"All passengers, the ship will be docking in ten standard minutes. Please ensure you have all of your belongings with you and are prepared to disembark. All passengers, the ship will be docking…"
Kamisa groans slightly, standing from the utterly abysmal seat in her tiny quarters and stretching.
"Ya, ya, we get it, dockin' soon, get yer shit togetha." She grumbles, closing her eyes for a moment before getting to work gathering her meagre possessions. For this trip, that was mostly just a bag of various clothes and a small amount of funds- it'd be plenty to get her through the entire thing with some to spare for possible souvenirs, exactly what anyone seeing her would expect.
After all, Reya Luviea was just an older woman here for a business trip, and she had grandkids at home so of course she'd pick up something interesting from the market for them if it caught her eye. And then there were the spices, which Tatooine didn't have many of but what they did have were good. Why else would someone possibly be here on business if not for arranging exports?
Of course Reya Luviea wasn't actually here, but that part didn't matter. As far as the paperwork said, Reya Luviea was a secretary for Sparkside Shipping, a shell company that was entirely there as a tax write off and worked almost exclusively with Frontier Seasonings, a company that exports and sells spices.
Spices, not spices. That was an important difference.
Her cover was effective. Frontier Seasonings was actually looking at starting negotiations over spice trading with the Hutts, and a number of various representatives of the company were being sent out to do that negotiating. Sparkside Shipping was also sending out representatives, in that case to examine various space ports in order to find the best ones to use for their trading. She wasn't them; another person from Sparkside would be along in a day or two to take a look, but some of the cities had two or three people there, so it wouldn't look odd that Reya was here along with another member of her company, and obviously it was expected that they would meet up on occasion.
It also had the bonus that it wouldn't look at all suspicious for Reya to be wandering all about the city, because she was supposed to be deciding whether or not Mos Espa was a good place for her company's pilots to land in order to do their trading.
The best sort of covers were ones that didn't look like covers at all. Not that she wouldn't also be writing up a report on Mos Espa, because the real Reya Luviea was actually on a break right now due to her grandson being ill.
Sometimes things just fell well, Kamisa muses, getting the long cloak out of the dresser and shaking it out. It wasn't nice, not by any means; Reya's grandson was ill, but she was struggling with money and had taken the Tatooine job despite really wanting to be at home looking after him. When Kamisa had popped up asking if there was any good way to get her to Tatooine, she'd leapt at the chance to stay home but still earn the money from the job. It helps that they even look similar, so on the off chance her bosses did some sort of investigating, they'd not find anything wrong with the situation.
Family are great contacts in Shadow work, it turns out. Even when they can't talk about you being a Jedi, they're still happy to help out with Jedi work most of the time, so long as they're paid- and Shadow contractors are always paid well. They do dangerous work, after all.
The ship shudders slightly as it lands, making Kamisa double-check all of her identification is where it should be- and double-check that the knives are all where they should be as well, because Tatooine- before grabbing her pack and heading out to join the flow of travellers.
Standard customs checks are no problem, and she flips up her hood as she steps into the sunlight; it's late afternoon, so not as hot as it could be, but that's no comfort to someone who grew up on Coruscant, and she'd rather not play with getting heatstroke running around doing her job.
Booking into the hotel under her cousin's name isn't difficult, either; the hardest part is keeping her accent going the entire time, because Reya has an irritatingly distinctive accent that's an odd mix between low-class Coruscanti, working-middle-class Nabooian, and spacer drawl. Where she got into the habit of a spacer drawl Kamisa has no idea, she's one of the secretary staff and not one of the pilots, but it's there and the combination provides both a distinctive way of identifying her and a massive pain for Kamisa because compared to the higher-class Jedi Coruscanti accent it's a whole different planet.
And she has to keep it up for the entire trip, too, because one slip could put both her and Reya into a galaxy of trouble. Joy.
She goes to her room, falls over on the bed for a few minutes because it is so warm, help, then gets up again and goes to her bag. She's not planning on leaving anything important in the room, just in case, so the tablet that she'll be using to write up her report on the planet goes into her travel bag, along with some bottled water.
