Family: Or What Good Mothers Do When They're Insane (Erryn Xextos)

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

Manu Xextos was a dying man. He'd been wasting by inches since the moment the House of Keth freed him from the krystallsøvn and Ahani had watched her firstborn son suffering for far too long!

That, and catching Manu moping and crying himself to sleep was really depressing for a mother of a grown man. Sexual congress would fix it, and not any sexual congress but the only woman her son had loved: [member="Erryn Xextos"]. The Kae. Mother of the Echani Golden Age, mother of Ahani's grand babies and lover of her emotionally active son's gigantic Jedi heart. Ahani coughed and spat into the sink. "I think I threw up a little." she said, to the elderly Handmaiden who was yet again brushing the unruly mop of silver hair. "Ow! No tugging."

An hour and three stabbing attempts later, Ahani was trotting down the loading ramp of the Isdihar I'Timad her Viceroy-Class Yacht and onto the Soledad soil. The procurement of Erryn's DNA and neural map had cost Ahani three months of her life, and several close calls with death which thankfully had been answered by the poor saps that tried to keep her from stealing their stuff. Having the new throne of the Echani on Echan made sense, it also made finding the Royal Heritage Databank a lot easier. Suffice it to say, the growth of Erryn's clone had begun months ago, back when Manu had first come to the Galactic Empire and petitioned Emperor Akio Kahoshi for his wife's clone in exchange for loyalty. Ahani'd been so proud once she realized it hadn't been a massive hallucination.

"Commander Najwa, you're early." A stern faced man trotted up to the Echani woman, who had started twirling one of the company pens between her fingers while she tapped her nails on the front desk. "A whole day early."

"Way to tell me what I didn't know, Wade. Clone near ready?"

"We're nearly finished the neural mapping, she'll be ready by tomorrow. I'm sure my associates can find you a place to ..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah change of plans Double you-aye-dee-ee." A parcel veered out from behind Ahani's back and into Wade's jerking, startled hands. "Drop it and I'll gut you with a pen. That's Erryn's brain. Neural mapifi-ca-whatsits, techno jargon blah, blah, use that one."

"But we discussed with Admiral Xextos that we would use th-"

"Admiral Xextos is a lovesick puppy singing softly while his lyre gently weeps. He's a romantic and he's my son so I can call him what he is and you can't. . . Can I call him what I . . . yes I can. And I made my mind up! Up I say!"

"Ah, alright. This will take an extra day or so, Ma'am."

"Take the day. I want that clone to be perfect. My kind of perfect. I'll be in dock, call me when she's ready. I wanna be there when my daughter in law wakes up!" Ahani swerved and walked out of the facility with a flourish of her gloved hand.

Seven guards and a startled receptionist fell back to the ground from their prison on the ceiling. Wade clutched the box and yelped. "Cinthia, who was it that authorized this clone and that woman picking it up?"

"Wh-what? Ah, hold on I'll ch-where'd my... ah.. Emperor Akio Kahoshi."

". . . Cancel the military police, and have my wife come by with a fresh suit... thanks."

Three Days Later

The clone tank looked nothing like a bacta tank. Perhaps Ahani thought it ought to look like a bacta tank, perhaps she'd gotten an image stuck in her head or perhaps she should have finished that last cup of tea before frolicking back over to the cloning operation. Ahani stared at the floating woman in the tank, cocked her head sideways. She'd only seen her daughter-in-law a handful of times: trying to raze her home planet and being married to her arch-nemesis did that to family time, but for the past eight centuries all Ahani had to go on were Manu's projected memories of Erryn while they were locked in the miasma of the krystallsøvn.

Standing there as the cloners were finalizing the wake-up procedures, Ahani felt a tickle rage across the back of her neck. Would Erryn want to see her? Would it work? Was she dressed in Elza's pants? Ahani checked the label on the inside of her hem. Yep, Elza's pants. The 850 year old Echani fidgeted. They didn't fit right in the backside.

