Private Lesson One - The Living Force

[Kei Westbrook]

Kei looked around his small room softly.

He had never owned much in the way of stuff, he was pretty basic like that. However, when looking at everything he owned since returning from the unknown regions, it was actually kind of depressing. He owned one set of robes he had to continually wash, a lightsaber and a few basic credits. All in all, it was depressing to look at.

He was sure that he'd eventually fill his temple room with things, but that would have to wait. Since returning to Silver Jedi space and taking on the role of Master, he had realized he had a lot more responsibility. Sometimes the responsibility he had gained tended to take priority over his own quests and missions and jobs and tasks.

Sometimes he regretted accepting the rank of Master.

He hadn't thought that in a bad way, it was just the idea of standing in front of a class of Padawans, explaining the mysteries of the force wasn't what he had expected from the job. Then again, he was starting to learn that every job seemed to have other side jobs that made the main job less appealing.

He checked his hair in the mirror as he walked past, a perfectionist as always. His fingers closed around the cool metal of his blade as he slid it into place on his belt. He looked at the cloak in the corner and decided against it, it was warm enough of Commenor that it probably wouldn't be needed.

When he walked into the classroom, he had expected screaming and fighting. He had expected to walk into a war zone. He hadn't expected to walk in and be the only one there. He literally double checked he was in the right room before deciding that for once in his life he was actually early to something.

He sat down in the chair at the front and kicked his feet up. If he waiting, he was being comfortable as he did it.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

This was the day. For a long time, Mathieu had been able to avoid it, but this was finally when the schedule had thrown him back to the dreaded basement classroom in the eastern wing. This was not Kashyyyk - but just like there, the corresponding classroom on Commenor had a reputation. Still, he remembered what his friend, Caden Evesa had told him and would try to keep the advice in mind.

Arriving a bit early, the large Padawan stood outside the door for a bit, throwing an eye behind him to see if any other students could be seen nearby. Who he presumed would be the teacher did not seem to mask their presence in the force and a rather powerful force signature could be felt. Unfortunately, this probably also meant that the person in question could also sense Mathieu which made waiting for the other students to arrive rather awkward. At least for now that he was alone and didn't have anyone else to speak to which could have served as a good excuse.

While the former Mercenary would often carry his stun baton, this time, he had left it at his room and opted to only bring his practice blade. Nothing on the schedule suggested that it would be relevant to use it, but just like the Knights and Masters tended to carry around their lightsabers wherever they went, Mathieu would bring his 'weapon' too. Straightening the collar of his brown robes, he exhaled, recentering himself and bracing for the worst.

"Good morning, Master. I am Padawan Mathieu Brion" his words were clear and stable, not leaving many hints about how he felt before entering the room. Mercenary work had given him some good practice after all, it seemed. A small smile grew on his lips "It seems like I am the first to arrive" he said, making up small talk.

Deciding to not stand around in the door opening, he threw a quick glance to the side and did just what Caden had told him. Moving deeper into the class room, he soon stopped by the second to last row where he took a seat. Perhaps it was a bad idea to engage him in small talk as it could contrast rather starkly to when he would inevitably grow silent in class, but it was too late now. "If you don't recognise me, it is because I have mainly been on Kashyyyk so far." he said, letting out a chuckle before continuing "And I suppose that is why you probably don't recognise me from before either"

Kei Westbrook

 

[Kei Westbrook]

The room was fairly quiet at first.

Kei didn't blame the students for waiting outside the room, he had very much done the same when he was a Padawan. He went through a phase where he hardly ever spoke to anyone. Many of those who knew him now would agree that he had very much changed since joining the Silver Jedi.

The first student to arrive went straight for the back of the classroom. Kei had sensed his force signature stood the other side of the door. He had sensed the force signature come through the door without even looking up and he had heard the voice introduce itself.

"Mathieu Brion, huh. Not a name I'm familiar with"

The man went on to explain that he had spent his time on Kashyyyk. It had been a while since Kei had returned to The Silver Rest and had been among the Wookies who called Kashyyyk their home. He had returned directly to Commenor upon returning to the galaxy.

"Explains it. Name's Kei, Master Westbrook if we're being formal"

He hated being referred to as Master Westbrook, it made him seem more authoritative than he was. He was just regular old Kei, blessed with a gift in the force. That was about the only thing that made him special. The rest of it was just training and focus.

The class was starting to fill up by this point, everyone taking their seats. The group was small, meaning Kei could easily answer questions. He was sure their would be questions, he was about to explain to a group of Padawans who had never really experienced the force what the force was and how to control it.

"Okay good, looks to be everyone. My name is Kei Westbrook, Master of the Order and unfortunately for you lot, teacher for today. I've been informed you're all brand new to the Order, meaning this is gonna be an introductory class to the force. Anyone care to tell me what you already know about the force?"

