Dagobah

[Guest]

Soren stood in amazement as his new Jedi friend was able to control the movement of the trees. He took his place in the freshly crafted seat and sat in position as his master did. Patience and focus were things he would need to practice, and now was the time.

 

The two sat in silence, but it soon became evident that true silence would not be achieved. The birds and insects were chirping. A soft stream could be heard in the background. All of these were distractions. Still, Soren did his best to focus. In his mind he pictured the same rock from the ship. He recalled the distinct contours of its shape, and then remembered how eventually he was able to peer deeper than surface level. With training he would be able to analyze individual molecules. For now he allowed his mind to empty of everything but the stone. Soon even the stone faded away until his thoughts were blank.

 

Then, in the silence of emptiness, he heard for the first time the faintest whispers of the Force. They were muffled and faded, barely audible, but they were there. He knew if he learned to listen deeper they would speak to him. With his eyes closed he slowly was able to see. Shapes and outlines of the things around him began to take form. Glowing most brightly was his master Roene. As birds and bugs flew by they shimmered with light and zipped away. Even the trees and vines gave off a radiance. Although he did not completely understand he could feel the Force flowing through these things as was taught to him.

 

Still with his eyes closed he spoke to Roene, "Master, if the Force is everywhere, in the rocks that sit without ever having breathed life, and in the trees that grow and die, is the Force alive?"

[Roene Givrah]

After a moment of silence, Roene hung his head down a little lower and smiled a simple smile. The air around them, although thick and murky, began to settle and wash away Roene's misgivings from the past year. He was finally able to take a deep and meaningful breath which hid no abstract joy from his weary mind.

 

"Well padawan, it seems you have hit the golden question," Roene said, his chilled blue eyes of sapphire resting behind their lids. "It is a question that I myself struggled with for some time and one that no real master can hold the answer to, because the force is still a mystery to even those as practiced as the highest in our order. Everyone has their own interpretation, everyone claims that their way is right, but does anyone truly know what the force is?" Roene asked. The echoes of his voice questioned the world around them. The stillness of the air cowed and relented at this blatant interrogation for no answer came. A few minutes of silence held more truth to Roene's statement than he could provide on his own and after the air was clear once more, Roene cleared his throat and continued.

 

“My interpretation is this: the force is both alive and not alive. It is whatever it needs to be to accomplish its purpose. It comprises living things and things that we perceive as ‘dead, ‘ but even as it comprises such ‘dead’ things, it does not grant them sentience. In life, the force proves a bringer of life and a destroyer of life. It makes up the things that live, but wreaks havoc on the bodies of those that abuse it. In ‘death’ or, ‘inaction,’ the force provides the means of existence.” Roene said, holding softly the lids over his eyes as he made soft flourishing movements with his hands. He brought his hands together to form a ball and then slowly started to move them around in the air in front of him, surging and flowing with a glowing energy that blinked in both the world of mortal eyes and those that could see past limitation.

 

“Now, what is life? Is life purely the existence of living cells in the body? Or is it the sentience that we are accustomed to? If you were to ask me, everything is alive. Even in states of death, organisms and creatures feed and perpetuate things that live.” Roene’s hands fell slowly back to his legs and he sighed, allowing the air around himself to cool several degrees. “The force is everything, and everything is alive, so I would say to you that, in my opinion, the force is alive. There is no death, there is the force.”

 

A few moments passed and a stir in Roene’s ward pricked his attention. The hairs on his neck started to stand and his eyes immediately started open. His head, although still calm, tilted toward the east and some part of his smile sunk into a look of mild concern. “It seems we have company.”

 

His expression changed slightly and Roene stood within the circle habitat around them and stared out eastward, feeling the range with his hands. He stepped a little past the perimeter of the great tree, then stuck his hands out and slowly clenched his fists together. The motion was fluid in the breeze of Dagobah’s acrid marsh thickness, but strain was present on Roene’s face. He wrapped his wrists in effort and eventually drew his arms back to his chest, levitating what looked to be a large and angry beast toward the camp.

 

The beast was bound by the hands and the legs and as soon as it came into view, floating as it was, Tyue started barking at it feverishly. Roene put a single hand out to calm Tyue and returned to his chore until the beast rest within a foot or two of Roene’s body.

 

Irritation was wrought on its large scaly face and Roene could plainly see that this was an errand of hunger, not of malice. Such was the errand of a lonely beast and such was an errand that Roene could understand. He had made a priority of hunting when he was alone in the woods and knew what living without food was like. The Cerean stuck his right hand out and placed it on the beast’s head. The beast almost bit Roene’s hand off, but at the touch of Roene’s pale fingers, the animal calmed. His eyes grew distant and he seemed to cry a little underneath his predator’s stare. Passion filled his amber eyes and he was a bit more docile than he was when he broke through the underbrush. Roene paused, nodding his head slightly and when the beast seemed to calm down, Roene pointed out west with his opposite hand and looked deeply into the predator’s eyes.

 

“Great beast, you have no quarrel with us. Please find food elsewhere. I understand your hunger, but ours is not the food you want. There lay a pack of mammal like creatures in that direction. Do not eat more than your fill and you may yet have more if your appetite demands it. Now go.” Roene said quietly to the animal as it floated barely a foot from his face.

 

Then, in the barest wink of an eye, the predator gently fell to the floor and then wandered off into the woods, wagging his tail between his legs, but without shame or disappointment.

 

“That should help for a little while. Now where were we…” Roene said, his smile returning.

[Guest]

Soren hadn't yet studied the Force so the views of his master were the first he had heard. They would most likely take root deep in his subconscious. That is often how it is, some of the greatest teachers shaped by those who mentored them. It did make a bit of sense though. There had to be something behind everything.

 

The young Jedi couldn't sense the beast in the distance but became aware of it as Roene brought it closer to them. It was stunning how he was able to control something so large, in a physical sense, and then in a mental way. His teacher seemed at peace and not intimidated by the violent creature. Soren pondered this. In his relaxed state he had an easier time understanding things. If we were all part of the same Force then this creature wasn't really an enemy of his.

 

But was everybody on the same team?

 

"Another question then, Master. If we are all part of the same Force, if it is everything and brings life to the animate and inanimate together, then why are there conflicts in its body? And what do you mean by abuse? Who is abusing the Force? Is that why there have to be Jedi?"

[Calmin Ayion]

Calmin didn't much enjoy be stranded for days, as it took him nearly months to get his ship, the Supremacy out of the trees. But by the time he did, he had come full circle to hate the blasted Force for the very curse it had placed upon him. So without wasting time, the Miraluka got his ship ready and blasted off the slimy mud hole towards the credit pit of the Outer Heaven, the space station that he had come to own. He would now spend his life making credits for the sole purpose of becoming the most powerful man in the galaxy.

[Roene Givrah]

"Another question then, Master. If we are all part of the same Force, if it is everything and brings life to the animate and inanimate together, then why are there conflicts in its body? And what do you mean by abuse? Who is abusing the Force? Is that why there have to be Jedi?"

 

"You have so many questions and truth be told, there isn’t really one concrete answer." Roene said silently. His smile didn't fade, but his eyes wandered through the fog to what looked like a small nearby river. He indicated with a small motion of his hand that Soren should follow and then started off in the direction of the river. "Since I have started you down my mythos however, I will continue to provide you with my thoughts. Take them as you will, and feel free to disagree with me."

 

The Cerean looked around with a small shift of his pale blue eyes and could barely make anything audible from the fog that billowed out around them. It was murky, it was green and more importantly, to even an untrained sense of smell, the stink of the area was clearly profound. "As I said before and you so echoed, 'the force is everything and brings life to the animate and inanimate.' It gives us life and provides us with the life we use every day. Even the 'non-force using species' have the force flowing through them, they just have no reason or no way to siphon or control that potential. Now, for the benefit of clarity, I will use a metaphor or an allegory to explain the latter half of this answer." Roene continued as the pair approached the river that was indicated earlier. He pointed a long and pale finger toward it and began talking once again. "Picture the force as a large river. Everyone and everything in the galaxy flows down this river; everyone and everything in this galaxy feeds off of the momentum and energy that the river provides as it moves onward. Now, picture the same river, but with a large rock impeding its progress." Roene illuminated the river with a pale blue light to provide more visibility. The light grew from the small flow and hung in the loose fog that continued to pour out at their feet.

