Private It's Elementary

[Kahlil Noble]

"When I first joined the Jedi, using the Force was.. Impossible for me. I couldn't use it as a Jedi could, nor could I fall on my early roots and use it as a Sith since that defeated the whole purpose of y'know, being a Jedi. But I was taught something different, by someone who chose to help me go against my family's roots and find my own connection to the Force." Kahlil stood beside the lake of Niv Hani, smiling softly as he looked to the Padawan's he'd asked to accompany him here. There were several reasons why he'd asked them both here, but the first and foremost was to at least teach them something that had truly opened the door to the Force to him that wasn't abusing and bending it to his will.

The wind around them picked up as he lifted a hand, swirling under his guidance.

"The concept is simple. Fire, water, earth, air. They're the basis of the elements that some faiths believe to be the core of the Force, though most don't call it that. It's simple to focus on, simple to guide yourself with. There's no complex philosophy behind an element. Once you've felt it, you'll be able to use it. So," He smiled, looking between the two.

"What do you think Colette? Shan?"

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Shan // Kahlil Noble

"Right," Said Colette and nodded. "An element is a permanent thing, it doesn't live or die, yet it builds the foundation of all the things that we love." She looked to Shan for a moment to gauge his reaction before she continued with great excitement. "They don't have any rules, but they're also predictable. Water is going to flow, fire is going to burn. That's what their nature is, right? So—"

The kid caught herself getting really into it and abruptly went silent. A moment later she cleared her throat and let out an embarrassed little chuckle.

"Sorry." Colette spoke and rubbed her hand at the back of her neck. "This is one of my favorite things to meditate on."

 

[Shan]

Shan let Colette speak first, giving her a small smile when she looked over in his direction to gauge his reaction before turning his attention back over towards Kahlil as Colette carried on talking. It was nice to see her excited about something, as he glanced back over towards her. "Don't worry Colette. Your excitement is brilliant. We all have things we're passionate about. You should see me when I'm talking about healing." His confidence around Colette had grown, so he was no longer just a stuttering mess as he glanced between the two to speak about his opinion.

"I feel like it's...easier said than done trying to connect to an element. Whilst I wouldn't exactly say elements have "rules"...It's harder to use them if you go against their predictability." The Mirialan shuddered as he recalled how many times he had shocked himself trying to work on lighting redirection with Elias...At the very least, that skill had came in handy to save his life plenty of times now.

"It's interesting. I had a lesson like this with Arch Wilder Vulpsen, alongside some other Jedi. He spoke about how some elements can be used differently, depending on your own view. Fire, for example, can be used to harm something, or can be used to protect it." Shan rubbed his chin as he thought about this. It was nice to have an actual lesson like this with Kahlil, instead of a stranger like Vulpesen had been. It was also nice to have Colette here, but he was doing his hardest to not let her be a distraction.

Colette Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"In a way, anything could be used differently depending on your intentions. Elements are easier to use because of how you've grown. As Colette said, water flows, fire burns. Your mind has already confirmed this." The Force was ultimately mind over matter. If someone believed something was impossible, it would only result in something they'd never be able to do. It was good that Colette was excited. And that Shan already had some exposure.

Both sides of that would help mellow the other out. If they didn't distract each other too much. This was as much Kahlil trying to teach them something as it was seeing just how distracting to one another they could be. Better here in training than out in the field.

"I want you both to sit. Let your senses run. We're surrounded by the elements. Feel them out, see if one truly speaks to you over the others. Then focus on it. What you know, what you believe. The simple concepts to open the door to the more complex."

Shan | Colette

 

[Colette]

Shan / Kahlil Noble

Distractions? Sweetheart, this was nature at its very essence that they were talking about. This was what Colette practically worshiped and held the utmost regard for. Her entire life had been spent listening to myths and stories about it, how even the mightiest and most persistent of waterdrops can erode a mountain into nothing more than a hill. How fire was only evil if you let it become an evil, or that all elements working together was the foundation on which all of life was built.

All this was to say, Shan was cute, but he wasn't nature talk.

"Oh oh!" Colette chimed up happily and reached behind her back to withdraw the ever present canteen she kept on her belt. She extended her hand in front of her and let some of the water spill out, except where it should have hit her hand or the ground beneath it, the water would instead form up as small marble-like beads that floated in front of her.

