Size Matters Not - 10.123

[Rognan Dar]

It was a warm, overcast day on Ossus. The perfect weather for working outside without feeling cold as well as the cloud cover blocked the sun to keep from over heating. Like most days, regardless of how nice the weather may be, Rognan could be found outside doing what appeared to be meditating. He was hardly ever in the same place around the Jedi base, mixing up his location from time to time. Today he was out past the northern boarder of the base, enough out of the way that the sound and bustle of the daily activity were faintly perceived. His reason for being out this far was intentional, as his purpose was to train with a padawan and the seclusion made it easier to teach as well as to learn.

So there Rognan waited for Draiya Naaianeya to begin their first lesson. Rognan was a little nervous to say the least, but was determined to do his best so that the padawan could benefit from his knowledge of the Force. To take his mind off of what was to come he sat on a cushion he had liberated from the dormitories and was using it to levitate himself off the ground. He did this often and would often get quick sidelong glances from those around the base when he ventured into different areas of the compound. It didn't bother him. His real reason for being in those areas was more than to simply float around.

At that moment Rognan felt Draiya draw near and opened his eyes watch her approach.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Perhaps sensing a desire to diversify her foundations, Serena had sent Draiya to spend some time in the company of another Jedi named Rognan Dar. The name didn't sound at all familiar to her, but apparently he was a colleague of Serena's for many years and she trusted his intuition. He also was a savant at telekinetic control.

Which was how Draiya found herself halfway out in the middle of nowhere watching a young Lorrdian man sitting cross-legged on a cushion somehow impossibly on thin air. As she approached, she could feel the singing harmonics in her mind of changing awareness manifested in her teacher, even before his eyes opened.

"Masterr Darr."

Draiya gave a proper bow before him. She squared her feet, drawing her hands behind her at the ready.

"Masterr Larran has sent me herre forr yourr guidance. I'm..."

She frowned, jawline setting as her brows knit, as if summoning her own deficiencies left a bad taste on her tongue.

"...having difficulty."

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan smiled a greeting and returned the bow with nod. Stretching his legs out in front of himself he placed both feet on the ground and stood up, the pillow he had been sitting on slowly settled onto the grass.

Rognan is a Lorrdian and his people are masters of Kenetic Communication. They were able to perceive emotions and communicate through body movements. So it was not hard for him to see the internal conflict going on with Draiya in admitting her need for help.

"Please sit down." He gestured to another cushion in front of his own. Sitting down himself he continued, "It is nice to meet you padawan Naaaianeya. I am Rognan Dar, as I'm sure you have heard. Master Larran tells me that you could use some help with telekinesis. Tell me, what has been your experience with it so far and what are you able to do before we get into it."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya sat as instructed by Rognan. She kept her eyes forward in adherent self-discipline, despite the temptation to look up at her teacher.

"My experrience?"

The Syragori girl's eyes closed, rather than averting to the ground in her shame.

"Failurre."

Invoking the word hurt, a razor across pink tender skin to cause shame to bleed again. She opened her eyes once more, half-lidded and thoughtful.

"I have failed to grrasp even the smallest underrstanding of telekinesis."

[Rognan Dar]

There was almost a palpable feeling of pain and shame coming from Draiya. Rognan could see how difficult this subject was for her. But it wasn't just that she had difficulty with it. No, there was something else. In the short time that Rognan had interacted with Draiya he could already sense that she was a strong willed individual. Maybe a little head strong but that was to be determined. So it wasn't the sheer difficulty of performing the task that seemed to eat away at her, for surely she would strive to over come it and push herself to success. It was the disappointment of failing and continuing to fail, so completely discouraged that it broke her down inside.

Rognan placed a comforting hand on Draiya's shoulder. "I know it's been hard, but I promise that I will be here to help you through this. We will figure it out. It may be a hard road ahead for the both of us but if you trust me we can succeed."

Sitting back and removing his hand Rognan took a deep breath. "So, we shall start from the beginning. I know you have heard a lot of what I will be saying and teaching you. Hopefully I can provide a different insight that may be helpful for you.

