Five

I stepped out from the alley onto a busy street, night had fallen some time ago but it hadn’t seemed to lessen the number of people around. I drew some curious stares from the people nearby as I started making my way up the hill to the square. I passed a few bars on the way, obvious from the sounds and smells eminating from their oddly unguarded doorways. It seems that alcohol is something else that follows humanity wherever it springs up. Not really surprising considering that it is a biologically derived intoxicant almost uniquely tailored to human physiology.

At the crossroads I was approached by a beggar, ironic considering my plans for the night. He reeked of alcohol and had obviously been drinking for some time. The slurring of his speech made him very hard to understand so I simply shook my head and kept going, from the shouts that followed me up the road I gathered that he wasn’t all that pleased to be ignored. He quickly lost interest and moved on to his next mark.

I opened my senses to the flow of humanity around me, and was once more shocked by the levels of dread and despair which seemed to colour every thought and emotion that I encountered. Even what little hope I sensed was tainted with it, as if the people around me wanted things to be better but were convinced that they never would be. There were spikes of anger more intense than I was prepared for and I actually gasped at the hate which was directed at me when I jostled someone accidentally. Upon reaching the square I spotted an empty bench nearby so I sat and took a moment to calm myself.

I breathed deeply as I had been taught and focussed inwards, clearing my head of everything but my own being and immediate surroundings. I discovered that doing this lessed the intensity of suspicion that those closest to me directed at me, I seemed to ebcome another peice fo the scenery to them and therefore not as much of a threat. A tension that I had not realised had been building within me eased and I relaxed a little.

Turning my attention outwards once more I looked more intently at my surroundings. The square was cobbled with desultory flowerbeds surrounding a statue in the center. The statue was of a seated gentleman with what was obviously a pet of some sort at his feet. I guessed from the dress of the figure that he was not contemporary to this period. Possibly some famous dignitary from the past, more than likely a politician or leader of some sort.

The street I had come up opened into the square in the corner behind me with the buildings on one side following the edge of the open space to where another wider thoroughfare led off at right angles. Across the open space from where I sat, a road ran along one edge of the square in front of an imposing building whose spire was the tallest structure I had yet seen.

The buildings seemed to house shops and other houses of commerce of one type or another which were now closed for the night, the sole exception being a four story building from which a deep bass rumble eminated. I guessed this was a bar or nightclub. I could see coloured lights throwing shadows against the windows of the third floor, and the thud of a simplistic, tribal music drifted from ventilation grilles of the second. A crowd of people waited expectantly in front of this building with a few being admitted at seemingly random intervals and for no apparent reason. Others were being turned away so I assumed that the door policy was either very strict or based solely on the whim of the burly black clad gents standing at the door looking intimidating.

I decided that sitting on a bench was not going to make me any money and elected to sit on the ground at the corner where the wide boulevard left the square. I flexed my mouth and took a few deep breaths and got ready to make my first attempt at the language I had heard on the street and in the crowds passing me.

I picked my first mark carefully, judging that the men were more inclined to be generous if they were in the company of women. I spied one such couple approaching, female shivering in an outfit which would barely be called decent by a Hutt and the man with here wearing a robe-like coat which stretched to his ankles.

“Spayer sum chainj pawl?” I asked as they passed in a close apporximation of the plaintive requests I had heard form others that day. The man looked away and drew his companion off by the arm, sneering at me as if I was the lowest form of life he had ever encountered. The woman looked back with an apologetic look on her face to her credit so I sent a little warmth her way and cleared some of the alcoholic fog that was beginning to cloud her judgement. I smiled at her as they made their way toward the club entrance, The man looked back at that moment and his hatred burned all the brighter. A heated discussion began as they joined the queue to get in.

I was beginning to see that this wasn’t going to be easy unless I used a few jedi tricks to get my way. Not how I wanted to do things but needs must I suppose.