Just more snippets for your enjoyment... I plan to update two chapters at a time with this one. :) Let me know what you guys think of Jocasta! She's fast becoming a favorite of mine to write.
"Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one." Neil Gaiman
He is old and worn and wrinkly, and she is young and fresh and smooth-skinned. She is pale and he is… well, he's green. It is with great honor and no small amount of trepidation that she accepts his offer, the Council's offer. She accepts it with a padawan's bow (even though she is a knight now) and a title held by only one member in the entire Order: Chief Librarian.
It is a daunting task, but she is uniquely suited for it. The years ahead would prove that.
But right now she is new to this position, so she explores. No corner of the Archives is left untouched. The brightest corners she peruses with glee, and the darkest corners she surveys with caution (and a great deal of respect). Within weeks she has catalogued it all to memory.
When Master Yoda checks up with her two months later, she welcomes him to her domain with a soft smile.
The Grandmaster stops before her desk and looks up at her with an answering smile and a question in his eyes. "Comfortable, you are?"
"Very," she replies. Then she tilts her head, studying him the way she's studied the countless worlds nesting on her shelves. "If I may, master… are you?"
***oo***
He's not and he never has been, but she has never been able to get a straight answer out of him. She is not about to waste time trying now. Not when everything is breaking down around them and his world is hanging on by a semblance of a thread. Yoda looks older than he's ever looked and when she glances at her own hands splayed on her desk, she can't help but frown at the wrinkles and age spots that have seemingly come out of nowhere (they've been there for years now).
"To the Senate, I must go," he murmurs.
Six words, but he means so much more. It hurts her that they've never been able to have the talk, the one where she tells him what she's found and he asks the questions that she's only ever seen in his eyes and never heard from his lips. It is a conversation that will never happen, because this is him saying goodbye. Jocasta can feel it. So she comes out from behind her desk (something she doesn't do very often and only when it's important), and walks slowly over to him until she is only feet away. "Thank you for trusting me with this place," she murmurs, making sure to look directly into his ancient, grass-green eyes.
Yoda smiles back, and it's the first time he doesn't hide anything. His emotions are open to her: sorrow, joy, weariness, determination.
Fear.
And love. It's there too. "Hmmm… a good friend, you are, young Master Nu," he says, cackling a little. His ears are waggling a bit and he doesn't seem so hunched over.
Jocasta laughs a little and shakes her head. "Youth is relative, Master Yoda. I think that maybe I've grown older than you at this point, hm?" She quirks a brow, daring to tease this long-lived sage.
But the heaviness surrounding them only grows heavier and the mirth in both of their gazes is depressingly short-lived. Even the lights in her glorious sanctuary seem to lose some of their brightness. "Miss you, I will." Then he turns and shuffles towards the tall double doors that act as both entrance and exit.
She sighs, feeling the weariness settle deep into her bones as a chill snakes up her spine. "Goodbye, master."