Energy Over Matter, Mind Over Both

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

The dimly lit room that served as Ze'kyre Bladedancer's makeshift dojou was altogether quite spacious. The Jedi Knight sat in the middle of the room, legs crossed in the position of the lotus upon the padded floor. His hair was tied back loosely behind his neck, the locks of silvery white framing his face. Meditation served to clear his mind after his few hours of sleep. He had been visited by visions of a large crowd, and a confrontation with a dark woman in the middle of it all, but the dreams were not vivid, and concerned him little.

It was still early morning, in the hour of the rising sun, but the Jedi Knight had instructed Nakoma to meet with him upon first awakening, before taking any breakfast. It had been only a couple of days since he had been out in the forest with her, guiding her through her first lightsaber lesson, as well as in her understanding of the Force. But this morning he had a very special lesson planned for her.

It was time to teach her how she could use her connection to the Force to Alter it, changing the very fabric of the universe with nothing more than mere thoughts or gestures. The capability of telekinesis was one he knew she was eager to develop, and it was an important one to know. It was through the understanding of telekinesis that many core powers could be developed, allowing her to use bursts of invisible energy to push, pull, and otherwise control the flow of battle. It was important for her to learn exactly how she could reach out into reality about her, and shape it to ensure her safety as well as that of others.

But would arrive in due time. For now, Ze'kyre sat silently. Before him on the ground lye two meter long staves of wood, curved and fashioned in the form of the traditional echani longsword, or the katana. One was crossed unceremoniously across the other, waiting as patiently as the echani for Nakoma to arrive and take her pace across from him.

 

[Wolf]

Nakoma rose early from her slumber, well before the sun woke to kiss the night with brilliant rays that would drive away the darkness. She spent her first waking hour in deep meditation as she had done every day for several weeks now. The Great Wind was so tangible to her during these moments where she would clear her mind completely of the clutter and invite the power of the Force to invade her spirit. The time always seemed to slip away so quickly and before she realized, it was time to ready herself for a day of training.

After dressing herself and tying her hair into a ponytail at the back of her head, Nakoma brushed out a wrinkle in her cream colored tunic and shod her feet with dark brown boots. The Padawan reached for her training saber and clipped it to the left side of the belt around her waist before making her way for the entrance of her quarters. She left without partaking in breakfast as she had been instructed by Ze'kyre. The Laku'na enjoyed the quiet walk to the training room that the Knight had asked her to join him in that morning.

Upon entering the room, the young woman's eyes came to rest upon her companion and mentor. Though she saw him more often since being on Arbra, her heart missed him more each time that they were apart. A beaming smile quickly manifested upon her lips as she silently made her way to the seated Knight. Not wishing to disturb his meditation, Nakoma attempted to do as he had the last time they were together. Though she knew nothing of hiding her presence within the roaring river of the Force, she would attempt to quietly surprise him.

The young woman sat down in the lotus position directly across from her Master. Her thighs could now touch the floor beneath her as she straigtened her back completely. Nakoma did not close her eyes but set them upon the face of the Knight. The loose strands of hair framing his face reminded the woman of their time together on Galtea when she had attached a feather to one such strand before the pair had enjoyed a great celebration around a large fire. Finding her thoughts drifting, Nakoma focused and set them aside for now. She quieted her mind and then noticed the two wooden sticks laying in between them. The Laku'na wondered what their purpose was, but she dismissed this thought as well. She was simply content to sit here in silence with Ze'kyre before he began teaching her a new lesson.

 

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

Ze'kyre's eyes opened shortly after she had joined him in the centre of the room, and his dichromatic gaze fell upon the fair features of the Laku'na as she began to quiet her mind. Nakoma slipped so quickly into a state of serenity that he knew she must have been meditating for a significant while before coming to meet him. Ze'kyre was impressed with how aptly she had taken to her studies, more and more could he see the warrior within her, every time they met she was stronger, both physically and mentally. Today she would need to summon all she possessed of the latter, and manifest her will in order to shape her environment.

