Marco awoke as the rising Mewni sun snuck its way into his bedroom window. He groaned, not yet ready to be awake, and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head to block out the light.
Wait a second...
He was alone. He pushed the covers back to confirm and found that, yes, he was the only one in the huge guest bed.
I could have sworn...
The thought was interrupted by a metallic rattle overhead. When he turned his gaze toward the ceiling, he found the last thing he was expecting to see: Star's face looking back at him from inside the air vent.
"Morning, Marco!" she whispered loudly.
"Star?! Wha-? How'd-? What are you doing in the air vent?!"
Her tongue poked out of her mouth, biting it as she giggled. "You know, just sneakin' around."
"How'd you even get up there?"
The vent opened and Star gracefully hopped out, sticking the landing just beside the bed. She was dressed in her now-familiar sky-blue dress, but it appeared as if brand new, completely restored by the Knight of the Wash. "I used to do this all the time when I was little. That's how they figured out I had Force abilities, because I could jump up into the air vents. Figured out how to do that all by myself." She rubbed her sore elbows. "It's a lot tighter than I remember it being, though."
Marco giggled. "You've probably grown three feet since then."
"Yeah...but I still fit! I snuck back up to my room after you fell asleep last night. I didn't want anyone finding us together and thinking...things."
"...Except you're in here now," Marco reminded her, swinging his legs out of the bed.
"Yeah, but now the sun's up. It's not inappropriate anymore." She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. "Unless we...make it inappropriate."
Marco laughed as he held up both hands defensively. "Let me stop you right there."
Star laughed, too, and sweetly kissed her best friend good morning. "C'mon, Marco, let's go get some breakfast!"
There was much less conversation at breakfast than there had been at dinner the night before, monopolized by Queen Moon while the others ate quietly. Marco marveled at how the meal again consisted of quite a bit of corn, and yet he wasn't getting tired of it at all. Mewni corn was just that good.
Especially this corn bread, he thought to himself as he buttered a fifth slice. As he guided the sweet confection into his mouth, he noticed PY-HD on the opposite side of the table. Despite the fact that the droid could not physically emote and was currently silent, Marco could tell that the little astromech was extremely bored.
In the seat across from Marco, Tom happened a glance at River. He was thinking that the King also looked extremely unenthused listening to his wife ramble on to Star about Mewni's various political occurrences and trade negotiations. Star, too, seemed to be trying very hard to appear interested and not like she was about to die of boredom.
Queen Moon paused in her conversation to take a bite of her breakfast. There seemed to be a lull. Tom desperately glanced around the table, trying to make eye contact with Star or Marco, but to his surprise found himself locking eyes with King River.
During a span of about five seconds, an entire silent conversation took place between the King and the Demonicite smuggler.
Tom's eyes flickered back and forth from River to Moon. River briefly widened his eyes and shifted his head backwards slightly to shrug without moving his shoulders. Tom raised his eyebrows and titled his head slightly downward.
River looked at his wife. Moon had been taking a sip of her tea and was lowering the cup from her mouth, her lips already poised to speak again. He would have to act quickly and think of something.
"Grr- Ahhh uh, Tom! Janna! You two are heading off to Corellia! What's your plan for finding the parts you need for your ship?"
Tom dropped his fork on his plate and it clattered loudly. "That's a good question, King River!" he replied a little bit too enthusiastically, thankful to not have to listen to Moon go on about the tax on imported buckwheat. "I'm not really sure because Janna hasn't filled me in yet." He looked at his smuggling partner beside him. "Janna! What is our plan once we reach Corellia?"
Beside him, Janna did not look away from her breakfast plate. She wasn't quite sure what, but a feeling she had never experienced before was plaguing her internally. Perhaps she was actually experiencing...what was it called? "Human emotion"? Ironically, she felt as though it may have been because Tom had called her emotionless the previous evening.
...Nah, that couldn't be it. It was probably just because they were getting ready to travel to her least favorite place in the entire galaxy.
