Jedi Academy Grounds & Entrance Hall

"You didn't go?" Jade arched an eyebrow skeptically. A cynical part of her soul thought it would be supremely amusing to attend her own funeral and watch the reaction of the attendees. If she was able to manifest through the Force undoubtedly some interesting shenanigans would take place. On a more serious note, sometimes she anticipated her own death as an old friend. At other times, she regretted her exile. Many things others took for granted were beyond her reach now. Well, not all of them. She was forging her own family on her own terms now.

"It would be a prime opportunity to discover who actually missed you, and who was relieved that you were dead. One could always carry out some effective...erm, justice when least expected."

As he pulled a camera from his beard and began  snapping shots of the academy she suppressed a smile. But then, in her own culture, the ruling beings often seemed a bit on the edge of insanity, often indulging in capricious behavior that did not seem to make sense on the surface.

"Hmm, no, carpentry was never my thing. As for Whills...well, that is neither here nor there." She glanced over at him and absentmindedly brushed a tendril of hair behind her right ear. At the moment her dark hair was wound up into a knot at the nape of her neck and pinned with a set of matching jet and gold hairsticks. She shrugged, "Everyone believes in something... as for my refresher door, leave it alone. I've never heard that immortality gave one the incentive to be the ultimate creeper."

Luckily she was not, and would never be, familiar with that travesty of Terran literature idolizing an emotional, adolescent girl's decision between bestiality and necrophilia...in which one of the protagonists, an abusive molesting type personality stalked her constantly and stood at the end of her bed night after night 'watching her breathe.'

"Did you ever think the disparate Jedi academies on far-flung worlds would ever manage to unite in any way that was even remotely practical?"

She'd had her doubts about that one for years. So far, things seemed to be running way too smoothly. Not that she'd ever have said so however. Serrin had always been hopeful in terms of unification.

Jade rolled her eyes expressively before shooting back with, "and you expect me to believe that Odin will materialize in a fog any minute now?"

That would be quite a conundrum. Perhaps the universe would collapse if two Whills were in one place. Anyway, the fact he thought the Jedi were all playing nicely and pulling as a team---sometimes she wondered about that. But it just wasn't proper to inquire if a Whill was smoking his own coffee beans!

"Night classes? Now that would be a sight," in what was a most unusual outbreak of jollity for the diminutive Jedi Master, she chuckled, in fact, she outright laughed, and then looked surprised because even she was not expecting the busily typing hands to come up with something so out of character while in character.

"Perhaps the key is surprise," she replied musing, before looking back up at him, "a wise man once told me to always attack on ground where my enemy believes I will not, from an unexpected direction at an unexpected time. Defend where he, or she, believes I am not, and when he believes I will run. Because surprise is the key to victory, and speed is the key to surprise. For a soldier, speed is life."

"And then I became a Jedi---" she concluded with a rueful grimace.

"While universal peace sounds pleasant in theory, I suspect it might be something far different from what one would hope when it comes down to practical reality. That depends on how one defines 'peace.'" Jade replied directly, clasping her hands behind her back. Her normally direct gaze softened into something more approaching curiosity as she inquired, "What is this 'cheese' you speak of?"

If Jade had known what Daz referred to by 'non-player characters' she might have been surprised. Was he referring to those who had only a small influence on events around them as opposed to more influential personalities? Or was he referring to the lonely Whills being avoided on the boards? Or not feeling welcome in actual events? In which case her author wonders why said Whills don't simply create characters and join plotlines?

"Crusades are to be avoided. It is all too easy to get wrapped up in an ideological frenzy and demand that everyone share one's point of view. Regardless of motives, there will be countless casualties. Surely, you are aware of this?" A dark eyebrow arched steeply as she regarded the much taller figure next to her. "Sometimes we have to wait until others are ready to accept what we call a more intelligent path. If the Jedi enforce their beliefs on those around them in violation of their wishes, how then are we different from the Sith?"

Jade wondered if Daz was going out of his way to provoke a philosophical discussion. He seemed to be a blend of serious and ---well, borderline insanity perhaps? She wondered what his parents thought of him when he was a child. Maybe he had been the holy terror variety of offspring.

"Uh---no, thank you I'm sure, but I am not hungry," which plain statement was the truth, even though it did little to hide the shock and mingled distaste that flashed across her face. In her opinion, Daz was more unsettling than humans, and to be sure there were still times when humans shocked her.

Unfortunately, the diminutive Jedi Master was not familiar with Oliver Twist. Her writer however is familiar with Mr Dickens and wonders if Daz enjoyed Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, or Nicholas Nickleby the best? In her opinion, Oliver Twist was seriously disappointing. Since when has a young lad ever had so little to say for himself in such exciting circumstances? The narrator rests her case and disappears living a whistled tune echoing in the air behind her, something like "One Boy for Sale."

"Daz, if you know everything about everyone, etc, don't you get bored?" Jade inquired curiously. Many sought to know the future, but with knowledge comes a responsibility that can be worse than any physical prison. In fact, there was a saga written about one such being who then spent years attempting to unlearn the future. "Or have you only recently been elevated to Whilldom? In which case, what did you do before?" Probably something along the lines of growing coffee beans, but she couldn't picture him in a backwater espcaf as a barista.

The petite Jedi Councilor was never going to get into the habit of 'beard food' for several reasons, but primarily she was never going to grow a beard. It simply wasn't possible. As Daz bounced between utter silliness and seriousness, she caught a glint of something in his eyes. Whatever it was he had seen, it had been profound. The things he had witnessed were perhaps disturbing to the degree that he wished to forget. And instead of beginning a spiral into drugs and alcoholism, he had retreated into a mask of childish silliness? Well, she couldn't call it childish either, as he was unlike any child she had ever seen.

