Nar Shadda was an obscene planet full of the most woeful living dregs the galaxy had to offer, and Lark stood in what could very well be the filthiest alley, holding a bright blue balloon. The place reeked. Piss, puke, and blood, the always familiar scent of blood, covered the area in an icy, frightening embrace. Rats scurried along the grimy ground, curiously peeking into the home that Lark just emerged from. He paid them no mind, they could have their dinner. A dead family lay inside the home, a mother and father perhaps thirty years old lay on the ground with lifeless eyes open in shock, expressions of fear etched onto their cold faces. There was plenty of blood, enough to where the neighbors would be roused by the scent in an hour or so. Or maybe the people here were so accustomed to the stench they wouldn't notice, or simply wouldn't care. The people here weren't exactly models of civility. But Lark had to make haste regardless.
The couple's daughter would be home soon.
In fact, there she was, skipping along the alley as if it were her favorite playground, humming some song her parents sang to put her to sleep when she was younger. She stopped when she noticed Lark, his rather refined clothing was a sharp contrast to the drags that most others donned. He knelt down beside her, and handed her the blue balloon he had taken from her parents. "Happy birthday," he whispered. "You're free."
He left her there, young face baffled at what he was talking about. She watched him go, her little hand tightly clutching the string of the balloon. If she screamed, he never heard it.
When he left the alley, he casually strolled past cantinas and whore houses, drug deals and more. But what caught his eye was a garage that had appeared abandoned when we walked this stretch earlier, it now had the presence of life. Chances were it was a drug trafficking center, or perhaps a human auction. But still, Lark couldn't help but feel oddly curious about the place. Was it the Force acting upon him? Or only a gut feeling? He didn't know or care. With smile as calm as glass, head tilted in a mock posture of quizzically, he continued to watch as more beings arrived at the garage.
