Private Breathing Underwater

[Zandra Tanaka]

Closing time. Not every establishment closed at night out here, but The Nameless did and Zandra was glad of it. She worked too hard already. Besides, tonight was a special night. She just had a feeling.

In the dim light, Zandra wiped down the tables, one by one with a damp rag. All her staff was gone for the night and all her guests were in their rooms. She glanced at the chrono hanging just above the bar. Half past midnight. So quiet. She ran the cloth over the last table and went back behind the bar. Her eyes caught the dim blue glow of a holo and she smiled at the nice memories it brought her. Memories. That was all they were now, but she treasured them more than all the riches in the Galaxy.

She grabbed a glass and a bottle and poured herself a drink, not much paying attention to what she was pouring. At her point in life, the taste of alcohol may as well be water to her.

"Happy Anniversary, Cal," she mummbled, raising her glass to the smiling man in the holo.

 

[Keter]

Nar Shadaa.

It never changed.

The years flew by, the galaxy spun, and galactic powers rose and fell. But walking the streets of the jewel of Hutt space (was it still Hutt space? Or had someone else laid claim to it? It was hard to remember...) made it all seem so inconsequential. Spice dealers still prowled the alleys alongside thugs and the homeless, whilst people from across known space and beyond gambled and drank and indulged in all manner of other vices in the neon lit buildings.

He sighed.

Keter did not know why he had come to Nar Shadaa. If anything, he should have gone to Nal Hutta instead - it had been his homeworld after all. It would have been... fitting. But he couldn't bring himself to care about such things anymore. Couldn't bring himself to care much about anything really. The tattered raincoat he wore let him blend easily with the poorer crowds, and the sides of the street.

Here... the crowds were a bit more colourful. A slight smile tugged at his lips as he saw the mismatched armour, the poorly concealed weapons. Young faces, sect into scowls and grimaces as they did what he himself had done so long ago - adventure.

It ws early in the night, and Keter did not doubt that there would be at least three brawls here before the morning came.

He wished he could indulge in one himself.

But such simple pleasures were beyond him now.

Red eyes, dim and chipped, whirred as he looked about, trying to get his bearings. He had been just wandering for most of the day, aimlessly pushing his luck, seeing if anyone tried to jump him. No luck there. The petty crooks seemed to sense his desire for a fight, and kept a wide berth. Disappointing. Well, he could at least grab a drink before looking for some shelter in which to spend the night. He still had more than a few credits to his name, and once he got to Nal Hutta, money wouldn't be a necessity whatsoever.

He looked about again before finding a quiet looking place. No drunks stumbling out the door, no loud obnoxious music blaring from within. A rare island of peace in the rowdiness that was a Nar Shadaa night. His gaze flicked up to the name.

The Nameless. Hah. Inspired. He would have rolled his eyes if he could. Instead he walked up to the door, letting it hiss open before he stepped inside, into darkness.

Keter's eyes glowed in the poor light as he took in the state of the bar. Chairs up on tables, deserted. Huh, just opening for the night?

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra nearly choked on her drink as someone made their way into the empty bar. Coughing and sputtering she set her glass down and stepped out from behind the bar.

"Ah! Real sorry sir, but we're closed fer the night," she called, adding under her breath, "could'a swore I locked that door."

She eyed the figure, taking in the state of him. Homeless? Drunk? Maybe out of his mind on drugs. Still, there was something about him that told her to look closer. Something familiar. She stepped forward again, catching the glow of two red eyes in the shadow.

"Keter?" She asked slowly, rubbing her worn eyes with one hand. She blinked in the darkness, unable to believe her eyes. "It is you, ain't it?"

 

[Keter]

"Closed? On Nar Shadaa? You must be doing well..."

So someone had probably rented out this place for some minor function. No way anyone with a head for business would allow an opportunity for easy credits to slip by like this. Not unless the cantina wasn't about making money, but something else. Which was possible...

And then the woman coming from the counter recognised him.

Eyes whirred as he peered at her. Pale hair, tall, robotic hand...

Ah, the pirate.

"Well, if it isn't Lady Luck," the blond replied with a polite nod, scrambling to remmeber her name.

