wasn’t but that’s the sort of thing any Jedi would do, right?

Grogu was grateful for one thing. The bridge of the Razor Crest really had been water tight. It had to be in order to be pressurized. That meant that he didn’t have to help the Mandalorian swim. He’d been worried about that since they were on Maldo Kreis and he became even more worried when he saw how much of Trask was ocean. Just ocean. The Mandalorian was a sinker and Grogu knew that using the Force to help him would be a big deal and attract even more of the wrong sort of people. Talk about making a bad day worse. 

Now they were in a dark, smelly tavern and he was being accused of playing with a critter that was quite clearly trying to eat him. It wasn’t fair and he didn’t like it at all. He would have much preferred to go hang out with the Frog lady and her husband, than gone to that tavern to so Din Djarin could find even more Mandalorians and then they could all help ‘Mando’ get rid of Grogu. Because that’s really what this whole mess was about. 

Din Djarin didn’t want to be his friend. He wanted to find someone who could find someone who would take Grogu because they had to because they were ‘his people’. What the heck did that even mean? ‘His people’? He didn’t have any people. At least not any more. Master Yoda was gone and had been gone for years. Master Yaddle for even longer. They weren’t even his parents. At least he hoped not. If they had been they weren’t very good parents. At least not by his estimation. 

When you actually thought about that whole mess, well, mess it was. Grogu was a foundling. An orphan. People had kidnapped him. Sent bounty hunters after him. Literally stole his blood. Now, the one person he thought he could depend on was only focused on getting rid of him. It really hurt. Why not just leave him on Tatooine so he could live with the Sandpeople? Or the Marshal? Or Peli? 

It would have been great staying with Peli. He loved droids and mechs. He loved her curly bouncy hair and sass. He loved the food he ate there too. Strangely, Tatooine had been a good place for Grogu. Almost like it welcomed Jedi. And he liked banthas.

But no. The Mandalorian hadn’t seen it that way, so here they were, on Trask, just another mistake after a whole series of mistakes. Grogu really hoped that ‘the critter on the face' was the end of it. Otherwise, he’d have to take matters into his own hands. Literally. 

He’d just grab onto the bounty hunter and never let go. That’s right. He’d do it. Then the tall human would learn a thing or two. Can’t polish your armor because Grogu’s holding onto the chest piece and won’t let go? Too bad. So sad. Can’t wash your face because Grogu won’t let go of your helmet? Can’t use the privy because… well it’s self-explanatory now. Grogu was not letting the Mandalorian out of sight or his grip. Ha!

Grogu was brought back to reality when the Quarren came over to talk to Din Djarin. Grogu just hoped things changed for the better based on whatever they were going to do next. He didn’t like the idea of spending any more time on Trask than was absolutely essential. Din Djarin was bound to end up in the water and then someone would have to save him and given the reputation of Mandalorians, he’d be stuck with the task. After all, he was still a Jedi and had sworn to preserve life. Then it would be Grogu’s turn to tell the Mandalorian to stop playing.

[burnwater13]

[burnwater13]

Saturn and its rings in visible/ultraviolet

[burnwater13]

A holographic recording of Din Djarin is being played on the bridge of Moff Gideon's ship. Caption reads: He means more to me than you will ever know. It is attributed to the Mandalorian. Image is from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 7, The Believer. Calendar from DataWorks.

Grogu put down his data pad and took a break from writing the story of his life. He’d just gotten to the part where Moff Gideon had kidnapped him and his dad, the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, best bounty hunter in the Outer Rim, was telling Gideon that he better watch out because the Mandalorian was on his way. This part of the story always made him proud, worried, and annoyed. 

He was proud of his dad for taking the fight all the way back to Moff Gideon. He was worried that there might never be an end to them having to fight Gideon’s cohorts. And he was annoyed that the Jedi hadn’t seen this coming forty or fifty years ago. 

