RPlog:Futile Research - Reading 2

Parliamentary District -- Corusca City: Coruscant

An abrupt change from the surrounding cityscape, the Parliamentary District maintains an aura of formality and nobility. Every building is four stories tall and has been constructed with the same architecture in mind. Long, wide steps lead up to the tall front doors of the buildings. Round pillars seem to support the front of each building, each decorated with carved images depicting an eventful history of the former Republic government. The Senate building is wider than the rest, however, and all the buildings in this area seem to be arrayed around it in quiet deference. The main road widens to the north in the direction of a local Star Anchorage. A crossroads depart from this area of the city; the Manarai mountains are just visible to the south, and while a nice residential district develops as one heads west, the classical styling of buildings in the city continues on to the east.

A very young lady, more a girl than a young woman, sits on one of the benches in the Parliament Square, reading a datapad. At her feet rests a boxy droid with its tiny antenna deployed. The girl, Arise, squints at her datapad then looks up from her reading to drink in a facefull of sky. She stretches, then stands up. The droid's antenna rotates toward her motion with a slight start.

Kyrin Clearly not quite human, this young woman appears either to be some kind of avian or some kind of saurian. Her body leans forward on a pair of powerful legs, while a thin tail lashes behind her. A pair of leathery wings arch gracefully from her back, sometimes held half-furled, sometimes completely furled neatly against her back. What skin is available is midnight blue. Her arms end in hands that have only three fingers and a thumb, much like her feet have three toes and a dewclaw on her heel. Her face is thin, slightly streamlined for the air, with pointed ears that are equally streamlined against her hair. Her hair is silver in shade, her eyes a faraway grey. Each strand of her hair is neatly arranged, fluffed back between her ears and braided in a single plait that ends at the small of her back. This Chyleni is wearing something typical for the rarely-seen species, a simple tunic gathered at the sides, built almost like a poncho that takes her wings into account. The tunic is a strong blue in shade, a white belt holding it in place. Perched on either hip is a blaster in its holster, each one painted grey. Her pants are of a matching sturdy grey, slim and tight, and there are actually boots on her feet, in a blue that matches the tunic. Peeking out of the top of her tunic is a blue and silver medallion that looks suspiciously like a phoenix with the New Republic logo on it, dangling from a fine chain under her chin. Finally, over all, she's got a grey cloak, gathered like her tunic to account for her wings, that drapes over her form. The cloak has a fine embroidery on its lower hem that's of a metallic blue thread, a series of symbols that aren't known at all off Chylene. Or maybe it's just a design of some kind.

Flying lightly above the heads of the people passing through the district, Kyrin seems to be enjoying a little time on her own, being quite frivolous if someone would ask her. A smile is on her face as her wings shift and glide automatically, and she's high enough not to hit most pedestrians, low enough not to get clipped by any passing speeders. When her comlink chirrups, she frowns and backwings, alighting neatly near Arise and her droid. She listens to the message on the comlink, a terse message that causes her to nod and sigh softly. "Understood," is the only word she says in response to what she heard before tucking the comlink into a pocket within her robes. Curiously, the non-human peers at the human and droid near her and she smiles in a friendly manner. "Greetings," she says politely, since she basically almost intruded on their personal space. Her voice carries a light accent from somewhere offworld.

While looking up at the sky, Arise's view is marred by the infinite lines of crisscrossing repulsorlift traffic far above. While stretching, she closes her eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth in her muscles, but also blocking out the view overhead. So she is a little surprised to open her eyes and see an avian standing there. "Um, hello," she responds uncertainly, but politely.

Kyrin gives a courteous half-bow that is common to her people. "I do not mean to intrude," she states, the words also accented, but appearing relatively harmless despite the blasters on either hip. She looks around, a bit of a baffled expression appearing on her visage. "I seem to have lost my way. Forgive my manners. I am Kyrin Sh'vani of Chylene."

Harmless is a relative term, even for a planet as "civilized" as Coruscant. The preteen is clearly reacting cautiously, but with a hint of awareness that people could prey upon her fears, if she were to show too much. "I'm Arise," she responds simply. She glances at her datapad, not enough of a glance to actually see the screen. "Chylene. Is that on the Rim?"

