#dantooine

“Has she always been so independent? She seems so soft spoken at times and then, well, she cut battle droids to pieces with her lightsaber and I was pretty surprised at that.”

Din Djarin spoke quietly as they continued on their way through the hanger.

“Yes. She is like her mother in that regard. I’m just surprised she used the lightsaber. She’s quite capable of simply dismantling droids using the Force. HK has experienced that more than once when he re-interpreted her commands.  But you are not wrong, she is, by nature, a very gentle person. She doesn’t want people to think that the power she is able to access has changed her. That is why she spends her time helping the New Republic and all of her friends on Ordo, Tatooine, Takodana, Corellia, Chandrila… honestly, just name a planet and she has a friend there who reached out to her for assistance.”

“And you’re comfortable with that?”

Grogu didn’t know if his dad was just asking or criticizing Seb. It was hard to tell. Grogu did things without his dad personally observing him all the time. Helping Ta’lan in the temple was an excellent example. Was he really the person to ask that sort of question?

“Which part of it? Knowing that she is loving and generous despite all the things that happened early in her life gives me great joy. She does not let her past define her. That is not an easy transition to make and I know what I am speaking about. I was a Jedi for most of my life and then I had to leave to save myself from the Order’s failings. Were it not for the love and unrelenting care my brother and the rest of the Brethren gave me, I would not have been able to make that transition. It didn’t get any easier when I discovered that Ta’lan was my daughter or when we both discovered Dagon on Tatooine.”

Seb paused because they had reached the back wall of the hanger and he quickly ‘opened’ the door that Ta’lan had closed without Grogu or his dad noticing. They passed through the portal before Seb spoke again. Grogu was glad for the short break so he could rearrange himself in the carry-all. He wanted a better view of the space they were going to move through again.

“The only relief I have is that Dagon is closed to the Force. He doesn’t have to struggle with balance as his sister does. He just struggles with how his father could not have known of his existence. I struggle with that as well. Ta’lan, for her part, just accepts it as she has accepted all manner of parents, siblings, and other extended family members. It gives her great joy to have so many people claim her.”

Din Djarin laughed at that comment and Grogu wondered why.

“Then Grogu isn’t her only ‘biggest’ fan? That’s good to know. I’m pretty sure that if I let him out of this bag he’d be racing back to check on her.”

Grogu chirped and complained at his dad. He saw nothing wrong with being Ta’lan’s biggest fan and since he could just reach out with the Force to check up on her, he didn’t have to leave the bag. It saved him a lot of effort and he was glad of that. He’d eaten those last bites of fire stack a little faster than he should have and he really wanted to burp but he didn’t want to seem rude to Seb.

“No. She has friends everywhere she goes.  That hasn’t always been easy on those friends as they discover each other. The New Republic has never been comfortable with how connected she is within Mandalorian space and the Mandalorian diaspora, despite how much they depend on her ability to help them in those same spaces. That is just one of the prices she pays for being balanced. 

Right now, she is no doubt talking to one or more very earnest people who were assigned the task of convincing her to do something that she may or may not agree is the appropriate path forward. She will listen intently and then explain in detail why she will or will not do as they request. They often don’t recognize the ‘no’ and go off full of hope, only to be disappointed later. Let me assure you, she does vent about things like that, but perhaps only to me. She doesn’t like to share her burdens.”

“I have seen that in action. Has she always been a magnet for kyber crystals? I’ve never had to pull one of those things out of anyone before.”

Grogu shook his head. He remembered seeing the crystal poking out of her side, smeared with her blood and she just talked to him and tried to make him feel better about it. It wasn’t stuck in his side!

“I can’t say if she was always a magnet for them, but since I’ve known her? Yes. I don’t…”

“Have time to give away all of my daughter’s secrets?”

Ta’lan’s voice carried from just a short distance away from them and Grogu began to giggle. Was Fennec Shand her mother? They certainly had a lot in common.

“I won’t tell Fennec you thought about that. She is far too young to have a child like me. Our visitors were in a couple of X-wings. They said they were on a routine patrol when their sensors’ picked up an engine signature. They’ll be on their way shortly. I’ve explained to them that the parts to the Naboo fighters have been redeployed back to Naboo. By the time they get there, those parts will already be installed on the Mandalorian’s ship. I have also agreed to a trip to Chandrila. I have been asked to speak to the Security Council again. They want to know why the protocols for accessing systems have changed.”

“What will you tell them?”

Seb’s question was asked as if he was asking about a new star destroyer.

“What I always tell them. The truth. The protocols change when breaches to the system are detected. I detected a breach and changed the protocols. Until a few people become more selective with who they consider ‘rehabilitated’, that will continue to be my practice.”

“Did they really think that I would pick up a bounty puck for you?”

Din Djarin was incredulous. Grogu agreed with the sentiment, even if he couldn’t duplicate the tone of voice.

“I wouldn’t say ‘thinking’ was at the top of the list of what they were doing. I’ll know more when I go to Chandrila.”