As you know the Force is all around us. It's an energy field surrounding and inside all things. Not simply living things but they are the most prominent. I assume you have been able to sense the Force and tap into its power? Good, we shall begin with that.

What I want you to do right now is close your eyes. Open your mind to the Force. Feel the things around you. I want you to describe, as much as you can, the things you sense."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya flinched under Rognan's touch, her shoulders squaring as if it were a rebuke. What was comfort to her? What had comfort helped her to accomplish so far? It was sugar for weaklings who didn't have the stomach to face the challenges in front of them. She had heard his words though and reluctantly nodded. He was her teacher, after all. Those who were unwilling to learn would never improve themselves.

"I trrust you, Masterr Darr."

Rognan began his introductions into the foundations of the force, and Draiya focused her attention to it, even if she thought she knew most of what he was saying. Obviously she was mistaken somewhere. Somewhere between the lines the truth others had attained and she had let slip between her fingers could be found. He asked her to close her eyes and focus on the world surrounding them. Draiya obeyed at once, depriving herself of her limited sight in favor of her innate senses that could see that fantastic realm others couldn't even comprehend. The dazzling auras of the living force illuminated her perception, and her intent expression broke for just a moment as her eyebrows raised in awed response.

Not surprisingly, Rognan's amazing power lit up the sky to her. She could feel it's radiance and depth, and the way it drew on and imparted itself on the living energies surrounding them all.

"I see you, of courrse. It's impossible not to."

The Syragori's head pivoted to the left and right slightly.

"I feel the trrees behind, connected to the grrass and florra. The birrds overrhead."

Draiya's serious mouth ticked upward slightly in a near-smile.

"The ladybug in yourr hairr."

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan was watching Draiya closely so as to give advice and instruction when needed, so he was not sensing the things around him. With the mention of the lady bug in his hair Rog's eyes went wide for a second and then relaxed as he smiled, reached up and combed through his hair till he found the bug and gently removed it, replacing it on a grass blade.

"Very good. Living organisms and flora have a more dense presence in the Force. But so do things that are non-living. This stone for example has a smaller presence in the Force but that doesn't make it any less important or the energy needed to manipulate it any less or greater."

Suddenly the stone started to rise slowly from Rognan's hand. It floated there for a moment before landing once again in his palm.

"You may open your eyes now. Let's have you do a small exercise in the perception of movement of an object. Take this stone. Now I want you to hold it flat in your hand. All you will be doing initially is raising it up and down in a controlled and easy manner. Watch the stone, see how when you lift it, using the firing of muscles to lift it up. Eventually you won't even think about doing it, you will simply continue the action as it becomes muscle memory."

Rognan let her do this for a short while, but even in that short amount of time he could see that Draiya was getting bored with that exercise.

"Stop for a moment and use the Force once again to take in the feeling of the rock. Picture and focus solely on it. Once you get a firm image of it in your mind I want you to once again move it up and down with your own physical strength while keeping your mind locked on it. See it through the Force as it moves.

"This may seem simplistic but I ask you to continue it. Once you have the idea of what you want to achieve it becomes easier. Sometimes the biggest limitation to telekinesis is the ability to visualize what you are trying to accomplish. One can simply just push at an object with all their power but will ultimately fall short due to the lack of follow through. The power may be strong behind their action but without control even their own power can be turned against them."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya continued as he instructed. Up. Down. Up. Down. She familiarized herself with the weight of the stone, it's center of mass, where the rock's features bulged and where they recessed into a divot. The Syragori lifted so many times she could almost feel her arm starting to wane in strength from the sheer volume of repetition. By the end of it, Draiya could have thrown the stone into a rubble pile and could have found it again with sight or without.

When Rognan instructed her to view the same repetition through the force, Draiya complied with his command. Again her eyes closed, and her senses within took grasp of the luminous symphony of life energy around her. Looking at her own hand, she could likewise see it's dizzying spectrum - as a part of a whole of a living being imbued with sensitivity to the force. The rock, by contrast, disappeared into the light. She could still feel it's unmistakeable weight and contours. She could even feel the subtle change in herself at the energy she used to hold it in front of her, but Draiya was having a hard time actually seeing the rock itself.

Outwardly, the Padawan's expression turned focused and she frowned, tilting her head left and right as she squeezed fingers over the stone and relaxed them again.

The ordeal was beginning to frustrate her, and Draiya fidgeted where she sat, pulling in a deep breath as she tried one more time. The Syragori pivoted where she sat, turning away from Rognan slightly to avoid getting lost in his energy. She leaned forward, holding the rock out as far as she could by her bare fingers - trying to remove as much living distraction as she could from the matter at hand.

[Rognan Dar]

"What is wrong Draiya?"

Rognan knew something was wrong but did not know exactly what. He could see that somewhere in the step to use the Force to sense the stone was causing her some trouble. Her forehead creased and the effort she was putting into the task was more than should have been necessary.

"Explain to me what you are having difficulty with, please."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Useless!" Draiya blurted, her eyes flashing open as she glared down at the rock in her hands. Her fingers clenched tightly around it, as if she wanted to somehow imbue the stone with some quantum of energy she could actually see. It was still a rock. There was no metamorphosis. It inhabited the space between the living force that was so brilliant.

Coming to her senses, Draiya hung her head slightly.

"Sorrry."

Feeling ashamed, the Syragori girl put the stone back on the ground between her, noting with some strangeness how alien her hand now felt without it's weight and shape occupying her thoughts so completely.

"I keep trrying to see it like you say, Masterr. I know I should be able to do this."

[Rognan Dar]

The outburst caught Rognan by surprise but he recovered quickly. After she had finished there was a long pause, a look of deep thought on his face. Eventually he spoke and it was soft, almost to softly to be heard, but it gained strength as he continued.

"I know this is hard for you. I know you can do this. But I get this overwhelming sense of emotion from you. It's powerful and distracting and easy to fall into. Take a moment to breath and clear your head while I tell you something." He also took a deep breath before continuing. "Emotions are a strong driving force. They are a basic signal that completely controls our outlook on life in the moment. On a beautiful day most would be happy when strolling outside. That happiness then infects everything else you do from that point on, changing your outlook on life and everything around you in a positive manner. There may be things that distract you and they may bring you down but its easier to get back to being happy. The same thing applies with negative emotions. The problem with negative emotions is that they tend to stick in your head, making it harder for you to get back to a state of happiness. Even if you are trying to get out of your funk it is easy to fall back into it. When your mind is clouded with emotions you lose control, you lose the ability to see the world around you in a positive manner. Sometimes that clouded vision can even block your sight and senses with the Force.

"I am a Lorrdian from the planet Lorrd, my people have developed the ability to communicate non-verbally with something we call Kinetic Communication. Growing up was a pain because as a child I would try and keep secrets from my family and others, especially when I did something wrong. My guilt could be seen, they may not have known exactly what was going on but they knew I was hiding something. So the need to hide and suppress emotion was almost not needed since it was near impossible to get away with it. However, my people have learned very well how to do so when needed. Along with that, as I have trained to become a Jedi, many have told me, as I'm sure they have told you, that you need to suppress your emotions least you give into the Dark Side of the Force. I do not fully believe this. I believe that we do indeed have emotions, it is how we are created. It is easier to train a child who has never seen nor felt any emotions to not have them. But for you and me we both know what they are and it is now part of us. What I'm getting at is that I have learned to accept them. I know I have emotions, I try not to hide them unless needed. I don't, however, let them control me. I don't let them fuel me like the Darksiders do. They may give me purpose and a drive but once I have my mind set on a task I go about it as clearly as possible.

"I tell you all this because I want to help you control your emotions so that they don't cloud your abilities. Yes, you are discouraged and upset and maybe even hurt that you can't do this specific task. Except that. Except all those emotions, don't try to stuff them into a footlocker, but also don't let them fly free from you. Once you can do that then they will not be able to control you as strongly. And once you have that control you can apply that control back into your training."

Rognan didn't know where all that came from. These concepts had helped him greatly with his training. He was unsure if it would do the same for Draiya.

"Now this stone is different than a living organism. Its energy and will power are very small in comparison but can still be seen. When there is an over abundance of life and energy around you you can't always be looking for that. Take the stone once again but instead of closing your eyes I want you to keep them open while you move the stone and use the Force to sense it. You should try and look for the dimmer qualities. As if the stone was a darker spot on a white wall. At first you may not notice it, but once you do you can always find that spot again."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya considered Master Dar's words seriously, and the portent they had over her situation. He hadn't rebuked her emotion. Instead, he appealed to her discipline. It was an approach she respected, and she nodded her head.

Slowly, Draiya moved her empty hand before open eyes, taking in both her tangible senses and the intangible as a whole. The Syragori saw every detail interspersed with the living energy superimposed in a way only her mind's eye could detect. She did this for nearly five minutes before reaching again for the familiar stone. The sight before her changed. Ruddy slightly-calloused knuckles grasped around the unmistakeable earthen contours. She felt the difference in weight. The new resistance that challenged her. Through all this she still sensed the intensity in her living energy and...

Draiya's eyes widened. Her hand paused in mid air. There.

The Syragori's eyes closed. It wasn't an absence of energy. It was different energy.

The padawan dropped the stone on the ground as if were hot, staring at the spot where it fell. She closed one eye, then two, then both opened with certainty.

"I..."

Draiya's dry throat scratched her words, and she cleared her throat slightly.

"...feel it."

[Rognan Dar]

It was a thrilling process watching Draiya discover this new insight into the Force. Though she did not say much other than three short words, those words carried a lot of weight behind them. A sense of victory could be seen across her face.

"Very good! I knew you could do it. It wasn't easy but as long as you set your mind to it you can accomplish anything."

The stone floated off the ground to hover in front of the padawan for her to take.

"Now keep in mind, that was only the first step. It was a huge step but it's only going to get more challenging from here. Now that you are able to sense the rock we can move on to the real task to which we have put all this work into. I know you have only just been able to feel the stone but I want to see what you can do now with that. Take it in your hand like before but instead of using your muscles to move it up and down try tapping into the power of the Force to move it. Visualize how it moves and then command it to with the Force. You may not be able to do this yet so don't be discouraged. This is merely a test to see how much of a difference it is having the ability to feel the stone."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya steeled herself lest she float away on the giddy rush of success. Still, she couldn't quite wipe the smile off her face.

"That's amazing!"

The Syragori's eyes never strayed from the stone, except for when she blinked one and/or both eyes closed, taking in the shifting senses made new to her by the discovery. As Rognan levitated the stone, she let her eyes draw closed, seeing his brilliant shades acting upon the stone, and how the energies within both remained and reacted. It was an undiscovered ecosystem within, and as the Padawan took hold once more, she opened her eyes to pay attention to her new instructions.

Okay. Now you just have to move it.

Draiya gulped, the smile thinning away. Sense or no sense, how do you move something? Her dark eyes turned back to the stone.

"Okay."

Deathly serious again, she shimmied, shifting weight on her bottom to get more comfortable. A deep breath was drawn in and out in equal measure. If her stare could have fired lasers, the rock would have incinerated in her palm.

Move.

...

Move.

...

MOVE!

The stone's energy was both a fixed point of inanimate floatsam and a wave of action and reaction upon her own life energy. Wait...

Draiya's hand clenched and relaxed open around the stone, looking up at Rognan curiously.

"You say to command the stone. How do I know what the stone wants?"

[Rognan Dar]

"It's not about what the stone wants. What we are doing is actually manipulating the energy and will of the object. It doesn't matter what the object is as long as your will is stronger than that of the object. You can even manipulate people. However, when you are manipulating people with a sense of will of their own you have to be able to over come them.

"There are other methods for moving objects. You can send out a energy blast that acts on several objects but the drawback is that you don't have control over the object, it just gets sent in whatever direction away from you. I'm trying to teach you control instead of simply pushing objects around.

