A Prince of Dathomir (Darth Maul x OC)

Return - Part 2

"I do not know where, only that he is alive. He is in darkness, far from my reach, but you, you Zaiya Valessa, can find him." Talzin pointed at Zaiya's chest. The young woman's hand went to the amulet there, she fished it from the robes she wore and held it in her hand, the pulse she had felt... it was his heartbeats. She squeezed the golden trinket tight, whispering in her mind, in what was almost a prayer.

Stay alive. I will find you, my Prince.

"Then I will continue my task..." Zaiya assured, her gaze determined as she looked back at Talzin.

"Good child, you are still weakened however, take your time to regain your strength and skills, you will be more powerful than ever." Talzin purred, with a hand raised before her, long fingers ending in pointed nails curled slowly into a fist to punctuate her point.

"Yes Ma'tra." Zaiya bowed her head once more.

"Take your time here in the temple to rest, then you may return to your search."

"If I may, mother, there are some people I wish to see." Zaiya framed it like a request, but she wasn't really asking. Talzin paused.

"Of course, young one." She gave a graceful nod of her head and turned away again. Zaiya took that as her moment to leave. She wished to see her mother.

-)O(-

Her old home was as she remembered it for the most part, though it seemed... smaller now. Most of the meals and social activities were done among the clan, the small houses were simply for sleeping, it wasn't uncommon for hunting parties to sleep in the same quarters, and the children to all sleep together, though Tailli had always wanted Zaiya to stay close to her.

She was going through some small items in a drawer when Zaiya entered. The woman turned sharply, almost looking like she was ready to fight, but her face softened as she laid eyes on her daughter.

The woman looked more worn and tired than Zaiya had ever seen her. Her ashy hair hung limply around her face, only reaching the bottom of her ears. Her eyes were paler than Zaiya's, a more hazel colour. Her skin was paler too, an almost greyish tone in comparison. Her nose was different, a smaller and more pointed shape, her frame thinner and more willowy too. Zaiya had wondered why she didn't quite look the same as her mother, there were similarities, but there were vast differences too. She supposed she got them from her father.

She hadn't cared to know about him before. It was not the way of things, Nightsister had their clan and their mother, the Nightbrothers were picked as the strongest mates then--

"Zaiya..." Tailli breathed, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but hesitated, Zaiya had usually pushed her aside before, this time however the young Nightsister stepped in close to her mother, and embraced her. "I was so afraid..." Tailli whispered, her fingers digging into Zaiya as though she were fearful she might disappear.

"Do not be fearful, ma'dri." Zaiya replied gently, pulling back to stroke the older woman's hair. "I am stronger now than I have ever been."

"I know." Tailli replied with a sorrowful smile, "Mother Talzin has taught you well."

"That is not my only lesson." She sighed and stepped back, taking a seat on the edge of the bed to look at her mother more carefully. "You have taught me much, even if I have been too stubborn to acknowledge it." She muttered.

"You have your father to thank for that." Tailli muttered in a rare moment of openness, there was a look of wistful nostalgia in her eye, and Zaiya drew her legs up to fold beneath her.

"It's why I am different, isn't it? Because of him."

"Yes, but it has made you stronger than any other Nightsister before you."

"You aren't allowed to talk about him are you? Is it because of...?" She gestured her head toward the temple in a reference to the Great Mother. It was burning her inside, to wonder who the other half of her could be. But she knew that demanding answers from her mother about his identity wouldn't work. She would have to be gentle. Tailli however became nervous again, the suggestion of Mother Talzin seemed enough to frighten her into silence.

"Perhaps we should discuss something else--" Her mother began, and moved to turn away, but Zaiya held out a hand to stop her, a pleading look in her eyes.

"At least... Tell me what he was like? A little?" Tailli glanced around, concerned, as though someone might be listening.

"Well..." She started, and lowered herself down beside her daughter. "He was... brave, beautiful and strong. He was stubborn and clever and was a great warrior. Most importantly, he was kind. Kinder to me than ever I deserved, and it... changed me." She gestured to herself, "I loved him, as much as I love you and for that I will never have any regrets that led me to having you."

It was absurd. Or it should have been. There was not meant to be love between Shi'aad and Shi'kaa. She had learned that the hard way as a child, but only after the separation. The way her mother spoke of it though, the way she had heard it described out in the rest of the Galaxy... sounded so wonderful. Powerful too, but not in the way Mother Talzin described power. This was a whole other... just other. Was that why she cared for the Nightbrothers? Because she was born out of love? It was such a strange concept when she thought about it. She was different and sort of finally understood why. Though it just brought up more questions the more she delved into it.

That was all Tailli was willing to say on it however, and the conversation shifted to talking about what Zaiya had been doing, and as she discovered, her mother really had no idea what had happened. The white haired woman felt guilty, not realising how distant she'd been all this time. Tailli however seemed pleased at many of the stories, as well as the amusement she shared when discussing the three bavodu'e that she had somehow adopted. Or rather, been adopted by. While criminals and scoundrels, they had taught her more about how the world outside worked, how people worked, sometimes cold, sometimes warm, but there was more for her now, more than just what she knew of the Nightsisters. It seemed to make Tailli very proud.

After sharing a long conversation, Zaiya stood, feeling better than she had in years, a smile coming to her lips for the first time in years.

"I think there is one more place I need to go." Tailli looked confused for a moment, then nodded in realisation.

"They will have missed you." She said, and Zaiya smiled a little wider. She'd missed them too. 

-)O(-

Notes: 

WHAT IN THE ASS?! 

A THIRD POST?! OMG the world is ending! Hahaha No I am being dramatic again, BUT! I thought that I would like to post one full chapter a week (parts 1 and 2) for a while until I am caught up with the back log so I am posting part 2 here now, then Next week will be Recovery parts 1 & 2.

Makes sense to me! BUT! (again) The most exciting part! I can finally post the art of Zaiya I had made! Because ... eye. I didn't wanna post it before now because spoilers but now I can!

Here is the artwork: https://imgur.com/a/RfhnkQO

So check that out, the artists are in the image description so big thank you to dragonwhisperer23 on tiktok and instagram and also to elizelis & Johdals on tumblr. Next week I'm back to two posts per week for a while and as always, I love the comments, they give me LIFE.