In the morning, life was so much different in the Lower City that one might think they were in a different place entirely. Although it seemed impossible, sunlight made its way down to the bowels of Taris and lit up endless markets that lined the streets full of countless numbers of people. There were Ithorians, with their hammer-shaped heads, peacefully chatting as they strided down the walkways with giant, flowing robes. A random group of short, cloaked Jawas could be seen, with only yellow eyes glowing from the darkness of their hoods as they carried droid parts to and fro. It was impossible to name all the creatures as they walked through the market, but the colorful and bustling life of the Lower CIty in daylight was enough to make anyone smile. Younglings weaved through the crowds, in a different world all on their own. Low flying speeders and small barges hovered just a little bit off the ground, taking up room on the road as they puttered down the street slowly. Above us towered gleaming skyscrapers and blue skies that seemed to stretch into eternity, and I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be at work in less than five minutes.

Grinning, I pulled my work jacket on a bit tighter, the black material fitting snugly up my arms and opening up at the chest to show the orange shirt I was wearing underneath-the color theme of Tris Esta's Cantina. My brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. This was going to be fun. With a slight hop, I started into a jog, brushing past a group of Wookies in leather jackets before entering the crowd with an ecstatic grin. Yells of warning flitted through the air around me, but I continued forward, loving the challenge of dodging and weaving around morning traffic. Strings of Huttese and Galaxy Basic spun through the air around my ears as I jumped on the back of a lowly hovering barge carrying crates and crates of purple fruit. My foot was resting on a rusted metal hitch on the back of the vehicle, where you could attach a trailer of sorts if need be. One hand clenched the rusty polymer frame and I allowed myself to hang there as if it were the bow of a ship. There wasn't much of a breeze, but I enjoyed looking out to see the groups of aliens fill the empty wake of the transport barge.

What caught my eye, though, was the gleam of white stormtrooper armor to my left.I frowned at the sight. That was odd...usually stormtroopers didn't bother down here as much, let alone this early in the morning. Turning my head, I could see that in an adjacent alleyway, two troopers were looking down at two very small, and very frightened looking Twi'lek children. I groaned. It was either be on time for work or get those kids out of there before something bad happened-I went against the logical answer. Swearing, I hopped off the barge I'd been gliding along and pushed through a group of chattering aliens I didn't recognize before entering the alleyway.

"What do you think you're doing?" I let out a shrill yell, making both the terrified children and imposing troopers jump and whip their heads to see me. Approaching at a speed walk, I didn't take my eyes off the kids, who were staring at me in fear.

"Ma'am are these your kids?" One of the troopers asked, motioning towards them with his blaster.

"Are these my kids? Of course they're my kids, Half-wit!" Before he could respond, I twirled to face the kids. "Nabreek, Ralex, what did I say about leaving the apartment without your ID?"

My back was turned to the stormtroopers, so I winked at them, and the kids glanced at one another before I got a response. "Sorry, mom." They muttered together, eyes on the ground now.

"No offense, ma'am but you don't look like a Twi'lek."

I turned around slowly, letting motherly anger take over my facade.

The troopers took a step back.

"Of course I'm not a Twi'lek. It's called adoption."

"I'm going to have to see your identification either way, ma'am."

Rolling my eyes, I stuffed my right hand into my jacket pocket and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a plastic card with my face plastered on the front. The trooper to the left snapped it out of my hand, and the scowl that appeared on my face wasn't forced.

"This says you're 17."

Crap.

"What about it?"

One of the troopers brought up their blaster a bit more, making me glance at it before taking a side-step so I was completely between the kids and the gun.

"Isn't that a little young to adopt kids?"

My mind raced for an explanation.

"She's our sister, sir." A squeaky voice sounded from behind me, and a small, blue Twi'lek head stuck out past my thigh.

"Didn't you call her mom?"

"Yes." I crossed my arms. "They did. Because I'm more of a mom to them than the woman who got them off of Ryloth."

The troopers both shifted uncomfortably. There was a moment of silence before one of them handed back my card. "Alright, you can carry on. Just make sure they don't leave without their ID's again."

"Oh ho ho, you won't have to worry about that sir." I clasped his hand as I took the card from it, and shook it vigorously. "Thank you for your service."

"Uhh...your welcome. Carry on."

With one last smile, I turned around, grabbing both kids by the wrist and dragged them out of the alley while spouting nonsense about how much trouble they were in. I kept hold of them tightly as we made our way through the crowds on the streets before pulling them into the next alley over. After checking to make sure we weren't being followed, I frowned and crouched down next to them.

"What'd we learn?" I asked, my eyebrows raised in scolding concern.

The blue Twi'lek, whose head tails reached down to the bottom of her neck, frowned and ran off, leaving me and the green male Twi'lek looking at one another awkwardly.

"Thank you." He said simply, before running off to join his friend.

I frowned and stood. Things were going great so far today. I'd already lied to a stormtrooper, whose helmet leaked eerily familiar memories of friends and allies now turned enemies. Before the Purge, they had been our closest allies. The ones who fought and died for our cause. And then they'd turned, like it was nothing, and I still didn't understand why. Sometimes, when I just saw their snowy white armor, I imagined that they were clones again, and I tried to visualize them as my allies, like they once were.

I didn't even realize that I'd been walking until my body froze into place, knowing full well that it had reached my destination. Sighing, I opened the door to Tris Esta's Cantina, and prepared myself for another full day at work. The newest musicians had apparently just gotten here, because as I entered, they were on stage setting up their instruments and doing mic checks with Masin. The lava lamps weren't on yet, since the Cantina didn't open for another hour, and stretched before walking up to the musicians calmly.

