Ask Yavin IV Light Reading Makes the Heart Go Yonder

[Rainea Duannis]

Yavin IV Library, Dawn​

Rainea flipped the page over, eyes scanning the walls of text that betrayed a mystery greater than their contents could hold. While the library on Ossus was the largest and most comprehensive collection of writings and texts, traveling there was somewhat...difficult, right now. At the moment, Yavin IV would need to do, thankfully it had the books she needed, so she was settled in for a long day, apple slices and juice sitting on the table next to her as she read. Why the Arkanians would hide such a strange puzzle throughout all these books was beyond her, why not just hide the full riddle instead of breaking it up? She supposed that could be considered a test of commitment, still, it was annoying.

She sighed a little, taking an apple slice and biting into it with a loud crunch that echoed throughout the quiet room before taking a sip of water, a satisfied sigh signaling her satiation as she turned the page again, absent-mindedly reading away...

 

[Elidan]

It was a day like any other for Elidan. The half-Sephi had gone for all his classes and now he had some free time. As always, while the other Padawans preferred to stay outside, the boy was going to spend this time at the Library.

However, this time he wasn’t going there to read something to distract himself. He had decided to read some holobooks that could help him to study for the Math & Sciences classes. While he was a good student in the Biology class, the half-Sephi had difficulty with Math and Physics. Anything with numbers was enough to make him nearly go crazy.

He could have asked Zana to help him, but he doesn’t want to bother her during their free time. Even with him starting to make more friends, Elidan still liked to do some things alone, with studying being one of them. He could do it outside, but he wanted a calm and silent place to do it. Due to his half-Sephi hearing, the boy always had problems concentrating when people were talking around him. He could hear even the lowest of the sounds as if someone was talking directly to him.

When he arrived at the Library, Elidan walked toward the section where the holobooks about Math would be. As he expected, the place was empty, except for the Librarian. Few Knights would be there during this time of the day and most of the Padawans would never come here during their free time. It was perfect for him to study.

While he moved through the shelves, Elidan noticed that there was another person at the Library. The woman was eating pieces of apple while reading a book. The half-Sephi was surprised with it. Books made of paper were so rare. He wondered what it could be about.

If the Jedi Knight turned toward his direction, she would be able to notice the Padawan staring at her book. Elidan was curious to know what it was about, even having forgotten about why he had come to the Library.

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[Rainea Duannis]

As she started to relax more into the book, Rainea found herself leaning back against the soft cushioned chair, her peripheral vision shifting upwards just enough to catch a little movement over the top of the book. Instantly her eyes flicked upward, focusing on the person standing by the shelves, making no attempt whatsoever to hide the fact that they were watching her. Who was that, and why were they watching her? She let the book slump down toward her, showing her full face as she locked eyes with the person.

"Are you ok?" She asked slowly, looking a little confused. She didn't really know how to react to someone staring, normally that was considered rude but she didn't really care unless she was on a mission (because, you know, potential danger) or they were being overtly creepy about it. He was neither, just...curious? Maybe, she didn't know, she just knew it was appropriate to ask after them, after all, they could need help and if they did, she might be able to help.

 

[Elidan]

When he heard the voice of the Jedi, Elidan finally noticed that he had been staring at her. His face became red with shame, while the point of his ears twitched. She probably was thinking that he was a creeper. He shouldn’t have stared at her, it was something very impolite for him to do.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have stared, but I was curious. It's so rare to see people using books rather than holobooks." he signed at the woman. It would be obvious to the Jedi that he was nervous, with his hands being a bit shaken.

Elidan was so nervous that he was using the sign language to communicate with her. Usually, the half-Sephi would use his Datapad to talk with someone that he met for the first time. However, his nervousness and shame made him forget it completely.

One of Elidan's greatest problems was that he was too curious for his own good. He needed to learn how to control this part of him. "I'm really sorry." he signed again, before moving to the math section. The half-Sephi should go study, it would be the best thing that he could do to recover from his shame.

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[Rainea Duannis]

Rainea barely made out more than a few words from the shaking hands rapidly signing all over the place. It wasn't that she didn't know the language, she had a working knowledge, but his hands were shaking so hard they could warm Hoth and moving at lightspeed. She saw sorry, curious, stared, and book but not much else, though it was easy to make an educated guess about the rest. Then just like that, he scurried off like a frightened Loth-cat, not another word.

Rainea was a little taken aback by the brief encounter, but something tugged at her heart as she leaned to her right and looked at him shuffling off into a dark corner. She felt a little bad that she made him so nervous, and at the risk of being insensitive, he was actually kind of adorable the way he got so flustered, like a cartoon. It reminded her of a holo-comic she read a while back about a girl who only ever communicated with an old pad. She was cute, he was cute...she felt like she should probably go say sorry, or put him at ease at least.

She put the book under her arm and walked slowly over to the maths section, spotting the young one fairly quickly due to being the only one there. Tapping on his shoulder, she waited for him to turn before gesturing toward her seat and beginning to slowly and awkwardly sign.
Hello, nice to meet you, sorry about cheese, I didn't mean to cake apple waffle.

Her sign language was far from flawless.

 

[Elidan]

Still with his face red with shame, Elidan walked to the math section. While he looked through the shelves, the half-Sephi would try to focus on which holobook he should pick. However, his mind would return to what happened. What he did was so stupid! The Jedi probably thought that he was some weirdo that lurks in the shadows watching the others.

Elidan was so focused on thinking about what happened that he didn’t notice that the Jedi had approached him. When she tapped on his shoulder, the half-Sephi jumped a bit scared and turned to face who did it. When he noticed that it was her, the boy’s face became even more red, while the point of his ears twitched. Was she there to reprimand him? Maybe she didn’t understand what he meant with his sign language and thought that he was mocking her.

