Yaihadla=Pregnant in Mando'a
It's not often that your boyfriend finds out you're pregnant before you do. It's also not often, if ever, that he is there to catch the very first heartbeat. But Hunter did, and they both remained in major denial for about two weeks.
And at the start of what Alona thinks to be week eight of her pregnancy–two weeks since the embryo's heart started beating and two weeks since Alona and Hunter had a major wake up call–she really started to feel the symptoms of pregnancy.
Last week was spent in complete denial, and now that feeling has bled into this week. And despite having not gone on a mission since Coruscant, Hunter has busied himself by trying to take on Echo's role on the team while the ex-ARC trooper was gone.
Alona is putting everything into making sure the kid–Omega, had someone to talk to as she tried to deal with her missing brother. Alona made sure the blonde knew that Echo would be coming back, but that obviously didn't make it any easier to deal with the absence. Alona would do anything to keep Omega's mind distracted.
Right now, that was removing her from the parlor where her brothers were arguing for the tenth time today. The girls had ventured out into a flat spot in the empty desert where nobody would see them and their laser swords.
"Little higher." Alona instructed, standing a few feet away from the kid.
Omega lifted the orange lightsaber a little higher, straightening her shoulders out. "Like this?"
Alona nodded gently, shielding her eyes from the burning sun. "Just like that." She confirmed, igniting her gray lightsaber and holding it upright. "Now take a swing at me."
Omega flinched back, her eyes wide. "I don't think that's a good idea, what if I mess up?" She asked shyly, her stance faltering.
"I won't let anything happen, 'Mega. All we're doing is letting you get used to the feeling of the blade." Alona explained gently, lowering her lightsaber for a second. "If you're not comfortable, we can stop. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to. And you shouldn't either. I know you're eager to do this to fill the hole in our team, but you don't have to. We'll be okay while Echo is gone."
Omega took a deep breath, blinking away the tears that had formed in her eyes. She readjusted her stance, nodding her head confidently. "I want to learn."
Alona raised her lightsaber again and nodded. "Go."
Omega swung the lightsaber at Alona, who moved her gray blade down to deflect the shot.
"That was good, starting strong." Alona encouraged, swinging her blade up to deflect the next one aimed at her shoulder.
Omega clenched her jaw and swung again, her orange lightsaber whipping around and yet again colliding with the gray one. The longer this went on, the more tired she got, but also continued to fill with a sense of self-pride.
"Awesome." Alona cheered, actually having to take a step back in order to completely block the latest attack. "You're gonna have this down in no time."
This continued until Omega's swipes got sloppy and tired, to which she then asked to switch to meditation.
So the young blonde put her lightsaber away and sat down in the sand, breathing in and out slowly.
Alona wasn't up for meditating herself, so she just took a few steps away from Omega to allow her to have some independent quiet time.
She wasn't sure if it was the heat of the sun or the thing growing in her stomach that made her feel sick, but Alona blinked and an hour passed like a fever dream. The sky had begun to fade into pink and red, and the girls had a long walk back to the city. "Hey, we should get going. Hunter will track us down if he doesn't hear from us soon."
Omega eased out of her meditative state and stood up obediently, walking alongside Alona as they started following the sun back to Cid's parlor.
"I don't like that Echo left." Omega admitted, scooting her feet across the tan colored sand. She kept her gaze focused on the ground.
Alona placed a hand on the kid's back as they walked. "I know. But he'll be back before you know it."
Omega sighed, her hands clenched into fists. "The others act like they don't even care. Like Echo isn't a part of our family." She expressed, scrunching her nose up while she fought back more tears.
"They do care. People deal with stuff like this in different ways. They miss Echo too." Alona explained softly. "But if it bothers you, talk to them about it. Ask them how they feel about him leaving. Try to understand where they're at emotionally too."
Omega stayed quiet for a few minutes, her expression easing up. "How do you feel about him leaving?"
