The Training of Denzein Tal'sar

[D.C.]

"That's right." Koran said. "Force Speed will make one faster and it will give you more time to think over certain situations, because it's as though the world around you slows down. When you use this for the first time, it might be a strange experience, but believe me, it's a very useful power. It saved my life many times."

The Jedi Knight walked to the door and opened it. "Please follow me outside, and we will practice it." His voice sounded friendly and even a bit excitement could be heard in his voice, as if he wanted to make his padawan more excited then he already was.

Smiling, he exitted the room and showed his padawan to a small training course outside. It was built to train Force Speed.

"Do you see this course?" Koran asked. "You'll have to cross it to the other side as fast as you can. When you do this often, it will become easier and easier to perform Force Speed succesful. But, first I have a question for you I would like you to answer. Don't worry if you give me the wrong answer, you're here to learn right?"

The Kiffar smirked and continued: "How do you think you should activate Force Speed?"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein grinned. It was almost too easy, this Jedi stuff. He wondered why all the galaxy weren't jedi.
"Is it a bit like meditation master? You meditate and make the world slow around you?" He said, confident in his answer.

 

[D.C.]

"Almost. You concentrate and make yourself faster, which makes it seem like the world slows down. But in fact, you're making yourself faster. If you want to, you can try it out right away. Or do you want me to explain a bit more first or give you a demonstration?"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein scratched his head. He thought this power sounded harder to accomplish than the previous one...
"A demonstration would be nice, master." He said, a quizzical expression forming on his face. He sat down, and watched.

 

[D.C.]

"Alright. I'm going to cross the course using Force Speed."

Koran turned around and looked to the other side of the course. He did not concentrate much, but easily activated Force Speed, and crossed the course in the blink of an eye.

When he reached the other side he turned back to look at his apprentice and called to him: "Did you see that? Now you can try it!"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein laughed, that was incredible! He had to speak loudly so Koran could hear him.
"I saw it, sort of!" He laughed again.

He stood up, and calmed himself down by removing all but the lightsaber in his head. slowly, after about a minute of focussing, he tried to get the force to speed him up. When he thought he was ready, he ran. At the same speed as normal. He stopped abruptly, and looked at his master, embarrased.
"What did I do wrong? I focussed, but nothing happened!"He called.

 

[D.C.]

Koran jogged over to Denzein and stopped next to his padawan, so he did not have to shout his instructions.

"I don't know exactly what you did, but what you are supposed to do is letting the Force flow through your legs, and let it carry you. You must command the Force to make you faster, and you really must want to become faster. In the beginning you might need to concentrate more, but later on, like me, you won't need to concentrate as much. So, for now, try to focus like you are meditating, but let the Force course through your legs and let it speed you up. Do you understand? And don't worry about mistakes, keep trying and you'll get there."

The Jedi Knight smiled at his padawan and then took a step back, to allow Denzein to try to Force Speed again.

 

[Denzein]

Denzein was very confused, to say the least. Nevertheless, he gave it another go. Nothing happened. Again. Again. Still nothing. He began to get frustrated, trying twice more and failing.
After the next try he got angry. In his mind Yellow light began to burst forth from an imaginary lightsaber. He tried again. Failure. More light.
Finally, after he was almost blinded by the light in his head, and positively livid at himself, he managed it. His mind was so focussed on the negative side of Denzein's nature that it acted as a meditation, of sorts, and made what he so desperately wanted to do, happen.
He went around the track once, at roughly twice his normal pace. After, he stopped on the far side of the track, and panted, completely exhausted. In his mind, he dreaded what his master might say...

 

[D.C.]

Koran walked over to Denzein with a fast pace and put his hand on Denzein's shoulder. "Never, do that again." He said. "Never."

The Kiffar had not seen this coming, and he sensed the anger coming from his padawan clearly. He was taken aback and shook his head.

"You must focus on the Force. It took me ages to learn to control it, so don't think you can control it already in the very beginning. Becoming a Jedi is hard, and a long way, but you'll get there if you have patience. Patience is key, my young padawan learner. Anger, is your downfall. If you focus on your anger too much, it might consume you, and get the best of you. Why don't you sit down for a while."

Koran's voice sounded a bit harsh, but this was the sort of thing that had to be clear to his padawan. It was the most dangerous thing that could happen to a Jedi, and Koran knew it. He sometimes had these anger outbursts when he was alone, and in those moments he could feel the Dark Side trying to get its grip on him. Until now he managed to fight it off, but the Dark Side was growing stronger and stronger, and he had more and more trouble to avoid it.

At the moment Koran was very calm, but the sound of his words might have made him look angry. The truth was that he was very calm, and in control of himself.

Sitting down at the side of the course, Koran said to Denzein: "Do you know what the Dark Side is?"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein snapped back into reality when koran put his hand on his shoulder. He didn't realise what he had done.

He was terrified, Koran hadn't done this before, and he had done the power, he was confused as to why Koran was so angry at him. For being angry himself? Denzein felt this unfair. He sat when his master told him to though, because it was still interesting...

"No master, I don't know what the dark side is. Could you tell me?" He said politely, trying to calm himself down, and lower his pulse.

 

[D.C.]

