A silence so absolute fell upon the forest, that it seemed to Rey not even a breath of wind stirred a single leaf. She counted at least twenty women, all of them wrapped in different configurations of the same red cloth and each one-armed and poised to strike.
Rey drew a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, raising her hand deliberately to indicate that she held no weapon. It was Master Luke's words she now remembered, how a Jedi could- with effort and training- exude peace, calming an unruly mob or gentling an animal ready to strike. It was simply a matter of concentrating and slow, even breathing—all is well, all is well, all is well… The hostility of the women surrounding her was not at all soothed by her meager effort. If anything, they seemed to stiffen, as though they could sense her attempt.
Desperate to communicate that she meant no harm, she searched their pale faces for a pair of curious or warm eyes. It was then that she noticed the small girl peeking out from behind a dark-skinned woman—the very child who had called the hunters with her screams.
"Hello," Rey smiled, crouching down. "You dropped this—"
She yanked the spear from the riverbank, and the movement caused the women to hiss and flinch.
"She has befouled the Winged Goddess, sisters!" The girl cried, pointing a finger of condemnation at Rey. "I saw her! She brought her mating slave to our wood and meant to have him right on the feet of our Sacred Lady!"
"WHAT?!" Rey shrieked. "I never! I would not—I... I did no such thing… I…"
The anger of the women was palpable. Rey glanced over her shoulder at Albion, who was still sprawled where he'd been dropped… pantless.
"Oh no. Oh, no, no, Kriff!" she muttered. "No, this is not at all what it looks like. He's injured! He isn't wearing pants because of a big… big back spider—"
"Bane Back Spider," Albion corrected while twenty pairs of eyes flew back and forth between the two intruders.
"Right! A bane back spider shot poison and it was all over his pants so—"
"Burned right through to my skin," Albion insisted.
"Burned his skin, sure, and it might have looked like we were doing something inappropriate, but he… he can't walk by himself—"
"I've been hobbled," he confirmed.
"His injury has left him lame and weak, and we were trying to find a village—"
"I don't know that I'd say 'lame' and 'weak', more uhhh… 'tired' and 'temporarily injured'," he suggested.
'You're not helping," Rey hissed.
The hunters still held their weapons in defensive positions, but Rey could see that they had turned their focus away from her and toward the dark-skinned woman at the center. They were clearly waiting for her to make a judgment. That they had not already attacked was a hopeful sign, and that the leader was taking the time to think it over was another.
"Please, he's injured and we need your help," Rey appealed directly to her.
The woman frowned as she thought and her eyes moved to Albion's injured leg. She slowly lowered her glowing plasma staff, and as though her movement was a command, the others immediately relaxed their stances.
"You and your mating slave will come into our village as prisoners, and your words and deeds will determine if you shall walk free of it or never leave again," The woman declared in a low but commanding voice. "Bind them!"
"Oh, I'm not her mating—"
"Thank you!" Rey gratefully accepted her offer, cutting off Albion's explanation while glancing back at him to cast daggers with her eyes. She held her arms out with her wrists together, indicating her willingness to go along with the offer. Seeing this, another of the women shouldered her bow and advanced cautiously. She pulled a leather thong from her waist and with quick and efficient movements bound Rey's arms together. Two others approached Albion, and hauled him upright by his arms. When he stumbled, even while leaning heavily on his captors, the larger of the two hefted him over her shoulder while the other snatched up his legs. As they carried him off, Rey was surprised by their strength. They walked as though completely unencumbered.
Albion made quick eye contact with Rey who shook her head wildly at him, willing him to understand that he should for once, keep his ever-moving tongue still. A shove from the woman beside her indicated that she also should fall into step.
The hunters followed the river upstream. The group moved in a spread-out fashion, alert and always wary of their surroundings. They did not speak to one another as they traveled, but many times, Rey saw them make hand gestures or make eye contact and give a quick nod. She did remember her training and tried to focus on their intent, but to try and search these warriors was akin to scratching at a solid stone wall. She could get nothing from them.
