A Home Amongst Desolation

[Zhi Jonan]

Zhi felt that he was neither stupid nor dense, but his companions were allowed to have their moods… and in reality, their grim reactions were as informative as anything else could have been. What kind madness had happened while they were away?

The tanned young man found himself brushing a hand through his pulled-back hair from the center of his forehead to his temple, causing another quiet micro flurry of sand grains to rustle from on his person down to the table and floor. The young Consular absently swept the newest dust into his neat grit pile under the table with a flick of three fingers. Sighted or not, he turned back to Alex.

“I wish you’d led with that, obviously. But my game will do. You said it's been a month. I'm assuming he’ll be stable enough until the storm dies?”

[Sskveesh]

Sskveesh sat there contemplating what was going on. These two were real pieces of work. They were caring more about some guy who they barely knew over their own wellbeing. If Zhi had his way, they would be out in this blizzard of sand rushing to the aid of a man who was recovering: slowly, but recovering, nonetheless. There was a high level of danger here that neither of them was picking up on. The sooner he got his money's worth out of this, the better.

"That will be a ssticky ssituation. If your would-be warrior makess a ssudden recovery and the Chanscelor'ss people recognizse that fact, it will be trouble for all of you."

He glanced back down to his gun and inspected it again, trying to process what was going on. The Old One had impressed upon him the danger of the Sith Lords. The fact that one of those predators was one of the most powerful men of the galaxy and it had been such a successful secret only made him seem more dangerous. Clearly this was not a madman. The Chancellor had imposed very strict restrictions on his field. Their people handled all of that themselves. They always had a dark history, but now it had grown even more darker. Sskveesh was allowing his mind to drift to several strange coincidences now that his eyes had been open.

"You besst have a placse to hide him good once he iss healed."

[Alex Lynd]

Alex exhaled in an exaggerated sigh and looked between the two of them.

"Neither of you understand the gravity of this."

He shrugged.

"I wish you'd led with that....really? Really Zhi? Do you think I'm stupid or something? That's not information I was exactly willing to volunteer to any random stranger especially a bounty hunter." He looked at Sskveesh "No offense, but it was pragmatic... " He looked back to Zhi.Traveling with his inexplicably aged Jedi Padawan companion who is somehow not dead. For all I knew you were sent here to kill him and were imposters. I had to make sure first anyway."

He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against the counter.

"You can say that again Sskveesh, from what he tells me Kaini targeted him for other reasons and if he finds out he's alive he'll likely be back. I let him tell you the entire story, but I don't know if Kaini was trying to actually kill him, from what I've heard he'd be dead if he was...but then again he was pretty much there. I arrived just in the nick of time."

He eyed the bottle of Zeltronian Brandy on his shelf.

"Either of you want a real drink? Yeah Zhi...he'll be fine we can wait until morning. He needs rest."

[Zhi Jonan]

Zhi sighed and reflected on Alex’s counter for a moment.

“I understand life and death… But your pragmatism is sound.” He shrugged. “Not that you need me to tell you that. I’m sorry, Alex.”

He considered spending the time to share a drink or a meal; anything that continued laying the foundation for a connection with either of these two. The Force only knew what else either of his suspicious companions could tell him that would be useful to know, and it was sand-storming after all.

But, no. The Consular and healer had been given even more news and daunting factors that he needed to process, too, and some of Alex’s words had struck a chord in him. Zhi preferred to take the quiet, if it was available.

“That sounds worth trying, but no thank you. I’m fine. Is there an extra room?”

[Sskveesh]

Sskveesh shrugged.

"None taken. I would have done the ssame."

As Alex continued his story, it became clear to the bounty hunter that perhaps it was the Jedi who didn't understand the gravity of the situation. There was a direct hole in the logic that worried the Trandoshan deeply. If the Sith meant to kill your ward and failed, it is a stroke of luck or incompetence on the part of the foe, neither of which were reliable to gamble on. If the Sith didn't mean to kill him...that was something drastically different. Keeping his nonchalant attitude, he nodded at the offer of a drink. Even if Zhi wanted to be some kind of priest, Sskveesh had no such piety.

"After hearing what I've heard, I think I could usse a drink. Thankss."

He leaned back in the chair and held back a sigh, deciding to offer up a bit of advice but avoiding adding any condescension.

"I assume you've entertained the possssibility that he wass left alive on purposse, ass bait to trap other Jedi?"

[Alex Lynd]

The bottle flew into his hand and he set it on the counter and retrieved three glasses. Given the strength of the beverage and some of the other more interesting properties of the beverage he was decently conservative in his pours. He handed one glass to Sskveesh and one to Zhi while he quickly drank his own.

“Could be a trap for other Jedi but I think it has more to do with Kaini wanting to train him. From what he has told me Kaini killed his master and the young man displayed a certain lack of restraint in dealing with that matter…”

Alex nodded to Zhi

“Just drink the damn thing. It’s not going to kill you…in that amount anyway. Yeah there are two other rooms, they’re small but back to the right. My room is the end of the short little hall. Refresher is across from the others. I mean. It’s small you’ll figure it out.

[Zhi Jonan]

The drink didn't matter to Zhi much. He considered whether he should just take it after all to avoid sparking more frustration from Alex, who was so changed from the warmhearted young Consular he remembered, but ultimately Zhi set the untouched beverage glass down on the surface of the table and lowered his hand to his side.

“Another time, Alex. Thank you for sharing your home.”

He lowered his head in a quiet farewell mannerism and left the room, leaving the remaining pair to bond, or not, and continue discussing whatever they would over the brandy.

(Continued here.)

[Sskveesh]

Sskveesh watched Zhi go, making no effort to stop or speak further to the young Jedi. Clearly his freed prisoner had a lot on his mind, and Sskveesh was sure nothing he would make any difference. Instead, he turned his eyes to the untouched drink now sitting on the table. He shook his head as he continued to drink from his own.

"What a wasste."

This left him alone in the room with the older Jedi, who apparently had not been part of this mysterious vanishing act Zhi was discussing. This man had been here the entire time, which meant there would probably be more that the two could relate too. However, it was precisely their similarities that could in fact keep them from discussing anything of their personal lives. Sskveesh always played things very carefully and rarely liked to discuss his history any more than necessary. It was not a needed precaution, as there was no one to threaten that he was keeping hidden, but it was a safe practice and one he could not seem to shake. He spoke up, ready to confirm the bombshell that had been dropped on him earlier.

"The Chanscellor is a Ssith... I ssupposse it would be too much to hope for that you're just Bantha%^*#ing to get a risse out of your friend there, wouldn't it?"

He sighed, realizing that if the Sith were truly a military power he may be out of work for much longer than he had originally expected.

"Perhapss the sstorm will not completely die down sso you two will have lessss of a job getting your injured friend off planet."