Once more, its training time.

Ookakiba

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It was quiet today; the halls seemed to be empty as footsteps echoed throughout the place. There was an eerie sense of calm that seemed to hover through the air, or perhaps that was his state of mind at the moment. He felt at peace, a peace that he hadn't felt in quite a while, and it was refreshing. He smiled as the doors slid open to the training hall, finally reaching his destination.

Paul yawned softly as he walked towards the room he was assigned to. It was unusual to be called this early in the morning, since he barely had time to eat, but it must have been something important or it could have just been a test to see how determined he was. Either way, there was no telling why Master Sheng had summoned him here.

"This should be interesting."

Paul spoke to himself calmly while the doors slide open revealing a smaller room, still large enough to hold a sparring session though. Paul took a deep breath and sighed as he ignored the fatigue that plagued his body.

"Master Sheng, I have arrived."

He called out, waiting patiently for a response. His hand slid nears his lightsaber in case of any surprise attacks that he needed to block.
 

Jiang Winters

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"Morning Paul."

Sheng leaned out from the shadows hiding the room's edges and smiled thinly at his padawan. "Sorry to call you so early, but I've got to make an unexpected trip to Balmorra this afternoon and I don't want to fall behind on your training, so we need to get to an early start."

The feline pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning on and moved to stand in the room's center. "We're going to touch on everything you've learned in the past four years, so consider this review day. We're going to start with your knowledge of the Codes and the Tenets - if you're up to it, feel free to provide your interpretation of the Tenets while you're at it. It'd give me a good measure of where you're at. Once we've got that out of the way, we'll test your abilities with the Force and your skill with a Saber, then we'll cap it off with a bit of a spar."

He reached out through the force and activated the room's lighting. Light strips flickered to life, casting soft white light across the room's stone walls and mat-covered floor. He gestured to a cushion positioned on the floor. "Go ahead and take a seat, if you'd like. Once you're comfortable, recite the Codes and the Tenets, then pick one Tenet to interpret for me so I know where you're at with your understanding of our ways."
 

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Paul grinned slightly as he watched Sheng speak out from the shadows, apologizing for waking him early. In all honesty, Paul wouldn't mind a day off from training, though he could take the afternoon off, assuming there was no studying to be done. He watched in amusement as his master turned the lights on using the force, which made the room seem a lot bigger than Paul had imagined it to be.

Paul nodded as he walked over towards the center of the room; sitting down with his legs crossed and let his hands naturally rest on his legs. He took a deep breath as he searched through the depths of his mind trying to remember the nine tenets. They were quite long and more importantly; they were values which Jedi should live by.

"Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Finally, there's death, yet there is also the force."

Paul stated calmly as he now recalled upon the nine tenets.

"It's been a while since I've recited them, but I'll give it my best. The first tenet is that Jedi are the protectors of justice, order, and peace. We seek to aid out all life, no matter whom or what and we protect them with our lives. The republic is our ally, and as such, we fight alongside the republic in the case of a war.

The second tenet is dealing with emotions, and how they must be treated with care and strong emotions that cause us to stray from the path of logical thinking are emotions to avoid. This ties in to the third tenet, where emotions of love and attraction have to be watched carefully. It’s alright to love, but you have to thread carefully so it doesn't lead to anger and the dark side. Marriage is also forbidden."


Paul paused slightly as he spoke, as he searched his mind for the other tenets.

"The fourth tenet is similar to a part of the first where all life forms must be respected, and that we should put the need of others and those in need first, before we accomplish our own goals. Though, I believe, our goals should be beneficial to others in the first place. The fifth tenet follows closely where a Jedi protects the weak and defenseless, to where we can help them; of course it has to be within the law and code. Also, we're not allowed to kill those who are unarmed and cannot defend themselves.

As for the sixth tenet, a Jedi must respect the Jedi High Council. They are the governing body of the Jedi Order, and as Jedi we should trust their decision. Though, we're still individuals and we have a right disagree and voice our concerns."


Paul crossed his arms as he took a breath in between his statement of the tenets.

"The seventh tenet is that a Jedi cannot rule or have financial wealth since these leads to arrogance and self-pride. Seeing as a Jedi should not want material possessions, it pretty much states that a Jedi should be content with themselves and what they have, as well as simply trust in the force.