"I learned this on Pamarthe with Valery. She said it was part of my 'thing' in the force."

 

[Shan]

As much as Shan liked Colette, studying was more important to her. Getting stronger to help protect people was more important to him. So was Colette but...at the same time he purely wanted to learn what he could to defend people. He turned his attention over towards Colette, as she poured out the water down onto the floor. Except...it turned into a small little marble. Interesting. Shan rubbed his chin as he looked down at the little bead. "Amazing...And it just comes naturally to you? Easily?"

Shan hadn't been able to do that. At least not as easily as Colette seemed to be able to do it. The Mirialan just closed his eyes, trying to make sure he could meditate. It was a bit harder with Colette here than normal. When he was with Katherine, or anyone else, Shan was able to meditate easily, but he kept wanting to open his eye to steal a glance at Colette...but he couldn't let her distract him.

Breathe. Focus. He tried to let his mind and focus wander. Seeing what spoke out to him naturally. He could feel the small trickle of water from Colette's canteen, almost like drops in a vast ocean of the Force. A faint breeze causing ripples through his mental image of the Force, as small waves of water seemed to rock back and forth before he focused on one thing specifically. The shore that the ripples of the Force lapped up against. Focusing on the Earth beneath him, letting a few little pebbles shake back and forth as he focused on the ground, just trying to push it aside to gently dig his hand into the ground.


Colette Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"It being your 'thing' will certainly make it easier." Perhaps it was because of her upbringing. At least it meant she'd be able to continue the actual lesson with the fact she could manipulate at least one of the elements. Grant it, this might be a sign she could even do more if given the time to work on it. Right now though, basics. He turned to Shan, watching as the Mirialan reached through the Force to find his own center there. Water was the first to come to Kahlil's mind. It often represented gentleness, healing.

But it was the earth that reacted. Shivered and moved under his guidance. Protection, sturdiness.

"Good. Don't just dig. The earth is where most life grows. It provides nurture, home. It can provide shelter to those who seek it. Use that."

Then he looked to Colette. Water certainly could be anything, especially since he often used it in his own way. He reached a hand up, letting a rune form to freeze the air just above his palm. "You know the basics already, so we'll see just how much you know. Can you freeze that water?"

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Shan / Kahlil Noble

"Yep!" Colette said and began to form the beads into a few toruses, that was to say: circles. That slowly froze as Kahlil did his thing. Colette observed with wide-eyed wonder, her jaw genuinely dropping as she tried to figure out how the hell he'd just done that. The circles dropped to the ground and began to melt into the grass.

"N-no, I can't." She stammered with an excited exhale as she rubbed her fingers against her brows in contemplation. "Not yet anyway."

Her hand moved in circles in front of her head as if she was trying to reel a fish out of it.

"How?" She asked and began to think out loud. "I mean, so water is a thing in constant motion. You don't tell water where to go, you kinda… Give it a shape and hope it accepts it in the way you want it to, like a kettle. It becomes the kettle, but…"

"Cold. Cold could be considered an absence of heat. The most primal form of heat is fire, which should mean…" She began to mumble before she gasped as if she was struck with wonder again. "Which should mean that if we can do fire, we can probably do cold too!"

"Is this right? I think it must be at least partially right."

 

[Shan]

Shan stayed in his own little world, as he let his hand shift and move through the Earth, almost like some kind of slurry or mud. Moving it around like clay as he listened to Kahlil's words carefully. The earth could be used for protection and shelter, from many things. The elements, from other people. It could also be a sign of life. Nurturing, feeding and growing. There were plenty of different ideas that he could use the earth for.

The Mirialan let his mind focus on the idea of protection. Sturdiness. Letting the earth clump to his hand for a moment, solidifying the earth around his knnuckles and lifting his hand to get a closer look at it. It wouldn't exactly help him to protect himself that much from anything like blasters or lightsabers, but if he punched someone with his hand covered in earth and rock...Well, it would cause some damage at the very least. And he would be able to potentially use it to protect other people...Hm...

He looked up from his hand, glancing over towards Colette and Kahlil, keeping a soft smile on his face. "It makes sense to me. If you can cause flames to form, you can do the opposite. Like how...if you can blow air, you can also suck air back in." Shan tried to keep his ideas related to elements, as he looked around, feeling the air flowing around.

