Private Bad News, Sisters and Dathomir

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

"Coordinate the younger sisters for a lesson tomorrow, I think I need to provide a lesson in combat and ichor swords. Important in fighting Force Users." Dreidi commented to Grisial who worked often as Dreidi's right hand in dealing with the training and students for the enclave. Dreidi sighed deeply, "I was thinking to do it today but my sister's arrival is going to prevent that from happening and probably for the best." Hearing of her sister's intentions to come visit Dreidi on Dathomir gave mixed feelings, mixed feelings were mostly due to the recent events surrounding their mother. She could only hope that Nitya had been informed. Dreidi would forever hate Jax if he did not ensure that all of their family knew about the circumstances of their mother and the efforts being made for her rescue.

Dreidi was excited to see Nitya as well though. It had been a bit since she last seen her sister and she was hopeful to see Nitya again soon and to do the teaching for Dathomiri Magick as well as sharing the history of their clan. Something that seemed to go back thousands of years on the planet. And provided some insight into how their father was. Dathomir spoke through him, even if he didn't realise it at the time. And Dreidi wanted to make sure that Nitya got to experience it all.

"Coordinate the students then come meet me at the docking bay. I am sure you will love to meet Nitya again." Dreidi smirked to Grisial who bounced off in an excited hurry. Dreidi was glad to have him around, he demonstrated the feelings that she was having, focusing more on the positives than the negatives. Dreidi headed to the docks where Nitya's ship would land, it was made to ensure that when the Jedi did visit years ago, they would get a chance to interact with and talk with the witches within the enclave and avoid any negative interactions outside of the enclave. As well as lowering the risks to disturbing the fauna around them as well. It was all too easy to find dangerous wildlife looking for a fight around here.

Arriving at the docking bay, Dreidi breathed in deeply, hoping to have a good time with her sister and perhaps do some coordinating on rescuing their mother as well.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

The ship did not linger in the sky any longer than necessary. Nitya guided it down with quiet precision, the descent controlled and unhurried as the terrain of Dathomir rose to meet her. Even before the landing struts touched the platform, she could feel the shift in the air around her, not physical or environmental, but something deeper, threaded through the Force itself. Dathomir was nothing like Oralis Prime. It did not flow so much as press, dense and layered, carrying an older and sharper presence that did not simply exist but watched, coiled beneath the surface of everything. It did not welcome. It tested. And she did not resist it. She allowed it to settle against her awareness, neither yielding nor pushing back, simply acknowledging it for what it was.

The ship came to rest with a soft hiss, systems winding down as she rose from the cockpit. Her movements remained steady as she crossed the interior and made her way toward the ramp, her awareness already extending outward, reaching for the presence she knew she would find. She could feel her closer now, familiar in a way that resonated through her with a quiet certainty.

When the ramp lowered, Nitya stepped out into the open air, her posture composed, her presence steady against the weight of the world around her. Dark, fitted clothing moved easily with her as she descended, practical as always, her gaze lifting immediately to the figure waiting at the docking bay.

Dreidi. There was no surprise in her expression, but there was something lighter now, something that softened the edges of her usual reserve.

"It suits you," she said as she approached, her voice carrying easily across the space between them.

Her gaze shifted briefly past Dreidi, taking in the structure around them, the arrangement of stone and wood, the deliberate shaping of the environment, the way the place bore the imprint of intention rather than chance. When her attention returned, it carried a quiet note of recognition.

"There is purpose in it," she added. "That feels like you."

She came to a stop a short distance away, though this time the distance felt natural rather than measured, as if she had not bothered to calculate it with the same precision she once would have.

"It is different from Oralis Prime," she continued, a faint thread of curiosity weaving through her tone. "Louder, in its own way."

Her gaze settled fully on Dreidi again, and for a brief moment, she allowed herself to simply look, not analyzing or assessing, but acknowledging the simple fact of her presence.

"You invited me to your world," Nitya said, quieter now, the words carrying a sincerity she rarely voiced. "It seemed right to come."

A small pause followed, and this time the shift in her expression was unmistakably warmer, subtle but present. "I would like to see what you have found here," she said. "And what you have made of it." Her eyes drifted briefly toward the surrounding lands before returning to Dreidi, the movement thoughtful rather than distant.

"And I would like to understand our father's side of things properly." The intent in her voice was clear, but it carried no distance, no guardedness, only a desire to understand something she had avoided for too long.

Then, after a moment, she let something softer surface, something that belonged less to the Jedi and more to the sister standing in front of her. "It has been too long."

For a brief moment, she hesitated, not out of uncertainty, but because the gesture did not come as naturally to her as words shaped by discipline. Then she closed the remaining distance, her movements still controlled but no longer measured in the same way.

Her arms came around Dreidi in a quiet, steady embrace, held just long enough to be real before she eased back again. "It is good to see you."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi's eyes lingered on Nitya, the witch was attempting to discern from just appearances if her sister knew what was going on with their mother. It was impossible to tell, she could not figure out how the Echani were able to read the body so well to form a language within it. She shook her head with a heavy sigh. There was no way to just casually bring it up and Dreidi didn't want Nitya out of the loop on the issue. However, she couldn't also launch into the topic without dampening the mood in an instant. Instead, Dreidi decided to just go with the flow and discuss the matter when there was an appropriate moment.

