The stranger leaped out from the tent’s cover into the glaring Jakku light. Kai had to look down at the approaching four-armed alien as she shuffled over, not without grace. The Ardennian was wearing a long beige robe and what looked like different coloured metal bangles hanging on the wrists of her two front arms, occasionally visible as they peaked out from under her robe as she moved. The bangles made a rather distinguished melody of clinking sounds as the alien came nearer amidst the floating sand picked up by the wind.

   “You’re not from around here, are you?” The Ardennian asked with a chuckle. “Oh don’t you worry, you stand out like a sore thumb but you don’t look all bad. It’s the jacket. I don’t know how you can keep that on in this heat. You know it wasn’t so long ago that I was walking around this outpost myself with a similar look on my face. Why don’t you go ahead and tell me what brought you to Jakku and I’ll see if there’s something I can do for you.”

   “Yes, thank you,” Kai managed to answer, slightly taken aback. She had heard Ardennians tended to be rather chatty and couldn’t say she was disappointed. Ignoring the request, she went straight to the point. “I’m looking for a junkyard, or a trader. I need a new part for my ship.”

   “Lost and stranded I see,” the stranger said. “The name’s Aine Reeves,” she added, extending the right arm with the colourful bangles in front of her.

   “Kai. Pleasure to meet you,” she said grabbing Aine’s hand and giving it a firm shake.

   “You won’t find much of a trader like that here in Gurggo. You’ll want to go over to Jirrie. That’s where the real magic happens. It’s a small thing, but it’s close to some shipwrecks left over from the galactic wars.”

   Kai’s heart sank. It had been far too long for anything like a transpacitor to be left on a wreck from those times. If those old ships were all she had to work with, she had better hitch a ride on a transport off this rock and come back with the part to fix the Comet, hoping it was still in one piece when she got back.

   Unalarmed by Kai’s look of dismay, Aine continued, “some scavengers still waste their time in the sand but there’s really nothing left. And what the scavengers haven’t stripped off, the desert’s gone and swallowed up. But those shipwrecks, mind you, is how it all started, bringing a lot of curious mechs out to Jirrie, the ones crazy enough to venture to this lost part of the galaxy, anyway. And what do you think happens when you put crafty mechanics in a small outpost in the middle of nowhere surrounded by tech from around the galaxy?”

   Kai lit up with relief and unmistakable excitement. “You get a whole lot of cleverly designed parts of all shapes and sizes,” she answered with a smile.

   “A connoisseur!” Aine exclaimed. “Exactly. Gurggo has decent trading activities, mostly minerals, so we get some passage around these parts, but the mechs decided to stay over in Jirrie.”

   “Perfect. How do we get there?” Kai asked with enthusiasm, ready to go.

   “It’s only a few hours away. I’ll be happy to take you there first thing in the morning.”

   “Tomorrow?”

   “It may look like the sun never sets, but it’ll be dark before long, and it’s not a good idea to travel after nightfall. Why don’t we get out of the street and you come on over to my place. I make the tastiest apricot chickpea couscous.”

It wasn’t as though Kai had a full schedule, and she could definitely do with a full meal.

   “Let’s go,” Kai said with a nod and followed Aine towards one of the structures.

 

   As they entered the small house, Aine took off her cloak, dusting it off slightly and hanging it on a hook, revealing a sleek pilot’s outfit that she very clearly hadn’t acquired on Jakku.

   “Come in, make yourself comfortable,” Aine said, inviting Kai to sit on one of the three stools set by a round table. “I’ll get the stove on.”

   The walls of the house were thick and made from some type of clay the colour of the sand. They were doing a good job of keeping the place cool enough considering the severe heat outside. The small home was made up of a living area with a kitchen and a private room in the back, and was most notably overflowing with trinkets of all sorts. Kai had no idea what most of them were, although some pieces she recognised as accessories of the same type as Aine’s bracelets. Seeing her host busy in the kitchen, Kai approached to offer her help. She was handed a cutting board, knife and a few vegetables she was instructed to peal and chop.

