Talon accepted the reader and the data module containing the rules and basic tenets of the Jedi Order that Leia held out to her. She immediately plugged the module in and activated the reader so she could study the rules that she would be expected to follow and abide by. She blinked in confusion at the rules against violence, and those against fighting among the students. It never occurred to her to ask any of the questions about why the rules were that way; instead, she simply concentrated on trying to remember them.
Leia watched Talon quietly as the girl focused on the data reader. She could sense the apprehension in her new apprentice as the girl chewed lightly at her bottom lip while she studied the regulations on the pad. It was then that she also noticed the quick shallow breaths that the girl was taking as she studied the information on the data pad.
'Her clothes might be regulating the environmental temperature for her body, but they're not doing anything about the surrounding air.' Leia thought with a frown.
"Talon, would you like to go cool off for a while?" Leia asked her.
Talon froze as she looked up at her Master nervously. She remembered the Jedi telling her that she wouldn't be punished for asking questions, but she wasn't sure about whether or not she might be punished for any answer that she might give. She nodded her head hesitantly, hoping that the Jedi wanted the truth in the way that all of them seemed to prefer.
"Let's go then. You can read over that data pad in your room." Leia said as she led the way. Leia stopped outside the door to Talon's quarters when they got there.
"You go on in and get comfortable. I'll join you shortly. I just need to grab something warmer." Leia told her as she went to her own quarters to retrieve a thick outer robe.
Talon nodded her head and entered her room. She reset the controls so the room would be comfortable for her, and took a deep breath of relief as the frigid air washed across her face. She removed the optical filter that covered her eyes, and placed it on the workstation, before she dimmed the lights just a bit more.
The door opened with a hiss of pneumatics to reveal a darkened room, and a small girl sitting on the floor leaning against the foot of the bed while reading a data pad. A small cloud of white vapor became evident each time the girl exhaled, and Leia noticed that Talon had even taken off her optical filter. The Jedi Master stayed silent as she watched golden eyes that held a slight glow flicker back and forth as the girl studied the information on the data pad. Leia was about to sit down on the bed next to where the girl was sitting on the floor, when she suddenly wondered why the girl was sitting on the floor.
"Talon, why aren't you sitting on the bed or in your chair?" Leia asked in a tone that was carefully neutral.
"Furniture is for the use of Masters, unless a student is given permission or directed to use it." Talon answered by rote without even looking up from the data pad that she was studying.
Leia thought back for a moment, and realized that the girl hadn't so much as taken a seat unless invited to do so in one way or another. It was just one more lesson in just how cruel, and callously Talon and the others had been treated by those in control of the Sith academy on Korriban.
"Talon, these quarters belong to you now. The furniture in here is for you to use whenever you want. I am not only giving you permission to use it, but I am instructing you to use any furniture in this academy whenever you want. You are not a slave here, Talon, and you're not going to be treated like one. From now on there is a rule that I want you to follow. That rule is; you are to sit in chairs, and sleep in bed. The only time I want to see you sitting on the floor, is when you want to be on the floor. You won't ever get punished for using furniture. Well... unless you're jumping on it." Leia finished ruefully as she recalled some of the things her children had done when they were much younger.
"The Masters always said that they were the only ones entitled to use furniture because they had earned the rank and that privilege." Talon answered as she stood up to look at her Master in confusion.
"They were wrong for saying that Talon. The only reason they did things like that was so that they could feel better about themselves. My brother told you how Darth Vader hated himself for what he'd become after turning to the Darkside. Well, being cruel and vicious to others is the only way to make yourself feel better when you're immersed in the Darkside of the Force. There are very few people who truly enjoy being evil, and those that you will meet here aren't like that. There are times when students here are punished, but they aren't subjected to pain because they did something wrong. Instead, they are required to perform extra training, or they will have to take the place of the droids, and do some cleaning during their free time. But even then, they are sentient beings who deserve to be treated fairly, and that means that we don't cause them injury or pain." Leia explained carefully.
"Oh, I'll admit that sometimes accidents can happen. What happened to you yesterday morning is a good example. You saw the male student who had gotten his nose busted because someone else broke the rules. But, you also noticed that they weren't hurt or subjected to any kind of painful punishment for it." Leia continued.
Talon hung her head slightly as she chewed her bottom lip in thought. "Master Leia; is Master Katarn going to be punished because of yesterday?"
"Not exactly, Talon. Kyle did go back and review the security vids to see what he had done wrong, so that he won't ever make such a mistake again. So while he isn't being punished by another Master, he is punishing himself. He knows that you didn't deserve what happened, and he feels horrible for causing you to get hurt. He had no idea that your saber skills are as advanced as they are, and he was only trying to instruct you, and help you improve those skills." Leia explained calmly.
