Chapter 30: The Aleena

Doryn lay in a nest of blankets, curled around a creature sparsely covered in long hairs. It was covered in thick blood-like goo, next to it a thin sac of sorts. It was her daughter. Her instinct was to protect the tiny writhing thing, but for some reason she knew she couldn't. It... she didn't look Cathar. At least, not fully Cathar, possibly half human. Her nose, that looked like a terribly swollen Cathar nose, desperately sucked in air. Doryn knew, somehow, that this was her daughter with Wolffe, despite it being impossible. There were legends of a Bothan that was supposedly half human, but she knew a human and a Cathar couldn't. Doryn also knew... she knew her daughter was going to die. Her child was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it, Jedi or not. So, she simply laid there with her and felt her alive in the Force. For now, she was alive and Doryn just let her feel the love that she had for her.

Doryn awoke, tears in her eyes. She felt empty in her soul, despite knowing it was only a dream. She'd fallen asleep searching the holo-net for talk of Cathar hybrids. The only things she could find were forums of mothers of Cathar-Bothan children and explicit websites with videos fetishising her species. It was mainly pure curiosity and a little paranoia over all the unprotected sex she'd been having with Wolffe. Though, she did like the idea of having a family of her own someday. She knew she couldn't, of course. As a Jedi, it was a sacrifice she had to make, and she was sure that Wolffe wouldn't want kids now, if he even wanted them at all. Well, that was the last time she let herself fall asleep during an odd holo-net search.

She looked over to her comm-link and the little flashing light on it. She played the message as she got out of her bed and got herself together. "Hope you're having a nice dream, cyar'ika." Wolffe had been the one to leave the message. With Master Plo behind them, on the Triumphant, it made sense that he took the chance to leave her a message that started like that. "When you've finished dreaming about me, come down to the surface. The Aleena have had quakes and I need something pretty to look at while I work." She could just imagine Wolffe topless with his bottom half fully covered while recording this, even if he'd probably been fully kitted up. A girl could dream. Especially when those dreams were based on memories of his statuesque body hidden under smatterings of dark curly fur.

She hadn't even been on the surface for a full minute when Wolffe came grumbling over to her. With the situation, he couldn't flop his head onto her shoulder like he wanted to. Instead, he stared at it for a second before greeting her with his complaints. "That protocol droid is either going to General Gallia or a scrap pile, and I have a preference." She couldn't help but chuckle at that. He was so genuinely angry at the existence of this droid and its personality which was a very standard one for a protocol droid to have. "It's almost like I have valid reasons for hating Skywalker." One of those reasons being what he did to her lightsaber on Geonosis. Why Master Tassu had taken it at all and later given it to him was beyond her. Yet not only did she have a Master to mourn, but also a lightsaber to rebuild. "That's Skywalker's droid?" She nodded. "I'll never forgive that piece of osik."

"Well, can you multitask? I see we have work to be getting on with." He sighed at her sarkiness and turned back to his job to placate her for a moment, though he turned right back around when he heard her footsteps. She'd meant multitasking between his anger at Skywalker's droid and his work but right now he was multitasking between the anger and appreciating Ryn's form as she walked away. Her deep brown robes didn't show much, the leather belt being the only thing that showed any of her form. Much of his admiring came from remembering what was under the layers of plain fabric. She turned her head back around when she got to the partially set up kitchen, her Jedi senses probably letting her feel his eyes on her. Her braid slipped over her shoulder and hung down her back. The same braid he'd used as a handle once or twice in bed. A braid he'd watched her undo and perfectly reconstruct so many times. He let his smirk take over his face and let his eyes obviously roam over her hidden figure before giving her a slight eyebrow lift and turning away to get back to ordering his men around.

When the kitchen was all set, Doryn stalked around looking for other ways to make herself useful. The clones assigned to the kitchen were serving out food and lots of the others were helping start the efforts of rebuilding infrastructure. If she knew what the buildings were meant to look like, she'd probably be able to help with the Force. Only, she didn't know and the clones she could've asked were all being hounded enough by the Aleena themselves. They were tiny and in the way, shouting in their native tongue, completely unknown to the 104th.

That's what she could do! She could distract the Aleena. She found herself a clear area, close enough for their little legs to get to quickly and brushed herself down. Her arms came over her head. If she were human, she would've clapped. Humans always managed to make a lot of noise like that. Her fur muffled her claps, it was handy in most circumstances, but it was times like these that she was a little envious. Instead, she called out to them. "Aleena! Behold!" She raised two rocks with the Force and made them slam into each other. The little people came running over as if they were thankful to be free of the clones they'd been pestering. Maybe they were glad to have something more entertaining to do. Either way, Doryn now had a crowd to keep engaged and got to work with the landscape's rocks and dust.

