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The Mandalorian, Season 1, Episode 1, Chapter 1: The Mandalorian, Part 2 What's the job?

As told to Ta’lan Bet by Grogu and Din Djarin

Special thank you to Jon Favreau for writing the episode that inspired this re-telling.

Thank you to Din Djarin and Grogu for their time as well.

Oya Manda!

Note: Din Djarin told this part of the story to a friend, Ta’lan Bet of the Brethren (OC). Ta’lan related it to Grogu while spending time with the diminutive Mandalorian foundling after finding out that his father had not told him what it took to find him the first time.

Grogu was just happy to know what Din went through to reach him. It was hard calling to people using the Force when you were out of practice.

Note for the Note: Ta’lan has embellished this telling for Grogu’s sake. The story the Mandalorian shared with her took about five minutes and he was drinking a ferment while telling it. Any errors are hers; call them creative license.

Grogu's comments can be found in brackets [Grogu]. Hope this helps.

Din brought the Razor Crest to Nevarro in order to collect on his bounties. The strange semi-volcanic planet was an interesting location for the Bounty Hunters guild, but he had seen stranger things. He was careful landing the craft not just because of the presence of lava creeping slowly everywhere around the town’s landing flat, but also because of the damage the Ravinak may have done to the ship.

Once the ship was properly secured, The Mandalorian went in search of Greef Karga, the local Bounty Hunters Guild leader. He wanted his credits. He had things to do with them.

When he reached the cantina that Greef liked to work out of, he found it filled with the typical collection of scum and villainy. He didn’t expect it to be different. Bounty hunting attracted a variety of people, but he found most fell into one of two categories: people who had no other way to earn their keep, and people who found danger and boredom enticing. Both groups operated out of desperation more than anything else. He was different. He had a purpose

[Grogu asked if Din’s purpose had been to find Grogu. Ta’lan had said Din’s purpose had been to help all the Mandalorian foundlings that the Tribe supported. So that was a yes, then? Yes, Ta’lan sighed.]

Greef Karga greeted him from a comfortable booth in the center of the cantina. It gave him a reasonable field of view.

“Ah, that was fast. Did you catch them all?” Greef was a solidly built man with short, dark hair, deep brown skin, and a voice that showed that he had seen many things good and bad in the Galaxy and none of them surprised him.
Din the tracking fobs down on the table and waited in silence.

“Good. I’ll begin the off-load.” Greef leaned to one side and called out in Huttese to one of his men. That man responded immediately and left the cantina.

At that the Mandalorian rearranged his weapons and took a seat across from Karga. He wanted his payment.

Greef placed a small stack of credits on the table next to the four bounty fobs.

Din was not impressed. “These are Imperial Credits.”

“They still spend.”

“I don’t know if you heard, but the Empire is gone.” The Mandalorian knew that Karga could do better.

“It’s all I’ve got.”

Din reached forward for the bounty fobs. Greef stopped him.

“Save the theatrics. Fine I’ll…” he reached into his money pouch and brought out a different currency. “I can do Calamari Flan, but I can only pay half.”

The offer was considered.

“Fine.” Din returned the bounty fobs to the table and took the translucent blue discs.

Karga secured the fobs and checked his list of open bounties. He’d come to know that the Mandalorian was already for the next job, even when there wasn’t a next job.

“Hmm. I have a bail jumper…a bail jumper, another bail jumper, a wanted smuggler.” The bounty pucks were placed on the table one by one.

“I’ll take them all.” Din reached forward to collect the pucks.

“No. Hold on.” Karga stopped him. “There are other members of the Guild, and this is all I have.”

“Why so slow?”

“It’s not slow at all, actually. Very busy. They just don’t want to pay Guild rates. They don’t mind if things get sloppy.” Greef Karga seemed to take it personally, but then he tried to run a professional Guild with standards.

“What’s your highest bounty?” The Mandalorian was impatient to get to work.

[Grogu snickered at that. Of course Din Djarin was impatient. He wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t always acting on purpose.]

“Not much. Five thousand?”

“That won’t even cover fuel these days.”

“Hmmm.” Karga paused for a moment, “There is one job.” He leaned closer to the Mandalorian.

“Let’s see the puck.” Din couldn’t understand why he had to pry this out of Karga. It was irritating.

“No puck.” The other man said with a sense of importance. “Face to Face. Direct commission. Deep pocket.”

Now the Mandalorian was interested and not just impatient.

“Underworld?”

“All I know is no chain code. Do you want the chit or not?” Karga held out a small white card.

Din Djarin considered it for a moment and then took the chit. Maybe this job would be more interesting than the last four bounties he had collected.

He stood up and left the cantina and Greef Karga behind. He made his way through the well peopled and somewhat narrow streets and pathways of the town. He knew where he was going and found the building and door he wanted quickly.

He pounded on the door and waited. A security scanner popped out from behind a plaque near the door and extended itself to interrogate him. He lifted the chit up so it could read it. A moment later the door, a heavy metal job, slid to one side letting the Mandalorian enter the building.

A gonk met him and walked him over to another door, with a key pad. The door slid open almost silently and revealed a large room lit by a large window. Four people dressed in old Imperial Storm Trooper armor where in the room. There armor showed signs of wear and tear and little to no maintenance. The Mandalorian was unimpressed.

[What’s a gonk? Grogu asked, interrupting the flow of the story. ‘It’s a utility droid. Some are power banks, others just do what you tell them to do.’ Oh. A trash can droid. ‘Yes, a trash can droid.’]

Din stepped into the room slowly. He really didn’t want to start a thing with those ex-troopers.

“Greef Karga said you were coming.” Din turned to look at the older man who spoke so calmly. Clearly an ex-Imperial of some note.

Din walked over to the desk the man sat behind before speaking. The troopers made way for him.
“What else did he say?”

“He said you were the best in the parsec.” The man seemed bored. Like he’d been through this before. Many times.

Din heard a door open and grabbed his disruptor rifle and his side arm as a slender man in a pale coat entered the room unannounced.

A trooper yelled “Freeze!” And the man himself yelled “No!” With his hands up, startled and afraid.

[Grogu interrupted to say that he should have been afraid. Din usually shot first and ignored questions later. Ta’lan sighed and kept telling him the story.]

“Drop your weapons!”

“No, no, no, no. Pardon. Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm.” The newcomer spoke quickly in a terrified voice, while the older man looked on, unconcerned.

“This is Doctor Pershing.”

[Grogu shivered hearing his name.]

“Please excuse his lack of decorum.” The client walked over to the Mandalorian. Clearly he was used to scenes like this one. “His enthusiasm outweighs his discretion. Please lower your blaster.”

Din was impressed, but not stupid. “Have them lower theirs first.”

“We have you four to one,” snapped one of the troopers.

[Grogu giggled at this. He supposed it was good that the guy could count. Ta’lan gave him a look and he settled down again.]

“I like those odds.” The Mandalorian was not giving them anything.

The client stepped closer to Din. “He also said you were expensive. Very expensive. Please sit.”

The guy had no fear as he stepped away and directed the troopers to drop their weapons with just a wave of his hand.

The Mandalorian holstered his sidearm and went over to the desk and took one of the two chairs that were placed in front of it. He kept his disruptor rifle on his lap. Peaceful didn’t mean unprepared.

The client pushed a black cloth closer to the Mandalorian and carefully unfolded it to reveal a thick rectangle of sliver grey metal with an Imperial stamp on it.

“Beskar?”

“Go ahead. It’s real.” The client spoke confidently. Of course he did if he had resources like that.

“This is only a down payment. I have a camtono of Beskar waiting for you upon delivery of the asset.”

“Alive.” Dr. Pershing offered.

“Yes, alive.” Agreed the client. “Although I acknowledge that bounty hunting is a complicated profession. This being the case, proof of termination is also acceptable for a lower fee.”

[What! Grogu was very unhappy about that statement.]

“That is not what we agreed upon.” Pershing was definitely not the person in charge here.

“I’m simply being pragmatic.”

“Let’s see the puck.” The Mandalorian just wanted to get moving. This was already too much talking without saying anything.

“I’m afraid discretion dictates a less traditional agreement. We can only offer you a tracking fob.” The client signaled his sidekick and the doctor handed Din a tracking fob.

“What’s the chain code?”

“We can only provide the last four digits.”

“Their age? That’s all you can give me?”

“Yes. They’re fifty years old. We can also give you last reported positional data. Between that and the fob, a man of your skill should make short work of this.”

[Grogu wanted to know what his age mattered. Wasn’t Din close to that age too? Ta’lan had assured him that his father was younger, but different species matured at different rates. Humans were considered middle aged at fifty in most of the galaxy. Oh.]

Whatever this man had done for the Empire, Din Djarin was sure he had been good at it. He stood up and walked to the door.

“The Beskar belongs back into the hands of a Mandalorian. It is good to restore the natural order of things after a period of such disarray, don’t you agree?” The client spoke, Din was certain, to hear himself speak.

He ignored it all and left the building.

Back in the hustle and bustle of the town, Din Djarin was glad of two things. The beskar he’d been given and the task he was taking on. He disliked being at loose ends.

[Grogu laughed at that and said perhaps Ta’lan was being a little generous to his workaholic dad. Din Djarin hated being at loose ends. Anyone who knew him, knew that. Ta’lan agreed. She had softened the response for Grogu’s sake. He laughed again. He loved his father no matter his perceived faults.]

Din reached his destination after taking a rather circuitous route. He didn’t know if the client had him followed. He didn’t want anyone to follow him to this location. The lower levels of the town housed his tribe. Other Mandalorians staying out of sight to survive. He knew that he was one of the lucky ones.

After he passed the boys in their first helmets and the older Mandalorians keeping an eye on them and making sure that intruders didn’t enter the covert, he reached the Mythosaur. A Beskar symbol for the Armorer of the Tribe. This is where he needed to be.

