[The First Pillar] Nature Walk

[Serena Laran]

Serena woke before dawn, brushed and braided her long hair, and dressed in a pair of sturdy pants with boots to match. A simple wrap top finished her outfit, and once she had brushed her teeth, the Jedi Master left her cabin and headed for the dormitories.

Soon she was standing outside of Draiya's room, and she knocked firmly - soft enough so as not to bother the neighboring rooms, but loudly enough to get the girl's attention. She hoped.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The Syragori padawan slept fitfully within her dorm, the wan light of day a half hour short of her normal waking. Her dreams of late were fixated upon one electric moment. The fateful encounter with Abarai Loki had burned its way into her bones, a lasting impression more surely than breaking them ever could be. In the ephemera of dreams, she'd never left the battlefield. The only thing that changed were the terms of engagement. Whereas before, Draiya had pored into the minutia of battle to see her practical shortcomings, she now looked deeper.

"I have said it before: there is no greater warrior than a Jedi who is one with his weapon. It is not enough for you to recite these teachings. You must live them."

The words of Abarai Loki, as cool as a glass of water against the heat of day. He'd spoken so evenly and plainly Draiya's failure, and yet her pride compelled her on in spite of his words. Once more a witness to the repeated dreamscape, Draiya fought like a lion. Only this time at the heat of the conflagration, she tore free her lightsabers in triumph. Yet this was not victory enough. As twin green blades moved in opposing unison of movement, Draiya watched in horror as she struck down Abarai Loki dead upon the ground. His headless body dropped in the malleable slowness of time to it's knees, then spilled forth onto the ground in a displacement of dust. Aghast, Draiya could only watch the severed head roll away...

...her own head.

In a gasp, Draiya was awake, the heaving of her chest breaking dawn's stillness as her nightmare abated. But it was not the only sound in the young hours. A knock issued from her door. Beyond it, the Syragori could see plainly the enrapturing energy of her Master as only her senses could.

A minute later the door parted.

[Serena Laran]

Beyond the door she had sensed a splash of panic, but it faded, and after another moment the door slid back and revealed her disheveled padawan. Serena smiled. "Get dressed, Draiya. We are spending the day in the forest."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

As if he'd heard her words, Nak appeared from the shadows, bounding up one of Draiya's legs and across her back before perching inquisitively on the Syragori's shoulder. Draiya stifled the urge to yawn, presenting an even disposition to her master.

"I'll be rready in ten minutes, Masterr."

Excusing herself for the modicum of privacy to change, Draiya wondered what lay in store for the day. She'd talked with Serena a day before, and they'd discussed the heavy notion of her future in the order. If she was true to her oath, this had to be the first step. Draiya clothed herself in fastidious movement, standing before the mirror in her deep grey tunic. She cleared her thoughts with precise breathing as her guide, watching the anxiety of her restless sleep ebb in the reflection of the mirror.

When at last the door parted, she was ready. Nak peeked from a utility pouch on her belt.

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded to her padawan. "Come."

They walked in silence through the dorms, out into the pre-dawn quiet of the camp. A few others moved about - a pair of Alliance soldiers, a Jedi knight returning from the Library. It was guarded 24/7 as a priceless font of knowledge and a point of contention with the Ysanna tribes nearby. Serena led Draiya to the mess tent, which was quite abandoned at the moment and would be for at least another hour, and they loaded up with canteens and two light packs with supplies. She slung her loaded satchel across her body, clicking her tongue at the squirrel Nak as Draiya situated her own pack. The rodent regarded her with inquisitive eyes, but didn't leave the safety of the girl's belt.

"He really likes you," she commented, leading them back out to the road and toward the edge of the clearing.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"I told him to leave." Draiya gruffed, even as she pinched a measure of granola from a ration bar and passed it to his waiting paws. Nak nibbled as if this was how the world ought to always be.

"He insisted on staying. He says its imporrtant."

The over-active imagination of a teenager had tried numerous times to tease out why. Did he think she was a squirrel? Did he think he was people? Nak didn't talk like people talked. It was always basic and never really a conversation.