That’s right. He was annoyed with the Jedi Council, with Master Yoda, with Master Windu, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and the whole lot of them.  They weren’t some sort of poorly trained group of people pretending to be disciplined, clear thinking diplomats and intelligence analysts. The were the real deal. They were the people who trained him well enough that he could pick up a mudhorn, heal injuries, turn back a firestorm and catch frogs without a net. 

His master, Kelleran Beq had been an amazing Jedi because he had been trained by amazing Jedi. Master Drallig was the Battle Master for the Order and there was no Jedi more disciplined than him. So what the heck happened? How did a Sith rub shoulders with them all and they just didn’t see it? It was ridiculous! 

And yet, it was. It had happened. The Order had fallen and Grogu had only escaped because of the sacrifices of many and the heroics of Master Beq. And that was exactly what annoyed Grogu. How many times were evil people going to chase after him? How many brave people had to give their all to protect him? What the heck made him so special? He didn’t know. He had never really known. No one told him that he was the ‘Chosen One’.

No, he wasn’t the chosen one, he was just one. A small person who could do things that other Jedi didn’t really understand. Oh, they understood how he could sneak food wherever he was. They could understand how he could seemingly disappear at will. They even understood how he managed to climb to the tippy top of the Great Tree of the Jedi Temple. 

But they did not understand why people just loved him. Fell in with him. Helped him when it was not convenient or their task, or of any benefit other than to see Grogu smile. They did not understand how Ian was his best friend. They didn’t understand why all the masters and knights knew his name. They didn’t know why people who feared the truth, feared him. 

The masters had realized what was going on almost by accident. Whenever a youngling, or knight, a visitor, or elected official was caught doing something inappropriate at the Temple, something less than honorable, Grogu found a way to point that out. He didn’t do it on purpose, so whenever they asked him how he knew, he just shrugged at them. Master Kenobi once asked if Grogu had ‘The Sight of the Jedi’, which Grogu had giggled at. Of course he had the sight of the Jedi. At least a Jedi. Himself. But apparently ‘The Sight of the Jedi’ was a special Force power that caused the Jedi who wielded it to know the truth about a person. To be able to see their soul. 

Grogu had once told Ian that he’d never seen anyone’s soul and he hoped he never would. It was his opinion that people thought he was both helpless and harmless and they behaved in a way that made it clear that they were not harmless. But then Grogu had never been helpless. Not even with Moff Gideon. Tired out. Sure. Bored. Of course. Annoyed. Yup, check that box. But helpless? Nope. 

And that’s why he was annoyed with the Jedi. They knew people showed their true colors around him. They studied him because of that. They were baffled by it and annoyed as well. It was a thing that was discussed at the Jedi Temple and in the Jedi Council. A thing!

But the day the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic shows up to visit Jedi Skywalker and recoils at the very sight of Grogu, they ignored the warning. Ignored it for crying out loud. Grogu had warned Ian and told him he had to leave the Temple. It wasn’t safe. Ian believed him and Grogu helped him escape when they both had a chance to take action. But the other Jedi, the younglings, the padawans, the knights, the masters? Nope. It was like they hadn’t even noticed that Grogu’s strange connection to the Force was in full play that day. 

Grogu had been confused and annoyed. How could you be believed everyday of your life and then suddenly no one believed you? No one but your best friend. He had looked for Master Kelleran to explain what had happened, but his Master was off doing some other task. By the time Master Beq returned, Grogu had shaken it off. He was focused on helping Ian and hoping that Master Beq could help the rest of them. Two days later the Temple was in chaos and the Jedi Order fell. 

Had the dark Sith Lord told his minions about Grogu’s power? Or had they just scraped data from the Jedi’s extensive library and realized that he was something no other Jedi was? Grogu still didn’t know. He wasn’t going to ask Moff Gideon. He was going to trust his dad. When Din Djarin made a promise, he kept it. After all, he was Grogu’s best friend and Grogu believed in him, the same way Ian had believed Grogu all those years ago. They meant more to Grogu than anyone else would ever know. 

