Nights on Dathomir were never a comfort to offworlders, nor even to those who had spent a lifetime there but had not learned how to live in chaotic harmony with the planet. In the deepening dark, the fog rolled in from the swamps and bogs to cover the forest floors. Bioluminescence penetrated the shadow from the still water; whether from algae or some mystical property of the water itself remained a mystery to those who had not been raised by its shores since birth. Distant howls and screams of rancors and other roaming beasts pierced the night air, but none was more disturbing than the one that came from Mother Talzin's dwelling.

"No! She is an innocent! She is not yours to give away, Mother!"

Talzin did not react to the outburst. Her pale, painted face remained impassive as the Nightsister continued to rant. She knew this was a difficult topic, and it would be best to let the other witch let it out now than allow it to fester. She would understand soon enough that this sacrifice was for the good of the coven, and the coven came first in all things. "Mother," the Nightsister said, her tone now pleading rather than angry and violent. "Mother, you cannot ask this of me. There must be some other way. There is always another way."

Talzin turned a sympathetic gaze to the witch. "Maleera," she said, her voice at once near and far, soothing yet commanding. "There is nothing I would like more than to keep all the Nightsisters here on Dathomir. Our youngest are especially precious." Her long fingers closed gently around Maleera's shoulders. "Which is why one child will secure the safety of the coven. We cannot afford to incite an intersystem conflict, especially with such heathen scum as Hal'Sted and his ilk." Maleera opened her mouth to protest, but Talzin raised a hand for silence. "If we simply kill the barbarian, his comrades will flee, only to return with an army behind them. We Nightsisters are powerful and fierce, to be sure. But we are no match for the weapons of other worlds."

"Then we kill them all, Mother," Maleera countered. "They are not so strong that we cannot take them before they leave our soil!"

Talzin began walking, leaving the reception area in favor of the spacious hallway. Soft, cold light that would have been eerie to a foreigner streamed through the open recesses that served as windows. "True enough, but they have left instructions for their compatriots that remain in orbit. If Hal'Sted does not return with some form of payment in exchange for leaving the Nightsisters be, they will rally an army to eliminate us, or worse."

Maleera's pale eyes darted about the hall as if searching for a way out. Talzin could feel the turmoil ravaging her very soul. "Is there nothing else we can offer, Mother? Our magicks-"

"Are ours alone, and useless to an outsider. We have nothing so base as currency, and our weapons are rudimentary at best by off-world standards." Talzin repressed a sympathetic sigh at the sight of Maleera's expression. Never had she seen so powerful a Nightsister look so lost. "There is no other way."

Maleera halted in her tracks and turned to face Talzin directly. A spark had flared in her eyes, an idea. "I will go." Talzin blinked, genuinely surprised. "I will go with Hal'Sted as his slave."

"You would do this?"

Maleera straightened her back and set her jaw. "For my daughter, I would do anything."

Talzin observed the Nightsister for a long moment. She should have known how deep the bond between mother and child went, and yet it still stunned her. That a Nightsister as strong and ferocious as Maleera would willingly sacrifice her own life for one of slavery was unheard of. It was unthinkable. But many did unthinkable things in the name of their children. "Maleera-"

"Mother Talzin, please." Maleera's colorless eyes shone with unshed tears, desperate and near-mad with grief. "Do not send my daughter into slavery. Send me in her stead."

"Child, there is no choice. You are already grown, the ways of the coven long-ingrained into your very spirit." Talzin watched as Maleera seemed to deflate right before her eyes. It was a terrible sight, but one that did not deter her from saying what was necessary. "You would go, you would fight, you would kill Hal'Sted, and his ilk would come for us. Your destiny does not lie away from Dathomir. Your child has not yet become set in our ways. With her youth, she will adapt to her new life with ease and live to one day return to us. In time." Long fingers lifted Maleera's lowered chin. "It is decided, Sister. The infant will go with these outsiders." Talzin leaned towards the distraught witch, staring her down with a silent warning. "For the protection of the coven."

Maleera drew in a harsh breath, but refused to look away. Still so proud and full of fire. She forced that fire into her words when she spoke next: "For the coven."

"What did Mother say, sister?"

Maleera didn't look at Trilla as she stepped through the door to her home. She went directly for the cradle her blood-sister had been kneeling beside and knelt on the other side. The sight of the sleeping baby inside was at once calming and heartbreaking; this may be the last time she would lay eyes on her only child. She stroked her knuckles down the small face. "She would not budge." The words came out flat and lifeless, just as Maleera felt inside. "Hal'Sted will leave Dathomir with a Nightsister for a slave. 'For the protection of the coven.'" Fury was now finding its way into her heart. "As if this offworld filth can be trusted to honor their word!"

Trilla's hand covered Maleera's. "Calm yourself, sister," she whispered, gesturing toward the still-sleeping baby. "You will wake her."

