Zefel is late to breakfast. I almost go to get her, but as I am about to ask Master Sual about her, she comes in. She gets some food and sits by me. She still isn't wearing her lightsaber.

Master Sual studies her with a healer's eyes. "Have you been sleeping?" The dark circles haven't gone away.

"I mostly meditated last night," she admits.

"Meditation is good, but you do that anyway, and everyone needs sleep," he tells her.

She shrugs and eats her breakfast.

Zefel doesn't speak at all in classes, and our teachers don't try to talk to her.

I find her in her spot in the Room of a Thousand Fountains again that evening. She doesn't seem happy to see me.

"Zefel," I say. "Zefel, it's all right."

"How can you say that?" she whispers. "How can you? I stood there while she protected me… helpless… stood there while they killed her! And you say that it's all right?"

"Zefel," I whisper. "You think that you're the only person with regrets about that day? Think of the masters who lost the padawans that they were responsible for. You're fourteen. You're a student. She was your master. It was her job to protect you and herself, and she tried."

"You don't know!" she cries. "You don't understand. You couldn't have saved Oreti."

"I could have made sure I stayed with him," I say gloomily. "I could have been with him. Died with him. But I didn't. I was hurt, and I couldn't. So I'm alive. Zefel, do you think that if you had fought alongside Alnem, you would both have lived?"

"We could have!"

"You could have. Do you have any idea how many Jedi died that day? Do you? Over a hundred. And how many padawans? Most of them. Be glad that you're alive!"

"How can I?" she asks hoarsely. "Alnem! She died; I live because I was weak."

I groan inwardly. This was my best friend. What happened? And what can I do?

"Zefel, you couldn't help her. You have a gift with other people's emotions. It hurts sometimes, but what can you do? It's a gift. Like mine with shatterpoints."

She looks away from me. "You know, they told me that they had to send me back to the Jedi this time they offered captives for ransom because I would fall apart soon."

"Of course. Any smart enemy would do that to drive you crazy. They wouldn't really think it."

"How do you know it's not true?"

"Why would it be?" I ask. "You didn't fall apart. What did the Council say?"

"That they're trying to upset me, and that means that they have other captives." She adds a bit grudgingly, "And that all Jedi should be told to cry a lot if they're taken captive."

My eyes widen in fake shock. "The Council members have a sense of humor? Zefel, they don't think you're weak, and they're the ones that matter."

"Akite!" she wails. "I want Alnem!"

"I want Oreti. And Dorn. And you."

She sobs. So do I. My heart is breaking for an odd reason. Not because of my pain, but because I realize for the first time since Geonosis that there are people who have suffered more pain from that battle than I have.

Zefel almost doesn't talk at all for days. I don't press her, but I do suggest that she try playing with younglings. "They love padawans who play with them. Anyone who'll play. They'll make you feel much better. They're great."

She shakes her head.

What can I do?

I spend afternoons with the younglings. Their ecstatic greetings have faded a little. Maybe I'm getting too familiar. But they still like me, and that's enough.

I work hard at my classes. I defeat Fang in practice duels. I wait for a master. I watch Zefel with grief.

I hear that Zefel is spending her days outside of classes talking to Yoda and meditating. I don't think this is good. I don't think she is sleeping, either.

At least she eats.

I wish Oreti were here for me to talk to. What do I do?

I have to talk to Yoda.

Master Yoda and I sit together in a quiet, dim room. I ask him, "What can I do for Zefel? She's in so much pain."

He is silent for a little while. I wait for him.

"Spoken to me many times recently, young Zefel Torela has," he says as if I didn't know already.

I wait for him.

"Her best friend she often calls you."

"We talked to each other more than to anyone else."

He nods.

"I do care about her," I admit. "Very much."

To my surprise, he says, "Good."

"That's good? To care about her? It's not attachment?"

He looks at me with wise eyes. "A close friend everyone needs. When hurt one is, a friend one needs still more."

"So it's good?" I was worried he would say that I must let her go.

"When worried about her you did, what did you worry about?"

"That she was in pain. And she is."

"What is a Jedi's job?"

"To keep peace. And stop pain."

"So something wrong there is to want a person not to be in pain?"

"I guess not."

"Hm?"

"No."

"Good."

"But what can I do for her?"

"Hm. Done very well you have."

"Thank you, Master."

"A choice you have. Her friend you may be or may not be. Harder it is to be her friend."

"Just be her friend?"

"Offer friendship and advice you may. Accept it she may. Accept it she may not."

"But she won't."

"Offer it you must."

"I don't understand."

"May the Force be with you."

I don't understand Master Yoda sometimes.