   “Admiring my collection, were you?” Aine asked as Kai sat down at the table to start her work.

   “It’s quite something,” Kai had to admit, although she wondered why anyone would spend time and credits on anything that wasn’t at all useful.

   “I can’t really seem to help myself. If it’s shiny and colourful, I just have to have it. Wandering around looking for treasures is what got me to Jakku, and a number of places before that, and most likely a many places more. It’s the mystery, the secrets, that call to me, and believe it or not mysterious things are almost always shiny and colourful.”

   Kai couldn’t help smile at the comment and thought that Aine probably wouldn't think much of the Midsummer Comet in terms of a treasure, even though Kai had no greater one.

   “Every piece you see here has a story,” Aine continued as she prepared a bowl of mixed spices. “Some were owned by eccentric and powerful beings, others are powerful themselves, although I won’t go on and tell you which ones.”

   Aine laughed playfully then went on, with a much more quiet and deep seriousness in her voice. “There are forces in this galaxy that we don’t understand, forces that some have barely started to grasp and that have only led to madness and to ruin.” Aine stepped over to the table to pick-up the vegetables that Kai had finished cutting to add them to a large pot on the stove. “We see some around in our days, those that still call themselves Jedi, although you won’t find any here on Jakku. Like so many planets that were caught in the middle of the wars, used by either or both sides without a consideration for what would happen to its people, force-users aren’t welcome.”

   A tense silence arose in the room. After the wars and the re-establishment of the Republic, planets had been divided on force-sensitives. Some embraced them and even enlisted them as public security forces, almost as the Republic had done in the time of the Clone Wars, while others wouldn’t hesitate to blast them on sight. Despite differences, one rule had been agreed on across the galaxy, which was that all force users had to be officially registered as such for the safety of all.

   “The force isn’t strong in many Ardennians, but in humans…” Aine trailed off, turning away from the pot she was diligently stirring to look at Kai who was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. She was always nervous around conversations on anything relating to the force, as they often led to heated debates and more often than not to fist fights. Kai was also starting to wonder what Aine was trying to insinuate and where this conversation was heading.

   “Of course not all humans are force-sensitive,” Aine added, clearing the air just slightly before pressing on. “But supposing they were, would you say they may be interested in acquiring a certain special crystal?”

   “A kyber crystal?” Kai asked despite herself, curiosity winning over caution. The infamous crystals used in lightsabers had been nearly impossible to find since the destruction of Illum. Jeddha had also been a source of crystals but it too had been a victim to the galactic wars years ago.

   “Ah ha!” Aine exclaimed with a big smile across her face. “So you are at least slightly knowledgeable.”

   Kai shifted in her seat. “Well, everyone’s heard the stories. The Jedi Order, the lightsabers, the crystals.”

   Aine laughed again, a good natured laugh that warmed the room. “All right, all right, I won’t press you if you’re not keen on sharing. It doesn’t matter to me what others do as a rule as long as they mind their own business and let me mind mine.” Aine brought out two bowls into which she served perfectly moist couscous topped with the smoking vegetables. She placed the bowls on the table and sat down next to Kai.

   “Enough of this serious talk,” Aine said with a smile. “Dig-in.”

   Kai didn’t argue. The blend of smells coming from the kitchen as the food slowly cooked had prompted her stomach to have a long conversation with itself and it had become increasingly louder, almost to the point of being rude. The couscous was just as promised, the tastiest she’d ever had, the sweet apricots a delightful contrast to the hearty root vegetables and enchanting mix of spices. The more time Kai spent with Aine, the more intrigued she became. As she ate her food, a good middle between enjoying and devouring, she thought about the kyber crystals. Needless to say, her interest had been peaked, but most intriguing was why Aine had spoken about them. Kai had a feeling that they would be talking about them again before long.

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