Private Not Just a Research Trip

[Kirie]

Not Just a Research Trip
With Everest Vale
​

"The purest and most irresistible aberration of the Living Force is to strip it away."

Serie an Haurientes - Tenets of Draining

Library of Xer,
Criton's Point,
Outer Rim

​

"This concludes the official library tour. The return shuttle to the main settlement will leave in one hour. You are free to wander the library atrium until boarding is announced. Please remember that the reading rooms and archives are off-limits to general visitors, and that the taking of any material from the Library is strictly prohibited."

The last syllables of the intercom announcement were still bouncing around the vast open space of the library's antechamber when Kirie ducked under the thick velvet rope. Cautiously she stepped into the first of the darkened rows of holodiscs, datacards, memory crystals and flimsiplast reference sheets. Her way lit by only a dim handheld lantern, Kirie crept through the files, scanning row labels and directional placards, searching for the ones that matched the lead she had found.

Kirie was not usually the type who went sneaking around in old libraries, but as part of her instruction in the Force, Kirie had begun research into techniques Quinn Varanin had recommended to her to potentially learn some healing and defensive abilities. She was still early in her research, and even earlier in her training, but she had been able to find references that might help her, including one referenced in a text she had read that was apparently located at this ancient library on this forgotten backwater. So, she had set out to find it.

Unlike the last time she had ventured beyond the Blackwall, Kirie had come prepared, with an official chartered diplomatic shuttle provided by the Princess, a sackful of credits, and even a security droid that she had left at the ship, but could be called with the press of a button. The privileges of the station she had inherited were more easily accessible in the Outer Rim, where the Sith's influence and power was harder to question. Here, where there was no government to speak of, even a silent Handmaiden could be intimidating to those who knew how to read the symbols on her skin.

A sound nearby made her perk up. Was it the scrape of a chair, an echoing footstep? The crunch of some forgotten record underfoot? Kirie pressed her body against the nearest shelf. Only silence followed the sound, and this wing of the library was quiet enough to hear her own heartbeat, but suddenly she worried she wasn't alone.

 

[Everest Vale]

Outfit: Personal Armour
Equipment: Lightsaber, Bracelet, Earrings, Seer Stone, Wayfinder's Flare, Atrisian Dancer, Engagement Ring
Companion: Isari
Tag: Kirie

The lantern in her hand threw a soft glow across the stone floor, pale against the vast shadows of the Library of Xer. Eve moved with the quiet patience of someone who came intentionally to listen and learn. Shelves of memory crystals and brittle texts rose around her like old trees, their presence heavy with centuries of Force history.

She let her steps fall slow. Part of her was here to study, to trace fragments of Jedi healing and the older traditions that spoke of balance between spirit and body. But another part was here simply to breathe and to anchor herself. The New Jedi Order had splintered. The Alliance frayed. If such things could fracture, then the only way forward was to carry the roots in her own heart, to remember what had come before, and make sure it lived again at Snowpeak Sanctuary.

Her white garments brushed against her boots as she walked, lantern raised. The light set her apart in the hush, a ghostlike outline against the stacks. At her heel padded Isari, silver fur catching the glow, eyes glinting like coals in the dimness. Together they moved through the silence like shades.

Eve paused, letting her fingers brush the spine of a tome etched with glyphs older than seemingly any incarnation of the Republic. She drew in a long breath, almost a prayer. The Force lingered thick in this place, echoes of teachers and healers who had walked long before her.

Movement. A flicker of light through the shelves opposite.

Her breath stuttered. Through a narrow gap, another face came into view — lantern held low. For a heartbeat stillness hung between them. Isari's ears twitched, her tail stilling. The silence pressed in, heavy enough to feel alive.

Eve's grip tightened slightly on the lantern's handle. Then, with the same simple calm she had brought into the library, she spoke across the gap, a gentle smile coming to her lips.

"Hello."

 

[Kirie]

"Within all living things is energy that can be harnessed. If one can learn how to take this energy and feed it into your own raw emotion, they will be blessed with power beyond their wildest imaginings, the power to shape life itself."

Serie an Haurientes - Tenets of Draining

Library of Xer,
Criton's Point,
Outer Rim

​

The lantern in her hand was an insignificant light in a pool of Darkness, nearly swallowed by the shadows of the Library of Xer. Kirie stayed deathly still, holding herself with the patience of someone who had to listen and learn to survive. The shelves around her were a thick forest, their presence heavy with centuries of old, festering thoughts.

Kirie's gaze found a tome she had grabbed when she'd pressed herself close against the shelf. It was etched with old and unfamiliar glyphs, but it was not the book she was looking for. Dread lingered thick in this place, echoes of ghosts and figures who had walked alongside her

Movement. Another sound. A flicker of light through the shelves opposite.

Kirie saw the light first, but the sound of the voice breaking the silence still made her nearly jump out of her skin. She gasped silently, dropping into a low crouch as her eyes locked on the figure across from her, flicking between the silver-haired woman and the beast prowling behind her. She saw the creatures ear twitch, but it did not leap forward to sink its teeth into her. The silence pressed in, as cold and heavy as death.

She held the lantern in a white-knuckle grip, ready to extinguish its light. If she needed to run, she would rather brave the dark than this ghostly pale woman and her white hound.

Neither of them moved for a moment, Kirie felt a calm settle upon her. She had not been attacked or admonished. Maybe there was a way to talk her way out of any confrontation.

The woman smiled, and Kirie tilted her head, confused, her mouth a thin line. She raised her hands to sign.

'Hello.'

Everest Vale ​

​

 

[Everest Vale]

Outfit: Personal Armour
Equipment: Lightsaber, Bracelet, Earrings, Seer Stone, Wayfinder's Flare, Atrisian Dancer, Engagement Ring
Companion: Isari
Tag: Kirie

Eve blinked, trying to follow the shape of the girl's hands. She wasn't fluent, not even close, but she recognised enough. Reina had signed to her in the past ever since she found the necessity after her 'transformation', and Eve had picked up fragments here and there to try and keep up and make things easier for her. The greeting was simple. She could manage that.

She raised her hand and gave a small wave in return.

"I'm Eve," she said softly. She shifted the lantern so her face wasn't lost in shadow, then glanced down at the fox at her heel. "This is Isari."

Isari leaned forward, nose twitching, ears flicking as if she weighed the stranger's scent. Eve gave the faintest shake of her head. The fox stilled, settling back against her boots, tail brushing the stone floor. Her eye drifted back to the girl. Lantern clutched tight, shoulders rigid, a skittishness that was hard to miss. Eve offered a gentle smile again, hoping it would set her at ease.