Ask Threshing Table

[Shaw Amaris]

Another day, another planet. The Jedi Order was going to turn Shaw into a well traveled teenager. From snow covered worlds in the expansion regions to unknown jungles to forests in the outer rim, Shaw had seen more of the galaxy in the span of a few short months than he had in his entire life on Coruscant. "What's the name of this planet again?" the teenager asked his companion, an older padawan by the name of Alec. Alec was three years older than Shaw and a lot more experience. Something he hadn't let Shaw forget since meeting.

"Mindor," the titian haired padawan replied, stuffing some more foodstuffs into the pack Shaw would carry once the shuttle landed. They stood by the storage lockers at the rear of the ship. Now that they were close Alec would begin to fill Shaw in. "Knight Elidan has requested backup. He'll meet us at the waypoint."

"Backup? I'm backup?" Shaw perked up, feeling a little flattered that he would be considered backup.

Alec shook his head, a sower expression settling on his features. "Don't flatter yourself. It was supposed to be us," he said, referring to himself and the Jedi pilot, "But we've been called elsewhere. So yes, you're—backup. For lack of a better word."

Shaw didn't take the bait. Maybe he wasn't backup, but he was the backup's backup. That had to count for something. "So what's going on?"

"Villages have been disappearing."

"Disappearing? Like the people just suddenly aren't there?" Sounded spooky.

Alec laughed. "No. I mean villages have been disappearing. Entire villages. Villagers, buildings, livestock, everything." Okay that sounded even spookier. "The village is there one day, gone the next. Nothing left but a gaping hole in the ground. Locals have been calling it a natural disaster, but Knight Elidan says he isn't so sure." Shaw looked over at Alec to see if the older padawan was just trying to freak him out or if he was really telling the truth. Alec just zipped up the pack and tossed it to Shaw. "We're here."

Shaw descended the boarding ramp, stepping off the durasteel into grass that brushed against his waist. This was the waypoint? A field in the middle of nowhere? Literally nowhere. Shaw couldn't see anything but grass for miles. He had never seen anything so flat in his entire life. He looked over his shoulder at Alec, who gestured toward the cockpit and said, "Love to stick around and chat, but we gotta go. Elidan should be along soon to pick you up."

That probably wasn't very Jedi-y, but nothing Alec had done so far had struck Shaw as very Jedi-y. With that, Shaw was left standing alone in the field with nothing more than the pack slung over his shoulder and his newly acquired training lightsaber. Now he waited. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Of all the strange things that he saw or read about, villages disappearing completely was something that Elidan never knew was possible. He could even hear his Master saying that he needed to have a more open mind, because the Galaxy had many surprises that weren’t in a book or that someone would never see even with the long lifetime of a half-Annfyn.

It would make him roll his eyes, while silently agreeing with him. How he missed his Master, so many things happened since he was a Padawan. How many friends died or simply disappeared. Even the Order changed, it was now divided with the rise of the Jedi crusaders.

Elidan had little interest in going to war, it wasn’t for him. He would never join the crusaders. However, he also couldn’t stand idle while people were suffering across the Galaxy. The lack of the leadership in the Order made it difficult for them to organize any force that could help when disasters striked. So the half-Annfyn decided to take matters into his own hands and travel around helping in any way that he can.

This was how he got the case of the disappearing villages. It was the most disturbing one so far. During the day, the houses and people were there. After the night, a large hole had been opened and it sank completely underneath the ground, only leaving a large hole. People said that it was some type of instability in the underground of the planet, some type of bizarre natural event. The Knight wasn’t so sure if it was the case.

Since this mission seemed complex, Elidan decided to ask for support. He believed that a Padawan would be enough to help there, besides being a good opportunity for him to teach some of the ones that decided to remain in the Order rather than join the Crusade. His partner for the day was going to arrive soon and the half-Annfyn was rushing to meet him at the rendezvous point. Unfortunately, he was a bit lost because all the fields of this planet were similar to each other.

He arrived a bit later, when Padawan Shaw Amaris was already waiting there. Elidan immediately frowned, wondering why someone had left the child here alone. The half-Annfyn would complain about it with the Order, it was completely unacceptable.