Then the fun bit; setting up a legitimate appearance.
And by fun she means kriffing horrible.
Because in order to set up a legitimate appearance, she has to actually wander around. On Tatooine.
She hates this planet. Everything about this planet sucks.
Possibly, she admits to herself as she shoulders her pack, locks everything up, and heads back out, this is an exaggeration. Possibly, if she were to talk to her Master about this, she'd be able to find several things that were nice about Tatooine. However, at the moment, her Master isn't here, and she's on Tatooine, running around in the heat, pretending to be a secretary for a shipping company. Kamisa is allowed to think that everything about this planet sucks.
She loves Shadow work. She truly does; the Senate's managed to bind the Order's hands so much that there's little they can really do, out in the Galaxy. Politics, mostly. Shadows are the only Jedi that really get to do, to go out into the Galaxy and help. They can't look like Jedi while they do it, but they can help.
Kamisa's gone undercover in a lot of places, infiltrated companies to help arrange the arrests of corrupt owners, uncovered evidence buried by politicians, uprooted the starts of slave markets and burned the remains down after the fact. She's dug her way into Coruscant's undercity many times, smuggling people out of organ farms to safety. She's saved animals from illegal smugglers. She's been a smuggler, helping to get people across the borders of planets or governments that would restrict and abuse them based on who they were. She's done good.
She hates dealing with Hutt space. There's so much suffering here and so little she can do. Unearthing corruption here is nothing because the Hutts don't care, and the politicians in the Republic don't care, because it makes them more money, so the more politically aligned Jedi can't do much either. About the best way to help is to try and find something on the more troublesome politicians in the Senate that keep blocking bills that would make working with Hutt space and slavers harder.
That, and the Freedom Trail.
Kamisa spends the next several hours setting up her cover work.
Mostly, this involves wandering; looking at the markets, walking near the cantinas in the city, just generally looking around. The markets are at least interesting, and she does manage to pull off her goal of picking up a few interesting things; there's a couple of fruits that grow on Tatooine and are a bit rarer out in the wider Galaxy that she gets, hoping to try and pull seeds out of them to grow in the Temple; a few neatly shaped bits of glass that she finds nice, plus a couple more that she can give to Reya when she meets up to give her the report; a weird bit of tech that the Force seems to push her towards that she gets to give to Anakin.
She's not sure what that last one is, exactly, but she's fairly sure it'll make him happy based on the way the Force curls around her for a moment after the purchase. And she's learned to listen to those moments of instinct and guidance, so into the pack it goes.
Not long after that, she retreats to the nearest cantina, finds an empty seat in the corner of the room so she can have her back to the wall, attempts to become one with the annoyingly-uncomfy seat for a moment because kriff kark and damn it all, it's hot, and orders a drink.
Drinks the drink, tapping at the table lightly in a curated fidget as she does, accidentally bumps into a Twi'lek server with deep green skin on the way back to the bar and sends them a scowl, and makes a very specific gesture with one hand that most people would probably assume is her swearing at them. Especially given the way the slave shrinks back slightly, lekku twisting in acknowledged-apology.
"Bladdy tail-'eads." She grumbles, getting another drink and ignoring the way the bartender is hovering near their blaster. Probably expecting to need to break something up; she knows most decent cantinas on… well, any planet with slavery, really, have rules about not touching the slaves, and she was pushing it a bit with her apparent threatening.
But hey, needs must.
Shadow work is the worst sometimes.
Kamisa sits back at her table for another three drinks, carefully filtering the alcohol out so that she doesn't end up absolutely smashed, and once she notes the green Twi'lek going off shift finishes her drink, looks contemplatively at another one, then leaves with a stumble and awkwardly drawn up hood. It's not hard to find her way towards the slave district, nor is it hard to find the green Twi'lek server and start tailing them.
Their lekku gesture slightly towards one small alley, which they walk past, so Kamisa slips into that one and follows it along.
And ends up with a large Twi'lek suddenly in front of her not far away.
