AN- Ok, I noticed a few mistakes in this chapter, so this is a repost. I'll try to have chap 3 done by the end of the week, but no promises.
Disclaimer- I own nothing recognizable. If any characters, etc. appear mangled, my fish must have chewed on them to counter his frequent attacks of extreme boredom.
CHAPTER TWO:
The grand Archives Room of the Jedi Temple was as vast as it was beautiful. Brightly lit shelves full of datacards and old-fashioned, paper books lined the walls of the huge chamber, while kiosks with information computers stood in the center, arranged in neat rows. At one of these kiosks, a young Jedi sat. Her spine straight, her eyes intense behind the white mask she wore, everyone who laid eyes on the young padawan knew that she was on a mission.
"Spast!" The young Jedi grunted at her computer. "Why can't I find you?" She grumbled to no one in particular. A few heads glanced over the tops of the partitions. The older Masters gave her a reprimand with their eyes, and the younger padawans looked at her with startled curiosity. Her muttered apology sent them shrugging and returning to their work. She returned to her own work, then, intent on finding what she needed, when a hand on her shoulder interrupted her concentration. She flicked her padawan braid back to its place behind her shoulder, and readjusted the white flimsiplast mask that hid half of her face. She looked up. "Yes, Tru?" she asked.
"When did you get back? I haven't seen you at the Temple in almost a year." Tru Veld, a fellow padawan, smiled. His silvery skin shone in the streaming light from the windows that lined one wall as he stretched one flexible arm around the back of his head to scratch the other shoulder.
"Umm... about an hour ago, actually," She replied, "I'm only here for a day or two before I leave with my master again."
Tru nodded. "I see. Well, in the meantime, do you want something to eat? I was just heading to the cafeteria when I saw you sitting here."
"Okay, just a second," She shut down the computer, retrieved a data chip from the analysis droid, and stood up. "Lead the way."
"What, you don't remember how to get there?" he teased.
Silverblade gave him a good-natured whack on the shoulder. "Hey, you know better than to tease me. Remember what happened last time?"
Tru shuddered. "As I recall, you were the one that started the teasing, and I was the one left listening to a lecture from Master Gallia about the perils arguing with women, especially when said woman has a tendency to distract her prey, and use a well-timed force-push to throw people over the waterfall in the Lake Room. It took me three days to get all that water out of my ears."
Silverblade simply grinned and kept walking.
Later, they were sitting at a small table in the large cafeteria, picking at a gooey, brownish-purple substance that had somehow been deemed edible. Silverblade poked lightly at it with her fork. "Does this stuff even remotely qualify as food? I didn't think the cooks were allowed to poison us."
Tru sniffed it experimentally. "I don't know, but it looks vaguely similar to the ground in a swamp I had to trudge through last week."
"Eeeeww..." Silverblade wrinkled her nose and pushed the plate away. "No way am I eating anything that looks–and smells–like something from a swamp."
Tru waved his fork in a dismissive gesture. "You're just spoiled by all that great food you get in the Senate. Most of it's probably from...whatever planet you're a representative of, I guess. I wish I knew where you're from."
She smiled. "Nice try, my friend, but you know I can't discuss my assignment with anyone who's not on the Council. Even the Chancellor doesn't know about it." She stood up and brushed of a few crumbs from the sleeve of her white unisuit she wore instead of a traditional Jedi tunic. "I should be getting back to my research. Thanks for the company, Tru."
"See you later," He said, gathering their dishes.
"Yeah, later." Silverblade walked toward the door, intent on getting back to the Archives to continue her research. A loud crash sounded behind her, causing her to stop and whirl around. What she saw was Tru on the floor, picking up the duraplast dishes that had been in his hands just moments before. He had apparently just been involved in a violent collision with another padawan. She recognized Anakin Skywalker even before he spoke.
"Are you okay, Tru?" He asked. He bent over, having grabbed a cloth from a nearby table, and tried to help Tru clean up the mess. "I didn't see you, sorry."
Tru shrugged off his offer of help, opting to clean the dishes himself. "Forget about it, Skywalker. I'm fine." Without another word, he finished picking them up and headed for the exit, leaving a slightly frustrated Anakin in his wake.
"Tru, wait!" Anakin started after him, but he was already gone.
Silverblade raised an eyebrow. She hadn't known that her two best friends knew each other. She had never seen them together, and certainly not doing anything that seemed to say that they were friends. "Anakin?" She walked toward him, picking up the wash cloth that lay forgotten on the floor. "What was that all about?"
He just shook his head. "It's a long story, 'Blade,"
"Ooooookay..." She let it drop.
He looked at her again. "When did you get back?"
She rolled her eyes. "Do have any idea how tiring it is to hear that from everyone I see around here?" she teased. "I should just walk around with a sign hanging around my neck that says 'Hello, I got back a couple hours ago, and I'll be leaving again in a couple days'" The jest did nothing to help his gloomy mood. She poked him in the shoulder. "Hey, Skywalker. Why the long face?"
"Nothing," He shook his head again, and turned to leave.
Silverblade wasn't convinced. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, but for the next two days, you know where to find me if you need to, right?" He nodded and walked away. She stared after him, longing to talk to him some more, but he needed space. After everything he had been through over the last few weeks –the rejection of a marriage proposal and the loss of his right arm not the least of them– he probably just wanted some time alone with his thoughts. She sighed deeply, and then returned to the Archives to continue what she needed to do for the safety of the galaxy. It was going to be a long "vacation".
REVIEW!