First a Moment. Then Ten More. [Elara]

[Kei Amadis]

Apart from occasionally threatening to take the blanket with him as he rolled uneasily in the night, dreams of being separated or stranded. There was no pain now. He put on a brave face next morning. It was like being blind. Kissing Elara on the forehead. “Morning.” He got up and saw everyone else was awake already.

Passing around what was left of the water canteen, Kei waited for everyone to drink, checking them over again like a concerned father, assisting Priya with taking a gulp and mopping up her face as she spilled it. After he’d offered everyone their fill of water and it was run empty, encouraging [member="Elara Amadis"] to keep hydrated. Kei’s clean Yoda socks were being pushed into a second bottle with the top cut out. Scooping up some of the black burned wood charcoal from the fire, he was careful not to use any white ash. The second sock was placed over it and pushed into the top part of the makeshift filter. Using whatever grass was around on the very top. The water filter wouldn’t remove dangerous poisons, but it would take out any odors or bad taste.

Looking for a tree he recognized that was safe, Kei unfastened a clip on his backpack, giving him what look liked a makeshift blade, pushing it into the trunk and letting the sap flow into the filter and eventually the canteen. “Socks.” Kei remarked with a grin, waiting for it to fill, while Patches watched on, blinking a few times.
“Jimzies got water back at the plantation.” The boy said proudly.

“Plantation?” Amadis asked, squatting down beside him, closing the top of the full canteen.

“Yep. Better than trees.” He began to whistle a tune, flexing on his tip toes.

“You got a doctor there.”

“Uh Uh” The boy said. “All we got is the mechanic.” Patches was trying to get their attention at the word mechanic, waving over with both arms in the air. Kei nodded. “I think that’s it.” Mechanic wasn’t what he was expecting. His attention being turned, he didn’t see the father Defel’s knife glinting as it was pulled loose and held outwards.

“My son isn’t for trade.” The father said, from somewhere, Kei was still trying to spot him. Who had the knife pointed at them he couldn’t see. The lack of the force was a real disability. "Take it easy."

[member="Elara Amadis"]​

 

[Elara Amadis]

Defel Elara knew little about them but the long claws were meant for hunting and the ghost like bodies stealth. They were predators. So what were they doing here? Were they staff? She just didn't think so maybe something was wrong, or..what had Kei said they owed money to someone.

So waking up to find him looking at her a bit unnerving.

Everyone was awake more than likely they didn't sleep very well and being in a strange place put them on edge.

Water from a tree, Elara had thought that Kei as going to water the tree. She shook her head at her own thoughts. She could hear him talking with young defel boy who acted like any other boy. Curious. Playful and watching Kei.

Water.

Tree.

Jimzies? She turned her head. What's a Jimzie? Mechanic? Like someone who fixes ships? speeders? Well it was imaginable that there would be ships and speeders to fix here. She looked at Patches. He was silent. Stone silent.

"Patches, you know the mechanic?" She just had to ask the question. He looked at the ground again.

She walked towards him, she could hear the father talking about his son not being for trade. Why would they think they wanted to trade for his son? Kei could it she knew it. She wanted to talk to Patches.

"Are we in danger? Are you in danger?" It seemed clear he had been here before in some way, but what? Guard maybe? Or something else?

She turned looking in the direction that Kei was talking, she saw him waving his hands. "I think we need to go see what Kei wants." Was he in trouble? So many questions and no answers. Feth.

She turned again to face Patches her body was tense she hated feeling like she couldn't trust Patches. I hope I don't have to kill you Patches she thought to herself.

"Let's go help Kei." She turned to Priya, "come on sweetheart. Time to walk again." She looked back at Patches. Then started towards Kei...

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

With no use of the force spotting where the defel father was speaking from was a nightmare. “Nobody wants to harm your son. We took shelter from the noise.” Kei was turning in circles looking for the speaker. The father didn’t believe him, Kei looking around blind at silence didn’t exactly inspire confidence. “Just want to find the doctor and get out of here.” Kei said directly, his voice firmer. This time he’d got some attention. “How do you plan to do that? Grow wings?” The voice responded from close to Elara. Amadis shook his head, no use of the force to calm or give him an edge. “Think of something, we always do. Take us to whoever treats you, space for you and your son when we leave.”

