A remote world, full of swamps

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel smiled. There was a potential debate to be had about how energy cannot be created, merely transferred from one state to another. The fire took energy to create and the potential energy in the sticks was transferred into heat that in turn would create clouds and then rain which would feed a plant and the cycle would start over.

But that would be missing the point. The woman had shown wisdom and Sorel had overlooked something so profoundly simple she was grateful to the woman for pointing it out to her. She bowed. "I understand, or at least I think I do. You are a good teacher. Not orthodox, but that isn't a bad thing. I have learned an important lesson this day. Thank you."

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

"Of course I'm not orthodox. If I were, I'd be somewhere out there trying to kill a bunch of people for bare materialistic items. Blah." She spat gently, before adding another small twig to the fire. "Still, creating the Force, at least in my opinion is an easy thing to do. Almost a way to fold your abilities and draw upon more than you ever thought you could. You can toy with fire, and maybe some sticks as well, but when you combine all of it together you get something that can serve you in times of need."

She slowly pushed a finger into the flames, then carefully removed it and gave a soft glare to the space behind the young Jedi. "I want you to do it now. Make something of the old and make it something new. Something you can use, or draw from. Make the Force, if you will." Kiara finished, slowly trailing her eyes back to Sorel.

| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel thought about the options. Fire was the obvious choice, but the wise woman had already done that. So she went with her original thought. She was unsure if it was precisely what the woman wanted but she was determined not to overthink the situation and instead go with her instincts.

So she looked around the camp-site and found an old and dead fruit. It was withered and dried. She gripped it in her hands and it crumbled, leaving a handful of pips in her palm. She went over to the camp-fire and took some of the earth- now rich in nutrients and planted the seed in the ground. She walked over to a pitcher plant and tipping a leaf, caught water in her hand it was storing and carefully poured it onto the buried seed. Then she closed her eyes and focused on that seed. It was an ability her former Master knew well and she was only a novice at, but she would not let that put her off. So she knelt beside the seed and concentrated. At first nothing happened and then a shoot poked through the soil and within a minute it was six centimetres high.

She looked up at the woman. "Something new from something old."

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

"So we can create plants from crumpled pieces of food. You can create fire from two sticks and a leaf. You can create steam from water and fire, steam that can be used for numerous things, plants that can be warmed, machines that can be worked, fuel that can be produced. The most important thing is that you can do it." She said quietly, reaching to poke the plant's stem with a single dirtied finger. "And perhaps that you can toy with it to your advantage."

She kept quiet for a good long moment, staring at the plant through her own flickering flames. "Kill my Force creation with your own," She said quickly.

| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and absorbed the knowledge. Then she realised what the wise woman had asked of her. To put out a fire with a seedling. This time Sorel stopped and thought about it. In many ways, her lack of options played in her favour - she had virtually no choice in what she could do.

So she knelt down once more and focused on the tiny plant, using the Force to once more increase its growth exponentially. It grew into a sapling within a few minutes and continued to soar upwards, dislodging the ground around it, so Sorel had to stand. And as it grew, it disturbed the earth around it and broke up the fire and, as she had planned, it finally winked out of existence.

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

The act was marvelous, something more than Kiara expected from the young Jedi. In fact, she much more expected her to simply topple the plant over and make attempt to drown the flames in nature. "Interesting choice. Now that you've extinguished the creation, I want you to re-make it and destroy your own in the process. Though this is a small training exercise, please do not burn down the rest of the swamp. It wouldn't be very pretty."

| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Destroying the young tree was something she was uncomfortable with, it was not in her nature to damage, but this was a training exercise and she had created the sapling. So she decided to create two new trees before she left, by way of compensation.

Then she gathered some kindling and placed it at the bottom of the tree and finding two stones, created sparks until the dry matter caught. Then she naturally fanned the flames and using the Force to ensure they licked the tree and did not spread, she watched as the sapling's moisture was driven out before it caught fire and within minutes, it was a pile of ash.

She stomped on and then kicked the ashes, to ensure they were dead and then faced the hermit. Then she bowed politely.

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

Kiara for one was not impressed by the seeming compassion towards nature the girl had shown so firmly about, but did not speak further about it. She did as was asked, and even if it was by a trick of loopholes, the mission was a complete success. "Now that you have killed the fire, and in turn the fire has put it's last breath to kill you, what have you learned?" She asked, not so much regarding anything in particular. Surely a lot of scenerios have troubled themselves the same way.

| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel reflected for a moment but did not want to overthink the question.

"The first thing I have learned is simple. That I still have much to learn. The second is that my approach was blinkered. I thought only of the Force in a traditional Jedi way and did not approach the situation with a more open mind. The solution does not always involve the Force, I see that now."

"And I suspect there is more, that I will discover when the time is right. And if I may, I would like to ask a question. What were you teaching?"

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

Kiara scoffed at the last question, crossing her arms and pushing her staff under her armpit for the time. "Me? I'm a crazy hermit in the swamps. I'm probably teaching you how to summon ghosts, or something." She stared at the dead ashes for a long moment, then reached to pick some of the hotness with a finger, staring at it as it burned her skin. "But as for personal views, I think I'm teaching you that things can be done differently, the Force can in fact be molded and amplified, and there truly is no sides of the Force."​

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Her feet raised themselves as the ash flickered off into the ground, and her staff made itself planted. "I've gone far and wide in the galaxy, young Jedi. I've seen people pick and choose as if it were a game. Do I want power? Do I want to be equal? Do I want to be good? Blah. What's the difference? The Force is simply what surrounds us living creatures, and the sooner you can accept that the only sides of it are politics and your eyes trickling colors in your head, the sooner you can actually do something good with it."​

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| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and gave the woman credit for her wisdom and experience. In so many ways she agreed with her. That it was deeds and not words that mattered at the end of the day and a galaxy would not care if a light sider or a dark sider made it a safer place to live. The dark side was not inherently evil, but it was fair to say that most that wielded it were evil, and the power itself corrupted. That was inevitable and every Force user that pretended otherwise was only fooling themselves. Sooner or later they would work it out for themselves, but by then of course, it would be too late.

"Then the final learning for me is linked to a previous one. To keep an open mind about all things and to never be quick to judge - if ever. For doing good is the key here I believe, and what I shall endeavour to achieve for as long as I draw breath."

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

The woman looked around at the broken apart campsite with a bit of a frown, but turned to the young Jedi with a small nod. She seemed to have it down, even if it wasn't what she was truly looking to tell the girl. She was never good with words. She just did things sometimes. "Well then, I think I did what I could to teach you without wasting months of your time. Shoo." She said simply, crossing her arms over her staff. "You go back home now."​

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| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel bowed politely, smiled and then hugged the woman - which she suspected was the last thing the hermit expected. But her thanks was genuine and she had overcome the trial of the Dark Side Cave and learned something too.

"I appreciate all you have done and I will leave you to your solitude. I shall respect your secrecy and tell nobody of your existence. Thank you again." And with that she turned tail and headed back to her ship.

[member="Kiara"]

 

[Kiara]

The woman was just about to stab the Jedi as she drew in uncomfortably close, her fingers ready for a lethal jab just before the arms wrapped around her, and she realized it wasn't at all what she expected it to be. She stood still, feeling her own body grow heated and strange at the company of the other human or near, feeling something she hadn't felt in a long time. Kiara didn't answer as the Jedi turned to leave, but instead stored the memory inside of her more recent and decent times, letting it sink in and disappear with time.​

​

Good bye, new friend. A silent voice called out in Kiara's mind.​

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| [member="Sorel Crieff"] |​