Jedi Academy

It was a late hour for O'vala to be getting up. But such was the fate of the draining experience the day before. There wasn't much for her to do except try to do her routines. She wasn't attempting much more than a basic move at a time, just trying to keep up practice.

She was just in time to encounter Orgus finishing up his morning run. Sweating lightly, he wore what could perhaps be generously called 'casual sweats'.

"O'vala." He greeted her with a nod, coming to a stop. "Just getting started?"

"I guess." O'vala looked him over. "You don't seem to be."

He shook his head. "Just getting finished. Gotta stay in the habit. I'm not as young as the lot of you."

He breathed heavily, hands resting on his knees. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to move along.

"Not everyone gets to be your age, Master Orgus." It was a mix of both sass and... Anger behind it.

Orgus straightened, his expression sobering. "That's certainly true. I've certainly lost enough friends to know that."

He looked at her, hands on his hips. "What's going on, O'vala?"

"Nothing," O'vala replied, the worst lie in the galaxy. She was the stereotypical teenager, all tense with her arms cross and radiating a ton of annoyance and angst.

"O'vala." He gave her a look. "That wouldn't work on someone who can't sense emotions."

"There is no emotion, there is peace," O'vala retorted. She was definitely opting to be difficult today.

Orgus smiled. "You're gonna have to get up a bit earlier in the morning if you think that quoting at me is going to get me off the scent."

He waved a hand down a path. "Let's take a walk. I could use a cool-down, anyway. And you can tell me what's on your mind."

O'vala didn't look at him. "Fine. I'll go on the walk." She made no promises regarding all of her difficult, teenager feelings. How could an adult ever understand those?

"Good." He nodded, setting off.

He didn't let the silent treatment last very long. "Now, technically, we can't make you talk about whatever you saw in the cave." He said as they walked steadily along. "But I can tell you that in some cases, it's really, really important." He shrugged. "Maybe this is one of those. I don't know."

"You're not going to try to read my mind about it? Not like I'd be able to tell." O'vala tightened her fists. "None of this makes sense. Did all of you know what it'd be like in there? Why do I feel like I'm the only one bothered by it?"

Orgus shook his head. "We only know the basics of what it'll be about. Seeing some dark part of you, maybe confronting it. And we remember our own experiences, of course."

"As for the others..." He shrugged. "They're bothered, believe me. Couldn't say why you feel like they're not. Except maybe that yours might have been a bit harder than most."

"They're carrying on like nothing happened. Living their lives as if everything is fine in the galaxy."

"No." Orgus said. He stopped, turning to face O'vala. "They're continuing their training to become Jedi."

He looked curiously at her. "So, what do you think they should be doing?"

"It's not my place to tell them what to do. I don't even know what I'd say if it was." O'vala kept her eyes away. "And what am I supposed to do then?"

"Well..." Master Orgus put his hands on his hips. "Let's just focus on you, then. What do you think you should be doing?"

"I don't know! That's the problem. I don't know! I just do what I'm told and I don't feel very Jedi like, very leader like, doing that."

"Well." Orgus said. "Sounds like the problem might be with what you feel. You feel like you're not meeting expectations? Living up to your responsibilities?" He shrugged. "Anywhere close?"