Private Call to the Clouds for Rain

[Efret Farr]

<Hello, Gurrat.>

The elephant snorted out of his mouth and flared his ears aside his head as Efret approached him. Her mind's version of herself wore a poncho dress of earthen tones. The entire landscape of the lacustrine oasis looked so real, from the majestic beasts watering in the crystal-clear blue to the rich vegetation to the alpine tundra rising above it all far beyond, that it sometime even fooled Efret for the briefest of moments—especially on days like these where she so desperately longed for the first home she had come to know within the galaxy.

<I-know. Away long time.>

Before she could move, Gurrat had pulled his trunk from the lake water and showered her with some of it. She shook her hands meaninglessly, trying to fling away extra water, but then began laughing. The elephant, too, trumpeted then wrapped his trunk around her to pull her against his chest.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the ground underneath her, so small that anyone who hadn't honed their sense of feeling to the degree she had would have not noticed it. When she looked over her shoulder, the form of a short humanoid stood in the now-open door to the private meditation room. A stack of golden bangles with bells jingled cheerfully on one of her forearms as Efret stood up.

Outfit + equipment; lapel translation clip (currently switched on); lightsaber (green blade color)
Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Astri, raised in a warrior culture that emphasized both the strength of body and of mind, wasn't new to meditating. In fact, she rather liked the peace of a calm and tranquil mind—it was why she loved reading so much. But her way of meditating wasn't at all like that of the Jedi, who used it as a way to commune with the Force by entering a deep trance.

She barely understood what the Force even was, much less how to commune with it.

But... she was curious. Perhaps that was why she found herself quietly opening a door to one of the temple's many rooms dedicated to just that. To give it a try herself, despite not having the foggiest idea of what that meant. But she'd never learn otherwise, right?

She hadn't meant to barge in on a Jedi Master.

The woman in front of her had her back turned to her, and she seemed to be pretty deep into her own meditation. Thinking that she hadn't just disturbed this poor Jedi, Astri let out a quiet sigh of relief and began to slowly close the door. That was, of course, when the Jedi Master turned to look at her.

"Eeep!" Came Astri, as the Jedi stood up, "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't think this room was occupied!"

 

[Efret Farr]

"It's alright, my dear," Efret replied calmly. "There's more than enough room here for two of us." She extended a hand to Astri to encourage her to come forward. If she did, Efret could see her better. Nirrah wasn't on duty or even present at the moment. Efret had left her in their temporary quarters. The relatively short walk from the guest dormitory hall to the meditation rooms was something she was capable of guiding herself through. After that, she could see perfectly when in a Force trance.

Plus, Nirrah could use periodic breaks.

"I'm Master Farr. Who are you?"

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

The Master's voice did not come from her mouth, and Astri blinked. W-what was—but then she saw the little clip on her lapel, and Astri thought that she understood. In an instant, she felt what resembled a kinship with the older woman: Astri, too, had trouble communicating in her own way. In the way of her people, the Echani, who found combat to be the most honest and intimate way to communicate with one another.

The Jedi Master beckoned her closer, and so Astri stepped in front of her timidly, and curiously.

"I, umm, my name is Astri. Astri Elyse." She tilted her chin up, and straightened her posture, "I-I'm a Jedi Padawan."

Not that she particularly deserved the title, knowing next to nothing about the Force, other than the fact that she could occasionally float books. To be honest, she felt like an imposter here, among others her age who had a much greater grasp on what it meant to be a Jedi.

"I was looking for an empty room... I-I don't really know how to meditate the way Jedi do. Just the way my people do it."

 

[Efret Farr]

Astri was a lovely name.

Efret smiled at the padawan's explanation of why she had come. "And who are your people?" Efret could have guessed based on the teen's light skin and hair, and silver eyes, but she had learned through a very embarrassing social faux pas during her first few days as a Jedi knight that it was almost always better to ask rather than make assumptions.

Whatever Astri's answer, Efret would nod gratefully before continuing, "You seem to be just were you belong, young one. I was just imagining my homeworld. Would you like to come see it?"

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

"I-I'm Echani." She lifted her chin a little higher, "we practice meditation as part of our combat education... but most of us aren't Force Sensitive, so I think it might be a little different from how Jedi do it..."

Astri felt nervous. But then, Master Farr smiled at her, and that pit of butterflies in her stomach... well, they didn't disappear, but they definitely stopped fluttering around as much. She seemed nice! And... warm? Yeah. Master Farr seemed warm and comforting, which wasn't a thought that Astri had very often. But she was grateful for the calm in the air.

Her few days at the temple had been hectic and confusing. A little stillness was welcome.

"You seem to be just were you belong, young one. I was just imagining my homeworld. Would you like to come see it?"