[burnwater13]

The Armorer gives Din Djarin a small cloth holding the beskar shirt she made for Grogu (not present). Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 5, Return of the Mandalorian. Calendar from DataWorks.

Din Djarin didn’t know how to feel about the small package that he held in his hands. The child, Grogu, was no longer his responsibility. He had completed his quest and the small wonder was now with his own kind. More or less. He hadn’t really wanted to let the Jedi take the boy that he had begun to feel very parental toward, but what choice did he have? He had to do what was best for Grogu. He couldn’t teach him how to reach his full potential. He wasn’t a Jedi.

Yet, he had promised Grogu that they would see each other again. Din Djarin felt that he needed to reassure Grogu that no matter what happened, he would always have someone who he could call family. So the Mandalorian promised to visit him on Ossus. Just to check in. Make sure everything was okay. 

He sighed. As much as he told himself that he was doing that for Grogu, he knew that he was really doing that for himself. He liked having someone with him during his travels. Someone who needed him and who he needed. The little cooing sounds that Grogu made when he was happy. The little grumbling sounds he made when he was so clearly annoyed with the bounty hunter were gone now. Din Djarin missed them. 

Now, the Armorer had agreed to make something for Grogu. A tiny beskar shirt that would protect him from many hazards and act as a reminder that Mandalorians and Jedi could get along. Really, a reminder that he had a family waiting for him whenever he wanted to follow a different path. The fact that the shirt had been made from pure beskar from that spear Morgan Elsbeth had was another reminder that nothing was in it’s final form. Not the weapon or the child that would benefit from its transformation. 

She had reminded him that Jedi must forgo attachment. That was not their way. But then she also noted that Mandalorians valued loyalty and solidarity. It had made them strong. Was that what he feared? That without Grogu he wouldn’t be as strong? And that Grogu would be vulnerable? That seemed absurd. The Jedi was very strong and very skilled and he had saved them all from the dark troopers that Gideon had sent after them. Grogu would be fine…

Dank Farrik! 

The problem was that while the Jedi might be strong, did he really care about the child? Was he going to make sure he was clean, fed, and protected every day? Was he going to be ever vigilant and make sure that no other Imp Remnant that caught wind of the Grogu’s value to their plots and machinations was able to attack him or kidnap him? 

The Jedi said he would train Grogu in the ways of the Force, but the Jedi Order had fallen as readily as Mandalore had been destroyed by the Empire. Could two Jedi really prevent that from happening again? Din Djarin had no way to know, but he did know that the Armorer was right. Mandalorians were stronger because of their attachments. Their families, their clans… The Mudhorn Clan. Din Djarin wore that sigil proudly. They were a clan of two. Not one. Two. 

He sighed again. 

He would bring the shirt to Grogu, make sure he was doing well, and suggest to the Jedi that they should work together. He would explain how attachments made Mandalorians strong. Strong enough to protect Grogu until they all needed the Jedi’s intervention. That loyalty was also a strength they had and he could swear upon his honor to aid the Jedi in manner necessary to help him achieve his goal. Jedi and Mandalorians did not need to fight one another. They could learn from one another. It had worked with Ahsoka Tano. It could work again. 

Of course that was easy to think. Easy to hope for. Easy to want. But Din Djarin knew from his brief discussions with the Armorer and his own research, that Jedi followed just as strict a Creed as Mandalorians. That they had both survived showed how they adhered to the dogma of their tribes. Even Ahsoka had balked at training Grogu because of the attachment the boy had with his Mandalorian protector. Din Djarin knew that attachment was mutual. He just had the advantage of adulthood to compel him to do the right thing and let Grogu follow his own path. Grogu had made a choice. He had gone with the Jedi. His attachment to the Mandalorian wasn’t strong enough to prevent that. 

Then Din heard a voice he hadn’t heard for years. His training officer scolding him for day dreaming.

