#freemakers

The Emperor! What the heck! The Emperor was gone. Long gone. Gone for good. Gone because he was evil with a capital E and there could be no balance in the Force as long as he was still walking around Coruscant going Zappity Zap! Grogu knew he was gone. He could tell. The day Palpatine took that one way trip down a reactor shaft which should have been a bad day for anyone, including a Sith Lord, Grogu had felt the burden of that darkness lift off his shoulders. He felt lighter than air and had actually floated right out of his hiding place behind some crates on an old, beat up freighter. That had actually been fine, because the people operating the freighter were celebrating. He didn’t know how they knew Palpatine was gone, but they knew.

Now, somehow, Darth Sidious was back? That felt like the worst sort of dream. Why would he be back? Just to go after ‘Rowan’ for his lightsaber? Or was he going after the lady with the head buns? Or was he just on a vacation, like Grogu and his dad? Uff. Did it really matter? If Darth Sidious, also known as Sheev Palpatine, was coming to the Wheel, then Din Grogu better get the heck off the Wheel, before the Force shifted it’s balance. Grogu had been through that once and he had no desire to experience it again. 

He was about to just turn his hover pram right around and back track to the spot where his dad was probably looking for him, when he heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, have you seen a boy, about so high, with brown hair and a shirt that says ‘Jek is the Best’ go by here?”

It belonged to the person who’d been yelling for ‘Rowan’. She looked nice and a bit impatient. He knew the look. His dad wore that look under his helmet a lot. He didn’t think that Grogu knew about it, but Grogu did. He couldn’t not know about it. 

Grogu pointed at the door that Rowan had knocked on and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Really? He went to see her? Again! I told him to stay away from Naare! He knows she’s a Sith!”

What?! Another Sith on the station? That just didn’t seem fair. Grogu might have been able to get away from one Sith with out much trouble, but two? Wow, his dad wasn’t going to be happy about that.

On the other hand, Bun Ears didn’t seem like a Sith. She wasn’t angry. She’d been frightened. And concerned. Mostly concerned about Rowan. No Sith was ever concerned about anyone but themselves.

 Grogu waved his hand at the woman who stood there fuming, again, a lot like his dad,  trying to get her attention. 

“You try and raise them right. You do your best. You don’t let them follow Zander on everyone of his crazy schemes. You help him do his schoolwork because math just isn’t his thing. And what do you get? You get ‘Kordi, I have to save the Princess! Kordi, I have to save Luke! Kordi, I have to save Roger!’. But you never get, ‘Kordi, I have to save some credits so our business won’t go bankrupt and you’ll have to work as a server down at the quick turn food mart.’ No. You never get that.”

Grogu only understood about half of what ‘Kordi’ was saying, but he definitely understood how she was feeling. He focused on her and lifted her up using the Force.

“Rowan! Put me down this instant!”

Huh? Kordi knew that Rowan had powers? Was Rowan a Jedi? No. He couldn’t be. But he could use the Force. Other people who had never turned up at the Jedi Temple had been able to use the Force. 

Grogu put Kordi down as gently as he could, but apparently that was a mistake. She turned and looked right at him, her face kind of shocked, until it switched to a ‘look at the cute baby’ face. 

“You. You did that. You can use the Force?”

Kordi spoke faster than Peli Motto and Grogu was impressed by that. 

He nodded his head. No point lying to someone who knew a person who might also be a Jedi.

“Huh. I thought Luke Skywalker was the only Jedi left in the galaxy.”

They’d met Luke? Wow. 

Grogu shook his head again and pointed to himself and held up one finger. 

“Got it. You’re a Jedi, Luke’s a Jedi, and Rowan really, really, wants to be a Jedi. But there’s this Sith lady called Naare who tricked him and I can’t go through all that again. It was a nightmare.”

Grogu nodded and then clicked his tongue and shook his head. He held his hands next to his ears to try and mimic the shape of the pastry buns this person had. 

“You don’t think the person in there is Naare? Her hair was in double buns? Was she wearing a jacket with a patch that says, ‘I’m not with the Rebels, I am the Rebel!’”

Grogu thought for a moment, replaying that very brief moment he saw Bun Ears. Then he nodded his head vigorously. Yes, he’d seen that blue and gold rebel alliance symbol on her vest. He’d almost mistaken it for the ‘Jiffy Clean’ symbol he remembered from the Jedi Temple. ‘Jiffy Clean will get it clean in a jiffy’ was their tag line. He always wondered how long a jiffy was, but even Ian couldn’t answer his question. 

“That’s great! But why is Princess Leia on the Wheel?! She shouldn’t be here! It’s too dangerous!”

Grogu sighed. He thought he’d been helping Kordi. And anyway, why would Princess Leia be worried about Palpatine? He was gone! Grogu knew he was gone!Was there a new Emperor and no one had told Grogu about it? Had that happened while he and his dad were gallivanting around on Mandalore?! Just what the heck was going on?!

“Kordi, good you’re here! Come on in and bring your friend. We need to talk.”

Grogu looked up and saw the lady with the Bun ears and realized that she must be Princess Leia. She didn’t look like any princess he’d ever met, but then he probably didn’t look like any Jedi she’d ever met.

“You’re a little short to be a Jedi Master, but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”