The eight tenet is to be mindful of the force, and in my belief is that the force is everything and everything is the force. The force flows through all things, it exists in every life form, and for that we have to pay attention to its presence now, in the past, and in the future to learn.

The final tenet is that a Jedi fights for survival of the people and civilization. Unlike warriors who fight for pride and glory, Jedi fight to ensure the continuation of our society and ensure a prosperous future for others. As the first tenet says we fight for peace, order, and justice, which is what I believe, is the true purpose of this order."

With that Paul sighed as he relaxed himself a bit. He was still calm, but all that speaking was quite a lot. With a faint smile, he nodded at his master.

"I believe that's everything Master, though I would like to ask a question. Why would viewing others as equal be considered self-pride? I mean, shouldn't that be the case in where, we all view each other as individuals with our own goals and purpose? I would consider that as being equal."
 

Jiang Winters

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Sheng was rather pleased by his Padawan's knowledge and interpretation of the Tenets and Code. He was as knowledgeable and keenly aware of the rules as Sheng'd hoped, but the feline was a bit surprised by Paul's confusion over the seventh tenet. "Hmm. Now that I think about it, that tenet is worded rather... Oddly." he mused, stroking his chinfur for a moment before answering Paul's question.

"What the Tenet is trying to explain is that you can't place yourself on the same level as someone else. In a way, it's hinting at the sad fact that, objectively speaking, nobody is equal to anyone else. For example, I could say that my brother, Jiang, and I are equals, but we're not. He's smarter, stronger, faster, and more proficient in the use of the Force than I am, whereas I'm more experienced, wiser, and more objective. I've always viewed the tenet as trying to explain this: Viewing yourself as superior to or equal to anyone is prideful and should be avoided, and viewing yourself as inferior is succumbing to a lack of self-confidence. What you should do is view yourself and everyone as, like you said, individuals with different aims in life."

The feline smiled and rubbed the back of his head as he sat down. "Truth be told, that one always confused me when I was younger, Paul. The wording needs to be tweaked a bit, that's for sure," he admitted with a hearty chuckle. "All in all, though, I'm impressed. You know the tenets well. Now to test your affinity with Telekinesis. This room is for sparring; there are six wooden swords, two shields, and three wooden staffs and shotos on each wall, all of varying styles and overall size. Using the Force, I want you to summon to yourself and hold steady as many of them as you can."
 

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Paul listened carefully as Sheng answered his question and explained the tenet in slightly more detail. His master had a point and it was the same thing he said, though the meaning of the tenet became clearer. "They really should change the wording on that." Paul thought as he nodded his head in agreement with his master.

"Well the tenets are an important part of the Jedi way of life, so I figured it would be good to know them thoroughly."

Paul replied with a slight grin. He listened carefully as the next set of instructions came, and looked around the room at each item that was pointed out. There were quite a lot of weapons around the room and to hold them all steady would be a challenge, but Paul had faith in himself. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and imagined the room around him and the locations of the weapons and shields.

He took a deep breath again as the force flowed through him, slowly rising a foot off the ground. He had entered a slight meditative trance as he brought each weapon one by one, from one wall, towards him, arranging them in a circular formation around him. The first seven went with ease, but it was becoming increasingly difficult with each one after. "Focus." He reminded himself as he began to bring some weapons from another wall, creating a second circle above the weapons that were already there.

As he began to bring the final weapon from the second wall, the weapons shook as they dropped a few centimeters. It was a draining task on the mind, since not only was he holding the weapons up, but he was also holding himself up. As he opened up the second circle to place the final weapon in, both circles shook as his concentration began to fade. The final weapon entering the circle was all it took as Paul fell down a foot and hit the ground, the weapons following shortly after.

Paul sat up while catching his breath as he looked around the training area. He managed to hold up two walls, or the majority of it, which wasn't that bad in his opinion. "Still...I could have done better." He thought to himself, and then turned towards Master Sheng.

"I suppose that's all I could hold up in the meantime."

He mused and chuckled slightly as he scratched the back of his head.
 

