Private Light and Witchfire

[Thea Nyko]

Nar Shaddaa never slept—it merely shifted moods.

Thea felt it the moment her boots touched the durasteel of the landing platform: the hum of power conduits beneath her feet, the acrid tang of spice and exhaust in the air, the ever-present undercurrent of desperation that clung to the moon like a second atmosphere. Neon light washed over her red skin in harsh blues and sickly greens.

"Subtlety was never this place's strong suit," she thought dryly. A pair of dockhands glanced her way. One froze mid-step.

Thea didn't slow. She let herself be swallowed by the noise of speeders and shouting vendors. She'd learned long ago that stopping only invited more ignorance. Still, the familiar tightness settled in her chest, a mix of irritation and weary expectation.

Dathomirian, they'd be thinking. Nightsister.

Her jaw clenched. If they only knew how tired that assumption was. She moved through the crowds with practiced ease, her presence parting them more effectively than any threat. Nar Shaddaa's denizens had good instincts; even if they didn't recognize a Jedi, they recognized someone who didn't belong—and who wouldn't hesitate to defend themselves.

Thea found a open food stall, stopping to get something to put in her stomach and take in her surroundings.

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

The tap tap of the Bevik be te werda'vod on the ground as she walked her clothing a masterwork of the Cavataio's in survivalist utility blended with Dathomiri tradition. She moved with a fitted bodice of dark, hardened rancor hide leather, reinforced with beskar stitching and kyber studs. Her arms wrapped in bracers, leaving her shoulders free for movement. From her waist hangs a layered, dark-olive skirt over her bare legs, all cinched by a heavy gaping spider silk belt laden with small pouches and witch fetishes. She moves barefoot, her feet allowing her to feel the vibrations of the world beneath her and from the staff.

She rarely left her homeworld, the fortress of Petra and the clan quiet in the years since she had overtaken the world. Now here as she moved with her sash over her eyes she spoke. "It hasn't been but not every world is stillness. This is chaotic like the body with a sickness it is trying to purge. Everrything choking and trying to come out on top." She said it but moved only stopping to let someone pass who looked at the blind woman in her rancor hides but it was the staff that gleamed and attracted many. The jeweled and mirror finish to the top where the mechanical parts were looking like a large enough jewel.

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea slowed in her eating when the sound reached her—not the staff itself, but the weight of it. The tap-tap against duracrete carried intention, resonance, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to Nar Shaddaa.

She turned to study the woman. Rancor hide. Beskar stitching. Witch fetishes. And the sash over her eyes. The woman spoke, voice calm, observational, as though dissecting the moon rather than judging it.

"Y'know," she said lightly, tone edged with dry humor, "for a place that prides itself on being a cesspool, that might be the most poetic diagnosis Nar Shaddaa's ever gotten."

She glanced around as someone squeezed between them, eyes lingering too long. Thea waited until the passerby was gone before speaking again.

Then, with a small tilt of her head toward the blind woman, she added, genuinely curious, "…Was that meant for me, or do you usually give philosophical autopsies to entire moons out loud?"

There was no accusation in her voice—only interest, and the faint, familiar tension of someone used to being judged first and understood later.

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

She gave a look even with the sash on her eyes for a moment as her voice came out. "I speak, sometimes people listen, sometimes it leads to questions and sometimes to other things. Petra taught many of us to experience the galaxy and learn there is more then in our scrolls and recitations of old tales." He said it but was a little stopping only so her staff could tap the ground but remain out of the way. "Besides on worlds like this we are viewed in ways others are not. All hear tall tales spun by spacers, few have met a witch of Dathomirrr, let alone a nightsister... to most there is likely no more difference to between them as one views a jedi or a sith. All wear the same and carry the same."

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea let out a quiet breath through her nose—half a laugh, half something closer to recognition. "Petra sounds wiser than most Masters I've met," she said, not without a hint of fond irreverence. "Learning by living tends to stick better than scrolls ever do."

At the mention of witches, Nightsisters, Jedi, Sith—all blurred together by frightened minds—Thea's expression tightened just slightly. Not anger. Not yet. Just an old bruise being pressed.

"You're not wrong," she replied, voice steadier now. "To most of the galaxy, they see the pale skin and facial markings, and that is enough. After that, they stop looking. Stop listening. Easier to lump us into a story they already think they understand."

"I'm a Jedi," she added plainly. No flourish. No pride. Just fact. "And I've still been called witch and monster in the same breath. Funny how quick people are to decide what your soul weighs without ever watching what you do."

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

"Because it is easier, I trained with jedi for a time they were different in their own way... though most saw it less as teaching and more they wanted to be able to take the knowledge of our clan in exchange for their presence." She said it. "But they do have surprisingly good food at times." Her grin remained while she was walking and motioned with her hand. "Come, observe. A jedi is helpful and you have the goal to help many people.... this is as good a place as any." She said it when she was walking with her staff but was moving around the people. her sight going outwards towards the different buildings. "There is much more here and even with a new group overseeing much stays the same."

