Private Lessons of the Hunt

[Madalena deWinter]

Madalena raised one of her eyebrows as she looked around. Wobblestation. Yup, she could definitely see and somehow taste her sister's influence in the place. Somehow, against all odds, Sherezade had been the first one to find a new group of people to play with. Madalena still hadn't. It wasn't really a race, but considering Madalena was usually the more socially acceptable one between the two sisters, it did make her chuckle. For a short moment, she had considered joining as well, deciding eventually against it. Let her sister have her own territory. Madalena would carve hers elsewhere, sooner or later.

Still, she had come here today. A new deWinter had been found, and she had been asked to assist with her training. The girl's name was Hekate , a daughter of their aunt. Madalena couldn't remember a third (or second, to be honest) daughter to auntie Asteria in her original dimension, but this one was simply full of surprises. So she had sent the girl an invitation to meet her at the station's training rooms with a time stamp, and set her ship to arrive there a little bit before that.

Meeting family in this dimension would likely never stop being strange to Madalena. Originally from another dimension all together, where things had been different, it was a home she could never return to. So she built her home here, in this one, in a body that was meant to be entirely hers and probably was, even if the thought of erasing another one of her potential siblings' existence felt odd at times. But she wouldn't mention it out loud. She was grateful for this life, for her sister, and for the rest of the family. This new cousin, she would be grateful for as well. Few things were more important than family.

Madalena entered the training halls, finding them mostly empty at that early time of the day. That was good, it would give them some privacy. And until her new cousin showed up, the tall and curvaceous woman opened into a warm up and stretching routine.

 

[Hekate]

Hekate was nervous, anxious even. What if she didn't like her? Hekate had only met one other deWinter so far and she had been lovely but… intense. She had talked of her family doing great things, terrible but great. Sith Lords, and Rulers even a brothel owner. Hekate still wasn't sure how she felt about that. She had long been forced to acknowledge that her people's way was wrong. It had left them defenceless, helpless when the slavers came. Easy pickings.

Hekate had been forced to survive through any means necessary and had done so. Hekate had long since abandoned any sense of pacifism. She had joined a Mercenary Crew after all, more as a means of escape and yet she had found family instead. That however didn't mean Hekate had just forgotten life lessons instilled in her since she was young.

It was difficult for her to imagine herself intentionally harming others for selfish gains. She had done so as a means of survival… and by accident. It was the latter as much as the former that drew Hekate to training. Well that and the possibility of meeting more family.

Taking a deep breath Hekate entered the training rooms. She found a tall woman all curves going through some stretches. Deciding not to disturb her, Hekate started her own exercises, some basic kata's from her village. They had taught her to harness her powers in tandem with her kata's but it hadn't helped not enough anyway when the onslaught of pirates hit her village.

Taking another breath she tried to remember her training from so long ago. To centre herself and her mind. Let the energy flow through her body, let it caress and soothe even as it gently coiled around her fingers ready to be unleashed in a moment. She felt her heart break a little as she remembered the lessons and the Mothers of the village who had imparted them. She wished she could get to a place where she could remember her village without the horror that befell them.

Hekate sighed and finished the kata gently absorbing the energy back into herself. She turned and bowed to her dance partner the enigmatic Madalena.

"I am ready vor my training… cousin."

Madalena deWinter

 

[Madalena deWinter]

Madalena had noted the instant Hekate entered the training halls. Not wanting to take charge of their meeting so quickly, she let her cousin do as she willed while the Sithling merely followed her presence through the Force.

Like her sister, Madalena was an Amazonian woman, wide and tall, and not ashamed of it. Every move of her body signaled the pride she carried it with, the strength she had poured into it day by day over years of training. She had been a combatant herself, despite the fact that her talents lay within Sith Sorcery, and she had led other combatants both into and out of battle.