“Djarin! Wake up boy. If you want a thing to be true you can’t just dream about it. You must take action. Not every foundling has the ability to do what you do. You must choose your path and when you do, you will find a way to be Mand’alor one day. I see that in you. It is time for you to know it yourself.”

Of course Din Djarin didn’t want to be Mand’alor. He appreciated Lacc Straso’s encouragement to that end and did his best to make him proud. Now he just wanted to do the same for Grogu. He had a path and it was time to take it. They were a Clan of Two. 

[burnwater13]

Boba Fett speaking to Fennec Shand (out of frame) while standing in the burned out hulk of Garsa Fwip's Sanctuary. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 6, In the Name of Honor. Calendar from DataWorks.

Grogu wondered why Boba Fett felt so strongly about Mos Espa. Was he really worried about the people there or was he worried about his reputation? He’d decided, when he met up with Bib Fortuna, according to Fennec, that he wanted to retire from bounty hunting because the clients were a lot of trouble for a small amount of gain. Bib Fortuna apparently being a good example of that.

Grogu could understand the problems that any bounty hunter had with bad the clients. The really bad ones. The ones that asked you to bring children in and the truly evil ones that asked you to bring them cold… you know… permanently cold. Uff. What kind of bounty hunter would take a job like that? A droid maybe? Or someone who was just evil. 

As far as Grogu could tell, Boba Fett was about the least evil bounty hunter he’d met, next to his dad. And Fennec. Grogu understood from the stories his dad had told him about Fennec that she had a heck of a reputation, but it seemed like the people she dealt with would have ended up that way sooner or later. He counted that in her favor, although he was sure that his masters would have scolded him. 

Jedi did not become bounty hunters and they did not hire them. If there was a person they needed to find… well… they found them. The Force was very useful for that sort of thing if you knew what you were doing. That was one of the first things that Grogu learned to do. He had too. It was the easiest way to find his way around the Jedi Temple. 

Imagine, if you will, being less than a third of a meter tall. If you were walking, and Master Yoda certainly thought that your character would be built better if you were walking, everything that might be useful as a landmark for you, was of no use to all the people there who were significantly taller. Since there were no Anzellans at the Temple, everyone was taller than Grogu. So asking for directions from any of the other younglings, padawans, or masters was complete waste of time. Take for example this exchange with Master Obi-Wan, one of the most sympathetic and considerate masters.

“Grogu, I need you to bring this data pack to Master Drallig. I believe he’s at the exterior training ground at this time of day.”

Grogu took the data pack, which was half his size and began to trot off.

“No, Grogu. Not that way. Master Drallig is at the exterior training ground. Go south down this corridor, turn left at the statue of Master Draebeert, and then proceed to the doors at the end of that corridor.”

Grogu, knowing that Master Obi-Wan meant well, nodded his head, turned around and began to trot down the corridor, also knowing that the tall human was watching him every step of the way now. 

“I appreciate you doing this for me, young one. It is very important that you don’t delay bringing the data pack to him. Thank you.”

Of course he hadn’t planned on delaying giving Master Drallig the data pack. That’s why he wasn’t going to the exterior training grounds because Grogu knew it was pouring rain outside. He’d seen the rain while he’d been doing work in the arboretum. When it rained, Master Drallig conducted classes in the small basement area of the gymnasium which was meant for practicing the physical arts, like wrestling, boxing, and martial arts. Grogu often went there just to watch the padawans train because everyone had already agreed that Grogu was not going to taking advantage of physical strength to win any argument. At least the kind that didn’t depend on the Force. 

So off he trotted and dutifully went down the hallway looking for a statue of someone he’d never heard of. Grogu suspected that Master Kenobi thought that Grogu would simply glance at the plaques that had been positioned on or near each statue. Of course they were all placed approximately 1.5 meters above the floor. For Grogu to be able to read them he’d have to across the hall from them and standing on a plinth that was about a half a meter tall. Needless to say, those plinths did not exist in the temple. 

