Nar Shaddaa

After attending the intelligence briefing at the Imperial compound, Sylvain once again found himself out on the streets of Nar Shaddaa following the footsteps of a Zabrak operative that he had only ever met via holochat.

He walked near the prison towards his coordinates and would collect the data without issue (unless stopped). When he finished he emerged from the storehouse and saw something catch his eye down the street.

An older woman was haggling with a street peddler. It was a rather animated conversation before she finally purchases some vegetables and then moves on to another stall. It would all be quaint if not for the glint of lightsaber on her hip.

Sylvain approached the elderly woman and pulled up alongside her at the stall she was at.

She looks over, the water hitting some kind of repulsor field above her, keeping her dry. She looks over the fruit and says, “They try to sell these well before they are ripe. Have to wait a few days for the juices to settle, then you slice them and fry them up quite savory.”

He turned his head slightly and nodded, "I remember they are quite good. My mother once brought me to Nar Shadaa as a child."

“I was born here, it has a certain charm many folks miss. They just see the lights and the crime and miss the ambiance of life,” she says wistfully.

“Even I didn’t appreciate it till I was much older.”

He nodded, "I too grew up in a large city. Different than this one in many ways... but not dissimilar in some of the 'ambiance' you speak of."

He paused before introducing himself, "I am Sylvain Torsin, Sith of the Empire."

“Are there Sith of the Republic?” she asks with mild amusement.

“Or Sith of the Hutt Cartels?”

He chuckled, "One may never truly know. There are those who switch sides on occasion for espionage or personal reasons... and what designation they require during their 'time abroad' is always a difficult thing to address."

“Well you can call me Resmi, nothing as fancy as a Sith of the Empire… I'm just a gardener of a little garden?” she offers.

“It is a pleasure young man.”

He nodded, "Resmi, a lovely name fair lady. And I assume the blade at your hip is a gardening implement then?"

“Oh this old thing,” she says glancing at her weapon.

“Never for gardening, I don’t like to prune my pretties. I let them grow as they will, best to let them go where they want. It has been an old friend for a long time, she talks and I listen and then I talk and she listens… sometimes we won’t talk for months.”

“But we always pick up right where we left off.”

He chuckled, "From what I hear there is a Jedi Master in these parts by the name of Resmi.... Would that happen to be you Aunty?"

“Some still call me that, if you’re an old enemy… which would be… odd, but possible just know that I am too stubborn to die easily. I am just Old Resmi most of the time, I garden and bother nobody no how,” she replies kindly.

He nodded, "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. I am certainly not an old enemy looking for trouble."

He picked up a fruit, "So have you been here long?"

“Which time, I have been on world for about fifteen years now, was born here… some ninety odd years ago… been back and forth throughout my life. The Hutts just can’t get rid of me,” she says honestly.

He chuckled, "Why would they want to get rid of such a lovely lady?"

“I have not always been the best guest, sometimes the Hutts and I don’t see eye to eye. Must be something about their criminal empire or the slavery or any number of things I find objectionable. But the Hutts are just one symptom of many. If I left I wouldn’t be much better than them so I stay and try do a little good,” she says honestly.

He nodded, "I'm sure a woman of your talents could be quite the thorn in the side of many if she so chose."

“Not much of a choice when I am just being the person I am. Like nature, if lightning strikes a tree and there’s a fire that’s just how it is. Lightning didn’t choose anything, it just is. That’s life, some things just naturally oppose each other, just how it is. Two objects set in motion of opposition long before they ever come into contact,” she says wrapping up her purchase.

"And in what ways to do you counter the Hutts?" He asked.

“Oh a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I help the locals with food or clothing. I find ways to ease their debts or erase them, the little things. Some want to kill this Hutt or that crime boss, but I find over time another just moves in and takes their place. Help a child see a better future and you slowly move them out of one life to another,” she says as she moves to another stall.

“It might not work for everyone but at my age, it works for me.”

"A noble bit of philanthropy. I commend you for your efforts. My mother ha been doing a bit of humanitarian work over the past few months in the outer rim, I'm sure she'd be impressed with your work ethic even in your elder years."

“She sounds like a wonderful woman,” she says.

“Is service to others in need a virtue among the Sith?”

He chuckled and shook his head, "Perhaps not nearly as many as in the Republic, but we are a comparatively small sample size."