But first, Ze'kyre smile. A wave of warmth, appreciation, and pride filled the room like a sudden flood. "Good morning, Nakoma." He told her with a thought as he reached a hand forward, and set it on her knee. "You've shown a great amount of dedication. You should know that as a teacher, I could not ask for a brighter student." He shared the sentiment with an overwhelming sense of sincerity. Before long, he knew that she would be helping him to teach classes, demonstrating the various forms and positions with him so that his pupils might more easily learn of things such as the echani art. But it was not just the disciple within Nakoma that Ze'kyre was so fond of.

Since the moment he had awoken from his coma on Galtea and laid eyes upon her, he had simply felt something change. It was not something he knew how to explain, as it was not something he had ever experienced. But the priority was that nothing affected her training, and so he pushed such affections to the side for not.

With his eyes, he gestured down to the curved and carved shafts of wood. "These are bokken, wooden swords of traditional kenjutsu design. I want you to lift one - without touching it." Her meditations had been thorough, and her ability to sense the Force was strong. His command may be sudden, but he knew she had it within her to follow it. "Remember Nakoma, the Force does not just flow through you and I, but through everything. The floor we walk upon, the clothes we wear, the instruments we use. Even these bokken. They may no longer be one with the tree they grew within, but the Force has not abandoned them. Sense it…. Control it… Lift it."

 

[Wolf]

As Ze'kyre's eyes opened and his dichromatic gaze met with Nakoma's amber pools, she smiled deeply. Feelings of warmth, appreciate, and pride filled the room and penetrated the young woman's heart. "Good morning, Nakoma", the thought gently touched her mind. The Knight placed his hand upon her knee and the fluttering in the Laku'na's stomach returned with a vengence. A soft blush lit up her cheeks as she placed her hand upon his. The comfort and peace in his touch was so familiar to the woman. Since she met the Echani warrior, she could not shake the feeling that she had known him her entire life.

The Knight's eyes shifted down to the shafts of wood and Nakoma withdrew her hand slowly until she folded her own together as before. "These are bokken, wooden swords of traditional kenjutsu design. I want you to lift one - without touching it." The words settled into the Padawan's mind as she studied the pieces of wood in front of her. Finally, this was one exercise that she was not nervous about. She could already feel the way that the Great Wind flowed in and out of her and connected her to the things around her as it flowed in and out of those people, animals, and things.

Nakoma paid close attention as Ze'kyre spoke of the interconnected pathways that the Force wove through all things. "Every stone, bird, tree, person...we are all each just a string assembled into a great tapestry of the Force", the young woman added her thoughts to affirm with her mentor that she understood this concept. Without realizing how it would relate to her Jedi training, the Laku'na had been raised to believe this fundamental truth. She smiled as he continued speaking about the bokken before her. "They may no longer be one with the tree they grew within, but the Force has not abandoned them. Sense it...Control it...Lift it."

The Padawan smiled as he gave his final instructions. How quickly Ze'kyre began this lesson, but Nakoma was thankful as she was quite excited to begin this portion of her training. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply. Her muscles began to relax from the ones in her face all the way down to her toes. She slipped into a meditative state easily. It was becomming second nature...like a habit since she spent so much time in meditation when she was not training, studying, or practicing. In this state, the young woman reached out and could feel her surroundings in a similar way that one might see them through their eyes. In this moment, everything felt so alive to Nakoma.

There in the training room the Padawan could feel the Knight across from her. More than that though, she could feel the very beat of his heart. She could feel the breath that gave him life. Between them she could feel the bokken. Because of her surroundings on Galtea, the Laku'na was very familiar with the feeling that trees gave her. These pieces of wood resonated within her the same way that the forest did. It caused Nakoma to smile widely. She could sense the very life within them just as she could within herself. Her focus closed from the rest of the room and centered now upon the bokken. Making the leap from feeling to moving these objects presented a new challenge to the woman. She had never even imagined being able to do something like what Ze'kyre was asking her.

Nakoma's focus deepened as she imagined herself within the intricate web of the Force reaching out to pick up the wooden object before her. She could feel the wood between her fingers, yet she remained sitting in the lotus position with her hands folded. Slowly, the bokken that had been lying across the other on the floor, began to tremble slightly. The trembling morphed into a bit of shaking when suddenly it raised up into the air between the Knight and his Padawan. The wobbly bokken had almost reached eye level when the young woman opened her eyes quickly to see if she had accomplished the task...and it fell back to the floor. Though there was only a momentary lapse in her focus, it was enough to end the entire experience. Still, she smiled with great joy for having been able to move it at all. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she could barely contain the plethora of questions that raced through her mind now.

