Dear Ms. Barsen'thor

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

People, she could read. With a Lorrdian for a mother and a Zeltron telempath for a birth mother, she could read people all day. Aleidis was pretty much unreadable -- no strong emotions, mainly -- and reading a tree just was not a thing. Except, apparently, it was.

"Okay, so...the Force brings me energy when I want it, but a tree can't want it. It gets energy from...dirt? And the sun? Apparently there was this machine once that had a bunch of lenses and needed an eclipse and made Force energy and human sacrifice..." That train of thought derailed fairly hard and fairly easy. Apparently there was something about being to sense things around her, not just people, not just places and routes, that Master Zrgaat thought she could quickly pick up. Thought it was important for her to pick up.

Or maybe...maybe there was some specific thing she was supposed to feel.

That idea -- possibly Force-carried instinct -- made the difference. That, and reminding herself to stop overthinking. To let go her conscious self, and accept -- passively listen -- on instinct.

"Something's wrong with the tree," she ventured, after maybe ten minutes. "Maybe in the roots?"

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Aleidis wasn't worried about the rambling so much as she was results. Some people closed their eyes to concentrate, or used their own hands to shape the Force, others needed complete silence. Who was to say that rambling was any less valid a method? She simply waited, and watched Mara work - watched her reactions, watch her struggle. She'd set a big task ahead of the girl, after all, one she didn't entirely expect her to accomplish right away. "The Force doesn't merely bring you energy when you ask for it." She corrected patiently. The Force is. We are simply blessed to touch and feel it, and be able to use it. Regardless of whether you ask for or can see it, it is as immutable a part of you as breath and blood."

"Or, in this tree's case, bark and cellulose." Alei admitted. "But yes, you're right. There is something wrong with the tree, and that is why it's in this state. Well done." She complimented, sitting back on her heels with a small smile. "Just as with a river, a small divergence near the source can have massive effect at the mouth - just as a small stone causes ripples, no matter how tiny, throughout an entire lake." She explained, running her hand slowly over the tree's bulbed roots.

"It is often much more effective to make a small change early and skillfully, than to apply infinite force to a problem once it has become a problem. Any small act of good makes the Galaxy a better place, and any life saved or spared - no matter how inconsequential it may seem, just as this tree - is a good thing." Aleidis took a breath, turned to Mara, and offered a warm smile. "The Force simply is, and sees little difference between you, this tree, and myself. We are all one. Let's work on a practical lesson." She decided.

"Remember what I've told you - a small change has made this tree very sick. Listen to your intuition, and see with the Force. Find the source of what's killing this life by looking for the flow of the Force through it. Use that to pinpoint the problem." She instructed. "Take all the time you need."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

"I know trees have sap. You're saying the Force moves through the tree with the sap...right? OK, let's see. Let'ssssseee."

She was, it turned out, a little bit like her father. Knowing a thing, analyzing it -- not so much. But finding it? In a complex system of, well, transportation? If this was a blockage, well, then this was just piloting, wasn't it. Instinctive astrogation with tree blood.

"I've got no idea what this is," she said after a long while, "but I think I feel like it's sort of hereish." She opened her eyes, crouched, and poked the base of the tree, at the top of the root ball. "It's like, uh, running into an asteroid, kind of. But it's not a rock. A rock wouldn't be doing all this; the tree would just bend its sap around the rock. It'd take a while, but trees do that, right? So it's something that blocks stuff and makes the tree too weak right there to get around it. It's not just an asteroid." She sat back on her haunches, well satisfied. Maybe there was something to all this after all. "It's interdiction."

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Mara was pretty good at finding things. Aleidis got the general impression that she didn't get the whole 'everything is alive and the Force is everything' concept, but whatever. It was day one, and she'd found the thing. Aleidis would credit her with that much. "That is more or less what is going on." She confirmed, sitting back on her own heels with a small smile. "There's a small, dead grub in the root - venomous to plants. Nasty thing, really. It buried itself in the root, and died. Now it's venom is making the entire tree ill, and it has to be removed if the tree is to have any chance of be planted."

