The Quarry

The Quarry - Part 17

The first rays of dawn broke over the lake, bringing a warm breeze with it that whispered through the leaves in the treeline near where Din and Versa had slept. A few locks of Versa's hair blew across her face, tickling her nose until she rubbed her face, stretching under the blanket. Sitting up, she spotted Din, practicing the combinations she'd walked him through the night before, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Your form is looking better!" she called, and he froze, turning to watch her as she grinned at him.

"I suppose my teacher can take a lot of the credit." He deactivated the saber tucking it back into his belt and walking back towards her.

Versa was already digging through her bag for some food as he sat down next to her. "How's your side, and leg by the way?"

He pressed against both spots tentatively. "I'd say pretty much healed. I've been swapping out the bacta patches each morning. Didn't even feel the need to put them on today."

She nodded, taking another bite of the fruit she selected. "Good. So today, we hit the remaining public establishments here and then move on to the next village, yeah?"

"Yeah, that's about what I had planned. We've got a few options about which place we hit next, but we can talk through it once we finish up here. Might depend on how much daylight we have left."

She nodded, chewing thoughtfully. "Sounds like a plan."

It didn't take them long to pack up their camp and make their way back towards the center of Fellen. Versa was surprised to see how packed the market was despite the fact that the festival had concluded. She and Din wove their way through the crowd, stopping at each shop, inn, or restaurant. Versa had tried to keep her spirits up yesterday, but today, the lack of leads wore on her, and she felt her shoulders starting to droop and the tone of her voice faltering. Din was a comforting presence behind her, his hand rubbing up and down her back gently as yet another shop owner told them "no." She thanked the Rodian, sighing heavily and moving quickly towards the door to hide her frustration. She made it outside and into the alley around the corner, taking a deep breath as she looked around, scanning to see if there were any other businesses they hadn't hit yet. Don't do this. Not here. Don't you dare cry.

She felt Din next to her, his hand gently clasping around her arm. "I'm sorry, Vers. I know this is hard."

"It's alright. I'm alright."

She knew it was a lie, and she suspected he did as well, but he said nothing to confront her about it, instead letting his hand drift to her shoulder, turning her to face him. "Just because no one remembers him doesn't mean he didn't pass through here. These shop owners probably see thousands of people every year, so if he didn't stand out to them for some reason, they may just not remember him."

She nodded, staring at his chest plate, a small laugh escaping from her. "Yeah, Jon never was one to make a scene." She felt his glove slip under her chin, raising her face so that she had to look into his helmet.

"Don't give up yet, ok? We're not done yet."

"Ok." She sniffed, rubbing her hand across her eyes quickly to hide the tears that were threatening to betray her. "You're right. Where to next?"

"Pull up the map on your datapad, let's take a look."

Versa dug out the datapad in her satchel and began punching buttons to bring up the map that she'd downloaded from their ship. A faint beeping drew her attention. "Do you hear that?"

Din cocked his head for a second before recognizing the noise. He twisted to dig into one of his pouches on his belt, pulling out a small holopad and placing it on a stack of crates. The beeping was louder now, accompanied by a blinking light on the pad, which Din pressed. A blue glowing hologram of Greef Karga leapt into view. His face was taut with distress, and Versa put her datapad away, concern beginning to twist in her gut.