He entered the open space and saw the Armorer at work. He set his disrupter rifle aside. He didn’t need it here. He sat and waited.

[Grogu interrupted and asked why Din was so polite here. Just sitting and waiting. They both knew he didn’t like to do that voluntarily. Respect was the only word Ta’lan said and Grogu nodded his head. Ahhh. Respect.]

The Armorer continued their work and when it was complete walked over to where Din Djarin sat and waited. They took a seat and nodded to their companion. This was the way.

Din took the credits and the Beskar and placed them on the table that was placed between them. The Armorer seemed to ignore the Calamari Flan and reached for the thick slab of Beskar.

“This was gathered in the Great Purge. It is good it is back with the Tribe.” She spoke with a reverence that non-Mandalorians did not match when handling Beskar.

“Yes.”

“A pauldron would be in order. Has your signet been revealed?”

“Not yet.”

“Soon.” The Armorer responded.

[What’s a signet? Grogu asked. It’s your clan marking. Your father didn’t have one yet, Ta’lan explained, becoming less annoyed at the interruptions. Someone had to explain these things to Grogu. The Jedi did not use such symbols.]

Din waited patiently for the Armorer to ply her craft. Until he had his pauldron he had no where to go.

“This is extremely generous. The excess will sponsor many Foundlings.” The Armorer was pleased.

“That’s good.” Din replied. “I was once a Foundling.”

“I know.”

But did she? Did she really understand what had happened to him? He’d never told anyone what it had been like. His father carrying him. People running and screaming. His mother trying to keep up while the blaster fire rained down all around them. He had been terrified. He didn’t want to die and didn’t want his parents to leave him. All he wanted that day was for the attack to be over. He would never forget the people who fell to the ground dead. The ones huddled in a corner crying, frozen in fear. The explosions and flames bursting all around them.

His parents had hidden him in an underground bunker and then they were gone. He hadn’t wanted them to leave. How could they do that to him? He didn’t understand it then. And all these many years later it still haunted him. How could they leave their only child?

When he looked up he saw that the Armorer had finished the pauldron. It was shiny and new and still faintly hot from the forge. Mandalorians lived in the present. Or so he’d been taught. He needed to live in the present again and leave a past he couldn’t understand alone. For now.

She fit the pauldron onto his right shoulder and he was glad that he was no longer a helpless child.

[Ta’lan patted Grogu’s hand and suggested that they take a break. It was hard to hear how things had been for his father, when they had also been like that Grogu. Ta’lan knew that all too well.]

The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 5, Chapter 13, The Jedi, Part 3

As related to me by Grogu and Ta'lan Bet of the Brethren. Notes appear in the narrative to explain who knew what when. Sorry, this is the way Grogu wanted it told.

A special thank you to Dave Filoni for writing the episode this retelling is based on. Oya Manda!


The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano, and Grogu made their way through the burnt out forest, heading for the walled village.

Din was the first to break the silence, “She has a small army of guards armed with A350 cluster rifles, two HK-87 assassin droids, and hired gunfighter. He reads ex-military to me. Combined, not even your laser swords would be able to protect you from all that firepower.”

Grogu saw Ahsoka grin at the Mandalorian’s words. Din still really didn’t understand what you could with the Force, even when he saw with his own eyes. He wondered if Ahsoka would tell him.

“But don’t underestimate the Magistrate either.” She warned Din. Uh oh! Not her too! Hadn’t Din listed enough enemies?
“Who is she?” Din paused, and then explained, “She offered me a staff of pure beskar to kill you.”

Grogu could sense that Ahsoka was pleased by that. But why? Grogu didn’t want people offering anyone beskar to kill him. That had already happened and he wasn’t happy about it all, except for being able to meet Din. Getting a dad was the only silver lining from that very dark storm cloud of greed.

“Morgan Elsbeth.” Ahsoka spoke the name surprisingly neutrally. She obviously did like the woman just based on her body language.

“During the Clone Wars, her people were massacred. She survived and let her anger fuel an industry which helped build the Imperial Starfleet. She plundered worlds, destroying them in the process.”

Now Grogu knew why this world looked so awful. It made sense but it was still awful.

Din understood too as he looked around the burnt out forest. “Yeah, it looks like she’s still in business.”

Ahsoka nodded, sadly it seemed to Grogu, as she also looked around the bleak landscape they had been walking through. These trees had once been living. They had once housed thousands of creatures that were no more. It was sad. Grogu thought the whole planet felt like a kind of prison.

“When you were in the city, did you see any prisoners?” Ahsoka asked.

City? What city? That was a village, a town at best. But not a city.

“I saw three villagers strung up just outside the inner gate.” Grogu remembered that. That had been awful. Those poor people. They were being hurt. But he had been frightened then and didn’t know if he should try and help them. He hoped Din would help them or Ahsoka. Being held against your will was awful and he knew all about it.

“We must find a way to free them.” Ahsoka spoke the words like they were an order.

“A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They’ll never see it coming.”

Din and Ahsoka seemed grimly pleased at that prospect. But Grogu knew that Din worked with a Jedi all the time. At least a Jedi padawan. Grogu knew how to use the Force to do any number of things, but he only wanted to use it for reasons he thought were important. Helping those people was important and he hoped he would find a way to help.


{According to Ta’lan Bet, Grogu’s friend, who had met both Ahsoka Tano and Din Djarin, the following events took place, while Grogu was napping on the Razor Crest. Din had kept him up until just before he left the ship to meet with Ahsoka by playing ‘silver sphere’ with him. Grogu realized later that it had been a trick to wear him out so he couldn’t follow them and keep an eye on the Mandalorian.

They travelled until they could see the main gate to the village. It was dark and the sky was a sickly greenish yellow from the pollution and fires that still burned around the village.

Ahsoka and Din split up to make their assault on the gate and its six guards.

As Ahsoka ran right up toward the gate, one of the guards noticed her.

“It’s her! Sound the alarm!”

Then the guards all began to fire their blaster rifles into the murky night in the direction she had come from. That wasn’t wise, not really. They had no idea how fast Ahsoka Tano was and she was fast.

Ahsoka was on the top of the wall, fighting the guards before they could even really aim their weapons better. She deflected their blaster fire with one light saber while she used her other Force skills to hinder the enemy by throwing their weapons away from them. Soon she had cut through both the guard responsible for the bell and the bell itself, while another guard ran away. Five of the six were dead or mortally wounded. That’s what a Jedi could do.

The bell, now in pieces rolled off the wall and clanked onto the pavers below with a sharp clanking noise. Other than that, the village was quiet at least. More guards ran to the second gate, that protected the Magistrates space. The gunfighter was there as well.

Ahsoka had stared down the long, paved main path and saw that the assassin droids, and the Magistrate joined them, in waiting for her. She had walked calmly up to them while the wind blew dust across the path and the rest of the village was buttoned up and silent.

The Magistrate was holding the beskar spear, but Ahsoka had not been afraid, or at least that’s what she told Ta’lan. She threw the Mandalorian’s beskar pauldron onto the path. The sigil for the Clan Mudhorn was easy to see. Ahsoka hoped it would both send a message and provoke a reaction.

“Your bounty hunter failed. Tell me what I want to know. Where is your master?”

“Kill her”, was all the Magistrate had said in response.

“Love to,” was the cold response from the gunfighter..

[Grogu had been very upset that anyone would want to hurt Ahsoka at all, but to ‘love to’ kill her? That was just too much. When he heard this part of the story from Ta’lan she had to hold his hand and remind him that Ahsoka was fine and everything turned out okay in the end. He had been only slightly comforted by that.]

The guards who then began shooting at Ahsoka really had no idea what a Jedi could do, because she simply jumped above the fire and onto a roof top, where she had a good view and could use both of her lightsabers to protect herself and attack them. She ran down the roof line and drew a number of the guards away with her.

A prison screamed “please don’t,” and the old man he had seen the day before scurried over to the prisoners.

Din Djarin had been waiting for this. He saw that the two droids had been sent with the gunfighter to follow after Ahsoka. With a quick flip of a switch he used his flight pack and descended upon one of the guards just in time to keep them from killing the prisoners. He shot the two guards with his sidearm and just barely stopped in time when he turned to see the old man. He had no weapons and the Mandalorian held his fire.

The two of them began to set the prisoners free.

As they did that, Ahsoka Tano methodically hunted and killed or incapacitated the guards that had been sent to kill her. None of them had per patience, her skills, or her keen senses. It was almost too easy compared with some of the battles she had fought years earlier.

At one point she had seen a Loth cat wondering around the village oblivious to what was happening around it. Only a cat could live that way.

From the rooftop she could see the gunfighter surveying her work. He seemed affected by it. She had hoped that was the case and leapt down from her perch swinging her lightsabers in order to drive him off or simply end him. She managed to disarm him before the two HK-87 droids showed up. They were a distraction she had to address.

[Note - Grogu had asked what happened to the gunfighters arm at that point. Din and Ta’lan had laughed and explained what ‘disarm’ actually meant. Grogu had been disappointed.]

She slashed through one of the droids and led the other one away from the gunfighter, who had told the thing to “Get up there.” No doubt hoping that being on the roof would give it an advantage.

As far as Ahsoka was concerned Din Djarin could take care of that problem now.

When the Mandalorian and the old man had finished releasing the prisoners, Din told them to “Get inside” and waved the old man off to do the same. At some point Din had taken his pauldron back and put it on his shoulder again. It had been a good trick.

He had noticed the gunfighter was standing at the other end of the path from him. He had retrieved his weapon and was pointing it in the general direction of the Mandalorian. Ahsoka looked over the scene from the top of the inner wall that protected the Magistrates complex. She saw that Din Djarin had things well in hand and left them to fight it out. She had her own work to do.

“So you threw in with the Jedi.”

