Only feel through your senses? How else are you supposed to feel? That one rather confused her: everyone experienced the world through their senses, whether through sight, touch, taste, smell or sound. Some of the more exotic non-Numan species had even more senses to fall back on, and could pick up things that no Human could ever sense: some saw into different light spectrums, others could hear sounds that were inaudible to her, and more besides.
Perhaps he's referring to something along those lines: another kind of sense that he has and I don't.
This "Force" as a ledger of all things...that sounded a little odd to her. It wasn't a concept that she'd ever come across, this idea that everything was just recorded on some level and was accessible only to a chosen few.
Might explain a few things about the Jedi if it's true, but it sounds absurdly complex. So far, that seemed fairly reflective of her experience with the Jedi Order as a whole - and Jalen was just building onto that feeling.
When she'd first found herself in a position to be 'tested' by the Jedi, they said they were looking for evidence of what they'd referred to as "sensitivity to the Force", so perhaps that was what Jalen was talking about: the ability to sense this ledger of knowledge, and perhaps to read from it.
But they said I had that capability, and I haven't the slightest idea how to do what he's suggesting. It clearly wasn't something obvious, given that you needed to study to accomplish it - but then how did the first Jedi ever manage to figure it out for themselves? That was a puzzle all by itself.
The only thing that made her feel better (so to speak) was Jalen's assertion that he'd been learning this since he was eleven years old - and he was clearly closer to her age now, so he'd been at it a while
. If he can do it, there's no reason why I can't, even if it'll take me a while. His competence suggested long practice, but the ease by which he engaged with it suggested that maybe it was just a chance of figuring out how, and practicing relentlessly.
And then maybe one day it'll all come naturally. You just have to unlock a floodgate first.
"It's going to sound ridiculous", she warned him with a faint smile.
"My parents are both like you: they're medics, and I always thought I'd follow them and practice medicine. I enjoyed the idea, but I suppose...I wasn't quite ready to settle into that life just yet. It felt like there was more of the galaxy to see and more to do before then." The young woman offered a slight shrug, perhaps a little dismissive of that wide-eyed idealism that so often sprang from wanting something different for yourself.
"I grew up hearing about the Jedi, and there's always a lot about them on the Holonet. I guess you could say I thought their lives would be more of an adventure...and I got curious to find out more."
Teynara sighed softly, shaking her head as if to acknowledge how absurd it all sounded. All of the Jedi she'd met had such...drive...a sense of having always belonged exactly where they were, as if their work was more of a calling than a vocation. Jalen gave that same dedicated impression: he was here and made it sound like he couldn't possibly have ended up anywhere else.
Some would call that destiny, or fate. So for her to have simply sought the Jedi Order out from a sense of curiousity...that had to sound truly nonsensical to someone like him.
"Master Valery said that she was like you: she started training as a child, so by the time she became an adult, she was already far on her path." How to explain her own position when speaking to someone who had followed a similar path? For him, it was what he had grown up with. For her...it was a choice made in adulthood, long after she'd found herself in the position to decide for herself what she wanted.
"I was never really sure exactly where I belonged, but the Jedi who recruited me said that very few of us can walk a path like this, and we all have an obligation to at least try." She smiled in a wry fashion, amused at herself and the situation they found themselves in.
"So here I am."
As for that part about a "turbulent time", modern Galactic history didn't really suggest any moments that weren't chaotic and filled with conflict, trouble or the hint of more on the horizon. If someone only came to the Jedi at a time of peace and quiet...there probably wouldn't be many Jedi in their ranks.
And you're not that old, Jalen!, she thought with a touch of amusement.
I doubt things were much less turbulent when you first joined, either! Not that she was going to say any of that outloud.
"What about you? You joined as a child - how did that happen?" The Holonet spoke of times when children were effectively conscripted into the Jedi Order, back in the days when they were an official part of the Old Republic, with Senate-given authority to bring people into their ranks. That didn't seem to be the case now, though - after all, she had been recruited by her own choice.
Was Jalen one of those forced into it? Or had he been given an option, too? "You don't seem to have run screaming into the hills, so I can only assume that you wanted to be here." 
Matthew of Valendale
Aris Noble
| Closed
