After two days they fell into a routine. It would take another 36 hours before Dev was ready to meet. He knew she would find him in the galley preparing his own meal, as was becoming the norm. There were several instances in their cycles' routines that had them meeting. He acted as copilot and figured out that the role was often filled by someone named Na'sara, a Twi'lek. They rarely spoke, but he was hoping to end their silence soon. The more he learned about his pilot the more difficult it was to understand her.

"I'm sorry," he said as she sat down with her own food. His was left untouched, waiting for him to take it back to his bunk.

"You said that already. You telling me you were the one to do it?" Her words were the bait to a fight, but her tone sounded as if she was defeated already.

"No."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I agreed to transport you, not talk to you."

"I… I didn't know why you didn't work with Mandalorians." She sighed and he forged on. "I would have...been more…"

"It's not in your nature to play to other's emotions. I got angry, I am angry, but a job is a job and you would have been bugging me no matter what you knew of my history. We've been coexisting fine for the past few rotations. What do you want now?"

"To sate my curiosity," he shrugged. "Who were they? I had been trying to find others of my kind and it wasn't easy."

"And you'd turn them over to me?" she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"No. But I'd know ahead of time not to trust them. Not to offer them any sort of allegiance."

"I suppose that's a lot to ask from a foundling."

"How did you…?" She glanced up at him, daring him to finish his question. "You studied a lot while looking for vengeance?" It made sense to know your enemy.

"Don't dig. I'm not your project."

"I'm not...usually...invested. But with what you know…" It was his turn to sigh. "I'm sorry, again." He grabbed his food and turned to the door only to pause at the threshold. He felt the urge to trust her with his past, both immediate and bygone. She could not heal him, but sharing his burden would ease the pain.

She watched him expectantly with an open expression. Would it be easy to just sit down and start from the beginning? She knew he was a foundling; how much else had she figured out?

Slowly, he sat down.

.

Something was different today. He had a weight on him that she could practically see. It'd been there since they met, in his rigid focus and guarded practice, but today she watched him cracking under the pressure of it. She could picture a furrowed brow and pursed lips behind his helmet as he searched for his words.

She wanted to hate him, but that was difficult. There was no doubt that he was dangerous, but he managed to have a gentle air about him. Her gut just forced her to reserve sympathy for him, though she could not discern why. His haunting silence, hulking posture, and modulated voice all tore at her nerves, but she could feel pain rolling off him.

"I have a son." Of all the things she had anticipated him saying, those words managed to surprise her. He had to have seen the shock on her face, but she pulled herself together and waited for him to continue. "He…was a foundling. I had to return him to his own kind." She caught herself biting her lip as she debated on reaching for him, ultimately choosing to retain a distance. She could relate to a foundling leaving, and knew there was no real comfort to be found.

"Trejorhaa'ir ni," she spoke softly. [Tell me.]

He looked up sharply at her Mando'a, but complied.

"I don't know the name for his species. He was small and green and wrinkly and I loved him. His lifespan is many times what ours is; he's seen 50 cycles, and yet, is little more than an infant. There is a bounty on his head. The Empire wants him for his blood."

"That's why the one we look for now was captured?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered. "She held them off as we escaped with him."

"Honorable. I hope we can find her."

He let his silence consume him again.

"Ogir cuyir or'atu." She watched him cock his head at her continued use of his language, but again he answered. [There is more.]

"He was stubborn. Liked to eat everything. Either he's colorblind or he liked to mess with me, even at the cost of electrocuting himself." He chuckled at the memory while she tried to imagine what could have possibly happened to cause such a scenario.

"Where is he now?" she asked before he could lapse into another silence.

"Continuing the training from his youth. Well, when he was even younger."

"What kind of training does a toddler undergo?" she asked, incredulous.

"Wizard training."

"You lost me."

"He could… move things… with his mind."

"A jetii?!"

"Gar kar'taylir jetii?" [You know of Jedi?]

"A tutor from my childhood spent some of her youth in their temple."

"Maybe she knew him."

"Perhaps. It's interesting that you two came together. Do you know the history between the Mandalorians and Jedi?"

"We've been at war with them many times throughout history."

"She loved teaching me about their conflicts, both historic and recent. Do you know the cause of their war?"

"What do you know?" His tone wasn't the harsh accusation would have been just days ago, simply guarded curiosity and skepticism.

"Mandalorians are a race that values family ties above just about anything. Jedi are peacekeepers with unique abilities that make them dangerous. Jedi have determined that the best way to keep those with abilities from lashing out against the world, to keep them from becoming dictators and tyrants, was to prevent them from having attachments."

"Attachments?"

"Children with strong ties to the Force were taken from their families, romantic relationships were forbidden, strong ties, even within the order, were discouraged."

"How could they do that to children? Is that what they're doing to Grogu?"

"Think of everything you would do for your son. Now, what would your child do to see you from harm?"

He paused and his posture was slightly uncertain. He hesitantly explained a past event.

"He… A friend and I-we were arm wrestling. He thought- He thought she was hurting me…"

"And he hurt her?"

"He was choking her. I had to shake him and yell to get him to stop." Teena nodded her head but let him process and make whatever connections he found. "I found one, a Jedi. She refused to train him because she'd seen the road attachments can lead 'the best of them' down."

"It's a very narrow path with no clear end."

"How do you know so much about our history? Even our language?"

"Like I said," she began with a lopsided grin, "I had an odd assortment of tutors in my childhood."

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Grogu sounds like an amazing child. I hope to one day meet him."

"I'm not sure I'll ever see him again."

"You will." She smiled at him because she could feel his hope now, just as she could feel his despair earlier.