She gestures, slightly, the same way she had in the bar but with much less potential imminent violence to it, and the Twi'lek relaxes a little. "I am Sunrider." She says quietly, in the warm tones of Amatakka, not bowing. "I am here to help. Can you lead me to the home of Shmi Skywalker?"
Sunrider, the name of every Jedi Shadow that works with the Freedom Trail. A gift, left by the Jedi family of Sunriders, who were believed to have created the Jedi Shadows. Not that anyone knows for certain, since the Jedi Shadows were only a thing during the Sith Wars and never again. It's its own little Freedom Trail legend, almost like Ekkreth; a shape-changer, many faces with one name, not the night but all bringing freedom.
Personally Kamisa thinks it's hilarious that a group called Shadows use a name related to the light, but hey. Jedi.
"Greetings, Sunrider." The Twi'lek offers back, their hands forming their own greeting. "I can do so. Follow me."
The green Twi'lek from the cantina appears a little way into the walk, which just impresses Kamisa all over again. She's purposely not reaching far in the Force here, limiting her perception to only just around her, but for the green Twi'lek to send her into one alley, arrange for her to bump into someone in case she was a threat, and then rejoin them takes a lot of skill. Not that she's all that surprised, given that it's the slave district, but still. Impressive. Perhaps they have some kind of runner system set up.
She won't ask. The less she knows about how the Freedom Trail and slave culture in this area works the less she can accidentally spill. She's still an Archivist's Padawan, though, as much as she is a Shadow Knight, so she's curious.
The walk is done in absolute silence, and she's careful to remember the path they took so that she can make her way out again if she needs to- it's possible that there'll be someone around that she can ask to guide her, that's happened before on the rare occasions where she's had to go deeper into the slave quarters as Sunrider, but if not she wants to make sure she can leave.
She stops a little further away from the door her guide knocks on, allowing them to have their whispered conversation in some privacy, and enters when bid. Shmi looks… stressed, drained, and afraid, which makes Kamisa wince and draw back her hood the moment she's sure the door is closed. The stress and drain make sense from just general slave life, but the fear… Kamisa very much dislikes causing fear in those that don't deserve it, and being asked for by name by an unknown outsider, even one who uses the name Sunrider and speaks Amatakka, would certainly cause that.
So she bows instead, low and deep. "Greetings, Shmi Skywalker. My name is Kamisa Rei."
Normally she wouldn't offer up her actual name and break cover, but given why she's here…
When she looks up again, some of the fear has been replaced by wariness. "You're a Jedi." Shmi murmurs, glancing at the door before drawing her inwards further.
"Yes." She shakes her head before water can even be offered, knowing full well that Tatooine struggles far more than many other planets, even desert ones, and takes a seat. It's a relief to drop her cousin's awkward accent, at least, as she rearranges her robe. "Though I'm not really here on official business."
Shadow work notwithstanding, because that's never official business. And even then she's not technically on Shadow business either because while she cleared it with the Master of Shadows she didn't exactly state precisely what her plans were.
Not a waste of Jedi resources though, because she's still here to do the thing she said she was doing! Just. Among other things. And very carefully.
Shadow work is fun.
"Then why are you here?"
"About Anakin." She smiles. "He's settling in well, don't worry, but I thought you might like to know that."
Shmi relaxes. "Oh, thank the Mother. I am glad. You know him well then?"
"Yeah, fairly? I've seen him around a lot, I'm helping to teach him when I'm around, my Jaieh- ah, my teacher, has basically gone ahead and adopted him and his teacher, so he's got the support of my lineage as well."
"Your lineage?" Shmi asks.
"Basically a family line? So there's my Jaieh, Jocasta, and then me. I've got two younger Padawan siblings, who Jaieh Jo also taught, and one of my siblings has a Padawan as well. But Obi- Obi-Wan Kenobi, he's the one teaching Anakin- is someone Jaieh Jo is fond of, and since he's got a much smaller lineage she's sort of took him in."
"I thought Master Jinn was going to be teaching Anakin?"
