Introductions and Expectations - Kakita Yoshi

[Navaria Tarkin]

Her time on the Council had kept her from doing what she enjoyed the most. Teaching. To impart knowledge to a new Padawan and watch their first steps into a much larger world was an exhilarating as well as a rewarding feeling.

Navaria wouldn't give it up for anything.

With her time away on serious matters, many new beings had joined the Order. At first chance, she seized the moment and acquired two new Padawans. Kakita being one of them. Navaria had yet to meet him on a one to one basis.

That would change today, and so she waited. Kneeling upon the mat of the empty training room, meditating and immersing herself in the Force until her new pupil arrived.

[Kakita Yoshi]

He had recieved notification about the master he was to be studying under in the early hours; washing, trimming his beard and dressing in the space of half an hour he found himself in the Academy grounds. He had plenty of time to kill so, after a light breakfast and a final check over himself he headed to the training section of the academy.

As he turned off the main throughfare and began to treck through the myriad corridors that made up the academys peacefull body, he could feel a benevolent signature in the air, distinguishing itself from all of the other signatures buzzing harmoniously around him he followed it to a small room, sitting in a pose of contemplative relaxation was, he assumed his master.

Moving close to her he offered a bow and sat on the floor, arranging his robes around him; he looked up to the womans eyes.

"I am Kakita Yoshi."

[Navaria Tarkin]

Her eyes remained closed until Kakita greeted her. Navaria took a deep cleansing breath and upon exhaling, opened her eyes to look upon her Padawan.

Soft blue eyes, the color of the sky devoid of any clouds, took in Kakita's image thoroughly. Navaria remembered him from the brief time she and Xazor held one of the classes on Yavin's grounds.

She didn't speak to him all on that day but remembered that he was a patient and dedicated student.

Navaria bent her neck forward in a small bow.

"And I'm Navaria Tarkin. Your new Master. I'm very pleased to meet you personally, Kakita."

When she arose, he was greeted with a warm inviting smile.

"Before we begin ... I wanted to get to know each first. I've seen you but don't know anything about you. Tell me of yourself."

[Kakita Yoshi]

Remaining seated as the young woman stood, Kakita wondered how much he could really tell her; that is, he did not know what had happened to him really...

"My own history is a little patchy, I was found on a planet I did not know...or remember; by a padawan, now a knight I believe, called Dasquian Belargic."

He looked up to see if he should continue...

[Navaria Tarkin]

She could sense some reservation from Kakita, as well as uncertainty.

"Please ..."

Navaria offered pleasantly.

"... go on and yes, Dasquian is now a Knight. He was once my student."

His memory was fuzzy about what had happened to him. A story that Navaria was all too familiar with ...

[Kakita Yoshi]

Smiling that his friend had finally achieved a rank suitable to his abillity Kakita returned to his patchy story.

"I, woke up, with this...and a few rags as my only posession."

Unclipping his sabre and placing it before him he sought out the eyes of his master.

"I had no idea what this was," he chuckled "Untill I came here."

Seeing that he was veering off on a tangent he skipped back to his story.

"Anyhow...the Knight, then a padawan, found me stumbling around like an old fool, he fed me and brought me here."

He gestured vaguely at his surroundings and smiled again at Tarkin.

"Thats all I have to tell...I hope it helps you."

[Navaria Tarkin]

Gentle hands picked up the sabre from the hilt to right below the protective ring where the blade would ignite.

It was just a causal inspection as Kakita finished his story.

"Perhaps in our lessons, we can help you to remember."

She held out the weapon for her Padawan to take.

"When the time is right of course. Now, I want to know what you have learned so far. It will help me to know where to begin in instructing you."

[Kakita Yoshi]

Accepting the weapon and restoring it to his belt he sat back and searched his thoughts. He himself had a difficult time remembering what he already knew.

"To my reccolection, I have had no formal training...but I suspect that at some point I did recieve a little guidance in the use of the living force."

Flashing across his mind came the incidences of his small manipulation of objects with his mind.

"I did move some things without touching them, but what I did was unfocused and brutish...very unrefined."

[Navaria Tarkin]

"As with anyone that has only begun to touch the Force but there is more to learning then just doing. It is a way of life ... of thought. The mere motives behind our actions can cause great joy or great suffering.

What is the Force to you ... How do you feel when you use its power ..."

They were important questions. A Jedi's understanding of the Force was essential. Without understanding there could not come wisdom and control. Without those ... the Dark Side could implore its power of the weak minded ....

[Kakita Yoshi]

"When I first used the gifts I felt a deep sence of oneness and what could only be described as release, I became more than I was, became part of everything around me."

His eyes twinkled as he looked into the womans face.