Talon's brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to make sense of the explanation. None of the ways that these Jedi acted were anything like what she had been taught. One thing that she could say with a certainty was that these Jedi kept telling her that she had nothing to be afraid of. It was as if they also tried to prove it by not letting her keep her fear, but then, they didn't let her keep her pain either, and that was something that really confused her. For as far back as she could remember, she had always been in pain from one punishment or another, but now, for the first time in her life, she wasn't hurting anywhere.
Talon knew that she had done several things that she deserved to be punished for, but instead of punishing her for those infractions, these Jedi had given her many things. Things she never would have had among the Sith. These Jedi had given her a name, clothing, more food than she'd ever seen any of the Masters receive, the privilege of keeping lightsabers, a room that was hers alone, the rank of Apprentice, and now they had even given her relief from pain. As far as she had been taught, this was nothing like the way the Jedi were supposed to behave. Jedi and Sith were supposed to be eternal enemies. Talon didn't know how to come up with an answer to any of these oddities, and she wasn't really sure how to ask about them either.
Leia gestured for Talon to sit on the bed beside her. "Sit down Talon, and try to relax."
Leia watched as Talon sat down, and she pulled the girl into a one armed hug. "There are a lot of differences between the way we do things here, and the way they were done on Korriban. Here, we try to learn from our mistakes, so we won't repeat them. It isn't always an easy thing to do, and sometimes we don't get it right. The Jedi order isn't perfect Talon, but we do try our hardest to make sure that we do the right thing. It isn't always easy, and we do make mistakes, but trying to learn from those mistakes is how we improve. Yesterday, Kyle made a mistake by underestimating your saber skills, and you got hurt as a result. So now, he's watched that recording repeatedly so he won't make that mistake with anyone else."
"A good example of the way we do things here would be the way you were eating when we first met, and the way I showed you how to eat. The way you were eating was… well I won't say wrong exactly, but it certainly wasn't polite." Leia said with a suppressed shudder.
"The way you eat now is still a bit fast, but it doesn't make anyone else want to stop eating after watching you. You learned a more acceptable method by having it shown to you, and by someone telling you what you were doing wrong. That's how we intend to teach you Talon. Everyone learns at a different pace. I'll admit that it took my brother a while to grow accustomed to using proper table manners, but you seemed to pick that up rather quickly. Just give things a bit of time, and you should get used to the way things are done here. Tomorrow, you'll start a few classes; nothing major; just a few things to let us get a feel for what you already know, and what you still need to learn. One thing you'll need to know are the rules, and how to behave appropriately… all of that's on the data pad." Leia told her new apprentice tiredly.
Talon thought about what she'd been told for a while before turning her attention back to the data pad in her hands. The list of rules regarding student behavior wasn't actually that long, but she was being meticulously thorough in her study of them. She could see that there were a lot of rules made to prevent injuries and accidents. Those kinds of rules made little sense to her because there seemed to be no method by which the weak were sorted out.
Talon was still focused on the data pad when she felt the bed shift. She glanced back at her Master and saw that the Jedi was now laying down and was nearly asleep. She looked at her Master and her mind started racing when she realized that the Jedi actually was asleep. Talon knew that Darth Magus and all of the other Sith Masters back on Korriban had always slept behind a locked door to prevent anyone from attempting to get revenge on them while they slept. Now this Jedi Master wasn't merely sleeping in an unlocked room… she was sleeping in Talon's own bed!
Talon knew that her Jedi Master didn't like what she considered to be very cold temperatures, so she went over to the environmental controls and put them back to the same setting that they'd been in when she'd entered.
'That should let her stay warm.' Talon thought as she glanced back at her Master sleeping on the bed.
After a lifetime of constantly being cold, Talon was not about to let her new Jedi Master endure the same thing when it could be prevented. This Jedi had done so much for her. She now had a name, lightsabers, a room, clothes to stay cool in the heat and warm in the cold… and she even had an actual rank now.
Although Talon didn't have the slightest idea what gratitude was, or even what the word meant, it didn't stop her from feeling that way. Not knowing how to explain what she felt even to herself, she actually justified what she was about to do by deciding that she didn't want anything to happen to her new Master. Moving as silently as she could, Talon went over to the workstation, and donned her optical filter. She made sure that all four of her lightsabers were in place before exiting the room.
Talon studied the access terminal to her room without figuring out how to actually lock it. Finally, she simply gave up and entered her four digit code to see if that would work. Talon was in luck. The rather simple terminal was built so that it would either lock or unlock upon the entry of the specified code, or signal the occupant of the room. When she saw that the door was locked, Talon sat down next to it, and resumed her study of the data pad.
