A New master, A New Adventure (Continuance of Ksilas Kai's Training)

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas was back in the lush garden at the Corusaunt Jedi Temple, thankful she was not a human. Otherwise tears would have been dripping down her facial scales, onto her sandy colored padawan robe. S everal days had passed now scince her master Joshua Bailos had died at the hands of the hutts, and she had spent that time perfecting the control of her emotions. At least, hiding them from others. When alone, though, she let her emotions flow freely. Seeing him die, over and over on her small, outdated holopad, she had to fight to keep her sadness from becoming anger. Only two days, not even a full training session, but yet she had become used to him; always acting serious, yet open to humor. At least that was the way he had seemed.

Now she sat on a rock by a little stream. More specifically; the rock by the little stream. The same place where her former master had met her a several days ago, on her first day here. She smiled, an evil, devilish grin to those couldn't read trandoshan emotions, remembering herself crashing into walls, trying to find her way. Her new master would come soon enough. Joshua had made it clear that she had a good deal of the Force in her, and she let it shine like a beacon. That, she had discovered herself. She closed off the sorrow from her eyes, and then put on a neutral expression, and waited.

( a few days after this thread : http://www.thestarwarsrp.com/forum/showthread.php?p=486333#post486333 )

 

[Gambler]

The mid afternoon breeze that flitted peacefully around the garden was serene and gentle like a trickle of water flowing into a fresh water stream. It was peaceful and barely touched the man sitting down. The wind was only one factor in life. It was the essence of nature. The other factor in life was humanity. Nature and humanity together made the imperfection of life. But in that imperfection, true beauty and perfection was found. That paradox was why there was great evil in the galaxy to balance out the good. Why no one was truly perfect in any one way. But it was also why there were those who wished to do good. Not because of balance or desire to do good in itself, but the desire to help others. The inclination that some had to stoop down no matter the circumstance to aid others.

Asheron walked through the Temple garden, wandering almost aimlessly through the flowers and foliage. His eyes were lidded half shut and his expression was peaceful like a stream in the middle of spring. Those oceanic orbs gazed out from beneath ludicrously long ebony lashes giving him the appearance of beauty. Yet his features, unmistakably masculine, were tranquil like a meadow undisturbed, hidden in the midst of a valley. He walked along the river stone path until he finally came to his destination. His new apprentice.

'Greetings, young lady. I am Asheronicasius Chalerius though you may refer to me as Ash or Asheron if you wish. Most people do for my name is quite difficult to pronounce,' he said in a voice that matched his appearance to perfection. He blinked those luscious eyes of silver and blue before continuing. 'You are here to learn, are you not? I am here to teach you. Be welcomed into the Jedi Temple as a student. May you soon enter these halls as a member of our Order. Now, I know that you once had another master. Joshua Balio, correct? Please tell me how you feel about his passing. Help me understand your pain so that I may aid you through this time of grief,' he said in a sympathetic but slightly confused tone. He didn't know pain. Nor did he understand the concept of it. Perhaps this would be a learning experience for them both.

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas set her face straight, no emotion at all. She looked into Asheron's eyes and sighed. "Let me just throw this out there. Joshua was nice, and he was open to humor. He could have taught me so much. He died within two days of training me. Who says you won't do the same. How can I put trust in you like i did Joshua, knowing that you might die? I do not think jedi are supposed to be weak, as I didn't think Joshua was, but who knows? By the way, If you can't understand me; then ask me to repeat what I said. Basic sometimes gets garbled in my trandoshan voicebox."

Ksilas wondered what he'd say to that. She just threw at him a question about his order, and she wondered how he would respond to her saying she didn't trust him.

 

[Gambler]

There was no emotion in Ash's eyes as he observed his new apprentice. He paused, waiting for her to finish speaking before voicing his thoughts in a guttural language -- Trandoshan --. He wasn't perfectly fluent in it, but perhaps that would work better than his method thus far. "You don't know whether or not I will die. If the Force decides to take me this very moment I would let it. That is the way of life. There is no way around it. Pain is inevitable as is death, but what matters is how you deal with that pain," his tone was neither soothing nor chiding. It was as if speaking to a computer.

"But now let me turn your own question back on you. How do I know you will not die? Why should I accept training you if you might die any moment for any reason? If ever we get into a fight, you would fall before me. I cannot defend you all of the time, and as such I will be pained. How can you be so quick to throw accusations and rhetorical questions without considering the emotions of others?" Now his tone was slightly confused, but still flat and all but bereft of emotion. It was his nature and that of his people to feel less than other races.

