Before It's Too Late

[Meeristali Peradun]

Oh, it was a human custom, alright, but one he'd picked up in his first ten years growing up away from Felacat, before his family moved back and he began absorbing the culture of his people. Not all of which had agreed with him, but was nonetheless as much a part of who he was as being a Jedi. Passing the bottle off to his tail, he grasped the large, furred hand with his own that was hardly much smaller, and gave it one pump, then another, and let it go.

"Neitherrr of us is human, so I don't think we need to do that again," he said with a soft, short rumble of laughter, "the thought counts, though."

It wasn't something he really did as a Jedi, either, come to think of it. He looked down at S'vora, checking the level in the bottle. Not yet. He could leave it be, for now. Stali scratched his free hand through clean-cut dark hair atop his head, and looked down at Armaud and Destin, then looked to Opi again.

"But my underrrstanding of Shyrrriiwook or any otherrr dialect is... nil," he admitted, then added: "Forrr now. So, good call."

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Opi gave a wary smile, which was to say that to anyone not familiar with a Wookie it looked like she was about to bite the Felacat's hand off. A gentle ruff sounded from her throat as she reached down to pluck Destin and then Armaud off her legs, cradling each twin in either arm. They giggled, babbled. Destin was already calling her by name. Armaud was quieter but certainly smitten, playing with one of her beaded braids.