The knife had been pointed at Patches, “shouldn’t have come back.” The Defel said with a sneer, his form more visible under a darker tree. Patches shrugged and looked back at the ground, the silent man was drawing a message in it. It just said sorry, aimed at all of them, especially Elara which you could see he felt terrible for. None of that altered the half visible father’s sneer.

“Don’t like your company. But alright. I’ll take you to the mechanic.” The father grabbed his sons hand. They’d have to walk fast to keep up. Kei went back to help Elara with Priya and assisted them along. A tropical jungle not the most calming of environments for someone who barely registered a bare room as there.

Patches just walked along with his head dipped.

****************
The Clockworks
Tick. Tick. Tick.

Jungle walk. Nothing dangerous and only a few animals, mostly here there were just plants. Didn’t seem anything too dangerous, other than the fact they were trapped here and had no idea how to get home. They came across a gigantic mechanical clocktower, the bottom of it starting on the ground, and stretching up the size of a house, its hands bigger than a man. It was a wind up one apparently, as two people were turning a large screw like device, running in circles holding onto a bar by its side to keep it going. The clock kept careful time, always running.

Kei was as surprised as Elara, more actually, as her keener senses might pick up on the smell of cooking from a huge communal wooden hut to the right, or the sound of fish or meat being put into a large set of scales, metal loaded up the other side to balance the weight. The scales were as big as a person, because much of the items people were carrying to weigh were as big as a person. Firewood, large leaves, Kei’s boot. Kei’s boot, he looked down back to his socked feet. Hey!

A man was ticking all this off, scratching a stone and using some makeshift light dyes on a board of dark wood. “3 hours.” Then to another. “2 hours.”

Two people began trying to barter with Elara's and Kei's little group “New? Welcome. Need food? Pretty girl” One asked Kei “Pretty guy? Blankets?” Someone asked [member="Elara Amadis"]. Buzzing around them offering them wood, or trying to take what little belongings they had on their person for food to eat. A man in a large trench coat and a suspiciously familiar hat stopped in the way of Elara, cigarra burning away. "How long." Asking [member="Elara Amadis"], pausing. "For him." He pointed to Patches. Sadly it was not Zacka, but the clothing looked very similar.

Beyond that lay more wooden huts with straw roofs, the biggest ones laid out in a circle with shanty makeshift ones surrounding the main ring of huts. Then prisoners, LOTS of prisoners sitting around the circle, moving around and living here. How many? Hard to say, it was a real shanty camp. Patches was keeping his head down still, wanting to disappear. This was one busy island and if they didn't lose everything on the beach, new arrivals were often pawed at.

[member="Elara Amadis"]​

 

[Elara Amadis]

Elara gave Kei a questioning look like what was going on? She could see the boy's father if for only a moment as he took hold of his son walking ahead of them. The stiffness of his back the purpose in his step gave her the impression of anger.

But perhaps what was more curious was Patches with his head hung down.

Words drifted her way, unfamiliar in their intent. Hours? Like a clock? Just then she thought she heard the soft tolling of a bell. She looked around and saw nothing that would make such a sound. Interesting.

Elara was standing listening to a woman offering her a thick blanket. It looked a bit like the one Kei had with him. She wasn't going to pay for her own blanket. She arched a brow as the woman continued on with the finer elements of the blanket. Elara tried not to look bored or uninterested but before she could start demanding her blanket back the woman stepped aside letting a large bruiser of a man step up to her.

A low growl vibrated in her throat as he spoke and pointed back to Patches. How long? What the feth was with the countdown around here?

She decided to try and play along, "As long as it takes. As long as I have need of him." She dug her heels him making sure Priya was protected, locating Kei, and being sure to stand in front of Patches.

"Do you have a claim against him?"

