Silence had become their companion.
Wanda and Asajj traveled through Dathomir's wilderness on a battered speeder, the engine's hum the only sound between them. They passed through deep valleys carved between ancient mountains, their peaks lost in perpetual mist. Abandoned villages dotted the landscape—stone structures reclaimed by vegetation, empty dwellings that spoke of clans who'd migrated to better lands.
Or been taken by Zalem's forces in raids that left only ghosts behind.
Neither woman spoke. There was nothing to say that wouldn't reignite the hostility simmering beneath the surface, so they maintained their fragile truce through mutual silence.
Then the landscape changed.
The red-hued rock and crimson vegetation that dominated Dathomir gave way to something else—a vast basin where water the color of twilight gathered in a lake so still it looked like polished glass. Mist rose from its surface in lazy spirals, catching the diffused light and transforming it into something ethereal, otherworldly.
Wanda brought the speeder to a halt at the lake's edge. Both women dismounted, and the moment their feet touched the ground, they felt it.
Power.
Not the dark side, though that was present too. This was something older, something that had existed on Dathomir long before the Nightsisters codified their magic. The lake thrummed with energy so concentrated the air itself seemed to vibrate.
"This is it?" Wanda asked, her eyes tracking across the impossible blue water.
"Yes." Asajj's voice carried notes of anticipation and apprehension in equal measure. "This is where the trial begins."
"So... what now?" Wanda gestured at the lake. "We just stand here and admire the scenery?"
Asajj pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are you being deliberately obtuse, or is this genuine curiosity?"
"Genuine curiosity, actually." Wanda's tone was surprisingly earnest. "I don't know anything about Nightsister rituals. Educate me."
"Don't call me bald."
Wanda blinked. "I... didn't?"
"You were about to." Asajj turned away before Wanda could respond, stripping off her outer robes and utility belt. Beneath, she wore only a minimal combat suit. "The creature Mother Talzin described dwells in the deepest part of the lake. I need to retrieve part of it—not kill it, not harm it beyond necessity. Just... take a piece."
"That sounds ominous."
"It's meant to test my connection to the Force. And to the power within me that I can't access." Asajj waded into the water, which was surprisingly warm against her skin. "Watch the holocrons. Don't let anything happen to them."
Before Wanda could respond, Asajj dove beneath the surface and disappeared.
The underwater world was darkness painted in shades of deeper darkness.
Asajj swam downward, following the pull of something she could sense but not see. The lake was far deeper than its placid surface suggested—she descended for what felt like minutes, her lungs beginning to burn, before she finally ignited her lightsaber.
Red light exploded outward, pushing back the shadows.
And revealed what waited in the depths.
The creature was massive—easily twenty meters long, with a serpentine body covered in bioluminescent scales that pulsed with pale blue light. Its head was vaguely aquatic, with multiple eyes that fixed on Asajj with alien intelligence. When it opened its mouth, she saw rows of crystalline teeth that gleamed like ice.
Not kill it, she reminded herself. Not harm it beyond necessity.
The creature moved with liquid grace, circling her, assessing. Through the Force, Asajj could feel its curiosity, its wariness. It recognized her as a fellow predator—respected her, even, but would not simply surrender what she sought.
She would have to take it.
Asajj reached into the Force, trying to calm the creature, to project peaceful intent. For a moment, it seemed to work. The serpent's circling slowed, its posture becoming less aggressive—
Then it struck.
The attack came with shocking speed. Asajj barely twisted aside in time, the creature's jaws snapping shut centimeters from her torso. Her lightsaber came up instinctively, and she felt the blade bite into scaled flesh.
The creature recoiled, wounded but far from defeated. Blue blood clouded the water, and Asajj's lungs screamed for air.
No time. Do this fast or drown trying.
She pushed off the lake bed, using the Force to propel herself toward the creature. It tried to evade, but she was faster—smaller, more agile. Her free hand closed around one of its smaller fins, and she pulled, tearing the appendage free with a combination of physical strength and Force-enhanced grip.