With a nod, Opi sounded a desire to take the children to the Tap Tree, motioning with her head for Meeristali to follow. It would be an adventurous afternoon, to be certain.


~~~~


It was early evening when they returned to the home with a set of twins growing crabby from hunger and exhaustion. This was a daily routine now that Opi was around to keep them occupied. Run them ragged. They ate their food with less fuss and the pair of them were now sleeping soundly clear through the night. Destin was also less aggressive than usual and Armaud was slowly coming out of his shell.

Back in the kitchen with the boys in their highchairs, Opi gently rumbled to Stali as she prepared their evening meal.

With luck, Dick was present to translate, "She says she will tend to the children and that you should wake Master Eden, she has not eaten all day."

Opi offered to take Svora, knowing the infant would cry and fuss but perfectly willing anyways. Svora didn't care much for her, but the tiny Zelosian cared little for anyone other than Avalore. Truly it was a miracle he was taking to Stali.

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

He set the long-since emptied bottle on a nearby surface.

"Alright," he agreed, turning to Opi and gingerly handing off the emerald-eyed infant, silently glad - even the smallest of things could take on a weight beyond their measure, given enough time, "here you are."

S'vora's dozing state didn't last through the transfer, little eyelids slipping open a crack, the wee boy entering into nascent displeasure. Peradun grimaced, hesitating in a way not unlike Avalore had that very morning in handing the young Zelosian off to him. A wail started with a stuttering whine, a snivel, and rose over the din for several seconds at a time - wash, rinse, repeat - as Meeristali turned away and made for the stairs, keeping to himself the consideration that S'vora might have done this task for him. He turned around the end of the bannister and gripped it, taking the stairs one at a time.

Living in a house - having a house to call home - was still something he marvelled at. Though they'd been living in it for long enough that the novelty should have worn off, he'd spent more time away from it than in it, on average; occupational realities were what they were, and his youth had ceased to include the idea of such lodgings after his tenth year. His ways slowed, his mood became at-times pensive when he was here. There was a human saying, 'take the time to stop and smell the roses', and he supposed that it applied.

The top of the stairs gave way to the door of his bedroom, their bedroom, where he found his brown-haired love curled up; he moved to the bed, and sat himself on the edge of it, not without a slow creak of protest from the piece of furniture. Orange eyes studied her for a moment, her back to him, and his hand hovered near her mane when she began to stir. He hesitated, only for a fraction of a moment, then softly brushed strands from the side of her face with fingertips, and craned down to press his lips to her cheek.

No words. Not yet.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

The screeching Zelosian had certainly begun the process of pulling the Master Healer from a very deep sleep. She'd not fully awaken, not quite by the time Stali's feet cleared the last step. Not quite yet even when he sat on the bed, though she stirred at the sensation of the undeniable warmth - nay, heat - given off by his very figure. He'd always run hot, which was just as well as she was typically easily chilled.

There came a tiny, indistinct squeak from the woman at the feeling of lips and bristle on her cheek. She shrunk, like a pill-bug rolling up, and smiled into her arms, "..whiskers..." came the murmur from the crook of her elbow. Brown eyes blinked away the sleep, peering up at her partner with her own growing warmth.

"Hi."

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

"You like my whiskerrrs," he said with a light growl, prefacing another nuzzling peck at her cheek, the brushing hand having come to lay on her shoulder, though when she shifted and showed him her eyes, he pulled back for just a moment, and twisted, bringing his knees up on the bed.

"Hi, yourrrself."

His lips split open, just enough to show some tooth. She'd seen this smile before, seen the glint in his eye that came with it... and the dancing tail. The moment it took to recognise what was happening was a moment too long and too late. Hands were planted on either side of her, and those whiskers were buried in the crook of her neck, trailing a graze and nip of teeth.

"Are you hungrrry?"

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

A sleepy smile, a tickled flinch, Avalore shifted beneath him as he began to nibble at her neck. It had been so long since she'd waken up to his presence and longer, yet, since they'd enjoyed each other's company without interruption. Before, even during his time home, they were often not long for a reprieve from the twins and their own needs. So little time had been spent relaxing and even after the boys had been moved to their own room exhaustion claimed the majority of what little downtime there was to be had.

Now they had Opi and the boys were well tended and cared for.

Avalore reach to put her hands in his hair and turned her nose into the thick mane as he nibbled at her collarbone. He smelled like a jungle under the sun. Ossus came to mind.

"Not for food," she murmured into his curls, smiling to herself.

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

"Oh?" He murmured with relaxed humour, buzzing into her neck. He lifted his head, but only just so, to work his way out of the crevasse and to a shoulder, his nose utterly filled with every subtle nuance of her scent - it fed into his drive, touching on years of reinforced memory of every last inch of her flesh. It had been so long, that he wanted to take his time as much as his baser instincts did not want to at all. "Well..." he continued, pulling away from his trail-making a moment, to find her mouth with his own.

"...you will be when I'm done with you."

And with a force-endowed flick of his tail, the door clicked shut.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Clothing was shed, tossed hither-tither about the room. A haphazard sort of mess that, while irritating on a normal day, was a welcome event for such precious time alone. Scar-riddled hands traveled across the equally scar-adorned body of her mate. They were a pair, she and him, bearing their own histories of loss and pain upon flesh with no sense of care to what others think. Avalore had long since lost her self-conscious tendencies about the marring of her hands. They were as much a reminder to her of just what was at stake as well as to hold onto what was most dear.

"Meer...Meer-" brown eyes briefly sought out his orange, a hand at his chest to give him pause before things went too far. Avalore leaned up in a sudden moment of wariness, "I stopped taking the Neema Stim."

Patiently she waited for him to understand just what that meant..or could potentially mean. A small smile tried at her lips, a placating look offered, "It's okay," then a nod, "it's okay with me. And you...?"

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

One moment, another, and another. Then he stopped so suddenly it was as if he froze. Searched her eyes, his breath held; each little thought and consideration that connected to what that meant and what it could mean linked together, painting him a series of snapshots across his psyche, but it didn't take very long, for he'd already went down this road in his mind long before now, 'maybe somedays' becoming 'what ifs' and morphing into a want around the time they had welcomed the twins into their lives.

