Private Eye on the Sparrow

[Pom Stych Tivé]

"Look here. Look beyond the limitations of all logical learning. There is more out here than meets the eye." Mistress Pom Stych Tivé sat down upon the stone bench in the middle of her herb garden and beckoned Lakura Salim to inspect the vegetation before them. "The life here, is not quite like anywhere else. Off-worlders see flowers for their beauty. Some of the smart ones think they are all for tea, and cooking." She shook her head. "Absolute takuni slolye sni," she declared thinking them stupid. "They plant things in pots and cultivate nothing. Even the plant feels its only worth is its beauty. What a waste."

Pom waved her hands, and with her magick parted the plants near the small clearing where she sat. "Nature knows best what to grow where. What one gives to the soil, another takes, and so forth. Living things are connected in the same way. We give and we take. Our relationship with our god is no different either."

Pom reached out towards her garden and from the plant she had exposed to the forefront, she picked a single flower. She held it up to Lakura Salim to see up close. "What do you see?" The bud looked like a little white dove. She held it up and offered it to Lakura.

Pom knew there is always more to everything than meets the eye. She had to think about when it was she learned to value the purpose of all life. It was back during her time with Cedric and Loske Treicolt . Before meeting them she used things, never considering whether her usage was right or wrong, or even necessary. She still has questionable limits on what she will and will not do, and accepts that some things just are as they are, being no crusader to correct what simply works. Pom plucked a second flower and she began to rub its stem, watching as the flower tipped back and forth, twirling at its new found freedom from stagnation.

"Watch," she instructed. The Mistress cupped the flower in her hands and breathed into it. She opened her hands slowly again, and the amazing little creation fluttered around on its own in her open palm, before flying up and around her head, then high away from them both.

She smiled at Lakura. "Your turn. Let me help you. Feel the very essence of life it already possesses, and then let it feel you. Teach it how to expand its purpose."

 

[Duma Shallotte]

The young-looking woman had grown up on this forsaken world and been banned by her clan from returning. This was approximately eighty standard years ago though and Lakura just hoped none of her clan remained to remember what happened. Their reasons were rather poor and she never entirely understood why her mother had done it.

When she was a child, she had started training in the ways of the Dathomiri and had been sent out on a trial of some kind. By the time that trial had ended, she had changed and become what she was now. A woman with white hair, pointed ears, teeth, and nails that were quite sharp. Her eyes had taken on a pink to purple glow and she had never met anybody else like her.

What she had learned then was to work with nature. To use plants as components to her spells and now she had been sort of accepted back. Sitting on the ground of a garden listening to the lesson being given to her by another Dathomiri Witch. Only this time, she wasn't treated like a freak and was almost made to feel at home. Nevermind that this world had been her home at one time.

Instead of focusing on the teacher, her mind had wandered into her past and only started paying attention when Pom waved her hands. The witch used some magic and parted the flowers in front of them to pluck a single flower out of the patch. Accepting the bud, Lakura raised it to her eyes and looked at it.

Glowing eyes gazed at the bud and she shook her head. Handing it back to Pom, she shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"It would be something I use in my spells."

Listening to the words of the Mother Witch, she let out a gasp of surprise as the flower morphed and flew away. Shaking her head in confusion, she was quiet for a moment or two.

"They are tools to be used. What life is there to be felt in them?"

Pom Stych Tivé

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

"Tools they are, yes. However, there would be no Magick without an energy which exists in all things. Everything has unique properties which lends to a unique purpose respectively. Were we simply never to care about such, we might let things fall into neglect and expedite their passing into extinction."

Pom held out her crystal wand for Lakura Salim take hold. "Search it with your soul. Even a crystal acts as a conduit for the unseen, and it also exists to cleanse one of negative emotions. It is not alive, but it is a conduit for life between the seen and unseen."

She decided a different approach would be more beneficial, before resuming her previous direction of the lesson.

"Perhaps I can show you first how to literally see it. There is a technique I learned which happens to be one of the simplest among the Force Users. It is called Force Sight."

