Pure in spirit…

[H3xle]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

Dair nodded with a huff of breath. After explaining it all, he was tired. "I suspected the answers should come from within me, but hearing you tell me reassures me that there should be answers. Thank you."

​"Let us return." He said as he carefully placed the crystal in a pocket on his jacket and clasped it shut, then pulled on his gloves.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus took the lead but they hadn’t gone far when the Force told her they were not alone. Ahead of them dropped a giant spider from the roof of the cavern.

It was black, save for green markings on its head and it must have been four metres across and on it’s legs about the same height. It’s chitinious feet made clacking noises on the stone and ice as it scuttled towards them.

“What do you suggest my Padawan?” Corvus asked, clearly keep to hear what he had to offer. So far she had not drawn her saber.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

Dair shivered at the sight of the arachnid. A pit opened in his stomach and fear sent shivers of acid through his body. He swallowed and briefly closed his eyes, centering himself in the Force. He instinctively feared the creature, a sign from his animal hind brain that had little to do with conscious thought. He was stronger than his hind brain, though, and when he opened his eyes the mantra of the Jedi code went through his mind. His recent encounters went through his mind. He had an idea, though he didn't exactly know how to accomplish it.

"This is her cave..." He stated, making his conscious mind take over. He noticed the egg sack on her back and several other key identifiers that are similar to all arachnids. He had been doing his reading, trying very hard to overcome them by learning about them. 'There is no Ignorance, there is Knowledge'. "I know there are ways to communicate or calm animals using the Force...I haven't learned it, but it should be possible to empathically show her our intention to leave. Do you think if I were to use the opposite of the technique that Master Karr was teaching, it would accomplish it?" Referring to the training in hiding ones signature in the Force. He wondered if he expanded his signature in the Force, with his intention to peaceably leave and for the spider to be free and unharmed, if the creature would let them pass unmolested.

"I think we...or I, should try to show our peaceful intentions. Nothing but sorrow and tragedy would come of us having to cut our way out of here." "Like either of my first two visions.' he added silently. He knew which of the three paths called to his soul, he wanted the path of the Defender, Peace instead of Violence, Violence only if absolutely nothing else will work. He began to feel out himself in the Force, feeling the ball of icy light within him. Almost instantly, his body relaxed and waves of empathy started to surround him, though he has not started to consciously exude them.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus waited patiently. Many Jedi would have immediately dictated a course of action that involved using the saber first and their brains second. She was pleased Dair was more measured in his approach.

And his approach was faultless. It was indeed her cave and they were in theory and in practice the trespassers. “I commend you on a measured approach. Given a little more time,“ Corvus was acutely aware the arachnid was closing on them quickly, “A series of trial and error would be useful. On this occasion, I fear I must step in.”

Ever since that Mandalorian had shown an interest in Beast Control, Corvus had consulted the Holocrons. It was, as she suspected, a variation on Telepathy and Mind Trick. It was just about understanding you were dealing with animals and that emotions and instincts drove them rather than thoughts.

So she sensed the emotions present through the Force. There was fear – from more than one of those present – but there was also hunger and that was definitely the spiders. So she followed the emotion to its source. To Corvus this was always like swimming upstream, going against the flow. And she did so as quickly and as carefully as she could – for even a creature such as this could be irrevocably damaged if she was too clumsy in her approach.

Once she reached the source of the emotion, she suppressed the sensation of hunger and instead replaced it with a new fear – that her young were under attack – and that she needed to protect them. This was a powerful enough stimulus for the creature to scurry back where it came from.

“Your logic was good. To show peaceful intentions may have worked but first you need to understand its motives. This creature saw us not as a threat but as a meal. But overall I’m pleased you did not choose to kill it. That was the solution of a true Jedi. But perhaps we should move on, in case any of her friends come to find us. And on the return journey, perhaps I can teach you Telepathy? What do you think?”

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

Dair watched in awe as his Master worked. He felt through his connection in the force as she connected with the being and redirected her attention to something else. He wasn't skilled enough to see precisely what she did, but he saw that whatever she did had worked. The spider scurried back up a hidden chimney in the ice.

“Your logic was good. To show peaceful intentions may have worked but first you need to understand its motives. This creature saw us not as a threat but as a meal. But overall I’m pleased you did not choose to kill it. That was the solution of a true Jedi. But perhaps we should move on, in case any of her friends come to find us. And on the return journey, perhaps I can teach you Telepathy? What do you think?”