The training halls hummed faintly with energy, not so old echoes of strikes and parries, shouts and victory calls hanging like invisible ghosts in the air. Madalena inhaled that familiar weight of history and sweat, of discipline built over… Well, maybe in another place it would have been generations, but here it was a few months. Tops. Beneath it all, she could sense Hekate's pulse, bright, alive, and unrefined. Not wild, but not yet tamed either. A spark that, if molded correctly, could become something formidable. It tugged at something inside her, a blend of duty and kinship that she rarely allowed herself to feel anymore.

When Hekate had finished her own warm up, Madalena was standing right in front of her, green eyes and their glow looking at her with intent. But there was nothing dismissive or even negative about the look she gave her. Quite the opposite. Madalena's expression, for all its fierceness, was open and friendly, the corners of her lips curled into a lovely smile.

"I was hoping for some proper introductions and a bit of pleasantries at first," she admitted, "Finding you might not be a completely new thing for my sister, but it is for me. I've met so little of our vast family so far. Maybe before I show you how not to get beaten into a pummel, we could get to know each other a little bit?"

Her tone was light, but beneath it lay something heavier, an unspoken invitation. Madalena rarely let herself be sentimental around new people, but family had always been a thorn she could never quite ignore. The deWinters, the blood line, the ghosts of those who came before… all of it pressed quietly on her shoulders. She tilted her head slightly, studying the younger woman with quiet curiosity. "When you close your eyes, cousin of mine, what drives you forward? Why do you want to fight?"

The words carried no challenge, only genuine interest. For all her pride and commanding nature, Madalena understood that strength without understanding was fragile. This was not just training. It was inheritance. A chance, perhaps, to allow her to join that bridge that put the branches of their family together.

 

[Hekate]

Hekate studied Madalena closely, hoping she wasn't being rude by doing so. That she was ogling at her scars. She supposed she was but not for the reasons many would. Many people would see her scars as signs of weakness or perhaps trauma. Hekate only saw the marks of a survivor, a warrior the same as any battle scars honourably earned in battle. If Madalena were a man she could have boasted of them should she so choose, used them to get free drinks at taverns and military barracks. It didn't matter whether or not the scars had been earned in an actual battle, the fact was they had been earned.

When she had been a slave, Hekate's masters had always been careful not to leave scars. Lest it decreased her value. Hekate was foolishly- she knew it was foolish- envious. That woman could still have such extensive scars and still be a powerful, strong, beautiful woman. The kind that commanded powers at her beck and whim.

Hekate wanted that power. She wanted to be awed, even feared so she would never have to be afraid again. She didn't have dreams of being a powerful Sith Lady or anything of that sort. She just wanted… security. Hekate knew logically that with power came burdens, but she would rather have burdens she chose then the yoke of slavery.

"Sorry I did not mean to stare." Hekate blushed and stammered feeling like she should explain. "It is not vhat you think… You have power. I sense it. I vas trying to see it. Study it."

"Ov course." Hekate blushed realising her rudeness abounded by not introducing herself and getting to know Madalena, rather than just demand she train her without knowing who she was. "I am Hekate...People call me Kate… I vas born under the star sign the Vornskr."

It felt lame but truthfully there was not much to tell about herself. She took a deep breath and decided to just get through it.

"I vas raised by witches, my village got attacked by slavers… I had many masters before I escaped… I lived in camps before I vas picked up- recruited to be a healer for Death Drop. I met Scherezade accidentally and she sniffed we were related. I did not believe her at first. I accidentally cast a truth spell. Then we… caught up. She mentioned you have some talent in… Sorcery."

Hekate frowned, her eyes flashed red her power coming to just below the surface.

"To survive. I fight to survive" Hekate shrugged, looking down, closed her eyes to dismiss the summoning of power, before opening them and staring Madalena fiercely in the eye. "but I want to do more than survive. I want to thrive. My clan is gone. deWinter is a powerful family. If I want to be a valued member of the family, I have to learn to wield power. I want to make sure I am never a victim again."

Madalena deWinter

 

[Madalena deWinter]

"Stare," Madalena said, nay, commanded. She knew the curiosity that came with seeing her scars, and her cousin, Hekate , was seeing them for the first time. She wanted the other woman to quench her thirst, to see it for all that it was, the ugly of them along with the beautiful. They were as much a part of her as her glowing green eyes were, and she would not have it any other way, even if the reason she had them in the first place was because she had been foolish enough to not wear protection.

