Quoth the Raven...

[Asher Mossa]

Raven’s Point, it was the place Asher called home when he was not on Skógur Heim. The forested world had become the hole Asher had never known he had, the place of his birth and capture. His discovery came in an odd fashion, but Asher would change nothing about the way in which [member="Alvida Osulf"] had led him to it. The Lupine seer had been a gift to him, the only one who had recognized him as belonging to her world. Asher had waited for that day a long time, and the adventure had certainly been worth the trouble the gods had put him through. This new life, his purpose, and his task had forced Asher to come to the realization that his life among the Mandragora was as equally important. His connections would be needed one day, so Asher had to keep them.

To that end, Asher decided he and Alvida needed to spend time on Geonosis. She would meet and make her own contacts, mingle among Asher’s, and together they would enjoy the things the planet could offer them. The idea of exploring the galaxy with one as curious to its ways as Alvida thrilled Asher. Unfortunately duty also called. The nightmother was gone again, as were the other shamans, which mean Asher was the only ranking member. For those who believed in a matriarchal order to the witches, they would be very confused. Lylek has chosen him however, just as Fadirin, and Asher would not disappoint.

Asher was just outside the main keep with his dragon, Morrok, when he sensed someone approaching. The ebony beast stirred, a deep rumble in its throat indicating he did not recognize the scent. “Easy…” Asher commanded as he patted the beasts neck and took a few steps out to meet their guest. “Let me see who this is before you decide they are your next meal.”

A smirk pulled at Asher’s mouth as he recalled the first time Morrok had seen Alvida. Asher had wondered how a wolf and a dragon were going to get along, but it seemed to not be an issue. The Lylek Shaman could only assume the beast had smelled enough of Asher’s scent on the wolf that it attributed the woman as being his. She was, as Asher was hers, if only Rikhard had been as accepting as a dragon. Still, Asher stepped out and opted to greet the stranger as she approached.

“You have startled my dragon. I’m afraid you nearly became his dinner. Perhaps you would care to introduce yourself and state your purpose. He is very protective of Raven’s Point.”

Asher nodded toward the woman as he motioned to the massive building behind him. This was going to be interesting.

[member="Pom Stych Tivé"]​

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

It sure isn’t Dathomir.

She longs to go home, but just can’t bring herself to venture back there. Since she learned the truth, her heart has broke. It is only recently she learned that she was not born of the witch who raised her, nor was she even conceived naturally by the man she was told had been her father who died while she was just a newborn. Learning the truth was far more destructive than anyone could have imagined. Pom Stych Tivé is a reincarnation of a Sith woman. The man she was told fathered her, had been her son during her past life, and he was slain in a forgotten war shortly after her birth. Her husband of her past incarnation is alive. She learned of all these truths after she met [member="Lord Depravious"], and to her destruction, she loves him deeply. The young Pom simply could never have been prepared to accept the gravity of recent revelations. Visions she had throughout her lifetime, were recognized as memories of her past life. As devastating as learning that her beloved son had died, is learning the knowledge that her birth mother who had been the Nightmother, had died at only four months of her gestation. The woman was kept alive by life support systems and thus Pom had been born unto a dead woman. While these secrets are understood why they were kept in the first place, as there was no one known to claim Pom after her birth, she wishes they had remained kept; instead they were revealed through a communication that read like her creation had been nothing more than a simple business deal. She was devastated.

She already adored her husband before she even learned who he was to her. The revelation of her true nature and all the emotions that burst forth, sent her on a drastic attempt to reclaim her own life. She needs time to decide who she is before she can make serious life choices, such as wether or not she will reclaim her past life status, to dedicate her life be a wife and a Master of the Darkside of the Force.

Her desperate plight lead her to randomly end within CIS space. She has never been away from Dathomir this long, and her knowledge of the outside galaxy is proving her to be quite naive. She ended up breaking the Law and her being taken into custody. Her service to the Knights Obsidian are a welcome sentence to the alternative. At the moment Pom needs the Mandragora because her potion stock is growing sparse. She has not yet learned to channel her deity to charge her stock. Even worse, Abeloth, she learned, seems to dwell solely upon Dathomir, and is not invokable off-world.



Pom stopped far enough away from the dragon to make herself seem harmless. She knew her only defense would be evasion if necessary. She is confident in her ability to Apparate, but not how long she can hold out while being hunted all over the planet by a dragon. She saw a man tending the beast, who spotted her before she had a chance to call out to him. She did not know anything about dragons that she did not hear in tales back on her homeworld.

She did feel quite intimidated by its size and its ferocious appearance. She feared it more than the approaching Warlock whose ways she did not yet comprehend. He mentioned that she had successfully reached Raven’s Point which is a relief. Trekking across the terrain from landing her ship in the distant clearing was quite tiresome.