When he saw her trying to communicate with him through sign language, Elidan tilted his head in, his shame being replaced by confusion. He had understood the words that she used, but together they didn’t make any sense. Since he thought that the Jedi in front of him was still learning how to use it, the half-Sephi pulled his Datapad from the bag that he was carrying and typed a message on it. After he finished, the Padawan showed it to her. “My name is Elidan, it’s nice to meet you. I can hear.” then he typed another one. “Sorry for staring. I was curious because it’s so rare to see someone reading a book rather than a holobook.”

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[Rainea Duannis]

Rainea flinched and almost jumped back herself when she tapped his shoulder, not expecting him to be so jumpy. She couldn't help but smile a bit, chuckling a little in embarrassment. That definitely didn't lend itself well to a first impression, nice job Duannis. To be fair though, neither of them seemed to be socially adept if the last minute or two was anything to go by, so maybe she could relax a little around him...maybe.

Taking the pad and reading it over, she inwardly felt a small weight lift off her shoulders; remembering distant lessons was never an easy thing so she was just glad he understood her, as well as the fact he could hear just fine. Interesting about the book though, Rainea glanced down at it and took out from under her arm, holding it up.
"Oh, um, it's an oldie, yeah. It's a historical text about Arkanian Dragons, nothing really important, just a fun thing to read don'tworryboutit..." She trailed off a little, putting hands behind her back. It was starting to get awkward again, she needed to stop a moment and remember her training.

Taking a deep breath and scrunching her shoulders up against her jaw, Rainea let all the tension build and gather until she felt satisfied, exhaling heavily before letting her shoulders fall back down, the slight stress and worry sloughing off her body momentarily. She brought her hands back up again and held the book out.
"I like old books, they just feel more, um...they feel...ah yes, they feel more natural in my hands than a holobook, you can feel the pages, the old paper brushing over your skin. A holobook feels more disconnected, sterile, like just a block of metal, if that makes sense, I'm sorry if I'm not, talking to people is a bit difficult." She held out a hand for the boy to shake, scrunching her lips into an ever so slight smile. "Elidan, ok, nice to meet you, um, again. Rainea Duannis."

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[Elidan]

While the Jedi read the message on his Datapad, the half-Sephi felt apprehensive. He thought that she would be mad at him because he was curious with what she was doing. It wasn’t something that a polite person would do. The Padawan thought that he probably looked like a gossip from the holomovies. Always lurking after the others, wanting to discover their secrets. He really needed to stop being so curious.

After she finished reading the message, Elidan noticed that she didn’t seem mad. When the Jedi started to talk about the book that she was reading, the half-Sephi felt relieved. He didn't want to have another person thinking that he was weird. It was already enough that some other Padawans thought that he was a weirdo, the last thing that he wanted was to have the Knights thinking about him this way too.

While she talked, the Padawan could see that she seemed a bit nervous. Maybe she was shy, like him. After she said that her name was Rainea Duannis, Elidan smiled at her. It was obvious that she wasn’t mad with him and the boy calmed down.

"I understand. I like books made of paper, too. I have some of these in my room that I received as gifts. I like their smell and the feeling of paper on my fingers. Holobooks are good too, but they are more fragile and you can't bring them to some places." he explained to Rainea.

When she mentioned the Arkanian dragons, Elidan's curiosity returned. He was still interested in reading about Biology, so her mention of this creature was enough for him to forget about his nervousness. "I read about Arkanian dragons in a holobook some time ago. It said that they became extinct."

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[Rainea Duannis]

Alright, there seemed to be a flow going on now, that made things significantly easier to handle. Rainea liked to equate talking to learning how to swim, though repeatedly thinking on it, perhaps this could be applied to anything. Dip your toes in and start with the familiar, latch on to something you're familiar with, and hold on until you feel ready to swim out with a little, then more and more until you can freely wander.
"Funnily enough, that's part of the reason why I have an entire section of my room lined with books on shelves, the few people I talk to know I like old books so they bring them back as gifts for me as well." She said, a small smile forming on her lips. "I also really like the designs, I mean people used to treat books like works of art, the passion and care they put into the old leather-bound volumes or patterned weaves, mwah." She put her hand to her mouth, giving a chef's kiss thinking of the books in her room.

On the topic of the Arkhanian Dragons, Rainea bit her bottom lip a little, thinking. Should she explain what she was looking for? He might not even understand, or he might tell someone else and they would go looking...but would that not be a good thing? They're Jedi, they help people, why would she worry about- she was overthinking this. "They did, yeah. You used to hear rumors about people who restored them to life and seedy merchants that would peddle eggs that turned out to be paper maché or painted plasteel...Elidan, I apologize if this seems a bit untoward but...how do you feel about puzzles?"

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

While Rainea talked about books, Elidan could notice that she really liked them. There was passion and excitement in her voice. It was like how he acted when talking about something that he liked. The half-Sephi could stay in a conversation for hours without getting tired, like how it happened when he met Haldir in the Library some time ago. He couldn’t avoid smiling when the Knight made the chef’s kiss.

“Yes, some books are really works of art. I read that there were some ancient tomes that had several paintings, all of them made by hand.” he would love to have the opportunity to read one. Elidan also saw some pictures of it, the paintings were so beautiful. However, nowadays most of these were only found in private collections.

The she started to talk about the Arkanian dragons. That was true, he had heard several rumors about these creatures. Some would even say that they were still alive. However, for the scientific community of the Galaxy, these animals were considered extinct. Knowing that these majestic creatures disappeared forever made him sad.

Her question made him confused. What puzzles had to do with Arkanian dragons? “Well, I never thought about it, but I think that I like them.” Elidan had no idea why Rainea was asking him that. When he was a youngling, he used to play with it. Perhaps she wanted his help to solve one?

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