Breakdancing Banthas and Other Illusions!

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

Dune stopped what he was doing to turn and look at Matsu.

"You're awfully ambivalent about the sacrifice of sentient beings."

He sighed and shook his extra large head.

"You know what, you're right. I know you're about to say we can't change the past. That's true, but, I'm still not in favour of killing."

Dune decided he'd shut up now as he began taking notes and digital photographs of the caverns. This needed to be added to the archives for posterity. Also, for the lessons it would teach Jedi present and future. Some archaeologists and historians were interested in making a name for themselves. The Bith just wanted the knowledge passed on.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

"One part of being a jedi is accepting what people did, that includes unsavory aspects of their culture. We may not like it but saying 'THis is the proper way' is an arrogance that jedi should never have." She was uneasy about it but if you condemn a culture for something they used to do... well then it would have to be the same for all. Human's sacrificed and she was certain there were bith who did the same. "Jedi are hypocrites at times, all species are in the galaxy knight Dune but sometimes you just have to learn to pick your battles. I would prefer judging them for what they do now rather then what they did thousands of years ago."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

"Fair enough, I concede cultures can change and have. Not all of us are hypocrites; I disapprove of taking lives but concede it rarely must be done with no alternative present. Unlike a Sith Lord, my pretext for killing doesn't involve a simple disagreement."

There wasn't any self-righteousness in his words. That quality some Jedi had irritated him as he himself had to admit being wrong. The Force itself was never incorrect but his interpretation could be. Even a sage Master could be wrong though not as often as a Knight like himself.

"I give you that Bith once engaged in full-scale war against each other. We learned but it's still a thing that brings me shame."

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

Matsu sat there getting it while she was pulling at the energies around herself and into the force letting the force energies come forward. "We have been working to make the sigils stronger and here where the crystals grow we can pull the force energies into it. To make it stronger and you'll be able to learn the basics of a new skill. To imbue and augment items more and more with the force." She continued to work on it while she was making the sigil hover between and just in front of her hands. The other jedi she had worked with for this augmentation had given them a number of things including the lambent within that let the sigils communication with each other.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

Dune was not an artisan but he found the process simple enough. Following Matsu's instructions, he began to hell channel the energies into the sigil. It was something like assembling a lightsaber when you charged the power pack. Except that now things were especially concentrated due to the surroundings.

He found the work enjoyable in a way much like writing. Both required your focus and thus quieted the mind to extraneous thoughts. It was a kind of meditation as was the practice of the fighting arts. Throughout the process, Dune found himself forgetting the opressive quality of the structure above them.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

Matsu continued to work with it and letting the padawna be there now she could feel the force energies he was pouring into it. Slowly bringing the attention of it and the energy of the force. She let the Sigil glow with the force energies as the vong crystal within it let senses be augmented same as the lightside crystals within allowed only jedi to use it before it pushed and granted them the enlightenment of the force. "Now feel the power from the sigil flow into you and push it back. The technique allows you to add your power and augment the crystals. To fill them with the energies of the force and feel the purest form of the lightside the jedi have been able to make. Harmony and Serenity are the goals of imbuing the sigil with now."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

Allowing the energy to fill him, he reflected it back as instructed. The act of intake and redirection was repeated many times as the harmonious energy filled the sigil. The lambent crystal itself glowed softly as it reflected the gentle energies. It was something like a wave rolling in and out on a shoreline.

A wave could smash through duracrete or it could lap at a Youngling's feet. So too could the Force and the Bith much preferred the more friendly application. Though the Force could be felt, it was almost silent save their breathing. He'd seldom found such peace in things lately.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

Matsu felt the energies comign from the padawana nd it was there with all the rest as she breathed in deeply and then exhaled. Slowly allowing herself to feel the force energies deeper, even without the heart and eye she knew how to channel and generate the force better then some... if only because they focused one a single aspect. Never paying attention to the whole picture of the force before she was channeling into it deeper to open the crystals up to picking up the world around them and grant that to the ones wearing it. She had infused harmony, serenity and now they needed some empathy so a jedi would remember the pain the galaxy could be in.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

He watched in silence as he allowed Matsu to channel the Force. Her deft touch with the Force impressed him, obviously from years of practice in the art. Perhaps his ability was greater in magnitude, though he couldn't say for sure, but she was far more subtle and had a control that only a Master Jedi could have. The learning experience present was invaluable even if he was no artisan.