 

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

As the one bokken rose from its position atop the other, Ze'kyre's eyes slimmed and he felt for the Force that she commanded. Her ability to sense the quantum presence of reality was, as the Jedi Knight expected, well developed. Even before he had met Nakoma, he knew that she had always possessed a certain knack for the capability. But making the transition to being able to exert your will over such a reality, it would remain challenging. Ze'kyre was very happy with what she had done already. But now was not the time to show it. He caught the bokken before it crashed upon the padded ground, and quietly rose to his feet. Turning around to take a few short steps away from her, he mentally commanded her, "Pick up your weapon."

When he turned back to face Nakoma, he held his bokken at one end in both hands. His feet were placed shoulder-width apart with his left in front, and his balance even placed. His sword was held in the same manner as he had taught her to wield her lightsaber during her first Shii-cho lesson, the very tip pointed more upwards than over her heard due to the slight curve of the wooden blade. When she stood across from him at the ready, he took two quick strides forward.

"Defend yourself!" Came his silent exclamation as his left foot landed back in front of him, effectively closing the gap and putting her in the range of the tip of his bokken. His blade had risen high above his head, elbows keeping their half extended angle as he brought the sword down in a strict slash to the top of her first zone. He knew that she had begun to develop a sense for this truth, but the difference between carrying something with your hand or without it was as slight as the difference between shii-cho and kenjutsu.

 

[Wolf]

As Ze'kyre took the bokken in his hand and began walking away from her, Nakoma heard his words in her mind and picked up the other wooden blade as she had been commanded. With her feet set a shoulder's width apart, she stood firm and held the bokken as she would her training saber. The tip pointed up and over Ze'kyre's head as she readied herself.

"Defend yourself!" His words came as he was moving rapidly toward the Padawan. The young woman's eyes focused upon his shoulders and the movement of his hands. As he wound the blade into an attack upon the top of her head, Nakoma's right foot slide further out to the side as she twisted her mid section. Her arms followed the twisting motion to her left and she tilted her bokken up slightly to stop the momentum of Ze'kyre's wooden blade.

Without much hesitation, the young woman lifted her right foot and pulled it around to set her into a clockwise spin around his bokken. Her right foot landed firmly behind his legs and with the momentum from the spin, she brought her wooden blade in a sweeping clockwise motion directed at his fourth zone.

 

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

Her spin was executed quite expertly, but Ze'kyre's blade was right there, and he had to wonder if she had executed quite quick enough if he had decided to strike her back half way between, as he could of with several combos. It would have been wise to bend lower and ensure she could continue feeling his blade as she spun. Sure, it would have added another fraction of a moment to her counter attack while she tried to find an opening, but such a practice might save her life in the future. But that was a note he would point out later, or perhaps it would become clear through their mutual meditation at the end of the session. He had another mistake to point out, perhaps even more fundamental, yet elusive; her footwork.

The Jedi Knight instead repositioned the pommel of his blade towards where her foot landed, tucking his elbows in tight, and even pulling them back with negative energy in his shoulders and arms in order to keep his bokken horizontal and block hers with the base of his blade. She had forgot to resposition her bass foot, and where Ze'kyre held a much greater mass than her, he simply shoved his hip into hers in order to send her stumbling back. However, Nakoma was quick. She would realize her mistake later - no doubt deciding to use this instant to defend against his follow up attack.

Stepping his left foot across his right allowed him to turn and face her as he pivoted on the ball of his right foot. It was with this same motion that he turned his blade out to his right. Unlike with their earlier Shii-cho training, not all strikes had to be horizontal or vertical, and his blade fell just short of an eighty degree angle from the horizontal plane before he stepped forward with his right foot, closing the gap between himself and his padawan as his arms straightened and his wooden sword flashed forth.

