Saga - ST With This Ring| Spring OTP ad-hoc | Wren/Kaz

Title: With This Ring
Author: Raissa Baiard
Characters: Wren Ordo (OC). Kazuda Xiono
Timeframe: ST era
Genre: Romance, humor
Synopsis: Kaz’s plans for a special evening with Wren go awry.

Notes: In this AU, Kaz transferred his application to the New Republic Academy from Coruscant to Lothal at his friend, Jedi Ronen Syndulla-Jarrus’ suggestion, and has recently been promoted to Pilot First Class, while his girlfriend Wren Ordo, studies agricultural science at the Lothal Agricultural Institute (LothAg), in order to improve her clan’s bas neral grain (and consequently the ne’tra gal brewed from it).

Thanks as always to @Findswoman for beta reading and encouragement

——

Part 1

The tiny apartment above the Jogans ‘N’ More Fresh Produce shop in Capital City’s Chapel Street market was home to New Republic pilot first class Kazuda Xiono. It wasn’t much, especially when compared to his family’s lavish home on Hosnian Prime—just big enough for one person (maybe two, if they really liked each other and neither of them had much stuff). But Kaz was rather proud and fond of it, small as it was. It was the first place he’d ever had on his own. He could afford it on his pilot’s salary without any assistance from his parents, and that made him feel terribly grown up and independent.

Having even this small space to himself was a luxury after living in the New Republic Flight Academy dorms for two years, and the Flight Defense barracks for another two. And Kaz wasn’t quite alone. As soon as he’d signed the lease on the apartment, he purchased a housekeeping unit, HU-3, nicknamed Huey, and a miniature choya-cylinda plant he named Spike. The first was to keep his tiny new domicile in order, and the second was because he’d always wanted a pet (the closest he’d had as a child were the ornamental quoi-carp in their estate’s water garden). His good friend, beastwarden Noemi Syndulla-Jarrus, had helped Kaz pick out the spiny, globe-shaped succulent. He’d wanted to get something a little more charismatic like an anooba, but he had to admit that Spike was probably a better fit for his apartment, and the way he purred and wriggled when his spines were stroked the right way was awfully cute (the way he launched those spines as miniature projectiles when his pot was bumped unexpectedly was considerably less cute).

Though technically neither Spike nor Huey had gender, Kaz liked to think of them as “the guys”. Together the three of them made a nice little bachelor household, and it was all a guy could want…

Except when it wasn’t quite. Because while Huey was helpful and hardworking, he couldn’t laugh at Kaz’s jokes or offer him sympathy when he’d had a bad day. And even though Spike was cute and fuzzy, Kaz couldn’t curl up on the sofa with him and watch a holo at night. Sometimes he just needed the company of someone warm and caring, someone smart and fun.

Someone more…Wren.

Kaz had been dating Wren Ordo for almost five years, but for much of that time they’d had a long-distance relationship. They’d only even been on the same planet for an extended length of time for the last two years, when Wren came to Lothal to study microbiology and agricultural science at LothAg, the Lothal Agricultural University. Between his training with the Defense Fleet and her classes, though, they hadn’t gotten to see each other as much as Kaz would have liked. He wanted to have more of Wren in his life…like, on a permanent basis. Lately he’d been thinking that he should do something about that.

Tonight, he was finally going to have the chance.

When his sister, Hana’s husband had proposed to her, he’d taken her out on his family’s yacht at sunset and popped the question just at the moment when the light was refracting most dazzlingly off the crystal dunes—and off the enormous and extravagantly expensive fire diamond and krayt pearl ring he’d given her as a promise token. Afterwards, they toasted with a bottle of Toniray Reserve sparkling wine served in goblets made from the dunes’ crystal sand and Ryoshi had released a dozen bright-winged Togruta doves carrying calligraphic scrolls announcing their engagement.