Within mere moments, she was sweating and feeling uncomfortably hot. Talon looked down at the thermal modulators on her belt and realized that she'd forgotten to adjust them before leaving her room. She quickly set the temperature down to one that was comfortable for her, leaned against the wall, and tried to focus on the contents of the data pad.
Talon was finding a little difficult to concentrate at the moment. The constant cacophony of thoughts and voices that impinged upon her mind was something that was very difficult to ignore. She also had a hard time understanding why Master Leia had fallen asleep like that when she wasn't protected in any way.
Talon had no idea how long she stayed there outside the door to her quarters while trying to focus on the data pad full of rules. She had looked up when a strange sound came from the ceiling overhead, but otherwise had been undisturbed for quite a while afterwards. In spite of the constant noise in her mind, she was sure that she could now remember a lot of the rules. She was wondering just how long her new Master was going to sleep, when her attention was caught by someone approaching.
Talon quickly recognized the young Nautolan who had returned her cloak after her fight against the remotes earlier.
"I've been hoping to find you! I didn't get a chance to greet you earlier, but I'm Pleena Fisto… what's your name?" The Nautolan exclaimed excitedly as she approached.
Talon could sense a strange emotion almost pouring from the green-skinned girl as she came closer. It was a warm and vibrant feeling that seemed to radiate some kind of warm glow from the mind of the girl. Although the emotion was the same as what she'd often sensed from Darth Magus when he was hitting someone with Force lightning, this was somehow different. Talon didn't know how to explain it, but what she sensed was something that felt completely unfamiliar, but at the same time, was strong enough to drown out all the other thoughts and emotions that she'd been sensing.
"I'm called Talon." She replied as she got to her feet.
"It's great to meet you Talon! Will you have lunch with me? Please, cause I'd really like to talk to you some more." Pleena said as she practically begged.
"What is lunch?" Talon asked in confusion.
Pleena gaped at the dark haired human girl in front of her in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'what is lunch'? You mean you don't know what lunch is?"
Solid black eyes bulged within a green-skinned face when Talon shook her head. Pleena couldn't believe it. She'd never met anyone who didn't know what lunch was.
"Lunch is what you eat in the middle of the day so you can keep your strength up, and don't get hungry later. Where have you been living that you don't know what lunch is?" Pleena exclaimed in puzzlement.
"In the Sith Academy on Korriban." Talon answered plainly.
"That's where you got those red lightsabers that you were using to protect Kaldin… isn't it?" Pleena demanded in awed surprise.
Talon only nodded her head, because she wasn't sure what to say.
Pleena Fisto stared at the human girl who wasn't much taller than she was with her mouth agape. Suddenly everything came together in her mind. The red lightsabers, the incredible saber skills that she couldn't hope to match, the reference to the Sith Academy on Korriban, and the fact that she hadn't seen Talon before today. All of it added up to the fact that Talon must be a Sith!
"You were a student at the Sith Academy… weren't you? That's where you learned how to use those lightsabers like that, isn't it?" Pleena asked in shocked awe.
When Talon simply nodded her head, Pleena could only shake hers in disbelief. "Wow! This is so intense! I never met anyone who was a Sith before. I've heard a lot of really bad stuff about Sith Lords. That they're always hurting people, by choking them with the Force, and throwing Force lightning at them."
"You didn't do any of those kinds of things did you?" Pleena asked in a slightly fearful tone that was hopeful at the same time.
Talon shook her head in confusion. She knew the girl was a student of the Jedi, but there wasn't any of the animosity, or hatred that she'd been taught to expect from a Jedi. Instead, there was a curiosity that was hardly being contained. This was not the kind of reaction that she'd been taught to believe the Jedi would have towards a Sith.
Pleena couldn't believe this. She'd managed to overhear a few of the stories regarding the Sith, as well as their abilities, and everything she'd heard had told her that the Sith practitioners were cruel and merciless. She was sure that Talon had to be different though. After all, she was here, wasn't she? Then there was the way she'd seen this girl protect Kaldin from the remotes. Those red lightsabers had seemed to be everywhere at once! Even though she hadn't been allowed to see very much of that fight against the remotes, she knew that Master Kirana Ti had stayed back to let Talon deal with them. That meant that Talon had to have some very good saber skills for that to happen. Added together, it all came down to the fact that Talon didn't act like a mean and heartless Sith.
Pleena reached out and grabbed Talon's hand while motioning with her head towards the other end of the corridor and the cafeteria. "Come on; let's go see what they have for lunch." She said while pulling the girl towards the cafeteria.