"Well," Janna began, keeping her eyes affixed to her plate, "I have a contact on Corellia who is familiar with the various, uh, dealers there and hopefully can suggest one who will have the two hyperdrives and an engine. Unfortunately, I can't contact him until we're on the planet's surface. Hopefully he's still there and, you know, alive." She took a bite of scrambled egg. "Once we find the drives, then we just have to hope the exorbitant prices they'll surely be asking aren't more than what I have saved." She paused. "And if I can't afford them, then we'll just steal 'em," she said calmly.
Tom, Star, and Marco all simultaneously choked on their food, coughing in unison as Janna nonchalantly sipped on her tea. Moon and River simply stared.
"Did she actually just say that to your parents?" Marco whispered to Star.
"Yyyyyyyyyuuuuup. She did."
"How long do you think you'll be gone?"
Star posed the question to Tom and Janna as they stood outside the castle's main entrance, the smugglers about to leave for Skywynne Airbase and head to Corellia.
"Hopefully not long," Janna replied. "I've never been good at trying to figure out how much time will pass on one planet while I'm traveling to another planet...but, whatever. I don't think it'll be more than, like, two days, depending on how long it takes us to find the parts.
"Well, we'll miss you guys," Star said, throwing her arms around both of them and hugging them tightly. Then she bent down and gave PY-HD a hug, too. "Be careful, you guys!"
"We will," Tom promised.
"And may the Force be with you," Marco added.
"Thanks, you guys," Janna said. "See you soon!"
PY-HD whistled a farewell and Star and Marco watched the smugglers and their droid head down the concourse from the castle and climb into a waiting speeder that would take them to Skywynne Airbase.
"I hope they don't run into any trouble on Corellia," Star said as the speeder pulled away. "Maybe one of us should have gone with them."
Marco set a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They'll be fine. If I've learned anything in the past few weeks it's that Janna is more than capable of taking care of herself, and I'm pretty sure she can take care of Tom, too, if he can't handle himself just as well."
Star sighed. "Yeah. You're right."
"Besides..." Marco smiled slyly, making her think he was about to say something mischievous. "You've gotta take me to get a real replacement leg."
She laughed. "Yes, that is something I must do! Post haste!"
Marco raised an eyebrow. "'Post haste'?"
Star shrugged. "I don't know, it's something I heard a senator say to Aunt Eclipsa once." She took his hand and led him down the castle's concourse. "C'mon! Let's go!"
Tom and Janna pulled PY-HD off of the speeder in front of Skywynne Airbase's main building where they had been told by their driver to disembark.
"The General is waiting for you inside," the driver said before hastily pulling away as if he were late for a dinner date with a Twi'lek dancer.
Tom looked questioningly at Janna, and she returned only a shrug. "Guess we'll just walk right in, then," he said.
"Yeah, I'm sure they won't mind a couple of teenagers and an unfamiliar droid just waltzing in the front door of their military installation," Janna said sarcastically. PY-HD bleeped an equally sarcastic agreement. "I'm sure this won't raise any red flags at all."
"Well, Buff Frog is expecting us. He probably told them we were coming."
They followed the path up to the door and Tom tried the activation panel, but it did not open. "Oh, great." He pointed to the panel. "You need a key card to get in."
PY-HD roughly pushed Tom out of the way and plugged into the terminal below the panel.
"Don't you worry your pretty little horns, Lucy. Pony Head will get us in."
"Um, hello? Military installation? Are you sure slicing our way in is such a good-"
Tom was cut off as an alarm siren began to blare.
"...idea."
The door slid open and the pair of smugglers found two hulking Mewman soldiers pointing blasters at them. They quickly raised their hands in surrender as PY-HD disconnected from the computer terminal and tried to make itself scarce behind them.
"Just what do you two think you're doing?" asked one gruffly.
"We're just, uh, here to see General- Janna, I can't remember his real name."
"General Bulgolyubov," Janna said quickly. "He's expecting us."
"Ha! Yeah, a likely story," said the other. "Get some binders and take 'em to the hole for questioning!"
The two soldiers stepped toward Tom and Janna, who carefully walked backwards away.