 

[Celestialvortex]

"You don't know whether or not I will die." She grinned, a fierce, sharp toothed smile. She threw his answer back on him. She had, of course, changed back to her natural language, Dosh, the language of the trandoshans. It was fun throwing answers back at people, especially their own. "You said yourself, to me 'I am here to teach you. Be welcomed into the Jedi Temple as a student.' You have already begun. Or you could back out like a coward. That could happen too. But as you are supposed to be the teacher, I do not think it is likely that you would set such an example for your student."

 

[Gambler]

"You could die, but that was what I asked you, not the inverse," Ash clarified, his voice distant and slightly cold. It wasn't the freezing cold of anger, but rather the gentle chill of dispassion. His voice was instructive, slightly monotone. He looked down towards his apprentice, his lashes falling against his cheeks. In a way much akin to a ghost he drifted over to the stream. The water flowed peacefully like clouds drifting across the sky. The whisper of water against rocks was tranquil, almost soporific when measured against the gentle heat of the sun. "You can feel the peace here, can you not?" He asked in his melodic, sing-song voice. His eyes were closed, his attention seeming to be elsewhere.

"What is it that Knight Joshua taught to you? Have you learned the tenant of the Jedi Order? The Jedi Code or how to manipulate the simplest of objects with the Force? The extent of his teaching is important as it tells me what you need to know and how far you were taken through training so far," the words started as a question with a slightly piqued tone, but then returned to his regular voice as if nothing had changed. He didn't look up but rather stared into the stream, watching the fish drift over the slick rocks and through the gravel.

 

[Celestialvortex]

"Well... " She had to think for a moment. He hadn't taught her much... "Jochua introduced the basic idea of the force, and basically asked me what I thought of this:

There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no chaos; there is harmony.
There is no death; there is the Force..."

Something went off when she said that, a faint sadness, but she brushed the look off her face. He didn't have to worry about her. She could handle herself. Unless she had to fight...

"We began weapons training, but, ah, that would not be the place to start. He also intoduced meditation. And I could move water." Slightly... she added mentally.

 

[Gambler]

"Very well, we shall go from your knowledge base however diminutive it is," Ash assured her, taking a brief moment to decide what was the best next step. He placed a hand in the stream, watching as the coo water drifted over it, a fish idly rubbing against him in its journey downwards. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly in concentration as he plucked the strand of Force from his body into being. A small globe of water lifted into the air, just above his hand. The liquid seemed pure, clear, yet held together by some invisible force. He lifted his hand to show his apprentice the simple task. "Take this orb yourself and keep its shape. Make another one for yourself and then juggle them without touching them," it wasn't the most ordinary of commands, but then again, Ash's methods were generally odd anyway.

 

[Celestialvortex]

The globe of water floated, swaying gently above his hand. He, like Joshua, had also begun the training with water. Was there something with masters and water with training? Who knows. Ksilas didn't need to worry about that right now. This master, Asheron, was trickier. He started out harder than Joshua had. And now she needed to preform this
what-appeared-to-be-simple task. She sighed, and let all of these thoughts drift out of her mouth with that sigh. Then she reached inside herself, for the Force, for the power her feelings contained. And she searched for the water in the force, wrapping her own power around it, a globe of power. The hunt was starting, the hunt to see if she could succeed...

She grasped the water, and held it, quivering, shaking, but still in the same shape of a sphere... mostly. Ksilas began to move on, hoping that the power would not desert her. She was already doing so much better than last time... The ball, now balls were of uneven size, but were pretty round. This was sapping her strength, though, and she released all but the first ball onto the ground in an effort to gain more of her lost strength.

 

[Gambler]

Ash nodded.

"You are doing well," he said lightly, the voice much akin to a ghost watching from afar.

His liquid oceanic eyes gazed into the orb.

"But will you juggle it?"

He waited for a response be it verbal or in the form of a fulfillment of his command.

[OOC: Dx Horrible post again, sorry.]

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas was now panting, the effect of her using the force for long. But can you juggle it? her mind taunted, showing her images of embarassment deep within her mind. She let out a low warning growl to herself, and her eyes suddenly brightened. Ksilas reached out, and divided the water into three separate globes, each globe shining in the light of the sun. Her growl deepened as she consentrated; slowly, then faster, and now amazingly fast the wateryballs began to soar and dance in a circular rotation. She opened her eyes, and let them slow down, then drop to the ground, directing their progress back to the stream. Then Ksilas colapsed onto the ground for a few seconds, pulling herself back up. Her master did not need to see any sign of weakness. She grunted, questionally, as she fought to regain her breath, wondering what her master thought of her...