“Hi! You must be Shaw. I’m Knight Elidan.” the half-Annfyn signed to the Padawan, while the droid on his belt translated his signs. He had no idea if the boy could understand what he meant and he didn't use the datapad anymore since he realized that writing what he wanted to say was humiliating. “Did you have a good trip? Who brought you here?” he smiled at the young Jedi, expecting an answer so he could add a name to his complaint.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw just stood there for a while staring out across the expanse of grasslands. Then he would turn and stare in another direction. And then another. Until he really couldn't tell which direction he had originally been facing because they all looked the same. When he'd gotten tired of standing around in place he had laid down, but the grass kept tickling his face. So he just stood there, pulling out his dataphone to pass the time with some beats. He didn't have any signal out here, so he just had to play some music he already had downloaded. It helped to pass the time as he munched on some chewsticks and waited for any sign of the Jedi Knight that he was supposed to be meeting here.

Shaw wasn't sure what he was looking for until he saw it. Well he heard it first. A subtle hum. A jumpspeeder in the distance steered by a single rider, waist length strands of grass parting around the repulsorcraft as it sped toward Shaw. The teenager grinned when he saw it. Bro looked like Knuckles the way he was racing across the fields with that red hair blowing in the wind! Not gonna lie it looked pretty cool.

"Duuude! How fast were you goin'?" Shaw asked with a big grin as soon as the rider pulled up and came to a stop. Introductions were a second thought. "Shaw," he replied, eyes bouncing between the knight's hands and the small droid attached to his belt. It took Shaw a few seconds to put everything together. "Oh bro! Sorry, I don't know sign." Good thing the droid was there to interpret. "Not bad. Glad to be off the shuttle," he admitted. Seemed like he was stuck in transports a lot lately.

As for the padawan that had dropped him off. Shaw realized that Alec and the pilot probably weren't supposed to dump him in the middle of this field until Knight Elidan had arrived. But was Shaw a snitch? No. Shaw was no snitch. Sure, he didn't like Alec. But Shaw was the kinda guy that liked to deal with that kinda stuff himself. So he scratched the back of his head and looked confused, like he couldn't remember. "Uhhh just some guy." Not technically a lie, right? This had always worked on his teachers back on Coruscant.

Then he approached the speeder, mind already on other matters way more exciting. "Thanks for picking me up. Think I could drive??" Did Shaw have any experience driving? No. But did it look like fun? Oh yeah. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan tilted his head when Shaw asked how fast he was going. Did he really drive that fast? The half-Annfyn thought that it was funny to think that he was becoming a speed demon, since he was so afraid of piloting when he was a Padawan. He really changed since that time, becoming more confident.

However, his selective mutism had remained the same.

And it remained a problem, because Shaw didn’t know what his signs meant. It wasn’t a surprise, since barely any Padawan seemed to know this type of language. The numbers of Knights that could understand it weren’t high either. Elidan really thought that the order needed to have classes of it. How could they want to be inclusive and help everyone if they had few members capable of understanding such an important language?

“I can teach you later.” Elidan offered. He had taught sign language to other Jedi in the past, teaching it to the Padawan wasn’t going to be a problem. It would even be nice, because the half-Annfyn loved teaching others.

The change of Shaw’s mood when asked about the person that left him here alone made Elidan raise an eyebrow. He knew very well that the other was hiding this information to protect the responsible. After all, the half-Annfyn had done something similar in the past to protect a friend. “Okay.” he wasn’t going to pressure the boy because of it. He could still discover it eventually.

He guided the Padawan toward the speeder, tilting his head when Shaw asked to pilot it. Elidan looked at him with analytical eyes, remembering that he had the boy’s age when he had piloted his first speeder. “Yes, you can. However, you’ll not accelerate more than 50km.” he signed, before taking the seat next to the pilot. “We need to reach a village in the north. The GPS will point to the location.”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw perked up at that. "For real?" Despite his wild streak and his predilection for accidents and getting into trouble, Shaw could be pretty ambitious when he wanted to be. He liked learning new skills, particularly when it was hands on stuff. Stuff he was interested in. Sitting in a stuffy library pouring through old tomes that had a thick layer of dust on them for a reason or filling out homework for hours on end? Nah. That really, really wasn't his thing. He liked learning through hands on experience. Sign language was probably just about the most hands on learning experience out there Shaw imagined.

