Ask Here We Meet

[Wurfuhlla]

Really, the old man really just swindled Wurfuhlla. That’s the last time he trusts a stranger. He stared at the mossy grass and looked up to his master and simply said, “Well how was I supposed to know?”

The Wookiee tossed it over the edge of the branch and simply walked to the tree base. He let out a sigh as he listened to his master. The Wookiee hadn’t seen what they’re looking for nor did he really find anything close to it.

“Up. Right..” Wurfuhlla just looked up at how much higher was left and sighed once more as he latched his claws into the tree and began climbing. His master followed.

The amount of climbing done was a lot. The Wookiee found peace in the climbing at least. This was the good thing he found out of all this. He passed many flowers on the tree but never a green one. At least not that he’s spotted.

Perhaps his master was the to find it, especially since she’s seen it before. Then again this was her teaching Wurfuhlla so perhaps not. Maybe she’d find five and still pass them to see if Whrfuhlla would find it himself.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

“Right…” Vayla fought back a snicker. Up the Jedi went. Wurfuhlla led, those Wookiee claws showing the tree who was boss, and the boss’ boss finding more branches the higher she climbed. Her limbs had been tested, even for a Knight, and her younger counterpart was probably waging his own war with exertion. Soon enough, surely, they would find what they were looking for.

The determined duo had braved the jungle grounds teeming with howlers, had shown no less courage in bonding together to break the bind of rodents and beetles who wanted to eat them as much as each other, and had crossed paths with a Jedi Master hermit-person of whom may or may not have actually been a Jedi Master.

There they were, in the light of the sun, crossing a bridge that bound the vertical space between root and crown of one Massassi tree, searching for one little flower. Vayla had not seen it. She was a master who would joyfully tease her students but not a sadistic one; she would not hold back on Wurfuhlla and deny him any flower she herself might find.

“Wur, wait! Wait!" She held up a hasty hand as they balanced on branch and against trunk. There was something moving in the distance. Was it a rodent? A beetle? Worse? “Is that…” Vayla squinted in the high sun, trying to make out the ‘something’ standing out on the branch yonder. Then her eyes went wide as hope hit her heart. Flower. Small. Thin. Green. Green! “Wur! Wur! I think that’s it! The celadon! Prove me wrong! Go!”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

So much time spent climbing. Wurfuhlla could feel himself grow just slightly tired. He was searching all around him but couldn’t point out anything in particular from where he climbed.

Then his master called out to him. She was excited and in disbelief. Surely it was something important. He turned to her and saw where she was looking and then whipped his head around to see what she was looking at. It was a flower. And it was small. It had a thin body. It was the color green. Son of a sadistic Chiss, it was it!

“I got it!” Wurfuhlla yelled out.

He jumped of the tree’s trunk with the help of the force he flew through the air and landed on the branch it sat on. His feet straddling the flower. He didn’t want to tear it out due to not knowing how to go about obtaining it properly. But surely this had to be it.

“Master what do I do now? I think it’s what we were looking for! Matches the description of the flower. The celadon!”

Wurfuhlla grew happy. This would surely become something wonderful down the road. But what was so important about this flower? It definitely didn’t seem important looking at it.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

HE GOT IT! Vayla resisted the urge to bounce up and down clapping her hands in fear of falling off the branch and falling away like the rodent-beetle-hybrid from yesterhour. Instead, it was her Padawan who flew away, jumping from tree trunk to land on the branch where the two of them had glimpsed an undeniable speck of green sitting in a sea of purple.

“Hold on, Wur!” Vayla had wanted her student to be the first to reach the flower but she knew more about handling it than he did. So, patience withstanding as a lesson hopefully learnt from the hermit-master-person, the Knight would reach the Padawan some moments later.

“Okay, my young apprentice…” Vayla began, leaning down over the Wookiee’s shoulder to spy the flower with great regard as much as restrained glee. “...If you pluck it outright you will kill it in a heartbeat. The celadon does not last long outside its embrace; the wood of its base, that is. No…”

Resting a hand on Wur’s shoulder, she hoped to teach him many lessons in one in that very moment. He had struggled with patience, with discipline, with responsibility, and now he may just trump all three in one.

“What I want you to do, Padawan, is grab it...with the Force…” She let a moment pass so that he might take her words in. “Reach around it, not for it, and do so gently—like a planet you wish to preserve as much as explore. Embrace it for what it is and it will come to you. The celadon flower is no weed to rip out; it is an infant to beckon forth…”

Trailing off, Vayla knew that Wurfuhlla was no infant, no child, but he was a teenager and he was her ward, and the comparison was not lost.