Kaz would have loved to do something similarly romantic for Wren. She was the most incredible woman he’d ever met—the most incredible woman in the entire Galaxy!—and she imminently deserved to be treated in grand style. But if there was one thing he’d learned in their five years together, it was that Mandalorians in general, and Wren in particular, didn’t do grand style. Traditional romantic gifts like jewelry and flowers fell flat with her (Gourmet chocolates, though, were still a safe bet. Wren was actually quite fond of them). Fancy dinners at trendy restaurants were met with stares and an insistence that one should not still be able to see two-thirds of the plate if one was paying that much.

So instead of going all out, the way he would have liked to, Kaz planned to surprise Wren by cooking all her favorite foods for a romantic dinner at home. He was even making tiingilar from her mother’s own recipe— or as close to her mother’s recipe as he could make it. Cooking tiingilar was apparently more art than science. Sabine’s recipe had been inexact (“a gram of kessinamon, more or less”) and heavily annotated (“a good sauce should be deep orange, more of a plumpkin color than a meiloorun orange and never burnt orange. Add more durmic to improve color.”).

Kaz also had tikkit grain in the steamer to serve as a base for the stew, and flatbread in the warmer, along with a pan of uj’alayi that Kaz bought at a cute bakery on the other side of the market. (Because while he felt that he could handle chopping carrots and topatoes and throwing them in a pot with some spices, he didn’t trust himself not to turn the cake into an unrecognizable sheet of duracrete.) He’d splurged to have bottles of Clan Ordo’s own netra’gal shipped from the Mandalore System to go with the meal.

And nestled in a bag of white sueded nerf-leather in Kaz’s right trouser pocket was The Ring. Instead of being fashioned from aurodium, argentium or any of the traditional precious metals, it was made of beskar. Mandalorians were fiercely protective of their “blood steel”, but luckily Wren’s sister Bellona was a skilled metalworker. Otherwise it might have been difficult for Kaz to find an armorer who would cast a beskar ring for an aruetii like him. This way, he was satisfied that he had a piece of jewelry Wren would wear and, he hoped, treasure.

Kaz hummed along to The Dusty Jawas’ music playing on the entertainment center as he stirred the tiingilar. Spike, in his hand-painted clay pot on the caf table, while Huey twirled and spun as he puttered around Kaz’s feet, polishing the micro-kitchen’s flextile floor for the third time that day.

On a whim, Kaz pulled the bag out of his pocket and drew out the beskar band. He clasped it in his hand for a moment and then kissed it for luck. Not that he needed luck,of course. He’d made sure that every detail was just right, and it had been worth every bit of effort; Wren was worth all the effort and then some! All was right in Kaz’s little corner of the Galaxy; this was going to be the perfect night, and Wren was going to be…

“Whoa!”

Just as The Dusty Jawas segued into their synthi-clav solo on “Utinni!”, Huey executed a particularly jaunty little spin. He crashed into Kaz’s ankles, causing him to wobble unsteadily. Kaz stepped backwards, nearly tripped over the housekeeping droid, and barely managed to keep from falling down.

And just at that moment, the door chime sounded.

Kaz shoved the suede bag back into his pocket, leapt over the housekeeping droid, tripped again, and stumbled to the door. He hastily smoothed his jacket back into place and answered the door.

Wren was there, and she looked beautiful.

Of course. Kaz had never seen her not look beautiful. He had an older sister, so he knew just how much time women could put into making themselves look beautiful, but Wren—Wren just was beautiful. Her short, dark brown hair framed her face with perfectly uneven layers; long, dark lashes set off her gray eyes and her lips were deep shell-pink even without any paint or gloss applied. As usual, she wore the burnished golden-brown beskar'gam that fit her like a second skin, setting off her trim, athletic figure. And looking at her, Kaz’s heart swelled with love and happiness; sometimes it still amazed him that Wren was his.

“Hey, Kaz’ika!” Wren gave him a quick kiss in greeting and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, something smells good!”

