Mos Espa

Looking behind them Zed was not sure what Nartaga had been pointing at. He hadn't known the man to be wrong or unobservant but there was clearly nothing there unless he was referring to the the barbequed drumsticks. Whomever, or whatever he had pointed towards had decided to get up and leave. Turning his attention back towards Goh-Eff he gave the man back one of the Mandalorian Skulls he tucked the rest into the pouch of assorted credits that Nartaga had offered up. My friend and I here are planning a trip to the North, we heard rumor of some large herds moving in that direction but we need some supplies. You know of anyone selling Diatium batteries we lost a few out in the sands. We will be sure to bring back some choice cuts for you if you have any requests.

Goh-Eff hummed and hawed for a few moments, he considered asking for more credits but the idea of the promise of fresh meat was enough for him. There was a reason his business was located here and not closer to the center of Mos Espa. He wanted to help people, and if he got paid while doing it all the better. There is an old junker back that way he said pointing in the opposite direction that they had come from. A friend of my brothers, I don't know if he will have one of those power cells but thats a good place to start.

Nodding his thanks Zed coyly walked by the place where the Shistavaven and the Devaronian had been sitting and when Goh-Eff wasn't looking he took the remains of their meal. More than half of the drumsticks hadn't been touched and he was still recovering from his lack of food. Some might find it disgusting but food was food and when everything was covered in sand a few fingers touching food didn't seem to matter. I wouldn't worry about those ships too much, they are nothing more than luxury items for the few nations who can afford them. They make big targets, and they take a lot of resources to build and maintain. It would be like someone on Tatooine keeping an aquarium. Assuming Nartaga would have no concept of one he made a few signs to help him further understand. Like a status symbol.

Unlike her heavily armored companion, the Corellian Jedi flowed with the traffic, artfully dodging the rabble in the street to arrive at the entrance several seconds ahead of the Mando. The place which had been named and pointed out as 'Goh-effs' turned out to be a larger and significantly more prosperous marketplace than the one the two women had just left. Not only was the building larger, it had a roof, and some semblance of walls. Entering, the Seeker paused, and had a look around. The near half had been made up with tables, and the air was filled with a gamey smell of meat roasting, while the other side of the emporium was much like the one they had just left, with rusted hardware and duracrete blocks and metal drums and the lower half of a protocol droid, and Force knows what else. Probably a literal bag of bolts, too.

Waiting for Oynx to catch up, she turned her attention the patrons of the restaurant. She skipped over the several groups closest to the door, identifying them as recent offworld arrivals, and searched instead for anyone who looked like a local gossip. There was a humanoid, possibly a Stennes, seated at another table with a hooded and cloaked figure, but the cloaked figure seemed anxious to avoid eye contact, and she discarded the pair as unlikely to want attention. They needed an extrovert. 

After a moment, she selected a rough-looking Lethan Twi'lek with a massive scar on his left cheek and braintail, and several empty mugs at his right elbow. He sat alone at a booth, rooted in place almost as if he had always sat there, and several passers-by greeted him with a friendly wave, as if he were a known presence in town. Leaving Oynx by the door, she walking past Zed and Nartaga without a second thought, she sat down across from the red alien, and cocked her head. 

"You look like you have a story or two, friend. Buy you a drink if you tell me how you got that scar?"

Nartaga stiffened as he heard more outsiders enter the shop. He did not look up, but the Tusken could hear the boots of someone clad in armor, which made him tense up more. Bounty Hunters and mercenaries could make easy credits by turning in Tusken heads to the local council or the Bounty Hunter's Guild when they declared it 'Tusken Season.' The other being was harder for Nartaga to discern, the footsteps light and quick: but not out hurry, instead Nartaga feeling a precision in the movements of this being. Each step was planned and had purpose. Nartaga, having never sat down, held the drumstick Zed had passed to him and looked at it in confusion for a moment. He then set the half-bare bone back onto the table, without eating any of its succulent meat. Nartaga used a cloth that was on the table to wipe his now greasy glove clean, not using his cloak or robes. The smell of the meat on him would attract predators in the wastes, and he did not wish to do battle with another krayt dragon on their journey. They had barely lived through the first one.