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Sheng watched, impressed, as his Padawan managed to summon almost two full wall's worth of items. His tail slightly curled at the tip as he studied both Paul and the objects - he was watching for any sign of weakness, of a lack of concentration or the like. He noted that Paul was exerting himself a fair bit during the exercise, and, rather than focusing on maintaining a few objects, the Padawan just kept piling them on until his concentration finally broke and they came plummeting down to earth.

Reaching out through the force, the Jedi almost effortlessly snatched up the hail of objects. It was easy for him - he'd always focused on Telekinesis, eschewing the practice of other abilities in favor of intense training with Telekinesis. The feline sent the little horde floating back to its rightful place, and for a moment the clatter of wood and steel filled the room as weapons slid into their racks and dropped onto their hangars.

"You did pretty well. Better than I expected, to be honest. Well done, Paul. Well done," Sheng said warmly. The feline wasn't in the habit of giving compliments where they weren't due, and so in his eyes, Paul had thoroughly deserved the praise. "Still, you need to practice more. Become familiar with your limits in the Force and be aware of them; here, pushing yourself to the point of failure doesn't matter, but in a fight, losing concentration like that could mean injury or death. Try to learn your limits so that you're aware of what you can and can't do in a fight, but constantly strive to break free of your limits whenever you aren't in a fight."

"Anyways, next test; I've hidden twenty-three cubes in here. Twenty-two of them have a hint of my presence in the Force; they'be been practice implements for years for when I train in telekinesis. The twenty-third is my brother, Jiang's; his 'signature' in his cube is very similar to mine, yet at the same time different. Find all the blocks, and seperate his cube from mine - bear in mind, no two cubes of mine are exactly the same. Each one is from a different set of training cubes, and I purchased each set at a different time in my life, and so my imprint on them differs slightly from set to set. Using the Force, I want you to reach out and find all the cubes, then figure out which cube is Jiang's and which cubes are mine. Shouldn't be too tough, not too tough at all."
 

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Paul watched as the items were effortlessly brought back to their original position by his master. It was amazing how at such a level, bringing back that many objects was as simple as putting butter on bread. He sat up as he crossed his legs, listening to his master's assessment of his performance. A small sense of pride could be found within him as his accomplishments were praised, though Paul knew he could have done better.

Paul listened to his master's response carefully as he nodded his head. He would have to find his limitations in practice so he wouldn't end up killing himself out in the real world.

"Thank you master, and I understand."

He said calmly as he looked around the room. He would train himself till he could get all four walls in a circle and put them back without failing. It would be a long road, but Paul had faith in himself. His focus shifted back to his master as the next test instructions were given. With a nod of his head Paul stood up and took a deep breath. Standing would give him a solid ground and allow him to focus more on the cubes than supporting himself up using the force.

Paul closed his eyes as he envisioned the room once more, searching for the cubes. He felt his master's presence in front of him as he searched for the twenty-three cubes around the room. It would take him a few seconds to find the first cube, as he pulled it near him using the force, and held it in the air next to him. Within four minutes, Paul would have all twenty-three cubes circling around him. Despite them being in the room, it was a bit difficult to detect the older ones, though he managed to accomplish that.

"This one is Jiang's"

Paul said as he placed Jiang's cube on his left. The remaining twenty-two cubes were placed on his right, with the most recent cube near him, to the oldest cube on the far right of him. With the task accomplish, Paul looked to his master.

"Well, I've arranged them in order with Jiang's on my left, and the remaining cubes from the most recent cube to the oldest. The most recent one is the one next to me."

Paul said as he motioned towards the cube next to him. He wasn't sure if this accomplished the test, but he did the best he could. Although, there was a slight doubt in his mind that this test was simply just about separating Jiang's cube from his master's. He felt like that was much more to this than simple force detection, of course that was only an assumption.
 

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"Very good. You've come quite a ways in the last four years. I'm impressed, Paul. Now, another cube. This is the most important one of all. I want you to think long and hard on it, and get a feel for the imprint it holds."

The feline tossed Paul a small cube made of finely polished gray stone. It was broken and chipped at the corners, and one face was badly scorched. Etchings had been made in all of its sides, but all were too worn to be legible. It had been through a hellish life. It was perhaps fitting, then, that the Force imprint left on the cube was as tormented and destroyed as the cube itself. Were Paul to open himself enough to reach out and explore the cube, he'd feel pain, betrayal, loss, obsession, and hatred, all wrapped into a tiny hunk of stone.