"It may seem silly or childish," he chuckled at the irony "but I loved it; it gave me means to fly and I soared."

[Navaria Tarkin]

Not everyone's experience with the Force was positive. It could have been another being wiedling the Force to harm ... to kill. Or the experience was so frightening that other beings had thought them insane ...

.... Navaria was the later ... but it made her smile as Kakita explained his first reactions to the Force ....

"When I learn to gain control over the power within me ... I felt much the same. I felt ... free and ..."

She paused.

"... I wish I could describe it.... I can't with words, but I know you understand what I mean.

Now I know how it makes you feel but ... what is the Force ... what is its purpose."

Her eyes narrowed at the Padawan. Navaria opened her mind to the Force and gazed into Kakita's aura.

"What is its purpose for you .... Do you ever wonder?"

Oddly, for a reason she couldn't explain, Kakita's aura seemed ... familiar somehow?

[Kakita Yoshi]

What is the force?

The question made him pause and think for a minute; although he had used the force with what felt like confidence, he had gained no insight into its nature.

Closing his eyes and shrugging off his conciousness for a moment, as he had done at the Bar, he brushed the force in the room; it was then that he felt that it permiated everything.

Snapping back to a self concious state of waking, he ordered his thoughts.

"I think I know what the force is now, it is everything."

It was simple fact but it had lain hidden, could it have something to do with his memory loss?

[Navaria Tarkin]

A perfect answer for it was simple and true.

"Yes. We are a part of the Force. It encompasses everything that is living and surrounds those things that aren't. That is why we are able to manipulate objects to our very thoughts.

And it is with those thoughts that anything can happen. We must guard them carefully. Our emotions can give us power but brief power ... Hate, anger, revenge and fear. Those trap us into a darkness that is near impossible to escape.

The Dark Side is always there waiting for anyone that wants quick power. Fast and easy it may seem but in the end, it is it that uses the Jedi ...

We use the Force in harmony. Asking and sharing."

She emphasized this point by motioning her hands that something was moving inside her.

"Not taking. Channeling it inwards to benefit ourselves and others. It is channeling the power properly that is essential in a Jedi's training. For without channeling the Force, we can do nothing."

Navaria paused there, waiting to see if Kakita had any questions or comments.

[Kakita Yoshi]

Everything she had said had a ring of truth to it, all of it was so simple, pure fact.

"You are right, when I first made use of the force, it was certainly not a part of me, it felt familliar and natural but it was not something that I had any part in making."

Running his fingers through his beard he studied his teacher; she could have been younger or older than he was; he didnt know his own age after all. Judging from her appearance she was young but looking into her eyes revealed knowledge more suited for eyes framed in wrinkles and white hair.

Smiling to himself at what seemed like a galactic joke he turned his eyes down.

"I have nothing to ask, I only await your knowledge."

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Very well but please, anytime you do have questions during any lesson, stop me. I rather deal with uncertainty as it happens to help make things clearer. And of course, if you ever need to see me in a less formal setting ... my home is open to you."

With that said, Navaria pulled out a credit chit and held it out in front of Kakita.

"What do you see?"

[Kakita Yoshi]

Riddles, more twists and turns layered on top of his already convoluted history.

Kakita could see only a credit chit, he knew that it was there, his eyes were not that old and he could not feel any manipulation of the force in the immediate vicinity; deciding on the obvious answer he grinned at his master and said

"Looks like a credit chit to me."

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Easy answer. You can sense the Force but cannot see it?"

All living creatures were connected to the Force. Navaria had it within her and it extended to the credit chit, to Kakita and to everything else that was inside the room.

"The first step in understanding is being able to feel. You already have done that."

Concentrating, Navaria's vision shifted so she could see the flow of the Force. It was white and blue, alive and vibrant towards everything it touched. Considering the credit chit was inert, the only power that it held was what Navaria held. A thin layer of sky blue light surrounded the inanimate object while resting in her hand.

"The next step is to see the Force. Understanding cannot be obtained with seeing the energy you are trying to use.

So, I ask again. What do you see?"

[Kakita Yoshi]

Settling himself back, he sought the focus he had felt in his earlier training sessions.


He had not expected the simple answer to be the right one.


As he inverted himself and quieted his mind he searched for the hauntingly familliar feeling that came with the channeling of the forces energy; it took him minutes to attain a state of near readyness and as he brought himself in line with force itself it was as if a lense had fallen across hie eyes.

Composure almost deserted him and he suppressed a gasp of astonishment; everything around him was rendered in a beautiful spectrum of blues and what appeared to be different shades of white; as he took in his surroundings from this new perspective he had to tare himself away from the dazzling brightness which surrounded his master.

