Chapter Text
Sennah sat in the alleyway behind the nightclub, waiting. She was good at being patient, it was a skill the Jedi Temple taught well. She meditated as she sat, reaching out to the minds of the beings in the club. The former Jedi could only barely hear her friend playing his music inside. Instead, she listened through the Force to the ‘song’ of the emotions of the people listening to Danyal’s performance. The Ryn smiled at the delight and excitement she felt from them, but was confused at the occasional negative tones. Her confusion had begun earlier that night when she first arrived at the club, when she had been denied entry. Sennah had found a backstage exit in an alley behind the club, and had settled down beside it, hoping Danyal would emerge there when he was done.
The emotions inside reached a crescendo, then faded as Danyal’s performance concluded. A short time later, Sennah felt Danyal approaching. She had chosen correctly. The door opened, and there he was. She felt the musician’s surprise and delight as he saw her.
“Sennah!” Danyal exclaimed, taking her hand and helping her up from her cross-legged position on the ground. “How long have you been waiting here?”
“About an hour and a half.” Sennah replied as she shook out her long embroidered skirt. Danyal watched distractedly as the woman dusted off the back of the skirt; she discovered and removed a small piece of debris from the tuft of hairs at the tip of her tail. Sennah looked good in Ryn clothes, Danyal thought. Of course, she looked pretty good in anything she wore. Danyal blinked suddenly as Sennah’s words slowly registered.
“An hour and a half?” Danyal asked in confusion. “I told you this morning what time I would be done, why did you come so early?”
“I wanted to hear you play,” Sennah replied, crossing her arms across her chest. “They wouldn’t let me in.”
“Oh, no. Sennah...” Danyal’s face became worried, he glanced back at the door to the club and ran a hand through his long mane of hair. “I hope you didn’t piss anyone off. They’re really… picky here.”
“Picky?” Sennah asked.
“They won’t let certain kinds of beings in the club, the owners say it—“ Danyal’s voice changed, adopting a high-class accent. “—‘detracts from the ambiance’.”
“Yet, they’ll let your— our kind on their stage to entertain them?” Sennah asked, tilting her head to the side as she tried to process the cognitive dissonance. “Why would someone pre-judge entire groups of species as being undesirable, but yet let a member of one of those species be front-and-center on a stage as entertainment?”
“Yeah. I know, it doesn’t make any sense,” Danyal replied as he secured his guitar case across his back. He held out an arm to Sennah, she took it and together they walked out of the alley. “It’s how things are out here in the real Galaxy, Jedi. People aren’t egalitarian like you, they have prejudices, and most of them are against our people.”
“I know,” Sennah said softly, “I remember the stories I found when I first researched the Ryn in the Temple archives, and the Holonet. It’s just disheartening to see it myself.”
The pair walked in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.
“Have you had dinner?” Danyal asked after a few minutes. “I’m starving.”
“No, I haven’t.” Sennah replied.
“Well, do you know of any food places that aren’t picky that I’ve not tried?” Danyal paused thoughtfully. “Do Jedi even eat out?”
“I usually ate in the Temple’s commissary when I was on-planet.” Sennah replied.
“Oh. I guess one of my usual places, then...” Danyal began.
“Except for a few special times…” A fond smile began to form on Sennah’s face. “I know where we’re going, come on.”
--
“Dex’s Diner?” Danyal read, looking skeptically at the worn-looking building. Its chrome trim and bright windows reflecting the busy hyperlane behind them.
“Come on. Trust me.” Sennah said, nearly grinning as she opened the door.
The smell of grilled nerf-burgers and fried tubers wafted out of the Diner as the door made a friendly welcoming chime. Danyal shrugged and followed the woman in.
A human woman with blonde hair, a big smile, and a name tag that read “Hermione” greeted them from behind the bar. She called out to them as she poured two cups of caf for a Zeltron couple. “Sit anywhere you like, folks, Flo will be along in a minute to take your order.”
Sennah led Danyal past the rows of booths to the far back of the restaurant, where the long counter curved towards the back wall. A worn, but well-maintained music system sat in the corner there, playing random selections, but displaying a list of songs you could request for a few credits each.
Sennah swung up onto the second to last stool at the counter and gestured to the seat beside her. Danyal unslung his guitar case and gave the faded counter and stool a skeptical look.
“It's clean, don't worry.” Sennah assured him.
Danyal leaned the case against the bar, then climbed up onto the tall seat beside Sennah.
“I think I've heard of this place, I didn't know it was a Jedi joint.” Danyal remarked, picking up an ancient flimsiplast menu and looking it over.
Sennah snorted, the air whistling through her nose. Danyal hid a smile. A few weeks ago, she was in the habit of carefully controlling her breath to not make normal Ryn sounds like that.
“It's not a ‘Jedi joint’,” Sennah explained, ignoring the hint of amusement she was feeling from her companion. “But a few Jedi like it. It's not necessarily the food, though. The owner, Dexter Jettster, traveled from one end of the Galaxy to the other for decades before retiring here and buying this restaurant. As you said yourself, the Jedi can be limited in their view of the Galaxy sometimes. A wise Jedi knows that they don't know everything, and finds beings who can fill those gaps. Dex is very good at certain unusual types of knowledge.”
