A Trip Through Legend

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus laughed. "Despite the you know, chest envy...maybe even because of it...I'd say the datacron, but seriously, this is good to look at...in a manner of speaking but other than knowing her cup size, tells us little. Your find however, is of tremendous value."

She smiled. "So you win hands down and get to claim your prize." Corvus placed the 'armour' back in the box and re-fastened it whilst her sister got to make her mind up what training she'd like.

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Hmm, what do I want to learn," she pondered, tapping her chin in thought. So many things, her sister had a wide variety of skills she guessed. She had been training far longer then she had been as a Force user. An idea formed in her head, and a smile broke across her face as she decided what she wanted to learn . . . today anyways. The future promised many more lessons once she left the Sith and joined the Jedi.

"Can you teach me how to use Force Sight like you've done before?" she asked, remembering how useful it had been on Tython, and how it would be useful to have in many situations.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled. Her sister had mentioned it back on Tython and so she was not surprised. Looking around, Corvus decided the present surroundings weren't entirely conducive to learning, so they headed back to the Academy.

"In theory you can learn it anywhere, but with all that Dark-sided aura and the open space, it wasn't ideal."

So they found their way into a training room at the Academy. The paint on the walls was just dry and there were no covers at the windows yet. So despite the earlier rain, sun streamed in and dust motes were caught by their rays.

"We shall start by sitting and meditating briefly. Close your eyes and connect to the Force. The key to Light-sided Abilities or using them this way is to not see the Force as a tool to be used. For the Jedi, we are here to do its work. The key is to learn to imagine what you wish. To ask the Force to assist you and then to trust in the Force. Any doubt, even the smallest amount, and you shall fail."

"When I was about fourteen and arrived on Ossus, a Master gave me some advice and it's stayed with me ever more. Trust in the Force. People will let you down. Governments will let you down. Even you will let you down. But the Force will never let you down"

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Hmm quiet time first huh? Okay," Taeli said, sitting down cross-legged on the floor across from her sister. Closing her eyes and letting her breathing slow, Taeli allowed herself to relax and let her Force presence free to reach out to the Force energies around them. She wasn't looking to control them or bind the energies to her, she simply just let them flow through her.

It felt really strange, but she liked it. She felt more at peace than she had in a very long time.

"This . . . feels weird . . . but . . . I don't mind it at all," she said in a very quiet voice as her sister explained that she needed to trust in the Force."No pressure though on the Force."

Going quiet again, she continued to just leave herself open to the Force, just simply letting it flow through her. She could understand now why the Jedi let the Force act through them, not use it as a tool or weapon like a Sith would. That wasn't to say that Jedi didn't use the Force in those ways, but they let it flow freely instead of binding it to them.

"Am I doing this right, sis?" she asked.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus sensed the Force was flowing through her sister. “Yes…that's it,” her voice was soft and low, barely above a whisper. “We have many Meditation techniques that will help you as you develop your ability to use the Light-side, but what you are experiencing is typical. I have learned one technique that allows me to even learn when Meditating. But first, Force Sight.”

“I always say Sense and Sight overlap. I can’t tell where one ends and the next one starts. So now you are connected, allow the Force to build a map or the room in your head. Like a radar. And it will be a three-hundred and sixty degree map too.”

“Initially you will be able to see objects, me, the tables, the wall. The longer you practice – don’t try to force it, let it happen – then you will see organics different to inorganics. You will see each individual’s Force aura. Voxyn would have no aura and that’s how you can spot those cloaking themselves often. Eventually walls will become translucent and you can see through them.”

“Your range will increase and you’ll even be able to see if people are healthy if you master the Ability.”

“But for now, focus on building that mental map. Tell me what you see.”

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

Listening to her sister's words, Taeli slipped into a deeper sense of immersion in the Force. She could feel it flowing through her like a gentle current gurgling down a stream bed, but she requested of it to help form a map of her surroundings. No forcing it to her will, she just asked and trusted it would listen to her.

Slowly, she could feel the sense blossoming in her head. It took a little bit, but eventually a map of her surroundings started to form in her head. But she noticed that there were several patches of the map that were blank. If she had to guess, she had maybe a two hundred and sixty degree image in her head.