Colette Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"That sounds about right."

Kahlil reached up to rub at his chin, humming in thought. "I'm not able to actually use the elements themselves more than the wind and air I can influence. This is just runes, something else entirely." He glanced briefly to Shan's earth encrusted fist and chuckled. That was a way he hadn't expected Shan to use it, but perhaps that was better. In fact, it already gave him an idea on what might be good for Shan to learn with it.

A different rune flared to life, this time igniting into a flame that hovered just above his palm.

"If you need to remove heat to freeze the water, practice on an actual flame. Increase the heat, decrease it, work on that. Shan, have you ever heard of someone taking something as mundane as a stick and using it to defend against a lightsaber?"

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Kahlil Noble

What were those runes exactly? Colette looked at the way Kahlil utilized them to make all sorts of different things happen. They would remain, for now, a mystery.

Okay, so what wasn't a mystery however was the way that fire worked. It followed a very simple formula: Air + Fire = More Fire. But what was air, and how would said air get to the fire? Colette thought about it for a moment before she let out a humm.

"Fire needs air." She said and looked at the flame. "But what is air? It's like the presence of nothing. How do you push or move around nothing?"

 

[Shan]

"It's your perspective of air that matters, I suppose." Shan wasn't an expert at this, but it wasn't in his nature to just sit here and not be helpful. "Your perspective is that air is like nothing. Whereas for me, I see Air as being around us. Swirling and blowing around. We might not be able to see it, but we can feel it. And if we can feel something, we can move it."

Though Shan then turned his attention towards Kahlil, tilting his head ever so slightly. "No. I haven't. I thought it would ultimately be futile to use anything like wood against a lightsaber because...well..." Shan just made a little lightsaber noise with his mouth and pretended to cut through his hand with his other hand. "I mostly came up with this idea becauses Jasper taught me how to use soft to solid, and I thought that if I reinforce my hands and wrists with earth...well, I'm less likely to break something."

Colette Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Air is something that can be breathed. Various substances, some that are helpful. Some that aren't. Some that are poisonous." Invisible to the natural eye in most cases, but very much there. "If you go out to space, outside of any atmosphere, it won't be there. But don't you already know how to move things unseen? That's what the Force is, after all. Unseen, but felt."

He reached a hand up to again let the air around them move and shift. A gentle breeze washing through them all under his guidance. "But aren't you thinking on it too much? We're not scientists. Trust yourself, trust the Force. It'll guide you to what you seek."

He paused. Glanced again towards Shan. "Much the same to you, actually. The Force can do many things, more than you expect. A good Master from a time forgotten was capable of using their walking stick to fight against some of the most brutal of Sith through the Force. You can do the same with that earth you clad your fists in. Catching, deflecting lightsabers, I imagine it'll be in the palm of your hand once you figure out the trick to it."

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Shan / Kahlil Noble

Oh, right, there was no air in that place: space. Colette thought very little of it. That was to say she hated it and she avoided it if she could. The ear doctor said it was some sort of imbalance that got the kid motion sick in them unless she could trick herself into thinking she wasn't inside of one.

And as far as 'scientists' went there was still some part of Colette that was hardwired to try and rationalize what she saw and experienced even if it involved the force. It was easier to understand what to do if she could form an image of herself doing it. If air wasn't the absence of something but the presence of nothing then… Then that made just enough sense for her to try and imagine a way to apply herself to it.

Colette raised her forearm and waved her free hand just above it, close enough so that the wind pushed against her skin. She then put her hand to her lips for a moment in thought. Wind was a sort of manipulation of the nothing that existed but could still be felt as if it was something. That was to say that air did exist and it answered to things moving through it.

"I think I get it." Colette said and raised her hand above her forearm again and began to focus. She tried to imagine there was a object just above the surface of her skin. If a push in the force was to apply pressure to that something she focused on, then would wind be about applying force to the nothing that was in front of it?

Her first try did little, but the girl didn't give up. They had time.

 

[Shan]

A walking stick? Used to fight the Sith? Shan would have paid good money to see that. If he hadn't lost most of his savings during the charity ball. Though now he had to try and wrap his head around it all, a small frown on his face. He could use the earth to block a lightsaber...That would be interesting. If he thought about it, he could try to imbue the Earth with the Force to help strengthen it. It was an interesting concept if he thought about it...