"The Force here is built upon a connection with the ancestors of Dathomir. Thousands of generations echoing through us, deafening for some but there is some harmony to it." Her voice was deeper, aged in a way that both natural and unnatural. Embracing the full Dathomiri ways had deepened Dreidi's connection to the Magick and it changed her physically as well as the aura she held in the Force. There was times that her voice spoke with the voices of many not just her own. But it had deepened when going through that change as well.

Nodding her head, "I am glad you are here. There has been a lot that I wished to discuss and I would love to show you around as well. I think it is important to explore the past, gives us understanding of the mindset of those in the present. Also, the history of our clan is an interesting one. We were not like the Nightsisters that hold an infamous reputation around the galaxy." Dreidi begun the conversation on their clan origins, she wanted to inform Nitya on the difference that clans could have. And how theirs differed from the most famous of witches.

"Some of our clan were strong warriors, fast, deadly with blades and with teleportation abilities. Difficult to counter." Dreidi explained, she followed the witches who were warriors like that, as did Yuroic and Aileni. All three were more of the warrior archetypes than anything else. "However, some were passionate on healing and teaching. This temple was where our clan taught others. It was home to several clans at one point, training and learning together as a community. Growing larger as a group."

"I have some records and logs in the archives that I suspect have some family connections from thousands of years ago. Before the Republic was even a concept." Dreidi mentioned as she smiled, "we can go there immediately so you can see them for yourself, learn the history on this location as well as what our family clan desired to become."

Pausing, she hugged Nitya back and knew that the matter could not wait. "Have you had a chance to talk with Jax recently. By recently, I mean very recently. There has been some big news." There was a serious look on Dreidi's face, showing that this was not a joking matter or one that she was really wanting to discuss but one that needed to be discussed.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya listened closely as Dreidi spoke, her attention fixed not only on the words themselves but on the subtle shifts within her sister that those words revealed. The deeper cadence of her voice, the layered presence beneath it, the way Dathomir had marked her without erasing who she had always been, different, yes, but not unrecognizable. Not to her.

When Dreidi spoke of their clan, of teachers and healers standing beside warriors, something in Nitya's expression eased, a quiet softening that rarely surfaced outside moments like this.

"I would like that very much," she said, her tone calm but carrying a warmth she reserved for very few. "To see the records. To understand what came before us."

Her gaze drifted briefly across the enclave, as though she could almost see the generations that had once filled the space, voices, rituals, knowledge passed hand to hand until time thinned it.

"I am no warrior," she continued, returning her attention fully to Dreidi. "If there are teachings on healing, on guidance, on how they preserved rather than destroyed, those are what I would like to learn."

There was no apology in the statement, only the steady certainty of someone who knew exactly where her strengths rested and had no desire to pretend otherwise.

But when Dreidi's demeanor shifted, when the seriousness settled into her posture and her voice, the warmth of reunion tightened into something sharper. Nitya's focus sharpened with it, immediate and unhesitating.

"No," she answered, the single word quiet but firm. "The last time I spoke with Jax was before he and our mother were married."

A small pause followed, the weight of years settling between them like dust disturbed by a long-closed door.

"It has been many years."

Her gaze held on Dreidi now, steady, searching, the kind of look that cut through surface explanations and reached for the truth beneath them.

"What happened?"

The question carried no fear and no panic, only the gravity of someone who understood that whatever came next mattered, and that she would face it with her sister, not apart from her.

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi sighed deeply, cursing under her breath Jax in all the ways that she could. How dare he ignore her sister for so long. How dare he not tell her personally what had happened to their mother. "Mother has been abducted by Carnifex and held prisoner." Dreidi stated plainly as she did not believe in mincing her words or beating around the bush on the issue. "I am working with my fellow witch sisters here on Dathomir on locating and rescuing her, I know that Jax is attempting to plead to the Jedi for assistance in his failings. I did also attempt to seek out the Mandalorians for help."

Walking through the hallways of her enclave, "I don't know if you will wish to join us but the mission will be dangerous and there is a lot that can go wrong. I would not judge you for wishing to stay out of it, but I will support your decision either way." As Nitya admitted herself, she was not a warrior and this was going to be a mission that would be very much life or death for those going. Nothing was guaranteed and Carnifex was undoubtedly going to have a strong defence for when they went to rescue Jairdain.

"I have also left the Jedi. This, amongst other things, was a final straw for me. Jax has endangered our family too many times and seems to suffer no consequences of his own for the pain he causes those around him." Dreidi spoke harshly, a callousness towards their stepfather. "My dedication is to rescuing our mother and to my home here on Dathomir now." Dreidi stated plainly. Looking over to Nitya, "you are always welcomed here as well sister, Nothing to fear while I am around."

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya did not react immediately. She let the words settle first, heavy and unyielding, absorbing them without shock or hesitation, only a deepening stillness as the truth found its place. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, almost reflective.

"Carnifex," she said, not questioning the name but acknowledging it, her gaze lowering for a moment as she considered the weight of it. When she looked up again, her eyes were clear, and something steady had settled beneath the surface. "She is alive. If she were not, you would not have said it in this way."

She continued walking beside Dreidi, her presence quiet but unmistakably there, the kind of steady companionship that did not need to be announced to be felt. When Dreidi spoke of leaving the Jedi, Nitya turned toward her with a familiarity that came from knowing her sister deeply.