He pointed towards the back.

"Mathieu?"

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

"..if we're being formal the words bounced about in the new Jedi's mind for a bit as he tried to decipher what the Master could have meant. Was it really a good idea to bring more attention to himself than he already had? Regardless of the answer, that was precisely what he was going to do "Are we, being formal?" It was only a few words accompanied with a quick glance as he was making his way to his seat. If the answer was yes, it wouldn't be a problem - if it was no, however, he might just have made himself stand out quite a bit from the rest of the class.

The following minutes saw a steady trickle of students enter the room. Some had been fortunate enough to find a class mate on their way there, allowing them to enter with another whilst most of the others came in alone. That was far from the most interesting observation, however. What truly seemed noteworthy in this case was that the class was so small, making it rather hard to follow the advice he had been given by Caden in the past. Sitting at the back to go unnoticed didn't really work when they were so few and especially after having had a chat with the teacher.

It all kept getting better as Kei explained how unfortunate they were to have him for their current class. What made it a bit more promising was that it was an introductory class to the force and while Mathieu was still new to it all and couldn't always control it, he had spent a few months with the Soller Navah as well as some time on Kashyyyk, giving him a slight edge.

Complete and total silence dominated the room after the Master had asked his question. Nope, nobody cared to tell him of what they already knew about the force. There was one Mirialan sitting at the left side of the room who seemed a little prone to answering but was way too far from being able to summon the courage to raise their hand before the question was hurled at the large Morellian at the back. "Uhhhh..."

This was only the beginning. Something more than a dumb noise would had to be produced if he wanted to avoid being targeted in the future. And with that, he started speaking, mainly saying whatever came to mind. "It is something which is everywhere and connects everything. You know..." he was trailing off, struggling to give his thoughts structure and decorating them with words "It can be directed, like a stream. And, uhm, uh, do things. Like, give me an idea of impending danger or where another person is."

Mathieu was satisfied with his answer but apparently, the Mirialan student at the side of the room was no. With a raised hand, they spoke before anyone had the chance to give them the go-ahead "Actually, saying that it can be directed is misleading. The force is not your lapdog to command. That's the way of the Sith! If anything, it is an ally."

Kei Westbrook

 

[Kei Westbrook]

Kei let out a soft chuckle.

The Padawan's in the room were trying, bless them. Many of them had only recently learnt about the force, so Kei wasn't expecting top mark answers. He was expecting the blank faces and the whispering of young Jedi Padawan learners going "what" to each other.

Mathieu stumbling through the answer was what made him chuckle. He was impressed because in reality, the boy wasn't all that far wrong. The force, according to the teachings of the Jedi that he was supposed to be reciting, was everywhere and connected everything.

He pointed at the Mirialan student as he spoke, and grinned.

"Yes, and no. What Padawan Brion said was mostly accurate. The force connecting everything together is a pretty fair definition of the force. It can indeed alert you to incoming dangers and can indeed tell you where another person is. I also agree that the force is not a lapdog to command, but I disagree that it can not be directed"

He let out a small smile.

"To serve as a Jedi, one must trust the living force, allow it to flow through them. However, even to use some of the force abilities we class as light aligned, one must direct the force. The biggest difference between the Jedi and the Sith is that we use the powers we have for good, while the Sith use their powers for destruction. The lightside and darkside are entirely opinion based, some powers which may toe the dark are actually pretty useful and can be used by those serving the light, so long as they use them in the right way"

He looked around the room.

"Anyone got any questions so far?"

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

This was perfect. The Mirialan's comment had made so much sense when it was uttered and Mathieu was sure that he had made a fool of himself in front of not only the class but also the Master. But that was not to be the case as Kei threw a splash of nuance onto it all, agreeing and disagreeing with both students at the same time. It was a good way of learning, to let their ideas meet and then see which suggestions were well received and which ones that could be discarded.

Soon, Kei touched upon the alignment of certain abilities but pivoted into speaking of the intention behind their usage - that was to be the true deciding factor. Once again, the Mirialan spoke "But Master Westbrook, a dark-sided power risks corrupting you and leading you down onto the path of the dark side. The ancient Master Doran Brooke detailed this extensively in his introductory book." the objection seemed to be well received among the others in the class as a number of them nodded along as the green-skinned alien spoke.

Mathieu had not read Master Doran's rather dogmatic book. It was long and boring. While the author may have been a competent teacher who could provide his students with wise council in his days, the Morellian was far from impressed by his way with words - at least in written form. Feeling a degree of comfort with Master Kei and the others in the class, he went out on a limb "But if you use lightning to power up a faulty shuttle and save the lives of the passengers, aren't you doing something good? And if you use the force to create light, only to blind a merchant and steal their goods, aren't you closer to falling to the dark?" In truth, Mathieu had no idea of how it worked or the theory behind it, but from his point of view it made sense. And apparently, the Mirialan seemed to have difficulties responding to it too.

