Hali fights the coldness sweeping through her mind, for what seems like an eternity. She hears things. Voices. Screams of unknown forms. Sees things. Images of a sandy ocean, misty with spray. Green slopes topped with white. Explosions. A blade cutting down shadowy figures over cold rock. She feels cold, until, warmth. It spreads, clouding the images and sounds. Until, it stops. She hears a voice, hushed and tense, talking near her.
Her eyes flicker, and all sound stops. She finds herself in her cot, not the floor that she remembers falling to. "Mom? What-What happened?" Hali sits up, feeling for the necklace, the last thing she remembers touching before-before, all of that. It's gone. Good riddance. Anything related to her family history has only caused them trouble. She never wanted to be reminded of why they had nothing. But those images, those voices, seemed real, like she was within them. No, she tells herself. No one will find out about this. It was probably just some weird incident anyway, she decides. Dreams have haunted her for her entire life- this one was no different. "Hali-are you okay?", her mother asks, eyes narrowed with worry. Hali swallows. "Yeah. I don't know what happened." "No. This can't-no." Hali sees her mother start pacing the room, her face becoming more and more wrinkled and tense with each step. "Mom? What's going on? Do you know something I don't?" "Hali, I-I don't know if they will come for you. Just promise me you won't go out today." "But-" "Just promise. Please." "Alright. I won't go out. But at least two clients who live several levels down have asked to trade with us." "I can go meet with them. Hali, the Empire is brutal. If they learn about this incident, you will be taken in for questioning. Or worse."
She's alone that day, manning the shop. No one holos in, or stops by, so she's left to make something of the tangle of thoughts running through her head at any given moment. She knows that yes, the Empire could step in and arrest Mum and her for just running this shop. But they won't find out about what happened. No one else was in this house when she was knocked out by something far away. She can hear the patrols outside, passing by, but most of them don't seem invested in the quiet homes on either side of the street. "Surprising, but not unexpected", she mutters, as the holo projector starts ringing. She sighs. Probably just Mom. "Hello?" " My name is Tas. I heard I can trade with this shop for credits or for odds and ends." "Yup", she responds. "Can you meet me at this location? I-" "The holo starts to fizzle out, but she can see the location well enough. She knows it well. Surely Mum wouldn't mind if she went out to help someone who was this desperate.
She walks along streets that she knows all too well. She remembers running along them with other little children, doing stuff that she never dared to mention to her Mum. They would dip into adult clubs and bars, and she can't remember ever being an innocent child, much less a carefree one. They had to fight to get through the streets, and many of her friends were gone. No one remembers you here, she thinks, turning the corner. Coming face to face with a shriveled hooded figure.
"You made it. Thank the force. Here. We must hurry." They hand her some kind of circular object wrapped in cloth and string, clutching it tightly. "Hold this, Do not let go. If they find it, we will all die, or worse." Hali attempts to unwrap the object, but the figure slaps her hand. "Don't reveal it here. Come. I will walk with you part of the way. But I cannot guarantee you will have an easy journey from there." Hali pulls back, stunned at the bold actions of this person, but, shoving the object down in her bag, pulls out a few credits. "Here. It's not much, but hopefully it's enough." The figure nods. "It is more than enough. We must hurry. The patrols will come for us." "How do you know?" "I have seen them come and go all around here. They will appear eventually, when we least expect it." Hali notices the figure's head, or lack of one. They haven't removed their hood this whole time. Not unusual, for clients to do, but still, she can at least get some glimpse of their face. No luck. She has only heard this person's voice this whole time. No footsteps, nothing. It's almost like she's talking to a ghost-like creature. "Child, who is your mother?" The question comes out after complete silence, and she snaps out of her thoughts. "Oh. Her name is Senna. Wait, do you-know her?" "Perhaps I knew her, a long time ago." The figure pauses, looking behind them, then to their left. "I must part ways with you here. Tell your mother that Tas came back, if only to see."
Hali continues walking, still pondering who, or what, this person is. Sure, she's met some strange and downright shady aliens and humans alike, but this was different. This person didn't seem shady, just, sad. Almost like they hadn't gotten the chance to see someone in years. She almost doesn't catch the voices behind her, but she stops. "Stop!" Patrols. Great. Just great. They're the last thing she wants to deal with right now. Especially not with- wait, where did it go? 'Damn it', she mumbles, searching, finally coming up with the object, still wrapped in the stained cloth and ragged string it came in. She turns into a dark alleyway,sitting down, before taking a closer look.
It looks pretty boring to her. A gold tinted cylinder, with a few odds and ends scattered over its rounded sides. She holds it up to the dim light, trying to see the words engraved on it, but jumps up when the static voices of an egghead patrol reach her ears. "Hey you! Stop!" She turns to run the other way, but something blocks it. Something she can't quite see. She pulls back. "What are you doing here, civilian?", a buckethead asks, pointing their blaster directly at her. "I-uh, was running an errand." She knows they won't buy it, but any excuse could give room to flee. When she sees them move in to grab her, Hali reaches for the object she was given. She figures that it might do something to hold them off. Remembering the button on one side, she pushes it, igniting a soft pink beam that glows softly in the dim light. She holds it up, more for looks than anything. Not like she has any idea of how to make use of this thing. But she forgot about the shadow on the other side. It blocks her view, consumes every bit of warmth, freezes her in place. "So this is what I felt. You are strong, yes. But so woefully ignorant. You have no knowledge of what you hold." The figure steps forward, removing the black cloud around her, revealing a masked face. Hali tries to step back, but a trooper holds her arm, while another takes the object from her. The figure gently brushes Hali's face, but with a hidden sense of cruelty, rests her finger on Hali's forehead, mumbling, "If only you could have been ignorantly safe forever. If only." Hali slips under, fighting, but losing to the cold cosmuming her mind, hushing every scrap of fight remaining in her.