29 BBY - Denon

Jango answered the transmission only moments after Zam opened the channel. The interior of Slave I filled the background, and she was surprised that he'd not put on his signature armor yet. He must have left in a hurry. "You're a sight for sore eyes. You never told me you had a sister." Zam pouted at Jango's holo-image. "I'm hurt."

"You didn't need to know," he replied. "And that intel goes no farther than you. Got it?"

"I know, I know. If you find out someone else knows your little secret, you'll kill me. This isn't my first show, honey." She waived his comment away with her hand. "She's cute."

"Don't even think about it, Zam," he said through his clenched jaw. Zam was good at what she did, and she knew he hated how much she teased him.

"Think about what?" She asked, feigning innocence. "I'm just making conversation, Jango."

"If it's not about where I can find Hondo I don't want to discuss it," he replied. "What did Cye tell you?"

Zam flashed a grin. "She told me a lot of things, some even about you. As far as the job went though she was stealing schematics for the latest CEC freighter for Lantillian Shipwrights. Well, stealing back their design that is. But," Zam shrugged, "I sent out feelers to my contacts at most of the places she thinks he might have gone. So far no hits. The only place I don't have any friends yet is Florrum."

"Florrum?"

"Yep," Zam replied with a nod. "Cye mentioned they'd set up a safe house there. Hondo has some grand ideas about making it his base of operations."

"There's no way he has enough fuel to get there from Corellia." Jango keyed in the information on the system and let the program calculate a course. "If he got the plans, Lantillies is on the way to Florrum. The best spot to refuel too."

"I can leave as soon as you get here."

Jango shook his head. "Not this time."

"But-"

"This is personal, Zam. It shouldn't take me long to track him down." Jango plotted a course on his navicomputer. "I'll reach you through holo when I'm on my way to Denon."

"You don't want to tell Cye your plan?" Zam asked. Her head cocked to the side as Jango frowned.

"No."

"No? Just, no?"

"I'll tell her once it's finished. Just keep an eye on her, Zam. Alright?"

"Hey, it's your credits. I'm just spending them," Zam replied with a smirk before glancing over her shoulder. She wasn't sure when the shower had stopped running. "I gotta go. Good luck."

She cut the transmission before he had a chance to reply.

Cye leaned against the wall wearing only a towel out of view as she listened to the conversation. She lowered her head, staring at her hand, splaying her fingers and then balling them into a fist. The scar she earned when she punched a trandoshian in the face barehanded at fourteen stretched across her middle knuckle as she made a fist. Her pinkie bent away from her palm at an awkward angle as she extended her fingers. Tor Vizsla broke it before he threw her and Jango into slavery after Galidraan. It healed poorly and she never bothered to fix it once they were free. She couldn't change the past, and she kept every scar, every injury as a reminder of what she'd overcome. The wound across her ribs was just another painful lesson learned.

She was in no position to object to Jango's intervention, even if she wanted to. She barely knew Zam, and didn't trust anyone but her brother to fly her anywhere at this point. She let out a long sigh and pushed away from the wall. She was stuck on Denon until he took care of Hondo, and there was no point in directing her anger towards Jango or Zam, even if they went behind her back to solve her problem.

Zam nearly ran into her as she turned the corner. "Oh, there you are," she said with a bright smile. "I was getting worried you might not come out of the 'fresher." She noticed Cye's balled fist and her smile slipped for a flash. "Uh, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," Cye replied. Her jaw worked and her frown grew as she reminded herself that Zam wasn't the problem. She shook out her fingers as she stared hard at Zam. She hadn't noticed before how small the other bounty hunter was before. The woman barely reached chin height. Zam's narrow shoulders and slim frame made her seem almost childlike when compared to her. Cye tried to relax and offered a nonchalant shrug.

"Ah, so. Yeah." Zam seemed to falter, stumbling over what to say next. "You're not mad, are you?"

"I'm livid, actually." Cye unclenched her teeth, forcing a frustrated snort through her nose. "But not at you. Or Jango." Zam opened her mouth to speak but Cye held her hand up. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough." The clawdite took a step back, eyeing Cye warily for several heartbeats before a knowing smile touched her lips. "How would you like to help me on a job?"

"What kind of job?" Cye turned her head, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"A simple tail and tag," Zam replied. "My client was wronged and is out for blood. A typical quest for revenge. Easy money. What do you say? I'll even split the reward."

Cye rolled over the offer in her mind, quickly going over the pros and cons before coming to the conclusion that she'd need to start making money on her own. She couldn't be picky about the job, and Zam exuded confidence about the odds of success. Jango wouldn't be there for some time yet if he was chasing down Hondo. Cye had nothing better to do besides wait and wallow, so she nodded. It would take her mind off H and give her something else to focus on.

"Sure, why not."

"Great!" Zam snatched her hand and squeezed it with a laugh "Let's get you some clothes. Then we can have some fun."

The bedroom Zam led her to was larger than some cantinas she'd been to. Windows looked out on Denon's cityscape, letting the afternoon light spill into the room. The massive bed looked like it could fit at least five people. She wondered if it was that big out of necessity. Everything Cye had ever owned could fit in there with room to spare. The closest thing she'd had for comparison was the safehouse she shared with Jango in Coruscant's undercity. Cye imagined that this was what Hondo aspired for on Florrum. She gnashed her teeth at the unbidden thought and forced it aside before she had time to dwell on it further.

Zam bought out armfuls of clothes for her to look through. A lot of credits went into having this many quality clothes. Tevrin would be impressed, Cye thought as she began to sort through them. The Coruscant seamstress would die to see Cye dressing in something more than her normal drab ensemble.