They continued to move uphill but now the ascent was steeper, and the river current grew swifter as they walked. By the time they came out of the forest, Rey was covered in sweat and her calves ached. Without the trees, she could see that they had been climbing a mountain for some time. Behind them lay a wide and gentle forested slope, but before them, a barren, steep, and rocky terrain slanted sharply to meet a solid rock wall. From this wall jutted ledges of rock like shelves, and streams of water flowed freely over them like sheer, silvery fabric. She could not see the peak.
Struggling to make her way up the steep ascent without the use of her hands proved to be nearly impossible, and before the group had even reached the first rock ledge, Rey had stumbled and fallen to her knees twice. Before she hit her knees a third time, she was hefted up with a disgusted sigh, and thrown across a hunter's shoulder just as Albion had been.
She had not the time to protest before she found herself launched into the air as the hunter leaped onto the first ledge. With a surprising level of speed and agility, the woman launched herself again, catching hold of another ledge and swinging them up to the top. She was no sooner on her feet than she raced across the outcropping, gathering speed for her next jump, and then Rey once again found herself soaring through the air. They flew directly through a small stream of falling water—the icy temperature of which caused Rey to gasp before they landed hard on another jutting stone shelf.
Rey closed her eyes- as hanging over the woman's back and watching the ground grow farther and farther away gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. However, with her eyes closed, she could hear something she hadn't noticed before—the small streams of water which raced down the ledges and across the rock wall face were singing! Each time a gust of wind hit the freely falling streams, droplets of water would splash against the smaller stones and pebbles which emitted very faint melodic tones. It gave one the impression of music being played somewhere in the distance.
As they cleared the last ledge, the peak of the mountain was finally visible. It towered far, far above them, coming to a sharp and jagged, snow-covered point. Rey could also see their destination. Although they were high enough for the air to feel significantly colder, the mountain was simply enormous, and they were still far below the peak. A level table of rock spread out before them for hundreds of meters. Where it again met the side of the mountain a small village had been carved out of the rock.
The gates stood open, and through them, she could see several huts made of stone with smoke rising from them. Beyond that, the mountain had been carved out to resemble a gigantic yawning mouth, and within it, partially chiseled into the mountain, and partially constructed of great stone pillars, was the façade of an ornate temple.
Rey was abruptly dropped onto her feet and given a shove to indicate that she should walk. Ahead of her, Albion was already being carried through the gates.
"Where are they taking him?" she asked.
"This is our home. The village of the Singing Mountain Clan. They will take your slave to be healed," replied the woman who had carried her. "You will see Mother Obot."
"Mother Obot?" Rey repeated, but the woman had nothing more to say.
The villagers had noticed the return of their hunters and were coming out of their huts to gather at the gates. All were women. Many were pale of skin and resembled those she had already seen, but others had pink or red-toned skin and a few even had multiple horns which protruded at different intervals forming a crown around their heads. Still others were dark-skinned, and Rey could see now that there were recognizable races mixed in with the general populace. The large montrals of one red-skinned togruta woman were clearly visible among the crowd, and yet another female had elongated pointed ears which Rey had always associated with the Kessurians. This meant one thing to her—the planet was not quite as isolated as she suspected. The Knights of Ren were not the only visitors to Dathomir.
The one thing which served to unify all the villagers were the facial tattoos and the deep red cloth they wore. Men were conspicuously absent in the crowd. Although she had many questions, Rey wisely kept her mouth shut and allowed herself to be led.
As they passed through the small crowd, she suffered many curious looks and perhaps even a few hostile glances, but could sense no intent to do her any immediate harm. She thought, at first, that she was being taken to the temple in the cliff, but well before they reached it, her captor turned aside, led her down a narrow alley, and then, she found herself staring at what appeared to be an open-air bath.
Steam rose from several small and clear pools of water, each at a slightly different elevation than the one beside it, each spilling into the next like tiny stairsteps. A few children splashed each other in one of the pools, while a woman sat at the edge with her legs dangling in the water as she combed the wet, tangled hair of a struggling child intent on joining her friends.
The woman beside her roughly grabbed the iron collar around Rey's neck and Rey stiffened, sucking in a shocked breath and raising her arms protectively, but nothing happened other than the collar began to feel warm.
"What are you—" Rey began and then sucked in another sharp breath as the collar suddenly burned. In the next instant, it fell with a dull clang at her feet.
