Old Memories

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei was sitting in the Womp Rat Pack cantina, finally being able to rest after many weeks of running around. But this week? No runs, no need to assist the Red Ravens, no jobs that required her beating someone else up. Nope, today Nei could just hang out on the dry planet of Tatooine, sipping her usual drink (a Reactor Core) with her feet propped up on the table.

Five minutes later, the Nautolan was bored. Oh well.

Still not wanting to get up, Nei cast a black speckled eye across the crowd, examining the various patrons.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

So long ago the Jedi Padawan had been saved on several occasions by a nautolan smuggler. A female one at that, and he had never truly gotten the chance to thank her. She had taken him from a dangerous location and had brought him to Tatooine since it was her last place to land for her run, or so he guessed.

Hopefully, Haytham would be able to locate her upon Tatooine, or find out news about her to find where she was in the Galaxy. So that he could finally thank Nei Laa.

Walking through the doors of the Womp Rat Pack Cantina, he blinked several times just past the threshold, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer lighting and started to find his way through the place, keeping an eye out for, [member="Nei Laa"].

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei turned to look at the newcomer, as did most of the other patrons. Her tresses coiled in surprise, as this was a face she hadn't been expecting to see. She couldn't place his name, but his face...

"Hang on, kid!" Nei roared. Her ship jilted left and right as the Nautolan attempted to dodge the enemy ships shooting at her. "What the kriff do they want with some scrawny human?! You not be a spy, eh?" The ship shuddered as one of the pilots got lucky, and Nei let out a string of curses. "That be rude!"

Nei blinked, the memory fading. She had managed to smuggle him off of Dromund Kaas, before it ruined.

This was why she avoided the past -- sometimes, it brought back memories, both painful and not, which mucked up the present.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

The first thing he felt were the eyes on him, and that made him uneasy for a few moments before his gaze hardened and he was finally able to see completely. He did his best with what little training he had with the Jedi to expand his senses, but he always felt that familiar Dark Sided presence at the back of his mind, and he soon pushed it even further back and forgot about it.

He felt something in the Force after he had expanded his senses, and it was surprise and maybe... Recognition? A knowing feeling? Haytham didn't know, but his head snapped around to where he felt it and walked there. It had only been a few months ago, but he still remembered every single thing about the Nautolan.

You didn't just forget the face of those who saved your life.

He pushed past a trio consisting of a human, barabel, and a rodian and then he saw her, [member="Nei Laa"].

He almost opened his mouth in greeting, but he remembered where they were and indicated with his head to the perfect position in the cantina. A corner where they'd be able to see everyone in the cantina, and the exit. The best location for someone wanting to know what was going on in the area, without being found out themselves.

He took a seat and waited.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei tracked the kid -- Haytham, she recalled -- with her eyes as he gestured for her to join him. Did she really want to? The Nautolan struggled to recall how their relationship went. She hadn't done anything bad to him, right?

With a sigh, Nei took her feet off the table, grabbed her drink, and got up. Growling at the trio to get out of her way, she plunked her glass on the table top and sat down, staring coolly at Haytham. After a few moments of silence, she grunted, "So. You still be alive."

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham nodded.

He was still alive, and he was glad to be certain.

"As are you, evidently." Was this how she normally was? He would say that he didn't remember as much as he would, but he'd just shrug it off as suppressed memories. Probably something that he had done subconsciously when he first started to meditate in the Jedi Order.

"I never got to properly thank you for saving my life."

A pause.

"Thank you."

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

His absolute and heartfelt gratitude caught Nei completely off guard, causing her to drop her gruff attitude. "You don't have to--"

Dromund Kaas.

The moon.

Oh.

Cutting herself off, Nei instead inclined her head respectfully. Losing one's home was hard. "I heard what happened, after. Your family...?" Even as she asked that, her thoughts travelled to her own family, which was probably wondering what had become of their daughter -- which led to Nei once again realizing why she didn't dwell on the past. It hurt.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

"I don't know. I was off the planet before it had been attacked." He shrugged.