“Looks that way.” Din sounded a bit smug. The two men stared at each other for a few seconds.

[Grogu knew that his dad could handle himself and asked Ta’lan to explain what had happened with Ahsoka. She obliged, but only because the small Mandalorian was so concerned.]

The two women had stared at each other down the length of the walkway between the ponds. The Magistrate was still holding the beskar spear, and Ahsoka Tano was just watching her. It was clear that the two women were going to fight. The Magistrate removed her heavy cloak as Ahsoka did the same with her poncho.

The two lightsabers sizzled as they came to life and provided a bright white light around the Jedi.

The magistrate began to slowly approach her holding the spear in her left hand. She seemed very comfortable with the weapon. It was as cold and rigid as she was in many ways.

And so it began. The fight between beskar and lightsaber. Between Jedi and dictator. Calling her a magistrate had been too kind. The weapons sliced and clashed and rebounded as the two women who wielded them looked for the advantage.

They locked weapons and between them the beskar and the lightsaber made an awful noise.

Din Djarin and the gunfighter had heard it as well.

“Who do you think’s gonna win?” The gunfighter had asked. “Could be your side, could be my side.”

The two women were fighting ferociously. Neither one giving away an easy opening or making a mistake.

[Grogu had been asked to stop interrupting because it was hard to tell the story in sequence if he only wanted to hear the bits that interested him first. After all, he already knew how it ended. Grogu had given way to that logic, but only be grudgingly.]

Din listened to the battle and watched the gunfighter slowly close the distance between them. He could only imagine what tricks Ahsoka was pulling out her bag to deal with that beskar spear.

“I got no quarrel with you, Mandalorian.”

“That’s far enough.” Din held out his hand and the gun fighter stopped.

“You and I, we’re a lot alike. Willing to lay our lives down for the right cause. Which this is not.”

Ahsoka was tired of this fight. She had lost one of her light sabers and she had also run out of patience. With a speed the other woman could not match she parried, slashed, and moved until she was able to simply grab the beskar spear and wrench it away from the Magistrate, causing her to drop it. Morgan Elsbeth was now at the mercy of Ahsoka Tano.

That fight was over and silence fell around the village.
“Sounds like you win.” The gunfighter told the Mandalorian as he held his weapon out and slowly went to place it on the ground. Was he really going to let it end that easily?

No. The gunfighter tried an old trick of pulling a weapon from his hip. It didn’t matter. The Mandalorian had been expecting it and shot him down before the other man could even activate the weapon. The gunfighter was dead. And then the silence was complete.

The old man came out of his dwelling and nodded to the Mandalorian who returned the gesture. As he went to congratulate the bounty hunter who had helped his village, he noticed the HK assassin droid pop up on the roof.

“Behind you!” He cried out, hoping he had warned the Mandalorian in time.

Din turned and shot the droid in its skull in one smooth motion. Both men watched it fall to ground with a thump, sparking and sputtering.

Din wondered what was keeping Ahsoka Tano.

Ahsoka met Din and the old man, who Din had found out was the mayor of the village. After accepting the thanks of the villagers for freeing them from the Magistrates dictatorial rule, the Jedi and the Mandalorian walked out of the village gate together.

Ahsoka spoke first, “I believe this was your payment.” She held the beskar spear in her hand offering it to him.

Din shook his head. “No. I can’t accept. I didn’t finish the job.”

Ahsoka smiled at that.

“No. But this belongs with a Mandalorian.” She held out the spear again.

He took it from her. It was perhaps a peace gesture between two peoples who had rarely known peace.

He studied he the spear to avoid saying the words that would be so hard to say.

Ahsoka said them instead. “Where is your little friend?”

“Back at the ship,” Din had replied, looking away from her. “Wait here, I’ll go get him.”

[Ahsoka had told Ta’lan that she had formed a greater appreciation for the Mandalorian at that moment, knowing how much Grogu meant to him and how hard it would be for them to part. Grogu said that of course she should have realized how great his dad was. Because he was.]}

Grogu woke up bleary eyed and a little sluggish when he heard his dad say, “Wake up, buddy. It’s time to say goodbye.”

Grogu had been so tired out from their games the night before. It was hard to get his eyes opened. Did he hear Din right? Was it time to say goodbye to Ahsoka?

He asked his dad for five more minutes of sleep. The hammock was so comfortable.

Eventually Din took him out of the hammock and sat with him on his knee. Din was quiet and very sad. Hadn’t things gone well?

Grogu asked Din to tell him all about it, but the Mandalorian still didn’t understand him and Grogu really didn’t have a good way to help with that.
They walked down the ramp from the Razor Crest together, when they both heard Ahsoka Tano.

“You’re like a father to him.”

That stopped Din in his tracks. He had felt that responsibility. Grogu was his foundling. He was obligated to do whatever was best for Grogu, even if that meant having him go away with a Jedi.

“I cannot train him.” Ahsoka was honest and blunt.

“You made me a promise, and I held up my end.” Din was so conflicted but the Creed demanded that he do the right thing.

“There is one possibility. Go to the planet Tython. There you will find the ancient ruins of a temple that has a strong connection to the Force. Place Grogu on the seeing stone at the top of the mountain.”

“Then what?”

“Then Grogu may choose his path.” Ahsoka was holding Grogu’s hand as she spoke and he realized that now he was the one who had to make a choice.

“If he reaches out through the Force, there’s a chance a Jedi may sense his presence and come searching for him. Then again, there aren’t many Jedi left.”

Grogu was sad. This wasn’t an easy choice that she was setting on his shoulders. He wanted to stay with the Mandalorian. He was safe and protected, and had a friend to play games with and who made him laugh. But he knew that the Mandalorian was under constant threat because Grogu was with him. People, bad people, would never stop trying to hurt Din Djarin, as long as Grogu was with him. And he couldn’t protect Din as readily as Din could protect him. That wasn’t balanced. The Force liked balance.

“Thank you.” Din replied, just as conflicted as Grogu.

“May the Force be with you.” Ahsoka spoke the words softly and Grogu knew she meant them in the best possible way. He hoped that the Force would also take care of her. Although he couldn’t really explain it to her, he felt that she would need that protection soon.

Father and son turned back to the ship and walked up the ramp. Grogu could see Ahsoka over Din’s shoulder. He tried to convey to her how glad he was that they had met. And that he was still with Din. He would be safe and he thought she knew that.

Ahsoka had watched the Razor Crest lift off and wondered when she would see Grogu again and if he would be with another Jedi or with his Mandalorian father. Only time would tell.

The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 5
Chapter 13: The Jedi

Special thanks to Dave Filoni for writing the episode that inspired this retelling.

NOTE: As you will see, Grogu was not present for some of the events that take place during this time period. At his suggestion I have reached out to a friend of his who had discussed what took place with Ahsoka Tano over a large glass of ferment. I will note when we switch to Grogu’s recollections of that time. Thank you for your patience and Oya Manda!


Ahsoka Tano was not impressed with Corvus. Like so many other planets exploited first by the Empire and now by its remnants, it had been made something of an industrial wasteland. It was late evening with a sky that was darker than daytime, though not by much. Streams of smoke from industrial smoke stacks filled the air and contributed the general miasma surrounding the village.

Ahsoka was looking for a very specific person and she knew that person was in this village. No doubt destroying the people who lived in it.

If she had been able to walk through the village she was sure it would be like any other village on Corvus. The magistrate’s building would be in the center of the village, with a large number of smaller buildings, single story homes and shops lining a central flagstone path, leading up to it. Lanterns would swing from posts in front of each building, lighting the way through the fog and smoke.

An alarm gong began to toll and Ahsoka grinned to herself. So they finally noticed something. That was special.

Armed guards would be running out of the barracks, while civilians would run to their homes or shops. People would be calling out to each other as they ran, warning of what is to come. If only they knew what was coming.

Based on experience, Ahsoka knew that a few people would hide in the shadows, while children and older people would be brought in doors by friends and still others would peer out of their doors to see what is happening. This is what happened in any village when an alarm was sounded. And this had once been an orderly, tidy village.

More of the armed guards would be running to the main gate of the village, where the sound of the bell was coming from. It was to be expected.

The area past the gate was desolate. All burned trees and a dense fog. This had once been a pretty place. None of its former beauty remained.

Now there were red flashes of blaster fire. They could be seen in the distance among the tree trunks and fog. But they didn’t hit their target.

She could sense Lang looking on from the safety of the wall surrounding the village. But Ahsoka Tano had better things to do than go after him right now.

As soon as they saw her, the guards began to run away. They tried to slow her by shooting back into the woods. But that hadn’t worked before and it wasn’t working this time. The two bright white/blue beams from her light sabers cut through the fog and smoke, as well as the closest guards.

It almost amused Ahsoka that the guards had thought that they were hunting her. They learned very quickly that she was hunting them and was doing a very capable job of it. It almost seemed unfair. Like she was playing with them.

Ahsoka wondered if Morgan had come out to check on her guards. Was she talking to Lang? Was she concerned that the guards were retreating back to the village instead of taking the fight into the decimated forest? Time would tell.

Unlike some of the Jedi Ahsoka Tano had trained with, so many years ago, she was patient. She was also too smart to fall for the simple plans of the guards being sent after her. She picked them off one by one, getting closer to the gate with every step.

While her hooded poncho hid her face from view, Morgan and Lang couldn’t hide from her, not for long. They would just have to watch her take their men out because she was going to meet with Morgan whether the other woman wanted to meet or not.

Ahsoka reached the main gate where the alarm bell was prominently displayed, as well as Lang and Morgan.

“Show yourself… Jedi.”

Morgan was holding a spear for what little good that might do her.

Ahsoka could see a number of other guards fanned out on the village walls. She was unimpressed.

The Jedi walked forward and activated both light sabers giving off enough white light that the people arrayed on the wall could see clearly that Ahsoka Tano meant business.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

Ahsoka replied, “Then you know what I want.”