“It’s tiingilar! I got the recipe from your mom!” He motioned her to have a seat at the tiny, circular table that was just large enough for the two of them. Kaz spooned the steamed tikit grain into bowls, ladled the stew over it, and set them on the table along with a plate of flatbread and two bottles of black ale (Not chilled. Only the most heathenish of aruetii drank their ne’tra gal cold; Kaz had learned that the hard way.)

“This is Clan Ordo’s ne’tra gal!” Wren exclaimed, picking up her bottle. “How did you manage to find this here on Lothal?”

“Oh, I have my ways…” Kaz smiled in what he hoped was a suitably mysterious manner as he slid into his seat. One thing he’d learned growing up among senators and businessmen in the Core was that you could make anything happen if you had the right connections and were willing to throw enough money at it. He didn’t really like to lean on his family’s connections, not after years of having his father throw it up at him that he’d used his influence to “help” Kaz, but he had to admit that sometimes knowing the right people made things easier. And for tonight—for Wren— he’d make an exception.

Kaz raised his bottle and clinked it against Wren’s. “Only the best for you, Senaar’ika.”

She clinked hers back and took a swallow before sampling a spoonful of Kaz’s tiingilar. Wren’s face lit up with pleasant surprise. “Mmm… not bad! It could use maybe just a little bit more boonta spice, but you did really well for a first try!” She reached across the table and squeezed his hand, grinning. “We’ll make a Mando out of you yet!”

Kaz squeezed her hand back, warmed by her praise—and by the spiciness of the tiingilar. Mandalorians prized hetikles—”nose burn”—and heturam—“mouth burn”— in their cooking, so the flaming sensation spreading from the back of his mouth up through his nasal passages was just proof that he’d made the tiingilar correctly. It was a good thing he’d always liked spicy food.

Dinner passed in pleasant conversation about their family and friends (and there was some overlap between the two. Wren’s cousins, Ronen and Noemi, were also Kaz’s good friends, and Ronen’s older brother, Jacen, was the leader of Convor Squadron). But a corner of Kaz’s mind was always on the small leather bag in his pocket, and waiting for the right moment to bring it out and ask Wren his Very Important Question.

That moment finally came when they had almost finished their meal, and the conversation had turned to Wren’s classes at LothAg, her upcoming graduation and plans following it. “So I guess I’m going to have to decide soon whether I’m going to find a place here or go back to Ordo…” she said, as she pushed the remaining bits of tikkit grain around her plate with her flatbread.

This seemed like an excellent bridge to the topic that Kaz had been wanting to bring up all night. “About that…Wren, there’s something I want to ask you…” He reached into his pocket and found the nerf-leather bag.

The flat, empty leather bag….

——-
Notes:

Fanon elements:

• The HU class housekeeping droid
• Choya-cylndia plant: based on the cholla or “teddy bear cactus”
• The Lothal Agricultural University (LothAg)— since Lothal is an agricultural world, it seemed likely they would have a good ag program!

The Mando’a term aruetii denotes an “outsider” or non-Mandalorian.

Kaz’s nickname for Wren, Senaar’ika, means Little Bird in Mando’a. Likewise, her nickname for him, Kaz’ika, is an affectionate diminutive.

The Dusty Jawas and their song “Utini!” can be heard at Oga’s Cantina in Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge.

 

Poor Kaz, now the bag is empty. What will happen next?

 

Oh @Raissa Baiard !!!! Where did it go? A perfect wonderful dinner with nice conversation to be capped off with a custom made ring that she'll definitely love for that and because it's not all gaudy ... Eagerly awaiting the next part.

 

Gah, I meant to review this forever ago! Kaz/Wren are very cute as always, and it was fun to read them at this point in their relationship.

lol, I've never watched Resistance, but I always enjoy the voice you give Kaz. He's so wholesome.

This was an excellent introduction to Spike, and a great mental image.

What did I tell you? Wholesome.

You descriptions in this entire paragraph were very evocative, so much so that I was literally cringing in vicarious horror because omg my worst nightmare. The romantic homemade dinner for two, on the other hand? Much more my speed.

Atta boy, Kaz. (And nicely done with all the little details sprinkled throughout! And now I'm hungry... )

Well clearly this is perfect.