"That cube belonged to someone dear to me. One of my brothers, a man named Sonam. He's dead to me - he's a lone wolf now, with nothing but spite in his heart. He's a Force User, like you and like me. I know you can feel the darkness in that cube - even from here, I can sense it permeating and poisoning that poor little piece of stone. But I'd like to challenge you to look deep into it, to try to find a ray of light. I can't find one, but Jiang was able to. I want to know if you can too."

Admittedly, the question deviated slightly from the training schedule, but it would help Sheng to gauge Paul's ability to read auras in the Force. He already knew that the young man possessed a fair bit of skill with his Force Powers and his Saber, but martial training was not Sheng's primary concern. To Sheng, a good Jedi had to possess a sharp mind and a fair bit of wisdom. While he knew that Paul was keenly intelligent, he wanted to see if he was capable of applying both wisdom and intelligence to the analysis of an object...

...An object which baffled Sheng. He couldn't bring himself to see past the darkness masking the cube. It had belonged to his brother, Sonam, who had fallen from grace nearly a full year ago. While Jiang had always steadfastly believed that Sonam protected himself by sealing away his ability to love and make peace beneath a impenetrable wall of hatred and animosity, Sheng believed that Sonam had destroyed all that which was good within his soul and was beyond salvation. Jiang agreed that Sonam had ruined himself, but he steadfastly believed that Sonam could still be redeemed. Sheng disregarded Jiang's opinion - Jiang was Sonam's twin. There was a degree of attatchment between the two that Sheng couldn't comprehend.

Jiang understood Sonam, and Sonam understood Jiang - but both were difficult to understand or wholly incomprehensible to Sheng. Either his adventures had jaded him or he was prejudiced against his brothers he didn't know. In either instance, he had left himself blinded to the situation at hand... Which, rather conveniently, gave Paul the perfect opportunity to reach into the aura of a cube left by a broken-hearted man and either pluck from it a shred of hope or condemn it as holding nothing but sorrow - it would be entirely up to Paul's personal judgement, for there was no right or wrong answer. There was only an answer, and it would be Paul's personal philosophies and beliefs that would provide that answer.
 

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"Thank you master."

Paul said as he gave a slight bow in response. His eyes glanced at the cube that was tossed towards him as he held it in his hands. It was chipped and broken while the aura it gave off seemed to portray a hellish life, one that Paul didn't wish to experience. Perhaps it was fitting that both the cube and the aura, both gave off a sort of despair.

"I see, I'll give it all I got then."

Paul responded calmly as he focused his attention towards the cube. He opened himself to the force as he searched deep within the cube for answers. With a deep breath he closed his eyes, and felt as if a violent wind sucked him up into the cube.

His vision would regain as he noticed that there was darkness all around him. It felt cold, similar to the weather on Hoth, but there was a feeling of anger, despair, and hatred that lurked around him as if it were a knife at his back. He shivered slightly as he walked forward, the area still feeling the same as if he hadn't even moved an inch.

"This place its cold, it has the same feeling as the cube did. Could I be inside the cube? Or is this just the cube portraying itself to me? Whatever the case, there's no light at the end of the tunnel here."

Paul said to himself as he continued to walk forward, only to find the same darkness pressing against him. It was like trying to find heat in a blizzard, but he wouldn't give up. There was always good in a person, although it might not be the good that others searched for, it was still part of the light. Paul took another step as he saw a small light flood through the floor, giving off a small essence of hope and happiness.

Paul would find himself in the training room, only to find that a minute had passed since he searched through the cube. "So, all that took place in my subconscious it seems." He thought to himself as he looked towards his master. He wasn't sure what he had experienced, but he could still feel the small essence of happiness coming from the cube.

"Master, I don't know what I just experienced, it was some kind of induced dream or something, but I believe I found something. The cube is still filled with despair, anger, hatred, but there is a small essence of happiness in there. Whatever it is, your brother, Sonam, still has some good traits left in him. Though, with all the darkness around it, that may be a hard thing to pull out."

Paul said calmly as he tossed the cube back to his master. It was an unusual feeling to be surrounded by darkness, and it was a feeling he detested. Still, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel, and as long as he searched for the light, he would be well.

