Acting

[Adder]

Shisa hovered closer to her charge as Fassil retreated to the shadows , joining the faceless trio of gun-toting furniture gracing thecorners of the room. As he was keeping watch from afar, the redhead did her level best to look as intimidating as she possibly could… without inserting herself directly into the conversation.

While she'd be the one running her mouth when Ms. Castille was to deal with those beneath her station, there was nothing she could do when it came to Jarnon Hake. Aela was all alone with her wits and the alcohol, and it wasn't looking all that great.

By the time they made it past the greetings, her guts were already all tied up in knots of anxiety, and she was halfway to giving up and extracting them with a few well-placed shots. But she dug her nails into her palms, and maintained a flinty expression, and hoped the blonde would pull through for all of their sakes. She didn't much like their chances with three blasters and some Force.

Instead, Shisa resolved to keep a careful eye on Elizabeth's alcohol consumption and step in before she could get dangerously inebriated. A guard, doubling as a servant. Nothing to bat an eye at in these circles, that was for sure.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"].

"Ahh, yes. They aren't very observant are they? Shame that your father had to go, he was a better man than I."

Oh.

She understood.

The syndicate had had Elizabeth's father killed. That thought made her stomach turn. The idea of anyone murdering her father...the idea of him dying in the first place made her sick, much less working with the people that had killed him. Aela couldn't stand the idea, couldn't even handle the thought, but apparently Elizabeth could. Did the woman not care? Did she not have any feelings at all? The more she found out about her the more Aela thought that might be true.

"Quite." She managed to slip out, taking another sip of her drink. "Shall we attend to business?"

Aela moved to press the meeting along, not wanting to linger on thoughts of dead fathers and other ideas. Jarnon seemed to eye her for a moment, though he simply nodded his head and began to speak once more. This time his tone was more formal, and slowly he began to explain what the induction would be like. Apparently they were to stay the night and then tomorrow evening they would meet on the other side of the planet at a location that would be divulged later. From there, Elizabeth would be introduced to the council, her work would be put on display, and she would have to advocate for herself as to why she should be made an underboss.

Easy.

Or so Jarnon said.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]
[member="Adder"]

There was a palpable tension that Jacen had not expected. Jarnon was far more discerning that they had been led to believe. Pulling the trick regarding Ms. Castille’s father was also interesting. Even without actively using the Force, he picked up on a note of confusion in the room. His immediate concern was that someone had gotten wind of Elizabeth’s disappearance. Perhaps he was being paranoid, perhaps they were usually this suspicious. He would be, if he lived in this den of thieves.

As they finished discussing the details Fanty swanned into the room. Between the delicate fingers of his right hand danced several thin tubes. Each contained a colourful, luminescent fluid. Jacen noted the reaction on Jarnon’s face: he visibly tensed, yet his hand moved far away from his blaster. What is going on here? What’s the relationship between this people?

“Now darling…boring talkie talkie done. Time to have some fun!” he said. He grinned over the top of the selection of death sticks he head out before him and shook.

Feth. This was delicate. Jacen looked up to Adder. She had a fine edge to walk here again. Fanty was more than he seemed, offending him might not be wise. Crap, they didn’t even know if perhaps he was Elizabeth’s sponsor in all this? At the same time, Aela after a deathstick…

Well at least she might loosen up for once.

 

[Adder]

What little color had there been drained from Shisa's face in an instant, and her jaw visibly shifted as she glared at the collection of deathsticks revealed by Fanty in a poor imitation of a magician's trick. Her knuckles grew white on her belt, and she was glad for the flickering lights and poor lighting conditions, or someone would've surely noticed otherwise.

This was bad. This was… kark.

Her eyes flitted to Fassil in the dark, though she doubted he could see her worried gaze. Didn't matter; the other man likely shared her concerns about what could very well be impending doom for Aela. She was already scraping by with her act, and this was the girl sober. Adder didn't want to think about how many seconds her cover would hold together if the Jedi was under any sort of influence.

