Nix’s body seemed to take the impending demolition of the camp around her as a sign that it was time to process the Covo juice she’d drunk into something a wee bit less debilitating.

“Stand down Goldie,” she said, rising to a fully seated position. “I was drunk, not in peril.”

“You’re on an unfamiliar world and surrounded by people who think your evil.” Goldie did not sound like she was standing down. In fact, from the background hum on the comm link Nix wore in her ear, it sounded distinctly like she’d kicked her engines up to the highest speed she could without the air traffic interdiction droids from activating.

“They don’t think I’m evil, just Unclean and Possessed,” Nix said massaging her temples. The effect of the Covos juice had faded far faster than most alcohol would have but she’d only taken three pulls from the container Barso had given her.

“And then they drugged you,” Goldie said. “That seems pretty close to being ‘in peril’ to me.”

“I’m not drugged,” which was true since Nix could still feel the Force trumpeting the galaxy at her. “I’m just enhanced. Sort of miserably so.”

“You’re really not making a solid case for yourself here you know,” Goldie said and in the background Nix heard the ping of the laser cannons Goldie had insisted on having installed after the mess on Praxis Mar announce that they’d achieved a passive targeting lock on something.

“Trust me, I’m fine,” Nix said, testing her legs to see if the numbness had worn off enough to let them support her weight.

“You’re not. Explain to me how you get out of this, and remember I’m recording all of this for playback to Other Mom if anything happens to you.”

Nix sighed. She would absolutely tell Ayli about her current little adventure. She would also do so in a manner that presented the information in the right order. For example starting with the fact that she was safe and that they were back together, and that the whole story was an amusing anecdote that wasn’t really as bad as it looked at the time.

“I don’t need to get out of it,” Nix said. “Not yet anyways. The whole point of this trip was to find information about one of the other Force Traditions in the galaxy. I’ve got a whole group of living practitioners here! One’s who managed to survive the Imperial purges and who, apparently, escaped the Jedi’s notice. They’re just about the perfect candidates for giving us a different perspective on the Force than what the Jedi left written down.”

“And what makes you think we will be telling you anything about Xah?” Honored Jolu said as she stepped back inside the tent. Behind her a pale skinned older man entered the tent as well. 

“Hope,” Nix said. “What you call the Xah, I understand as the energy of the connections between all living things. The Jedi, as you’ve said, called it the Force. Their view on it was limited, and they are not the ones who trained me. Most of what I know, I picked up through trial and error, and without really thinking about it. My hope is that, as a living tradition, you will be willing to share the knowledge you hold.”

“Why would we do that?” Jolu asked.

“Because sharing what we know makes the galaxy a better place? I know not everyone buys into that but when you look at most successful endeavors in galactic history, they weren’t about conquest or plunder. They came from times were various people pitched in to create something new.”

“What you describe is not the path of the Xah,” the pale skinned man said.

“Primus Dolon, perhaps you can explain the central tenet of the Xah to her?” Jolu said. “She has been tainted by the Jedi teachings but perhaps not fully corrupted.”

“Few and less are those who take up the Jedi perversions and are not irrevocably changed by their hubris,” Dolon said. “Has this one been purified yet?”

“Yes Primus,” Borso said, returning from the second floor with the instruments he’d gone to fetch..

“How long ago?” Dolon asked.

“A quarter turning,” Borso reported, checking the chronometer at his waste.

“And she was given a full purification?” Dolon eyed Nix skeptically and Nix responded by simply waiting. 

“Yes Primus. I have our initial readings here,” Borso gestured to the monitoring tools beside the bed Nix had collapsed on, “but this equipment doesn’t have the backup links if we want to keep it.”

Dolon stroked his chin while he considered the situation for a moment.

“Perhaps she is not corrupted then,” he said. “To be certain though another Purification should be performed. With the proper equipment this time.”

Nix wasn’t thrilled with that idea given how hard the Covos had hit her the first time, but she could feel with exceptional clarity that it wasn’t the moment to speak up.

“That will take time,” Jolu said. “Another dose so soon could lead to complications.”

Given that Covos was supposed to have a fairly low alcohol content, Nix wasn’t sure what those ‘complications’ could be, but guessed they were significant because even Dolon frowned at the suggestion before nodding in agreement.

“Still, there is no cause for haste here,” Dolon said, returning his gaze to Nix as though she were some sort of a mobile fungal colony – something to keep an eye on, but nothing that might have an opinion of its own.

Part of Nix, possibly the sensible part she knew, was inclined to toss the silly Force dampening earrings, make a vow never to touch a drop of Covos again, and leave the whole encampment behind as a bad idea. Goldie would be delighted, Ayli would commend her for being sensible, and there was a literal galaxy full of other places she could go to discover other perspectives on the Force.

But she was needed here.

It was the quietest of whispers in the Force. Without the Covos she was sure she couldn’t have heard it at all, and even with the painfully enhanced sensitivity the Covos provided Nix wasn’t certain she was hearing anything at all.

