Jedi Academy Grounds & Entrance Hall

Jade held up a finger, shaking her head.

"I have a rule against drinking out of cups pulled out of beards."

And it was the truth. She did. Even if she had just formulated it three seconds earlier.

"That would defeat the point of me offering to buy you a drink. Also, how long has it been since you drank in the mess hall of a Jedi Academy? Thirdly, you might meet some of the other locals. Finally, I wasn't thinking of coffee."

She tilted her head to one side, eyeing the Whill shrewdly.

"Or, have you filled up your social quota for the next century in the past hour or so?"

Sometimes you can argue with people. Sometimes they might even come around to your point of view. Other times, there just is no point. Jade thought this might be one of those times. Once she arrived at that decision, she implemented it quickly in the form of a long-drawn out, long-suffering sigh, ending with a dramatically expressive eyeroll. Then, she took the cup. And arched an eyebrow at Daz ruefully while examining it---

"You realize I can't ever use this in front of anyone who might see? What sort of person drinks from a mug with their own face plastered on it?"

She muttered to herself, "Don't want indigestion while drinking my beverages."

"Of course we've got a coffee machine. The Academy is still standing, last I looked." She smiled warmly. Perhaps he didn't fit in among the Whills? Maybe Daz was just looking for some way to live a bit of life among mortals. Who knew?

"Shall we?" she gestured down towards a cross-corridor and turned left towards the Academy's mess hall.

*Jade followed a little ways behind Von. She wasn't sure what to make of him at the moment. The twirling around, then hiding his face under his hood left so many assumptions about him. For now, she knew that was all she could do. Following him she waited beside him for a taxi to arrive. She looked at him for a moment before looking out for the taxi.*

"Considering I've known you for an extremely short amount of time, I'm sure there are many sides that have yet to be shown."

"It takes more than yelling to disturb me, Master Alora," she replied calmly, approaching him as he spoke to her. "Though, if privacy is what you seek, I might recommend heading a bit further away from the Academy into the mountains, or perhaps the training rooms." In a more energetic sparring match some noise was to be expected.

"If your expression is a clue," she waved gently in the direction of his face before clasping her hands loosely behind her back, "I would guess you have been much more secluded from the galaxy at large than I thought, as you have only just now heard of what befall the Praxeum on Yavin IV?"

"That, and I've seen a mask like you wear before," also as he'd asked her about Raven Alora earlier and been surprised that she had nothing to tell him, she suspected he felt alone within the Jedi Order right now. "So, if you need to talk, I'm willing to listen," she offered.

"That is very true, Master Alora," she nodded acquiescence. She understood that speaking was not the primary way in which some people felt comfortable in expressing extreme emotions. "Hmmm."

She walked over closer and stopped, facing him. Dark green eyes gazed at him directly, willing him to look at her. The diminutive Master was vaguely aware of the crick that was threatening to develop in her neck from having to look up at him. "I once felt lost within the Order, and sometimes I still do," she hesitated, trying to find the words to explain something that she herself wasn't comfortable speaking of. "I had only one real friend, Serrin Roma, and she finally convinced me to join the Corellian Academy and work with her. Shortly after I arrived here, she went missing---and for some reason, I stayed."

"I am sorry for the losses you have experienced, but I urge you not to lose yourself in that grief. Many have known similar bereavement," she raised a hand to head off a potential interruption as she had a specific reason for telling him this, "so you are not alone. Draw strength from this, and find a way to carry on. The Praxeum on Yavin IV has been shaken and badly, but it is attempting to heal itself and rebuild. While the losses cannot be replaced or forgotten, the Order must remain strong in the face of the Empire."

"There were one or two survivors of the Praxeum, but I am unaware of the particulars of your personal life," he might need to return there to lay the ghosts of the past to rest, but he might also need to take time for himself to let the pain heal. He would already know that the sparring rooms of the Academy here on Corellia were at his service if he needed to wear himself out in a physical fashion. "I expect you feel anger, but do not let it eat up your being. Remember your family from Yavin, and live for them. There is much to be done yet... and I fear relations with the New Republic are not what we could hope for."

"Indeed. There are always Jedi," she smiled at that thought. They had survived Order 66. Not personally of course, but their existence now was a defiance of that infamous decree. It pleased her.