“You will learn nothing from me.”

To Ahsoka’s ear, Morgan sounded less that sure of herself.

What she said didn’t matter to Ahsoka.

“I won’t give you that choice.”

Ahsoka saw Morgan signal to two droids nearby and watched as they brought a male human prisoner to the center of the wall.

Morgan turned her attention back to the Jedi.

“How many lives is the knowledge I possess worth to you?”

One of the droids pushed the prisoner forward.

“One? … Ten? … How about a hundred?”

Ahsoka was silent while Morgan made her threat. What that woman wanted was of little consequence to her.

“The lives of these citizens mean nothing to me. Now, because of you, these people will suffer.”

Ahsoka kept her voice and tone even, as she was taught to by her former Masters.
“They already suffer under your rule. Surrender, or face the consequences.”

She pointed her right light saber at Morgan.

“You have one day to decide.”

Morgan made no reply and Ahsoka turned away from the wall, from Morgan, from Lang, and the guards and walked into the fog, and disappeared from view.

{Special thank to Ta’lan Bet for providing that retelling from her meeting with Ahsoka Tano.}

The Razor Crest had dropped out of hyperspace and was heading toward a planet that looked more like a disaster than anything else, as far as Grogu was concerned. He was sitting on the pilot’s console to Din’s right.

“Corvus, this is the place.” Din spoke, focused on piloting the old ship.

The planet showed signs of fire and volcanic activity. Clouds swirled over it and Grogu was fascinated. He wondered what the weather would be like. He hoped it wasn’t another cold planet. He’d had enough of those.

Din turned his head to speak with Grogu.

“I’ve detected a beacon.”

Grogu looked at his dad and tried to tell him that he hoped the planet was nice for a change. But it was clear to him that the Mandalorian didn’t understand him, since Din just went back to piloting the ship and hadn’t bothered to answer Grogu’s question.

“I’m gonna start the landing cycle. You better get back in your seat.”

Grogu looked around to see who Din was talking to. Why would he want to change his location? He loved the landing cycle. It was always fun from Grogu’s perspective.

Grogu ignored his dad and looked around again. He saw the silver orb that Din kept on the end of flight control stick. He took a chance and tried to tell the Mandalorian that he’d like the orb to hold if he has to go back to his seat. He thought it was a fair compromise.

Din, however, did not agree with him about that. Not at all.

“Hey, what did I tell you?”

Grogu was puzzled. Din told him a great many things. Some Grogu listened to, some he did not. Which one was he referencing and why wasn’t he answering the question Grogu asked?

“Back in your seat.”

Someone was grouchy. Well, okay, fine. If you’re going to be that way about it, Grogu grumbled as he climbed down from the console.

He went over to his seat and sat down. He wasn’t sure what good it would do. It’s not like the seat belts fit him and he really had nothing to hang on to if they had a hard landing. The Mandalorian just wanted him out of the way and that didn’t seem right. How would he ever learn to fly the Razor Crest if he couldn’t observe what Din Djarin did more closely?

Plus, the silver orb was there. It was so pretty. It reminded Grogu of something but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Well not from this distance with Din being so crabby.

But then, Grogu remembered that he could work with the Force. Just like with the Mudhorn. If he concentrated, which was hard because everything distracted him, he might be able to get that little orb… he closed his eyes to help reduce the distractions and reached out with the Force, just like his masters had taught him so many years ago… he could feel it moving, slowly turning… Yes! Success! Best of all, Din hadn’t even noticed.

Din took the Razor Crest down to the planet and it was obvious to anyone looking out of the windows that the planet had seen hard times. It was so smoky, foggy, smoggy, whatever, that it was hard to see the sun light. Kind of perpetual dawn or dusk. Yuck. Grogu was not impressed. How did this kind of mess affect the critters? Especially the frogs?

Din found a relatively clear area to set the ship down in, as no more formal landing pad seemed available. Burned trees were all around the area.

A large creature, as tall as some of the half cut down trees was bellowing as the ship settled. It snapped off part of a tree. More of its kind could be seen in the distance. Something screeched.
Grogu did like meeting new creatures. He could sense them and they seemed busy eating the timbers. That was also a relief. He never needed to meet another giant critter or octopus (unless it was in soup) that thought he would be a tasty meal.

Din walked down the ramp of the Razor Crest. He had his disruptor rifle on his back. Grogu knew that Din liked that weapon because it was versatile. Grogu just hoped he never made a mistake with it. Hard to take that back or apologize if you vaporized the wrong person.
Grogu followed the Mandalorian down the ramp slowly. He was holding the silver orb in one hand because of course he was. It had been hard to retrieve and he needed it to help deal with whatever strangeness happened here. He knew something strange would happen. When had it not?

He stopped and sat down on the ramp and called to his dad.

He saw Din turn back and look at him. He could almost feel Din’s frown when he noticed that Grogu had the knob to the flight control stick. Again. The Mandalorian stepped over to Grogu.

“What did I say about that?”

He bent down and took the little orb from Grogu, despite Grogu’s promise that he would take good care of it.

“This needs to stay in the ship.” Din was emphatic.

Grogu grumbled ‘fine’ and then noticed that Din just tucked the orb into his armor. If it had to stay in the ship why didn’t he put it back? Was that just code for Grogu couldn’t have it? Yes. That’s what that was and Grogu felt annoyed with his dad.

“Not much to see out here.”

Grogu started to walk down the ramp again and he looked around. He could hear the big creatures talking to each other. They didn’t really seem happy. He could understand why. He wan’t all that happy right now either.

“Never had dealings with a Jedi before.”

Really? Fine. Sure. What ever.

Din looked at his foundling to make sure that he was following him.

Grogu was glad at least that Din realized that if they were going to go faster than Grogu’s pace he would need a ride. Din picked him up gently. Grogu asked for the silver back. But again, Din was focused on something else.

“Let’s head into town.”

He put Grogu into the brown shoulder bag he carried everywhere. He didn’t wait to hear what Grogu thought they should do. Could he please have the silver ball back?

“See if we can pick up a lead.”

They began to walk through the burned out forest and were silent. Really there was nothing to say from Grogu’s perspective. The bag gave him a view but this place was a mess and Grogu was kind of tired of places that looked like this. Weren’t there any places that were green and pretty and had water for frog ponds? Plus his dad still hadn’t given him the silver ball and that was a pretty small request, all things considered.

Eventually they reached the walled village. There were a few people standing at the top of the wall near a huge tube thing. Grogu wondered what the tube thing was.

Din stopped and looked up at the people who were standing on the wall. Grogu wondered if just anyone could go up there. He bet the view was good, or at least better than the one he currently had.

“State your business.” Grogu heard a tall human in armor talk to his dad.

“Been tracking for a few days. Looking for a layover.”

Din tried to be honest, Grogu knew that, but really, would anyone believe that line?

“Nice Armor.”

From where he was, Grogu hoped that the other man couldn’t see him. He didn’t like anyone who realized that Din’s armor was special. Beskar was the best armor and it showed people that Din wasn’t just anyone. He was a Mandalorian and he was not to be messed with, especially not when Grogu was with him. Like now.

“You a hunter, then?”

Grogu wondered if the person who owned that voice was stupid. Din just told him that he had been tracking… don’t hunters track?

“That’s right.” His dad was calm but Grogu didn’t know how he managed that. Then listened when the man asked another question.

“Guild?”

“Last I checked.”

Grogu wondered if the Guild still really existed. Din had been forced to kill a lot of the bounty hunters. Did the Guild really let you kill each other and maintain membership? That seemed bad. But then having to track people down and maybe kill each other to do it seemed pretty bad too. Except for when Din rescued him. That was good. Very good.

Someone else said something Grogu couldn’t make out to the “Voice” guy and the voice guy made a decision.

“Open the gate.”

Grogu guessed that whatever he had been told had been good enough to let that happen.

Grogu watched the big panels of the gate slide open and hoped everything was going to be okay. Din started walking into the village. Grogu shuddered a little when he heard the big panels slam shut. He didn’t like sounds like that.

Din kept a hand on the bag Grogu was in and Grogu guessed that Din had realized that “hey, buddy” wasn’t all that happy right now. It was true. Din still didn’t know his actual name. But Grogu had to admit that he did like ‘Buddy’ better than ‘Kid’, or ‘Hey’.

As they move into the village people are working, walking around, sitting and watching life go by. Grogu was puzzled by the lack of other living things inside the walls. He didn’t even smell a single flower or a bit of grass. How could people live like this?

Grogu had a good view from Din’s hip level. He’d moved the cloak/blanket that Grogu had been covered by. He liked seeing the village until he noticed the soldier on the roof of one of the buildings holding a rifle. What kind of village was this?

Then a droid walked by and said something rude. Grogu was not going to tell Din what the droid said but he guessed Din might have a pretty good idea given how little he liked droids.

An older lady with white hair was standing by her food cart and Din stopped to talk with her. It smelled good to Grogu. He was always interested in food.

“Pardon me, vendor, have you heard of anyone…”

But the lady just walked away from him and went into her house. Grogu didn’t really blame her. Who liked being called “Vendor”? Grogu didn’t really know what a vendor was but he knew he didn’t want to be called it.

Grogu told Din that no one wants to be called “Vendor” but Din didn’t understand, as usual.

Din turned to look at the cart and Grogu noticed that a man was talking to a couple of children down the alley way he could see now. Din seemed to notice as well and walked over to them.

“You there.”

Grogu wondered if Mandalorians’ simply had no manners at all. What about “Excuse me”? Couldn’t he try that once?

“I need some information. I’m looking for someone.”

The man and children finally looked up at them.

Grogu said “hi” and he was pretty sure the two children, a girl and a boy understood him. They looked right at him. The older man did not. He continued to look at the children and spoke softly to them.

