A much-needed hour of silence passed on Esther’s ship. She turned off the solar power and brought the oars out, though she still looked tense over what had happened.
Luke eventually stepped back onto the deck, empty-handed, his lightsaber swinging from his belt. He moved across it to Rotta, still holding Grogu, but The Child had fallen asleep. “He finally fell asleep?” Luke asked, resting his arm on the ship’s railing.
“Yep,” Rotta said, rocking Grogu. “Poor little guy. He’s been through so much. Did you get Mando calmed down?”
“I did,” Luke replied, nodding.
“How’d you manage that?” was Rotta’s next question.
“Jedi mind trick.” Luke lifted his hand and wrapped his thumb and index finger around Grogu’s hand. There was a long silence, and then he smiled slightly. “Thank you, Rotta, for everything today.”
“Ah,” Rotta said, blushing, “don’t mention it. I’m just glad that I could help.”
“I promise that I will never question you again,” Luke continued. “I just hope that you can forgive me.”
“It’s okay. We don’t need to worry about that right now.” Rotta returned Luke’s nervous smile. “I know you’re a good man, Master Skywalker, just like Din.”
Guilt flashed in Luke’s eyes. There was a long silence, and then he patted Rotta’s shoulder and left, approaching Esther.
“Hey, Luke,” she said, still a little shaky.
Luke gripped the pod and tapped it. “I’m sorry about Din. He’s not usually like this.”
Not taking her eyes off the ocean, Esther said, “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” She bit her lip, and it bled a little. “Brainwashing, families getting ripped apart, and villains taking advantage of good people. Exploiting their greatest fears. Din and Grogu are different, though. They…” Her voice trailed.
“Did it happen to you?” Luke asked aloud.
Esther paused before freezing completely. “I’m not the priority right now.” She reached for the button that activated the solar power, giving Luke a gentle smile, too. “With the solar power and the current, we should reach the New Republic base in about two more hours. Rotta is taking care of Grogu, so why don’t you look after Mando until we pull into port? It’s the least we can do since he can’t be near him right now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Still looking slightly guilty, but also curious, Luke pushed off the pod and turned on his heel, returning to the lower deck. The air vents turned on, cooling him.
Luke’s eyes landed on Mando, who sat in a hammock, gripping its sides to keep it from rocking.
“Hello, Din.” The subtle joy returned to Luke’s face, and he neared him. “How does your head feel?” He didn’t answer, so Luke added, “Grogu’s safe. Rotta is looking after him. He finally got him to fall asleep.”
“I don’t understand.” Mando clenched his fist. “What did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything.” Luke opened his feet and placed his hands behind him.
“I can’t even protect my own kid.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Yes, it is. If I had just listened and didn’t keep the helmet on…!”
“You made a mistake. That doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad father.” Luke sat in the hammock across from Mando and rested his hands on his knees. “My father became Darth Vader because he made a mistake, but he let that mistake consume him. However, Anakin Skywalker was still under that mask. I know it’s hard, but we’re going to get you and Grogu back together. However, until we do, you need to keep fighting.”
“But I’m exhausted, Luke,” Mando said, setting his head on the hammock’s pillow. “I also can’t be a better dad to Grogu if I can’t be near him. You yourself said that I need to listen to him more.”
“The best thing you can do for Grogu right now,” Luke said, popping out of the hammock and brushing his pants off, “is to try to keep fighting. He almost lost you, Mando. That’s why he became clingy. You figured it out, but don’t remember.”
“I did?” Silence, then the anger returned to Mando’s voice, and he clenched his fist again. He thought for a second before sighing and unclenching it. “It was a Dragonsnake, Luke.” His voice quivered, and he shuddered. Mando massaged his side.
“A Dragonsnake?” Remaining calm, Luke listened. “That’s what happened?”
“It poisoned me,” Mando added, his voice quivering more. “I would’ve died if Grogu hadn’t searched high and low for an antidote. We haven’t been the same since.”
