Chapter 14 | The Tragedy (Part 1)

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Cordelia wakes to Grogu patting her face. She chuckles and sits up, moving him to her lap. She looks up from her seat and spots Din watching them, holding the silver ball that Grogu loves to play with.  He holds it up and Grogu makes sure Cordelia's watching it before he uses the Force to bring it to him. She smiles at him, and he coos happily at her.

"Dank farrik!" Din says, startling Grogu and making him drop the ball. "Hey, no. I'm not mad at you. You did good. I just...When the nice lady said you had training, I just..." He sighs. He leans over and grabs the ball, handing it to Grogu. "You're very special, kid. We're gonna find that place you belong and they're gonna take real good care of you."

"If they don't, you tell us, and we'll come kick their butt." Cordelia says. Grogu coos and she smiles, lifting him up to kiss his head before settling him back in her lap. Din focuses back on the controls for a moment.

"This is Tython. That's where we're gonna try and find you a Jedi. But you have to agree to go with them if they want you to. Understand?" He says. Grogu looks at Cordelia and she nods, forcing a smile. "Plus, we can't train you. You're too powerful. Don't you wanna learn more of that Jedi stuff?" He asks. Grogu babbles, still playing with the ball. "We agreed to take you back to your own kind, so that's what we need to do. You understand, right?"

Cordelia holds Grogu tighter as Din flies the ship over Tython, looking around for the place Ahsoka told him about. 

"Looks like that's the magic rock we're supposed to take you to down there." He says. Grogu looks at him for a moment before focusing back on his ball. Cordelia chuckles, rubbing his ear. He looks up as Din begins circling the rock, looking for a place to land. "Sorry, buddy. I can't land on the top. Too small. Looks like we're gonna have to travel the last stretch with the windows down."

He lands the ship, and they head towards the ramp. It opens and Grogu starts making his way down. Before Din can follow, Cordelia grabs his hand. He stops and turns to look at her.

"Thank you." She says. He steps closer, taking her other hand. "For taking the lead with all this Jedi stuff." She adds before he can ask.

"You don't have to thank me, Riduur. I know it's hard for you." He says. He lets go of her hands to cradle her face. "If there's anything to make this easier for you, I'm your man." She chuckles.

"I love you, Din." Cordelia says. He leans in for a Keldabe Kiss.

"I love you too, Delia." Din replies. 

***

Din lands, making sure Cordelia has her feet under her before he lets go of her waist. He takes Grogu from her and cradles him in his arm before grabbing her hand and approaching the stone.

"Well, I guess this is it." He says as they stand at the edge of the rock formation. They move towards the stone in the center of the formation, looking around. "Does this look Jedi to you?" He asks. 

Cordelia shrugs, still looking around as Din pulls her towards the stone. They reach it and he lets go of her hand, moving to set Grogu down on the stone.

"I guess you sit right here." He says and looks around. "Okay. Here we go." Grogu coos, looking at them. "This is the seeing stone, are you seeing anything? Or are they supposed to see you?" He presses the button on his helmet and starts scanning their surroundings as Cordelia moves to kneel in front of Grogu. "Maybe there's some kind of control or something." He makes it all the way around the stone without finding anything.

"Hey." Cordelia says, getting Grogu's attention away from the butterfly he'd been watching. "No matter what happens after this, I want you to know that we're proud of you." He coos, then goes back to trying to catch the butterflies. Din sighs.

"Oh, come on, kid. Ahsoka told me all we had to do was get you here and you'd do the rest." He says. Grogu coos and tilts his head at them. 

Cordelia grabs Din's arm as a ship approaches. It flies past the rock formation, and they move to the edge to watch it. The ship lands and they back away.

"Time's up, kid. We gotta get out of here." Din says. They approach the stone, but there's now blue runes glowing and some kind of forcefield around it. Grogu sits with his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open. "We don't have time for this. We got to get-" He reaches towards Grogu, but the forcefield sends him flying backwards.

"Din!" Cordelia cries, rushing to his side. "Are you okay?" She asks as she helps him up. He nods and turns back to the stone.

"Hey! Snap out of it, kid! We got to get out of here!" He says. Grogu doesn't respond and he moves to the edge, scanning the ship below as someone exits it. He grabs his blaster and looks at his wife. "I'll see if I can buy him some time. Stay with him." He says. She nods and he turns back to Grogu. "Can you please hurry up?" He asks before moving down the hill.

Cordelia pulls out her own blaster and moves to the edge to watch Din approach. Blasters fire at him and he ducks behind a rock until it stops. He moves out from behind cover and speaks with the man. She moves back towards Grogu and walks around the stone, inspecting the runes.

"Please hurry, Grogu. It's not safe." She says. He doesn't respond, so she walks around the rock formation, looking for anything that could be Jedi. She hears another ship approaching and curses, recognizing it as Imperial.

Cordelia tightens her grip on her blaster, moving to stand in front of Grogu, ready to protect him at any cost. She hears footsteps rushing towards them and readies her blaster.

"Delia!" Din calls before he reaches the top. She sighs, lowering the blaster as he rushes towards them. "Time to go, kid!" He says, holstering his blaster. Cordelia follows his lead and turns to look at Grogu. 

Din grunts as he tries to get through the forcefield to Grogu. He gets close before it launches him back. He lands on the ground and Cordelia rushes to him as he doesn't move. She quickly checks for a pulse, then any injuries. Finding his pulse and no injuries, she sighs, kneeling next to him and pulling his head onto her lap. 

Cordelia shifts, drawing her blaster and moving so she faces the direction the enemy would approach from. She glances at Grogu and sighs, hoping he finishes whatever he's doing soon.

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