Think think think think blared through her head as the zeltron approached the seated pair of crime bosses with a languid stride, smiling and gesticulating like some sort of performer. Guess they weren't the only ones playing a game around here, but that hardly mattered now. Another pulse in the change of the lights, and 'Eagle Eyes' tensed as a familiar seal on the side of the case blinked back at her in the flash of green and red behind her.

"Wait!"

Everything screeched to a halt, and Adder became acutely aware of an unpleasant number of eyes becoming fixated on her. She couldn't slip.

"Wait," with a bit more tact. Not too much, though. Have to be careful. "Those are of Hutt make, aren't they?" She curled a finger, leaned over Ms. Castille, and snatched one of the deathsticks from the garish tray.

"Yeah, I thought so." With a grim expression on her face, she lowered the fluorescent vial for her boss to inspect as well, but Shisa's eyes remained trained on Fanty the entire time.

"Fresh batch, too, by the looks of it. Ms. Castille won't be drinking these, and I wouldn't either if I was you." She paused, took a breath, and glanced over to Fassil. Play along, dammit.

"Jost, show them the intel," she spoke, voice sharp and quiet in the unnatural stillness of the room. "We have… a problem."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

​

Aela looked for a moment, then shifted her gaze.

She knew what Adder was going for. It was kind of obvious, especially after mentioning the Intel. Luckily, it didn't require her to say or do much, but instead show a small sneer. There was a bit of knowledge in her look, superiority. As though everyone in the room had fallen for a trap that she had cleverly avoided. It was how Aela thought Miss Castille would act, even among her friends. The woman was known to be absolutely insufferable when she won a victory, even more so when she outwitted them.

Her eyes fell on Jarnon for a moment, then at his gaze towards Shisa.

Oh he did not approve, not at all. Aela bit her lip, or rather, she moved to do so before catching herself. Her eyes settled on Adder, her throat clearing loudly.

"Shisa." Her voice was stern. "You overstep."

Jarnon's face softened slightly, his features going easier as Aela lashed out towards Adder. It was clear that the man was very big on not having people overstep their position, clear that he was very by the books. That was something interesting to note. The man was a murderer, a killer galore, but apparently he believed in structure. Aela could understand that, she herself was very strict with how she did things, and perhaps knowing that about Jarnon would become an advantage.

"However, she is correct. Jost, show them." Her eyes set on her second bodyguard.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adder"] [member="Aela Talith"]

Just gave Shisa a warning glare as she mentioned the Intel, accompanied by a subtle shake of the head. In truth he felt Adder had overplayed that hand, perhaps a little too determined to get Aela out of the firing line. She was growing into the role, perhaps she should have been given a chance to brush it off on account of the meeting tomorrow.

To the others it would seem as if he was reticent to share the information with the group. Jarnon looked pissed, Fanty looked amused. Jacen found himself thoroughly unnerved by the effeminate Zelton. There was an edge hidden underneath that elaborate act.

When Elizabeth spoke, his expression shifted. "Of course," he said with a deferential nod. Stepping forth into the light he pulled a palm sized datapad from his pocket.

"Ms. Castille's last detail were compromised," he reiterated. It was part of the lie. Slightly. They'd been compromised by GA intelligence. "But one of them got caught in the trouble." Jacen shot Jarnon the most pleasant smile he could summon. "He was a chatty fellow in the end," he said as he passed over the device, attempting to look as if he was recalling a fond memory.

 

[Adder]

She was more than happy to take the heat of her interruption if it meant that Aela wasn't going to be hitting deathstick town. The burn of Fassil's gaze on the back of her head was intense, but Shisa had to wonder if the man had ever seen what the drug did to people. Adder, on the other hand, had, many more times than she cared to recount. The thing originated on Coruscant, after all, and it was practically like water the lower you dug into the Underbelly; stratum by stratum, you'd peel away the filth and scum, only to find more insects crawling and squirming beneath. There were far, far more of them than they were of those trying to clean them out, and that feeling of being outnumbered was promptly resurfacing at the moment.

"Apologies, Ms. Castille... Mr. Hake," she forced out with a terse deferential nod and retreated back to her post to the left of the blonde's shoulder. The crisis was momentarily averted, and she's found a reasonably belieavable opening to deliver the cruical information about the impending attack. All in all, not that bad.