Kamisa inhales, closing her eyes. "Qui-Gon… isn't with us anymore. So his Padawan, Obi-Wan, was Knighted, and he took on Anakin. That's the other reason our lineage is helping; he's still too young to really be doing this alone, and he's not got much of a lineage left anymore."
Thinking about Qui is like a stab to the chest, and she's grateful that Shmi gives her a moment to breathe.
"But yeah, Obi-Wan's doing good with him, and he's happy to learn, which is good." Kamisa reaches into her cloak and pulls out a comm. "I mostly came here to give you the chance to send him a message, if you want."
"Really?"
"I think it'd probably help to know that you're ok." She slides the comm across the table. "And, well…"
Shmi looks at her.
"I came here as Sunrider." She admits, lowly. Shmi's eyes widen slightly. "I've got a few options, if you want them. I can free you, or leave you the credits to free yourself, if you want. Or…"
"Or?"
"There are certain people that the Jedi work with quite often. Sunrider is one of them." She gestures, with one hand. The symbol of a Runner. "We could do with someone else on Tatooine, if you're interested. Our contractors are always paid very well- and for people in dangerous situations, very carefully."
Shmi leans forward a little. "Tell me more?"
Kamisa smiles, reaching up. Fortunately for her, both she and Reya prefer their hair fairly short and tied back. For Tatooine, this is very useful, since depending on the hairstyle it can be very easy to hide things in there.
Like, for instance, the two knives. Or sixteen very sharp hairpins. Or the other comm unit with information on Shadow contracting on it.
She puts it on the table lightly. "Well, in a hypothetical example, there's always the option for payments in kind, or payments being made instead as charitable donations to anti-slavery organisations."
As she starts to explain in more detail exactly the sort of things that being a contractor for the Jedi Shadows would involve, Shmi relaxing further and asking questions with the sort of sharp mind she'd expect from Anakin's mother, Kamisa smiles further.
This is the sort of work she loves.
Kamisa remains on Tatooine for another tenday, doing the work required for Reya's job and slipping away to the slave district to speak more with Shmi. Setting up Shadow contracts can be done quickly, since a Shadow never really knows if they're going to be able to be in the area for long, but Kamisa's never liked doing that. Her thing has always been more deep-cover work, the sort of thing that requires a lot of patience and sitting around in an area for months on end. The idea of rushing through all the set up for a contract is the exact opposite of how she likes to work.
So, taking the full tenday that she's on Tatooine to go ahead and make sure everything's set up to Shmi's liking is no trouble at all.
End result; one Shadow contract set up with Shmi Skywalker, a few more contacts for the Tatooine Freedom Trail to work with, a couple of new friends, all of Reya's work done and ready to be handed over as soon as she gets back to Coruscant, and a collection of plants.
The plants are probably the weirdest part. It's just the seeds of them- or saplings, for the tiny bushes- that Shmi had pressed into her hands when Kamisa told her she was leaving. Her face had been oddly solemn, compared to the brightness that she'd gained as they got to know each other, and she'd asked that Kamisa make sure Anakin got them.
She'd agreed, though she'd also had to do a lot of quick talking and work to arrange for them to be sent to the Temple, rather than brought back with her. Thank the Force for the Agricorps and their protocols on this kind of thing. Sure, it'd mean that they'd go through checks there instead, and possibly be delayed a few days past her return, but it would mean that Reya wouldn't be linked to them at all.
Not that it currently matters. Right now, she's got a cousin to meet up with, a datapad of work to drop off, and then probably a run through the lower levels to do so that she can have a decent excuse of where she's been for the lineage members that aren't cleared to know about her Shadow work.
Which is, technically, all of them except Master Jo, but her siblings are observant and also Master Jo's, and when it comes to little Obi she blames Vos.
...Speaking of whom, she should maybe try to check in on him. She's not his designated check-in point, she never is, but given that he's been undercover he's probably not heard about what happened to Qui. It'd help Obi to have him to lean on- something the Shadow Masters probably haven't realised, if he's not already back.
