The Legend of the Jedi Queen

72. The Condor's Lament

Abeloth raced out of the ship, leaving Nellith and Tallis behind.

"You know, we could ditch her right now," Nellith said.

"And you know that would delay the problem," Tallis retorted. "She's resilient and more powerful than we know. We shouldn't even be having this conversation."

"Why not?" Nellith asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She's got her little tentacles up here!" Tallis hissed, gesturing towards his white-streaked hair.

"Tentacles? What tentacles?" Nellith asked.

Before Tallis could respond, they both hovered above the ground about an inch, as if they were picked up like a child's doll. Tallis went limp, as if he had been victim to it before and knew better than to struggle. Nellith kicked and flailed in the air, trying to fight as Abeloth dragged the two of them out with the Force.

They flew into a strange room in the beautiful palace, with only a single throne in it. Nellith's heart rate picked up. It wasn't the Throne of Balance. . . But what if Abeloth thought it was?

Abeloth stood in front of the throne, and slammed Nellith and Tallis into the floor. Before she could prop herself up, she felt Tallis by her side. Leaking through the walls he had placed were feelings of love and compassion. Then, as soon as Abeloth had turned around, he retracted his hands, pulled away from her, and plugged up the shields within again.

Nellith looked to him, confused as to why, and then looked to Abeloth standing over them, tears running down her cheeks. Her eyes were turning from completely black to red, and Nellith felt an immediate draft in the room.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Abeloth roared, and all of the windows broke and a howling wind burst through them. Nellith pressed herself to the floor as the winds grew in strength.

"I don't know!" Nellith cried as Abeloth stormed forward towards her. With a simple flourish, she raised Nellith to meet her eyes.

"WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?" Abeloth screamed. "WHY CAN'T I SENSE THEM?"

"I don't know!" Nellith repeated, flailing as the fist starting closing, and she felt one closing around her neck as she felt Abeloth begin to comb through her mind like Kiernan did. Just as she started seeing black spots—

She fell to the ground in a heap, and began sobbing as Abeloth stood over her. She could feel Tallis's eyes on her, longing to come to her side. The question was why he wouldn't.

"You truly don't know," Abeloth said, her voice quiet. She blinked, and her eyes turned from red to black again. "I still cannot sense them. . . That means someone used the Dagger."

"Dagger?" Nellith asked.

"The only weapon that could kill Ashla or Bogan," Abeloth said. "Or their father. All of us were vulnerable to it. Their father created it in case either tried to escape this world. One of them must've used it on him first."

Abeloth dropped to her knees, and Nellith felt as if she was drowning in the ancient being's grief. Somewhere, she heard a condor's sweet, high notes making a melody of lament. Yet there was something hopeful to it. Optimism and forgiveness filled the bird's song, and it pierced Abeloth's dark heart.

The tide of grief ebbed, and Nellith breathed as slowly and deeply as she could, just wanting to enjoy being alive even if it was for a few seconds. Everything was unsure, a loose point in her world. No one was as they seemed.

"I know what I have to do," Abeloth said. "I tried it only once before, when I tried to create my own family."

"Oh no," Nellith whispered, remembering an Artorian mural.

"If I cannot have my original son and daughter, I will make new ones," Abeloth said as she rose to her feet, surveying the young boy and girl in front of her. Nellith didn't dare look at Tallis.

Before she could protest, or say anything, Abeloth lifted the two again, and started pulling them out into the jungles of Mortis.

The Falcon touched down in the Imperial hangar bay, Rey and Ben standing right in front of the docking area. Chewbacca walked down the ramp and was bombarded with questions.

"Where's Nellith?"

"Where's Tallis?"

"What happened?"

"Why haven't they come back?"

"Give me a minute," Chewbacca growled. "She went with him. They went somewhere called Mortis. I did not understand very much about it."

"Mortis?" Ben turned to Rey. "I've never heard of it."

Rey blinked, deep in thought. "I believe I have."

"Where?" Ben's gaze was intense on his wife's face.

"I don't know," Rey said, sounding somewhat irritated. "But in the legends they used to tell on Jakku, it was the birthplace of the gods. The Father, the Daughter, the Son. The Balance, the Light, the Dark."

"So they're chasing fairytales with Snoke?" Ben cried.

"The Throne of Balance was supposed to be a fairytale too," Rey said. "But it's very real. We need to rethink this. So much more is going on than any of us understand. I need to search my records."

She pulled a holocron out of her robes. "Search for Mortis."