"But, let's see if you found it. This is the hands-on portion." Aleidis decided, gesturing to two tools nearby - a small trowel and a pair of snips. "What you'll need to do is dig carefully into this root bundle, find the portion that's housing the grub's corpse, and cut it out." She instructed. "Cut carefully, Mara - this tree may not survive too many incorrect guesses, and you have little hope of visually confirming where the infection is coming from. You'll need to trust in your skills and the Force, along with your own two hands. Take your time, and make sure you get it right." She instructed patiently.

Of course, the tree was on a rounded base, and Mara would need both hands to cut at the roots. It'd be interesting to see if she steadied the tree with her legs, or tried using the Force.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

"Dead grub did this? All right."

Still squatting, Mara angled the sapling to rest on her shoulder, stabilizing the ball with her knees. Eh, not quite. She dragged the tree a little, just enough so that she could sit on a planter's edge, then repeated the stance without risk of falling over. The tools -- snips and a trowel -- weren't hugely familiar to her. She pulled back the cloth and prodded at the root ball with the tip of the trowel. The dull blade sank in and scraped away dirt, then root-skin, whatever it was called. Too far. Tip, too wide. Not precise enough. The snips felt even more awkward, and that awkwardness, at a guess, was throwing off her instincts. After a few minutes of careful excavation, she really didn't feel much closer to the target. She'd churned up the dirt that way, though, so she set down the tools and sank her fingers and thumbs into the dirt, feeling the roots. She traced strands and larger roots by touch, until-

The sense of wrongness was subtle but distinct. It came and went as quickly as she touched the bulging root and moved past it. Her fingers wormed back to it. "Got it," she said with a portion of satisfaction, and pulled a small vibroknife out of her boot. Now this was a tool she knew. Leaving the vibrogenerator off, she slipped the blade into the root ball with her fingers as a guide, then pulled out her hand and turned on the knife, just for a second. A subtle bzzzp rattled through the treetrunk that rested on her shoulder. She repeated the process, then fished inside the root ball and came out with a swollen, half-rotted section of root.

"The tree gonna be alright?"

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

When given a choice between a tools she wasn't comfortable with, Mara didn't hesitate to use what she did know. This was a good thing, by all accounts - a Jedi who limited herself to saber and push was a Jedi who wasn't going to do much with her career. Aleidis carefully plucked the root from Mara's hand and gave the tree a quick glance. After a moment, she nodded and smiled warmly. "I think it'll be just fine." She decided warmly, crouching beside the hole Mara had made. She packed some of the displaced soil in and covered it up with the burlap, just glad to get some dirt on her own fingers rather than leaving all that fun for Mara. "All that's left is to plant it in a nice spot away from the other tree. Once it's settled into the ground, it's roots will hold the soil together and allow something besides grass to flourish."

Aleidis stood up and stretched her legs out. "You did very well, Mara. Especially for your first time. Let's go get this tree into the ground, so it can do some good with the second chance you've given it." She invited, picking a pair of shovels from a nearby table. Heavy things, but she'd been taking it easy all morning - she could do this much just fine. "I want you to carefully pick that tree up like you did before, and walk it out of the garden with us. Pick out a spot where you feel it'll do well."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

Force fatigue didn't feel like normal fatigue. It wore you out in different ways, and so much for that whole 'the Force can make you inexhaustible' thing. Come to think of it, that was a Luke Skywalker quote. Skywalker rules were different than ordinary people rules. That was practically rule number one in the Jedi Order, at least the good part. So it was with a sort of weary acceptance that Mara embraced the Force again and levitated the tree off herself, then a few inches into the air. It floated slowly, bobbing, and preceded her out of the garden.

This was, she recognized, another test like the Code recitation. That exercise had tested her ability to focus her mind and think while using the Force in a sustained way; this one was more about testing her feelings and instincts while using the Force for just as long, and for an arguably harder task. And doing all of that without stressing out, getting too tense, giving in to the sweat that popped out on her forehead...

She was, in short, very tired, and it wasn't even noon. But she was supposed to find a place, and nobody found places like a Merrill. "Here," she said with some confidence, setting the root ball down. "...right?"

