Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update. My computer completely and totally crashed, and the week I got it fixed, I had exams. Now that I can, I'm totally inspired to finish this. Oh, and sorry about the last chapter. I got really lazy, and copy and pasted from my old story. I had hoped that no one noticed... but oh well. I'll try to remedy it in this one by explaining her behavior. Also, to make it easier to visualize, Aminta would be an Asian/ Caucasian mix, but with blue eyes. (Those do factor into the story later on; it isn't just there as a gimmick BTW.) As always, I want to give a gimungus thank you to everyone who's been reading, and of course, a special thanks to Rainwood who takes the time to go through my work and critique me on it.
Four duels and 3500 credits later, Aminta and Carth arrived back at their hideout. "Well, flyboy, I think that those duels were productive, don't you?" she asked with a knowing smirk.
Carth grimaced. "You need a trip to the refresher. You smell bad and look worse," he muttered, sitting at the edge of his bed and pulling off his boots.
Aminta scowled. "What in the name of the seven hells is wrong with you?" she demanded, stalking over to where he sat and throwing his boots to the other side of the room.
"What do you think you're doing?" Carth exclaimed as he got up from the bed to retrieve his boots, but Aminta shoved him back down. Stupefied, Carth just stared up at her.
"I'm to figure out what is going on with you. You're an absolute gentleman for a few hours, and now you're acting like a… a…"
"Sexless Gammorean's pet toad?" he offered, drawing her back to the few moments when she'd dropped her guard earlier that morning and had begun flirting with him. Aminta winced inwardly. That's the last time I ever flirt with this loser!
"Don't change the subject," she snapped as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Out of nowhere, you tell me that you don't trust me and that something seems pretty convenient. I'm not moving from this spot until I get some answers!" Her voice was rising with every word, and she inwardly cursed himself. Play it cool!
"You know, you're quite lovely when you're angry," he informed her with his most charming smile. The way that her eyes narrowed into slits made him realize that the Onasi charm apparently didn't achieve its normal results on this girl.
"Will you just answer the damned question?" she shouted, losing all restraint. And once she lost her cool, there was no way in heaven or hell that it would be returned to her.
Carth ran a hand through his hair. "You are the most damned persistent woman that I have ever met!" Aminta smiled at that, and Carth wasn't sure that he liked her smile. It had a hard, sadistic edge to it.
"I've been called worse things," she told him, her voice gone eerily quiet. At the sound of the voice change, Carth realized that he would be in trouble if he didn't answer her question. He had a pretty good idea that the vibroblades that she strapped to her hips weren't just there for show. "Now answer me," she shifted her weight to her other foot but her glare remained unwavering.
"I went through your records," he explained, and Aminta stiffened.
"You did what?" she shouted, and Carth didn't know which he preferred, the shouting or the eerie quiet. "My life is my business, not yours!"
"What life? There was no life recounted in your records!" He shouted back at her, and he ignored the pang of regret he felt when he saw her wince. "Marital status: unknown, children: unknown, home planet: unknown," he ticked each item off on his fingers as he talked. "Add that to a knowledge of forty two languages, a smuggling record since the age of nineteen, a list the size of my arm of your numerous crimes, and a sizeable amount of bounties placed on your head that were all dropped at the same time. And that doesn't even begin to cover it!"
"My life, or lack thereof, is my business, and my business only!" she screamed back at him in a pitch that rivaled that of Carth's.
"Not when it puts a crew member in danger!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Bastila specifically requested you, a civilian, to be transferred onto the Spire, and you are one of the only two people to make it out without a scratch!"
Aminta stopped speaking for a moment, simply staring at him until she could get her voice back. And when it came back, it came back with force. "Whoa, hold up a second! Gash in the head, wound in the back, remember? I wouldn't exactly call that making it out unscathed!" she reminded him, her tone still as loud as ever. Someone from the next apartment over shouted through the walls for them to shut up, but Aminta ignored them.
"But you're one of the only ones left alive." Carth's voice had lowered, and his eyes had narrowed. The stakes to this game were rising, and they both knew it. If she was a traitor, now was the best time to be done with it.