Astri tilted her head.

"H-how does that work? Are you, umm, painting a picture?"

Yet, Astri saw no easel or paints in this sparse room. Just Master Farr herself. The young teen was confused, but intrigued. The Jedi in front of her looked far too young to be cooky, and she spoke too elegantly to be insane... so there must have been something that Astri was missing. So, she quietly awaited an explanation.

 

[Efret Farr]

"Yes, in a way; in my mind." Master Far tapped her right temple, then lowered her hand to take some of the golden bangles off of her other arm and hold them out to Astri. They came off very easily. "With these," she added, speaking with her free hand. "Take them."

As Efret stood six inches taller than Astri and the bangles were wider than normal for Efret's arms, they would certainly be too wide for Astri's.

"Those are cultural heirlooms of my people," she explained. "A generation ago, my tribe used them every year to decorate the tusks of an elephant named Gurrat." She smiled again, enjoying how recounting the memory felt in her heart and in her hands. "He was my favorite of the herd since I was very young. When the Jedi called upon our village for my service, the elders asked my father to give these to me, as I reminder of where I come from.

"Aspects of the past echo through the Force. If these echoes are anchored to something, a Jedi can tap into the time from which it came. That's what I was doing."

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Painting a picture with her mind? Astri couldn't even imagine—well, actually, she supposed it was just that: imagining. Just... with the Force. Which Astri still didn't really understand. The best explanation she got was "it binds the universe together." But what did it bind with? Itself? Adhesive? Duct tape? She'd found that Jedi either withheld the answer, or explained it in the most vague way they possibly could.

It wasn't exactly conductive to learning.

Master Farr already seemed to be more helpful than her peers. While Astri didn't understand what she was about to learn, she was passed a couple of golden bangles. The likes of which made Astri's eyes go wide. Even if she was just borrowing them for a lesson, they looked awfully expensive.

"A-are you sure?"

But the Jedi didn't rescind them, and Astri thought it was probably hard to sign with just one hand. So she took the proffered jewelry, if only to free Master Farr's hand. She put them on her arm, just like the older woman, but Astri had to make sure to hold her hand up—lest the bangles fall off of her. While she kept the jewelry safe, Astri tried her best to absorb the explanation that was given to her... but she found her understanding lacking.

"M-master, I... I don't even really understand what the Force is," there was an apologetic tone to her voice, "I-I'm not sure how the past can echo anything through it. Or how we can tap into it."

A small gulp.

"I only know that I can occasionally make a book float. F-for a second, if I'm lucky."

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret pressed her lips together in thought, kneeling down in front of Astri in the meantime. "It's an energy field that binds the galaxy together," she said, deciding that it was best to start with the traditional definition. "But I sense that answer... does not satisfy you." A hint of a smile curled at Efret's mouth as she reached out. The girl's curiosity was refreshing; she'd do all she could to sate it. "Give me your hand."

When Astri did, Efret gently flipped her hand over so that her palm faced the ceiling. The master tapped the tips of Astri's fingers before drawing back her own hands. "Do you know why most humanoids have fingerprints?" Her smile grew into an almost mischievous expression. She was very aware that her prompt didn't seem related to the Force in any way.

"Humor me."

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Astri frowned a bit, as Master Farr began by giving her the same explanation that all the other masters had. But she held her tongue as the Jedi Master leaned in, expecting that she was about to expand on that—for which Astri was extremely grateful. Because the longer she went without knowing, the less likely she was to actually learn, and Astri didn't like not learning. She supposed, though, that she could always fall back on books if she needed a better explanation...

"But I sense that answer... does not satisfy you."

"N-not really," she said quietly, "how does it bind the galaxy together? What is it really? Why can some people feel it and others can't? Where does it come from—"

Astri flushed pink as she realized the way her questions had all spilled out at once. Right in the middle of Master Farr probably trying to answer some of those questions. So when she was asked to hold her hand out, she did so without question or resistance.

Then Master Farr asked about fingerprints, and Astri was confused all over again. But at least she knew the answer to the Jedi's question.

"To enhance our sense of touch. They create the friction we need to feel the properties of... whatever we're touching."

 

[Efret Farr]

"Exactly right. And there's a metaphysical equivalent of fingerprints too. They're called midichlorians and they live in every cell of your body."

Efret felt overwhelmed similarly to what Astri was probably feeling, albeit for a different set of reasons. The master felt she had too much information and ideas to share with the teen. She took a breath to calm her mind before continuing. "Every lifeform has them, but if a lifeform has an especially high count, they tend to be Force-sensitive.

