Room 313, Saturday late afternoon

[solo_sword]

Jaina had gone for a run, figured out she didn't actually remember the course she'd done with John because she'd been distracted pretty much the whole time, and created her own. She'd been gone long enough that by the time she got back to the room, she was more than happy to shower and change, and sit down with a datapad for a while like she'd been lazy all day.

[For vkandis_son in particular, but open. ETA: And I fail. Door's open.]

Comments

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal didn't want to bother anyone, but he needed to talk to someone about what he'd found and Jaina was the first person to spring to mind.

He trusted those impulses, half suspected they came from somewhere outside himself, which is why he was knocking tentatively on her door, a roll of notes under one arm.

[solo_sword]

Jaina didn't need to look up into the open doorway to see it was him, but she did anyway. "Hey," she said, putting the datapad down on her bed. "Come on in."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," he said with a small smile, and came a few steps into the room. "I don't want to disturb you if you're busy."

[solo_sword]

"Exactly the opposite," she said. "What's up?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I find myself in need of someone to talk to about," he ducked his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "about what's happening in my world. I was wondering if you would mind?"

[solo_sword]

"Definitely not. You can always talk to me," she said, gesturing towards the desk chair.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

With a grateful smile, he sat in the chair, setting his notes down on the desk. "I was reading through the information I brought from Valdemar with me, and I have come to a conclusion that...will not be taken well by the other members of the Alliance."

An extreme understatement, and he rubbed his nose again. "I would very much like another opinion, but there is a great deal of background information necessary for any of it to make sense."

[solo_sword]

"I've had to exposit quite a bit so far this weekend," she assured him, nodding. "I can take it as well as I can dish it out."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

And this was why he'd come to Jaina. "You are certain you don't mind?" he asked, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half-smile. "It starts some two hundred years ago."

[solo_sword]

"I'm pretty good at history. Start talking, Karal," she smiled.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He sat up straighter - automatic reflex - and nodded. "All right. Two hundred years ago, the Sun-Priests changed, became inflexible and close-minded, and Karse became insular, hating everything that was not Karsite. Valdemar, which borders Karse, became its bitter enemy, and much evil was done by the Priesthood and by ordinary Karsites to Valdemarans. Hatred and fear were all that existed between the two countries, becoming more entrenched with each generation."

[solo_sword]

"It's scary how much I understand that," Jaina told him seriously. "Not a fun way to live."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I wish you didn't," he said, searching her face. "As you say, not fun, and I'm sure you can imagine my shock on arriving in Valdemar, reading their histories and discovering it was my people who were the 'bad guys', and that the people we had painted as demons and hellspawn were no such thing."

He folded his hands, head bowed. "But I travel ahead of myself. Vkandis Himself had been abandoned by the Priests, they mouthed the words, but He had no part in their rites and the Priesthood served none but themselves."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke rapped lightly on the door jamb before sticking his head into the room.

"Hey, stranger," he said with a small smile.

[solo_sword]

"Hi," Jaina greeted him, waving him in. "Oh, I have something for you."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"You do?" Luke asked, looking interested.

[solo_sword]

She got up to get a small package from atop one of the many little canisters of spare parts littering her desk. "Music from home, as promised," she said, handing it over.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"You're my favorite niece ever," Luke told her with a grin. "Thank you. How are your brothers?"

[solo_sword]

"They're okay. Not too much has changed since the last time I talked to them. They're dealing with things," she said, shrugging. "How have you been?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Fine," Luke said, his emotions becoming carefully hard to read. "August is always...difficult. But I got in touch with my version of your mother and we're talking again."

The relief was obvious in his eyes. "But I'm kind of convinced my shop teacher will be dead by the end of the semester."

[solo_sword]

"You weren't?" Jaina frowned. She couldn't imagine them ever not talking. At least not on purpose.

She shook if off, asking, "...Why would he be dead?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke made a soothing gesture with his hand. "I called at the wrong time and said the wrong thing. It blew over. It always does."

He rolled his eyes. "A few weeks ago he was working with live electricity and forget to turn the circuit off. Honestly."

[solo_sword]

"Oh," she said, accepting that. That she had heard of once or twice. "Okay." And the Tell her I said hi when you talk to her that came to mind still wasn't appropriate.

Jaina gaped. "He... How do you forget to turn the circuit off?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke rolled his eyes. "Exactly," he grumbled. "I'm not sure if I should be offering to help him or not. He seems to think this is how repairs are supposed to work: you know, with everyone going to the clinic."

[solo_sword]

"Maybe he just has a really twisted view on teaching safety?" she suggested. "I hope that's all it is."