“Okay, bye.”

The older man signaled for the children to leave and then turned and walked over to Din and Grogu.

The older man spoke first, “Please, do not speak to them, or to any of us.”

“Look, I just need to know…”

Grogu saw the older man step back and he looked afraid. But not of Din, which he found unusual.

“The Magistrate wants to see you.”

Grogu turned to look at the person who spoke to them. A guard.

Hmmm. Who was the guard talking to? The old man? Or Din? Or to someone else. Grogu couldn’t tell.

Din turned to look at the guards and Grogu sank down into the brown bag. He didn’t want them to see him. He didn’t like how they sounded.

Din however didn’t seem to mind and followed them away from the old man. Grogu peaked out of the bag. He hoped the old man would be okay.

They walked up to a large building that looked like it was wearing multiple hats, one stacked up on another. Grogu didn’t recall seeing anything like it before. Nor did he recall seeing the strange holders that several people were in. The glowed and sparked and Grogu was pretty sure that they really didn’t want to be there.

Who would? It looked awful. He wondered if Din would do anything about it.

“Help us”

Grogu wanted to help, especially after he heard the man groan after being zapped by the holder.

“She’ll kill us all.”

Who? Who was going to kill them? That didn’t seem right! Grogu didn’t like any of this.

The large door/gate they walked up to opened automatically as far as Grogu could tell. It was a heavy metal door and Grogu didn’t like it anymore than the big panels doors at the main gate. It lead to a small area with yet another matching gate. He didn’t like cages. He tried to make himself smaller in the bag and hide from view again. He didn’t know how the Mandalorian could be so brave.

When those doors opened, it was like walking into a different world.There were beautiful trees, bushes and shrubs. There was a pond. It was clean and brighter. Grogu was amazed and disturbed by this. So many people he had just seen lived in a prison yard, while this looked like a tiny bit of paradise.

“Come forward.”

The lady in the long robes with the strange hairdo was talking to Din? She seemed… cold and kind of mean. But how much can you tell from just one order.

“You are a Mandalorian?”

Grogu reevaluated her. Couldn’t she tell a Mandalorian when she saw one? Everyone else who saw that armor knew a Mandalorian when they saw it.

Din walked forward and then stopped.

“Yes.”

Grogu noticed the lady, he used that term loosely, had a little cup in her hands and was taking something out of it and sprinkling it in the pool water. He wondered if there were frogs int he water. That might make this trip worthwhile after all.

“I have a proposition that may interest you.”

Din replied, “My price is high.”

As it should be!

“This target is priceless. … A Jedi plagues me. I want you to kill her.”

Grogu flinched. A Jedi! A female Jedi! No one was going to kill her if he had anything to say about it.

“That’s a difficult task.”

Grogu wanted to yell at his dad that it wasn’t difficult, it was impossible!

“One that you are well suited for. The Jedi are the ancient enemy of Mandalore.” The woman’s voice was so cold that Grogu shuddered.

“As I said, my price is high.”

Grogu couldn’t see her because Din was shielding him with his arm and cloak, but if she could she would see how angry Grogu was on Din’s behalf. As if Din didn’t know the history of their people.

A droid standing behind the mean woman stepped forward and brought her a spear of some sort.

“What do you make of this?”

She offered the spear to Din, having turned it point away first and then held it out to him like a compass needle pointing east.

Din took the strange spear from her and handled it a bit, looking it over. Grogu could feel him moving around and caught glimpses of the weapon. Din finally touched it against his bracer and it clanged out a clear tone.

“Beskar”

Oh no. Not more beskar. Mandalorians were sworn to retrieve it. It came from Mandalore and belonged to them as a people, not that many Mandalorians were on Mandalore any more, if any.

“Pure Beskar…like you armor. Kill the Jedi and it’s yours.”

She seemed very pleased to say those words. Just like when she said “kill her” before. Grogu did not like this woman. Not one bit. She sounded like the people who had hurt him. The ones Din had rescued him from. He was glad that she couldn’t see him.

“Where do I find this Jedi?” Din was ever practical and this time Grogu was not really that happy about it.

The Magistrate smiled at them. She told Din something that Grogu was too angry to listen to. Why would his dad want to kill a Jedi? It didn’t make any sense. Before he knew it the man who had stopped them at the gate was there to walk them back out of the village.

Grogu was glad to be leaving that horrible prison town.

Din stood looking out at the burned down forest with the other man.

Grogu didn’t want to hang around. He wanted to leave. Why wasn’t Din moving?

“What is that thing?”

Grogu could see the other man looking at him and he didn’t like it. He just stared back hoping the other man would go away.

“I keep it around for luck.”

Grogu would have been mad about those words if he didn’t know that Din was trying to protect him and shield him from the guard captain’s interest. Grogu was much better than luck and he knew that Din also knew that.

“You’re gonna need it where you’re headed.”

Din hadn’t bothered to reply, but Grogu would have happily told him that Mandalorians make their own luck. Always have, always will.

Din walked away, finally, and Grogu told him ‘thank you’. Even if they were walking into the foggy, scary, burned out forest, it was better than being in the village.

Grogu’s one thought as they worked their way through the dead trees and fog was that at least the place didn’t smell as bad as it looked. But it was filled with low, creepy sounds. Creatures were doing things but Grogu couldn’t see them. He wondered how the planet got to be such a mess.

It was clear that Din didn’t like this place much either. He had taken the disruptor rifle off his back and was carrying it to be ready for anything that might happen.

“Well, these are the coordinates. Keep your eyes open.”

Of course Grogu was going to keep his eyes open. He didn’t want anything to happen to Din. For one thing he really liked the Mandalorian and for another he didn’t want to get stuck here.

They kept walking through the smoldering remains of the forest.

“We must be close.”

They continued to walk and every now and then Din would pause, look around and then start up again. Grogu wondered what he was looking at. As far as Grogu could tell nothing had changed. Desolation as far as the eye could see. Although he did hear some new things.

“You hear that?”

Yes, with ears like his how could Grogu not hear that? Really.

Din stopped and took Grogu out of his bag and carefully set him on a rock.

“Don’t worry. Sit right here. Let me see what’s out there.”

Grogu crouched down to make himself a smaller target while Din looked around with his hand held scope thing. A tool, Grogu had been told, that Grogu did not need to play with. Grogu disagreed but he relented as Din had brought him some soup that time.

Now Din just scanned the horizon.

“False alarm.”

The Passenger, Part 5 Critters
The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 10
As told to burnwater13 on Twitter by Grogu

Thank you to Jon Favreau for writing the episode this telling is based on.
Oya Manda!

Grogu looked on as Din was working on the ship. It had taken a lot of damage during the crash and as typical Din was trying to fix everything. Grogu sat on a crate near a small space heater the Frog lady was sitting next to with her eggs. Din had made sure that the container was firmly closed. Grogu knew he was not going to be able to snack on another one with her watching them and Din watching him.

“If you hadn’t guessed, we’re in a tight spot.”

Grogu thought that was pretty obvious but his dad liked to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

The Frog lady made no reply, but ate something for the ration packs Din had handed out.

“The main power drive is not responding, and the hull has lost its integrity.” Grogu listened to Din as he moved around the main cargo area pointing out the problems with the ship.

“I suspect the temperature will drop significantly when night falls.”

Yup, that was his dad, highlighting the problems. But at least they weren’t hurt and they were all together. Grogu was an optimist.

Except about the ration packs. His tin of foods in various sizes and colors didn’t appeal to him the way the eggs did. He was trying very hard to not look disappointed about that, but his ears gave him away, flopping down as he compared the two foods, the one he had and the one he wanted. He had to hide his mouth in his collar, while he sat criss cross on the crate, so Din wouldn’t notice how upset he was. He didn’t want Din to think he was ungrateful.

Grogu looked up and stared longingly at the eggs and decided to take a chance and ask Din if he could have another egg. He began to coo and chatter, hoping his dad would listen this time.

“I’ll have a better idea of our prospects at that time.” Din adjusted the heater and sat down with them. Maybe he would get Grogu and egg? Nope.

The Frog lady turned to Grogu’s dad and began to croak at him in Frog. She still didn’t seem to understand that Din did not speak Frog. Grogu saw her turn and point to an indicator on the egg container. It is clear that the temperature was getting to be too cold for her eggs. Did cold eggs taste better than warm eggs? Grogu didn’t know, but he did want to find out.

Din, ever practical and sometimes oblivious, replied to her, “I’m sorry, lady. I don’t understand Frog.”

Even Grogu knew they had a problem with the cold when his dad’s Beskar armor showed signs of frost. If his dad could do more, he would do more. Hadn’t the Frog lady realized that yet?

“Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. I recommend you get some sleep.”

Grogu watched as Din folded his arms over his chest and turned his head away. This was a sure sign that he was going to sleep and Grogu had an idea. He hopped down from his crate.

He saw the Frog lady take the blanket off her own shoulders and wrap it around the container of her spawn to help make them warmer.

Grogu crossed the space and snuggled up next to Din for the same reason. He wanted to be warmer and be with his dad, just like the frog lady was doing with her family-to-be.

Like his dad, Grogu quickly asleep. Almost as quickly as the Mandalorian did.

Grogu didn’t know how much time had passed when he was startled awake by Din suddenly moving at the sound of a strange voice.

“Wake up Mandalorian!”

Wow, that was a weird, droid sounding voice. Grogu was awake now thanks to it.

It continued to speak, “This cannot wait until morning. Do not be alarmed. I bypassed the droid’s security protocols and accessed it vocabulator.”

Ahh, the Frog lady must have done this while they were sleeping. Grogu wished she had thought of that earlier. He was still tired.

Clearly so was Din and a bit cranky based on what Grogu heard next.

“What the hell are you doing?”

He could feel his dad move again and guessed he was putting a weapon away. That was his dad. Have the weapon out first and then ask questions.

