Terri sat alone in the cockpit of the ship it had been about a week since Zash told her about Lusari and she was slowly getting better. She hadn't cried today so that was a plus she had begun to realise this is what Lusari wanted so she wouldn't be helping anyone by moping around. Terri had hardly spoken to Zash during the week she had been busy meditating, apparently she was trying to find a way to 'enhance her own power' whatever that meant. Terri had been looking up the commander a bit during the week she thought it'd help her be ready in case they encounter her again. She'd found very little about her before the sith academy and from there it was just one cruel story after another, sure enough the story about the jedi apprentice was true. She had admittedly saved the galaxy but it seemed like the commander had selfish intentions in mind, Terri didn't know what to think of her except she was a dangerous enemy, she hoped Yavin was the last she would see of her.

She had been sitting there for a few hours procrastinating when suddenly Zash sat down next to her with a smile on her face "Terri I know where to go" Terri's eyes widened she had been meditating for a week Terri had expected it to take a couple more she wasn't ready to start doing tings again.

Terri stammered "oh um ok where are we going" Zash opened up a star map and began to trace it with her finger

soon she stopped on a planet "here it is Dathomir, only planet that fit the landscape I saw" Terri nodded and begun plotting the coordinates noting how close it was to Yavin she hoped the commander wasn't still around

Terri frowned "fit the landscape? um what do you mean?" Zash seemed to break out of a trance when Terri asked

Zash frowned "uh well I saw the landscape while I was…" she trailed off "in a vision while I was meditating yes" that was a little odd but it least explained all the meditation

Terri began to set the ship up for hyperspace "so um this planet has the answer to enhancing your power?" the star lines lengthened as the ship sped into hyperspace

Zash shrugged "not exactly it might be there it might not the vision wasn't clear" of course visions were always vague in the stories too "worth a shot though right? and it's not just my power Terri it can be yours too you have great potential" Terri was surprised she'd never thought of enhancing her own power

Terri looked away "oh I dunno I'm not that powerful it'd kinda be a waste" she'd just had charged moments she wasn't actually powerful right.

Zash put a hand on Terri's shoulder "now Terr you're a lot more powerful than you give yourself credit and even so we're working together in this it'd be rude not to offer" Terri did feel a small amount of pride as Zash talked maybe Terri wasn't so bad

Terri stammered "t-thanks but I'm n-not sure I'm proper force user material it's fine" Zash sighed giving her an exasperated look

Zash gave a smile "hey come on Terri believe in yourself a bit more Lusari certainly did and I do too" Terri winced at the mention of her name Lusari had believed in her all the time "we wouldn't want to let her down after everything" Terri took a deep breath Zash was right Lusari had sacrificed herself for this the least she could do is take the gift.

Terri sighed "alright sorry I'm just very nervous you know?" Zash nodded smiling broadly, she was glad Zash was so understanding of her situation

later…

Terri brought the ship down into Dathomir's atmosphere, the planet was a mix of deep reds and swirling greens it was unlike any planet she had ever seen before. She had been told to cruise a bit above the surface to see if they could find any sign of civilisation, it seemed like Zash had no more information than it was on this planet which was less than reassuring. She could see large thorny trees tangling up into what looked like a pretty dangerous woodland, the mountains stretched up into the sky with a strange red hue. There was a strange green mist that seemed to emanate from the ground layering the planet, the animals they managed to spot seemed dangerous and savage with large sets of teeth. Zash seemed to think what they were looking for wasn't in the swamp at least not in the heart of it, the swamp itself seemed to stretch for miles although certain sections looked like they had been destroyed. Soon Terri spotted what seemed like at least the ruins of a village either way it was a good place to start.

They made their way out of the ship and were instantly met with the strong stench of the wasteland around them.