The Zabrak who sat on the row before him did not seem to have the same difficulties, however. She turned around to look at the tall blonde directly "But this is about the ability's alignment. You can only do so much harm with light. But lightning? Look, you need enough power to summon it in the first place and even after that, it has immense destructive power, just think of the temptations." Now, it was Mathieu who didn't have a good response. He would either have to hope for Kei or a class mate to think of something. Still, he continued pondering the argument himself, just in case nobody would swoop in to the rescue.

Kei Westbrook

 

[Kei Westbrook]

He wasn't surprised he had started a debate.

His view on the force was a lot less rigid than that of many Jedi, he was more of the belief that if used right what most people classed as the darkside of the force could be a valuable tool. Many Jedi seemed to disagree with this, as did clearly many of the Jedi in the room with him.

"I do agree that the darkside carries risk. The temptations are strong, of that I can assure you. However, a true Jedi should never find themselves struggling with those temptations, as a true Jedi should be pure of heart and only access such powers should they know they can control their dance with the dark"

He looked around the class slowly, casting his eyes to every student. He was glad that none of them came back with a retort, either due to being defeated or due to just not caring anymore. Whichever it was, Kei was glad. He didn't have the patience to go down the same path over and over again.

"And for your information, I never read the introductory book"

He let out a soft chuckle, running his hand through his hair. His obsession with his looks would be the death of him, GhostOfProtocol had always taught him that. It was the one part of his training he had never once bothered to listen to, never once cared to listen to.

"Everyone here must at least have some experience using the force, through an accident if not intentional. I don't know how many of you here have even started to learn to control the power, I assume it's not many. For those who have, I ask you remain quiet. For those who haven't, let's talk about your first ever experiences using the force. Mathieu, how about you start?"

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Mathieu struggled to keep a straight face when the Master mentioned that he never read the introductory books. It was something they had in common. But what amused him about it was the surprised look on the face of the Mirialan who seemed to be much more fond of plowing through the literature.

Soon, however, Kei put the new Padawan into something of a dilemma. For Mathieu belonged to the group who had been told to remain quiet - yet he had also seemed to have become the favourite to go first. Whatever tip Caden had tried to give him before, Mathieu had failed miserably to follow. Or at least so it seemed. The former mercenary let out a long "mmmmmmmmmmmmm" before inhaling and considering what to say. "I trained with a group in the outer reaches of space called the Soller Navah. The first time I knowingly used the force was when I had crashed my ship on their planet and managed to have it tear away the cockpit viewports so that I could leave my ship. It was filling up with smoke so I was kind of in a rush" he said, deciding that it probably wouldn't do any harm if he shared an anecdote without entering details on how something worked with the knowledge he now had.

Satisfied with having produced a response, he leaned back in his seat and waited for what would happen next. The Mirialan looked eager to tell their story whilst the Zabrak who sat in front of him almost looked like she wanted to shrink back into he chair and through the floor to escape the situation. It was curious, seeing as she carried a fair amount of confidence before - but then, maybe she was in the same situation as Mathieu and simply didn't want to be picked out like he had been.

Kei Westbrook

 

[Kei Westbrook]

Kei nodded along.

He had heard most of the stories. Everyone found out they had a potential in the force in their own unique way but they all tended to boil down to very similar reasons. Stress, fear or anger were the three main catalysts for a discovery of the force.

Kei's own discovery was fear and anger, fear of his mother getting hurt and anger towards his father due to the mans abuse of his mother. He had used the force in a way he had never used it since, shattering glass and pushing his father against the wall so hard he killed him instantly.

He had always been a rebellious child, an inner darkness that plagued him. He was the class bully in lots of ways, ganging up with his friends on the little kids. As he had gotten older, he had mellowed a lot to what he used to be, but that darkness was still there. The push that killed his father was just proof of that.

He wasn't going to tell that story, of course. The class he was teaching wasn't for him to share his stories, it was for the Padawans in front of him to share their stories. The more they spoke about their previous uses of the force, the easier they would find it to replicate such things and the easier they would find it to control the force now.

The older Jedi Master listened as the Mirialan shared her story. Again, it fell it onto one of the three categories. For her, it was stress. Kei could have gone around the room and he was pretty sure every student would have told a story that fit into one of the three.

"Good, good. Using the force is one thing though, especially when fueled by emotions as you've described. Being able to control that power and use it at will however, that's another skill entirely. Using it and controlling it are two very different ballgames"

As if to demonstrate, he used the force to pull the door of the room shut. He didn't even move his hand, simply closed his eyes and began to feel. It had taken years of training for Kei to be able to bend the force to his will, and he didn't expect the Padawans to do it right away, he was just showing what was possible.