The creature thrashed in pain, its massive tail whipping through the water hard enough to send shockwaves rippling outward. One caught Asajj across the ribs, and she felt something crack. Her grip on the severed fin tightened reflexively.
Have it. Now go. GO!
She kicked upward, lungs burning, vision starting to tunnel. The surface seemed impossibly far away. The creature wasn't pursuing—she'd hurt it badly enough to make it reconsider—but that didn't matter if she drowned before reaching air.
Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision. Her movements became sluggish, uncoordinated.
Then something shifted inside her. That same power she'd felt three times before—the blue-white energy that defied explanation. It surged through her limbs, giving her one final burst of strength.
Asajj broke the surface gasping, clutching the severed fin to her chest.
Wanda had activated both holocrons while waiting.
Ajunta Pall and Kreia materialized as holographic presences, studying the lake with the detached interest of beings who'd seen millennia pass.
"I expected something more dramatic," Pall said, sounding almost disappointed. "A ritual that's just... waiting."
"Self-mastery rarely provides entertainment," Kreia observed dryly. "The most important battles are fought within, unseen by observers."
"Philosophical as always," Wanda muttered. Then, to Pall: "Can your holocrons function underwater? What are their limitations? Have you ever tested environmental tolerances?"
"We've existed for thousands of years," Pall said with exaggerated patience. "Did you truly think a little water would destroy us? You're less intelligent than I gave you credit for."
Wanda ignored the barb, turning to Kreia. "What about using the Force to observe what's happening below the surface?"
"Have you considered doing exactly that?" Kreia's tone suggested this should have been obvious.
"The Nightsisters' magic predates you by millennia," Wanda said. "I don't want to interfere with whatever's happening down there."
"A surprisingly thoughtful response," Kreia acknowledged. "But I suspect simple observation would not disrupt the trial."
Wanda reached out with her senses—not the Force, which she lacked, but chaos magic that could perceive patterns in reality itself. She caught glimpses: darkness, movement, a flash of red light, something massive coiling through deep water.
Then the water exploded as Asajj surfaced, gasping for air.
"What did you find?" Wanda asked as Asajj swam to shore.
The Nightsister emerged from the lake dripping wet, clutching what looked like a translucent fin edged with bioluminescent filaments. Blood ran from multiple cuts across her arms and torso—shallow wounds, but numerous.
"The creature lives," Asajj said, her voice flat. "I took what was needed. The trial is complete."
"How do you feel?" Kreia asked. "Any changes?"
Asajj stood there for a long moment, water streaming from her pale skin, examining her own hands as if seeing them for the first time. "Different. The dark side feels... more natural now. Like it's not fighting me." She looked up, frustration clear in her expression. "But I still can't access the power you sensed. I don't even know what it is."
"So you're still clueless," Wanda said, arms crossed.
"I know it exists," Asajj snapped. "I just don't know how to use it."
"Power is often connected to identity," Pall said. "To who you are at your core. Until you understand yourself, the power remains locked away."
Asajj absorbed those words, frustration warring with contemplation.
Kreia remained silent for several seconds, her holographic form utterly still. Then she turned toward Wanda with that eyeless gaze that somehow saw everything.
"What if you're approaching this from the wrong direction?"
"What do you mean?" Asajj asked.
"You're trying to access this power through the lens of your training," Kreia said. "Jedi techniques, Sith philosophy, dark side channeling. But what if this power has nothing to do with the Force as we understand it?"
She gestured toward Wanda. "Look at Maximoff. She exists outside the Force entirely, yet wields abilities that rival or exceed many Force users. The Avengers possess powers, technology, and knowledge that have no connection to the Force—and that gives them advantages against those of us bound by conventional understanding."
Asajj stared at Wanda with new eyes, Kreia's words reshaping her perspective.
"Let go?" she whispered. "Let go of everything I was taught?"
"There is no dark side, nor light side," Kreia said. "There is only the Force. And I—" Her holographic form seemed to intensify, "I will do what I must to maintain the balance. There is no good without evil, but evil must not be allowed to flourish. There is passion, yet peace. Chaos, yet order. I am the wielder of the flame, the keeper of balance."