<OOC: I'ts fine, nobody's perfect; but feel free to post when you like >

 

[Gambler]

[OOC: Not true. I am perfect, but I just don't want to make everyone else feel bad ^_~ ]

A breath of air fell across Ash's neck as he watched his apprentice. Strands of his dark hair fell free of the short mass, fanning out ever so slightly for a fraction of a second before falling back into place. The sun beat down from almost a vertical angle, obscuring the partially cloudy sky with rays of iridescent light that was almost blinding in intensity. These sunbeams illuminated the ground, sending the shadows scurrying away in a crisp facsimile of spring. Even the water, cool and clear like only liquid can be, swayed gently with the sun, moving like a serpent into shadows and splotches of light. Droplets of the crystalline liquid splashed into the ground, soddening the fallow dirt and dabbing the hem of Ash's robe. With a measured glance that belied a deep air of sangfroid, he looked back to his apprentice. He noticed her brief fall to the ground but said nothing. He merely watched. It wasn't his place to criticize her when she had done well. Not on her first day back into training. No, that would wait until she was used to his methods. Ash waved his fragile boned hand in a motion that could have been acceptance.

"It was a good first try."

He said graciously. He swept his gaze back to the river, letting his eyes fall to the patches of wet dirt next to the bed of smooth rocks that drifted just below the surface. It took only a moment before he sent those liquid eyes back at his reptilian apprentice. "I have seen worse, but I have likewise seen better. From my perspective it appeared that you gave up. That you stopped trying," the sentence was dropped almost abruptly. Sharply. "Your effort was not lacking, nor was your will to continue, but you stopped. The Force should not cause physical exertion on such a scale. Mental exertion I would understand, but physically? It makes no sense. It is a matter of concentration. Those who lack focus yet make up for it with brawn do not go far in life. Only those who can keep their focus and will on the same level have the capacity to succeed," the crisp words were akin to the sound of a rock splashing into a completely still pond. Almost startling in quality and depth.

"Now, tell me what did you do wrong?"

Almost effortlessly he picked up the fallen orbs and kept them in the air. He let the light bounce off the angles like lasers off of mirrors for a moment before mixing them together. The three bodies of water collided without a single trickle of water spilling, coming together like an adherent. His eyes on the orb he twirled it, morphing its shape into that of a tornado. With a wave of his hand it was gently dropped into the stream, floating down beneath the surface before he released his control of it, barely causing a ripple in the swaying waters. He snapped his eyes back and answered his own question. "You did not seek the peace of a meditative trance. You jumped into the task without thinking ahead. You took my taunting challenge without a second thought. Without so much as considering that there was more to it than met the eye. Thus you were scribed to fail," he let his eyes close, twisting his hand like something falling from a cliff.

"Repeat the task, but this time keep the orbs aloft. Mentally prepare yourself for what you need to accomplish before diving into it."

 

[Celestialvortex]

A good first try. Those couple words sank deep and hit ksilas hard. She had tried her best, her first time in ages, and he dismissed it as a mere "try". A small flicker of anger began to rise, but she made no effort to stop it, just contain it at the point of unnoticeibility. "Well, if he thought that was a failure, then lets give him a success, unless this almost robotic human can't compute that." she thought grimly, then put herself on task.


She was better than last time, ready for the surge of power, and ready to hold it. ksilas spread out the force, groping, grasping, grabbing four globes of water, balls that could fit comfortably in her hand. She wasn't as tired as before, and she continued on, lifting them from their watery bed of the river. Now above her head they were, retaining their shape, glistening with the light of the suns. Ksilas began to move them, moving her hands, feeling the pulse of the force through her own body. She was getting tired again, and closed her eyes, sinking into a state of consentration.

Now Ksilas could hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing. Nothing but the water she had lifted and the power within her. She was powerful, a being beyond death; omnipotent; or so she felt. gently she began to move the spheres, around a circle, while moving her hands. to the casual observer, she might have been acitually juggling water held together by some mysterious force. but neither did her three fingered hands touch nor come within actual centimeters of the balls, either or any of the four. She kept this up for several minutes, and put them down when she thought she had done enough. She kept her eyes closed, listening with her predatory senses. Waiting for her master.