Awww

(Yes, I legitimately snorted at this - Kaz's musings tend to have that effect )

Very Important indeed

Ha, the almost-fall! I knew it! Now, to come clean right away or covertly search for the ring with Wren none the wiser...

I look forward to seeing how it all plays out!

 

It's so exciting to see more KazWren and the romantic comedy of this one is a joy to read! I really like how you've captured Kaz's viewpoint on things -- reminds me of why I love him so much in the series too.

Aww, I really like these additions to Kaz's life. The choya-cylinda (hi from the Southwest ) sounds adorable, and that's one thing I'd never expected to see an endearing SW version of!

Okay so some things never change even in space.

Aww, I just love Kaz's sincerity here.

I really love these details, not just of Wren's preferences (which all sound just right for her) but that Kaz remembers so many of them.

That sounds delicious! And it really shows Kaz's caring nature that he's trying to get the recipe just so -- in terms of love languages he definitely excels in the acts of service department and it's very sweet.

That is just awesome, I really loved this detail and it sounds Kaz really managed to get the perfect ring...

Uh oh, the perils of having little critters (or droids) underfoot!

AWW! I've said the same thing basically, but I just adore how unapologetic Kaz is in his sappy internal monologues about Wren and their relationship.

Strong opinions about beverages are a universal constant too, I see.

No, not the ring! Poor Kaz, that's just the worst and most typical luck for him.

 

Knowing Kaz there will be many pratfalls involved (I love Kaz dearly, but coordination is not one of his strengths).

I think for any Mandalorian, but especially Wren, a beskar ring would be more appreciated than gold and gems, not just for the practical reasons (don’t want precious stones getting snagged on something in combat!) but because beskar is an integral part of their heritage as Mandos. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say the ring will turn up…eventually.

Thank you, and thanks as always for your encouragement in bringing this story to the page and being there to cheer on Wraz. Kaz being Kaz, his most carefully thought- out plans still have a way of going awry, though he does manage to do a creditable job with Sabine’s tiingilar recipe to warm his beloved’s heart (and palate!) As far as Spike—he’s more of a semi-mobile cacti than a leafy, gap-mouthed plant like Audrey II. He’s got more of the intellect and temperament of a puppy or even a rabbit. I think if he could, Spike would love to curl up with Kaz while he watches a holo And I think in this AU, having had the chance to go on the mission to Korriban with Ronen, he’s learned a little sooner than his Canon counterpart that he is capable of doing things without his father’s help (or “help” as the case may be), and he’s learned that there’s great satisfaction in his chosen profession—and that he has built a life of his own that he’s proud to share with Wren.

Aww, thanks so much! Your enthusiasm for the Wraz stories always makes my day I hope it hasn't been to long of a wait for the second half! It was fun for me to imagine what kind of space!bachelor pad Kaz might have on his pilot's salary. You're right that he could probably prevail on his family to fund a more lavish lifestyle, but as I mentioned earlier, I feel that having good friends like Ro and Noemi, and of course, Wren has helped him overcome his dad's "you need me for everything" attitude. (I thought I'd been too hard on Hamato in some of my stories, but after seeing him in Ahsoka, maybe not He's not always wrong, but he is never gracious even when he's right ) And a semi-sentient seemed like the perfect starter pet for a small apartment that probably doesn't allow animals.

Kaz may not feel like he's going "all out" because he's not having a fancy proposal like Hana's, but really he is. He's putting every bit of his love and care into making a special moment for Wren with all the things she loves and that's worth more than if he'd spent a small fortune on doves and expensive champagne.

You knew that Kaz couldn't escape without having at least one minor Kaz-tastrophe! Thanks again, and Part 2 is finished thanks to WIP month and coming right up!

Thank you so much! I've wanted to do a cross-cultural Big Fat Mando Wedding story for these two for some time, but first they needed to have a memorable proposal!
Kaz really is just a sweet, wholesome guy. He may be a klutz and bit of a goof at times, but he has a good heart. Jarek Yeager, his boss on Resistance, tells him he's a terrible spy but a good person--and that's why he succeeds.