“That droid is a killer.”

What? Why did they still have parts of a killer droid on the ship!? Grogu knew he’d have to ask about that some time…

“These eggs are the last brood of my life cycle. My husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for us on the only planet that is hospitable to our species. We fought too hard and suffered too much to resign ourselves to the extinction of our family line. I must demand that you hold true to the deal that you agreed to.”

Grogu watched her from the other side of his dad, happy that Din’s arm was around him, protecting him. Now that he knew that his dad wasn’t going to shoot anything, he leaned forward, fascinated with how the Frog lady was talking using the droid. Maybe he could do that too?

“Look, lady, the deal is off. We’re lucky if we get off this frozen tomb with our lives.”

Grogu couldn’t argue with that. This was how their luck worked.

“I thought honoring one’s word was a part of the Mandalorian code. I guess those are just stories for children.”

Ouch! Grogu understood what she said to Din. Harsh words considering the circumstances. But they did seem accurate.

Grogu turned to look up at his father. Were Mandalorians just story tellers? Was the creed just a convenient tool to manipulate people? Would his father, the Hero of Tatooine, the Hero of Nevarro, a Hero to Grogu, really turn back on his word?

Grogu felt Din’s eyes lock with his, even through the helmet. He could tell that the Mandalorian was conflicted. The creed was important. Grogu was important. Their safety was important. Grogu saw himself in Din and Din likewise remembered what it had been like when he was the foundling. Those who saved him followed the creed, no matter the consequences. How could Din do less?

Din sighed. He knew what he had to do and he did it. Grogu coo’d as the big human picked him up and put him to one side and stood up. Grogu liked it when Din had purpose and he had purpose now.

Grogu’s dad grabbed the tool box from across the space and turned back to walk out of the ship, muttering to himself that,“this was not a part of the deal.”

Grogu didn’t really believe him. He knew Din was just annoyed at himself for trying to get some sleep when there was work to do.

Grogu could not resist watching Din work. The Mandalorian knew so many things and Grogu was always impressed with that. Maybe he could learn a thing or two. Plus he could tell his dad about the Frog lady. If he was being honest with himself and Jedi were supposed to be taught to do that, Grogu would have stayed inside the ship if the eggs were still in there. But since they weren’t, he decided to go outside and watch his father work.

It took him some effort to get around the Razor Crest, considering the terrain. But with patience he did and found Din working on a side panel with a soldering tool of some sort. Since he had noticed the Frog lady’s foot prints in the cold wet stuff, he decided that he should tell Din about that first. He coo’d at the tall Mandalorian, who honestly wasn’t that tall bending over and working. He also pointed toward the foot prints so Din would understand that the Frog lady wasn’t in the ship any more. Grogu liked being helpful.

Grogu pointed at the pathway again and repeated his words, because his Dad just didn’t seem to understand him the first time. It made GRogu wonder, did Mandalorian’s ever learn any language other than Mando’a, Gal basic, a little bit of Tuscan Sign Language? Grogu would have told you no, if you had asked.

“How ‘bout you come over here, give me a hand? Make yourself useful.”

Grogu wondered how many times young Din had heard those words. He bet that Din had heard them a lot.

Grogu was disappointed. Maybe he needed to use that vocabulator thing in the ship to get Din to understand. He slowly walked back the way he came, muttering to himself about vocabulators.

“Hey, kid.”

Grogu kept walking. If Din wasn’t going to help him, he would just handle it himself.

“I said Hey! Where are you going? Come back here!”

Grogu stopped when he spotted the Frog lady’s very clear foot prints in the cold wet stuff. Maybe if Din saw them he would understand.

Grogu had excellent hearing and could tell that the Mandalorian was walking (stomping) over to him. Good. Finally.

Din dropped down to one knee next to him and looked where Grogu had been looking when he finally arrived.
Grogu looked up at his dad, frowning slightly. Maybe now Din would believe him and listen to him when he was telling him important stuff.

“When did she go?”

Grogu replied, but sighed when Din didn’t actually understand him. Din lifted Grogu up just as he was sharing his thoughts on what may have occurred and why.

Normally, he liked it when Din carried him places, but he would like a little warning next time. He wasn’t just some little sack of frogs that you could just pickup and move. But then Grogu reflected that when Din lifted him up it always meant that something was going to happen and he was very likely going to be part of it. That he liked.

They walked with through the cold wet stuff, following the frog lady’s path. Grogu liked being tucked close to Din this way. He had a great view, was protected by the beskar armor more, and could feel how warm his dad was, even though it was getting colder out.

They followed the footprints all the way to an area that had a much high thermal signature. Grogu could tell it was getting warmer. He wondered if the Frog lady could sense the warmth? Was that why she went this way?

Grogu found the trip very interesting. The tunnels were almost glowing and their shapes were curved and organic and nothing like the straight hard lines of the ship. It would be neat to have a home like this one day.
Not made from frozen water, but following this general scheme. It was very pretty.

As they worked their way through the maze like tunnels, Din finally turned down a path where they could both see the Frog lady soaking in a thermal spring. Grogu was glad to see that she had brought her eggs with her. It was clear to him that she found this far better than the cold temperatures of the ship. He didn’t blame her.

“There you are.”

Grogu wondered why Din looked up at the frozen water spears that were hanging upside down from the cave’s ceiling. His didn’t usually go in for art, although Grogu thought they were prettier than the frozen cave walls.

“You can’t leave the ship. It’s not safe out here.”

That was his dad, always concerned about safety first. Not realizing that this could also be fun. It was kind of sad really.

Grogu found himself being placed near the hot spring as Din walked over to the egg container. Sure he could be trusted with the eggs, but not Grogu? Oh well. At least he could look at the eggs floating in the water. They were so pretty. And he knew from experience that they tasted good. That was always a good thing in his mind.

“Let’s gather these up.”

Grogu watched as the Mandalorian began to collect the eggs and put them back in their container. Couldn’t they just stay here for another minute?

Then the Frog lady tried to talk to Din, but as she no longer had the vocabulator he didn’t understand her. Which generally meant everyone was going to do what Din wanted to do.

“I know it’s warm. But night’s coming fast, and I can’t protect you out here.” Grogu heard the message but what was here that they needed protection from? It was just warm water, cold crunchy water, very cold solid water, and little pods, probably made of water too.

Din and the Frog lady collected the eggs while Grogu leaned over the edge of the pond in fascination. He wanted them even more now. They were warm and eating them will warm him.

As he reached for one, thinking Din was busy and not watching him, Din noticed and shook a finger at him.

“No, No!”

Grogu looked up at his dad and he really didn’t understand. Why can’t he help? He was the one who told Din that the Frog lady had left the ship. He was the one who showed him which way she went. All he wanted to do was help. Grogu knew that he was little but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help. After all he’d helped with the mud horn and that thing was gigantic. He was disappointed that his dad didn’t trust him more.

Well, fine. If he couldn’t help with the eggs, there must be something he could do. Something he could explore… he turned away from the eggs and the pond, and the Frog lady, and Din, and noticed, something else.

They looked like little rocks or little sprouts, or little teeth all in a row on the cold wet floor of the cave. They were odd. They hadn’t been in the chamber where the ship was. Not that he had noticed any way.
Fine, if he couldn’t help with the eggs, then he could go explore these little things. He was determined and told Din that he was going. Din of course didn’t really understand and that was just as well. He’d probably tell him not to touch them and Grogu really wanted to touch them.

As Din and the frog lady continued to collect eggs, Grogu was wading through the cold wet stuff to examine the little pods. He was endlessly curious about them and wanted to see what they were. They didn’t look like frog eggs, so it must be okay, right?

They were almost his size too. That was unusual for him. Most things, in his limited experience, were Din’s size. Not Grogu’s. This was nice. It felt right, somehow.

Now he would have a chance to examine one. It was interesting and importantly, no one, meaning Din, was trying to stop him.

He sniffed at it first and then reached out a claw and touched it. It felt weird. Crisp even. Like packaging materials. It made a strange sound. It was kind of crunchy. Maybe they were fruit? Grogu pushed a little harder with his sharp claws and was able to open the pod right up and the sides fell over revealing a smelly, sticky looking goop.

He reached into the goop and saw that something was there. Something tasty maybe? He would have to try it and find out. It crunched and gushed as he ate it. Little bits of it hanging out of his mouth. It was interesting. Definitely not a taste he recognized. But it wasn’t bad. No way was he going to spit it out.

When he looked back, he saw that Din and the Frog lady had almost finished collecting the eggs. Wow, were they slow at it.

As Grogu finished the little, whatever it was, he looked into the pod to see if there was more. He had hoped it was like a little bag filled with snacks, but sadly it seemed to hold just one of the crunchy, tasty little things.

Grogu was pretty focused and barely noticed the sounds in the cave change. First there was rumbling and then some crackling, like a fire. Then, when he was finally convinced that the first pod was empty, he looked up and noticed the other pods were opening. But why? He hadn’t opened them.

Oh, no. This could not be good. Din was not going to like this. Grogu was sure of that. But he cried out anyway and Din heard him. Grogu hurried down the path and headed for his dad as fast as his little feet could carry him. He definitely had a bad feeling about this and thought they should probably get out of there as quickly as they could.

Grogu saw Din stand up and look around the cavern. The pods were moving and little creatures were crawling out of them. Grogu was glad that Din picked him up so quickly this time and without a word. He held Grogu close and backed away in the direction of the egg container. When Din reached it, he closed it, buckled the lid and slid it over his shoulder. Grogu was glad that his dad wasn’t the type to panic. Din had already done so much to protect those eggs, he wasn’t going to let a bunch of little spider like critters get them or Grogu.

They heard the loud growl of an unseen critter, and Grogu noticed that more, bigger critters were crawling out of the back of the cave. He hoped that they’d get moving soon. He didn’t really want to see more of them now. Too late. The next critter that crawled through the opening into the hot springs area was easily the size of the mud horn and that just was not right. No tasty critter should be that size. Ever.