“Tovos was there when she dropped in on us,” Jolu said.

Dolon frowned at that, his ire seemingly wide enough to engulf both Jolu and Nix. Borso cowered back a few steps to avoid being in the splash zone, but Dolon made no outward show of the emotion he managed to even keep muted in the Force.

“I will bring Tovos to heel,” Dolon said.

“He should not need to be managed so closely,” Jolu said, her words carrying the weight of an old argument between the two.

“He is as the Xah would have him be,” Dolon said.

“Yes, Primus.” Jolu’s concession carried a soft tinge of waiting treachery should Dolon’s position become less tenable. 

Dolon was unphased by the watery threat and turned to the cowering Borso.

“See that she is accommodated securely and apply a second Purification once the required time have passed,” he said, before turning and striding out of the tent.

Borso did not however leap to comply with Dolon’s command. Instead he looked to Jolu for confirmation first.

“She should be secured,” Jolu agreed, also without consulting Nix’s opinion on the matter, and also leaving the tent so that Nix was Borso’s problem alone.

“Are you okay to walk a little ways?” Borso asked. “The tabletop can detach as a grav bed if not.”

“Does Covo juice usually render people incapable of basic movement?” Nix asked.

“No, not at all,” Borso said. “The first draught can have a range of effects though, depending on the subject. Umm, what you experienced in the first Purification, well, it will be much less intense in the second one. That’s, uh, that’s why we drink it regularly.”

“You are not drinking that again, less intense reaction or no,” Goldie said, though only Nix could hear her.

“I’m curious about the secure accommodations,” Nix said. “Whose benefit is that for? Mine or Tovos?”

“They’re going to put you in a prison cell,” Goldie said, which Nix mostly ignored.

It wasn’t like she didn’t already know that.

“Some of us are more sensitive than others,” Borso said, as though that explained everything.

“In other words, Tovos is going to try to kill you,” Goldie said. “I’ll try to get a firing lock on him too.”

There wasn’t a good option for countermanding Goldie’s impulses without giving away that Nix had a sentient gunship looking out for her, and, even as foolish as she knew she was being, it was rather comforting to have a fully armed and hair trigger gunship waiting as backup.

It would also have been comforting to have a fully trained former-Sith Warrior as backup, but Ravas, sensibly, did not seem to be lingering nearby.

In fact, unless Nix missed her guess, Ravas had gone back to the market, hiding as best she could in the throng of chaotic life which meandered around it ceaselessly.

“I can walk,” Nix said, and added for Goldie sake, “I feel fine now. The Covos seems like it burns off pretty quickly.”

“It doesn’t,” Borso said. “But if you’re not corrupted you probably adapted to it quickly.”

Nix longed to press him for more information on that, but she could feel with crystal clarity how quickly Borso would shutdown on her if she pushed any further.

“Where are we going?” Nix asked, taking a step towards the tent flap which Dolon and Jolu had left by.

“Oh, no, we’re…we don’t want to be out on the streets,” Borso said, indicating that she should follow him up to the second floor instead.

The second floor landing split off into the raised area in the tent and a fully enclosed pathway leading to another building, which Borso lead them down.

The next building turned out to be a solid construction with the sort of durasteel walls which likely signaled its previous usage as an outlier fort for the city in times past.

“The secure rooms aren’t that well stocked but I can get you something if you need,” Borso said.

“How long will we need to wait before the second purification?” Nix asked.

“Typically we wait for a full day cycle but because you didn’t encounter that severe of a reaction to the first dose we can probably do yours sooner,” Borso said. “I’ll review the scan results to be sure though and let you know what they look like.”

“They’re going to keep you prisoner for a full day?” Goldie asked.

If so, Nix wasn’t entirely unhappy with the prospect when she saw the “secure accommodations” that awaited her.

They weren’t particularly luxurious, but since they seemed to have been repurposed from an officer’s quarters, they were reasonably spacious and clean. There wasn’t any natural light since the windows have been plated over, but the artificial lighting was pleasant enough. All-in-all it was a better spot to rest off the effect of the Covos than her hotel room or Goldie passenger rooms would have been.

“Thanks, and if you could bring me some food, I haven’t had lunch yet.”

Borso nodded and scampered away the moment Nix stepped into her new prison cell and closed the locked door sealing herself in.

“Great, now you’r fully trapped, aren’t you?” Goldie asked.

“Nope,” Nix said.

“Oh good, you know how to get out of there then?”

“Sure,” Nix said. “I just need to talk to my roommate first.”

Nix hadn’t heard anyone else inside the room. She couldn’t detect anyone nearby in the Force. The room was quiet in fact. Blissfully so.

With the lingering (and still painful) sensitivity the Covos juice had gifted her though, the quiet was a clear give away.

“How did you know?” a heavy set dark skinned girl in plan coveralls asked as she stepped out of the small bathing area.