Wolffe watched her in a state close to awe. It was an impressive show obviously, but he was mainly impressed because it was something she would've struggled with months ago. She'd confided in him one night about her struggles with her connection to the Force. It was something he'd never imagined possible for a Jedi to have trouble with. Yet she'd been there struggling through the numbness. He'd been there watching her get better whilst indulging in their attachment. He'd never do anything to take credit for her work, but she seemed to need their connection in a way he didn't. Not to say she needed him more than he needed her. The General was great but being with Ryn had really opened up his mind to things outside of dying in this war. Things he'd confided in her as she'd confided in him about the Force.

Many of Wolffe's brothers were also watching. It made sense, neither Jedi attached to their battalion had much of a habit for making grand spectacles of the Force. Comet stood with Spanner; the obedient stray Ryn had insisted on adopting after the incident on Iceberg Three. She'd rather ruthlessly sent Joker back to Kamino to be retrained, though he'd likely ended up dead or on a cleaning crew. It was something Wolffe disagreed with but he wasn't about to pick a fight in favour of the guy that his girl was saying had been xenophobic to her, though he didn't really see it. Again, he wasn't going to pick a fight over it when she likely sensed something he missed.

"What a woman." Comet was wistful in his sighed comment. Wolffe was behind him but could well imagine the gooey lovesick eyes being made at his girl. "What I wouldn't do..." Spanner sounded in just as dreamy a state. These were things Wolffe could live with. Comet, despite the crush he'd had, knew she was taken, and Spanner was much too fresh to push his luck like that. Or, at least, Wolffe thought he wouldn't. "Actually, what I should do!" He started scrambling for ideas to woo her. This was when the Commander stepped in. He walked up behind them, and shoulder checked Spanner. "Ibac'ner dala." He told the shiny in a low voice, giving him an overly rough back pat and walking toward the little show. Comet started laughing quietly and put on a slightly higher pitched sarcastic voice. "Oooh, sorry. Sorryyy." He kept snickering away to himself. The last thing he heard from them was the question on what he'd said. That was still one thing he'd always forget, the CTs weren't raised with Mando'a like the CCs.

Wolffe found a spot behind the group of Aleena watching Ryn as she floated one of them. She set the tiny person down and they all fell silent for a moment before the one who had been floating started excitedly shouting and clapping, causing the rest of them to break out into a similar form of celebration. The moment of silence was, in Wolffe's opinion, the best moment he'd had on this planet. Plus, he found it sort of entertaining, the way Ryn's eyes worriedly flicked over them in that moment. Though, during the Aleena's comedown, he noticed her watching him expectantly. She raised where her eyebrows would be at him with a little shake of her head and the hair over her ears shifted like she twitched them at him. He relented and joined in with the clapping, as casually as he could whilst giving her a one-sided smile. A couple of the little people looked back at him clapping and doubled their efforts in giving her an applause.

Not long after, the little king came over and started to talk at Ryn. Of languages she may speak, it seemed unlikely she spoke theirs. He knew most Jedi understood Shyriiwook, and some knew the Twi'lek and Hutt languages. If the Cathar had a language she may know it, despite not really knowing any other Cathar. The Aleena's language was something she'd never have a reason to know, yet she knelt beside him and concentrated on him. Maybe it was a Force ability of sorts. When he was done, she told him, "Tu-ve-lo." Then he responded with the same word and the group excitedly clapped again. Wolffe was thoroughly confused and wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Sir, we have established a charging station for the droids." Sinker's voice came through his helmet's comm. The charging station was the last thing needed of them. The droids were necessary for running the community kitchen and helping rebuild the buildings. Now, the wolfpack could finally leave. Wolffe opened the main comms for the battalion. "Everyone, get to your assigned gunships. We're going home."

"What was that thing you said to that little fella?" Comet asked as they made their way back over. The shiny had been palmed off on someone else, so it was just Comet, Ryn and Wolffe. "Marriage vows." She said, as if she'd just told them which side of the table something was. It was almost certainly a joke but nothing in her tone indicated that it was. Wolffe grumbled to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear. "Even Mando'a vows are longer than that."

"Maybe you can teach me them at some point." She put on a flirty smile and gave a little nudge to the plastoid shell over his torso or, as Wolffe had taught her, his cuirass. Comet laughed at her flirting with Wolffe. "You really got a thing for guys in charge, eh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, cause as a Jedi I lack influence and power." They'd finally arrived at the impromptu shipyard and were forced to temporarily part. "I'll see you back up there." She said, before doing the forbidden. She pulled him down with a handful of his blacks' neck and kissed him quickly. The Aleena could see. The yapping protocol droid could see. Anyone could see and yet she showed off her claim on him. It left Wolffe stiff and alert, like a shiny getting that same kiss. She patted his chest plate twice before walking away from the buffering Wolffe.

Kriff, that woman.