Kyrin nods sagely, taking a few steps back to give the girl more space should she need it, folding her wings neatly to her back. "It is quite a distance from the Core," she states. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Arise." There is still a passing worry crossing her face, as she once more looks around. "I will consult a terminal in short order, but my business is not pressing. You are not also lost, are you?" she asks.

"Oh no. Not at all lost," Arise assures. "I know exactly where I am, and so does the B2-M-ER here." One of her feet pivots on its heel so that her toes point toard the droid. Still with anote of caution in her voice, she adds the obligatory, "It's good to meet you too." Then she continues, more politely. "May I ask you a question?"

Kyrin slews her grey eyes over to the droid, her tail flicking back and forth in an almost idle fashion. "You may certainly ask, but I cannot promise an answer, depending on the question..."

With a couple of glances, Arise quickly surveys Kyrin's wings and tail. Her deep brown eyes look inquisitive, but they never linger long enough to be perceived as staring, she hopes. "Your wings. Can all the people on Chylene fly? Really fly, not just glide."

If Kyrin thinks she's being stared at, she doesn't indicate it. "Everyone on my planet can fly," she affirms lightly. "We are hatched with wings, and only the tiniest hatchlings and the most elderly... or the damaged... cannot fly. We live in vast trees," she adds, holding her arms out as if she could possibly indicate the sheer girth of said trees. "It is rare that one of my people sets foot on solid ground unless there is a very good reason for it." She seems pleased with the question. "And might I ask where you come from? I do not mean to intrude, nor do I know all of the taboos and rules of various societies in the Republic... but should there not be an adult with you?"

The description of Kyrin's homeworld fills Arise's expression with a muted awe that is quenched when asked about adults. "I'm from Chandrila, but I live here. There are adults with me," she responds seriously. She turns her head to point a long glancing gaze toward one of the government buildings. "There." Turning back to Kyrin, she changes to her earlier subject, her voice gradually gaining more animation. "I met another avian woman last week. She looked different from you... she didn't have a tail that I can remember, so she was probably a different species. She said her people mostly glide when they get the chance."

Kyrin turns her mildly puzzled look toward the building pointed to, but she's not on the firmest of grounds here. "I have never had the opportunity to go to Chandrila, but I have heard many positive things about your homeworld," she says with her usual polite tones. "I do not often meet others with wings. I am not aware of any of my people employed by the New Republic. That means little, as the Republic is still rather large."

All Arise is trying to do is make some polite conversation without taking too many risks, but she is almost always reminded of danger. With the mention of good things about Chandrila, a pained look shoots across her eyes. "I miss home. I want to go back, but with the Empire there we can't."

Kyrin nods rather sympathetically. "I can understand that," she says rather kindly. "I also miss my home, and I am likewise unable to return, although the Empire is not in the way." Her expression goes a bit distant and melancholy for a few moments before she shrugs it off with a visible effort. "At least you have others of your people here to share stories of home and to acquire support?" she then asks in a quiet tone.

At least Kyrin's mood is sensitive to the depression that Arise is dancing around. The girl lowers her eyes, as if to bury some of her sorrows into the turf. Without quite succeeding, she sighs and responds, "No other people from Chandrila, but there are other kids here from all over the galaxy. All of us have that much in common, I guess." Her eyes take on a piercing, testing quality, looking back up into Kyrin's face and she asks, "If the Empire did attack your home, what would you do?"

Kyrin smiles faintly. "The Empire did not attack our home, but they toyed with my people," she says with a bit of self-satisfaction. "Our best warriors learned to be /very/ particular about which part of an unshielded TIE fighter's cockpit is best for firing at with a blaster. Fortunately, the timing was such that the Empire no longer had the attention for Chylene and they departed without turning my planet into a prototype of Cochran." Her expression shifts into anger, her jaw tightening. "That is the difference between good and evil, Arise," she says in a soft voice. "No matter what a forked tongue may say, it is always the actions which will tell you which side someone may be on."

The woman's confidence could be disarming, but many people on this planet realize that survival is a necessary skill. Arise is driven almost speechless by it, however, in an inspired kind of way. Until the mention of Cochran, and she winces. This reminds her of something, and her wince softens as she screws up a kind of courage. "When did that happen, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kyrin gives the date as to when she left home... only a couple of years ago. "My people have thus far been fortunate... they have nothing of value to bring the Empire's attention in its direction. But if that ever changes, and they turn my world into another Cochran, I may be the last of my kind in the galaxy, if I am not there to defend my home..."