Tom nervously clenched his teeth. "Uh, you know what? That's okay. I think we'll just leave instead."
"Set to stun," the first soldier commanded with annoyance. Both prepared to fire.
"What is going on here?" boomed an annoyed voice from inside the building. A moment later, Buff Frog appeared behind the pair of soldiers, his arms folded and looking rather cross.
"Buff Frog!" Tom and Janna yelled happily.
"General!" the pair of soldiers cried in surprise. The alarm siren ceased its warning.
"Purple Boy and Pilot Girl! I apologize for security here. They will be standing down now." Buff Frog's last three words were directed at the soldiers, who begrudgingly lowered their weapons. Then he motioned for Tom and Janna to follow him, flashing them a friendly smile. "Please, come in! I will take you to ship now!"
The guards slowly moved aside to allow the two teenagers and their astromech passage, and Janna stuck out her tongue at them mockingly when she was sure they weren't looking.
"I am sorry about guards," Buff Frog said. "Everyone a bit on-edge after visit from Imperials. They jump at sight of little Mewni-sparrow."
Tom frowned, somewhat confused. "Why? I know the Chancellor turned out to be a Sith Lord and he ordered all the Jedi killed, but...is the Empire itself really that bad?"
Buff Frog turned serious as he led them through the corridors. "Oh, yes. Is very bad. Galactic Empire does not operate at all like Republic. Palpatine is like completely different person now. He is completely overhauling entire Republic Army for Empire, having all new ships and weapons built. When Empire came to question King and Queen, the ship they arrived on was very big. They call it a 'Star Destroyer.' Look kind of like Republic Cruiser, but bigger. And...pointier." Buff Frog lowered his voice as they passed some workers assembling some various piece of equipment. "Some planets have even had hostile takeovers by Imperial troops."
"What?" Janna was surprised. "Why?"
"From what I have heard, when Empire take over, is because Empire want something that planet has." He stopped walking and crouched down lower to Tom and Janna's height, talking barely above a whisper. "There is rumor that Empire has big, secret project of some kind. I think they are taking over planets that have resource they need for whatever project is."
Tom and Janna exchanged a nervous glance as they resumed their journey through the main building at Skywynne Airbase. Eventually, they followed Buff Frog through another doorway and found themselves on the landing pad where they had left the Raventalon, which was still sitting at an odd angle thanks to the blown landing shock. There were, however, several people around the front port landing skid, with tool kits and spare parts scattered about nearby.
"I am having some of our spacecraft technicians repair your blown-out landing shock," Buff Frog said, pointing to the YV-560. "Is least I could do to repay you for saving Princess Star."
"Wow! Thank you very much, Buff Frog!" Tom said appreciatively.
"Yeah, thanks so much," Janna agreed. "That's really awesome of you!"
"Think nothing of it! Now, the ship I have prepared for you is right over there." He pointed over to the left, drawing the smugglers' attention to a Hoar Chall Engineering-built Sheathipede-class Type-B shuttle.
"Isn't that a Separatist cargo ship from the Clone War?" Janna asked less than enthusiastically as they walked toward it.
"It is. Just picked it up. Hoar Chall was very eager to liquidate every piece of CIS-ordered equipment they still had after Clone War end. Got it for real steal!"
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Isn't a Separatist cargo ship a little bit...you know...less than inconspicuous?"
Buff Frog waved off his comment dismissively. "Of course not! We painted it red!"
They stopped in front of the ship, and indeed the separatist's grey-and-dark blue livery had been covered by a fresh coat of hull enamel deep red paint. Janna put a hand on her chin as she sized up the small cargo ship. "Hmm...yeah, I guess that does help." And PY-HD twittered in agreement.
"She is all yours whenever you are ready to leave," Buff Frog said. "There is data card on control panel with clearance code for your return."
Both smugglers turned to face the big frog man. "This is really great of you, Buff Frog," Tom said. "We can't thank you enough."
General Bulgolyubov bowed. "I am happy to be of help."
Janna and Tom looked at each other. "Well, is there any reason not to head off right now?" Tom asked.