"Morrre than okay," he said, breathing out, his voice as soft and as solemn as it'd ever been, "I..."

His head dipped, brow knit, and a smile of containment bent his lips.

"...I've given it a lot of thought."

His eyes raised, and found hers again. He looked... happy.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

They'd never talked about it. Not really. The prospect of having children had always been a subject of valid sensitivity for Avalore. Stali knew why, knew what she'd already lost and already given up. Knew it pained her to think about the unwanted child of hers somewhere out in the stars ... or potentially lost to the fall of Corellia. He'd not brought it up and neither had she, not until the twins.

Even then, Avalore had made up her mind about the boys before raising the subject with Stali. It had been a discussion of purpose, not a question of mutual allowance.

I'm going to take them, Stali, she remembered saying, I'm going to raise them as my own. I want you to be there, too, but I won't make you. This is my decision and I'll do it on my own if I have to.

He'd never even hesitated.

A warm smile grew on her face, an expression sobered by his approval and understanding, "You have?" Avalore stroked her fingers through his hair absently in consideration of what that meant and then nodded again with a faint laugh, "okay." The want to ask was strong but she pushed it aside for the want of other things, leaning back in to kiss him again and continue what they started.

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

A short while later, well-worn and thoroughly satiated, he lay curled about her; one arm was about her from back to around the front, while he left a trail of soft bisous down the side of her neck. Grazing, as it were. He gave a faint nip to the helix of her ear; as much as he could go again in short order, he had eaten very little, and she hadn't at all... but it could wait a few moments longer.

"Cyar'ika..."

He brushed his nose against her ear, and kept it there.

"...I have to know, I have to ask..."

His eyes slipped shut, he breathed a soft breath. He let it linger for a moment, two, three.

"...will you marry me?" Little more than a beat later, on top of adamant protest from his stomach, he groaned: "And can we go down for dinner? I'm famished."

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore would have been content to fall back to sleep without a meal - her days of running herself ragged were plentiful enough that it wouldn't have been the first time and, very likely, nor would it be the last. But a certain someone was tickling at her ear with his stubble and questions.

Questions not ordinarily asked in such a manner. Well, at least one of them.

The Healer pushed herself to sit up, back facing him, and looked back at Stali over her shoulder, "Marriage?"

She supposed she should have seen that one coming, especially after her own bit of news offered earlier. She supposed this was the natural course for them, given their relationship. They had a wonderful home, they had purpose in the Galactic Alliance, they had children. They had each other ... sometimes. Avalore reached for her bathrobe hanging on the bedpost and slowly stood to slip it on, still not facing him.

So many times she'd thought about this, perhaps in an effort to prepare herself for this moment, perhaps to convince herself it was OK. And why wouldn't it be? She'd moved across the entire galaxy to remain with him, so why was the prospect of marriage so terribly frightening? Maybe because she still found herself thinking of the past and things from before Commenor. Often Avalore found herself dreaming of the Sanctuary on Cato Neimoidia, of everything abandoned there. Her Master, her students...

...Hal.

All the what ifs.

But you can't think about what ifs, Avalore.

"Stali."

You have to think about the present and the what is's and what are's.

What is important right now.
What are the things you can never let go of.

Eden.

Cinching the waist tie into a knot the Healer turned to look at her partner and smiled a small but funny sort of smile.

"As long as I can keep my last name ... and you get yourself re-stationed to something internal. I'm not going to marry a man that's never here. I will marry a Felacat but I refuse to marry a Hound."

 

[Meeristali Peradun]

He was seated off the other edge of the bed, pulling the ankles of sweatpants over his feet. The first of her requests was one he hardly batted an eye over, but the second request stole the response to the first right out of his mouth. He was still, silent for a full minute before he continued on, silent still - standing up and pulling the pants over his rear, his tail finding its way out of the hold placed just for it - as his thoughts pieced together to form an answer to the life-changing request that wasn't one of sputtering shock.

"I..." a hand, balled into a fist, covered his mouth to stifle a cough, " ...well."

He took another moment, turning around and considering how to put his thoughts into words.

"I'll need to talk to Jacen, and..." he raked a hand through his hair, leaving it to rest on the back of his neck a moment, his eyes rose to find her face, "...you know I can't leave them without finding and training a suitable replacement, and with the higher-ups wanting to move on Coruscant soon..."

He sighed, hand dropping, and gave her a firm smile.

"...it will take a while, but I'll talk to Jacen and see what my options are, for when all is said and done."

He hadn't thought the day he would leave active duty would come as soon as this, but as he thought on it more, he knew she was right, and not just for her sake. That moment was far from the first time that he had entertained the worry of his children growing up without a father.

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

For the briefest moment Avalore prepared herself for a battle.

And for the tiniest second she nearly wanted to fight about it. Wanted him to refuse. She wasn't sure why this sudden desire for conflict had suddenly bloomed within her, perhaps it was due to the severe lack of conflict within their relationship. Stali being who he was, always the pragmatic and thoughtful man, took her words in stride. She quite liked that about him, always had, but there was something so raw and healthy about really letting ones thoughts go.

Really saying what you felt, what you meant, in the heat of the moment.

You burn the nyork chowder.

Avalore was certain that Stali always said what he meant and meant what he said, there was never any doubt about that within her. Perhaps she'd grown accustomed to the tragedies of her former life that it seemed odd not to have them anymore. Unnatural.

She fussed with the waist tie of her bathrobe while he worked his thoughts out. Watched with a certain sense of fondness as his tail skillfully fitted itself through the hole in his sweats. It tick-tocked while he mulled, one of the few hints to the complex patterns of thought going on in his head.

"I'll need to talk to Jacen, and..."

A nod, Avalore looked at her scar-marked hands while they quietly played with the tie ends, glancing up every so often as he spoke.

"Then a while it will be," came her soft reply when he finished, "we've been here for a long while now, what's a while more?"

[member="Meeristali Peradun"]