Private Held in the Currents of the Force

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra stared at Syn for a moment after his perfectly matter-of-fact explanation, then slowly shook her head. "Of course you do." Apparently, reinforcing oneself with the Force was a perfectly reasonable solution to the consequences of several hours spent making certain his girlfriend was thoroughly exhausted. She slipped carefully from the bed, testing her legs before trusting them with her full weight. "Some of us don't have the option of reinforcing ourselves with the Force yet, you know." There wasn't an ounce of genuine complaint behind it. The smile she was trying and failing to suppress made that abundantly clear as she reached for her clothes.

Alema's report distracted her before she could begin getting dressed. Lyra listened with growing disbelief until the ship reached the part about rerouting soap, at which point she stopped entirely and looked upward. "You washed his mouth out with soap?" She wasn't sure whether she was more amused by Alema deciding the Anzellan's vocabulary required disciplinary intervention or by the fact that the encounter had apparently ended with him cleaner than when it began. Syn's reminder that Alema shouldn't hurt him tempered the humor somewhat, though nothing the ship had described sounded as though their guest had suffered anything worse than indignity and exhaustion. "I have a feeling he's going to wake up with some very strong opinions about you."

Lyra finally began pulling on her cleaned clothes, appreciating Alema's work considerably more now that she was awake enough to do so. "Although I suppose trying to outrun the ship you're currently inside was never going to end particularly well for him." She glanced toward Syn as she finished dressing, amusement warming her expression. "At least he's asleep. Which means maybe we can find out where Alema brought us before he wakes up and declares another war."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

The ship seemed to pause at her words for a moemnt and then spoke. "Should he wish to discuss it there is a door to my office for complaints. THe title airlock is just ancient jedi for ship in charge." Syn looked at the Alema and there was a look while Lyra was speaking but he let her test her legs and then led the way towards the doors that were opening. "Well when you wish it, I can show you. NOw that you have a practical application of the technique you will be able to understand force body as it allows you to strengthen your muscles and stamina."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra stopped halfway through fastening her clothes and stared at the ceiling as Alema explained exactly where to file complaints. For several seconds she said nothing, caught somewhere between disbelief and laughter. "Your complaints office is the airlock?" Her lips twitched despite herself. "I don't think that's what 'ship in charge' means in any version of ancient Jedi." She glanced toward Syn as though the actual nine-hundred-year-old Jedi might somehow be expected to verify the translation, then thought better of involving herself in whatever argument might follow. "Actually, never mind. I'm staying out of this one. I like being on the inside of the ship."

She finished dressing and followed Syn through the opening doors, though his offer quickly drew her attention away from Alema's questionable complaint-resolution policies. Lyra had been teasing about the unfair advantage the Force gave him, but apparently Syn had taken the comment as an opportunity for another lesson. That interested her considerably more than she expected. She was still learning what Force-sensitive meant for her in practical terms, and Syn had already demonstrated that he had centuries of experience to draw upon. "Wait, I can actually learn to do that?" She fell into step beside him, curiosity immediately taking over. "Strengthen my muscles and stamina with the Force, I mean. Not specifically survive you." A grin appeared. "Although apparently that's one practical application."

The thought remained with her as they continued onward, and Lyra flexed one hand experimentally even though she knew perfectly well the technique wasn't going to spontaneously appear because Syn had explained its existence. "Yeah, I'd like you to teach me." There was no hesitation in that answer. If she was going to develop this part of herself, learning something that could improve her endurance and physical capabilities sounded considerably more useful than abstract exercises. "Maybe after we figure out where we are and get something to eat. I'm discovering that several exhaustive hours followed by actual sleep makes breakfast sound extremely important."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Yes, the office where suggestions to make me more hospitable is in the airlock on the starboard side of the ship." The ship spoke and Syn lookked up and then at Lyra. "Yes in answer, I can teach you to strengthen yourself with the force itself. It will make your stamina much stronger and your endurance carries over into your perception and mental state allowing for sharper reflexes and movement." He said it and he was moving as he went to show her where the food area was. THe galley opening up to have cases of food and fabricators that he could use. "Alema, food please." He said it and the ship was there giving some things with the smaller droids while speaking. "Of course, we will be reaching the edge of the Farlax sector within three hours travel time. From there we are able to move through known routes."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra gave Alema's clarification about the location of her complaints office a suspicious look as she followed Syn into the galley. "Right. Starboard airlock. I'll make sure to submit all future suggestions from a safe distance." She was beginning to suspect that arguing with Alema was a pastime in its own right, though she had no intention of finding out whether the ship's sense of humor extended to actually opening an airlock on someone. Fortunately, Syn's explanation of what he could teach her gave Lyra something considerably more interesting to focus on.