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Yes, this was definitely Keter. She let out a breath she did not even know she was holding. Relief. At least she didn't have to try and remove some drugged up wanderer by force tonight. Her ankle was killing her.

"I can't believe you ain't dead," she laughed, pushing a hand through her messy pale hair, "but I'm glad ta see ya, Blondie. Come on in. Get comfortable. What can I get ya to drink?"

She hobbled behind the bar again, smiling. What a funny thing, Lady Luck could be. What were the odds that she would see him again, here and now? How many years had it been?

 

[Keter]

"Yes, I can't quite believe it myself sometimes," Keter grunted, stepping deeper into the cantina. It seemed... nice. Respectable almost. Not what he woudl have expected of Nar Shadaa. Or the woman before him.

"Hmm, what can twenty credits get me?" he offered, grabbing a stool by the bar and sitting down. It felt nice to converse with someone again. The blond didn't think he had exchanged any actual words with anyone for nearly two years now. "Nice place," he also complimented, letting his red gaze wander. Everything was in good repair, there didn't seem to be any hidden weapons anywhere...

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra shook her head at his offered payment and began to pour her guest a corellian rum. Wordlessly she slid the drink across the bar to him and set the bottle down as well. They'd be drinking a lot tonight. She just had a feeling.

Better than drinking alone, anyway.

At his complement she laughed. A real laugh. Honest.

"Thanks, Blondie," she chuckled, "spent ev'ry credit I had on this place. Wanted to try n' recreate my favorite bar from when I was hiding out on Coruscant."

She gestured vaguely to the stairs where a half dozen guests were sleeping away their troubles.

"And then it evolved into this. Make more credits as an inn than it did as just a booze house."

 

[Keter]

He picked up the glass (clean, bit thick, could tkae a good knock) and sniffed the drink before nodding his approval and sipping it. Warmth filled him, and untensed his shoulders. How long since he had last had a drink anyway? Months, certainly.

"Money well spent then," Keter replied, looking to the stiars she indicated. Huh.

"Clever," he admitted, sipping his drink again. "You offer breakfasts too?"

It was... strangely mundane. Lady Luck, running an inn. Though knowing her luck, it was no surprise even this had worked out for her.

"So... you decided on a quiet life on Nar Shadaa of all places? Why?" The planet did have a reputation after all.

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

She leaned against the counter from behind the bar, scooping up her own drink. At his comment about breakfast she grinned but didn't answer. He still had his wit.

"Where else could I go, Keter?" she asked, "nearly everywhere else has my face plastered on wanted posters. Out here though, who'd notice?"

She lifted her glass to her lips, looking him over. He looked so old in this dim lighting. Worn. Well. Weren't they all? Under the bar, she hit a switch and a dim light flickered back to life over the bar. Now she could see him properly.

"Blondie, don't take this the wrong way, but you look like hell."

 

[Keter]

"Wanted? After all this time?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. The lack of eyebrows made emoting a challenge, but one he had bested long ago. "One would think that bounties expire after a few years. I'm pretty sure you've outlived anyone who would have a grudge against you."

He had after all.

Ah, at the woman's comment he smiled. "Well, I was never exactly a poster boy, so no great loss." His smile faded somewhat at her expression however and he sighed. "Heh... guess I grew old. You know how it goes - a lifetime of excitement and adventure is hell on the joints." To punctuate his point, he stretched, hearing a faint crack in his spine.

Much better.

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

"Can never be too careful," she mumbled, "I've seen people carry a grudge through decades. I wasn't always on my best behavior, ya know."

Zandra smirked and took a slow sip, watching her old... friend? She always thought of him that way.

"Tell me 'bout it," she chuckled, "My ankle is actin' up more than ever. Next I know, I'll break a hip and start yellin' at kids to get off my lawn."

Gray eyes studied the old Force user. Not with pity. She made a consious effort not to pity people. But concern.

"Where ya headed to, Blondie?" she asked, voice suddenly serious and low, "Ya can't wander forever, ya know."

 

[Keter]

Keter conceded the point with a nod and a sip of his drink. He savored it for a moment. "Never really understood that. Seems a waste of time and effort to me to let such things...fester." Yes, fester. Hatred that lingered grew tainted and debilitating. Fresh, active hatred motivated and focused, but like anything, in excess would bring about only ruin.

