Our future is in our present.

[Briika Munin]

It had been a few weeks since the destruction of Mandalore. Those that had died were remembered. Those that survived were comforted. Those that once stood tall proudly together now stood individually as the Mandalorian Clans as a whole were no more. The Alor Council dissolved, and the Mand'alor standing down; each clan going their own way to do as they saw fit.

It was sad, but long in coming. Ra had rallied the Mando'ade one last time in the crusades against the Galactic Republic to their end, but stagnation took over again after his demise. Vilaz had tried to change that when he stepped up as the new Mand'alore, but he had little time to do anything about it before the tragic events unfolded on Manda'yaim. By then though, the writing was on the wall. The united clans of old could not be anymore.

For Briika, she had lost her homeworld, her parents along with friends and colleagues in the disaster, but the baar'ur still had her daughter and grandson, and the love of her life by her side, who had made his home on Concord Dawn hers as well. Though most of all, Bree was carrying the future of Clan Munin. Her and Vilaz were having a baby; his first biological child.

That thought made Briika grin as the little one rolled around and began kicking the inside of the golden blonde's belly; the baby girl from what the ultrasound read was making it known to her mother in no uncertain terms she was hungry. Well that was what Bree told herself as cravings for the weirdest foods seem to strike at the most unlikely times of the day... or night in this case.

"Vil'ika.... Wake up!" the Tor called out rather loudly in the dark silence of the bedroom, reaching for the Munin's hand from where he was trying to sleep next to her in their bed, then placed his calloused palm on top of her swollen abdomen covered by a soft cotton nightgown. "Feel that... Your daughter wants some pickles and ice cream," she said in a pregnant woman's apologetic plea for salvation.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

While things did look bad on the Mandalorian horizon, there were still some good aspects that came out of Vilaz’s own personal life. One of them, and a very special one, was that he and his beloved Bree were about to become parents of their own child together. While he did have an adopted son that was fairly easy to manage due to Lok being able to take care of himself especially how his early life treated him in the slums of Coruscant, this was a completely whole different thing. When the news were brought to him he was filled with joy and excitement of having his own biological child with this love of his life.

But as Bree’s pregnancy progressed, things became quite a handful for the Munin.

At random moments, the golden blonde would have insane cravings and other times he had to deal with a raging lioness when the hormones kicked in. But somehow he managed to survive and endure for many months now. In a couple more, he would be holding his daughter with Bree and be immeasurable happy. But right now, he was now waking up to the words of the Tor that demanded ice cream and pickles for their daughter.

“What time is it,” he said sleepily as he was now sitting up on his bottom while feeling Bree’s swollen abdomen. “Boy, does that girl eat a lot.”

[member="Briika Tor"]

 

[Briika Munin]

This whole pregnancy thing was an eye opening experience for [member="Vilaz Munin"]. He'd never experienced it with his son, [member="Lok Munin"], who had been older when adopted into his clan and taken as his own kin. Presently the confirmed bachelor up till now was going through the guided paces with his beloved, who was on her fourth pregnancy.

Being much older this go around had Bree finding things both easier and harder. The Baar'ur definitely knew what to expect, but at the same time it scared her too. She had lost her second baby, born too early, and now was having issues with her blood pressure creeping up and feet swelling. That meant taking it easy, resting more, and lessening her stress load. Well the latter wasn't an option after what happened to the blonde's homeworld and parents. So many had marched away that fateful day. Mesh'la and her were doing their best to carry on, but it was hard; more so for the younger blonde as she herself had nearly died when buried in the Tor homestead just outside of Keldabe.

"Oh about two in the morning," Briika answered, then whispered softly into the rugged Concordian's ear with a jovial tone in her voice after she turned her golden head to him with a warm smile.

"Just like her sweet daddy."

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Two in the morning? He was hoping that it would close to five or six in the morning. Those hours he could do with no hesitation, but talk about two in the morning and it would be a while till he got those pickles and ice cream for Bree and his unborn child. He liked to believe this his and Bree's daughter picked up a eating habit just like the Munin. Whatever Bree and him cooked up he would always eat like a hungry behemoth.

While it did pain him a whole lot to wake up from his beauty sleep with the love of his life whatever Bree wanted, he would get especially during these days. He had learned from his beloved that she had lost her second child due to the baby being born a bit too early which resulted the infant not being able to sustain itself. It pained Bree a whole lot, and the Concordian would make sure that the life and joy that the two created would not be lost.

So if Vilaz had to wake up two in the morning to feed his pregnant soulmate, then he would happily do so.

"Mmm, you sure know how to motivate a sleepy, old man at this time," he grinned at Bree before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'll be back with those pickles and ice cream," Vilaz said as he got out of bed and stretched to loosen up his body before heading to the kitchen with what the Tor ordered.

[member="Briika Tor"]

 

[Briika Munin]

"Oh I'm sure your reward for your efforts will be well worth the trouble, cyar'ika," Bree winked at Vilaz just before her husband got out of bed; a pair of azure eyes following the rugged Concordian as he exited the bedroom. The man was a lean, mean, fighting machine, which the Enceri-born appreciated looking at scars and all.

It was hard for the them to do much pleasurable things anymore that couples do, but there was one particular thing the Mand'alore liked done, and well a massage would send him back to slumberland real quick like once the nighttime snack was devoured. It was the least she could do.

Briika settled back into a comfortable position slightly laying on her left side, which was best when pregnant. She began to rub her hand over the area on the upper right side of her swollen abdomen where the baby girl inside was kicking generously with the heel of her little foot. A soothing tune Briika's mother used to sing left her lips, which seemed to calm the little one down a bit. The loving memory of Ka'ra Tor brought up something the Munin and Tor hadn't decided on quite yet - a name for their daughter to be born soon.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Oh, the golden blonde sure knew how to motivate Vilaz right. Especially when it was so late at night.

Should buy one of them maid droids or whatever those rich, upperclass di'kuts buy.

But chances are that the Munin wouldn't buy one of those products. He didn't want to pass on that chance of having this experience with his beloved wife, and it wasn't traditional for Mandalorian parents to depend on droid servants or some of the likes of that. They would barely use technology to help them solve something like this that any type of normal human could resolve.

All the lights in the kitchen and hallways were all turned on which somewhat blinded Vilaz, causing him to knock into walls and closing eyelids enough for him to see where he was heading in. They were quite stocked on pickles and ice cream ever since the cravings started, so the Mand'alor picked whatever jar and box and trekked back to his room with Bree without closing the doors to the fridge. He even let the lights on with no care at all. He just wanted to feed his starving wife and get that massage from her.

"Mand'alor to the rescue," the Concordian said as he entered the room showing off the midnight snacks to Bree. He gently placed them down on her nightstand, and then went to his side of the bed.

"So how 'bout that reward, ner cyare?"

[member="Briika Tor"]