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

There really hadn't been a wrong answer to that - Aleidis wanted Mara to take personal responsibility for the tree's welfare to drive the message home: this was a living thing, and she'd saved it. It would grow, because of her actions. There was nothing quite as magical as watching something you'd taken care of flourish. Also, Aleidis wanted to know if Mara was the sort to take shortcuts once she got tired. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be an issue. "This is a good spot." Aleidis agreed, giving Mara a secretive smile. "Once it's planted, we'll have ourselves a break." She promised, handing a shovel over.

The good thing about wet soil was that it was relatively easy to sink a shovel into the ground. The bad part of it was, lifting that soil out was a much more arduous task - and the mud had a way of trying to flow back in to fill the void, meaning that a job that was already almost twice the lifting also had to be done twice. It was a long, sweaty process (and required of Aleidis her worn out old Inertia belt), but by the afternoon, the girls had dug a respectable hole, and Aleidis did Mara the kindness of laying the tree in the ground before they both covered it up. If Mara had been Force fatigured before they started digging, chances are she was just as physically worn out at this point. Not to mention soaking wet. But the tree was standing straight and tall. "Tomorrow, we'll see if it's taking to it's planting well." Aleidis promised, wiping some sweat off of her brow with a broad smile before glancing down at her Padawan. "Go get washed up and in some dry clothes. We're doing indoor stuff for the rest of the afternoon. You did good work today."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

Indoor stuff. Indoor, good. Stuff, not good. Too tired for a filter, but too tired for a rebuttal or even a moment of grace, Mara chewed at a blister and nodded her way inside. She did her best not to get things too muddy, but that was what towels and bath mats were for, right?

After her shower, she climbed into one of the cleaner air ducts and fell asleep. Just for a moment. The important thing here was to crash hard enough that she could sleep through Master Zrgaat calling her, but not hard enough that she'd be out for the afternoon and get her timing all out of whack. She and Beyyr had synched the Gypsymoth's time cycles with the local time zone; she'd taken care of ship lag not long after Kal'Shebbol. But wrecking that just wouldn't do, so she sort of hoped her nap was quick. Maybe she'd feel alive and non-sore when she woke up, and maybe her brain wouldn't feel like noodles or something, and maybe Master Zrgaat would have something fun to do for inside, and maybe-

She was asleep, crammed into an air vent above the kitchen, before the thought concluded.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

No rest for the wicked. Aleidis had been a troublemaker, just as Mara was - but one with some kind of bizzare perpetual energy source called 'overachievment' burning in her heart. It wasn't that she didn't get worn out. It was that she didn't let it slow her down. As soon as Mara blipped into 'unconcious' on her mental Radar, she gave a light tap to the underside of the vent with a broomhandle, directly where Mara was trying to nap. "Mara! Iced tea and sandwiches." She called out cheerfully. When that didn't work? A little tweak of Mentalism that could likely rouse a hibernating Hutt. Once lunch was over? Saber forms and some mental excercises. If Aleidis tried meditation, Mara would likely fall asleep where she sat.

If she'd started off her education with meditation, Mara likely wouldn't have taken it seriously.

Now she'd be looking forward to the hours spent sitting in a quiet room in silent contemplation. She would be trying very hard to get those days spent sitting inside, and work her butt off to prove that she could handle even more hours of meditation.

For all the good she'd done in the Galaxy, very few people knew just how manipulative a soul had Aleidis Zrgaat.


Almost a month later found Aleidis and Codi beginning the morning in the usual fashion - tea, something to eat, and then tending the garden. It'd been a long month of focusing, lifting, and excercises. The mind was as much a muscle as one's arms, and Aleidis had been sure to work Mara just about exactly as hard as the girl could take. She was by no means cruel: when they were not actively training, Mara was treated with the kindness and affection a visiting cousin could expect. She had run of the house, a whole shuttle to mess around with as she pleased, and so long as she notified Aleidis of where she was going and with whom, was allowed to venture into Rytal Prime from time to time with enough pocket money to buy a young woman's neccesary luxuries. Codi and Aleidis included their young housemate in movie nights, game nights, discussions and meals - she was simply a part of the family. And her own family was only a holocall away.

