Slates To The Sphere
Silvania and and her apprentice Chemrinth grievous-girl run into Yuned’rar lisipuska at the Sith Sanctum.
Words: 4931
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“Are you sure she can- do this?” Asked the Pureblood. “Yes.” Answered the Human. “But she didn’t take a weapon with her, My Lord. How do we know she—” The red skinned male was interrupted, a scowl sticking out from long black hair.
“Do you honestly think she needs a weapon? Really? With her bad aim?” The Tiny Darth smiled and led on, her white hair done high in a tight bun.
“It would have been a better alternative than leaving her completely defenceless…”
“Wow… Malanah was right when she said you have no faith in her abilities. Chemrinth, my dear, stop worrying.” The pair continued to talk amongst themselves as they walked the twist and turns of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, with Pureblood Apprentice trailing close behind his Human Master.” If you recall from the surveillance footage my adorable little courier has a nice fancy weapon handy, should things like that arise again.”
“And what of her, My Lord? All she did was try and scratch some man’s face”
“Try?! My Worrisome Chemrinth,” Up a pair of stairs they went, approaching the labs given in the directions; their voices already heard through the metal doors. “She did more than try! Had I not dissected the skulls myself and found her DNA embedded in his bones I would have never believed our most precious Zabrak could inflict such damage. She will be fine… so stop worrying and hold those tighter!” She pointed a long white finger and the stone slabs, grunting in frustration. “If you drop those as you let your worry get out of control I will personally run you the ten mile track again!”
The Pureblood gave up with a sigh and nod, lowering his head quickly before taking the Voss Tablet’s in a former hold.” Yes, My Lord.” The threat still made his calves burn.
“Good.” she gives a quick nod, straightens her attire, and opens the door to the Translation and Linguistics department. Inside there would have been a nice selection of Lords and Apprentices at her disposal, for a nice commission fee of course, and she was eager to find someone to help with her problem.
Nearer the back of the room, where the research archives and bookshelves were, a tall and sleek figure moved about for a moment before adjusting his glasses and stopping properly to flip through an old book. He kept his long, tattooed lekku draped around his shoulders as per usual and, despite the other people in the room, seemed to be completely at ease. The Twi’lek levitated the book beside him and looked about the shelves for another and chewed lightly on his lower lip in concentration. Alas, he found nothing else he needed there at the moment.
Yuned’rar plucked the book from the air and returned to a table on the side where he’d had a cup of tea and a couple of datapads awaiting him. He preferred to work at his archives at his sister’s estate or in the restricted sanctum archives in the lower levels but some materials could not be loaned, especially by a mere Lord. The Twi’lek would make due where he was; everyone else seemed busy enough in their own work and studies to bother him anyway.
It didn’t take longer for her silver eyes to fall onto the slightly familiar figure in the back of the room, freezing in her step. She was happy the scholars and workers of the lab were too preoccupied to be bothered looking up, not unless they were asked to do something directly, cause the sight of a Darth stopping dead in her heels with that wide-eyed expression could have been a budding joke for the office for days. Weeks even. “…”
Chmerinth noticed Silvania’s actions first, asking softly under his breath if she was alright, then followed her gaze up and forward. Oh. Him again. The twiggy, sticky Twi’lek that threatened to damage his Master at an art gallery. Chemrinth remembered faces to where it was almost obsessive, down to the most tiny of freckles on someone’s ear; and that wasn’t even the most detailed the Sith had gone before. He remained silent for a tad longer before leaning in close to the woman.” My Lord, should you wish to come back at another time… I don’t mind carrying th—” “N-No. I’m fine. I’m ok.” Silvania nodded and took a deep breath, remembering the technique she learned from Sueran and her other friends; the same technique she used at a meeting where Lord Araneolus had also attended. She hadn’t honestly even noticed the Twi’lek until he walked past her to leave the meeting, but She could make this work. Hopefully. Maybe.” I’m ok… you… wait here for me?” “Master, I—” “Please. Wait here.” And with that Silvania very calmly and very quietly made her way closer to Yuned’rar. Around her the woman created a field, an aura, of cold calm; all in attempts to do as she was taught. Relaxed face and expression, less jittery movements, and lower volume of her voice. Malanah also suggested maybe using ‘soft sentences’, whatever that meant. The Darth stopped a good nine feet away, giving a soft clearing of her voice. “Ahem…”
Yuned’rar didn’t think the call for attention was directed specifically at him but he was terribly curious by nature and glanced up over his half-moon reading spectacles to see who was there. He sighed quietly to himself and would have rolled his eyes if it were something he did. Instead he just remained sat and still at his table, looking visibly calm as he picked his mug up and took a sip of the hot tea inside.
