Iron Braid

Part 15 - Keijo

Two heads were bent over a datapad, one silvery-blond and the other a dark brown. They talked together, laughing and joking quietly. Garma looked up, his light hair highlighted with blue from the holos around the archives. "I bet if we both studied a system on our own, I would know more about it than you!"

Krani looked up and frowned. "You, who forgot to wake up early when we were scheduled for that training exercise a few cycles ago?" 

Garma blushed. "I was younger then!" 

Krani grinned at him. "You're on. Let's choose the system." The two Initiates got up and started looking for an interesting set of files. Krani went to the sections where the files on mining systems were located. As she reached for a file, another Padawan came towards her. She ignored him and stood on her tip-toes, trying to reach it. He came up behind her and pulled the file out. 

"Looking for this?" His voice was melodious and gentle. 

Krani turned to face him. "Yes. Thank you." 

He gave it to her. "I overheard your contest with the other Initiate. It sounds like a good idea to me. I'm Keijo." 

"Krani Viall. My friend's Garma Ancon." 

Keijo nodded. "Are you in the same Initiate clan?" 

"Yes." 

He smiled. "Would you want a partner in the contest? My Master and I are on leave, but we'll be going to that sector in about a month." 

Krani considered it. "I'd like that!" 

Keijo smiled. "It'll be our secret." 

"Deal!" 

She brought the file to where she and Garma had sat. When he came up, she displayed the file. "We should do the Tyne's Horky system. It's  important because of all the ore that's mined there."

Garma showed her the file he had chosen. "I wanted to do the Kuat shipyards, but Tyne's Horky would probably be more helpful in the future. 

"It's agreed then?" 

Garma nodded. "Let the contest begin!" The two split up, Garma looking for more files on the system and Krani going to a study area to find data on the holonet. Keijo followed her.