Pleena sat next to Talon in the lounge sipping on Broulahn tea. Talon had proven to be very hungry by eating three helpings of nerfloaf. She felt like she was keeping some rather exalted company, since she was at the same table, and talking with Masters Solo and Cilghal as well. It wasn't like they were discussing anything important to the Order, since it was mostly about Talon, and when the girl might be able to resume working on her saber skills. That last part sort of confused her though. She'd seen for herself and through the recording just how good Talon was, and Knight Skywalker had even admitted that Talon was better than he was.
'If Talon's really that good with her lightsabers, then why does she even have to train at all?' Pleena wondered before realizing that she could just ask.
"Hey Talon, how come you still have to train if you're one of the best with a lightsaber?" Pleena asked curiously.
"I have to train in the Whirlus Form so I can finish developing it." Talon answered.
"I never heard of this 'Whirlus' Form before. What is it?" Pleena asked interestedly.
"It's a Form of lightsaber combat that allows one to use two double bladed lightsabers in conjunction with each other. I started developing it when Darth Magus made me use two staves so he could finally beat me." Talon replied tonelessly before taking another sip of her tea.
Pleena would have admitted that she was young, but she wasn't stupid. She knew right away that Talon didn't like this 'Darth Magus' at all. She could feel it in her friend. True there was no emotion at all in Talon's voice, and even Talon's face was blank, but what Pleena could feel in the Force was something else entirely. Desolation, despair, fear, and even outright terror; those were the things that she could sense from Talon, and she didn't like it… at all! Talon had told her and several others a few things about lightsaber forms when she didn't have to. Talon had done a bunch of things like that. She had saved Kaldin while fighting on a broken leg when she wasn't even supposed to be practicing. That meant that this 'Darth Magus' must have been someone really mean.
"Where's Darth Magus now?" Pleena asked with animosity in her voice.
"He's dead. One of the Guardians ate him." Talon answered.
"Good! I hope he makes that Guardian sick enough to puke him up all over the place. That way Darth Magus will be a nasty, disgusting puddle of puke forever!" Pleena said emphatically with a very serious look on her face.
Leia Organa Solo snorted tea through her nose as she choked from trying to swallow and laugh at the same time. She didn't know where children and younglings came up with such things, and to be perfectly honest, she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to either. The hot tea burned as she struggled to cough it out of her lungs, and clear her sinuses at the same time. She finally managed to get control of herself, only to realize that Cilghal had faced the exact same problem!
"Pleena… you and I… are in full agreement on that! Except, I think you're being far too nice to Darth Magus. After the things he did… he deserves a lot worse, but he's already dead and there is nothing more we can do to him except forget him. Being completely forgotten is the one thing a Sith Lord would hate above all else." Leia told the girl firmly but with a smile.
Talon knew that both the young Nautolan and Master Leia meant what they had said. She could feel that both were very angry at Darth Magus. She knew that Master Leia had been inside her mind, and therefore knew all about the now dead Sith Lord, but how did Pleena know anything about him?
"How do you know what Darth Magus was like?" Talon asked Pleena curiously as she looked across the table at the girl.
"I don't. But I know what I just felt in the Force, and I know it came from you, so I can tell how you feel about him, and that's all I need to know. You're nice, so that means he couldn't have been." Pleena said sternly.
"You are very right about that Pleena. Darth Magus wasn't nice at all. He did a lot of things to Talon that she won't want to talk about any time soon. In fact I think that using Force lightning on her was probably the nicest of the things he did to her!" Cilghal said as she looked to her right at the girl sitting next to her. "I know that your uncle, Kit Fisto, was a Master in the old Order, and I think he'd be proud of you for making friends with someone who was raised by the Sith."
"I'm not making friends with Talon so people will be proud of me. I'm going to be friends with her because she's nice to be around!" Pleena protested hotly as she stared at the Jedi Healer.
Suddenly Pleena frowned. "You really think my uncle would be proud of me?" She asked doubtfully.
"Yes Pleena, he would… and so am I." Leia said with a light chuckle.
Talon wasn't sure what to think in regard to what was being said. She could sense a lot of emotions from Pleena, but she was only familiar with a few of them, and one was only because it was something Master Leia had shown her. That one emotion was friendship, and she could sense that emotion burning strong and bright in Pleena. The strange thing was; she could tell that it was being directed at her. She wasn't sure what to think of that, because she really didn't understand what it meant.
"Pleena… I need to tell you some things about Talon. I know you mean well, and I know you want to be her friend, but you need to understand that she's never had a friend before. In fact, she doesn't even know what a friend is! There are a lot of things we take for granted because it's something we're used to, but things like friendship, love, or even trust are things she has never known. She doesn't even know what the words mean, so you can bet that she doesn't understand what it means to actually have a friend, let alone one that she can trust." Leia said in a firm but gentle tone.