"Are you going somewhere with this Carth?" Aminta demanded, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at him with as much venom as she could muster.
"It's jut pretty convenient, that's all. So convenient that maybe you're a part of the sith; that you're only here to spy on me. Maybe you knew that guy in the cantina… maybe the party is just an excuse to report to your Sith buddies."
Aminta's jaw dropped, and she stared at him with wide eyes for several moments, an awkward silence replacing the heated argument of minutes before. Despite herself, memories swamped her. A corpse, burned and slashed beyond recognition rose to her minds eye, and she pushed the image as far into the recesses of her mind as she could. "You bastard," she whispered hoarsely as she turned and walked away.
Carth sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before he got up and shouted out the bedroom door, "Where do you think you're going?"
Aminta stopped dead in her tracks for a second before continuing. "I'm going to go take that shower. I smell bad, and look worse, remember?" muttered darkly. She didn't once look back.
Carth sank back down onto the bed and run his hand through his hair in frustration. "Well, that went well," he muttered to himself as he sighed and removed his jacket. Silence greeted him.
Aminta stepped into the refresher, and turned the sonic shower on as hot as she could make it without burning herself. She hoped that the heat would melt away the memories, but she knew better than that. Years of running from them had only served to teach her that she couldn't escape them for long. She dunked her head under the hot spray, but she still felt cold all over. Goosebumps appeared over the length of her body, and shivers wracked her slim frame.
The officers dusty boots made soft thudding noises as he walked through the red stained soil; his uniform was covered in dirt, but his buttons still shone brightly in the afternoon sun. His nametag read Gatue, it was covered in water spots, and the corners were bent inwards. Funny how the small, seemingly insignificant things can catch your memory that way.
He cleared his throat every so often as though he would say something, but he would always silence himself when he glanced at the woman walking next to him, hugging herself self-consciously, blue eyes vacant, a curly mass of hair in disarray. She guessed that she looked like she had come through hell and back again, and that wasn't far from the truth. She was wearing a yellow shirt that day; she never wore yellow again.
They entered the makeshift morgue in silence, and Aminta shivered as she walked through. Some of the bodies were recognizable, some looked humanoid, and others... All her years of hardening herself did nothing to prepare her for what those looked like. It was in front of one of the near unrecognizable corpses that the officer stopped.
Aminta sucked in her breath as she looked down, her brown furrowed as she breathed through her mouth in an attempt to block out the stench. "How could I..." she began, but quickly broke off, gesturing to the bloody, mangled mass before her. She felt bile rise up her throat, and she began to rub her collarbone as she blinked slowly.
The officer cleared his throat, drawing her back to herself. "You said that he had a birthmark..."
"Yeah," Aminta managed, looking down at the mess of flesh before her, the corners of her mouth pulled taught. "A strawberry colored one," she lifted a hand to rub her forehead, "On the back of his right thigh," she choked out past the lump that had gathered in her throat.
The officer grimaced as he rolled what was left of the man over onto his stomach to reveal that his back hadn't underwent nearly as much damage as the front had. His back was riddled with gashes, but it was all too recognizable. Aminta looked up at the guard, her brows pinched tight together in an attempt not to cry as she examined his back. There was the birthmark, the scar he had gotten on their last run, the little mole on his left shoulder blade...
Aminta drew her breath quickly, and crossed her arms over her chest, emptiness enveloping her. There was a gun in the holster that she had dropped on the floor when she had undressed. It would be so easy to end it all...so easy... Aminta gave herself a mental shake, wiping away the image of an end to her suffering and a picture of a comforting glass of ale as she did so. That year of therapy that Trask made her suffer through wasn't about to be put to waste... not when he had put so many hours into making her whole when he himself was shattered. What kind of testament would she be to her friend then?
Closing her eyes, she quickly turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel that she had hastily thrown over the toilet seat. She dried herself roughly, hoping that the pit of pain that she would feel would be enough to distract her. It didn't. It never did.
Carth jumped up from the bed when Aminta walked into the room, and winced slightly when she didn't even glance his way. "Look, I'm sorry that I acted like such a jerk back there; I guess what I meant to say came out a bit...harsh."
