Mandalorian Wedding vows translation: We are one together. We are one when parted. We share all. We will raise warriors.
Manda*: Mandalorian heaven.
Shriek-hawk: The 3 line mark sigil of Death Watch and pre-pacifist Clan Vizsla
As with other stories, reviewer responses will be in chapter notes.
This is the 3rd part of the Clan Mudhorn series. Succession is part 1, and part 2 is Kih gehat'ik.
They had flown back to Concord Dawn a few days ago. It had taken a little while for Paz and Din to undo the security measures left in place.
Among the welcoming party was Xig. The former imperial avoided Din and Paz though. He had lots of time to sketch and paint on his watches at the guard station, and was eager to get Andora's feedback on his new focus in life. The limp was getting better, but the only way he could get fully recovered was off the table, his chain code would give him away. But it seemed he was happier to have the excuse for not being a real soldier anymore. Andora also used that time to inform the village about her and Din's upcoming exchange of vows. The village was excited that they would be the home to another Mand'Alor. Promising to give the new couple the space to enjoy their day.
The woman Paz had picked up from the prior mission was still with them, moving in with a few other single women in the village. Paz hoped her living in a house full of freed people would help the young woman see she could be much happier away from the Nemoidian. Andora had used her suggestive voice to meddle a bit, noticing Paz's behavior around the woman. She was doing her part to grow Clan Mudhorn, it was past time Paz started restocking Clan Vizsla numbers. One way or another, he was not going to be the last in their family.
Paz had already told Din he had to follow up on the intel gathered from the target a couple missions ago, he swung by Nevarro to pick up Cara as his backup on the mission. She was coming with him since there was a possibility of it leading to Imperials. As an officer of the rangers she had to follow up on those leads. Din kept watching for Paz's comms, trusting that his new cousin-in-law would be alright. He had checked in a few days ago, but had said he needed to stay on radio silence.
As the day got closer Din couldn't help but notice that Andora was positively glowing, finally seeing the slight bump she was 'hiding'. He was thankful the day was so close, not sure how much longer he could pretend. It was hard not to notice that the older villagers had started to bring them food and clothes for the pair of them, his heart aching as sets of maroon robes were among the articles being given.
Andora was barely able to sleep. Today was the day. She was up before dawn, Din still sleeping as she got up for the day. Walking from their bedroom she went to the cooking fire, getting it started as she started to hum to herself. The fire filled the room with a welcome heat, and cast soft flickering light in the large open space. She made them porridge for breakfast, her stomach still rumbling unhappily at the idea of food. Breathing through her nose and out her mouth she waited for a wave of nausea to pass, leaving the meal on the edge of the heat, keeping them warm as she sat down to give a remembrance for her family, her mother holding the place of honor today among them. As Din walked out to join her for breakfast she felt a wave of warmth at him being so comfortable that he only wore a robe. He came to sit with her, joining her in her remembrance with his own loved ones who had marched before him. They ate in silence, her more playing with her food as her stomach flipped unpleasantly at the taste of it in her mouth.
"If we step outside are we going to be bombarded with gifts?" Din teased, holding her close to him as she leaned on his hips.
"Probably. I don't think I could even stand to look at another sweet." She pouted, her hand on her stomach.
"You didn't have to eat all three cakes in two days." He pointed out, unbothered by the slap of her hand against his thigh. "You only saved me a slice of each."
"I love you so much I left you a slice of each, I could have eaten all of them." She turned on him.
"How generous a riduur I will have." He sighed into her hair. "Did you want to share them now?"
"After I brush my teeth, put on a nice dress, get all dolled up. I want a picture with you. Gotta add to the walls you know." She said as she looked at the blank space on the wall she had picked out for their picture. "Did you want me to shine up your armor?"
"I did it yesterday." He started to kiss her neck. "We could share the vows, consummate them and then get ready for the picture afterwards." The soft moan she let out echoed in the empty space.
"How about letting me brush my teeth...and then we can do your plan?" She turned into him, nuzzling his throat, feeling his stubble scratch her skin.
"Great compromise." He swept her up, carrying them back to the room so they could at least freshen up. He allowed her to use the refresher first, using the moment to pull out the gifts he had gathered for today. He had not forgotten his promise to make things right with her, and it had been a relief when he found beskar based tattoo ink and the equipment to apply it. She finished up, coming out and he swapped places with her. Andora saw the tattoo machine and the inks set up, tears in her eyes at the gesture, moving to go and retrieve her gifts for him. She had hidden it in Vim's old trophy room, near the saber case where the two holocrons she had taken were housed. The red triangle and blue box still whispered to her, but she had gotten better at drowning them out by putting them under the black sheet Vim had used. Maybe Vim had been more intune with the force than he had thought.