 

[Kei Amadis]

Claim? “Who doesn’t” The smoking figure dropped some ash on the ground. “I’ve got some time.” The man puffed on the cigarra. “Do you?” [member="Elara Amadis"]. He let that comment sit and continued to smoke. “A world of lost time in that one.” He walked away, but he’d be back and he wouldn’t be alone. The ledger of time on the wood kept getting carved into as the trades were made in their ‘marketplace’.

Without the force Kei didn’t have a feeling about who to ask, or who to avoid. It wasn’t until the man had been there awhile he realised there was danger and walked on over through the various traders and bodies. “Friend of yours?” He asked Patches who shrug-nodded, he patted the big guy on the back. "Making any sense of this?" [member="Elara Amadis"]

Where was the doctor, mechanic, in all of this mess? Looking upward at the clock, Kei hadn’t given it full attention at first because of just how big it was. It had looked like a building, but as they walked around its side you could see the full face of it pointing at the camp, so they couldn’t miss it. The hands ticked to the next hour and a bustle of activity came there way, people coming and going, several moving to work in the nearby plantation fields. Never ending cycle of work/eat/sleep all for trade.

Others brought food back. A smell of whatever was cooking wafted over from the communal kitchen, it didn't smell bad. The Defel father going through the steadily increasing crowds at the kitchen door. Kei could barely see him as it was, “the mechanic in here?” he said from behind the group, making sure nobody was left behind. Patches was reluctant to go in, but Keiushered him on up. The Defel father in a bitter tone remarked, “time’s in there.”

It was a large eating area, where most of the meals were served. People carrying small cast-plast (plastic) rods in their hands, handing them over for food. The defel was queuing up for his. Kei decided to wait near the door. “What do you see?” He said to [member="Elara Amadis"]. He couldn’t get his head around it. The people eating quietly, nobody in a rush to leave, going through the motions and not any trouble whatsoever.

No guards and yet almost everyone was…. he was interrupted.

“My My. Too much time for the likes of him.” A large burly woman behind the counter yelled at them. One of the few not seemingly just going through the motions. In fact for Patches who many people seemingly people hated, you could almost feel it but they all just carried on eating. Patches head sank to new lows. If anyone from their group went for any food, he did something very uncharacteristic, Patches grabbed them and held them back. One of the cooks was bounding on over with a spatula in her hand and a rolling pin in the other. "Yes Sir. Too much time!"

[member="Elara Amadis"]​

 

[Elara Amadis]

A world of lost time, was it because he seemed....well slower than the others. She looked back at Patches she reached over and put her hand on Patches chest, "You were there when we needed you. You are not lost or wasted of time." Her green eyes glanced over to Kei, "It's confusing. I've lived among the liars and cheats of Nar Shaddaa but even there was some honor to be found. These smell...desperate."

She couldn't likely explain smell desperate to her mate but it lingered over them all. Some misty cloud that blocked vision and played with the senses. She watched the workers they moved in time to the soft beat that was ever present. Ever reminding them of time going by. It was mesmerizing and unsettling. She looked back to Priya she swayed slightly as if keeping the tempo her eyes still glazed over, but nothing or nobody seemed home right now.

They followed the defel father to the large what looked like a cafeteria. She had barely stepped inside when from behind she was grabbed. She went to turn on the usurper to find Patches large paw on her shoulder. THAT was amazing. She stared up at him as a sing song voice approached she looked over her shoulder. A woman. A spatula.

Was it the food? It wouldn't be unheard of the food being...contaminated in some way. But was that it? She looked at the faces of the people sitting. They were quiet.

"You know even the best restaurants on Nar Shadaa had noise." She looked at Kei then Patches. "I think we stay away from anything we don't fix ourselves. Just to be safe." She smiled.

Time's in there that's what he said....Time....oh...She put her hand to Kei's shoulder. "Is the Mechanic in here, or is this just...." She looked to the defel, "where is he or she?" He turned looking at them. "time is here. Time is always here."

