"That sounds... Petty? I guess lots of people just want as much money as they can get, though."

"It has to do with a larger economic and policy realignment happening all across the Republic right now. Solving the problem in the general case is proving intractable, so I and more Jedi in other places are solving specific instances."

"Huh... Like, if you can't get the boss to stop doing something, going to all his people and bribing them?"

"Like that but legal, shall we say. Because these are local settlements, the agreement doesn't need to consider every possible permutation of variables, only the actual relevant facts of the situation at hand."

"Yeah. And I guess if you want stuff all predictable it's better to start with a small group. Big groups destabilize easier."

"Yes. It worked quite well in this case, and I hope to hear the others were similarly successful on our return."

She nods. "Do you have any friends in the Jedi?"

"A few. Training partners, old crechemates, some people I've gotten to know over missions."

"What are they like?"

Elesse can tell some mildly amusing stories for the rest of the trip back to the city.

She seems more interested in getting to know the type of person Elesse usually likes, but she can be sidetracked pretty easily by stories of assorted shenanigans.

Most of her friends are either generally nerdish, or extremely good at a specific thing.

The city, when they get there, is decently large by Outer Rim standards. The center has buildings consistently ten to fifteen stories tall, with the height dropping off towards the outskirts. The streets have more mechanized transport than animals, and are fairly crowded. Elesse takes them to the city hall, which has a fluted glass front and little durasteel curlicues.

"Do you want to come in with me?"

She's fascinated, watching the people raptly.

"Yeah!"

"Okay. We're going to see the planetary governor and tell him about your people and what they need. He'll probably ask about getting Republic assistance with that and I'll tell him I'll look into it. He'll thank me for my time and I'll thank him for his cooperation and then we can be on our way. It'll all be a little more flowery than that, but that's the gist of it."

"Okay. Should I tell him about my people, or you?"

"He'll probably be most comfortable if I do the talking."

"Alright. I'll hang back."

Elesse nods, and in they go. The governor meets them inside, wearing a brocaded robe and a hat that resembles a flower in bloom. He takes them up to his office, paneled in dark wood with a full-length window on one side and offers tea, which Elesse accepts. There's a five-minute preparation ritual, after which the meeting unfolds largely as predicted.

Weird mixture of interesting - new people and new cultures - and boring - she's not getting to talk. Still, she stays quiet, watching Elesse carefully, trying to pick up on what she's doing to get her desired outcome.

Most of the hard work of establishing trust has already been done. She presents what she wants, and then he agrees, after clarification. In the rare instance where he doesn't immediately agree, she circles around and talks back through the issue until he winds up saying the same thing that she did of his own accord. With a few brief pleasantries at the end, they can be on their way again.

"You're good at talking to people."

"By dint of long practice."

"I think talking to people's something I'm gonna like - I like talking to you."

"Thank you. But you shouldn't be too quick to generalize from a sample size of one."

"So I'll just have to talk to lots of people then."