II - The Baptism
"'Roto en'i w'ai k'a w'an'u a'nu ke" a priestess gestured for them to enter a sacred pool deep in a tunnel carved into the Pillar of the Moons. In these waters, you are reborn.
Both exhausted warriors were then submerged gently into its bosom by the Tusken priestesses.
Cold were the holy waters, yet strangely soothing. Most unlike the biting chill of the night wind.
For the most fleeting moment, the darkness was akin to the hellish maw of the Sarlacc, but that was all the resemblance to be.
He had never been a spiritual individual, but there in the cool embrace of this anointing, a strange unfathomable sense of purpose filled him from within.
What was it perhaps, that A'Met had felt at that time?
Perhaps it was briefer than he thought, but an insurmountable amount of time seemed to have passed before the priestesses raised him from the water.
Boba Fett's first breath from the depths came calm and determined, truly as if a babe fresh from the womb.
The priestesses chanted in unison as they led both Fett and A'Met to the other end of the holy cavern.
The pounding of the drums of war, the growling chorus from the clan, the imperious singing of the w'aea grew louder as they neared its exit.
Fett couldn't help but be struck by the sight before him, paying no heed to how the cold night wind bit at his wet skin. Perhaps his Tusken brother too was transfixed beneath his wrappings.
Under the three moons of Tatooine was a small arena like expanse of sandy rock, flanked by tall cliffs on all sides carved by the wind, sand and time save for one—the one facing the would-be sunrise ended in the edge of a harrowing cliff not unlike what they had scaled moments before.
All around and above them was the clan, excited, expectant and chanting in unison and in response to the w'aea.
"Ko w'a ko'a? Ko k'e e w'ai waa'i ana ki te Gor'faa? Ko w'au, ko te w'aara? K'tahi an'ke ka o'a ia te at'ha i pa a'i! W'wai r'una I te w'akam'nwa! W'wai! K'nei te hua'ri!"
The clan mother's voice ululated and vacillated to the beating of those drums, dancing and possessed by the divine.
Who are you? You who both seek place with the People? Outlander or Outcast? Only one may live as is willed by the gods! Fight with honor! Fight! This is the way!
Two younger priestesses then came forward from behind the w'aea.
Both took a deep bow in front of Fett and A'Met.
They had be en told of what would come next.
To the rhythmic beating of drums and the voices of the clan, he allowed the priestess attending him to take his soaked clothes away until he stood fully nude under the light of the silver moons.
The other priestess helped A'Met to a small amphora. He drank slowly from the vessel though his mouthpiece, shuddering as he did at the extraordinary pain that began to rage throughout his body.
"Ko w'au, k'a w'na I r'nga i te p'no! Ko w'aara, k'a p'ea kia ma'aha k'e i te kin'o!"
Outlander, be reborn in truth! Outcast, be purged of the evil!
A'Met responded by dropping the amphora and unleashing a guttural roar.
The other priestesses had been silently emptying entire amphorae of h'nu – sacred oil thickened with sorcery—to form a curious half circle about A'Met and Fett during this time.
The clan chieftain came forward with two younger warriors carrying a flaming brazier to his feet.
The m'kapa, wearing on his hands only gauze gloves moistened by sacred water, took from the brazier, their gadderfi—all traces of poison burnt asunder— and plunged the red-hot metal staffs into a large clay basin of holy spring water.
The chieftain then silently took both steaming gadderfi from the basin and presented them to their owners.
It was time.
They took their arms as the chieftain bowed away and took with his steaming hand, a torch from the same brazier.
"K'nei te hua'ri!" the m'kapa roared and lit the ring of oil into a blaze of glory. This is the way!