A cloud of worry passes over Arise's brows. Though she is still looking at Kyrin, her mental attention seems to be drifing elsewhere. She nibbles on her lower lip, considering what to say to that. "That was after Valak stopped being Emperor, I think. After the third Death Star was beaten, thank goodness."

Kyrin nods and makes a soft agreeing noise. Her tail no longer flicks back and forth idly. The tip twitches back and forth with mild agitation. "The Death Stars are an abomination, and it is good that they are no more. Although the Empire is still overly fond of proving they still have that sort of firepower and are willing to use it on innocent people..."

In the midst of her tense discomfort about this topic, Arise is carefully watching Kyrin's reactions. "I know. I wish there was more that I could have done. Just because I'm not grown-up yet doesn't mean I'm helpless. But not being able to do anything to help about Cochran made me feel just that. Helpless. I wonder just what would make the Empire's people DO something like that."

"I was at Cochran," Kyrin says, her voice distant, her eyes unfocused as she remembers. And it's pointedly intense, for her wings get into the agitation motions, rustling against her back, not settling in one place. And her tail's twitching gets more pronounced. "And believe me, it is far worse to have been there." Her gaze focuses once more on her young companion. "There was nothing the fleeing ships could do. There was a truce, and the Empire did not keep their end of the bargain. It is my personal belief that the Empire did what they did because they had that sort of power. As a sort of retribution."

Something in Arise's eyes winces sympathetically when Kyrin talks about being at Cochran. Some people were actually there, she has to remember that. Arise presses her lips together in a little frown. Power. Maybe that was the magic word. "But did the people in those ships have to do what the Empire wanted? Why couldn't they have rebelled?"

"That is the evil of things," Kyrin says quietly, closing her eyes and looking away. "There may be those who work for the Empire who feel they have no other choice, and I do not blame them unless they refuse the option when it /does/ present itself. But I have found in my own personal experiences that many in the Empire who commit such acts do so not because they are ordered... but because they /want/ to." Her taloned hands clench at her sides, but stay far away from her blasters. No sense in panicking anyone. "Such an order could only have come down from the top levels. I do not believe a simple gunnery officer who truly felt the urge to rebel would have lasted very long on such a ship, certainly not enough to have become entrusted with such a critical assignment at such a critical juncture. They would have had seasoned personnel that day at Cochran, ones who /chose/ to follow through on such an order. It is a very grave tragedy all around."

Worry and tension finally surrendering to fatigue forces a blinking Arise to sit back down on the bench. This is hard. Trying to figure out how to be helpful is so hard. She shakes her head, thinking like a storm to figure out how to say what burns in her mind. Tired eyes look back up at Kyrin as her elbows rest on her knees. "We have to find out how we can help those people. The people who didn't want to be there. If they're afraid, that's just what the New Republic and the Rebels have had to do all along. Be brave. As bad as it is, it couldn't be worse than they say it was during the Rebellion. Do you remember?"

Kyrin shakes her head. "I do not remember what it was like during the Rebellion era... I was still on Chylene then," she says, making a conscious effort to still both wings and tail, the latter going back to the odd twitch, the former settling on her back once more. "We had little contact with either side other than Imperials using my people for target practice. We are a very insular society, and my people would not have joined the Rebellion if we had been asked. I suppose we were and declined. It is a mark of the Rebellion's intentions that we suffered no reprisals for that rejection."

"My Mum always told me that the Rebellion was about people helping each other up, not letting the Empire keep anybody down. I can't do very much on my own." A flicker of resolve wafts up as Arise realizes she isn't done yet. There is more still she has to say. "The biggest thing I can do, I MUST do, is stay brave, no matter what surprises the Empire has up its sleeve." She sniffs, rocked by urgency but then sighs. Enough. It must be enough. "But I can't do it all on my own. I wish grown-ups would stop being so afraid for kids like me, and be brave with us."