It was wishful thinking more than anything, asking Elidan if he could drive the speeder bike. When Elidan actually said yes, Shaw had to do a double take. At first he thought maybe the knight was pulling his leg. "Wait. Seriously? You're actually gonna let me drive?" Then he saw that he really was serious. He was going to let Shaw drive.

"Dude! You're the best!" Then he thought better of calling a knight 'dude,' even though he had just called him dude a few minutes before. Something about taking a chance on Shaw driving had garnered newfound respect and admiration. "I mean dude knight—I mean, sir!" Now Shaw was just making a fool of himself in his excitement.

He laughed at himself, throwing his backpack over the back of the bike and shaking Elidan's hand. "What I mean to say is thanks. I've always wanted to drive one of these things." After that Shaw didn't waste another second sliding into the driver's seat and familiarizing himself with the controls. "I'mma be real with you," he said, running his fingers over the handles. "I've never driven one of these things before. Mind running over the basics?" @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Yes. It wasn’t very difficult.” Elidan smiled at Shaw’s excitement. It wasn’t common to find other Jedi, even more Padawans, that were much interested in learning sign language. “We can start it after the mission. I can give you a ride back to the Jedi Temple.” he wasn’t going to allow the boy to return with whoever had dropped him in the middle of nowhere alone.

Not even a chance of it happening.

The half-Annfyn really didn’t expect Shaw to have such a reaction when he agreed to allow the Padawan to drive the speeder. The boy’s excitement to learn sign language had been nothing compared to what he was feeling right now. “Well, yes. I think that an open and empty place like this one is good for practice.”

Elidan's cheeks got pink, while using his artificial hand to scratch the back of his head. No one ever said that he was the best. To be honest, he always considered himself as average. “I’m not that good.” some things never change, like the fact that he was still terrible with compliments. “You can call me simply as Elidan.”

He nearly regretted having given permission to Shaw when the Padawan revealed that he drove a speeder before. “Okay. I’ll teach this to you.” then he explained everything that the boy would need to know, from how to start the vehicle to how to properly stop without having it die. “The best way of learning is through practice. Remember to maintain the speed at 50 km/h by looking there.” he pointed at the tiny monitor.

“Are you ready?”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"You're actually letting me drive this," Shaw said, still grinning from ear to ear as he ran a hand over the smooth metal frame, "So in my book? Yeah, that makes you the best." The fact that Elidan wanted to be on a first name basis with a padawan was pretty cool too. It just sort of got overshadowed at the moment by getting to drive an actual speeder bike, but it was something Shaw would appreciate in the long run. Elidan was a pretty chill guy.

After that Shaw got focused, listening to Elidan explain how to work the controls and how to read the instrument panel and its indicators for boost, heat, coolant, etc. All that good stuff. It was a lot of information to process at once but Shaw did his best. This was something he was actually really interested in. "Aight. I think I've got it," he said at the end of the knight's directions. But just to make sure, "So throttles control the speed, foot pegs control the direction?" In laymen's terms anyway.

Shaw's hands curled around the handlebars as he leaned forward in the driver's seat, feet positioned on the foot pegs toward the rear or the speeder. "Ready!" he said, pushing the throttle in as soon as soon as he got the okay. He had never felt more ready in his life. He had been waiting for this moment since he was a little kid!

Seconds later they were flying across the open fields of Mindor, the teenager intent on reaching that 50 km as quickly as possible. Shaw never even hesitated. Never even second guessed himself as they sped along. Something like instinct or raw natural talent kicked in, and it was like his hands knew what to do before he even thought about it.

It was an incredible feeling. Unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He felt free. Totally in control. Like he could do anything. He could feel the hum of the repulsorcraft engine beneath him, feel the wind on his face and the heat of the midday sun. The tall grass as it brushed against his legs, parting at his every whim as he steered the bike.

Riding a speeder bike for the first time had been fun, but driving one was beyond thrilling. A smile crossed his lips when he thought of Krel. What would he think if he could see him now? Instead of falling off of the back of speeder bikes he was driving one, and he was driving it really, really well. Shaw had just discovered one of those new hobbies he and Myla had been talking about. More than a hobby. A passion.