When they reached the dinning hall, Pleena pulled Talon over to a table that had a pair of empty seats next to each other. After they sat down, a serving droid brought a pair of trays to be placed before them. Both girls placed their napkins in their laps, and began to eat.
This was a different kind of stew from what she'd eaten earlier, but it had a rich flavor, that still wasn't as strong as she was used to. Talon didn't care how it tasted. It was food, she was allowed to eat it, and to her, that was all that mattered.
"So how long have you been practicing your saber skills?" Pleena asked in between bites of her nerf stew.
"As long as I can remember." Talon answered plainly while watching the others at the table and eating at the same time.
"And she still isn't very good!" Exclaimed one of the older boys at the table.
"She is too! She saved Kaldin when the remotes went on the fritz this morning, and she did it by herself!" Pleena blurted defensively.
"Pure luck. I'll bet she doesn't even have a training saber yet." The boy shot back.
"She doesn't need a training saber, because she's got real lightsabers!" Pleena argued hotly.
The boy looked over at Talon and sneered at her. "If you've got a real lightsaber, then let's see it!" He challenged with a smirk.
Talon took one of the single hilt lightsabers from her belt, and laid it facing down the length of the table before activating it.
The blade of pure energy that flashed into existence did so with a snap hiss that sounded almost angry as the red bladed weapon lay there humming on the table. Everyone but Pleena, and Talon were staring at the weapon in shock, and with more than a little fright. All of them knew that a red lightsaber was the weapon of a Sith, and that Sith were reputed to be dangerous, and deadly.
Ben had just entered the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat before meeting up with his uncle, when he saw everyone at one particular table staring at a red bladed lightsaber that was laying there. The feelings of apprehension, and fear from the table's occupants were beginning to mount as they realized the implications of that weapon, and he decided to step in before things got out of hand.
"Talon… you aren't trying to scare the other students with some of your stories from the Sith Academy are you?" Ben asked in a light tone.
Talon turned her head to see the Jedi standing not too far behind her. This was the same Jedi that she'd met, and who had also attacked her the night before. She knew that she hadn't said anything about what the Sith academy was like, so she shook her head by way of answer.
Ben nodded his head in silent approval. "Good. Don't. They don't need to learn about things like that yet. When they're older, they'll learn a lot more than they really want to know. So for right now, let's not say anything to give them nightmares… okay?" He said before turning his attention to the other students at the table without even waiting for an answer from Talon.
"As for the rest of you. Yes… Talon came straight from the Sith Academy on Korriban. That's where she was raised, and trained. One thing you need to know… Talon's saber skills are a lot better than mine, and after her leg heals, she'll be showing your instructors how to improve their saber skills, so don't expect her to be in any saber training classes with you… unless she's the one teaching it." Ben said factually.
"If she's that good, then how come she got injured during a training session yesterday?" The boy who'd instigated everything asked defiantly.
Ben looked at the brown haired boy who had a rather sullen expression on his face. "What's your name?"
"Selith Teelins."
"Well Selith, Kyle told me all about that last night. Talon got her leg broken, because she went at a Jedi Master hard enough that he thought she was going to kill him with a training saber!" Ben said seriously. "Now before you think I'm joking, let me tell you that while there aren't very many Jedi here who have first hand knowledge of Talon's saber skills, I am one of those few that do. I know for a fact that she's a lot better than I am, because even with her standing on a broken leg, she could have left me in pieces last night. I couldn't make her take a single step backwards, even when I was giving her everything I had, using every trick I know, and using every bit of skill I've got."
"Talon was just accepted into the Order this morning, and she's here to learn a different way of doing things. She saw a lot of hate and a lot of anger while she was on Korriban. She also saw some of her fellow students get killed by her Sith Masters. Talon can't help where she was trained, or who she learned from, but she's been apprenticed to my aunt now, and this Order is going to show her, and teach her the right way of doing things." Ben finished as he looked each student in the eyes.
As he looked around, Ben could see that with one exception, all of the students at the table were beginning to eye Talon with wary apprehension. That one exception was the young Nautolan sitting next to Talon, who was looking at the girl with awe on her face.
'Making them afraid of her isn't going to gain her any friends, and it sure won't do her any favors either. I'm going to have to correct that, and fast!' Ben thought as he looked around at the students.
"Look, I just want each of you to understand where Talon came from, that way you can show her the right way to do something if she gets it wrong. She's not like the Sith you might have heard about, because if she was, then she would have killed me last night. So take some time, and get to know her. Who knows… you might even end up liking her." Ben said with a smile before he turned to leave.