“You are lost, my Lord?” He asked in his typical quiet and even tone.
She shakes her head, a delicate smile coming to her lips. Don’t make a snarky comment, don’t make a snarky comment, don’t make a snarky comment! “No. I am where I need to be actually… a more endearing question to have asked would have been ‘Do you need help, my Lord?’ Heh. Erm…” Was that snarky? It felt snarky. Damn it all!
She attempted to correct the feel of that by bowing her head with a slack given expression; submission.” Anyways—forgive me for asking, but um… you seem to know a way to handle translations, yes? I recall you made mention of it before… should my mind remember correctly?” Keep your distance, deep breaths, clear concise words with maybe a dash of her personality should the air call for it. All the rules were giving her a headache.
Yuned’rar observed Silvania as she spoke. She was quite literally surrounded by translators—why ask him? Why speak to him at all after their past two failed attempts at socialising? He just managed to stop his mind from running ahead of him to chase down baseless assumptions; however, he couldn’t quite decide if it was really worth it. At the least he could be civil—no harm in that. And he couldn’t just call on Yxaxajj any time a conversation or meeting with someone went a little sour. No tantrums. No threats.
“My apologies,” he said, and set his mug down, and straightened his posture. He didn’t smile or put on any faux expression on his face, keeping it blank. It was better than showing his slight irritation. “I do translations, yes. But why ask me? You can ask literally anyone here.”
Uh oh. The big question. THE big question. Yuned’rar had not been the first person Silvania pissed off with her manners, but he was the tipping point. She had worked out her actions from then on without ever coming across the figure head again, Yuned’rar, but now that he was actually here… oh what was it that Malanah said? That small Zabrak always said the best things, and now in her most dire need Silvania could not find the damned words!
Silvania gave a small sigh, head even lower as she left it in a bow. “In truth… I feel… bad about how I have acted in your presence, f-for all the two times that we-I mean-erm.” This was harder than it looked. “I am very sorry or making you irritated and mad. S-So much that you had to call on your husband to save you from me. It was… ill of me. Perhaps with my questions and offer… we can start again, Lord Araneolus?” Keep it formal, keep it clean, keep it as passive as possible.
The Twi’lek thinned his tattooed lips briefly and then pushed the chair across from him out with his foot and made room at his table. He sincerely hoped he wasn’t making a mistake but he either gave people no chances at all or far too many, and it never seemed to be the right ones. For an empath, he was a rather poor judge of character.
“Show me what you have there,” Yuned’rar said.
Her head snapped upwards at hearing the chair move, silver gaze gleaming with glee at the invitation. The woman was so delighted she could-wait… not, hold up and take a few steps back. Deep breaths, keep it calm. Her smile was big, but her words were little; soft and almost hushed completely. “Of course… Chemrinth, come.” She waved for the Pureblood to bring the tablets to her and Yuned’rar. The other male did as he was asked, but obviously not as pleased as his Master.
“My Lord?”
“S-Stand right there, and try not to move.” Silvania helped get the Pureblood into position before taking the offered seat, hints of her excitement coming through the built aura she made moments earlier. The Darth went right to work. “These tablets here are part of my collection, gained by weeks of diplomatic serves with the Voss peoples and their figure heads. I-I gained access via an Imperial third party and several rituals with one of their Mystics. Fascinating venture that was. Erm-anyways,” She shook her head, moving on. “There’s were given to me in order to aid my advances in the healing arts; more force bound methods then common medical practices. Things that even non-force users could connect to and use, but the inscriptions were so old that not a Voss left alive could give me the translations.” Silvaina couldn’t sit still anymore, bouncing up from her chair and towards the tablets; hands going from one line to another. “I have been able to piece together bit by bit the Voss’s most recent alphabet to the characteristics seen here,” she pointed”, and here.” She pointed again. “But they are so badly damaged, note the scratches form some sort of beast, t-that it is impossible to help piece together even an estimated alphabet. O-Or even ways to complete the phrases, b-but I’d rather have the alphabet as a way to repay the Voss’s kindness to my organization.”
If Yuned’rar were to read Silvania he would get that same overpowering emotions of wonder and excitement, but this time they was tempered with an older bout of wisdom and balanced with a working mind. When put into her work she was dedicated. “T-this is where I need a Linguistics expert to come in.” Her smile beamed back at Yuned’rar, but she attempted to wind it back in with a clearing of her throat. “I am not… smart enough to go in-depth with this project, nor do I have the time. I-I fear this could take many weeks, weeks I do not have.”
