Target Practice Eclipses All Else

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori didn't quite turn into a blubbery mess in front of Kahlil Noble . Her cheeks just got very wet as her tears streamed down. She gathered up her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her forehead on top of her knees, making herself as small as possible, but also to hide herself too.

So much pressure was on her and it was only in having a moment to herself that she realized how much of that pressure she put on herself. It was all her fault, wasn't it?

After many moments, Lori lifted her head and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "Sorry...I couldn't stop it..."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"It's nothing to be sorry about." A kind smile was all Kahlil could offer Loreena Arenais-Valhoun now. They were friends, but only just. All these troubles she'd been through he hadn't been there for, so he simply felt he didn't have the right. That, and he did kind of terrorize her father and her. Even with all the time that had passed, he still felt awkward about it.

"Let yourself feel them. Your emotions. If you want to be Jedi, you're going to have to eventually."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"I suppose so. I just...." Lori wasn't so certain that she'd make a good Jedi. She lacked the discipline, having chose to run from it instead. In doing so she had tried to accomplish great things like the rest of her family. But she hadn't been able to do so. Instead she just disappointed them all. There was no reason for them to be proud of her. And now most were dead. "...oh, nevermind."

She dropped her knees so that she was sitting cross-legged once more, and rested her hands on them. Lori wished that her Dad was there so that she could have his guidance. His voice was always so soothing. But Kahlil Noble would have to do. He was gentle in his own way and that helped.

Now Lori felt more at peace with herself and ready to be able to focus.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

He offered a smile, trying to encourage Loreena Arenais-Valhoun to open up about whatever it was she was feeling. They were in this together now. Him as her master. Kahlil nearly laughed at the thought. What would Veiere think of a wayward Zambrano teaching his daughter how to use the Force? Really, he was just as uncertain as she was. He called himself a Jedi, but Kahlil was still young. He wasn't part of an order, hell, he left the order Veiere was in. But here he was. Here they both were.

When she settled down he stood back up to sit where he had been. He took a single, calming breath. There was no time for doubt now. "It's a struggle, to find peace within yourself. That's the core of it all. That's what makes a Jedi powerful. No matter what they feel or how wrong everything is, they stay calm. It's not an easy thing, but meditation like this helps. Just focus on breathing and listening to the world around you."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Staying calm.

Lori wasn't known for that. She was impulsive and reckless. Everyone knew that, didn't they? Yet she was also a goofball. Or rather used to be. It wasn't too long ago when she'd be up early to set up booby traps and prank her friends and family. Now all of that was gone. Those skills were instead being used in battle.

She took in another deep breath and let it out slowly. It was nice, quiet and isolated here. There was no worries for the Empire or their agents to come and disrupt them. And that in and of itself was wonderful. Lori had to take in whatever she could in the time that she had. Kahlil Noble was either lucky or unlucky at taking it upon himself to teach her.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil stayed silent for a good long while. This was more than enough for him to relax and feel okay, but it was really just a test to see how long Loreena Arenais-Valhoun could stay still. And to think about where in the world he'd go from here. Honestly, the second he stopped talking was the second he no longer knew how to actually teach her anything. Eventually he would speak up again, but only after he thought he had enough time to think.

"Do you feel it? Not just the wind and everything else I said before. The Force. How it flows around us."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori did her best to not let her mind wander too much as they sat there silently. She kept waiting for Kahlil Noble to give her her next set of instructions, yet he just sat there. Or rather she figured that he was sitting there. Her eyes were closed.

At his words, Lori nodded. Although she wasn't being entirely truthful at first. That is until she started to visualize it. Like ripples in a pond, she pictured the Force moving outwards from them, yet still flowing with it's own current. It was almost hypnotic, like watching flames dancing. Just picturing that made her feel even more relaxed.

And quiet!

 

[Kahlil Noble]

The fact she'd remained so quiet for so long actually made Kahlil worried. He opened his eyes to watch her, only to let out a relieved sigh when he figured it out. This sort of thing, it was actually working for Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . A soft smile formed as Kahlil closed his eyes once more. He let himself tap into the Force, letting it flow around him once again. Enjoying the peace.

"Bring it into yourself. That flow. Become one with it. You are the Force. The Force is you. Don't be alarmed if you're no longer on the ground. It's something that happens."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori nearly jumped as Kahlil Noble spoke again. Nearly. Instead it just caught her attention. His idea of her being one with the Force wasn't something that she wanted to be right now. Isn't that what happens when you die? Or rather, when Jedi die? Surely it happened to her Dad, but more than likely it didn't happen with her Mom. Of course she couldn't be certain of any of that, for she hadn't felt either of them through the Force. But that didn't mean anything. She just wasn't chosen to be able to contact them.

She held her breath for a moment and then let it out slowly, continuing to picture what she did before; that of a current flowing around her and almost through her. But always moving. There was no floating from her to be had, however. At least not that she was aware of. The currents weren't moving her that way. As far as she could tell, Lori was as sturdy as a rock.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Good. Not floating, but you can feel it, right? The Force. Reach out around you. Feel it. Try and affect it. Your.. Arrows. Yeah." Kahlil reached out to pull one of her arrows out of the quiver and set it on her lap so she wouldn't have to leave this state. "Feel it. That light you do, channel it. Focus it into the arrow head. Make it glow." Yeah, that made sense to teach Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . She said she wanted to try that anyway, and it could help her learn how to better use the Force in the process.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori frowned a little in self disappointment. Was she supposed to be floating? Was she a failure if she wasn't? Thinking back she couldn't remember seeing people floating. Not even her Dad. She never saw him float even once. His meditations always had him firmly planted on the ground. Maybe he saved it for when she wasn't around? There was no way to know about that now.

