Learning Empathy [Draiya] - 10.100

[Serena Laran]

Serena clasped her hands behind her back, looking at the view. She was standing on the "wrong" side of the Whaladon, it's shadow reaching away from her to the right, the camp hidden behind its bulk.

She had taken a new padawan, and she was to meet her here in a few minutes. For now she mediated.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

It was a day she'd been looking forward to for a while. She'd been a padawan for months now, but aside from her general courses and training, hadn't yet been assigned a master. Although she'd secretly hoped for Abarai Loki or Bryna Belargic, she grudgingly understood those two ideal choices weren't to be. The latter because she herself hadn't been made a knight yet (but oh man that would be kuu'ai if she was!) and the former because he was...Loki. Draiya admired him from afar. He was the kind of Jedi who chewed granite for breakfast because there wasn't anything with more crunch.

Clear your mind, dork.

Draiya's face went serene. Control. It wasn't the easiest lesson for her to learn, but she was trying. Loki'd taken to giving her a few knocks on the head to make sure she stayed on the straight and narrow. She respected the tough love, but at some point she was going to have to be the source of her own discipline.

At last ready, Draiya made her way to the arranged meeting place. She knew Serena Laran. I mean everybody did. She was one of the few Jedi Masters. That was incredibly kuu'ai, and Draiya knew she'd been granted a great honor to learn with one of the best.

Rounding the corner of the Whaladon, Draiya spotted the red-haired Jedi in serene poise. She approached her, giving respectful distance to her meditation.

"Masterr?"

[Serena Laran]

"Come stand beside me, Padawan Naaianeya," Serena said, not taking her eyes off the distant snow capped peaks. "Tell me what you see."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Doing as instructed, Draiya closed the distance to Serena, positioning herself to her side so that they shared the same vista. She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, allowing her expression to draw serene as she regarded the view. The serene expression didn't last long, as a look of confusion took its place. She was hoping that she'd discover some less-than-obvious sign by sharing in the moment. All she saw, instead, were...

"Mountains?"

She frowned. Grown-ups loved cryptic clues and sending their youngers on wild chases after them.

[Serena Laran]

Serena looked down at her, and smiled. "Now, Draiya, close your eyes." The young girl did so after a moment's hesitation, and she continued, "Tell me what you see."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya could take that hint. Another deep breath. Her face serene again, and now Draiya's eyelids fluttered closed as she exhaled slowly from her nose. She took to her training, reaching out with her feelings, beyond what her eyes could see. Her other senses augmented what her eyes denied her. Her sense of smell keened. Her ears picked up that which was hidden. But more important, she could feel others. The presence of living beings in the force had its own light that not only shined, but both pushed and pulled. You could almost feel it on your skin. Serena was brilliant, sensed this way. Her radiance in the force almost dominated her senses, and she had to strain to look past. The serenity on her face strained somewhat.

"Masterr..."

Expelling her remaining breath in a sigh, her eyes opened and she shook her head.

"I sense you, the people overr therre...the younglings class. Some bugs."

Draiya frowned at the mountains beyond.

"It's too farr."

[Serena Laran]

"It is far," agreed Serena. She clasped her hands in front of her and joined her newest padawan in meditation. There was an undercurrent of disappointment, cut through with excitement, running through the girl. It was no secret that Draiya had had designs on being Abarai Loki's padawan, but the council had agreed that the fifteen year old knight was simply not old enough to command respect from a padawan nearly his own age. Most of the time his demeanor and assumed maturity was enough to keep his classes in line, but extended contact, day after day?

Draiya would find a crack and worry at it until Abarai crumbled. The right padawan learner would come in time for the young Knight, that much she was sure of.

Serena took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Can you feel your place here? Feel the connections between you, the Force...me. The grasses and rocks."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya nodded assuredly.

"I can, but it's..."

She tried again, stilling her mind, closing her eyes. She shook her head.

"...it's harrd to sift aparrt."

Her eyes widened as she came out of concentration again. Turning to Serena, Draiya shifted on her feet.

"It's loud. I mean, not like sound, but, you know. You'rre loud. Rreally loud."

[Serena Laran]

Serena opened her eyes and met Draiya's gaze. "What do you mean, loud?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya made an awkward face. How else was she supposed to describe it.

"Well I mean not like ow my earrs loud. I dunno. Like something I should be able to hearr. Orr see. Orr touch."

She scuffed a boot toe in the grass as she tried to make sense of her own inadequate way of describing her experience through the force. Biting her lip a little, she looked to her Master to help clarify the matter through her own experience.

