Private Third Contact

[Corazona von Ascania]

Despite the absurd circumstances of her birth, Luciana was declared healthy. All tests passed, all ten fingers and toes present and accounted for.

Cora still couldn't quite believe how it all had happened – the stuck elevator, Aurelian's presence, and Adelle's guidance from across the stars. It seemed like something out of a poorly written holodrama. Fortunately, unlike a poorly written holodrama, everything seemed to end up alright. Quiet, even. Mundane, according to the nursing staff.

Cora couldn't help but be utterly mesmerized by the tiny bundle curled into her chest. So small, yet so loud when she wanted something. How could someone so slight upend her world so thoroughly?

After several days, the little family was being discharged. Makko was off handling paperwork, and Cora simply held their daughter. Ukatian aristocracy preferred their firstborns to be male, but Cora couldn't think of Luciana as anything but a miracle.

"No more surprises, now," she murmured to the babe with no small amount of motherly affection. An echo of Adelle's earlier words shortly after the birth.

Lucy's fist curled into the collar of her hospital gown, infant reflexes still raw and unwieldy. As she stroked the dark wisps of her daughter's hair, Cora hummed a soft, aimless melody of some forgotten lullaby. A relic of her own mother, perhaps. Before she'd grown tired and distant.

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

It was miraculous how much a simple shower in the refresher could restore life. Adelle walked the hall of the Labor and Delivery wing, dressed in a clean change of clothes and freshly bathed. Her frantic race to the spaceport and flight here had left her with little time to actually clean up since rolling out of bed that night. She didn’t have anything nicer than her usual nerf-leather jacket and tunic, but she had been able to meet with Tona and pass off the special bottle of Whyren’s Reserve for Aurelian, with a note on flimsiplast: You did good.

The door to the von Ascania’s room was closed. Adelle had been told that Makko was off filling out the paperwork for them to be released. Which meant her time on Ukatis was done—not that she’d been needed in the first place. A sense of professional duty had brought her here in the first place, the drive to follow-up and make sure that someone who’d been in her care was doing fine. And they were, both Cora and Luciana. It was high time she returned to her other patients.

Adelle knocked on the door softly, mindful that Luciana might be sleeping. She entered just as quietly when granted permission.

“I heard they’re finally releasing you,” Adelle said. “Do you have everything you need?”

Her eyes drifted to the tiny infant in Cora’s arms. It never got old.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

“Come in,” Cora called softly.

She smiled when Adelle appeared at the threshold. “I do,” she affirmed. There was a pregnant pause as she looked down to Lucy, perfect and breathing and curled into her chest. “At least, I think I do.”

Cora looked back up to Adelle, her smile a little crimped and awkward. “I remember when most of my younger siblings were born. I’ve read books about parenting. And yet, I still feel so under prepared.”

Almost like it was a mistake to let two brand-new parents out into the world with a tiny, fragile baby. This was going to get far more difficult without an army of seasoned healthcare providers available around the clock.

Cora just couldn’t comprehend how difficult it would be. Special and overwhelming in equal measures.

“Sorry,” she shook her head, pausing as Lucy took in a sharp breath. “That might’ve been a little too much. You’ve already helped us so much already.”

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Adelle cocked her head to the side slightly when Cora apologized for… something. Talking about her feelings maybe. There was a lot that had happened in between Adelle coaching via comlink and this meeting so she couldn’t fault Cora for not remembering that Adelle had medical experience. That and hormones after birth were a roller coaster for most women.

“You’re fine,” Adelle said. “I’m a doctor and Healer, I’ve heard it before. Truth be told, I hardly feel like I did much.”

She leaned against the wall. She had been prepared to do more. If things had gone sideways, if something had happened, Adelle had been bracing herself. Had located the pinprick of Aurelian’s chaotic signature, the twin lights of Cora and her babe equally small at that distance. Fortunately, it hadn’t been needed.

“If it helps,” Adelle said slowly, reaching into her pocket for a folded piece of flimsiplast, “I did write down my own contact info, in case you need something. I know you have your own support network and medical team for stuff, but if you have questions or just need to scream at someone you don’t know…”

Adelle held out the flimsiplast between two fingers, offering it.

“Well there's a bucket head that can take it.”

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora lifted one hand from Lucy - even that was almost too much - and took the flimsi with two fingers.

"Thank you, I - oh." A wash of color flushed pale cheeks crimson at the mention of bucket head.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, sheepish, "for call you a bucket - well, ahem." It wasn't a cuss word, but it was still an impolite term. "You've been very kind to me. And gracious."

Lucy's little fingers flexed once, twice, where they were curled around the fabric of her mother's collar. She gave another tiny sigh, and they stilled.

"I didn't realize that Mandalorians had midwives." Cora lifted her eyes to Adelle with a cautious sort of smile. "It makes sense, now that I think about it."