She listened closely as he described how the technique affected more than simple physical strength. Stamina had already sounded useful, but sharper reflexes and greater endurance immediately made her think about flying. Long hours in a cockpit could become exhausting, and fatigue inevitably slowed reactions. The same applied to working on a ship when a repair couldn't simply wait until morning. "Okay, now you're making it sound even more useful." She took a seat once they reached the galley, watching the smaller droids begin bringing out food. "Better stamina and reflexes would be useful for flying, especially when I've been in the cockpit for hours. Or when something breaks at the worst possible time, and I have to keep working." The fact that there were considerably more enjoyable applications for additional stamina was not lost on her either, and the brief smile she gave Syn suggested she hadn't forgotten their earlier conversation.

Alema's announcement drew Lyra's attention away from him. The Farlax Sector was at least something recognizable, and knowing they would soon be back among established routes gave her a better sense of where Alema had carried them while they slept. "Farlax. Okay, I know where that is." Three hours also meant there was no particular urgency to do anything except eat and let Alema continue on course. She looked toward the food arriving, her hunger abruptly becoming much harder to ignore. "So we have three hours before we need to decide where we're going next."

Lyra smiled across at Syn as she reached for something to eat. "Breakfast, then. After that, maybe you can start showing me how Force Body actually works." Her smile gained a playful edge. "Apparently I have a very compelling reason to learn."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave her a nod of his head while finding a place and ran a hand along the counter while small ridges formed. "That is acceptible, I'll get us something hardy as using and maintaining the force burns a lot of energy and colaries." He said it with a small laugh to himself though while he was going over all of it. THe food set up while the fabrricators were working on it and preparing but he sat down at the table and remaine dthere when one fo the droid brought him a drink. "You are more then worth the excess work out though Lyra."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra took a seat across from him while the fabricators worked, watching the small droids move around the galley with considerably more interest now that food was involved. Syn's explanation earned a thoughtful nod. It made sense that using the Force would require energy from the person doing it, though she hadn't really considered what that meant physically before. "So learning this comes with permission to eat more. I already like Force Body." His last comment brought a warmer smile to her face, accompanied by the faintest flush that still seemed inevitable whenever he managed to slip something like that into an otherwise perfectly ordinary conversation. "I'm glad you think I'm worth the calories."

Her gaze lingered on him for another moment before settling naturally on the covering he wore over where his eyes would otherwise have been. She knew Syn was Miraluka, and by now she had spent enough time with him that his blindness rarely registered as something unusual. He navigated Alema, fought, interacted with people, and moved through the galaxy with an awareness that sometimes seemed sharper than her own. With him already offering to teach her another way of using the Force, however, a question she'd never really had reason to ask became considerably more relevant. "Actually, there's something else I've been wondering about."

She leaned forward slightly against the table. "How do you see?" Lyra paused, realizing that probably deserved more explanation. "I know you don't see the way I do. You use the Force, but I've never really understood what that means for you. Is it like seeing shapes through it? People? Energy? Or is 'seeing' not even the right word for what you're doing?" There was no discomfort in the questions, only the same genuine curiosity she brought to an unfamiliar piece of technology, tempered by the awareness that this was part of Syn rather than some machine she could dismantle to understand.

Then she glanced down at her own hands as another thought occurred to her. "And is that something I could learn?" Her attention returned to him. "Not instead of using my eyes, obviously, but in addition to them. If I can learn to strengthen my body through the Force, could you teach me to perceive things through it the way you do?" The practical possibilities were already beginning to occur to her. "Because being able to sense what's around me when I can't actually see it sounds incredibly useful."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He laughed to the food joke and the question of his sight was something that brought interest as he found a place. "I do not fully have an example to compare it to but to see through the force is like seeing a web that threads through all things. Encloses them, permeates them and gives me an impression of what they would look like. No features or texture that I would be able see as it were it is smooth like a polished crystal.... and yet it hums and pulses with life." He said it while she was sitting there and the droids were bringing food that had been fabricated for the as he was breathing in and then outwards but expanded his senses. "To see through it is to be able to see much of the universe."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra listened without interrupting, her attention settling more completely on Syn as he tried to put something so fundamental to his existence into terms she could understand. A web threaded through everything was easy enough to imagine, but the rest was stranger. No features or textures, only impressions of shape and the life humming within them. It sounded less like replacing ordinary sight and more like perceiving an entirely different layer of the galaxy that her eyes normally hid from her.