Sabo's clear sapphire blue eyes reminded her of the sea after a tremendous tempest. However, that was a thought she kept to herself. The diminutive Master smiled as she told him something that very few people knew. "Jade is the surname I chose for myself at a time when I needed to use a name that was not my own," she shrugged, "and then I became used to it." That was a simplification of course, but most humans couldn't even pronounce her genuine house name, and while she would never return to her homeworld, she still did not enjoy hearing her language mangled.

"Aye, you did," she confirmed gently, "and I was never there." While it would sounded fine in lessons to tell impressionable young minds that they were the lynchpins of the galaxy, when it really came down to brass tacks the truth was that one single drop in the ocean was just that: a single drop. When joined to multitudes of others, it formed an ocean. "You would most probably be one with the Force, Sabo," she watched to see if he minded the use of his first name, "instead, you are here to continue an ancient tradition."

She sighed and checked her comlink. "I would prefer to speak to you of the Republic later, when the facts have been ascertained. I received a call from Shihab Mahir, Jedi Knight, and I know it was sent to the other High Councilors. Afterwards, perhaps over dinner, there will be certainties instead of speculation."

"I thank you," Jade replied, a bit nonplussed. She accepted the compliment, but wasn't sure what to do with it. Though, she was aware that humans tended to be more free with saying things of that kind. Even after several decades of practice she still missed the occasional nuance.

At least, he seemed to be more relieved than angry at the moment, and this was a marked contrast to just a few minutes earlier this late afternoon. "I believe you still have your sister, Raven?" she inquired, not expecting him to simply forget about his grief over Yavin. It would be healthier for him to deal with it, rather than pretend it didn't exist and ignore it. Such actions tended to make problems bigger and they generally returned with all the subtly of a rampaging bantha at the least opportune moments.

She inclined her head in reply, "I should be free in a few hours, around say 2100?" That might be outside his usual window for partaking of food, but she usually ate when she needed food, and there were a couple matters demanding her attention at the moment.

The small woman blinked as he switched to her actual first name. The skin of her face darkened for a moment. People usually just shortened it to 'Jade' mostly because not many knew her real name. That had changed since she'd arrived on Corellia. The Academy's personnel files had been updated, in fact, she'd done it herself, but it meant she lost the anonymity she'd maintained prior to her arrival here. Until about a year ago, the only ones who knew her name were Yseult, Serrin Roma, and finally Z'har. It was taking her awhile to adjust. Her life had been balanced on a very narrow edge for years, but not anymore. Old habits died hard though.

Something belatedly occurred to her and she inquired, "Have you been assigned a room yet?" She'd nearly overlooked the fact that he had only recently arrived planetside after a long trip from Felucia.

She gave him the space she felt he needed, sensing that he was aware of his sister, but disconcerted by her absence from the current Jedi Order. "There is undoubtedly a perfectly logical explanation for her withdrawal from the mainstream workings of the Academies at this time. Some of our newer students have been brought in from distant worlds and have not yet arrived at a comprehensive knowledge of recent Jedi history." The diminutive Master reached a hand to the back of her neck and rubbed the crick that was forming there. Sabo was taller than herself. In fact, most beings here on Corellia were taller than herself. Some Jedi might have felt that acknowledging something so mundane (neck crick) was beneath the dignity of a Jedi Master and a Councilor no less, but Jade did not share this opinion. People have the same kinds of problems and issues, and attempting to ignore them or suppress them often just made things worse.

"If you will allow me to suggest," she offered, "we could make your stay here on Corellia known, particularly on Felucia. Then, when she decides the time is right, she will have an idea of where to contact you." This presumed of course that he intended to stay on Corellia for some length of time. She wasn't sure where the Force would take him, but so far it seemed that he would be here for a bit.

"Ah, I see," she replied. She had spent so many years in locations that had artificial day/night light cycles that sometimes she still forgot how countless billions of species regulated their sleeping and waking hours by the suns orbiting their worlds. "Well," she pulled out her datapad and whisked up a quick schematic of the Academy's residential wing. Tapping the surface of the datapad, she found what she was looking for and offered him the datapad for a moment. "Here," she pointed to several empty rooms on the Knights/Masters' Level between her quarters, Terra's, Serrin Roma's and Will Sontir's, "any of these should work for you," assuming that he wouldn't mind being classed into a living space with the amenities that Masters at the Academy usually had. "We have a long way to go yet till we are at capacity, though the students and padawans quarters are much livelier than they have been in some months."