Kyrin looks down at Arise and considers. "Well, I do not often see the hatchlings of society, because of what I do for a living," she says quietly. "However, I will certainly keep you in my thoughts as I continue to do what I have chosen to do with my life, which is to fight injustice. However, even if you believe there is nothing you can do, you are already doing something others do not... you are wanting to live in the light, to be brave, to be free. Believe me, there are many here even on Coruscant, who do not care who is in charge, as long as their taxes do not increase. You are /already/ doing good in that you are /thinking/. That is the first step to freedom. And you can fight injustice by not allowing them to take your innermost thoughts and beliefs away from you."

It's hard to figure out exactly what she's thining sometimes. Arise is at that age where what sounds good to her own thinking often doesn't come out as well as she'd like when she tries to explain it to other people. Her clouded expression clears a bit as it sounds like a bigger piece of what she's thinking, but not everything, may finally be getting through to someone. She picks her elbows up off her knees and sits up straighter, as if that much of a relief has made her imagined load lighter, at least for now. "Thank you. That's the most encouraging thing anyone has said to me for a while." The boxy droid at her feet turns its antenna away from her as it resumes a more survey mode.

Kyrin gives the young human a half bow with splayed wings, another Chyleni courtesy. "I am pleased to have been of service," she says, and she certainly sounds it, her grey eyes no longer clouded with worry or anything other than mild pleasure. She looks around their small spot in the sprawling capital and then asks, "What are your thoughts on this world around us? I am trying to judge its pulse or temper, but as you have a view different than most, perhaps you could enlighten me as to how you perceive things."

Still sitting on a bench near the cluster of government buildings with a boxy droid at her feet, the young girl Arise takes a moment where her face scrunches up as she thinks of how to respond to Kyrin's question. "I see people who are very busy with carrying out this war, and people who are very busy trying ot pretend it doesn't affect them." She glances at her datapd reading, forgotten until now. "I just hope there are enough people whao are trying to end this war and make sure it never starts again, so that MY kids don't have to deal with it."

"As I will have no hatchlings of my own," Kyrin says softly, "I am mindful of the young of others. Until today, I had no living examples upon which to base my work." Her wings flick once to shoo away a bug that was getting on her nerves. "However, if you will allow, I will take your words to heart and continue my chose work with the thought of ensuring such a future for you and your hatchlings, when it is your time to have your own." Such a weird thing to say, but at least it's honest and genuine to the ear. "I tire of war," she adds, still in her low tones. "I prefer peace, but am willing to fight so that others may have it." Both wings mirror her shoulders in that shrugging motion.

Now this increasing talk about hatchlings is starting to make Arise feel self-conscious. She nibbles gently but nervously at her lower lip. "When you say you have no young on which to base your work, do you mean when you're trying to figure out the 'pulse' of the world, or do you mean your work in fighting injustoce? Or something else?"

The Chyleni woman once more looks away with a frown. "I meant something else entirely. As there are very few of my people off Chylene, and I am unlikely to return... and the fact my life is entwined with the life of someone not of my species," she says, not really censoring her words. Apparently this is how the Chyleni speak of such things, without little shame or embarrassment. "Let us merely state that it would be extremely unlikely that I would have hatchlings of my own. I do not preclude the option of adoption... there are many orphans left by this neverending war... but I would need to discuss that with my mate someday when it would be safe for us to make that choice."

With chagrin, Arise realizes that Kyrin is embarrased. "I'm sorry. I was asking about the work you mentioned. Not any young. That's none of my business." She has to stop confusing people! Her datapad screen flicks off into power-saving mode, prompting Arise to look up and notice the setting sun with some surprise. "I should go soon. But I hope we meet again. It's nice to talk to people who care about what I have to say."

Kyrin actually chuckles. "It will make for a most interesting report to my superiors," she says with a smile. "I would be quite pleased to continue our conversations, but I fear my time is not my own... However, I will think on what you have told me and it will certainly prove useful. I prefer to fight for /people/, not just a series of anonymous faceless people. So please keep yourself safe, young Arise, and may we meet again soon." She gives a full Chyleni bow this time, with fully-splayed wings and tail, before straightening and flapping her wings, leaping up into the sky and resuming her original course, her wings easily keeping her aloft above the pedestrians once more.

When the woman takes to the sky, Arise barely has time to stand and nod in a lame farewell kind of greeting. But then she sighs and starts putting her datapad away in the schoolbag she carries with her. "Come on, B2-M," she says. "Let's go inside." The droid's antenna perks up non-verbally and it follows Arise toward the steps of the government complex.