Dooku focuses and is able to tell that Nico is confused; that at least is a helpful false positive detector for this communication thing! Oh, and just to check - "If you actually do understand Basic at all times and you just can't or won't speak it, wave your left hand in the air." And assuming that fails... this is probably going to be a very long process, establishing a mutual language. "I don't suppose you'd be able to figure out his language in any reasonable timespan?" he asks the protocol droid.

"I should be able to decode much of the grammar and vocabulary and reach a passing conversational level within a week," the droid replies, "provided that the child speaks several thousand unique words including several hundred for which the meanings are established via images. Is that a reasonable timespan for your purposes?"

"That depends on whether anyone's chasing him," Dooku replies. "But it's probably faster than I could get Lord Sidious here to read his mind at a higher level of depth, and in any case I would prefer not to involve him. So it will have to do."

At the moment, however, it doesn't look like he was successful in asking whether Nico needs shelter or not. Well, he doesn't exactly prefer to leave the option open for Nico to not stay with him, so that may not be a bad thing! He'll just try and gesture to Nico to come with him and the droids to one of the spare bedrooms, and then they can get started on the tedious process of learning a language one word at a time.

It transpires that he wants to go outside.

He'll talk with the metal person and ask how much magic it took to build them and what this does and what that does and apologize again and again, he didn't mean to invade someone's home specifically, he was just trying to get so far away he could never go back because he hates his Dad. But it's more that he hated the situation, the feeling of being trapped, than the person doing it.

Can he go outside yet?

He apparently ascribes complicated emotions and philosophical concepts to the colors of red, blue, green, white, and black. Translating those is frustrating for him. Nouns are a lot easier. He writes out a few hundred characters if given an opportunity; It's a logographic written language.

He can leave if he wants to, right? He's not ungrateful but that is important to him. Right?

6-LOM doesn't pick up on all of that - particularly the parts about magic and colors - but answers the questions they do understand. They're made of metal? Not... that word that seems to map most closely onto the Force.

But they do figure out Nico is asking to go outside. Is Dooku okay with that?

Under different circumstances, Dooku would have to make a choice between letting the incredibly powerful kid out of his sight and making him hostile, but fortunately he is a Count of Serenno and has a hundred-acre garden. Nico can explore it all he wants!

Definitely preferable to the alternative! He says thankful words.

But what is at the edge of the garden? It's not like he wants to just... Leave. But he kind of wants to figure out if he'd be allowed to.

...Maybe later. Nouns for plants! Adjectives! Weather! Food words! Yay......

There's an enormous forest! Dooku's mansion and the surrounding buildings - mostly shipyards, and triangular towers with no obvious purpose - are the only signs of civilization nearby, although if he finds his way to the right balcony he can see a city in the distance.

Also, the sun is starting to set, and the sky is turning purple; is Nico feeling tired?

"It was [morning] when I left, no. The sun just went up. The [stars] are different here!" He gestures upwards. "What are those places?"

6-LOM points out various stars in the sky. That's "Yavin" and that's the "Mandalore system" and that's "Coruscant" - well, Coruscant's a planet revolving around one of the many stars there, which aren't distinguishable from each other with the eye, and they'll need some more words to describe this!

"Oh, the stars have names? I meant what are those things." He points at the buildings in the distance.

6-LOM is starting to think Nico is from a planet that's never received any interplanetary visitors. "Those things are buildings in 'Carannia', the... place where two million persons are."

"Big big [city]. Are there [pirates]? Ah... Arr! Give me all your things and you can go away! If you don't, I hurt you!"

6-LOM is about 70% confident those last few sentences were an explanation of what "pirates" are! They nevertheless place everything they are carrying (just some food and a comlink) on the ground, just in case.

"Is that what 'pirates' are? Pirates hurt you if you do not give them things?"

"Yeah. You can give them things or fight them or run away. Most people give them things."

"Some pirates are here, but not many. I have never seen them. Dooku has. Are you a pirate?"

"Oh, good. I'm too little for that. And I don't want to be a [thief]. I do want to [sail] though. Go places, I mean."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Everywhere! Except my old house. I want to grow my [magic] and learn things and see [pretty] places like this [garden]."

By the end of the night, Nico will have probably fallen asleep even with the time difference. Dooku sleeps for about three hours, because he was up all night learning as much of the language as he could from 6-LOM's recordings.

He nevertheless has 6-LOM wake him once Nico has been observed to have risen, zaps himself with a very small bolt of Force lightning to get fully awake, and checks on what Nico is doing.

He gets tired and goes to sleep eventually, yes.

A few minutes after waking he's sitting on the bed in his room, staring intently and tracing his fingers over an otherwise unremarkable rock he picked up outside.

Such are the perils of waking up in the morning.

"Nico," Dooku says, entering the room. "Can we talk on what got you here, and what you did with talking and hearing? We in this place don't have the same magic. What can you do with your magic?"

"Okay. Yeah, we don't have droids. You used [empathy] on me and that's white... But do you not have the colors at all? And you and the metal guy are learning really really fast, tops amazing! Also, sorry for landing in your house and thank you for letting me stay."

"What are... the colors? And droids aren't magic."

"They obviously are. Uh... The colors are magic. There's five. Everyone gets them, more or less of them. More if you're smart and [determined]."