Hunting the Past

[Felran Natri]

Felran slowly stepped of his transport ship and took a deep breath. He had come to Dathomir for one reason and one reason only. To find a Nightsister. The Sith dawned on his robes, making sure he had everything he needed. Felran gave one of his most genuine smiles he had ever given. This was the birthplace of Darth Maul. This was where it all started. This.....is home.

[member="Mediha"] [member="Rego Kulan"]

 

[Mediha]

In the distant Nightsister village, hidden deep in the jungles of Dathomir, Mediha was unaware that in a few short hours her life would be interrupted by the quest of an off-worlder. She was wrapped up in her own preparations, her own business, until a knock came on the door. Packing away her practice materials, she rose from the table, tucked them on a shelf, and opened the door to discover the familiar tattoos of Hylea gazing down at her.

"The Seer requires your presence."

Mediha nodded and followed her, footsteps hesitating only briefly before she crossed the threshold so that she had time to check for traps.

"Seer."

"Mediha. A traveler comes in search of the past. One of us must intercept him before he arrives; his intentions are not dangerous, but it would be best to determine if he would be a good addition to our Brothers-- or dealt with accordingly."

Mediha digested the information, and then inclined her head. "As you and the Clan Mother wish. When and where will he arrive?"

"Today, no later than mid-afternoon where the river meets the forest's edge."

"I will be waiting for him."

[member="Felran Natri"]

 

[Felran Natri]

As Felran hooked up his lightsaber to his belt felt a precsene in the force. But as he looked he saw no in the vicinity of the area. Just my imagination Felran thought. Still he couldn't shake the feeling like someone was watching him. "Is everything alright Lord Natri?" The voice of the pilot broke the zabrak's contemplation and Felran quickly turned to him. "Yes everything is fine. You may leave, I will comm you when I need to be picked up." The pilot nodded and walked back to the pilot seat, preparing to take off.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

Mediha packed herself a reasonably sized bag and made the journey alone. She could have taken the speeder, but she wanted no hint of any outside technology to be visible to the outsider. Most knew how minimal the Clans kept themselves, even with trade on the planet; it was best to reinforce that idea when possible, especially when the Seer only had cryptic information like "in search of the past" to help Mediha determine his purpose. Was he looking to settle a score? Make amends for some old grief?

Mediha came prepared. She had noticed that off-worlders, even when discomfited in her presence, still tended to assume the Nightsisters were easily bested because they believed the Clans to be "primitive". That sort of misconception might come in handy if the traveler was not, as the Seer said, entirely safe.

[member="Felran Natri"]

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran watched the shuttle fly away, that thought still in the back of his mind. Why did he keep feeling like he was being watched? There was no one here! Felran sighed and looked at his lightsaber, and began speaking as if there was someone there "I will find what you left behind, I will remake your legacy." The sith began to walk towards the 'feeling' he had. He didn't want to believe someone was there but the feeling just wouldn't go away!

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

Mediha pushed aside a frond and glanced out at the area. And there he was, as promised. Mediha took a moment to view the Zabrak male from the safety of the trees, dressed in the traditional red of the Nightsisters, her face painted as expected. He was tall and looked like he had seen combat; the lightsaber at his belt boasted of his ability with magick or, at least, the Force. A combat partner for Anderit and Zared-- unless he was going to become her responsibility, too. Mediha closed her eyes rather than rolling them; that was all too likely to happen, but she had no choice. She had been asked to come, and she would do her duty to her Clan.

Keeping an eye on the man, she finger-waved and a wispy cloud of magick formed, looping off through the air, cutting around trees to come at him from the other direction. The wispy creature danced around [member="Felran Natri"], finally emitting a question in Mediha's voice.

"Who are you and why have you come?"

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran jumped, quickly unhooking lightsaber and igniting his two blades. He stood in a ready stance as the creature as the question "Who are you and why have your come?" Felran had to be honest, he wasn't expecting this. The Zabrak cleared his throat and spoke to the wispy creature "I am Felran Natri, I have come to learn about my ancestors past. Well.....my ancestors culture." Felran had to correct himself, he knew almost all there was to know about Darth Maul but he never could get many record of Maul as a child. Not satisfied with the little information the few records give, Felran went to Dathomir personally to learn about it.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

"Your ancestors? You return here, a male, to learn?" Interesting. Unwise, but interesting. Intelligence was not high on the list of his traits, then, though his reflexes were good. There were a few ways he could be of Dathomiri origin, but the most likely was that a Nightsister had had a reject child and opted to raise him away from the Clan-- or had abandoned him. Mediha tried to remember which of the Sisters had gone off-world and not returned.