"You left them long before this," she said gently. "Long before our mother married Jax. You chose your own path and made it yours."

There was no judgment in her tone, only recognition and a quiet respect. She let her gaze drift forward again before continuing.

"I still call myself Jedi, but I have not belonged to any Order for a long time. And you are right. This will be dangerous, and I do not take that lightly. But she is our mother."

The words carried more weight now, rooted in something shared between them, something that did not need to be spoken aloud to be understood.

"I am not a warrior," she said, glancing toward Dreidi with a small, honest softness, "but that does not mean I would stand apart from this, or leave you to face it alone."

Her steps matched Dreidi's naturally, as if they had always walked this way. "I will help," she said, and the certainty in her voice was quiet but complete.

Her expression softened further, the distance between them easing into something familiar and warm. "You are not wrong to be angry," she said gently. "I understand why you are."

She let a small pause settle between them, not to restrain Dreidi, but to steady her. "Just do not let it pull you too far from yourself. I would rather face this with you than try to find you again afterward."

The words lingered, not as a warning, but as care made plain.

"And you do not need to reassure me of my place here," she said, turning her gaze fully toward her sister. "I know you would not allow harm to come to me."

Her eyes held Dreidi's, steady and warm in a way she rarely offered.

"As I would not allow it to come to you."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Nodding her head, Dreidi spoke calmly as well, matching Nitya's current feelings and attitude. "I think we both would have felt something significant in the Force if she had passed. Just as we did when father passed." Dreidi mentioned. "I also believe that Carnifex desires our half-sibling that mother was still carrying while she was captured." Whether or not Jairdain had the child yet, Dreidi was not sure on but she knew that Carnifex was someone who continually avoided permanently dying with an attitude not dissimilar to other Sith Lords before him such as Palpatine.

Shaking her head, "I left the Silver Jedi. I was still a Jedi while in the Confederacy, Asaraa trained me as a Jedi. I was a Jedi within the Galactic Alliance. Not one that some of the Jedi there liked but I was adapting to their ways. Even within the High Republic. But now, I forsake their ways. I will restrict my abilities as I once did. I will not limit myself by holding back emotions that will only make my Magick stronger. I will not fear the Dark Side in the ways that the Jedi dictate a Force User should."

"Because a witch does not follow the ways of the Force that a Jedi or Sith does. We are separate and our abilities are separate." Dreidi stated, while some might see it as arrogance or Dreidi placing herself above the squabbles of the Jedi and Sith. She merely viewed it as a completely different path. A path that was not affected the same way that Jedi and Sith were. Corruption was not a thing hate, anger or pain did. It was an emotion that powered spells and bound one closer to Dathomir.

Dreidi understood Nitya not stepping away and figured that would be the case, she was pleased but felt that it only heightened the betrayal of Jax more by their stepfather not reaching out to Nitya. Not explaining things himself and not seeking out her help in the coming rescue. It was failure after failure.

The witch paused in her walk, this was the second person to caution Dreidi on her emotions. The second Jedi to do so. "Do not fear about my anger. It is controlled and it is focused correctly. I understand that as a Jedi this might seem strange or dangerous to you, but as a witch of Dathomir, anger is not something that leads to the Dark Side, it does not begin a path of corruption. I am not saying that this means no witch can do evil, more that there is more than a singular emotion that will cause that."

"My anger to Jax does not go beyond him. I do not feel it towards our siblings, to any other Jedi nor do I desire to that to happen. He caused this, he continues to fail us as a member of our family and I am drawing the line in the sand now that his behaviour stops. I will not have him continuing to drag us down." Dreidi stated firmly, there was a voice of conviction that carried tones of ancestors, the voice of Dathomir layering with Dreidi's now deeper voice.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya listened without interrupting, her attention steady on Dreidi as she spoke, not only to the words themselves but to the conviction behind them, the way her sister carried them with certainty rather than impulse, and the depth of belief that had shaped the path she now stood upon. There was no dismissal in her expression and no resistance to what Dreidi described, only a quiet understanding that this was a deliberate choice and one she would not abandon lightly.

When Dreidi finished, Nitya allowed the silence to linger for a moment rather than filling it too quickly, giving the weight of everything said the space it deserved before she responded, her gaze remaining on her sister in a way that was present and grounded rather than distant.

"I understand what you are saying," she began, her tone calm but steady, carrying warmth without losing its center, "and while your path is not mine, I do not mistake that for it being reckless or uncontrolled, because I know you well enough to understand that you do not act without purpose, even when that purpose leads you somewhere I would not choose to go. I am willing to learn some things, though."

Her expression softened slightly as she spoke, the difference between them acknowledged without becoming separation, and for a moment, it was simply two sisters standing on different ground without needing to pull the other across it.

At the mention of Jax, however, something in her posture shifted, not sharply, but with quiet intention, the kind of firmness that did not need to raise its voice to be felt.

"He does not know where I am or how to reach me," she said, her voice even, not defensive, but certain in a way that did not leave room for misplacement of blame, "because I chose that, and I made it difficult for anyone to find me when I stepped away, so if there is fault in that silence, it belongs to me, not to him."

