Leia pursed her lips, remained silent.

Her gaze swept over Amalia again, searching. For what, Leia did not know.

Amalia’s words had struck an odd note. She couldn’t identify it.

She nodded slowly after not too long, swallowed. Questions formed in her mind, but
dissipated quickly under the assault of her close scrutiny.

Then she looked at Amalia inquisitivelym meeting her eye to eye.

“Then why is it that you shy away from me when I am out of my working role? In the
Palace... you shied away. That was what you wanted to see so badly, and when it was
brought to you naturally through my actions without really any pretense, you did not reach
out and take it.”

She blew out a breath audibly and frowned.

“Perhaps you do know me, you just... don’t know it yet...”

Amalia said nothing at first, only shaking her head no.

"I do not know," She said softly, shrugging a little.

Amalia didn't know what to say. She knew that her words were being wasted, being made useless, and that she probably had no need to say any of them, well, at least the parts about knowing Leia anyway. She did know Leia, but she was never around her much anymore. Maybe that is what made her feel the way she did, but Amalia did not know and she probably never would figure it out, even if it was starring right back at her in the face.

"I don't know," She said even more softly as she looked away for a moment.

Amalia thought back to the Palace, and what Leia had just mentioned to her.

It was true, she had backed away. She knew exactly why, though she couldn't explain that to Leia. She had let go what was being given to her, because she expected it not to last. Her friend was being represented to her then, but still Amalia had only seen her Master, and not her friend.

That was what Amalia was used to seeing most, her Master, and not her friend.

She turned her head back toward Leia.

"..Because that's all I ever see, you, in work..."

She thought back to when she was sitting with Leia yesterday and how Leia concentrated upon the datapad while seeming to listen to Amalia at the same time, her attention was not all there, like it should have been.

"..That's all I expect, is to see you working because it is all I ever mostly see. It's what I'm used to. You place yourself within your work, you always have, it's you."

"..I can't see anything else. I can't look past my Master and find my friend, I can't."

She looked away again, only to stare straight forward again. She wasn't sulking but she wasn't happy either. Her lips were tightly closed together and she was starring hard as she looked forward.

She realized she had a problem, but it wasn't Leia's problem just her own. One she didn't think she was going to be able to fix.

Leia's expression turned burdenous again, as it hadn't been in a while, which was quite unusual.

"You know I can't fix that. I sincerely believe I was born to do what I do, I started young and have been guided on the same path ever since."

She also shook her head.

"While you speak truth, you also have inexperience laden words. You say you can't find your friend. Well, here I am, off of work. Just me. That me met you, and you backed off. Afraid. You think that part of me is going to leave you. Well, it really is quite hard to rip such a part of me out, so it'll always be here.

What do you want? What is a friend?"

Leia held up a hand to forestall a response.

"None of this can be worked out through words. It would only frustrate us to attempt to do so. Whatever happens the next few days will most likely settle and answer the questions. Words do not do inner feelings near enough justice here. I know mostly what you think, and you I. That is all that needs shared through words, I would say"

Amalia had wanted to stop this conversation a long time ago, even before it began. She would have let it go too, except for the fact that Leia had pressed on and wanted to hear Amalia's side of things.

"None of this can be worked out through words. It would only frustrate us to attempt to do so..."

Amalia thought the same as Leia did, probably even before Leia had thought of it herself. Amalia knew this and believed this from the very beginning, when Leia had asked her to speak up. Amalia knew what her words would do, even before she spoke them, but she realized that it wasn't fair to keep them from Leia so she had spoken. Now, now she was done with what she had needed to say and she didn't want to say it anymore.

A friend, by definition was near the same as Leia's definition. No, they weren't the same, but they valued similar qualities in a friend. That is and was part of what made them friends.

She finally turned to look back at Leia, her face expressionless.

"You know why I'm afraid, you've figured that out...but do you know why I backoff?"

It was Amalia's own turn to raise a hand and stop Leia in response.

"Believe it or not, I've already stated so, in the words I've already spoken.."

She nodded her head once.

"..But you're right, no more words will do. Frankly, I'm tired of the words because they bring only frustration, for the both of us, and I don't want that. You asked me to speak, I have. I probably would not have spoken up unless you asked me to, because I already knew the frustration would come, so I didn't want to speak. I have and now I'm done, now it's time to move on from this discussion."

She went quiet, still looking at Leia, as if waiting for her to speak or do something. She wanted to move on, she had said her peace, Leia had said hers. Nothing more could be done really, anyway, except to just move on. Leia had still said nothing, so Amalia decided to speak.

"The day is just beginning..and we could be doing lots of other things..."

She looked at Leia's plate, seeing that it was still a full plate.

"Besides pick at our food, which we pretend to like.."

She smiled lightly looking down at the bowl of fruit.

"I wonder what the head of state would do if I ran off with her bowl of fruit, leaving her with nothing except for that plate she has before her."

She laughed then, sitting back in her chair.

"You'd probably just get another bowl of fruit, and I...well, I'm guessing it wouldn't be so pretty, considering I stole the head of state's bowl of fruit."

She smiled, pushed the bowl of fruit toward Leia. She frowned a little.

"I could have and should have...just for fun.."

She grinned, thinking back to when they were near the waterfall, letting Leia read her thoughts as she thought back to then.

"...Head of state...suuuuure...."