"How long does it take to yank a woman from a pile of goo? I want to see if Erryn's going to love or hate me."

 

[Amz]

She felt her headache almost fade to nothingness, but the grief and turmoil that ripped at her stomach, ripped at her emotions, kept this moment from bringing the relief it otherwise would have been.

Erryn had heard that the dead often came to lead those on the brink into their eternal rest, but even in her final fleeting moments, the one person she pined for - Manu - did not come to take her away. Instead, the room was filled to every crevice with Echani medics, warriors, and her children. Everyone gathered together in hushed whispers around her bed, huddling in to observe the fading life of their Echani elder; the woman who had brought them into the ‘Golden Age’ of their day.

This was her last and final fight.

The sweet smell of spiced incense filled her nostrils and she knew what they were being used for. Even though she couldn’t smell it herself, the fragrance was there to mute the odor of death that clung to her like a plague.

Exhaustion weighted down her silvery eyes. With everything she had, she fought; until all her energy was expended and they finally shut.

A quarter of the way across the galaxy and through time itself, Erryn’s soul drifted and then returned.

“Mommy!” Suddenly, she was on the other side of a … vision? Memory? The pitter patter of tiny feet ran across the hardwood floors of the Xextos grandroom. She crouched down to catch her white haired, silver eyed daughter in her arms, who magically ran through Erryn’s body.

“Divya…”

“I’m here, Mom.”

Erryn opened her eyes, Divya’s grip pulling her back to the room. How proud she was of her daughter, of their daughter. How beautiful and strong she had become.

Sne wrapped tight together their hands, and through her bleary gaze she could see both Locha and Divya, and the sadness that weighed their countenance.

Now, Erryn thought. Now it was time. Using what power she had left, Erryn used the Force to reach across the room and spread her senses outward. She projected her desires into the minds of those present. Immediately, the Echani doctor was there and lifted her frail body off the soft bed, pouring into her mouth a bitter liquid to induce sleep.

Her eyes shut, and Erryn smiled. Reveling in the warmth and pleasure of knowing that her family was there for that last meaningful moment.

Then, in the arms of the reaper, Erryn let herself go.

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With an effort, Erryn brought her mind back from these visions. It seemed like this wasn’t the end yet, and life remained before her. She wanted to swipe a hand across her eyes to get rid of the memories, to stop them from pouring into her head. Why see these particular visions? What was happening to her? Before she could dig any more into the answer, another old memory flashed into her mind.

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"The door is unlocked. They are waiting."

The electronic voice startled the young former dancer, and she jumped to her feet with a start.

"Heppin' fraz," she cussed, "don't do that to a girl..."

She slowly pushed on the door that was only a step in front of her and then walked out into the most amazing room she had ever seen in her life.

Her senses went into overdrive and she ran to the nearest part of the balcony and then ran about its edge peering over the side, joy etched on her features.

"Oh...my....this...is...frelling....amazing!" She said as she ran about the edge of the room looking out over the Echani capital.

So far she had not noticed the two in the room, and the words of the electronic voice telling her that 'they' were in there waiting for her, had completely escaped her mind. All she knew as she started on her closed eyed twirl was that this was the coolest place ever, and she was gosh danged happy to be here.

Arms outstretched and a smile on her face, amidst the third revolution she opened her eyes, and was confronted with two white haired people looking at her. One was the kind Echani woman, and the other was a tall...good looking...Echani. Or at least she guessed he was Echani.

"Uhm...uh...hi?" She said with a petite wave of her hand.

Manu bowed and ran a hand through his hair, a smile on his face as he looked Erryn in her dazzling eyes. "Yeah, kinda how I reacted too. Pretty fantastic, isn't it? At the top of the world."

It...is kinda...awesome up here, yeah," she said still coming to terms with her own display of excitement in front of these people.

