Work Text:
The cloaked figure lowered his hood, and Din was surprised by how young he looked. This was the young man who had just single-handedly destroyed the entire platoon of Darktroopers?
He looked at Din, and then at the child, and for a moment everyone on the bridge was still. Then he spoke.
“I heard your call, little one,” he said. “My name is Luke Skywalker.”
The child cocked his head, intrigued. Then he looked at Din, cooed, and his ears drooped.
“He doesn’t want to go with you,” Din said, hoping his voice was steady enough.
Luke kept his attention on the child. Din was pretty sure he recognized it. They were communicating, the same way as he had with Ahsoka.
“He wants your permission,” Luke said. “I know our time is short, but perhaps we could speak more privately?”
Behind them, Gideon groaned. He wasn’t coming around yet, but would be soon. Din looked at the kid. At Luke Skywalker. At the foreign weapon in his hand. Luke was radiating calm. “Yes,” he said.
He and Grogu and Luke stepped off the bridge, plucking their way between the still-sparking remnants of the droids. Luke moved as if he knew the layout of the ship by heart and led them through a door into a conference room with a wall of monitors and control panels, all darkened and inoperative. They sat, facing each other, Grogu on Din’s lap.
Luke looked at the child and smiled slightly, and Din recognized that, too. Most everyone who saw him looked at him like that, unable to resist the child’s natural charm.
“Your son is very fond of you.”
Din was sure that, whatever was coming next, he would rather go another round with one of the Darktroopers than have this conversation. The pain of getting thrown around was familiar, easy to take.
“He feels conflicted. He’d like to continue learning to master his abilities, but is hesitant to leave you. He is strong with the Force, but strength without training and skill is dangerous.”
Din gently put his hand around the little body on his lap. Grogu wrapped his tiny fingers around Din’s index finger. “You need to do what’s best for you, kid,” he said. Barely a whisper got past the lump in his throat.
Grogu twisted, tilted his head, looked up at Din without letting go of his finger. Din gave his hand a little squeeze with his thumb.
“I can’t teach you those things.”
The child looked uncertain.
Luke was silent for a moment. Din swallowed hard and breathed slow.
“The old order believed emotional attachments were dangerous for the Jedi, but I don’t believe it’s wise to try and undo the relationship that’s formed between you.”
Din wanted to say that that’s what Ahsoka Tano had said, that that’s why they went to Tython in the first place. He was too attached. It was dangerous.
Din said nothing.
“Will you remain in his life?” Luke asks. “If I take him to train with me.”
It felt like an injection of adrenaline. “Always.”
Luke addressed Grogu next. “Will you come? You’ll have to work hard, but your father can come visit at the temple and see what you’re learning.”
Yes. Yes , Din thought. He would come visit. He would watch as the kid learned.
Grogu looked back up at him, questioning.
Again, Din squeezed his little hand. “If that’s what you want, buddy. You need to go learn about your magic.”
The child looked back to Luke and made a happy squeaking noise.
Luke reached into the pocket of his tunic and removed a data stick. “This has the location of the temple where I’ll bring him. You’re welcome to come and see him, though I ask you not reveal the location to anyone else.”
Din took the data stick, and nodded.
“We should go soon,” Luke said, rising. Din realized for the first time that he was short, shorter than himself, and slightly built. He had seemed much bigger on the surveillance screens. “I’ll let you say your goodbyes.”
Din waited until the door opened and then slid closed again before lifting the child to eye level. “You’re going to go learn about your Jedi powers. And we’re gonna see each other again soon. I promise.”
The child reached out and rested his hand on Din’s helmet.
Din saw back to that first moment he’d seen the child, in that dusty compound on Arvala-7. He’d been shocked by everything he’d seen but mostly by those big brown eyes. Those eyes had been filled not with fear or anger but something else. Something Din had never seen in a bounty before. Something he’d rarely seen in anyone. Hope, maybe.
Trust. It had been trust, the second Din had shot the IG droid. That tiny, helpless creature had stared up at him with trust .
Din looked and saw that the door was still closed. He shifted the child’s slight weight to one arm and, before he could think better of it, before he could second guess himself, he took off his helmet.
The child cooed, eyes wide, as he saw Din’s eyes for the first time.
His heart was in a thousand pieces.
It was the right thing to do. It was all the right thing to do.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head down until his chin, ever so gently, met the warm fuzz of the child’s forehead. For the first time he let his breath play through the child’s hair. For the first time, he felt the little clawed hand on his cheek.
Not the last time.
“We’ll see each other again. I promise. I’ll always come for you,” he said.
And then the words came to him, words he hadn’t heard in decades. “ Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad ,” he whispered. “Grogu. I know your name as my child.”
Grogu hugged at Din’s jaw with both hands. He understood.
Din blinked hard a few times, pushing back tears. Keep it together for the child. For his child. He had been a child last time he’d heard those words spoken. “You’re gonna do great, kid. You don’t know how amazing you are.”
He set the child on his lap again and put his helmet back on. He took a few deep breaths, steadying himself. Tucked the data stick into his belt. Then he forced a smile into his voice. “Come on, womp rat. Don’t keep the Jedi waiting.”
Luke was waiting patiently in the corridor, now joined by an astromech droid. From some unknown depth, Din mustered a veneer of calm as he handed Grogu over. Grogu made it easy, reaching out for Luke.
“I will protect him with my life,” Luke said. “He’ll be safer when he has mastered his abilities. You’ve done well to keep him safe.”
Din nodded.
Luke turned and stepped towards the lift, the droid following. Grogu squirmed in Luke’s arms, adjusting himself to peer over Luke’s shoulder. Din felt a sudden surge of panic over the unknown. Over Luke not knowing that Grogu hated cooked vegetables and loved long noodles he could slurp, that he wouldn’t sleep alone, that he preferred his bathwater almost too warm and full of bubbles. He wanted to call out to Luke, to drag him back and list off all those things he’d had to puzzle out.
Over Luke’s shoulder, Grogu smiled, and reached a little hand up in a wave.
Din swallowed hard, and waved back. He watched as they stepped into the lift, and disappeared behind the door.
His hand went to the datastick in his belt, reassuring himself that it was there. A connection between them, however small and distant.
He’d see his son again. He'd promised.