Kahlil Noble instructed her to make the arrow light up. But how to do that? Creating a ball of Light in the air was easy. She just moved the air particles really fast. But how to do that with the arrow without destroying it's structure? Hmmm....

Lori did what she could think of first, which was to create a little ball of Light beside the arrow. It took seconds for the ball to be produced. Moving it with the Force, she sent it to the arrow tip and hoped that she could get it to be absorbed. But she didn't want to open up her eyes just yet to see. Instead she just waited to hear Kahlil's reaction. Either she succeeded, or was about to light the arrow on fire. It had to be one of the two.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

It didn't exactly work the way Loreena Arenais-Valhoun wanted it to. Especially as the arrow started to melt. Kahlil, taken by surprise by the fact the arrow actually started to heat up, reached out to snatch the arrow and toss it to the ground before getting up to stamp out the fire that had started. Soon as it was, Kahlil let out a relieved sigh. "Right. Uh. Well. That gives me a better idea on where to start though." He flashed a confident smile to try and hide his own nervousness. He really had no idea how to train someone well.

Actually.

He retook his seat, no longer trying to hide his nerves. "So, I'll be honest. I've never actually trained anyone before. Not for long, at least. There's a lot I'm still trying to figure out. But we can figure it out together, right? I know I keep saying 'to be a Jedi' and whatever, but that's not a path you have to take. I can show you how to use the Force and I will. But you don't need to be my padawan or anything."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

The sudden action caused Lori to open up her eyes. It was quite the shock to see Kahlil Noble stomping out the arrow. Obviously she didn't do what she was supposed to. "Sorry...I'm used to just...making light. I'm guessing it was the wrong kind."

As he admitted his own lack of experience, she gave a bit of a small shrug, followed by a wayward smile. "I don't have the discipline to be a Jedi. I never have. I tried once....but I couldn't hack it. Not even with my Dad as my Master. I failed him and I'd probably fail you too. But if I can manage to learn something, then it isn't really a total failure."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil listened for a moment, then started to laugh. He couldn't help himself. He smiled warmly and shook his head before he stood up and offered a hand to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . "Well, I failed to be what my father wanted, and I failed to be the Jedi Veiere was going to help me become. I guess we're both a bit of a failure in one way or another. Doesn't mean we can't do better." With her standing he'd nod to the targets.

"So let's do something different. Draw back an arrow. Focus on your target. I imagine you go into a state of calm when you ready a shot, yes?"

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori took Kahlil Noble 's hand and got to her feet. She raised a brow in reaction to some of which he had to say. "My Dad was teaching you too?" She knew that he had a lot of students at the Academy, yet she didn't think that she'd actually run into any of them. It was quite the shock.

The next sort of instructions came pretty easily. Lori merely nodded and took an arrow out of her quiver before picking up her bow. She knocked the arrow on the string and drew it up, leveling her line of site and aim to the target of Eskk Jannik . And then she waited.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Not directly. But he did oversee me for a bit. Being a Zambrano, there was quite a suspicion on me for a while. It was because of him I was allowed to join, actually." The younger Dragonsflame brother was the one who taught him, at least for a bit. Life had a way of changing, though. He stood beside Loreena Arenais-Valhoun , watching her before looking to the target. "We'll avoid trying the light. You know how to create those spheres. You can feel the Force. Focus on that feeling. The Force. Make it stronger in the tip of your arrow. Channel it."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori could see her Dad looking for the good in Kahlil Noble and encouraging his training. Her Dad had gone Dark himself for a time, as did her Mom. They knew the value of redemption.

"Feeling? When I make my balls of Light, I just imagine the air molecules moving really quickly. What would I be imagining is being done to the arrow?" She didn't want to catch it on fire afterLl. Especially as she was holding it at her face.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"That's.. Certainly the scientific approach." Kahlil kept his laugh down. Truthfully he'd of been far too nervous if he did laugh now. When he was a Sith, that was much of how he used the Force. Science, not feeling. Now it was the opposite. It suddenly dawned on him just how hard it would be to teach Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . Not because she was hard to teach, but because he couldn't explain how he used his power as a Sith.

It'd only bring him too close to those memories.

"How did it feel when you made those spheres?"

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori lowered her bow and arrow a bit as Kahlil Noble asked her how she felt when she made her balls of Light. How did she feel? She had to really, really, really, really think about it. Mostly she was just acting on instinct and given that it was a skill that she mastered when she was really young, she didn't have to worry about thinking about it so much. She could just....do.

"I dunno Kahlil. Confidence? I mean, I know that I can make the Lights, so there's never any question about it. It's not really any different than how one feels doing a loop-da-loop in a fighter."

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Probably not, but that's all the more reason to think of that feeling. Even if it's something minor." Kahlil tapped the side of his head, offering a smile. Sometimes it was a matter of head space. Of what she believed herself capable of and what she didn't. "The only thing holding yourself back is your doubt. You don't have to be your father or brother. Just believe in yourself."