What can I do for you?

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Tensions were high since the disaster that was Muunilinst. And Rawnie understood why. She'd almost died. Because she'd followed orders. Lorane was being cold now. Cold and distant. And Rawnie was being very careful to tip toe around him, for fear of souring his mood again.

But after a while, enough was enough. So she'd spent the better part of the day in the cabin just outside the village, cleaning, cooking, and just trying to butter her husband up as much as she could. She'd set a nice meal on the table, lit the fireplace, had a few candles going, and even tried her hand at baking. The cake itself was.. well, it wasn't pretty, but she was sure it tasted fine, at least. She knew how he loved his sweets.

She stood in the kitchen, trying her best to decorate her disaster of a cake with fruit and chocolates. It only seemed to make it look worse, unfortunately. She sighed, frowning at her... creation as baby Galaar kicked her from inside her womb.

"Yeah, I know," she sighed out loud, "but we don't eat until your Daddy gets home..."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Contrary to Rawnie's thoughts, Lor hadn't felt angry, or even had any thoughts to make him angry, the whole day. Alternately chasing down and running away from a frakking huge animal was taking up most of his attention. He'd slipped once already, and gotten a big claw mark scratched into the front of his armor for his trouble. Under it, he was completely okay, for once.​

​

He'd given up on a silent kill after that, though. The throwing razors hadn't been up to the job, and his only other options were the pistols, or stun grenades and then the pistols. Either way, louder than a screaming rancor. His thoughts were interrupted as the big feline creature growled once again, rather obviously within close earshot again. Lor winced slightly as he got bowled over by the furry thing, and then his eyes widened as he realized that it was running straight for the village.​

​

It was seriously time to shoot this annoying animal.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Loranes wife sat down at the table, eyeing the chrono with annoyance. He was late. Very late. This was supposed to be a simple hunt. Couldn't he manage it? Did he get hurt out there? Maybe she needed to send a search party out after him. Or was he just avoiding her? And after she'd spent all this time preparing for a nice evening together too...

She stood up again with a growl of annoyance, grabbed the long white fur coat and threw it on. Fine. She'd find him and bring him back. Then she would make him sit down and enjoy the meal she spent so long making for him! That cake wasn't going to eat itself! She blew out the candles, covered the dinner she'd made in hopes of saving some of the heat, and stepped outside.

....And immediately regretted it.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

It took about three seconds for Lor to decide that nothing was broken, and another fifteen to decide that he needed to get onto that damn animal's back. He shot forward with his jet boots, dropping down onto the giant feline and wrapping his gauntleted hands into its fur. It furiously tried to shake its unwanted passenger off, but he held on like his life depended on it.​

​

Lor drew his gun, and shot once, twice, and a third time before the animal came crashing and rolling to a halt in the middle of Tal'verda village. Ouch. He rolled off its back and laid there, in the snow, giving the blurry figure that looked like Rawnie a tired grin.​

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"Got you a present, visahot."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

The blonde blinked. Rubbed her eyes. Blinked again. Right there, in front of her was a giant dead beast. Enough meat to feed the village for a month. And enough fur to make a cloak, a hat, gloves, and boots. Her mind went through and mentally dissected the creatures corpse, dividing it up into useful parts, imagining the many uses for the bones, even the skull. Once she'd decided this, she scanned the face of her husband, laying in front of her.

"It's just what I always wanted," she replied dryly, "Happy anniversary."

She bent over to pick his glasses up off the snow, wiping them clean on her sleeve before bending over (as much as she could, anyway) to give them back.

"Are you hungry?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor rolled over and picked himself out of the snow to carefully put his arm around Rawnie and gave her a kiss.​

​

"Happy anniversary, Snow Cat."​

​

He looked from his wife, to the big animal lying on the ground, and then back to his wife with a raised eyebrow. The look on her face said she was thinking about what to do with the skin and meat and bones et cetera. The Chiss' stomach said eat some frakking food, you fool.​

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"I'm hungry enough to offer to help you dissect the furball, here, if we eat first."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

A kiss. Rawnie looked more surprised by that than she should have. He didn't seem angry anymore, at least. Good. Still, she had her apologies to make. It was what a good wife would do, anyway.

"Don't worry about this. I'll send someone to take care of it," she waved at the dead beast at her feet, "Come back home with me. I made dinner already."

Rawnie reached for his hand, turning in the direction of home. Galaar was kicking again and the dinner she'd made was getting cold.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor raised an eyebrow at the surprised look on Rawnie's face. Was he still mad about Muunilist? Hell yes. But was it worth making his nearly full-term pregnant wife worry about for weeks on end? Maybe not, he'd realized. She'd survived, and probably felt a little more apologetic than he'd really meant her to. Besides, being pregnant was kicking her ass a little. He needed to help.​

​

"Alright, then. I'm certainly not complaining."​

​

He squeezed her hand as they walked back.​

​

"From the way you're walking, I don't think Galaar is, either."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Galaar kicked her again. Hard. This time a little higher than he had before. She was getting close now. It was starting to get to the 'any day now' stage. And she was nervous. She hadn't yet completely recovered from Muunilist. And she knew how hard childbirth was supposed to be on the body. And Galaar was getting big. Maybe too big for her tiny body. Maybe she really should send for a more experienced doctor to be on hand. That was something to discuss with her husband, of course. Right now, the clan didn't have the credits for the luxury of paying a doctor.