He could be sad about not knowing where his parents were, or he could live his life. If they were truly dead, then he would cherish what memories he did have of them, if they were still alive, then he'd find them one day. If he succeeded in what he wanted in this world, then they would know that he was still alive.

To be remembered.

Forever.

He brushed his thumb over the tip of his nose and he glanced around the cantina once, before setting his gaze upon her again. He wasn't the best with the Force, but he knew when someone was hurting and he reached out for but a moment before letting his hand rest upon the table.

"You'll see your parents again surely." He smiled.

It was time to move on from the sadness...

"So, what have you been up to thus far?"

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei nodded sympathetically. It had been while she was hauling his butt around that the world had been ruined. Her gaze was affixed to his hand as it moved. The Nautolan scowled, momentarily surprised when he mentioned her parents -- before she remembered what he could do. Darn Force Users, she grumbled. I ain't got no privacy. Her ill feelings towards his use weren't very strong however, and fizzled out shortly. Haytham, for better or for worse, was one of the few Force Users she was relatively fond of.

She smirked at his question, though. "What to say? Smuggling, invading shooting, starting fights, more smuggling, hijacking...Injured this, too." She held up her tress, the one with the scarred tip. "It's grown on me, though." Nei gazed across the table at Haytham. "You? Been keeping out of trouble, kid?"

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham chuckled.

"You know... As a Jedi I should be arresting you, but we'll just say that it's all for the good of the Galaxy, right?" A joking tone to his voice and a friendly wink as if to say it would be kept between the both of them. She was probably the only person that he could joke around with like that, but it had never occurred to him until that moment and he nodded his head at her final comment.

"I have. I've done my best to stay out of trouble. Haven't found any yet." Again, his eyes floated across the room as if he expected something to happen just as he said that, but nothing did and his gray gaze settled upon [member="Nei Laa"] again.

"So, do you work for any big name companies and governments, or just for yourself?"

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Haytham Kaze -- probably the only Jedi who could joke with Nei and not get a fist to the face. Even after all this time, she still didn't know why she felt some affection for the kid. Perhaps it was just 'cause. Or, perhaps, because he'd been one of the few people to see her give anything remotely close to a smile since...since her crew died.

It had still been too long since she'd smiled, and all she could do was smirk. "Yeah, let's stick with that."

Nei tilted her head, her tresses twitching in consideration. "Yes," she replied simply. Nei wasn't a fool; she knew the Red Ravens rubbed some people the wrong way. Heck, she helped rub some of the people the wrong way. But for some reason, she was worried over his reaction to her admittance of that.

So, she changed the subject. Spreading her palms, she asked, "Why search me out now, of all times? Not that I be upset -- just curious." The more she talked with Haytham, the more she began to, ever so slightly, relax.

Ah-hah. Mother hen. During her smuggling of the kid, Nei must've somehow developed a kind of attachment reminiscent of a mother hen to him. That was the only thing so far that made sense.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

All he did was nod. He knew when not to press a subject, even when he was extremely interested, even if it seemed extremely suspicious. He knew when to cease the advance... At least momentarily.

What could she be hiding?

He pondered for a while.

"I had wanted to thank you and to... Make sure I had a a reliable connection in the Galactic Underworld." He paused for a moment. "A friend"

[member="Nei Laa"].

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei blinked, an amazing feat, as Nautolans only closed their eyes to sleep, usually. Blinking was next to unheard of for them.

The contact part was believable; everyone wanted a contact in the Underworld nowadays. But...he considered her a friend? She'd not had a friend for a long time, now.

"You..." She wasn't sure how to phrase it, not without it coming off wrong. It wasn't so much that she didn't think of him as a friend; it was more that she was surprised that he thought of her as a friend, really. "You think I be your friend?" Nei's tresses twitched in her species' version of a wince. Yep. That came out wrong.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

As heavy as the situation may have seemed, Haytham had thought it quite comical and couldn't help himself from snorting before regaining his composure. As bad as it had sounded, the Force was an ally available to him, and although he wasn't as developed in it as he would've liked, he sensed enough to know that she hadn't meant it that way.