"Do you prefer to be called Hekate or Kate?" came her answer after a while. She could do with both, but she wanted to use whichever name her cousin was more comfortable with. She could call it Twiddle Dee as well if that was what the youngling preferred.

Youngling. What a strange way to think about it about someone who was… Not really that much younger than her. A few years, perhaps, though she could already tell that their lifetimes would not be counted in the same way. Not right now, anyway. Madalena had lived several lifetimes in her short years, had come ahead and as a victor more than once. Hekate? She was a survivor. But simply surviving… It wasn't enough. If it had been, she never would have a reason to meet her, to teach her, to train her.

And yes, there it was, the story of Hekate's life that put certainty on Madalena's initial impression. But that was good. It meant they had a starting point they could both see, feel at the same time.

"Victimhood is a choice," Madalena said, her words harsh, but her tone soft, "You don't have to use your body or your fists to fight in order to never be a victim again."

Only now did she move, towards the bench that was behind Hekate, and sat herself down, legs straight in front of her, almost as if this was merely a day on the beach. Perhaps it was, and the training room was just a backdrop.

"The difference between someone who is a victim and someone who is not a victim boils down to choice," she explained, "Bad things will always happen to you. You could be the most powerful woman in the galaxy, and you would still not have the power to make bad things never happen. The only true choice we ever get to have lays in the decisions that we make. So if someone kills your clan, but you yet live, that does not make you a victim. That makes you a person with a choice to bleed because of the trauma, to grow from it, or to ignore it. Two out of three options that don't keep you a victim. One that does."

She sighed, looking at the ceiling for a moment. The only reason she existed in this dimension was because her sister had decided to be a victim, and then tried to not be one in the dumbest way possible. Madalena still wanted to smack her for it, but also to thank her for having done so, or Madalena would not exist at all now.

"When I walk away from these halls," she continued, her eyes intent on her cousin. This was not the casual and laid back Scherezade. This was Madalena. This was the Dark Paladin of Chaos. "You will have a better grasp of your ability to defend yourself. What will you do with that ability?"

 

[Hekate]

Hekate's eyes shot up at the permission nay the command to stare. Hekate grew red but did as commanded. Was this part of the training? Looking at the consequences of putting their abilities to practice? Hekate only saw the laurels of the survivor, the one who came out stronger for her suffering, not a weak, pathetic person who flinched at shadows. Hekate wanted, nay needed that strength. That will. To be able to walk in a room command people to stare and not be ashamed.

"How did you get them?" Hekate asked softly wondering if she was overstepping.

Hekate frowned as she considered the question.

"Hekate. I prefer Hekate, from family. It reminds me of my people, of family. In a good way" Hekate responded as she realised the truth of it. Her proper name reminded her of being called from the fields where she had been, working, laughing, playing, kissing. Her mother trying to scowl, but hiding her smile at her antics, her father not even bothering to his wry grin. They had hoped she'd wise up and be on her way to becoming an initiate. That life had never appealed to Hekate, now here she was attempting to learn Sith Sorcery.

Hekate listened to her lecture on victimhood and found herself scowling.

"It is not so simple. I do not vant to be flinching at shadows, or attacking people because I lose control. I vant to learn discipline, control, methods, training, strategies, kata's, harnessing of power. I vant practical exercises to exercise control."

"You sound like The Mothers. They preached self growth and personal choice. Now they are dead. They're clan slaughtered or enslaved. I vant to make sure that does not happen to me ever again."

Hekate huffed a breath.

"I do not know vhat I vant to be vhen I grow up!" Hekate responded scathingly petulantly putting on a voice. Hekate's eyes flashed with red swirling energy, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. In for three seconds out for three seconds.

"I just vant to not be afraid. I'm tired of being afraid." Hekate muttered. "Afraid of everything and everyone, afraid of my own shadow, afraid of myself. I do not have plans to rule planets like some in our family, or run an empire out of a brothel."