"Nope. Sooner we get moving, sooner we get back."
"Agreed."
They both turned back to Buff Frog. "See you in however much time passes before we return," Janna said.
"Take care, you two!" And with a salute, Buff Frog headed back toward the main building.
The smugglers circled around to the ship's stern and started up the boarding ramp. Halfway up, PY-HD began bleeping loudly.
"What's wrong, Pony?" Janna asked.
The droid indicated in the direction of the main building. King River was bounding across the landing pad, carrying something under his arm. "Wait! Janna! Tom! Don't leave yet!" The stout Mewman hurried up the ramp and met the pair in the middle. "I have something for you!" He untucked the item he was carrying from beneath his arm and presented it to them. It was a thin case, which he proceeded to open. Inside were rows of gold-colored credit chips, the highest denomination.
Tom and Janna's eyes lit up. "Whoa!"
"King River, what...what is this for?" Tom asked.
"I'd like to pay for your replacement hyperdrives and sublight engine. Consider it thanks for...you know...saving my daughter from certain death." He sounded slightly choked up, but he cleared his throat and straightened his posture, regaining his composure. "So! There should be more than enough in there to purchase the best condition parts you can find, and whatever is leftover, you may keep to use for whatever you wish."
Captain Ordonia was dumbstruck, something that did not happen often with her...or ever. "Wow, this...this is incredibly generous, your majesty."
"I almost don't feel right accepting it," Tom put in.
Janna slowly slid the case from between River's hands. "Almost."
The King laughed heartily. "It's my pleasure. Now, better be off with you! Corellia is a long way away!"
"Everyone here must really, really love Star," Tom said as they prepared for takeoff. "I mean, her parents I get, but the general of the whole Mewni military, too?"
"Almost makes me feel spoiled," Janna replied, her eyes darting back and forth across the control panel. "Where the heck is the thermal dampener control on this thing?"
Tom squinted his three eyes at her. "Janna, just curious, have you ever flown a starship that isn't the Raventalon?"
"Nope. This will be the first time I've ever-" She abruptly fell silent for a moment. "...first time I've ever flown something else, actually. But, hey, you've flown one ship, you've flown 'em all, right? Aside from the locations of the controls."
"Uh..." Tom had flown some other ships in his younger days back before he'd met Janna, and he did not at all agree. But he knew the verbal berating he'd receive if he tried to voice his concerns, so he chose to keep his mouth shut and let her find out for herself. "Yup."
"Oh, there's the dampener control! Okay Lucy, everything ready?"
Tom looked at his console readout. "I think so? I'm not completely sure what some of these things are, but they're all lit up green, so..."
Behind them, PY-HD was plugged into the computer terminal. The astromech relayed that all systems were ready.
"Good enough for me! Here we go!" Janna brought the control stick up just as she would on the Raventalon and the engines screamed as ship shot up off of the landing pad. "Whoa!" Janna tried to ease up and accidentally sent the ship plummeting back toward the land pad. Seeing the ground rushing up to meet them caused her to jerk the stick back up in panic and the ship shot up again. Everyone on the ground ran for cover, not knowing if the ship was going to stay in the air or not.
Some of the lights on Tom's console turned red. "Janna, you're putting a lot of stress on the engines."
Janna let go of the stick and allowed it to neutral out. The ship slowed to a hover a hundred or so meters in the air and the lights slowly returned to green. "Okay," she said with a heavy exhale. "That was a little bit...touchier...than I was expecting."
Tom smirked teasingly as he searched for the landing gear control. "I thought that if you've flown one ship you've flown 'em all." Some bleeps that sounded like laughter came from PY-HD.
Janna glared but have no reply. "Okay, let's try that again. Pony, can you switch me over to thruster control please?" She placed her hands back on the control yoke and carefully advanced the ship forward, aiming spaceward. She kept the throttle to a moderate low pace as she got a feel for the controls. When they'd cleared Mewni's atmosphere, Janna relaxed her tight grip on the control stick. "I think I'm getting a feel for it now. Alright, Pony, plot us a course for Corellia."