Aminta gave no indication that she had heard him. Rather, she tossed her towel into a corner and sat down on her bed, pointedly ignoring the pilot.
Carth cleared his throat in response to the silence. "Okay...Anyway... I just want you to know that you shouldn't take it too personally. My therapist says that I'm a bit paranoid..." Aminta snorted, and Carth paused, waiting for her to speak. She said nothing, and instead began to plait her hair. This is going to be a really hard mission if she refuses to talk to me. "Well, not really my therapist. She's my sister, actually. But she calls herself my therapist," he explained, hoping that Aminta would say something. She paused for a moment while braiding her hair, but only to reach into the cosmetic bag that she had on her lap. Carth sighed, beginning to get frustrated. He was trying to apologize, for the gods' sakes! "I just...have trust issues, and, well, don't take it too personally." When Aminta refused to acknowledge him, he pounded his fist down on his bed. "Dammit woman! I'm fracking apologizing to you; can't you say something?" he demanded.
Aminta looked up at him then, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Dump your sister and get a real shrink. You seem to be having some anger management problems."
Carth gaped at her for a few minutes, stunned, before coming back to himself with a small chuckle. "I guess I deserved that, didn't I?" he asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah. You did."
"Sorry," he attempted to apologize again, glancing up at her.
She stared back at him in silence.
"What, are you giving me the silent treatment again?" Carth questioned as he knelt down to the floor and began to sort several piles of junk that he had plopped beside him over the past few days. He gave up after a few minutes, and turned to look at her again. She was staring down at her hands, as though her mind was a million miles away. Carth rubbed the back of his neck with his hand again. "I've apologized three times already. I'm beginning to think you're only doing this to annoy me."
Nothing was said for several moments, and then Aminta sighed softly. "I'm not trying to annoy you...I just... Look, anyone with a past has trust issues, me included. I need time, just like you do... And the fact that you just accused me of being a Sith doesn't exactly help matters any."
Carth shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I wasn't accusing you of being a sith; not really. I'm just trying to figure out who you are, and based on the information I have..."
"Show that I'm a nobody with a bad record," she supplied with a slight smirk. "Well, the information you have fits just right. I'm a loner; no family, no one that would miss me. My past is of little significance, and all I do is smuggle spices." She said it all with a light tone, as though the admission caused her no pain. As if she simply existed and no more. They both knew better.
"One of the many, many laws that you broke was that you smuggled slaves away from abusive masters," he said slowly, closely watching her face to gauge her reaction. There was none. She's probably an expert smuggler. Not even a Jedi could get anything out of her! Ignoring her feigned lack of interest, he continued. "There's more to you than you let on."
Aminta smiled ruefully and didn't bother to deny it. "Well, everyone has secrets. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Tit for Tat," she prompted, pulling her knees to her chest.
Carth was silent. Aminta shook her head with a wry grin. "I didn't think so. If you aren't going to give me any information, you won't get any out of me either. Plain and simple."
"You guys done arguing yet? I've been standing outside waiting for the screaming to stop for like, ten minutes!"
Carth and Aminta's heads jerked up quickly, and Aminta let out a sigh of frustration to see Mayenna standing directly in front of them. "Shavit girl, you have awful timing!" Aminta exclaimed as she rolled her eyes and dragged herself off of her bed.
Mayenna's face scrunched up, and Aminta felt a pang of regret for hurting the girl's feelings, but it only lasted a moment. Force, it's not like she has to cry about it!
Carth glared at Aminta, and slung an arm over the twi'lek's shoulder. "Actually, you have impeccable timing. You interrupted us before we could try to kill each other again."
Aminta let out a groan, and Carth gave fixed her with a sharp, piercing stare that let her know she ought to be quiet. Aminta narrowed, and lifted her head just a fraction to let Carth know exactly who was in charge.
It was Mayenna who called them out of their brief, silent spat. "Well, we wouldn't want that, now would we?" she giggled, her good humor restored. Aminta clenched her fist at the sound, and Carth had to hold back a snort. Seemingly oblivious to the two adults, Mayenna giggled again, and Carth returned his attention to her.
