Pyramid of Light

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Both were skills that she used and was familiar with, taking the time to learn how to use them and prepare herself before she was moving with some more ideas around. "Both of which are very good skills to be able to use. The white current is different compared to many forms of the force and relies on knowing how to focus your mind to the point you can work illusions better then most. Hide yourself within the force is something few can really do..... THe jedi order had several users for a time who made it a technique that their favored would be using to the exclusion of others. I worked to learn from the Fallanassi elders because I got tired of the attitude many seemed to give." She said it while they were walking and she touched the rocks while looking at it and showing many of the properties. "The art of the small though is a great way to learn the properties and composition of materials and also how to hide your force presence from people but it can take some understanding."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened. She often wondered how she could create more time – as there were so many abilities to learn and practice but so little time. She did not want to be a master of none, but nor did she want to be ignorant of the majority of the opportunities open to a Jedi. But the two she had mentioned were ones that particularly interested her.

She nodded as her Master concluded sharing what she knew. “I was aware that the Fallanassi spent a lifetime working with the White Current and was never in a position where I was foolish enough to expect to be able to replicate their knowledge and retain my expertise with my other abilities. But to hide myself in the Current? That is something I would appreciate learning. I will never learn to hide an entire building – but something less taxing is something I would look to work towards. And it is the same with the Art of the Small. I do not anticipate becoming an expert, just a practitioner. I suspect my development will be towards the role of Guardian. Abilities that aid that are the ones I shall focus on. And that includes avoiding conflict as much as ending it.”

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu looked at her with a nod of her head to that idea. She could teach her padawan plenty about it while she was walking over some of the things. "Well then there are ways to teach such skills and teach a number of things that can go with it." THe jedi master continued to walk while providing some direction before she raised an eyebrow and started working on a couple of things her finger tracing on her robe. "The first steps in learning the white current is to see it, before anything can begin from learning illusions to immersing yourself into the current. You need to be able to see the white current inscriptions on an object or a wall by meditating and focusing your mind."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel kept her attention attuned to the Force whilst she listened to her Master. She had questions of course, so as soon as her Master stopped speaking, she asked away.

“I can see the Force, that feels entirely natural to me. But how do I see the White Current? Is it an aspect of the Force or something entirely different?”

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu looked at her with a nod of her head and that was a good idea that they would be able to work with in some of the cases as she walked. "It is and it isn't, the white current uses the force but it is a different aspect that not many understand. You are able to focus with your mind to allow yourself to remain focused, to reach out and expand with your senses." She stayed with it and held the inscribed section as it glowed green in her vision but was invisible to others. "IT starts by quieting your mind and slowly peeling back the layers within the force until you are able to see the world. Then you will be able to see it or not. THe first step to learning it and seeing if you have the innate skills."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel was innately aware that her Master was in some way using the White Current right now. How she knew, she had no idea – but she knew well enough not to question and to go with her instinct in these matters.

“I am used to meditation but typically that brings me closer to the Force. More in tune with it, so that it fills me and I almost become one with it. Clearly I need to adapt my approach.”

Sorel closed her eyes and quited her mind, in much the same way as she always did when she wanted to connect deeply with the Force. Initially she felt and sensed only the Force. And a thought popped unbidden into her mind. If the Current and the Force were separate things, and that was apparently true, they still had to co-exist. In the way that a current was different from the ocean in which it flowed. Separate yet connected. Individual yet one.

After a few more moments, Sorel began to sense something other than the Force flowing past her, a feathery touch. Unlike the Force, it had not joined in but instead felt more like the sea – a flow that surrounded her. Tentatively she opened herself to it just as she would have to the Force, and it began to ripple through her, to fill her with a sensation of warmth and contentment. Finally she surrendered herself to the current, let herself become a part of its flow and the flow to become a part of her.

It was all she could do not to shout out with excitement – for she knew instinctively it would break the link. Her eyes remained closed but she could see. And she saw things not as they appeared, but as they truly were.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Sorel was doing very well with it all, focused, keen eyes and her mind was allowing her to feel the force all around her and within the current. Matsu wasn't using it in a way that would be major but showing the inscriptions on the stone as she could feel the weight of it and it was warm in her hand by now. She still held it. "Now with your mind focused and body calm, open your eyes and search for the inscriptions that were made from the white current. If you can see them you'll be able to dispel them." She held the rock in front of her while going but there was space all around them and you could make them anywhere if you needed to on the surface.