Dair nodded, a smile on his face. He was pleased that his approach earned such praise from his Master, the thought to just outright kill it hadn't even been a choice in his mind. "I would enjoy learning telepathy." He nodded again as they made their way past where the spider had come and left. Their pace bringing them closer to the entrance f the cavern, Dair was beginning to hear the wind outside. He kept himself as centered in the force as he could while walking and remaining watchful. He fell back on some of the meditation techniques taught to him throughout his life, then they were to cope with trauma, but now they allowed him to retain a heightened connection with the force while listening to his Master.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus kept up a brisk pace as they returned to their ship - it was fortunately uneventful and she made short work of securing the ship, completing the pre-flight checks, getting them airborne and finally into hyperspace and en route to Ossus.

Going to the main room in the ship, she indicated Dair should sit. "Usually I would do this somewhere different, but it passes the time, is useful and allows us to build on it for your next lesson."

She smiled, "And instead of practising on a fish or similar, you get to work first with me - so please be gentle." The smile remained but her words seemed genuine in their warning - this was not an Ability to be taken lightly. "The Sith will invade a mind and care nothing for what they leave behind. A Jedi will enter as gently as is required. Even non-sentients have a natural defence against probing their minds. Humanoids even more so. But I can relax my mind and allow you easier access, so don't be alarmed."

"Typically we start with an emotion. Sense the emotion, and follow it back to its source - typically a thought but for animals normally an instinct. That takes you to the mind. From there…well many things are possible. So I will share a strong emotion, you will know it when you sense it. Follow it back to my mind. How you do this is individual to you. Some use a water analogy, like swimming upstream. For some it is like electronics and you’re travelling along a wire. For others I have heard it is like wi-fi and you’re following a stream of ether back to its source. It’s whatever works for you.”

“As ever, start by closing your eyes, it will help with concentration. Then pull the Force to you before looking for my emotion.” Corvus closed her own eyes and shared the emotion she’d felt back at the ice-cave. Happiness that her Padawan had chosen such a good option for dealing with the spider. It almost bordered on pride – but of course that was not a Jedi trait.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

As per her instructions, Dair closed his eyes. He settled his mind and sank deeper into the meditative state he had been holding since the cave. His breathing slowed to a deep, even repetition. He was naturally empathic, so starting with emotions, at first, had seemed like it would make it much easier. His empathy, however, picked up more than just what was being pushed out, so first Dair had to filter his empathic sense down until only that which would be strongest would he be able to sense. It was at that point that he felt the happiness and began to follow it down.

Suddenly, he stopped. He remembered her warnings.

"The Sith will invade a mind and care nothing for what they leave behind. A Jedi will enter as gently as is required. Even non-sentients have a natural defence against probing their minds. Humanoids even more so. But I can relax my mind and allow you easier access, so don't be alarmed."

He pulled back a little bit, he knew about mental scars from his own experiences. He could only assume that scars from such an exercise as this would be harder to heal. 'How do I ensure that I go in without doing damage.' he thought to himself. It was then that he remembered her speaking of analogies. He felt the power of her happiness and in his mind he overlaid a river. He had always enjoyed the outdoors and considered himself a strong swimmer, compared to other non-aquatic/amphibian padawans that is, so the analogy seemed to be the best one to go with. In his mind he saw the happinedd coming out of her as a river flowing downstream towards him. In the analogy, so he thought, if the happiness were the water flowing past and around him, then the riverbed and banks could be crucial manifestations of her mind. Not wanting to leave anything really, especially with the possibility of harming her, he decided to only swim.

For a moment he floated in the mental water, subsuming himself in the imagery. Then he turned over and began a powerful, yet slow forward crawl. He kept his form as perfect as he could, his thumb would draw up the side of his body from hip to armpit, then he would reach forward with that hand, slide his cupped hand into the water and gently pull it back past him. He did the same with his other hand. His legs he kicked slowly, only maintaining stability and letting his arms pull him forward through the water. As this was a mental exercise, he assumed he wouldn't need to breath, but he decided to go in for the whole illusion of swimming and took a breath every fifth stroke of his left arm. After a while swimming, he came to a lake where the happiness/water was calm, flowing softly towards the mouth of the river, then down the length of the river. Here he floated, still careful not to touch anything but the water. He didn't know what to do from here, but he figured that telepathy required communication, so he tried to think-speak to her.

'Master Raaf...am I doing this alright?'