She did not defend Jax beyond that, nor did she attempt to soften Dreidi's feelings, allowing both truths to exist without forcing them into agreement.

Her tone eased again as she continued, though the steadiness never left her.

"You are right to feel what you do, and I believe you when you say your anger is controlled and directed where you intend it to be," she said, her voice quieter now, more personal, "but control does not mean it cannot narrow your focus, and I will not pretend otherwise simply because you are certain of it, because I would rather stand beside you in truth than agree with you in a way that leaves you exposed."

The words carried weight, but not harshness, shaped by care rather than correction alone.

"I am not asking you to abandon it," she added, the firmness softening just enough to keep the balance between them intact, "only to remain aware of where it leads you and what it may cause you to overlook, because you are not facing this alone, whether you choose to acknowledge that or not."

Her gaze held Dreidi's, steady and warm in a way she did not offer easily, the bond between them present in everything she did not need to say.

"I trust you," she continued, her voice settling into something quieter but more certain, "and I am here with you, not behind you and not trying to change you, but beside you for whatever comes next, because that is not something you have to carry on your own."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi shook her head, she held a very strong view on Jax and that was not something that would be shifted by Nitya attempting to take the blame for this. "No, it is not your fault. I found you, I contacted you and I was able to tell you. Effort was made and you were informed. He made no effort. He did not even tell me, I felt something go wrong in the Force and I confronted him on the matter. Our mother and siblings are not in our lives, it feels like we have been replaced or casted aside by this new idyllic family they have now." Dreidi muttered with a dark growl to her voice. "Where they can just keep reducing what they consider is the minimum effort necessary to be involved in our lives while galivanting off."

"My focus is on our mother's safety. My priority has been her rescue. I have discussed what resources can be obtained in her rescue with my fellow sisters on Dathomir as well as an audience with the leader of the Mandalorian Empire. If I believed that the Jedi and High Republic could be reasoned with, then I would have sought them out as well, but I do not hold such faiths in them. And Jax stated he would see their support. So, I allowed him to do so." Dreidi was frustrated that people believed her emotions were blinders, that they prevented her from doing what was needed and seeing what could be done. That she was susceptible to faltering from her path when there had been no sway in what Dreidi was planning on doing and what needed to be done.

It was patronizing from an Order who failed to keep Jairdain safe to be told how to react and why it was important to keep things in check.

"I have never thought I was facing this alone, I am not a fool. Do not treat me like a child Nitya, I am taking steps necessary and I have thought out many possibilities. I have discussed necessary sacrifices that might be needed to suggested in order to keep our family safe, long term from Carnifex. I am not fixated on unnecessary things, nor do I reject opportunities out of spite or hatred. If I was doing that then I would never allow Jax to even be near the idea of rescuing mother." Dreidi pointed out, she was firm in her words, refusing to be lectured on how she should be acting or handling things. Given the circumstances and how events unfolded, Jax was very lucky to remain breathing and able to recover in order to be part of the rescue team.

Instead of being swallowed by the ground he stood on and lost to all, which had been a thought that crossed Dreidi's mind during her confrontation with him.

"I appreciate you being at my side, but that comes with not questioning my decisions and the ways that I handle things. I am not Jedi, and I will not act like one. Jedi ways were what got this situation to occur, I believe firmly, that how I am and the Dathomiri mindset will be very much needed and potentially the option that ensures our mother's safety." Dreidi stated, "but that doesn't mean that you and your Jedi thinking will not also have a role in that. It is just not what I can do anymore."

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya listened without interrupting, though the sharpness in Dreidi's voice drew the smallest involuntary reaction from her—a faint tightening at her shoulders, a subtle flinch at the edge of her expression before she smoothed it back beneath composure. It wasn't fear, nor offense, only the instinctive response of someone unaccustomed to having anger turned so directly toward her, especially from the sister she had come here to stand beside. Still, she didn't rise to it. She let Dreidi speak all the way through, her attention steady even as frustration and conviction threaded through every word. The halls of the enclave remained quiet around them, the distant sounds of movement and life continuing beyond the tension that had settled between the two of them, as if the world refused to contract simply because their conversation had.

When Nitya finally answered, her voice remained calm, though softer now, more careful in the way it moved through the space between them. "I know you are not a fool," she said gently. "And I am not questioning whether you are thinking this through." Her gaze stayed on Dreidi, steady and grounded despite the heat she had just weathered, and when she continued, it was with the same quiet clarity. "I also know you are angry for reasons that are real. You feel abandoned. Replaced. Pushed aside while being expected to accept whatever fragments of attention remain afterward, and I understand why that hurts you." There was no attempt to soften the truth or reshape it into something easier; she named it plainly, without judgment.

"But I blocked Jax from finding me," she said after a moment, the admission spoken with a kind of quiet finality. "Deliberately. I removed myself from that part of the family long ago and made no effort to reopen the door afterward." Her expression softened then, something sadder settling beneath the calm, not regret exactly, but the recognition of a choice made and lived with. "So blame him all you want for the things he has done," she added, "but not for failing to reach someone who chose not to be reached."

A small silence followed before she stepped a little closer. Not confrontationally, but because the distance suddenly felt wrong between them. "You are family," she said more quietly, the warmth in her voice strengthening despite the tension still lingering between them. "He is not. That matters to me far more than whether I agree with every choice you make." Her gaze held Dreidi's steadily, not challenging, simply certain. "And I am not asking you to become Jedi again. I know that path is behind you, just as I know your beliefs are sincere and your intentions toward our mother are genuine."