The Syragori girl looked around. The morning was still ascending. Trace dew hadn't yet been burned off from the evening since, and the whole of the camp seemed settled into a drowsy stupor for at least another hour.

"Wherre arre we going?"

[Serena Laran]

"Nowhere," Serena replied cryptically, but she smiled. "Just a walk off the beaten path." She led her padawan down the road toward the Cizerack camp, but veered off the path halfway there and they began to hike into the forest. The air was cool and still, a touch of humidity present, but all in all it was quite pleasant. Their trajectory veered upward as the ground climbed beneath their feet, and after about twenty minutes they reached a small outcropping - a large boulder jutting from the hillside affording a clear view down on Sanctuary One.

The two women sat, pulling breakfast from their packs as the first streaks of color began to leak over the horizon.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The journey reminded Draiya of some of her first lessons under Serena. The communion with the living force that represented every mindful waking moment, when one girded their heart to hear, see, and feel. It came to the Syragori padawan now with the assuredness of breathing. The brilliant hues Serena cast radiated through her form and into every step she took into dew-sodden greenery. Whispers without tongues grew in this altered sense, and Draiya found herself focusing on creatures unseen by her eyes. A grouse hawk feeding her insatiable young. A pole snake beneath the earth, preparing the journey to warm itself against the sun's inexorable rise.

It was easy for Draiya to lose herself when given the opportunity. The normally wolfish girl absently turned her ration bar over in her hands, uneaten. She half-laughed. Somewhere out there, Akasha was returning home from a hunt empty handed.

[Serena Laran]

Serena broke the companionable silence finally. "Tell me, Draiya, what is the Unifying Force?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

A dark spot in her vision. Draiya frowned at the question, squinting in the far distance to find common ground between that which she was taught and that which she'd observed through application.

"It is the aspect of the forrce that goverrns the enerrgy of the univerrse. Physical manipulation and causality."

Draiya's tongue meandered over the last few words, obviously gleaned from a book. She backed up to explain in lay means.

"Moving objects, seeing events beforre they happen. Things beyond the scope of purre living enerrgy."

[Serena Laran]

"Well, not necessarily." Serena took a drink from her canteen, the sunsrise becoming more pronounced by the minute. With three stars in the system the beginning and end of a day were never a mundane affair in the sky. "The Unifying Force is not separate from the Living Force. Rather, they are two ways of looking at the same thing. The Force is...the Force. Separating it into 'unifying' and 'living' are just two ways of looking at it. A concept that changes the viewer, not what is being viewed."

She brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "The Jedi who believed - believe - in the Living Force saw it had a clear dichotomy between the Light side and the Dark. They live for the now,in the moment. Certainly they are always mindful of the future and the consequences of their actions... but they remain grounded in the present. A concentration on how the Force interacts with living things is part of it. Moving objects is not what the Unifying Force is about; telekinesis is an ability of the Force - whether you view it as Living or Unifying.

"The concept of the Unifying Force is that there is no light, nor dark side of the Force. Rather, the Force is a single entity, and the only thing that changes between, for example, a Sith or a Jedi is how they use it. Some viewed the Force as a deity, and yes, visions of the future are a large part of this. Because of this belief the Jedi who believe in the concept of the Unifying Force were continually looking for future possibilities, and obsessed with destiny. I have come to think that this belief is part of why the old Order fell. They did not live in the moment enough, and the ability of Palpatine clouded their visions and made them undecipherable."

She pulled an apple from her pack, a purple skinned native fruit that had light pink flesh, and twisted what was left of the stem off of it. "The truth, I believe, is in the middle, between the two philosophies. Why is it you believe you are unable to use the Force to do telekinesis?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Well, Knight Darr has been worrking with me on that."

Draiya's face turned uncertain, recalling that Kyle Krogen had also tried to do so, to frightful results.

"I think I'm underrstanding a parrt of it, but it's harrd to see the living and nonliving in the same shades of colorr."

The Syragori girl reached into a pouch to retrieve a well-handled stone, which she held between her hands after setting aside her uneaten ration. Nak, ever the opportunist, decided that her loss was his gain, and went after a few extra greedy nibbles.