 

[Thea Nyko]

At the mention of the food, her mouth twitched into a real smile. "I will begrudgingly admit—Jedi kitchens can surprise you. Stews, especially. No idea how an Order built on restraint managed that."

She followed when the woman gestured, falling in beside her as the crowd thickened. Thea's awareness stretched outward, the Force painting impressions of tension, hunger, fear—Nar Shaddaa's constant background hum. Her gaze tracked hands, exits, power dynamics, even as she listened.

"Observe," Thea echoed, thoughtful. "That's one of the first things they teach us. Or they're supposed to."

Her eyes lifted to the looming buildings, stacked like bad decisions made generations ago. "You're right, though. Different syndicates, different banners… same people crushed underneath. New overseers love pretending they've changed the system when all they've done is repaint the cage."

She glanced at the woman's staff again, at the way she navigated with certainty rather than hesitation. "You talk like someone who's already seen this place before," Thea said. Not accusing. Curious. "Or places just like it."

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

She looked for a moment as her voice came out. "I looked upon the galaxy and wept before carving my eyes from my face for there was nothing new to see." A little dramatic for visions but it was something fun to joke about after all these years and if you couldn't laugh at yourself... who could you laugh at.... well sith when they talked trying to lure most to the darkside she had found... and gungans.... and Imperials. Some of them try so hard to be so amazing and awesome... and badass in a way no one else has." She said it with a chuckle while she moved. "It adds just another layer to some of them or at least the interactions and my clan does not like venturing away for too long. So the ones who can leave often do it more then once or twice."

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea stopped short for half a step—then laughed, a real one, warm and unguarded.

"Wow," she said, placing a hand over her chest in mock solemnity, "and here I thought I had a flair for dramatic entrances. Carving out your own eyes because the galaxy bored you is… honestly? Iconic."

Her amusement softened as the woman spoke of her clan—of leaving, of returning, of seeing more without truly abandoning home. That part landed quieter, deeper.

"Yeah," Thea said gently. "Dathomir has a way of holding onto you. Even when you walk among the stars, part of you never really leaves."

She studied the woman again—her cadence, her confidence, the way she moved as if the city bent around her rather than the other way around. "If you don't mind me asking," Thea said, tone respectful, curious rather than prying, "which clan do you belong to?"

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

"Severaal, there was a time we have many and then most were wiped out by Kiyala trying to take power from Petra and the Cavataio. I was once within the spider clan when I grew up but was adopted to their mountain fortress. Now they are barely around and the mandalorians have come several times taking some while leaving others." She said it but had a look more to the distance. Petra, Amari and a few others were around from time to time. Elayne but there were rarely the clans or the clan elders who had sought to turn them into a great kingdom once again. "What about you though?" She said it and turned looking at her with her gaze but she didn't speak more. Instead checking and the force swirled as she navigated around without bumping into others who were around them.

 

[Thea Nyko]

"That's… a lot to carry," she said at last, voice low. "Being moved between clans, watching them dwindle. People love to talk about Dathomir like it's a single story, but it's always been many—layered, fragile in ways outsiders never see."

At the mention of Mandalorians, her brow furrowed. That caught her attention fast. "Wait," Thea said, turning more fully toward her as they walked. "Why are Mandalorians taking Dathomirians? That's not exactly a casual exchange program."

She watched the woman navigate the crowd with the Force swirling around her like a tide, impressed despite herself. Whatever answers came, this wasn't rumor or spacer nonsense—this was lived truth. When the question came back to her, Thea didn't dodge it.

"I'm from the Frost Clan," she said simply. "Ice cap settlements, far north. Most people don't even realize Dathomir has ice, let alone clans that live in it. We learned early how to survive cold, silence, and being forgotten."

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

"Alliances usually. AA few of the mandalorian clan leaders wanted to fight the jedi and the sith so they turned to us to becoming skilled in our ways... and well some clans welcomed it in the name of progress and others largely avoided them. The cross pollination of cultures has been shocking in the last few decades compared to the eons before." She said it when she looked towards her and she couldn't see her normally but she could see her in the force as she spoke. "The ones from the north were rare to see." She smiled though with a bow of her head to that. "But I welcome it and it is good to meet the other clan sisters. Though I haven't seen many of the frost with rancors."

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea absorbed that quietly, the explanation settling into place with uncomfortable logic. "Of course," she muttered. "If Mandalorians want an edge against Jedi and Sith, they go hunting for witches."

There wasn't offense in her tone—just a dry acknowledgment of how the galaxy worked. Power sought power. Rarely did anyone ask what it cost.