"Which Nightsister whelped you?"

 

[Felran Natri]

"Nightsister that whelped me?" Felran tilted his head utterly confused. "I do not come from a Nightsister, I come from a more powerful origin. My ancestor was Maul, Darth Maul." Felran's face beamed with pride. If there was one thing he loved it was boasting about his bloodline and his ancestor's feats.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

The wisp-creature continued its circling, but a frown crossed Mediha's face as she watched [member="Felran Natri"] .

Who? One of the abandoned Nightbrothers, perhaps, the magickal males who were sold or, in older times, secreted away before the sale of the children presented itself as profitable to the Clan. The name didn't ring a bell, not that she should expect that it would.

"No Nightbrother stands higher than the Sisters," the wisp commented, seemingly unperturbed, "So your comment on more powerful origins seems unlikely. Our Mothers past have fought Sith Lords and won, or lost only because they brought armies against them. We have yet to find a male who could rival her on his own terms without help.

"I assume you mean you are the product of a cast-off Brother, though rarely do we know what names they are given once they leave us. If he had that name, Maul, with the Clan, it is a very distant relative you reference. No children of that name have left us in the last generation or more to my knowledge." It was possible there had been one, but Nightsisters did not care for the fates of the males overall. Those who were suited stayed; those who were unsuited left. Mediha had had little interest them beyond that until recent events had forced her to reconsider that perspective.

Thinking of Darius and again eyeing Felran's lightsaber, she considered her options. "We may have a record somewhere of when he left us and his parentage, if your lineage is what you are seeking." And, if no mistakes were made and the Sisters were interested, the Clan could hold him here. Anderit and Zared, dangerous as they were, showed that there might be merit in keeping talented Nightbrothers rather than ejecting them from society-- provided that they did not attempt to rise above their station. The matriarchal society of Dathomir worked for a reason; adding tempestuous males to the mix would be catastrophic.

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran's eye twitched THIS INSOLENT LITTLE CREATURE I'LL-" He paused for a moment before speaking, his voice cool and collected. "Yes I would enjoy seeing if any record is there." Felran here mostly to see Maul's culture but it would be amazing bonus if he could actually get records of him on Dathomir. "I am surprised you do not know about Maul. Then again he was taken by Sidious at a young age." He had to remember that Maul was taken away when he was young so Felran wouldn't be surprised if nobody knew about him or no record of him existed.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

She saw the anger in his face at her comments, though he controlled it before he spoke. The Sith were not then as even-tempered as their Jedi counterparts. It might come down to a contest of wills; Mediha knew with certainty that that was a contest she could win, though she was not eager to prove it. He, if he could use the weapon at his belt, would best her in barehanded comment, but a witch had other workings at her disposal.

The name Sidious echoed a vague remembrance in Mediha of a long-forgotten history lesson. Brief, passing moments in a history that no longer affected them. Then again, this would-be genealogist was purposely looking for the past; for him, perhaps, the slave roots of his ancestor were important. She reconsidered her decision to take him to a lonely place to wait while someone perused their records; that far back in history, possibly to Talzin's time, there were almost no records and certainly none of a direct transaction conducted between what Mediha assumed would be the mother and a Sith Lord.

The wisp twisted out of existence and Mediha stepped out of the trees, speaking so that he would know of her presence if the faint movement in his peripheral vision hadn't drawn his attention. "I will have someone check the records if you will wait, but, if you are speaking of ancient history, it is unlikely that any scrap of his existence still harbors here. Sidious, if you mean the historical figure, was long, long ago. The fact that your ancestor was not killed as a child is surprising. Why do you desire to revisit Dathomir for such a faint connection?"

