Listening to the Wind (Rhianna)

[Serena Laran]

Two women walked side by side, the tall razor grass of the plains of Vortex parting before them as they enjoyed the sunlight of the late afternoon. Jedi Knight Serena Laran watched as they startled a group of avian creatures to flight from their hiding place in the grasses, and took care to walk the long way around what was surely the beasts' nests.

Her padawan, Rhianna, walked quietly beside her for the moment, though she was usually full of spirited conversation. Her Basic was almost fluent now, thanks to endless conversations with Laran's other padawan, Morgan Evanar. His grasp of the language of Rhianna's home planet was very good as well, though perhaps not as great as it could be. Serena could tell that he spent a great deal of time concentrating on Rhianna, and perhaps not the words she was trying to teach him.

It was a constant struggle for the Jedi, to witness the blossoming affection between her two padawans. The Jedi code clearly forbade such relationships, yet the love... yes she was nearly sure that Rhianna felt such deep feelings for Morgan, though he had learned to guard his from easy reading subconsciously many years ago... the love between them seemed pure. And she had had visions of them in the future that seemed to indicate all would be well.

She was not Rhianna's mother, though at times she felt the weight of responsibility for the young woman lay even heavier on her shoulders than had she actually given birth to her. She was her master - and Rhianna was her padawan. The younger woman was beginning to grasp the depth and the true meaning of that relationship, but everything took time.

Rhianna was no youngling, no babe raised among the Jedi since birth. If Anakin Skywalker had been considered too old to begin the training of a Jedi at age ten, Serena's current padawans who were in their early twenties would have probably gotten her exiled from the Jedi all toegether. Despite the differences in the current situation, the Jedi Knight still felt that the Jedi code was solid and good, and should be followed. She strove to make it the foundation of this new Enclave, though she faced some opposition from the other members of this fledgling Jedi Order.

A gust of wind blew around the women, and they stopped walking momentarily as the razor grass around them rippled. Wind on Vortex was a constant, and in the midst of the great plains one could see the grasses moving like waves in the distance as they were touched by unseen forces.

"The Force is like the wind, Rhianna," Serena said, "You cannot see it, but you can see and feel its affects."

[Rhianna]

As Sámh spoke, Rhianna's blue eyes drifted closed, focusing on the meaning of the words and envisioning in her head what they meant. The concept, she understood easily.

"I can feel it..", and she could.

The Tincéir, her people, had equated the force with both divinity and magic. They saw the way the force connected all things in nature elementally. Even people were each 'of a certain element' as the saying went. Rhianna herself, was aligned with water.

'Water to illuminate and cleanse. As I feel and my heart beats, we are kin ..' , she recited in her head.

It was her focal point for slipping into meditations. A river, from her homeworld. It was the elemental sign of healers and seers. The river itself had been draíochta, enchanted, as her people would say. She knew now that there had been a well spring, not only of water flowing from deep within the ground, but also of the force. This gave the river the properties that made it a sacred place. It was there she had learned, as a child, about how the Abhairt Saoil, the force, moved through all things..

The feel of the force in the winds of Vortex was not dissimilar. She could feel it now. Not as the rushing torrent of a river, but as the playful mischief of the element of wind. The way it teased her, flipping her curls into her eyes, tickling her nape. Pushing her along, as if at it's whim. She smiled, opening her eyes and letting the winds curl around outstretched fingers..

"Air to illuminate and enliven, my kin through breath and thought.", she quoted the Tincéir saying..

"It does that. Enliven. This place feels, not so different from home now. Outside away from the static hum in the space around machines and droids, ..it is.. primative.", she turned and smiled at her master.

"I like it.."

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded, "The Force, Abhairt Saoil, is the same no matter where we go. In time even in machines you will be able to sense the sameness."

They walked in silence for a few more moments, then the Jedi Knight stopped once more. "Your grandmother was able to listen to the Abhairt Saoil. What were her gifts?"

[Rhianna]

"In time even in machines you will be able to sense the sameness..."

Rhianna's nose wrinkled a bit at the thought. It was true though, everyday she adjusted a bit more to the strange new world. At first, everything had seemed an assault on her senses, too much too soon. Far more than just simple culture shock, but she was doing well..

Tucking a much frayed shawl closer around her shoulders, Rhianna fell into step once more with Serena. While walking, and toying with the fringe of the shawl, she thought about her grandmother. It had been a long time since she'd seen her. She didn't even know if she was still alive for certain.

Her heart told her that she was..

She slipped into her own tongue. "Grandmother was one of the Wise Ones. The clans met with her, and the others that she lived with to determine many things important to our way of life. She had visions. She bound couples together. She taught the young ones, like me at the time. There were other things too though.."

[Serena Laran]

Serena matched Rhianna, and spoke in the language of the planet she had lived on in exile. "Your grandmother was a banfaith, a seer, as your people called me when I lived among them. The Life Giver can show us the future, if we are able to listen closely to it."

Returning to Basic, she continued, "And her other gifts?"

[Rhianna]

A look of awe fell over Rhianna for a moment, as she recalled some of the things she had seen her grandmother do. After a slight shrug of her shoulder, she finally spoke once more.

"She worked directly with the Eilimint, the elemental forces. They were not just sources of energy to her. She'd learned to speak with them as kin in truth. For the most part, they obeyed her when she called them.. I never saw anyone but her do this.."

[Serena Laran]

Serena considered that for a moment, remembering the few elemental witches she had encountered while living on Rhianna's planet. Women, and sometimes men, who had an affinity for the Force, but had only learned to channel it in a few directions. They could manipulate water in its many forms, for example, yet were blocked when it came to pushing the smallest rock.

Some were more gifted than others. Serena had not spent a lot of time studying these primitive Force users, choosing to spend her time in solitude in the forest. Away from Imperial eyes.

"Thank you for sharing, Rhianna." Serena smiled, and they walked a little further until they came across a flat rock in the midst of the razor grass, large enough for both women to sit on without fear of cuts. She helped her young padawan up, and waited until she was settled to speak again.

"Use the meditation techniques you've been learning, Rhianna, and open yourself to the wind. I want you to feel it through the Force; get a sense of its purposes and directions." Serena leaned back a little on the rock, her hands placed behind her for stability. "The wind can be directed with practice, into dust screens to confound enemies and protect allies. More advanced Jedi Masters have been able to change the weather. But today we will start small."

[Rhianna]

Rhianna settled herself on the rock, cross-legged, situating the fall of her dress over her knees. She set her hands, comfortably palm upward on her lap and closed her eyes, listening to Serena's instruction. An odd twinge of pain, creased her brow for the slightest second. Sometimes, when she listened to her mentor speak, she could hear the echoes of her Gran' from years ago. It weighed on her conscience that she had not seen her in many years. She should have made more of an effort.

After the initial hurt of regret, she would return to the present and remember that the past was behind her and although it had shaped her into who she was, now it was the choices she made for herself that would define who she would become..

A Jedi.

Taking deep breaths, she banished the static noise of thought from her mind, focusing on the task at hand. The winds batted at her, in no apparent pattern, tossing her hair back and forth. The firey strands catching on her eyelashes, and tickling her nose. She ignored the sensation.

Breaths.. slowly, rhythmically in for two counts, held for two counts, relased for two counts..

In... and out.. over and over..

[Serena Laran]

Serena watched her padawan for a few moments, then joined her by closing her own eyes. They sat quietly in the breezes, the only sound the wind in the razor grass. The Jedi twitched a hand, and the wind picked up as she fed it with the Force, though not a great deal.

"Feel the Force in the grass... in the rock we sit on. Feel how the wind touches the individual blades... how it caresses the rock. The Force is in the wind as well, though it is harder to sense. Can you feel it interacting?"

[Rhianna]

Eyes still gently closed in meditation, Rhianna could both see and feel Serena's presence beside her, and her connection to her. As Serena spoke, her attention was drawn to each of the things that she mentioned and yes, Rhianna could feel the Force in each aspect.. All different, yet all the same..

"Yes, I can feel it..", she whispered. Her voice a soft sigh on the winds..

The natural feel of the surroundings made it so much easier to see, and understand this connection as a living thing. Deep within the shelter of the compound Rhianna felt stifled, often taking her lessons into the less finished caves to practice. Their natural walls felt more familiar, more conducive to her somehow.. more alive. Though eventually she would have to shed that crutch as well, becasue the Force was in all things.. Not just those things made of nature.

[Serena Laran]

Eyes still closed, Serena felt at peace with the galaxy. With her padawan beside her and the wind in her hair... the Jedi found it hard to believe that just a year previously she'd been in exile in the Outer Rim.

"Now I want you to let the Force flow through you... into the wind... Strengthen it and push it away from us." Serena opened her eyes to watch the razor grass, which would indicate how successful Rhianna was.