Synyc knew that Evander had gone after Jolie. All signs pointed to it, but he could also sense his strange and seemingly sudden infatuation with her. He also knew about their complicated past, meaning they strongly disliked one another.

Something kept troubling him. The older he got and the more his special Zeltron senses grew and branched off. He's learned with Dan Rursi there was a certain truth/ lie detection to it. Now he learned he sensed the state of being in living things he was connected to, as Alda and Flint's spinning thoughts and rollercoaster-ing emotions. He believed it had to do with Jolie. Evander was the only one who understood her right now.

Synyc soon found himself wandering down the hall, with his robe over his pajamas, to go try and help Flint and Alda.

"I've never been out here at night," Jolie commented as Evander and her walked side by side back to the Temple.

"It's a lot more tolerable," Evander said with a cheeky smirk. "Less people."

"Yeah. People suck."

They laughed quietly.

Evander thought back on his long walks with Alda- back when he was at his lowest. The drinking and self blame and loathing had gotten to him far too often. She was the only thing that stood between him and an irreversible mistake. He never did find out if he could go through with it, luckily. At the time though, he was pretty certain it was his only way out.

But Alda had saved him through relaxing walks, talking and joking around. That had made him remember the good parts of life that he didn't want to lose. After that he opened up and she was able to act as an unofficial therapist to help him through- but really she had always just been his closet friend.

"So this has been bugging me forever," Evander started. Jolie looked over, a little confused. "Were you and Flint ever...-"

She shook her head and waved her hands from side to side for emphasis. "No no no. No. I mean, I'm positive he had a thing for me, but I really just needed a friend and he was the one I could connect with then. We just haven't been close since. He's changed a lot since then."

"He's changed?" Evander chuckled. "Jolie, you shaved the sides of your head, aren't bothered by stealing weapons off people, and you literally almost killed us all." He had an amused smile on his face the entire time.

She chuckled quietly and smiled a little. "Yeah, I see your point. Either way, he definitely doesn't have a thing for me anymore- thank the Force. Plus you Jedi can't do that stuff, right?"

Evander tried to hide his frown. "Nope."

Synyc knocked on the door to Alda's room. He sensed Flint's presence as well.

Alda soon opened the door. She looked exhausted. Just completely drained.

Flint wasn't faring any better.

It broke Synyc's heart. He'd come to view these two as superhero types. Unstoppable and triumphant, even if they had their quirks- but he never thought he'd end up seeing them at their low points. On the flip side, he has surely seen Evander's fair share of lows, but he was still his hero.

"Synyc?" Alda asked as she rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the light.

"Yeah. Can I come in?"

She stopped aside and stayed quiet. Synyc entered and leaned against the wall by the door. Flint was sitting at Alda's tiny table in the center of the room. Alda sat back down on the edge of her bed on the farthest wall.

"What's going on?" Flint asked warily.

Synyc took a deep breathe. "My Zeltron sense tells me you're dealing with a lot. I wanted to come clear some of it up."

"Clear what up?" Alda asked, suddenly turning cold, as if she knew exactly what, or who, the "what" was.

"Jolie is a good person-" The desperation was apparent in his voice as he pleaded Jolie's case, but he never had time to finish.

"I am so sick of people telling me she's a saint!" Alda shouted suddenly with her fists clenched as she abruptly stood and slowly began walking closer. "I don't want to hear one more time that she's a victim. That she's a tortured and broken person. Evander is too! He didn't try and kill us! He didn't leave us at the disposal of a Sith Lord. He never kidnapped anyone and then get them captured by Separatist forces! He-"

"Enough!" Came a shockingly powerful voice. Alda and Synyc looked over. "Alda I know this has been rough, and for the record I mostly agree with you, but for God's sakes you're making the poor kid cry!"

Alda's angry, unshakably vengeful expression seemed to melt into the horrifying realization that she had in fact pushed Synyc to tears. He looked down and tried to subtly wipe his eye in a swift motion as he bolted out the door.

Alda burst into the hall. She held a regretful hand over her mouth in disbelief at what she'd just done. That boy was exhausted, confused, and more in the dark than anyone. Yelling at him didn't help. I should've known.

"Let him go."

She turned around to discover the voice belonged to Evander. He stood further down the hall looking at Alda with pure disappointment and sadness. She was even more terrified of him when he didn't explode in a fit of rage. It was evident that he was hurt even more.

"Evander, I-"

He couldn't bear to look into her eyes. All he could muster was a pained,"No," as he held up his hand. Alda hung her head and expected him to run by her and down the hall towards Synyc. But instead he spun back around and rounded the corner.

"The walls aren't sound proof, Alda," Flint said somberly as he left, heading for his own room.

The only things she could hear from around that ominous corner were quiet protests and muffled reassurances. She didn't have to use her eyes to know who the two people were.

