[Closed] A Talent Within

[Fyston]

"They are the same thing, Della. Two names for the same thing. The Force made everything to us, just like the Goddess made everything to you and your people. They are the same thing, and people have many names for the same thing. We know it as the Force, and that is how you'll hear it referenced. To us, there is no Goddess, only the Force."

Fyston hoped he wasn't being too harsh. He was saying what he himself had learned about the Force, both from his Master and from the Archives. They were arguing beliefs, and beliefs were often one thing you could never take from people. She needed to understand them, though, and perhaps this was the way to make it so. Fyston didn't mind if she called it the Divine or the Goddess, but other Jedi would surely be confused. It was similar to a translation in that Fyston and his culture knew it as the Force while Della and her culture knew it as the Goddess or the Divine. It was a culture clash, something Fyston barely understood.

 

[TweedPawn]

So...The force was the name of the Goddess. That could make sense...So, they called all abilities the Force instead of the Divine Luck. It sounded more direct. Yet, Fyston said there was no Goddess. That only made her angry. What kind of dim-witted, half-cooked treachery was that? She gave Fyston a good hard stare.

The Goddess desired cunning. Della would have to play along and stay on her toes if she was going to be educated here. Such wretchedness would have to be tolerated. She missed her home more than ever. She longed suddenly for the rituals that bored her and the food she was once tired of.

"Fine." she said. Skepticism in her eyes. She would prove Fyston wrong somehow. It wouldn't be hard. She already out-ran him. She could hide quieter than he ever could, and could run circles around his wits. The anger began to build up energy in her, and she could feel it being focused on Fyston.

 

[Fyston]

Fyston was no Jedi Master, but he could tell that he had angered her. He hadn't done anything but teach her about the Force. How could she be angry about that?! Fierfek, it made him angry knowing that she was angry at him for doing exactly what she asked! Who did that, anyway? Then she had the audacity to stare at him! Fyston didn't let his face waver as he stared back at her, facial muscles taut, giving him an older appearance. He was able to control his anger through meditation, but she had all but destroyed the calm he had worked on.

Then, of course, came her reply. He saw her look, saw the anger in her eyes and stance. He had made her angry, which had made him angry simply because he had done so. He was angry at her for being angry with him, but Fyston was angry with himself for angering Della. It was confusing, but he didn't have to use the Force to tell that she loathed him right now. She was probably one of the only individuals that she hated. And, of course, he hadn't done anything but try to help. How Della could hate him for that, he would never know. All he knew was that, due to his anger, his body was heating up. He slipped off his brown robe and tossed it onto a nearby tree, walking away from Della and standing a few feet away. He turned so that he could keep her in his vision, but stared out into the distance, trying but failing to contain and control his anger.

 

[TweedPawn]

Della was taken back by Fyston's stare. No one had looked at her like that since...Her father. Fyston was also angry. Why? What did he expect? Telling her that her religion was a lie like that? She then thought of her father again. The arguments they had seemed so petty now. When she would be allowed to date. When she could stay out at night. What chores she had to do. All of it was petty.

She wanted to see her father again. She wanted to hug him and tell him how sorry she was for all the times she argued back. Now, she began to understand why Fyston was angry. He may have been horribly wrong, but he had been trying hard to help her. And she had responded by acting like a child. She didn't know what to do now. What was she to do now? She was afraid to approach him. Perhaps, it was better to keep her distance for now.

She gazed out to the lake. Her frustration growing until tears swelled up in her eyes.

 

[Fyston]

Fyston was on the verge of losing it. Not only was SHE mad at him, he was angry with himself. A tinge of disappointment was also there, as was an awkwardness that he felt whenever he screwed up. His emotions were conflicting, merging, duplicating, clouding his mind and making him want to do nothing more but punch the nearest tree until his hand broke. He wanted to lash out with the Force, make others know how angry, how disappointed, how sad he felt. His rational side dominated, however. He sat down and crossed his legs how he had before. He pulled his lightsaber from his belt and gripped it, his knuckles white.

His lens, made of pontite, was extremely calming. It soothed him, brought him back from the edge that he knew was the Dark side. Was this his first real experience with the Dark side? It was one of them, and the first to have gotten such a reaction from him. His first had been a vision, one brought from seemingly nowhere. He had thought he was crazy. This one, however, was more vivid, right there in his mind. He had been on the precipice of the Dark side and only barely had been able to not succumb to its lure. He had been falling off of the cliff when something pulled him back. He immediately settled into his meditative state, first compartmentalizing his mind.

It was like sealing off a leak. Before repairing the damage, you had to seal it off, prevent any more damage from being done. You had to ensure that the leak couldn't start again. And he did so, ensuring that his anger could not escape in that way. He recited the Jedi code as he separated his anger from his mind. He was not at peace, nor was he completely calm, but he wasn't going to do anything drastic. In fact, he felt the reaction from Della and again felt sad and disappointment. He steadied his voice, made sure it wasn't harsh or angry, and spoke eight simple words.

"Sit down, we'll meditate together. Clear our heads."

 

[TweedPawn]

Della could sense Fyston's anger. She didn't even have to look at him. She knew that it was because of their stubbornness finally clashing. It had only been a matter of time before their emotions got the better of them. If only he understood her. He would then realize how important her faith was to her. There was only so much she was willing to lose.

She then heard him speak to her. Inviting he to meditation. She sighed.

"How you do that? Just sit?" she asked as she sat down cautiously next to Fyston. She watched him.

 

[Fyston]

"You don't even have to sit to meditate. Align yourself with the Fo-...The Divine, the Goddess. Feel her energy flow through you. Don't trap it, but let it move like a river through you. Feel it in your body and in your mind. Allow her energy to bring peace and calm to you. Feel her influence and know that she is pure and that she watches over you."

Fyston was trying a new tactic. It would only exacerbate things if he continued to criticize her and ignore what she believed. Nobody could make such a drastic change easily, so he would play by her rules. As he had previously thought, her beliefs were likely the only thing she had left to remind her of home. He should at least make an attempt to understand them, if only to prevent future events. Were they arguments? They hadn't said but a few words and it was brief. What would he call it, then? Disagreement? Debate? No, they were indicative of communication. He would call it displays of raw emotion for simplicity. He hadn't had to deal with these things before. He had no beliefs, there was no room for it when you lived in the gutter of some polluted planet. Learning about the Force had been made easier by the Archives and by some of the Jedi he had met during his time as an Initiate but it had still been difficult. It must be similar for her, though she was clinging to her beliefs. Fyston had no beliefs to replace and, after becoming comfortable with it, clung to the Jedi philosophy harder than many could for the simple reason that he had never had beliefs before. It was something new. He was like a toddler, declaring his beliefs his. Was Della no different than he had been? Fyston wondered this and sought to meditate on it after he and Della had parted ways.