The Tusken adjusted the shoulder strap that held his gaderffii on his back before signing to Zed. "More time in city, more likely found out." Nartaga continued with another sign. He doubted that Zed had any connections or favors he could ask of anyone with any sway in Mos Espa in case his identity was discovered, which made his nerves continue to strain. "Know no outsiders can help if discovered." Nartaga combined two signs. "If not find, leave to deadlands. Take chance with old battery." Nartaga finished with a final sign. "Worry bad for spirit. Nartaga worry much here." The Tusken would glance around one last time and stick closely near Zed, his right hand tightly gripping the shaft of his gaffi stick which hung behind his shoulder, in case he needed to unsling it and defend himself at a moment's notice.

Nartaga could not see Zed's face, but he could sense the change in the stennes man's aura, and the chill that Nartaga felt run through his own spine as a result was enough to visibly flinch. The Tusken could not tell what had changed his friend's demeanor, but whatever it was, the thought made the hairs on his neck stand up. The R'Crurak Tusken began to look around to see what had upset Zed. "Something wr-" Before he could finish speaking Zed signed to him and flipped the table. To prepare for a potential fight, Nartaga lifted his hooded face to better see the room, potentially outing himself, but spotted an armored being: the one he had heard enter the shop earlier. He remembered Zed had mentioned that his clan had been hunted by people who covered themselves in metal; was this one of those hunters? Come to kill any survivors? Before he could fully react however, he felt a wave of energy wash over him as Zed grabbed his other arm. It was disorienting at first, but he recognized this feeling from when Zed had used it when they were fleeing from the krayt dragon in the wastes.

The Tusken felt an intrusion in his mind, and an image of his bantha mount was conjured to the forefront of his mind. Was this another ability of Zed's? Again he remembered they had briefly spoken of being able to manipulate and read other being's minds and their thoughts, but he had been unconscious when Zed had performed this on him before. It was not pleasant for the Tusken, and it made him very dizzy. This did not help his efforts to keep up with Zed as the duo tried to make their getaway.

Nartaga did his best to try and keep up with the concealed Zed, who was guiding him by his arm. The shaman was having trouble with the quick movement, still not fully recovered from his near death injuries. He had done well to make as much progress as he had, but his condition was nowhere near what it needed to be for any prolonged physical exertion. Running was out of the question, and Zed's pulling would soon resemble more dragging as they rounded the corner into an alleyway. Nartaga breathed heavily, his recuperating lungs struggling to supply his limbs with enough oxygen. Despite his improvement over the past week, it had only been a week since the right side of his body had essentially been shattered. Even with the medicine and healing power of the Or'Rrk'Rkr healer, he could only push himself so far. It was clear he had been putting on an act to make his health seem better than it truly was so as not to worry Zed. The Tusken's legs soon became heavy and unresponsive as he and Zed rounded another corner into a different alleyway. Nartaga gasped for air as he sputtered out several words to Zed to get him to slow down. "Zed....Slow...Can't...Breathe..."

=Onyx Fett Or'dinii=
If her previous observations had made her hesitate, the table being flung in her direction straight up stopped Onyx dead in her tracks, even before Echoy'ad verbally waved her off. Onyx wasn't surprised by the attack. She had invited it by stepping forward, intentionally triggering a response. Nor did the table pose any particular threat to the armored woman, but it did achieve it's apparent goal of hindering any pursuit. The table landed on its side with a crash, well short of the mark, and the drumsticks clattered to the floor at her feet. Ignoring the scattered bones and the gawking patrons, her attention remained upon the two figures who had suddenly vanished, and she switched her HUD through its various sensor modes, attempting to locate them. But it was useless, and that confirmed what she had only suspected up to this point: at least one of them was a Force user. 

Seeing her companion purposefully walk out of the cafe, Onyx turned her attention to dispelling any unwanted attention that might have been drawn by the confrontation. But this was Mos Espa. Within thirty seconds of the table's echo fading from the room, everyone had resumed their previous activities. Everyone except for one: the scar-faced local whom Echoy'ad had approached a few moments earlier.