I was thinking about all the Instagrammable proposals, prom-posals, gender reveal parties, etc, that you hear about that are more about showing off than whatever the actual event is. I am totally with you, though. Kaz's approach wins hands down.

There is a recipe for tiingilar in the Galaxy's Edge Cookbook. It's basically a curry, pretty simple to make and very tasty. (though I usually tone down the spice level, not being a Mando.)

Coming clean would be the smart thing to do...which means Kaz will...well, you'll see! Thanks again for the great comment

Thanks so much! I adore Kaz; he's such an underrated character. He's one of the few leading characters in SW who's just a regular guy, and an awkward, clumsy one at that.

Well, we've seen sentient plant-species in SW with Zelosians, Neti, etc., so why not plant-based pets? I remembered one of my friends describing the "teddy bear cactus" and it seemed like the perfect low maintenance pet for a sort-of-clumsy bachelor.

He really does, and I think that's part of what make him and Wren so well matched. She doesn't want gifts and stuff but the way Kaz attention to who she is and what she likes is huge for someone who's always felt second best to her older sister.

You know Mandos have to have Definite Opinions on something as important as beer.

It is, isn't it? He wouldn't be Kaz if everything went smoothly! Thanks for reading and commenting!

 

Part 2

Kaz felt his smile freeze into a half-panicked grimace. He fumbled in his trouser pocket where the bag was, then checked the other pocket, just in case, and, as surreptitiously as he could, he felt about in his jacket pockets. But all that he came up with was two deci-creds, a grocery list and a ball of pocket lint. The bag’s precious contents were nowhere to be found.

“Kaz?”

“Huh?” Kaz jumped, mortified to find that Wren had been watching the entire embarrassing performance.

“Are you okay?” She regarded him with a little half-frown of concern. “You look like the hetikles just caught up with you all at once or something.”

“No…I’m… fine! Just fine. Nothing to worry about. Heh heh!” Kaz gave a high-pitched chuckle and willed his desperate smile to stay in place even as he was inwardly screaming: the ring is missing! The ring is missing the ring is missing the ring is missing—WHERE IS THE RING?!?!

“Okay…” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wren didn’t look convinced that Kaz was indeed fine. She cocked an eyebrow at him as she scooped up the last few tikit grains from her plate. “So....what did you want to ask me?”

“Heh!” He gave another wholly unconvincing chuckle, and racked his brain frantically for something—anything—to say. Because he obviously couldn’t ask her his true, Very Important question. How lame would that be, just to blurt it out as they sat there staring at each other over the remnants of dinner? Hey, Wren—would you like to marry me? Oh, and by the way, I lost your betrothal token; is that going to be a problem?

Finally, Kaz managed, “I...um...would you...like some…more...food?”

“Umm.... sure?” It was probably a mark of how long they’d been together and how well she knew him that all of Kaz’s stammering only evoked a mildly nonplussed expression from Wren.

“Right! So…I’ll just…uh, get that for you!” He sprang up, whisked Wren’s dish away, and dashed into the kitchen— the last place he’d actually seen the ring. That fact had not occurred to him when he’d stammered out his offer, but it worked in his favor nevertheless. Kaz surreptitiously rearranged the spice bottles, shook out the kitchen towel, even scuffed his feet along the baseboards beneath the cabinets while dishing out the tiingilar, humming loudly along with the Dusty Jawas to convince Wren (and himself) that everything was just fine, really.

It wasn’t really working on either of them, though. The way Wren was watching suggested she was starting to suspect this was more than Kaz’s normal baseline awkwardness, and Kaz himself was feeling considerably less just fine, really as each successive effort failed to turn up the ring. He was smiling so hard now it almost hurt and his brain was getting sore from all the racking. So, the ring wasn’t on the counter or under the towel. It hadn’t fallen under the cabinets…maybe… Maybe it had rolled out of the kitchen? Under the table? Into the conversation circle? How was he going to find it without alerting Wren to his dilemma?

