At his mothers bidding, Tristan traveled to Onderon to make official the alliance between the Consortium and Queen Adraudia. Within hours of reaching Onderon, he received a message from his mother to announce that she had decided to "make a marriage not only of planets, but also of hearts." Tristan was to marry Razielle Shadana, ward to the Onderonian Queen. For the longest time, Tristan's presence at the Hapan court had been a hinderance to his mother, as he objected vocally to many of her attempts to marry his sister Elaine to any number of awful suitors. Wed to a foreign princess, he would be kept away from the Consortium and thus unable to interfere in his mothers schemes.
In spite of his grievances with his mother, Tristan was a gracious guest of Queen Adraudia. He endeavored to learn the local customs, such as riding the winged drexl, and even convinced himself that he might come to love Razielle Shadana. Though he presented a public image of happiness, in private Tristan was deeply troubled. Each night he was plagued by strange dreams, in which a ghostly apparition beckoned him away from Onderon. The vision claimed that fate had more in store for Tristan than he understood, and that he could only claim what was rightfully has by travelling to the primitive world of Dathomir. Driven to distraction by these nightly visits, Tristan eventually gave in and charted a shuttle for Dathomir.
Upon landing, Tristan encountered the woman who had visited him in his dreams: Megaera. She revealed herself to be a witch of the Burning Mists Clan, a tribe of witches ruled over by her mother, Matier. She explained that she had called Tristan to Dathomir because she believed that it was his destiny to become a leader of the clan, to guide them to greater victories than they had never known before. In spite of this, the rest of the Burning Mists Clan did not look on Tristan Alastor with much interest or hope.
At present, Tristan remains stranded among the Nightsisters of the Burning Mists Clan. Like all men, he is considered of a lower standing than the witches themselves, though it is clear that Megaera favors him above others. Soon, he will face a challenge known as the Crucible: a series of tests given to the slaves of the witch-clans to determine whether they are worthy of rising above their lowly status. In preparation, he has begun training in secret with Megaera.
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