"In order to make the stone move you have to have more willpower than the object. The stones only will is to obey the law of gravity on the.is planet. If you were to take the stone and release it into space it would float around with no direction or purpose other than whatever came along and shifted it around. What I'm having you do with raising the stone up and down is for you to get the feeling for moving it in a way that is familiar to you in order to make the idea of moving it with your mind easier."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya nodded, though her skeptical frown didn't quite leave. What Rognan said made sense, and she hadn't quite considered that the rock's will was it's own laws in the universe such as gravity. It was just that...

The Syragori thought about her teachings from Serena. She considered the same lessons Master Laran imparted on Draiya in terms of her use of gift on another. While it was probably ridiculous to consider an open dialogue with a stone, it was still easy to lose yourself in the personification.

Beyond the Padawan, a squirrel scampered forward to watch the proceedings with a surprisingly thoughtful expression. Draiya broke her concentration a moment to glance at Nak, who took the opening to hop into her lap.

"Okay." Draiya swallowed her doubt, returning her attention to Master Dar. "So I will not negotiate. I will dominate."

The Syragori wondered what Serena would think of her interpretation. With further introspection deferred, she closed her eyes and again found the stone's familiar energy. Well, familiar and alien. It was strange. She knew how to assert her influence on a living mind. That talent was innate. To manifest her intent in the physical realm seemed so alien, and yet Rognan had framed her challenge in clear terms. Draiya thought of the energy in her hands as they'd discussed it. As will. There was no physicality. It was a projection of the mind. To command the stone to disobey it's nature.

As Draiya comprehended the difference, the stone began to move on it's own in her hand. This fact did not yet appear apparent to the Padawan who was still in the midst of understanding the nature of her new influence.

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan could see his words were not taken so willingly, as well they shouldn't. He always believes in not taking everything at face value, to test things and comprehend it as best as possible in order to react appropriately. However, as he continued to watch subtle changes in Draiya's facial muscles began to shift and change as she processed what he had said. Everyone had to figure out how they connected and related to the Force in their own way, he was only providing guidance as he saw and interpreted things.

The critter that drew near to them was not unnoticed. Rognan could sense it but he refrained from mentioning anything as to not distract Draiya from her task. But when the creature jumped right into her lap he realized that they must already know each other, though he wouldn't know from where. He was actually going to suggest that it leave when she came back to focusing on the task at hand. The determination and interpretation of how she processed Rognan's words didn't set well in his mind. He didn't want her to dominate it, yet that was what he said, he realized, after looking back to what was said.

Just then the stone began to shimmer and move as Draiya started to move it. It wasn't a solid movement but it was the beginning of the process.

"Well done, Draiya. Look what you did? You moved the stone. Take a break, lets not over due it."

Rognan stood up and stretched a little since it had been a while they were sitting there and he gestured for Draiya to do the same.

"While its fresh in your mind tell me your understanding of what you just did? I have been saying a lot today and I want to hear from you for a change."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya's eyes opened. The sight before her caused surprise and overrode the Syragori's senses, and the stone promptly fell into her hand again. It was easier for her senses to believe in reality than her eyes, it seemed. The Syragori shook the bewilderment off her face as Rognan urged her to pause and explore her breakthrough via introspection. Draiya rose to her feet and let blood flow freely as she tried to piece the puzzle together in her mind.

"The stone has mass. Grravity acts on it. I can't change these things. I just changed the rreality, orr maybe I convinced myself of a new rreality."

A mild look of surprise formed on Draiya's face as the words left her mouth. Maybe she wasn't doing anything to the stone at all. Maybe the change she wanted was in her own understanding of it.

"That can't even be possible."

Surely not. If the only constraint on her influence was her own mind's eye, where did the upper bound actually go? It had to be coincidental somehow. She couldn't make a bantha out of a rock, but she could perceive a new reality for tangible things with rules that governed them.

[Rognan Dar]

Rognan was listening and watching while He continued to stretch by opening his arms wide, stretching out his chest. After finishing that and after Draiya finish by stating that it was impossible to change reality, he smiled and open his hand toward her and then gestured in front of him.