She never dressed the part of the Knights Obsidian, but preferred her own personal style. A string of relics tied about her neck are usually enough to identify her profession and her alignment. Pom held out her official requisition to her induction into the Mandragora, decreed by Adron Malvern, Exarch.

She kept her eyes trained upon the movements of the dragon. “I am Pom Stych Tivé. My training thus far has been among the Nightsisters of Dathomir.” While the Vicelord painstaking attempts to teach her how to utilize her own power through the Darkside of the Force, she has only successfully invoked Abeloth. She hasn’t a clue which deity reigns to satiate the requirements of the Mandragora. She ever fears her own goddess will smite her, and possibly those who help her, because of her unfaithfulness. “I fear that as an outsider, I am the one who has many questions for you.”




[member="Asher Mossa"]

 

[Asher Mossa]

Asher watched as the woman approached and kept her eyes on his dragon. A smirk tugged at his lips knowing the beast itself was intimidating to everyone at first, and usually after. The Exharch had gifted the beast to Asher, and the dragon had become a fast friend. Until he had met Alvida, Asher had found some his best companionship from the massively intimidating creature. Even Asher had felt fear when it first put its nostrils to his body and took in his scent. Had he not been with Adron Malvern, Asher would have certainly not survived that encounter. It was the same with all who dared wish to enter Raven's Point when the dragon was guarding the entrance. None would pass the beast without Asher's express presence, or the dragon knowing if that approaching was friend or foe.

The woman carried herself in a manner Asher was not used to. She was a witch to be sure, but nothing like the ones among the Mandragora. Her introduction had given away the answer to Asher's intrigue. It was a shame the nightmother was not there to greet her as it would have been a better way to help this one understand the Mandragora compared to those on Dathomir. A quick hand snatched the requisition order from the hand which presented it. Steel blue eyes looked at the order as a sour expression washed over his face.

"And he thinks that just because he hands over an order that the spirits will take you," Asher handed the order back to the witch and motioned for her to follow him. "Come, ask your questions, but let's find somewhere a bit less..." Asher looked to Morrok, "...intimidating to find you those answers. Mind you whether you are accepted or not is not my decision. The spirits will weigh and measure. Just hope they do not find you lacking."

With a wave of his hand the doors of the building opened to them. Asher was unique in that he knew the spells of the witches, but has also been trained in the ways of the force by a rogue Jedi. Everything, the experiences he had, all of them made him the man walking ahead Pom into the keep.

"My name is Asher... Shaman to the spirit known as Lylek."

The introduction was given as they crossed inside the building and into a common area where there were benches and couches to sit. He motioned for the woman to make herself comfortable for time being. If she was sincere they would make their way to the altar which contained the grimoire where the spirits would decide her fate.

[member="Pom Stych Tivé"]

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

The shaman’s agitation with her arrival being against social protocol was made blatantly apparent, beginning with her requisition orders. It’s understood perfectly however as she is an outsider. She notices an entryway at the base of the mountain which she could swear was not there before. Walking with [member="Asher Mossa"] past the dragon was not without its anxiety, yet she knew that the domesticated beasties sometimes held less aggression than they did look the part. Regardless, she would not want to learn just how obedient it is!

She was lead to a seating area inside where he listened to her ordeal. He told her, her talent would be judged by the spirits inherent to this domain. Her alignment is that of Darkness, but since leaving Dathomir she learned there is ever one being even darker than the last; and the same goes for those who walk among the Light. There is good and bad within everyone which keep one sane.

“At times I am convinced my leaving Dathomir was a bad idea.” This is very true. For had she never left, she would never had met Lord Depravious, which was the start of her downward spiral into the unknown. She found herself ill-prepared to carry on independently as a witch.

She felt hopeless and it undoubtedly showed. She hoped the Mandragora could provide a solution. “I have ever only invoked one deity. My goddess is Abeloth. I have only since leaving Dathomir, learnt that her reign is limited to that system. For the life of me, I never would have fathomed such. I find it quite disheartening. At first I thought Abeloth had abandoned me...pissed at me for my insincere heart, when I learned I must seek out alternative power to charge my rapidly depleting apothecary.” Melancholy was her tone. “I expected her wrath, and yet none befell me. I should have learned to channel her before I left Dathomir, if that would do me any good, which I now doubt. I never thought Abeloth’s power restricted beyond a boundary of distance. I never could have anticipated that I would not return home.” There is alot of recent development reinforcing her choice to stay away from home. She shook it off. “Learning these things has lead me to understand not only her’s, but also my limitations. Quite a harsh reality from my days before I left, along with everyone trying to convince me that this thing they call the Force is a stronger power to behold, less restrictive and less time consuming. I am trapped in not only culture shock, but also in a time gap. I am ill prepared for this new heading on my journey, but ecstatically happy to find those similar to my own practice this far away from my homeworld.” She is hoping the Mandragora hold to similar customs.