Maybe that's what happened when you didn't speak in your native language. He was certain there weren't exact translations for every word...

Wait, did Nautolans even have their own language?

His eyes widened in surprise at that point and he could've only wondered what he looked like at that point, before the look was wiped from his face.

He paused.

"Yes. A thoughtful one too, whether you believe it or not."

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei's tresses twitched thoughtfully. "Interesting..." she said, before shaking her head. "Funny how things be working out, eh? I do job, many months later I get a friend. Albeit a Jedi." Somehow, the Nautolan managed to make the last statement sound both like a compliment and an insult. That's just how she rolled.

Now, to address that goofy look the kid had made at her. "What be making your eyes widen?" Nei asked. "Finally realize Jedi befriending smugglers is bad rep?" While her first question was serious, the second was meant as a joke, though whether or not it was taken that way was another ball game. Nei wasn't very good at jokes, either.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

"Huh."

He tilted his head to the side as if to get a different view upon her and her thoughts by simply having a different plane of vision and then he stopped as soon as he had begun.

"It occurred to me that, I don't know the name of your people's language is all." He shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, I'm pretty sure there were some Jedi who had friends in the form of smugglers." He didn't really know if it was true, but he supposed that he could always ask a historian, Jedi or otherwise if it really bothered him.

"Also, if the Republic really does lose this War, I wouldn't want anyone else to be saving me." There was a friendly wink there and then a chuckle to lighten the mood.

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

"Nautila," she replied. And before he could ask, she raised a hand to stop him. "And no, I don't know many words. It be mostly a language for water, and many Nautolans prefer to speak Basic or, in my case, Ryl."

At his last sentence, Nei's tresses twitched. Though Haytham might try to laugh it off, his words carried a heavy weight, one that struck Nei deeply. In all seriousness, she responded, "I be more than happy to save you again, human." And she meant it. In a time span of almost five years, no one had ever outright called Nei her friend. Ally? Yes. Hired muscle? Yes. Grumpy? Most certainly.

But this kid, who had pretty much gone out of his way to thank her for a job, was also the first to tell her that she was a friend -- and mean it, too. This small act pretty much assured Nei's loyalty to Haytham, even though she had saved his life.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

"I should've guessed." He said with a simple shrug of his shoulders at the name of her people's language.

"Good, but I'm certain that you won't be needing to save me, not for a long time. If so, I'll make sure to be contacting you in any way I can." The Jedi Padawan smiled lightly.

"So, tell me, why are you always solo? I understand reasons for it, but it's safer in groups a lot of the times..."

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Haytham's question caught her by surprise, and she simply sat there for a moment, tresses twitching.

To be honest, Nei had never really given much thought as to why she was alone. She didn't even have a droid -- it was just her and her ship, most of the time. And though she would be struck by periods of loneliness, they never lasted long, as she would usually be needed for this or for that.

Now that she thought about it, the last time Nei was part of a permanent crew, they were all killed or went MIA -- all in one night. That has something to do with it, she realized. But Nei wasn't one for sob stories, whether they be hers or someone else's. So, folding her arms, the Nautolan merely grunted, "Groups present bigger targets. Solo be good for getting in and out, quick, with no notice."

If the kid wanted another answer, he wasn't getting one.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham nodded.

You didn't need to be a Jedi to know when someone didn't want to give more reasons, especially when you had as hard of an exterior as [member="Nei Laa"]'s. "At least get a droid, I hear they develop their own personality if you don't wipe them periodically." He gave a sad smile, as if he could see straight through her, but he didn't really know if she didn't have a droid still. It would be kind of awkward if she did and he said that... Now that he thought of it, he should probably invest in getting a droid. One that could help with Jedi missions and such, one that could cover his back...

"Tell me you'll at least stay safe."