Although it had no doubt come somewhat instinctively, Ze'kyre hoped that Nakoma would be picking up on the real purpose of this exercise. Sure, she may someday decide to use a sword such as his own, but these fundamental shii-cho movements used with a real - well, almost real sword would subtly show how Force adepts use their affinity to mimic the effects of having a weighted weapon. The weightlessness of the lightsaber blade did serve many purposes, but it is much easier deflected, even by weaker opponents, if you fail to create momentum. Two sides of a coin, each worth understanding. Forms like Djem So, or the Sublime Steel Serpent require great force and kinetic energy, while practices of Makashi or the Setting Sun turn such force upon itself.

But now Ze'kyre would see how Nakoma dealt with this force she now face. As his right foot landed he brought his blade down heavily for her right shoulder, adding a fair amount more power to this, his second blow. It was not an easy thing to control a real sword the way you could a lightsaber through the Force, but perhaps learning to do so could be a huge step towards telekinesis.

 

[Wolf]

Nakoma realized her mistake nearly immediately as Ze'kyre's hip sent her stumbling back. She was both embarassed and amused all at once. A half smile appeared upon her lips as she regained her footing, and just in time too as the Knight's bokken came zipping toward her. The young woman was beginning to grasp the purpose of the exercise. She knew that these movements were no different really than those that she had practiced with her training saber. The greatest difference was the weight and the way that speed and momentum were affected by it.

The young woman could feel the rippling in the energy of the Great Wind, the Force, as the power behind the incoming strike pushed the piece of wood toward her. She could sense the way that the Force flowed through the bokken and mingled with her own energy. This was all so wonderful...and distracting. Suddenly Nakoma realized that she had less than seconds to react. Her left leg shot straight forward with her toes pointing upward. Her weight shifted over her right leg as her knee bent. The Padawan's bokken remained in her left hand and shielded her face as her body arched over her right hip and her right hand came to rest upon the floor.

She did not stay there long however, and quickly lifted her left heel from the ground and swooped it far out to her left. Her hips rotated with the motion as her right foot followed as she spun upon the ball of her foot. With fluidity, she pushed off of her right foot and tucked her head, rolling out of the position over her left shoulder. Nakoma came to a stand and swiftly switched her bokken into her right hand. With as much power as she could muster, she turned her head to view her target over her right shoulder and her torso twisted to bring the piece of wood in a sweeping backhand toward Ze'kyre's first zone.

 

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

Ze'kyre laughed heartily as Nakoma evaded his strike, his eyes remaining on hers even as she looked at him through her legs and rolled along her hand to the side. When she stood again and fixed to attack, the echani lowered his bokken with his right hand and straightened his stance. Her wooden sword came about viciously, and Ze'kyre did not but lift his left hand across to his right shoulder. His hand was open and relaxed, but his fore and middle finger were erect as if he meant to catch the edge of her blade with his fingertips. And it appeared that this is what happened.

But it was not the dense, malleable bones in his fingers that stopped her blow dead in its tracks, it was the Force. Kinetic energy poured from his fingertips, putting her sword in complete stasis so that she would not be able to move it without great effort. "Let go," he instructed her with a wink. Opening his right hand, he lifted his own bokken with the Force. The two blades flourished themselves as he stepped back, giving the wooden swords space to continue the battle without having anyone wield them.

"Telekinesis is a fundamental application of the Force. We can use it to push, and to pull, to lift and to throw. It is a powerful capability, and Darksiders may use it to choke, or crush internal organs. But we must be careful to use such an incredible skill to defend ourselves. If we act as the Sith do, it may be that we are no better than they."

With a wave of his hand, the two swords stopped clashing upon one another and stood still, lining up beside each other. It was like a suspended thought, keeping them still, both set upon a delicate and easy balance, as opposed to being held their by Ze'kyre's reinforced focus. If she needed any form of inspiration, the swords were prepared to strike various zones on her body, aside from her head, should she not perform quick enough.

"Call upon the Force and Push the bokken away."

 

[Wolf]

Nakoma was stopped fast as her bokken collided with what felt like a hard wall. Her eyes had shut quickly at the moment of impact, fearing that for some reason, Ze'kyre had failed to block her attack. After a moment of silence, the young woman slowly opened her eyes and the wincing expression upon her face appeared to melt as her golden gaze met with the mismatched one of the Knight. A smile grew upon her lips like a blossoming flower opening to kiss the rain.

