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Grogu holds his breath, his heart pounding. Daring himself to be brave, he peeks out from the inside of the basket and looks at the field in front of the barn. There's no Winta to be found there, just the Mandalorian and Winta's mom. He coos happily. This is the best hiding spot ever.
He sinks down to his knees, the world disappearing over the bin’s rim. It's been a while since Winta started looking. Grogu’s tempted to search out her signature in the Force, but stops himself short of it. That’d be breaking the rules. First few times they played, he’d always check where she was and then move to another hiding spot if he felt her coming closer. But after the nth time, tears welled up in the girl’s eyes and Grogu didn’t like that. It’s not fair to make someone lose every time.
But it is getting a bit boring to wait. He chances another peek at the outside.
The Mandalorian and Winta’s mom are still standing there, maybe just closer than they were before.
Grogu tilts his head curiously. It was hard to learn reading the Mandalorian at first; the shiny armor he wears seems to dampen everything around him. But after their first few weeks together, Grogu knows just how to nudge the Force into the place to get a sense of what the man’s thinking.
He really doesn’t have to try hard this time. When he closes his eyes, he can see the pair vividly, both of them cast in a peculiar yellow glow, swirling in the space between them.
Weird.
Before they landed on this planet, the Mandalorian told him all about why he chose it. He said they would spend months here and that no one would find them. Grogu understands the stakes of that particular hide-and-seek game very well.
The days spent in space, blaster shots flying over their heads and sterile rooms he doesn’t remember walking into - it all seems so far away now, like a bad dream that’s already slipping his mind when the sun hits his face in the morning.
And when he’s looking at the man who took him, Grogu recognizes what the Force was trying to tell him.
The man feels safe here too.
“Gotcha!”
A pair of hands wrap around him and he’s lifted out of the basket and high into the air. Grogu shrieks in surprise and feels the Mandalorian seize up momentarily, before relaxing.
Winta laughs, holding Grogu up above her head and then sets him carefully on the ground.
She plops next to him, spread out on the grass and squints her eyes at the sun. "I'm sooo tired," she tells him.
Grogu steps to her side and sits next to her, watching as the soft, moist moss dips around him. He's tired too, he thinks. His legs are not used to running around all day. They’re not used to him leaving a pram either.
He remembers playing with other kids, but back then he couldn’t walk that much. He’d just sit or be held and watch the other padawans float a droid toy made out of wood between each other. Grogu would point at which kid he wanted the toy to go to and they would focus until the air around them shifted to bring the object where they wanted.
One time two padawans floated Grogu instead of the toy, but his laughter alerted a creche master who run up and told them to stop. Which was very mean.
Grogu looks at Winta. He could totally float her. But maybe not now. He is quite tired.
He coos at her. The girl cranes her head to glace at their parents, before looking back at him.
"You know… I always wanted to have a little brother," she says conspiratorially. "I'm going to teach you so much. You're too little now, but maybe next year, we'll play krill and fox.”
Grogu doesn't know that game. The girl supplies him a memory that makes it clear the game involves sticks, a small ball and some circles drawn on the muddy ground, but from her smile alone Grogu can tell it's very fun.
Grogu is tired and the ground is a soft blanket, so he lays down next to his friend and closes his eyes. The warm sun is lessened by a soft breeze that carries a rich, boggy smell of the ponds.
His legs hurt. His face hurts from smiling, too.