Yuned’rar adjusted his glasses and leaned in a little to examine the tablet. Normally, he too would be bouncing in his seat from excitement, but the Darth and her Apprentice, frankly, made him too nervous to give off any enthusiasm—visibly at the least. The tablets were in fairly good condition but the damages they suffered would be time consuming to work through.
“If not weeks—months,” he said under his breath as he looked the text over. Quite honestly, he knew very little of the Voss besides what basic information Sith and Imperials were given when visiting the world as not to instigate any strife between their people. “If I may get a few scans of these, I will look them over at my own office—to see if it is something I can assist you with or not. And I do have other assignments and projects I am working on.”
“Of course, as do we all… I-I mean w-we have projects and… assignments. Yes.” She nods and purses her lips tightly. Smooth word play there. “Perhaps… Instead of scans you would wish to take these with you? I-I have no use for them just lying about my offices, taunting me with their hidden words that I can’t get to. Maddening that is, heh-erm.” Again, smooth. With a small flick of her finger Silvania levitated the tablet’s out of Chemrinth’s hands and moved to balance them upright on the floor; as easy to her as placing an upside down glass on a table. “T-they are not that big of a load should you have no one to help transport them. I-I can offer my Apprentice in the delivery assistance should you wish?”
“No. I have had quite enough of overgrown Purebloods for a few years.” The Twi’lek said and sat back in his chair, folding his hands on the table. “I would prefer scans of them for now. I do not wish to lug foreign objects around or in and out of my office. And, not to accuse you of anything, but I have no reason to trust that you did not bug them with recording devices.”
Silvania blinked a few times while Chemrinth gave a rather loud sigh. “Bug them? …Huh.” She looked back to one of her tablets and tapped it with her knuckle. It didn’t sound hollow, no room to plant things. She gave a little shrug, accepting the male’s hesitation with understanding, and continued to smile despite the turn down. “Very well. Scans then.” With a Tug of the force the Darth had the two huge stone slabs back into the air easily, a finger ready to direct them about the room at Yunde’rar’s request. “Do you wish for a full 360 degree scan or just their facades?”
“Just their façades should be sufficient for the time being,” Yuned’rar said and took his mug in his hand again to take a small sip.
Silvania nodded and put the tablet’s leaning against the table, their weight scooting it ever so slightly after she her force grip go, but at least they were in the best light possible. “I think that should suffice?” The human knelt down to her artefacts, giving them a quick look over once again to make sure they were crystal clean for the scans.
“I have already taken my own scans and several holos for personal use, with dates and times for when they are taken. Also several surface scrapings from the tablets themselves and dirt samples from where they appeared to have been sitting in some sort of wet soil. I-I don’t know if you will need those in your endeavour, but I do have copies you can borrow should you need them?” She rose and backed away from the tablets, making plenty of room for the Twi’lek to work and take the images he needed.
“Just—send me the scans you have? I do not need soil samples if I am just going to figure out the alphabet,” the Twi’lek said but didn’t move. “You also really should get a case for those. All this exposure is not good for them and you both look a little ridiculous carrying them around.”
“I-It is? Oh-uhh… Chem!!” And away went some of the rules at hearing she had been handling the tablets wrong. She was a surgeon, not an archaeologist! She took samples of blood, made notes about medical reactions, drilled metal into bone, skin grafts! Well… she did help preserve a mummified Sith Lord once, but preserving flesh was different that preserving rocks. She was slightly flipping out, which in turn made Chemrinth slightly flip out.
“M-My Lord!?” His yellow eyes went wide, shoulders slunk back in sudden fear.
“Hurry downstairs and speak to that girl at the desk. Ermmm, Blonde hair and green eyes. T-Talaria I think? Tell her I demand two 3 meter cases immediately!” She was trying not to yell or get her tone very agitated, mostly upset at herself, so she spoke through a tightly shut jaw.
“B-But what if she can’t get—” Chemrinth wished he hadn’t asked as a book came flying off the self and pipped him in the back of the head. “Ouch! Yes, My Lord. Right away, My Lord.” The book returned nearly to its spot and Chemrinth went trotting off.
“I-I am so very sorry.” Silvania turned back to Yuned’rar, filling with a holopad that had been attached to her hip and an unsettled expression set to her face. “H-Had I known I would have… I shall increase your commission pay to 30% of total profits for this mishap. W-Will that give you enough allowance to help keep my tablet’s from further ruin? I-I didn’t…” Sadness struck her eyes as she looked to the stone slabs, obviously upset.