 

Then, with the mention of a rock, Roene lifted a nearby rock with his mind and set it in the middle of the small river before them. The water - that was now filled with a faint blue glow - immediately began to split into two separate groups. The flow of the water was compromised by the interruption, but it seemed to flow even faster to move past the obstruction. "The river has nowhere to run, correct? Therefore, the river must carve new paths around the rock, creating an enormous amount of tension on the rock itself and the areas surrounding it. This provides the rock with a great deal of potential energy." Roene stuck his hand down toward the rock and knelt toward the river to help his instruction. "However, this increase in tension will cause the speed of erosion toward the rock to accelerate and the opportunity to gain more energy then becomes something that will eventually destroy the rock entirely. Yes, erosion will still take years to profoundly affect the rock, but in time, even the strongest bonds break and the biggest rocks can fall." Roene's last words faded with a somber hollowness that drifted only a foot or so from his face.

 

"This is what I talk about when I talk about the Sith." Roene continued, getting to his feet. The Cerean's smile had shrunk into a flat line, but he betrayed no clear emotion behind it. "The Sith are like us. We are both things that exist in the river. However, we as Jedi exist in the river and let it - as well as ourselves - flow through the channel with ease. We give ourselves to the mouth of the river when it falls into the ocean, because we accept death as an eventuality. We do not fear it as a damning reality. We live our lives by the force and thus must give ourselves back someday in return for our debt. Some Jedi, and a great deal of the Jedi Order would have you believe that we are the guardians of the force and that we defend society and order to protect it, but their attempts at protecting society are no better than their blind judgment. They see their knowledge and wisdom as an endless font and seem to have an answer for anything, when in reality they can't see much further than their noses. If a Jedi doesn't see the galaxy and insists on remaining in one spot for too long, they lose sight of what it truly means to be a Jedi."

 

"The Sith on the other hand; they oppose the flow of the river and stand as rocks in the relentless tide, threatening to disrupt balance as I have demonstrated here. In the end however, the force works against them. The lie of more power and freedom from death proves attractive to those who fear giving themselves up and in the end, they destroy themselves." Roene said. Then, with a small acceleration of the water's flow he showed that - in time - the water would have pushed the rock down the path and sent it careening to whatever fate awaited it, regardless of its struggle. "The interesting part about Sith though, is that they are an agent of free will. Thousands of books couldn't tell you exactly what a Sith is and how they will act. I have read many things, but it is what I have seen that ultimately defines my opinion of the Sith -- I have seen many things in the galaxy and although I haven't seen everything, you don't have to see too much of one thing to form an opinion about it. Sith have a remarkable will to stand up to even the 'natural order' of things and question their existence. They live by their passions and ride through their lives in chaotic bounds of happiness and freedom. The only problem, is that their passions aren't consistent. One Sith will enjoy the company of many women in order to relieve stress, while the next will sate his rage or misery by destroying an entire city. There is no way to tell with someone who lives through free will. That is why the Sith are dangerous."

 

"As to your other questions, 'is this why there have to Jedi?' and 'why are there conflicts in its body?' These are simple.” Roene let the glow from the river fade and then etched a glowing symbol in the air between them. It looked like a large circle with an ‘S’ in the middle and two dots on either side. Roene completed the image by making the left region and right dot glow, and letting the right region of the circle and the left dot remain empty. “This symbol, although repeated in various mythologies and religions throughout the galaxy, has the same meaning throughout. Balance...”

 

Roene took a small step away from Soren and let his glowing image fade. He looked off into the deepening afternoon murk and heard as the evening whispered its greeting to the fading light. “Things happen every day without our control, Yes? The clouds give us rain and science tells us why. Does that change the fact that you are in the middle of a storm on a day that was forecast as nice and sunny? No. Can science explain exactly when it will rain? No. Will it ever be able to offer a one hundred percent reading of weather forecasts? More than likely, no, even if people boast that it does. Nature, life, humanity... Everything, exists in chaos. There are times where we can say that things are at peace, but even at peace, things are in chaos. Peace begets conflict and conflict begets peace. The arrogance of Jedi insisting that ‘there is no chaos, there is harmony’ is not shared by me. Chaos and harmony exist in tandem. If you try to resist chaos and push for peace, you only bring chaos, or more chaos. If you try to sustain harmony, you may only risk causing chaos to come once more. The force is the ultimate judge; it is infinite, it is ruthless, it is objective, and it will not back down.”

 

Roene took a deep breath and the thin line he wore on his face before became a soft smile with barely any accent present on the corners of his lips. “So when you say that ‘there have to be Jedi’? That is not true. There don’t have to be Jedi as much as there don’t have to be Sith. The existence of the Jedi propagated the existence of the Sith. Granted, as I have learned and many have told me, regardless of their origins, the Sith will never relent on their want for freedom. However, what will happen if they are granted their freedom? What will happen if no one fights them and all the Jedi give up? Will the Sith win a war if there is no one to fight? Will their passions be sated if they are allowed to win, or will their victories be soured through the lack of effort and strain? The Sith have a want that comes from the Jedi and the existence of the Jedi physically denies their right to freedom. The existence of the Sith threatens the existence of the Jedi and thus threatens what the Jedi hold as sacred, which is the 'order of the galaxy', first and foremost. It is a never ending war and a battlefield that stretches eons through time.” Roene knelt toward the ground and felt the soil beneath his feet. He let his eyes close and reflected deeply for a few moments.

 

“Even on a planet as far and away as this, you can still feel the wounds of war tearing it apart.” Roene stood once more and placed his hands at his sides. He yawned openly and looked at Soren with a soft and understanding smile.

 

"As I said before however, not all Jedi believe the same way I do. That doesn't make them wrong. It doesn't make me wrong. In fact, it doesn't really matter who is and isn't wrong. It only really depends on you, little rock. Will you defy the will of the tide, embrace freedom and let your protector - your very life energy - destroy you in the end, in the exchange for the promise of more power? Or will you give yourself up and let yourself fall victim to the binding force that brings us all together, allowing the platitudes of 'protecting order' to mask the inability to understand?"

[Guest]

The metaphorical talks of his master made good sense to Soren. The man was quite good at explaining things in parables. As usual, the sponge that was Soren's lack of knowledge soaked up Roene's teachings and assimilated it into his own views. What reason did he have not to accept these things that made sense? It did however bring up an important question, one that Soren would only be able to answer himself. Was he to be the rock or part of the stream? He could see why one would enjoy the freedom and power gained from obstruction of the flow. If in the end all were carried to the ocean of death what difference did it make which path was chosen? Perhaps logic dictated to become as strong and happy as possible over the course of one's life.

 

The answer was not clear however. Roene had not defined a distinct line of good and evil, and maybe there was none. For now it made sense to follow his master's path until a different one seemed to make more sense.

 

"I don't know." Soren answered honestly. "I suppose in time when I become more familiar with each path I will be better able to choose."

[Keenava Dira]

<>

[Roene Givrah]

"I suppose in time when I become more familiar with each path I will be better able to choose."

 

Roene smiled. His face was a little more wrinkled than his young age would suggest, but the Cerean was weathered from his time spent in nature. That, and the male half of his race were often characterized by their short lives. He sat on an odd looking stump and crossed his legs. The strangled mist of air that filled the world around him, continued to pull and push with the steady breeze.

 

The large mangrove like trees that lingered throughout the dense and murky swamp breathed with life. The veins of their roots pushed far into the ground and gave the planet circulation.