During the exchange, 'Eagle Eyes' kept her mouth shut, knowing full-well she was in disfavor at the moment, but her watchful gaze never left Jarnon nor Fanty; both had a thousand black secrets squirming beneath their fixed, faked smiles, and Shisa knew that with enough patience and burrowing, she could dig them out.

She simply needed time; time she would be afforded once the trio of criminals started discussing the Hutt problem.

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Oh this wasn't pretty, it was...well rather annoying really. She didn't want to be the one to do the talking, didn't want to be the one doing anything really. Unfortunately she was the real center of this whole operation, the figure that had to do most of the talking and all of the explaining. Aela frowned slightly as Jacen slid the datacard onto the table. Jarnon eyed her for a moment, looking at her as if he were expecting something else. Aela waved her palm at him, urging the man to pick up the card and place it into a reader.

He did so, though there was still suspicion in his gaze.

"Chatty as they were." Aela began, her eyes wandering over towards Fanty. "They revealed an interesting bit of information to us about the Hutts."

Jarnon sat up more, his face changing to include a bit of anger.

"It appears that our rather sluggish friends have ill intent towards us." She smiled, that smug smile. It was a smile of victory, one that she knew Miss Castille would wear rather proudly. This was an important piece of information, likely one that should have been revealed later. Despite that Aela was rather glad for the interruption, she had never tried Deathsticks and the thought...well it was hardly a pleasant idea, the thought of taking hallucinogenics while trying to be another person.

She looked at Jarnon, who watched the data scroll across the screen.

"This...This is big."

That was all he could say.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

It came as little surprise to Jacen that Jarnon looked up to Fanty. The Zelton's whimsical expression was gone. His jawline was tense, his fingers flexed. His entire poise had changed. That man is a killer, screamed a voice in Jacen's head. Whilst he was in no way the best actor, he was perfectly capable of reading people. He knew that if Fanty came at him, he'd likely swing with the left whilst his right found a blade. He'd be quick, agile, balanced. Jacen would have to bring him down fast, or dance along to a tempo of the Zelton's choosing.

Now he was looking around cautiously. Making a show of looking between the deathsticks and each of the guards around the room. "I'd be cautious with your supply lines," he said, addressing the Zelton over the top of Jarnon's head.

Fanty gave a tight, forced smile and turned to Ms. Castille. "Well darling, perhaps we'll catch up tomorrow night after your big day. I think I'm going to need to whisper in a few ears." His tone made Jacen's skin crawl. It was a subtle blend of a ray of joy tinged with a malicious shadow.

"We'll be on our way then," Jacen said with a curt nod.

The trio didn't speak in the car on the way back. The hotel they were staying in had been carefully swept by the GA, so Jacen felt confident they could talk there. All three went to Elizabeth's two floor suite.

"Feth, that was tense," he observed redundantly.

 

[Adder]

Her mask held together until the moment the doors of the hotel room closed behind them, and then Shisa simply walked over to a chair, let her shoulders sag, and promptly collapsed into its cushioned embrace.

Jacen's comment echoed in her ears, but it was coming from a distance, like there was some sort of invisible wall between them. Her ears were buzzing, her heart-rate well over the hundreds, and all Adder could think of was that this was only the first day. Kark.

When she'd accepted the job, she'd been excited and thrilled to see action again, like old times, and the rush of enthusiasm had clouded her better judgement; obscured all those memories that spoke of times just like these, of the insurmountable fear pooling in her gut like a burning acid, of the terrible uncertainty, and worst of all, the looming, all-encompassing loneliness. Out here, nobody could come save them, and this deep in the belly of the beast, not even two Jedi Marshals and a gunslinger could make it out alive. Contrary to the legends holovids like to propagate, the importance of skill grows ever more diluted with the number of enemies one is facing, until the point when it's rendered completely irrelevant.

Adder screwed her eyes shut and expelled a long, heavy breath, hoping beyond hope that some of the weight would leave her shoulders.

"We need to clean up our act," she spoke with her eyes still closed, gripping the armrests of her chair with whitened knuckles. Another breath, and the grip relaxed. Somewhat.

