essa’s master orib val was an older twi’lek jedi master, and he was very traditional. he had much more of an interest in the scholarly pursuits of the jedi than the combat aspects, though he was an exceptional duelist, and took great pride in training padawans; essa was his third and final padawan. one of the things that he was very particular about was referring to other members of the order by their title and the appropriate name, whether it be their last name or some other combination of choice. he was always, always master val, and essa was always padawan barsta, though there were small private moments where he would use her first name.
it is a habit that she carries on, long after his death, and cannot seem to break. For her, it’s an intentional choice to call someone by their first name, a moment of closeness, of connection.