The droid chittered in reply and began its work.
"So, I feel like I probably should have asked this earlier," said Tom, "I know you said you have a contact on Corellia, but what exactly is our plan once we get there?"
"Once we land, I'll try to get in touch with my old friend who I'm hoping is still there. If we're lucky, he'll be able to give us a lead on where to find the hyperdrives."
"Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just surprised...you have other friends besides me and Star and Marco?"
"Well...I haven't talked to him since the last time I was on Corellia years ago. Like I said, I don't even know if he's still there."
Tom was about to ask something else, but he was interrupted by PY-HD announcing that the navicomputer was programmed.
Janna flexed her fingers. "Sweet. Let's get going. Are we clear, Lucy?"
Tom checked his console. "We are clear to jump to lightspeed."
"Right on." Janna's hand found the hyperdrive lever. Unlike her YV-560, this ship only had one. "Here we go."
The stars stretched into streaks of light as the Type-B shuttle jumped to light speed.
Though he was confident that each step he took was solid, Marco still walked with a limp due to his metal prosthetic leg not having an ankle joint. He and Star strolled along hand-in-hand through the village, Butterfly Castle on the hill behind standing guard. The village was a bustle of activity as the inhabitants went about their daily business. Most were Mewmans, but there were a handful of other sentient species milling about among them. From what Marco could tell, Mewni's technological infrastructure was not exactly the most up-to-date. It was about on-par with a planet like Tatooine.
Unlike Tatooine, however, it was not overflowing with scum and villainy.
"This is a pretty cozy little town here," Marco said.
"Yeah, aside from the castle and Skywynne Base, Mewni is pretty quaint," Star replied. "But if I'm really thinking about it, I honestly prefer this to Coruscant." She pointed to a building just up the dirt road on which they walked. "That's where we're headed." The building was one of the largest in the village, and appeared to be a workshop of some kind. "Mewni's medical care isn't quite the best in the galaxy, so we can't get you one of those fancy prosthetics that will actually look like a real leg, but Ben is the best cybernetics builder on Mewni, and he can make you a replacement that will at least operate just as well as the original!"
They strolled up the walkway and knocked on the door, which flew open almost instantly to reveal a tiny green man with big pointy ears, a long pointy nose, and a huge mustache, wearing suspenders and a bow tie. "Well, hello there, youngin's! I'm Ben Fotino, cybernetic repair extraordinaire! What can I do ya fer?"
Star pushed Marco in front of her. "My friend Marco here needs a new leg!"
"Um, yeah," Marco said, nervously pulling up his left trouser leg to show Ben his current prosthetic. "My friend made this temporary one for me, but it doesn't have any joints and it's kinda heavy..."
Ben crouched down to check out the metal prosthetic and examine the end of Marco's existing leg. "Hmmm...this is a mighty fine bit of workmanship for a temporary replacement! But I can surely make you a cybertronical one if'n that's what ya want!" He waved for the teens to follow him inside. "C'mon in!"
"Thanks, Mr. Fotino!" Star said happily, ushering Marco in ahead of her.
"Uh, don't you mean 'Doctor Fotino'?" whispered Marco.
"I do not."
Marco froze on the spot as Fotino galavanted off through a doorway. "Wha-?! This guy isn't a doctor and you're gonna let him attach things to my body?"
Star was genuinely confused. "Marco, he's not operating on you. He's just adding some new pieces." She pushed him onward. "Now come on!"
Reluctantly shoved ahead against his will, Marco ventured into the little man's workshop. The room was large with a high ceiling, machinery lining the walls and an examination table in the center. Bits of metal stock, half-disassembled droids and boxes overflowing with miscellaneous wiring, connectors, servos, solenoids and sensors were strewn everywhere.
Ben suddenly appeared from behind a metal desk that had had its legs cut off to bring it down to his height. He wore a mask over his eyes with two small telescopic cylinders extending out from where his eyes were underneath. The ends glowed red, and the eye pieces were constantly extending, retracting, and spinning to focus. "Hop up on the table there, sonny!"