"We need to clean it up, or we'll be full of blaster holes this time tomorrow."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

She frowned slightly. They had had a few slip-ups, yes, but overall Aela thought that went rather well. None of them had gotten shot, no one had explicitly questioned them on who they were, and everything else seemed to have gone...well not swimmingly but it was certainly not the end of the world, was it? The Young Marshall frowned slightly, moving through the suite that had been prepared for themselves and plopping herself down on the large sofa opposite Adder.

"I think it went okay." She said with a shrug, her voice finally returning back to it's normal accent. "At least, we weren't found out or anything."

Her own performance likely left much to be desired, but they accomplished the first day, and that was something.

Negativity was all well and good, but Aela knew that a bit of optimism would do them good right about now, especially given the fact that tomorrow would likely be worse. She shifted slightly on the acceleration couch, her eyes shifting between Adder and Jacen. Both of them were haggard, nervous, both of them appeared like they were ready to fall asleep and not leave this suite again until the Alliance came rolling up onto the planet and simply took the Syndicate by force. She frowned slightly, then began to direct the conversation. "We need to find out more about Fanty."

The Zeltron seemed to be friendly with everyone, including Miss Castille.

He was a wild card that they knew nothing about, something that in this situation could absolutely destroy them. Aela was nervous enough as it was, and with someone like that in the mix it was impossible to tell what would happen next. They had to take this brief lull to try and look into the Zeltron, see if they could find out anything about him before it was too late.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"][member="Adder"]
Jacen had headed straight for the mini bar. There was a clink of bottles a moment after he bent down and opened the door. “That's assuming they're polite enough to finish us off with blasters,” he said to Adder. “Fanty didn't strike me as the sort.”

He held up a few bottles of beer and shook them gently from side to side to see if anyone else wanted one. With a long, drawn out sigh he walked back over and found himself a chair.

“It could have gone worse,” he conceded as he flopped back in his chair. His head rolled back and he watched the ceiling intently for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. Maintaining the act had been draining and he just wanted to rest. His lips pursed as he gathered his resolve and he sat back forwards, twisting the bottle cap off his beer with bare hands.

“Shisa needs to look to Elizabeth before she barks so loudly. That seemed to catch them off guard. Her fiery new security director could make some small talk tomorrow. I agree on Fanty. One of us,” he said, his finger indicating both himself and Adder, “needs to break off and get an ear to the ground. We need to take the lead on working out what he is. You must have both seen the way Jarnon looked to him.”

 

[Adder]

"Okay?!"

Her green eyes were wild as she snapped them open, looking directly at the Jedi. "Aela, we can't afford another day of 'okay'. People will start suspecting things. In fact, I'm sure Fanty already has his suspicions." Her tone rapidly turned from frantic to desperate as she finished, deflating back into her chair with an air of exasperation about her.

She simmered in her raging thoughts for a few moments, than cast her gaze to Jacen and his beer. "I'll try to tone it down bit by bit, but an immediate jump would look strange. I figure you'd be better off mingling with the rest of the thugs. Shisa looks…" she made a tired gesture with her right hand, "too bossy. Head of security should stick to Ms. Castille."

"Fassil can probably buy a round or two for the guys and they'll be spilling their guts, but you…" Adder turned to Aela with this, "Elizabeth will have to put your charms on Fanty. Be careful about, though, and slow. We can't afford instant aberrant behavior."

Not at the rate they were doing. The Jedi's lack of experience and her own lack of practice were becoming dreadfully obvious, and soon enough someone on the wrong side would pick up on it.

Still, concerns for tomorrow. They'd all act better once they got some rest.

"Alright, what are the sleeping arrangements?"

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adder"] [member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen drained the rest of his bottle and went to get another one. "All sounds reasonable to me," he said as he reached past the expensive bottles of bubbly in the minibar. "And I always enjoy expensing beer back to the Jedi Order," he added as he twisted the cap off another bottle. "Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

A disapproving stare would almost certainly follow from Aela, he imagined. It was only two beers this evening anyway. Maybe three. It might have been something he turned to when stressed before, but it wasn't like it was a problem now.