Shocked surprise vied with an expression of pained hurt on Pleena's face as she tried to understand what the Jedi Master was telling her. Suddenly, Pleena looked over at Talon with pain evident in her solid black eyes. "I'm sorry Talon."
"Why?" Talon asked in confusion.
"Because that Sith Academy had to be a really bad place to live if you never had a friend, and don't know what one is. It's not right, and I'm sorry you had to live there." Pleena said seriously.
Talon only nodded her head because she really had no idea what to say to that.
"Do you think your room mates are there right now?" Pleena asked Talon curiously.
"Talon doesn't have any room mates Pleena. You know how quarters are assigned according to those who have similar environmental needs while at the same time helping them to over come any possible xenophobic tendencies. Well… Talon needs to stay in what you or I would consider to be a very cold environment. That's why she has special robes with hundreds of meters of tubing which allows circulation of cold air generated by the thermal modulation units on her belt. She can't very well sleep in those robes, so she has a room to herself so she can have the temperature settings that she needs. Temperatures that you and I find comfortable can kill Talon because she'll over heat; before she passes out and dies." Leia informed the girl.
"I knew those robes were thick, but I thought it was because you were cold, not because you need it cold!" Pleena said to Talon in surprise.
"My quarters are warm." Talon protested to Pleena softly. "They aren't as hot as it is out here, or like the lava caverns, but they're warm."
"They are warm to you Talon. They are still very cold to me! That's why I have to either put on some extra clothes, or adjust the temperature settings when I enter." Leia said quickly.
"Then… then why haven't you told me not to set the temperature down for me? Why did you even show me how to adjust the temperature?" Talon asked in disbelief.
"Because Talon, those are your quarters! You need to be comfortable in them! That set of rooms isn't for me, they are for you! That is where you sleep, and where you study, or just relax. That's for you Talon, not for me or anyone else… you! Understand?" Leia said firmly.
"You need to understand this Talon, this isn't the Sith Academy. You are here to learn from us. You can't do that if you are so miserable or uncomfortable that you can't study properly. Being too cold or too hot is included in that; that is why you have a room all to yourself, so that you will be able to be happy. The only types of separation that we allow is according to either environmental needs or gender. So even though your room is cold enough for a wampa, if we had a male wampa here, he would still have a separate room from you. The only exception to that is if the two are in a relationship. That's why Han and I share a room and a bed, because we're married. Understand?" Leia explained patiently.
"What's 'happy' mean?" Talon asked because this was the second time she'd heard that term, and she was curious about it.
Pleena stared at Talon. First it was in confusion, then, when she realized that her friend really didn't know what happiness was, she gaped in horror. 'How can she not know what being happy is? Unless… unless she's never been happy before. Wait… she doesn't even know what the word means! That means they didn't teach her anything good at that Sith Academy!'
"I'm not exactly sure how to tell you what happy means Talon. I suppose that you might be 'happy' that you are away from the Guardians, or that you have a name, or even that you don't have to be cold all the time, or that you now get enough to eat. That's about the closest I know of you being happy, Talon, and to be honest with you, those are not very good examples at all." Leia answered after thinking about it for a second.
Pleena's mind was racing as she tried to think of something that would make her happy, so that she could do the same for Talon. The problem was she kept running into things that involved friends, but Talon didn't know what those were either, so how could that help? She knew that it couldn't… not if Talon didn't know what friends were.
"This isn't right!" Pleena said with a frown as she looked over at Master Solo. "I want to show Talon stuff, but I'm not sure if she'll even know what any of it means."
"I know Pleena. There's going to be a lot of work involved in helping Talon to adjust to a whole new way of life. There's a lot that she needs to learn, and I'm not talking about her training either. Talon has never experienced any of the good things in life, such as being happy or having a friend to laugh with or confide in. For that matter, I'm not sure she even knows what trust is." Leia explained.
Pleena looked up at the Jedi Master with a lost and forlorn expression on her face. She wanted to ask for something, but there wasn't anything she could think of that would help. It was something that both irritated and saddened her at the same time.
"Come on Talon; let's go to your room, so we can talk without bothering the Masters." Pleena finally suggested.
Talon nodded her head and led the way to her quarters. She entered as soon as the door slid open, but then she paused and turned around when she felt a huge blast of fear through the Force. Pleena was standing just outside her door looking very, very frightened.
Pleena stared at the dark room in sheer disbelief. She'd been told that not only did Talon like the dark, but that she needed it. It was one thing to be told something, but it was something else to actually see it. Pleena knew that she didn't even sleep in a room near that dark. Just the thought of going in there made her heart pound in her chest, and her breath come in short gasps. She swallowed hard and looked over at Talon to see the girl watching her curiously. Suddenly, Pleena realized that she had a possible answer to one of her problems… if she could manage to pull it off.
"Talon…" Pleena whispered softly in a quavering voice. "I… I want you to know that this… this scares the spit out of me. But…but Master Solo said that you don't know what trust is. So I'm going to show you. I'm… I'm going to trust you to make sure that nothing gets me while I'm in the dark okay?"
