Behind Enemy Lines (Day Three)

[Akirapryde]

Trysta laughed at the wave of questions, "slow down," she said playfully. She moved from the drawing in the mud, "the meaning of the song and dance was telling the Old Lady, or the Crone, good night. In the song we, the young girls of the village promise to be good."

"The dance and song reflects the setting of the our first moon, called the Old Lady. She is the largest of our two moons. This moon raises around mid afternoon and sets around midnight. The Daughter is our second more. Much later our scientist discovered that the Daughter was actually a large asteroid captured by our worlds gravity well."

"When the Daughter shares the sky with the Crone and the Mother, our sun, it's orbit is much more stable. But during the late hours of the night when the Crone sets, the orbit becomes more sporadic. It often causes havoc on our large oceans and tides. But beyond that nothing else."

She found a set on a log once more, "before the age of reason, we related the Daughter as the natural behavior of rebellious young girls." She smiled, "this concept has survived the age of reason. Young rebellious girls are encouraged to go and have fun and live their lives. But it is expected that once they reach childbearing age, that they settle down and start to work towards bettering our society as a whole."

"So yes, the song and dance does have special meaning. The young girls all dance and sing. It represents that they are promising that they will be good and that it's okay for the Crone to go to sleep. That song is followed by a song about the girls of the village dancing, singing, chasing boys and generally being mischievous. Till the raise of the Mother, or our sun. The last song of that ritual is about the young girls being put to sleep and new mothers coming in to their own."

She took her stick and played in the mud with it. "The whole ceremony or ritual is called the Dance of the Seasons. It celebrates new births, Daughters reaching the age of childbearing, mothers reaching the age where they can no longer bare children. Or when they become Crones themselves. We also celebrate the lives of those whom we lost that year."

She continued to play in the mud, "I missed the Dance of the Seasons for my sister. So I used the Force to create the Illusion of that celebration. Each year before she died, we returned home for this celebration. That was till the year she died. I didn't return home that year. I couldn't face it without her. I still don't think I can face it now. That was the reason why I stopped it when I did."

Trysta laughed a bit at his question about Zilvra. "Zilvra fought for Darth Malgus because he asked her to. Nearly fifty daughters joined her when they left to join Darth Magus. Over two hundred joined Darth Raven when he came and sought our help."

"The Sith and my people have had a long relationship. Numerous times they tried to conquer us. Because the Force is weaker on our world, they were forced to fight on equal footing for us. It wasn't until the Sith Queen Jori Daragon that this cycle changed. She came to our world and enlisted our help to defeat their hated enemy, the Jedi."

"The elders of the time decided to reject her request. But many young daughters saw adventure in the offer. So nearly a hundred joined the Sith Queen on her crusade. By our cultures daughters are encouraged to seek such experiences and bring their lessons home with them."

She looked up at him, "you think us wrong for joining the fight against you? Let me tell you, many brave daughters fought with honor and courage against your Jedi ancestors. Most have up their lives for a cause they believed in. They are no less worthy of respect as your ancestors."