Vibrant Eyes | Din Djarin

46: ends;

While Ira Venusta found Din Djarin to be a hopeless kind of funny, Kuiil the Ugnaught was an entirely effortless kind.

It was endearing, really. The older creature had such an ease to the way he functioned, lived, and spoke. Everything about him was as simple and straightforward as could be. He kept it real, most of the time, and reminded Ira in moments where she'd floated aimlessly in the past, that it was alright to exist among all that was real. 

That not all of it was truly as terrible as it seemed.

Mostly, he was also just crass in his frankness. It was abrupt, startling in a way. It always managed to get a laugh out of her, especially when it made Din sigh in that aggravated, tired way he did so often. Which was exactly what he did before he went off to follow Kuiil. While he was nervous and wary at the very least, the other creature's intentions couldn't have been more clear.

He, the both of them really, were the most entertaining people she'd ever had the pleasure of knowing in her long, lonesome life.

Grogu, on the other hand, was easily the funniest. The cutest (or so she'd decided herself with no outside influence whatsoever). The smallest. And by far the most troublesome. 

Din had never been more right than to affectionately dub him a womp rat.

Because he was just as bad, if not infinitely worse.

Ira allowed the Force to travel through her. Each deep breath drew it in, each easy exhale let it go on to support the next form of life. Maybe it went on to support the ants on the ground, the blurrgs across the rocky cliffsides, the mudhorn in its cave, or Grogu.

But she couldn't tell. Hard as she tried, no matter how tightly closed she squeezed her eyes, she could not focus enough to know.

Because he just wouldn't stop moving.

Ira snapped her eyes open and glared at the bundle of Force energy twirling before her.

"Still," she reminded.

The whirling of the Force in his tiny body only increased. She could hear the gritting of small stones under his hands as he clawed at the ground for some reason. The faint tickle of dust against her skin only further proved that he was... digging. Anything to stave away boredom and use that restless energy, she supposed.

She could feel his thoughts too, almost like she could Din's. But with another Force user it was much more clear. Where Din's thoughts were the hum of a steady machine with a sometimes overworked core, Grogu's broke through with the occasional word or phrase. 

It took a lot of translation to piece it together into a complete sentence but it usually wasn't necessary.

"Bored..." Grogu grumbled. Then unintelligible mental grumbles. And then—"Frog."

"Frog?" she asked.

"Frog."

Eyebrows knit together, Ira sighed and forced her eyes shut once more. "Alright," she breathed. She shifted on the rough sand beneath her, palms resting skyward on each knee. "Frog."

She had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

But then she did. Ira shot a hand out into the air at the same time she opened her eyes. Hovering held in her grasp, a solid form of purple mist trapped in the net of violet strings, a frog floated in the air from where it had leapt from the ground.

She sensed Grogu's intentions as clearly as she did his thoughts, watching as the air around him moved as he lunged to grab it. But with a small flick of her fingers, it flew too high for him to reach. The kid turned to her, reeking of displeasure.

Ira smiled idly. "Frog."

The kid grumbled aloud at the same time he almost whined, "Frog."

Ira sighed and swept her hand through the air in the motion of a gentle wave, transporting the small creature to safety. When she lowered her hand, she extended it before her. In silence she waited for a long moment until she felt a small hand grasp at the tip of her pointer finger.

"Grogu," she said, curving her palm so she could run a gentle thumb over the back of his little hand. "What troubles ail you?"

"Troubles?"

"Yes, little one. Troubles."

"Bored."

"I know that one. What else?"

"Hands."

She looked down in the direction of the hand she clasped between her fingers. "Like this?"

He babbled a confirmation.

Suddenly she knew what he was so focused on. 

Ira tried, she really did, but the grimace contorted her face beyond her control. Another flash of displeasure floated like purple mist from his form, mingling as well with insecurities. What he thought her conflictions on the matter meant for him. Meant for them.

Were they truly so transparent? Was she?

"Hands!"

Ira grimaced again, but this time because of the shout within her mind. "Yes, yes, I know," she soothed. "Does it... does it bother you—when we do that?"

"Bother?" The Force within the air swished around his large ears when he shook his head. "No."

She almost cursed but caught herself. Because she'd wanted that to be the reason.

Some horribly rotten part of her wanted him to drive a wedge between her and Din. It remembered most of all the pain that rotted away in her heart for so long and all she'd run from. It remembered distant fires and the nights where she welcomed true blindness all so she would not hear the screams of the damned carried across the entire universe.

All of her remembered love, but this intrinsic part of her would never forget the pain.

"Love..." Grogu seemed to whisper.

Ira made sure to block her mind from the Force with a huff of surprise.

But she nodded at him, feeling a distinct burn in her eyes. "Yes. Love."

Why was she crying?

A soft touch tethered her to the child before her and the now soothing sway to his Force energy. A moment later she recognized it as a second little clawed hand grasping at hers. As if holding her. As if trying to tell her something.

"Love?"

Then she was laughing with tears in her eyes and nodding, feeling the curse of that damned love swell up inside her chest.

He was right... probably. If this was the meaning he meant. 

Maybe she could keep that part of her tucked away, maybe it could help her protect all she held dear. All she would love simply to love. Maybe she didn't have to run from it anymore. She could dedicate the rest of her years to protecting it instead.

Love. She could love again.

Ira would protect Grogu and Din Djarin until the day she died.