He had a sudden (and in his opinion, rather clever) inspiration: as he set Wren’s bowl of tiingilar in front of her, he “accidentally” dropped the spoon on the floor. He swooped down quickly to retrieve it, and in the process was able to check beneath the table without Wren realizing what he was doing.

There was nothing there, not even a crumb. Huey had done an incredibly thorough job of sweeping. AAAAAAHHHHH! screamed the little voice in his head, and “Aaah!” yelped Kaz as he straightened up too quickly and banged his head against the edge of the table, sending dishes and ne’tra gal bottles clattering.

“Kaz, are you sure you’re okay?” Wren asked as he offered her the spoon with a sheepish smile.

“Oh, yeah…yeah…I’m great!” Other than the rising bump on his head and the sinking feeling of dread in his stomach. “Why?”

“Because you’re acting like you’ve got vhe’viins in your pants.”

“What? Ha! No!” All right, so the ring wasn’t in the kitchen. It wasn’t under the table. That left the conversation circle. “I…I just remembered I need to feed Spike! You know how he gets. Don’t want the little guy shooting off his quills or anything!” In point of fact, the little choya-cylinda was pretty low-key (being a plant and all) and could go several days without being fed, but it made a convenient excuse to go to the conversation circle.

Kaz kept all of Spike’s supplies in the cabinet underneath the end table; his “food” was actually a bottle of liquid nutrients that Kaz added to the sandy soil in Spike’s pot every few days. Kaz poured the plant food slowly, drop by drop, as he scanned the area for any sign of the ring. Sadly, it wasn’t lying in the open or under the caf table or any place obvious like that. Perhaps it was lurking below the sofa?

He ducked down furtively, wishing he had a glow rod so that he didn’t have to grope blindly in the dark, narrow gap with his arm outstretched and his face nearly pressed to the floor. Kaz searched for several moments without finding so much as a dust bunny before he gave up in frustration. He leaned against the caf table to lever himself up.

And pushed against it a little too hard…

Spike’s pot slid down the precariously tipping table; the startled choya gave a high-pitched burble of alarm and puffed into defense mode, shooting a flurry of quills in all directions. Kaz jumped back back with a yelp, but not before getting half a dozen needle-fine spines impaled in his left hand.

Wren jumped up at the sound of his stifled cry. “Kaz! Are you okay?”

“Mmm-hmm!” Kaz clutched his hand and clamped his mouth shut against a whimper of pain. “I’m… just going to….go…take care of this, okay?”

He fled to the bedroom and into the attached ’fresher, where he could safely let out a pent-up “hhhhnnnyarrrghhhhh!” as he yanked out the choya quills. He dabbed the puncture marks with BactaGenic cream which stung like a son-of-a-bantha, but didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the thought that he’d made an absolute hash of the most important night of his life. Kaz splashed some cold water on his face and gave himself a stern look in the mirror. Get it together, Xiono! He could run around like a headless nuna looking for the ring later, but right now he had to get back to Wren and pretend that nothing was wrong. He plastered another smile on his face; it made him look like a sickly mooka, but it was the best he could do. Reluctantly, he returned to the dining area and sank into his chair across from Wren.

She eyed him critically for a moment, then thrust a bottle of ne’tra gal into his hand. “Here, you look like you need this.”

“Yeah…” That was an understatement. Kaz had considered getting a bottle of tihaar for a toast, but he’d heard that not only could you strip paint off a starship’s hull with the colorless fruit liquor, but it could knock the drinker (particularly if he was an uninitiated aruetii) flat on his shebs for a week. He’d decided against it because he wanted to remember tonight, but now… He felt like he could use something a lot stronger than ale; not remembering this mess seemed like an excellent thing. Kaz took a long swallow. At least there was no way things could get any worse now.

“Ow!”

