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Contrary to popular belief outside the Jedi Temple, Pova Ibonek--formerly Chosoye--was not stupid. They weren’t sure why that word seemed to follow them around.
Okay, actually, they were, but they chose not to equate “nonverbal” with “unintelligent.”
It was worse, though, obnoxiously so, on Tatooine.
Pova blinked back tears that stung more than normal and wandered the streets of Mos Espa to find Cody.
They almost ran right into him.
“Whoa there, kid.” Cody stepped back and took a good look at them.
They kind of wished he would stop calling them kid, even if they were only thirteen and therefore most definitely a kid.
“You okay?”
Cody had his hands full of supplies for the next month or so, and could probably hardly see over the stack, but Pova knew that he grew up with hundreds of thousands of identical brothers and could see more in facial expressions than he would let on to anyone outside of them and Obi-Wan. If Pova didn’t know better, they would almost guess that Cody was Force-sensitive.
They shook their head, accompanied by a little hand sign--first two fingers closing against their thumb. No.
“Wanna talk about it?”
No again. Even if they did want to discuss it, they weren’t about to say much of anything out loud, and Cody was still learning the odd amalgamation of Jedi hand signals and Tusken trading signs that Pova and Obi-Wan had formed into their own little sign language.
“Okay. Probably for the best, anyway.” He chuckled a little. At least he knew, Pova thought, that he wouldn’t understand half of what Pova would say. “Want to get tea before we head out?”
That would involve pointing and gesturing and hoping that the people working the little café knew what they wanted without thinking they were just--no.
Cody frowned. “I thought you liked the leaf juice.”
Pova gave him a long look.
“Okay, so you do like the leaf juice, but it won’t help. Then we can just head out. You got the water?”
That did it.
Before even they knew what they were doing, Pova ducked into an alleyway.
“Whoa, kid!” Cody exclaimed, following after and trying not to drop anything.
When he got into the alleyway where Pova waited, they wore their head covering and had their hands over their ears. Cody knew Pova well enough to know that the kid only wore their head covering when the sensory input of everything else was worse than the sensory input of the cloth’s texture.
Cody didn’t understand how the kid could show no sign of sensory issues and then suddenly be on overload, but he wasn’t about to question things, either. The kid needed him first.
He knelt in front of Pova and tried ever-so-gently to put down his armful of supplies without dropping anything. He motioned to the kid to take their hands away from their ears, and dropped his voice to hardly above a whisper. “I’ll go get the water then, ey? You stay here and wait for me, and then we’ll head out.” He waited for Pova to nod, but when they did, he stood up and headed back the way they had come.
And he seethed, just a little bit. He was still getting to know the kid. He had only been back with Obi-Wan for a year and a half, only met Pova a year and a half ago, and he didn’t speak the kid’s language, as hard as he was trying to learn, because even ARC hand signs had been nearly impossible for him, and so he didn’t know them nearly as well as he wanted to, but he knew someone had hurt them. Maybe not physically. But someone had hurt Pova.
Damn it! He wished he could learn to just communicate with his kid--
He ran the phrase through his head again. My kid. My kid. Pova is… my kid.
And it felt right, the way Rex being his favorite brother felt right, the way being together with Obi-Wan felt right. Pova was his kid.
He would help his kid in just a few minutes, after he refilled their water containers for the three-hour speeder ride back home.
The gent at the water fill station gave him a pitying look. “You that kid’s dad?”
Well--hm. That wasn’t--yes. Yes, he supposed he was Pova’s dad, in some way, but--what was the look for?
“Yeah, Pova’s my kid.” He leveled a glare at the Theelin, because that seemed like the only reasonable response to the look he was still giving him, and held out the two water containers.
“Must be awful, not being able to hear him say he loves you,” the gent said, taking the canteens from Cody, ignoring his glare.
Cody’s eyes narrowed. “I never thought about that,” he said, carefully controlling his tone. He wasn’t sure if he should tell this man that Pova was sometimes verbal at home--sometimes even hyperverbal, if Obi-Wan or Cody managed to ask about a special interest. And despite the absolute hatred Pova had for Cody’s first few weeks on Tatooine, the kid (his kid) had actually said--once or twice--that they loved Cody. Not that it really mattered--Cody knew the first time Pova sat between him and Obi-Wan on movie night, rather than tucked under Obi-Wan’s arm.
“That so?” The Theelin shrugged, and filled up the first water container. “And why does he run around on his lonesome?” He seemed to skip over his herf sounds, especially after other consonants. “He can’t hardly talk to any of us shopkeepers.”
“I think you’ll find that they,” Cody said, emphasising Pova’s pronouns, “are extremely capable of communicating without speaking out loud.”
The gent’s pitying gaze turned to something a little more annoyed. “I don’t hardly have the time to try to understand him, now do I?”
Cody made an effort not to growl, and Force forbid he hit the guy, but man, if he wasn’t pissed at this shopkeeper. “Well, they are perfectly good at pointing at what they want,” he argued, and watched with narrowing eyes as the Theelin started filling the second water container, “and I thought you only did water here, anyway.”
The Theelin said nothing after that, only handed Cody the two water containers and held out his hand for Cody’s credits, which Cody was far too willing to give away if it meant he didn’t have to see this man for another minute until next month.
It was a relief to get back to the alleyway and find Pova still sitting there, hands back over their ears but watching their pile of supplies intently.
“Come on, kid,” Cody said gently, handing them the canteens and scooping up the rest of the supplies. “Let’s go home.”