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

The Wookiee listened to the teachings of his master. She knew best how to take care of this flower and how to preserve it. She explained that it could die if plucked. So the Wookiee would have to grab enough of the root and soil to keep it alive through the force. And that is exactly what he would aim to do.

With the force Wurfuhlla reached out and cupped the moss and branch around the flower. Holding it up in a ball of force energy as it rose to be eye level with his master. Showing off the sight of his success.

It was a relief to see that they had succeeded in their mission. This meant that he had a success under his belt as a Jedi Padawan. Now he was one step closer to the Knighthood he yearned for.

The only thing left to do was to head back to camp. The Wookiee needed to eat something. It was a long time since he ate last and he needed to have a large amount of calories fill him up to make up for the exertion of the day.

“What does the flower do? I don’t understand how this small thing is so important.”

He looked at his master and then back to the flower. He was completely unsure of its properties and the meanings. Then his stomach growled. Well now it was obvious what was needed at this point. The padawan must feed.

“Are there any provisions left at camp? I’m starving.. I need to eat something.”

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Vayla watched her Padawan delightfully, determinedly, taking a lesson from the hermit himself in binding moss to the base of the celadon flower so as to preserve it alive. He was intuitive, this Wookiee, whether he had learned such tricks from his own time in nature amid Kashyyyk or had simply adapted to the moments at hand. Either way, his master was impressed.

As Wur showed Vay the flower in hand while the two still steadied themselves on the branches of the Massassi tree, the latter tilted her head side to side in a tutor’s way of scouring for defects and mistakes just in case the student needed correction. She found none.

“Why, Wur, look at it!” She ran a hand over the flower, not with skin but with Force, mirroring her counterpart. The plant ‘hummed’ and ‘buzzed’ as though responding to the energy that hovered over it and permeated within it. A moment later and Wur asked the selling question: What does it do?

“Patience, Padawan,” Vayla smiled. “Or should I say…Paddywan?” Her lips broadened.

Spoiler: Music OOC

Back at camp, Vayla had wrestled with herself up to that moment as to whether she should test the limits of her Padawan in what was to come. Instead, she gathered that he had done well enough to earn some further treatment. So it was the Jedi Knight who had taken it upon herself to prepare the feast, with some help from her student no doubt.

Instead of tucking into their emergency supplies, Vayla had left camp to return mere moments later with a boar in tow. “Easy pickings,” she conveyed. “Know what to sense and you know where to sense.” A moment later and the beast was roasting on the campfire.

While the hog was cooking there were side dishes: fruit and veg, pineapple weed and burdock root, parsnip and berries, with a helping of water and tea. Both Jedi had earned this feast and Vayla would make sure that her apprentice knew it.

“You will eat but not sleep, not yet,” she commanded as the stars climbed overhead. “You will remove that celadon flower from your pouch and hold it above—above,” she stressed. “—The fire. Then you will wait for me. Understand?”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

Wurfuhlla had sat against a tree back at camp. The pair of Jedi had earned some rest. By the time the pair were settled in the temporary camp the had began to lower. While there was still light in the sky the Jedi Knight Vayla made her way out into the jungle and came back with a boar.

“Of course master!”

Wurfuhlla gad waited for the food to be ready. The feast was well earned. The meat was juicy, fruits zesty, and veggies were well veggies. The meal was satisfying enough to get by on. The Wookiee had liked what was prepared but now he had to hold the flower over the fire.

“Over.. the fire?”

Wurfuhlla raised the flower with the force and held it over the fire out of harms way. As flower floated nothing happened yet. Surely there should be something going on. Or maybe it’s just a test. Wurfuhlla was unsure to say the least.

“Uhh.. is it supposed to be doing something?” He asked very skeptically.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Oh, Wur was right to be skeptical. Generally when you held a plant over a naked flame the plant tended to suffer as much as someone burning alive on a rack. Not that Vayla suffered from imagining people burning alive on racks or anything but, well, the comparison was not lost on her. Neither was so simple a maneuver from her Padawan—raising the flower above the fire with the Force.

It was so simple, so obvious, yet also so unstated. His master had not specified in using the Force but he did so anyway through sheer intuition and instinct. And his efforts paid off. Had he used only his height and his hands then the plant would have surely caught fire. One more point for you, Wurfuhlla…

He was not wrong in it being a test. It was just so! Yet also more…

“Patience, Padawan…” Vayla delighted, sitting cross-legged before the campfire. She, too, had had her fill of food and drink; now it was time to fill herself up with the feelings of her student and the celadon flower lingering between them, if not binding them together.