So there he was  jumping up every time he reached a corridor and statue to see whose it was. After doing that three or four times, Master Drallig came up to him from the cross corridor and asked him what he was doing. 

Grogu had replied that he was looking for the Master to give him a data pack from Master Kenobi.

“I see. I think. In the future, simple close your eyes and reach out with the Force. Think of me and you will know my location. This works the same way as when you are ‘somehow’ locating any spare snacks in the training rooms.”

Master Drallig was almost smiling at him and Grogu returned the smile as he handed the tall human the data pack. He’d just thought he’d been lucky finding those snacks. Now that he knew it was the Force there was no end…

“And do not use that technique to avoid people or get into mischief with Ian. The two of you remind me of one of my padawans from years ago. If I didn’t know better I would say one or the other of your was Seb’s child. Now, back to your lessons.”

Grogu had tried not to laugh at the notion that any one padawan could out do Grogu and Ian at any sort of mischief, but if there was one, he wanted to meet them. Which brought him back to thinking about Boba Fett and why he became Daimyo of Mos Espa. It was the people. He’d met them. Listened to them. Promised to help them build a better life. Much like Master Drallig who had helped Grogu that day, so long ago. A life devoted to helping others. 

Grogu sighed. The people of Mos Espa had no idea how lucky they were.

[burnwater13]

Din Djarin removing the Mythrol from the speeder on Pagodon. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 1, The Mandalorian. Calendar from DataWorks.

“Why did I tell them that Pagodon was a frozen planet? Because I thought that would be more interesting.”

Grogu looked at his dad and shook his head. How were they ever going to maintain production integrity if Din Djarin continued to tell people things that were almost true, but not actually true? What if his mom relented and they brought Jon to a galaxy, far, far away and he noticed all things that that the Mandalorian had been ‘creative’ about describing?

When his mom finally brought him to Pagodon, Grogu found that it was a beautiful Earth-like planet. Of course, Earth before all the polluting and clear cutting and willy nilly development of every scrap of sand near the coastlines of their continents.

When they flew over Earth on the N-1, Grogu had requested that his dad do a full sweep of the planet to make sure they had a good idea of where population centers were. Turns out, they were everywhere. 

That’s when they picked the one near the ocean and the place called Santa Monica, which pretty much proved his rule. If you have a lovely bit of sand and a view of the ocean, the inhabitants of earth will build their dwellings there to limit who else could see, use, or appreciate it. It’s like the people of Earth liked to live dangerously on purpose. That was not the way it was on the real Pagodon.

Nope. The real Pagodon was a model of hub and spoke design and utilized the lands that couldn’t produce any other sustainable system. Yup, buildings, dwellings, factories, markets and all that were part of a specific sustainable system that ensured that the planet had time to rejuvenate while still sustaining life. It was pretty cool. Very unlike Tatooine, or Nevarro, or Coruscant. Grogu figured that was due to the fact that Pagodon had never been part of the Imperium or the old Republic and really wasn’t part of the ‘New’ Republic either. What is was part of was never mentioned, but he was pretty sure that his mom knew all about it. He wondered if the same thing could be done for Earth.

“Buddy, your mom says it would take a lot of work and that generations of people would have to be willing to make a change.”

Grogu grumbled that it was possible for people to do that. After all, the rebels had managed to fight against the Empire and win. 

“Buddy, that’s very true, but that only took four standard years. In part that was because a whole galaxy is pretty hard to manage, even if you are a Sith. The people who fought the Emperor and his ilk remembered what it was like to live in greater freedom. They understood what they were losing minute by minute. I’m sorry to say that most folks don’t understand what’s already been lost on Earth.”

Grogu sighed. That was probably true. On Pagodon, the oceans weren’t frozen over and they were teaming with all manner of life. Huge critters like the ravinak, which didn’t really try to eat anyone’s vessels because there were so many fish and squid and other critters to eat. And teeny, tiny plankton that were the food source for whales,  that made the ravinak seem small. The giant quid were fascinating to Grogu because they would occasionally push a vessel in front of them in order to hide from the ravinak. He was pretty sure that’s how the myth that Ravinak tried to eat speeders and starships started. 

