Settling Down

[Sola Paz]

Sola had just been welcomed to the Order, but did not yet have a master so she decided to find a room while she waited. She wandered down the halls of the living quarters looking for an open room.

Finally seeing one halfway down the hall, she walks in and begins unpacking her small duffle bag, trying to make her new accomidations seem like home.

[Shandri La]

Not having anything to do right now and not being able to focus on anything, she just wanders aimlessly through the halls of the LQ. Upon seeing a person searching for a room and then finding one, she goes and approaches the door to that room and knocks gently. Dressed in her usual simple white dress, white shoes, gold belt, simple gold necklace and her brown hair pulled back in a partial braid which is ended with a gold band.

"Hello"

[Sola Paz]

Sola turned to sound of knocking on her door to see a well dressed young woman in the doorway.

"Hello"

"Hello," Sola replied, "Come on in and have a seat. I'd offer you a drink or something but I just moved in and don't have much."

Then Sola reached out her hand and said, "I'm Sola Paz."

[Shandri La]

Entering Sola's room, she takes Sola's hand in hers and squeezes gently for a brief moment before going and settling herself on the floor.

"I'm pleased to meet you Lady Sola. My names Shandri La, though ppl just call me Shandri. And don't worry about offering me something to drink. I noticed that you were looking for a room and I thought that I would just come and welcome you."

[Sola Paz]

"Well thank you. It's always nice to see a friendly face. Have you been with the Order very long?" Sola asked curiously.

She had just recently learned of the Academy not too long before she coming to join and was anxious to find out all she could. She figured the more she learned the sooner this place would begin to feel familiar and comfortable.

[Shandri La]

"No, I have not been here very long. But with the short amount of time that I have been here, it feels almost like home now. Though I am treated much better here then I have been at home for the last several years. Everybody that I have come across here has been truly wonderful to me."

[Sola Paz]

"Yes, everyone has been nothing but kind and welcoming to me." Sola agreed.

Then remebering the wonderful day she'd had so far Sola said.
"I'm excited because I should be assigned to a master soon. Are you here to as a padawan?

[Shandri La]

"Yes, I am. My Master is Lord Dasquian. He's a really nice person. I wish you the best of luck on getting a really good Master.

If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing before you came here?"

[Sola Paz]

"Ahh he welcomed me when I was in the recruitment center. Yes he seems really nice. Thanks I hope I recieve a good master as well." Sola paused for a moment and then answered Shandri's question.

"Well, before coming here I lived on the streets in the lower levels of Coruscant. There I basically had to fend for myself till I heard about the academy. I thought I'd be a suitible applicant, so I came here. Luckily, when I met Dasquian he agreed and so now I'm just waiting for a master."

[Shandri La]

Having heard alot about ppl who live on the streets, she gets a curious look on her face.

"I'll understand if you don't want to answer my questions, but what's it like on the streets here?"

[Sola Paz]

"Well it can be fun sometimes, very adventurous, but I wouldn't recomend it. It gets very lonely because you can never really trust anyone but yourself. Even people who earn your trust eventually will stab you in the back." Sola paused trying to hold back the memories that threatened to awaken.

"It's a lot like normal life, just more intense cause you always have to watch your back and always know ahead of time what your gonna try to do next."

[Shandri La]

Nodding her head slightly, she tries to imagine what that would be like, but other then it being completely different from what her upbringing was like, she can't. Only thing that she can imagine is being lonely because she has felt lonely many times in the past, and will feel lonely many times in the future.

"Well, I hope things are easier for you here now."

[Sola Paz]

Sola smiled, "I wouldn't be to surprised if training here was harder than the streets, but I'm up for it anyway."

"What did you do before deciding to come and join here?"

[Shandri La]

A smile appears on her face as she shakes her head slightly.

"What I was doing before I came here, I am still doing. It is something that I will never be able to give up except in my death for my life is sworn to the protection of my ppls Treasure. At the age of 13 my Mother and twin sister were killed in an accident, and I got the job which my Mother had and my sister was supposed to get. I am now 17 and wishing very much to have my life be my own. Heck, I'm not even allowed to get into a serious relationship with somebody unless I have my Kings permission.

But I doubt you need to hear what my life is like even now that I am here."

[Sola Paz]

"Wow. That's got to be tough. But I have to say to me it seems pretty amazing. Our lives are so different, I can't even imagine what that was like for you." She paused and continued with her train of thought.

"The only part I can relate with is your losses, except that I don't even remember any of my family. All I know has always been the streets. I can't remember much before then, I think I was too young." Sola looked up at Shandri and smiled.

"But as different as we are, we both end up here. Amazing isn't it?"

[Shandri La]

"It is tough. Right now my homeworld is under Sith rule and as long as that remains, I will not be able to talk to my King about anything so I can't get his permission either.

Even with losing my Mother and sister, I have not really had time to grieve for them properly because the day they died, I was thrust into the job that I've got now.

For all I know right now, with what I'm doing by learning to be a Jedi, it could mean my death because I'm not following my orders the way they were given.

It is easier to lose somebody when you can not remember them because you will not be haunted by them for the rest of your life. Even today, I can be walking around and I'll think I see my Mother and sister walking around together. I go to take a closer look, and it's to different ppl with the same hair colour or the same height."

Shandri returns Sola's smile.

"Yes, it is amazing.

But you know what, I find the best part about being here is the fact that I have friends here. Something I'm not familiar with back home because ppl just see me as an object. Even at the formal dinners at the palace, I was required to be there and just sit on a stool and look pretty, like an object on display.

Things will get easier for you since you are here. They always do, though they may also get harder in a sense as well."

[Sola Paz]

"Yeah, I understand that, but I think the difficulties I will have here will benefit me much more then the difficulties I've already faced.

[Shandri La]

"I'm wondering how the difficulties I face here will help me back home when I have to return. I also have no idea if I shall ever be able to finish my training though I want to very much. Though with every difficulty we face in life, if it doesn't kill us, it will only make us stronger."

[Sola Paz]

Sola laughed, "Yeah I've lived that saying many, many times. But then I always wonder how much stronger I'll have to be and how much more I'll have to endure." She paused a moment looking really at nothing, just lost in her thoughts.

Returning to the conversation she said, "That's one of my problems, looking to much ahead that I forget the present. I'm hoping that being here will help me to feel I have purpose, and help me be happy with where I am now."

[Shandri La]

"I have yet to come across a person who doesn't look to the future at one time or another. Every Jedi has a purpose, and hopefully it will help you be happy with where you are now. If it doesn't though, you will find your happiness elsewhere, and be able to take the lessons you learn here with you."

[Sola Paz]

Sola nodded at Shandri's words, they we're helpful and things she hadn't thought of but a touch of worry, sadness, still lingered.

"Yeah, I look forward to my lessons. I hope it doesn't take too long for a master to be assigned."

[Shandri La]

"I hope it doesn't take you long to get a Master either. But until you do, you can go and start your learning anyways. Find a person who's willing to help you get started and work from there."