The firmness in her tone returned then, though without sharpness, more like a steadying hand than a boundary. "But our ways do not have to destroy one another in order to work together." The words settled between them with quiet weight. "You see things I do not," Nitya continued. "You are willing to act where I hesitate, willing to reach into places I would instinctively avoid, and there may come a moment where that is exactly what saves her." She let that truth sit for a breath before adding, softer still, "And there may be moments where restraint, patience, or trust will matter just as much."

For the first time since the conversation had sharpened, her expression eased into something openly sisterly. Tired, perhaps, but sincere in a way that carried no defensiveness. "I did not come here to lecture you, Dreidi," she said, her voice gentler now. "I came because you asked me to stand beside you, and I am."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi noticed the very subtle flinch, it was something that surprised Dreidi since she didn't think she was being particularly aggressive or angry towards Nitya. In fact she assumed she was being very considerate given that she was the one feeling attacked. However, Dreidi had to reassess her approach and sigh deeply. "I did not mean to scare you, or make you feel like I was angry at you. It is... I was feeling attacked. I have felt attacked for a while now in the choices that I make that are important to me. So, I feel like I have to be more outspoken, aggressive in defending the choices that I make. That my way is the best way for me."

"But I shouldn't have brought that baggage into our conversation." Dreidi mentioned as she tried to offer a sympathetic smile to her sister.

Shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know. I think I hold expectations for people around me that are standards I would aspire to be and to keep. Then get bitter when they don't match the standards I place on myself." Looking to Nitya, "no attempts from you blocking me would prevent me from searching and finding you to tell you what is happening. And I would make sure everyone in the family knows that I am looking for you as well, in case they had a line of contact." Dreidi saw that as the bare minimum really.

Dreidi was surprised that Nitya did not consider Jax family, but it made sense given what Nitya was saying about keeping her distance from Jax. Dreidi shrugged her shoulders, "I am never going to condemn you for following the path you follow. That is where you wish to be and that is where you should be then. I will also accept the insight you have on situations as well, I trust what you have to say and how you wish to approach things."

The witch continued to guide Nitya to the archives, Dreidi smiled softly, "I didn't wish to lecture or debate things endlessly, I shared what I needed to share in terms of what happened recently with mother and what the plan moving forward is. I am happy to shift past this and move forward onto the archives and what we hold here." Dreidi opened the doors to the archive where there was ancient texts and relics of the past in glass. Carefully preserved.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya's expression softened almost immediately at Dreidi's sigh and the shift in her tone, the tension that had lingered quietly between them easing in slow, noticeable increments as her sister explained herself. She listened without interruption, but this time there was less careful distance in her attention and more simple understanding, the kind that settled naturally between people who had known each other far longer than their recent estrangement suggested. When Dreidi finished, Nitya let out a quiet breath, her voice carrying a gentler warmth as she said, "You did not scare me. You startled me a little, perhaps, but that is different."

A faint trace of humor touched her expression then. Subtle, genuine, and enough to soften the moment further. "I think I forget sometimes that most people do not spend their days speaking as carefully as I do." The admission loosened the last of her stiffness, and for the first time since the conversation had sharpened, she allowed her composure to relax in a way that felt visible rather than merely implied.

"And I am sorry as well," she continued, her tone thoughtful rather than defensive. "I was not trying to question your judgment or make you feel as though I believed you incapable of handling this. I know you have thought about it carefully." Her gaze lingered on Dreidi with quiet affection, something older and more familiar settling back into place between them with the ease of a long‑worn pattern rediscovered. "It is difficult to stop being an older sister once you become one," she added with the smallest shrug, "even when the younger sister in question is fully capable of threatening Sith Lords and reorganizing rescue operations without assistance."

The warmth in her voice was dry, understated, but unmistakably affectionate. And when Dreidi insisted she would have found her regardless, something in Nitya's expression softened further, touched more deeply than she expected. "I know," she said quietly, the words carrying a sincerity that needed no embellishment. A brief pause followed before she added, simpler and softer, "Mother always knew how to find me, too." There was no bitterness in it, only the acknowledgment of a bond that had endured distance and silence without ever fully breaking.

As they continued into the archives, Nitya let the earlier conversation settle behind them rather than pulling it back open. Her attention gradually shifted toward the preserved relics and ancient texts surrounding them, the careful preservation of history visible on every shelf and in every sealed display. The change in her expression was immediate and unmistakable. Curiosity, wonder held in restraint but present all the same, lighting her features with a quiet reverence. "This is extraordinary," she said softly as her eyes moved across the room, her earlier tension giving way to genuine fascination. "You preserved all of this?"

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi understood everything that her sister was saying and didn't linger on the thoughts any further. They were in a far more interesting part of the enclave and what had been said and discussed was done. It was much better in Dreidi's mind to focus on discussing what was in the archives. Especially since she saw how much interest her sister had in the preserved relics and cultural artefacts to the past that were carefully stored and maintained here. It was sections of thousands of years of history that were stored in the Archives. Things that were long forgotten and barely understood really. Mentions of empires long gone and records of clans that Dreidi did not know still existed or not.

