Good morning, she signs back clumsily.

"I know basic ship-signs, but those aren't good for much but simple status reports. Are they any similar, do you know?"

"I'd assume not. I haven't spent much time on civvie ships."

Fire in engine room 6, she signs, laughing. All report stations. Out loud, she adds, "Only seen that first set used once, but it was memorable. Look familiar at all?"

"Nope. I could guess, but that's about it."

Nod.

"Do you prefer to sign? I can learn, I'm quick at that."

"Either way is fine. I'm not sure how long you'll want to stay around, might not be worth it."

"I don't -" she pauses, searching for words, "like there being things around me I don't understand."

"All right." She signs along as she speaks. "I might not be the best teacher, but I don't mind showing you."

"That's fine, I'm good at learning this sort of thing."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised." (She continues signing.) "Anyway, at least I'm a tinker by trade, these days, that shouldn't be too distracting for you."

"Distracting?"

"Yeah. From whatever. I get the impression that if I, say, let you loose on my poetry collection, I might basically not see you for a week. And I wouldn't mind, but that's not what you're coming along for, really."

"I've read poetry before. If you have any books about the Force, though..."

"A few. The poetry'd be more help, though, honestly."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. It's hard to describe the Force in text. And - your instincts with it are pretty good, mostly, but you need to lead it, not the other way around, for most things. And for that, you need to know yourself, and poetry helps."

Daira looks at Pradnakt somewhat skeptically. "The Force is - the Force. I can chose not to listen to it but I don't tell it what to do, that's - the Force is more than what I want."

"Mm," she hums thoughtfully. "I suppose if you're staying away from dark side techniques, that won't lead you right off a cliff."

"Dark side techniques? And why would there be a cliff in the first place?"

"There's different ways to use the Force. All of them are affected by your emotions, but they're not all affected the same way, and some of them affect your emotions right back. You know how Sith have a reputation for being a little crazy - too easy to upset, too fast to react when they are? That's why. The Force pushes us into it."

"The Force makes Sith murder people 'cause a cargo ship was fifteen minutes late?" Daira makes a face, and then remembers who she's talking with. "I mean," she adds quickly, "that's what some people said, spacers' story, you know -"

"Oh, that kind of thing definitely happens. And, yeah - the Force isn't the only factor there, but it's a pretty big one. But you can just not use it that way, if you're not going to be a Sith."

"What other ways are there?"

(So Pradnakt said her way of using the Force made people volatile, Daira already knew that Sith were violent, this didn't change anything. She just had to avoid setting her off.)

"There's also light-side techniques, apparently; Jedi can do some things that Sith can't, just like Sith can do some things Jedi can't. I don't know much about the light side, though. And then some things are just neutral; telekinesis is neutral."

"'Light side'? Does that have different connotations than I think it does or was the inventer of those terms as obviously a Jedi as it sounds? What do Jedi do that Sith can't? And the other way around, actually? Does the light side do anything to your emotions?"