Private Light Resurgence | The Jedi Order

[Aiden Porte]

Shiraya's Sanctuary
Training Room
Phillip Slate​

The training hall had settled into its familiar quiet, the kind that came only after exertion, when echoes of motion still clung to the air like fading breath. Aiden Porte moved through the space with unhurried purpose, gathering practice sabers and returning them to their racks, smoothing disturbed mats with the edge of his boot. It wasn't a task assigned by the Order; it was simply something that needed doing. Order followed effort. Calm followed order. That had always been enough for him.

He paused briefly near the center ring, eyes lifting to the high windows as pale light filtered in, dust motes drifting lazily through the beams. The Force was steady here, grounded by repetition and discipline, but beneath that familiar rhythm, something shifted.

Aiden straightened.

The sensation was faint, more intuition than warning: a presence approaching the hall, careful but unsettled, carrying intent that had not yet decided what shape it would take. Not a threat. Not urgency. Conversation. Concern, perhaps. Aiden reached for the Force gently, not prying, just enough to confirm what his instincts had already told him.

Phillip.

He exhaled slowly and set the last saber into place, hands resting on the rack for a moment longer than necessary. Whatever had brought Phillip here was still forming, still uncertain, and Aiden would not rush it. He turned toward the entrance just as footsteps neared the threshold, his posture relaxed but attentive, ready to listen long before a word was spoken.

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

Phillip had changed. Since that day on Ukatis, he hadn't painted. Hadn't sculpted. All of his creativity, his artistic interest had faded into the void. Instead he had thrown himself harder into his training. Specifically combative. The Padawan had a fair extra bruises and bumps from pushing himself, perhaps far harder than he should. But it didn't matter. There wasn't anyone to stop him anymore. No reason for him to hold back on what he could try to do.

His mind was a maelstrom of thoughts. Of emotions. Regrets. How he believed he wasn't needed anymore. How he had shot himself in the kneecap, metaphorically of course, for someone who didn't need him anymore. He could have been out in the Galaxy, with his Master, learning about ancient ruins. Ancient people. But he had rejected that for Her. Someone who didn't need him anymore. But he still needed her. Or so he had thought.

He was so distracted from his thoughts plaguing him, that he hadn't even sensed Aiden in the training room. Phillip only noticed the Knight was there when...well, he was within eye-sight. Causing Phillip to stop midstep, a flicker of surprise crossing over his face before he returned to the new scowl that had started to grace his visage over the past couple of days.

"Oh. I didn't know the training room was taken. I can...find another one. Sorry to disturb you Aiden."

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden felt it the moment Phillip crossed the threshold, the turbulence beneath the surface, the way his presence pressed unevenly against the calm of the hall like a stone dropped into still water. Bruised, yes, but more than that: compressed. Contained too tightly for too long.

He turned fully then, taking Phillip in without comment. The scowl. The tension in his shoulders. The way he stood as if bracing for impact rather than conversation. Aiden did not move to block the exit, did not reach out through the Force to still him. He simply met Phillip's gaze, steady and unguarded.

"It's not taken," Aiden said evenly. No reprimand. No surprise. Just truth. "And you're not disturbing me."

He stepped away from the equipment rack, giving Phillip space rather than closing it, and gestured loosely to the edge of the mat. "I was finished anyway."

There was a pause, intentional. Aiden let the silence do some of the work for him, let Phillip's apology hang without accepting or dismissing it outright.

"You look like someone who didn't come here to train," he added at last, voice calm but observant. Not an accusation. An opening.

Aiden's eyes softened slightly, though his posture remained grounded, present. "If you want another room, you can take one," he said. "But if you came here to talk… you don't have to decide that all at once." He inclined his head, just a fraction. "You don't owe me explanations, Phillip. But you don't have to carry this alone, either."

The Force around him remained quiet and open, an invitation, not a pull, waiting to see whether Phillip would turn away…or stay.