"It took me hourrs to underrstand even something this small."

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded as the girl spoke, her troubles with telekinesis nothing new. Rognan had spoken with Serena about the learning session he had had with Draiya at her request. "Have you tried moving something that is living?"

She looked at Nak, and then to the trees that surrounded their boulder. "Such as, a tree?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"No." She said firmly, lips pressing taut in uncertain concern at Serena's suggestion. Following her master's eyes, Draiya seemed uneasy at her suggestion.

"Wouldn't that kill the tree?"

[Serena Laran]

She smiled, amused. "Does the wind kill the tree?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

You dummy. Draiya's mouth O'ed in understanding as she resisted the urge to slap her forehead. Looking at the high evergreen boughs, the Syragori took a deep breath, feeling the majestic energy above as a pillar holding up the sky. What had she done with the stone under Rognan's teaching? It wasn't a push. It was her perception made real.

Eyes half closed, Draiya's tawny hands reached above her as she allowed sight and sense to become one greater concept. The tree was old, but not ancient. Older than she was. It's great trunk ossified with age, but at the bough it retained some of it's green vigor and give. Draiya wet her lips with a pass of her tongue, and exhaled slowly as she felt the tree give to the right by degrees.

[Serena Laran]

The branches of the tree swayed and Serena watched both it and her padawan in turns. "Good, Draiya. Concentrate. The size of the tree does not matter - from the smallest leaf to the heaviest trunk, the Force acts equally on it all, and so you can also act equally on it, no matter the object."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya spread her influence from one tree to the next, and to another. The living energies that made themselves manifest so brilliantly to her were similarly easy to call upon. Unlike her difficulty in managing to lift a stone, here she could truly shine. The tree boughs began to move in synchronized sway, then in patterns of movement. It was a symphony of sense to the Syragori girl as she kept her head pointed to the sky and her eyes closed.

[Serena Laran]

Serena did not want to stop Draiya, the joy of interacting with the Force clear on the girl's face, but she put out her hand and touched her shoulder, bringing her attention back from the great trees. "How was this different from lifting a rock?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The tree boughs slowly returned to rest, and Draiya opened her eyes, letting go a breath she didn't know she held.

"The act of moving? That's the same. I change my perrception of rreality and it obeys."

But it didn't fully answer Serena's question. Draiya drew in a deep breath and exhaled, looking to the ground.

"It's a matterr of sense. The enerrgy of the unliving is therre...but elusive. Difficult to see."

[Serena Laran]

"What about this leaf?" Serena plucked a large green leaf from a tree with the Force, and brought it down to her hand. She held it up by the stem. "Can you move this?" Separated from the tree, so no longer living...technically. She was not sure if Draiya's block was truly a blind spot in her ability, or just a mental block that could be broken through.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The still-green leaf was regarded by Draiya through half-lidded gaze, and it soon began to tumble on an un-felt wind in the air. The Syragori still felt the affinity of the leaf's diminishing life force, distinct from the world around her.

[Serena Laran]

Serena picked up a pebble, tossed it in her hand while Draiya concentrated on the leaf, and then lobbed it at the girl.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Through her growing sense of physical manifestation in comfortable environments, Draiya allowed her senses to drink in the full experience. So engrossed was she in the moment, that the thrown pebble went completely unnoticed, hitting the Syragori in the forehead with a puntuated "Oww!" in response. A hand went to her head, and Draiya lost control of the leaf as she looked up at Serena sullenly.

[Serena Laran]

Serena looked at her innocently. "Pick up the leaf again. This time keep your senses open to other things." The pebble skipped back into the Jedi master's hand, and she rolled it between her fingers.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"You could've warrned me..." Draiya weakly protested, knowing full well that in warning her, she would have undone any value in the lesson. Still rubbing tenderly at a spot on her forehead, the Syragori redoubled her attention on the leaf, finding it's remaining life essence seamlessly as one might pick up a lyric of an old song. The leaf once more began to dance, and Draiya made pains to not be wholly enraptured by the act of keeping it aloft.

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled as Draiya lifted the leaf aloft once more. "Do you feel a difference between when you moved the branches, and now, as you're manipulating the leaf?"

