[When you think about it, we don't even know the name of the most important man in "The Mandalorian".]

THREE GENERATIONS

Grogu was back.

For Din, it was as if his heart was finally whole again.

However, Din knew Grogu would have to return to Master Luke's instruction and protection. This was just a visit.

They met at a ramshackle excuse of a star-port located on yet another shabby and threadbare desert world. The ship Grogu came in on was a small freighter that had seen better days. Their reunion was quiet but featured a ferocious hug that didn't require words. Din wasn't given to emotional displays, but there was one person for whom he made an exception. And that person was back.

Din had spent much of the last year trying to decide what he would do when he finally saw Grogu again. When he finally realized what they should do, it hit him like a thunderbolt. It was obvious. So obvious that he was amazed it hadn't occurred to him before.

There was someone that Grogu had to meet.

Since the grave was isolated and only crudely marked, it was difficult to find. However, after a few hours of searching, they came across a place that Din dimly remembered. It was on the lowest foothills of a yellow-brown mountain range. Below the foothills were arid farmland and a sparse double-line of trees paralleling a creek that was more mud than water.

After parking the speeder bike in a cluster of boulders, they worked their way along the ridge-line. Grogu rode on Din's shoulder and both of them wordlessly noticed how, without any hesitation, they'd returned to that habit.

A hot and gritty wind whistled along the eroded ridge. Occasionally they were pelted with dust and gravel that scraped and pinged across Din's armor. When that happened, Grogu hid under Din's cloak, with only his dark eyes visible.

On a flat spot of the ridge-top, they finally found the grave. It was barely marked by a lonely, spire-like, stone. A circular pile of smaller stones surrounded the spire and braced it into position. It was easy to miss - many would walk past it and never know that is was something other than a natural feature.

Grogu cocked his head slightly as he looked at the grave. He wasn't sure what it was, but he understood from Din's reaction that it warranted respect.

Din sat down cross-legged by the side of the grave. Grogu looked at him curiously. Din was being even more silent than usual.

Then the silence finally broke.

"When I was a boy, the place where my family lived was attacked," Din began slowly. "The attackers were combat droids... and... and the rest really doesn't matter. The droids were just tools. And those who sent them are dead and gone."

Grogu winced as he mentally glimpsed the scenes of carnage that played across the surface of Din's mind.

Din paused before continuing.

"We tried to hide, but one of the droids killed my parents," Din said quietly. "And then it was about to kill me. But then it was taken down by blaster fire. It was a Mandalorian who saved me. And he took me away."

The pause was longer this time.

"The parents of my birth are buried on a world on the other side of the Kessel Run. We'll see them someday. But right now, this is about the man who saved me. He took me with him, but we returned later and buried my parents. After that, he raised me, taught me how to fight, and showed me the Way of the Mandalore. Then, one day, he handed me a Beskar helmet and asked me if I wanted to dedicate myself to the Way."

Din put a hand on Grogu's small shoulder. "By then, he was as my father. So I swore the oath and put on the helmet - I just couldn't imagine doing anything else. Maybe I was too young to make that decision, but I did anyway."

"The man who saved me was a bounty hunter. And I took after him. As I grew, we served our clan together. And I was with him when he died."

Grogu reached up, put a small hand on Din's upper arm, and squeezed.

Din took a handful of dust from the surface of the grave, held it up, and then let it trickle from his hand. The wind took most of it. A few larger pebbles returned to the grave.

"There were days when he didn't eat so that I could eat," Dinn added quietly. "More than once, he gave me the last of the water in his canteen. On a dozen worlds, he risked his life for me. He was there when I killed my first man and warned me that I shouldn't enjoy it. He was there when I collected my first bounty and he told me that none of it was really mine - I owed it all to the clan."

Then Din sighed and shook his head. The reddish light of the setting sun glittered off his helmet.

"Grogu, this is your grandfather," Din told his son. "I wish you could have met him."

Grogu nodded, let out a low moaning sound, and huddled close to his father. Din wrapped his arms around Grogu and hugged him tight.

The sun finally set. And the day ended with all three of them together.

That was the Way.