Marco glanced nervously at Star, but she just pushed him closer to the table. "Up you go!"
Marco groaned and slowly raised himself up onto the end of the examination table. Fotino hopped up on the table beside him and roughly pushed him so that he was lying down flat.
"Alright, let's have us a little look-see at that leg o' yers." He rolled up the leg of Marco's trouser leg above the knee. "Huh."
"What? What's 'huh?'?"
"Now how in the world is this here thing attached to you?"
"That's...actually a question I'd like to have the answer to myself," Marco said. "My friend who made it put it on me while I was asleep, and when I asked why she didn't wait until I woke up, she said that if I knew how it was attached, I'd be glad I was sleeping."
"Hmm...interestin'. Hang on a minute, lemme put my spectacles in x-ray mode." He fiddled with something on the side of the goggles and the glowing ends of the eye pieces shifted from red to white. "Hmmm..." The little man leaned down close to the spot where Marco's leg transitioned from skin to metal. "Ohhhhh, I see. Very clever!"
"What?" Marco asked, looking nervously at Star again.
Ben stood up and switched his goggles back to their previous setting, chuckling to himself. "Yup, you definitely don't want to know how that there leg is stuck on ya'. It's genius, though. Ain't no way that's ever coming off." He laughed again. "I reckon I can build ya somethin' that'll use that anchor point so it doesn't have to be taken out again."
"Um...cool?"
Ben pushed the goggles up on top of his head. "I can surely build yer new leg, but I gotta know, what's your budget like?"
Marco had been dreading that question. He reached his hand into his pocket, his fingers grazing the last few credit chips he had to his name, but Star spoke up before he even had a chance to pull them out.
"Budget-shmudget! Consider this a contracted assignment from the royal family. It doesn't matter what it costs, you will be very well compensated," she said, trying to make it sound as impressive as possible. "Just build Marco here the best cybernetic leg you can!"
Ben's eyes lit up. "Well, slap my sides and call me a womp rat! Been a while since I've had anyone say anything other than 'build me the cheapest thing you can.' I'll take some measurements and get right on it!"
Star folded her arms and winked at her best friend. While Marco was very grateful that finances would not be an issue, he still had some qualms about letting the strange little man attach things to his nervous system.
"That oughta rightly do it!" Ben said when he had taken all the measurements he required. "If ya'll give me yer comm frequency, I'll give ya'll a ring when your new leg is ready for installation."
"'Installation,'" Marco repeated. Fotino's word choice unnerved him slightly.
Star gave Ben her comm frequency and they bid the little man goodbye. Marco could not vacate the workshop fast enough.
They strolled back home the same way they had come, hand-in-hand, just as before. When they returned to Butterfly Castle, they found Manfred, the Head Royal Servant, waiting for them at the door as they came up the walk.
"Hey, Manfred!" Star called out.
"M'lady," Manfred began, ignoring Star's greeting, "Queen Moon has instructed me to inform you that she has had to make an unscheduled trip to a city in Mewni's south-eastern hemisphere and will not return until this evening."
"Oh. Okay." Turning to Marco, Star thought hard. "Well, it's too early for lunch. Want a tour of the whole castle?"
"Sure! Sounds like fun! As long as I don't have to climb too many stairs."
"Deal!"
So Star took Marco on a tour of the castle. She took him all the way down to the sub-basement and re-introduced him to Sir Lavabo. (Marco had met him when the Knight of the Wash had delivered his dinner suit the previous evening.) She took him into the kitchen, and toured all of the private living quarters. They briefly passed through Queen Moon's office, and all of the guest chambers. All along the way, there were portraits, tapestries and busts to stop and admire. The castle was centuries old and had only been semi-updated, still retaining a very old-fashioned look.
"Wow, Star. This place is incredible!"
"Yeah, it's pretty cool. Here, there's one last room to check out! Since I don't know how long it will be before Mr. Fotino is finished with your new leg, I bet you'll be able to kill some time in here."
"Why, what is it?"
Star smiled. "You'll see!"