“Go, go, go! Back to the ship!” Din yelled to the Frog lady, right by Grogu’s ear. This whole deal was out of hand.

They all ran as fast as they could through the maze like tunnels back toward the ship, with a hoard of those critters of all sizes scurrying to catch up to them. They were all growling and chattering, and being a menace.

Grogu did not like this at all.

The critters were closing in on them and Din had to pull out his sidearm and start blasting them. They made a kind of splatting noises and the big ones continued to shriek at them as more of the small ones were fried with the energy of the blaster bolts. Grogu could at least appreciate that the critters wanted to protect their own, but did they know how tasty they were?

Grogu saw that the Frog lady was terrified and resorted to her deep frog brain and began to leap using her hands and feet to cover distance to the faster. It didn’t look dignified but being captured and eaten by critters wasn’t dignified either as far as Grogu was concerned.

Din saw how the giant critter was scuttling above them on the ice ceiling and took drastic action. He pulled three of the little red pucks from his belt and activated them. He threw one on each wall and one on the ceiling as they continued to run for the ship.

Grogu heard the explosions, one after the other, and Din stood for a moment to watch and see if that would be enough damage to stop the onslaught. But the giant critter wasn’t quite dead yet, so Din turned and they ran. Grogu was glad. He didn’t want to be a tasty thing that critter ate. He also didn’t want that to happen to Din. Din grabbed his side arm again and began to blast the critters that were in their way again. They continued to run.

But soon they stopped again. Grogu guessed that Din had another weapon he could test on the critters and they stood there and waited for the flame thrower to activate. Grogu watched in silence as Din torched the critters, freaking the poor Frog lady out by the brutality of it, in the process. But Grogu was pretty sure that she hadn’t wanted to be eaten by the critters any more than he did. They all began to run toward the ship again.

Finally! They were at the ship. The critters were still chasing them, but the ship provided some protection. The Frog lady took Grogu from Din and placed him in the Razor Crest. Grogu ran to the depth of the ship as quickly as he could. Those critters were scary, and mean, and despite being tasty, they were still scary and mean.

The Frog lady ran up behind him with the container of eggs and they both went up to the cockpit. It had survived the crash best, so hopefully it would survive the critters too. Grogu just hoped that Din would hurray up and join them. He was worried about his dad. Sometimes, Grogu thought, it was possible to be too brave.

This was one of those times.

As Din reached the doors to the cockpit so many critters were coming after him it was all he could do to shoot enough of them to let the doors close. Grogu watched from a spot near Din’s feet and tried to think of some way he could help. He studied the situation and it looked grim. Grogu couldn’t think of any way the Force would help them now. There were too many to lift up and too many to put to sleep and too many to eat.

Then Grogu noticed the critters that got through the doorway noticed him, with his back against the bulkhead, trying to surround him. One of them landed on his head and that was just too much. He didn’t like it and called for help. How could anyone be brave with such an awful critter on their head!

Then the Frog lady shot it! She shot a few more of the critters that had been threatening Grogu with a little blaster pistol. Grogu had a new respect for what a mom-to-be would do to help a child. He was impressed.

Fortunately that little bit of help was all it took for Din to be able to fry the rest of the critters at the door with his flame thrower. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective.

Finally! The doors slammed closed and Din shut off the flame thrower. He and the frog lady stood for a moment and caught their breath as they all watched more and more critters scuttle over the hull of the Razor Crest.

Grogu wondered what they would do. They couldn’t even leave the cockpit because of all the critters outside. How were they going to get rid of them? Din must have had the same thought because he leapt into the pilot seat.

“Strap yourselves in. This better work.”

Grogu watched as the Mandalorian began to flip the switches and press the buttons necessary to get the Razor Crest to fly. Grogu hopped up into his lap. He didn’t want to miss this and he didn’t want to not hold on to his dad.

“I’ve got limited visibility. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

The Passenger, Part 3: The Client

By Grogu, as told to burnwater13 on Twitter

Thanks to Jon Favreau for writing the episode this telling is based on.

Oya Manda!

Grogu was very happy when Peli told the droids and mechs to start cooking the Krayt dragon meat. He’d seen Din cook things a bunch of times, but Din pretty much hated droids and mechs, so Grogu hadn’t really seen them do work like this. Plus, truth told, Din wasn’t much of a cook. Grogu was pretty sure that The Mandalorian didn’t really recognize anything about food except its ability to be changed into energy. Somethings he ate even Grogu wouldn’t have touched with a lightsaber.

He was fascinated with the meat turning on the spit. The sound the fat made dripping off the huge chunk of flesh and the sound of the engine that was cooking it filled the air. Grogu liked everything about this experience. The smells, the sounds, even the look of it was amazing to him. Grogu tried to talk to the pit droids who were near by, but he didn’t think that they understood him. Probably because it was so noisy.

He knew that Din was standing there, watching him and the cooking meat, but Grogu had no idea what the Mandalorian was thinking. Could he even smell the wonderful smell of the cooking meat in his helmet? Grogu didn’t know. He felt bad for Din then. This was a top ten smell and he really hoped that his dad could smell it. Especially after Din had taken so much time cleaning the blood and guts and dirt off his armor once they left the cantina. Peli had given him something to use for it and it smelled awful. Grogu did not want to smell that stuff again. That’s when he first thought that maybe Din couldn’t smell anything when he had his helmet on.

He saw Peli walk over to the droid responsible for cooking the meat. Her hair bounced. Grogu always liked that.

“Hey, don’t overcook it, Treadwell. I like it medium rare!” Peli ordered.

Peli shared a lot of things in common with Grogu and this was just another one. He liked to eat most of his food while it was still living. That was fresh. But if it had to be cooked, then medium rare had turned out to be a pretty good temperature. Not hot and not cold. More like body temperature. Mmmmm.

Grogu watched as she walked over to Din, which was always so funny to see. She was so small, not Grogu small, but small for a human, and there was his dad, tall, brooding (he’d heard someone else describe him that way), and very much not ordering anyone around… right now.

“I’m not some Rodian, for crying out loud.” Peli sighed loudly and turned to talk to Din. “All right, here’s the deal. A Mandalorian covert is close. It’s in this sector, one system trailing.”

Din leaned closer to reply, “Are they the ones that left Nevarro?”

Grogu remembered Nevarro and he had mixed feelings about it. He was glad that Din had come there and he was glad that they had been able to help the people there, but really, most of his memories of that planet were pretty awful.

Peli had given Din a look. “Don’t know. All I know is that the contact will lead you to them.”

Knowing Peli, Din asked an important question in Grogu’s opinion. “How much will it cost me?”

Grogu was surprised at her reply and would have bet good frog’s legs that Din was as well.

“Well, that’s the great news. It’s free. Aside from a finder’s fee, of course.”

“What’s the not-great news?” Grogu’s dad really doesn’t trust many folks and Grogu could agree that after the rain often came the unrelenting sunshine that burnt your skin and parched your mouth.

“Nothing. It’s all great.”

“Okay.”

Din seemed relieved and Grogu was happy for that. The smell of the krayt dragon meat cooking was really beginning to get to him. He looked up Din and Peli and saw them look at him and the cooking meat.

“However, there is one small skank in the scud pie.”

Peli seemed regretful and Grogu wondered how that was possible. He had no idea what a ‘skank’ was but he liked the sound of ‘such pie’. In his experience pie was almost always delicious and sweet. If he was lucky it was made with frogs legs, his favorite.

“Which is?” Din had the tone in his voice that made Grogu worry.

“The contact wants passage to the system.”

“Do you vouch for them?”

“On my life.”

“Fine”

Really dad? Fine? Grogu does not know why he believes her. Grogu could sense that there was something wrong, but he couldn’t understand why Din just believed her. Were things really that desperate? Grogu couldn’t tell.

Grogu noticed that Peli was uncomfortable. She was never uncomfortable. “And…no hyperdrive.”

“You want me to travel sublight? Deal’s off.” Din wasn’t that desperate, Grogu was glad to hear it. Sublight was Din’s least favorite way to travel because that’s where bad guys shot at your ship and the Razor Crest didn’t need any more of that.

“It’s one sector over.”

“Moving fast is the only thing keeping me safe.” Didn’t Peli understand this? Din seemed pretty peeved that she didn’t.

“These are mitigating circumstances.” Wow she was being persistent.

But it was clear to Grogu that the Mandalorian was unimpressed. He leaned closer to Peli, and said, “What do you mean ‘mitigating’?”

Grogu looked to where Peli and Din looked and saw a Frog lady.

A what? Really? Frogs could be that large? Wow. Grogu was fascinated but soon realized that his dad was not.

Din put his hands on his hips to talk to Peli. He only ever did that when he was really ticked off about something. He had once joked it kept him from reaching for his blaster. Grogu figured it meant that he could get to it faster that way.

“I’m not a taxi service.”

Peli must have realized how ticked off he was because she changed her tone of voice and sounded a lot more like a mom.

“I know, I know, I hear you. But I can vouch for her.”

The Frog lady came over to Din and Peli wearing a back pack that is a clear container, with floating orbs in it. Grogu was fascinated. This was better than watching the meat cook. What were those little orbs floating in the blue liquid? He squeaked and lifted his ears and tried to get Din’s attention. He really wanted to know more about it. The container was captivating and Grogu was definitely it captive.

Grogu heard Din ask the Frog Lady, “What’s the cargo?”

That was silly because Din didn’t speak “Frog” anymore than Grogu did.

But then he heard Peli speak “Frog” to the lady with the big, beautiful container of glowing orbs. Wow, Peli knew a bunch of things Grogu would have never guessed at.

She waited for the Frog lady’s brief reply and then told them what she said.