They'd always been a warrior culture, first and foremost, in her eyes. Jenn had taught her that they were more than that; about the brotherhood, the society, the familial bonds that were forged.

In the background, life would go on as it always did. Mothers would give birth. Children would be born. It was an invisible link that wove through nearly all galactic cultures - that childbirth was something special, something sacred, close to the divine.

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Adelle waved off the apology and the following compliment. She’d never been good at accepting those. She didn’t deserve them. “I’ve been called worse before I became a Mandalorian. Aside from that, I don’t count what’s said during labor.”

Fortunately the conversation moved on, Cora admitting that she didn’t realize Mandalorians had midwives. To be fair, Adelle hadn’t much thought about the inner workings of Mandalorian society herself until she’d found herself adrift in their borders. Adelle nodded thoughtfully, watching the newborn sleep in her mother’s arms.

“I never thought about it before either,” Adelle said. “And then I found myself in Mandalorian space, living with them. They are . . . different, but not all that different from Corellians.”

She let silence fall between them, not wholly awkward nor comfortable. Just a moment to exist.

“Do you have a support network?” Adelle asked softly. “People to come watch her and help care for her so you can take care of yourself? The first week or so will be deceptively easy. She’s as tired from childbirth as you are so she’ll sleep most of the time. After that… She’ll start letting you know who she is.”

Adelle never did quite figure out how to turn off ‘doctor’ mode.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"I do." Cora spoke softly as she looked down to Luciana, so tiny and so curled against her chest. Did she yet know that Cora was her mother? Does a child know what a mother is, or is this all instinctive? "I've my husband, and some extended family. She'll be well looked after, that's for certain."

Only now did it occur to Cora that childbirth could be tiring not just for the mother, but for the baby. She was the one who'd done most of the work, and Luciana was just...squeezed out of her.

Cora immediately felt guilt for that thought.

"I spent a lot of time wondering who she'll take after more." Murmuring softly, she stroked dark wisps that were beginning to form the suggestion of a curl. "She has his hair. With how she entered the galaxy on her own terms, she's just as stubborn." Her words were tender and affectionate.

"Have you have children of your own?"

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Adelle watched the way the newborn snuggled against Cora, knew instinct and months of hearing her mother’s voice from the inside had already built that kind of trust. The way Cora held her already looked like she’d been doing it all her life. It pulled at something deep again. Adelle ignored it.

“If patterns hold true, she’ll take after one or the other,” she said quietly. “And be both similar and different enough, it’ll drive you insane. Make sure you give yourself some grace. You’re both learning how to do this.”

"Have you have children of your own?"

She should have expected that question, in hindsight. Adelle was a few months from turning thirty-three, still young enough to have kids according to human biology and social convention. It was a natural question to ask, given the conversation and context. And yet she still felt caught in a searchlight when Cora asked.

It unraveled the certainty Adelle had wrapped around the issue, so sure she had made her peace with it.

More than that, she still hadn’t found a good way to answer.

“Ah, no, none of my own,” Adelle managed. “It’s just… not in the cards for me right now. I did help the new mothers when I worked as a doctor on a farming compound. And of course had to help manage the Initiates and Padawans when I was part of my old Order. Closest I ever got was one of the adopted daughters of a master adopting me. She was… well, energetic is one word for it. Small but determined. She probably would’ve been best suited for Ataru.”

That would have to do.

“Mandalorians are big on adoption so I figure if I ever get to a place where kids are feasible, it’ll probably be that way. It’s how some of the clans survived as long as they have. But I should maybe focus on getting something bigger than a one-bedroom apartment first.” She shrugged with a rueful smile. “Working on a farm, even as a doctor, doesn’t exactly pay well and I'm still getting settled into Mandalorian culture.”

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Like the sun peeking through clouds, Cora gleaned a little bit more of Adelle and her circumstance.

“Having children changes everything,” she acknowledged softly. “At least, that’s what I’ve always heard.”

Cora looked down to Luciana, and wondered how something so small could change her life - and Makko’s - in such an incredible way. Suddenly, everything was about the tiny tyrant sleeping in her arms.

“If you’re not ready - now or ever - I think it’s a smart way to go about a decision as big as this.” There was a pause, during which Cora’s expression grew tender with distant melancholy. “My first marriage happened young. It was arranged - and I’m grateful that I didn’t have children then, because I wasn’t ready.”

She had become pregnant then, but as a scared, abused child, she’d found a way to discretely end that gestation in its early days. Guilt still lingered over what could have been.

But now, she was far more prepared. More stable, and in a secure, loving relationship.

“It sounds as though you love children regardless,” Cora mused with a small, fond smile.

“Can I ask,” she began gingerly. “How a Jedi Master became a Mandalorian? The two lifestyles seem so…different.”

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Cora offered a glimpse into her life, her expression somber and the corners of her mouth turned down. There was hurt in that memory and Adelle didn’t press the topic, the conversation circling back around to children.

