Parental Duties
By Rey
Chapter summary: Ezra tries to plan for himself, and perhaps also for other children. Surely being a "forest-child" is the same as being a street-child?
14. Ezra: The Plan
Miss Shand is wrong. Introductions don't make things better. Because the many people are now shouting all at once, fighting to be heard above each other and the heavy rain drumming on the tarp roof. And the feeling in the air in this small room is just as noisy, like big waves in the ocean that Ezra saw on a holovid once.
The introductions might just make things more interesting, if viewed from far away.
And he is not far away, right now.
Ezra doesn't want to die, though, and Miss Shand looks like she can kill him with just a glance, so he doesn't tell her – or anyone else, really – about it. He just sits tight at one of the corners nearest the door alongside the trio of armoured and robed self-proclaimed Mandalorian Jedi, also alongside the two weird girls who claim they're both zabrak. He is more than ready to bolt if the chaos is too much. He also watches for everything, including what things he can pilfer for supplies if he needs to scupper… and maybe, just maybe, other kids who'd also like to scupper and won't weigh him down in the process.
It's hard being on your own, after all. Being a street kid – or a forest kid? Because there's only forest here, it seems – doesn't just need fighting and foraging skills, or supplies you can squirrel away without anyone else noticing or you forgetting where you hide those things. It also needs the sheer grit to just go on when you haven't eaten for days but still must avoid the stormtroopers and the guards and trainers of the newfound Imperial military academy. And he can't afford being weighed down when freedom and life are the things betted against those.
And many of the kids here don't seem to match that very important criteria, despite the sometimes-fancy weapons they carry with them.
He's not sure he'd ever take the two weird "trooper" kids with him, though, even if they matched the criteria. They're just… weird, and trooper wannabes. They're huddled so close to one of the armoured adults, anyway, who doesn't look like a stormtrooper – not really – but still an adult and therefore dangerous.
And then Miss Shand lets out a very sharp, very loud whistle, and Ezra finds himself straightening up and looking right at her, along with everyone else.
She looks and feels just okay with all the attention, though. Ezra thinks she's even happy about it. It's weird. He doesn't think he'd be happy if people who fought with each other a moment ago suddenly looked at him like that. Still, he wants to be like her if she's like this!
And then she says, "Okaaaay. I think we're all agreed that we're from different times, whether it's in this galaxy or not, right? So the versions of us that might be running around are not us, and we can't be blamed for what they do. Now what's the problem is: What's we gonna do next? Outside of these stupid differences. We're in this together, after all." And the utter silence following that is horrible, all tense and still and sharp and weighty and somehow noisier than the noise before, and Ezra wants the one before back, please!
But, well, then she orders everyone to prepare a meal and eat it and talk only after, and everyone obeys – of course! – and gets distracted, and Ezra's relieved. He can't say he's happy being tasked by her to babysit the two kiddies younger than him, but… at least she doesn't keep her attention on him?
He likes being one of the first people to eat, too. And, better yet, nobody takes his portion or even looks at it more than making sure he's got it.
Still, he knows to eat quick and cleanly. He shan't tempt others with the presence of his uneaten meal. Besides, any meal should never ever be wasted, even down to the crums or oil or sauce.
And Rey – the sassy kid with the durasteel ripped-off pipe for weapon, one of the two he must babysit – seems to know that, too, judging by how she huddles round her plate-leaf and steadily chows, leaving no mess behind.
Nice.
Well, Grogu – the green little thing with humongously long ears, the other younger kid he must babysit – seems happier toying with his food, but he's still tiny, anyway. He'll learn, though hopefully not in a bad way like Ezra. But, anyway, Ezra's here to buffer the experience until then, and teach the probably spoiled little thing to treat his meal well meanwhile.
But, well, sadly, it… doesn't work. Not really. Not right now, anyway. Because Grogu so confidently tells him that the kid's father will provide for them all, for however long they wish, without any strings attached. And the little brat won't hear anything he'd say about the maybeness of that.
But at least the kid's not wearing half of his meal portion?
Anyway, Miss Shand then distracts everyone by starting the general discussion about what they all will do after this, since, "You're here, the green womprat probably dragged you here, so you're homeless and resourceless, and that leaves Mando to take care of you, since the green womprat is his, and I'm not sure he can do that alone – no offence to you, Mando – so let's do something about it while we're here, shall we? Preferably something that won't veer us too much away from the previous things the natives here —which is me, Boba and Mando – were doing or about to do?"
It… makes sense. But Ezra can't see what he himself needs or even wants from this talk. He's been a street kid for… some time, and being a forest kid won't likely be different, and some of the kids can go with him for at least some time, and that'll be great and fun and safer because a good group is better than a single person, and that's all. It doesn't need a grown-up "discussion"! He can do that the moment the rain stops!
He whispers it to Rey while the bigger kids and the grown-ups talk and argue and… just… make noise.
She immediately looks round for supplies they might need to take, just as he did. Good kid!
But Grogu frowns up at him and wags a finger, possibly imitating "Mando", and insists, `Shiny will not let you! Outside is not safe! Why not come with us after the rain? You came, why not stay?`
Ezra frowns back. The voice – Grogu's voice – doesn't sound in his ears, just like before, when he did listen to the bodiless call and… "come here," he supposes. But it doesn't matter, not right now.
He whispers to the "green womprat" – whatever a womprat is! – "Grown-ups don't mean well, Grogu. We're better on our own. I don't want to be a stormtrooper, and there are two here. They're bad, don't you know that?"
Well, judging by the drooping ears, Grogu knows that, and Ezra feels a little bad for reminding him. But just a little, because this is reality, and the kid can't live on dreams.
Nobody can.
Parentless kids like Ezra and Rey – and probably the other kids drawn here by Grogu – can't afford it, even more.
But Miss Shand is whistling again, so Ezra drags his attention away from his own plan, and listens as she forcefully says, "Right, one person at a time, okay? Nobody can hear anything otherwise, and we still need to listen to what's maybe hidden by the storm."
Oh, that calms people real quick! Even more than the whistling.
It worries them, too.
And Ezra is one of them. Because… is there even something – or someone – creeping up on them in a rain as awful like this? How could they know – how could he know?
`Well, maybe being a forest-kid isn't a good idea, after all? Oh, damn. What can I do, then?`
One thing he knows for sure, though: Grogu needn't look at him like that!