"So you don't really see a face when you look at someone." Her brow furrowed thoughtfully as the food arrived, temporarily ignored despite how hungry she'd been moments before. "You know the shape of them and where they are, but what you're really seeing is how they exist within the Force." She considered that for a moment, then smiled faintly. "Which means you've never actually seen what I look like the way I see myself in a mirror." It wasn't disappointment so much as fascination with how differently Syn experienced something she had always taken for granted.

When he expanded his senses, Lyra grew quiet, wondering whether there was anything she could recognize from the outside when he did it. "Seeing much of the universe sounds a little intimidating when I'm still figuring out how to deliberately feel the Force at all." Her smile returned as she finally reached for the food in front of her. "But I still want to learn."

She took a bite before curiosity inevitably won again. "Could we start smaller than the universe, though?" The humor was gentle, but the interest behind it was genuine. "Like this room. Maybe eventually close my eyes and learn to recognize where you are without hearing you move, or where the walls and furniture are." That seemed considerably less overwhelming than attempting to comprehend the web Syn had spent his entire life experiencing. "If I can learn that and Force Body, I'll have two very good reasons to keep practicing."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He bowed his head with a nod. "THen eat up, we will start afterwards." He was eating and teaching her sense would be an important as it would help her be able to feel and sense the force moving throughout her body. It was something when he was eating and leaned back finished to breathe in and then outwards for a moment. Letting the force expand from him and then contract inwards as he took a drink and allowed Lyra the chance to take her time. "We will have a good amount of time and the training can take a toll on the body so it will be beneficial to be ready to move and make sure you have a full stomach."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra needed little encouragement to eat once the food was in front of her. The promise of training afterward only gave her another reason not to pick at it, particularly after Syn's warning about how much energy using the Force could consume. She ate steadily, occasionally glancing toward him and noticing the change when his breathing slowed, and something about his presence seemed to reach outward before drawing inward again. She couldn't have explained exactly what she was sensing, but knowing what he was doing made her pay closer attention to that faint awareness.

"I'm starting to understand why Jedi training isn't something you squeeze in between breakfast and whatever else you planned for the day." She smiled before taking another bite. The physical toll didn't discourage her, but it did make her appreciate why Syn kept emphasizing food and preparation. Lyra was accustomed to pushing herself through exhaustion when flying or working on a stubborn repair, but this was different. She didn't yet know where her limits with the Force were, much less what crossing them would feel like.

Once she'd eaten enough to satisfy both herself and Syn's warning, Lyra finished her drink and leaned back. "All right. Full stomach, rested, and I've accepted that you're probably going to make me regret having functional muscles by the end of this." The grin that accompanied it made clear she wasn't particularly concerned about that possibility. "Where do we start?"

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave a small laugh to that, amusement there as finishing up the droid was able to take what they had and would be leading them towards another chamber as he was looking it over and the doors opened to reveal four pillars. The tops curved with golden crystals on the top. Blue-white crystals around it in a ring and the jedi master stepped into the center of it as he remained there. The first signs of something different as his muscles tensed up but he spoke. "Be careful, the central ring is a dangerous trraining aid." He said it while standing there before he motioned to an area between the pillars. "The first step in all of it is to allow yourself the time to breathe and focus, to center yourself as you still your mind."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed Syn into the chamber, her attention immediately drawn to the crystals crowning the four pillars. His warning shifted her gaze toward the central ring, particularly when she noticed the tension in his muscles. "Dangerous training aid. Got it." She gave it a respectful amount of space as she moved where he'd indicated. "I'll save touching mysterious crystal machinery until I know what it does."

Then Syn told her to still her mind, and Lyra looked at him as though that might be the more difficult part of the lesson. "Still my mind?" She could focus when she had an engine in front of her or a ship beneath her hands, but her thoughts rarely actually stopped. There was always something: ships, repairs, flying, Syn, places she wanted to visit, Syn again. The realization made her lips twitch.

