Deskyl nods.

    "She says you aren't missing very much, if they're the same. In the place she grew up, peoples' parents mostly didn't raise them at all, the children all lived together and the people who liked watching children raised them. But she knew her parents, and they didn't like each other very much - her parents wanted a child who could talk."

"Mm," she declares solemnly, and gives Deskyl a hug.

She returns it, and then frees a hand to keep signing.

    "It's all right, ma'am. She wasn't around them very much, and that was a long time ago."

"Okay." She unhugs a bit, for a better view of the sunset, but stays snuggled up.

"Monks were good."

    "She's glad you had that, ma'am."

They watch the sunset, and then head back to the training grounds.

    "Do you have any friends who'd like to watch Deskyl practice, ma'am?"

"Yeah," she says, and leads them to the press shop - she should stop by anyway and let them know why she's been gone.

They're glad to see her back, understanding that she had to sit with her injured relative, glad she's found a relative, but stern about giving them warning if she'll miss future days. At least send a message so they can schedule a bit more smartly.

(She does still have the apprenticeship; this is more a 'heads up, vanishing inconveniences us'.)

"Yeah. Sorry."

Deskyl pokes around a bit, examining the press and the letterboxes and the paper they're using.

They'll ask her not to touch anything delicate, but don't seem to be treating this as highly secret. It's an old press, some parts worn down by time and use.

    "Are there types of presses newer than this one?" DZ relays to one of the older workers, after Deskyl has had a bit to look at things.

"Ah, yes, especially that can print more pages an hour. This's a double supplement rotary press. Figure it'll be replaced soon enough by the new types becoming popular in the capital - like the double octuple perfecting press - but I figure we'll be looking at getting better photocopiers first. This one's good enough for our demand right now."

    "Do all of those still need to have the letters set by hand?"

"Big places use a linotype or monotype machine to cast whole lines at a time. We've got an old linotype, but it breaks often enough we still use hand-setting sometimes, especially for books that're limited run, where hot-cast plates would be less useful. And images need to be hand-set around the lines. All of them you need to put the lines in by hand, though, far as I know."

    "She should be able to improve on that, then. Once she knows more about how your machines work."

The worker nods. "Engineers and inventors are always appreciated around here, though some of the capital ones have tried selling their inventions for so much there's no point."

    "She doesn't think she'll have that problem."

Small smile. "Well, good luck to you, miss."

    "Desuka, ma'am, are you coming?"

She should stay, actually; they confirm that they'll meet at the house later, and Deskyl and DZ go back to the training grounds without her.

Deskyl is not disturbed at the training ground.

She sticks to a relatively basic training set, barely more than an extended warm-up through most of it, though getting into a few more intermediate katas near the end, lightsaber flashing in the dark.

Conveniently timed for right as she's finishing and ready to head back, there's someone walking sedately her way, power and emotions tightly controlled.

She waits, rather than leaving, settling into a meditation position in the center of the space with DZ behind her and a pace to the right.

He stops at the edge of her training ground, expression neutral. "I don't wish to interrupt," he says, "But if you have time for me I would like to talk."

    "Yes sir." DZ touches Deskyl lightly on the shoulder, and she stands and arranges herself so that she can see both of them.