A Briefing on the Past and a Lesson for the Future

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel gave Lilla a slight nod as he entered the dining hall and made his way to the meal prep stations. With the exception of his helmet, he was still wearing his full armor. He typically stowed it in the tailgunner's cockpit of his fighter during his trips to Jedi temples or while travelling through hyperspace, but with Lilla riding with him he had decided that to free up some room in the fighter he would just wear his armor until they were aboard the Iviin'yc.


He filled a cup with caf before grabbing a plate and loading it with scrambled marlello eggs, nuna bacon, and two pieces of toast. Once he was done stacking as much food as he could onto the plate, he made his way across the room to sit opposite of Lilla. The chair beneath him made a small creaking noise in protest as he sat, causing Mereel to produce a slight frown.

"Morning -"

He put his right hand over his mouth to cover a yawn. He hadn't had much sleep last night.

After their conversation he had scrambled to clean his fighter for the journey. Moving combat trophies and other personal effects to the small cargo hold between the copilot and tailgunner's hatches, wiping off dirtied surfaces, spraying citrus scented air fresheners he saved in reserve for the rare occasion - the works. He had also spent an hour going over Soresu techniques with the holocron before finally letting himself go to sleep.

"you look chipper as always."

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla smiled. “I’m lucky, I tend not to need much sleep. I either practice abilities or study until very late, then grab two or three hours and then go for a run before doing my saber practice. I find meditation reduces the need for sleep. Not that I ever needed more than four hours before.”

“But you look as though you’re used to more than you got. Trouble sleeping or burning the midnight oil? Regardless, you can rest once we’re in hyperspace. I can teach you some techniques to help revitalise you. The true ability is advanced, I only know it to help me in part. Apparently, once I’m a Master, I’ll be able to meditate for a few moments and totally replenish my energy and Force capabilities — regardless of how tired I am. How’s that?”

Lilla was known for her love of meditative techniques and many were surprised how useful they were — a lot more handy than just a way of catching up on lost sleep, or calming you down.

“So, a full complement of crew, or just us two?”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel chewed down a few forkfuls of marmello egg and washed it down with a sip from his cup of caf as she talked. Once she was finished, he tapped his fork on his plate a few times as he processed what she said. "I've made the mistake of not taking spacer bar stories seriously before, if that thing about meditation is something one of the Masters told you, I'd believe it in a heartbeat."

He took a hearty bite out of one of the pieces of toast, once again rinsing it down with caf. "Just up a little late doing some flight prep is all. And it'll only be us two until we get to Kashyyyk. Might be a little cramped at first, but once we meet up with the Iviin'yc we'll have a crew and some more leg room. Same accommodations as our trip to Ilum."

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla ate her hot oat cereal and took sips of her caf as she listened. “Meditation is highly underrated. I’m writing a thesis on the subject, I’ll share a copy of my work so far with you. Some of the references in the archives are obscure and – quite frankly pointless – like levitation. Just a gimmick really. But some of the stuff the Fallanassi have been doing for example – amazing. And even Force Valor owes it roots to meditation – as does Battle Meditation of course.”

“And don’t worry about cramped, I’ll be fine – and I only have a small holdall with me. So, what’s the thinhg with the Iviin'yc. Is it your ship?”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

The pace of his eating slowed as he listened to Lilla with piqued interest

While it wasn't too uncommon for Mereel to meditate during his normal schedule, he found meditation techniques to be far more useful to him while he was actively on missions.

Meditation of emptiness specifically was nearly invaluable to him. Without clearing his mind of all unnecessary thoughts and inputs first, he found that he often struggled to manifest the force into abilities during combat.

"I would love to go over whatever you have written. I don't know if this is normal for most Jedi, but I have a really hard time using the force without clearing my mind first."

Mereel paused and took a final swig of his caf. It was still pretty hot, and downing the drink in the manner he did burned the roof of his mouth and back of his throat a bit.

Mereel let out a low, closed-mouth grunt from the caf burn as he thought about Lilla's question. What sounded like a question with a 'yes or no' answer was actually a little more nuanced in his circumstance, and before now he had never really thought about it in regards to ownership at all. "Kind of? Ship already has a crew that runs the day to day. Might be better to describe me as a passenger who sometimes decides where it goes."

It was definitely a strange way to answer her question, but the circumstances under which he found the ship had been less than normal.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla nodded and finished her mouthful before speaking. “I suspect that even the most accomplished of Jedi benefit from initiating a contact with the Force with a clear mind. I find that closing my eyes momentarily helps this process, and allows me to forge a deeper connection initially. Call it a sensory reduction that allows for the mind to switch resource to what I need it to do.”

