Seated around a table in the bright sunlight, the ragtag group comprised of Alisaah, Meela, Teela the T7 astromech and Kayto the KX Series security droid found themselves in Bespin's Cloud City, a mining colony located within the planet's Life Zone, enabling the lifeforms that lived and visited the colony to breathe freely without the need for airlocks or life support systems. Whilst the primary function of the city was to enable the mining of Tibanna gas, the floating metropolis was also set up for tourism and the crew of the Matriarch's Revenge were currently situated in one of the resorts in the upper levels of the city.
The four of them had not planned on being there at all. In fact, the only reason they found themselves in one of the resorts was not because they were taking a holiday or because they had the money to be there, but Meela had managed to bargain her way in by convincing some of the door staff that the more attractive women they let in to the casinos, the more likely they would be to attract and retain customers. The Twi'lek really had no intention of taking Ali and their droid companions gambling, so once inside the group wandered off and found somewhere they could sit and take a load off.
Meela had been the one orchestrating their activities today for various reasons. The first and most pressing of which was that Aska was absent. Following their adventures on Coruscant, the clone had agreed to accompany her acquaintances, Poffo and Klied, on an expedition to Mataou. She had not explained the reason why she was going, but had taken the crew to Bespin and dropped them off at the Cloud City before heading there with the two hunters. Bespin and Mataou were in the same sector, so the conclusion Meela had come to was that Aska would simply attend to her business and come back to pick them up when she was done. Alisaah did not view things in the same way.
Unlike Meela who had been freed from her life of slavery, the Togruta still remained indentured to Aska and she was uneasy about being left in an unfamiliar place whilst her mistress left in the Matriarch's Revenge without her. The freighter had essentially become their home after Aska, Ali and Kayto had fled Nar Shaddaa on Boonta Eve. All the slave's former masters had always kept Ali and other slaves in some form of headquarters which meant that they would usually return there eventually if her masters did venture out. This time things were different and not only because Aska had left with the only place the slave could call home anymore.
After seeing the vision of her mistress laying dead on a jungle planet after touching the Sith holocron in Aska's possession, Ali had been suffering from a heightened sense of anxiety. She had not wanted to be parted from the clone because she felt she owed it to Aska to try and protect her from whatever might try to harm her. The irony of a slave dancer trying to protect a highly skilled mercenary was not lost on Ali, but based on what the holocron had shown her and the pain she experienced it was not something she could shrug off or ignore, particularly when Aska had done so much for her in their time together. Not knowing why her mistress had left and feeling helpless had caused Ali's mood to deteriorate rapidly after Aska had left for Mataou and an increasing fear of abandonment was starting to creep in.
The second reason Meela had been making decisions was because she was the only free person among the party that was not a droid. Though she was not Alisaah's owner, the Twi'lek was in effect the Togruta's parental figure from her childhood and whilst the slave was no longer a child, Meela had noticed the change in Ali's mood and decided to take her to the resort levels in an attempt to cheer her up. The two organic members of the party sat at the table, taking in the sunshine, Meela leaning back in her chair looking very much at ease with life in that moment and a stark contrast to Alisaah, who was more tense and had her arms folded. Teela was stationed next to Ali. The astromech had seemingly grown attached to her ever since she had discovered the droid in a crate in what was now the quarters Ali and Meela shared aboard the Matriarch's Revenge. Kayto meanwhile was standing in a more shaded space, determined to keep his operating temperature consistent.