Parental Duties
By Rey
Chapter notes and warnings: "Té" here is Tarre/Taré/Tar's personal and preferred nickname. They are neutral-gendered by language, species and preference. And three-quarters of their genes belong to an extremely long-lived species, which results in quirks and problems regarding age difference and perception, dealing with comparably very short-lived species, and other things including biological needs and quirks. So please be prepared for things you might not usually see in other authors' depictions of Tarre Vizsla from here onward. Also, they are mired in depression at present, including briefly contemplating suicide, so please mind your headspace and tread carefully. And, background-wise, the Jedi Order is their third of three culture, and I headcanon that they joined the Order when they were a headstrong equivalent-thirteen-year-old, so they will mix concepts that the Jedi Order use with others or not use those at all. Also, story-wise, their POV will continue in Chapter 22, though the chapters leading to that are no less important.
Author's notes: Folks, this chapter is brought to you by 3 afternoon downpours an a morning one. Seriously. It's been awfully hot and dry – or, worse, hot and humid – for more than half a year or so, and some time ago there came a heavy rain at about 04:30 PM that smelled nice and felt nicer and sounded even nicer to me. I perched myself on the bench swing on the porch, enjoying the sound and smell and feel of the rain, and thought of this fic, and what Tarre might be feeling an doing in this chapter. And then a few weeks ago came a warmer downpour while I was having the keyboard in hand while I was sitting on my rocking sofa, and one morning afterwards I was reclining on it with the keyboard while listening to the rain hammering down on the porch's roof and gratefully enjoying the weak but cool little breezes that wafted past the window beside me after 3 sweltering days, and this early evening I have been luxuriating in yet another cool, long downpour while perched on the rocking sofa and typing away at the rest of the chapter, and… well, here it is!
Nicknames used:
Ra: T'ra Saa (Tra-Saa Viz)
Ré: Fay (Tre-Fay Viz)
Té: Tarre Vizsla (Tar/Taré Viz)
Non-Mando'a terms used:
Amma: mother (carrier-birther-raiser), main parent/first adopter when applied to Mandalorian culture
Ýto: a term of address for elder sibling/cousin/friend, also a polite, friendly title for a possibly older but not elderly stranger
Mando'a terms used:
Kar'ad: child of the stars: (Rey-verse) precursor to "Mando'ad": an individual belonging to the people that formerly comprised only the taung but now are known as Mandalorians; plural: karad'a (now would be "Kar'ad'e")
Mando'tsad: (Rey-verse) Mandalorians as a people group, a culture and a sovereign state; Mando'ad'e is the more informal address, geared more towards the people than the state/government
traat'aliit: squad, military/hunting unit outside of clan/family (usually considered as a type of family after a while together)
verd: term to denote a grown-up Mandalorian
Chapter summary: Tarre misses their birth and adopted family that they left a universe behind. Badly. But there is another readily available here, right? As well as a bonding experience to forge them the necessary bond?
16. Tarre: The Family
Even with the additional supplies from bounties from the hunt's and forages, the careful sharing of all the available resources and the strict rationing, food is getting scarce. Trying to hunt or forage while the solar storm is not yet at an end, therefore the rainstorms down in atmo, would also be dangerous and most likely fruitless. All prey animals are no doubt hunkering down, desperate predators might be out for food and doubly dangerous for that, and there are also the mudslides and lightning strikes and falling trees to consider and weigh very carefully.
The three individuals in charge fret alone and among themselves, and try to keep it from their self-assigned charges. But the said charges listen, and realise, and know, regardless.
In fact, Padawan Kenobi and Knight Antilles have just offered to go into a deep meditation that will allow them to go without sustenance for at least a week, possibly more.
Té has offered the same, nearly at the same time. And they are forbidden from doing it, just like the other two. But, this time, not by those in charge but by their own siblings.
`Can you even promise us that you will not just slip away during the meditation?` Ré demands quietly, painfully when they demand why through the bond that all three siblings share with each other.
And, surprisingly, Té finds that they cannot do that.
In fact, the idea, once put into their mind, feels rather tempting. None of their family are alive wherever this dismal place is, after all. None but for the two with them here. No Ýto Fé, no Ýto Ál, no Alyé, no Amma. Just Ré and Ra, and both are just as lost, just as unmoored.
But, unlike the two of them, Té is – was? – is! – a womb-child to a living someone, and it matters to the milaða part of their genes, unlike to the taung part, or even in the ever-evolving modern "Mando'tsad." They are acutely, intimately, constantly aware that they came from someone's soul, someone's flesh, and mutually tied with the latter.
And, when they were hurtled through the Unseen to Tithon, that whole bond was just gone – not severed, not snapped, not ripped, not twisted, not withered, just gone.
