Private The Pillars Of Wisdom

[Jamie Pyne]

Just how long had passed before Jamie could sense the girl's resistance to the task fade away she couldn't tell. It had been some minutes though. In truth Jamie believed Juniper might try and shrug off the next attempt with a more elaborate hoax this time. She had already begun preparing a second scolding when finally she felt a genuine calmness in her student.

She opened her eyes and cautiously observed Juniper, a small smile of approval beginning to mark her face.

At first she said nothing, watching as some of the sand began to lift from the ground around them. With enough prodding and correcting of Juniper's less than ideal habits, Jamie was certain that Juniper could become a formidable Jedi. This was a promising start, nonetheless. There were two pieces to this lesson still to be tested however, and one of those were to see if the Padawan had truly listened when Jamie had told her to block out distractions.

"JUNIPER!" She shouted, voice echoing off the ancient stone walls and through the passageways. Perhaps it wasn't exactly fair, as she hadn't explicitly told the girl she would attempt to distract her, however it was still an important part of the lesson to teach. Meditation required concentration and the ability to shut out the world around while still remaining alert enough to respond to dangers. The latter part would come with time and more advanced meditative teachings, but for now she would teach Juniper those three most basic components.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

"Wha!"

The girl's startled screech rang out in response, echoing with her name as she fell backwards. The sand fell in sync, hitting the ground in one solid thunk. She looked around with wild eyes, limbs spread out in panic as she braced for-for- "W-what is it?" She uttered, a vulnerable edge to fight that ruled her. She was so unprepared, her look of shock almost comical.

Almost.

Maybe another day.

Her fright was real.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Nothing." She said, smiling. "Your second task was to block out distractions." The woman extended her hand and the bag she had ripped away from her student slowly floated back down to her feet. "It wasn't fair, I know." The woman reached in and pulled free the water, handing it to Juniper. "But let that be a reminder that training will not be fair at times. Nor will your enemies be likely to fight fairly."

Jamie stood from the ground, lifting her bag and dusting the sand away from her knees while Juniper drank.

"Still, you did mostly what was tasked to you and that deserves recognition. We'll practice this more when we're on the ship in between flights. You'll become a master of it in short order, I'm sure."

She waived a hand for the girl to follow further into the temple. There was one place left that was hopefully still partially in tact that they could explore.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper narrowed her eyes, a pout returning to her lips as she took the water and drank deeply.

Perhaps too deeply.

She knew better, but the lesson on conservation was lost to the childish thrill of getting her back in the small manner. "Only mostly?" She echoed, chasing after Jamie's heel. Her limbs were stiff from her extended sit, the blood flowing back to them in sharp tingles.

"I was there for hours!" Thirty minutes top. "I sweated by brains out-- I lifted all that sand!-- Where are you going?" She protested, stumbling with all the grace of a new born calf trying to stand. Why was sand so difficult.

"I wanna learn, I wanna fight!"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yes. Mostly. Did you break your concentration when I shouted your name after telling you to block out all distractions?"

The woman stopped, turning to watch Juniper slowly catch up to her strides while the sand shifted in each step of her forced march in defiance. "After attempting to deceive me into believing you had completed something you had given no effort in doing the first time?" She turned a corner, her voice echoing off the corridor walls.

"Yes -- Mostly."

Jamie ignored the question as to where she was going. There was no need to include such information as it would simply be another item for the girl to protest, given that it wouldn't involve fighting. Finally she reached a small room. It was well worn by time, barely intact. Sand flooded the room to just below the waist.

Jamie turned, crossed her arms and addressed Juniper.

"If you want to learn, then follow my instructions. Stop pretending. Stop trying to find the easy way out. And for stars sake, stop seeing this as some holoflick montage where you spend five minutes and expect to master a task, while skipping everything that leads up to its mastering. You're not ready to fight anything."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Ah, there it was: Annoyance.

Juniper had seen it on the faces of everyone she pushed to interact with. Her mother, her brother, her teachers, her classmates-- Juniper had a way of pushing buttons and alienating herself from the attention she so craved. The words 'chill pill' were not in her vocabulary, and written across Jamie's face was the very emotion that had kept her so tenuously in check all the way here.

It stung. However earned it was, even after all the buttons she was was well aware she pushed, Juniper's expression coiled in a sense of rejection.

You're not ready to fight anything.

Juniper's mind went blank, emotions taking over as she lashed out and pushed at Jamie's shoulders. Oh just watch her! Like a child in a school yard, the girl pushed again, absolving her emotions with a flurry of violence. She's show her!

She kicked out her feet with the second push, trying to flip Jamie's larger form onto the ground. Yanno. Like the holoflicks.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The first time Juniper pushed her Jamie allowed herself a step back. The woman blinked, and then came the second push, with the added leg sweep. There were a number of ways the elder girl could have handled the tantrum. She could have tossed her about the room telekinetically like a child would throw a doll. She could have drawn her saber and gave her a demonstration full of bruises and minor burns that she wouldn't soon forget. She could have even scared her by lifting her off the ground with a small squeeze at her throat.

That wasn't really the kind of teacher she was though. Jamie wasn't exactly the punishment type. At least, not in that regard.

Instead Juniper would find herself surrounded by a small shimmering orb as she made her second attempt at pushing Jamie. A protective barrier one might use to shield themselves from things such as blasters or lightsabers. It was typically used for those reasons anyway. In this case Jamie had simply used it to trap Juniper inside until she was finished.

Jamie sat in front of the orb and took a sip of water before addressing Juniper.

"You can yell and scream and kick and throw things all afternoon in there, if you'd like. Or you can sit down and think about what I said, and how I explained to you that this was not a game, and it would not be easy. I won't have you throwing tantrums like this."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper's response dispersed in a wave of shock, her extended hand stopped by the the shimmering orb. She had seen all the movies and read all the books. She had floated pencils and watched Jamie raise a temple from the ground. She thought she had seen it all. She was wrong. She turned in a small circle, the orbs light shimmering over her skin. She tried to step out, only to find the light rippled and met her efforts with solid resistance.

"Holy crow," she breathed, completing her circle to find Jamie sat cross legged on the ground. Oh no. Not again. The woman's words were simple and matter of fact, they cut her to the quick. It was off to not have her tantrum be met with a larger response. Something about the explosion always made her feel better. Standing before Jamie and her calm tone, the woman's rational words left her feeling ... vulnerable.

Wrong.

Juniper wrapped her arms around herself, not quite obeying and sitting down. She didn't kick a fit either, though.

"I'm not a child," she stated, her voice low and tight.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie closed and set the canteen between her legs and looked up at Juniper. She again crossed her arms and posed a simple question in response to her firm declaration that she was in fact, not a child. Amusing as it was, given that was the motto every child took to giving themselves. In a way, one that Jamie wouldn't share with her, at least not any time soon, she envied the girl's innocence to the galaxy. The freedom to believe whatever she wanted. It was unfortunate that she would be the one to break that facade of the galaxy.

"Then why act like one?"

The question was rhetorical, the emphasis on the word 'why' meant more to force Juniper to see that Jamie wouldn't be swayed by outbursts, nor would she engage in them by providing any sort of aggressive response to her having them. And while the Jedi could very well keep Juniper in the protection bubble all afternoon, it would be incredibly wasteful of their time to do so. Not only that, but there was only so much water to go around.

"I will give you two choices. You may either follow my instruction from here on out, or, if you insist you are ready to fight, I will give you the opportunity to break out of that bubble. If you can't, you will walk back to the ship alone, at nightfall, with whatever is left in this canteen."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper swallowed hard, Jamie's question ringing through her. She wasn't acting like one. ...Was she?

He flushed her cheeks as she was redirected to look at her behavior, Jamie's rational words earning a moment of clarity from the girl that was still learning her own mind. Well it usually got her her way...

The last of her frustration died out, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she calmed. Now would be the time for an apology, but Jamie gracefully moved one-- and with an ultimatum, no less. Juniper understood that she had earned it, but what Jamie couldn't predict was the bit of excitement the challenge would bring to her.