Lilla shook her head slightly as Mereel burned his mouth on the hot liquid. Impatience was never something she could be accused of.

“So, a bit of a private hire then — a galactic taxi service of sorts. And I’m assuming the relationship is mutually beneficial.” Lilla wasn’t prying as to what the quid pro quo was, and she didn’t need to know.

“I use an old modified freighter when I travel usually. It is nothing to look at, and therefore attracts minimal attention, but under the hood it is fitted out with anything and everything the Republic has to offer. It serves a purpose and is large enough for my needs. I can’t imagine ever having a ship of my own. Not really.”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Still listening to Lilla with rapt attention, Mereel scarfed down the last of his eggs.

When he had first started being able to use the force for small telekinetic shoves and faint pulls, he had always had to close his eyes if he wanted consistency in his results. Currently he had no problem leaving his eyes open while using the force so long as his thoughts were in order, but what Lilla said made perfect sense to him because of his early troubles.

He nodded in response to her galactic taxi comment, "Sort of like that yeah, and things were mutually beneficial at first. The captain, Tucker, used to work for my father but couldn't get out of his employ until we met. But Tucker has mostly left the use of the ship to my discretion at the moment. Moved on to greener pastures and all that."

The Iviin'yc wasn't a warship, it was a speedy overglorified and oversized freighter. When the ship's original captain joined the Republic Navy as an Admiral, he tried to use the ship in his fleet for a while, but doing so proved less than optimal.

He finished the last of the food on his plate. The Iviin'yc had become something of a home for him over the last four years, more so than any stationary location or planet he had ties to. "I can't imagine not having a ship. It's where I go to recover from my missions."

The thought of returning to a Jedi temple instead of his ship had never crossed his mind. He was accustomed to only ever having a starship of some kind to return to after whatever journies he went on.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla travelled alone. Well, essentially she did. She always had an astromech with her and often was on a mission with a Padawan – but discounting droids, she spent most of her time in space on her own.

The idea of travelling with a crew was not something she had considered. But as Mereel described it, the thoughts did cross her mind. There were plusses of course – the camaraderie for a start, and the ability to do tasks whilst someone else piloted the ship. But the negatives, for Lilla, were too great. She would not feel comfortable expecting an entire crew to wait around whilst she performed her duties – and she could not justify the expense for the Order.

But Mereel’s arrangements seemed to suit him, and so she was pleased at that.

“I too recover on the ship I’m allocated, but mostly meditation – and once I’m rested, it’s straight into the next assignment. I can go months without ever returning her.”

“And on that subject, are we ready to head off? And what’s our initial destination?”

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Hearing that from Lilla suddenly made him feel a lot less bad about never stopping to spend time in the Jedi temples. Although, he imagined she had probably trained in temples for a fair amount of time before taking up the lifestyle of a traveler.

A small grin formed on Mereel's face as he scooted his chair out away from the table, "Ready if you're ready."

He stood up and pushed his chair in back under the table, "First stop's Kashyyyk. If we head out now we might be able to beat the Iviin'yc and have time for some sightseeing -"

The latter part of last night's conversation popped back into his mind. More specifically, her warning about time, ".. a proper lesson might be a good alternative though, I've heard wroshyr trees are pretty overrated."

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin, and then folded it before putting it onto the table in front of her. “I’m ready,” she confirmed and picked up the caf in front of her. “I can finish this on the way.”

Lilla nodded – she expected to rendezvous with the Iviin’yc en route to the Wookiee’s homeworld, but was as comfortable heading their directly. “Now sightseeing is something I can honestly say I’ve never done.” She smiled – and felt slightly guilty. She probably sounded a little pious – but it was the truth, social time was for others, not her.

“And so, a little training might be in order. We can take advantage of the open air whilst we wait.” She picked up a small holdall from her feet and slung it over her shoulder. “I may have packed more than I need, but you are a bad influence!” She laughed softly – the bag contained nothing beyond the essentials. Although she knew that the definition of essential varied from person to person.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

"Yeah, I'm definitely not going to try to say that I'm an exemplar of the Order."

As Mereel said that, he was processing how a frequently travelling Jedi had never dedicated time solely for appreciating the wonders of the galaxy. As a man who had spent a lot of time travelling from planet to planet just because he could, her disclosure didn't sound pious to him at all. Instead, it struck him as being a massively missed opportunity.

Still, it made sense to him though. He doubted Lilla had ever wasted time just for the heck of it.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]