Maleera forced her anger down, a feat made more difficult by the pain that threatened to crush her heart. "What am I to do, Trilla? She is my child. She is mine. I am the one who carried her in my womb. I am the one who birthed her. She does not belong to Talzin! She is not some trinket to be handed off to some slaver filth like a bag of coins! What right does she have to give away my child?"

Trilla's startled expression cut off her tirade. "You mustn't say those things, Maleera. Mother has ears everywhere. You know this."

Now the tears that had been building since leaving Talzin's home fell. "I cannot send my child into slavery, Trilla. What kind of mother does that?"

Trilla, always the voice of reason ever since childhood, took her sister's face in her hands and wiped her tears away with her thumbs. "One who is bound to the will of another and has no choice." Fingers callused from constant use of her beloved energy bow covered Maleera's lips before she could protest. "Sister, we all are bound to the will of Mother Talzin. The coven is paramount, above even our own lives. You know this, too." Trilla looked down into the cradle. Her eyes grew sad as she gazed at her niece. "I wish there was another way as well, sister."

Maleera nodded once. "How can I live with myself, Trilla?"

"By staying strong for her. By remembering that what you do you do for the Nightsisters. And by having hope that one day you may meet again."

Maleera tried taking her blood-sister's words to heart, but with the organ ripping itself apart in her chest it was nearly impossible. She would never stand at her daughter's side as she learned to shoot a bow correctly. She would never teach her the ways of stealth or swordplay. She would never wonder if her child was alive or dead as she went through her rites of passage in the wilderness to tame a wild rancor. She would never rejoice with her when she mastered a spell or a scrying. She would never see her inducted into the coven as a full Nightsister.

Trilla sat back on her heels as Maleera withdrew into herself. All of her focus was now fixed on the tiny form between them. Maleera carefully lifted her child from the cradle and held her close to her chest. The baby shifted at the change in position and began to wake. Tiny fists clutched at Maleera's blouse as sleepy eyes opened. Trilla knew when her presence was not needed or wanted. This was a private moment between mother and daughter. As close as she and Maleera were, she had no right to intrude now. She stood on silent feet and left them in peace.

Maleera didn't notice her sister's departure. All she saw was her daughter's sleepy face and the bright innocence that shone in her eyes, mirrors of her own. A sad smile turned Maleera's lips up. All thought of what could and should have been vanished. There would be time later for that regret. Right now, she would try to enjoy what little time she had with her only child.

"My darling Asajj," she crooned softly. "I know you cannot understand me, but I want you to know how much I love you. I have loved you since I first felt your life force inside me. Wherever you go and whatever you do, I will always love you, child."

A thought sprang to mind as she spoke. She stood and rummaged through a small cubicle hidden in the floor beneath her weapons wall. Asajj had remained still and quiet while she searched, but reached out with one stubby arm when her mother found what she was looking for. "This belonged to my blood-mother, little one." Maleera held up a pendant, a piece of raw crystal that glimmered with reds and purples and blacks as if lit from within. Asajj took the chain as her mother brought it closer. She giggled when it jingled. "It holds all of her love and hopes for me, just as it will hold mine for you."

Maleera closed her eyes and focused all of her energy inward. Ancient words formed in her mind's eye before flowing from her lips like water. In them she imbued every ounce of love she held in her heart for little Asajj. She spoke directly into the crystal, brushing her lips against its suddenly-warm edge. Asajj let out a small squeal when a greenish light wrapped around the pendant, then seemed to pierce it.

Maleera opened her eyes to see the crystal glowing faintly with that green energy. She smiled. The chain was too long for Asajj now, but if Hal'Sted or one of his goons did not manage to take it from her, it would fall to rest over her heart when she grew up. Which yiu will never see. She viciously shoved the unbidden thought aside. "This will protect you, my darling child," Maleera said softly, shakily. Asajj took hold of the crystal and seemed to examine it. Her meaty fingers poked at it when the green light faded; the energy was now invisible, but no less present. "It will remind you of where you come from, of who you are." Maleera cradled Asajj's smooth head to her chest, just under her chin, and brushed a gentle kiss against her soft temple. Asajj reached for her mother's stark white hair with a smile. Still so young, so ignorant to the unfairness and coldness of life. That innocence would have been stamped out eventually among the Nightsister clan, but Maleera hadn't anticipated it to happen like this, and this soon. Tears once again stung her eyes and made her throat burn. "No matter where you are or what you do, I will always love you, Asajj."

Asajj had fallen asleep on her mother's chest soon after, but such relief was not to be found for Maleera. She stayed awake all night, trying to memorize the feel of her daughter in her arms, the look of complete peace on her young face, and the soft sounds of her breath as she slept. She sang to her in hushed tones, lullabies old and new, prayers to the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God to protect her child and give her the strength to one day fight to escape her enslavement.