 

"An interesting answer. One that I would expect from someone still at the beginning of the path, but sooner or later a choice will be made." Roene said, steeling his gaze over the open, but murky river at the foot of the stump. "I myself chose the Jedi path. Though I have disagreements with their ideals, I go with nature. I know it is foolish to rise against the nature of man, and foolish to rise against the nature of a planet. I like to protect people, but I see the inevitability of death as a path we all must take someday. I have consoled the shadows of my past and rose against my own demons in my struggle to remain passive, but I go with nature. The flow of the wind has no master. The growth of a tree is not something that can be controlled. The peace of the world exists in chaos and that is where I lie. Had I been a more impulsive person a few years back and had I not seen the tranquil masterpiece of nature, I probably would have chosen the 'dark' path." Roene's treatment of the word 'dark' sounded as if he thought of it as more of a title than a label.

 

Roene shifted his weight and came to a kneeling position on the stump. The cone of his bald pate glistened with sweat and he wore a relaxed sensation on his face. "I would like to go to Tython. I will tell you why when we get there, but I have something I must do there."

 

The Cerean's blue eyes shone with a different, but pleasant light in the dim echoes emitting from the swamp. He stood on the stump slowly and shuffled off toward the ship, summoning Tyue with a sharp whistle.

 

"I will say though, before we set off. I want you to reflect on what we have said here. I want to think on it and I want you to continue the exercises from earlier. When you can clear your mind easily and see the force at a more consistent capacity, we will move further. Until then however, you must train your mind. We will work on physical training later." Roene completed the last few parts of his instruction with a few small telepathic hints and then focused on getting the ship ready to take off.

[Guest]

Soren nodded. He had never heard of Tython but would go along for the journey. Surely there would be something there for him to do. The two headed back for the ship accompanied by Roene's beastly friend.

 

"I think while you ready the ship I would like to go off on my own for a bit."

 

With that Soren journeyed a short distance from the group and found a spot underneath one of the sprawling trees of the planet. He wanted to try the meditation techniques he had learned on his own. He sat and closed his eyes. Concentrating on absolutely nothing was still sort of abstract to him. He chose instead to focus on the metaphorical picture of the stream as the Force. In his own mind he saw things that may have not been really there. He could see fish being carried along the river. They were part of the stream and yet were not the stream itself. They were all connected through the water. As he followed a particular fish down river the large rock from his master's illustration became bigger and bigger. Soon enough the fish was smashed into the rock, as were those around him. Soren saw this as a partial answer to his question. Although the rock itself was fine, those around it suffered.

 

The vision slowly vanished as Soren was given his first direct revelation from the Force. Still in meditation the vanishing led way to nothingness. Soren was no longer imagining anything but simply existing. With each breath he took the Force drew into his body. When his eyes finally opened he felt refreshed and strengthened.

 

The young apprentice made his way back to Roene and Tyue. It seemed the preparations for departure were nearly complete.

[Roene Givrah]

Soren left Roene to the preparations and Roene couldn't help but smile . He could feel the exploration going on in his padawan's mind and nodded quietly to himself.

 

Flashes of his own early exploration of the force echoed in his mind and he couldn't help but feel oddly reminiscent. The preparations were easy, because they had only landed a day or so ago and sooner or later Roene was resting back in his chair, listening to the small pants of his canine companion.

We will be back to your home planet soon Tyue, you looking forward to seeing your mother again?

 

The Garral dog, who had matured fairly recently, nodded his head up and down slowly with a large grin on his face.

 

When Soren returned to the ship, Roene shut the door and they took off.

 

"While we fly I want you to take this small rock." Roene said, as he unveiled a small pebble from his robe, "... and move it. Since we aren't really allowed the full mobility in this vessel that we would get outside, I won't be able to do anything else with you, but now that you have found some measure of focus, I want to see if you can use that to levitate this pebble. Use that table over there and I will come and check on your progress when we land."

 

<< Next Post continued on Tython. (( Don't post yet please, I am going to ask a mod for something.)) >>