The Great War • Hunter

52.Yaihadla

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."