Gloves

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“Are you okay?” Karr heard someone ask in a tinny voice. Actually, it probably wasn’t a tinny voice but rather a damaged speaker in the stormtrooper helmet. Maybe 7.5 wasn’t an accurate grade for the piece of junk after all.

Karr was lying on his back. The floor was cold, but his face was hot.

“What are you wearing?” This time he could tell the voice belonged to a woman, but he thought that was an odd follow-up question. Usually when people came across him passed out on the floor they’d ask him if he knew his name. “Karr Nuq Sin,” he mumbled out of habit, realizing only a hair too late that wasn’t the question she had asked him.

“What are you wearing?” she asked again slowly, sounding more annoyed.

“Green cargo pants, blue flight jacket, desert boots, black gloves, and a newly acquired Death Star–era stormtrooper helmet. Grade level: seven point—” He stopped himself in light of the new information and reevaluated. “Six point nine.”


- Force Collector, Chapter 1


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For as long as he could remember, Karr had felt as out of place in the galaxy as he did in his own skin. His family had always been tailors, middle-class workers, but Karr felt he was destined for greater things. And that day, he was learning it was true.

“Where can we find the Jedi?” he asked eagerly.

“Sadly, they haven’t been seen in decades,” she confessed.

“But how can I learn about the Force properly if I don’t have a master?”

“Life is your master,” she said. “Let the galaxy lead you as if you were its apprentice. It has much to show you.”

“But if I never know when something I touch is going to give me a headache, how am I going to make it through life?”
J’Hara thought for a moment. “I will make you gloves.”

After that, Karr decided to learn as much about the Jedi as he could. Through books, through stories, and if need be, through the headaches. Which was why a good part of Karr’s days was spent searching for things he could touch that might shed some light on the lost masters: robes, weapons, communicators, and of course his most recent acquisition, the stormtrooper helmet.


- Force Collector, Chapter 1


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“Why would I trust you? I don’t even know you!”

“Good point.” She leaned across the bench and offered him her hand. “I’m Maize Raynshi.”

Karr grudgingly held out his own. “Karr Nuq Sin.”

But she didn’t shake it. She used the grip to pull his hand closer to her face. “What’s with the gloves, Karr?”

“They protect my hands.”

“Well, yeah,” she said. “That’s what gloves do. I mean, why are you wearing them indoors?”

“So that I can control my abilities.”

She folded her arms. “Your totally real choking abilities? Those must be amazing gloves.”

“I…” He paused. He barely knew this girl, but he barely knew just about everyone, so it didn’t matter anyway. He told her the truth. “Sometimes when I touch things, I can see the past. I mean, the past of whatever I’m touching.”

Maize cackled wildly. “Bantha fodder! I don’t believe you. Show me.”

Karr tried to retreat. “I can’t just do it on command.”


- Force Collector, Chapter 2


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