Her eyes lit up, her expression lighting.

"Can you instruct me on how to break out?" Came the excited request. That... wasn't how ultimatums worked.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"No. If you think you're ready to fight, and that's indeed the case, you do not require my instruction to do so."

She wasn't at all prepared for that sort of response. Jamie half expected her to accept the challenge, or to simply crumble and recognize her mistake. This was some kind of strange behind door number three that she hadn't anticipated. Regardless, that was not going to happen here. This was Juniper's first steps outside of Vlemoth Port. She had barely managed to meditate for the first time, and she was already looking to learn how to break through Force techniques of someone a vast number of years her senior.

"So what will it be?"

In truth there was no way Juniper would be able to walk all the way back to the ship on her own, with what little water they had left. Jamie knew this, but wanted to see just how stubborn the girl would be. As it were they weren't going to make it back with the water they had. Especially if they continued on to finish the final item on Jamie's agenda within the ruins.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Checkmate.

Dammit.

Her excitement crumbled in another wave of disappointment, the girl denied the more pleasant middle ground of more force training instruction. She either listened and waited for whatever next boring starter task Jamie eventually came up with, or she got to play all on her own.

With no help.

She reached out once to test the barrier again, the orb unrelenting as her small muscles flexed. Her expression slowly pinched as she came face to face with her decision. Neither of which was something she wanted. She had always played by herself. A lot. It had gotten her no where. At least with Jamie, she's eventually get somewhere again.

Like she had never floated that much stuff before.

She guessed that was cool.

She dropped her hand in a bout of defeat, the padawan accepting the first offer. Her stubbornness had a line after all, and it kept this from jeopardizing her dream.

She sat down, crossing her legs. "I'll listen...." her voice dragged.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The orb surrounding Juniper dissipated into nothingness just as quickly as it had surrounded her moments before. Jamie held out her hand towards the girl in an offering. There was a smile on her face, though not one of victory or smugness. There was no joy to be had in embarrassing her, or bruising her teenage ego. But it did need to be done so that she understood the importance of the things Jamie taught her.

"I will make a promise to you if you can make one for me."

Seemed fair, and a means to get out of this now awkward tension filling the musty air between them.

"I will never waste your time teaching you things you do not need, nor will I hold back out of amusement or punishment. In turn though, you will listen to what I have to say, and will not try and cheat your way through the things I teach you, or look for loopholes in my words or lessons."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper resisted the urge to roll her eyes, Jamie's words about childish behavior sticking in her brain. She took a deep breath, actively working through her embarrassment. It was only after that mindful effort that she reached out and took Jamie's hand.

"Fine," she grumped, the incident still lingering in her tone. "No more loop holes-- I just really want to do stuff, you know. What if you get mad and send me back tomorrow, this is all I have!" She raised up two fist fulls of dirt, the wonders of their first trip lost on the very prevalent fear that this would be withdrawn from her soon. It might make sense then, to hear her push for more.

She looked up at Jamie, expression pinching in distress. "I really wanna do this."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I knew what I was accepting when I made the decision to take you with me. You are every bit the girl I was when I started. Excited, headstrong, and determined, but easily discouraged and quick tempered. If I gave up on you that would say more about me than you. To not be able to tolerate myself in someone else? Or to teach a reflection of myself would be rather embarrassing to accept."

The whole 'Jedi have no attachments' policy was really one of the only bits of Jedi code Jamie refused to adhere to.

"Cast aside any worry you have of being abandoned or returned to Vlemoth Port. Yes, I will get angry with you sometimes. And you will get angry with me. But you are now an extension of me, and thereby will never be left behind. I will train you to the very best of my ability. When that time is over and I've taught you all that I can, you will decide for yourself your path."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

In the very short span of Juniper's life, no one had said such things to her before. Jamie's promise to stand by her breathed a blanket of comfort around the girl's insecurities. It was so simple for her to believe. Life was still so very black and white for the sheltered girl of Vlemoth Port. A hesitant smile cracked along her lips, words not coming easy. She nodded instead, a trill of excitement rippling through her chest as a weight fell off her shoulders.