In the middle of the padawan's answer, Serena tossed the pebble at her shoulder.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Well, I..."

DANGER

As if jolted by a stun prod, Draiya flinched in response to unseen stimuli, her body moving just-barely out of the thrown pebble's trajectory. Draiya righted herself, finding her hold on the leaf broken but for a moment.

The Syragori padawan gave her master a somewhat wide-eyed look.

[Serena Laran]

"Not bad," she said holding out her hand as the tiny rock came back to her. "Apologies for interrupting you. Please - the differences between the tree and the leaf?" Serena gave the pebble an experimental toss in the air, and then held it out for Draiya to take.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya eased the leaf aside, instead taking tentative grasp of the offered pebble. As with Rognan's stone, she felt the weight of it, it's shape, every nuance in her grasp.

"The leaf may be separrated frrom the whole and dying, but life enerrgy rremains in some forrm. It stands out to me in ways that a stone orr something metal don't."

With her eyes intent upon the pebble, Draiya hefted it up in her grasp. Just as before under Rognan, she had to find it's place in the universe.

"Knight Darr showed me how to see the unliving in that way, but it is difficult without extrreme concentrration."

[Serena Laran]

"Then how did you dodge it the second time, if you cannot sense it?" Serena was determined to understand how her padawan saw the world around her. A short, dry twig found its way into her hands, and she turned it over a few times, feeling the roughness of its surface with her fingertips.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Asking to recall an instant of perfect instinct was sometimes not an easy request. Draiya tossed the pebble up and down in her grasp as she considered her master's question.

"The sensation was...herre."

With her off hand, Draiya prodded at her chest.

"In me. A feeling that something was about to happen to me. I didn't sense the pebble you thrrew."

But she paused even in saying this. That couldn't be true. Dawning recollection encroached on her face.

"That's not possible. I would have to sense it. Somehow, rright?"

[Serena Laran]

"In some fashion, yes. Or perhaps it is precognition, warning you of something that is about to happen." Serena flipped the twig over to her padawan. "What sense do you have of this?"

She took a larger pebble from the ground and wrapped it in a fresh green leaf.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Again clearing her mind, Draiya took hold of the twig in one hand, though not letting go of the pebble in the other. Turning over the brown dried bit of stick between fingers, she examined it closely as if seeing something unwritten.

"I feel faint enerrgy. Therre's a sense of absence, but also of rrenewal herre. Though harrd to see, I can still feel it's prresence as separrate frrom the worrld arround."

The raft of questions seemed odd to her, and Draiya sucked at her lip slightly before continuing.

"Masterr, this isn't the firrst time I've been asked about how I view things. Is therre something wrrong with me?"

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled softly. "You have great talent, Draiya. Some things seem to come very easily to you - illusions for one - and when it comes to people or things with life in them you have no problem in seeing their place in the Force. To be honest, I've never known a person to be totally unable to feel the Force in mundane objects.

"Please do not take this the wrong way," she added quickly, feeling Draiya's downturn in emotion as the girl's face began to fall. "Some Jedi are well rounded in their abilities, but generally we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are healers, others combat specialists. Some Jedi have trouble with telepathy. Others are telekinetic specialists, able to manipulate many things at once and with little thought."

Serena spread her hands, indicating the world around them. "The Force flows in us, through us, and connects us all - even to the boulder we are sitting on. To me...it has a deep...thrum to it. A resonance of its own. You may have a mental block, or perhaps this is simply how you are wired. I will help you learn how best to use your connection to the Force, whatever form it takes."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

A smile emerged on Draiya's tentative, concerned face. Warm and girlish, it seemed a rare break in the weather of the tomboy's disposition. Serena had sternness, drive, and fire plenty. She also had a sense to know when to use her other talents too.

"You make it sound like you can hearr it."

It was never easy to quite personify the force. To Draiya, it had always been sight beyond sight. Colors hidden between hues and between light and shadows. A brilliant prism she could see and yet not quite. Serena described it almost as a musical harmony - an array of taut threads singing to precise notes when plucked. Did they feel the same things? Did it matter if they didn't?