=Twi'lek=
"Hey, come back here miss, you promised me a drink!" He waved his right arm over his head, and moved as if to pursue The Seeker.

=Onyx Fett Or'dinii=
No, you don't, she thought as she hastened over to the agitated man. Have a seat, and I'll buy you a round, friend. She grabbed his right arm gently, but firmly.

Nartaga visibly teetered for a moment after the force cloak was lifted, and he struggled to catch his breath after they had stopped. The Tusken's breathing was heavy and labored. He felt very light headed from the quick escape, a side effect of not getting enough oxygen due to his still healing punctured lung. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, drowning out most of Zed's words, though the steady pounding became less deafening as he was able to focus more on his breathing. Nartaga clutched at his robes over the right side of his chest, over his lungs. Unable to fully speak, he shook his head at Zed's question of him making it to Patashu, only managing to force out a few words. "Need...breathe...not...right..." The Tusken followed his broken Basic with something in the Tusken language, though it was not a word Zed had heard before.

He again felt another presence creep into the boundaries of his mind, but it was different to the Tusken than the image that had been forced by panic to the forefront of his thoughts, because of the short notice, by Zed. It was almost welcoming, which made him instinctively not trust it, despite what he felt from this new presence. Magicks dealing with the mind were new to the Tusken shaman, the possibilities for deception innumerable. He had already been on edge, but if there was yet another outsider shaman, and one that was following them after their close encounter with the armored outsider that had caused such a strong reaction from Zed, he would not drop his guard for anything. Nartaga signed with one hand to Zed, un-shouldering his gaderffii and lifting it. The sentry's hands were wrapped around the shaft of the Tusken weapon in a death grip, for fear the numbness he felt in his hands would cause him to drop it otherwise. His breathing was still ragged in between words, but he was already beginning to recover, at least enough to try and put forward a strong facade."Zed...Go...Nartaga...Slow...Zed..."
The Tusken turned to face the outsider as he heard a voice speak out, raising his gaderffii. The Tusken's own hood had dropped back behind his head due to the inside catching the air from their escape, fully revealing his covered face, outing him as a Tusken Raider; one of the most, if not the largest, vilified races on the desert world. The Tusken again repeated the expletive in his native tongue as he saw a humanoid, presumably human, outsider standing before them. He made another sign with his left hand, looking to Zed to ask him what they were going to do. Running was more than likely out of the question. If they were in danger from this person, their only chance was to try and fight. But where was the armored outsider? Nartaga kept his eyes peeled, but something did not seem right here.

Kay'li looked back and forth between the Tusken and the very tall humanoid, trying to decide which of the pair to address first. If she were surprised by the presence of a Tusken in Mos Espa, she did not display any outward surprise or anger. This was partly because she did not fear the Tuskens, but also, because she did not know Tatooine very well, and did not realize how unusual and problematic his presence was. If Zed had not suppressed his Force presence, she might have detected his fears, and that they were centered primarily around the Mandalorian they had just left behind. However, she was left with only the emotions of the native, which were a more generic fear of his surroundings, in their totality.

She shook her head at Zed's comment, and smiled a crooked smile. "I mean you no harm." She replied, raising her arms away from her sides. "At first, I thought you were someone else." Her eyes focused on Nartaga for a moment. How much would he understand? His mind was ... different than any she had ever encountered. But he seemed intelligent, in an ancient and beautiful way. "I think you can help me with a problem." She had seen some nonverbal communication between the pair. She paused, and clumsily signed to him, before her gaze shifted upward to Zed. "But first, are there other people like you around? I mean, force users?"

Now that she'd been close to Nartaga for a few minutes, she began to sense something else besides his desire to flee. He was in pain.

His own eyes narrowed when she asked about other Force Users in the area. He did not believe her for a moment about looking for a guide into the desert. They could have found anyone. She was fishing for information, trying to lure them into a trap. He could feel it. Dropping all pretenses he released his hold on the Force and his emotions would fly forward. The fear and the sadness but above all the anger. Spitting at her feet he looked at Kay'li with daggers in his eyes. I would never give up any other force users to a Mandalorian. If your armoured friend wants to know if there is anyone else then the two of you will need to search for them.