Post by ender on Aug 4, 2009 15:27:40 GMT -5
A Souvenir Part 2
“It would seem, Ender,” Corran observed as they were walking away from the dining hall in the {Jedi} palace, “That your stomach will be the cause of the second great depression for {Jedi}.”
What was the first?” Ender asked.
“When you became leader,” Corran grinned. Ender punched him on the shoulder hard.
“Your demands for extravagancies are overwhelming,” smiled Corran, rubbing his arm, “Almost a third of Tigeress’s. All those white stallions nearly bankrupt the state.”
Tigeress, walking on the other side of Ender, looked at him with amusement that could not be masked, “Your little ponies are so cute, Ender. And yes, Corran, Ender could not hope to have a planet as wealthy as mine.” She gave Ender a smile that made his hand twitch. Corran raised his eyebrow; Ender usually did that just before he challenged someone to a lightsaber duel, and for high stakes at that. Instead, Ender simply grinned back.
“For your information, I actually bought thirty of them. I eventually sold all but one and made quite a profit off of it.”
“Your profit, Ender, is about equal to my pocket change.” Tigeress said, “So you fail, again.”
“Where did you find these….horses…Ender?” Corran asked.
“Oh, quite simple,” Ender took the left hallway as they continued back toward the library to pick up yoda’s journal, giving Tigeress a wry look, “I found it on some planet in the outer rim, a few years before I became a leader. They breed these very strange animals that they use for sport. I’m sure you’ve seen them; very odd creatures, but very fun to ride. I bought them when I rose to leader and sold them to several entertainment groups on tatooine, Coruscant, etc. ‘Got ten times my money for it too, whatever Tigeress says. I could have bought another castle with the money I made. It’s a shame I didn’t go back and buy some more; I could have made some real cash. I had business at home to take care of, though.” Ender frowned as he looked down at the floor, apparently seeing the money that he could have made drain away. He looked up when Tigeress distracted his daydreaming with an annoyed sniff.
“I thought we actually had things to talk about that I care enough to discuss to remain in your impossible company, Ender. I want to be back at my palace before the week is gone.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Ender said, “You’ll have your precious palace before the week is gone. Maybe a lot sooner.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Just a hunch.”
“Your hunches, Ender, usually involve several weeks stranded on a barren planet when you think you can use the ship’s engine to power up an old temple’s computer system.”
Corran opened the door and held it open for the parade that was two people staring each other down for no apparent reason. Corran clapped his hands just to see what would happen. They both jumped and glared at him. Corran looked at them innocently.
“Anyway,” Ender said as though nothing had happened, “Let’s check out this book. I’ve developed several theories as to how it may help us.
“As have I,” Tigeress said right on top of him, springing to the book as she plumped herself onto the sofa with Ender very close behind her. He grunted irritably when she got the book first. Corran folded his arms as he took his station between the sofa and the armchair.
“Now,” Tigeress said in a manner that was fitting of a teacher before her class, “Let’s enumerate our possibilities. Obviously, if this journal were to have any clues as to the location of the Horowitz Crystal, we would have to assume that the grandmaster would have dropped hints throughout his text. Perhaps one thing that he says may mean something completely different from what is obvious. Or, the very same text could have several different meanings…”
“Yes,” Ender interrupted, “it would also make sense if Yoda somehow hinted at the beginning of the journal that the Horowitz Crystal actually existed. And later on, he dropped hints as to what path must be taken in order to find the Crystal as we continue to read the journal up to the finish.”
“Yes Ender. But it could also be that Yoda has other secrets that he would have wished to conceal in this journal. Now that I think about it, it would make sense for him to have placed the knowledge of the crystal in a single page, or a single paragraph. Maybe even a single sentence.”
Ender looked at her thoughtfully, “I suppose you are right on the assessment that it would be quite tedious to use the entire journal for one item, no matter its importance. Also, judging from the size of the journal, which doesn’t look all that big, I imagine that he wrote it later on in his life, unless he wrote more than one journal.”
“If he wrote more than one journal,” Tigeress said irritably, “Then this whole ordeal is a complete waste of time. It could be in any of them.”
“You are correct. And in that regard, we have to assume that this is the only journal. Otherwise, it would probably be best not to look for it at all. I do have some things with my clan that I have been procrastinating on…”
“Like the paperwork Ender?” Corran mused, making Ender shudder. He was notorious in meetings for his incapability of sitting still for more than fifteen minutes. Slouch all he wanted, he easily fell into a quirk with the slightest pretense of, “meeting,” “sign this,” or, “papers.”
Tigeress opened the journal, “Ok, we are making the supposition that this is the only journal. We are going to assume that it is on a page or two and that it will be encrypted for those who don’t know what to look for. I think we should also be careful of not following false trails. I wouldn’t be surprised if this journal had other clues to other secrets. We must be careful that the path that we are following relates to the crystal, and not to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
“Alright,” said Ender, “If this doesn’t work, then we’ll simply try something else. What we should probably do is enumerate the characteristics of the crystal.”
“Yes, Ender. That is an excellent idea. First, it is Yoda’s crystal. It relates to wisdom and power, and it has the ability to transfer these traits to the user, depending on his or her character.”
“Yea, it also took him hundreds of years to learn how to create it, and it encompasses that which is Yoda. So it probably has some odd quirks. “
Tigeress looked up at the ceiling, “What don’t we know about it? We don’t know the size, shape, or location of the crystal. Out of all of that, those are the three things we need to know the most if we’re to find it. I cannot believe I am getting into this…” She sighed and began looking through the pages. Her eyebrow rose several times. “Does Yoda not know how to speak!? Did everyone speak like this back then, Corran?”
