But how could the Emperor not see Darth Vader? Sure, he’d screwed up a little with the Death Star business. He was still one of the most purely powerful people in the galaxy—I’d been able to see that immediately.

But…perhaps he also moved too fast. Perhaps his mind was always whirling with possibilities he couldn’t quiet or calm. Perhaps he never thought ahead to the potential consequences for his death-defying actions.

Yes, I know. Now you’re thinking: Way to project, Chelli! Aren’t you really talking about yourself?

Maybe. But that was just another sign that I was connecting with the Dark Lord.

I’ve also come to believe that if you have to slow down in order for someone to see you…well, maybe it’s not worth it. Take me and Sana.

After the incident with Sava Toob-Nix, I ran into her again at the campus library. She was sitting at one of the library’s long tables, studying—she was always studying back in those days, her hair falling over her face like the most regal of waterfalls.

I had to resist the urge to brush it out of the way so I could see those dark eyes, that perfectly furrowed brow—

Ugh. Getting mushy, Aphra.

Recording: Mark this spot to edit later, I need to clean up some of my more flowery language.

Anyway, I wasn’t at the library to study—I was trying to stealthily return a particularly rare text that was never meant to be checked out.

(Frankly: kind of a shortsighted rule since these kinds of texts were all like a thousand pages, and it simply wasn’t possible to look through them in the miserly one-hour slot the library allotted for rare-book viewing.)

I was skulking my way up the stairs to the library’s top level when I heard that whiskey shot of a voice ring out—

SANA STARROS:

Aphra?

APHRA:

Agghhhhhh!

APHRA (narration):

Yeah, I reacted super gracefully, letting out a yelp that reverberated through the entire library and dropping that super-rare text with such an alarming thunk, I cringed.

I cringed even more when it clunked its way down the stairs.

We hear the book thunk-thunk-thunk down the stairs.

APHRA (narration):

Oof. I plastered on a huge, cheesy grin and tiptoed back down the stairs, toward the fallen book soldier.

Not that it made any difference—everyone was still staring at me.

Especially her.

Sana rushed to my side as I knelt to pick up the book—which had definitely gotten a little…dog-eared.

SANA STARROS:

Sorry, sorry. I just…saw you. And it looked like you had the Tome of Ancient Crait with you…but isn’t that one of the rare texts we’re not supposed to remove from the library?

APHRA:

Um, maybe. I guess. Yes. Hence my skulking.

SANA STARROS:

That was skulking?

APHRA:

I was being all stealthy-like.

SANA STARROS: