Um... (Trric)

[Je'gan Olra'en]

It wasn't the strangest place Je'gan had ever trained an Apprentice, but it was too close for anything like comfort. Near the Palace was the sea, and at one point the interface between earth and land was a high cliff. A rock sat at the bottom of the cliff, slippery and covered in moss, half-submerged. On it sat Je'gan, staring out at the horizon.

Test number one was for Trric to get down here. He knew that one of her eyes was bad, and expected her to compensate accordingly. In many ways, Je'gan was without pity.

Then again, in other ways and in other times and situations it was beyond doubt his biggest weakness as a Sith.

Now wasn't the time to expiate that, of course. Now was time to train Trric, and to do it differently than any training he'd heretofore done. He hated training others with incredible passion; nowadays, everything he did was something new and different, like balance drills on the Palace roof and combat in the sewers. Today - Trric's first class - it was a) find a way down a cliff, b) learn about the Force on a slippery boulder, and c) complete a Sense drill by going swimming. The air was very warm, though the sky was overcast: perfect swimming weather. Lots of life down below. Lots to sense.

[Trric Skyvold]

It had taken her quite some time to find a way down the steep cliff, to the small sandbar at the bottom. She wore a tight black tank-top, a pair of cropped pants and comfortable shoes -- all of which were muddied and torn. She wiped her bloodied hands on her pants, looking out across the water at Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan shifted around on the rock to face Trric, an enigmatic smile on his face. Part 'a' was complete, and in excellent time. For the moment, he was having no trouble at all falling into the training mindset - and that was good.

Because his other mindsets would entail very little of use getting done. Sometimes, he knew, he could be very much a fool.

That was all right. As long as he was a powerful fool and capable of overwhelming anger if necessary, he was quite content with his problems. He had the Dark Side and the capacity to change the universe. Anything else was beside the point. Beside him, his fingers dabbled in the water and snapped, twice, quietly and absently. Ripples travelled along the face of the wave that just then passed him, travelling towards Trric to lap at the shore by her feet. The water was not deep, though it made a steep dropoff from shore and culminated in a depth of about two and a half metres by the rock on which he sat, which was substantially larger than it appeared.

"Can you swim, Trric?"

[Trric Skyvold]

"I don't know, I guess I'll find out."

She kicked off her shoes, wading out into the water, untill it reached her thighs. Did she know how to swim? If she did, would she remember how to? And if she didn't, she wondered, would Je'gan help her?

Trric dipped underneath the water, taking a deep breath before she began swimming towards the rock. She came up for air a few feet away. She gave him a quizical look.

"What exactly am I accomplishing by swimming? Besides getting wet, I mean."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"You're getting out to this rock," he said, "where we'll work on balance and things that require it. It's fairly slippery - a good test of concentration and a great exercise in the ways in which control of the body is linked to control of the mind. Being a Sith, as you'll come to learn, is all about controlling things - controlling yourself is one of the big ones, at least from my point of view."

[Trric Skyvold]

"Okay."

She dipped beneath the water again, coming up at the edge of the rock. She grabbed onto the slippery surface, her fingers not quite getting a grip, and she was under again. Trric resurfaced, sputtering and glaring at Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Here."

Leaning down, he offered her a hand. His face quirked in a slight grin.

"That looks uncomfortable."

[Trric Skyvold]

She grabbed his hand tightly, scampering up the rock. She looked miserable - frowning at him as she tried to keep her balance on the slippery rock. She ran her hands down the front of her, in a lame attempt to get a bit drier. It didn't work - her shirt and pants clung to her, water dripping down her bare feet.

She didn't talk back - she had seen what he had done to Kathrine when she had done it - but it was obvious that Trric was not a happy girl.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"No worries," he said, "I'll dry out your clothing later." A few spots of water on his own clothing, notably around his cuffs, hissed and gave off wisps of steam. "For now, I need you mad. Not to mention it's a great look on you." His words were very matter-of-fact, but a hint of amusement could be seen and heard there.

He gestured out across the water, to where several moss-streaked stones had been piled against the base of the cliff. "Take a look at this."

One of the rocks, about the size of a human head, lifted slowly into the air and descended again.

"Use your anger. Make it grow. Imagine reaching out and lifting that rock."

[Trric Skyvold]

"Yeah. Right."

She folded her arms across her chest, as if attempting to cover herself up.She could feel her cheeks becoming warm, and shook her head.

"Why do I need to be mad? And how am I supposed to lift that rock from here?" She gave him a frustrated look. Trric still didn't understand HOW to use the Force, or how she was supposed to use anger to accomplish anything.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He looked, quite deliberately, down and up again, telling her without a doubt just how ineffective her attempts at coverage were. The smile on his face could have meant anything.

"Let's put it this way," he said. "The Force is an energy field that connects everything. This rock-" He patted the boulder; his hand rose to point at his temple. "-me-" The finger moved across the space between them, settling just under her chin. "-and you. Everything."

This talk was going to take a while. He was used to having Apprentices who understood something of the Dark Side; Trric would be his first complete novice, and that was going to take some getting used to. His hand, slowly, left the underside of her chin and returned to the rock beside him. Trric's clothing began to get warmer, wisps of steam rising from it. At some places it got a bit too hot, but he eased off there after only a second or two of discomfort. That wasn't due to cruelty; he was simply pretty bad at energy manipulation, and it took him that second or two to adjust such a delicate hold on the molecules of her clothing.

[Trric Skyvold]

She listened, blushing a bit more as he tilted her chin. Trric watched as he placed his hand onto the rock. Her clothing began to warm, steam starting to rise up from her shirt, then her pants. Some places began to feel a bit too hot, but the temperature changed quickly.

"So...the Force is what's drying my clothes?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I'm using the Force to dry them, yes. I control it, you see. You can too. Just cultivate a strong emotion - anger works best, but anything strong will do - and command something simple to happen."

Je'gan's eyes twinkled.

"If you need help getting mad, I can push you back in."