He grinned back at Elidan. "Sure I can't go any faster?" he asked. He was tempted to just go full throttle, but he wouldn't betray the trust Elidan had put in him. He would do whatever the knight said. @LouJoVi

dice roll 18/20

 

[Elidan]

Being called the best again made Elidan’s cheeks become pink again. He didn’t even know what to sign to the Padawan, so he only smiled nervously. The half-Annfyn really needed to learn how to deal with compliments, being left without reaction all the time was annoying. It couldn’t be so difficult to simply formulate a thank you.

Elidan nodded while Shaw reviewed the steps to properly drive the speeder bike. “Yes, that is right. You also need to check the rearview mirrors, just in case of having a herd of animals coming behind us.” only because they were in a mostly empty plain, it didn’t mean that the half-Annfyn was going to allow the Padawan to ignore safety measures.

After all, a herd of cattle could still appear. The entire planet was filled with farms.

The half-Annfyn nodded when Shaw said that he was ready, thus giving permission for the Padawan to start driving. If the boy didn’t tell him that he never had piloted before, Elidan would never have believed. The human was piloting perfectly! It looked as if he had done it his whole life!

“You are doing it perfectly!” his droid said out loud. Even if he understood, Shaw would not be able to see his signs while driving. “Even if you are piloting so well, it’s still your first time doing it. When you have more practice, you can go to high speeds.” besides, the village was relatively close. This speed would be enough for them to reach there soon enough.

Indeed, soon they were able to see the buildings of the village appearing on the horizon. It was the largest settlement in the area, nearly the size of a town. It was also larger than the ones that had disappeared. “You can park near that building with a green roof. It’s the public library. I’ll explain what I think that could be happening here.”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

After Elidan mentioned checking the rearview mirrors for animals, Shaw was almost hoping he would see a herd of wild beasts gaining on them. Riding side by side Mindor's native species, amongst them as if one of them, that would have been awesome. But it wasn't meant to be as the farming settlement Elidan had spoken of came into view. Ah, well. It was probably for the best anyway, even if Shaw was disappointed to be sliding off the speeder bike. Hopefully there would be more chances to ride in the future. Maybe one day he would even own his own bike.

The two Jedi caught the eye of several of the locals as they approached the local library. It was a farming community, most of them dressed in overhauls and ripped jeans and scuffed up boots. Shaw felt pretty out of place, but none of them seemed unfriendly. Just... curious perhaps. A couple of them nodded at Elidan like they knew him or had seen him in passing. The others just stared a hole through the Jedi, chewing on their tobacco like they had all the time in the word to stand there and watch the newcomers.

Inside the library there weren't so many watchful eyes on them. Maybe just two. "Knight Elidan!" a friendly, accent heavy voice from behind the serc desk greeted them. "Shh!" Shaw blinked. Was... was she shushing herself? "Oh, and you brought a friend this time I see!" The librarian came out from behind the desk. She was a tall, elderly chagrian with two incredibly thick fleshy growths growing out from the sides of her face. Shaw hardly registered that she had taken his hand and was shaking it vigorously. "Always happy to have new friends of the library!"

Then she looked at Elidan. "Didn't expect you back so soon!" Her face suggested that she was glad he hadn't wasted any time. "Folks are really getting worried 'round here. You just don't know how it helps a body to sleep at night knowing the Jedi are here to help us! Just ain't right what's been happening. Towns disappearing like that." She shivered a little. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan jumped out of the speeder bike and waited for Shaw to do the same. This farming settlement was considered the largest in Mindor, but was far smaller than many towns in other planets. The people here didn’t have many visitors here and the sight of the two Jedi walking down the street was received with curiosity by most, with exception of the ones that already interacted with the half-Annfyn and were aware of who he was.

Those would always greet him when he passed next to them and Elidan would wave back. They were aware that he would not talk to them because of his selective mutism. However, it didn’t stop them from being friendly with the half-Annfyn, who happily acted the same way with them.