She had found a few more pictures of his family, the meticulous notes of the prior generations of Death Watch meant she had names and histories of a few other members of the Djarin family. Andora was so excited to hand these to him. Light on her feet with joy and bed head hair she entered the room, noticing that Din had actually shaved parts of his body he normally left alone.
He raised an eyebrow at her holding something behind her back, figuring it was the pregnancy test. He hoped he could act surprised enough for her. The bright smile on her face as she was up on the balls of her feet, teetering with excitement. He wanted to let her have this moment. He patted the bed beside him, watching her steps that were almost skipping before she kneeled on the bed to keep the items hidden.
"Okay, since you gave your vows already I'll go first this time." The smile on her face was brightening up the room. She schooled her face into a neutral expression before starting. "Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde.*" She hadn't been able to keep the dignified expression, a smile breaking out halfway through the simple vows. Din joined her in kneeling, staring into her eyes as he once again gave her his half.
"Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde." Din ran his hand through her hair, pulling her forward to kiss her. Her lips pressed hard to his before she pulled away and finally handed him the object behind her back. "What is this Cyare?" He said, pretending to be surprised as he started to open it.
"You saved me on that day, and not just from being shipwrecked. Without you I never would have reconnected with so many of my family. I wanted to give you some of that back." Din's hands stopped in shock as he saw the images, faces he had not seen since he was a young boy. He didn't even register the tears on his cheeks until she wiped them away. She kissed his cheek, gently showing him the images, turning them over to show him the information there. "And well...I know Grogu will always be your first child, just like Saba is mine, but…" She put his hand on the small bump of her stomach. "We have another child to welcome to the Clan in about... 6 months." Din pressed his forehead to the bump gently, on his knees as he felt the wash of emotions. She was giving him family, something to love and protect, a tribe of his own to provide for.
"Gar cuyir stas mesh'la tyatr. Gar nau'ur ner jibr." (You are the most beautiful star. You light up my life.) He praised her softly, afraid to touch her now as if she was something delicate that would break. He had known, but somehow the confirmation made it startlingly real. She was blushing at his gentle touch and words. She adjusted to sit down, him not willing to stop touching the small bump. "I feel like my gift is not enough cyare." She kissed him softly, wrapping her arms around him.
"Nonsense, I'm excited, getting my sigil back. Will be a nice way to remember the good old days before the stretch marks come in and I become the size of a freighter." He laughs, his warm breath against her neck sending chills down her spine.
"The most beautiful freighter ever." He teased, his hands on her hip and stomach, kissing and nibbling along her throat.
"Hey, I gave you your gift, my turn. Then the fun stuff." She nuzzles into his affections, returning the nibbles along his throat. "Also...what's with the patches?" Her fingers traced along the shaved patch of his chest.
"Was thinking of adding our clans sigils, wasn't sure where I wanted them." Din put her hand over the shaved patch on his chest where his iron heart would rest. "I trust your opinion on this."
"I'm honored, but are you sure you trust my artistic skills?" She laughed, but striped off her robe to get on her side, exposing the left thigh where the faded outline of what had been her scarified sigil. It was nearly gone, but the old lines were there and he would follow them as his guides. He kissed the skin before he moved to grab the ink and tattoo gun.
"I do, after all, you'll have to look at them." He caressed her thigh, putting pillows to support her leg as he pulled the skin to start his work. He took his time with it, Andora talking at length of the possible names she had for the baby, him shooting down any of her silly food names. It was cute when a child was an infant, but the poor thing would have to grow up and try to navigate the adult world with their name as food. It would lose all its humor. He wished his lines were neater, not so scratchy and misshapen but she just smiled widely at the finished work, kissing him as he wiped the cleaning lotion on her skin, a tad bit jealous of the fact her skin was only swollen and red, the skin going through the healing already. She was so excited and thanked him, wiping tears from her eyes as he moved to let her take the tattoo gun from him.
Andora drew the mudhorn sigil on his shoulder, Din gritting his teeth and trying to relax as the needles started. Thankfully his mark was smaller, and he was grateful when she stopped, her fingers delicately rubbing the bacta onto the skin before carefully covering it.
He let her tattoo the Vizsla shriek-hawk on his left forearm, and gave her the mudhorn on her own, carrying a piece of each other forward on their marches.
They sat down to a meal delivered by their excited neighbors, their new ink wrapped up as they let it heal. He laughed a bit as she picked the mildest foods, teasing her about about it.
"Hey, poke fun all you want, I'm growing a whole new person. Not my fault that spicy food smells so strongly." She pouted, and he kissed the top of her head as he let her lean on him, her nibbling on the food to keep her stomach from rebelling. "They say the nausea goes away after this month, so hopefully I can at least enjoy eating again. It's literally a chore right now with how my stomach is acting."