Yuned’rar closed his eyes until all the ruckus had settled down, somewhat tuning it out for his own sake, and then looked at the light-haired woman. “I have not accepted this assignment yet, Silvania. I said I will just look and see if it is even something I am capable of doing on top of all the work I already have on my plate.” He sighed a little and tapped his sharp claws against his mug before setting it back down gently. “Also, calm the fuck down,” he said almost in a whisper. “Panicking and causing a scene and—stars forbid it—possibly damaging more items in the archives here will not help anything.”
He stood up from his chair and stepped around to have a better look at the tablets, kneeling down and adjusting his reading glasses. “It is mostly the moisture you have to worry about and on Kaas with the constant rain and humidity it is unavoidable without it being in a protective case. And all you need to do is send a request to reclamation services to obtain that.”
After the “calm the fuck down” comment was made the Darth did just that, taking several deep breaths and remained very still for several minutes. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know…
She understood Yuned’rar’s point but also mentally visualised it rather comically; picturing what would have happened should Silvania tossed more than just a book at Chemrinth. Maybe a priceless vase, or lime engraved tomes? Those would leave some heavy bruises and heavy fines. Speaking of Chemrinth - Silvania drew out a communications device and begun to type several notes and a small memo that would be sent to the pureblood while he was out.
With the message sent the woman put the device back in her skirt’s pockets, attention put back on The Twi’lek and her artefacts. She nodded and spoke softly. “My Greatest thanks for your insight, Lord-… Huh.” It didn’t hit till then that the man said her name, something Silvania didn’t think she would hear from his lips given their iffy past ever again. Huh. She tried again, adding a delicate smile. “Yuned’rar, my thanks. My apprentice should be back soon… meanwhile l-let me get you my scans. I-I fear they shall not be quite as defined as you might wish.”
From another pocket the human pulled out a thin, circular storage device, pulling up the correct files she had saved from previous days. With a twist of her wrist they spread out in a 5 foot radius of the device, creating a moving and crawling shield of data and screens. She had been right that her scans may not have been the best, taken with medical devices that just could not do what was needed to get detailed etchings of the characteristics. It did however show the mineral counts and some more detailed shots of the already decrypted letters. “I-I’m sorry again if these are lacking. You can see the fault in my operations when given this sort of thing.”
Yuned’rar stood back up and looked over the holo on display, tilting his head from side to side gently, a hint of a smile on his thin face and his lekku curled just slightly. “No, no; this should suffice. If I find I can help decipher it, then I will bring my own holo-camera.”
The Twi’lek couldn’t quite hide his interest nor excitement now. It’s not that he wasn’t interested in the tablets, but the presented holos gave an air of a serious project. The details as well—not exactly the same ones he’d make—were still fascinating. He leaned over the table a little and looked over the damage of the text. Unfortunately, Voss writing wasn’t at all familiar to him, so at a glance, he couldn’t tell what were characters and what were just scratches. Yuned’rar would need to set aside time to properly look them over.
Silvania placed the holoprojector onto the desk and stood opposite of Yuned’rar, trying to pick out anything she could have missed before bringing the Voss Tablet’s here. “Oh! Um.” She fiddled with her belt’s small pack on her backside, unrolling a small ruined book, a pamphlet really, that was an early children’s book for their students to read in schooling. “This is the book I’ve been using to actually learn the Voss Language. It is a lot less nasally then Imperials are used to and is very similar to a more formal version of Huttese; a-at least with the vowels in speaking.”
She laid the book down onto the table and opened up to the newest generation of the Voss Alphabet, way different then the elder letters onto the stone; just as she said it would have been. “I-I mean they aren’t exactly like Huttese, but they sound the same… erm… sort of. Listen.”
Her silver eyes went up to the Twi’lek quickly before back to her book. She spoke the letters first in Huttese, then in the Voss language. “<A> compared to <A>; hear that? ‘A’ in the common Imperial tongue was the first I was able to match with not only the Huttese pronunciation with the Voss characteristically, but also match it to this letter here.” She pointed to the slab on the left. “A-And here, and here.” Silvania pointed to several other assumed as, her smile growing at showing the work she had already done. “This was a lot like matching DNA strands from spliced test subjects, driving what came from where in the genetic heritage… s-sort of, heh.”
“I suppose it is similar… Transfer me any files you have on this: this scan, your deciphering of the tablet,” Yuned’rar said as he slid the pamphlet over to look through. There was probably at least a dictionary and phrasebook available as a download, at least for the modern language. Knowledge of Vossian history, culture and language, however, were much more limited and he wasn’t interested in travelling out to the planet to look for anything right now, especially if he wasn’t sure he could figure out all the writing on the tablets yet.