"It wasn't all me, I have had other witches come, bring me items and request I store them safely. Some are locked away since they are either too precious or too delicate to be out in the open. But there is some information on them in datapads and holograms of the items, as long as the witches consent to that." Some were just stored with no information besides the name of the witch who the item belonged to. Just so Dreidi could return it safely when requested. "I have studied most of the items in great detail. I ran behind on some of the newer items since working with the Mandalorians, organising mother's rescue and dealing with Aileni has kept be away from home for extended periods. However, there is a great deal to learn here."

The witch walked to one section, pausing and flicking through the data logs. Scrolling until she found the item and let out a sound of glee as she located it. Stepping to one side, "here. It's a log from our great-great...great grandmother? I can never remember how many generations ago. But here she is talking on healing through Magick and activating something she called Blind Sense, since her eyes were failing at the time." Dreidi mentioned, thinking that the discussion on uses of Magick for certain abilities would be fascinating for Nitya.

If Nitya would read the log, it say the following:

This Gulag plague has swept through our clan after many, many years of attempting to delay its impact. The healing through normal methods have proven ineffective, even using my Magick to purge the virus out of its victims does not seem to have any effect. I am stumped on how this virus operates and fear that many in our clan will suffer due to my lack of understanding. All I can do is past on this knowledge on diminishing the effects of the side effects as well as sending the young ones off to the nearest temple in hiding. I doubt that I will see my daughter after today, I have already begun to feel the first side effects of the virus, it was only a matter of time as I spent most of my days in the healing tents with the sick.

It doesn't matter much to me, my daughter has been leading the clan for years now, my aging eyes could only be bolstered by the Blind Sense for a number of years. I also feel the age in my bones and muscles, which diminished how effective I could respond to the Blind Sense as well. Death comes for us all and I know that this virus does not plague us too long so that our bodies may be stored in the traditions of old. I have sensed rising dangers around us and while this plague still feels deadly now, one day it might not be and I fear for what my descendants will have to face.

If any from clan Xeraic read this in the future, know that healing only takes life force from where the ichor of Dathomir flows, the most obvious source is one's own connection to Dathomir. But that will not allow you to live for long, it is not sustainable. Understand how Dathomir flows through everything, feel the connection around you and let that life force guide the Magicks of healing.

"There are also a couple that discuss some spells and incantations used for bolstering one's abilities, teleportation, fire weaving and even necromancy. Though I am not a fan of the latter there." Dreidi mentioned as she allowed Nitya to read the log.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya read the log slowly, her attention fixed not only on the words themselves but on the person beneath them, the exhaustion threaded through the writing, the resignation, the determination to preserve knowledge even while facing the certainty of death. Around them, the archives remained quiet except for the soft hum of preserved holos and the faint rustle of ancient pages shifting beneath controlled air currents, but for several moments, Nitya barely seemed aware of the room at all.

Instead, she found herself imagining the woman who had written it.

An aging witch sitting within plague tents while her own body slowly failed beside those she was trying to save. A mother sending her daughter away, knowing they would likely never see one another again. A healer desperately searching for understanding, even while death closed steadily around her.

There was something painfully familiar in that kind of persistence.

Her fingers rested lightly against the edge of the datapad as she reread the final lines discussing healing and the flow of life through Dathomir itself. Thoughtfulness settled visibly across her features now, quieter and deeper than simple academic fascination.

"She sounds tired," Nitya said softly after a long silence. "Not afraid. Just… tired."

Her gaze lingered on the mention of Blind Sense a little longer before finally lifting toward Dreidi again.

"I understand why this place matters so much to you," she admitted quietly. "This is not just history. It is memory preserved by people who expected to be forgotten."

The thought seemed to linger with her for another moment before Dreidi's mention of necromancy drew her attention elsewhere.

Nitya's expression shifted slightly, not disturbed exactly, but more contemplative than before.

"Mother never seemed to have many qualms about using necromancy when it suited what she believed needed to be done," she said quietly, the words carrying neither accusation nor approval. Only recognition. "I remember realizing that when I was younger and being surprised that she spoke of some things so calmly while the Jedi around her acted as though merely acknowledging those abilities carried danger."

Her eyes drifted briefly toward the sealed sections of the archive where more forbidden or delicate artifacts rested hidden from immediate view, and for the first time since arriving, there was the faintest hint of uncertainty beneath her calm composure.

Part of her wondered whether she should learn those things as well.

Not because she hungered for power. That was not in her nature. But because ignorance had begun to feel less like purity and more like vulnerability, especially now, with Carnifex looming somewhere beyond the edges of all their lives.

Slowly, her attention returned to Dreidi.

"Where would you suggest I begin?" she asked, and there was something unusually open in the question, something that carried trust rather than mere curiosity. "Not simply what you think I would be comfortable learning, but what you believe I should understand."

She stepped a little closer to the surrounding shelves, her gaze moving across preserved relics, ancient records, and carefully maintained fragments of lives stretching back thousands of years through their bloodline.

"I want to learn anything you and your sisters are willing to share with me," she continued more quietly. "Not only because of what is happening now with mother, but because I think I have spent too much of my life standing adjacent to this part of myself instead of truly understanding it."

A faint smile touched her expression then, softer and warmer again as she glanced back toward Dreidi.