"I vould like to learn about ships, see if there's a vay to imbue magic into them. Pilots and captains alvays talk about ships like they're living beings. I read about ships from Zonema Sekot? That may have been alive."

"I vould like my own space. A space station like the one DeathDrop have, or a valley perhaps, on a quiet planet vith lots of animals, a herd of rancors, vith a vibrant community who do not have to worry about the wars of the galaxy."

Hekate sighed.

"And I vould like to help people. I know it is not the family business, but I vant to help others who have gone what I've been through, the enslaved, those in refugee camps, families who are on the streets. I vant to stop those who prey on them, help who I can."

Hekate shrugged, sniffed and sighed.

"Foolish dreams of a foolish girl." Hekate muttered

Madalena deWinter

 

[Madalena deWinter]

Madalena's chin remained up and proud as Hekate stared at her by her command. She didn't mind. She was proud of her scars, even if she had gotten them for a dumb reason. But she didn't answer her question, not yet. As Hekate looked at her and spoke, Madalena was looking right back, the glow of her green eyes resting against her new found cousin's face.

She was a shy girl, and sweet. Definitely not the type that would typically have an easy time in this galaxy. It was a cruel and demanding one, and what protections may have existed in her past, they were now long gone, or she would not have been here. Would not have found another cousin, and taken the first steps of her journey as a deWinter.

Scherezade had offered to tell Madalena more. Madalena had declined her on it. She wanted to see the girl for herself, to make her own judgements, and to keep it as bias-less as she could.

And yes, as Hekate spoke, Madalena realized her initial assumptions had so far been correct. In another life, Hekate would've been the village's cherished child who grew into being among their wise women. That much was easy to see. But this wasn't another life. This was their life. And it was going to be a demanding one.

"Krak the family business," she said with a smile, her tone no longer hard as it had been before, but now soft, almost like that of a mother to her child, "And your dreams are not foolish. Neither are you. Maybe a little bit naïve, but naïve and foolish are two very different things."

Madalena sighed. Hekate wasn't a child, but for the first parts of their lesson, she would have to treat her like one, sort of. Not in the negative meaning of the word, but more as a guide. After that, it would be up to the new Witch to decide what to do with it all.

"Some points to consider," she offered, not bothering to ask if Hekate was at all interested in it, "You can't live somewhere secluded and still help the helpless of the galaxy. One undoes the other. Sooner or later, you will have to make the choice between one or the other, at least for periods of time.

The second point; what makes your dreams naïve and not foolish are that they belong to a life that no longer exists. One that you were raised in, but is now, for all intents and purposes, gone. The sooner you make your peace with it, the easier it will be for you to become accustomed to this life.

And once you achieve that, you will understand point three. You can be anything and do anything, if you collect the proper tools to do it."

And that was why she was here, wasn't it? To give her cousin a few of those tools, to help her become a better version of herself. Or, if not better, at least a more capable one for the life that awaited her if she did not choose to slink back into the shadows of irrelevance.

Madalena pulled a small package of tissues from her pocket, and offered one to Hekate.

"My face fell off some years ago," she told her tale, "We were fighting the Confederacy in the Southern Systems. Ryloth. I was tasked with leading my troops to remove an altar of the Mandragora, the witches there. Getting there was easy, but getting to the alter was hard. We managed it anyway."

It had been a glorious day. Madalena still got happy shivers every time she thought about it. How the witches had pleaded and tried to use words to get them to leave, and when that didn't work, found themselves fighting a small group of people who knew how to hold their spirits at bay.

"The Witches' leader decided to cast a spell on the altar, to move it into another dimension for safekeeping. But I'm not a normal person, by normal standards. I'm originally from another dimension too, so I was able to jump after the disappearing altar into the dimension it was sent to. The Witch spirits helped me too. There were arguments about who was the true Mandragora and who held power with the spirits. It's a boring conversation. But I was there, and I wrapped my arms around the altar, and I made it explode."

