Down in the Dark (Zanja)

[Faily]

The entrance to the site of the trial looked innocuous enough. The front seemed to be the entrance to a ruined temple, nothing immediately marking it as any different from the other ruined temples on the planet. But on second glance, the shadows within the entrance was just a little bit darker. The air was just a little bit colder. Even the smell, the taste of it was just slightly off. And the longer one studied any of these things, the more they would cause a creeping sense of dread. Of fear.

Zanja stood at the entrance. And Master Jaric was there too, stoic and silent as he often was.

[Zanja]

"Okay." Zanja straightened her jacket--unnecessarily, but with the air of a soldier checking his armor before battle--and nodded. "I just go in there, huh? Doesn't look too bad." The forward set of her shoulders was definitely more pugnacious tilt than casual slouch. Get in, get out, get it over with.

The heels of her boots thumped resolutely as she walked through the ruined archway.

[Jaric Kaedan]

"Remember that looks can be decieving, Zanja," Jaric cautioned at her bravado, but let the student be on her way.

[Faily]

The sounds of Zanja's boots echoed in the damp cave as it enveloped her in deep shadows. Ahead, however, she could hear other sounds... it sounded like familiar voices that were talking.

[Zanja]

Zanja just nodded in response to Master Jaric’s warning. Of course the Dark Side would play tricks and lie. Everyone knew that. She’d be prepared. Zanja scowled into the darkness ahead and walked faster.

Then she heard... voices? She froze for a moment, and when she began moving again her steps were quiet and cautious. Who was that? Where had she heard them before? Whatever it was, she meant to figure it out before they heard her coming.

[Faily]

Approaching the sound, she drew closed to a thin strip of light. Peering through it, it was almost like standing on the other side of a door and spying in on a scene you were not supposed to see.

She could see her friends, standing in the halls of the Jedi temple. "Hey, have you seen Zanja?" Esla asked Taime in a hushed voice. Taime cast a few glances about then shook his head. "But I heard something from Silas..." Taime beckoned Esla closer and began whispering something to her.

His whispers were quiet, impossible to catch from her hidden observation point, but there was a sinking feeling that they were talking about her behind her back.

[Zanja]

Zanja frowned. What were Esla and Taime doing down here? Weren't they supposed to be in different caves, or something...? But no, this was the Temple, right. And if they were looking for her, they had her comm code. They could just call her, or check in her room or at the gym.

Whatever. If they got something to ask me they can ask me. I'm right here. Zanja reached out a hand and shoved at the darkness in front of her. If there was actually a door there, she'd open it.

[Faily]

The door nudged to her moves and opened up for Zanja to step into the halls of the temple.

Taime and Esla looked at her as if they had been caught in the act in some way. "Oh... hi Zanja."

[Zanja]

She shouldered through the doorway. “Hey. Heard you were looking for me?” Zanja’s voice felt low and gruff in her throat. Why were they looking at her like that?

[Faily]

"No. Why would we?" they looked away sheepishly, their shoulders turning away from Zanja as if they were keeping something from her.

[Zanja]

“You were asking him about me, or something.” Zanja frowned and jerked her chin at Taime, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I heard my name coming down the hall. You know something I don’t?”

The low-level prickling sensation she’d been feeling at the back of her neck for some time was intensifying. She shrugged her shoulders irritably.

[Faily]

"What? No," Esla said in a totally convincing manner. Taime shifted his weight around sheepishly, yet somehow managed to seem smug. "Just something I heard from Eir..."

[Zanja]

"Fine. You can tell me, or I'll go ask Eir. Doesn't matter." Zanja's hands balled into fists inside her pockets. She noticed and tried to un-clench them. "You don't have to act so weird."

[Faily]

"She said you don't belong here. That she'd heard the masters say it," he said in an oh so innocent tone.

[Zanja]

"What?" Her voice was harsh. "What is that supposed to kriffing mean?" Zanja was really scowling now, well beyond Resting and into Active Zabrak Face mode.

[Faily]

"I think Silas was the one who said it to her first," Esla added in timidly.

Taime shrugged slightly. "I think you know what it means, right?"

[Zanja]

"The hell I do!" Zanja's growl was too loud, louder than she'd intended, and it echoed oddly. Whatever was so obvious to the two of them wasn't obvious at all to her, which somehow made it worse--every possible flaw and failing she could think of seemed too minor or too long past on its own, mostly, but together they formed a list that began to feel overwhelming.

"Whatever. I'll go ask the masters then. If it's such a big deal, they can tell me to my face." Or everyone can shut the hell up. Zanja turned on her heel and strode off, with no real idea where she was headed.

[Faily]

She could hear the two of them snicker as she walked away into the winding halls that awaited her. How lucky for her that her steps seemed to take her right to where she needed to be, or thought she wanted to be - as master Orgus and master Jaric were talking together outside a meeting room. Both their faces were set in grim and serious expressions.

[Zanja]

Zanja opened her mouth to demand an explanation of the two human men, but the words seemed to stick at the back of her tongue. After a moment or two, she cleared her throat instead, scowling fiercely.

[Faily]

The two noticed her presence, and exchanged knowing glances before Orgus nodded to Jaric. "Zanja, come here, please."