Chapter Text
The Royal Library of Lasan was unlike anything Calen had ever seen. While the Library of the Jedi Temple was big and had tons of datapads inscribed with all kinds of information, the Royal Library was comparatively smaller and still had tomes inscribed on flimsiplast and paper.
Calen had only seen a paper book once, in the Museum of Jedi History. It was a tome written in an ancient language he couldn’t comprehend and apparently contained reports of the Jedi’s fight against dark force users. It had been fascinating and he had later found a translated version of the tome that he had read until his eyes were too tired to understand a single thing.
The lights were different too. They were warmer, probably because of the windows that let in sunglight. It felt more organic than the artificial lights the library had installed. Closer to the living force that his former Master had told him about.
It was not like he disliked the Jedi Temple, but seeing all these differences made him appreciate being on Lasan with his Master while also missing Coruscant.
He passed one shelf, letting his fingers trail across the backs of the books until he stopped in front of one. Taking it off the shelf, he saw that it was beautifully decorated and written in Lasana. Probably like every other book in the library, he thought to himself, wondering if he had the time to look through them all.
His fomer Master, Jaro Tapal, had been teaching him Lasana, the official language of the Lasat people, before the war but reading had never really been on the curriculum because of how rare it was to find. Calen decided to remedy that, they were after all on involuntary shore leave. They wouldn't be able to get off the planet until their ship was repaired.
Taking the book from it’s place on the shelf, Calen found a well lit place where he could read the book in peace and take notes. He had taken a few linguistic classes at the Temple and from what he understood, language was like a code. Most languages had symbols that represented sound, sometimes ideas or concepts even!
Aurabesh, the Galactic Basic Standard, has 34 letters corresponding to the sounds of the language. The Younglings in the Temple Creche’s were taught it with phonics, but he couldn’t do that without someone’s help. He looked around the library and tried to use the Force to sense if someone was there.
He could sense the Force signature of someone standing outside the library. Most likely a member of the Honor Guard of Lasan, they had been escorting him and Master Tapal around the Royal Palace since they arrived. Master Tapal had ensured them that it was not necessary but Calen was glad that they hadn’t listened. He smiled to himself and walked towards the door.
Opening it quietly, he saw that the Lasat standing outside was wearing armour similar to the High Honor Guard. Maybe it was a different ranking officer?
He made a sound and smiled to himself when he saw how the Lasat stopped himself from jumping in surprise.
"Zakyre"Please could you help me with something?” He asked, trying his best to speak Lasana properly. Some words were still difficult for him to pronounce, but he was sure that Master Tapal would agree to practice with him.
“With what?” The guard’s voice was gruff but eloquent. He spoke Lasan differently than Master Jaro which made sense given the fact that Master Jaro was raised in the Jedi Temple, and didn’t speak Lasana daily like this guard.
“My Master has taught me to speak Lasana but I fear that reading it goes beyond what he taught me. Zakyre, na'velenirr?Please, help me?" He says, looking hopefully up at the guard.
***
This was a bad idea. Zeb knew that, that’s why he had told his men to stay away from the Jedi and had chosen to stand guard wherever they were himself.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them. Jaro Tapal was a good warrior and had even trained him for some time before the war. Chava had even talked with him to establish a Jedi Outpost on Lasan. It’s just,,, He had heard tales of humans before, how their curiosity got the better of them at times and how easy they were to break. He had seen first hand the bruises on the human Jedi’s arms after training and the wounds on some of the non-Jedi soldiers. So frequently did their skin show marks that on any Lasat would signify great injury, and for them it was just an inconvenience.
He knew Master Tapal would say that his former student was a strong and clever soldier, that he had a good head on his shoulder and other tales that Garazeb would also say about some of his recruits. It did not mean that they weren't exaggerated to some degree.
But that didn’t change the fact that he had seen the Jedi crawl up a tree to pick up fruits just because a group of kits had asked. Instead of crawling down again, the human Jedi had jumped. Garazeb had been sure that he would have ended up seeing a broken human mess laying at the foot of the tree, and hearing the kit’s screams, he was sure he was right.
Instead he had seen the young man stand up proudly, while holding a basket full of fruits and giving them out to the smaller kits. He had even laughed when one of them crawled onto his back to take the fruits for themselves. Zeb had been frozen to the ground as he had seen how the Jedi just laughed, his mouth open in what he now knew was a smile and not a threat while the sun shone in the Jedi's blonde hair.
He had decided right then and there that he would stay a respectable distance away from the Jedi. Which is why agreeing to help him in the library was the worst idea that Zeb had ever agreed to.
“Sure, I can point you to some books.” He said and walked into the library, closing the door softly behind himself. He deliberately didn’t think of the way the human smiled at that.
"Eshev an,"Thank you, I’ve already picked one up, but I don’t know if it's appropriate for a beginner.” The Jedi said. Despite being human and being on Lasan for the first time, Zeb could admit that he was well-spoken in Lasana. The Jedi’s voice was soft and calm, and Zeb liked listening to it. Which is why this was a horrible idea.
He had heard of the Jedi from Chava. That they were powerful Force users, blessed by Ashla and fought against Bogan and doing their best to stay on the path of Bendu. Master Tapal had said it himself that the Jedi Code forbid emotional attachments of any kind, and while Zeb thought it sounded stupid, he had respected it. There were rules to follow, for both Jedi and the High Honor Guard.
That’s why he didn’t think of the way he wanted to touch the humans hair and see how soft it really was.
Zeb took the book that the human was holding in his hands. It was an old poetry book, mainly about nature and while most of the sentences were simple, he didn’t know how well he could translate the meaning into Basic.
“It’s good, about nature and the meaning of life but,,,” He trailed off, not wanting to insult the Jedi if he was wrong in his assessment.
“But?” The human asked, their voice drawing the word out longer than it should be, longer than a Lasat would have said and it does something funny to Zeb.
“But I don’t know how well I can translate some of the concepts into Basic.” He answered, puffing his chest out in a way he knew would impress another Lasat and doing his best not to notice the impressed look in the Jedi’s eyes.
"La'san gans,"I'm sorry, I didn’t expect anyone here to speak Basic. Zakyre,Please, speak in Lasana, it will help me understand more of it.” The human answered and smiled. Zeb nodded, remembering some droid that the non-Jedi soldiers used to communicate with his men.
“Sure, let’s sit down.”