Zash frowned "the vision never mentioned the stench this place gave off" Terri held a hand over her nose she hoped it was just where they landed. They began to make their way towards the huts they had spotted, on the way Terri noticed what looked like half buried skulls littering the ground causing her to nearly trip over a few. As well as this the plants here seemed less developed she had a hunch some fort of conflict took place here

She shuffled up to Zash hoping to look smart "um I think maybe there was a battle here" Zash nodding weirdly smiling

Zash raised her eyebrow "very good Terri I was wondering if you would pick up on it" oh it was a test and she'd passed yay "the bones are a big giveaway showing it wasn't exactly recent but the general landscape shows signs of conflict, notice the scorch marks in a slashing motion" Terri hadn't picked upon those was this sith or jedi related?

Terri looked away "do you think that will affect if this power thing is here?" The green mist Terri had noticed earlier was much clearer here and she could clearly see them coming from cracks in the ground, although they did seem to close up as it went down.

Zash considered Terri's question "if those who know the secrets are unfortunately deceased then I hope they wrote this stuff down" Zash seemed to half chuckle half be very serious, Terri hoped so too whoever these people were they seemed powerful. "still I have a hunch that's not the case, you can sense the powerful force energy around us can't you?" Terri hadn't really focussed on it but now that Zash mentioned it she could sense it all around her but mostly from below her.

Terri nodded "I can what do you think it is?" Zash gave her a smile as she strode forward

"I imagine it's something natural in the planets structure or ecosystem that makes the force energy this potent" Terri nodded she had no idea what that meant but it sounded right.

Soon they had arrived at the village or what was left of it, now closer it was clear it was a part of whatever conflict took place here and it had not come out of it well. They split up to check the houses for any clues and Terri decided to start with the biggest house, it was dark in the house seemingly it was once lit by torches but all of them seemed gone now. The shadows seemed to move as she began to look around she was probably just paranoid, after a little bit of searching she found what seemed like pages ripped out a diary in a language she did not understand. She turned to find Zash but before she left she thought she saw a shadow pass the door, Terri spun around looking for the source of the shadow.

She found nothing and assumed she was just seeing things but as she turned she saw a figure in the doorway holding a bow drawn at her. She let out a small scream of surprise as the figure moved towards her in the darkness, her face was covered with a red hood she seemed to be wearing some form of tribal robes. Only her eyes were visible through her hood and they narrowed on Terri, she began to talk in a language unfamiliar to Terri all she could tell about it was that it wasn't friendly.

Terri stammered putting her hands up "um don't worry miss I don't mean you harm I swear it" the figure frowned before doing a few motions with her hand, as she did green mist swirled around her fingers.

the figure put the bow back on Terri "that's better now who are you what are you doing here?!" Terri was bewildered she could suddenly understand her but she was definitely still speaking another language

Terri tried to stay focussed "uh um we don't mean you any harm we're just looking for something" the figures eyes narrowed but Terri suddenly saw Zash sneaking up behind her. Zash grabbed her shoulder and shocked the figure who quickly fell to the ground unconscious, Terri jumped back startled "Zash I was talking to them I had it covered" Zash frowned at her with a look of doubt

Zash cocked her head at Terri "she had a bow on you Terri" ok that was fair Terri conceded "did you find anything besides a" she pulled down the hood revealing a rattataki female "rattataki native?" Terri still thought they could've gotten information from her but thy still had the pages

Terri passed over the notes "do you read this language?" it seemed whatever thing the rattataki had done had worn off as the words were gibberish.

Zash looked at the pages "I do actually this is Zabraki" Terri's eyes widened like zabrak? "most of it is nonsense about a farm but it does talk about the 'witches that come from the edge of the swamp' they seem to fear them but can't do anything due to their power, sounds promising" Terri looked at the rattataki maybe she was a witch after all she did some force stuff

Terri considered it "Maybe they don't understand the force so they think it's witchcraft?" Zash nodded it seemed likely simple folk had a habit of calling the force witchcraft or magic both of which were absurd

Zash looked to the rattataki "looks like we won't need to talk to this one then, I know it's not a concrete lead but it could lead to something without having to talk to an angry native. I'll go put her somewhere discreet you find the quickest way to the edge of the swamp" Terri nodded she was still curious about the rattataki but avoiding conflict seemed more important

Terri quickly charted a course to the edge of the swamp on her datapad, this was all very bizarre the planet itself gave her the creeps and now witches it's like she'd walked into a storybook. She wondered how that rattataki had made her understand their language that definitely wasn't normal force power Terri was curious if she could learn such powers.