Madalena's soft expression had morphed into a wicked smile, a proud smile.

"But I didn't have a helmet on," she continued, "so when the altar exploded, the skin of face went along with it. The few seconds I had before the pain kicked in, I used to try to keep my skin on my face. It wasn't enough, and it fell off."

She hopped off her place on the bench now, standing tall above Hekate.

"My sister put it back in place," Madalena explained, "but without going through skin grafting or installing this or other technology on it, the scars remain. And I would not have it otherwise."

Without warning, a single finger of Madalena's shot up, throwing a powerful Force Push at her cousin, wanting to see her try to resist it, try to block it, or see her get back onto her feet and into control after it did its thing. Because in their galaxy, words would never be enough.

It was all about abilities.

And choices.

 

[Hekate]

Hekate glanced shyly at Madalena as she stood chin up, explained the story of her scars. She studied Madalena. Madalena was… proud she stood with pride, unafraid of her scars in fact she embraced them as a symbol no a sigil of power of strength. The power and strength of a survivor. She was forceful Hekate could already see that after having only known her a few minutes. She had every right to be proud of her scars she realised, they weren't just the hallmarks of a survivor, they were the laurels of a warrior. They may as well be tattoos honouring a great victory only somehow they were more. As if the pain she had suffered to get them, the pain meant to kill her made it more than some silly little affectation a drunk teenager could get on a night out. These, these kinds of mark cost far more than money, they had cost blood.

Hekate had never been envious of scars before. She was now. She wanted it she realised. She wanted scars that showed the world she was a warrior, a powerful sorceress. Hekate realised then the truth of belonging to this family. The power and strength of the deWinter Clan wasn't one you hid behind. It was one you lead from the fore front, the ones that bread Lords, and Queens, and Empresses.

If Hekate wanted to wield that power she would have to seize it with both hands and climb. Climb every step every handhold, using only her magic as rope. The deWinter Clan as steps, crevaces, rocky outcrops up the mountain. A mountain with storms, avalanches, rockslides, sleet, snow and at the top a volcano that could blow at any moment.

But she would not be weak, she would not be cowering, she would not be a victim. Never again.

Hekate was so focused on Madalena, her senses were open, she felt the surge of power just before it came at her.

"Soteria!" Hekate flung a spell for safety from harm, it acted as a shield catching the Force Push on a dome of scarlet flickering light and shadow.

Hekate scowled thinking fast what spell to cast back at Madalena. Something that would hurt. She would prove she was not weak, she would prove she belonged in this family. Her eyes glowed red.

"Akhos!" Hekate flung her hand in tiny tendrils of the spell, emulating out of her fingers each one a different thread of swirling scarlet energy. Hekate cast the spell for Pain. Pain of Body, Pain of Mind, Grief, Distress. It was a forbidden spell she had once used it on a boy in her village who had called her something mean. She forgets what he called her, but she remembered his screams, and sobbing. The Mothers had taken her back to the caves for a month

Madalena deWinter

 

[Madalena deWinter]

Madalena often prided herself on having a wide array of knowledge. That typically included witch spells, though she did not consider herself to be a witch of any sort. But this was an existence in which knowledge was power, and she yearned to absorb as much as she could of it. The number of spells she knew was vast, spells for important things, spells for making it rain, spells for making food…

But she did not know the spells Hekate was flinging at her now. She had never heard those specific ones, and she couldn't prepare herself for what she didn't know was coming. The first one was simple enough, protecting her cousin from the push itself. The Sorceress expected the girl would pause and demand answers after that, but instead, she… Was already working on a new one.

A smile appeared on her scarred face. This was exactly what she wanted from her. Though, she still didn't know what it was, so her own shield came up and she staggered a single step back as it absorbed Hekate's attack.

"Harder," she screamed at her as she removed the shield and threw a few more pushes in sequence towards the Dathomiri, "Again!" Would Hekate be creative? Would she be repetitive? She didn't know, but now was a wonderful time as any to find out. "HURT ME!"