With the light from the open doorway, Pleena saw Talon nod her head with a confused expression on her face. At that point she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and stepped forward until she heard the door slide closed behind her. Five steps. Taking those five steps had been the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life. She was now in a dark room, where she couldn't see anything that might be waiting in the shadows. It was dark… so there were shadows everywhere! Pleena trembled as she slowly opened her eyes.
Talon was standing right there in front of her watching silently in confusion. "Can… can we sit down?" Pleena asked as she struggled with the near overwhelming fear she felt.
Talon nodded her head and stepped over to the bed and sat down on the end of it. She watched in confusion as Pleena hesitantly took a step, and then a moment later, took another. She could sense the girl's fear through the Force. Then the girl was sitting beside her on the bed darting her head and eyes around to look into every shadow that filled the room.
It was a familiar emotion to her. Talon clearly remembered feeling that same emotion from every single one of the Fighters in the Sith Academy. Fear and terror had been among the most prevalent emotions and the strongest as well. It was something that she both knew and understood, because it was something she always felt. Master Leia had shown her other emotions though. Some of them she had no idea how to name, but there was one that she did know the name of. That feeling was friendship. Master Leia had shown her that particular feeling before she'd ever arrived at the Jedi Academy. Master Leia had also told her that she was safe. Now Pleena was feeling fear… a lot of it! Talon knew that there was nothing in the room that was going to hurt the girl so she didn't really understand why Pleena was so frightened, but she clearly remembered what Master Leia had done for her.
Talon placed her left arm around Pleena's shoulders and pulled the girl close. "You are safe here, because there is nothing in this room that will hurt you." She said softly.
Pleena tried. She really did. She tried to control her fear of the dark, but it was no use. She huddled against Talon's side and trembled as tears slowly began to slide down her face. She would easily admit that she was terrified, but at the same time, those soft words of reassurance from Talon had helped to some small extent. She put her right arm around Talon's waist, buried her face in the girl's shoulder, and cried.
Talon held the girl just as Master Leia had done to her, but she didn't know what to say so that Pleena wouldn't be so frightened. She knew that there was nothing in the room that would cause an injury because she could see that. That was when she looked up as the door to her room slid open with a hiss.
Cilghal entered Talon's room with Leia right behind her. She wasn't sure what she had expected to find, but it certainly wasn't the sight of the two girls sitting quietly on Talon's bed. She could see that Talon had one arm draped over Pleena's shoulders, but wasn't hurting the youngling in any way. Even so, she knew at once why she felt so much fear through the Force. She immediately walked to the environmental controls and turned both the lights and the temperature up to a more normal level. Once the lighting had increased so that she could see, the young Nautolan slowly started to calm down. Cilghal still wasn't pleased with the condition of the obviously panicked youngling, because that level of fright wasn't something that could be quickly recovered from.
Leia could see the girl crying on Talon's shoulder even though struggling not to. She stepped towards the two and pulled them both into her arms while she noted that several other Jedi Knights and Masters were now standing in the still open doorway.
"Pleena… tell me what's wrong." Leia instructed softly.
"No… no… nothing…" Pleena stammered still in tears.
"If nothing's wrong then why are you crying? Why are you so terrified that your fear can be felt all over the Temple?" Leia snapped quickly.
"Be… because… I'm scared of the dark." Pleena stammered.
"Pleena… I know you're afraid of the dark. So why did you come in here, knowing that it was dark in here?" Leia asked firmly but gently.
"Because… because I saw… I saw a chance to show Talon what trust is… and I wanted to show her that I trust her." Pleena said plaintively.
Leia pulled Pleena tightly against her as her mind raced for something to say. Then she pushed the young Nautolan back so that she could look the girl in the eyes. "Pleena, I know you just want help, and I appreciate that. I really do, but it isn't going to be that easy to teach Talon things like friendship and trust. What you just did though? That makes me very proud to know you, and I am very glad that Talon has someone like you for a friend. That was a very, very brave thing you did! Confronting something that terrifies you like that isn't easy even when you are the only one to benefit from it, but to face that kind of fear to help someone else… that has to be one of the bravest things I've ever seen anyone do."
"How… how is that brave when I was so scared I thought I was going to pee all over everywhere?" Pleena protested.
"Pleena… being brave isn't doing something that's easy, and it's not doing something that can get you hurt or killed. Being brave is when you are truly afraid to do something, but you do it anyway. That is what bravery is." Cilghal said as she moved closer to the small group. "What you did took a lot of determination, and I am positive that one day Talon will appreciate what you tried to do for her."
"That's true Pleena, and I can tell right now that Talon has a good friend. Now… Are you going to be okay with the lights turned up to standard?" Leia asked as she watched the girl slowly regain her composure.
Pleena nodded her head before looking at each of the two Jedi Masters. "Can you turn the temperature up? It's freezing in here, and I still want to talk to Talon."