The odd situation they were immediately plunged into once they had landed managed to distract them some. It was familiar if in a horrible way: herding "Force-sensitive" and "Force-adept" children of various species in an evacuation before the Sit forces could pounce on such plentiful bounty for their conscripts. But, now, while they have nothing to do but to survive and monitor the weathers and dangers outside, while they are all relatively safe and just waiting for the solar storm to end and the weather down here to stabilise….
`Rey looks up to you,` Ra points out, but her quiet desperation rings behind her words all the same.
Té hunkers into themself, wishes that they could just doff their armour and cuddle up to someone – someone older, wiser, familiar. But everyone here is either a stranger or their peer in maturity, and they have to act like one of the elders instead, and be responsible, be a good example, be a full-fledged verd or a Jedi knight….
`Why don't you play under the rain? You said the clouds overhead aren't moving yet for some time, so there's less chance of thunder,` Ré intrudes forcefully into their thoughts, even as she presses her body against theirs, with Ra doing the same from their other side at an angle. `We do need to clean up, so we might just join you. Won't it be fun? We could ask someone to spot for us. They needn't even look at us. They'll just have to watch out for predators or a chance of lightning, or some high wind that would fly loose branches.`
The image she conjures up with her words and literally is admittedly tantalising. Three quarters of Té's genes is an amphibious species who love cold weathers and climates, and the rainstorm outside is cold, judging by how Fennec Shand cursed at it while repairing one of the waterproof thick sheets that act as both the walls and ceiling of this shelter, and being clean is one of the most important things for either of their birth peoples, anyway.
But, `But when we need to dry ourselves later? People will still see.`
Ra sighs, and bites back some words. Of their two siblings, both adopted when they were of an age in which they had developed opinions of their own, she is indeed the most lax about covering up in armour, and never sees the sense of doing so. Then again, she used to wear nothing while she was with her original grove. She did not even have any gender to speak of, nor know how old she was. A neti, like other plantlife out there, never cares for genders or the passing of time; just growing, food, and enough company – however passing – to make things more interesting. She wore the armour Amma had sourced out for her only because she wished to honour Té, just like how she picked a female form and gender because she wished to keep Ré company.
She… brings up a good point, though, when she has mustered herself again and points out, `Our peoples are far away. But who is to say that we cannot make these ours? For better or for worse, we will be with them from now on until we can get home, anyway, and squadmates share home-faces with each other when it is safe. It is safe, now, so… why not?`
It is Té's turn to let out a sigh, now. `Are you trying to distract me?` they grumble.
`Does it work?` Ré parries with a smile that transfers so well both in the bond and through the tilt of her helmet.
`In any case, we are still together, Té. You can still take heart from it, can you not?` Ra insists earnestly. `Amma always says to keep finding the positive side of everything to keep your hope alive, right? Well, to me, this is the positive side, and we are not alone, too! Look, your little tagalong is trying to sneak out again.`
And, damn it, but Ra is right. Both about what Amma says – said – and the fact that little Rey is slinking along the edges of the shelter, apparently trying to reach one of the exit points again. Té supposes that the – somewhat morbid, according to Fennec – curiosity is understandable, as Rey confessed that all she knew before was a desert, ship-wreck-dump world by the name of Jakku, the first time she got caught trying to go outside and into the rainstorm.
`We will keep a lookout for her. you can enjoy yourself with no fear of her straying too far away,` Ré promises, her laughter and sense of relief-hope-anticipation tinkling down their bond. `More might come out, after that, but it is good, is it not? This experience can help forge us all into a traat'aliit!`
`A traat'aliit,` Té echoes, muses bittersweetly, and tentatively allows themself to long again. They never really managed to forge a bond with anyone outside of their "triad" siblings – their triplet siblings – despite the many skirmishes with the Sith forces lately, and despite the long decades they have spent with the Jedi. But now, with so many other children here, ones who seem to be open to at least making friends, past the chaos of their introductory period….
Suffice to say, it does not take long for Té to get out of their second skin and hop outside.
It helps that everyone else is either caught off guard with their seemingly sudden action, or catching Rey at her current attempt to dash out, or scrambling to find out whatever is going on with the two.
Well, as long as the chaos is kept inside the shelter, Té really does not mind it, and does not wish to even think about it. They just wish to luxuriate in the rain, at least for now. The large drops of cold water pelting their bare skin is glorious, likewise the scent of water and waterlocked mud and rocks and plants and plasticloth, likewise the feel of solid and cold and somewhat slippery bedrock under their bare feet, likewise the wet, raindrop-laden wind caressing them as they twirl and bounce, trusting the claws that extend from their toes as well as their power in the unseen to keep them from falling or slipping.
And then they hear a much-younger voice squealing in shock and displeasure and burgeoning determined curiosity from not so far away, and Ra and Ré laughing teasingly at the reaction, and it now becomes even more perfect.
Amma is not here, true, but Ra and Ré are here, and there is still a chance for them all to return home, and they can build another family in the meantime.