“Of course.” Silvania nods and takes back her book, rolling it up tightly before putting it back in its small pouch. As she worked on getting all the files, images, scans, streams of data, any and all she had collected for transfer, back came Chemrinth with several smaller humans behind him; workers from the Reclamation Service who would prep the tablets for their new chambers. Said chambers were extremely impressive glass casings they had pulled behind them on a hovering cart.
“Lord Araneolus, Darth Helion, I return with… um… your request.”
“Ah, thank you Apprentice. Have them wait a tad longer before packing up my tablets. Yuned’rar and I are almost finished.” She smiled briefly at the Pureblood before setting her eyes back down.
She had a nice detailed report ready for transfer, encrypted with only a single layer of security.” There we are. I have the program set for you to enter a security question, to which only you will know the answer to, in order to help keep this in your possession only. The default password to open the cache is ‘rain-rain-go-away’, but you can reprogram it to whatever you wish.” Silvania waited for the files to fully transfer before explaining more.” There is also a monitoring system to report to me when new information has been added to the database, but not what it exactly is. I wouldn’t wish to spoil myself with any new findings.” She giggled and brought her eyes back up, joyful grin beaming out from under white cheekbones.
Yuned’rar picked up his own datapad to look it over before nodding politely at the small team that entered the room.” That should be fine. I will look over the data when I have time. Unless–” He paused and looked at Silvania for a moment.” There is a deadline on this?”
She shook her head.” No. No deadline. This is a personal project, something I wish to have done properly. Should it require weeks, or months, or even a year or so? So be it.” Silvania made her way back to the side of the table where Yuned’rar stood, a few good feet away, and carefully held out a small data stick, its screen glowing light blue.” On this data drive is my Hospital’s address, where I am most of my time, and the extension to contact my front desk; should you wish to set up an appointment or speak to me on scheduled work time. There is also my personal comlink channel, but… I rarely use it. Y-You might have to try a few times for me to see our incoming requests.”
“Ah, thank you.” The Twi’lek accepted the datachip and tucked it into a pocket within his robes, and then looked around in another one, pulling out his own.” My comm frequency should you require it. And good—about the deadline. If there was one, I would have advised seeking out someone else. I shall let you know soon whether or not I can take this on.”
“I only put deadlines on my patients - How quickly I wish for them to recover.” Another giggle and Silvania took the datachip, replacing it in the spot where her own had been. She nodded and asked.” I can have the Reclamation workers seal pack the tablets now, if you are ready to say goodbye to them.” She could hear the tools of the men as they prepared the airtight chambers, several canisters of steriliser and air primer awaiting to be pumped into the glass boxes after the Voss slabs were safely secure.
“Go ahead,” Yuned’rar said, nodding to the team and stepping back from the tablets to allow them to be contained and folded his arms lightly over his chest as he observed.
Chemrinth was not allowed to handle them seeing as he did not have any gloves to fit his big hands, so he stood by as well with arms crossed over his chest; watching his Master and the little men work. He watched Silvania raise the tablet’s into the air with a hard grip of the Force, her strength growing back day by day, and placing them ever so delicately into their noted glass containers; like putting a child down for a nap. Once her work was done she joined Chemrinth at his side, watching the Reclamations Officer’s seal the fragile door’s and then pump in the needed chemicals to preserve the stone for decades to come. He smiled softly at seeing the worry vanish from Silvania’s face.
She was thankful to Yuned’rar for telling her she needed to protect these things, these mystery packed rocks, and even more so for his work to come. Well… maybe. The man had other things, as he made note several times before. Still she hoped her project could get on its feet once more, as soon as possible, less she bore herself into madness with nothing to do. Perhaps she could learn how to knit…
“I think we are set to go. Chemrinth, help guide these officers down to my shuttle. I will be along shortly.” He obeyed with a bow and played leader to the group of people, leaving the land as silently as they came. Silvania remained a moment longer, turning her gaze back to the Twi’lek, and bowed for a final time.” Thank you for your consultation today. I hope to hear from you soon. D-Don’t… be afraid to call on a rainy day. Nothing is ever fun on a rainy day without someone to talk to.” Silvania smiled once more, a softer expression set on her pearly complexion; a need? A want? Whatever it was made her demeanour silently sombre…
“Every day is a rainy day on Kaas, Silvania,” Yuned’rar said, and then nodded to her.” Have a good—rest of your day. I will let you know soon enough if I can assist in this project.” The Twi’lek sat back down in his chair and set out his datapads again, making the motions of returning to his own work; this time, hopefully, he would not be interrupted.