She grinned once again, knowing fully well she could have got away with that then. Her grin only grew when she saw the look upon Leia's face, she seemed not to be all to well taken with Amalia right then and there.

Amalia only grinned, pretending not to know what that look meant.

"..What?!.....What????..."

Leia raised a playful eyebrow, her eyes ventured from the bowl, to Amalia, then back again. She shrugged, stretched, and stood up.

"Guess I'm just not much for breakfast this morning"

She selected a large odd round purple thing from the bowl, tossed it up into the air, caught it, and flashed a smile at Amalia.

"Eat your fruit, you fruity woman, I can tell you're hungry."

Leia turned and walked away from her place, though she did not exit the room. Instead she walked around the huge table to the other side.

Amalia was broadcasting thoughts of Nabooian waterfalls and had a devilish look on her face. Leia shook her head.

"You're hopeless, if throwing people over large waterfalls is your idea of fun, well then... maybe we need to seal you in an escape pod and send you to Kessel as a preemptive measure...."

Leia was pacing on the other side of the table, though her head continually turned to keep Amalia in view.

Leia was throwing politically correct rasberries at Amalia through her composure and expressions... a very useful trait she had perfected years ago. Fun, too....

Fruity woman?...hmm, someone has lost their touch for creativity.

Amalia let her words be heard, they were meant to be heard.

Amalia laughed at Leia's words.

"You're just saying that because you didn't think of it first," She said jokingly.

"Besides, I could have thought of a lot worse, I'm capable of it."

She grinned and went quiet again for a time, studying the bowl of fruit before her. Searching the pile of fruit, Amalia found another large round purple fruit, at least she thought it was, she couldn't really tell.

She appeared to be concentrating on it heavily now, noting, out of the corner of her eye, Leia's politically correct raspberries she had been throwing Amalia's way.

That the best you can do?? I'm surprised...

After a time, Amalia had succeeded in levitating the object within the bowl. She let it drift into the air and it zoomed toward Leia....

She had meant to stop the fruit way before it was to get near Leia, but she had failed, somehow missing her aim. She watched, her brown eyes widening in surprise as the large round purple object thwacked the back of Leia's head with a thud.

Amalia quickly looked down at the bowl of fruit, clearing her face to now make it expressionless. She quickly grabbed a new piece of fruit, taking a bite of it and then looking up at Leia, her face taking normal composure, pretending to be oblivious to what had just happened. As she chewed on her piece of fruit she did her best to suppress a fit of laughter, and she was doing quite well at it.

Well, if anything, it just may make her think twice on sending me those wonderful perfection of raspberries...

She kept that thought to herself, blocking it from Leia, Amalia was still pretending that she hadn't done anything.

Leia had felt Amalia's Force use all to easily.

Such was the problem with knowing a Jedi too well.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Ohhhh, I'll get her this time...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia suddenly swooned on her feet, she smiled dumbly, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fainted from what appeared to be the blow to the head.

That left a startled Jedi Master Amalia suddenly by herself....

Amalia did not react at first, too shocked to do anything for the moment.

She thought for just a few seconds, of the few times she had been with Leia, when she fainted, twice from an uninvited host of sorts that had taken over her body. Though this was different, and it was Amalia's fault.

Why me...Just a fruit...don't understand it...fruit..

Well, she had been right, it had been just fruit. It wasn't as if it were a hard item of sorts.

Of all the things...

She shook her head, standing up and reaching out with the force all at the same time as she made her way to Leia. Her presence was still there.

Though where Amalia needed to go from here, she had no clue, not until....

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a very large clear pitcher on the next near by table, which looked to be holding water. She hurried over to the table, not really seeing if the pitcher belonged to anyone, she grabbed it, quickly making her way back over to Leia with it.

She eyed Leia for one spilt second and then eyed the pictcher.

Hmm, this just might do the trick....so much for that waterfall...

She began to tip the pitcher of water....

Leia knew Amalia was standing over her.

But it wasn't until her instincts kicked in that she noticed almost too late she was about to get a second shower for the morning.

Her eyes snapped open, and in one fluid motion she rocked forward to a crouch and sprang at the pitcher, knocking it back at Amalia just as the first drops of water from it's tilted spout hit Leia.

The move caused the water to splash everywhere instead, getting them both wet. Leia caught the pitcher by it's handle as Amalia had let it go flying into the air in her moment of surprise, and twirled it around her finger like a hotshot gun with an ego and a fresh bullseye. She grinned.

"And that was for the fruit thing"

Leia sat the pitcher on the table, then picked up a napkin and wiped away excess water, finding she wasn't too damp at all. She looked up at Amalia.

"Well, I am off to the bridge, care to join me?"

The water had not been as kind to Amalia as it had been to Leia, part of her clothing was
soaked with water, but not enough to make her need or want to change her clothing.

Amalia didn't have a grin on her face as she looked at Leia, in fact, she gave off a more
serious look.

"A common misjudgment of my use of the force, a miscalculation..."

She smiled, and then pursed her lips.

"..Or maybe I thought you could use a good old whack in the head..."

She watched as Leia looked at her oddly.

"..joke..."

She raised a questionable glance at Leia, and then shrugged

“..Unlike me, I know, but give me some time, you’ll find I can actually be good natured
and not always my more critical self that you’re used to.”

She smiled sheepishly.

"The bridge, sure, why not, I hear that is where most of the action aboard a vessel takes
place.”