On Earth, according to a vid program he’d watched, the oceans were suffering from all sorts of problems because humans liked to dump their trash into them. Maybe ‘like’ was the wrong word, but they certainly didn’t stop doing it even after they realized how wrong it was. 

He asked his dad why humans were that way. He thought it was a fair question since Grogu wasn’t human and Din Djarin was clearly very human. 

“Buddy, I don’t have a good answer for that question. According to Mandalorian history, Mandalorians did the same thing. They stripped the resources off the surface and sub-surface of Mand’alor in order to support their expansion into other planetary systems. But why they decided to keep expanding at the cost of their actual home planet never made sense to me. I guess it’s pretty easy to tell when you don’t have enough food in your preserver, but its harder to tell that about your planet. Then you find yourself eating ration packs made somewhere else because your home planet can’t produce enough food and after a couple of generations people think the only food is ration packs.”

Uff. What kind of nightmare was that? Grogu was not a fan of ration packs. Not at all. 

“Well, you were lucky. You had that arboretum in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and were able to grow the food you ate. But Coruscant itself was dependent on dozens of worlds for its food supply. You once described the planet as a cross between a mech and droid. They require energy but its not in a format that living beings can use. Any planet is a collection of complex systems and you have to pay attention to them all or failure will be catastrophic.”

Grogu nodded his head at that. A lot like the time they crashed on Maldo Kreis, an actual ice planet. 

“Buddy, that was a hard landing, but you’re correct. The Razor Crest took a huge amount of damage and it took me a good amount of time to do what I could do to fix just enough of it to get off planet.”

His dad paused for a moment, no doubt recalling that moment and then continued. 

“And I could only get that much done because Teva and Wolfe took care of those spiders you woke up. You didn’t consider the impact of eating that one tiny pod and look at what happened. I guess, for Earth to be more like Pagodon, the real Pagodon, we’ll all have to think more before we take action, rather than do whatever it takes to survive after the disaster is chasing us down frozen pathway that we didn’t really think twice about walking along to begin with.”

Grogu nodded his head. They would have to think more and not with their stomachs or their desire for power or their desire for a good view. He liked Earth and he really hoped that one day it would be more like the real Pagodon and less like the one that was a frozen wasteland. He didn’t want it to be the next Mandalore or Coruscant or Tatooine. He hoped that the people of Earth would think about it every day. It was the only planet they had.

Happy Earth Day!

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Nick Gindraux for The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 6, The Prisoner. The Mandalorian is depicted firing down a corridor as battle droids approach. Cells are visible along the corridor.

Din Djarin sighed. He had hoped this would be a quick job and that he and the child would be able to gather some intel from Ran and find someplace safe to hunker down. It became clear that nothing like that was going to happen. Dank Farrik.

First, he thought he was just going to take Ran’s team somewhere and  just drop them off. He had done that often enough when they originally worked together. To find that he wasn’t even going to pilot the Razor Crest was not welcome information. It hadn’t been easy to acquire and it would be even more trouble to replace if anything happened to it. 

Second, he didn’t find out that they were extracting a prisoner from a New Republic prison vessel until it was too late to refuse. Picking someone up from a rival group was as different from springing a guy from a New Republic prison ship as the Razor Crest was different from an Old Imperial Dreadnaught. This job just went from bad to awful.

Finally, the crew. Uff. The Mandalorian was surprised that any of them had managed to avoid being held in a New Republic prison transport themselves. They were a hot mess. One was violent, one was just a mass of muscle, another was trigger happy, and the worst one was a reprogrammed protocol droid. What had he signed himself up for when he contacted Ran and asked if they could work something out that was mutually beneficial?  This was not what he had hoped to be doing and he certainly hadn’t expected to expose the child to such a motley crew. 