"Yeah, we should get some sleep," he admitted as he slid off his jacket and threw it over the back of a chair. Placing the beer bottle down carefully, he pulled out his Occluder, it made a satisfying sound as he scraped against the leather.

Giving it a quick check he placed it down on the table next to the long sofa. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the angles between the furniture, the door and the windows. "There's a small room adjoining the master suite," he said. "I assumed you'd take that," he said, looking to adder. Jacen could only imagine Aela would be keen to get out of her outfit. Well, he really shouldn't imagine that, she was nearly fifteen years younger than him.

"I'll kip on the sofa. I've been a light sleeper for a long time," he said. One hand reached for the beer bottle, but it deviated from its intended course and changed the angle on the handcannon and subtly flicked to mode back to lethal. At this range the bolts would disintegrate the door and anything behind them. Then he took the bottle of beer and knocked back a few gulps. "I'd best go find some sheets."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Adder"]​

​

"Uhh..guys." Aela tried to grab their attention before they both went too far.

She was pretty confident in their plan, she liked it even, except for one part of it. Adder had talked about putting her in less danger, about how her act needed to be stronger, well...putting her next to the one person that apparently knew everything was not and intelligent move in that case, not at all. If Fanty really did know all that and a bag of spice then having Aela try to schmooze up to him would be idiotic. He would know her inside and out and would be able to tell if something was wrong. She didn't like the prospect of that, not at all.

"I don't think I should talk to Fanty." She made her opinions known, no use keeping it in the dark. "If he really is as dangerous as we think, and he clearly knows Elizabeth, then having me enter into conversation with him is not only foolish, it's dangerous. I can't keep up the act with someone that knows Elizabeth that well, you saw what happened with Jarnon, you want to put me into another situation like that? With a person that will know far more?"

No. That wasn't going to happen. "One of you two has to talk to Fanty."

It was as easy as that. It was far less dangerous to have one of the unknowns approach the knowledge broker than her. Fanty had a leg up on her, but not the other two.

 

[Adder]

She gave a tired nod and half-stood, half-poured out from her chair. As if someone had flipped a switch, the day's stress all rushed back in, knocking the last remnants of adrenaline out of her system and nearly flooring her on the spot. The first day was always the worst.

Running her organic hand through her messy hair, Adder started making her way towards the indicated sideroom when Aela's voice roused her from her fatigued trance.

"I—" she started, but stopped herself short and forced herself to listen to the blonde. Worry was written plainly across her usually stern features, and by now the redhead knew her well enough to realize that was troubling indeed.

Adder pinched the bridge of her nose, rubbing at her eyes – old habits, and all – before turning back to the girl fully. With a shrug of her shoulders, she let the coarse jacket slip off and fold over the arm of the empty sofa with a soft metal tingle. Another old habit, keeping a length of durasteel chain in her sleeves.

"Fanty is a self-loving schutta," she spoke slowly, approaching the blonde, a light sway to her hips. This wasn't Adder, and it wasn't Shisa either that was slipping into her gait now; it was something older, wiser, wilder. A particular kind of girl she used to play in a particular part of town. The longest twelve months of her life. Felt like a decade under, and it had certainly left the impression of a few years on the redhead.

"He needs to be… flattered, coaxed, seduced." How many had she seduced, down there? A hundred? More? "Shisa is the head of security. A brutal, crude individual. Ms. Castille, on the other hand, is cruelly sophisticated. She's exactly his type."

Her green eyes were nothing more than two narrow slits, fluttering above a shallow grin as she reached out to run her fingers along the line of Aela's jaw. With a tilt of her chin, she would tuck a stray curl back behind her ear, letting her hand fall back to her side.

"He won't talk to one of us, Aela. We're… below his station."

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

"That's great." Aela's words were flat, it was clear that she felt she wasn't being heard. "But it doesn't matter because I can't ask the questions we need to ask."

She knew everything that Adder had said was true, but Adder hadn't gleaned what Aela's point had been in the first place. It didn't matter what Fanty was, what he wanted, how he wanted it, or even what he knew. It mattered what he knew about Elizabeth Castille and what Elizabeth Castille knew about him. Those two things were supposed to be on a level, and right now, they clearly weren't. Aela knew nothing about Fanty, none of them, but Elizabeth Castille did. "I, no Elizabeth, cannot ask Fanty any questions."

