Aftermath
It woke her in the middle of the night. A small pit in her stomach began to ache and then it grew… and grew. After only minutes, Scarlyn was on her hands and knees inside her ship gasping for air. Something terrible had happened. It was more than a murder of a loved one or a simple disturbance in the Force; it was a Massacre.
As the Nightsisters of Dathomir fell one by one at the hands of the Separatists, Scarlyn, a Nightsister Exile, was beginning to understand the depth of her pain. General Grievous and his droid army were slaughtering the Nightsisters. While the Nightsisters were superior in skill, they were vastly outnumbered. Asajj Ventress and the others fought valiantly, but the battle only lasted for barely. Scattered and broken, the Nightsisters were defeated, but not lost. Scarlyn had a sense of what had happened, but she also felt hope. Despite her exile, she went to the cockpit and changed her heading. After five years, Scarlyn was finally returning to Dathomir.
The sun was rising over the Nightsister temple as Scarlyn made her approach. The sky was changing from a dark crimson to a more pinkish shade of red. Trees which looked more like giant roots twisting and contorting above the ground left little to know chance of landing safely near the temple. She would have to approach on foot. Scarlyn's ship was a small freighter with a few modifications to suit a bounty hunter's lifestyle. Normally, the Nightsisters would be watching its approach and preparing to subdue anyone who exits it, but no one was left able.
Even with the extended time away from Dathomir, Scarlyn remembered exactly how to find her old home amidst the dense vegetation. Her path was one of horror. At first she came across broken and disabled battle droids, but then more and more of her fallen sisters littered the ground. "They even called upon the Army of the Dead." Scarlyn whispered as she observed Nightsister bodies that had been dead far longer than several hours. As she neared the temple, Scarlyn began to sense something new. The silence was deafening on Dathomir, but Scarlyn was sensing life amidst all of the death. She started running.
The feeling was becoming stronger and more familiar. At the entrance to the Nightsister temple, Scarlyn fell to her knees upon a sight she had never imagined. Her mother, Kiva, was lying unconscious near the footsteps of the temple. On closer look, she could see her mother was pinned down by a fallen stone pillar that lied across her legs above the knees. Scarlyn gently tried to wake her mother. Perhaps it was her presence or a trace of the Nightsister magic still within her, Scarlyn managed to revive Kiva. Pale blue eyes slowly opened with several blinks to meet Kiva's silver eyes. "Scarlyn? I… I had never thought I would see the day…" Kiva could only speak barely above a whisper.
"I'm here, mother. I'm back." Scarlyn forced a comforting smile as she held her mother up for a moment to let Kiva's head and shoulders rest on Scarlyn's lap. "I couldn't stay away. Even on the other side of the galaxy I could sense what happened here. I feared the worst." Scarlyn started softly running her fingers through Kiva's short black hair.
"The droids came shortly after Asajj's return. Grand Mother Daka is dead. Everyone is dead. I believe Mother Talzin survived, but I'm not certain." Kiva struggled to speak. Her body began trembling slightly as she struggled to breathe.
"You're not dead, mother." Scarlyn said reassuringly.
"I may as well be. The droid leader walked right by me. He saw me trapped under this pillar and he didn't bother to even flinch in my direction. He knew I was dead anyways." Kiva coughed up a little bit of blood. Her brow was furled and her eyes were squinting. She was holding back terrible pain.
"You're a healer. Couldn't you repair yourself?" Scarlyn looked at the pillar that was keeping Kiva pinned down. It was solid stone and must have weighed a few thousand pounds.
"I can remedy ailments and close wounds, but I cannot repair something this severe." Kiva closed her eyes. She was fighting so hard to look strong for her daughter, but her body was shutting down.
"There must be something I can do…" Scarlyn was desperate to save her mother.
"There is something." Kiva said with a reluctant tone. Slowly, she reached down under her waist and pulled a Nightsister dagger out from its sheath.
"No, mother! I can't!" Scarlyn tried to push the dagger away, but Kiva was adamant.