"So, how'd your day go?" he asked as he led her over to the couch.
Mayenna plopped down rather ungracefully beside him and grinned. "Well, Zelka and me had lots of stuff to do today. You see, school starts soon for the kids, and they all need their vaccinations before they can enter a class. Anyway, there was this adorable little girl with the biggest brown eyes you've ever seen, and she was so funny! Oh, oh, and then there was a Rodian, and I don't typically fins Rodians to be cute but this one..."
Aminta flinched slightly, and blacked out the rest of the conversation and inched towards the door, hoping that neither Carth nor Mayenna would notice her slip out. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on her side, and Carth turned to look for her just as her hand was on the doorknob. "Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, suddenly oblivious to the girl sitting next to him. Mayenna stopped speaking mid-topic about something Aminta thought to be about a baby Gizka, and turned to stare at Aminta.
Aminta coughed as she wracked her brain to come up with an excuse. "There's a party tonight, remember? We can't be in our uniforms," she managed smoothly, as though that had been the reason she had been leaving in the first place. Carth fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. That man is way too gullible. But then again, he is a man, so how much can I expect from him?
"Where are you going to get the credits?" he asked with a little frown as she turned to walk out the door.
Aminta stopped for a second before turning around with a smile that Carth wasn't quite sure he liked. "I have my ways," she smirked, and left quickly, entirely too eager to be away from the stories of the school children that Mayenna had seen earlier that day.
Two hours later, Carth was seriously considering shooting himself with his blaster. "Are you almost done yet?" Carth Onasi groaned, glancing with frustration at his companion. Aminta Jae stood in front of a mirror, twining her mane of black hair about her head. She was dressed in the new clothing that she had bought, and Carth was too ticked to notice the way that the skirt clung to her curves... well, almost.
"For the thousandth time, NO!" Aminta responded without turning her gaze from the looking glass. Carth ran a hand over his face. There must be only one Republic woman in the entire galaxy who would fuss over herself for a Sith party. Lucky me, I got stuck with her! Well, then again she doesn't act like a member of the republic... he thought. Aloud, he said, "Look, its only a Sith party. Who are you trying to impress? Yun, the sewer rat?"
Aminta rolled her eyes, refusing to allow herself to be annoyed as she turned to face him. "I've been in the business long enough to know that if you want something, you have to play the part."
"He's going to be drunk by the time we get there."
"Maybe," Aminta conceded as she turned back to the mirror, "But maybe he'll still be sober enough to realize exactly what I'm doing. I didn't think that you were a gambling man," she observed as she attempted a different hairstyle.
"Not usually," Carth replied slowly, attempting to understand where she was going with the conversation.
"You can be so dense," Aminta muttered under her breath before clarifying herself. "Do you want to gamble on that he'll be too drunk to understand what we're doing? Are you honestly willing to accept the risk that if he is sober enough, we'll face an entire room full of Sith?"
"I guess not...," he admitted somewhat sheepishly, and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment that he hadn't thought of that. Suddenly he grew serious and glanced back up at her. "Exactly what business were you in before? I mean, you can play people without thinking twice... what...?"
Aminta's hands stilled for a moment, and Carth could see the strain in her face through the mirror, but it only lasted a moment. "You willing to tell me anything about yourself yet, Carth?" she prompted instead as she went back to arranging her hair.
There was silence for a few moments, and Aminta watched his reflection to see his reaction. She wasn't entirely surprised when he stood up quickly and said, "I'm going to go take a shower."
Aminta merely nodded and focused her attention back onto the mirror. "Just remember, I'll talk when you do," she reminded him. Carth barely nodded before he left the room.
Once Carth was gone, Aminta let out a deep sigh and dropped her hands from her hair so that the curly mass cascaded down her back. She hadn't cut it since her iVigdasen/i, which was traditional among the upper classes of Deralia. Not that she had been a member of the upper class when her courses had come. However, the tradition was her only link to home besides the Deralian Krayt Dragon pearl locket that she wore beneath her clothing. Aminta's throat constricted, and she rested her forehead against the cool glass of the mirror as she attempted to regain her composure. Carth's probing questions dragged up more memories than Aminta would care to admit, and more than she ever wanted to remember. The past is a strange thing, no matter how much you run away from it, somehow it always catches back up to you.