"Galaar is restless," she placed a hand over the spot her child was kicking, frowning, "I don't think he likes being in there."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor took a quick look at the now very large bump where Galaar was presumably pulverizing his mother's insides with his feet. It hadn't occurred to him that Zandra might've been right when she'd first warned him about Rawnie being on the small side, simply because both his wife and himself were rather thin and wiry.​

​

"Claustrophobia. Happens to me, too."​

​

He went back to walking, now with the vague feeling that it might be a good idea to find a surgeon for this birth. Honestly, the idea of cutting another hole in his wife appealed to him more than the idea of her having irreparable internal damage.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

"Wont be very long now."

She rubbed the spot where she could feel a tiny foot pressing through. No. Not very long. The baby had turned upside down, and was carrying much lower. She remembered from the last time the village had a birth, this was a sign that the time was drawing close. She'd been so excited about this before. Why was she terrified now? She had everything in order. Everything was ready for the baby. She was perfectly prepared in every way. Except mentally, it seemed.

She led him back to the cabin, through the door. The scent of a freshly cooked meal greeted them immediately.

"Dinner is on the table. I also made a cake for after- err, well, I tried to, anyway. Baking isn't exactly a skill of mine."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Cake? What?! Lor did a double-take as he looked at the table. His worries about Rawnie disappeared for a moment as he took a fork to the cake and took a bite. It was awesome! He grinned at his wife and leaned their foreheads together as he slipped an arm around her.​

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"You are the best."​

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[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Wait. He liked it!? He actually looked like he enjoyed it! Rawnie was amazed. Her cake looked so... terrible. It was drooping to one side, her decorations were ugly, and the frosting was sloppy. But he liked it! The blonde let free a long sigh of relief. He looked so much happier now. Maybe he wasn't angry anymore.

"No. I really am not. I should have apologized sooner."

She bit her lip, meeting his eyes.

"I am so sorry, Cyar'ika. About Muunilist, about everything I said after, about these last few weeks- everything."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor's expression darkened a little bit, and he sighed to calm himself down a bit. He'd already forgiven her, but she clearly didn't know that. He squeezed her as tightly as he felt was safe, and then looked at her again.​

​

"Visahot, the only thing I was mad about was that you let Renolds order me away. And then that you got hurt for nothing but the privilege of being Alor'Tal'verda... But I really had no other reason to be mad."​

​

Except to keep Malcom on his toes whenever he was around Rawnie. That was damn fun. He grinned a little conspiratorially at his wife.​

​

"Besides, y'know how gratifying it is for a husband to dump his wife's ex in the snow, and then watch him fail when he tries to get me back? It literally felt better than just kicking his ass."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie sighed and gave her husband a little punch to the shoulder.

"Di'kut!"

But she smiled. He wasn't angry. But then, why had he been so distant? She didn't feel like asking. All she knew, was the pressure she'd felt before was gone. Thank the stars. She hugged him again, careful not to put too much pressure on little Galaar between them.

"I'm going to stay out of the fight for a while," she said, "That last one was a disaster. The orders I received almost got me killed. I understand that now. But you have to understand that I can not disobey. Out here, I am the clan leader. But out there, I'm nothing. Disposable. I don't want to die just yet. Not before I've even had the chance to really live."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor kissed Rawnie on the forehead and simply stood there for a bit.​

​

"Visahot, I'm technically not military. That means neither of us can get court-martialed for my actions. I just want you to know that I will play that card whenever it seems likely that I'll have to do something one of the higher-ups won't like to get us home alive."​

​

Because, even besides the Chiss' lack of respect for the suicidal brand of Mandalorian 'honor', Galaar would need both his parents. And Lor needed his wife more than he would've cared to admit before.​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

He was right, of course. And she knew how much the other clan leaders looked down on her for her choice of mate. But it was her choice. And his. Nobody else could tell her who she was allowed to love. She dared them to try.

"Right, right," she sighed, "But you won't have to worry about it. At least not for a while. I'm staying out of it. Probably for a few years. Until this... stupid civil war of theirs calms down. I refuse to let my clan get dragged into their nonsense. I don't like the idea of fighting my own vod."

That was how Galaar, her uncle, died. In a stupid war. For stupid reasons. For other people who just sat back and moved soldiers around and sacrificed them like pieces on a chess board. She fought for honor, to protect what she loved, for what she believed in. Not for someone's political gain. Not for someones selfish bid for a title and power.

"We can raise Galaar together. Here. In peace. Maybe we can give him another brother and sister as well, while we're at it. If you'd like."

[member="Doctor Azure"]