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"You hungry, buddy?"
The child - Grogu, his name was Grogu - looked up, and chirped a response, waving his hands enthusiastically.
Not for the first time Din wondered who had been the last person to have done this, to have cared for the child. According to Ashoka, Grogu had been lost since before the rise of the Empire. But his species were long-lived. Was his family still somewhere, looking for him?
Din crouched down in front of Grogu, meeting his eyes. Grogu let out a questioning coo, tilting his head, and then reached out. Din recognised the gesture, and allowed the child to wrap his claw around Din's finger.
"The Jedi lady told me what she saw in your mind. That you'd witnessed... something terrible."
Grogu was quiet, and Din wondered if he could even understand him. He focused on the claws around his finger, rubbing his thumb across the small hand.
"I was like you, you know." It felt strange talking about it, about that period of his life that now felt like it had happened to someone else. "The separatists killed my family, all my people. The Mandalorians saved me and took me in as one of their own. Gave me a new family."
The question burned on his tongue, and perhaps if he'd had Ashoka's powers, her ability to understand Grogu, he would have asked it. Would you like me to be your family?
But it was a selfish desire. He had been tasked to find Grogu's people. It was not his place to want anything more.
He let go of Grogu's hand and picked him up. "We're going to go to that Jedi place that the lady spoke about. You can contact your people there. And maybe... maybe they can find you a family too." He tried to smile, even though he knew Grogu would not see it. "Wouldn't that be nice."