“The people from here are nice. They only are afraid because of what had happened with the other villages.” Elidan explained, when he noticed that Shaw was looking at the farmers. “Some of them lost relatives when the villages disappeared.” it must be terrible to go to sleep one night and wake up with the fact that part of their family vanished in thin air. They didn’t even know if they were still alive.

When they entered the library, the two Jedi were greeted by the librarian. She was an elderly Chagrian named Muriel Maleda. Elidan immediately smiled when he saw that the woman had shushed herself. She was nice, like a grandmother. Or at least it was what the half-Annfyn thought that a grandmother would look like. He had zero experience with relatives.

He was an orphan, after all.

“Hi, Muriel! This is Shaw.” Elidan gestured for the Padawan to present himself. “I know that you are afraid, but we are going to help.” he reassured her, but not even the Knight was sure about what was happening. He had a theory, but there wasn’t any concrete fact that could confirm it.

“We are going to visit the session about the fauna of Mindor.” Tete explained what he was signing, while Elidan guided the Padawan toward a particular set of bookshelves. “I had been studying what could be causing these events and I believe that there is only one logical explanation.”

“Giant worms.”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Phew. Shaw had been worried for a second there that the townspeople were sizing them up to boil them and eat them or something. It was always some little peaceful, unassuming town like this in holodrama horror films that was hiding a terrible secret and would gang up on any newcomers that had the misfortune to wander into town. Good to know this was just a normal little town. Well as normal as any town can be when threatened with the possibility of disappearing in a hole overnight.

"I left all your stuff out," Muriel said in a hushed voice, adding as Elidan began to lead Shaw away from the front desk, "In your usual spot of course!"

The Jedi wound their way through the bookshelves toward the back of the library. Elidan seemed to know the place like the back of his hand, and Shaw had to wonder just how much time the knight had been spending in the library. As soon as they reached Elidan's "usual spot"—a large study table at the back of the library directly under a window—he would see just how much time Elidan had spent pouring over books and local records. The answer was a lot.

There were books and loose papers scattered across the large study table. It completely covered the surface. Shaw thanked his lucky stars that he had arrived when he had and missed this particular leg of the adventure. Hours pouring over old books and local history? No thanks.

"Did you say a giant worm?" Shaw asked, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head. "Wait. Giant worms?" As in more than one? That couldn't be good. The teenager picked up a book off the table at random and flipped through it, landing on a page with a nasty looking creature that gave him the willies. His eyes lingered briefly before snapping the book shut and focusing on Elidan. "So when you say giant. Just how giant we talking?" @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Thank you, Muriel!” Elidan signed to the Chagrian, before guiding Shaw toward the place where he had been working in the past few days. The table here was filled with all books that the half-Annfyn could find about the fauna and geology of Mimbar. Like the local authorities, he had thought at first that it had been some type of geological phenomena.

However, when he had investigated the sites of the disappearances, the Annfyn noticed how the holes had been dug out too perfectly to be the collapse of tunnels. It could only be excavated by something alive. Due to that, Elidan changed his focus from geology to the fauna from the planet.

“Then, I found it.” Elidan finished his explanation of how he reached this hypothesis, showing the Padawan the figure of the animal in one of the books. “They are pretty big, reaching 400 feet long.” he showed the comparison of the creature and a person. “However, there is something that I still don’t understand.”

He removed another book from the pile, this one had a green cover and some animals printed there. Elidan pulled one of the many colorful post sticks that were being used to mark the pages, opening in the page that he wanted. “According to that, these giant worms eat minerals deep underground. The digestion of their food turns into soil that is expelled by them. Mimbar is a fertile planet because of it.”

“So, I have no idea why they are digging entire villages down.” Elidan placed the book back on the table, turning to Shaw with an uncertain look. “Something is happening down here and we’ll need to discover it. How do you feel about going down one of these holes with me?”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw took the book from Elidan, listening to the knight's droid translate his findings as Shaw stared down at the creature in the book. It was so large that it was sketched across two whole pages. "Four hundred feet?" the teenager spluttered, tearing his eyes away from the hideous creature in the picture just long enough to check and see if Elidan was serious. Unfortunately he was. "Isn't that like... bigger than a huttball field?"

