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Of all the people that Grogu had had contact with, his favorite was his dad Din Djarin. Din Djarin had never thought he would be responsible for a foundling. But here he was looking after Grogu and training him.
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The children loved to hear Din Djarin's stories of the places he'd been to and the missions he had. Some of their favorites were the ones that involved Grogu. They could listen to them all day.
"Tell us the story again," a boy said. "The one where you met Grogu."
"We all love that one," a girl said.
Despite his gruff bounty hunter reputation, Din Djarin loved kids. He had grown up learning that children (or foundlings) were the future of the clan. He had also been taught that the one who brought the foundling to the clan took responsibility of him or her until adulthood. He had made pledge to look after and care for Grogu. The pair had made lots of friends since coming to live on Navaro. Grogu especially. He had also made friends with children that didn't live on Navaro. Among them Hera Syndulla's son Jacen and Omega Fett's five adopted sons Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair. There were also the foundlings in their covert.
Not that things were easy. Djarin worked as a bounty hunter so the two traveled. On top of that, Djarin had begun Grogu's training. Grogu was young but was showing promise already acquiring two pieces of armor. The Jedi Ahsoka had told Din Djarin that he and Grogu shared a strong bond and he was starting to see it. Grogu was starting to listen to him and do as he told him. His fighting skills were improving as well and Din Djarin believed he was using what he learned at the temple and from Luke.
After entertaining the kids with stories, it was time for Grogu's training. Ever since taking responsibility for the foundling, Din Djarin had been very strict about his training. He wanted Grogu to be as well trained as possible. He knew that things would be difficult for him. The life of a Mandalorian wasn't easy and Grogu wouldn't get very big.
“Okay, kid,” Din Djarin said. “Time for training.”
Grogu looked up letting his dad know that he was ready. They were starting on weapons today though Din Djarin had made it clear that Grogu couldn’t touch a real one until he proved he understood how to use them safely. It was how he was taught and he saw no reason to do any different. For the better part of an hour, they went over the specs of some of the blasters before moving on to target practice. Grogu was actually very good at target practice. Din Djarin had a hunch that he was using a little bit of the Force but he didn’t want to discourage him. His friend Ahsoka had told him he had some training before the rise of the Empire. While some Mandalorians would say using the Force was cheating, Din Djarin didn’t discourage Grogu. The Force was always going to be a part of him and he would always be on the small side so it was an advantage. Besides, there hadn’t been a Mandalorian Force user since the founder of House Vizla.
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The marketplace was busy with lots of children out shopping with their mothers. They were all taking about what their dad's would like. This confused Grogu; surely not all the dads in town had birthdays at the same time. Maybe something special was going on. He and Din Djarin had just finished a series of missions for the Republic and had been off world for a while, so it was possible that something was coming up that they were unaware of. If it had to do with dads, then Grogu was definitely interested and decided that he would do something for Din Djarin.
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It was getting close to dinner time. Din Djarin had spent most of the afternoon working on the new Razor Crest. It was in good condition but there were a few modifications that he wanted to make. Grogu had been coloring. Ever since the incident with the twins, Grogu had proven his capabilities to the point that Din Djarin knew he could look after himself for an hour or two.
"Okay, kid. Let's get dinner started."
He picked Grogu up. The foundling held on to the paper.
"What do you have there?"
Din Djarin looked at the paper. It was a drawing of him and Grogu in a childlike style. Above it, in clumpy writing, were the words "Me And My Dad". Grogu held the drawing out to him as a gift. It was true. It wasn't grand gasters that made a father. It was simply being there for the little things.