Aminta took a deep breath as she pulled her head away from the glass and stared back into the mirror in front of her, examining what she saw. Her skin was flawless in the way that only youth could bring, but she knew that within a few years, lines would begin to develop on her forehead, which had been creased to often in worry and pain. When she was alone, her blue eyes were old and weary, completely at odds with the rest of her otherwise youthful looking face, and she was nearly certain that crow's feet would never develop on the sides. After all, those came with laughter. She wouldn't have any laugh lines around her mouth either, she knew. The lips that had uttered so many lies and besotted so many men hadn't stretched into a wide enough smile since... Aminta couldn't remember when the last time she had truly let herself go was. Her past had always shadowed any of the good times that she had. It always came back to haunt her... and that's how she looked now... haunted. When she was with other people, she play-act. She could be sweet and shy or seductive, but mainly, she was hurtful and sarcastic. Anything was better than the weariness and pain that she felt within her when she was alone.
She let out a shaky breath as she closed her face off from emotion again. Sometimes she scared herself with how she could do that. At times, she would catch a glimpse of herself in a speeder or a shop window and see a woman that she didn't recognize in her reflection, and she would remember exactly how fake she was. How she fooled everyone, even herself.
Aminta quickly cut herself off from her thoughts. She had learned fairly early in life that thinking about herself was dangerous. Too dangerous. Too emotionally exhausted to do much more with herself, she quickly plaited her hair back, allowing a few curls to fall free and frame her face. When she looked back in the mirror, the weary woman was gone, and a young thing untouched by the bitterness that life has to offer stood in her place.
Aminta swallowed, and sat down on the couch, drawing her knees to her chest as she rested her head on her forearms as she struggled against the memories that tugged at the corners of her mind.
By the time that Carth re-entered in the room, all he saw was a young woman in a skirt and heels. Aminta didn't mind in the slightest.
Aminta paused directly outside the apartment that the Sith party was being hosted in, and turned to glance at Carth. "Look, whatever happens tonight, you have to let me do my thing, okay? No butting in or anything like that, got it?"
Carth's jaw dropped, and he eyed her warily. "What exactly is it that you're planning on doing tonight?" he asked he slowly, as though afraid of her answer.
Aminta shrugged her shoulders briefly. "Nothing that I haven't done before," she said flippantly, as she turned to enter the apartment. She paused and turned around. "Promise me that you won't interfere?"
Carth hesitated for only a second before nodding. "Promise," he replied looking her straight in the eyes. Aminta felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. He thought of her as an equal now, and it was a rather nice feeling.
Carth went to enter, but Aminta held up her hand, signaling for him to wait. "Don't drink anything, not the ale, not the caffa... none of it. It's probably all spiked," she warned him.
"So? Who cares if I get drunk?"
Aminta settled her gaze on him. "You will, because you'll wake up in the morning with a huge hangover in a room full of Sith. There's no way that I'm going to carry you home."
"But I carried you home," Carth countered.
Aminta sighed and closed her eyes as she counted to ten. "I don't care. You get drunk, you wake up with Sith. Plain and simple. Oh, and don't go and get yourself seduced," she informed him with a set jaw.
Carth's eyes widened, and he was rendered speechless for a few moments. "What?"
"Don't sleep with any of the women here. You have no idea what kind of diseases they might have," Aminta said clearly and slowly, as though she were talking to a small child.
"I wasn't going to. What on earth made you think that I...?"
"Carth, you're a man. I have very, very low expectations for you. Don't take it personally, but...Let's just say that I've known too many men to expect anything honorable out of them. Let's go in," she muttered as she encountered Carth's slack jawed stare.
"Look, I'm not that kind of guy," he attempted to assure her, but Aminta just shook her head.
"That's what they all said," she murmured with a slight shake of her head and opened the door with a bright smile before Carth could say anything else in his defense.