Well if that was the case. "I could like, have time to meditate a little more then," she allotted, leaning further into her deal with Jamie. She quickly packed up the woman's bag for her, her own unused on her back. She paused at the canteen, the container uncomfortably light. She gave it a shake, holding it by her ears. She held still, a look of concern loosening the line of her brows.

"Ot-oh."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yeah, that's going to be a problem." She remarked with a mild look of concern with regard to the nearly empty canteen. "We should really head back soon. But before we do, I want you to wade through the sand here into the center of the room. Concentrate. I will not distract you this time, but you must focus with all your ability. Draw the Force to you. From the energy within this temple, from me, from the planet itself."

Jamie was aware that time was growing short and that this would be something that Juniper may not be able to do just yet, or perhaps at all, however the opportunity presented itself and she felt inclined to seize the moment rather than pass it by. She had never been particularly adept at Force Visions herself, but she knew the process, and she was not Juniper. They would inevitably have some differences in talents, and Jamie would see to testing them all in due time.

"Allow the Force to guide you, if that is its will. Let it show you what it can. Another you, another time. Perhaps a future you, a path you could follow."

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

When she said she would meditate more she didn't mean now. She kept this exasperation to herself, still eager and invigorated by Jamie's promise to her. "Wow when people call it space magic they aren't lying," she commented, taking this reveal about visions in stride. She stood up and waded confidently into the chamber, not a doubt in her mind that the task would be done.

She had meditated before, after all. And then she had floated a whole room!

Jamie's attention didn't bother her as she made space for herself in the sand, her hair standing on end as the energy of the room washed over her even now.

"Is this some kinda special space?"

Nevermind that, she jiggled and shimmied until she was comfortable. And then she did so a little more. It wasn't easy for her to calm down enough to repeat what she had done before, but the pattern was easy enough to follow, and now she knew what the end looked like.

Little miss best behavior didn't cut corners or cheat this round. In due time, she finally settled down. In due time after that, she felt the edges of the force again, flooding forward to great her.

She felt the sand around her. She felt Jamie across from her-- like pillar of light, she realized. Her attention could switch to and fro all over the small sphere she was capable of sensing around. One might even say she had taken to the task rather easy... minus the squirming. Said squirming began to creep back up as no vision came to pass. There was just her and the sand and the energy she kept collecting to her like a kid on halloween. She could lift the whole temple up now, she was sure of it!

After another fruitless effort, Juniper finally caved, peeking through her lashing as she asked tightly. "Am I doing it right?"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie silently observed as Juniper finicked about for a few minutes, settling into the task she was given. In short order this time Jamie could sense the pull of the Force toward the center of the room, specifically Juniper. She cracked a small smile, pleased with the newfound seriousness, even if it may not last passed this room.

After several minutes had passed the affirmation came of nothing happening. It wasn't a surprise, but she had wanted to test the possibility regardless.

"Yes, you needn't worry. Visions are a stubborn art. Sometimes they come on their own, other times certain places that are rich in the Force, such as this, allow a more readily available look into them. The ability comes easier to some than others, while not at all for some."

The woman smiled at Juniper for the effort given.

"I've never been much for them myself, but we were here, and it'll be some time before we're at another place like this so it was worth a shot."

The majority of the temple that remained was dangerous to traverse, too dangerous for Jamie to feel confident bringing Juniper any further. That, and their lack of proper equipment for that sort of endeavor meant they would need to be getting back to the ship anyhow.

"Let's head back. I'll get R5 on the comm and have him pick us up in the ship. Walking back isn't an option."

She had intended to have the droid pick them up from the beginning, but no sense in making the trip seem any easier than necessary.

Juniper

 

[Juniper]

Juniper's jaw dropped.

"You mean you coulda flown him here this. Whole. Time?" U gotta b kidding me. She kicked up some sand, scrambling to her feet and diving for the pack of water. It was nothing short of melodramatic, sand sticking to the sweat beading down her face, but to say this whole trip had been hard was an understatement.

"Waaaaaaaaaater."