“I do remember reading somewhere that Yoda had a peculiar dialect that involved placing the verb at the end of the sentence, rather than at the beginning. And no, not everyone spoke like that. He was unique in that regard.” Corran folded his arms as Tigeress placed her nose back into the book. Ender studied the pages as she flipped.
As Corran’s eyes studied both Tigeress and Ender, his mind began to wander into places he was not sure he really wished it to. Tigeress was the leader of the Royal Army, making her undisputed Queen. Ender was one of two leaders of {Jedi}, the other being Tchdwn. Both of these people were very important, and yet they were hunched together looking over a book. It seemed odd, that these two powerful people would be sitting on a single couch looking over a book like typical historians. They were certainly not historians; they were political leaders, and very powerful political leaders at that. Perhaps it would seem plausible if these two were to personally duel clan killers or other clan leaders, but it did not make remote sense for them to be looking for something as trivial as a lightsaber crystal, regardless of who had once owned it. Is the crystal really that powerful, that important, that these leaders need to attend to the matter personally? Why did Ender choose this particular item to go after? Why go after anything at all? What happens when they actually obtain the crystal? What if there are booby traps in its sanctuary? What would happen if these two were to die on some remote planet? What kind of turmoil would that cause? Would each clan blame the other for the death of their leader? If the crystal is found, who will get to keep it? That was perhaps the most dangerous question of all.
“Corran, if you were to stand in the middle of a graveyard in front of the stone of your mother, your face couldn’t possibly be more suited for the occasion.” Tigeress said as she glanced at him over the book, “You are so pessimistic at times, and don’t say you aren’t, I’ve known you long enough to know that glint in your eye. I don’t care what you’re thinking, stop it! I demand you as Queen.”
“I don’t think…” Corran began
“Shutup Corran,” Tigeress interrupted, “I don’t want to hear it!”
“Do what the lady says Corran,” Ender said dismissively as he continued to scan the page that Tigeress had stopped on, “it will save you grief.”
“I am Queen, Ender! Get it right or I will demand you to leave my presence.” Ender hardly seemed to hear her; his eyes hardly faltered in its journey across the journal’s pages, “pig” she muttered.
“Hey!” Ender exclaimed, “This paragraph looks very interesting. Check it out.” Corran walked around to the back of the sofa so he could read it over Tigeress and Enders’ shoulders. Ender pointed to a paragraph that seemed a little set apart from the others. Corran peered closely at the text. It was of a dialect typically known as being used by Yoda. It almost seemed poetic, but at the same time, not.
Care the Jedi padawns of this time have not. Too sure of himself, Count Dooku is.
Ready for the trials, he is not.
You hold me back, he says. For his good I do. For his fate have I seen, and dark it is.
Still, patience I must have. For my teaching shall not be in vain. Sure of this, I am. For in the
Tall and reaching city the greatest treasure lies, and that is choice.
All effected shall they be by the choice of one, but the choice, what shall it be?
Listen to the wind, and the answer, I will have.
Corran looked at Ender and Tigeress studying the paragraph. Tigeress appeared to be in deep thought, while Ender simply looked bored. He slouched back on the sofa and folded his arms, tilting his head towards the ceiling.
“Getting ready to go home, Ender?” Corran said. It took Ender a few moments before he realized that Corran was speaking to him.
“Oh,” Ender said in surprise, “No I’m not ready. I’m just thinking.”
“You have a peculiar way of thinking.”
“I get that a lot….”
Tigeress finally nodded her head in satisfaction. She pointed her index finger at the first letter, “Yes, this paragraph is definitely referring to the Horowitz crystal. You can tell, by the way the text is lined up, so that the first letter in each sentence come together to spell, ‘CRYSTAL’.” She allowed her index finger to run down the length of the passage to illustrate her point. She nodded firmly, “I cannot think of anything else that it could mean. Good find, Ender.”
“Tall and reaching city,” Ender muttered, “That must refer to Coruscant. What other city around that time could he be referring to with buildings that are tall and reaching? It would only make sense.”
“Yes Ender, I think that is true.” Tigeress agreed, “He is referring to Coruscant. But that’s the easy part. It’s already obvious that it’s going to be there. That’s where Yoda spent most of his time; at the Jedi temple. It must be in there.”
“But,” Ender said, “Wouldn’t it have been found by now, if it’s in such an obvious place? I mean, the temple has been ransacked and looted several times in its history since Yoda was grandmaster there.”
“I’m sorry Ender, but that is a very real possibility,” Tigeress said, “I believe the temple is currently abandoned and no one even bothers to guard it anymore. Anything valuable in there that could have been taken has already been taken. It is very unlikely that we will ever see the Horowitz Crystal if it has already been found, which it probably has.”
“If it has already been found,” Ender sighed, “We would know about it.”
“Not unless it’s in someone’s private collection Ender,” Corran said, “If the Horowitz Crystal was in the Jedi Temple, then it is gone.”
Tigeress growled at the floor, “I will not be defeated! Once I set out on something, I see it to the end. I refuse to be bested by some….old….geek…collector!”
“How do you think I feel?” Ender replied, resting his chin on an upraised palm, “This is no way to end our vacation” He shook his fist, “We must have a souvenir, and I intend to get one!” He jumped up and began to pace furiously, earning a wry look from Corran.
After a few moments of silence other than Ender shuffling his feet in irritation, Tigeress rose gracefully and purposefully from her seat, “Well, let’s head to Coruscant. We can decipher the rest of the paragraph and think of what we are going to do while we’re on the ship. Come along children.”
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