"Not a complete picture, I can see in most directions, but there are a few blank spots," she mumbled, more to herself, but loud enough for her sister to here.

Focusing on the blank spots more than on the spots she could see, she didn't control the flow of the Force through her, but she did divert it to fill those spots, liking segmenting off sections of a river so you can have it flow elsewhere. It took a few more minutes, she would definitely need to work on making this happen faster, but for now a smile formed on her face as she finally had roughly three hundred and forty degrees of vision, the twenty slowly fading into existence.

"I think I got it now," she said quietly.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus nodded. She’d learned the skill as a Youngling and often forgot she’d had almost twenty years of practice.

“Like most Abilities,” she said, her voice still calm, “Practice is what makes the difference in the end. Every chance you get, use it. If you’re in the dark, resist putting the light on. You’ll find it invaluable when searching caves and old ruins.”

“Now, focus on me and me alone. Tell me, what do you see? Can you see my aura?”

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Well now you just gave me an incentive to use it everywhere I go to get it down flat," Taeli said, injecting a little humor into the lesson. "Or fall flat on my face when I trip over something that I wasn't able to see while I learn it."

Still, refocusing on what her sister asked, Taeli turned her mental image towards focusing on her sister. In the map in her head, a flickering outline of someone started to appear, no details or anything yet, but as she focused on the silhouette more and more, it started to get clearer. Slowly, her sister's aura started to appear around her as Taeli opened her eyes, a blueish-white glow emanating from her sister.

"I . . . I can see it, you're sorta blue and white, so definitely on the light side, although . . ."

As her sister came into even sharper focus, she spotted one little spot of darkness. She remembered how her sister mentioned that she had times where she had a voice tempt her with darkness.

"That knowledge or influence you accidentally gained from that Sith holocron is still in there, isn't it?" Taeli asked, not sure if what she was seeing was an echo or something that still existed.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus had forgotten about the brush with the gatekeeper - or rather the repercussions. "You've picked up the ability well. I always knew there was knowledge of the Dark-side in my mind - but I didn't know it radiated an aura. Unless there's a slither of Andeddu's spirit in there? Or even Bane's?"

"It's the knowledge of essence transfer. That's what I went for. I can't access it directly but I am aware it is there. And of course on Kashyyyk and Alderaan, under the influence of the taint, something definitely manifested itself."

She looked at her sister. "All you need to do now is practice. I suspect my challenge will be greater."

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Practice makes for learning," she said, smiling at her sister. Still, she wasn't entirely comfortable about her sister having that small amount of darkness she could see. It looked . . . foreign even, like it wasn't supposed to be there. Maybe once she actually joined the Jedi she could examine it more closely, see if she could do anything about it.

"Hmmm it would almost make sense for Andeddu to have a sliver of his consciousness attached to whatever knowledge one accesses from his holocron," she mused, tapping her chin. She was still looking at her sister through Force Sight. "His soul resides in his holocron after all, or at least, that's what the stories from the Malevolence Cult say. I mean I learned essence transfer from a friend, the same one you met actually, but it was a much different time, and I've got plenty of dark side knowledge in my head. But . . . knowledge of the dark side techniques shouldn't present itself that way . . . not normally anyways."

 

[Corvus Raaf]

"It's fair to say the gatekeeper didn't share the knowledge. I'd studied what Bane had done and sought to replicate it. I was more concerned with stopping the Sith accessing it. I was trying to scramble the data but I guess I pulled it out with me when I left the holocron. I think you'll need to take a look at some point for sure. Do you have any suggestions?"

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"When we've got more time, on a more permanent basis, I'll see what I can do about it," Taeli said, letting the Force Sight fade away for now. She would be practicing that a lot in the near future. She was determined to have it down pat, and one she got determined, she accomplished what she set her mind to.

"For now, I'd recommend doing nothing that would aggravate that part of your mind," she said, almost like a doctor to her patient. "So no plunging into a dark side nexus, or injecting yourself with Sith poison or suppressing powerful negative emotions. Doctor's orders, even if I'm not an actual doctor."