"Yeah, it really is exceptional." Manu was looking through her, like it was a slow realization that the woman was beautiful. Yes. She was gorgeous, drop-dead, but he was far more interested in the feel of her, the sunlit spark emanating from her inside.

He reached a hand to her. "Manu Najwa. I assume you know Hana Kae, Last Daughter of Kae? She brought me here, too."

"You assuuuuume right," she said, and then bounded over to cling to Hana's arm. Manu made room by Hana's side and was unable to hold back a laugh just for the joy of it.

"Things had got kinda messy...so I needed someone to pull me out...and show me a different way...Hana is the best, yes?"

"Understandable. Same here, my baby sister got lost, I got thrown off a ship and I needed to find her and my own feet. Hana's done that and done more. I don't think we can ask for a better Ruler looking out for us. Guess we're two lost souls, who got found, eh?"

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“It can be a little slow.”

She heard a faint voice say. Erryn tried to open her eyes, but to no avail.

“I want that ... to be perfect.” Another voice she made out, this one familiar.

She wanted to ask so many questions, but her mind went back into a tunnel of visions.

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3 Days Later

"How long does it take to yank a woman from a pile of goo? I want to see if Erryn's going to love or hate me."

A memory-crusted wave suddenly slammed into her, taking Erryn completely off guard while she was still in her vision-induced slumber. Her body felt lifted and thrown by the wild surf, and she scrambled madly for something to hold onto. Another wave washed over her, tearing her grip from the beyond away. A breath filled her lungs, but felt like it was half air, half water, and burned inside her chest. And then a pair of hands caught her under the arms, holding her tightly. The rapid pace of her heart slowed, her breathing began to regulate… and Erryn got the oddest sense that she was lying naked on the floor.

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Oh good! She's flailing. This is a m-mmovement I understand." Ahani glanced up from checking her nails 'broken, broken, bitten off, pretty good!, need clippers' to see [member="Erryn Xextos"] sputtering and shuddering on the floor. In a flash, the mother of three pushed aside the technicians and threw off her cape. A gust of warm wind burst across Erryn, as the telekinesis master cleaned her up and the microsilk armour weave cape tugged in place around Ahani's daughter-in-law's shoulders.

"Hello! Hello, darling! Oh I keep forgetting how much of a knockout you are. How'd Manu score you? Did you lose a bet?" Ahani put her hand on Erryn's back and rubbed, pleading with her own senses that Erryn knew who Manu was, knew who she was, that the graft had worked. The cloning process was a physically easy thing, but the mental side, the cloning of a mind? Were there bits and bobs that would always be missing for Manu's sun, moon and stars?

What would she do if this wasn't working? She'd brought the clone into this world. She needed Manu to survive and to survive well and the man was stubborn. Didn't want to find another woman, he wanted his wife. Such loyalty hadn't been bred in him by her genetic code. "Erryn? [member="Erryn Xextos"] can you hear me? Should I be yelling? No? No yelling? Oh, okay."

 

[Amz]

"Ugh! Be quiet, will you? Sheesh!!" Erryn groaned, forcing the silver wisps of hair off her brow and cupped her head that felt ready to explode in both hands. Where was she? Where did her clothes go? Who were those people staring at her? A deep frown plastered to her features and Erryn glared through the glass at the multitude who stared back at her.

Then at her arm, Erryn noticed the slender hand of a woman supporting her weight with a firm and strong grip. The voice familiar. What was Ahani doing here? Wait... What? "Ahani?" The name stuttered off her lips like a foreign word. Could it be, truly? Every fiber within Erryn's body yearned for this reality to be the end of a nightmare that had lasted an eternity. "Is it you? Really you?" Strength suddenly returned to her, jolting through her body like a bolt of lighting, grasping onto the other Echani woman with a vice grip and throwing her into an embrace. If she had seams, she would have been bursting at them. Even with someone like Ahani, Erryn couldn't be more pleased. "Manu!? Where is he? Is he here? Is he safe? When can I see him!?" She couldn't wait another minute, not even a second.