The weakest use of the force, in his eyes.

"I'm going to stand here, and just wait. You're all going to use the force to lift your notepads and put them down again. The biggest key here is to focus on the notepad in front of you. I was always taught to imagine a bubble being forced out from you, you serve as the epicenter. Anything inside that bubble is what you can feel in the force and what you can manipulate with the force"

He let out a soft smile.

"I'm not going to provide any assistance to anyone during this task. Once people are starting to finish, I'll come round and help"

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Listening to the Mirialan girl speak of her first experience with the force felt good to Mathieu. So far, she had come across as so prim and proper, almost too perfect to be true. This, in a way, made her more real and tangible as a person rather than a lofty concept or ideal. Stress. In truth, it didn't surprise the young Mirialan that it was the circumstance under which she first experienced her own force capabilities.

He had never thought about the difference between using and controlling the force but his thoughts were brought back to the start of the lesson. Mathieu sent a quick glance to the Mirialan who had objected so strongly to the idea of controlling it, or perhaps commanding it, rather. Her words about not treating it like a lapdog still clung to his mind. But then, Kei casually made it close the door behind him, without even looking at it or motioning at it which was common among force users. It was impressive, certainly, and in a way, it was not a use of the force for the sake of showing off or being lazy - he was teaching and instructing the class, after all.

Mathieu had already spent a few months training in the force with the Soller Navah. It was a Force using order in an isolationist society. They had welcomed the young Morellian with open arms and he did not have a hard time accepting their teachings. One of the central tenets were that using the force to affect the world around them was inherently immoral with a few exceptions - harmless little nudges weren't as bad and healing someone with their permission was acceptable. This was something which Mathieu had accepted but he had also always idolised the Jedi and upon joining the order, his views had started to become much less rigid. Making a notepad hover was something which he had no qualms with whatsoever - at least when it was just for learning purposes. Still, he was much more adept at enhancing his own physical capacities than he was at telekinesis.

Looking at the notepad, Mathieu started to focus, envisioning the bubble which Kei just spoke of. But it wouldn't remain a bubble in Mathieu's mind, instead, it's surface would shrink and plaster itself onto the notepad. It gave him much better control of how it moved and soon enough, it started to levitate. It was shaky at first with a few wobbles but it soon stabilised. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to use the most iconic power of the Jedi. All caught up in the feat, the Morellian momentarily forgot about his task to put it down again and slowly spun it around before bringing it closer to reading distance and finally bringing it to his open palm. "Wow, amazing" he said, almost in a whisper as he spoke more to himself than anyone else.

A fair number of the others were still working getting their notepads to hover or trying to ease their pads back down. With a few moments to spare, Mathieu threw a glance out the window, only to catch a few strands of hair sitting in an odd way on his head. Was the Master's ways getting to him? Usually, Mathieu didn't care for it much, but this time, he tried using telekinesis to put them in place and while the process was painfully slow compared to just brushing a hand through it, it did work out and from his point of view, it seemed discrete enough to not be noticed by the others.

Kei Westbrook

 

[Kei Westbrook]

His eyes darted around the room as each student began.

Using the force ways like this felt so weak to Kei, it was something he had done years ago. Since then his powers just continued to grow and he began to master numerous new skills, skills that he had began to master throughout his time in the Silver Jedi and the galaxy at large.

He felt the force radiating from many of the students in the room. Some of them were starting to make positive advancements, others were struggling to get the grasp of using the force to levitate an object. One of them stood out however.

Mathieu was impressing Kei a lot.

The Jedi Master walked through the class, offering little bits of advice to certain students who seemed to be struggling with the force. He was giving each specialized, unique advice that they could use to learn from. The only person he didn't need to give advice to was Mathieu.

He sat on the edge of the young Jedi's desk and smiled. Mathieu was impressive, had caught Kei's eye in much the same way he had caught the eye of his former master. He had impressed, shown of impressive strength in the force that no-one else seemed to demonstrate.

GhostOfProtocol had taken Kei under his wing and accepted him as his Padawan. That had been years ago, before the man had vanished out of the galaxy. His two sons (Cillian and Nathaniel) had reportedly been scouring the galaxy for him, yet neither could find him.

Kei Westbrook had tried as well, but hadn't managed to find anything. The patriarch of House Raxis had vanished randomly through the night and no-one seemed to be able to locate him, going as far as to declare him dead. It was all they could do.

He couldn't think of that.

"Mathieu here is what you should all aim for, his power in the force is strong as I'm sure you can all sense. He managed to get this notebook exercise pretty fast, but he'll need to repeat it multiple times over the next few weeks to master it, as will the rest of you. And on that note, class dismissed"

Mathieu Brion