[Serena Laran]

"In a way I can," Serena nodded. "Every thing, every person, has its own unique vibration. Even the galaxy is resonating on its own frequency. The Force is also in and part of everything around us, and once you can tap into that field ... it isn't like hearing, but it isn't not like hearing, either.

"Others describe the Force as swirls of color, I even knew a Jedi who described it like lines of computer code. Every Jedi, and their way of using the Force, is unique."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya fixated on the color example, her smile brightening a bit when Serena elaborated. It was a relief that the ways of experiencing the force seemed almost as diverse as the people who did so.

"I could make you see."

It was blurted out in a moment of carelessness, and Draiya reined herself in somewhat, her smile diminishing to something almost bashful.

"If you want."

[Serena Laran]

"Make me see what?" Serena set aside the leaf wrapped rock and looked at her padawan.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya frowned. Were they still on the abstract discussion she thought they were on?

"The forrce, Masterr. The way I see it."

Easier than drawing a picture. Even if she could, there was only so much of what she saw that she could consider sight. Then again, this might very well be beneath Serena's lesson scope. Maybe it was best left for conjecture.

"It's nothing, masterr. I'm rready forr the next lesson."

[Serena Laran]

"No, no, I would like that, Draiya. Please." Serena smiled.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"Okay."

Draiya took in a deep breath through her nose, letting it ease out her mouth as she focused on Serena's eyes. Slowly, the Jedi Master began to see ghostly traces of color emanating from her student. The colors became more complex, drawing out in both ephemeral tendrils of life force as well as interconnecting patterns. To the trees around them. To the grass. To Nak. And to Serena herself. Vivid hues sang within the margins of perceived sight, creating their own radiance that made the mundane visual world degrees richer.

As Draiya focused her attention on the applied illusion, her own life force's tether to Serena appeared most dynamic and grew in scope. It took a great deal of effort for Draiya to direct her abstraction to her teacher.

[Serena Laran]

It was beautiful, and overwhelming. Serena looked around slowly, looking for patterns in the colors of light. "Do you see the world like this all the time?" She focused on Draiya. "When you've been with me in the medical ward, you've seen people who are sick, and who have injuries. Can you tell immediately - does their aura, for lack of a better word, change?"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Unable to focus on the applied illusion and participate in conversation at once, Draiya dropped the visualization, nodding her head in response to Serena.

"I can. A brroken arrm doesn't look like Langoonan measles, but I can see thrrough life enerrgy things that ought not to be."

[Serena Laran]

"Are you interested in applying that natural ability toward learning the skills of a Jedi healer?" Serena smiled. "I am naturally biased toward it, but every Jedi should know at least the principals of healing. Some are gifted and go further with their studies. Others are ...not so gifted, and learn just the basics."

She levitated the leaf-wrapped stone toward Draiya, and settled it in the padawan's hand. "Try moving this."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

The nature of Serena's question puzzled Draiya, and she frowned in introspection as she tackled it.

"Does my interrest matterr in that? I mean...if I can then I should. If I am guided by only wherre interrest takes me, would that lead me into selfishness?"

For now, Draiya focused on the question at hand, rather than making an attempt on the stone. She was discovering her place in the galaxy anew.

"Shouldn't a Jedi be what the moment demands of them? Is that the naturre of ourr sacrrifice?"

[Serena Laran]

Was her view of what it meant to be a Jedi really so dire? "Our sacrifice? The life of a Jedi is not one of constant sacrifice and self-flagellation, Draiya. If your choices here at the Order are made merely pragmatically with no regard to self, then we may as well be cloning new Jedi. You are Draiya Naaianeya of Syragor. No other Jedi in history will be exactly like you. Your path as a Jedi should not be viewed as a chore, or an obligation.

"The Force is a gift that has been given to you. And it is up to you how you receive it, and use it. I offer you training... it isn't forced on you." Serena looked off into the distance as the suns ascended. "It has been my experience that where we are truly gifted...it is that which we find most interesting? But investigating and learning new areas of application of the Force should be done with an open mind. Each padawan is taught the basics of every known facet of the Force - and even then some still surprise us," she said, thinking of Morgan and his teleportation ability.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

"I underrstand, Masterr..."