"You've made solid progress!" Aleidis complimented over her tea with an amicable smile. "It won't be long before you'll be able to heal damage through the force, rather than simply percieving it. And your endurance has increased immensely!" She added, expositing blatantly.She'd done her best to build a solid foundation of physical and mental discipline, along with solid perceptions - not exciting skills, to be sure, but effective ones. Add them to the other things she might have picked up while shadowing Aleidis, like gardening and cooking. "... I think you're ready for a more diverse set of tricks, now that we've got the basics out of the way."

Aleidis stood and brushed her hair back, smiling. "Tell you what - I'll offer you a choice." She explained. "I can teach you my own Master's variant of the Makashi dueling style, I can help you widen your perceptions even further, or - my personal favorite - I can instruct you on how to hide yourself from vision and minds." It was likely prudent to give Mara a little agency at this point: she'd been working hard and worked quite hard. "Which shall we do first?"

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

Those were some intriguing options. Chloe had promised to show her some stealth stuff when she got older, stuff she'd learned from a guy named Je'gan back in the day. On the one hand, why learn now what she could learn later, when there were so many other things available now that wouldn't be options in a couple months? But on the other hand, sneaking up on Chloe would be entertaining as all feth. Widening perceptions further? Slightly boring. Makashi...?

Swashbuckling.

Codi's lightsabre training was solid, enough to flesh out Mara's understanding of the basics. She'd learned the sword before she'd learned the lightsabre, and her aunt's primary sword form had been Atrisian, pretty close to Shii-Cho and Ataru in some ways. The transition hadn't been too hard, even in the Yavin Academy environment. Codi's focus, for the most part, lay in Niman, with some strong Shien/Djem So influences, so the end result was Mara getting a more rounded-out lightsabre competence than she'd expected for herself. The lightsabre had never really interested her until this trip; she'd built hers mainly because other people were building theirs. But Makashi, now...Makashi beyond the basics, and beyond what she'd been able to adapt from her vibrorapier training...that struck a nerve, in the best way. Rapiers and bladetip work, quick in-and-out footwork, parries rather than blocks, options for a small and fast fighter...

"Makashi, please," she said.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Aleidis nodded and stood smoothly, flicking her cigarette into a small pot of sand."Alright, then." It wouldn't have been her choice, but she'd wanted to give Mara a little agency, so she'd abide the girl's decision. "...I think I've got a treat you'll be pleasantly surprised with, then." She added cheerfully, setting her satchel down. Aleidis had chosen today to wear her cybernetic arm, just in case this happened - she would need it for balance reasons, of course. "The core of Makashi is to remember that precision and speed can overcome power and enthusiasm..." Aleidis explained, producing two thin cylinders not unlike lightsabers. "... wheras you may be used to flashy flips Shii-Cho or the powerful strikes of Ataru, a skilled Makashi duelist will scoof at the waste of motion in both. It is not a saber form suited to every situation, or even most, but when it comes to dueling another person with a lightsaber, Makashi is to offense what Soresu is to Defense."

Aleidis extended her hand and floated one of the cylinders over to Mara. "As you've already a familiarity with saber use, we will skip the training sticks. This is a lightfoil, my preferred weapon: It's lighter than a saber and more agile, and I think you'll find it agrees with your build as much as mine. If you manage to attain a proficient level, I'll help you in constructing your own!" She promised cheerfully. "Remember all I've taught you about applying a small action at the source of a problem to circumvent a huge consequence? Makashi is the martial application of that philosophy, especially this variant of it. Come stand beside me, mirror my actions, and we'll go through the opening forms together."

Aleidis stood upright, flourishing her foil as she lit the blue blade. Her offhand was behind her back, her legs together - one foot pointed forward, the other at ninety degrees to it. "Remember: Give the illusion of stiffness by imagining your limbs are at locked angles, but be prepared to strike in every direction. When you are ready to begin..." She swept her saber down in front of herself, and bowed to an imaginary opponent.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

The thought of her own lightsabre -- its distance, and its implied or inferred insufficiency -- incurred a degree of grumpiness. Grumpiness visible, perhaps, in the swish and flick of the lightfoil coming to life. In fairness, though, she had to admit that she liked the balance of this one. She took her position beside Aleidis and did her level best to mirror the stance involved. She'd done introductory Makashi at the Academy, and Rave had taught her a similar stance for using a rapier, but today part of her kept thinking it was a Warden back stance or even cat stance, and that just threw everything off. She took a minute to think it through, relax, make sure she was in the right gear for fencing -- and bit by bit, shift by shift, the stance got more natural and closer to Aleidis'. At last she raised the lightfoil, saluted an invisible opponent, and nodded. "Ready."

The motions of fencing were, all things considered, a little counterintuitive. To extend the arm before lunging with the legs? To throw your upper body forward for a lunge, and still be able to bounce back quick enough to prevent a strike to the forward leg? To keep a back stance and yet not be bowled over? To never cross your feet while moving laterally? The fundamentals had been drilled into her, but admittedly it had been a while, and the sheer oddness of fencing was topmost in her mind. At least she'd probably get a good butt out of this. Fencers had good butts; it was known. She evaluated Aleidis' in a scholastic sort of way.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

As Codi could attest, Aleidis might barely be out of an A-Cup, but a lifetime of climbing, dodging, and walking on heels had left her with heartbreaking hips and a backside to match.

And speaking of her heeled feet, Aleidis did have something of an advantage in her positioning - the woman was nearly preternaturally light on her feet, partly because she was preternaturally light, and partly because she spent her life poised on the balls with her heels in the air. (Are we seriously not doing 'Phrasing' anymore?) Once Mara had her positioning and feet set, Aleidis nodded and took a half-step forward, then spun and dropped abruptly. "Be swift..." A lunge upwards, angling her foil towards the head of a taller opponent, then twisted and stood. "... and sudden!" This squatting position allowed her to launch herself back to her starting position, almost as though not a single hair had moved in her strike.

She flourished the foil in a grand-looking circle, raising one leg along the other in an overtly fancy pose. "A movement that confuses your enemy..." Aleidis warned, before sliding forward once more, this time launching three rapid jabs that contrasted sharply with her formerly elaborate movements, followed by a quick slice at throat-level. "...is never a waste!" She lectured, ending the slice with a quick twist at the waist, pulling her foil back in a reverse grip - a surprisingly brutal maneuver that set her up to attack a second target from her lower position, once again taking advantage of her height and speed. Aleidis brought her weapon back, stepping smoothly back into her ready position - again, as though she'd never even moved.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

As demonstrations went, it ranked among the simplest and most impressive Mara had seen. Following each motion was a labor of balance and guesswork -- guessing as to how each move would feel. This Makashi variant seemed to focus on circularity, long extensions, and quick transitions from high to low and back again. The swirling orbits of it struck her as almost Soresu in nature, as if this variant had been made by a master of both forms, presumably the teacher Aleidis had mentioned. At first glance, and maybe second glance too, this style seemed impractical, like the Atrisian sword form that her aunt had showed her once. "It takes a hundred hours to learn the saber," Rave had said, "a thousand to learn the spear, and ten thousand to learn the straight sword." Or something like that.

After her fifth awkward repetition, Mara drew to a halt, hawked and spat out across the grass. "Welp, that didn't go so well," she said. "I'm doing something wrong, just can't nail it down. This isn't like any Makashi I've studied before."

She'd considered herself in good shape, but ow. This variant asked all kinds of odd movements from her.

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

"This is a good thing." Aleidis replied brightly, holding her unlit foil behind her back with a cheerful smile. "As a wise man once said, 'A blade is only worth half as many blows on the battlefield as it's received in the forge' - you're improving. In increments." She promised, before taking a half-step back.

"That said, you like keeping your feet on the ground - your stance is a sacred thing to you, and you're not flowing over the earth the way you should." She explained, sweeping into the initial strike - as she moved, near-solid images of herself froze, as though someone were taking pictures of Aleidis in motion every quarter second or so. The White Current, but to teach - not deceive. "Your parents are spacers, and so have you learned from their example. You follow that example well!" Aleidis complimented, turning to view her handwork. Like an educational diagram, the illusions lined up admirably in a row to show the smooth transition of each motion and stance, each twist of the ankle and wrist.

"This is not Soresu. Let your natural grace out, and flow." Aleidis insisted emphatically. "Your feet need not have an understanding with the earth - only a nodding acquaintance with it."

