Star Wars : Chapter 26: Life Day Preparations II

Tan'ya could remember at least one occasion where Sifo was drawn into an hour long argument with a university professor on whether or not to call the planet Empress Teta, its current name, or Koros Major, its name at the founding a the Republic.

...

After it was all over he said to her, "I don't like historians who aim for objectivity. Pompous idiots seem to think they can understand people better by aiming for a non-sentient's perspective, as if they could ever achieve that while being sentient."

Tan'ya didn't know if she agreed, but Sifo made absolutely no effort to hide his bias in his writing. He was a real fan of the Duros species, dedicating multiple chapters to their pivotal role in events, and the culture that produced such vigorous, yet cynical and clear thinking characters.

As far as he was concerned the Republic was a good thing, and anyone who opposed its creation was at best making a mistake. Unlike Tan'ya's father, Sifo-Dyas was a patriot with a deep love of the Republic, and when he compared the founders and heroes of those heady ancient days to anyone in the modern era, it was always those alive and in living memory that seemed to come up short.

Tan'ya really came to enjoy working with Master Dyas. She found herself approving of and agreeing with his point of view more often than not, though his obvious dislike of the people and cultures of the ancient Tion Cluster was a bit irksome at times; that was where her mother was from after all. Xim was only known as the Despot in the Republic, while on Raxus he was called the Great, and there were statues built in his honor. But then, when Tan'ya considered the issue further, she supposed much the same could be said about Ghengis Khan and 21st century Mongolia.

A complicated topic in the end. She certainly wasn't willing to debate with him over it.

When Sifo's publisher received the work via holomail he said he was very pleased with it. It only took a few edits to cut away some of the too casual language, and a few passes to elaborate on some of the assumed knowledge. In the end his biggest suggestion had been to work on a Volume 0, covering prehistory and the Rakatans to give people more context.

It wasn't long at all until the work was given the green light, and made available to the public as a holobook for download. At first Tan'ya was astounded to hear a billion copies had sold in the first week, but then realized this was really a middling performance in a galaxy of trillions. Such a thing was almost unheard of on Earth, but in this galaxy it was barely noticed.

Tan'ya favorite part was that it was published under the name Dr Difo-Syas.

"Why can't you publish it under your real name?"

The two of them were seated in his office, getting ready to continue with volume two of the book. All around his office were scattered all kinds of sources and works by other authors on the same subject, arrayed in plain sight so that Sifo could reach them and reference them quickly. It derailed his train of thought if he had to spend too much time looking things up.

He answered while looking down at the notes in his lap. "Because a Jedi is not supposed to have an income outside the Temple, we are meant to be objective. Having financial ties to sources outside the temple is seen as a gateway to corruption."

Thinking about it, Tan'ya supposed that many police forces back on her homeworld had laws against moonlighting for the exact same reason.

A little worried worm of guilt gnawed away at her until she asked, "Are we engaging in corruption?"

Sifo sighed through his nose. "Technically, yes but I honestly just don't care about the money. I've dreamed about this book for years, it's more of a hobby really."

"Would the Jedi Council let you publish it if you explained that to them?"

"They would want to read it first, and I suspect they'll be upset by the things I want to say."

How very subversive of him. They sat in silence for a little while longer until another thought occurred to Tan'ya. "What about Father? He has an enormous income."

"Your father renounced his role as a jedi, before becoming Count."

"And now? He's serving as a jedi in an official capacity, and his income is still the same."

Sifo only shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not actually sure what arrangement he's made with the temple." He looked up at her. "Now, are you ready to begin?"

Tan'ya nodded, and moved her hands into position above the keyboard. "Ready."

Sifo drew air in to start talking when Tan'ya's holocom suddenly rang. He shot her a rye look as she sheepishly dug through her pockets to take out the device and saw her mother's face projected as the caller.

"Hi Mother." Tan'ya answered.

"Hello Tan'ya. You're at the New Temple now, right? I've been meaning to call your teacher, but I don't have his number. Any chance you could grab that for me very quickly?"

"I can, but if you need to talk to him he's right here."

"Hello, Athemeene," Sifo called from across the room, setting his notes aside and walking over. He took the holocommunicator from Tan'ya's hands and held it up so only his face was being projected. "Is this something you're happy to talk about in front of your Tan'ya, or do you want me to send you my number so you can call later?"

"No, here's fine." She replied. "I just wanted to extend an invitation for you to come to our family's Life Day celebration this year."

Wait, what? Tan'ya quirked an eyebrow. "Life Day?"

"Life Day is a very important occasion to our family." Athemeene answered. "And we're all going to celebrate it together this year, understood?"

"...Yes, Mother."

Athemeene smiled. "Master Sifo Dyas, I'm sure my daughter would be very happy if you were able to make it."

"I would be honored." Sifo replied smoothly.

"Excellent. Sorry to interrupt your lesson."

"That's okay."

"Goodbye, Tan'ya." Athemeene said to her daughter.

"...Bye, Mother." Tan'ya's cheeks tinged slightly pink.

Sifo hung up the holocommunicator and handed it back to his student. "So you've never celebrated Life Day before?"

"I've never even heard of it."

...

Later that evening, Athemeene and Dooku were getting ready to sleep. The two of them were in their bedroom, with Athemeene seated in front of her dressing room mirror, brushing the knots out of her hair while her husband relaxed in bed, reading.

"I'm going to invite my parents and siblings to our Life Day celebration." Athemeene turned to her husband. "Who else would you like to invite?"

Despite his reputation for cold calculation, Dooku looked at her for a long moment like he had no clue what she was talking about and was worried he was about to get himself in trouble. Unspoken questions flickered behind his gaze, like why are we celebrating Life Day? Since when do we celebrate Life Day? Has she mentioned this to me before?

Finally after a few moments of rapid thought, Athemeene's husband appeared to decide that no he wasn't in trouble, and that this wasn't something worth fighting about either.

"I shall invite my sister." He said at last, looking back down at this com-pad.

Athemeene smiled to herself in the mirror. She was getting really good at getting the things she wanted. "What about Qui-Gon?"

"I'm sure he'll be busy." Dooku answered. "Jedi don't celebrate Life Day." And neither did we until this morning, went unsaid.

Athemeene hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I can at least invite him, and if he says no that's that. Besides, Master Sifo said he'd be coming."

Dooku's head shot up again. "You've already asked Sifo? Why?"

"Well, he's an old friend of yours, I know how close you two are. Plus I see how very dear he is to Tan'ya as well." Athemeene shrugged. "I was also going to invite Asajj and Ky Narec."

"Why not invite the entire rest of the New Temple while you're at it?" Dooku asked the back of her head.

"That's a good idea. They've all been working so hard, and I'm sure everyone would enjoy a nice, informal celebration."

Defeated and exasperated, Dooku fell back onto his pillows. "Anyone else you had in mind?"

"...Master Yoda?"

Her husband almost fell out of his bed.

...

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