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled. “I can certainly manage the nexus part and the injecting bit but the emotions might be a little harder to manage. You know I have to limit the flow of emotions in and out, so by definition I could be bottling them up and I probably wouldn’t know. But then I’m not a negative person as a rule. So I should be OK.”

“And we’ll say the lesson for today is concluded. All in all a productive day. Training, meeting your friend, the datafile and the armoured bra. Certainly not typical by any stretch.” She wandered over to a window and looked out. “I think it’ll rain again. Do you have time for a cup of tea before you go?”

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Well you aren't nearly the cold fish you used to be," Taeli said. "I think you would be able to tell if you were bottling up emotions, so we should be good until I can look that over better."

She was glad to have spent this time with her sister, it was always nice to go on an adventure with her. Once she fully left the Sith, hopefully this would be more of a common thing.

"Sis, I've always got time to share a cup of tea with you," Taeli answered with a smile.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus led them back down to the canteen. "Master Karr is teaching me Art of the Small. I was wondering if that could be used to isolate the information in my mind and maybe deal with it." She held up a hand. "But don't worry, I won't dabble in what I don't know about."

As they reached the counter, Corvus said, "Two pieces of ryshcate, I'll have a blue milk...with a straw...and you'll have...?"

[member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"I don't think Art of the Small would help with that," Taeli said, thinking aloud as they walked to the cafeteria again. "It can let you hide in the Force as a tiny speck, it can let you manipulate molecular structures to form new compounds and change things, but I don't think it can suppress something like that. I would know, I do know Art of the Small after all."

As Corvus ordered the ryshcate and her blue milk, Taeli looked over the choices and sighed internally. They didn't have Bastion Black Tea, but they did have a black tea from Chandrila.

"Just a pot of Chandrilan tea with a cup please," she said. "Sis, you need to figure out a way to get Bastion Black Tea here, I know it might be hard with the Primeval ruling that planet, but I'm sure a friendly smuggler could do it."

She didn't mess around when she talked about tea, it was her favorite drink after all.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

"Why sister, are you encouraging me to break the law?" They were sitting now and Corvus' voice was flippant but underneath there was enough steel to suggest that despite the joviality, transgressing any law was simply beyond Corvus.

"If we can find a source we'll be sure to stock it, you have my word." Her mind started to wander. Taeli on Ruusan on a more permanent basis? It was way too early to speculate fully, but there was a certain logic to it, especially given her first candidate declining the position. But that could be some time away.

"Just how many different types of tea do you drink?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Spoiler

That @Mention looks rather good

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"Oh I wasn't suggesting you break the law at all," Taeli said, smiling a little. She knew it might not even be in Corvus's DNA to try and break a law of the Republic or something against her sensibilities. "I was merely suggesting someone not connected to the Jedi overtly places an order for Bastion Black Tea and hires a fast ship to deliver it to a pickup point. Nothing illegal about that at all."

"Oh I drink a lot of teas, but my favorites are black teas and sometimes a green here or there," she said. "It all depends really, and don't get me started on some tea I had on a trip to Tatooine before. Stuff was soooo dusty and was just poorly made."

She really did like this, just talking and chatting with Corvus, she couldn't wait until this would be happening more than just secret visits or adventures.

"So found an adequate replacement ryshcate yet?"

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus nodded. “We’ll see what we can do. The best man for the job has sadly just joined the Techno Union, or whatever they’re called today. But where there’s a will…”

“And the chefs here make a passable ryshcate but it’s not the same. And the price of whiskey to make it with keeps going up in price to the point where it’ll be prohibitive.”

“Did you know I’ve been working with a Padawan to upgrade the menu on Ossus. The last thing we did was discuss flavours of ice-cream. Do you know any?”

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

"I'm sure something could be worked out," Taeli said, making a mental note to find and buy more bottles of Corellian whiskey for her sister. She did have the one bottle she had given as a birthday present to Corvus. She wondered if her sister had opened it yet or not.

"If you can find a bottle or a large selection of it, let me know sis," she said, smiling. "What's the point in being rather wealthy if I can't help my sister or others find things that make them happy. As for ice cream . . . I'm gonna let you in one a secret. It's a guilty pleasure really . . . but I really really chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. When I was in college, I always had some stashed away for those late study nights or times I needed a holofilm night."