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We did not reach the place until half an hour after that conversation. My father was digging in the ground for an hour, selecting stones, and then I drove forty minutes more to the cave, and at last, here it is - the purpose of my visit!

The Talar crystal cave wasn't that big. I had imagined it to be... well, bigger, anyway. In fact, there were four caves, connected by branches. And you can't get lost if you want to. But it was beautiful. The walls of the cave were dotted with colorful, already transparent crystals, and that in the raw form. And when my father turned on the second flashlight.... Anyway, it looked really amazing. Except that I did not feel any call. I wandered around for an hour, and I didn't care. I wonder if the Jedi cave is that small. Of course it isn't. It would have been robbed millennia ago.

All in all, it was a fun trip. Informative, interesting, and frustrating. I can't even begin to tell you how much less likely I was to become a Forceuser.

And two months later I turned four years old.

Yep.... It was a glorious holiday. However, due to my young age, it was more my parents than me. For my fourth birthday they invited twenty-two people... That is, the sentient ones, including a few Zabrak and Twi'lek. That's not counting their children. It was on that day that I saw my father's youngest brother for the first time. And his children, for that matter. Two boys, six years old. And it turns out that I was the youngest of the Dakari children. Even Rama's youngest son, who was also four years old, had his birthday six months ago.

Gifts, by the way, were given not only to me but also to my parents. And yes, they were given. I mean, there was a tradition of birthday gifts in this galaxy. Maybe not everywhere, I don't know, but here on Pzoba it was. Now the last giver, who turned out to be Galil, my father's youngest brother, came up to me.

He held a plastic box about fifty centimeters long in his hands, and squatted in front of me.

- Well, nephew," he said, smiling broadly, "now it's my turn. Look what I have.

With these words my uncle opened the box. And looking in it, I realized that even such a cynical trapped, like me, can still smile. In the box lay the animal, most of all resembling a kitten. Except that instead of fur its body was covered with small scales. Curled up in a ball, the animal slept, ignoring the noise and hubbub in the courtyard of the house where the holiday was celebrated.

- This is a Hasi gratt," said Galil. - Take it in your hands and hold it up to your face. You should be the first person he sees when he wakes up.

he took the kitten in his arms and held it to his face, but Galil stepped aside after that. Gratt, disturbed by the movement of his body, began to wake up, blinking and wrinkling his face. And when he blinked, the first thing he saw were my eyes. And then, believe it or not, I felt like a soft paw was touching my brain. Not something ephemeral called the mind or consciousness, but specifically the brain under my skull. Nothing unpleasant, just unusual. It went on for a minute, and then the beast let out something that sounded like a meow, but only like one. It meowed and purred at the same time.

- Well," Galil came up, "now you won't have a more reliable friend than this grunt. He will not betray or abandon you, and will always stand by you and share your joy. Take care of him, and remember that these animals are very clever. I wrote your parents a care manual, so ask them more often how best to take care of him.

This gift clearly stood out against the various toys I've been given here. As I later found out, Gratt wasn't something amazing or rare; their kittens were fairly easy to tame. What was rare was the drug that bound the kittens to their owner on a mental level. But I learned that later, and now I was looking at the kitten curled up in my arms, who had decided to continue sleeping. Not once in my second life had I seen such cuteness. It was especially adorable how he tried to snuggle up in my arms. Gratt was small, but my four-year-old hands weren't that big, either.

- And, kid," my uncle added, "don't go too far away from him for the next month. That's all right, but it won't be pleasant for the kitten.

Yes? Oh, I think there's something you're not telling me, uncle. Maybe it's a binding or something.

I may not have known about the drug at the time, but what happened, plus the many fantasy books I had read back in my home world, allowed me to draw a pretty definite conclusion. Whatever. I don't have a problem with it, in principle.

Overall, the holiday was undoubtedly a success. And certainly memorable. If only because for two hours I had to sit surrounded by little kids, who, if they wanted, would have torn the kitten to pieces. And the next day, after the guests had gone home, my father bragged about a new crystal, a gift from one of the guests.

I named my gift Bane, and for the next two months I carried it with me everywhere. Even though my uncle said it would last a month, I decided to play it safe. My father called me to the shop more and more often when he was running errands. We even took another trip to the Talar Cave. Where I felt nothing again.