Smiling again to himself he looked at the chit.

"I see it now, quite wonderfull."

[Navaria Tarkin]

At the end of his answer, the credit chit lifted off her hand and began to float in the air. The barely noticeable light that surrounded it turned brighter and flared up to a dark blue. Kakita was witnessing the Force in action... literally.

"Sometimes understanding the Force is merely looking at it and watching it work. Focusing on the power you witness can provide insight into how to accomplish the task yourself. Every time a Jedi or Sith access the Force, just by looking at the strands of power, you can tell what they are going to do or what they are using the power for.

Granted, takes skill and lots of practice, but it can be done. Another difficult ability that is based off of this simple technique is the ability to read auras. No longer do you see the blue and white of the Force but the spectrum of color that surrounds an individual.

Emotions, thoughts and power can be gleamed from that ability alone."

[Kakita Yoshi]

The masters words sparked new interest; concetrating again ge scrutinised the credit chit and then the air around the young womans body.

Around the chit, the effect of the force was obvious; dark colours floating the little strip and holding it, the scrutiny of his masters aura proved a little more difficult.

Again and again he scoured the area directly around her, seeking something of substance onto which he could train his vision but again and again it eluded him, after some time he grunted disgustedly to himself and looked back at the strobing blue and white of his masters eyes.

"I'm having a little trouble with your aura, master, try to articulate how you do it."

[Navaria Tarkin]

She raised an amused brow.

"Going right for the difficult abilities."

Then her control over the credit chit was released as Navaria placed it back into one of the pouches on her belt.

"I concentrate on someone that I wish to understand more. The purpose must be pure and a mind must be at peace. That way a Jedi's mind is able to open up and look further then just the Force before them.

The way I like to envision it in my mind is imagine that you hold a prism. Hold it out towards the being and watch the colors refract through the crystal.

It takes patience because it doesn't happen instantly. Your mind has to process the information and that takes time, symbolized by the hand moving the prism back and forth until it is at the right angle."

Navaria paused there incase Kakita had questions or was going to attempt what she suggested.

[Kakita Yoshi]

Smiling slightly at Navaria's comments, Kakita pushed everything distracting out of his mind and scrutinised a patch of air between him and the master.

Eyes distinguishable because of their unusual absence of iris bleached fully, the pupil sealing as the force replaced the eye as a means of sight; with ferocity born of determination, Kakita urged the force to assume the role of prism.


Pausing in his task to look to his master he realised that her expression was hidden from him by her bright glow, only pondering what sort of effect his apparent blindness may have had on her for a second, he returned to his task.

Lining up the now perfectly formed etherial prism directly infront of him he began to line it up, just as he had been told.


Through the lense the master was blurred; excerting a little force he shifted it a little closer and sharpened the image; with one hand he turned the prism, and seemed to hit upon the perfect configuration.

Colour flared around the woman, pleasant warm colours, all inspiring comfort; at the centre of this was a centre of stillness and satisfaction.

Here was a woman, he thought to himself, who was at peace with herself and the rest of the universe.


Restoring his sight and shattering his lense he looked into his masters eyes.

"Next please."

[Navaria Tarkin]

Concern for Kakita came quickly because Navaria had no idea what was happening at first. Relaxing her mind, she realized that this was part of who her Padawan was. It was his own way of accessing the Force by how she sensed it grew in power around Kakita.

What didn't make sense to the Knight was why hadn't she seen it before. Kakita had to use the Force in order to see the ripples of power but in trying to see her aura, his eyes became purely white.

It was quite fascinating to her and was relieved when they reverted back to their original state.

"What exactly happened there? I have never witnessed anything like that before."

Her asking this question was not out of curiosity, but more of a Master learning more about her student. She needed complete understanding in how Kakita saw and used the Force in order to train him properly. Such idiosyncrasies had to be explained fully.

[Kakita Yoshi]

Kakita supressed a scowl, questions ment he wasnt learning but if his master didnt know all of his facets she could not teach well, so he considered how he was to explain himself.

"Master, when I was a member of your force class, I saw a blind padawan excerting incredible focused control over the force, his control came from his familliar grasp of the force, he used it to see, and he was not distracted by useless visual stimuli; I mearly blind myself so I can be more efficient,"

It was all the truth, but something was lacking,

"I don't do this conciously, it mearly happens to aid me, and before I saw the blind padawan, I used the force whilst seeing as you do, I can only guess that it is the force itself changing me and allowing its strength to flow through me with more potency; of course this implies that the force has singled me out and that lends me a slightly self important aspect."

He grinned at the humor of it and looked to see if the master wanted anything more of him.