"Let go," the gentle words touched the Padawan's mind as Ze'kyre winked. Nakoma's fingers slowly unwrapped from the tight grip she held upon the piece of wood. Instead of it crashing to the ground, it hovered between them. The moment took the woman back to the first time that she had ever witnessed the Echani use the Force. The way that his flute had remained in the air even as his fingers left it, captivated the Laku'na.

Without placing a hand upon either bokken, they now engaged in a dance as Ze'kyre manipulated them through the Force. Nakoma's bright eyes remained wide as she watched the duel unfold. As the Knight instructed her about telekinesis and of its darker uses, the young woman's focus shifted to thoughts of the future. She knew that eventually there would be a day when she would be face to face with one of those possessed by an insatiable appetite for evil. Though inevitable, the Laku'na pushed the imagery from her mind and gave her attention to Ze'kyre once again.

As the Knight waved his hand, the two bokken came to a stand still beside each other. "Call upon the Force and push the bokken away," he commanded. Nakoma nodded and though she had wanted to close her eyes and find the point of meditation as she had grown accustomed to, her eyes fixed upon the bokken. Through her mind she could decipher the feeling of being connected to the pieces of wood through the intricate and infinite web of the Force. She knew how it had felt to lift the bokken earlier in the training session, and retained that sense of interconnectivity. Without hesitation the young woman's elbows bent and her hands raised to face the objects.

With a great deal of concentration, Nakoma focused upon feeling the bokken with her hands without actually touching them. Once she established the feeling of mass, she envisioned shoving them away with a blast of energy that started from her mind and ran all the way down her arms and out through her palms. As the blast of energy connected with the bokken, they reacted as if she had shoved them with her hands. A broad smile quickly crossed her lips as she gazed back up at Ze'kyre. "It worked!" her menal voice was illuminated with excitement as she marvelled at the new ability that she had learned.

 

[Resolute\\.ZEN]

The white Jedi watched Nakoma performed the task set before her. She was responding to his training very intuitively; almost as if the technique travelled from his mind and into hers as simply as visions or even words. He had read in the archives of a power that allowed one to learn at an accelerated rate, and wondered if either he or Nakoma possessed such an ability, even without knowing it. Latent powers were always appearing through the Force. The Great Dragons greatest power was timing.

But whatever the case, Ze’kyre was pleased with the progress that she made. The wood rattled against the floor for maybe a half second, and Ze’kyre began to walk towards Nakoma. When he was near her he stood closely, and reached his arm forward. He leaned in as if to whisper, but his lips only pursed instead of forming the words he spoke. “The Great Wind is like a Grand Symphony,” he told her while he whistled, his locked on the nearer of the two scattered Bokken.

“We do not hear the tones like most can with music. They do not appear in our heads as a psychological construct… because our lives are like melodies against a textured setting. We are the music.” The pitch of his whistle lowered, as she would Sense though she could not hear.

Vibrations…. The sum of it all. Reality was the compounding of frequencies, and the easiest way to altering such a reality was to harmonize with them. His note became low, nearly too low for even he to hear. But through the Force the two of them could nearly see his Force signature, containing a majority of the sound waves through the advanced telekinetic discipline of sound manipulation; an art he had learned of through the readings of the Songweavers of old, warriors of the Bladedancer clan who fought with weapons such as his own Second Songstress. It was a discipline he hoped to one day see the true potential of.

But this application was simple enough. Ze’kyre believed that insight into sound manipulation may allow him to more easily perform other Force Powers while wielding his pair of musical blades, or even a lightsaber. For now the power emulated telekinesis. The stream of sound contained by his shiny white aura flowed like a meandering river towards the bokken, before wrapping about them both and lifting them off the ground. Ze’kyre whistled a soft melody as they travelled, back to their feet.

He did not expect her to manage sound in the way that he aspired to, he just thought that perhaps she could Sense sound so uniquely, it would serve to show what she must do. He stepped back, and allowed her the opportunity to lift the bokken herself. “Lifting his harder than pushing or pulling. It takes more control. Like with the echani art, a sudden burst may be more lethal, but if you do not learn to throw the kicks slowly, you will not be precise.”

