She sits on the mountaintop outside Phoenix of Ashla, with her half-grown Nexu curled up in her lap. She scratches the vicious creature behind its massive jaws as if it were nothing more than a large puppy, and leans back on the rock. She pulls off her helmet, and lets it rest on the ground beside her, before pulling out a dried hunk of fruit.
The aroma of the fruit is faint, but her senses latch onto it like a hungry cath-hound. As it wafts through the air, it instantly takes her back to the forests of Kashyyyk. In a moment, she's surrounded by tall trees and creeping plants. The whole world is teeming with wildlife.. a big, dangerous, harmonious mess. Organized chaos.... but peace. Everyone told her she would die in those forests within a week without a guide. The spacers she hitch-hiked with to get there actually had a pool going on it that was up to about five-thousand creds. She'd been out there for two months. Surviving. Studying. Learning to thrive amid the chaos. For a long time she would visit the forests often. Whenever she needed to think.. or to learn.. or to slip away from the galaxy for a while and work in secret.
Then she thought back to the beginnings of her training in force alchemy. Just beginning to alter nature... to learn to speak its language... to make it listen to her commands... to guide it to grow in the image she chose. It was a beautiful, and interesting, and... terrifying... power. Inevitably... Nyx pushed that power as far as she could while maintaining control of it. For a long time, she hid it well, but there were some among the locals who could see her intentions clear as day.
"Nature is not meant to be dominated." They would tell her "You can't fight it. It will always win."
Yet though she was talented, she was still naive. Their words of wisdom weren't advice in her ears... They were doubt. They were a challenge. They were only spiteful and trying to restrain her power. ....but they were right.
Then there was the day when she fled with her family to Kashyyyk. The inquisitors were after her. Her husband and newborn twins were with her. Though they were able to hide themselves in the underlevels for a time, they eventually were drawn to the surface, and had to fight their way offworld. They defended their family valiantly.. but the fight got desperate... and she resorted to employing her full power. There were some in the village who wanted to wanted to kill her, before she harmed anyone else. The elders, though, spared her life because of the circumstance.. on the condition that she never returned again.
As the night grows chilly on the mountaintop on Dantooine, the vision of those long-ago memories from Kashyyyk fade away. Her Nexu has long since settled down on her lap, snoring in a deep sleep. The twi'lek woman pulls her collar up to break the wind, and snugs her kerchief about her neck as she leans on the warm creature.
She almost doesn't want to eat the fruit in her hand. Just having it with her... a piece of the Great Tree itself... brings a certain measure of peace. Of course it was meant to be eaten. The wookiee she'd met earlier... who not only didn't wish to kill the "Lost One" on sight, but actually wanted to help her ...said it would help clear her mind. She breaks off a small portion to eat, and stows the rest in a pouch she uses to store food for later.
As the rain begins to fall down, she rouses her sleeping Nexu, and heads back to town for shelter. Not that she ever minded the rain... but somehow, this time, it feels safer to be inside the city.
The aroma of the fruit is faint, but her senses latch onto it like a hungry cath-hound. As it wafts through the air, it instantly takes her back to the forests of Kashyyyk. In a moment, she's surrounded by tall trees and creeping plants. The whole world is teeming with wildlife.. a big, dangerous, harmonious mess. Organized chaos.... but peace. Everyone told her she would die in those forests within a week without a guide. The spacers she hitch-hiked with to get there actually had a pool going on it that was up to about five-thousand creds. She'd been out there for two months. Surviving. Studying. Learning to thrive amid the chaos. For a long time she would visit the forests often. Whenever she needed to think.. or to learn.. or to slip away from the galaxy for a while and work in secret.
Then she thought back to the beginnings of her training in force alchemy. Just beginning to alter nature... to learn to speak its language... to make it listen to her commands... to guide it to grow in the image she chose. It was a beautiful, and interesting, and... terrifying... power. Inevitably... Nyx pushed that power as far as she could while maintaining control of it. For a long time, she hid it well, but there were some among the locals who could see her intentions clear as day.
"Nature is not meant to be dominated." They would tell her "You can't fight it. It will always win."
Yet though she was talented, she was still naive. Their words of wisdom weren't advice in her ears... They were doubt. They were a challenge. They were only spiteful and trying to restrain her power. ....but they were right.
Then there was the day when she fled with her family to Kashyyyk. The inquisitors were after her. Her husband and newborn twins were with her. Though they were able to hide themselves in the underlevels for a time, they eventually were drawn to the surface, and had to fight their way offworld. They defended their family valiantly.. but the fight got desperate... and she resorted to employing her full power. There were some in the village who wanted to wanted to kill her, before she harmed anyone else. The elders, though, spared her life because of the circumstance.. on the condition that she never returned again.
As the night grows chilly on the mountaintop on Dantooine, the vision of those long-ago memories from Kashyyyk fade away. Her Nexu has long since settled down on her lap, snoring in a deep sleep. The twi'lek woman pulls her collar up to break the wind, and snugs her kerchief about her neck as she leans on the warm creature.
She almost doesn't want to eat the fruit in her hand. Just having it with her... a piece of the Great Tree itself... brings a certain measure of peace. Of course it was meant to be eaten. The wookiee she'd met earlier... who not only didn't wish to kill the "Lost One" on sight, but actually wanted to help her ...said it would help clear her mind. She breaks off a small portion to eat, and stows the rest in a pouch she uses to store food for later.
As the rain begins to fall down, she rouses her sleeping Nexu, and heads back to town for shelter. Not that she ever minded the rain... but somehow, this time, it feels safer to be inside the city.
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