Vision Quest (Aaron)

[James Prent]

James had come to a tough decision, and had asked Padawan Belargic to assist her in carrying out what she intended. She needed information, and so was going to seek a vision from the Force. What she found out might not be what she wanted to know, but she had to try.

The room was dark and she'd lit a few candles, making sure that they weren't apt to tip over or burn all the way through the desk she'd put them on. After all, if she was out of it for any length of time, she wouldn't be able to stop them from burning the LQ down around her.

But that was where Aaron came in. He was there as her back up, in case something were to go awry. And speaking of, he wasn't there yet. James sat on the edge of her bed, waiting.

[Aaron Belargic]

Soon enough, though, Aaron arrived. He knocked on the door, which was already open, before stepping in. Glancing around, he saw all of the candles and smiled a little, impressed. “Well, here I am… are you ready to get started?” he asked, letting the satchel he carried slip from his shoulder.

[James Prent]

She nodded, closing the door behind him carefully. "Yeah, a little nervous though. Trying not to give into fear, though." James smiled, and reached for his satchel, "Let me take that for you."

[Aaron Belargic]

Handing the bag over, he shook his head,

“You’ll be fine… I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Come, sit…”

[James Prent]

The padawan set the satchel on the counter in the kitchenette, and joined Aaron on the floor in the center of the room. She'd thrown her pillows on the ground, in case during the trance she started freaking out and flailing around.

That, and it sort of looked really cool with the candles. James sat cross-legged facing Aaron, and took a deep breath. "Well, unless you want a glass of water before we start...we might as well start." The padawan smiled.

[Aaron Belargic]

“Thanks, but I’m alright.”

Aaron shuffled about a bit to get into a seated position that mirrored James’.

“Do you need be to be involved at all? Do you need physical contact with me, or some such, or should I just be observing?”

[James Prent]

"Ah... just observe, I guess. Wasn't really anything in a handbook about this, like 'Vision Seeking for Dummies.' If you feel led by the Force to do something, then do that." She smiled a little less robustly, and settled down to be comfortable.

James closed her eyes and started breathing slowly and normally, regulating her body to an even pace as she began her meditation. As she slipped into the void of the Force she concentrated on the reaccuring dream she'd had as a child.

A woman with dark hair and sad eyes was holding her, rocking her and singing to her. James was happy during this part of the dream, but always after a few minutes of happiness with the sad eyed woman, a white monster would come in and take James away. The white monster had terrified the padawan as a child, and these nightmares had been pushed away out of thought for many years.

James dredged up the memories, concentrating on them as she slipped into peaceful meditation.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron simply continued to watch, wondering what was going on inside her mind. He imagined that she would slowly ease herself into the trance-like state, entering an almost hypnagogic state between reality, conscious, and this other condition. It looked as though she was simply meditating, as any Jedi would in training, but he knew that beneath it all there was something else going on.

[James Prent]

Deeper she went, re-enacting what she had done while completing her lightsaber. The Force swirled around her, and she could very clearly sense Aaron sitting across from her. He felt a bit curious, and analytical, but she pushed her mind away from him, and concentrated on the dream.

Instead of concentrating on finishing her lightsaber, James let the image of the white monster/stormtrooper fill her mind, as well as the woman that she supposed was her birth mother.

[James Prent]

As the Force took her into itself, as she delved into it's secrets, James felt light. Lightweight, and filled with luminescence.

Her body remained on the floor in her room, with Aaron looking on interestedly, but she herself was caught up in the flow of the Force, and it started to reveal things to her.

There was a baby crying, softly at first, and then loudly as the focus of the Jedi Padawan was drawn to it. A woman appeared, in a cell-like room, cradling an infant in her arms. The baby was only a few days old, still very new looking, and furiously hungry. The woman had dark hair, and she was wearing a non-descript white jumpsuit which she quickly un-zipped to breast feed her daughter.

