The silence in the meditation garden was absolute, but Jonah's mind was a storm.
Ariana was gone, but her words echoed in his mind. Symbiotic power. Anomaly. I wish to face you.
A burning desire surged through him. He wanted to show her that his power wasn't a shortcut, that it wasn't a violation. He wanted to summon Maul and show her its controlled rage, to call forth Specter and demonstrate its silent grace, to let her feel the peace of Sylva. He wanted to prove that his path, a path of partnership and creation, was just as valid as her path of inner harmony.
He wanted to accept her challenge.
And he couldn't.
The Headmaster's words from the day before were a cage around his ambition: "Observe. Learn. But do not reveal the full extent of your power in a schoolyard brawl."
