[He jerks around to glare at the Zabrak and says flatly-]

Look, I don't know what your experiences are. I've certainly never lived in a shiny tower. I was an orphan who grew up on the streets, until my new family found me.

[But he did get to see the Coruscant Temple in peacetime, for a few weeks. He can sorta see why someone might view it as such.]

I chose to train as a Jedi to help people. To protect people who were being dragged out of their homes, or enslaved, or killed - because of their species, or because they didn't fall in line. Or just because they were a little different.

[After a beat, he adds.]

Someone has to try.