“It’s her spawn. She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace, they’ll die. She her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben.”

All Grogu heard really was EGGS! Mmmmm. He loved eggs.

“She said all that?” Din didn’t really believe her, that was clear.

“I paraphrased.”

Din wasn’t going to take any chances and gave Peli and the Frog lady his patented, ‘I’m a Mandalorian and you have to treat me seriously’ stance, where he put his hands on his hips and gave them ‘The Stare’.
Then he upped the ante by moving away from them, so he could turn his big armored body directly at them and made a little stomping sound with his boot, to add emphasis. He was serious. Grogu was listening to it all while never taking his eyes off the container of eggs!

“Is she sure there are Mandalorians there?”

Grogu heard more Frog speak from Peli and then the Lady.

“She said her husband has seen them.”

Grogu hoped that settled the matter because he for one was still mesmerized by the large container of eggs. He noticed that each individual egg was as large as his fist, if not larger. Grogu tried to speak to the eggs. But he couldn’t be sure if the eggs could hear his gurgles and squeaks. If they couldn’t, did that mean they were just food? Yes, that must mean they were just food.

Grogu noticed that the Frog lady was walking over to the Razor Crest and he zipped right off to follow her and the eggs. Mmmmm eggs. He barely heard Din continue to talk to Peli.

“Do you know the husband?”

“No. I met her ten minutes before you walked in.”

“I thought you said you vouched for her on your life.”

“What can I say, I’m an excellent judge of character.”

Grogu had to agree from where he was standing he liked the character of the container full of eggs.

The Passenger, Part 1
By Grogu, as told to burnwater13 on Twitter
Thanks to Jon Favreau for writing the episode this telling is based on.
Oya Manda!

Grogu was glad that they were finally leaving Tatooine. He didn’t really like it very much. Oh sure, there were a lot of strange creatures, some of which tasted good, most of which tasted bad, and a few that were down right awful. He wasn’t sure where the Krayt dragon fell in the big picture of things. He could say that the flesh smelled pretty good. But he hadn’t gotten a taste yet.

Din Djarin had taken a share of the meat but he really needed to leave Tatooine. He hadn’t found the Mandalorian he was looking for… that he thought he was looking for at any rate. Now Din wanted to go find other Mandalorians. He needed their help. Grogu didn’t really see why. He was fine with Din. He felt safe with Din. Plus, Din lead a pretty exciting life and Grogu enjoyed that, from the safety of a pouch on Din’s side to be sure, a lot.

Grogu also enjoyed riding on the speeder bike. The saddle bag Din had put him in was big enough and comfortable enough, all things considered. It wasn’t as good as being next to Din’s blaster or when Din held him against his chest. He felt very safe like that. But even the saddle bag had its benefits. He could see everything from here. The blue sky, the mountains in the distance, the rolling sand dunes. It is a beautiful day and they are flying through the desert without a care in the world. At least Grogu didn’t have a care.

Sooner than he thought possible, they are coming up to the mountains that had been so distant. Grogu had no idea how much time had passed. It just wasn’t important to him. Not when there was so much too see. Din had to do the work, but Din liked work. Grogu was convinced of that. Din never just skeeved off to sleep, or fish, or just play. He was a worker.

Grogu knew that was good for him. That gave him plenty of opportunities to explore and find things and test his own abilities, without anyone staring at him, waiting for him. He was a child. He knew that. He knew that he and the big people all around him didn’t think the same way. How could they? How could anyone? But Grogu also knew that it was better to be safe than a show off. Being a show off could get you killed. He had seen that and it had terrified him.

Grogu watched as Din threaded the speeder bike through the notch between the rocky ledges that made up the base of the mountains. They needed to cut through there to get back to Mos Eisley. Where Peli was. Peli with her curly, curly hair. She was funny and Grogu liked her. He hoped that they saw her when they reached Mos Eisley. She always made sure that Grogu had good food to eat and a safe place to sleep.

Just as Grogu had started thinking about maybe taking a nap he sensed that they were not alone, but he didn’t know who was there. Soon it didn’t matter. Grogu found himself flying through the air, saddlebag and all. He saw Din twist in the air and activate his flight pack to try and get a handle on what had just happened. That would have impressed Grogu more if he’d been able to really watch it all. He couldn’t because gravity had taken over and he hit the ground and rolled, sand and dirt flying everywhere.

Grogu tried to stop himself but his claws couldn’t get a hold of anything and he just kept on rolling. The one thing he did notice was the helmet Cobb Vanth had given to Din was rolling right along with him. What did that mean? Should he wear it? Where would his ears go. Ouch. These stones hurt. When he finally came to a halt, he sat up and tried to get his bearings.

He looked over and saw that Din was fighting several armed people. When wasn’t Din fighting? It just didn’t seem fair to Grogu. And then he noticed that the speeder bike was in flames with thick black smoke billowing from it. How were they going to get out of this mess? Grogu heard one of the people who were attacking Din yell out, “Get the child!” How many times had Din and Grogu heard that before? When would either of them be safe?

Grogu watched Din and hoped he’d give him some idea of what to do. Should he crawl away, should he stay right there? He was in the open and saw no good place to hide. He called his question out to Din and hoped the Mandalorian could hear him. Din turned to look at him and their eyes locked for a moment. Grogu tried to get him to understand that he needed some direction, but Din turned to shoot at a Jawa who had come too close and then turned away to fight yet another attacker.

Grogu wanted to leave, but he also wanted to help Din. But he doesn’t know if he should use the Force. It wasn’t simple. He couldn’t tell what he should do as he watched his hero hit, shoot, slice, and trick their attackers. Then it suddenly didn’t matter. Because someone had come up behind Grogu and picked him up and held a knife against his body. The knife looked sharp. Very sharp. Grogu stayed still. It was all he could do.

Despite the fact that Din had managed to take care of all the other attackers, Grogu saw him look over at him and almost despair. Another threat. Another bad guy. Another chance that they would be separated forever. It was a terrible fear that they both held in common.

His captor yelled at Din. Grogu didn’t understand what he said.

“Wait! Don’t hurt the Child.” Grogu frowns. Of course! Don’t hurt the Child. Grogu just wished that Din would learn his real name. He didn’t like being called the child. He had to bite his lip and just watch what Din was going to do.

“If you put one mark on him, there’s no place you will be able to hide from me.”

That was a promise that Grogu knew Din would keep. He’d seen him take the life away from any number of people who had hurt him or tried to hurt him. That was just his way and when Grogu was being very honest with himself, he wasn’t really that bothered by it. Din was doing his best to put the attacker at ease. His arms were spread and he was holding his hands up to show that they were empty. Din was pleading for Grogu’s life and his only bargaining chip is the promise of future pain, humiliation and death.

“We can strike a bargain. There’s a lot of value in this wreckage.” Din took a different tack and pointed to the other materials and cargo that are strewn about the desert floor.

Grogu wondered what his father was up to. Would it really be that simple?

“Take your pick.”

Grogu decided to tell Din not to trust the attacker. He needed to be careful. Grogu needed him and he didn’t want Din to get hurt. Why couldn’t people just leave him and his dad alone!

“But leave the Child.” Din ordered, dropping his arms and stepping forward. Good! Din had sized the whole scene up and knew what do to. Inside himself Grogu was celebrating.

Grogu’s attacker pointed and responded to the Mandalorian. It was better to make a deal then find out the hard way what the Mandalorian really cared about.

“Okay”

Grogu watched as Din took off his flight pack off and slowly walked forward with it.

“Here. It’s your’s.” Grogu couldn’t believe that Din was really giving that up for him. He liked it so much. He kept it clean and polished. Just like the rest of his armor. That was a lot to give up.

“Take it.”

Grogu grumbled as Din slowly backed away. Why couldn’t everyone else be as honorable as Din? Why did he have to keep proving to people that they could get what they needed or wanted without threats and violence?

“It’s okay.”

Grogu was relieved when his attacker stepped forward and put him on the ground. He didn’t care that the flight pack was the price and was now being collected. He just wanted to make sure nothing bad, nothing stupid, was going to happen and disrupt this rescue operation.

Sensing that the time was right, Grogu rushed across the desert rock and sand, his arms up, calling to Din that he was safe now. He needed to be picked up and to be with his father. It was a good thing this at least Din understood completely and lifted him up and held him close to protect him, again. Like he always does. No matter what.

“You okay?”

Grogu tried to tell the Mandalorian just how okay he was right now. Now that Din had rescued him. He had tried to be to be strong, and brave, just like Din was always strong and brave. He also tried to show him that he might have been worried, even scared a little, but not any more.

Grogu watched what Din was doing and noticed as the attacker ran away with the flight pack that Din quietly activated the engines on the pack. It was quite surprising watching the being that had held him hostage go arcing up into the air with the flight pack. Reflexively Grogu held onto Din’s armor. He didn’t want to fly away without his dad. Plus he liked the cold feel of the Beskar even in the heat of Tatooine. It was weird and kind of wonderful that way.

Grogu was amazed that anything could go that high, or that anyone could hold on for that long. He knew he watched with wide eyes and an open mouth, but he didn’t care. This was so cool. He grabbed Din’s thumb because that is what you do when your dad does something so cool, so helpful, so amazing!

Grogu and Din watched the scene play out together and suddenly a hand no long held the flight pack and their enemy came back down to the desert floor with a solid thump.

Had Din planned for that the whole time? Grogu turned to look at him, his ears down, a fierce frown and a tiny grunt letting the Mandalorian know just what he thought. What a show off!

He saw Din’s shrug and gave him a look. The flight pack returned to the ground in a slow, almost clinical way. Grogu would have laughed when it touched down and immediately fell over with a clunk, but he was still a little peeved. He understood that you use the tools you have at hand and do the best you can with them. That was the way the Mandalorian did things. And Grogu liked it, even when Din annoyed him.