Yun stood by the sofa, and his face lit up when he saw her. "Hey, I didn't think you were going to make it," he said, his words slurring together while gesturing towards the clock. Aminta winced when she saw that she was forty-five minutes late.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, hon," she told him, a sly smile fixed on her face. "I hope you're not to upset with me," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Carth walked up behind her and cleared his throat. Aminta turned back to him with an angry stare that reminded him of his earlier promise, but he didn't back down.
"Come on Borf!" she exclaimed with a light giggle as she placed herself fully in Yun's arms. "It's not as if you haven't seen me with men before!" she exclaimed as her hand absently slid over the back of Yun's neck. Now this is why I hate the sound of giggling!
Carth's eyes darkened, and Aminta suddenly felt slightly ashamed of how naturally the game came to her. She ignored him and turned her attention back to Yun. "My brother's just a little over-protective," he informed the man with another light giggle. I really hate this!
Yun grinned at her before smirking at Carth. "Don't worry. You're sister's in safe hands," he told Carth as his hand was sliding down to Aminta's backside. The woman barely flinched, just gave off another high-pitched giggle and leaned farther into Yun. "So, you promised me you'd give him a date. We don't want him hanging over us all night long, do we?"
Yun's eyes darkened slightly at the prospect, and he turned towards a woman in the crowd. "That's Shiela over there," he said motioning to an attractive red head. "She should show you a fun time."
Aminta gave Carth a pointed glance to inform him that he most certainly wasn't allowed to have too much fun, and then followed Yun with a flirtatious giggle.
Carth's eyes met with the red head's, and he was immediately grateful to see that hers were glazed with drink. She should be passed out within an hour, he thought, and quickly averted his gaze. He suddenly felt like hugging Aminta for telling Yun that he was a prude. It would easily explain how he avoided the girl's attentions. Not that Aminta would appreciate the hug, of course. She'd probably use the dagger she had strapped to her thigh on him if he tried to get that close to her. He glanced over to where Aminta and Yun had walked off to and found her sitting on the man's lap. Or maybe not.
He pretended not to notice his date when the red head pressed herself against him. "I'm Shiela," she said in a low voice, that was intended to be seductive barely able to be heard over the music. However, the slurring of her words made her sound anything but.
Carth looked back to Aminta, where he winced when he saw how fully... engrossed she was with kissing Yun. Hell, if she can fake it, so can I. "Borf," he introduced himself, making a mental note to kill Aminta for saddling him with such a horrible name.
He tried to disengage himself from her grip, but she wouldn't let him go. "There's a couch free," she told him softly, peering up at him from make-up encrusted eyes. Carth swallowed a wave of repulsion.
"No thanks," he told her quickly, searching his mind for something to say to bring her attention elsewhere. "How about a drink?" he asked, glancing towards the table covered with Tarisian ale.
"Only if you're the one to serve me," she told him with a lopsided grin. Wow, that's a line that I'll never use, he thought, but went to the table, attempting to ignore the woman following a bit too closely. He quickly poured her a rather large cup of the ale, hoping that she would pass out after it was finished.
"Aren't you having any?" she pouted as she sipped the drink that he had given her.
Carth wracked his brain for a reasonable explanation of why he couldn't drink the stuff. "Nah, I don't drink this stuff. I prefer the flavored drinks," he told her, hoping that his explanation was somewhat believable.
In her drunken haze, Sheila didn't suspect anything. "Maybe you could take me out some time, and we could buy your stuff," she told him, pressing close. Gods, this girl is relentless! Carth thought, quickly stepping away from her so that she stumbled and nearly fell.
Shiela glanced up at him angrily. "Your sister was right. You're no fun and a prude!" she huffed before stomping off to find someone more willing and drunk. Carth breathed a sigh of relief when she was gone, and quickly hurried to sit in an unoccupied corner of the room before anyone else came with an offer. And here Aminta thought that I wouldn't be able to say no. So much for the theory that men are pigs.