"That might be harder than the dangerous ring." Still, Lyra settled where he'd directed and closed her eyes, drawing in a slow breath. Almost immediately, her mind supplied a question about the crystals, awareness of Syn nearby, and a decidedly distracting memory of the previous night. She opened her eyes again with a faint flush. "Okay. This may take me a minute." Then she closed them again and tried once more.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"THe ring will crush you under the weight of your own thoughts. It is why a jedi should only enter it if they are willing to believe they do not regret their past." He said it while standing there and clasped his hands behidn his back. "The best way though to still your mind is to focus on a singular point that you are able to find. Allowing yourr concentration to go there and shutting out all of the other distractions and sounds around you. The tunnel vision as it were is invaluable for building the focus that will work for you and for this lesson." He was looking at her but offered only the place in front of him as well as his hand for her to find and focus on with the force.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra's glance toward the ring became considerably more wary when Syn explained what it actually did. Being crushed beneath the weight of her own thoughts sounded particularly unpleasant for someone who had just demonstrated difficulty keeping those thoughts quiet for more than a few seconds. "Right. Definitely staying out of that." Whatever regrets she did or didn't carry, Lyra had no desire to discover how the machine interpreted them.

His explanation of focus made considerably more sense to her than simply trying to make her mind empty. Lyra knew how to concentrate on one thing. She did it whenever she listened for the wrong vibration in an engine or tracked another pilot through a complicated maneuver. The difficulty was deliberately excluding everything else without a task demanding that concentration.

When Syn offered his hand, she looked at it for a moment before closing her eyes. She resisted the temptation to reach out and physically take it. That would make finding him far too easy. Instead, Lyra slowed her breathing and tried to narrow everything down to Syn in front of her. Sounds intruded first, followed by thoughts about the room and the crystals, but she kept drawing her attention back toward that single point.

Eventually, something remained beneath all those distractions. Lyra couldn't describe it as sight, nor could she confidently say she was sensing his hand specifically yet, but she felt an awareness of him that didn't depend on hearing or touching him. Her brow furrowed with concentration as she tried to hold onto it rather than immediately analyzing it. "I think I can feel you."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Good now from me, feel yourself in your mind without physically touching. Breathed in deeply, feel the air entering your lungs and hold it there. Feel it swirl and begin to enter your body as it is pumped throughout. From your head to your toes, to the edges of your finger tips and then expand it from there.. feel it going outwards from your body for a moment before you pull it back when you exhale. Then repeat the process and try to slowly begin to feel it faster and faster each time." He stayed there for a moment and kept his hand as a steady source she could constantly find with a nod of his head. "There is no rush, take as much time as you need."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra kept her eyes closed and held onto that faint awareness of Syn as he guided her onward. Turning her attention inward proved stranger. She was accustomed to noticing her body through what it told her, the ache of tired muscles, the pull of acceleration, the vibration of a ship beneath her feet. This required her to feel without relying on any of those things.

She drew in the deep breath Syn instructed and held it, concentrating first on her lungs before trying to follow the sensation farther. Her awareness became muddled almost immediately when she tried to imagine it spreading everywhere at once, so Lyra slowed down. Head, chest, arms, fingertips, legs, toes. She followed herself piece by piece, keeping Syn's presence as something steady beyond her whenever her concentration threatened to wander.

The first attempt at pushing that awareness beyond herself amounted to little more than uncertainty. Lyra exhaled, pulled her focus inward as he'd instructed, and began again. The second time came a little easier. By the third, she didn't need quite as long to trace the path through herself, and a small smile threatened her concentration when she realized she was improving. She suppressed the urge to announce it and simply kept going. There was no rush, Syn had said, so Lyra allowed herself to learn the rhythm rather than chase the result.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He could feel her as she was focusing and the jedi master stilled his own body. His memories were more intense here and more could come to the surface but there was something about accepting yourself. He rarely worried or sought the judgement of others which went a long way. it had aided in resisting attempts into his mind or trying to when he had confronted the force users of Io their torture by chargin. One needed to be buried in their own guilt to be affected by it and there was less for him there. "You are doing good." He said it when he stayed there and allowed her the chance to focus and still her mind.