Nomi and Rhen 2

After the conversation with the crew has broken up, Rhen finds Nomi.

"Nomi, you seem unhappy about the situation with the ISB agent. I know our progress is not as fast as I want it to be, but it still feels like progress to me. It gives me some hope.

"Would you like to talk about how you feel? Your music gave me some peace before, and I would return the favor if I can."

Nomi is stiff with annoyance despite having come to whatever resolution on the subject with Nawah. She stops pacing back and forth in the hallway where Rhen finds her and glares at Rhen for just a moment before she corrects herself and stops shooting daggers all about.

"I'm sorry Rhen. I want to help you find your friend and I want to free Nawah's mom, but in the end, just now, that was not what my upset was about. I just can't stand being taken advantage of and I can't stand the idea of doing work for this guy because he has some power over my friend and he demands it. I guess telling Nawah that I will need to be compensated was just a way that I could take back a little control. I lived 14 years of my life - well, 10, since before the age of 4 I didn't work - doing things for other people because they had more power than me or more power than my parents. I can't stand the idea of doing it again. I will not be a slave. This came just a little too close to that feeling for me and I guess I took it out on Nawah rather than Iscandar who is the one who really deserves my wrath. It's not about the money, it's about my balance. I was thrown off." Nomi's voice rises in volume as she talks and she is loudest when she says she will not be a slave. She seems to realize what is happening and reins it back in to a normal volume right after that.

Rhen nods once. "Now I understand. I was so focused on my friend I did not see..." Rhen trails off, then steps closer to Nomi and looks her directly in the eye. "You are no slave, Nomi. If working with Iscandar is your path forward, in order to reach your goals, then you are in still in control. He may have leverage now but the future is not written, and we are not without power."

Rhen looks to the side and steps back, restoring Nomi's chosen space between them. "Perhaps it can help you to know what I see. I see a man who knows where my friend is. That makes him a target, and an opportunity. This man will lead me to where I want to go, to where my friend is...suffering. If has a part in the suffering, he will die." She pauses, then amends, "Once we have found Nawah's mother, that is. Perhaps, in the end, she will decide his fate."

"So Nomi, take his money. Make yourself stronger. Not all prey is weaker than you are, in the beginning. If we give him some power over us now, always remember that we choose to do so for our reasons."

Nomi blows air loudly out of her mouth and appears to calm a bit. She shakes out her hands, which had been balled into fists so tight that her nails had left crescent shapes on her palms. Then she swipes over her face with one hand and gives Rhen a nod. "You're right. Besides, if I am doing this, I am working for Nawah because she needs help, not for him. I will have to go find Nawah and apologize in a bit. Thank you for helping me look at this all from a different perspective."

"You are welcome, Nomi," Rhen says. "I am pleased to help empower a companion. It is too easy to feel powerless in these perilous times. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

Nomi starts to shake her head and then stops. "I don't want to talk about all this stuff right now. The Force, politics, Sith and Jedi. I want to believe there are nice, uncomplicated things in this Galaxy too. Tell me about your favorite thing, something you really, really like."

Rhen stands very still, long enough for the silence to become loud. At length she says, as if to herself, "Something I really like...? It has been a long time since I asked myself this question, or thought on likes at all. I have no..." She trails off. Finally, "Sekar Mirah. But she is in the hands of the Empire, so this too, for me, is not uncomplicated."

Rhen stares off into space. "I truly though I lost her..."

After a moment she refocuses on Nomi. "And what is it your favorite thing?"

Nomi looks dismayed, here Rhen was trying to make her feel better and she went ahead and brought up a hurtful subject. After a moment of somber silence, Nomi rallies apparently mood improved by thinking about things she likes. "My favorite thing is... There's a feeling you get that happens when you see someone you love for the first time in a long time, or you find out a boy you like likes you too, or you see the first flower after a period of dormancy. Sometimes it happens when someone you respect praises you or you help someone who really needed your help, or you make a friend laugh or even when you wake up after a good night's sleep and nothing hurts. It's like spring inside. That's my favorite thing." She nods. "When we get Sekar Mirah back, you'll feel it and you'll know what I'm talking about. So I'm going to make sure we do. In the meantime, there's something I read about that I want to go see. I'm going to take you with me. If only so I don't disappear again. But more because I think you need to come."

Nomi unabashedly takes Rhen's hand and doesn't ask if the Zabrak wants to accompany her, just takes her along for the journey. They have to go on foot since they don't have speeders and it's the middle of the night, but Nomi leads Rhen to an area of the city that is still very busy. They place they arrive is a large building with a glass domed top located in a rather upscale section of the city. Nomi pays some credits for the entry fee for the two of them and as soon as they walk in they are blasted by the heat and humidity of a growing room. It is not well lit, small lanterns point down at the ground illuminating a path between large, leafy plants. It smells like dirt and water and flowers, but there are no flowers to be seen in the dark. "Okay, it should be up this way." Nomi tells Rhen and she leads the woman, once again holding her hand, down a dark path into the building. The atmosphere is hushed, whether that is from the lack of people or something sound-absorbing it is unclear. There are some other pedestrians inside, but they are also quiet - speaking in hushed voices. Nomi is inhaling the smells like they are the best thing she has smelled in years. The only sign of their destination approaching is a slight uptick in the noise and a bluish glow from ahead of them. Nomi's grip tightens in excitement as they round the corner and come into view of a bioluminescent bloom growing in the middle of a large open circle. The plant is a vine growing up the center of the area and sports four plate-sized blue blooms all glowing with their own interior light. They seem to shed little sparks, but on closer inspection the small flickers that float around them are symbiotic insects who are either bioluminescent themselves or pick it up from the flowers. Nomi sighs. "Amazing." She says, pushing in closer through a hushed crowd and pulling Rhen with her.

Perhaps surprisingly, Rhen accepts Nomi's lead without resistance. She's alert to their surroundings, but content to be led by the younger woman. When they enter the growing room with its humidity and darkness, Rhen even seems to relax a little. She stops to take in the glowing flowers, and is almost surprised by Nomi's motion when she pulls her closer. The crowd makes space for them at the front, due in part to the Rhen's forbidding glances, but Nomi thinks they might be more reflex than intent. Once they reach the front of the crowd Rhen seems to have determined that they are safe enough, as her gaze settles on the flowers before her. She seems to have forgotten Nomi's hand in her own.

Rhen stands calmly for a long time. It's hard to be sure in the dim bioluminescence, but her face seems more relaxed than Nomi has yet seen. She says quietly, "Thank you."

Nomi squeezes Rhen's hand quietly in the dimness before letting go. She is content to stand there as long as Rhen wishes or needs to as she herself could take in the sight all night long. And when Rhen is ready to go, she accompanies her back to the ship.