The woman pulled a knife from her belt and cut the thong which bound Rey's arms together.
"Bathe," she ordered.
"Here?" Rey wondered, glancing around nervously. The other hunters had dispersed once they entered the village, but there were still plenty of people moving about. Some carried baskets of linens or tall clay pots, others lounged naked around the steaming pools. Perhaps since there were no men, they placed little emphasis on modesty.
"Bathe," the woman repeated with less patience.
Hunched over, Rey quickly removed the slave costume which had become little more than rags and tossed it aside before sliding as discretely as she could into the pool nearest to her. It was very hot, but not unbearable. She treaded water for a few seconds to allow herself time to grow accustomed to the heat before diving under the surface. When she came up, the air was shockingly cold against her skin, but the contrast felt strangely invigorating. She could see why the children in the lower pool kept jumping out of the pool to run a lap before jumping back in.
Watching the others dive to retrieve the small black pumice stones from the bottom and then use them to scrub one another, she decided to do the same. The rock scrubbing was rough and left her skin feeling a bit raw, but also very clean. When she crawled out of the pool, the woman pointed to a hut made of rough-hewn stone beside the baths which appeared to be burning inside. Smoke or steam continually poured from every unsealed crack in the small outbuilding, and each time the door opened it belched great clouds into the air.
Rey followed the silent directive and went inside where she found a windowless room lined by wide stone benches. At the center of the small space, a glowing pile of ember stones steamed and hissed as drops of water continually dripped onto the pile from the ceiling. Women of all colors and ages sat or reclined on the benches, fully naked and yet displaying no discomfort or lack of dignity.
Rey attempted to mirror their demeanor, sitting down without bringing her arms up to cover herself, and calmly returned the nod of greeting she received from a young, horned zabrack woman beside her. A few minutes later she was handed a clay vessel with a long spout. By discreetly watching the others, she knew it contained oil that she was supposed to rub over herself. She poured a little into her hand and sniffed it. The scent was sweet and spicy, but not overpowering.
Cautiously, she rubbed a small amount lightly across her arms and legs, and then ran her fingers through her hair a few times, as she had others do, before handing it back with a small nod of gratitude. The steam served to relax her sore muscles and though her body mostly dried in the damp heat, the oil and steam served to keep some of the moisture of the bath in, so that when she traced her fingers across her own skin, it felt softer and smoother than normal.
Outside the steam hut, the woman still waited, though she now held a small basket woven from branches. As Rey shivered, fully exposed to the bracing air, the woman pulled a long length of red linen and a delicate silver collar from her basket. She fastened the collar around Rey's neck and then pulled the linen through it. With quick and practiced hands, she twisted the fabric around Rey's chest, and then down, winding it low across her hips, between her legs, and then twice across her thighs. She tucked, wound, and pulled leaving a long length free and hanging from the waist. She used smaller pieces of red and black linen to wrap Rey's arms and legs. She styled the wrapping similar to how the other hunters wore theirs, not entirely overlapping so that her skin was exposed in some areas.
When she finished her work, the woman stood back and surveyed the clothing she fashioned with a curt nod.
"Now you will see Mother Obot," she decided.
Rey was then led back through the village to the open door of the temple in the cliff. The woman nodded toward the door and then turned to leave. Rey steeled herself for whatever she might find and crossed the threshold.
The first thing she noticed was that the space was cavernous, much larger than the outer façade would suggest. The room was entirely carved out of the mountain, with rough pillars fashioned from chiseled stone, but the focal point was set back in a carved alcove on the far wall- an impressively large statue of a woman with long flowing hair and a serene but stern expression on her face.
"Ah. I see you've noticed Mother Allya," a creaky yet familiar voice welcomed her. "She was a Jedi Knight, much like you, but also much like you, she harbored a great darkness."
Rey spun to see the small, pointy-eared being with bulbous milky-white eyes hobbling towards her.
"The Chaata!" she gasped.
"Ah, you've met her have you?" the small one scoffed. "Well, I suppose I should thank you for the compliment anyway. I am, after all, her senior by at least a hundred years."