"We don't understand why it works like that but it does. Causation is a hard thing to prove, Astri. They may not cause sensitivity but be drawn to it, like grass growing lusher where it rains versus where it doesn't." Her smile grew somehow sweeter. This was a beautiful thing she was humbled to be teaching. "What we do know is that the Force is a will. Whose is the wrong question. Gravity has a will. The flow of a river to the ocean has a will, yet neither of these things are a who. They're a what, and that makes them even more powerful. Don't you think?"

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Astri drank in the knowledge offered to her greedily, eyes sparkling with awe. A week with the Order, and no Jedi had managed to answer her question in a way that, well, actually answered it. She'd thought Jedi were supposed to be scholars, but they were more like theologists, and they just accepted the most vague of answers without actually questioning it. And then repeated that same answer to whomever asked.

It had been maddening, to Astri, who had only wanted a proper explanation. But, finally, she had gotten one from Master Farr.

"I-I never really thought of it as powerful, but if I swam against a river's flow I guess I would think of it that way. But the Force... it's life?" Perhaps that was a simplistic way to describe the Force, but Astri was still learning, "or it's drawn to life? If the midichlorians are like fingerprints, then how... how do I feel the Force?"

Her mind was a whirl of newly inherited knowledge, and until it settled, Astri probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense of it. But she wanted to know more! Someone was finally answering her questions, and so all the questions she'd been storing up all week began to bleed out of her.

 

[Efret Farr]

Simplicity was actually very important when introducing new, especially complex, concepts.

"I...don't think you do. I don't think I do. I think they do. They speak to the Force, communicate with it so they may understand its will. That is how the Force is felt. Not by us, but through us. It's symbiosis. We may have latent sensitivity to the Force, but we can't realize it alone." Even as she spoke as a Jedi master, Efret was aware that this impromptu lesson was growing esoteric. How do they communicate? How does communication translate to metaphysical touch? She hoped that Astri wouldn't have these follow-up questions or ones similar to them, but she knew better. Of course the girl would. Efret didn't feel she had too many answers past this point though. She was a little bit like the other Jedi who Astri had asked her questions to: she was of the mind that some amount of mystery to the Force was always going to persist.

What's more—she took comfort in it.

Still, she tried to offer Astri a bit more. "More communication leads to conversation. If you can learn how to drive that conversation, then you can manipulate what they feel for you."

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Oh. They were starting to get metaphysical, and that was a concept Astri had always struggled with. She was starting to realize that maybe the reason why Jedi were so cryptic in answering her questions about the Force, was because they themselves didn't truly understand what it was. At least, not in a way that could be put into easily digested words.

Astri was quiet for a moment, in thoughtful contemplation. She had a million different questions to ask, but what did they matter if they weren't the right one? The one that led to an answer that could actually help her understand?

"Then..." Astri started slowly, "how do I communicate with my midichlorians, in order to facilitate that conversation?"

How did one talk to a microscopic organism living in their cells? It was mindboggling... but Astri had come to the Order to learn. If she'd already known the answer, then what point would there have been in being here? These concepts weren't something she expected to understand for a while, but that in itself was exciting to her.

It was like a whole new subset of learning to embrace! Now, if only she could find some books on the subject...

 

[Efret Farr]

"You learn its language." Efret's answer came easier. "Think of the outcome you want. A floating book, to heal a wound, to relive the past.

"I can show you how to do the last." She tapped the bangles on Astri's arms. "The technique is called psychometry." Seriousness flickered over the master's features. "It's dangerous to do by yourself, so you must not until you're told by a master that you're ready, but I can share my vision with you for now, if you would like."

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Master Farr made it sound so simple, but Astri knew she was simplifying the explanation so that she could understand. Jedi didn't become Jedi overnight. It took years of training to be considered an adept in the Force, and that wasn't even considering what it took to achieve mastery. But... for the first time since she'd discovered her sensitivity, Astri finally had an answer.

"Thank you," Astri bowed her head quietly, "I've been trying to get an explanation since I first arrived. You're the first to help me really understand it."

But the Jedi Master offered her more: to actually experience the flow of the Force, or at least, one of the ways to feel it. Though she layered with it a warning of caution, and a gentle order not to pursue such a technique on her own, without the oversight of a proper teacher.

"Okay!" She was, perhaps, a little too keen. So she flushed, and tried to sound more serious, "I-I mean, I would really like that. A-and I promise not to try it without you or another teacher present."

 

[Efret Farr]

"Very well. Sit down."

Four large, round chairs were in the mediation circle. One of them was situated behind Astri; she could either sit there or join Efret on the floor.

