What Lies Ahead? (open)

[Rognan Dar]

The future is hard to see. Always clouded it is. The path of one Jedi is not always a clear path, nor a easy one. But how is one to really know where he is to go? How is it that that he would learn the things needed for the time ahead if he did not have some glimps of what his future was?

These thoughts plagued Rognan. His life had lead him to wanting to know what the future held in order that he could find a way to make his actions in that future the right ones. But that desire was out of his reach. He had no way of looking to the future. He was not gifted by the Force visions of the future. And if he did, he might be worse off then he is now. Hating what he saw because he could not always change it to the better. Many times Rog thought about these things. Even now, as he sat on the wall of the garden and looking out over the city, he wished that he could be a better, stronger, and more willing to help the world around him. He knew that he could do good out there, but it was not knowing what it was that held him back from doing it.

[James Prent]

James was walking solemnly through the gardens, on her way to her quarters. She'd just come from the Council Room, and was still trying to come to grips with what they'd told her.

One: She was one of their best chances to find the kidnapped Jax Tondry. He'd been taken from his father's rooms days ealier, in an attack that has left the Temple damaged, and the confidence of the Jedi almost shattered. The Jedi Order was strong, but they had thought the Temple to be unbreachable. How wrong they were...

Two: The Council had raised her to the rank of a full fledged Jedi Knight. The more she thought about it, the more responsibilities she had now.

Wrapped up in her thoughts as she was, James didn't notice the man sitting on the garden wall until she was nearly next to him. "Oh. Hi?" The five foot tall Knight peered up at the man. "Uh, you wouldn't want to fall off that. Long drop an' all." She forced a smile.

[Rognan Dar]

A voice to Rognan's right startled him. Looking in that direction, he saw the figure of a woman. She said not to fall off the wall. Well, of course he wouldn't try. Though, he had to admit, it wouldn't have been hard to when his thoughts run loose and he hardly remembers where he was. He stood and towered over the woman. Not that Rog was tall, it was just that she was short. Shorter, at lest. Rognan stood close to six feet. And anyone that was more then a few inches shorter looked, to him, even small then they really were.

"Yeah, it would not be a smart thing to fall off. Quite a fall. Even I wouldn't be able to stop myself. I hope I didn't sit in your spot at all. Its more or less my first time to really be up here. Er...I'm Rognan Dar, by the way. May I incline to your name, miss?"

[James Prent]

She stuck out her hand, looking up at the taller man. "M'name's James Prent. Good to meet you, Rognan Dar... Ah, I know why the name is familiar - you work with the younglings, right?"

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan took James' hand in his. "Pleased to meet you, miss Prent. I have worked with the younglings. They seem to be very responsive to the Force and the teachings on it. Yet, I dont know if all of them are quite ready for the training. It is better for them to start young, as far as the old Jedi Order was concerned. But I think that sometimes its better to start when they can understand what it is they are really doing.

I'm not quite sure if I've heard of you. No offence. There are quite a lot of many people I haven't had the chance to meet. Will you join me on my...wall?"

[James Prent]

James shrugged, half-heartedly. "Well, there're a lot of Jedi in the Temple, I only rub shoulders with a few myself. As far as the wall..." James hesitated. "I'm going t' have t' pass on that. Were you meditating up there?"

[Rognan Dar]

"No, no. Just...thinking. You know, about the future. And a bit about the past. Can't stop thinking of what I could have done different, done better and then what would happen now because of that. I dont know, maybe I just have my head up in the clouds to much..."

Rognan looked at James for a little reasurance but then looked away, back at the city.

[James Prent]

She looked away as well, trying her best not to feel a fresh rush of shame. It hadn't been her fault. "Thinking about the past can be painful, if you don't have the right frame of mind. It's water under the bridge - done and over with. What matters now is how we deal with what our decisions were. At least, that's what I think...

"To be honest, I'm probably not the best qualified to offer advice. I should have known that that attack on the Temple was coming, and I just didn't interpet my visions correctly." James kept her eyes on her feet.

[Rognan Dar]

"I guess your right. I just need to let things that happened be. But I can't stop thinking of what lies ahead...Wait...you knew that we were going to be attacked? How did you know? How could anyone have known?"

Rognan looked back at James with a curiousity writen all over his face. Surely no one could have seen that attack, if you could really call it an attack, coming. He wasn't at the Order at the time, but then news of it spread like wild fire all over the place.

[James Prent]

She shook her head, a little impatiently. "No, I didn't know we were going t' be attacked, but I'd been havin' visions... I don't know how t' explain it." James sighed, and rubbed her forehead a bit. "If I knew how to interpet my visions a bit better, I can't help but think I would have known something was going to happen."

[Rognan Dar]

"Visions? You have quite a gift there. I can't see visions, at lest, not in something that could be said to be a vision. Even with a vision, it would be hard to know that we were going to be attacked. It would have been foolishness for anyone to do it, unless they had it planned out as well as they did. Somehow I feel that even if you could have seen what was going to happen, it would only signal those people that we caught on to them. They would have then done sometihing else, maybe even worse then what they did."

[James Prent]

James sighed. "If my vision dealt specifically with the attack, then we could have been forewarned... but it is not... it's something that is still goin' to happen as a result of the attack.

"But if we knew what was going to happen, I highly doubt that any of the Dark Jedi who attacked us would have known that we knew." James shook her head, and sighed again. "But enough about that. You were deep in thought about something before I came along, an' I'm sorry to have interrupted you."

[Rognan Dar]

"No, its no problem. I should be sorry for persisting on the subject. For I only wish to know where they went off to...with the kid.

I was only thinking about what is in store for me. What the future might surprise me with. You can see vision, of the future I would guess. You would then know a small part of what could come nad how to react to it correctly."

[James Prent]

"Yes, except that the future is always in motion. An' if you react to a vision rashly, you could endanger more than just what you are trying t' prevent." James shrugged. "Sometimes knowin' what's goin' t' happen isn't all that great."

[Rognan Dar]

"But surely it can be understood if you focus and try and see what it is that your suppose to learn from it. Why else would the Force give you visions if it was not to tell you something. Maybe not something you could change, but there has to be a reason."

[James Prent]

She shook her head, a little more forcefully this time. "I- I don't think it works like that. The Force isn't a sentient being, it's something that flows through us all... an energy field. When I have visions I believe it's because I have a talent for tapping into the energy field and using it, subconciously, to read into the future. Or into the past."

She was obviously flustered, and her eyes were getting bright and shiny with unshed tears. "But it isn't somethin' that I do consciously... I didn't ask for it!"

[Rognan Dar]

"Did any of use ask to be able to use the Force?"

The question had a obvious answer. People didn't choose to want to use the Force. Many that do want to use it can't, and that is why they want it.

"Its not so much what you want or what you ask for that matters. What matters most is how you use it. If you are given this ability, then you should try your best to perfect it and learn from it. That is what all of us must do, for what else would we do with the Force?"

[James Prent]

He was right, and she knew it. "Yes... I know. I'm sorry for interrupting you, I gotta go." Then she felt ashamed for simply running away from a new acquaintance.

"It was nice to meet you - we'll have to talk some time later. I really have a big day tomorrow. The Council wants me to rest up so they can try to help me actively seek a vision to find Jax Tondry..."

[Rognan Dar]

"I hope that you will be able to find him. Goodnight, James."

With that he watched James leave with a sunken heart. Why can't I ever say anything right? Once again something I must have said sends someone away. With a heavy sigh he continued to look out to the city, watching the lights move all around. Even at night the city was not quiet or unactive.