| abstract | - Nelani Kaa was a Dathomiri witch who belonged to the Misty Falls Clan. She was the original owner of Keltrayu and a clan sister to both Keshiri Tan and (begrudgingly) Rin Sakaros. Raised from birth in the Misty Falls Clan, Nelani was one of the ablest warriors of her people, aggressive and talented in hand-to-hand combat. She was as adept as any of her sisters in the practice of Allyan magic, and could incorporate quick and simple telekinetic "spells" into her melee fighting. Her tutors felt she would go on to become the clan's greatest warrior given time. At some point before 75 ABY, Nelani acquired the boy Keltrayu as a slave, capturing him from a witch in another clan. Though she had two other, older slaves, she had no interest in them for anything other than labor. She kept Keltrayu, suspecting he might be an attractive potential mate when he became a man, either for herself or another witch. In 75 ABY, Rin Sakaros arrived at the Misty Falls, bringing with her the one young witch and two male slaves who had survived an attack by the Nightsisters against the Frenzied River Clan. Nelani was as appalled as any of her sisters at the word of the strength and savagery of the Nightsister attack, and she trained herself harder than ever before in anticipation that the Misty Falls might be the dark witches' next target. However, before long the largest thorn in her side was Rin herself. The red-skinned witch had developed what most witches in the Misty Falls agreed was an inordinate fascination with Keltrayu. Nelani refused Rin's offer to purchase Keltrayu. Rin's obvious command of the Force had made her the darling of the elders; Nelani already felt partially supplanted, and she did not want an offworlder upstart from another clan taking her prized slave. More than once she complained to the elders about Rin's close and continuing contact with Keltrayu, but no one could do much to dissuade Rin. The Nightsisters continued to attack clans around Dathomir over the next year. After a year or so of Rin's presence, she warned that she had received a vision prophesying the imminent Nightsister attack. Though she disliked Rin, Nelani was not stubborn enough to deny the obvious truth, and she prepared for battle, offering only token complaints when Keltrayu was among the male slaves assigned to protect Rin while she was using Battle Meditation. In the ensuing Battle of the Misty Falls, Nelani killed two Nightsisters single-handedly, and was one of the few witches to make it through the battle entirely uninjured. In the aftermath of the battle, Rin claimed to the Clan Mother that Keltrayu had saved her life by defending her from Seneka Yari while she was Battle Meditating, taking up her lightsaber to fight the Nightsister. Nelani protested this theory, but she was overruled and Keltrayu was freed. When Rin admitted her earlier complicity in the Nightsister attack on the Frenzied River Clan and the clan elders unanimously advised her to leave Dathomir, Nelani was not sorry to see her go. Nelani Kaa's ultimate fate is unknown, though she eventually captured a man from the Dreaming River Clan and made him her mate, bearing at least two daughters.
|