"It's not like that forr you? When you feel, you know, the everrything and all."

[Serena Laran]

"Some things have a stronger presence that others," Serena nodded. "If I am an overwhelming presence, try focusing beyond me. Focus on the grass under your feet. Tell me about it. In fact, let's sit." She sat on the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees, long skirts in the grass. "Start with meditating, emptying your mind, and then spread out your senses."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She wanted to be told about grass. Draiya could barely hide the incredulity from her face. What was to tell? Still, Serena obviously thought there was more there than the obvious, so Draiya dutifully sat. She laced her fingers together in her lap, and gave a few slow breaths, letting her eyes drift closed. Again, she relied on her sense through the force, and the sensory kaleidoscope that was Serena Laran dominated everything around her. No, focus. Draiya's expression frowned, and she dipped her head, angling towards the ground slightly. Beyond the beautiful corona of Serena's energy, she could feel something verdant and different. The warmth of the sun against the grass, and the life that ran from each feathered green strand to the lacing roots below.

"It's one and all..." Draiya began cryptically, her mouth slightly open as she focused.

"I feel energy therre. Drrawn frrom the sun and the earrth. I can feel..."

Her mouth was dry, and Draiya swallowed heavily.

"...connection. With each otherr. Like it's talking, saying the same thing, but togetherr. Separrate but also togetherr."

Realization dawned on her face, and the Syragori's eyes opened. She exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding back.

"I neverr saw it that way beforre."

[Serena Laran]

Serena could almost see the light turning on in Draiya's head as she made her discovery, and it was beautiful. "The Force is in everything around us, from the dirt to the clouds, to those far away mountains and the even further stars. But for now, the grass."

The Jedi master ran her hand over the green blades, the tips tickling her palm. "It covers a large area here. It's energy is subtle, passive. Grass grows only so high, no higher, unlike trees that reach for the sky. It is a minor thing, but necessary for the ecosystem. It plays host to bugs and small rodents, fills the atmosphere with oxygen while filtering carbon dioxide. Investigate the grass, Draiya. It grows under us, and under the feet of the younglings playing. Can you feel the connections?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She doubled her efforts, expanding upon the truths she'd discovered to learn more. Indeed, what Master Laran stated was true. She could feel the connections between the grass, and the unseen creatures within. Without higher minds at work, it was still difficult to find them, but there they were going about their simple roles in the chain of life. But didn't she already know this? From school? Was there a hidden truth in doing beyond learning?

Introspections and doubts clogged up Draiya's mind, and she severed her link, sighing frustratedly.

"Masterr Larran I can feel what you'rre saying, but why is it imporrtant? I mean, grrass? Bugs? They don't think. People think. Shouldn't ourr attention be focused on people?"

[Serena Laran]

"Bugs do think," Serena chided softly, putting out her hand and encouraging a small purple beetle to fly up from the grass and rest on her palm. "I know you have a great deal of innate ability when it comes to the minds of sentients, Draiya. This must not become a crutch to you, however, or something to concentrate on at the expense of the other areas of the Force. Rummaging around in someone's mind is not a thing to do lightly, either. Too much pressure and the mind can snap, damaged irreparably.

"Turn back to the grass. It connects us to the younglings on the other side of the Whaladon," Serena encouraged. "Tell me what game they are playing. The grass can tell you what you cannot see."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Doubt at Serena's farfetched claims was clear on Draiya's face. She's insane, she gawked, her unbelieving eyes reluctantly moving from Master to grass. Still...she reached a careful hand to the green patch below. Her fingers splayed as her hand stretched out carefully, treading each tapered blade of verdant green before the fingers sank into the depths. She resumed her search, feeling the now-familiar energy of the grass and its many-but-one voice and all of the things within. The look of doubt on her face suddenly turned to surprise, and she drew back from the green patch as if she'd suddenly touched a hot stove. A sharp gasp of breath, and her eyes flicked open.

Immediately she plunged her hand back, returning to where she was. That strange junction between the living force of the grass and the environment, and the world around her. Draiya stretched those boundaries, running distances beyond where they sat. Far beyond. She could hear voices and see movement. The connection to the living force was a live wire, a conduit that energy flowed through freely, allowing her to perceive the world in a way that should be impossible, but nevertheless...

"Duck Duck Nuna!"

She gasped, surprised at how freely it had come.

[Serena Laran]

"Very good, Draiya," Serena said, allowing the beetle to fly away, it's wings iridescent in the sun. "Connections - they form the galaxy around us. We are all connected, from the lowliest creature to the largest star." She reached out and took the padawan's hand in hers. "How good are you at reading emotions?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Her face brightened a bit, smile betraying a skill set in which she excelled.

"Like I said, people arre easierr. Thoughts, intentions, emotions arre clearr."

Taking a student's initiative to show by example, Draiya reached her senses towards Serena. Emotions were like color. No form or shapes, just easy-to-see hues that could be caused by nearly anything. A casual brush through Serena's mind, and the Padawan's eyes widened, a surprised grin on her face.

"Love? Who do you..."

The open book of Serena's mind slammed shut on her, the effect extremely jarring as Draiya flinched and drew back slightly.

[Serena Laran]

She quite firmly closed that part of her mind to the inquisitive padawan, a wry smile on her face. "Apologies, Padawan. But that is a conversation for another time." Serena squeezed the girl's hand to show no harm had been done.

"Every action in the Force has a reaction. Drop a rock in a pond and it ripples the water all the way to the distant shore. Kill an insect, and a flower does not get pollinated. Or, perhaps it is pollinated by a different insect. Tweak the mind of a person, and you can do untold damages. I know you have the ability, but together we will create the control you need in order to use your gifts responsibly."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Still a bit shocked by the emotional shuttering, Draiya nodded in agreement. She hadn't anticipated that response to browsing that had been innocent enough. What else might happen if she was too reckless in someone's mind.

"How will I know?"

Draiya's expression was guarded and a little apprehensive, as she'd never considered those kinds of ramifications before. Where Serena's mind before had seemed an open book, it now appeared as a mousetrap. Fraught with danger to both parties alike.

[Serena Laran]

"Listen to the Force. Think before action. The more practiced you get, the faster these things will come to you, but for now I would like you to take a moment to consider your intentions before you attempt to enter another's mind. Including non-sentient animals," Serena added. "A mind trick will change a person's mind, making them think as you wish. If you take it too far, you can change their mind permanently. Or perhaps make them unable to think anything except that one thing you were impressing upon them.

"It takes practice to be good at it, though," she said, "And so I want you to practice in the woods. On the wildlife. In some ways an animal's brain is less complicated than a sentient being's. Their minds are uncluttered by the things that concern us. However, you should not take that to mean that convincing a deer to walk toward you, or away from a trap, will be easy. They think much differently than we do - though," allowed Serena, "there are thousands of sentient species in the galaxy, and many have minds magnitudes more complicated than a human's. Some cannot be mind tricked at all, like the Cizerack, Toydarian, or Hutt. Hive minds are resistant, as you would have to find the hub of the mind rather than a simple drone - yet the drone might be what is directly in front of you. Each being presents particular problems that the Jedi must learn and work with."

Serena smiled encouragingly at Draiya. "So. Work on the problem of how to change a being's mind without permanently altering them. I would like you to practice in the forest on the animals, with caution. All creatures are part of the Force and should be treated with respect. Just as your fellow Jedi are part of the Force. We are each one of the all."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's features brightened a bit at Serena throwing down the gauntlet, so to speak. She was inherently a practical learner, and what better way to learn by doing than field work. Her previous near-disastrous woods-stalking incident was practically ancient history (and was mostly Akasha's fault anyway)! Her eager energy shifted as she sat, ready to carry out her Master's bidding.

"I will do as you ask, Masterr Larran."

Draiya bounded to her feet, her senses already drawing the net widely as Serena taught her to do. She could feel the connections through the living force - the tapestry of living things living with one another. The grass, the insects the trees, and all things within and beyond. As she picked up speed, she could feel larger creatures beyond the thicket leading towards the forest. Her pace then slowed, and Draiya's footfalls became more precise and careful. She stilled her mind, focusing her intent to only a few animals just a hundred meters or so ahead.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She'd watched Akasha stalk before. Mind you, from afar, but the gist of it was learned by osmosis. While Draiya lacked the Orryxian's natural graces, she made up for that in determination, each footfall placed strategically as she made her approach slow and careful. The thicket thinned as the shade of the canopy above cramped out the sun, leaving behind a fairly vaulted forest floor. While she could certainly close the distance while hidden from sight, Draiya wanted all of her faculties available to her in order to reach out to a forest creature. A chipmunk skittered in a thin bush some distance away, its black and white back stripes creating an energetic blur. Draiya made a disapproving face. Too small. Movement above drew her eyes high to the branches, seeing a puffy tail of a squirrel bounding over a branch. Likewise, that was unambitious.

Another hundred meters in, and Draiya could hear the burble of water in a brook as it flowed over a shallow bed of rocks. She also heard the more sparse, careful footfalls of larger creatures. Freezing in her path, the Padawan closed her eyes, remembering to trust beyond her own senses. Listen to the living force. She could feel the crisscrossing energy in the web of tree roots beneath her feet, and again everything above and below was connected. The stream was another focal point. She searched for that key drive of life - the search for water. Yes, there they were.

Six deer.

Now that she could sense them, how to handle this task? Something simple. Unobtrusive. Respectful. Draiya's senses felt the tentative vigilance of the deer. Their wants and their fears. She shook her head, voice low.

"Don't be afrraid. Don't be afrraid."

Draiya began to walk, closing the distance carefully as she reassured the creatures that were still obscured from sight by the trees. She took careful steps, again repeating her low words as he reassurances reached the deer in a way they might understand. At last she reached a clearing, overlooking the bend in the stream where half a dozen deer sipped cold water. Their necks rose in unison, dark eyes fixated on Draiya as the stood their ground. Their tawny and white lithe figures seemed at ease, with no signs of tensing and preparing to bolt. One of the deer, a majestic-looking buck, licked away residual water from its muzzle with a dark tongue, pawing at the leaves on the ground expectantly.

[Serena Laran]

The buck regarded Draiya cautiously as she took another step, nostrils flaring as it scented the air. The wind was against her, giving the girl a slight advantage of being downwind from the animals.

A bird of prey screeched above the trees, hunting rodents.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's focus wavered, and in a moment she could feel the herd tense. She raised a hand to them, drawing her full intentions back to the buck in front of her.

"See? Calm. Calm."

The buck seemed to relent from its previous suspicions, and as it did, so too the does around it. Draiya continued to approach carefully, the hand she'd raised still poised between her and the forest creature as she tentatively brushed along its muzzle. The buck flinched and grunted, shaking its antlered head back and forth slightly and causing Draiya's hand to flinch back. But the buck didn't bolt. It stood its ground, allowing Draiya to make contact a second time, in a more confident way. The Syragori's face beamed with a smile as she carefully ran her hand down the buck's neck, giving him a reassuring pat at the shoulder. The buck snorted, as if waiting to see what would come next. Draiya could feel its defenses lower, and the curiosity remained.

"Will you walk with me?" she asked sweetly, still petting the animal as it seemed to regard her words. To test the experiment, Draiya withdrew her hand, backing away a few paces. The buck paused, glancing back to its does before taking a few steps toward Draiya, who's eyes were wide with amazement.

"Wow."

[Serena Laran]

The buck hesitated as she spoke, taking a step back and snorting loudly. The does skittered away from the water in alarm, but didn't go far. In the tall grass behind her Draiya could just make out two more life forms - most likely fawns hidden by their mother.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"A family?"

Her posture remained careful and disarming, overriding her instinct to tense up at the buck's snort. She felt the natural apprehension in the deer, that feeling of resting on the fulcrum of trust and distrust.

"I have a family too."

Looking back towards the edge of the forest, Draiya wondered if Serena was watching her. She didn't dare break her focus on the deer to find out, however. Instead, she reassured them, cupping her hands into the stream to fill them with water, presenting the peace offering to the buck. Again he approached, less apprehensive than before, and lapped the water in her hand. It took a bit of effort to not spill the contents in the wake of the ticklish action, and Draiya instead beamed a wide grin.

"Do you want to meet them?

Finished with the water, the buck righted himself, keening slightly as he pawed the ground with a hoof, and took steps to follow Draiya as she moved at respectful distance.

[Serena Laran]

One of the does flicked her ears in alarm as the buck began to follow Draiya, and then she and her fawn bounded away with a crash through the underbrush.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's eyes widened at the sudden change, and then it was over. The unnatural truce was broken, and instinct at once returned to the deer.

"No wait!!"

But it was too late. The wild animals at once had bolted, disappearing through the deeper brush and leaving Draiya alone. The disappointment was clear on her face, and the Padawan let all of her pent-up focus relax from her body with a long sigh. Looking back, she hoped that her new master didn't personally witness the failure, but judging from the attuned sense of the world that Serena had opened up to her, she had a feeling that the Jedi Master already knew the result.

With half the forest spooked from the bolting deer, Draiya took the long walk back from whence she came.

