Saria is mute and communicates with sign language. Since I'm learning ASL (American sign language) I will just be turning that to BSL (Basic sign language) for story purposes. That way, I can look up some signs as I go for background knowledge.

Don't worry, you don't need to know ASL for the story, signing will be written like this in quotation marks.

You'll know it when you see it.

Saria kept her head down as she journeyed down the busy streets. She didn't want to get hit by a speeder or something as ridicules as that.

She sidestepped to avoid a group of giggling children and smiled fondly as they passed by. They ran between their mother's legs as they played, earning exasperated looks from their mothers.

Saira continued walking and made it to the market where she picked up a some Blue milk to serve with the Ahrisa she was serving. She bitterly smiled as she imagined how much her mother, Rue, would've enjoyed that night's dinner.

She saw an attack shuttle fly overhead and land in a nearby space port. Saria ignored everyone's whispers about it and continued with her shopping.

She walked up to the register and held up the items she wanted. The Zabrak behind the till rung up the purchase for her.

"That'll be thirty credits," He said.

Saria nodded and put the credits in his waiting hand.

"This is only twenty-nine," He stared at her like she was stupid.

Saria winced and rummaged through her pouch to see if she had anything else. She came up empty and showed him the empty bag.

"I can't just let you take it. You need to pay," The Zabrak impatiently sighed.

"I'm only one short. I could give you extra next time?" Saria hesitantly offered.

"What?" He wrinkled his nose and stared at her hands.

Saria huffed through her nose and pulled out her datapad and typed it out. She didn't expect everyone to know BSL, but he didn't have to be so rude about it.

"How do I know you'll come back?" He scowled.

Saria didn't let her disappointment show and turned back into the market. She put the Blue milk back and left to go back home.

So much for Eric getting Blue milk like he wanted.

Saria let herself sulk as she walked home. It was only one credit! Who really cared anyway?

Saria looked up as she was about to cross a busy intersection and waited for the speeders to stop before crossing.

She noticed an armored man with his face buried in his datapad next to her.

He must've been too distracted by whatever he was reading to pay attention to the speeders, since he walked out, not noticing a stray speeder coming his way.

Saria's eyes widened and she acted fast, pushing him out of the way and throwing her body into his.

The speeder slammed into her side, sending her crashing into a nearby wall. Everyone close to them watched in horror at the incident and looked on in disbelief as the speeder flew off.

The man's goggles went flying and his datapad was knocked to the ground. He looked up in alarm from the sandy Tatooine floor.

Saria groaned in pain and clutched at her side. Why did she think that was a good idea?

"Are you alright?" The man asked once he put his goggles back on his face.

Saria nodded.

"My name is Tech. Who are you?" He asked.

Saria ignored him and handed him his now broken datapad.

"Just great," Tech muttered. "I can't repair this. It's too badly damaged."

Saria pressed her hands against her chest and winced at the sharp pain.

That wasn't good.

"Why didn't you just yell to get my attention? That would've been smarter and you wouldn't have received damage from that speeder," Tech obliviously asked.

"I'm mute. Why didn't you look up from your datapad so you didn't get hurt? You seem like the stupid one here," Saria sharply glared at him.

"Oh," Tech looked sheepish. "My apologies."

Saria was pleasantly surprised that he could understand BSL.

"You understand me?" Saria smiled.

"Yes. My squad uses hand signals based off BSL signs," Tech signed as he talked. "I taught them the battle related ones so we could communicate without our enemies understanding."

"Squad?" Saria titled her head.

"Yes. I am a clone, part of clone force 99, otherwise known as the Bad Batch. We have been assigned here to work with someone on a relief mission," Tech explained.

Saria nodded and rocked back on her feet, noticing it hurt to take deep breaths.

"I don't think I caught your name," Tech observed.

"I'm Saria," Saria signed.

"Nice to meet you Saria. Thank you for saving me. I should have been looking where I was going." Colour rose to Tech's cheeks.

"Yes you should have," Saria nodded.

"Would you like to meet for a caf one time? I'd like to get to know you some more," Tech asked. "It would be purely platonic!"

Saria winced. As much as she wanted to, she didn't think her boyfriend would approve. Eric didn't like clones.

"As great as that sounds, my boyfriend wouldn't like me to do that," Saria sighed.

"You're not allowed to socialize out with people?" Tech frowned.

"Well-" Saria began, but stopped when she realized her chest's pain was going up. "Excuse me. I need to get home."

"Oh," Tech's disappointment was visible, making Saria feel guilty. "It was nice meeting you then."

"I hope to see you again," Saria waved goodbye before continuing home, worrying about the growing pain in her chest.

When she made it to her home, she went to the bathroom and took off her shirt, cringing when she saw the purple bruises littering her torso. Saria pulled out some bacta from the cabinet and was about to use it when she heard the door open again.

Her heartbeat quickened, and she put her top back on, hoping she'd get time to treat herself later. Saria went to the kitchen to greet her boyfriend.

"Hey baby," Eric grinned when he saw her, revealing his yellow teeth. "Where's my dinner?"

"I just got back from the market," Saria hurriedly signed.

"You know I can't understand your hand language," Eric pouted. "Where's your datapad?"

Saria wilted, remembering that crucial detail. She had gotten used to conversing with Tech, and forgot Eric didn't learn BSL.

She pulled her datapad out from her pouch and typed out what she wanted to say.

"Alright then. I'll play my hologames until it's ready," Eric announced. "Yell when it's ready."

Saria's eye brimmed with tears at his inconsideration.

Eric laughed to himself as he remembered Saria couldn't do that. "Then just tap my shoulder or something."

Eric pushed past her to go play his games, and Saria got to work in the kitchen, preparing some Ahrisa for them to eat. She tapped his shoulder when it was done, got yelled at for interrupting his game, then sat down at the table to wait for him.

Saria waited for about fifteen minutes until Eric finally plopped down at the table and frowned when he realized it had gone cold.

"Heat it up for me won't you baby?" Eric pleaded.

Saria reluctantly got up, heated his food again, and was about to do the same to hers when Eric spoke up again.

"Sit and eat. I wanna talk with you," Eric said with an open mouth.

Saria sighed and sat across from him, and began eating her cold dinner.

"So I was thinkin' about how you make a lot of money from your little job. I'm gonna quit my job and you can support us," Eric said. "That way I'll have more time to game with my friends."

Saria looked at him in disbelief. There's no way he was just going to sit around all day while she worked right?

"But of course you need to be home in time to make my dinner. And you'll pack me a lunch before you leave. Speaking of dinner, where's my Blue milk?" Eric questioned.

Saria typed on her datapad before passing it back to him.

"You didn't have enough credits with you? You should've walked back to the house and walked back to the market to get my Blue milk. You're really not that thoughtful baby," Eric shook his head.

Saria's hands shook as she typed something else out, her anger getting the best of her.

"No I don't think so," Eric sneered once he read it. "You don't deserve better than me. Who else would want you with your pathetic disability? Good luck trying to find anyone else."

Saria nodded sadly, wondering if this was what she deserved.

"Now let's go to bed. Joe told me about something that I want us to try in bed," Eric grinned.

Saria felt disgusted at the thought, but Eric was her boyfriend. What type of girlfriend was she if she said no to him?

She reluctantly got up without finishing her cold meal, and followed him to see what other horrors Joe had told Eric.

I know, not a lot of Tech, but patience my dears. It'll come.

Also, I really hate Eric. I didn't mean for him to be such a meanie, but it just kinda came out. I want to punch him.

-Ashla ;)