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"It's me! I brought you back to life, but not for me. Oh no. No, no, no-ooh!" Ahani had gone from bored, murderous Sith Lady to a mother again in the amount of time it took [member="Erryn Xextos"] to hug her. Ahani held Erryn to herself, she stroked Erryn's newly formed hair and held on to the girl with a strangle hold second to holding one's newborn in their arms.

"Hold on! Hold it, Hoooooolld!" She laughed, pushing Erryn to arm's length as a silver jumpsuit came up carried by a technician. "Manu's alive. He's eight hundred and thirty six years old, and he looks exactly the same as he had the day he last saw you. The day I froze the three of us in crystal. I did that. Get dressed, we'll talk on my ship, Manu's on Sabarene."

Not much for breaking things gently, Ahani waited for some indication that the information was too much. "You and I both know Manu was sick. He'd lived for years with Raien's heart beating in his chest and it was polluting him. He was getting lofty, airs and graces and glory. He could do no wrong, nor could he do with wrong being done. Our Manu was becoming a bursting star of justice, but at the cost of his spirit. I know intimately the breath of the Dark Side. I have bathed and been born into it. The Dark is my gift. Not Manu's. Never Manu's. When I heard that Raien and Manu were headed to Hvothe I knew Manu would come out alive and I knew that was the worst sin the universe could commit. I froze my son and my husband at the moment they were about to kill each other, this you know but what you don't know is this:

I have spend every day of the last eight hundred years seeping the Darkness from my firstborn son. I had it all gone, but for a fraction. A single thread or tear. My extraction of Raien's heart had cost him his bodily strength, and now he is weak. Fragile. He's lost the heart in his chest, Erryn. Manu has to survive and to survive he needs a reason. You always were his reason my lovely. The moment he met you, his heart started beating and I'm hoping it does again.

I told him I was cloning you, it's all he wanted. He wanted his wife. But he wanted the wife that hadn't endured the pain of losing him. He thinks you're the Erryn who was there when he fell. I knew best what my son needs. He needs the Erryn who survived through the fire of her own brow, who led the Echani to glory. I needed the Erryn who left a holorecorded message in a bottle for a mother-in-law to find eight hundred years later. Do you understand? Do you understand what I ask of you?"

 

[Amz]

"Eight hundred and thirty six? Sabarene?" Erryn echoed, feeling her mouth go dry, yet somehow remained outwardly composed like the leader she was groomed to be. Could this be? How had she awoken to the same future as her Husband, when only moments before she had closed her eyes in death? Erryn's eyes narrowed and she watched after the backside of her Mother in law, brows knit together to create a visible crease in the middle of her forehead, lips tightening into a firm line. The Technician presented the jumpsuit to Erryn who wasted no time getting into it, following at the heels of the Najwa Matron. The outfit felt like a top of the line brand, and it fit well enough to make her look at least presentable, if not like the warrior she was.


I told him I was cloning you, it's all he wanted. He wanted his wife. But he wanted the wife that hadn't endured the pain of losing him. He thinks you're the Erryn who was there when he fell. I knew best what my son needs. He needs the Erryn who survived through the fire of her own brow, who led the Echani to glory. I needed the Erryn who left a holorecorded message in a bottle for a mother-in-law to find eight hundred years later. Do you understand? Do you understand what I ask of you?"

Erryn, more than anyone, had learned to be completely in control of herself at all times. But at one moment there had been a crack in her facade as she listened to Ahani recount everything that had happened. A clone. Some might say a fragment. Yet within her chest they shared the same heart. Beating with a fiery passion that would fight with ferocity against all of her enemies, against any who would threaten her own. Ahani hadn't just created a shadow, Erryn was entirely intact.

With commanded intensity, her silver eyes bore into the woman in front of her. If anyone had a right to be angry, it was Erryn in that moment, but how could she condemn the woman who had saved Manu's life, who was responsible for the chance that they could be reunited again? A spasm of pain ripped through her at the thought of living life without him.