Hal'Sted returned in the morning as promised, two of his thugs flanking him with blaster rifles. Maleera stood beside Mother Talzin, other Nightsisters having taken up positions in the trees and the ledges of their dwellings. "Have you made your decision, Sister?" the slaver asked. If not for his profession and the utter hatred Maleera felt towards the stranger, he would have sounded politely cordial.

Talzin bowed her head slightly, not once removing her stony gaze from the offworlder. "In exchange for your word that no harm will come to the Nightsisters by your doing, we will give you one of our own." Maleera suppressed a violent flinch and clutched Asajj closer on instinct. "I ask only that you protect Asajj Ventress as if she were your own. She is very precious in more ways than one."

Hal'Sted's golden eyes narrowed. "Is that another stipulation of our agreement? That will require something more-"

Talzin spread her hands to interrupt. "It is a request. Care for her and you will be rewarded manifold."

Maleera wanted nothing more than to sever Hal'Sted's head from his shoulders when his gaze slid to her daughter, now playing with her hair. He had no right to look at her!

"I make no promises, Talzin," he said. "But I may change my mind if she proves to be useful."

Talzin did not respond. Such coldness towards an innocent was unworthy of being dignified with a reply.

Maleera resisted the urge to turn and flee when Hal'Sted stepped towards her at Talzin's gesture. Instead she allowed herself one last look at her smiling daughter, oblivious to the blasphemous deal Mother Talzin had entered her into. Ice replaced the blood in her veins when the alien removed Asajj from her arms. Her tongue turned to ash. Her heart became a dead weight beneath her ribs. A muffled cry escaped her lips. But she forced herself to stand still. Such a task became nearly impossible when Hal'Sted turned and Asajj looked over his shoulder. Now the infant knew something was not right. She reached her arms towards her mother with a high-pitched squeal.

Maleera's spirit sank with that sound. It shattered completely when it turned into a cry. She closed her eyes against it, against the agony knifing through her breast. Asajj's cries faded as Hal'Sted and his men entered their transport and sped away from the village. Maleera had never before felt such all-consuming grief, such cold loss.

A weight on her shoulder made her realize she had been shaking. "The sacrifice of little Asajj is our protection, Sister. I foresee great things in her future. She will not remain a slave for long."

Maleera had no desire to hear Talzin's empty words of comfort. All she wanted was to run to her daughter and slaughter the slavers for daring to touch her.

"Sister," came a new voice to her left. She didn't turn to it. "Come, sister." Her trembling increased to a violent level when Trilla wrapped her arms around her. If not for their support she would have crumpled to the ground. She gripped the pale arms as if holding onto the last remnants of her sanity. Perhaps she was. "Come."

Maleera allowed her blood-sister to lead her away. When they entered her home, a distinct sense of coldness hit her like a stampeding rancor. The sight of the empty cradle on the floor undid her. Pain shot up her legs when her knees hit the floor. Her lungs refused to fill with air. Hot tears scorched her painted face. Screams of unimaginable pain turned her throat raw. Objects flung themselves around the room in a maelstrom borne out of the agony only a mother could ever know.

Through it all, Trilla did not lessen her embrace. She held her sister to her just as she had done when their blood-mother had died. Maleera was too far gone to appreciate the gesture, however. Her entire universe had shrunken until all that was left was the gaping hole in her heart that had once been filled with Asajj.

Trilla stayed with her into the night, but made no attempt to comfort her beyond stroking her hair. Words were lies, no matter how well-intentioned. Tapping into the natural energy of Dathomir would be just as fruitless; Maleera had retreated so deeply into herself that she could not be reached by that method. All Trilla could do was hold her sister.

The sun had set hours ago. Maleera lay beside the cradle that had once held her precious child, her head in Trilla's lap. Her cries had abated, but the tears still flowed. Her fingers just barely touched the carved wood, as if she could still feel Asajj resting inside it. "What do you think will become of her, Trilla?" she asked suddenly, her voice unrecognizably thick and thready.

"I cannot say. But I hope that she will have a chance for a life of her own. A good life."

Maleera did not move. She did not mention the crystal she had tucked under Asajj's shirt before handing her over. She could only hope that her magick had taken hold, that it would be enough to ensure that Asajj would understand that her mother had not wanted to give her up, that she had fought to keep her, that she had not thrown her away. "I hope so as well," she said instead.

She did not hope for the pain she felt to dull. She did not hope for her soul to be whole again. It never would as long as she lived. All that mattered was Asajj. Maleera hoped for her happiness, her safety, and that she would never return to Dathomir. She would not wish for her to become ensnared in Talzin's web of deceit and lies.

But if she were honest, she would wish to see her again. Only time would tell if that wish would become reality.