Draiya made pains to make her point, clutching the leaf-wrapped stone with both of her hands.

"This isn't a decision I've come to out of durress orr imposition. Do not mistake my obserrvation as an objection. If my talents may be of use, I would like to purrsue that path. You asked me earrlierr, why I chose to be a Jedi."

The Syragori's sienna eyes met her master's with earnest intent.

"To make a differrence in whateverr way I can."

[Serena Laran]

Her humble origins and young age were easy to forget; Draiya's speech seemed almost cultured - her word choice seemed that of a much older person. Perhaps it was intentional, a way for her to rise above her roots... or yet again another way Abarai Loki had rubbed off on her, with his stilted way of communicating. No, not stilted. Uptight, and overly proper. She was a mere thirteen, barely more than a child, not even a woman yet, but seemed determined to force herself into the mantle of "adult" as soon as possible.

"Making a difference comes with time, and training." Serena began fastening her satchel, making sure their breakfast spot was not going to bear the marks of their passing after they left. "Come, we have further to go today."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Still holding the leaf-wrapped stone in her hand, Draiya complied with Serena's wishes, stowing away what little mess she'd created by their light repast.

"I underrstand, Masterr. Then you wish to trrain me in the healing techniques?"

[Serena Laran]

"I do." Serena stood, settling her satchel across her body. "But not today. Today is all about exploring your connection to the Force. It is the first pillar of instruction for the Jedi - the Force connects us all, and all Jedi must be intimately aware of their connection to the Force. How deep you are able to delve into this connection informs all other aspects of your life as a Jedi. Without this understanding you cannot reach your full potential."

The pair began to walk again, leaving their rocky outcrop and heading back into the woods. Nature surrounded them, avians and insects contributing to the ambient noise. "In fact, when I was a padawan, we would not even pick up a lightsaber until we had mastered two of the three pillars. In a way, the fact that we have allowed initiates training with the lightsaber before they are fully grounded in these teachings... we have failed you, Draiya."

Serena brushed aside a low hanging branch, holding it clear for her padawan following along behind her. "The risks still outweigh the benefits, however. We do not live in a time that allows us to keep the knowledge of self-defense from any of the padawans. But before you progress in your weapons training, we will make sure you have a proper foundation to stand on."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Mindful of Serena's words, Draiya allowed her pace to slow as she resumed her embrace of the living world around her. Nak seemed to mime Draiya's open curiosity, peering out from her pocket as she walked just behind her master.

"What would you have me focus on as my firrst lesson, Masterr?"

[Serena Laran]

"The Force," she said, wondering if the girl had been listening at all. "Your connection to it. As we walk, stretch out your senses and feel how you are connected to the ground, the rocks in the ground, the worms in the dirt, the leaves you step on, the grasses we bend as we move through them.

"Follow your senses. I have no doubt it will lead to something interesting." They walked in silence for a moment, and she added, "The importance of having a good foundation in the Force cannot be overstated. It isn't merely so you can use it to fight better. The more you delve into the Force - Living, or Unifying - the more you will come to realize your place in the Universe. The strands of your destiny will come into focus around you, waiting to be pulled on and woven together into a future where you have made a difference.

"Making a difference can be a much as landing the killing blow on a terrible enemy that threatens the balance of the Galaxy, or it can be as little as helping feed a child who would otherwise starve. The latter is much more likely than the former. Very few Jedi go on to do great, historically significant things. Every Jedi can change the lives of those around them."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya listened intently, her expression brightening as she'd not considered her master's fundamental approach. She thought about what they'd shared, and how Serena made her articulate the world around that she sensed. They'd been engrossed in the lesson all this time. That Draiya couldn't divine that on her own spoke to her own misplaced perspective, and the Padawan spent a few moments silent, clearing her mind to consider what her master said.

"It's obvious to me that my skills and talents should guide me arround people and the actions and intents of people. To divine, to know. To see. Just as I can make people see, I can see what they see and feel. On the otherr hand, I rrememberr the lessons you taught me beforre about the rrespect of the sanctity of a mind. I've trried harrd to keep the discipline you strressed to me, but some thoughts come to me without prrying."