At least he could control for that. He’d left the little one in his cabin and locked the door. He wasn’t going to open it and let any of them see his small companion. Based on what Ran said to him about getting crosswise with the guild made him worry that his old ‘friend’ knew all about what happened on Nevarro and that meant he couldn’t be trusted to know about the kid or anything else. Just like old times.

Old times had been one nightmare after another with all of the old crew doing one dangerous, often stupid thing, after another. Sure, Ran had made credits and Din Djarin had as well, since even his old armor had protected him from the worse of their misadventures, including Xian’s persistent testing of his reflexes with her knives. But, there were a number of good reasons they had parted ways. 

Ran had shorted his cut of the take on more than one job. Xian had cut up so many members of their team that Din Djarin spent as much of his time patching people back together as he did planning missions and providing cover fire. And Xian’s brother, Qin was just as much a problem. He was just slightly more cheerful while he picked locks and subdued guards than any of the rest of them. A Mandalorian bounty hunter was expected to display more discipline. More consideration. More sense. A lot more sense. 

Dank Farrik. 

Then Burg, the big muscle for their team decided to be nosey. Well, Din Djarin had shut that down as quickly as he could. But not before the door to his cabin was opened and there was the child. Standing up and carefully observing each one of them. He could only imagine what the child might think seeing them all. When he was that age, well, he hadn’t actually reached the child’s reported age yet, but when he was a youngling, he hadn’t met anyone who carried weapons with so little concern. At least, not until he’d been saved by the Mandalorians on Aq Vetina. 

That brought back memories he didn’t want to think about. Including his general concerns about the child he’d decided to protect. Had he known his parents? Had he any idea where he came from? Was he an orphan or abandoned or did he have a family who was frantically trying to locate him? The Mandalorian had no idea but he certainly didn’t want this group of people to think about the child in any way at all. 

“What is it? Like a pet, or something?”

Mayfeld asked the question to see if he could push the Mandalorian’s buttons.

“Sure. Something like that.”

Easier to pretend the child was a pet then have them think he was anything else. Although as soon as he said that, the Mandalorian was certain that the child had made a face or a sound that indicated his disapproval of that whole notion. It wasn’t the first time that the bounty hunter was happy that he wore a helmet that shielded his face. The notion that small being was scolding him about a necessary cover story was just too funny. He couldn’t imagine the grief he’d take from Xian or Mayfeld if they had seen his grin or his eyes crinkle at their corners or saw how red he got in the face from trying not to laugh. It wasn’t worth it and it wouldn’t protect the child.

After that moment of levity that no one knew about except for him, the Razor Crest dropped out of hyperspace and he and the child and everyone else went bouncing around the storage bay. That wretched droid didn’t give a circuit relay about what was happening to the actual living members of their party. Which reminded him that he didn’t want that thing to know anything about the child. Nothing. After what happened with the IG unit on Arvala-7, the Mandalorian didn’t trust the protocol droid as far as the child could… no, as far as he could throw him. 

He spoke to the child quickly and quietly and gave him a rations pack to eat, while the others were preparing to board the vessel they had landed on. He hoped he wouldn’t find it used as a paint pallet again with assorted symbols decorating the walls of the cabin like the last time he’d had to leave the little one alone for a few hours. The walls cleaned up pretty easily, but getting the little one out of that coverall to bathe him and then trying to get him back into the thing had been a true trial of Mandalorian perseverance. 

He had hoped he wouldn’t have to survive that trial again for a couple of days instead of a mere twenty hours. Maybe he should get them a pet. Then it could clean the little one up when food was used as paint. It was worth a try, right?

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Nick Gindraux, depicts the Mandalorian shooting at battle droids on a ship, while his companions look on. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 6, The Prisoner. Calendar by DataWorks.

Who were these ‘friends’ of the Mandalorian? They seemed pretty suspect to Grogu. Not nice, open, easy to get to know people like Kuiil or Cara Dune. They weren’t even cute like Peli Motto or kind, like Winta’s mom. Nope. They were all criminals or something very close to being criminals. How did someone like the Mandalorian even meet them?