"Take me to him. It's been eight hundred long years... and I will see my Echanar."

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

The pain Erryn flashed through was a honeyed treat for Ahani's darker senses. Love was pain. Love was the burning hurt, the groaning shudder of incapacity and want. Love was a flooding ruse tying individuals together, and to understand how Erryn felt, to feel the flush within her was to feel that the Echanar of her son knew the penalty of love.

Manu Xextos had fallen from his sacred Jedi stars to the infamy of desire over his precious spiritual release. But Ahani knew. . . oh she felt it. A Manu without Erryn was a walking corpse. No need to scare the girl completely. "Sabarene is a desert world the Admirals of the Fringe Confederation gave to Manu for his flock. Once he was stolen from the crystalline hibernation, the Chandaari found him. [member="Chiara Viren"]'s bloodline had endured as did mine. My son Yuca's face is still known to the Chandaari royal family and House Najwa, your face is still known to the House of Xextos, as is Manu's. Our lines survived us, Erryn. For eight hundred years they survived us and kept our histories firmly in their heart. There were thousands of Echani and Chandaari who woke up to follow Manu into the brink.

Sabarene is our new home. Thyrsus was lost to us. No one knows where the planet had gone. But Manu has been busy, and he began another civilization in his wife's memory. We're going there now." Up into her ship the Isdihar-i-Timad, Ahani tossed her cloak at a regimentally clad Handmaiden, an elderly woman who shared Ahani's face.

The other sparse Handmaidens shared the Najwa bloodline, and one was a bright eyed girl whose eyes were Erryn's own. "Full speed to the Vi'Nu. Tell Captain Maddox she's got half as much time as she needs to get us to Sabarene. Naboo will love that. Maybe pop an aneurism. I'd laugh. Come, come Erryn! Come along! Oh, that's Faralene. She's your great-howevermany-daughter. Congratulations."

The girl sauntered up to Erryn with an astonished and innocent gaze. Her eyes watered as she held out a small piece of cloth with Erryn's crest embroidered with the House Najwa crest nestled inside. It had been part of Erryn's wedding attire. "My mother passed this down to me on her deathbed. She said it was precious to our family and I don't know why. . . what is it?"

 

[Amz]

Erryn listened to Ahani recount the last eight-hundred years in just a few short sentences, sounding something like a short fantasy holo. "Thyrsus is gone?" she repeated, feeling her gut clench. "Tell me more." Erryn commanded softly, expectantly staring at Ahani with a powerful desire to know everything about this new civilization that Manu had begun. Her torso leaned back cautiously into the seat, still unable to fully grasp with a sound mind, the reality of this apparition which sat before her.

A new generation of Handmaidens surrounded them. Was it shock that settled into her expression, or awe? A mixture of both. "Faralene?" Erryn asked the approaching woman, noticing her moonstruck gaze and air of purity that still covered her like a warm blanket. Recogniztion came when silver eyes caught the embroidered blanket folded carefully. Her throat cleared and began to itch, water catching in her eyes as her something-something-grandchild unfolded the crest she knew lay inside. It had been a symbol of hers and Manu's unity. A hand reached out cautiously, still filled with unbelief, hoping she had not gone mad herself. The tip of her finger stroked the metal, and a feeling of exasperation left her as the hard-cool pendent came fully into her grasp. This was real, this trinket that was cradled with delicacy and precaution, it became Erryn's anchor.


Once again she could feel the Echani leader rise up within her, a pride that this brood was her own. "It was mine." came her soft reply, thumbing the small item in her palm. "It's a symbol of unity, power, and love. A covenant between two clans. When I died... I willed it to be passed to my daughter." Reluctantly, she handed it back. "But it's yours for safekeeping now, your responsibility."

Erryn's chin pointed in the direction of Ahani. "How much longer?"

[member="Ahani Najwa"]