Let He Who Is Without Sin...

[Ben Corscifine]

When they rebuilt and renovated the Jedi Temple on Lothal, one of the few above-ground accoutrements that was added to the otherwise underground academy was a stone garden containing the legendary Muntuur Stones. For ages, this set of seven stones were used by Jedi masters to train younglings and padawans in the ways of telekinesis. These artifacts had been with the Jedi Order for centuries upon centuries, and their presence on Lothal was both an honor and a privilege.

This morning, a couple of novices were going to play with them.

Ben Corscifine was notoriously deficient in his ability to use the Force. Granted, he was a smart young man and one hell of a bladesman, but his arrogance and his over-analyzation had--over the course of his training--entered into a marriage that blocked his relationship with the Force.

Luckily, Ben was learning to accept the help of others. He had, in his time on Lothal, become close with a Bith padawan by the name of [member="Dune Rhur"]. Dune was particularly gifted in meditation, and Ben had seen firsthand how formidable an ally the young Bith could be. Knowing that his peaceful and studious friend would never turn down and opportunity to practice his mental skills, Ben had asked Dune to meet him early that morning to practice telekinesis.

While Ben wanted to improve this basic skill simply for the sake of it, he had also recently been told by his master that building a lightsaber would require certain telekinetic proficiency. Ben very much looked forward to creating a weapon of his own--he had acquired a crystal on Ilum, and felt that this was the last step in the process of constructing a lightsaber that he cold carry through the rest of his training and into knighthood.

The sun rose over the stone garden and Ben leaned against the stone arch that marked the entryway. He looked over the Muntuur Stones in the distance, hoping that the ancient power of these stones would assist Ben in his endeavor.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

Ben had asked him to practice the evening before. In spite of the differences between the two apprentices, Dune thought well of his friend and was only too happy to work with him. He knew Ben had difficulties with the Force, a thing he'd seldom encountered beyond his first weeks as a Youngling. Once he'd learned to trust in it, the Force hadn't ever been hard to touch. That was Ben's difficulty, trust.

The Bith nodded to his friend as he came into the gardens, early that morning. Gesturing for the human to follow, he sat amongst the stones. Ben sat across from him in a similar cross-legged fashion. The Bith let the sun warm them for a time before he spoke without preamble.

"We haven't come just to lift stones. We could requisition labour droids to do that more easily."

He pointed to the stone to his left.

"This stone can be lifted, nonetheless, by either of us. You must trust that it can, you must believe it will."

"Through the Force, anything is possible."

He drew a breath in and centred himself. In his mind's eye, he saw it rise, he believed it would. The Force was his ally and would never let him down. It rose, two meters above the ground where it stayed for several seconds. The Bith set it down as gently as he could but it still boomed resoundingly as it touched down.

He focused back on Ben.

"I'm just a Bith, small and physically weak. That doesn't matter. I trust that the Force can never let us down. You can do anything. Trust and believe, Ben."

 

[Ben Corscifine]

You're taller than me, dude, a younger part of Ben's mind couldn't help but retort. Although, I'm definitely bigger than you.

Ben was impressed with his Bith friend pretty much every time that he worked with him. The twinge of jealousy in his gut was a major indication of that, oxymoronic as it may sound. Dune had managed to get the heavy stone off the ground. Not just off the ground, but higher than either man present stood. Dune was a beginner, still. The legend of the Muntuur Stones held that one of the early masters had not only lifted all seven stones at once, but spun them around high above the ground.

Dune was asking Ben to trust the Force. I guess I don't have much of a choice, he mused. I'm not sure I could lift those stones by any other means. He chuckled in his head at the thought of himself bench-pressing a Muntuur Stone. It wasn't particularly funny, but he chuckled. Dune was looking at him quizzically, sure that his training partner was not focusing.

Ben took in a deep breath. "Alright, let's get to it."

Ben closed his eyes, reaching out to find the stone that Dune had just lifted. He continued to slow his breathing. Ben centered himself, trying to calm his mind. He was having some success, but there was one problem: He couldn't seem to place his focus on the stone. The Force flowed through all things, but it was much more prevalent in living creatures. Ben began to question what was going on and the whole enterprise was ruined.

His eyes came open.

​"I can't find it with my mind. Just hold on. I'll try again in a second. If the stone were alive, I bet this would be easier."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"] tried, but Dune knew it would not work. Not because he doubted Ben, but because Ben doubted himself. Dune shook his head.

"That doesn't matter any more than how big it is."

"Trust. Believe. The stone is already lifted once you believe it."

Dune didn't feel any disappointment because he knew Ben would succeed. It was just a matter of time. He nodded to Ben and smiled encouragingly.