Grogu had thought that the ‘job’ was going to be something quick and easy. Fly a few folks to their destination, wait for them to do their business and then take them back home. Sort of like being a public transport, only you didn’t have to wait for the right speeder to show up. You just told the pilot where to go and they got you there. 

Having seen their weapons and listened to them ‘chat’ with the Mandalorian, it was Grogu’s considered opinion that they were going to do something that usually caused a bounty to be taken out against a person. Was the Mandalorian hoping to bring them in warm? Or cold, Grogu’s personal preference, or something else? Grogu didn’t know, but he sure hoped it wasn’t something else. That didn’t bode well for either of them. 

It had been his experience that when people showed you who they are, well that’s who they were. Abrupt, mouthy, bit of a bully, well, that’s what they were, a mouthy bully who did unpredictable things because that’s how they felt most comfortable. And that was just the Mayfeld guy. He seemed like the nicest one of the three people he actually met. 

And just to be clear, in case anyone felt like correcting him, Grogu knew that a droid went with them on that trip. The droid was the scariest and least predictable member of the group and Grogu did not consider it to be a person. He also would have preferred not to have met it. He has spoken!

If he had thought that the Mandalorian would have listened to him, he would have gladly advised the bounty hunter to leave immediately and go some place with fewer criminals. Maybe Takodana. Or Corellia.  Any place but that repair station and definitely not wherever they were headed. But the Mandalorian didn’t listen to people smaller than him, more or less. He had listened to Peli, but Grogu was pretty sure that she was the exception that proved the rule. 

Grogu bit his lip and pretty much stayed to himself until he wanted some food. If he didn’t eat in a timely manner he just got cranky. That wasn’t a good thing. He lost his patience more quickly. He snapped at people. Literally. And he was more tempted to use the Force to get what he wanted and doubted that the Mandalorian would thank him for that. 

Apparently his timing wasn’t all that good and it turned out that the droid was flying the Razor Crest and the other people were standing around trying to get on each other’s last nerve. Grogu should have expected that. It was part and parcel of all the bad vibes he got from them. 

He expected the Mandalorian to warn them that they were traveling with a Jedi, now that they all knew that Grogu was on board, but strangely he didn’t. Instead, and Grogu couldn’t believe his ears, the bounty hunter told the motley crew that he was a pet. A pet! Uff. He had absolutely nothing in common with a Loth cat and everyone could see that. 

Okay, okay, to be fair, that blabber mouth Mayfeld suggested that he was either a pet or a child that the Mandalorian and the Twi’lek person had when they knew each other. On that basis Grogu didn’t really blame the Mandalorian for choosing ‘pet’ over ‘child’. He had certainly been someone’s child but despite the similarity in the outward appearance of their teeth, he had nothing else in common with the Twi’lek. 

He was glad of that. She liked playing with that knife too much for Grogu’s comfort. That was a good way to get cut. He’d heard that warning from Master Drallig everyday for a year, until the Jedi Battle Master accidentally dropped his lightsaber on his own foot. It hadn’t been activated but it still hurt based on the hopping, cursing, and complaining that took place right after the incident. 

Grogu was about to warn her about that when the ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace and then did a whole series of swoops, flips, turns and drops before it landed on something. Unfortunately the artificial gravity on the Razor Crest was of no use during a maneuver like that. You were supposed to be strapped into your seat when you have to evade an enemy, not stand around playing with knives and being obnoxious. 

For some reason the Mandalorian was worried more about Grogu than his ship and picked him up and checked him out as quickly as he could before putting him back in the tiny single person cabin they shared. It was just as well. Grogu had just remembered where he had stashed some snacks and he wanted to eat them before anything else happened. With people like this as part of his team, Grogu was certain that the Mandalorian would end up having to save them all from their own selfishness and Grogu didn’t want to have to witness that. They were who they were and he believed them.