“Ahhhh, you see?”

The flower was glowing. Where in the Massassi tree it had greeted its rescuers with a ‘hum’ and a ‘buzz’ to the ear, it was now doing the same and more vibrantly, but more than that it was displaying the same via visual. The celadon flower pulsed a gray-green glow; not orange or red or yellow like the flames beneath it.

“Can you see the light, Wur?” Surely he could. “Keep holding it there… See what you see, hear what you hear...feel what you feel…” He would not be alone. As stars twinkled overhead, the celadon flower was like a star beside the Jedi in that moment, and Vayla breathed its essence in. She felt peace and power, and the two in unison, and that was key to balance; a lust for either could spell disaster.

“Tell me what you sense.”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

A light hues from the plant. It was beautiful. Grayish green. Unlike anything Wurfuhlla has seen. The plant was definitely something to behold. It was a flower to leave the person who understands it in awe.

“It’s a beautiful glow master. And I feel.. well I would describe this feeling as ‘at peace’ or ‘relaxed’ if you will.”

The Wookiee watched the plant as he took another bite of his meal. Two good feelings at once. How much better could it get. And then Wurfuhlla felt the humming and buzzing from the plant. Astonishing, it truly was. These were moments Wurfuhlla had wanted.

“Master what do you feel?”

Wurfuhlla was curious. His master always asked of him, but never the other way around. Perhaps this would be the chance Wurfuhlla would be able to do such. After all, maybe it could teach him something. I mean, that is why the pair came out here a day ago. The training, teaching, and learning. This was more than just a learning moment for him. It was a binding moment as well. What better time to bind than over a fire with food and a glowing plant?

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Vayla listened to Wur’s words at the same time as truly feeling them. Beautiful… Peace… Relaxed… She took a deep breath of the warm air, letting it settle in her lungs as the flames’ embers danced before her gaze. A dozen memories flooded through her at her Padawan’s question, then a hundred, then a thousand, all at once and one after the other. They leapt with the sparks, crept with the crackle of the campfire, curled with the twirl of smoke bound heavenward.

“I feel…” She started, gazing at the stars as though Pantora’s might twinkle. “...At peace…” Her fingers folded in the air, sharing the hold of the celadon flower so that Wurfuhlla did not have to focus solely on holding it above the fire. They could not let it burn. He had caught onto this. "Just like you, Wur... We are sharing in it, bonding with it, enjoying it after battling with the realities of our world..." Of our darker sides...

“Do you know of the Jedi Code?” Vayla asked with just enough time for her Padawan to convey a yes or a no. “ 'Emotion, yet peace'… The first tenet. For there is emotion—you and I are beings who feel—but with it must be peace. We must maintain serenity of mind, ever careful not to let our emotions get the better of us, while still acknowledging them and even catering to them on occasion.”

She smiled. How could a Jedi smile if she did not feel? “Patience. Restraint. Responsibility. Discipline. Harbor these qualities, Padawan, lest you become a ship lost in space. Embrace your emotions but do not let them exploit you. This is what separates us between the light of this fire and the the darkness of that sky…”

All the while, the celadon flower pulsed with a purity that could only exist as long as it was maintained. It came to life above the flames and would stay alive as long as it was not allowed to be burned up.

“Do you understand what I am saying?”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

It was good to hear of his masters position. She felt peace. This was good. Wurfuhlla hadn’t known the code for long but knew emotion with peace was allowed. The Wookiee listened in awe as she spoke, and when she asked of the Jedi Code he simply replied,

“Well kinda”

Then she continued. She had been explaining the code. Diving into the differences of dark and light. It was so intriguing, so satisfying, and more than anything else, peaceful. Seemed to be a recurring theme for the Jedi. Wurfuhlla liked it though.

As his master pointed out it was finally dark. Time for some shut eye. The padawan had a good long day and needed to recover from it. Rodents, beetles, an old geezer. So much crud went on today.

“Yes master, I do understand. Perhaps it’s time for shut eye?”