The first time Anakin sees Kamisa in more than a tenday, he's sitting in Madame Jo's living room, using the small caff table as a desk, with most of his holobooks spread across it. They've settled into a bit of a routine, where Anakin comes to Madame Jo's apartments when he wants to study the Youngling and Initiate stuff that she gave him, because she can help him when he gets stuck better than Jaieh Obi-Wan can.
Not that Jaieh's bad with that part, but he's never had to teach anything to anyone and all the stuff Anakin's working on currently is stuff that he just knows. Madame Jo's more used to helping the kids in the Temple learn this kind of thing, so it's better to go and sit with her when he's working on it.
And it gives Jaieh time to himself, which is important. Anakin's new mind healer's been telling him a lot of stuff, and apparently it's important that both of them spend time on their own and away from each other so that they don't get too attached to each other and forget how to talk to other people.
"Hi Knight Kamisa!" He waves, before frowning because wow she looks awful.
"Hey, Padawan Anakin." She grins back, all slanted and narrow eyes, and gives a little bow that looks more like she's about to faceplant the floor. "Wazzup? Is Master Jo here?"
"I'm in here!" Madame Jo calls from the kitchen. "How was your trip?"
"I hate everything."
Madame Jo appears in the doorway, and does the strict 'I'm worried about you and am about to mother you because of it' frown that she sometimes gives to Jaieh Obi-Wan when he's here with Anakin. "Go shower and clean yourself up, I'll put some caff on for you when you're done."
"Thanks, Master Jo."
Kamisa wanders off towards the little fresher area, and Anakin gives Madame Jo a nervous glance, shuffling his books around. "Should I go?"
"No, you can stay if you want." She assures. "I might need to speak with Kamisa privately, but so long as you promise not to eavesdrop you can stay while I do that."
"Ok." He's glad about that, he's only been here an hour and there's still so much for him to learn that he really wants to spend as much time as he can learning things.
Anakin goes back to reading quietly- this one's a Crèche book about attachment and why it's bad, which Anakin thinks makes sense because it's probably a bad idea to get super close to just one person when you're a special telepath with a lot of really powerful abilities, like his mind healer said about proper socialisation- while Madame Jo brings out drinks and sits down on the couch to wait for Kamisa.
"I loathe the lower levels." She grumbles, wrapped up in a very fluffy robe and curled into Madame Jo's side. She's holding her mug like it's important, and Anakin pushes his books to the side.
"Why?" He asks. "What were you doing down there?"
"Stuff." She takes a sip. "Stuff 'm not allowed to talk about. But! I do have news. And gifts. And stuff."
He waits for her to explain. She sips her caff and doesn't.
"Oh?" Madame Jo prompts. Kamisa waves a little, and her comm comes jetting over from the doorway. She pokes it a bit, then holds it out to Anakin.
"You'll wanna look at that later, and I'mma need it back." She warns. "But that's the first bit. Second bit'll be here soon, but it needs to go through Agricorps stuff first."
Anakin looks down at the comm.
His mother looks back at him.
He promptly drops it on the table and stares.
"Kamisa?"
"Things ended up taking me to Tatooine." His new favourite person other than Jaieh Obi-Wan says. "So I stopped by to say hi. Your mom gave me some plants, too? Said you'd know what to do with them."
Anakin doesn't drop the comm again, only because he's not quite picked it back up yet. "Really?!"
"Mhm. They gotta go through Agricorps stuff first. Then we can plant 'em and watch 'em grow?"
He beams. "They're all gonna need really dry places, and lots and lots of light, and they won't grow too big, but if that's ok that's great!"
"Shmi seemed to think it was important?"
"We use it to make tea." Anakin tells them both. "And it's like, a really important tea for us, and when slaves get freed we always try and make sure they can have the plants to make their own."
Madame Jo smiles. "Then we'll make sure they're carefully planted and looked after for you."
My friend Kali, being awesome, helped me work out the stuff to do with the tea ingredients. Those'll come up in a later chapter, more than likely. The name Sunrider comes from the comics, they're a Jedi family. I made up the stuff about Shadow links, though.