Carth quickly surveyed the room, and was disgusted by what he saw. Everyone was drunk, swaying on their feet, and leaning onto each other for support. Most couples took their pleasure in full view, though some were off in darkened corners. Already, a great majority of the room was passed out. They're going to have one hell of a hangover, Carth thought ruefully. Serves them right.
He quickly searched the room for Aminta again, and found her by the drink table, much of her hair haven fallen out of her braid, and most of her lipstick smeared all over Yun's face. She poured Yun a large cup of the most potent Tarisian ale, which he drank in one quick gulp. He fell over, and Aminta caught him against her chest, laughing. She looks drunk he thought. Yun somehow managed to pour her a glass, which Aminta downed just as quickly as Yun had, although she didn't show any signs of being drunk. Aminta stood on tiptoe and whispered something into Yun's ear, and then headed in the direction of the refresher. Carth worried for a moment that the scrawny man would follow, but was relieved when Yun sank down on an unoccupied couch instead.
By the time that Aminta had emerged from the refresher, Yun had passed out and Aminta breathed out a sigh of relief. In an unguarded moment, Carth caught a glimpse of who she really was as she glanced down at the man before she hardened herself and met Carth's eyes, a surprising feat in the dim lighting.
When Aminta arrived, she was slightly surprised to see that Carth was alone and sober, but she covered it with a smirk. "So, I see you didn't get lucky tonight," she said as she sank down onto the floor next to him.
"Hello to you too," Carth replied, noting that her hair had been replated, her clothing straightened, and her make-up fixed.
They were silent for several moments, surveying the scene around them. "How long do you think it'll be 'til they're out?" Carth asked Aminta.
She sighed, and wearily ran a hand over her now- fixed hair. "I'd give it twenty, thirty minutes tops," she replied with a slight shrug as she leaned back against the wall.
"Gross, isn't it?" Carth asked, looking out at the carnage before them.
Aminta shrugged slightly as she looked around her. "You get used to it," she replied simply, averting her gaze from the scene playing out before them.
Carth merely stared at her for a few seconds. "This doesn't disturb you?" he asked with a wince as watched a couple walk off together.
Aminta followed his gaze, and heaved out a sigh. "Yeah, it does. I just don't let it show," she replied with a shrug. "You should have seen what was going on in the refresher. If not for my training, there was no way that I would have been able to use the restroom with so many people around. Now that was definitely a place that I couldn't really hide my disgust."
Carth winced at the mental picture that she drew for him before frowned and turned to look at her. "Exactly what kind of training did you have?" he asked, watching Aminta closely in order to see her reaction to his question.
Aminta's face and body language remained carefully neutral. "No information out of me about my past until I get some out of you, remember flyboy?" she replied, a bit more harshly than she had intended. Not that she minded being harsh to him... it just showed that the topic was more sensitive than she wanted it to appear.
Carth was quiet for a few more minutes before he looked back up at Aminta. "How did you do it?" he asked with a pointed glance towards Yun, and the look in his eyes chilled Aminta to the bone. He knew that she was hiding something, but she'd be damned if she ever let him know what it was.
"I've told you before. I learned how to pretend while I was a smuggler. It was necessary to do so, else I would have been arrested by the exchange in my first year alone."
Carth considered what she said for a moment. "What do you mean…alone?" he asked. "Don't smugglers usually run solo?"
Aminta shrugged and looked down at her lap. "Sometimes they have partners," she told him simply, "I lost mine, and had to learn to fend for myself," she clarified, hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions.
"I wouldn't have been able to," Carth said.
"Of course you could! You've been able to pilot a ship without a co-pilot before, right?" she asked, attempting to show him the comparison.
Carth chuckled and shook his head. "No, I meant I couldn't have done what you did with Yun."
"You learn how to deal with things after a while. Your head shuts off, and your body does all of the talking," she told him with an indifferent shrug. "But, I hope you don't mind if I use the refresher first. I think I'm going to need a nice, long shower to get this past hour out of my head. "
"Did you…" Carth began, but stopped himself quickly.
"Hm?" Aminta asked, glancing at him.
Carth squirmed, uncomfortable. "Did you and Yun, um..." he asked, unable to finish the sentence.