They reached a set of ornately carved doors of a rich, dark wood at the end of the hall. They swung on hinges instead of sliding into the wall, with shiny bronze hardware that granted access to the room they guarded.
With a playful over-exaggerated flourish of her arm, Star pushed open the door. "Behold! The Butterfly Family Library!"
Anyone who knew Marco was aware that, for all of the years that he had lived at the Jedi Temple, there was no place he enjoyed being more than the Temple library. The massive library was considered to be the greatest collection of knowledge anywhere in the galaxy, and many long hours were spent by the young Padawan pouring over stacks of holobooks, fascinated by the history of the Jedi Order.
But even the great Jedi Library could not hold a torch to the splendor of the Butterfly Family Library.
The room had two levels, though was not exceptionally deep or wide. Sure, the Jedi Library was easily one hundred times larger, but it could not match the coziness of this room, with its dark wood paneling, hand carved shelves, and a perfect nook containing deep armchairs for relaxed reading off in the left corner.
Marco's eyes gleamed. "Wow...it's beautiful!"
Star chuckled. "I thought you'd like it." She watched as Marco clanked every-other-step on his way over to nearest bookshelf. The variety of literature crossed centuries, from modern holobooks to leather-bound tomes of physical flimsiplast pages.
Marco was enchanted. "This is the coolest library I've ever seen!"
"Yeah, if you like libraries, it's pretty cool." Star waved for Marco to follow her. "But let me show you the coolest thing in here."
In the center of the room just before the first book shelf, a raised podium held a single book. The volume was massive, almost as thick as Marco's head, and, were it standing on end on the floor, would easily come up to his waist. Various pieces of flimsiplast stuck out from between the pages, and while the cover displayed no text, it was adorned with an unidentifiable illustration that looked to Marco like a pair of diamonds inside of a numeral 8.
"This is the coolest book in the whole library!" Star proclaimed. "It's basically the entire history of civilization on Mewni, written by every single Queen...and, you know, Princess before they became Queen."
"Does that mean you've written in it, too?"
"Yup! It's been passed down from Queen to Princess for hundreds of years, so its actually mine. Officially, it was given to me on my fourteenth birthday." Star turned slightly somber. "That's actually the last time I was here. I didn't have time to write much in it before I left, and I couldn't take it with me to Coruscant, so my chapter is basically about one page."
"Am I allowed to look in it?"
"Technically you're not, but I'm a Princess and I can do what I want, and you're my best friend, so be my guest!"
"Cool!" Marco reached for the cover, but abruptly stopped as a strange sound reached his ears. "Uh, Star?"
"Yeah?"
"Is this book...?" He leaned closer to the thick cover. "...Snoring?"
"Whaaaaaaaa...?" Star listened closely, leaning down until her ear was nearly touching the cover of the book. Despite the improbability of it, the book did indeed sound like it was snoring. "I don't think it should be doing that."
She found a slight bulge between the pages midway through the book and carefully spread it with her finger tips, flipping the front half of the book open to its location.
The two Padawans' mouths hung open in surprise. There, lying sprawled out on the flimsiplast, was a little blue man with a long white beard, sawing logs as he napped.
Yup. Glossaryck is here, too.
So apparently the core 4 characters here are 17 years old. I wasn't really intending on that being the case, I was actually trying to purposefully not specify how old they are, but Star said the last time she was on Mewni was on her 14th birthday and that was three years ago, so...17. Which I personally don't think makes all that much of a difference appearance or personality-wise. It may account for Star being a little bit less silly than usual. I feel like her silliness decreased somewhat over the course of the series, anyway, and, you know, put that character in the Star Wars universe and train her as a Jedi Padawan...you're probably not going to end up withexactly the same personality, anyway.
...I said "anyway" twice.
Gonna try something that my personal favorite fanfiction author used to do with his running series that I always really enjoyed: If you leave a review on this chapter, you'll get a few paragraphs's excerpt from a random place in the next chapter. (Make sure you're logged in, I can't send you a preview if you don't have an account for me to send it to.) I will continue doing this with future chapters, as well, but I'm only mentioning it once here.