Wren spat the bite of tiingilar and flatbread she’d been eating into her napkin and clutched a hand to her mouth. “I think I chipped a tooth! What is this?” She held up a metallic object flecked with plumpkin orange tiingilar sauce and crumbs of flatbread. She wiped off the slim steel circle and held it up with a puzzled frown. “It’s a ring,” she said, answering her own question, and turned it around in her fingers until she saw the bird that was embossed into the metal. “With my sigil on it. And there’s an inscription, too—‘Mhi solus’. We are one.” Wren looked up, her gray eyes wide. “Kaz, that’s….”

“The beginning of the Mando’a wedding vows, yeah.” This was really not the way he had planned to ask his Very Important Question, but at this point there was nothing to do but ask in the best way he could. Kaz slid out of his seat, took her hand and knelt hopefully in front of her. “Wren Ursulina Ordo...Senaar’ika… will you marry me?”

Wren was very still for a moment, wonder—and were those tears?—shining in her eyes, until all at once she threw her arms around him covering him with kisses. And, yes, those must have been tears, because her cheeks were damp when she pressed her lips to his ear and whispered the sweetest words he’d ever heard: “Elek, Kaz! Of course I will!”

----
Epilogue

Later on, once the ring was safely on the fourth finger of Wren’s left hand and they were snuggled on the sofa with uj cake and hot shig, Kaz told her the story of how the ring had wound up in her tiingilar.

“Oh, Kaz’ika, that’s terrible! I’m sorry things didn’t go the way you planned, but you know I wouldn’t trade tonight for anything!” Wren snuggled a little closer to Kaz and kissed his cheek. “And it'll make a great story to tell our kids someday!”

“Someday,” Kaz agreed. He wasn’t in a hurry, though. Not that he didn’t want to have a family (the thought of a mini-Wren or two was an interesting possibility), but this moment was so pleasant with Wren curled up next to him, the dreamy sound of Gaya’s Greatest Hits playing over the entertainment module, and a cup of sweet, hot shig in his hand that he just wanted to savor it—and all the moments to come. “But shouldn’t we plan our wedding first?

“Plan?” Wren tilted her head with a frown, as if the concept had never occurred to her. “What for? Weddings are easy.”

“Don’t you remember Hana and Ryoshi’s wedding? It took them like a year to plan it.” Kaz didn’t know exactly what had taken so long. He’d been at the Academy at the time, and his role as the bride’s younger brother was simply to stand where he was told and smile, but he had vague recollections of there being guest lists and menus involved, as well as finding an auspicious date, the perfect venue and, of course, The Perfect Wedding Robe.

“Oh…” A faint look of dread slowly dawned on Wren’s features, and Kaz couldn’t entirely blame her. Hana’s wedding had been a huge, all-consuming event for his family, and he’d only escaped the worst of the fuss by dint of being half a Galaxy away and deeply enmeshed in his basic training. He was unlikely to be so lucky now that he was the groom.

And he hadn’t thought about it before, but now that he did, Kaz couldn’t imagine Wren in Hana’s crimson and gold beaded wedding gown being fussed over by half a dozen giggling maids-of-honor in pome-pink dresses. Wren’s attendants—assuming she was going to have any—were far more likely to wear beskar’gam or Jedi robes. “So I guess that’s not how Mandalorians do it then?” he asked.

“No!” Her answer was instant and vehement. “It might take a couple weeks to get the celebration dinner together, if you want one, but as far as the wedding itself… Once a couple says their vows to each other, they’re married under Mandalorian law. We could be married right now, if we wanted.” Was it just Kaz’s imagination, or was there a hopeful note to Wren’s voice?

“Right now?” The idea was…not unattractive, actually. Besides the benefit of having Wren as his wife sooner rather than later, being married right here, right now would let them skip all the hoopla of venues and guest lists and fancy attire. “I’m not sure my family would go for that. Father would probably expect proper documentation, and Mother would be disappointed not to see our wedding. And, anyway, I’m not a Mandalorian, so we couldn’t really do it.”

“Well, you will be a Mandalorian. Once we’re married, you’ll be part of Clan Ordo.”