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus sat patiently. Until someone actually touched your mind it was almost impossible to tell how they were doing. So she waited, expecting this could take some time.

And then she felt his mind. It touched hers gently and as he thought, so she could hear the words in her head.

‘Yes, you are doing it right. This close, this undisturbed, we could have a conversation like this. As the distance is increased, so the ability to communicate lessens to maybe a key word or an emotion. But it strengthens through practice with that person and is strong within siblings and also with a Master and Padawan over time. I can speak to my sister if we’re on the same planet.’ It would have been the first time Corvus had ever mentioned having a sibling.

‘So this is one use. The next I will show you is to gain information. I will share a memory. On purpose. Search for it, but remain gentle. As a rule, the closer to the consciousness, the easier it is to find the memory, or indeed the thought – but I’ll come to that later.’

So Corvus pulled up the memory of announcing her best friend Kana had been granted the title of Master. It was a very powerful memory and laced with a whole host of positive emotions too.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

Dair spun in place in the water, still making sure not to let himself touch the lake bed or the shore. He couldn't see the memory, and for a moment a bubble of panic manifested in his stomach.

'My paradigm was or the happiness to be water...the memory, if a happy one, would have just added more water. I need to filter this...' he thought to himself as he looked around. He swam to the center of the lake, where it would be deepest. There he let himself float while he thought of it. 'Water gravitates to cold, what if the general happiness is cold water and the happy memory, or memories in general, were warmer water...' He took a moment and tried to cement that idea in his head. Once he had a firm grasp on it, he swam around slowly. The water was colder, almost biting but not beyond his tolerance, and interspersed through it were threads of warmer water. He swam by them until he came to a larger portion of warm water. Larger would mean it was closer to her consciousness. It also brought him back to near the mouth of the river, so that made sense. He pulled the warm water around him and looked into it.

'I think I see it. I see you and some other Master's. There is a great deal of happiness in it, like a long day of hard but satisfying work had just been completed.' He thought to Corvus. He couldn't help but get caught up in the happiness of it. 'I don't know everyone I'm seeing...did someone just pass their Knight trials? One of your padawans?' Frame of reference is something he didn't have for the memory, but the notes were in the right area.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was pleased and the emotion would have leaked through their shared consciousness. ‘You have done well, yes, it was a memory of my best friend being promoted to Master. The proudest day of my life as a Jedi.’

‘Now you understand the theory and the application, it is just about practice. The more you do this, the faster it will be able to happen. The next step is to plant an emotion or thought in my head. Not a full Mind Trick, that comes later in the lesson. No, first I need you to suggest something to me. It can be a thought or an emotion but most powerfully it is a combination of the two.’

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

Dair nodded and couldn't help but smile, both in the flesh and in their shared consciousness. It was hard to maintain the concentration, but the meditative training he had received from early on in his youngling training helped to keep him focused. After the elation dropped to a manageable level, he racked his mind for something to send back. He had very few positive memories that had strong emotions attached to them, he had spent the majority of his time at the Ossus temple training himself to be impassive. Strong emotions from his past had darkened his first few years there and he was honestly afraid of them for the most part. There were a few memories that came to mind and were positive. He didn't know how much of his thoughts she could see, but he went through two memories in particular that had strong, positive emotions. One was when she had agreed to take him on as her Padawan. He had been elated near to the point of jumping up and down, but he maintained his composure for the most part. The other was a little more recent, of a time on Ossus when he was going to be doing a training spar with Uri and Fletcher, two of his clan mates from his youngling days. The training spar wasn't unusual, the three of them were fairly close and when all three were on Ossus something similar often took place. The thing that stood out about this time, however, had been Sayl. He felt his heart flutter and quicken as he remembered the first time he saw her and the rest of that day. The emotion was very strong, and he liked the feeling of it, though he couldn't yet put a name to it. That was a far more personal memory, he debated for a few moments on willfully sharing it as she had been there for his other strongest memory. His physical body blushed as he decided, she was his Master, and this was a powerful emotion he hadn't thought to bring up in conversation yet.