The girls reached the city, weaving their way past the vendors and civilians.
Alona smiled softly. "I miss him, but I'm glad he's doing what he feels he was called to do. He's trying to discover his role in this changed galaxy, just as we are."
The blonde hummed, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she walked in silence. Alona kept her mouth shut beside her, giving her time to think.
They passed a woman who worked at a jewelry stand, and all of the jewelry was beautiful, but that's not what had caught Alona's attention.
The woman had a baby wrapped up against her chest, fast asleep.
Alona had only ever seen such peace on a human's face one other time, when she held her niece and nephew for the first and last time.
Alona remembers scanning every detail of the babies' faces, their innocent little faces held so much peace that Alona felt that same feeling wash over her for the first time in what felt like hours. Despite the Jedi being turned against, despite her brother turning to the dark side, and despite Padme's tragic passing, Alona genuinely felt peace with those babies in her arms.
Leia looked so much like Padme it was unbelievable. And Luke, he was a lot like both Anakin and Padme in so many ways.
It's crazy how so much personality could come from a human that had only been brought into the world a few hours before.
Would Alona feel that same peace with her own? Or was that amazing feeling she had just because she was desperate for anything good to happen? That the birth of the twins just consumed her broken heart?
"Alona, are you alright?" Omega asked, pulling the Force-user out of her head.
They had slowed down their pace a lot, and Alona hadn't even realized they had made it to the parlor already. "Yeah, just..thinking." She muttered, starting down the steps with Omega.
She had never noticed it before, but the parlor smelled absolutely horrible. It seemed as though a lot of smells were gross to Alona lately. The Marauder, the parlor. Alona almost gagged at the docking bay. It smelled as it usually did, but suddenly the scent of oil and whatever else they used on ships became torture to her nose.
Ketch and Bolo were deep into a very competitive game of holochess, both of them sitting on the edges of their seats.
"There they are. Now get going." Cid says sternly, crossing her arms and glaring at the guys who were seated at the bar.
"Where are we going?" Omega hummed, drumming her fingers on her legs.
"Cid finally gave us a mission." Wrecker replied, swallowing his drink in one big gulp. He slams the cup onto the counter and rises from his seat, already headed up the steps of the parlor.
Cid scoffs and walks out from behind the bar, giving her top team one last eye roll before heading to her back office.
Hunter swiveled around in his seat, slapping his hands onto his thighs. It would appear he was not excited to see how this mission would turn out. With one less person, they would all need to work a little bit harder to keep everyone alive and safe. So the chances of stress-induced headaches and tense shoulders were pretty high right now. "Let's get going."
Tech and Omega walked a few feet ahead of the couple, engaged in their own conversation about what to expect on whatever planet they were about to travel to.
Alona exhaled shakily, keeping her eyes away from Hunter as they started up the steps. The sudden beating of a little heart that started two weeks ago has mad them slightly tense. They were unsure what to talk about, too stressed to bring up their current–and growing–situation.
"How...how are you feeling?" Hunter asked quietly, only turning his head slightly to check on her. It was weird, he almost sounded shy...unsure if his words were the right ones.
Alona stared down at her feet, doing her best to ignore the bloating in her stomach. She knew it wasn't a bump just yet. "Like there's something growing inside of me." She replied bluntly.
"Maybe we should find you a doctor, make sure everything's alright." Hunter suggested, keeping his eyes focused on Omega and Tech who were a good distance ahead.
That made Alona nervous. She started shaking her head. "What if they test my blood? They see those midi-chlorians and notify the Empire...then what?" She asked, starting to sweat at just the thought of what would happen.
Hunter sighed, grabbing her hand and squeezing tightly. "We'll figure something out...We'll figure this out." But the way he said it made it sound like he was trying to convince himself as well.
Alona just stayed quiet, looking over at the jewelry stand as she passed for the second time today. The baby was still wrapped up and sound asleep while the mother talked to one of her customers.
Would they figure this out?