fandomhigh | Library [10/05]

"No, it's okay. I asked," Rory replied hollowly. "It's just kind of more real now."

Luke put a tentative hand on Rory's shoulder. "I'm still sorry," he repeated.

Rory shook her head. "Don't be. I'm glad to know."

"From what it looks like, neither injury slowed him down even a little bit," Luke replied, trying to be comforting.

Rory started giggling. "Did he have a roboclaw?"

"A what?"

"A robotic hand," she amended. "He always told me that if he lost an arm, he'd get one that dispensed coffee."

Luke gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and stood up, then went back to flipping through pages. "There was a prosthetic," he said after a moment. "No mention of its caf-dispensing skills, though."

Rory carefully stood on wobbly legs. "I bet it did," she decided. "Was Obi-Wan's leg okay, by the way? I mean, did he have a limp later on or anything?"

"Not that I ever noticed," Luke said, giving Rory a worried look and shoving a chair in her direction.

He began flipping through the pages, trying to discover what Order 66 was. When he read it, he paled but didn't share. Rory didn't need to know.

After a few more minutes of reading history, Luke switched to the book on Jedi powers. "Prophetic dreams, mind reading, healing powers, telekinetics..." he read aloud. "How did they not see this coming?"

"The Sith are really, really bad," Rory said. "They can use the Force, too. Probably blocked the Jedi from knowing."

Luke sighed. They left me all alone, he wailed inside his head.

He ran a hand through his hair and tried to figure out how the hell Jedi could read people's minds. It had to be linked somehow to what Ben had done to the Stormtrooper on Tatooine.

"I'm never going to get this," he said in frustration a half-hour later.

"Luke." Rory tiredly got up from where she was perched on a table and gripped his shoulders. "You can take them out into the main library and work all day if you want."

Luke's eyes were full of desperation and a heavy dose of fear. "I can?" he said.

"Yes, honey," Rory said, ruffling his hair. "Just until I close this afternoon, but yes."

Luke cuddled the books close to his chest, heedless of potential bites that may occur. "Is there anything else back here you think I should see?"

Rory bit her lip, staring at the box on the shelf.

"No, there's something else," she finally said, gently lifting it and setting it out on the table. "You should open that."

Luke opened the box and carefully lifted out the machine inside. "It's so old," he breathed.

"I don't know how to work it," she admitted softly, folding her hands behind her back. "It should be...." She did some quick mental math. "About thirty years old, for you."

Luke gave the machine an appraising look, then pushed the button on the front. A hologram of a wizened green alien projected from the top and began speaking.

Luke jumped. "Hello."

"That's the original Yoda," Rory whispered."And he can't hear you."

"I know what a holo is," Luke said with a smile, then turned his attention to what Yoda was saying.

When the image faded away, Luke stood there, stunned.

"So."

Ever the great conversationalist, that Rory.

"So...there really was a prophecy about my father."

Luke was having some serious trouble verbalizing.

"I told you that," Rory pointed out, sounding a little hurt.

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]

Re: Period 4 [10/05] -- Special Collections [NFB]