He took a deep breath, both physically and in their shared consciousness. He focused on the background details first. The day was sunny and warm, a beautiful day on Ossus to be outside doing training. He had been planning on doing some drills on his own when he stumbled upon Fletcher near a tree. Fletcher had been gone for some time, off with his own master, so it was a pleasant surprise to find him on Ossus. They quickly bumped into Uri as well. The three of them, at the urging of Fletcher, started planning out a small competition, focused in lightsaber combat as Fletcher was quite proud of his prowess. They were walking toward an open training circle when Dair happened to glimpse a young woman out of the corner of his eye. She had been walking and looking around by herself. She was obviously new there, obvious only because Dair knew he would have remembered seeing her. She had an attitude around her that was distinctly different from any of the other people at the temple, and she was very beautiful. Dair's heart started beating harder, both in the memory and in the present. The next few minutes would be clear as day to anyone with more worldly experience than Dair, both he and Sayl began flirting with their eyes, his emotions were a jumble. He was attracted to her, that much had even been obvious to him at the time, but the feelings beyond that were alien to him.

Physically and mentally blushing furiously, he stopped the memory. Convinced all of a sudden that that memory had been inappropriate to share. His concentration broken, he fell out of their shared consciousness. He didn't open his eyes, but rather covered them in his hands, his face beet red. "Sorry...sorry, that wasn't appropriate...sorry."

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus nodded. "Don't worry, the theory and application were fine, but maybe the choice of memory might have been a little less personal. But don't worry that you have offended me, you haven't. We all do things we'd rather change given the time again. And that's good. Recognising how you'd do it differently is what differentiates us."

"So, I'd say you had the hang of that - next I'm going to teach you to defend the mind. I'll look to find a thought or memory and you have to stop me. How you do it is up to you. Again, some think of walls guarding their mind, others imagine an anti-virus software. We're all different."

This time Corvus connected with Dair. He would have felt the intrusion, albeit gentle. And then she started to prod and probe at his mind. Slowly at first, looking to see how easily she might gain access.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

Dair took a few deep breaths and got his thoughts back under control. He closed his eyes and concentrated as he felt Corvus probe his mind. He was to defend against it, stop her if he could. He searched his memories for images and such that spoke of protection to him. When he got to his earliest memories, that of a land he didn't know the name of in winter, of walls built of stout, strong stone and gates of thick wood. A moment of yearning to know more of these past memories flowed through him, but he shunted them aside. He focused in on the walls, imagining his mind as the manor within those walls. Slowly, carefully he built the walls up. He started with the outer curtain wall, the primary defense against intrusion, building it thickest at the bottom, cementing it mentally into the ground of his mind, building it up high to give good protection. Next he focused on an inner wall, this one was taller, but not as thick. It was to be the last defense against intrusion into the manor of his mind.

The probing came on, he felt them as pressure on the exterior walls and he focused on keeping them strong, solid and whole. The paradigm in his head wasn't perfect, he only had fragmented memories to build from and there was a mild dread in him as he knew that walls such as these must not have worked when he was taken. He did his best to push the thought aside, continuing to focus on keeping his wall strong.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus knew that the most instinctive option was often the right one. If it felt right, it would most likely work. Of course once practised, the defence became instinctive – but initially it required concentration.

She prodded and probed at his mind, seeking a way in. She went around his consciousness and found it secure. So she did what any intruder would do, she attempted to go over. And she found the weakness in the defence. She reached the top of a metaphorical wall he’d no doubt built and climbed over it – only to be confronted by a second wall. Again she circled it and finding no weakness, deciding to climb again…

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

Panic spiked in Dair's consciousness as he felt the presence of Corvus climb over his first wall. Unlike his last spike of panic, however, this time it didn't break the connection or send him into an embarrassed fit. He had thought that he was missing something, and found that here it was. Not having enough knowledge of the paradigm he was working in, he decided to mix in a more modern paradigm and imagined a transparent, crysteel dome into existance onto the inner curtain wall. The dome sealed in the manor house and he quickly began to meld the stone up around the bottom lip of the dome to make a seal. For once in his mindscape he didn't think about breathing at all, only concerned with keeping his Master out of his mind. He let his concentration on the outer wall slip, the construct fading away as he redoubled his efforts on the remaining wall and its transparent steel dome. He had a question, and so he split off a seed of concentration to try to send it to Corvus.

'If this were a true attack, would it be recommended that I counter attack from within my mind or keep my concentration purely on defensive structures?'

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Dair was learning - which is exactly what Corvus wanted. The second wall was about to be scaled when he added an additional element. 'Good, good,' she offered, 'Being flexible is a good thing.' And as she said that, she started to slowly bang against the wall, seeing how strong it was.

'Initially I would focus on defence. If you allow a Sith access to your emotions, you're metaphorically toast. Once you're very comfortable, you could counter attack. Rely on your defences and see how well protected your opponent is.'