As the baby suckled, the woman hummed a lullabye, gently stroking the shock of brown hair on the baby's head. James was comforted and drawn to the pair, feeling the love the woman was exuding towards the child.

And then...fear. The cell doors opened, and a white suited humanoid stepped inside, followed by a black droid that was spherical and floated on air. Another stormtrooper came in behind the interrogation droid, blaster rifle in hand. Without a word the baby was taken from it's mother and the trooper turned to leave.

The woman cried out in anger, and got to her feet only to be clubbed back by the butt of the second trooper's rifle. She collapsed on the floor, but was quickly propped up on the bench against the wall and the droid moved in on her.

Woozy, trembling in fear, the woman kicked out at the spherical droid, connecting with a lucky hit. The droid tumbled a bit and then righted itself, but the woman had already gotten to her feet and charged the stormtrooper, who shot a smoking hole in her chest.

The woman gasped, wide-eyed, and fell backwards, striking her head on the edge of the obsidian bench. Blood pooled around her body as James felt the life leave her.

In front of Aaron, James moaned, slowly rocking back and forth in what might have been distress, but she was still deep in the vision trance.

Time blurred for a moment, and James saw the stormtroopers lead in a defiant looking man. He was tall and handsome, and had obviously been beaten recently. As he viewed the woman on the ground, he broke down in tears. This was his wife.

[Aaron Belargic]

He could sense now that James was becoming deeply immersed in what was going on in her mind. Previously, she had appeared to be simply watching, a formless eye overseeing the goings-on. It seemed now she was actively taking part in the scene, if not physically, on some other level. She was physically shown the effects of this, and looked almost in distress. He wouldn’t intervene, though. James had told him to let the Force guide him, and he would do just that. No doubt it was very difficult for her to enter such a state, so he didn’t want to be the cause of her wasting the whole session simply by shaking her out of the state because she was trembling a little.

[James Prent]

James felt the vision ending. She'd had so many she knew what they were like intimately, and this one was over. No! She concentrated, trying to stay with the weeping man, frustration building as the vision faded before her eyes.

In the void of the Force where she found herself, James remembered to clear her mind once more. Frustration could lead to anger, and anger was a step down the Dark Path. Breathing slowly and easily she brought herself back to full consciousness.

When her eyes opened to look at Aaron, they were full of unshed tears, but the padawan was smiling.

[Aaron Belargic]

It was, apparently, over.

James had opened her eyes and was showing conscious focus on him. Reciprocating her smile, he asked, “What did you see?”

[James Prent]

"My mother...and my father." Her smile quivered a bit, and a tear slipped down her face before she wiped it away. "I was successful... it worked! I have to tell Master D'an right away!" Excitement overtook common sense, and she tried to get to her feet.

Her legs were not yet responding normally, however, and she thumped down onto the pillows she'd strategically placed.

[Aaron Belargic]

“Whoa, calm down- should I send him a message? Ask him to come by here?” he asked, already half getting up to head towards the communicator.

[James Prent]

"Yes! I mean...no. No, don't disturb him." James sat up again, a little more somber.

[Aaron Belargic]

The sudden mood change made Aaron frown.

“No? Are you sure this isn’t something worth disturbing him for?”

[James Prent]

"Ah... I dunno. He's a council member and I don't want to drag him out of a meeting or anything." She rubbed her forehead a bit, and sighed. "I think I might need a bit of time to digest what I saw."

[Aaron Belargic]

“Perhaps that would be a good idea… would you like… me to leave you to rest? To think on things?”

[James Prent]

"Sure..." James bit her lip, and got to her feet, a bit unsteadily. "Thank you for coming over, Aaron. This means so much to me." Finally she had a chance to discover what her true background was! "I think I'll send Master D'an a message, tell him I found something out, and that he can contact me to find out what it is."

She walked with Aaron to the door, but paused to grab his satchel from the kitchenette countertop. "Here, don't forget this." James held it out to him, and as he took it she surprised him with a hug. Releasing him, she blushed a bit. "Thank you, again."