 

[Gambler]

Plink. The orbs fell upon the fallow earth, fermenting the unmolested seeds of life within. Sprinkles of water, diminutive droplets, were absorbed into the dirt, soddening the ground. The morning dew on the grass had began to fade, but was rejuvenated by the splashes of water. The orbs, those majestic beings of water held loosely together by the power of the ephemeral, stained the ground with mud. Ash's gaze was dragged to the ground where the pulse of life was crushed out of the millions of miniscule life forms that were drowned by the few ounces of water that appeared to be tidal floods to them. Even though his apprentice had done something marvelous, she failed to direct where the orbs would fall, thus snuffing out the flame of life. But where there is death, new life begins. The roots of plants flourished, working frantically to gorge themselves on the bountiful feast of water before them. It was what kept them alive. Water, the entity that killed insects and microscopic life forms in the hands of the careless, was similarly feeding the plants and allowing them to live on.

"You did better this time, but your actions were careless. Thoughtless."

Ash motioned to the ground where he had witnessed the watery deaths of creatures almost too small to see. The lesson to some might seem foolish and unnecessary, but the deeper meaning was filled with wisdom. "Careless actions lead to death. Even when exhausted one must always consider who their actions effect. You killed the smaller beings around you because you gave no thought to their existence. Now think of it in a larger context. You are on a mission of diplomatic purposes. Tired and exhausted from the journey there, you are caught by surprise when the chieftains begin to shout at one another and you. Were you to think of the consequences and long term effects of your actions you would stay calm and try to keep them calm as well. Instead, wearied and and intoxicated by the lull of sleep, you lash out at them with the same passion as they show to you. Thus you escalate the fighting and maybe even cause irreconcilable damage to further efforts to achieve peace," the words belied no emotion. Ash's face was serene, calm, and his voice matched this.

"Always consider the consequences before, during and after you act."

The way Ash said those words made it sound that he wanted them memorized and stored away. "Everything has a consequence, but the degree of such consequence varies depending on the action taken. Helping a villager who is being attacked by a mugger while you are on your way to guard a senator from a possible assassination attempt could get you the gratitude of the innocent man, but the hatred and scorn of the loved ones of the senator." Ash walked away from the stream, back towards the temple where he had come from. He motioned Ksilas to follow him. In a few eerily silent moments he stopped. The undergrowth was thicker and the trees around them grew like an orchard. The sun fell through the foliage in shadowy blotches, just enough to illuminate the area. "Straight ahead is the Jedi Temple. We are in the outermost layer of the gardens right now. I want you to run to the temple. Run as fast as you can and use the Force to increase your speed. Will yourself to go faster. Will your body's natural abilities to increase," he said, pointing to the edge of the outcropping where the gates of the Jedi Temple were visible.

"Run there and back in less than thirty seconds."

 

[Celestialvortex]

"What? You can't be serious!"

The words flew from her mouth so speedily that there was no thought of transition of thought into words. She mentally reprimanded herself. Her master had just given her an order, and within five seconds she had questioned his athourity. however, the task he was handing her seemed nearly impossible. There was no way a normal trandoshan could do that; that is, if they had not had to endure months of phisical disipline. Then again, Ksilas wasn't normal. She didn't choose to fight, on purpose at least. It was hard being from a predatiory species. She took care of a varactyl, stationed with other mounts, now that she had grown to porportions to big for Ksilas to have to deal with all the time. Third, she had The Force. There must have been something about this that he knew could make this easier. Diving head first into this one wasn't going to work; it would take two minutes of dodging the trees and brush of the overgrown path they had come from to get down there, the same to get back. There must be another way...


Ksilas sat down, placing herself in a meditative trance. Meditation, seemed like all jedi masters enjoyed it. Ksilas expelled all thoughts from her mind except the questions about how to complete these tasks. Lets see here. She thought to herself. What options do I have?

Option 1. Run back the way we came, knowing it would take several minutes, get reprimanded and told how to do it the right way.

Option 2. Take a straight path through the overgrown forest, possibly get lost in the garden, get humiliated, reprimanded.

Option 3... Now this option could be interesting...

Yes, he had said to use the force to increase her speed, but she had been training a little bit the past few days... primarily in the garden, though not this far into it. Ksilas did have a couple tricks up her sleeves...

Ksilas jumped up out of her meditational pose and ran torwards a tree with low branches. The tree shook, some leaves fell; but not many. Using her physical strength combined with mental consentration and some use, she thought, of the force, she swung from that branch upward into the canopy of the forest like garden. Ksilas reached out with her feelings, seeing more of the awesome power the force gave her. She knew where every branch was, whether it was stable or whether it would break under her weight. With utter consentration she grabbed for the next stable branch, and the next, and the next. A neat somersault through the air, helped by the force, placed her in reach of a branch higher upward. Sweat was begining to drip off her scales, she did not know how much time had passed, but she strained her muscles to keep going. Her arms began to get tired, and she fell, but ksilas saw that happening a split second before it happened. She had no time to wonder why this happened, or if it was The Force, before she landed semi-gracefully and began to use her legs. Her muscles throbbed in her arms, but ksilas placed them at her sides while she leaned forward, feeling with the Force, wishing, hoping, pleading for it to give her new strength. The gate was in front of her now, and she scraped it with her claw in a rush to turn around. There was no time for thought, only action.