As she spoke to him, she tried a second concurrent attack. This time she added the dimension of digging under the wall.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

Dair felt gratified when the dome appeared to work. He felt pretty safe, though he didn't let his guard down.

'Good, good,' she offered, 'Being flexible is a good thing.' And as she said that, she started to slowly bang against the wall, seeing how strong it was.

As she banged on the wall, he tightened up his focus on it. In the flesh he was beginning to sweat from the unfamiliar strain. This was a whole new type of meditation and his mind wasn't yet used to it.

'Initially I would focus on defence. If you allow a Sith access to your emotions, you're metaphorically toast. Once you're very comfortable, you could counter attack. Rely on your defences and see how well protected your opponent is.' As she spoke to him, she tried a second concurrent attack. This time she added the dimension of digging under the wall.

Mentally, he nodded to himself. He had felt that the right answer would be to not let them in at all if it could be helped, all else being secondary. He felt good to get the confirmation though. Outwardly he took more deep, even breaths. Despite starting to sweat, he was feeling pretty good, as if he was picking this stuff up very quickly. Then Corvus split up, something Dair hadn't been prepared for, and started digging under the wall, also something he hadn't been considering a possibility. He lost whole heart beats as he thought of a way to counter this new attack. He imagined a sub floor of durasteel, starship armor, with cobble stones above it to both look part of the theme and add some weight to the durasteel. His eyes started to feel tight as he kept so many disparate constructs in his mind at once. He felt he only had room for one more, and rather than react to something new, he decided to up the ante himself. He imagined the interior of his wall, conveniently protected from mental wind by his dome, to be filled with thick, cloying fog. The cloying part was merely part of the memory of a time he had been in such a fog, and wouldn't hamper anyone as breathing wasn't necessary. The fog itself, however, would cut visibility to near zero. He closed the doors to the manor behind himself and set himself on the steps leading to the door, concentrating on the five disparate constructs in his mind while keeping track of the two parts of Corvus as best he could.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was now impressed. Each Jedi had differing strengths and weaknesses - it was a foolish Jedi in her opinion that tried to be an expert at every Ability - there was only so much time on the day for practice. But the mental aspect of the Force was clearly a strength of Dair and when she had the chance she would commend him on it.

His addition of the fog was a clever move - anyone trying to infiltrate his mind would become lost if they didn't have their wits about them and that could aid a counter-attack.

'Other than practice, there is genuinely little else I can teach you, so I'll leave your mind now.'

Corvus gently withdrew and opened her eyes. Smiling at the Padawan she now spoke. "When in company, practice this - preferably with strangers. Do not be invasive of course, but just try it out."

"It's great for gaining information. Let's say you need access to a locked door. Plant a doubt in the person's mind that they have mislaid the key. They'll either immediately look for it - revealing where it is, or remember what they did with it. If it's a code-lock, suggest they forgot to lock it. Again, they should bring to the forefront of their memory an image of them keying in the code. You get the idea."

"And it's not much of a step to take this to the level of a Mind Trick. Either plant a need or an emotion, or more strongly a specific command. If they're weak-willed they will always comply. Sometimes for the stronger willed, subtle works best. But regardless, practice works best."

"Now, let's get you back to Ossus so you can construct your saber."

[member="Dair Cotarin"]

 

[H3xle]

The moment the connection broke, Dair's eyes crossed. He wiped at his nose, finding a trickle of blood there and quickly hiding it. He took a moment to let the world come back in to focus. When the world was back in focus, he focused on Corvus and what she had just been saying. It took another minute before he could respond and when he did, his voice was a bit rough.

"I think I'll practice the defense more before I try to engage in mental warfare. If you'd been trying you could have probably broken my wall." He steadied himself with a few deep breaths before standing. He took a moment to focus and remember to try to practice these skills in the future as much as possible. He felt like he had a decent amount of power but little in the way of fine control. As with everything it was the control that he valued more than the power.

"Yes. Back to Ossus." Dair couldn't help but smile and touch the pocket that his crystal lay in.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus smiled and nodded – as she was prone to do. “Practice is what makes the difference – always. And yes, let’s spend some time together on Ossus when you can craft your saber.”

With that she returned her focus to piloting and looked forward to the next day, when her Padawan would have the opportunity to be the first. But the first ‘what’ she wasn’t letting on.

[member="Dair Cotarin"]