"And if I am being honest," she added gently, "I trust you to know where the dangerous edges are far more than I trust myself to recognize them yet."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

Dreidi gave her sister the room to work, letting Nitya read in peace as the witch poured over some other texts and gathered a few differing tales from specifically Clan Xeraic. It was what her sister had mentioned as being of great interest for her and Dreidi knew that she was going to wish to read more after she finished the passage. Dreidi nodded her head, "heads of clans on Dathomir could live for many, many years. Far beyond what seems natural for the species. I have no doubts that she was very old by the time of writing that and then also dealing with a virus that held no cure. Something that not even our Magick could surpass. Places a lot on one shoulders."

She cycled through a couple of logs and found the next one she thought suitable. "Here, the origins of this temple and some logs that suggest that Dathomir expanded far beyond its borders but also, potential did not originate here." Dreidi found these when renovating the temple for her enclave, she thought they were deeply fascinating and held ties to her family as well. "I suspect that there is some connection to our own clan within these logs, but the logs come from such an ancient time that tracing them seems to be nearly impossible. Basically would end up that we are connected to every clan and witch on Dathomir."

"Perhaps, but creating undead to serve my aims... It is not a line I wish to cross unless I must. I think of father, how it would feel if someone used his body to go fight an army." Dreidi mused as she sat down and thought about how strange it must be to turn the dead into a horde to fight battles for you. She looked back to Nitya, "I do not judge others who feel comfortable using such power, but it is not something that I could do. Not yet." There might come a time where she felt less attachment to the dead, where she had lived centuries and seen generations of people she known pass.

For now, there was too much ache in her heart.

Hearing that Nitya wished to know more, "tell me what you believe to know about Dathomir, Magick and the way in which our witches live their lives. Let us see what you know and what is fiction, and go from there." Separating the truth from the lies was something that Dreidi thought was most important for Nitya to know. To understand where things were and how things were properly done. Grisial shifted from his spot, closer to them, observing the two sisters silently as the crystal fur glistened in the light.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya listened while Dreidi spoke, her attention shifting naturally between the older records laid out before them and the newer datapads her sister gathered from nearby shelves. The archives felt alive in a way she had not expected, not merely a collection of preserved relics, but the accumulated memory of generations, carefully layered atop one another until the room itself seemed to hum quietly with the weight of lives long gone.

When Dreidi spoke of clan leaders living far beyond what should have been natural, Nitya's gaze drifted once more toward the plague log resting in her hands.

"I think that may have been part of what unsettled me while reading it," she admitted softly. "Not simply that she was dying, but that someone who had likely survived centuries of hardship still sounded… human by the end of it."

Her fingers brushed lightly against the edge of the datapad before she carefully set it aside.

"She was exhausted. Still trying to preserve knowledge for people she knew she would never meet." A faint pause followed, quieter now. "I do not know if that is strength or simply love carried long enough that it becomes impossible to separate the two."

As Dreidi shifted into other records discussing the temple's origins and the possible expansion of Dathomiri influence beyond the world itself, Nitya leaned forward slightly with visible interest. Curiosity came easily to her when she allowed herself to fully indulge it, and around Dreidi, she no longer seemed concerned with hiding how deeply fascinated she actually was.

"The Jedi archives always treated Dathomir as isolated," she said thoughtfully while scanning portions of the older logs. "Dangerous. Mysterious. Self-contained." A faint trace of dry amusement touched her expression then. "Which usually means the Jedi either misunderstood something or feared what would happen if they did not control it."

The comment carried no bitterness, only observation.

When Dreidi spoke again about necromancy and their father, the warmth in Nitya's expression softened into something more melancholy. She understood immediately what her sister meant, not through doctrine or philosophy, but through the ache beneath the words themselves.

"I do not think I could bear seeing father used that way either," she admitted quietly. "Or mother. Or any of you." Her eyes lifted toward Dreidi again, then, gentler now. "There are some things I think power cannot make feel impersonal, no matter how often someone uses it."

The silence that followed settled comfortably between them while Grisial remained nearby, quiet and observant beneath the archive lights. When Dreidi finally asked what she believed she knew about Dathomir and its witches, Nitya let out a small breath that almost resembled embarrassment.

"Honestly?" she asked, glancing briefly toward her sister before continuing. "Not very much that I would trust completely."

She folded her hands loosely together as she thought through the answer more carefully.

"The Force here feels different to me. Not entirely dark the way outsiders often describe it, but not neutral either." Her brow furrowed slightly in thought. "It leans darker for reasons I do not fully understand yet, though I suspect much of that comes from emotion being embraced rather than restrained."

Her gaze shifted briefly toward the surrounding archives again.

"I know clans and family are deeply important. Lineage. Legacy. Obligation to one another." A faint warmth touched her voice then. "That part, at least, feels familiar." Another pause followed before she gave a small, self-aware shake of her head.

"But beyond that?" she admitted openly. "Most of what I know comes from fragmented Jedi teachings, old stories, and assumptions made by people who were never truly part of this world to begin with."

Her attention returned fully to Dreidi then, steady and sincere. "So I do not really have strong opinions yet," she said. "Only curiosity." The honesty in it carried no hesitation now.