A waitress droid, whose name tag read “FLO”, whirred over and took their orders. She poured them some drinks as the order was transmitted back to the kitchen, then whirred away to check on another customer with a: “Flag me if you need a refill, dears.”
Danyal took a sip of his caf, then set the mug down, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against it as he spoke. “So, for the past month since you came to live with the clan, I've been telling you every couple days when and where I'll be playing. I've been hoping you'd meet me for dinner or some time to chat, you know, away from the clan. This is the first time you've come.”
Sennah nodded, but remained silent, staring into her cup of Jawa Juice.
“Why'd you decide to show up this time?” Danyal was attempting to sound nonchalant as he sipped his caf again, but his mug rattled slightly in his nervous grip as he set it on the counter again.
“I…” Sennah attempted to gather her thoughts. Why had she decided to come tonight? She wasn't completely sure herself. Her new life was still sorting itself out, just starting to settle into new routines. Her feelings for Danyal, though, those were still jumbled in tight knots. She had been almost actively avoiding being around him, and certainly never been alone with him. They hadn't physically touched since that first day, at the party, when they’d danced, when they'd…kissed. Sennah had no difficulty sensing how Danyal felt about her. It overwhelmed her ability to selectively block out emotions sometimes, requiring her to damp her connection to the Force as a whole to block his feelings out.
Sennah opened her mouth to speak, still not knowing exactly what she was going to say, when a boisterous voice from the kitchen window interrupted.
“Aha! I knew it was you!” Dex's grizzled face grinned out over the plates of food he was placing on the counter for the waitresses to deliver.
The diner's Besalisk owner and head cook came through the kitchen doorway, wiping two of his hands on a towel hanging from his belt, and carrying Sennah and Danyal's orders in the other two.
“How 'ya doin, Little One? Almost didn't recognize you in, heh, ‘normal clothes’.” Dex chuckled as he put the plates of food on the counter. “You playing hooky from the Temple today?”
“No, I-“ Sennah’s voice caught in her throat, she swallowed and continued in a soft murmur. “I left the Order.”
“Did ya, now?” Dex replied, his grin fading to a more somber look.
Sennah took a sip of her drink, then took a bite of her meal. She focused on the food, attempting to control her spiraling emotions.
“Hm.” Dex cleared his throat in the sudden silence, then turned his attention to Sennah’s companion. Dex grinned at the male Ryn as he leaned one of his elbows on the counter. “So, I see the tip I gave her was useful. Found at least one of her people.”
“She found her entire family,” Danyal replied with a chuckle as he swallowed a bite of nerfburger. He wiped his hands clean on a napkin then held a hand out to the proprietor. “Danyal, of the Itanno Clan.”
“Pleased to meet ya, Danyal. Dexter Jettster, owner of this, eh, fine establishment.” He shook the proffered hand. “You part of her family?”
“I’m a clanmate, not closely related.” Danyal explained, glancing at Sennah, who was almost mechanically eating her food, still lost in her thoughts. He leaned in towards Dex conspiratorially. “I hope that to change, someday.” He finished in a whisper.
“Ah, I got‘cha.” Dex replied quietly with a wink and a grin. “So,” he said, more loudly. “What you got in this case, here, a quetarra?”
“Close enough.” Danyal replied, “my people’s variant, we call it a guitar.”
“Hmm, it’s a slow evening, and I haven’t heard live music for a while.” Dex mused. “I’d trade ya you two’s dinners for some tunes if you’re interested.”
“I’m always up for a deal like that,” Danyal laughed. “Besides, much friendlier crowd around here than there was at the place I played earlier.”
Sennah emerged from her reverie at the sound of Danyal and Dex’s chuckles. The feel of their good humor and happy anticipation drew a smile from her as well. She apologized for “blanking out” on them, but the men waved it off. Dex encouraged her to eat up, he’d have her dessert out soon, and made his way back to the kitchen.
As Sennah finished off her food, Danyal got out his instrument and started checking its tuning.
“Any requests?” The musician asked while Dex dropped off Sennah’s dessert and pulled out a stool to sit on for a while.
“How about you, Little One? What do you want to hear your clanmate play?” Dex asked. He leaned one arm on the counter and draped another around the waist of the blonde-haired human waitress who had come over and leaned up against the counter beside him. “Or do you have a request, Hermione, my dear?”
“Hm, it’s a little bit obscure, but do you know ‘Shooting Star’ by a band called ‘Wachamio!’?” Hermione asked, in a thoughtful tone.
Danyal froze, mid-pluck, his guitar twanging a stray note as a string slipped off a long fingernail. He looked shocked, and a bit embarrassed, as he looked up and met the human woman’s eyes.
Sennah looked back and forth between Danyal and the waitress, confused at what exactly was going on. “Danyal?” She asked. “Are you ok? What is it about that song. Do you know it?”
Danyal made a small snort, half amused, half… sad. “I should. I wrote it.”
“I thought it was you.” Hermione replied. “I was quite a fan ten years ago. Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. You don’t have to play it.”
“No, it’s ok, it’s just…” Danyal took a deep breath and let it out with a whistle and a sigh. “...Been a long time.”
Danyal played the song, and a few others, before he and Sennah bade Dex and his Diner goodnight.
“Thank you, Dex.” Sennah said as Danyal packed away the guitar. “For everything.”
“No problem, Little One, happy to help.” Dex grinned broadly. “Come back and see us any time, you two.”