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Interesting that you adapted that way after the class. The Force works in mysterious ways and what has happened to you is no less then that. A mystery, for now. All things are revealed in time why you were touched in this manner."

Now at least Kakita's explanation made sense to Navaria. Much to her Padawan's liking, the lesson could continue on.

"Being able to sense and see the Force are the first two steps in a much larger world for a Jedi. The final step in a Padawan's beginnings is to properly channel the Force. Without effective channeling of the power, a Jedi cannot access certain powers to their maximum effect nor tap into their potential fully.

It requires a mind clear of any distractions. A mind full of peace and stillness; like the top of a lake devoid of any ripples. One needs to trust completely in the Force and open up their awareness to let the light flow into them just as easily outwards.

Eventually, such an act becomes instinct to a Jedi for a Jedi strength flows from the Force."

She cocked her head to the side in thought.

"Have you much experience in meditation of this sort?"

[Kakita Yoshi]

Waves of strain passed over Kakita's face as he tried to remember,

had he had any experience with meditation...how the hell was he supposed to know if he couldnt remember.

"Honestly master, I cant rememember, some things feel familliar to me, other things dont, I may have been able to achieve oneness in seconds, but at the moment I just cant remember."

Waves of misery seemed to flow through Kakitas face and he held his head in his hands.

cant remember

[Navaria Tarkin]

Her lips pursed together momentarily. Kakita's memory problem would have to be taken care of sooner then later. Right now, her Padawan needed time to adjust to the Order and besides, her training might spark some memories without having to do so directly.

The Knight's brooding was only for a moment and Navaria returned to her more endearing demeanor as Kakita's emotions hit her.

"Then do not think so hard."

She said, resting a gentle hand on his own, hoping that Kakita would come out of the physical shell he created.

"Just do it."

[Kakita Yoshi]

Holding his hysterical laughter at bay he quieted his mind and envisioned the river into which he first tapped the force.

As before, he stood before the rushing silver expanse and heard the heavenly rush of power; turning to face the origin of the river he began moving along the dry bank, as he moved on, the noise lessened in volume and the rush of silver decreased.

After what seemed like an age of walking the foliage thinned and he looked out upon a silver lake, still and calm; summoning his power he glided out into the centre and settled on the surface, leaving not one ripple.

[Navaria Tarkin]

Now open your mind to the Force. Fully...

Navaria's mind was strong and powerful inside his mind but exuded a gentleness that didn't distract him from staying within his meditations.

See it as I have shown you. See the lines of power that connect all living creatures together. Much like the ripples that had stopped within the lake, let the ripples of the force wash through your clothes and into you. The more you are able to open yourself to the light, the more connected you will feel to everything around you.

Like myself, those walking down the hallway ... The jungle outside ... and sometimes, the past ... the possible future....

[Kakita Yoshi]

Descending through the silvery substance and smashing the barriers holding his conciousness inside his head Kakita witnessed an epiphany;

The facade of the lake fell apart and showed itself to be the illusion it was, but, as it disintegrated Kakita found himself back facing the young woman; it was as if the meditation had shattered a barrier preventing him from seeing.

He could feel it all; the woman sitting opposite him, the buildings themselves, the beautiful manicured gardens, the fledgeling apprentices and the breathtaking power of the council, they all stood highlighted by the fore in his mind, he could feel them, their various levels of strength and their simple oneness with the universe.

As Kakita reached further out of himself and grew confident he momentarily felt an alien concience scrutinise him, just for a second; it was this second that struck fear deep into his soul and he fled, headlong back to the safety of the flesh.


The body stiffened and raised its hands before it, fingers clawlike and rigid extended to meet an attack that was never to come and from its maw came the scream of souls damned.

[Navaria Tarkin]

The undetectable nature of Kakita that could not be truly measured had struck once again; baffling the Jedi Knight. Everything was going swimmingly with her Padawan until a frightful fear had taken hold of his very soul, forcing Kakita to retreat back into his living tissue, away from the comfort of the Force.

Something was after him, imagined or not, but it was tangible. At least to Kakita it was.

Navaria had felt her body go rigid as it looked that her own pupil was about to raise arms against her. It did not come to pass but whatever had happened cause a look of frozen terror to stare at her.

"Kakita..."

She entered his mind, barriers around her own to protect any unwarranted attack. Normally, Navaria would not conceive to do such a thing but Kakita needed to be calmed and it was through an empathic link that she connected with him.

Terror and any helplessness was pushed away like swatting a fly. Navaria help to fill his mind with safety and strength, comforting him like a mother would care for her babe ... though figuratively in this case... not literally. She never touched him physically because that was not where the danger lay hidden.