He glanced up from his own work to look over towards Colette, giving her a thumbs up. "You've got this Colette." He would have done more to try and support her, but he didn't want to act as a distraction. Instead he moved off to the side away from Kahlil and Colette ever so slightly as he took out his lightsaber and prepared to ignite it.

First, he stuck his hand into the ground, slowly but surely letting a small little slab of earth and tried to infuse it with some of the Force. Taking his lightsaber and preparing to slash through it! Well, his actual hope was that it wouldn't slash through. Of course, he wasn't an expert in this, so it was no surprise that the saber slashed through it...

"...Maybe if I try to use a rune, that would help reinforce it even better..."

Colette Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

From freezing water to setting fires to manipulating the very air around them. It was quite the chain of thought, but one Kahlil thought was a good one. Thought, intent, that shaped so much of what a Jedi could do. The more she thought on her own to make things work, the more things that simply would. The only limit would be what she believed was her limits. Kahlil turned from her to let her focus on what she was doing, instead watching Shan.

And cleared his throat as Shan pulled out a lightsaber with the intent of cutting his earth clad hand.

"The protection rune I taught you would help focus it, yes. But I advice you make something out of the earth to hold and try cutting before you try cutting something covering your own body. I have the utmost faith in your abilities, but on the off chance I don't want to have to reattach your hand."

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Kahlil Noble / Shan

"Thanks, Shan." The girl said and gave the boy a warm smile as she tried again. This time she focused on the same thing but tried to make it less of a concrete thing and more of a "well, just imagine something is going to happen" kind of thing. That was to say, perhaps follow Kahlil's instruction just a little closer.

There was something there because Colette wanted there, no, knew that there was something there. She knew that an unseen hand was right there above her arm and all she had to do was imagine the way it swept through the air and pushed those tiny little nothings into affecting the very real something that was her arm.

She let in a deep breath. She focused on knowing something was there and…

There was this… Very slight tickle against her arm. The girl's eyes opened with a curious look before they closed again and she went back to focusing. That invisible object needed to move faster, she figured. Her brows knitted together as she brought the object across her arm at a speed that went far beyond what she had expected, and as a result a big gust of air began to throw dirt and dust in front of her and a few meters to the left.

The girl began to cough as the dust filled her lungs.

"I did it." She whined and coughed again.

 

[Shan]

"O-Oh. That's...what I was doing Master Kahlil. I'm not dumb enough to cut my own hand." Well. Shan was dumb enough to do that. Just not with a lightsaber. "I was making a small slab of earth to try and cut. Like a tiny wall." He wasn't sure how to feel about Kahlil thinking he was dumb enough to chop off his own hand...but supposed it was something that was understandable to be worried about. Chopping off your hand was always a bit of a hassle. Or at least Shan had assumed. He hadn't lost his hand...There was a time that came close though with that Sithspawn that he tried to save alongside Kahlil...

Either way, the Mirialan decided to focus on doing the runes for the little slab. Adding a small little shield rune to it, biting his lip as he was trying to focus on making sure the rune was perfect. The runes didn't come too naturally to him, even though Kahlil had always be a helpful teacher. Once he was sure that the rune was done, Shan took his lightsaber again and just gently started to poke the lightsaber against the earth. Feeling ever so slightly a bit of resistance, Shan would focus on trying to break the earth...At least until he saw the sudden gust of air sending dirt all over the place, causing him to lose focus.

"...Nice job!"

Kahlil Noble Colette

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil watched Shan in silence this time, mostly because he hadn't realized Shan wasn't wearing the dirt this time. That, and distractions weren't going to be good for him figuring it out the feeling. That's all this was, finding that feeling and remembering it to use it in the future. At least until dust was kicked up close by. He blinked before glancing towards Colette and smiled just a little.

"Good. Remember that feeling. Though hopefully next time you won't make such a mess."

Colette | Shan

 

[Colette]

Shan / Kahlil Noble

"Thank you, I will." Colette said and nodded at both Kahlil and Shan. "You're doing great too, Shan."

"Actually…"

"Why don't we work together on this? Shan can raise the earth, I can control water… We could probably find some weird combinations if we just worked together on this instead of two people with two different lessons."