"Scarlyn, my beautiful daughter. I lied here facing a very painful and slow death surrounded by my fallen sisters and destroyed home. My final hours were filled with grief and despair, but not anymore. My greatest wish has come true." Kiva managed to get a bit of her voice to crack through the whispers, but her coughing up blood was getting worse the more she spoke. She managed to open her eyes and kept them fixed on Scarlyn as she spoke. "I have seen you; one last time. That's all I ever wanted. Now, you can spare me the slow and painful death that I have lied here waiting for. You can give me the merciful death that the droid commander denied me."
"Mother, please… Don't ask this of me." Scarlyn had spent years hiding every sign of weakness, but every façade of strength that she had was broken and useless in keeping the tears from rolling down her face like rain. Her eyes were so full of tears she had to keep wiping them so that she could see clearly.
"I cannot do it myself. I need you, daughter. Let my last sight and my last thoughts be of you, my lovely daughter, and not the world that runs red with the blood of my sisters." Kiva couldn't fight her coughs any longer. Blood was filling her lungs. She had maybe an hour left to live.
Scarlyn was trembling from the emotional pain of the moment. Her tears were falling onto her mother's face and mixing with the blood that dripped from Kiva's pale grey lips. With a shaking hand, Scarlyn took Kiva's dagger and held it up to the sky. Scarlyn placed both of her hands on the handle to steady her grip. She whispered. "I love you, mother." And with that last word, she brought the dagger down into Kiva's heart. Kiva's last breath rushed out of her without any word, but she managed to keep her eyes open. Her very last sight was the sight of her daughter's raven hair waving gently in the breeze of the Dathomir jungle.
Scarlyn wasn't sure how long she remained there. For the longest time, she couldn't open her eyes or move. Her deceased mother's head and shoulders continued to rest on Scarlyn's knees as she cried for hours. After mid day, she finally rested Kiva on the ground and stood up. She was going to give her mother more than a proper burial. It was a ritual reserved for Mothers of the clan, but Scarlyn didn't care. Kiva was her Mother. With tears in her eyes, Scarlyn took the dagger and removed what was left of Kiva from under the large stone pillar that had trapped her.
With as much dignity and honor as she could give, Scarlyn picked up and carried her mother's body into the destroyed Nightsister temple. Everything was destroyed, but the Rivers of Mist remained; flowing through the catacombs of the temple. Scarlyn lied Kiva's body down into the river. The glowing green misty river carried Kiva's body away slowly. Scarlyn began to recite some ancient words of honor and sacrifice as wisps of bright green fog and mist began to swirl around her mother's body. As Scarlyn finished the incantation, Kiva's body turned into the mysterious green mist. Kiva was one with the magic and power of the Nightsisters. She would live on forever. Her gentle and forgiving nature would touch the hearts of all Nightsisters there were ever to be in the galaxy.
Scarlyn soon found herself at peace. She could feel her mother's presence all around her. Her mother was there, but there would be no words of comfort, no warm and welcoming embrace, and no shoulder to cry on. Scarlyn was thankful that Kiva had finally found peace, but as she walked back to her ship and passed the bodies of all of the Nightsisters who had been massacred the previous night she couldn't help but feel the anger build inside her. By the time she got to her ship she was nearly possessed with thoughts of vengeance. She didn't desire the destruction of the Separatists. They didn't leave her mother to die a slow and painful death. It was General Grievous who had been so merciless and destroyed all of the Nightsisters over the grievances Count Dooku held with only two. It was General Grievous who brought an entire legion of droids to fight a handful of Nightsisters. It was General Grievous whom Scarlyn would take her vengeance from.
Sitting in the small bedroom of her ship, Scarlyn pulled out her mother's dagger and pressed its tip into her right palm. She cut out a diamond shape in her hand. She then held out her hand with her palm facing upward. Blood quickly filled the diamond shape she had cut as she spoke an incantation that all Nightsister warriors learned as children. It was the Oath of Vengeance. The blood in her palm evaporated upward into green/yellow mist and then her palm boiled as Scarlyn finished the ancient words. The wound was burnt over and already healed into a scar. The green/yellow mist swirled above her hand for a moment. Scarlyn leaned forward and breathed in the mist. From that moment onward, Scarlyn would not know peace until General Grievous was dead and she vowed that he would die by her hands.