Aminta shook her head. "No, I didn't have sex with him."
Carth winced at how she could say things like that so openly. She could at least be somewhat discreet. Smuggler remember? Her kind aren't exactly noted for upstanding behavior. They were quiet for a few more minutes before Carth broke the silence again. "Have you ever...slept... with someone just because you needed to for a mission?" Carth asked, unable to help himself.
Aminta met his eyes. "Yes," she told him simply, not bothering to look away. But her voice had that empty, emotionless quality to it again that made Carth realize just how much she hated to do it.
Carth flushed slightly and looked away for a moment, before turning back to her. "I don't think any less of you," he said softly, and Aminta jumped.
She swallowed hard against the lump that was growing in her throat. He doesn't even realize how much that means to me. Damn him, he's starting to get under my skin! But somehow, she couldn't bring herself to be angry with him for it. She was strangely glad that someone understood her; it made her feel less lonely. "Thanks," she managed softly, and Carth smiled at her gently before looking away again.
Twenty minutes later, everyone in the room was passed out. There were people on chairs, hanging off of the arms of couches, on top of tables, and many more were sprawled out on the floor. The pair still awake picked their way among the many bodies, Aminta stopping every so often to take supplies and a handful of credits. Carth was loath to allow her to steal, but they needed the stuff, so he said nothing.
Aminta glanced at everyone. "I think that most of the guys here are smaller than you," she said in reference to his height and muscular build. Carth shrugged, and began looking for some armor that would mostly fit. Aminta found a suit quickly enough, although there hadn't been many short women at the party. It took Carth a bit longer, but he managed to find one as well.
"Let's go," Aminta said once they both had the armor stuffed in the bag that Aminta carried with her.
Carth only nodded in agreement, and the pair quickly put as much distance between them and the apartment as they could.
Carth sat beside Aminta on her bed as he gently began to brush out her wet hair. She had protested at first, called him a few choice names, and threatened to slash his eyes out with her vibroblade before she finally relented and allowed him to touch her hair. It was a frightening task to be sure, for her hair was riddled with tangles, but somehow, the rythmatic motion comforted both of them.
Aminta sighed softly once the tangles had been brushed out, and the comb running through her sopping hair had ceased to cause pain. Carth's hands weren't so bad either, she had to admit. The last time she had been touched with any form of tenderness had been years before. Not even Trask would get this close to her. Carth's voice drew her out of her reverie, and she for a moment, she couldn't understand what he had said. "What?" she asked as she turned slightly to look at him.
Carth's hands didn't miss a beat as he continued to rythmatically brush out her hair. "Telos," he repeated, his voice broken and barely above a whisper.
Aminta's lips formed the syllable 'oh,' but she couldn't bring herself to say anything for a few minutes. His pain and anguish could be summed up with one word, a word that had caused shockwaves to reverberate around the galaxy. His home, and most likely his family had been destroyed with one quick blow. Just like my dreams. He had shared something about himself with her, he had trusted her, and Aminta knew that he was now waiting for her to fulfill her side of the bargain.
Aminta swallowed hard, and let out a pent up breath. If only all of my problems could be summed up in so few words…Dammit! I told him if he'd give me information about himself, I'd do the same. I never actually thought he'd go through with it… but a bargain is a bargain. I'm not about to back out now. "Deralia," she whispered, and the emptiness of her voice let Carth know that that one word contained so much more information that just her home world. It echoed with loss and pain and unrequited love, of betrayal and separation, and so much more. But of course, Carth couldn't put a name to the emotions that he was certain were floating through her mind.
He gently put the brush aside, and was surprised that Aminta didn't respond at all. It was then that he realized exactly how much pain was associated with her home world. Since he knew that words wouldn't comfort her, he gently wrapped his arms around her too-still body. And surprisingly, she let him.
I'm sorry about how angsty this chapter turned out, but I wanted to give you guys a clue to how Aminta is on the inside, since I generally just write about the front that she puts up. For those of you who read this before, I changed a bit of her family history and tweaked her past, so... you'll still be surprised when all is revealed.
Thanks so much for reading, and please, please, please review!