ℝ𝔼ℂ𝕂𝕃𝔼𝕊𝕊 ➵ o. kenobi {my only hope; book 2}

【 ELEVEN 】

     ᴡᴇ ꜱᴘᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴɪɴɢ ʀᴇꜱᴇᴀʀᴄʜɪɴɢ. Obi-Wan and I spent hours in the library, not speaking a word, merely searching through databases and books in search of the planet Dex had named for us, its culture, and anything that could be used to our advantage when we went to confront them.

In theory, it would have been a really easy endeavor, if not for two things. For one, if Obi-Wan and I hadn't just had an extremely awkward conversation that had made us refuse to talk to one another. For another, if the planet even existed at all.

It took us hours... hours poring over astrological books, tracing through maps, and scouring the archive database to no avail. What should have been a simple task was proving impossible.

I tried to stay calm and collected. Closing the book I was currently cycling through, I shut my eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, centering myself. This wasn't impossible. The planet had to exist... Dex had no reason to lie to us.

Perhaps he'd gotten the location wrong. Maybe he'd recalled the wrong name. Yet none of those answers made sense to me. As knowledgeable as Dex seemed to be, cockiness seemed to be another one of his attributes. He wouldn't have bragged about knowing the answer if he was even the tiniest bit afraid he'd informed us wrong, would he?

"You seem troubled," Obi-Wan remarked, not lifting his eyes up from the map he was currently reading. His finger trailed a path... the same path it had traveled what seemed like hundreds of times before, a large circle around the Rishi Maze.

I set my hands on the book before me, glancing momentarily down at the man several seats down the table from me. "It just doesn't make sense," I admitted. "It has to be here. Why would Dex lie?"

"He wouldn't," Obi-Wan replied almost at once. His unwavering loyalty to his friend was sweet... but I felt it may also be his undoing.

"Then why is nothing here?" I kept my voice low and patient, not challenging in any way. An argument with Obi-Wan was the last thing I needed right now... especially after this morning.

The Jedi Knight sighed as well, finally lifting his head and leaning back in his chair. His eyes were thoughtful, if not a little troubled. "I don't know," he murmured quietly. "I really don't know."

"Well, don't you suppose we should ask for help?" I prodded. "We clearly don't know everything about the archives. And if we're confident Dex gave us a solid lead, we need someone to help us who can give us a solid answer."

Obi-Wan brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes with exhaustion. "I don't know. We're Jedi Knights... we should be able to figure this out by ourselves."

I bit back a wave of frustration. "Only we've been here for hours and we still haven't," I remarked. "If you want to continue to search, be my guest, but I'm going to figure out a way to solve this on my own."

I stood, perhaps a little too abruptly. My chair went sliding backwards so fast it collided with those at the table behind me, causing a very loud clatter. I was sent some very angry looks from others sitting in silence.

Obi-Wan stared at me, an amused look playing across his features.

I avoided his eyes as I quietly tucked the chair back in, then made my way away from the table in search of an archivist who could help me with my endeavor. I didn't need eyes in the back of my head to know that Obi-Wan was already following.

I found the Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives, Jocasta Nu, first. She was a frail, very old but wise Jedi Master who'd been working here since as long as I could remember. Whenever I used to come down here to study with Kera, she'd always dote on the two of us, having also known Kera when she was young. She'd bring the two of us steaming mugs of tea, and be the first to help us if we ever needed any assistance. It had been a while since I'd seen her, what with my ten year long exile from Coruscant, but she was just the same as I remembered, laugh lines highlighting her face and her white hair tucked back into a tight, professional bun.