Ksilas ran, then launched herself into the trees again. Had she had time to stopp and look back, she would have wondered how she could have leaped three times her usual distance straight into the air. She also would have wondered how she could be running on top of the trees, and why she was doing it without thinking, just straining to put her physical capibilities at their max to make it back within the requested period of time. Only when she dropped fifteen feet straight down onto the earth infront of her master, panting with whispery sounding breaths, did wonder why, and how she was able to preform such amazing feats. But by then, she had worn herself out to the point where words would be impossible; Basic or Dosh. Ksilas just trudged wearily to the nearest place where the sun poked through the canopy of leaves and lay down eyes closed. Some bystander would have wondered if she was dead if not for her ragged breaths.

 

[Gambler]

"Forty-eight seconds. Eighteen too many."

Ash's words were bereft of any emotion or tone. His voice took a monologue to the next level. They were like water, cool and collected, a single mass flowing down to a finite goal. He was in no hurry and likewise he had no need to impede his judgement with any emotion. Anger, fear, even amusement could cloud the mind. Or at least that was how he saw it. Any lapse in concentration was a flaw and every flaw was fatal. One had to be emotionally strong to survive the cascade of events fate sent them on. It was how he had managed to survive thus far and how he would continue on his life. And, if fate would have it, what he would teach to others who sought such knowledge. His goal in life was to help others in whatever way possible. If he could teach one beggar how to think and how to survive, the rest of that man's life had the possibility to improve. So his task was not just that of the warrior and savior, but that of the mentor as well.

"Had you run across the field and back, a scarce three hundred yard sprint, with the Force to aid you, you could have bested the time by at least five seconds."

Those words weren't entirely true. Had Ksilas magnified her natural ability to sprint for a few parts of the clear run, she would have made it. But that required some higher level thinking skills he was no longer sure existed in society any longer. "Not too long ago I told you to think things through. To act after thought instead of impulsively. It is good you took the time to come up with such an innovative if exceedingly complicated strategy to achieve the goal set before you, but you overanalyzed the situation. From our vantage point I can see the gates of the temple clearly. A dead sprint would have gotten me there and back in possibly a minute. But if I used the Force to enhance my abilities for a few seconds at a time, I could reach the goal in the amount of time anointed for such," he waved his hand towards the Jedi Temple, the spiring building visible outside of the orchard line. Sighing, he dropped his hand and looked down to his collapsed apprentice.

"Sometimes the simplest path is the best even when it seems like it is too easy or that there has to be some hidden catch in it."

He looked up towards the nebulous sky, watching the celestial bodies of swirling mercury above. A storm was brewing and they were on the edge of inclemency. "Come, arise and follow me back to the temple. Further lectures on rhetoric and critical thinking will not do you any good at this point. I believe a more forward approach is necessary now," he began to walk out of the garden, beckoning with one slender, alabaster hand for Ksilas to follow him. Off in the distance, static filled the air like a carousel, unleashing a bolt of energy into itself. The distant thunderclap that ensued was a lion's growl of warning. Ash viewed this both symbolically and literally. In the symbolic sense, Ksilas was at the most difficult part of her training. She would have to listen to his instruction while coping with the death of her former master. In a literal sense, the storm meant that seeking shelter in the temple was the wisest course of action. Nobody enjoyed training in a thunderstorm.

"We shall begin your training with a lightsaber anon."

 

[Celestialvortex]

Ksilas flinched. lightsabers. The mere thought of them made her shudder. The memory of a couple days ago, and her expiriance then, did nothing less than mentally freak her out. Ksilas frowned. The lightsaber training was one of the last things that Joshua did with her before he was executed. She angrily shoved those thoughts away. She did not need to be worrying about the past. There was enough to hide her emotions, the coming storm made her skin tingle with electric energy, while her blood temperature was dropping; slowly. All she had to worry about was the lightsabers. She had a hilt of one, probably a training saber, in her bag at her waist. One of the things she had not messed with was the lightsaber, or training saber, at least, scince Joshua had gone. And she was afraid to have to deal with one again.

Nevertheless, Ksilas put on a soft smile and waited for her master's next move.