Activity

Hermione 

Hermione reached out and shook Rex’s hand.

“How do you do, sir?” she asked politely. He looked a bit taken aback, but then grinned.

“I’m doing well, but this dilemma we’re in here has me a bit on edge,” he said.

“I felt that way at first, too, but this place is strange,” Hermione said. “This castle itself isn’t bad, but I think… well I think there might be some bad things in it. Some bad things coming.” she added with a shudder.

“It’s good to be cautious,” Rex said. “It keeps you alive.  Just don’t let it get you too far down.” He then stepped forward and took lead position in the squad of clone troopers.

Hermione, Ahsoka, Kalmar and Ron fell into the rear position, Ahsoka constantly glancing backward.

“I’m getting a bad feeling,” Ahsoka muttered.

“Me too,” Hermione whispered. Someone ahead called something back to them, and soon the group of clones and the four kids were filed into a large library. Long shelves extended far back into the room, which was lit by a gigantic dome-like skylight overhead. Stacks of stray books littered the room. A stone sculpture of a beautiful woman, clothed in a dress of feathers, and with an owl sitting at her feet, dominated the center of the library.

Hermione squealed and rushed to the nearest shelf. She grabbed a book, rapidly skimmed the pages, and dashed to another shelf. After observing a dozen different books in this fashion she returned to Ahsoka, who stood with Rex in the center of the room.

“Some of these books I’ve seen or known about before, but others are completely foreign, and in languages I’ve never even heard of,” she reported.

“The galaxy is a big place.  It’d be impossible to learn every language in it,” Rex said.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, and then a deeply confused look crossed her face and she shuffled away.

Suddenly a great wind rose from behind her. Hermione whipped around to see loose papers and feathers swirling around the stone statue. Through the vortex of wind the wings of the stone owl’s wings seemed to flutter. A burst of bright light was scattered by the whirlwind, and the storm increased in speed. Ahsoka crouched, the clones readied their weapons, and Hermione shielded her eyes from the howling wind and the blinding light.

And then it stopped.

At first, in the hazy settling of the dust, nothing seemed to have changed. The papers were scattered, of course, and odd feather quills lay about, but other than that…

Wait.

The statue.

It had moved.

An old, hunched woman, wrapped in a shawl, stood in the place of the stone image. Two owls perched on her shoulders, another on her head, and two wandered about her feet. Wild grey hair floated around her head, as if large, ragged wings. She turned and surveyed those present in the room with piercing, bird-like eyes, and a thin, cold smile pulled at her lips.

“Greetings, children.”

~~~~

I hope Macha’s introduction does her justice. 😉