 

[Ben Corscifine]

Ben was getting better at reading the Bith facial expressions. When he had first met Dune, every expression seemed the same. The more time he had spent with his friend and peer, the more he was able to recognize the subtleties of the Bith's eye and mouth movements. Dune was smiling. It was nice to feel encouraged; for so long Ben had felt the need to compete with everyone. After what the pair had been through on this very planet during the skirmish between the Galactic Alliance and First Order, Ben could clearly see that he and Dune were on the same team, in the grand scale of the galaxy. Ben could do this. If Dune knew it, Ben could accept it, too.

Ben closed his eyes and re-entered his breathing. Ben had learned that meditation and focus could be just as methodical as swordsmanship. Slowly, he could feel himself tap into the Force. He allowed his focus to crawl to his right, passing over the blades of grass below him. Finally he envisioned the stone. He could feel it in his grasp.

The stone rumbled by his side. Ben smiled as he watched it in his mind rising high above him. Ten meters, twenty meters. He was a master of telekinesis. Nothing could stop him.

He opened his eyes and watched the stone by his side fall the whole distance it had risen: it made a dull thud as it descended all four centimeters to the ground.

Still counts.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"] lifted the stone and Dune nodded.

"Yes," he said "You moved it. The height is irrelevant for now."

With a gesture he said "Hundreds of kilogrammes, moved because you believed and trusted in the Force."

He went on.

"Now, are you ready to do it again?"

 

[Ben Corscifine]

"Again?" Ben asked, surprised that he had no time to bask in his accomplishment. Dune was ever the voice of discipline, and perhaps Ben needed more of that when it came to techniques with which Ben had difficulty. "Is it just a matter or repetition? There's no secret?" Ben considered the fact that physically lifting objects was much the same, in a lot of regards. One could lift heavier weight and with more control only through repetition. Sure, there was some technique involved, but practice was the only sure avenue to success.

"What if we try to lift one together? Or at least get two going at once!"

Ben was never one for the slow and steady path. Perhaps that was a shortcoming, although Dune could stand to learn to take a little more risk in his life. After all, the galaxy in which they lived was neither safe nor calculated. This duo would make quite a team in the future, Ben could tell, but only if they both contributed equally to one another's advancement.

Ben and Dune represented, as far as Ben could tell, two forces acting on opposite ends of a scale. The Jedi way was one of balance, moderation. Perhaps these padawans disagreed on their interpretation of this, but Ben believed it best if the two bring each other closer to a middle ground between their extreme personalities and approaches.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

"Yes, again."

That was one of Ben's bad habits, biting off more than he could chew.

"No, it's not just physical repetition. You must establish a trust within your own abilities. Teach yourself that you can."

"I can already lift the stones. Us working together, at this point, won't benefit you so much. We will after."

The Bith supposed he sounded like a taskmaster. This was not his intention at all. He knew different beings displayed different amplitudes and that was completely fine. Just so long as they didn't give up.

 

[Ben Corscifine]

Ben had a little bit too much fun testing Dune's patience. Not because he liked a quarrel, but because he liked a challenge. After considering a little more difficult behavior, Ben reminded himself that goofing off with his friend was not the task at hand. This was a central problem in his training, after all, not just one particularly difficult skill. If he never learned to trust himself in the Force, he may as well not be a Jedi at all. That was not an option.

"If you say so," he conceded to his tutor. After all, Dune was obviously good at this. In the back of his mind, Ben wondered if there would be some sort of remuneration expected of him. Dune wasn't getting much training out of this, unless of course he just enjoyed helping others. That was admirable enough. Not something Ben felt as often as maybe he should, but something he understood.

Ben closed his eyes and slowly envisioned the stone once more. The Force was all around them, flowing slowly and steadily. It was strong. It occurred to Ben that perhaps he didn't need to lift the stone at all. If the Force were so compelled, it could lift the stone easily. Maybe lifting the stone was not a question of lifting, but of asking.

Trusting.

Dammit, Dune was right.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

Teaching and helping were rewards in and of themselves. It wasn't charity at all as some mistook it for. Teaching meant the student would become self-sufficient. They would become better at the task at hand and, in so doing, become better as a whole. There was always more to it than face value.

That was the reason Dune would not help him lift the stone. Ben would not learn anything into he did it himself. Frustration would set in, the Bith knew, as fatigue did. He recalled his own frustration in his first years, often failing much before he accomplished his goal.

By the time he'd gained some proficiency, Dune realised his teachers had instilled in him a desire to learn. More important, the discipline to stay the course. Accomplishing things felt good, giving him the chance to commune with and explore the Force. Dune hoped it would help his own friend too.

 

[Ben Corscifine]

[member="Dune Rhur"] didn't say anything. He just continued to look at Ben with those big black eyes as if to say, "Again." The Bith was a pretty good teacher, because he was kind, knowledgeable, and generous. In this moment, it occurred to Ben that Dune was much like Ben's master, Corvus Raaf. Well, except for the big green head.

In his mind, Ben could imagine a time when both he and his friend would have Padawans of their own. He hoped that, by then, he would have taken a few pages from Dune's book on humility and trust. For now, he could lift some more rocks.