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel felt comforted that she was able to sense the White Current and, as far as she could tell, immerse herself in it the way she did with the Force. But she was acutely aware she had no control over it and was entirely unsure how she should interact with it.

So she latched on to her Master’s words for any grain of instruction that would help her. Being this close to a solution was almost worse than struggling to find the White Current.

She opened her eyes as her Master indicated and was delighted to see the inscriptions that her Master had mentioned. She could see them glowing where she knew there had been nothing to see before. She was viewing things how they were, not how they appeared. That much she understood. But the next step was initially beyond her.

Seeing them was one thing. Dispelling them was another. She focused on the words but could neither feel nor sense a way to interact with them. Perhaps she should consider the White Current just like the Force and interact with it in the same manner. Or perhaps that would be the precise opposite of what she should do? Unsure, and knowing that a lack of self-belief was likely to be the ultimate blocker in achieving anything, she spoke.

“Master. I see them but genuinely do not know how to touch them, or to erase them. Help me, please.”

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu looked at Sorel and gave a nod as the girl seemed to be doing it and could see them but well getting rid of the script was different somewhat. "It is alright, seeing them is the first step and..." She trailed off showing with her finger while she ran it through one of the letters. "Getting rid of them is a simple process, it is not ink it is not paint it is force energy you can disrupt it when you can see it with anything on yourself." She was waiting there and the ore was wonderful to test but serving the purpose of teaching was nice. She had some hope in what it would be able to do for Sorels learning experience this far into it.

 

[Sorel Crieff]

The concept that the writing was, in essence, Force energy was both helpful and confusing in equal measures. It explained to her why it was only visible when immersed in White Current and she knew instinctively how it was created. But the drawback was that her knowledge was theoretical as opposed to practical.

She was used to working with the Force – and using it to influence the natural world – but to change the Force itself? Or in this case the White Current? It filled her with apprehension and she knew instinctively it would bleed into self-doubt and so failure was inevitable.

So she pushed that hesitancy out of her mind – although she also knew that a positive outlook was never a guarantee of success either. But she was invariably determined and so pressed on, accepting failure was just a stepping stone to success. She reached out with her mind, looking to touch the writing in some way. She could feel the stone and something else. That ‘something else’ she presumed was the White Current, or more specifically the writing. Gently, carefully, she touched it, caressed it, sensed it. But that was as far as she could go for now, she failed to grasp how she was to erase the writing. She pushed negative thoughts out of her mind and continued to investigate and explore the writing but also ready and willing to take instruction from her Master should it come.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu was looking at Sorel and gave her a small look as they were doing a whole lot of the work before she was speaking with a nod of her head. "Yes now it is just kind of like foam from the ocean. You don't need something great or special just once you feel it and touch it swirl it around and it will begin to disperse." Matsu was walking and showing the rest of the training for it was different. you could do a lot with the white current if you knew the details of what you wanted to do and you could do more with the information for it until she was prepared setting up some of the things. "THe white current is there and for others it is not physical except in their mind, for the ones using it you are able to feel it and then swirl it around to disperse it."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and took in her Master’s words. It sounded entirely reasonable and to that end, it gave her confidence the solution was within her. Which was invariably more than half of the battle when it came to using the Force.

She stretched out her fingers, feeling the White Current flowing through her, and touched the writing, just as if she was reaching out to a flimsi with words on it. But nothing happened.

Undeterred, Sorel merely saw this as a way that the White Current didn’t work, and so tried a different approach. This time she reached out as if touching words etched in sand. Unlike printed characters, sand writing was easily amended and to her delight, she was able to rub the writing away as easily as the analogy allowed.