"The Grey Jedi Code," Pall said with something like respect. "Haven't heard that recited in ages."
"What does it mean?" Wanda asked.
"That extremes are prisons," Kreia replied. "That truth exists in the space between absolutes. But remember—apathy is death. To cease caring, to stop feeling, to abandon passion in pursuit of cold logic... that way lies the death of the soul."
"We're getting philosophical," Wanda said. "How does this help Asajj?"
"I have a proposal." Pall's holographic form drifted closer to Asajj. "What if we completely sever your connection to the Force? Cut you off entirely, let you exist without it for a time. See what emerges."
Asajj took a step backward, her hand going to her lightsaber hilt. "The Force gives all living things their strength—"
"The Force is not the only source of strength," Wanda interrupted. She looked at Kreia. "Do I have a connection to the Force?"
Both ancient Sith Lords exchanged glances. Pall answered first: "Not in any way we recognize. But something... lingers. A potential, perhaps. Or an echo of something else."
"It makes no difference," Asajj argued. "The Force is the foundation of existence. If you severed my connection to it—"
"You wouldn't die," Kreia said calmly. "I know because I've experienced it myself."
Silence crashed over the group. Even Pall looked surprised.
"How is that possible?" the ancient Sith Lord asked.
Kreia's holographic form seemed to dim slightly, as if the memory itself drained her. "Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion—my former students—betrayed me. They stripped away my connection to the Force and cast me out to die." Her voice carried no emotion, just clinical recitation of fact. "But I survived. More than survived—I reclaimed what was taken. And in the time I existed without the Force, I gained a perspective I'd never had before."
She looked directly at Asajj. "To live without the Force whispering in your ear, without its currents pulling at your every action... it was terrifying. But it was also liberating. I saw the galaxy as it truly was, not filtered through the Force's influence. I experienced genuine free will for the first time in my life."
"You're suggesting we do that to me," Asajj said slowly. "Temporarily sever my connection to see what remains."
"If you want to find what you seek, you must learn to surrender what you cling to," Kreia said. "Yes, you will be weak. Vulnerable. But through that weakness, you will discover whether your will is truly your own—or just the Force moving through you. And perhaps, in that clarity, your hidden power will finally manifest."
Asajj stood frozen, fear written plainly across her features.
"You're terrified of being weak," Wanda observed quietly. "That fear is what drives you. What's shaped you into who you are now."
The words hit like a physical blow. Asajj rounded on Wanda, anger flashing in her eyes. "What would you know about powerlessness? You, with your chaos magic and your ability to reshape reality itself?"
Wanda's expression went carefully neutral. "Until recently, powerlessness was my entire life."
She held up one hand, and red energy danced between her fingers. "I've had these abilities for barely a year. Before that, I was nobody. Just another girl from a forgotten corner of the world, destined to die in obscurity." The chaos magic intensified. "I got these powers because I was willing to sacrifice everything—including my life—for something bigger than myself. Pietro and I, we made a choice. We volunteered for experiments that killed everyone else who tried them. We survived because we chose to fight, even when fighting meant probable death."
Wanda's eyes met Asajj's, and for once, there was no hostility—just raw honesty. "So yes, I know what powerlessness feels like. I know what it means to have nothing, to be nothing. The difference between us is that I learned strength isn't about what powers you possess. It's about what you're willing to sacrifice for what you believe in."
Asajj had no response. The words stripped away her defenses, leaving her exposed.
"After you complete the ritual at your clan's village," Kreia said, "we can begin the process. Temporarily severing your Force connection to help you find your true power. But understand—this will be the most difficult thing you've ever done. You'll have to face yourself without any of the abilities you've relied on your entire life."
"The Force always demands sacrifice," Pall added. "Power without cost is an illusion."
Asajj stood there, dripping lake water, bleeding from a dozen cuts, clutching a severed fin from a creature that had nearly killed her. And she had never felt more lost.
Without a word, she turned and walked toward their speeder.