"The Dark Side, Denzein, is the most horrible place to be for a Jedi. The Force has a Light Side and a Dark Side, we the Jedi are the defenders of the Light Side and Keepers of Peace. The Light Side makes you feel good, makes everything right, however, the Dark Side is evil and comes forth from anger. When you get angry you will feel a little bit of the Dark Side coming closer to you, and when your anger reaches the level of hate, then you are standing on the edge of the Dark Side. When you succumb to insanity, you will fall and you will be tainted and driven by hate, sorrow and fear. It will haunt you until the last of your days, unless you find redemption and turn back to the Light Side. However, only few have made it back to the Light Side.

Most Dark Side followers think that the Dark Side is the ultime power and they don't want redemption. They think that the Light Side is not powerful enough, and they underestimate it. Those people are Dark Jedi, insane killers driven by hate.

The Dark Side, Denzein, is a place you don't want to be, and if you show anger like you just did, you are getting closer to it. You may be angry at times, for we all can't deny our emotions, but you must learn to control it, and don't feed that emotion. Believe me. Don't worry though, I am here to keep you from it, and I will teach you how to steer clear from the Dark Side. Just try to keep your anger and frustration, as well as your fears, in check.

Do you understand what I tried to tell you?"

Koran's voice sounded very calm now. He did not want to frighten his padawan, but he told the exact truth. Maybe it was too early for telling about the Dark Side, but it was something to get out of the way as soon as possible, so Denzein would steer clear, instead of falling.

 

[Denzein]

As Denzein listened, he began to take in what had happened, and what he had done wrong. As koran continued, Denzein became horrified at what the force could do. He realised it wasn't all good, and that its power was akin to an ocean, one half serene, the other turbulent.

After his master was finished, Denzein nodded to show he understood." Sorry master, I didn't know what I was doing. I thought the force was always good. I'll try my best not to let the dark side get me." He said, clearly upset. "Perhaps I should try this again later, I don't feel calm enough at the moment master."

 

[D.C.]

"I think we should take a break anyways." Koran said. "Why don't we get something to drink, and just sit down in the messhall for a while. Let's talk about other things so you can relax a bit. Does that sound good?"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein felt quietly relieved, he realised that this WAS the kind of thing Koran wouldn't, couldn't tolerate. [So there are rules...] He thought.

"Yes master, that does sound good. I'm sorry master, I just got frustrated, thats all." He said earnestly, honestly, as they walked back towards the mess hall.

 

[D.C.]

"I know, Den. Sorry for reacting like that, but you'll have to understand it. It really has to be clear to you." Koran said.

When the reached the messhall the big Kiffar said to his padawan: "Pick a seat, I'll go get us something to drink. Would you like Blumfruit Juice? I heard it tastes very sweet."

After they had spent some time in the messhall, they would get back to the training course, to try again. Denzein would probably be calm and relaxed by then, and hopefully he would not get frustrated again. He had to learn how to use Force Speed, because it was an important power which had saved Koran's life as well as the lives of other Knights and Masters.

 

[Denzein]

Denzein had never heard of Blumfruit before, but he nodded anyway, Koran would hardly poison him. When Koran went to get the drinks, Den went to get a table.

He began to wonder, about the dark side, and how he was supposed to differentiate between the two. He was pretty sure it wouldn't be just black and white, and was getting quite worried about the whole topic.

 

[D.C.]

Koran returned to his apprentice with two Blumfruit juices and handed one to Denzein.

"Try to relax, Den. Don't worry about the Dark Side right now. You're still young, it won't get to you."

Koran smiled to Denzein and took a sip from his juice. After he swallowed the drink he said: "Damn, that's very sweet stuff! Careful, Den, don't sip too much at once!"

After some time the Jedi Knight said: "What are your hobbies? You haven't told me. Do you have any hobbies?"

 

[Denzein]

Denzein spluttered after his first sip, it was very sweet! He smiled, it tasted great. He was beginning to relax, despite his worries. He felt... like it didn't matter.

After a while, Koran asked him about his hobbies. Den thought this a silly question, he had loads of hobbies! They just, weren't as obvious.

"Of course I have hobbies, everyone does. Mine are just... a bit unusual, I guess..." He smiled mischievously. " For example, where a normal kid might.. um.. do normal kid things, I play games with people on the street. They just don't know it. I play eat, I play catch, and my favourite is find. I'm good at that one. They never realise that I've found the credit bar." He smiled, for he thought that his hobbies were perfectly normal...

 

[D.C.]

Koran laughed, he was not laughing at his apprentice, but he laughed because of Denzein's sudden change of behaviour. He was worried a few minutes ago, and then told him about his hobbies.

"I know those hobbies, and I used to play those games too, when I was younger. As a Jedi, you might not find the time to do it, though, and it's probably best if you would not do it as a Jedi. I actually had expected something like drawing or reading though."

The big Kiffar smiled and looked at the kid that was sipping from the sweet juice.

After moments of chatting about stuff, and laughing a lot, Koran told his padawan it was time to get back practicing. He led Denzein back to the course and said: "Let's try Force Speed again. Try to focus on something else this time, and if you won't speed up, don't worry. We have plenty of time, so take all the time you need. Focus, my young padawan learner, and have fun trying Force Speed."

 

[Denzein]

Denzein kept quiet when Koran spoke of reading, for he was of course, illiterate. He was in a good mood when they went out back to the track, and it showed. While he didn't master the technique instantly, by the third try he was noticeably faster, but still not going fast. He made light of it, and on the forth was considerably fast.

"See master! I did it!" He yelled, elated at his success. He did one more to show off more than anything, and then went to stand beside Koran.

"I did it, it felt great!" He smiled.