The Wookiee was a little sleepy. He knew if he laid down he would fall fast asleep. He brought the flower from above the flames back to his hand and setting it back where it was placed. Then scratching his belly before laying back to get some sleep.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Wur had spoken his understanding. That was enough for his master—for the moment. She could tell he was tired. No, she knew that from the get-go. They had spent the whole day climbing a whole tree, also battling creatures of all sorts, not to mention a random hermit old man person thing who had appeared out of nowhere, and now his focus was on a filled stomach as much as holding up a flower through the Force.

That was precisely why Vayla had not mentioned the fifth focus of ‘endurance’ amid her spiel. He was expressing enough of it for one night and she had not wanted him to feel compelled to keep going. So she would let him drift away into slumber.

“Indeed, Padawan,” Vayla nodded. “Get some shut eye. You have earned it. And you will need it.”

Even as Wurfuhlla closed his eyes, however, his master’s remained open. Her student had done a fine deed in returning the celadon flower to its place, but Vayla wanted to linger her gaze on it for moments more, so she shifted her gaze without moving her hands. A moment later and the flower was floating above the flames once again even as her arms wrapped around her knees.

Emotion, yet peace. The Jedi Knight curled the words throughout her heart and mind, even as her thoughts drifted on her former Padawan prior to Wurfuhlla, further back to the hurricane of emotions that ripped across the galaxy when the Sith had first emerged after so long a slumber. A red blade of hate…

She took a breath, steady yet stifled, and exhaled the tenet as she thought of her former master prior to herself. A blue blade of love...

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

The Padawan had awoken the following morning. He had felt a wave of emotions through his sleeps visions. He never felt like that before, it felt as if they were another’s. Of course it may have just been the brain playing tricks.

Then he arose greeting his master who of course had beaten him to waking up. If they slept at all. Wurfuhlla was lights out when his eyes closed so there was no telling really.

“Good morning, master. What is the plan for today?”

The padawan began stretching to wake up his muscles. Then letting out a yawn as he went to scratch an itch on his side. This was nice being out in the jungle again. A part of him love the way it reminds him of home. Another wanted to go see other terrains. Something new, interesting, and that would be totally different.

For now though, staying with his master was a pretty nice thing to be doing. Especially since he got along with her, he halfway expected a Jedi that would lose patience with him.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC

The master was indeed awake, but only by virtue of having not gotten much sleep. That was a lesson she had failed though was not too keen on admitting it to her student. “Morning, sleepy head!” She effected with wide eyes that betrayed a gaze that wanted to close over.

Tutor and student stretched together, even scratched the same itches; sleeping in a bag as Vayla had, there were still insects crawling about and even a night’s breeze was enough to tickle the skin. Still, she wondered if her Padawan had maybe slept better than she had, if not willing to explore that scenario anytime soon.

“First, breakfast,” she answered simply while securing her items. Lightsaber hilt, obviously, but also her backpack. She would be remiss to venture anywhere in this jungle without it. “Second, scouting.”

She would let that settle and, as a master had the right to do so, would interrupt Wurfuhlla as soon as he might begin replying. “That celadon flower, it helped me focus on the direction ahead. Not far from here is a cave. We shall explore it. There is much knowledge within it.” She crossed her brows at her Padawan just then. “On that note, do you remember the second tenet of the Jedi Code?”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

It was a lot to take in at once. Wurfuhlla was rested but still tired. His expression was that of someone who had just woken up. The questions ringed in his ears. It was definitely too early to think about anything other than food.

First scouting. Well that shouldn’t be too bad he had been thinking to himself until she said cave. Well caves can be fun he had thought but then she asked if the second tenet of the Jedi code. The Padawan had morning brain. There wasn’t an answer he could come up with so he kinda just stood next to his master and stared blankly letting out,

“uhhh...”

Surely should tell him either way but he couldn’t think of any answers at the moment. It wasn’t fresh in his mind, nor did he ever get truly acquainted with the code as he should.

As she would be teaching him if it or if she had been scolding him for it, either way the Wookiee was going to listen (like there was much choice) and grab a little breakfast to snack on.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Pop quiz, Wookiee. You popped it with a fail. The time and circumstances at hand were exactly why the teacher had posed it. “...Uhhh..?” Vayla sighed. 'Uhhh' wasn’t really an answer. “We shall have to work on your reading up of Jedi lore, Pad. Can I call you Pad? Great!”

She also grabbed some breakfast, food from nature’s bounty, along with a full thermos of tea made from the blueleaf shrub she had snatched back at the Massassi tree. “Ignorance, yet knowledge.” She made sure that Wur understood she wasn’t just spouting random wisdom but reciting that second tenet of the Jedi Code.

