Chapter 3: Convalescence

Merrin stood helpless at the door of the healing hut, watching her sisters carefully tend to Ilyana's wounds. They had managed to stop the bleeding but she hadn't yet stirred. If only there was something she could do.

Merrin had always been the fighter, the one out front keeping her friends safe but she never had the skill for healing. Yes, she could offer basic care but nothing more, that was Ilyana's specialty. Ilyana would reach out with her ichor like a gentle cloud and embrace the wound, the disease, the hurt and make it vanish in nearly an instant.

Merrin's breath caught in her throat. Ilyana's body had seemed so small as she was carried back to the village. How had they lost focus? How had they let the Nydak get so close before noticing it?

Ilyana's arm laid limp on the bed beside her as the sisters worked their Magick and applied ointments to her wound. Her arm had hung limply toward the ground as their sisters carried her back to the village, too. Merrin shook her head, hoping to clear it of that image and remain in the moment. If only Ilyana would move.

A hand came to rest gently but firmly on Merrin's shoulder and she looked up into the visage of Mother Talzin towering over her. Everything the Mother did seemed calculated and deliberate, as if no movement was made or word spoken without full purpose. It made it seem as if the Mother was always moving a step slower than others expected but also gave her an air of power and control, intimidation. She saw things the others said not.

Merrin could not remember ever being touched by Mother Talzin before. She would have remembered this feeling: the overpowering presence of the Force enveloping her. It was as if Merrin had been pushed into a well of Nightsister fire and there was no way to escape, and she froze as if she might drown in the Mother's presence alone.

"They will do all they can for her," Mother Talzin assured her, breaking Merrin from her petrified state. "Allow the others to tend to your wounds as well."

"I am fine," Merrin forced the words from her mouth.

"Do not argue, child. Get some rest." With that Mother Talzin turned away and several other sisters escorted Merrin back to her room high up in the cave, where they cleaned the wounds Merrin had not noticed before.

Merrin slept little that night. The attack ran over and over in her head, refusing to let her rest. Just before dawn, she abandoned sleep entirely and rejoined Ilyana in the healing hut. Ilyana finally stirred as the morning light filled the room. First the fingers Merrin held twitched gently then her eyes fluttered open, barely more than a slit.

"You look terrible," Ilyana whispered to Merrin who hovered over her with eyes bloodshot from worry and exhaustion.

Merrin smiled.

"Are you ready?" Ilyana asked.

"Ready for what?"

"The trials. You will do great."

"How can I do them now with you in here, like this?"

"How can you not?" Ilyana squeezed Merrin's hand in encouragement. "You will be great."

"I will tell you everything when I come back," Merrin nodded and rose.

The trials began shortly after dawn and continued till the sun set. They were hard and many failed. Every time Merrin felt that she was not good enough to pass she thought of the cave, the glow of the blue coral reflected off of Ilyana's light gray robes, and the memory gave her the courage and confidence to succeed.

As stars flickered to light in the night sky, fires were lit and the feast celebrating the end of the trials began. She had passed! She would continue her training to become a fully realized Nightsister but the joy of the moment was far from her and her thoughts kept drifting back to Ilyana, alone in the healing hut. When she could stand it no longer, Merrin hid some food in her robes and snuck away from the festivities.

The sound of revelry was quieter back in the hut, but still it filled the room with the unintelligible hum of voices and the rhythm of drums. Ilyana was seated against the far wall, wrapped in blankets, and working with several small pieces of gold metal.

"Tell me all about it," she said after thanking Merrin for the food.

Merrin told Ilyana of the challenges, her achievements and her small failures, as she watched Ilyana's delicate fingers working the bits of metal in her hands. The soft green glow of her magick swirled around each piece, shaping them, molding them, and bringing a mild luster to them. Merrin told her about the potions that had nearly failed and the spells she had conjured so easily and beautifully. But most importantly, she told her how she had succeeded because Ilyana had been by her side, even if they were apart.

"I knew you could do it," Ilyana said when the stories were finished. "I had no doubt."

"You will be next," Merrin assured her. "You will be right behind me."

Ilyana held up her finished work for Merrin to see. Merrin took it, a golden necklace made of a series of overlapping diamonds and triangles held together on a delicate chain. She rolled the metal through her fingers, feeling each edge, each groove and the magick that had shaped it.

"It is beautiful," said Merrin.

"Keep this and I will always be with you," Ilyana said

"I could not take this from you."

"It is yours," Ilyana said softly. "As am I."

Merrin looked into Ilyana's eyes, surprised by the declaration. She had hoped it would be true but had never dared to ask. Ilyana smiled at the look on Merrin's face, then leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. Their first kiss.

In the days to come, Ilyana was moved back to her room to finish recovering. While she did improve every day, she healed more slowly than she would have liked and more slowly than the others had patience for. She was the most talented healer in the clan and could have healed another in half the time, but she could not heal herself. Soon, the other Nightsisters began to whisper, to question if she would ever heal.

It was a tenuous time for Merrin. She was unable to control her anger and often lost her temper quickly, once she even pulled her blade on another during training. Eventually, the other Nightsisters her age stopped speaking when she came around and the older sisters were quick to scold. Being at odds with many members of her clan did teach her much about hand-to-hand combat.

One evening as Merrin was returning to Ilyana's room with some food, she arrived just as Mother Talzin was leaving. Mother Talzin threw the girl a powerful, cold gaze before turning away, causing fear and dread to bloom within her. Merrin rushed inside to find Ilyana more quiet than usual and staring at the wall.

"What did the Mother want? What did she say to you?" she asked desperately.

All Ilyana would say was that she was just checking on her but she refused to meet Merrin's eyes. Getting no further answers from Ilyana, Merrin rushed from the room and chased down Mother Talzin.

"What did you say to her?" She demanded.

Mother Talzin stopped, surprised to be spoken to in such a way by a mere child. "She is being sent away," she answered definitively.

"What! Why? How can you do that?" Merrin yelled, unable to restrain herself.

"You dare speak back to me child!" said Mother Talzin with menace in her voice, quieting Merrin's protests. "She could have become a great healer one day, but she may never fully recover from her wounds and the weak do not survive on Dathomir. There is no place for weakness in our clan."