"Very good." Dooku said after a moment, watching his daughter play with the weapon. He turned to look at Tan'ya. "She's been having severe nightmares for some time."
"Can't you calm her mind with the Force?"
...
There was a long awkward pause, and Tan'ya only briefly glimpsed a pained expression on her father's face. "I have been unable to." At last he admitted.
It took Tan'ya a moment to puzzle out why. If his own mind was unsettled by fear for his daughter's wellbeing or hate and anger towards Sidious, then he would only be adding fuel to the fire by linking their feelings.
"The power of the Dark Side comes with a high price." Dooku rumbled at last.
To that, Tan'ya didn't know what to say. She had used the Dark Side herself in the battle against Maul, but the subtle power it had to change your own thoughts and perceptions over time was clearly dangerous. Tan'ya had already concluded that like the Type 95, it was to be used sparingly if it was to be used at all.
They practiced together outside for the next hour. Neither Dooku nor Tan'ya got much done individually, mostly focussed on helping Madalee grasp the basics. At least she seemed to enjoy it, especially when she got a chance to play with a real lightsaber. Shortly after they started Commander Hoves arrived, and waited nearby for a pause in the lesson to speak with Tan'ya and Dooku.
When the Count waved him over, Hoves approached and made a deep bow. "Your Majesty, it's a relief to see Madalee doing well."
"It is." Dooku agreed. "Did you have something for me? Normally issues concerning the House Guard would be handled by my daughter."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Hoves paused, before adding. "I approach you, seeking to speak openly about a matter of some concern to your people… though it may be a sensitive issue."
That got Tan'ya feeling curious. Normally, if there was anything like a sensitive issue, she would be the first one informed, and then she would be the one to bring it to Dooku.
"Go ahead." Dooku said.
"To be frank, the people of Serenno are worried about the… assassin. Rumor has escaped about his dark powers, and it's feared that if his soul isn't dealt with properly, he could menace Serenno for some time."
"That's it?" Dooku's brows came together.
"Normally I would just have the body taken from the morgue without bothering either of you." Hoves said, quickly. "But in this case, the body of the assassin is being used as evidence in diplomatic affairs. I didn't want to remove it without first being certain that it was no longer of concern to you."
Dooku stared at the man, clearly somewhat annoyed. "I'm not inclined to give the monster a proper burial."
"Oh, no, of course, your Majesty. The most powerful of the Voidkin don't truly die the way they should." Hoves explained. "The fear is that if allowed to go free, his soul might haunt this world for generations to come, so he must be imprisoned in the Cold Grove." Those last two words were said in Serenoan, and it took Tan'ya a moment to parse out their meaning.
Tan'ya spoke up. "What is the Cold Grove?"
...
It turned out to be almost exactly what was described. More than a hundred kilometres beyond the Capital, nestled deep in a lush mountain valley, was a grove of reek trees. Tan'ya only vaguely remember hearing about the species from her excursion to a lumber yard in the jungle years prior, but as the speeder landed, she saw the twisted, knotted trunks of countless trees contorted into damaged forms, with golden brown leaves clustered in fan like bunches on warped branches. There was a distinctive chill in the air, that had brought up a thin layer of fog which gave the grove an eerie atmosphere, and it took Tan'ya a moment to realise the trees were active in the Force.
Each tree was crying out in agony, as they had been tapped like a sugar maple to slowly drip their sap into buckets set to hang below the weeping wounds. The air reeked like a mixture of licorice and pus that was absolutely nauseating. She quickly took the small tab of lozenge that one of the guards offered her, and soon her sense of taste and smell faded away, numbed by the medicine.
"These are Uneti trees. I recognise them from the tree on Coruscant." Dooku said, looking around at the grove. "Or at least, they're some variety of them."
"We call them reek trees." Hoves explained.
"Stinky trees." Madalee said, pinching her nose.
"That's a good translation." Hoves agreed with a nod. "We don't know their exact origin, but they were brought here by the voidkin in our ancient history. The wood is strong, and valuable, but we would never allow the Cold Grove to be cut down." He led the way forward, and Tan'ya's family followed behind him. It wasn't just the three of them, Athemeene, Ideon and Kenth were all present. Kenth was on the planet because Dooku had recalled him to Serenno to make sure that all would understand the family's new rule.
'No one of the House of Serenno is to be without a Jedi Guardian, going forward.' Not even their homeworld, surrounded by the House Guard, had been shown to be safe. Every single member of the family was to be with a Jedi from now on. Travelling with Kenth had been three Jedi from the New Temple. Because Ideon was too young to be by himself, he and Athemeene would share one guardian, while Kenth and Madalee would each get one of their own. Asajj was charged with Tan'ya's safety.
Most surprising of all was that Vai, the Mandalorian girl, was with them now as well, following along awkwardly behind Dooku, who had charged her with remaining by his side. There was something strange about how Dooku was treating her. At first Tan'ya had thought Vai was going to be adopted into the family as a reward for saving Athemeene's life, but now it seemed like something else was afoot.
At the trunk of the oldest and largest of the trees, Hoves bent down to rub some dirt away from a bronze plate that had been hammered into the base of the tree. Tan'ya lent forward to read it, seeing Serennoan writing.
"Addmerra Darmahss." She read aloud, confused. None of the words had any meaning in any language she knew. "Is it a name?" She asked.
"Yes. You know him as Darth Malus." Hoves answered. "Admiral of the Black Knights."
He was the Sith who first conquered Serenno, one and a half thousand years ago. In the history of the Galaxy, he wasn't even a footnote, a mere admiral in the service of the much more famous Underking, who Tan'ya was pretty sure never actually led a fleet into battle. Even to the short lived Sith Order of the Black Knights, the conquest and subjugation of a medieval world like Serenno wouldn't even be worth more than a mention.
"So he's buried here?" Tan'ya said.
"Yes." Hoves agreed. "To keep the whisper of the vile-ones from tormenting the innocent, they are imprisoned here. When Darth Maul is buried, he will be placed here with a sprig of Stinky Tree in his heart. The tree will feed off his soul for all eternity, punishing him, and keeping him from doing harm to the innocent ever again."
"What do you collect the sap for?" Athemeene asked, looking like she didn't quite approve of the practice.
"It is used to make a chewable cube that when eaten makes your mouth black." Hoves explained. "Soldiers use it when going to war. Every village will draw from their own stinky tree."
...
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