Kierra made her way through the starport. She hoped that Huntley would help Sawyer find her way to the bank. After all, Huntley was the best tracker of the three. And Sawyer? Sawyer did just fine unless she was trying to figure out some schematic or lost in her mind wondering where the best place was to harvest wind. Both happened often.
And Huntley? Kierra was certain that, by now, Huntley was roasting something over a campfire. If you didn’t know Huntley all that well, you’d think that she didn’t care about anyone or anything. The truth was that Huntley cared TOO much and avoiding people was her way of coping.
Kierra’s hand reached instinctively into her satchel to retrieve her datapad as she cleared the starport. She sighed. It’d been more than ten years since she’d had a datapad. Coming back here must have triggered a muscle memory or something. She’d have to go back inside to look at the maps just like she did when she was a kid.
Back inside, she was appalled to see that the map system was down. As were schedules for shuttles to any cities but the oldest. A Hutt walked (slithered? shuffled?) by.
“Excuse me?” Kierra said.
The Hutt turned, “Yes?”
“Do you know how to get to Mos Vegas?” Kierra asked, a little embarrassed that she couldn’t remember the way.
The Hutt looked at her in disbelief. “Honey, Mos Vegas has been gone for years.” She blinked her eyes and waited for Kierra to get over the obvious shock. “A Sandstorm took her out. They’ve been kicking up badly for years now.”
Kierra nodded. “Tuskenario?”
The Hutt shook her head. “Flattened in a skirmish between the damned rebels and the stinking Empire.”
“So, what I’m seeing is what is left? Everything gone? Everyone gone?” Kierra sat down on the floor. For the moment not caring about the emerald silk gown.
“How long have you been gone?” The Hutt woman asked.
“Just over ten years,” Kierra said.
“Sorry, honey. It’s a whole new world out there. Do you have somewhere to stay?” The Hutt woman asked.
“Booked a gig in the cantina here. Owner is putting me up,” Kierra lied. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Dancer?” The woman asked.
Kierra nodded.
“Good. We’re short on those these days.” She said.
The Darkdust Diaries 