The mental image of Zandra acting like some homestead matriarch made the blond man snort into his drink depsite himself. "Surely a woman of your...connections could have had it healed or fixed or something by now, no?" Pirate Queen's did have influence and power after all, even when retired. Which Keter somehow doubted. One never truly retired from such a life. It was a bit like being a Sith in that way.

"I..."

Well.

"...I am heading home," he replied, letting his gaze flicker up as if he could see through the ceiling to the sky beyond and Hutta dominating it like it's overlords dominated Nar Shadaa. "It's been a long time, and I guess I felt... homesick."

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra shrugged. Honestly, if she wanted, she knew a great doctor that would be by in a few days. And he was her son-in-law too, so his rates would be fair. But she was wary of asking for too much help. Life was already complicated enough.

"Which home?" She asked, holding her drink up to the light, "home can mean different things to people like us, eh Blondie?"

For Zandra, home was with him, where ever he was in the Galaxy. She hadn't been home in many years.

 

[Keter]

He could feel warmth spread throughout his body as he continued to imbibe the alcohol. Zandra always knew her spirits. Keter released a weary sigh. "True, very true," he replied, unable to miss the way the woman seemed to be channeling his younger self. He had always been fond of words and playing and defining them.

Communicaiton was everything, after all.

"The first home. The place I was born," the blond revealed, placing his emptied glass back on the bar with a gentle clink. "I suppose this place here is your home now?"

Or maybe she still had her ship...

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra laughed a big hearty laugh. Even after all these years, all her heartbreak, she was still a woman who could laugh.

"Here? Eh. It might be where I settled," she explained, "and maybe it'll be where I die. But it ain't home. They say home is where the heart is. And my heart belongs ta him still."

She touched the ring that she still wore on her left hand, staring ahead wistfully.

"Ya never forget it, ya know," she continued, "love. It... takes hold of ya. Pulls you in, holds you and never let's go. At least, the real thing."

Zandra smiled a sad little smile and took a moment to have another sip.

"My home is somewhere else. Somewhere beyond me right now. But someday. Maybe soon, maybe years from now, I'll find him. And I'll be home."

 

[Keter]

Keter smiled. It was nice to hear a laugh. To hear her laugh. Reminded him of older times, of heists and escapades they had no business getting themselves involved in. But they had, for the brief time their paths had crossed.

"...yeah," he agreed quietly, staring into his empty glass. How coulde he say anything else, when he could still feel nothing but loathing for Naboo. Irrational, stupid. Yet he felt it all the same. A planet that had devoured the woman he loved. Stolen away her time and attention. Her daughters had needed her, but she had judged Naboo a greater priority than them. It had always been her way.

"And it destroys you," Keter sighed, letting his shoulders slump. He looked up at Zandra, foricng a smile onto his face. "But you're right. You'll find him, sooner or later." It was the right thing to say, even if his own heart wasn't in it. He never ascribed to the whole... afterlife idea. Oh, he knew of the way force users could leave imprints of themselves behinds, like holocrons - but that wasn't an afterlife. Not one he had any faith in at least.

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra caught on. How could she not? He'd mentioned it before. His wife, Naboo. Without asking she reached across the bar to lay a hand over his, a friendly gesture, meant to invoke a feeling of sympathy. She understood.

"You don't look destroyed ta me, Blondie." She smiled, hopeful, bright, but also sad.
"And I know that when our time comes, we'll have people waitin' fer us. Both of us. Have faith."

 

[Keter]

"I never do," Keter replied, looking at her hand, then at her face. "But being tough is... tiring, eh?" And Zandra had always been a tough woman.

It was such a pity that even if Zandra's faith was true... Feena wouldn't be waiting. Not for him. She would be off granting visions to some prophesised hero type, or visitng her daughters' dreams to reassure them. Her love for duty had always outweighed her love for herself and her loved ones.

"Ahem, but enough of such grim words, the night is young!" Keter raised his empty glass with a grin, feeling a touch like his old, young self.

 

[Zandra Tanaka]

Zandra pulled her hand away, smile ever present. The poor sith. Well. Maybe he'd get there some day. Then she could say 'I told you so', in the afterlife.

"Right ya are," she said, raising her glass "here's to tonight, and every day after!"