"Y-you're not the Chaata? Really?" Rey asked squinting into the dim light to better see. This being wore a red robe, but appeared to be of the same greenish hue, and was just as wrinkled and hairless as the other, though this version did have tattoo bands across her small cheeks that were similar to the other villagers.
"She's my sister!" snapped the small creature, "And I can't say that we're especially close. Everything is a joke with that one! Always has to do everything her own way! I suppose she's still on Baudere playing her games and selling her little fortunes to those grumpy sadists?"
To hear Kylo Ren's silent acolytes referred to as grumpy sadists caused Rey to chuckle despite herself.
"Yes, well, you won't get any flashy fortune-telling from me. I am Mother Obot. Now who are you and why are you on Dathomir?" she asked, stamping her small cane for emphasis.
"I-I'm Rey. I'm… I was captured by the Knights of Ren, and when I refused to join them, they abandoned me and my companion here. Is he—"
"I'll ask the questions for now, child," Mother Obot interrupted. "And what were you, a Jedi, doing when the Knights of Ren captured you?"
"I… I… you see, I had already been captured by a group of slavers and—"
"A Jedi knight who gets captured, and then gets captured again, only to be abandoned and captured yet again. You're not very good at the whole Jedi business then, are you?" she snorted and then stamped her cane in exasperation. "The truth this time or you'll be given the Water of Verity, girl!"
Rey had no idea what the Water of Verity was, but it sounded vaguely threatening.
"I.. it's mostly true. I was pretending to be a slave so that I could be caught by the Knights of Ren, but I really didn't intend to be dumped here—"
"And what did you intend?" Mother Obot frowned.
"I have business with someone on Baudere, and I could think of no other way to find passage there," Rey admitted.
"Business? What business? I suppose you meant to assassinate the leader of the Knights, Kylo Ren?" Mother Obot smirked.
"I thought you said you weren't a fortune-teller?" Rey stiffly evaded the question.
"Fortune tellers are nothing more than someone who can think quickly, understand the nature of living beings, and makes good guesses. There's no real magik to it," Mother Obot waved a hand dismissively. "Dark chases light, light chases dark, and so on. Your plans did not work out because they were not hastily made and easily thwarted by the spirits."
"Thwarted by the spirits?" Rey repeated, it was her turn to scoff.
"Yes, the spirits, always the spirits yearning for balance between the dark and the light. They interfere constantly. The trick is to listen to them—it's easier that way. If they did not want you to go to Baudere, then what have they led you here for? What do they need you to do or learn? We must think on this for a while."
"What about my companion—Albion?" Rey asked.
"Ah, the slave. His injuries have been tended to," Mother Obot admitted.
"He's not a slave," Rey insisted.
"Are you so sure?" Mother Obot chuckled.
"Is he going to be alright? Was his wound infected?" asked Rey, choosing to ignore the odd comment.
"He's old. Very, very old. Of course, it will take time. We don't heal as easily as the young you know, but I expect he will recover. You should go… rest… eat… do as you will for now. I need time to think and consult the spirits," Mother Obot ordered. "There are empty rooms near the east gate for visitors, though I advise that you do not leave the Village without an escort."
"Is there a way off the planet?" Rey persisted. "Perhaps a transport, or a supply drop… maybe trade ships—"
"There will be a way for you to leave when the spirits feel you should continue. Now, go away," Mother Obot stamped her cane impatiently.
Defeated, Rey left the temple. The woman who'd escorted her was gone, and for a moment, Rey wondered what would happen if she simply turned and walked right out through the main gates.
She wouldn't, of course. Albion was still somewhere in the village and she was tired and hungry besides.
It did not take her long to find the empty huts beside the main gate. She entered the first and found that it contained a stool and a small mattress stuffed with sweet-smelling dried grasses. She laid down and tried to sleep, but her stomach growled angrily. She'd been hungry before and knew that the trick to sleeping was to imagine herself in another place, warm and comfortable. The ocean… the island…
No! She whispered, closing her eyes tightly. That was a place she would never go again, not even in her thoughts. She rolled onto her side but was suddenly overcome by the feeling of not being alone.
She opened her eyes and immediately gasped. Stretched out beside her, his head on the pillow next to her, lay Kylo Ren.