"Everything I would ask him, everything I could ask him about himself, what he does, where he does, it, all of that, is something that I should already know." She looked up at Adder. "It doesn't matter if he likes me, doesn't even matter if I get him to fall in love with me, if I start asking him things I should already know? We're all dead."

If Jarnon's reaction was anything to go by anyway.

The crime boss, the butcher, had practically paled when Fanty had come into the room. If that wasn't a grand indication of what would happen, then Aela wasn't sure what was. No, this wasn't a part that she could play, it was too dangerous and far too risky. She could go in and poke around, warm up to Fanty, but if she asked one thing she should already know, worse if she asked two things, it would be an immediate tip off that something was entirely wrong with her, wrong with Elizabeth.

She knew that Adder was older and more experienced at this, but Aela could use simple logic.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen had been staring intently at a blank patch of wall. It was a good patch of wall. Nice fresh clean paint and distinctly in the other direction from whatever Adder was trying to show Aela. He needed some decent sleep and certainly didn’t need that image rattling round his head for a while.

“You sure Fanty is her type anyway?” he asked, recalling Fanty’s comment on Bratista’s arms. He turned away from the exceptionally painted patch of wall, assumed Adder had finished her little act. “Regardless, she had a point,” he said, looking to Adder. “I can get away with asking what Fanty’s rep is like without attracting attention. As long as I don’t make it too obvious. I found him unsettling, so I’m sure some of the others will. If I get the vibe that people don’t talk about him, then I’ll let you know I’m getting nowhere.”

Jacen looked back to the minibar. No. Two would do.

 

[Adder]

"Aela…"

Carefully, delicately, the woman squeezed her metal hand into a tight fist, pulling in a long breath of air. The room, despite its excessive size, suddenly felt suffocating. Adder glanced towards the balcony off to her right, ran her left hand through her hair, and closed her eyes.

Fassil piped up to fill the silence, and the redhead shot him a grateful look over her shoulder before nodding slowly. "You… have a point." With a quick tilt of her head to the side, Adder swept her hair back from her face and offered the Jedi a wry smile.

"Voidstalker, you wanna try your luck with Fanty then?" The man wasn't bad to look at, if you liked that sort of thing, and from the files she'd seen of Bratista, Jacen could more than compete in the guns department. "I can do the rounds with the other guards, then. Buy them a few drinks, chit like that." Was she repeating herself? Felt like she did.

Kark, I'm tired.

"Alright, I'm gonna grab some fresh air. Catch some shut-eye, you two."

She wasn't even halfway to the door when the crumpled packet of cigarettes was already out of her pocket, and within seconds, Adder had one lit and stuck between her lips. The burn of the first pull was refreshing against the crisp chill of the evening air, and without thought, the woman let her eyes flutter closed, ceasing the constant influx of data and information that flitted to and fro between her brain and the electronic implants.

Rest. Rest sounded good right about now.

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela shifted on the couch, looking at Jacen for half a moment. She realized that stress was weighing on all of them more than usual, knew that things would get tense between all of them before the end. Yet they had to work together, had to keep talking and communicating. She shifted slightly, then stood up from the large Sofa. Aela took Adder's leaving of the room as the cue for them to all split apart. She would take the master bedroom of course, being the one that this was all circled around, Jacen would take the sofa and Adder would have the small room attached to the Master Suite, the one usually used for service staff.

She wouldn't mention that use to Adder.

Quickly the Jedi Master disappeared into her bedroom, rummaging around for half a moment before reappearing in front of Jacen carrying a folded blanket, sheet, and a large fluffy pillow. She wandered over to him and offered him the stack. "Here."

They couldn't all sleep at once, but they did need rest.

She couldn't have Jacen be too out of it tomorrow, especially with the meeting taking place where it would and how it would. That was something that she still had to prepare herself for, not so much physically of course, as mentally. She frowned slightly, thinking about the clothes that she had brought with her. It would work out alright in the end, her mother had made sure that she'd packed most of the clothes that fit Elizabeth Castille's own wardrobe.

If one could call it that.