"Don't you have anything- I don't know, plainer?" Cye held up a short, black lacy dress in one hand and a bright gold jumpsuit in the other. "I thought this was a tail and tag. Shouldn't we be trying to blend into the background more?"

"Life is too short to wear boring clothes," Zam replied. "Besides, sometimes the easiest way to blend in is to stand out." She pushed aside the pile and pulled out a long, midnight blue dress from under the flashier clothes. "Here, try this one on." The smooth fabric glided over her skin easily despite how tight it was, and as it did the deep blue color changed all manner of hues between teal and bright purple. Cye held out her arms, trying to figure out how the dress changed colors.

"It's heat and motion sensitive. I got it on a trip to Zeltros," Zam explained as she looked her over with an appraising eye. Cye couldn't help turning in place, watching the way the fabric morphed against her skin. Of course a clawdite would own clothes like this. The smaller woman hummed in a judging tone. "Hmm, that shade's perfect, but I think it covers up too much. You gotta show off that body, girl," Zam said with a cheeky grin.

"I doubt the people you parade around wearing these want to see all my scars," Cye replied as she took the hem of the dress and lifted it over her head.

"Are you kidding? Your scars are the best part!" Zam sauntered over and half helped, half forced Cye out of the dress. "I've always said that scars make the man. Well, woman in this case."

The clawdite glossed over her body, eyes flickering from one battle scar to the next, a playful smile on her lips. Heat rose in Cye's cheeks. Zam's fingterips brushed the raised, lumpy scar on her hip. Cye stepped out of reach towards the pile of clothes, and cleared her throat.

"Maybe I don't want to show them off," Cye grumbled and picked up a pair of stretchy black pants and the first loose top she could find.

Soft giggles erupted from Zam. She shook her head, the playful smile making her beautifully carefree. "Oh, honey. You are so like your brother. You two could be the same person. Two halves of the same bounty puck." Cye rolled her eyes but kept her mouth pressed in a tight frown. You have no idea. "Let's at least get some more outfits picked out. I can get us into the best clubs on the planet. I'll make sure you have such a great time you'll forget all about Hondo."

"You don't have to do that." A jumble of emotions mixed when she said his name. Cye hated him yet felt his loss keenly.

"Nonsense. Jango told me to look after you while you recover," she said. She leaned over the pile and snagged another dress, this one pale green with a slit nearly all the way up one side. "I know he only meant the vertigo, but I've had my fair share of broken hearts. And I know just how to help you recover from that too."

Zam gave Cye a flirtatious wink as she twirled with the dress. The sheer boldness of the woman, Cye thought even as she rewarded her with a smirk and a snort. She could see why Jango liked her.

"Fine. But I prefer red."

The petite woman grinned, showing off her unnaturally white teeth. "Deal."

Cye stood back from the mirror, admiring how the scarlet dress hugged her body. Zam let her borrow a set of gold arm cuffs to accentuate her biceps. The dress ended mid thigh. It was the first time she'd worn anything that left her legs so exposed and as much as it was uncomfortable Cye had to admit that Zam might be right about showing off her scars; a few of them at least. She certainly felt more like a person than the filthy meatsack she was when she first landed on Denon. Her skin cleared up, and her eyes were no longer puffy and red. She almost looked- pretty.

She ran her fingers through her loose curls. It had been a few months since she kept her hair down for more than a few minutes. It had grown quite a bit, well past her shoulders to almost the middle of her back. Her knife was in the bag Zam brought with the rest of her armor so she couldn't cut it. Maybe she'd try keeping it long for a while. At least until it interfered with her helmet. Still, wearing it free in public and wearing what she was made her gut twinge with nerves. Cye sucked in an uncertain breath and then began braiding her hair.

"I have some gold heels that will look great with the dress, oh," Zam appeared with a pair of strappy heels in one hand and knee length black boots in the other. "You're not leaving it down?"

Cye gave a slight head shake as her fingers worked deftly to plait her hair in a crown around her head. It was the style her mother had shown her the first time she'd got her hair caught in the harvester. It was an efficient hairstyle, and her go-to for suiting up in her beskar'gam.

"Aww, but it looks so nice down," Zam said with a pouting frown.

"Don't push your luck, Zam."

"What is it with you Fett's and not knowing how to have fun?" Zam asked over her shoulder as she went into her closet. Cye thought about correcting her about Cye's clan name, but shook her head instead. Zam didn't need to know if Jango hadn't told her himself. "I swear it's like Jango only knows how to be grumpy and kill people. I thought you might have had some good stories, especially since you ran with pirates."

"I wouldn't say I have good stories," Cye admitted. Hondo enjoyed making pirating a social event. Cye chose not to join in most of the time, and when she did it was when H wanted to flex some muscle to one of his cronies or business partners trying to give him a bad deal.

"That can't be true," Zam said as she came out with a slip of violet fabric. She began stripping out of her clothes as she continued. "There has to be at least one that's halfway entertaining."

"Well, uh," Cye's answer was lost as Zam's flesh rippled and the scant dress seemed to adhere seamlessly to her body. "Did- did you just change your shape to fit the dress?"

"Of course! One of the many perks of shapeshifting, a perfect fit every time." It was unsettling to think that the woman in front of her could become someone else so easily. As far as Cye knew there was no way to identify Zam when she took another form. She had no birthmarks or scars, and Cye was positive that the sparkle in her eyes wouldn't be there either. "So, since you've never had a good time, allegedly," Zam said with an exaggerated eyeroll before her face lit up with a grin, "let's go have some fun."