SANA STARROS:

I said, she’s right.

APHRA (narration):

Oh, who’s that smoky voice? Mmm, sounds like Corellian whiskey, burning down your throat.

That, dear listener, is Sana Starros. And I kind of wish I’d never met her.

But in the moment…I was temporarily dazzled. She always looked so… neat. So put together. Clothes perfectly pressed, never a wrinkle on her. Her dark-brown skin was luminous, her gaze was piercing, and her flowing, perfectly styled mane of midnight tresses was positively regal.

In other words, she was my total opposite. I was always chaos, a mess —that day, my clothes and my hair and…well, my everything were disheveled and rumpled, thanks to the hasty way I’d exited my three-way lovers’ quarrel.

I’m not sure how I’d never noticed her before—perhaps it was because she didn’t speak up that often in class. And she certainly never disrupted class. She was stoic and serious, a model pupil. But when she finally spoke that day…whoo, boy. That voice.

Also, she was taking my side, which is one of the most attractive qualities a human being can possess.

SAVA TOOB-NIX:

Sana Starros! Explain yourself!

SANA STARROS:

There’s research in the logs of the old Maseonna Collective—the archaeological think tank?—showing that the library wasn’t completely destroyed, and positing that the artifacts still exist. You’d just have to really dig to find them.

APHRA:

Yeah, like I said…

SANA STARROS:

And it would be an unsanctioned expedition. But not impossible.

SAVA TOOB-NIX:

Well, I…I…

SANA STARROS:

I’m just saying, sir. The research that these artifacts survived exists in logs that can be found on this very campus—it’s just a little obscure.

APHRA:

Not so obscure that a sava should be totally ignorant of it—

SANA STARROS:

I’m sure Sava Toob-Nix just hasn’t gotten around to reading these particular logs yet—he is very busy with his many important duties.

APHRA:

Yeah, so important…giving the same lecture over and over again…

SANA STARROS:

And properly disciplining students. When they cause too many… disruptions.

APHRA:

[grudging]

Um, right. Good on ya, Sava Toob-Nix.

SAVA TOOB-NIX:

Well. I suppose we’ve wasted enough time on this digression for today.

Ms. Aphra, please take your seat. Ms. Starros, thank you for bringing this new bit of scholarly research to my attention. I will have to study it on my next break from classes.

Now. Let’s continue our journey into the exciting world of preservation techniques…

APHRA (narration):