Pom instructed, "Close your eyes and just feel outward. The eyes see through a limited understanding of the physical, but there is more to perception than the 5 senses. The spirit can observe far more. This is a way of viewing your surroundings you likely haven't tried before. You are one with the energy around you. Feel for it, unlock your mind, then look upon what exists."

Pom had witnessed the life-force move the flower. It wasn't all part of the flower itself, but it held a connection to it. She knew that through Force Sight, one can see the path of energy flow through all things. It is this Force that creates the Tool.

 

[Duma Shallotte]

The older Witch agreed with Lakura that the plants were tools, but it was their energy that gave her the power to use them. She also stated that if no care was given, then they would disappear and die. Her tools would not be there for her and it was a sobering thought to the young Witch.

Looking at the wand and then taking it, she shook her head slightly.

"If I close my eyes, I leave myself open to being attacked. My life has been filled with me running. I can't let my guard down. Now I don't think you will be the one attacking me, but what of others around us?"

Listening to the words of her new Master, Lakura was rather uncomfortable but remained silent as the other woman spoke. Until she felt safe, she didn't feel she would be able to accomplish what Pom was asking of her.

Pom Stych Tivé

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

Pom understood. “These feelings come from events which shaped you to this point. I acknowledge them and am thankful you have shared with me. In that case let me show you the protection which I have instilled around us.”

The Mistress extended her sight to breech the mind of the youth. She would see the land transform through the very gift of Force Sight which she feared to attempt on her own. Pom would be witnessed as a creature of sheer darkness with bands of light breaching through it. Light is within her spirit, enshrouded by deep shadow which is her preference of existence.

All around her Amulets were hung hidden from the naked eye. “With Force Sight you can see your enemy at a distance. The physical barriers of the world slip away and they are perceived as the energy which makes them up. Now see the grid lines we call them. The lifeforce flows in waves. Peace is calm like undisturbed or calm flowing waters. Chaos of the darkside is just that, a maddening display of wavelength. Can you hear it as well?”

Pom’s outward Darkness would display as a raging tempest, as she revealed herself to Lakura Salim. Her center held a calm swirling. The planet around them burst with sounds of mass destruction while Pom’s Amulets produced a constant hum strong enough to drown out the looming turmoil, but a Force readily available for use, visually the Spirit of Ichor which radiated from the heart of Dathomir.

“Do you see anything here which is beyond your capacity to control?” Aside from Pom herself, everything around them revealed its personal alignment in the grand scale of powers light and dark. Minuscule as they were, they would lead to the end result of Potions, whose readiness also can be judged through this specific sight ability.

The little flowers she introduced looked like tiny sparklers to Pom. When they opened up, they appeared to be tiny little Fairies. One perched upon Pom who extended her finger to it.

“See what truly exists,” she said, raising her hand up to Lakura’s eye level.

 

[Duma Shallotte]

It was a surprise to get understanding from the Mother about her fears and concerns. She then opened Lakura's eyes and allowed her to see just what was around them. When she saw the Darkness of her Master, she pulled away a little, but not entirely. People held both light and dark within and this was something the young witch was aware of. Turning her attention away from the other woman, her senses reached out and looked around them.

There was nobody approaching them at all and for the moment, it was just the two of them. This sight actually helped Lakura relax, let down her guard and open up more to Pom. Her connection with the Force and the power of the Witches was pretty shattered and maybe even stagnant. She only knew things up until she had been a teen, before she was banished from this world.

"I can control nothing around here but myself."

Whether they were accurate or not, this is what she believed and might be what held her back from doing more. Watching the motions Pom was going through helped the the young witch.

"There is so much..."

Wide eyes wandered around and reached out. Touching, yet not quite making full contact.

"I had no idea."