"I'm sure you'll be craving all sorts of snacks soon." He soothed, his arm wrapped around her as he fed himself. "I'll be a good provider and get you all those combinations of vinegar soaked fruits and candied meats."
"You can't just let me eat everything, you have to swear to me you won't let me just blow up like a barge." She begged. "No matter how much I want it, you can't just let me eat like a Hutt. I don't need that many extra calories a day."
"I tried to stop you with those cakes." He pointed out, his hand moving from her hip to her ass, squeezing playfully.
"Exactly, you can't let me do that again. You have to be firm with me, don't let me use my feminie wiles to get my way." Andora giggled at the groping, her free hand opening his robe to caress his thigh.
"So what should I do, just tie you up and leave you begging? Because as good as you look all trussed up for me, I much rather you beg for something besides food." He felt his cock stirring at the drag of her nails on his skin.
"What do you want me to beg for?" She dragged her tongue along his throat to his collarbone. Her hand moved up higher, just barely brushing against his cock.
"For another serving of your Din'jalayi." He grinned as he moved to kiss her neck, his hand moving to squeeze her other asscheek, moaning as her fingers wrap around his base. A sudden loud roar of static interrupted their moment, the pair of them looking up in confusion. The noises were coming from the old dadita transceiver Vim had positioned in the living room. The static was still going, but both their ears now focused on the static. The code was repeating itself, Andora's face going pale and he felt her tremble in his arms. The series of short and long beeping tones hidden within the static were hurried at best.
"They're compromised…" Her voice cracked with worry. The code was coming faster. Suddenly the code was stopped, a much calmer message tapped out before just the static broadcast. "Din...that last part...it couldn't be?" He didn't need his helmet to read the fear in her voice. "Din...Paz wouldn't play a game like this."
"I know." Din stood up, moving to get back into his armor with the same speed he had been taught in training for if they were under attack. She was in the room after him, pulling on her own clothes. "You're staying here." He barked out as an order.
"Not a chance! You're my riduur, and he's my bevr, I am not just going to be at home waiting for the worse. I'm coming." She put on her armor, still paces behind as he was already in his full loadout.
"I'm not taking my pregnant riduur." He marched past her, going to borrow from Vim's collection since he had yet to rebuild his own. She was dressed and armored as she came in the room after him, blocking the doorway to stop him leaving her behind. He couldn't push past her. "Step aside." He softened his tone, seeing the tears in her eyes. "I'll bring both of them back, please, don't add yourself onto the things I am worried about."
"No, I can't just let you go out there alone. I don't want to add you onto the things I worry about." She huffed, her arms braced on the door jam, her legs spread, and he was too large in his armor to just slip past her. "Besides, we don't even have a ship."
"I'll take help." He offered as a compromise.
"Who Din? Who could we ask for help?" She was not budging.
"Cara is a Ranger, the New Republic will help get her back and take down the base." He took a step closer, his gloved hand reaching out to hers.
"And when the Imperials get a hit off their ships they'll execute their hostages and take off." He knew she had a point, that had been why he loved the Crest, it wasn't on either side's code lists. "Those Imperials knew Dadita...if they took Paz prisoner... Briag and Xig weren't the only Mandalorians that were in their military. This place will be dangerous. The republic can't fight that yet." Din sighed, knowing she was right. "So I am coming with you. I have enough money from my severance package to buy a second hand ship."
"If I take other mandalorians will you stay home." He was pleading with her now.
"If you ask Bo Katan for help, she'll extract a very high price to help you. My job as your riduur and your guard is to protect you, she's desperate for redemption for her failures. And you having taken the saber when she was so close...who knows what she might do." She hated that she was coming to this conclusion, but this was the only option in her mind. The irony was not lost on her.
"Then who would you ask for help?" He placed his helmet to hers, needing her to give some for him.
"Din, there is nothing in this galaxy that will keep me from coming." Her hand moved to his iron heart. "I won't go to the front line, but I will stay in a support position." He felt a sigh of relief, she was willing to give some for him. "We need a Mandalorian who specializes in killing other Mandalorians. It's the only way for you to stay safe." Her arm wrapped around his side.
"Who is that?" Din returned her embrace, wondering if maybe she was talking about some of Vim's few remaining friends.
"Fett." She squeezed him tighter, hoping this was the right course of action.
"Why would you argue Fett against Katan?" Din knew this was hard for her. She and Paz had purposely come to protect him from those two, now she was picking which one she was going to trust with his life.
"His armor is from the civil war...every weapon was designed to take out Mandalorians like my grandfather Vim in addition to jedi hunting." He felt her grip him tighter, feeling her shake as she tried to hide her fear. "Bo-katan only helped you when there was something in it for her, a chance to get the saber and a ship. Fett helped you to pay back his debt, he got nothing more out of it. As much as I don't like it, he's the more trustworthy verd."