"While in the trance, my signs won't be interpreted," she said. "I...don't have a communication plan yet, but we'll figure it out." Efret offered Astri a reassuring smile. A language barrier wasn't good a reason to refuse to offer a lesson; her own masters had taught her that. Now was an oppruntuity to pay her own lessons forward.

"The goal of Jedi meditation is to quiet your mind enough that you can feel the Force. After enough deep practice, you develop one-point concentration, but...but that won't be your experience, not today." It would be someday though, should Astri continue down this path. "Don't let a chaotic mind discourage you. Remember that thinking is to a healthy mind what breathing is to healthy lungs. Because we're alive, we think. You in words, me in signs. Resist the instinct to reprimand yourself when your mind drifts. Simply notice that it has and bring it back to calmness. It's helpful to anchor in your breath as long as you keep it nice and steady.

"Do this for long enough and eventually you will being to feel the Force in and around you. I can't tell you exactly how it will feel to you, but I experience awe. It's gentle but overwhelming. It squeezes the very bottom of my heart and makes me want to cry because I am so happy.

"Try it. I'll watch for a moment before we begin."

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

Master Farr bid that she sit. There were chairs in the room, but Astri instead chose to join her on the floor, crossing her legs. It would have felt... wrong, to be sitting in a chair and therefore situated above the Jedi Master imparting the lesson.

"While in the trance, my signs won't be interpreted," she said. "I...don't have a communication plan yet, but we'll figure it out."

<That's okay.> Astri's Galactic Basic Sign Language was much slower than Efret's, but still concise and clear, <I wasn't listening to your interpreter anyways.>

It was exceedingly rare for Astri to have a chance to practice signing. Master Farr was giving her an opportunity to do just that. She was a little nervous about that, funny enough, knowing that her knowledge was rough and rusty. That, and the Jedi Master had learned it out of necessity and had been signing her whole life. Astri had taught herself out of boredom, and had used it very little.

While Astri found it hard to understand Master Farr's more metaphysical explanation of the Force, her explanation on how to meditate was but a simple refresher for the young Echani. She'd been meditating her whole life. Just not in a way, she thought, that was conductive to touching the Force. So, when Master Farr asked her to meditate so that she could watch how Astri did it, Astri did just that.

Years of practice had her setting her mind into a trance within a few moments. It was nice, actually. All those questions that had been gnawing at her, buzzing in her brain? They dissipated for the moment, and with it went Astri's anxieties. But that next part: the part where she felt the Force? Astri didn't think she felt anything.

Except... had Master Farr cranked up the air conditioning? Astri shivered, feeling a cool breeze across her skin suddenly. She was positive that the air in the room had been still when she'd walked in. Maybe the Jedi Master had just gotten cold?

Her eyes opened.

<Master... did you turn on the air?> Astri blinked, confused, <because I'm suddenly...>

But her hands stopped moving as Astri realized that whatever breeze she'd felt was suddenly gone. Absent.

"I swear you had just pointed a fan or something in my direction..." She was so bewildered that she slipped back into speaking.

 

[Efret Farr]

Or maybe that would be her experience.

Efret rose her brows when Astri looked at her and asked about the air. She had heard that some people felt the Force like they would a breeze, so she wasn't surprised about Astri's question itself but about how soon she had tapped into it.

It was also a little jarring to switch from watching one's hands to their lips again, but Efret managed. "No, not me. But I think that's a good sign. Does it make you uncomfortable?"

When Efret had been learning to feel the Force around her, the sensation that met her had been one her body has to likewise get used to: waves of heat, as if from warm to hot sunshine. Most of the time nowadays, at least while meditating, it did make her heart swell, but she still remembered how similar communion with the empyrean used to bestow on her little more than physical symptoms similar to those of heat exhaustion.

Astri Elyse​

 

[Astri Elyse]

Tag: Efret Farr

"No, not me. But I think that's a good sign. Does it make you uncomfortable?"

<I don't think so...> Astri admitted, signing slowly <it was more distracting than anything. I-I was trying to quiet my mind, but all I could feel was a cold breeze, and it just wouldn't let me focus.>

Her brow furrowed in annoyance. How was she supposed to clear her thoughts, and focus on calming herself if all she could do was shiver because of a wind that wasn't even really there? Is that how Jedi meditated? With a phantom presence constantly distracting them? How did they get any self-reflection done when the metaphysical energy that held the universe together was constantly poking them in the side?

<It was more annoying than anything.>

She missed books. Books didn't give her goosebumps or make her want to swaddle into a blanket. Why couldn't the Force be quiet, or have the decency to not distract her when she was trying to focus on it? She was trying to learn about it, not be sidetracked by it!

<Can I try again?>

Not because she wanted to feel the Force, but because she wanted to spite it. It's elusive and mystical nature wouldn't stop her from learning about it!