Begrudgingly Shaw could admit to himself that it made sense. If this thing or these things were swallowing up entire villages overnight like Elidan hypothesized they were it stood to reason that they had to be pretty big. "Maybe they're not getting the minerals they need underground anymore?" Shaw suggested, really just pulling ideas out of the air. All he knew about the situation was what Elidan had told him, so it would be wise to take his ideas with a grain of salt. Although Elidan probably already knew that. "So they're forced to come aboveground to eat their fill."

He set the book back down but left it open to the page with the giant worms. "If that's the case, I guess the question would be—what's zapping the minerals underground?"

Standing around in the comfort of a library bouncing ideas off of each other was one thing. Going down into a gaping hole to track down one of those worms? That was another. But it wasn't like Shaw had a better idea, and it wasn't like he was the one making the decisions around here either. He was just a padawan. Elidan was the knight, and he was in charge.

Shaw put on his best brave face and leaned forward, answering the question with, "That's... why I'm here." To chase after giant worms underground. He just hadn't known that was why he was here until this moment. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Yes! Isn’t it amazing?” Elidan gestured excitedly, giving some trouble for Tete to properly translate what he wanted to say. “It’s so rare for an invertebrate to grow that size and still be fast. I mean, these worms can dig holes in a matter of seconds, and it is through solid rocks!” the half-Annfyn was completely oblivious to Shaw’s apprehension, being more interested in reading the book with the worm’s description. He was amazed with his finding.

After all, he always was a bookworm.

Pun intended.

The half-Annfyn nodded in agreement to Shaw’s words. He had already thought about these possibilities, but it was good to see the Padawan bringing them up. It showed that he was clever and didn’t wait for the Knight to think everything by himself. “Exactly. Something can be affecting their reservoirs down there, making them see more superficial ones.”

When he heard Shaw agree to going down the holes, a large smile appeared on his lips. However, this time Elidan noticed that the Padawan was nervous. It was comprehensible, they were going to the den of a giant monster. Even if the half-Annfyn preferred to call them as animals. “Alright. We can pick the speeder bike and go to the place of the most recent sinking. There’ll be a small shuttle that will let us go down there.”

“But, we are going to do it tomorrow. You are probably tired from the trip, why don’t you go explore the village and we meet in the cantina for dinner? I need to finish my homework for my nursing and healthcare course.” he gestured with his gloved mechanical hand to another pile of books, away from the ones that he was showing to Shaw. Elidan could be a trained Jedi Healer, but he wanted to add the knowledge of non-Force nursing to his experiences. “Unless you want to help me with that?”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw couldn't hide the relief that spread across his face when Elidan said that they wouldn't be descending into the depths of Mindor hot on the trail of a giant worm until morning. Or would it be hot on the slime of a giant worm? Anyway, at least Shaw had some time to kill first, to get himself psyched up for what lie ahead. Or rather what writhed ahead. He got goosebumps just thinking about it. Shaw had never even seen a regular sized worm in person, let alone a massive one. Coruscant was an ecumenopolis, so there wasn't much opportunity for a worm to survive.

Elidan already seemed pretty psyched up. Excited. Like he was chomping at the bit to get started. Shaw grinned and shook his head. At least one of them was excited about this!

The suggestion of homework didn't really appeal to Shaw. He had enough of his own homework piling up back in his dorm room at the temple, so he took Elidan up on his suggestion to explore. Outside Shaw would take a deep breath. He hadn't realized how musty the library had been. More people had gathered outside on the sidewalks, watching and waiting for Elidan to emerge. These people really were putting all their hope in the Jedi, weren't they? No pressure then.

It only took the padawan a couple hours to explore the little town and walk each of its dust covered streets, and that was going at a pretty casual place. It was a nice town all in all. There was just nothing to do, especially since everyone in town was worried sick. Staying indoors or going about their daily routines like drones, trying to pretend that everything was normal. Some of them even came up to ask if Elidan had 'solved it' yet. Shaw didn't know what the knight wanted the general public to know or not know, so he just kept his mouth shut and played dumb.