The Syragori girl wrung her hands as she looked to the ground.

"I'm not surre what to do when this happens. They'rre thoughts I'm not prrivy to, but I hearr them anyway. It's mostly casual but..." Draiya blushed "...some isn't."

With an audible sigh, Draiya stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"If I cut my connection off then I can keep strray thoughts quiet but I hearr nothing else eitherr. Do you everr find yourrself in that situation, masterr? I don't know what to do. I've said nothing about the details, goddess some of the details arre embarrassing. But it's just...out therre. I don't even know if what I've done is wrrong, but it feels wrrong."

[Serena Laran]

Serena ducked a branch as they kept walking. Draiya's consternation was palpable, and she didn't blame the girl. It was a difficult situation, and she said as much to her. "What do you mean by 'cut your connection off'? To the Force, or to your telepathy specifically?"

She held some foliage back as the girl followed behind her, letting her catch up.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

That was a very good question. Draiya thought about exactly what taking an extreme like that would entail. The Syragori girl sucked on her lower lip as she watched the branch Serena had cleared sway above her.

"It's harrd to see wherre the lines arre. I can take myself out of everrything, you know, kinda like this..."

For emphasis, she squeezed her eyes shut and put her fingers in her ears. A moment of that and she opened her eyes and returned her hands to her sides.

"But, you know, inside. But when I see things like that trree, orr Nak, I see the whole thing."

Her eyes widened a bit and she grimaced for emphasis.

"So I guess the shorrt answerr is I need focus. Wouldn't be much of a Jedi if I had to go arround with a bag overr my head, you know?"

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled, "Literal, or figurative, probably not a good idea, no." They walked in silence for a moment, and she added, "Focus is where you should start, yes. Focusing on being able to see just a part rather than being overwhelmed by the whole."

She stopped, letting Draiya draw even with her as their trail opened up into a clearing. "Why don't you start here? Let the whole meadow in. Then pick something inside it and focus."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya turned unsure eyes onto Serena. Hadn't they done this before? Even as the thought crossed her mind, she shook it away. Maybe there was something she'd missed somehow. Discipline. Focus. Draiya pressed her lips taut together and let her eyes flutter closed. It wasn't difficult for the meadow to come alive around her in bright loci of living energy, weaved together by leylines of interconnection. Taking it in, and letting her inner eye relax to view it as a whole and not just a sum of parts gave the entire vista an artistic beauty. Pulses of living energy moved in waves and chains. A breeze picked up, scattering birds as a vole ceased digging in an embankment. The meadow itself warmed her senses as even the blades of grass and wildflowers drew the foreign energy of a distant star and turned it into life.

Here, without the need to discern or focus, Draiya found a little serenity. The individual noises, harmonies, or discords all just became a chorus of life. White noise that calmed her. As Draiya let go to take in everything, the taut expression on her face melted away.

Focus.

On what? Draiya's head tilted slightly. Now that she had it all, where did she go? The hawk overhead was too easy. His lifeforce was big, easy to track, removed by a gulf of sky from his hunting grounds. His predator's senses were linear and focused, moving with his large eyes across the green field to pick up movement no one else could see. From the hawk, Draiya could feel direct lines of energy leading to little patches of life. Dozens of little pairs of eyes fixed to the sky. A warning call heard, and all vigilant. Was that a field mouse? A hare? The locus of her attention thumped with tight nervous energy.

"Therre."

Draiya pointed with her eyes closed, not realizing that where she was pointing was a place a naked eye likely couldn't see.

[Serena Laran]

Serena didn't know what exactly the girl was pointing at, but it didn't really matter. "Tell me about it." As Draiya took a breath and began to speak, the Jedi Master began to think math problems at her, telepathically flooding the air around her with noise.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya tightened her grip on the thread of living energy connecting her to the creature in the meadow. She felt it's trepidation, it's wary pause. She could feel a microcosm of it's experience, isolated in tall grass, but not quite tall enough to truly feel at ease.