"Cross-pollination," she repeated, thoughtful. "That's one word for it. I suppose it's better than extinction. Still… alliances built on fear of someone else tend to rot if you're not careful."

"You wouldn't see our clan with Rancors. They are not accustomed to the cold climate, and so far, no signs of any cold-based subspecies yet. However, we have another predatory creature that the Frost Clan will use as mounts."

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

She idea of a frost rancor was amusing in a way. She kind of wondered if adapting them to the cold over time could be possible or if it had been tried. She was debating some of it though mentally as the mandalorians had proven to be much like the jedi or the sith depending on who was running them and they would bring."Dathomir will endure, we have been around as long as anything and there are always sisters, the only question is time and what we will become. From the great kingdoms to the clans to for a brief we had our own empire among the stars and fought the dominion but we adapt, we change and we learn just as much. Bringing what we must back to the clans to strengthen them."

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea listened without interrupting, the noise of Nar Shaddaa fading to a dull backdrop against the weight of that history. Great kingdoms. Clans. An empire among the stars. War with the Dominion. Most of the galaxy reduced Dathomir to a single word—Nightsister—and never bothered to learn the rest.

A faint, proud smile touched her lips. "We endure," Thea echoed softly. "That's the one constant."

She folded her hands behind her back as they walked, posture relaxed but attentive. "Frost Clan stories say the same thing, just… colder." A dry glint touched her tone. "Ice doesn't break easily. It shifts. Cracks. Freezes again stronger."

Her gaze lifted slightly, thoughtful. "Empires rise and fall. Orders fracture. Mandalorians splinter and reunite every few decades. Sith burn bright and collapse under their own egos."

She gave a small shrug. "Dathomir just… keeps breathing."

"You're right, though. The real question isn't whether we survive. It's what we become next." She tilted her head slightly toward the blind woman. "An empire again? A network of allied clans? Something no one's named yet?"

Thea's eyes drifted to the crowded streets around them—crime syndicates, desperate workers, opportunists in polished armor. "Adaptation doesn't mean surrendering who we are," she added quietly. "It means choosing which parts of ourselves we carry forward."

A faint smirk returned. "Preferably the parts that don't involve carving out our eyes for dramatic effect. If Dathomir rises into something new, I want it to be by choice."

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko

"I can assure you it is something no one sees coming." She said it as a small joke.. she was better at making jokes about it now at least. Other times before maybe not but there was a small chance of something fun. She listened to the woman as moving through the streets and the crowd offered them a few more things. She was moving through it while walking and speaking. "It there is anything that we are able to do here it may help or at least if we are able to find those who bring something special into the clans. I know there were a few witches a handful of years back that tried to join but their leader didn't give much aside from she was oppressed."

 

[Thea Nyko]

Thea huffed a quiet laugh at that. "Alright, I walked into that one," she admitted. "Hard to see something coming when the person telling you about it literally can't."

The sarcasm softened the edge of the crowded street as they walked. Nar Shaddaa flowed around them—vendors shouting, credits exchanging hands, someone arguing loudly two levels above them. Through it all, the Force pulsed with the constant friction of too many lives packed too tightly together.

At the mention of witches trying to join the clans, Thea's expression grew thoughtful. "Oppressed," she repeated, the word rolling off her tongue with a bit of skepticism. "That can mean a lot of things depending on who's saying it." She stepped aside to let a cargo droid rumble past, then fell back into pace with the blind woman.

"Some people run because they're hunted," Thea said. "Others run because someone finally told them 'no.' The trick is figuring out which kind you're dealing with before you hand them a place in your home." Her gaze drifted across the crowd—faces, postures, little flashes of intent in the Force.

"That said…" she added more gently, "the galaxy isn't exactly kind to people with power they don't understand. Especially if it looks like what we carry. I can't blame someone for looking toward Dathomir and thinking it might be the one place they won't be treated like a monster."

She tilted her head slightly toward the woman. "But the clans aren't a refuge for anyone who asks," Thea continued. "They're families. Traditions. Responsibilities." A small smirk returned. "Also rancors. Which is a pretty effective screening process."

Then her tone shifted again—curious, pragmatic. "So what happened with them?" she asked. "Those witches who wanted to join. Did the clans turn them away, or are they wandering the galaxy somewhere still looking for a place that understands them?"

Lavania

 

[Lavania]

Thea Nyko
She moved and spoke tapping the staff for a moment. "Last I knew they hadn't been turned away but they also didn't stay. Another things many do it seem to try and go everywhere. They wanted to be everywhere in most cases." She shrugged though while she walked and came to parts of the small area they were in. Her head turning as the staff tapped the ground but she could look into the force and into the buildings. "There is a lot of people here, too many in some cases all piled atop one another.. if it suffocating in most instances... I couldn't imagine what they might be able to do if they piled more in." The black sun or the hutts or whoever had this many people and cared little for them but wanted more to work.