[Serena Laran]

She was halfway back to the shadow of the Whaladon when Draiya noticed something moving in the trees above her. A tree rodent, colloquially known as a squirrel, was scurrying along a branch, keeping pace with her.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

It wasn't a deer. Not nearly so impressive, but it also hadn't bolted when all the other animals startled. For a moment Draiya simply stood and watched the squirrel watch her. Dark eyes meeting dark eyes in a strange understanding of curiosity. Maybe it was because she didn't feel the pressure weighing on her, but Draiya somehow felt more at ease now. She canted her head. The squirrel did likewise, which caused Draiya to smile timidly.

"Not as scarred as all the otherrs?"

The squirrel blinked. Draiya's arms raised at each side, and then fell back to her sides in a ho-hum expression.

"It's just me."

The squirrel preened its long bushy tail, pausing midway to look at Draiya again. With a sigh, the Syragori let down the barrier in her mind and reached out as she raised a hand to the branch above. A hand up in friendly expectation. It didn't take so much. Not a strenuous thing. Just a sense of a common state in the world, and the squirrel suddenly found itself in her hand as if it always belonged there.

[Serena Laran]

The squirrel fidgeted in Draiya's palm, sniffing at her skin, and then it settled down and began to groom it's face between it's little paws.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Where the deer had fled, the squirrel had remained. It didn't seem like it had taken much effort at all to convince the creature. Maybe it was a combination of that, and the right moment? She stood for what seemed to be an eternity, watching the little creature preen itself. It would occasionally pause, and look up to her, as if for approval.

"You don't have to go and get all drressed up on my account."

Half smile cocked, she turned the squirrel in the direction she came, looking in the same direction.

"Do you want to come with me?"

She felt no resistance. It was as if having a squirrel tagging along was as natural as anything. Slowly, Draiya began to return from the forest with her little passenger.

[Serena Laran]

The squirrel scampered up her arm and sat on her shoulder for a moment before sticking it's nose in her ear and then climbing up her hair to the top of her head.

Serena sat quietly by the Whaladon, eyes lightly closed as the sun moved slowly across the sky. She hadn't been sitting there to purposely intercept her padawan as she returned from the trees, but she hadn't had anywhere else to be. Meditation was a daily ritual she used to center herself, and now had been as good a time as any to do so.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Masterr Larran! Masterr Larran!"

Once she'd caught sight of Serena in the midst of meditating, Draiya picked up her pace, jogging outright to meet her. Her tagalong squirrel, rather than being surprised by the sudden movement, had seemed to commit to the companionship, little paws knuckling down for purchase in Draiya's hair as he hitched a ride. It was a strange sight, like she was wearing a korm-skin cap three sizes too small for her head, complete with floofy tail fluttering behind like a streamer.

[Serena Laran]

She looked up, and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Draiya and the rodent on her head. Serena stood up, brushing off her robes, and held out her hand as the girl stopped in front of her. "May I?"

The padawan nodded, and after a moment the squirrel jumped from her head to Serena's palm. It's little claws pricked the skin but did not hurt as it steadied itself. After a moment it jumped back onto Draiya's shoulder, scurrying across her collarbone to the opposite side and flicking her nose with it's tail as it did so.

"A good start, Padawan," Serena encouraged her. "You seem to have completely won him over. What was it like?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She opened her mouth to tell the whole story, and paused to redact her failure with the deer. Accentuating the positive, she looked to her hitchhiker, who was making himself quite at home on his perch.

"I looked arround forr a challenge. Something rreally imprressive!"

Again, not mentioning the deer. Draiya shifted her feet, clasping her hands together. The squirrel traveled down her arm and came to rest in the hammock made by her interlaced fingers. That broke her concentration, and the Padawan stammered.

"He...he saw me firrst and then I saw him. And I was like...okay? And he was like...okay."

It sounded a lot more stupid when she actually had to describe it happening. What happened to I am the master of the miiiind?

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded, sensing the girl was holding something back but not prying. "There is no shame in starting small. In fact, it was very wise. A squirrel is a simple creature with simple wants and simple instincts. A sentient being is complicated - working up to 'something really impressive' is smart.

"What you learn to do small you will learn to do big," she added. "A small nudge like you described is exactly what I wanted you to learn." Serena raised her eyebrows. "Keep practicing. I think that is enough for today."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Remembering her etiquette, Draiya bowed deeply. Out of her sight and in her hands, the squirrel pantomimed the movement.

"Thank you, Masterr Larran."

She rose again, and realized she still had company. The squirrel looked up to her with yearning. She slowly withdrew her connection to him. He remained in her hand.

"Go on, then."

The squirrel hugged her wrist, holding on tight.