After a short wait Zash came back with a smile on her face "alright that should cover that lets go on a witch hunt" Terri chuckled she did enjoy Zash's cavalier attitude to all of this it certainly made it a bit less intimidating.

They made their way across the red wastes towards where they could see the jagged trees rise up at the edge of the swamp. Terri imagined some people could find beauty in a landscape unfortunately she wasn't one of them she just found everything scary and intimidating. Soon they reached the edge of the swamp and could see what looked like an unkempt path towards the cliff with broken torches lining it. They followed it and soon reached a cave which looked like it had been closed up by a rockfall, around the cave there seemed to be some signs of civilisation, some of the stuff around the cave was definitely made by people. Terri could see Zash channeling her anger and quickly the rocks plugging up the cave entrance had been thrown into the swamp water.

On the other side they could see a faint light at the end of the tunnel Zash smiled "now we're getting somewhere" Terri followed as Zash strode excitedly into the cave. After a few turns in the tunnel they were met with a stunning large open chamber, pillars of rock jutted up into the ceiling and seemed to have buildings built into them around the chamber but what was most stunning was the luminescent green mist swirling between the platforms of the cave. Terri couldn't tell if it was a liquid or if it was just very dense mist but it was unlike anything she had ever seen, glowing lights were scattered around the lair it was unclear what was making them work. Terri stood in awe this place was so eerily beautiful but yet there was no sign of people, maybe the conflict stretched here as well, maybe this was why there was conflict.

Zash stood next to her smiling "it's stunning isn't it Terri" Terri nodded still unable to move "I think we may have found exactly what I'm looking for" Terri was inclined to agree, she understood why the natives called them witches this was the most witchy thing she had ever seen. Zash began to walk forward to the edge of the platform, she waved her hand through the mist and as she lifted it up she found the mist swirling around her hand. Terri watched as she tried to manipulate it, all she seemed to be able to do it move it in the space not the most useful thing but very pretty. Terri gave a thumbs up to Zash who seemed a little disappointed, Zash began to walk further into the lair there were many pillars but the middle one looked more like where they would do their 'magic'. They entered the middle pillar and came to a room with a large cauldron sitting in the middle Terri frowned oh no maybe they really were witches.

Zash ran her hand along the cauldron "I think there may be far more going on here than I first realised" Terri had to agree this seemed like a whole society "it's a shame this society seems to have disappeared apart from maybe a sparse few it dis seem like a searched the rooms a bit more which had similar ritual circles no broomsticks though much to Terri's disappointment. Terri felt her attention drawn to the back wall of the pillar she didn't know why but it just didn't seem right, she reached out with the force and suddenly she realised that there was a lever on the wall the whole time how could she have missed that.

Zash looked at her as Terri walked up to it "Terri what are you doing" could Zash not see it?

Terri felt like she had to pull it "there's a lever here can't you see it" she grabbed it, it was very stiff and took both hands to pull it down and the wall began to turn

Zash looked at her bewildered "how did you?" she quickly joined Terri on the rotating wall "how did you see that?" she seemed almost jealous

Terri looked away "I uh I dunno i just could" the wall finished turning and they both looked out at the small room. In the middle of the room was a figure cloaked in similar red robes to the rattataki but much more extravagant she was much larger but looked very frail. The green mist from before seemed to swirl around her form her eyes yellow skin wrinkled.

She looked at them her breathing was coarse but her presence still imposing "you saw it because I let you my dear" she walked down the steps to them slowly Terri felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up she was real scary "you seek knowledge and I seek assistance, my name is Mother Ysum and welcome to the Nightsisters Lair"…