"Go," the voice said between abrupt, sharp breathes. "He needs you more than I do."

        "Kid, you alright?" Evander asked as he approached the boy. He was sitting in the garden, looking up at the starry night sky.

"Just stressed."

He sat down beside him.

"And confused," Synyc continued. "And my anxiety's through the roof," he said with a nervous laugh. "I can't even control myself. When she started yelling it was like my throat closed up. I couldn't breathe, I almost sweat through my shirt, and I swear my heart rate tripled and I can't stop shaking."

"This is a lot, I know. Anxiety's a bitch." He looked over at him. "But I got some chocolate muffins to drown our sorrows in," Evander replied with a goofy smirk.

Synyc smiled and laughed, breaking the pained expression that had been glued to his face. "How'd you get these at this hour?"

With his mouth full, he simply answered,"I stole 'em."

Synyc just laughed and took a bite. "I don't know why I didn't expect that."

"Pretend I didn't though. I'm supposed to be a good influence."

        Flint walked back to his room, suddenly being reminded of all the memories he used to have of Jolie. Her power, compassion, and selflessness. She would've made the perfect Jedi- but the Jedi themselves ruined that.

Now he had new memories. Her outbursts, anger, and misdirections. When she tried to hurt her old team and seconds later left them to fight Count Dooku- which they almost didn't walk away from. Then she kidnapped Evander and got them captured by Separatists.

He knew she was going through more than he could even comprehend, but it was at the expense of others. Even with Alda's madness earlier that night, she was right. Evander handled his pain more effectively- in a way that didn't hurt others. But then again, this was one of those rare occasions where he didn't know anything. Perhaps Evander was just hurting himself instead as a way to handle the pain.

        Jolie made sure to keep her head down as she walked through the Temple. Part of her wondered if General Lorus was here... if she could confide in her. At this point, Jolie would take help from anyone she could find. No, she thought. I can't bring anyone else into my line of fire.

She had calmed down pretty quickly knowing that Evander needed to be with Synyc. She willed her tears to dry and for her mind to take a breather.

Sleep was quickly taking over her tired eyes and she knew she had to give in sooner or later. Going to Evander and Synyc's room alone would be weird. Maybe my old room is still empty...

It was. In fact, there was a sign on the door warning that the room was under quarantine due to a "past incident."  She knew there was nothing in there that hadn't already affected her, both for better and for worse, so she entered.

Everything was exactly as she remembered. All the random knick-knacks were still on her shelf, her bed hadn't been made, and the door to the tree was still open. However, the tree had been taken away. Exactly how she left it.

In some odd way, she always missed that tree. It was like they were unfortunate victims in an experiment together. After all, it wasn't the tree's fault that the Jedi had given her the extra power from the poor thing. Maybe the tree got planted with the others and soaks up the sun with his pals. She smiled at the thought. Maybe I'll get there too.

       Alda was burdened with last night's incident. It had kept her from a peaceful sleep. She woke up and immediately felt the urge to go apologize- but duty calls. She and Synyc had a briefing with the Jedi Council about taking Zhar into Republic control. The resources were too substantial to pass up. Her and Flint met up for breakfast beforehand to discuss the Bantha in the room: Jolie.

"Do we tell them she's here?"

Flint sighed. "I don't know, Alda. She would definitely be a key ally with her inside knowledge, but she dislikes the Jedi enough as it is. It might not be wise to tell them yet."

"Surely she wants to help Zhar too, right? Evander told me she wanted to help. That's the whole reason she's here."

"After what happened last night I believe it's best to leave that up to her."

Alda nodded. "Good idea. And I am sorry about last night, just for the record. I just can't let Evander her hurt by another situation. Part of me isn't sure if he could bear it."

Flint smile sadly. "I understand. Good intentions often lead to undesired outcomes, though."

"Hey, have you seen Jolie?" Evander asked Synyc as he exited their refresher back at their quarters.

"No, but we need to find her," he replied with urgency.

"I agree, but we do have actual work to do. It's not like she's gonna get hurt."

Synyc kept pressing. "The initial briefing for the Zhar mission is today! She needs to know about it!"

Finally Evander caught up with the point his apprentice was making. "Oooh yeah, you're right. Okay, yeah let's find her fast." Gosh Evander, start keeping a calendar or something!

        Jolie slept shockingly well that night. She initially expected to be cursed or haunted by the tainted memories that literally and figuratively laid in that bed. But instead, she felt like she was at home. Just after she opened her eyes, she finally understood why.

A very old looking man walked by but paused outside the closed door. Jolie could feel the shock in him. She knew exactly who it was.

The door opened. She sat up, swinging her legs to dangle from the bed, her feet rested on the floor.

"Kiddo..."

Dan Rursi. Her old Master.