“Me?” He, Kazuda Xiono, a Mandalorian? If he was being honest, he couldn’t think of anyone less Mando-like than him. He didn’t have any armor, unless you counted his pilot’s helmet. And though he still had the blurrg holdout blaster Wren had found for him on Korriban and he’d had basic firearms training at the Academy, he was still less proficient with a blaster than the average Mandalorian child. “But…I wouldn’t be, like, a real Mandalorian, right?”

Wren gave him a puzzled glance. “Anyone who belongs to a clan is a real Mandalorian. It doesn’t make any difference if they were born in, marry in or were adopted. Family is more than blood. And there’s more to being a Mando than just wearing armor. You’ve got an honorable heart, Kaz. That’s why I love you.” She laid a hand on his chest over his heart and kissed him, her lips sweet and spicy with uj syrup, and then laughed. “And you can already make an excellent tiingilar—I was right earlier when I said we’d make a Mando of you yet!”
—-

Kaz found it hard to sleep that night; there was so much on his mind. It was incredible to think that he was going to get married, and even more inconceivable that he would be a Mandalorian once he did. Even though Wren said that there was more to being a Mando than weapons, he knew that our arms and our armor were important parts of the Mandalorians’ guiding principles.

And if he was going to be considered a Mandalorian, Kaz wanted to be the best one he could be.

He had a lot of work to do.

+++

Notes:
vhe'vins: small rodents native to the Mandalore system.

BactaGenic: a Fanon antiseptic created by @Findswoman for her story Our Big Fat Lasat Wedding

The Mandalorian wedding vows: Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde - "We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors."

Gaya: a Twi’lek chanteuse who appeared at the short-lived Galactic Starcruiser resort at Walt Disney World

Kaz’s blurrg blaster: first mentioned in The Journal of Ronen Syndulla-Jarrus, Jedi Action Hero (or Something)

 

and I could so picture Kaz trying to inconspicuously search for the ring and knocking everything over in the attempt. What a sweet wrap up and snuggle in the epilogue. I loved her assurances about what makes a real Mando.

Very happy you were able to finish this. Quite worth the wait.

 

Great to see Kaz wriggling in all sorts of ways to search for the ring and seeing it appear in Wren's tiingilar and flatbread. And a lovely epilogue discussing the wedding.
An enjoyable piece of writing.

 

Awwww, this was adorable!

I still haven't watched Resistance, so everything I know about Kaz is still filtered through the lens of two 7-year-old girls who watched it (namely, my daughter and her cousin) and what little I've read of your stories that feature him. So I can't speak to whether he's in-character here, but I do love the character you portrayed – young, in the end phase of earning his independence, a little bumbling and very much in love. I thought that the description of his little bachelor appartment with "the guys" was extremely cute (I have a few friends who had appartments like that when we were in our mid-20s) but he's already a full grown-up because he's ready to move on to married adult life. At the same time, I really enjoyed the contrast between his own upbringing on a very "civilised" world of the Core and his understanding of Wren's expectations from a wedding, and how he planned his proposal in a way that would suit her preferences.

If you ever come up with a recipe for tiingilar, please make sure to share it. The description of all the foods was mouth-watering to say the least!

I was already grinning with the little moment of slapstick in the first part, when the droid bumps into him and the door chime rings, and I kind of expected that something would go wrong with the ring – and oh dear, the slapstick went up to eleven in part 2, and it also came across as rather painful, between the bump on his head and the cactus quills in his hand! I half-expected Wren to swallow the ring when it turned up in her plate, but in the end all is well that ends well. Though I agree that, if Kaz is going to be a proper Mandalorian, he's got some work to do.

I also enjoyed the little details of world-building that gave this story a starwarsy feel, like the peppering of Mando'a words, the references to in-universe foodstuffs and most importantly the Dusty Jawas that made recurring appearances in the background. Having never been to Galaxy's Edge, I didn't know about them, but now I need to go and hunt down "Utinni" online.