She began to see how her unique cultural beliefs are viewed quite controversial, and her rituals limited to those of her home world environment. She discovered much to learn out in this vast galaxy. Some of the new talents presented her feel frightening, like one’s method of controlling aspects of the Force. She has enough confidence in her ways, that she can do remarkable things, even if her process is achieved by way of old world standards. She only hopes her ways are among like company, and that she will not be judged lacking because of her restricted knowledge.

 

[Asher Mossa]

"And why is that," Asher probed further as he sat down himself. "Something you will learn here is that nothing is ever by chance. There is a reason you left, and despite the obscene ignorance on the part of the Exarch for how the Mandragora operates, you are here for a reason. Life is not a series of random accidents or coincidences. It may seem that way, but everything has its purpose, even this meeting."

Asher would never had spoken those words with such confidence had it not been for his relationship with [member="Alvida Osulf"]. The experience he had with her at the base of the father tree was one which had shaped his view on life and destiny. While others believed they forged their own, Asher believed the opposite. He was a player in a larger game. He could choose to accept it, or fight it. His choice had been to accept it, and he was fortunate his feelings and emotions were in line with destiny had set before him.

He looked the woman directly in the eye as she spoke of her goddess. A small smirk played at his lips as he used to think these spirits were all powerful. None of them were compared to the gods he now served. It was a truth Lylek was loath to allow Asher to have, but as the spirit shared his mind often it had seen the same things Fadirin had shown Asher. There was no denying that the Mandragora did not have a primary hold on Asher any longer, yet he was more present than any of the others.

"The spirits are fickle. They are happy one minute, angry with you the next, and indifferent most of the time. I would imagine your goddess to be no different. However, you will find these spirits to be more... annoying, than anything else."

Asher stroked the hair on his chin as he pondered her skill. An apothecary was something she needed, and Raven's Point needed someone to run their's. Perhaps the spirits were at work through disregard of the Exarch after all. He nodded as he looked back toward the corridor which would lead to the storerooms that made up the apothecary itself. His eyes darted back to her.

"We currently are missing our own apothecary to run our own supply. Perhaps if the spirits accept you we can come to an agreement which would allow you to restock yours as you manage ours?"

Asher leaned forward anticipating her answer.

[member="Pom Stych Tivé"]

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

Pomsty had never pondered wether or not she believes in random luck, or life fulfilling some grander purpose, organized by some force or being. In fact, probably the first perception would win out, lest there would be some entity abandoning everyone who never came into their lifetime of fame and fortune. Why would reason abandon the masses, and only favor the few? Unless perhaps, her ideal life is not what makes life of another important. Maybe a woman living out a small town life, in the arms of a loving man, with three children, and a cat has it better. Such thoughts of how the other's live, never cross her mind. She may not possess credits, but she does have much options by way of available resources.

[member="Asher Mossa"] seemed to truly believe of what he spoke regarding life occurring not by a series of chance, but destiny. She might contemplate his theory in time. He made his point with determination enough, that he earned her consideration of the matter. She nodded at his observation, no matter how uncertain she is on the topic.

His blatant heresy surprised her, regardless of understanding that he does not know her Abeloth. Pomsty had not expected he would blurt out such things, like many force users so ignorantly openly declare. She expected a warlock to respect the ways of magick, regardless of which being is their master. The young witch never faced such diversity on a mass scale as this before. Every aspect of her beliefs are challenged. Her customs, her beliefs, and even her goddess has been proven insufficient with limitations! Pomsty's entire world needs reevaluation!

Some present her errors to her with sheer irony, she simply cannot swallow! She wonders how they came about their own casual acceptance. Had they been raised since younglings as polytheists? A concept Pomsty had never even heard of before leaving Dathomir!

He spoke once again, mentioning a need of the Mandragora for a managed apothecary. She never brewed for more than a private sale here and there. Potion Master, a position she never thought she would be offered. She found the title quite alluring.

But Pomsty doesn’t conjure the goddess(es) to harness their power and infuse it…

Her mouth fell open as she contemplated the idea of such an ability belonging to herself. On Dathomir, the nightmother always provided this service for the nightsisters. The Nightmother conjured and the channelled their goddess, and the nightsisters infused her power into their potions. The idea that surely someone always has been right where she now sits, before they too learned themselves to conjure! Pomsty shot up from her place upon the plush sofa and she boisterously declared, “Perhaps you are correct; that I have met destiny here and now…in CIS Space! I too shall conjure!”