The emotions radiated from her like a beacon. Calm, compassion, empathy, serenity, harmony and the pure love of a craftsbeing for their work. All the things a Jedi should strive for, he thought.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]



She could feel how well he was doing with it and that was the way to work on it now. Slowly pulling at the force from herself and putting it into the pores of the crystal as it were so she could work on it slowly more and more. The sigil was glowing brightly with the energy both could fill it with and she was putting the finishing touches to top it off much like the other things they had constructed. "ALmost there, this should be good and then we can slowly start to replicate it inthe others much like we did with the channeling gloves."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

"Are we going to be doing everything today?," he asked neutrally. This reminded him of his first solo 'mission' as a Padawan. Leina had actually roped him into getting her cookies and blue milk from her favourite bakery on Naboo. It was rather embarrassing to admit he'd been duped into thinking there might be criminal activity at a shop called 'Auntie Em's Sweets and Treats'. Dune didn't like to talk about it.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

"Not everything, there is a lot of work that goes into the creation and augmentation of force items. The researchers and artisans that work with me provide a powerful service to jedi wwho want to use some extra equipment." THey had been working on more things, the ossus robes infused with the crystal weave to let them augment it. Hopefully for the better and then produce more of them for jedi to be able to wear, ot the bracelets to provide protection and enhancement of their senses. All were coming together slowly but they had been working on it and the more crystals they found to loom together into ways. The more it could all build up in the end. She just needed to augment the weave itself with more powerful crystals like solari and pontite.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

"You've been quite busy with all of that," he remarked "It's a wonder you have the time to do it all."

He began to stare down the side-passages, wondering just how far the went. If they came up anywhere, where would it be? It could've even been under a body of water such as an ocean. Planets themselves changed over long periods and it would seem these tunnels were dozens of millennia old. Many worlds couldn't even say for certain exactly how old they were. Whether through disasters man-made or natural, who knew exactly what had been lost to time.

Dune didn't know why, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the blackened mouths around them. Something was here, something tremendously old and with a dreadful power. Was it dormant or was it simply waiting for him to come to it. The Bith was filled with the unsetto urge to go forth into the darkness.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

"I find ways to make time, that is what you need to do. It is how we managed to make a synthetic healing crystal of fire when the others were lost to us. Or how we managed to make force powered technology to aid in food making, air scrubbing and hydration for refugees. You use the situation you are in to inspire and achieve great things." Matsu said it while she was working but left out the part about knowing how to really generate the force from a world so you could touch its heart. She much preferred this just working with things using her hands as she pushed more force energy deeper into the crystals. "Careful knight Dune, if you look for trouble it will often find you."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

"Hm, that's a good point," he said distractedly. "Something...there's something odd about those tunnels." He gestured as he was still looking into the inky blackness. "It's like I'm being called towards what's there, if there's anything." It was possible that there was nothing at all and he might wander forever or until he dropped dead. It was unsettling, and yet, he had to fight to break away his gaze.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

"It is natural, it can pass it time, it is that same feeling that tells you jump you can fly when looking from a large height." Honestly that was the best thing she could think of while working on some of the things and focusing the force energies to finish it up. With all of the crystals and energy here she could stay at it for days to keep augmenting the crystals but needed to draw the line in some places and the knight was getting well strange a llttle. Reminding her more and more like dragonsflame in always expecting the worse and where he generally didn't stop until he proved himself right at least here she could use her superior super powers to continue to lead them through the caves following a small flame in her hand for finding the breeze.

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

"The difference is, the impulse to jump is something I can identify as crazy and then stifle. This feeling is insidious and pervasive."

"It feels older than the structure above and possibly more than the crystals. Perhaps this was why the location was selected."

He mused for a short while before speaking again.

"Perhaps the depictions of sacrifice involved those tunnels. Whether to some creature or to the caverns themselves, I don't know. Nor do I care to find out."

He said the last with a grim smile.

"You see, Master, I'm not trying to prod the sarlacc. I'm staying at a safe distance and trying to observe what I can. Neither scenario appeals to me. Beast or wandering around until I die."

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

Matsu looked at him and she understod as she rose up with some of her attention going to the different parts of it all. A whole lot of the work and attention to the sigil had been done. They could move along and continue to explore while she was watching him. "If it will mke you feel better I could go back and look to see what the tunnels had to calm your mind. It isn't easy but I didn't learn these skills with the grandmaster to not know how to use them in situations."

 

[Dune Rhur]

[member="Matsu Ike"]

Dune grinned.

"Checking under the bed for monsters. No, Master, it's not necessary. If you're going, then I'll accompany you."

In spite of his misgivings, part of him wanted to see what he could. That must've been the intrepid explorer instilled by his mentor. The very same who'd hugged a Sith Lord and would probably invite a Krayt Dragon over for tea. He wondered idly what she was doing at the moment. He'd have to make a point of visiting her provided a pack of gorgodons didn't appear to devour him.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Dune Rhur"]

Matsu bowed her head and any misgiving there might be about exploring more was washed away as she moved swiftly but carefully down the tunnel slowly augmenting her sight with disciple techniques to see in low light or no light. Also helped to see the shimmer of hiding disciples when they bent the light as she came to a small section. Sparking fire in her hand and the flame went on direction with the cave leading towards chutes in the rock that were carved. "A way to get oxygen from the surface and likely barely if ever noticeable from up there." She could work with that and if all else failed as she was focusing with her hands to scribe green runes of current on the rocks to mark them just in case. "We'll be able to reach the surface from here if anything, some skill in contortion and being slippery can help."