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran stared at the woman for a few seconds, when compared Felran toward over this woman. It was only when she asked the question that he snapped out of his trance. My connection may be faint but he is still my ancestor and I believe it is my duty to bring back his legacy. To find what he left behind." His tone was completely serious and rather harsh but he always spoke like that when it involved Maul.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

Mediha raised her eyebrows even as she spun another message wisp into existence and sent it back to the village to have someone check the records, on the off-chance something was there. They could keep him and force him to adjust, but it would be difficult, and ultimately could be bad for the other Nightbrothers. The Seer had sent her to meet him and assess his worthiness, not to bring him back. Driving him away might be the best choice for 'dealing with him accordingly'; killing him could get messy.

He had come on a quest for understanding that would fuel a grab for power. Apparently, Maul had made something of himself if his descendant was willing to come this far to look for signs of his reign. "It sounds as if your ancestor had a life outside of Dathomir. I'm not certain what legacy you hope to find by coming here now that you realize his early departure means he wasn't fully part of our culture. I will answer what questions you have if I can, assuming you know what it is you want to find."

[member="Felran Natri"]

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran though for a moment. "Records of his life here are simply a bonus. I came here to observe the culture, to see how Maul would have lived." The blades of his saberstaff retreated back into it's hilt. Felran couldn't feel any anger or notion that she wanted to attack. "So if you may, tell me more about how these 'nightbrothers' live." Felran tried to give the best smile he could give at [member="Mediha"] .

 

[Mediha]

It was a simple enough question and not anything the residents of Dathomir didn't already know. "The Nightbrothers are the male offspring of the Nightsisters who choose to have children. They are raised by older generations of men to be warriors and serve to fill out our ranks for protection and other purposes. When the need arises, we send them into battle to assist the Nightsisters in conflicts with large numbers of outsiders or rival clans. Nightbrothers who have magick are sometimes trained, sometimes sold and, less often now but common in older days, sometimes killed. Your ancestor would have been one of those with magick who was sold, taken or given away."

[member="Felran Natri"]

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran chuckled "I'd say graced with the beautiful chance of being apprenticed to one of the most powerful Sith in history." He then went back into thinking. He had heard of magick before, he just assumed it was another form of the force. "Alright, what about you? What about the nightsisters?" Felran wanted to know the most he really could about Dathomir and its culture. He could just read it out of one of the old books the Jen'ari had but it was better to learn these things personally.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

Mediha's expression shifted faintly at Felran's amused comment on Sith Lords, but she said nothing about his overwhelming arrogance. The Sith were of little interest to her, and she had many doubts about what a great "chance" being apprenticed to any of them was; if this male was a representation of their attitude, if nothing else, she was unimpressed. No respect and enough pride in himself and all he considered great to be his downfall. She felt herself growing less inclined to continue their conversation for longer than necessary. He was curious, as promised, but no clans talked to outsiders about their personal ways at any length. Explaining the role of the Nightbrothers was straightforward and reasonable; pushing into questions about who the Nightsisters were and how they lived was beginning to stray back into that contentious territory she had been trying to avoid. He had said culture, she supposed, which would include the basics of clan life.

"What about us? We live the life of any other clan, doing what we can to support our fellow Nightsisters, following our laws and studying much as I imagine any practitioner of magick or the Force does. We learn from teachers, the same as you, and eventually take our place as full Nightsisters when we pass our acolyte training. What were you expecting?"

[member="Felran Natri"]

 

[Felran Natri]

Felran shrugged "I'm not very sure, I was just interested it what it was that nightsisters did. If I do recall they were the ones that saved Mauls life after his........defeat." He knew what the sisters did and he was grateful, if it wasn't for them Maul may have been forgotten but now.....now Felran was there to pick up where Maul left off. His voice was rather strange when he spoke of what he nightsisters did for his ancestor, it contained a small hint of something very rare for the Zabrak, respect.

[member="Mediha"]

 

[Mediha]

"We live our lives and take our power where we may. Our magick grows with every new spell, with every new Nightsister who lends her magick and her creativity to the clan." Mediha's expression shifted slightly, her chin lifting a bit; it made the look she directed his way predatory. "But we are not fond of outsiders. I cannot do anything more than give you my knowledge of the Nightsisters and their culture; for you to delve too deeply would be to court trouble, and it doesn't seem like the information we have on Maul would be worth that sort of trouble."

She walked along the treeline, watching him sidelong as she went. "So what will you do from here, Felran Natri? Hunt the beasts of the forest as Maul may have once and as our Nightbrothers do now? Will you emulate their example?"

[member="Felran Natri"]