She turned her attention back to Matsu. “Thank you Master,” she said simply before listening to her Master’s teachings once more.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Sorel was doing very well when it came to the things that they were doing, she had prepared herself for many of the things when the desert was there and the shape of the ship in the distance. Sorel was proving to be skilled and in the jedi masters opinion she was nearly ready to take the trials of knighthood. She wanted to work with more of it and develop or refine what skills she had when they were pushing forward with the force training. "You are doing well and we will work on making sure all of your lessons here have taken to you and your abilities before we head out. A team will be sent in to search the world and look it over." She stayed there with a hand while working on many of the things. "

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel bowed her acknowledgement to her Master’s words. If she was doing well, it was because her Master had dedicated time and effort into developing her – both her abilities and her broader knowledge. And she’d also kept her on the straight and narrow, which given their recent proximity to so many who practised the dark-side – she was delighted at.

“I appreciate the opportunity to work on my skills, Master. I always believed that diligence and application were the keys to success. I may not have the widest repertoire of skills for my age, but I focus on what I know to ensure competence even under extreme pressure.”

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu looked at her with a nod of her head and acknowledgement of the major parts. "That is good, once we are near the ship you'll be able to try your hand at using the lessons you learned here and show you can understand them. No real rush, no limits just relax and remember what you have been taught." Matsu walked when the ship was closer to them and in the desert it was a rather nice sight. Cooler night air was coming for them as it was starting to get darker and more shade around the area. The moon peeking out when they arrived with the clouds and moonlight there before she was standing there with a nod of her head. "It is very cool now so lets see what you remember."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel walked and listened. They had been on the planet only a short while but it felt like a very long time in another sense – and she had to think hard about what she’d learned since she’d been there.

There were two significant lessons she’d had with her Master and both were definitely work in progress. The first was the manipulation of elements through the Force and the second was White Current.

The coolness of the evening and the tranquillity of the moonlight were excellent at providing a calm atmosphere for demonstrating what she’d learned so far. So Sorel glanced around and realised that the sand was the obvious medium to demonstrate the first lesson. She connected to the Force and for a brief moment her mind was so calm and blank, she struggled to think of what to do with the sand. But an idea popped into her head – and so she went with it.

Sorel was still learning the ability, and so needed to concentrate – and she was also aware she used her hands extensively, which would be a definite ‘tell’ if she was looking to use in combat, but she was a Padawan and developing the ability after all.

So her hands swirled in tight circles and around the two Jedi, the sand was whipped up. Soon they were surrounded by a vertical tunnel of sand that would possibly serve as a shield against the most invasive of projectiles or weapons. She was inwardly pleased that she’d found a new use for the ability.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

Matsu watched her as she was standing there prepared to work on what they had, she wanted to ensure that Sorel was doing well and developing herself into an impressive jedi padawan who would become a knight. she had been going over the different things the two fo them had done, she knew Sorel went off on her own adventures and discovered a number of things for herself to have done the trials as well. There was also her work in times when the jedi order were going to different worlds or with different jedi. She provided a number of ideas when she was walking around Sorel who was working to show some of her own skills that she would be able to practice. "You are doing very good and have done well here, we have many things we can work with."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel allowed the sand to drop and entered into the White Current. This was something she was still finding a challenge and was not entirely sure if she was immersing herself in it, or merely able to observe it. She suspected it was the latter for now, but she also knew that with time and practise, she would undoubtedly develop her command of utilising it.

“Are we finished here Master?” she asked. It had been a most fruitful journey and she was aware that it was unfair to monopolise her Master’s time.


[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

"For now we are yes but that does not mean we are done. There will be a small surprise when we return to the temple but there is always a new journey to make, always a new place to explore and if we do it correctly we will be able to discover a great many new and exciting things." Matsu stayed there with a grin on her face while she opened the ship and she did want to try and give Sorel some works she could do. "Should you wish to learn more about the white current, there are two people I know who are skilled. Arya who is the Silver overseer on Malachor V, we haven't been in contact with her for years but she is very good an an elder of the talent. The other is my cousin Junko. She is trained and specializes in the skills as well as magic."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel nodded her appreciation at her Master’s help.

“I should like to learn more about the White Current definitely and so I shall seek one, if not both of those you have mentioned. I always like to get as many perspectives on these things as possible. And a trip to Malachor V seems a good thing to consider. I understand the Silver Jedi are considering a mission there.”

[member="Matsu Ike"]