"Walk with me please. I find movement and circulation to help stimulate mental capabilities and keep your mind from bogging down. Helps me to think about things more clearly." After a moment of walking along he spoke again. "What you said before is not far from the truth. We are currently walking in what can be easily described as reality. Like you said gravity is acting on everything on the planet, pulling it towards the center of the planet. Within our reality there are certain rules that everything and everyone obey, whether they are aware of it or not. Even though these rules are consistent and considered to be truth and unbreakable, they in fact can altered.

"Let me try and explain... The Force is an energy source, one that not everyone is attuned to. We as Jedi have the ability to see and use this energy. This energy works outside of the parameters of what we call reality. With the Force one is able to do many things like enhancing physical abilities, getting premonitions from the future, shoot out lightning and moving things without touching them or telekinesis is just naming a few things. What can be done with the Force seems to only be limited to ones knowledge of it and ones ability to execute it."

Rognan stopped his walk and looked at a downed tree off to their side. He stretched his hand palm down out in front of him and a rock that for a few feet in front of them rose up into the air and stopped at shoulder height. He then took his right arm and palm striking the air in the direction of the rock. The rock vanished from site and the log he had been looking at made a loud cracking sound as the rock was imbedded into it.

"I just used the Force to alter my reality. Normally I would have to pick the rock up with my hands and try to throw it as hard as I could and yet I still would not be able to have the strength to penetrate the bark of that tree. The Force is the means to achieving these things. As you learn more about it and become more sensitive to its influence you will be able to perform this same task. Is it becoming more clear?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Lightning?!"

Draiya's eyes widened as she paused mid-step, looking down at her open left hand. Rognan rattled off a dizzying list of potential uses the force possessed in the realm of practical alteration. Though some of them did seem farfetched, Draiya was beginning to tease at the loose thread of the puzzle. Yet, just when the Syragori figured she had the puzzle understood, Rognan pushed her perception even deeper. The stunning kinetic release of the flying rock against the log was as audible as gunfire. The Padawan's wide eyes went from the embedded rock Rognan had launched to the warm stone still clutched in her right hand. She considered his words about the Force being it's own law of nature of a sort. Try as she might, Draiya still had difficulty in framing the dialogue in that way.

Is it becoming more clear?

"Yes. And no."

Draiya scratched the side of her head as she tossed her rock up and down.

"The Forrce is enerrgy. Okay. I can underrstand that. But the way you make it sound, it's as if I can just open a hose in a dirrection and let it go that way. I wouldn't even know wherre to begin like that."

She concentrated on the stone once more, and as it raised from her hand an infectious smile grew on her face.

"It's strrange. The only thing I can tell you that's differrent is that I believe the rrock is exactly wherre it ought to be."

[Rognan Dar]

"Don't worry about trying to understand all of it right now. It can take years to master any of the techniques I just mentioned. For now we are focusing on simply moving the rock in a controlled manner. I believe you have hit it right on the head about belief. If you doubt yourself and do not believe you can move the rock then you will always fall short of your goal."

Rognan was pleased to see that Draiya was finally getting the concept. The defeated girl that had come to him earlier was now growing in confidence and understanding. Even though he knew it was still going to be a long road ahead, he was starting to look forward to seeing Draiya continue to grow and improve.

"So I think we should end there for today. We will continue again next week and we will venture down another method of telekinesis. Until then I want you to still practice what we have gone over so far. Keep the rock we have been working with, it will become more familiar and easier to manipulate over time. Start off with moving the rock up and down with your hand and then again with the Force. Any questions?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The rock floated back into Draiya's waiting palm, and the Padawan closed her fingers over it with an enraptured smile on her face. It took effort to tear her focus away from the stone and put it back on her teacher. When she did, she was all business again and as serious as ever.

"I underrstand. Thank you, Masterr Darr."

Both hands clasped around her stone, and Draiya offered Rognan a deep respectful bow in gratitude for his teachings.

[Rognan Dar]

"Very well. We should continue again next week if you are not busy. I recommend that you continue to practice what we have gone over today until next week. It will help to make the next steps easier as you become more familiar with telekinesis. This is only one very small aspect of this field of knowledge of the Force."

Rognan was happy to see that Draiya was finally starting to get the hang of this. He could easily see that her confidence was growing and her mood had changed from that of depression and defeat to joy and victory.