“Life would be dull without them,” Adelle said with a smile. “Quieter but dull.”

Cora’s next question came slowly, carefully. That was the second time Adelle should have seen the question coming and somehow didn’t expect it. Adelle rubbed the back of her neck, trying to figure out how, exactly, to explain without getting into everything that had gone into her decision.

“The short but vague answer is ‘not immediately,’” she said with a huff of laughter. The next words came out more as habit than conscious thought. “My Order made a decision I couldn’t in good conscience live with. I left, lived with friends on a farm for a couple years.”

Adelle stared at the hospital bed, not really seeing it. “I was off-planet when the planeshift happened. Spent the next two years and most of my creds looking for them. Found myself in Mandalorian space with just enough for a drink and a safe-ish place to sleep. That was… Terrifying isn’t the right word, but when you’ve had to fight off a Mandalorian siege on your home, you’re definitely wary. Only Mandos I’d met before were very much anti-Jedi, anti-Force.”

“Aether—the Mand’alor was different.” Adelle’s focus returned and she looked at Cora. “Met him before I knew who he was. He clocked what I was and just… treated it like an asset rather than a curse. And the Mandalorians I met after were much the same. Some were suspicious but it was rare to meet one that was openly hostile about it. One of my current clanmates found out that I didn’t have permanent housing. Before I knew it, they adopted me into the clan.”

She shrugged. “They were people that cared, not unlike my old Order. And I don’t find that following the Resol’nare, the Creed, puts me at odds with following the Code. I walk both. I just… don’t call myself a Jedi anymore.”

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora fell thoughtfully quiet as Adelle spoke. The rhythm of Luciana's breathing became a steady backdrop to the Mandalorian's story.

Walking away from an Order you'd spent the better part of your life with was no small feat. Whatever decision the Jedi had made, it had been enough for Adelle to break from what Cora presumed to be her social circle and support system.

"The planeshift swept Taris from Alliance space to the Mandalorian Empire. When we arrived with supplies, we were met with tension - and a misunderstanding. The Mandalorians there were receptive to a peaceful solution."

Which was something she hadn't expected, given how hostile the Enclave had been in their heyday.

"Aether Verd seems to be a good man. With how many Mandalorian groups rise and fall from the galactic stage, it can be challenging to parse out which are receptive to the Jedi, and who would see us exterminated."

One hand was idly rubbing along the length of Lucy's little curled back. Cora's smile was a soft, tender thing as it shifted to Adelle.

"It sounds as though you've found acceptance. Few places in the galaxy are welcoming to new faces."

It was a huge thing, really. It was everything. Belonging was a fundamental aspect that most sentients needed. Nearly anyone could become a Mandalorian if they took the Creed, which was beautiful in a way.

"I know more about the Code than I do the Creed, but I've always thought that they were too different to be balanced together. But," her smile turned a little wry, "I've encountered far stranger things in the galaxy."

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Acceptance. Yes, Aether had accepted her. Clan Skirata and Alor Ca’tra had accepted her. Not everyone had. Not everyone would. But having people felt good after being alone for so long.

Adelle nodded when Cora confessed she couldn’t see the Code living alongside the Resol’nare. That was fair. From the outside, it looked like the Resol’nare would have embraced or encouraged aggression and war as one of its core tenants. But she highly doubted the new mother wanted an explanation of Mandalorian cultural identity.

“Like planets suddenly moving across the galaxy. Or a royal moonlighting as a midwife,” she said with a grin, but it faded a bit. “Have you—no, of course not, you just had a baby, I’ll check with Tona later.”

She watched Luciana for a moment, hardly bigger than a loaf of bread in her mother’s hands. The last of the certainty Adelle had been so sure of unraveled. An old grief twisted in her gut.

“I should get going,” Adelle said, forcing herself to make eye contact with Cora instead. “I’ve intruded enough and Phantom’s probably antsy, staying cooped up in the ship. If you need anything, I do mean it. You can call me.”

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Adelle seemed to be on the cusp of a question, but withdrew it. Cora tilted her face, and a lock of blonde hair slipped over her shoulder to rest atop Lucy's head.

Fortunately, the little loaf was undisturbed. Cora wondered if she really did recognize her mother's voice, her heartbeat, her warmth.

The new mother smiled. "Of course. I won't keep you - don't want to upset Phantom." She brushed away the stray golden hair from her daughter's head, hand then rubbing Luciana's back in slow, soothing circles.

"I'll remember that. And I'll remember this, too - how far you came for an acquaintance in need. Mandalorian and Jedi aside, you’re a good person. Thank you, Adelle."

The past few days had been a blur of exhaustion and joy beyond what she thought a typical human could experience. Adelle had been a part of that, providing a calm, instructional presence even lightyears away. Luciana was here, safe. So was she. So was Makko, and Aurelian would recover from the utter shock of it all.

For once, maybe everything really would be alright.

Adelle Bastiel