"Master, if I may ask, do you believe somebody can be saved after turning to the dark side?"
 

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"I believe that there's a line, Paul. A point of no return. As someone falls deeper and deeper into the Dark Side, they'll eventually have to cross that line. Once they've gone past it, there's nothing you can do to save them. There are certain people I believe can never be redeemed. Others might be saved, but it might also be safer to write them off as total losses."

Weisheng's outlook was bleak, to say the least. He wasn't like Sonam or Jiang. They believed in forgiveness. Even when faced with the most terrible of grievances they could, at times, bring themselves to forgive and forget whoever had done them wrong. Weisheng, however, believed that wrongdoers should never be forgiven and should always be made to pay for their sins, just as he had done during his exile from the Jedi Order.

He wrapped his fingers around the Cube, using the Force to seal its darkness away from himself. "I do not agree with your view of Sonam... But I do respect it."

The feline slowly rose to his feet, gesturing to the arrays of training weapons with a sweeping motion of his white-furred hand. "Go ahead and select a weapon for now. I'd like you to demonstrate your knowledge of the opening stances for your saber style, and the appropriate offensive and defensive sta-"

His voice abruptly halted as the training room's door swung open, revealing the smiling face of Samanya Winters. Wearing a sleeveless khaki tunic and brown pants, she looked a bit roguish for a Jedi Knight, though her garb was still a marked improvement over the pilot's gear she usually donned. "Hello Sheng." The female gently lobbed a communicator to the feline. "A call for you. It's urgent. You're lucky I was kind enough to play secretary - Bahadur sounds mad enough to bite your head off, and even for him that's not normal."

Weisheng frowned and glanced down at the comms unit. He sighed and hitched his shoulders. "I'll be back soon, Paul. Samanya, could you..."

She held up a hand, cutting him off. "I'm busy, but sure. I can make time."

Sheng made for the door, but paused briefly to introduce Paul to Kam. "Paul, this is Samanya. Sam, this is Paul Zeku, my Padawan."

The Cathar beamed at Paul and nodded in greetings. "Hey Paul. Nice t'meet you." She then looked to Sheng and gestured back over her shoulder at the door. "You'd better scoot. Like I said, whatever it is sounds important."

"Right right," Sheng muttered. After apologizing to Paul for the disruption, he departed the training room and made for the hangars, where Bahadur and Jiang were waiting for him.

Sam, somewhat oblivious to the precise circumstances that'd called Sheng away, gestured for Paul to rise to his feet. "Alright, so since your Master's day is now officially shot, it looks like you're stuck with me. You could do worse for a stand-in trainer, I guess. You could've gotten a droid, or a small plushy with a datapad jammed inside."

She grinned and hitched her shoulders. "But nope, you're stuck with me. So let's get started; what've you not learned, wishy-washy good-and-evil stuff aside? I know Sheng's big on all the philosophy stuff, but has he taught you anything practical? Saber skills, blocking blaster bolts, offensive and defensive Force powers, stuff like that? The real meat and potatoes of how you're going to protect yourself and innocent folks across the galaxy?"
 

Ookakiba

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(ooc: really sorry for taking so long. Haven't had internet for the past few weeks, and school + work just bogged me down. I got internet back now, so I'll be back to posting more often. Apologies.)

Paul listened carefully as his master's words echoed through his head. His master had a different opinion on those who feel from the darkside, and maybe those were the right answers. Paul couldn't be sure though, he still felt that anybody could be saved as long as there was still a sliver of good in them. Paul nodded politely as his master stated his opinion and then requested Paul to choose a weapon.

Unfortunately, their training session was interrupted by a visitor who had a message for Master Sheng. Paul glanced curiously as the two felines exchange dialog, and his master was forced to leave the room. Now, he had a new trainer, Samanya. "Well this is a change of pace." Paul thought to himself as he nodded politely towards Sam.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Samanya."

Paul responded with a friendly tone as he waited for further instructions. It was after he spoke where his substitute trainer, mentioned if he had learned anything aside from philosophy. The truth was, he had only practiced some new force skills over the past four years, though Sheng hadn't thought him that much from force powers.

"Not really, I've learned some more force powers and as for my lightsaber skills, those are pretty basic. Master Sheng is quite heavy on philosophy and understanding the force."
 
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