A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕁𝕖𝕕𝕚 (𝕀𝕀𝕀)

The low mooring of the planet's native beasts drew Ellia out of her slumber. She blinked a few times in order to clear her eyesight, and when she did, she found herself looking at something silver and shiny. It took her only a second longer to realize that it was the beskar of Din's armor.

And that she was leaning up against the side of his chest, his arm somehow wrapped around the back of her shoulder.

Frozen still, she hadn't found it in her to move, even as Din himself woke up slowly. Something she could tell by the way the helmet tilted over ever so slightly to look back at her.

Her arm was still lightly splayed out against his chest plate, and for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to remove it.

"Good morning" Din greeted in a low, still groggy, voice.

"I-" Ellia's words seemed to turn to sand in her mouth, "Sorry. I didn't-" she still found it hard to speak as she haphazardly pushed herself up, slipping out of his hold.

Din appeared to be less frazzled, but that might have been due to the fact that he still wasn't fully awake yet. He slowly peeled himself up off of the ground and into a sitting position as he stretched out his arms. As they came back down, one of them rested gently on the side of Ellia's shoulders.

"It's alright. I don't mind." he said earnestly, "I prefer you two being close."

On instinct, Ellia glanced down at where the child was now sitting up, awake, tucked in the space between Din's leg and her own.

Her eyes tilted back up to the Mandalorian, and finally was able to muster a smile.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind them dragged their attention away. Ellia glanced over her shoulder to look up at where Ahsoka was standing, her arms crossed over her chest. She squinted a moment, trying to figure out why the force-user looked like she was trying to hold back a smile.

"Come on." Ahsoka said with a simple nod of her head, "The quicker we get started, the quicker I can understand Grogu's situation."

Both Din and Ellia nodded and were rising to their feet in an instant.

The sun was well into the sky as they followed Ahsoka through the moss-covered forest. Eventually, they came across yet another clearing in the trees. Inside of this one, there were several large stones, signaling that there had once stood some sort of structure. But the foundations had long since been grown over.

Ahsoka came to a stop at the center of the clearing, turning towards where Din was standing, holding Grogu safely in his arms.

"Let's see what knowledge is lurking inside that little mind." she said, affectionately tapping the child's tiny nose.

She then gestured towards a flat-topped rock that stood to her right. As Din carefully let Grogu down on top of it, Ahsoka walked a few paces back, crouched down to the ground and picked up a small rock from the forest floor. She flipped it over in her hand once as Din and Ellia stood off to the side, prepared to watch everything unfold.

Ahsoka slowly opened her palm, showing the rock resting there securly. She then tilted her head vertically, making a slight pushing motion forward, and from it the stone suddenly floated out and into the open air.

Ellia's eyes widened in disbelief as she followed it's path, right up until it landed in Grogu's open hands. He clamped down on the stone with an excited cry.

Ahsoka smiled, holding out her hand once more.

"Now, return the stone to me, Grogu." she ordered gently.