“The old code taught ‘There is no ignorance, there is knowledge’. However, as wise as we Jedi are, we do not know everything; we have a margin of ignorance. If we did not then the galaxy might be in a different place…” Trailing off, she sliced off red fruit and slipped it between her teeth before continuing.

“It takes humility to admit that you do not have the answers, Pad...such as whether you remember the Jedi Code or not.” She winked. “Yet a Jedi is ever striving to increase their knowledge, for with knowledge comes power and with power comes responsibility. You understand, yes?”

Vayla gazed amiably enough while chewing on more fruit. It was all she could do to contain her sadism in tutoring a student who was still half-asleep. If only I had slept half the night myself...

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

Ignorance. Not really something that Wurfuhlla had wanted to be known for. Though, all beings have it. Whether they know, or not, this was just a part of life. Can’t help but be filled with it in times. Like now, Wurfuhlla wasn’t too familiar with the code. Thankfully he is being taught.

Knowledge. This is of course the thing all Jedi seek. With it comes power. Power was necessary with the force to become a fierce warrior. Being in tune with the force did just as much as that did. Wurfuhlla sought out to become powerful but for the sake of the safety of all around.

“Apologies master, I was never given a proper class over any of the codes.”

The Wookiee was told of the codes but never got to properly study them. Things were chaotic for him. Switching masters, thrown into a situation he didn’t prepare for, so I guess you could say it was the council’s fault or maybe his. Though that is a hasty predicament especially for that of a padawan.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Ah… Vayla accepted. That would indeed explain it. It was in part her own fault for not having properly followed up with the Council as to what exactly her Padawan had been trained on before being passed over to her. Chalk it up to… Her thought trailed off as she found herself gazing at that Padawan. To...what, Vay? Your first Padawan? Ke Eoto?

“No apologies necessary…” She looked away, suddenly disappointed with herself and not willing to let that show. A master had to be resolute, right? Had to show no sign of wavering? Had to let her student know that she was a fountain of knowledge? Ignorance, Vay… Ignorance, yet knowledge.

“We shall amend that, Wur!” Vayla sparked, her trademark smile back on her features. He was still “Pad” but still “Wur” and in that moment he was Wur. “But the exploration of words can wait. First comes the exploration of caves, and the one we’re heading to shall offer its own fountain of knowledge. This I know.”

Refilling her thermos, Vayla rose and slung her pack over her back, slipping a rasher of cooked meat between her teeth. It was as tough as jerky as she bit it off and chewed enough before speaking; a little too eagerly as signs of her meal came with her voice.

“Ready to go?” She tilted her head. “Or do you need a nap?”

@Scoobert

 

[Wurfuhlla]

A nap? Sure sounds great. Except that he knew she was kidding. Wurfuhlla grabbed his belt and placed it around his waist. That’s usually all he really carries. Though this time he grabbed to bag and slung across his body. Now he was ready.

“Let’s go find this cave.”

Wurfuhlla smiled as best a Wookiee could as he turned in the direction she was heading and followed suit behind his master. A cave huh? Maybe they could come across something interesting like a living rock creature. Seemed unlikely though. It would be cool to see for sure just very unlikely.

Maybe another type of creature? Wurfuhlla wasn’t much of a fan of the howlers. He definitely could live on without them coming again. Though, it’s always a possibility. Safety is not always guaranteed to those who venture off into the jungles.

The pair had seen what this jungle offered. They were prepared for any sort of foe that comes their way. The force is with them.

@Die Shize

 

[Vayla Mirana]

Spoiler: Ambience IC

The cave was...a cave. That would be the immediate assessment from either Jedi, whether Knight or Padawan. On that note, some Jedi had a particular fascination with strolling through darkness with just their lightsaber as the immediate means of igniting light. Oh, it worked, but so did a flashlight, right?

Vayla’s torch bounced between the walls while her hilt remained clipped to belt. The jungle was behind them in the sense that the trees and bushes, leaves and mud, were in a world within a world where the two Jedi had just ventured into a complete catacomb of a cave within.

There was a distinct drip-drip echoing throughout the hollow rock, first over here then over there; difficult to pinpoint without using the Force. Vayla did so just then.

“There’s a water source nearby…” She mused while navigating the wide open berth of the cave’s entrance and then the constricted corridors of what continued onward. “A river? A lake? A swimming pool?” She afforded a laugh. Exploration of caves was as much Vayla’s thing a exploration of scrolls. Was it Wur’s?

@Scoobert