"I am willing to learn as much as you and your sisters are willing to share with me," she continued more quietly. "Not simply the safer or more acceptable parts, but the truths beneath them as well. I would rather understand something honestly than remain comfortable inside half-truths."

Dreidi Xeraic

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Dathomir
Outfit: Witch
Companion: Grisial
Equipment: Lightsaber, Ichor sword and Dathomiri Energy Bow
Tag: Nitya Xeraic

"Witches carry the voices of the ancients, especially when they are fully accepted into the Dathomir ways." Dreidi spoke, her golden eyes looked over to Nitya, "it is hard to lose the humanity when you experience and know thousands of years of history in your subconscious. When you carry the tribe's entire understanding of the galaxy and the ways to keep forging forward."

Dreidi chuckled when Nitya mentioned the archives that the Jedi had were describing the witches as more isolationists. "Well, the expansion of our ways. the height of Dathomiri power was thousands of years before the Jedi and their Republic. They tend to forget or fail to record empires, factions or powerful galactic influences that existed before their own." The Rakatan's Infinite Empire was a demonstration of this. A history that was barely scratched at the surface level.

When Nitya described how the Force felt on Dathomir, Dreidi nodded her head, smoky green tendrils of Magick moved down the heavily tattooed arms of Dreidi as she studied them for a moment. Thinking on how to describe it all to someone who might never be able to comprehend how Magick feels. "The way that a witch harnesses Magick, at least on Dathomir, is through emotions. Hate, anger, love, lust, hope, joy. Each one can be used, the more powerfully felt the emotion is then the more powerful a witch can perform her Magick." Dreidi explained, there was no distrust or holding back to Nitya. Dreidi trusted her sister completely.

"I might utilise hate or anger most against a Sith like Carnifex and ensure he is destroyed permanently. But I might also use love and hope as powers for my Magick when I think on our bonds, my bonds to Aileni and my heart that belongs to here." Dreidi gestured to the temple. "There is no temptations or submission to a Dark Side. No corruption. No tempering emotions like the Jedi must."

Pulling out some datapads out for Nitya to read, "spells. Incantations for specific spells. There are some that can be considered voodoo, allowing witches to kill beings across the galaxy. There is teleportation, fire Magick, restoring destroyed structures. I nearly caused the ground beneath Jax to soften and consume him whole. Burying him in a tomb that none would notice." Dreidi mentioned as she showed a few spells and such that one could learn. "Teleportation is a painful initial experience, it burns the body in a way. But you can create talismans for others to follow you through the teleportations."

"All here know that you are my sister and that you are part of our clan." Dreidi mentioned.

 

[Nitya Xeraic]

Nitya listened closely as Dreidi spoke, her attention fixed entirely on her sister rather than the datapads scattered across the archive table. There was no skepticism in her expression, only the kind of curiosity that had always drawn her toward forgotten knowledge instead of away from it. Her gaze drifted briefly to the ancient records surrounding them, to the weight of centuries preserved in stone, crystal, and memory.

"I think the Jedi archives do that more often than they realize," she said quietly. "History becomes easier to understand when everything before it is reduced to a footnote." A faint smile touched her lips. "The galaxy is older than any one tradition likes to admit."

As Dreidi continued describing Magick, Nitya found herself studying the smoky tendrils curling along her sister's tattooed arms. Not with fear or caution, simply interest. The ideas were not difficult to grasp; the difference lay in the experience of them, in the way they lived inside the body rather than the mind.

When Dreidi finished, Nitya was silent for a few moments, her thoughts turning inward. "I think I am too much like Mother," she said at last, the admission arriving almost before she realized she had spoken it. Her fingers brushed one of the datapads before she looked up again. "My emotions are… weak." She frowned slightly. "No. That isn't quite right. I feel things. I care deeply. But everything arrives quieter somehow. Even when I was young, I was never the one who reacted first. I watched. I listened. I thought. By the time I understood what I felt, everyone else had already lived it."

There was no self-pity in her voice, only honest observation. "Mother was always more connected to her emotions than I was, even when she hid them well. I inherited many things from her, but not that."

Her attention returned to the spells spread before them. "That does not mean I am unwilling to learn." The certainty in her tone was soft but unmistakable. "If Magick draws strength from emotion, then perhaps understanding emotion more deeply is part of understanding Magick. And if I am honest, I suspect there are many things about myself I have spent years observing rather than experiencing."

A small smile warmed her expression. "So perhaps I am simply beginning from a different place than most witches would."

When Dreidi's final words settled, all here know that you are my sister and that you are part of our clan. Nitya's gaze lingered on the datapads for a heartbeat before lifting again. The warmth in her eyes deepened, gentler than before, touched by something she had not expected to feel so strongly.

"You told them I was yours," she said softly, not as a question but as a quiet recognition of what it meant. Her gaze moved through the archive, taking in the relics and records of a world she had belonged to only in stories. Dathomir had always been distant, heritage without experience, lineage without place.

"I didn't expect that," she admitted, her voice warm with something close to gratitude. "But I'm glad you did."

The smile that followed was small, genuine, and entirely unguarded. "I know I haven't been here. I know I haven't shared what they have. But it means something that they would welcome me anyway."

Her eyes returned to Dreidi, full of quiet affection that needed no explanation.

"It means something that you wanted them to."

A breath later, softer still: "It is good to know I have somewhere to return to."

Dreidi Xeraic