"So, what do you think, Tanner?" the big Cathar Jedi asked his companion.
Tanner Solumi stopped and picked a small flower with a orange and blue bloom and inhaled deeply, taking in it's surprisingly strong aroma. "I don't think it will be necessary to send her back to Coruscant. Not yet anyway, if that's what you are asking," he replied, knowing full well that it was.
Taisun paused for a moment, thinking before he spoke. "But do we take the chance of letting her continue? Despite all her progress, her future is still hard to see."
"I agree, but it's a chance we'll have to take," the gray haired human said.
They walked in silence for a minute before Taisun spoke. "We should test the waters, so to speak."
"Indeed," Solumi replied. "Have Val set something up."
-------------------
Nal looked up from her meditation at Val walked into the room. The blue Jedi was carrying a bowl of some sort of steaming soup.
"I know you don't particularly need it while you're meditating, but it's been a while since you've eaten last, I thought you could use it," he said in his usual calm manner.
"Tanks," she replied as she took the bowl from her companion and checked her chrono on her wrist. "I'm actually surprised at how hungry I am, especially since it's only been a few hours since lunch."
"Actually, the last time you ate was about 30 hours ago," Val informed her.
"What?" the Nautolan asked, not fully comprehending what the Chiss was telling her.
"You've been in meditation for over a day now," he told her. "The last time you ate was the midday meal yesterday."
Nal took another spoonful of the soup before replying. "It seemed mere moments... I guess the meditation techniques you've been teaching me are really paying off."
"Indeed they have," he agreed. Val came right out and told her about the mission they needed to go on. There were some caves several days journey to the south in which lightsaber crystals could be found, if one looked hard enough and long enough. The catch was that the caves were inhabited by kinrath, a very large insect-like creature.
Nal looked a bit unsure. It would be her first time going into combat since her brush with falling to the Dark Side, and any activity of an aggressive nature would put her newly rediscovered inner-peace to the test. Val could sense her uneasiness.
"Just remember we're not there to attack the spiders, but rather to find the crystals and defend ourselves if that is what is needed."
"But how come dey want us to go and get da crystals?" Nal asked, still not one hundred percent confident.
Val allowed himself the rare hint of a smile. "For one, it's probably not the best idea to send unarmed Younglings into a cave infested with kinrath," he said, then added more seriously, "and two, they like to present new Padawans with a crystal as sort of a graduation present so they can begin construction on their first lightsaber."
Nal took a cue from her partner's confidence. "Den when do we start?" she asked, smiling.
"I thought we could get a good night's rest and a good breakfast, then start out on foot," the blue-skinned Jedi replied.
"On foot?" Nal asked in surprise. "Wouldn't a speeder be faster?"
"Oh sure it would... but the weather has been beautiful lately. I thought we could take in some of the countryside as well. We should be there by nightfall," Val estimated.
"Alright, den. A hike it is." The green-skinned Nautolan smiled as she got to her feet. Things were really looking up. She had thought for sure that Taisun and Solumi would send her back to Coruscant to spend her days working mundane tasks back at the Jedi Temple.
Sure, they needed Jedi who mediated and delved into the mysteries of the Force, Jedi who tended the library and studied, and Jedi to work in the infirmary, but Nal had trained to be a Guardian, not a Consular. Her talents and abilities were better suited to a life of defending the Republic and protecting the innocent, rather than a life of boring study.
Instead, Val was taking her out on a mission. Maybe not an important one, but a mission nonetheless, and that could only mean that the Enclave Council was confident that she wasn't in danger of falling to the Dark Side.
It was said that most Jedi had to confront and defeat the dark side of the Force on a personal level at some point in their lives. She was pleased to know that her time had come... and she had passed with flying colors.
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