Jedi Academy

O'vala walked around, frustrated over her lightsaber crafting skills, or lack thereof. What was pressing her more was her past reluctance to talk to anyone about what had happened with Lord Derp. No, Destrus. That was his name.

Corvin's walk was quiet enough that she would see him before she heard him, a shadow pacing the halls.

"O'vala." He growled, looking at her through narrowed eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for you! Or someone like you, at least." O'vala wondered why it had to be a snake like Corvin. That was mean, but he was kind of like a snake! She knew she had solid character, though. "I need to talk to you!"

"Me?" Corvin folded his arms over his chest, frowning. "What for?" It sounded perhaps slightly less foreboding than usual, which probably meant he was trying to encourage her.

"So, uh, maybe I should have mentioned this sooner but I was embarrassed or something and I don't know." O'vala took a breath and then spoke more slowly. "I ran into a Sith lord doing some whacky ritual before. Lord Destrus! I think. Didn't he invite people to dinner?"

Corvin nodded. "He did. I was there."

He scowled. "What ritual? And where?" The scowl deepened. "I hope you mean back on Auratera."

"Uh yeah, back there. And I don't know, it was a cave. He talked about raising people back to life."

"What?" Corvin blinked. "That can't be possible." He scratched at his beard. "I mean, I'm pretty sure it's not."

He shook his head. "Did he say how? What was he doing?"

"Uh, there was a circle of blood. He didn't say where it came from." O'vala looked around. "Maybe Zanja remembers what happened better than I do. He did try to shoot lightning at us"

It seemed hard to believe that Corvin's scowl could get any deeper. But it did.

"Tell me the whole thing. Beginning to end. Don't leave anything out." He growled.

O'vala's memory was being put to the test. "Uh, there was some darkness calling to me. I went there with Zanja and Ares. We saw him, with a lot of blood in a ritual. He was trying to get us to join him but we turned him down. We got kind of annoying I guess so he tried to shoot lightning at us." She laughed a little. "He missed. But, uh, I called for us to do a tactical withdrawal."

Corvin considered this for a bit.

"Well, uh..." He scratched at his beard again. "I guess... you did the right thing. I guess." O'vala was a bit more than he knew how to deal with.

"You still should have told us earlier, though." He shook his head. "But I guess we already knew that Destrus was mixed up with some bad stuff."

"I'm sorry, I just got anxious. And to be honest, I wish I told a master who is more, um, welcoming?"

Why did she have to say that?

"Why?" Corvin asked, looking at her with crossed arms.

"Cause exactly what you're doing. Master Murah is more, um, nurturing." She almost said nice.

Corvin glowered at her. "O'vala. Tomorrow you're going to be constructing a laser sword capable of cutting through almost anything in the galaxy. Do you really still need your hand held?"

After a moment, he sighed. "Look... it's okay. Just try not to let embarrassment stop you from doing what you need to do next time, alright?"

"I heard it wasn't actually a laser," O'vala chimed in.

The youngling dipped her head. "I guess. I was also afraid that it'd be like bad for me and, well, completing the trials."

Corvin rolled his eyes, but did seem to smile just a little at her correction.

"What we judge more than anything else is character." He said. "People tend to show that when they face adversity. In that way, adversity is an opportunity." He shrugged. "Something to think about."

"I'm not sure I quite get it." O'vala tilted her head. "So what do we do about this problem then?"

"Destrus?" Corvin grunted. "Report it. Pass it up the chain of command. It'll be an extra thing to keep an eye out for anywhere else he pops up."

For a moment, it looked like he was going to say more, then he shook his head. "That's probably as much as you need to worry about it."