"He's frrightened. He knows that a thrreat is nearrby."

Unfelt from where she stood, Draiya sensed the change in breeze near the creature, which caused the hairs on her arms to stand in sympathy. Just when the Syragori tried to divine out more of the creature's world, something discordant and close thrashed against her connection. Draiya picked distinct thoughts up like chaff. Numbers and letters and a need for empirical balance. On Draiya's face, taut concentration built up with each rude interruption of dissonance.

"He's..."

She could feel the tether breaking. With breath caught in her throat, Draiya reached out with an open hand, straining against the barrage from Serena's mind until...

"gahh..."

Her breath spilled out in a rush, and Draiya looked past her open hand at the meadow. Her eyes were not as attuned as her sense through the force. Whatever heart she felt in the distance, it was unseen to her now.

[Serena Laran]

"Again," Serena said, her voice neither commanding or sympathetic. Impassive. Calm. "Do it again."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

It took a moment for Draiya to gather her breath, and she spent that moment with her eyes on her master.

"It's mind...against yourrs. How? How can I possibly hold on to that? That's impossible."

Even now, the brilliant energy of Serena awed her. It wasn't the power she displayed, it was everything that was held back. And in sensing the eclipsed sun in her master's potential, Draiya harbored doubts to it's impossibility. Serena could, certainly. Couldn't she?

Draiya's eyes once more turned back to the meadow, a look of deep uncertainty etched on her face.

[Serena Laran]

"So, you want to give up, after your first attempt?" Serena's voice was quiet. "You can do it. Just... focus."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She shifted her footing, rolled her shoulders, and pressed her tongue between her lips to wet them.

Focus

Find a distant song and never lose the tune

Somehow, it wasn't a hardship for Draiya to find her distant wary companion once more. Whether by familiarity or some other means, it drew her senses in. Once more, the Syragori girl explored the world through borrowed senses, her own vision slowly shrouded by falling eyelids.

"Focus" she whispered, barely more than a movement of her mouth as she drew a hand up to frame fingers at her temple. She could hear her own heart and the heart of the meadow hare. Hers, slower and heavier. His, a light and quick tempo. Seeming discord that became harmony.

[Serena Laran]

"Think of it as picking out one instrument in the music while the orchestra plays. The harmonies are all around you, but you can hear that one flute, playing its tune." Serena watched the girl concentrate, and was pleased with how well she was doing. "And you can influence the melody. Too much and the chorus falls apart, not enough and the flute will not be changed."

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Taking her master's words to practical use, Draiya was no longer simply listening. She lent her own living presence into the connection, feeling the sympathetic harmony in the invisible binding tie. Testing it's limits, she drew back her presence, but could sense the object of her attention clearly even among the picture as a whole. A smile began to grow on her face as Draiya reached out to the distance, again plucking the string to hear it's unique sound set against the whole.

"It's amazing..." she breathed out in wonder. "It's so clearr."

[Serena Laran]

"You are doing well," Serena encouraged her. Now that Draiya had found a way to focus through the noise, she would be able to practice it and fine tune her ability. Distractions in the middle of nature were different than distractions in the middle of a difficult negotiation or the middle of a speeder chase.

She put her hand on her padawan's shoulder, using the Force to sense what Draiya was concentrating on.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

A third chord introduced itself into the harmony as Serena reached through Draiya's connection. The Syragori girl's eyebrows raised at the new sensation, though keeping her eyes closed. She found the common energies between the three, which seemed to reinforce her connection not only to the meadow hare, but also to her master. Through Draiya, Serena could see into her second sight, and through to her object of interest.

The tension ebbed in Draiya's posture. She pulled back her focus and perspective bit by bit, allowing more and more of the world around her into view. Even opening herself now didn't obfuscate the link she'd carefully built, and Draiya discovered she could transition between each with less and less effort.

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled, glad that her padawan was enjoying a new understanding of her world and her abilities. "The first pillar, the Force, is the hardest to master. But once you have, the other pillars have a firm foundation upon which you can build."

She drew the weight of her attention away from what Draiya was doing and sat back on a fallen log, watching her padawan explore nature. It was good.