Ben took a deep breath, and allowed himself to let go. He didn't even close his eyes. Maybe he would try nothing this time. Nothing, that is, but feel the Force lifting the Muntuur Stone. He knew he could do it; he had done it moments before. Much to Ben's surprise, it seemed completely effortless as the massive stone raised slowly into the air. He smiled, feeling the Force doing all the work. For the first time, he watched the stone return to the ground slowly, with control.

"Hmm. So that's what that feels like." He smirked at Dune.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"] lifted the stone after a while and the Bith nodded.

"Yes, exactly like that."

Extending his own hands, Dune added his own ability with Ben's and the stone rose meters more.

"I'm surprised. That's higher than I expected."

Indeed it had risen further than his own efforts with other apprentices in previous attempts.

"It's not so hard now, is it?," he said as he looked from the stone to the human.

 

[Ben Corscifine]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

​Teamwork was an interesting phenomenon to Ben, being--as he was so often--self-interested and self-motivated. On a certain level, it meant conceding that another person could do something better than you could on your own. It meant recognizing your own weaknesses and allowing another to compensate for them. Ben had, his whole life, distrusted teamwork. It had seemed to him a sort of excuse to allow oneself to be inferior. A way to let others pick up the slack. Maybe, indeed, a rising tide did lift all sails.

They certainly had lifted the stone particularly high working together.

"It's strange, but it feels like it's only as hard as I think it is on any given attempt." It was funny, because usually Ben found himself assuming that things would be easy for him. Perhaps he hadn't considered the ways in which he was holding himself back in his relationship to The Force.

Ben looked his friend squarely in the eyes, "You're a good teacher, Dune. Thank you for helping. I know that my style is different from yours; it's a mark of kindness to be patient in the face of difference." Ben smiled. "I look forward to watching you become a powerful Jedi Knight one day."

For one of the few times in Ben's life, he meant the compliment.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

Dune eased the stone back to the ground. Again, there was a dull thud that reverberated through himself which truly told the weight. He titled his head as he considered the compliment. Spreading his hands expansively he replied.

"We all have strengths and weaknesses which balance out and that's why we're strongest working together."

He gestured to himself.

"One day, I don't hope to be a powerful Jedi. I hope to be a compassionate Jedi who acts wisely."

 

[Ben Corscifine]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

And there was the very-Dune-like response: moderate, well-considered, pulled almost from some sort of Jedi instruction book that Ben had never read--or at least consulted too infrequently. Ben smiled; his friend probably had more noble aspirations than he. Ben seriously needed to learn how to keep his pride in check. Thought is the first step in deed, deed the first step in habit, and habit the stuff of being.

Ben did not want his being to be selfish.

He let out a slow exhale and tried again to lift the stone, again he found that ease of mind was the key to ease of action. Maybe it was because he had seen it done on his own power, but he trusted that he could lift the Muntuur Stone. Trust, as Dune had said multiple times, was truly the key. Gently, gradually, Ben expanded his thought to a second stone. He could feel the flow of energy all around him, easily strong enough to lift the second stone.

It came perhaps three centimeters off the ground, and Ben broke into a fit of laughter that caused the artifacts to return to the control of gravity. Ben was nearly hysterical with happiness; he had never been able to do anything like that before. He shot a wide grin at Dune.

"Pretty fancy, huh?"

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

"Very fancy indeed."

Ben was making rapid progress now that he had it down.

"It took me a long time to get two."

Dune chose two other stones, focusing completely. This would require greater than normal concentration for him. Steadying his breath, he lifted up with his hands. The stones seemed to twitch at first before they moved upward with seeming reluctance.

Just under a meter they stopped and he set the stones down rather less gently. His breathing was slightly more rapid from the extra effort.

"You see, not so easy for me."

 

[Ben Corscifine]

It was nice to remember that even Dune was still a student. While both had relative strengths and weaknesses, both were novices on the same path. There was a kinship in their shared aspirations that Ben too often mistook for competition. In the end, making each other stronger only served to strengthen the whole Order. A strong Order meant a stronger peace, especially with the darkness of the One Sith on the rise.

Ben smiled at Dune reassuringly, "Still not too shabby for a couple of kids, huh?"

Ben was feeling good after his success. This was the best he had ever done on this front, and he felt like he had a better idea of how to practice. And surely, if he could lift two of these gigantic stones (distance lifted aside), he was well on his way to the telekinetic ability required for the lightsaber constructing ritual.

"So what now?"

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Ben Corscifine"]

"I'm technically a full Bith adult, but yes, that was well done," Dune agreed with a ghost of a smile.

Ben was rather pleased with the training, as he should be, the Bith thought. The human had indeed made a step in the right direction. Dune also thought his personal lightsaber was going to be completed soon. A most personal experience, Dune knew from his own private session to make his own simple, blue bladed weapon.

"That depends, what do you think we should do?"