A pause, and then Luke admitted, “There’s always that one case that hits harder than the rest, Mando.” His face changed from compassionate to serious. “However, you and Grogu need to work through it together. And I think I know how.”
Although Luke couldn’t see it, Mando gave him a funny look. “How?”
Luke reached into his pocket, pulling out the ball Grogu liked to play with in the Razor Crest. “I brought the ball. Was waiting for the opportunity to use it,” he told Mando, gesturing for him to follow.
While Mando wasn’t 100% sure what was happening, he followed Luke to the deck, where he told him to wait. He then approached Rotta and spoke to him for a second before waking Grogu.
After a bit, Rotta put Grogu, still a little sleepy, down. He and Mando faced one another, keeping their distance.
Luke soon returned to Mando and handed him the ball. He tilted his head toward Grogu and stepped aside.
“‘Listen to your son.’”
Mando twirled the ball in his sweaty fingers, then slowly dropped to his knees. “Grogu…” He sat back and rolled the ball to him. “I wish we could be together, but we can’t right now. However”—Mando gestured at the ball—“we can still communicate. Let’s try a yes-or-no question. Roll the ball to me if your answer is ‘yes.’”
Cooing, Grogu picked up the ball. He looked at Mando again.
“Did the Dragonsnake scare you?” he said, keeping his voice low. Steady. Calm.
It took a second, but Grogu rolled the ball to Mando, and it touched his knee. He saw his ears drooping and inhaled.
Mando soon returned the ball to him. “What can I do to help you? To help both of us?”
Grogu gestured at Rotta before holding the ball to his face like a mask. He lowered it, lifted it, and lowered it again.
“Show you that I’m all right, right?” Mando translated. Rotta was right all along. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m all right for now, and I’m going to fix this. You won’t lose me. I promise.”
Did Grogu perk up? He rolled the ball back to Mando and sat, looking up. Calling to him, he pointed at the sky, and Mando looked with him.
The clouds had finally moved apart, revealing the Oamia Nebulae. It covered the sky, almost lighting it up like daytime. Mando barely saw a shooting star skimming across it.
Just watching the nebula with Grogu, he remembered the night on Ossus. The same warm feeling from that night returned, replacing dark memories with memories of him and Grogu.
Mando lifted his hand and held his palm up to Grogu, who did the same, even though they were apart. “We’re going to be all right, kid. After all, we’re a family.”
Rotta approached Grogu, and Luke came within reach of Mando, nodding softly. “And that, Mando, is your lesson on the father-son relationship: listen, communicate, and help. That was how I helped my father.”
Wait, so he did know that Mando wanted a father-son conversation; he just guided him instead of giving him the answer. Of course, he did. After all, Luke was a Jedi. He mentored.
Esther soon joined Mando, Luke, Rotta, and Grogu. “We should be there in another hour,” she explained, tilting her head back to look at the sky, too. “You guys are lucky. It usually doesn’t clear up this much on Oamia.”
The odd feeling around her returned. It grew while Mando continued to study the nebula.
“Wait,” he said, rising to his feet and squinting behind the mask. The shockwave around his head pulled him toward the sky.
Mando remembered the map he and Luke studied before the Vikings caught them. There were three main planets in the Oamian Sector, each with its own sun, which created a triangle, and the nebula was in the heart of that triangle.
That was another reason why the helmet grew stronger being there.
“That’s it,” Mando soon said, lifting his hand again. He didn’t know where it was, but it was somewhere in there: somewhere where the Mastermind could have their technology touch each planet simultaneously, confusing the Vikings and the New Republic (the heart perhaps?).
“What is it, Mando?” Rotta inquired, offering his arm to Grogu.
He crawled onto it and settled onto Rotta’s bicep.
“The invisible enemy, the base, the Mastermind…” Mando waved his hand across the nebula. “They’re in the Oamia Nebulae.”
ns216.73.217.110da2
and then Add to home screen.