Umhmmm...."I don't think he's here. I think something is wrong here." She wasn't sure she couldn't put a finger on it. But this room too quiet.

 

[Kei Amadis]

Patches perked up a bit, his thick nose twitching as Elara stood up for him, raising himself up. Kei took her word for it on the desperate smell. His own senses still a dull crawl at the moment, more oblivious than ever to the subtleties of what was going on here. He saw something he needed to help or save, her sister and was going after it. That was Kei without the force.

Stay away from the food. “Agreed.” Feeling her hand, he was feeling out of touch as well, but his stubbornness wouldn’t let it phase him. “Keep us in sight.” Kei said strongly to her, just like he was focused on her sister and her. It helped him cut through whatever this bizarre scenario was, she always had, no matter where they’d found themselves. Upside down or inside out, she’d been there. He tapped her hand.

A small Yarkora with glasses and a top hat brushed by Elara and waddled on out the door.

Time slowly ticking away, as it was bought, sold and paid for. Patches could see Priya going to eat some leftovers and took the plate and put it down out of the way. Spatula waving lady though didn’t seem to wait too long, till she put her hand on the defel boy. “You owe me two hours for the food.” The woman complained. Kei interjected here, taking Elara's advice again. “I’ll settle his tab later.” The woman hmmphed and went back to her counter, taking him at his word, just like that. Everyone so accepting and well behaved.

All this seemed to endear the father more to them, but also concern patches more for whatever Kei had signed them up to. “Get us to the mechanic, and none of this is going to matter.” He said to the father. The father looked up and nodded, speaking to Elara. “That man with the hat.” The Defel father ate his food, becoming much more amicable. “That was just him.” Sedately telling them where they needed to head, with no cause for alarm or rush whatsoever.

Explanations on why everyone was so sedate would have to wait, the food looked likely but it was possibly only half the explanation. Kei grabbed Pryia’s hand gently and began to help her out. Catching the small Yarkora through the crowds of moving bodies at the shift change here, was going to be a nightmare. The shanty town ahead of the diner area was shifting and moving, people coming and going. The Yarkota’s top hat disappearing into a worn shack somewhere ahead of them all. Every pace they tried to take forward, three more people were in the way. "Can you see him?" Kei asked Elara

And yes they were being watched by a certain cigarra smoking man from earlier.

[member="Elara Amadis"]
​

 

[Elara Amadis]

The yarkora looked friendly she couldn't help but smile at him. The light tap of Kei's fingers on her hand a gentle reminder of their connection. She turned and looked up at him she could see in his eyes that he didn't trust anyone around them.

They had no cause to. They were strangers, and acting oddly. Who knew how many had been here for years fighting for whatever they could, and likely killing whoever they had to in order to keep it. This was like Nar Shaddaa all over again fight for your life. Her instincts, her senses had to remember what that was like. Leaving them and having a life with Kei had taken some of those senses into hibernation. She needed them now, and quickly.

Priya having some of the food might be a godsend if it kept her sedate. But the cost of time was too high. She wouldn't allow her sister, and Kei to be subject to such machinations by the spatula yielding woman. These people gave her the creeps.

The man the one with the hat, the doctor?

Oh great.

She turned looking for him, he had gone out a door but which one. She reached over for Kei, who had Priya and then who suddenly reached for Patches. It would keep them all together. Elara led the way out. All around the prisoners, inhabitants continued to eat. At least they didn't have to hunt their food. Probably the appeal it was a guaranteed meal.

Elara moved out the side door and looked at the well worn path. The defel boy was suddenly at the front, "I'll show you" With that he almost disappeared into the green foliage. Elara used her exceptional hearing to follow. "The boy means no harm. But the man in that hat. I can only imagine what his thoughts are." They walked slowly along holding hands and keeping vigilant.

She stared ahead then she heard running. Not just one person, but a few. She looked behind them saw nothing she looked to her left..."someone is coming...." her heart began to beat faster, flee, hide, or engage? She didn't want to drop Kei's hand, "Hide" she told them, they scattered from the path.


[member="Kei Amadis"]