 

[Wolf]

The smile upon Nakoma's face only widened as Ze'kyre approached her. He stepped close and she took a moment to drink of the dichromatic pools that gazed into her amber orbs. As the Knight extended his arm forward and leaned in, the young woman felt her heart beat erratically for a few seconds. She could feel the way that their life energies mingled through the weavings of the Force. Ze'kyre moved as if to whisper something to her, but his lips never parted. Instead, gentle words slipped like a stream from his mind into her own. "The Great Wind is like a Grand Symphony." The phrase was simple, yet the idea captivated Nakoma.

As the Knight began to whistle, the Padawan could sense the tone through the Force. In her mind, it appeared as a tendril moving through the interconnective mesh of the Great Wind. Nakoma hung on each word as they touched her mind. Ze'kyre had a poetic way of describing things, and the way he spoke of the Great Wind, the Force, was beautiful. "We are the music..." she repeated these words in her mind. This explanation made a great deal of sense to the young woman and it was easy for her to connect this idea with what she had already experienced through hours of deep meditation.

Ze'kyre's whistle fell to a lower pitch and then an even lower one. It was amazing to Nakoma how this looked in her mind's eye as she simultaneously felt the changes. The sound traveled toward the bokken and wound around the both of them. The wooden pair then lifted from the floor and floated along gently until they came to rest at the pair's feet. The woman looked down and quietly laughed. It was all so surreal to her, the ways that one could bend the Force to perform phenomena that her people would have viewed as magic.

The Knight stepped back as he began to describe the difficulty of lifting something versus pushing or pulling it. Nakoma nodded as she processed the next aspect of instruction. Now it was her turn. She wondered if sound would behave in a similar way for her, though she had no control of the pitch or volume as she could not hear it. Sensing sound with the mind was much different than with the ear. She figured that it would be like smelling something through touch. For this, the Laku'na closed her eyes.

Bringing her lips together, she forced some air forth but did not produce a sound. The woman tried again with a it more air on the second attempt. This time, a hollow low tone came forth...but it did not feel or look like Ze'kyre's. Something was missing from the equation that he had just demonstrated. Without making a sound, Nakoma could bend the Force to become like an invisible hand that she could use to push and pull an object. She could clearly see this interaction within her mind.

That's when it hit her. The way that the Great Wind flowed in and through her would be the same whether she used her hands, or a simple stream of air that carried the vibration of sound. She thought in silence for several minutes as Ze'kyre patiently awaited her to solve the puzzle. This must have been how he was able to play his flute without touching it. It was more than just lifting the instrument with his mind. He had been using sound vibrations to manipulate matter, which was nothing more than a condensed collection of vibrations.

Without hesitation, Nakoma's eyes opened widely. They were shimmering with intrigue as she focused upon the bokken at her feet. Pursing her lips but parting them just slightly, she pushed out a breath into another low sound...but this time, as she had done with her hands earlier in the lesson, she allowed the flow of the Great Wind to travel from her mind and out through her lips. It was in this moment that the simple whistle manifested in the Force and was seen in her mind as a thin stream traveling toward the bokken.

As it neared the pieces of wood, Nakoma continued focusing the sound as she thought of what it might look like in her mind if she wanted to lift the objects. The stream of vibrations wove around both bokken but she could not seem to bring them off of the ground. It was as if she were stuck and the pieces of wood weighed as much as Ze'kyre. Without letting frustration overcome her, Nakoma shifted her attention to one bokken. The stream slipped its grip from around the other and wrapped around the one closest to her feet. She then imagined what it might feel like to lift it by the sound being produced upon her lips.

Just then, the piece of wood began to shake and so she gave an extra burst of energy to lift it from the ground. The tone of the whistle changed to a slightly higher pitch and suddenly, the bokken raised up into the air to nearly eye level before shooting off in a dizzying trail to her left. The piece of wood crashed to the ground as Nakoma's lips came together. Her eyes widened slightly as they came to rest upon the object that now lay several feet away. She could feel Ze'kyre's gaze and she hesitated to look in his direction. "Oops..." The word slipped into his mind as the Padawan turned her head and her eyes met his. Her cheeks were warm with embarassment as a nervous smile appeared upon her lips.