Shaw was wandering back the way he had come, toward the cantina to meet up with Elidan for dinner when the ground beneath his feet began to shake. It was abrupt, violent. Shaw was forced to grab hold of a support beam to keep himself upright. The buildings up and down the street began to tremble, and several people cried out. If Elidan was still in the library books would begin to tumble from their shelves, and the table he was working at would vibrate, scattering papers. The librarian Muriel would have the misfortune of being on a rolling ladder at the time and would fall to the floor with a thud.

Then, just as suddenly as it had began, the earthquake would stop. Everything was still. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

The fact that Shaw didn’t want to help with his homework was no surprise for Elidan. In fact, he had already expected it. No Padawan, even the most studious, would want to help someone else do their homework. It was enough that they already had their own, to accept more for free was madness.

Elidan watched the Padawan leave the library with an amused smile. He thought that Shaw was a good kid, reminding the Knight from a friend that he had a long time ago, when he was still a Padawan. Well, now it wasn’t time for a trip through his memories. He had homework to do.

It was already close to diner time when Elidan finally finished his homework. Now he would only need to send it to evaluation. The only annoying part is to wait for the grade, since he was sending it within four weeks of advance. The Jedi rose from his seat, sighing deeply. It ended up taking longer than he had expected and now he would need to rush to find Shaw in the cantina.

The half-Annfyn had barely crossed the door of the library when the entire village started to shake. It was strong, making the buildings shake. People screamed in panic, rushing in all directions. Some of them where even falling. When they saw him, Elidan was surrounded by a crowd. They expected him to do something, to save them from having the same fate as the others.

He took a deep breath. It wasn’t the first time that he dealt with a panicking crowd.

“Talk loud.” the Knight signed to Tete, who immediately increased their volume to maximum. “Please, you need to stay calm and leave the village!” the voice of the droid came out loud, allowing the crowd around him to understand what he was signing. “Stay far away from it and wait in safety.” he avoided mentioning the possibility of the place sinking in the ground.

These people don’t need to think about it at the moment.

Suddenly, the tremor stopped and the people calmed down a bit. “Please! For your safety, still leave the village. The earthquake can happen again. Pick the emergency bags that I asked you all to make days ago and leave. You’ll be safer in the fields for now.” Elidan looked around, feeling relieved when the villagers ran to their homes.

Once the last person left to prepare to leave, Elidan rushed after Shaw. The half-Annfyn hoped that he would be fine.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

The tremors might have stopped but the panic spreading through the city streets was almost palpable. Shaw could see it on the faces of every local that hurried past him, on their way home or to their business to close up shop or to the village school to pick up their kids. Some of them were already loading up into speeders, bags slung over their shoulders as they got out of dodge as fast as they could.

Shaw was still a little dizzy, narrowly avoiding a racing speeder full of humans as they raced out of town as he crossed the dirt street toward the library. The speed limit no longer existed. Not in this town. Not today. The crowd that had surrounded Elidan during the earthquake had dispersed by the time Shaw reached him.

"What was that?" he asked the knight. More an opening line than a real question. His real question was, "An earthquake?" Shaw had never experienced one before. Only heard about them.

Muriel emerged from the library, supported by two teenage patrons that had been inside playing video games. "This is it!" she cried. "The end is here! The end of Mindor! The end! The end I tell you!" She must have hit her head when she fell from the ladder. One of the teenagers mouthed, "Not to worry" to Elidan and helped her down the street.

Behind them a chagrian family was loading all the belongings they possibly could into an old beat up speeder. "But I don't wanna go!" the little boy cried, tears running down his cheeks as he dabbed at his eyes. His mother shushed him, pulling him into her arms and into the waiting speeder. A few seconds later they were gone, kicking up dust in their wake.

"Where will they all go?" Shaw asked Elidan. Hopefully once this worm problem got sorted out life would go back to normal for these people. Maybe that was why Elidan had suggested Shaw go exploring in the first place. To get him invested. To let him see that the locals were really counting on the Jedi to fix this. These knights always had something up their sleeve, didn't they? Well it had worked. Shaw did feel more motivated, if still a little scared, to delve into the depths on Mindor.

"Should I gather some supplies?" he asked Elidan, ready to take action. Looked like they would be leaving sooner than expected. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan found Shaw in the street near the cantina. The boy looked scared and the half-Annfyn felt sympathy for him. Facing an earthquake wasn’t something easy. However, as Jedi, the boy would need to learn how to remain calm in moments like this one. They needed to remain at peace, because the civilians would look at them expecting exactly that.