"Good morning." One of them suddenly spoke up, and I blushed as the tall, human-looking man smiled down at me brightly. He was built like a stick, almost, and he was clutching onto a thin instrument that I didn't recognize.

"Hello," I said calmly. "Welcome to Tris Esta's Cantina."

He smiled wider at the interaction and I could feel my face heating up as his black curls bounced about his head. "Thank you, darling."

I didn't know how to explain it, but his voice sounded very...proper. He didn't sound like the common rabble, and I wondered where he came from. I knew too much to ask, though. Darling? I didn't know if I liked that, either.

"What brought you here?" I asked, clasping my hands behind my back and twiddling my thumbs over one another anxiously.

There was that damning bright smile again. "Credits, my dearest, and an overwhelming desire to play music for others."

Not gonna lie, that was kind of hot. I blushed, grinning back. "Hmm," I hummed in approval, "and what kind of music do you play?"

He stepped towards me, sitting on the edge of the small stage. The dark tunic he was wearing contrasted greatly against the glittering, silver vest that laid overtop of it. Black pants fitted tightly across his thin form and I suddenly realized that he kind of looked like the scarecrows you could see on Ruan, an agriworld in the Imperial Core.

"I play many different types of music, but mostly just what the Empire would be annoyed to hear."

I chuckled lightly at the playful answer. "Oh, in that case…" I faked a solute towards him before turning around.

"Wait!"

I turned around expectantly, eyebrows raised.

"I never got your name, dearest."

Dearest...I kind of liked that.

"You can call me Kat."

He gave me an odd look with his ice cool eyes. "Kat…"

"Uhh...yees?"

He seemed to hesitate, his eyes flicking down for just a moment. "Uh, nothing." The musician let out a tightlipped smile and continued. "Kat's a nice name."

"And what shall I call you, Music Man?"

He pretended to think for a moment. "You know, I kind of like that."

rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, looking at him incredulously.

"Fine, fine!" He put his hands up in surrender. "You can call me Artie."

"Okay, Artie. That's a bright vest you're wearing. You planning on helping someone cross the street?"

"It's to draw attention to me, since I'm so handsome."

"Oh, I see we have an ego problem!"

"Oh no, darling! It's all fake, I assure you."

"Mmhm." I hummed in agreement.

"What, you don't believe me? I am a well-meaning musician with about 200 credits to my name!"

"200 whole credits! You best watch out, or a thief will be sure to come for those assets."

Artie let out a loud laugh, his tight, black curls bouncing as he threw his head back. My heart swelled a little bit and I tried to ignore the aching feeling in my stomach. I couldn't be doing this...making this connection. It would only get me hurt.

"I have to get to work, Artie." I said simply, trying to keep the smile on my face from leaving as the musician grinned down at me and extended his hand. Instead of shaking mine as they met, he brought the back of my hand up to his mouth and planted a single kiss there, making my heart soar, and my mind swoon. He looked down at me with his cool eyes and let my hand drop gently to my side. We stayed like that for a moment, and I didn't need to use the Force to feel the mixed emotions swirling through the air around us.

I cleared my throat with an awkwardly giddy grin. "Well, I should-uh, ya know…"

He chuckled lightly and waved a single hand at me as he stood again. "See you around, Kat."

My heart was still twirling as I turned and walked away from Artie, and the soft press of his lips lingered on my hand. I wiped it against my shirt inconspicuously and plugged in a pink lava lamp to my left, casting the cantina in a bright glow. This sort of relationship was dangerous. If anyone realized who I was, then Artie would be in immediate danger, especially if things went too far. I tried to shake any idea of him out of my mind, but as lonely as I was most of the time, it was hard to forget an intense moment like that one.

"Oh my stars he's handsome…"

I looked up to see Masin crouching down next to me as I plugged in the second lamp, and followed her stare up to Artie, who was laughing with another of the musicians. Masin's long, blue hair was tucked behind her ear as she glanced over at me, eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Handsome? Yes." I stood up with a smile. "A bad idea? Also yes."

"Oh come on, Kat, you haven't dated someone the entire time you've worked here!"

"And I don't intend on starting to."

"But why!?" Masin crouched down, careful to keep her legs pressed together since she was practically wearing a mini-skirt (she preferred them over pants for some reason I could never understand).

I frowned and elected not to answer.

"Is it because-?"

"Masin. We've gone over this. What do I not like?"

"...Questions." She mumbled back, her nose crinkling in annoyance.

"And what are you doing right now?"

"What are you doing right now?"

I looked up at Masin slowly, trying my best not to smile at her and failing miserably. Her eyes were twinkling with amusement and I started shaking my head. "I hate you."

"Nooo you don't," The blue haired girl threw her arm around my shoulders as we stood. "I'm gonna crack you someday, Kat, and that'll be the day we become best friends." She waved her hand in the air like she was picturing the future and I rolled my eyes before slinking out of her reach.

"Uh huh," I said, plugging in the last of the lamps. "That will also be the day I call Jabba the Hutt handsome."

I hoped she wouldn't follow me anymore, but I had to give it to Masin, she was definitely relentless.

"Kat, come on," She continued. "It's been what? Five years? Almost six now? And you've never seen me outside of work. You don't hate me, mostly because I'm impossible to hate, so why?"

I sighed, leaning against the bar with crossed arms and staring at Masin with tired eyes. I suppose a little bit of the truth couldn't hurt. "I just-I don't like attachments, Masin. Nothing good ever happens to them."

Her brows furrowed slightly before lifting into a look of confusion, and then to understanding. I hated how soft her features became...how delicately she was looking at me. Her next words came out in a whisper. "How much did you lose?"

That really was the question of a lifetime, wasn't it?

"Everything, Masin." I forced my brown eyes to look into her soft gaze. "Everything."