She paused, then tapped her lip thoughtfully. "In more earthly advice, I now realize that my feet aren't like yours, and mimicking mine might be hard for you. Would you like a pair of heels to help you adjust, or do you think you'll be fine?" Aleidis asked.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

She had to hand it to Aleidis: illusion was a dang good way to teach stance-work. And the criticism made sense: she'd been trained to stick with mobile, noncommittal stances that could go any which way on a moment's notice, balls of her feet digging into the earth or the deck. Maybe this variant's commitment was getting to her, the fear of getting stuck in the wrong deep crazy stance at the wrong time. She paused for a moment and did her best to feel something, anything, from the illusions -- but nope.

Funky.

"Nah, I think I can work with it for now," she said. "I don't do a lotta fighting in heels. Dad always said, don't bother training with gloves if you're not gonna fight with'em." After a moment, she shrugged. After this long, if nothing else she knew that Aleidis always had a good reason for an offer. She might not be willing to reveal that reason, and Mara might not always appreciate that reason, but Aleidis thought things through. "But I don't know. What do you think?"

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

"I think, above all, you just need practice." Aleidis admitted with a warm smile. "You're growing into the woman you're going to become, and that isn't a state conducive to much grace - I should know as well as anyone. I also know that the first parts are far from easy." She added softly. "If I may share a secret, my first few weeks of learning this variant, I was merely a spectator in my own body."

She lightly touched the yellow-jeweled broach around her neck. "It doesn't anymore, but this gem once held the soul of my master - when I met him as a Padawan, this was all there was of him. After almost a year of learning illusions and rising to his various challenges, I worried that he might go stir-crazy from time to time." Aleidis explained. "So I offered to loan him my body. I trusted him, after all. He accepted, and used that time spent as me to reacquaint himself with the use of a saber, as it'd been centuries since he held one himself. I learned by watching myself, and it was not until years later that he helped me patch up the flaws in my understanding of his variant."

"But to put it in short terms: I think life is strange, I think you're doing wonderfully, and I think we should practice this lunge and disengage together until it clicks." Aleidis summarized, stretching her back out languidly.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

So Aleidis had been the student of...what? Some kind of body-snatcher? That was totally a Sith thing, as far as all the holocrons would tell her, and Aunt Rave had had some seriously vicious words about people who did that stuff. Someone had possessed her when she was younger than Mara was now, a lot younger -- and Aleidis wasn't really all that old. But Aleidis had made it seem all consensual and like her Master had been someone she remembered happily. And the whole possession thing really could make for some good physical training, get the muscle memory in there and all. Part of her wanted to be more curious and impressed than she already was. And yet, on the other hand, a far more visceral reaction-

"Ew. So messed up." Thoroughly squicked out, Mara flourished her lightfoil a bit. It seemed like the thing to do, and most mannerisms and gestures and shivers didn't match up too well with carrying a sword made of silver plasma. "Like, he totally saw you naked. He was you naked. Ewwww."

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Aleidis leaned back, hand on her hip, and laughed melodically, her natural, lambent glow kicking up by about half a candle flame. "I suppose so, but I wasn't ever all that worried about it, I promise." She confided, leaning against a wall. "He'd been about fifty different people before I came along. And with the White Current, I've been about fifty different people, myself."

"Besides. I never really cared all that much about my body." Aleidis admitted, looking at her hand with a faint, distant, and surprisingly cold smile. "It's weak and unreliable. It struggles to do with rare technology what yours did as you learned to walk. The love of my life can barely touch me without breaking bone, and gravity itself is all but immobilizing on most planets. While it is mine, and I have cared for it as such, I am neither overly fond of, nor particularly protective of, my flesh." She glanced up and chuckled sheepishly. "It is perhaps morose, Mara, but please don't misunderstand me - I'm not suicidal, by any means. But the core of what I am, who I am, isn't visible. It is my hopes and dreams, my ambition and experience, and it is the Force. That is the part of me that'll keep going long after this frail body is laid to rest, and that is the part of me I treasure."

"Until I'm one with the Force again, though, I'll just have to keep doing good things and training wonderful young ladies like yourself!" The Ghostling chirped brightly.