Only by maintaining the calm with themselves, they would be able to help others.

“It was one of the worms. They are moving closer.” Elidan signed, after having verified if Shaw was fine. At this moment, Muriel came out of the library screaming that it was the end. A teenager, her grandnephew if the half-Annfyn remembered correctly, helped her go home. She was going to be safe now.

Around them, people were preparing to leave. It was a sad sight, they were leaving all that they had behind. However, it would be worse if they all remained and died. “I need to tell you something, Shaw. Sorry if you've heard something like that before, but perhaps this lesson is worth being repeated.”

Elidan crouched next to the boy, so only could hear what the droid would translate. “This situation can make you afraid or nervous. It’s normal, even Jedi are sentient beings. We have emotions. However, we need to control it and stay calm.” he gestured to the people around them. “They need our help and to do it we need to stay calm. If you panic, it would be even worse for them, because they want to look at you and see hope. To be a Jedi is be selfless. With time, you’ll understand it better.”

The Knight rose from where he was kneeling and guided Shaw back toward the hostel where he had been staying. The owner and his family were preparing to leave. “They are going to stay as far away from the village as possible. I hope that when things are solved, they’ll come back to their lives.”

“I have two emergency bags in my room. It 's number 11. I made a second when I was informed that you were coming. Go there and pick them.” he pointed at the building. “I’ll help this family gather their things while you are up here. Once you are done, we going to the speeder bike.”

“We’ll go underground tonight.”

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Shaw figured. Of course he couldn't experience just a normal old run of the mill earthquake his first go around. It had to be a worm induced earthquake. That just sounded gross let alone imagining it.

The little speech Elidan gave Shaw, paired with everything he had witnessed in the village over the course of the last few hours, was quite rousing. Elidan told him that there was no shame in the emotions he might have felt, but that he did need to control them. That there were people counting on them. Shaw got the idea that Elidan was the kind of guy that liked to plan everything out in advance, not the make it up as you go along type. Shaw happened to be the latter. Elidan wanted to make sure that he could count on Shaw when the chips were down.

Shaw nodded along. He would do his best not to let the Jedi Knight down. "I understand."

Several hours later, speeder bike parked a good distance back, the two Jedi stood at the site of the last incident. And of course by 'incident' they meant the last place the ground had opened up and swallowed an entire village. It was a massive hole. Shaw had never seen anything like it.

"Do you think it has teeth?" Shaw asked. He peered over the edge and into the darkness below. "I bet it has teeth."

There was nowhere to go but down now. @LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Good.” Elidan smiled, before allowing Shaw to go collect their bags. The Knight turned to help the family. They were the owners of the hostel and had been trying to get what they were going to need inside their small vehicle. He had become friends with them shortly after arriving in the village and had learned how they struggled to buy this place. The Knight sighed, hoping that there would be a place for them to return the next morning.

When they arrived at the site of the last accident, the two Jedi were welcomed by a terrible sight. Where once standed a village, with families living their lives happily, now only was a massive hole. It was a despairing sight, because it showed the power of the worms. However, the half-Annfyn stayed calm. He had to, for Shaw’s sake and that of all the people that expected him to solve this problem.

Elidan grabbed his bag and walked toward the hovercraft that would bring them down the hole. It was closed and had four seats, two in the front and two in the back. He left his stuff in the back, before retrieving two headlamp flashlights. Then, he turned to look at Shaw. The Padawan was staring at the darkness of the hole.

“Yes. It has.” he signed, not wanting to lie to Shaw. Trying to cover the truth would only make the situation worse when they finally see the creatures. “But they don’t eat people, only the minerals. I believed that the villagers collapsed when they were trying to eat its foundations.” he gave one of the headlamps to the boy, before putting one on his own head.

“We need to go now.” he gestured for Shaw to approach the hovercraft. Elidan sat in the pilot seat, this time he would do it. Once the Padawan was next to him, the half-Annfyn took a deep breath. “Here we go.” the vehicle started to move, bringing them into the darkness.

@throwitintothefire