"Oh… and Talon? You might want to put that up." Ben said with a gesture towards the activated lightsaber that was still lying on the table. "It makes people nervous when you have it out like that."
Talon nodded her head as she took the lightsaber, deactivated it, and placed it back on her belt. She watched as the Jedi left before looking back at the food on her tray. She was truly surprised that it was still there, but she quickly put that aside in favor of eating what was in front of her. She was aware of the other students at the table giving her quick sidelong glances that were full of nervousness and apprehension, but she couldn't really blame them. After all, wasn't she watching the Jedi for many of the same reasons they were now watching her?
Nine year old Pleena Fisto sat next to the girl who was supposed to have been a Sith. Pleena didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it, because she knew, just knew that Talon wasn't like the Sith in any of the stories that she'd heard. She had been there in the class with her friend Kaldin when the remotes started acting up. Talon had gotten over there to help Kaldin when the Jedi Master couldn't! No one had told Talon to help Kaldin, but she had still done it.
'That's what Knight Skywalker meant when he said that she can't help where she was trained! Just because she was trained by Sith, doesn't have to mean that she is a Sith, does it? Talon can't be a Sith! Sith are mean and she isn't. She isn't even like the ones in the history lessons. That's exactly what he meant! He meant that even though Talon was trained by the Sith; she still isn't like them at all!' Pleena realized with a smile.
"Weren't you scared by all those remotes?" Pleena asked in an attempt to break the strange silence at the table.
Talon just shook her head as she kept eating the stew.
"There was more than twenty of those remotes trying to kill you and Kaldin… and you weren't scared at all?" Pleena asked in awed disbelief.
"No… there wasn't enough of them to get past my defenses." Talon answered simply.
Selith narrowed his hazel eyes at the girl who had just spoken so casually, and factually about holding off a lot of remotes. He was somewhat certain that the Nautolan was exaggerating the number some, but he didn't know by how much. On the other hand, there was the former Grand Master's son who'd just made it clear that Talon's saber skills were even better than his. He hadn't been there during the incident, so he couldn't say what had, or hadn't happened, but he knew of one way to find out exactly what had occurred.
Selith glanced around the table and looked each of his friends in the eye. "Come on. Hurry up and finish eating. I want to get to the lounge and see the vid record for myself. That'll show exactly what happened!"
"How is that possible?" A young Cathar girl asked doubtfully.
"That's simple, Teilaan. The Masters set it up that way so that we can review what we did right or wrong from different angels after the class is over. It's supposed to be a training aide, but in this case we can use it to see what happened in that class." Selith explained as he began shoveling his stew down.
Almost instantly six other students at the table were following suit, and as soon as she saw this, Talon began eating like she would have on Korriban.
Pleena stared for a few seconds as she watched the others devouring their stew as fast as they could. Finally, she decided that she wanted to join them in to lounge, so she picked up her bowl to begin drinking and gulping the stew down even faster than they were. Somehow, everyone at the table seemed to finish eating at the same time. Leaving the remains for the droids to clean up, Pleena followed the older students when they headed for the lounge. She almost had to pull Talon along with her, but as excited as she was, she didn't notice the other girl's hesitation at all.
Talon wasn't too sure what was going on, but the way the younger student was pulling her along by her hand ensured that she hurried to keep up. There were slight twinges of discomfort from her left leg. Although she wasn't aware of it, the twinges of discomfort were actually signs of what would have been agonizing pain, if not for the injections that she'd been given earlier. What captured Talon's attention was the holovid that Selith was already manipulating as he poured over the records from the previous day.
"Here it is!" Selith exclaimed suddenly. "Now we'll find out what the truth is."
The hologram focused on Talon as she squared off to face Master Katarn in a match. Suddenly, it was over and the holographic image of Talon was slumped against a wall. Selith frowned in irritation and he reversed the hologram, and slowed it down to a mere fraction of the speed in which it had actually taken place.
The holographic image showed Talon make four rapid strikes before being flung against the wall, by Master Katarn using the Force.
"Couldn't you at least slow it down enough that we can get to see what happens?" Teilaan demanded in a hissing whisper.
"That's… that's as slow as it will go." Selith replied in a whisper of disbelief.
The other students that were gathered stared at the boy in surprise. Then Selith's fingers were flying over the controls.
"Stang! The record from last night was deleted by a security code that needs at least one Master and a Knight to use it." Selith said irritably.
"Does it say why?" Pleena asked quickly.
"Privacy reasons." Came the sour reply.
"What about the one from this morning? Does it show what happened to Kaldin?" Pleena asked hopefully.
"I don't know, but we'll find out." Selith said determinedly.