However, Jade was not a 'people person.' And she did not have the level of skill that other Jedi who had devoted their energies to Healing. Her lips flattened into a thin line as she politely did not notice the tear he was wiping away.

She smiled faintly while pointing out that, "You came to find me, Daz, not the other way around. I don't believe in miracles." And for the most part that was true. She'd lived too long to believe that 'right' or 'good' will always win. The reality of life is that people as a whole don't help the weak. Individuals do.

Jade shrugged. "I am content. I have my position here on Corellia, and within the Order at large. I'm not hungry, I have a place to sleep. I know what it is to love. And be loved," she added that last almost as an afterthought.

"I suppose there is only one thing I want, well, there are many things, but the only thing that comes to mind is Serrin Roma. I want her back." Loss flickered through the emerald fire of the small woman's eyes. Serrin Roma had been her close friend through years of isolation, and she had been the one who finally convinced her to come to the Corellian Academy and take an active role in the Jedi Order. Shortly after her arrival on Corellia though, the charismatic Twi'Lek had disappeared.

She felt the sadness, and appreciated it. Such a compliment coming from a Whill towards a mortal was not to be simply ignored. Serrin would have accepted it quietly, making nothing of it. In a gesture that was unusual for her, as she did not often make any sort of physical contact with people, especially in public, Jade reached out and placed a gloved hand on Daz's arm and squeezed gently for a second before folding her hands into her robes again.

"Aye. She was."

She continued musingly, "I just wonder if anyone was there to shout her names to the gods---so they would know who was coming to join them in the afterlife."

Sometimes she had wished Serrin would return as a Force Ghost, if she was actually dead that is. Therein was the rub. Jade did not know for sure whether her old friend was really dead, or just missing. She was not sure she would ever have definitive knowledge on that score. And she did not know what Twi'Leks did for their funeral rites.

She flashed a smile in return, with a slight tilt of her head as she replied dryly, "Any choice I could stuff you into some Master's robes and get you to train a padawan?"

That would be one way to see the galaxy for sure!

Evidently she had succeeded in moving the conversation from the absence of Serrin Roma onto more familiar, if not more sure, ground. She was not going to allow herself to wallow in grief. Though at some point she would have to allocate time for personal mourning. And then, she would be ready to move on. The life of the Academy had already marched on of necessity.

She arched an eyebrow as he attempted what she could only interpret as an attempt at a 'grandfatherly' smile. It was singularly odd on a being such as himself; however, she did not feel called upon to comment on it.

"I can only imagine," she replied wryly, though why anyone would want such a stain upon their garments was beyond her.

"As for the state of the universe, I'd think you would have a much more enveloping picture of it than those of us here on the ground. Still, things among the Jedi are much as usual, there are plenty of people to train and a shortage of people able to train them. Already we've broken with Jedi tradition in taking on more than one padawan at a time, and while the expediency of the moment may demand such a state of affairs, I find that I do not approve of it."

She shrugged.

"Do you know that I have a padawan?" this was something she had never seen for herself, and in truth, if Serrin had not disappeared in the way she had, Jade would not have ended up with Terra Kiros as a padawan. However, something had had to be done, and she was the one on the spot. So far, it seemed to be working out well.

"Exactly," she confirmed as they turned down a side corridor leading deeper into the academy complex. "Therein lies the problem. If the good training Masters are spread out too thin, then padawans do not get the individualized training, personal attention, and bonding with the Master that is at the foundation of Jedi-hood. On the other hand, if they are simply left to themselves wanting to learn, they may be snapped up by the Dark Side."

Jade's eyes widened as he walked through another Knight and turned around to see what had happened. Understandably the young fellow was probably going to imbibe a bit more than necessary later that evening.

She turned back toward Daz, nodding, "That would be her."

"No, that isn't the issue." She considered for a moment. "I'm not the---friendliest---of people around. But I was there. I filled a void. Terra seems to be ok, in fact, she's progressing through her Trials and will be a Knight soon, unless something goes wrong. However, my style is much different from Serrin. She was very laid back, and I was raised in the middle of a military regime. Serrin suggested such and such a thing be done. I commanded it to be done and expected to be obeyed." It was a good thing her skin tone was deeper than the average human's, otherwise even in the dim light of the corridor he might have seen the brief flush that passed over her face. "Old habits die hard, and at my age I am too old to learn new tricks. For the most part we have gotten used to each other. Sometimes I even worry that she does not tell me things. There is a shadow on her that I am not sure she herself understands, whether she is aware of it, or refusing to acknowledge it. Either way, the future will tell us the way of it," she trailed off musingly.

"No. The last thing any of us needs is a Jedi Empire. We aren't the police or the secret service." The last thing Jade wanted was for the Jedi Order to become bogged down in political red tape. Also, the Jedi did not look for that kind of power and influence. Or they shouldn't. The Order simply did not have the manpower to rule worlds.

Jade nodded. She hadn't so much been asking for advice as simply talking to someone who wasn't closely affiliated with the Order, as if he was a neutral third party that had no stake in the outcome. "I have done exactly that as much as I can without attempting to force her confidence. In fact---"

She broke off for a moment, considering, and then she went on, "I gave her my name-flag and told her three of my names." Despite the Whills reputation for omniscience, she clarified in case he wasn't thinking of it at the moment. "Meaning that she is family to me. My only family, aside from one other."

Under the harsh sunlight passing through a window as they ambulated down the corridor, the contours of Jade's face seemed sharply drawn. Most people looked at the exterior, but to someone who knew how to see, it was plain that she was older than most people thought upon a passing glance. She had never visited her homeworld since leaving. Or contacted a family that had tried to see her executed.