Pom Stych Tivé

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

"We all co-exist. Energy we take from one existence, pours forth and transcends into us in there hereafter. To die is not something so terrible, it is merely a change of our personal expression. We all evolve." Such is a healthy way to view the practices of the Witch. "Do not allow anyone of ignorance to our true capabilities, dictate shame into your soul." Through every Witch's lifetime outsiders appear who cast about accusations of atrocities, having no inkling to the deep seeded connection all worthy Witches have with their supplying lifeforms. "A respectable Witch never loses her respect for the life which surrounds her. To become apathetic and blind to the nature of existence, is to ridicule the very fiber of not only the life which serves, but of who we are as well." There are monsters who walk this part of the system, no doubt. Pom did not associate herself with those careless and cruel enough to intentionally destroy the old ways through blatant disregard. Yet, the thin line the Nightsister walks proclaims in the same breath of her Dogma, that everything is meant to serve it's purpose, therefore it must be willing to supply itself readily available. Yet, the difference lies in her nature to first thank her god for providing it into her clutches. To the Nightsister, to thank her god for his provisions, is the same as respectfully thanking the very thing she must next destroy in order to begin its very useful transformation.

Then Pom had the fleeting curiosity to ask, "What ancestor is your Coven named after? I always found individual skillsets were strongest among different bloodlines. What have they taught you about your abilities thus far? If you wouldn't mind enlightening me?" she asked while extending a finger and calling a small bird to present itself from the sky overhead, which she shall marry to the spell she intends to teach today. Pom thought perhaps she should begin within the foundation of her student's strengths, surprised that such basic truths seemed unknown to Lakura Salim thus far.

 

[Duma Shallotte]

The calm and awe remained while Pom spoke and explained some theory the woman was unaware of. Her own knowledge and experience were rather limited and her mother hadn't really done very much to help her. Though she had felt confident in sending Lakura out for testing. It was when she returned things had changed. More than just herself.

Letting out a sigh, she froze when Pom asked what ancestor and Coven she was named after. Bunching up one of her hands into a fist, she wasn't angry at the other Witch, but her former family. Clenching her jaw, that inner anger would very likely be picked up since she did not make any effort to hide it.

"None. My mother banished me. I took my own name and left her, this world, and my life here behind. What I do know is how to work with natural things. Growing plants, stirring up the wind, and calling electricity into my hands."

When she said the only thing she could control was herself, she did not think it would be put to the test this soon.

Pom Stych Tivé

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

Pom knew her roots, at least she believes she knows. A lot was rendered forgotten by her own will, years ago. Running away from her past had resulted out of desperation. At times subtle clues tugged at her subconscious, revealing the possibility that something had been caused to suffer unto her. Above it all she understood her past best left wherever she may have purposefully chosen to leave it. She did not want to know whatever events she may have buried, understanding that if her suspicions are true, she must have had damn good reason to bury it.

"We have potions for practically everything," she told Lakura Salim. "And what we cannot yet conquer today, we strive to achieve as soon as we can manage. I can make you forget such history, if you like. Build up your psyche despite your past, although you can draw greater connection to the powers that be harnessing it."

Eye on the Sparrow would teach Lakura nothing beneficial for this directly, but prove to her that she can be connected with everything surrounding her. Pom knew a witch feels more at home while connecting with nature of all kind.

The Nightsister grabbed hold of the type of flower she had seconds ago, trapped one between her fingers and it screamed from its tiny little lungs, while its mates gasped and attempted to scurry away, held bound by their stems. While Pom pinched the flower between her fingers, crushing the petals, bleeding them of their oils, she raised another hand and called forth a small tender little bird to perch upon her fingers.

Stroking the feathers on the back of the small bird with the oil residue from the destroyed flower left upon her fingertips, the bird's body fell totally limp while cupped in her hands. The layman would assume it had died, where in reality it was existing solely to receive Pom's will. Pom raised her hands up to her lips and breathed into them, heating up the body of the bird, which then stood and cast off from her open palm.

The Nightsister's left eye received the sight of the bird as it flew overhead, circling, waiting to be directed to where it should fly. Pom reached out for Lakura to put her hand into her own, and she would share with her student, the vision which the bird granted.

"Come. Take my hand. Feel how deeply we can connect with nature. Lead the bird as it seeks direction." Pom would not see that she stripped it of its freedoms in the first place!