Looking inwards at Voss (PM TO JOIN unless tagged)

[Celiana]

It'd been another long day and I was feeling restless. After having grabbed some dinner alone I'd headed back up to my room and started up my Datapad looking for possible paint schemes for both the swoop-bike I'd been working on in the hangar as well as the one I'd purchased after my date with Zeph. I'd probably be modding both again before too long. I'd spent some time earlier in the Voss Temple's Library and there was something I was curious to try, meditation looking inwardly. The only problem being that this was primarily done by Sith, it was looking at one's self rather than the whole spectrum of things.

Though I figured that there was no Dark and no Light simply The Force. An attitude I was sure most masters wouldn't approve of. Keying in the search terms of my datapad I engaged it in a search and sat down cross-legged on my floor. Closing my eyes and breathing in, holding my breath, and then releasing it again. I dove into the currents of The Force.

I was looking within, deep within to see what had changed about myself since Coruscant.....

Another breath in, held, then out. I was aware that I'd left the ground and was floating beside my bed then, that thought passed away I simply was. There was a low humming in The Force almost as though...singing. Extending my senses outwards I felt around my room for the segments of Crystal and the shards of singing Amberite crystal. Then, fleeting shards of thought flashing through my consciousness. A ring of metal, crystal shards of song and color, threads of fine Eshan silk....

A dream catcher? While not the strangest thing to see my question was why? "Because you and a friend from Eshan need to embrace the peace of the choices you've made and are making." The voice of The Force, it'd been awhile since I'd heard it so clearly. Delving within myself I knew who The Force was referring to. Aria. She'd left her home on Eshan and was struggling with being here on Voss and away from her family.

Seemed my work such as it was never was finished. Still immersed in The Force I extended my reach outwards in my room and called the segments of crystal to levitate along with me. I could make my own dream catcher but Aria would have to make hers. Reaching out with The Force I shot an arrow of thought to Aria. "Aria, meet me in my room 134 in the women's dorms. I think I have something to ease and help your homesickness."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

At her request, Aria had spent the entire day focusing on the Echani martial art, insisting that there were plenty of situations in which combat free of the Force would be either useful or necessary. What if I'm taken prisoner and had my Force powers suppressed, she'd asked, or if I cannot hope to defeat my enemy through the Force alone? Eventually her master had given in, and so for nearly ten hours she had returned to Eshan in spirit. That had been lovely until the training ended and she was alone in the dining hall, her friends occupied with other tasks, and reminded that she was no longer on Eshan. Right on cue, that night she'd dreamt of Eshan. Not a nightmare or even a sad dream - she had dreamt that she was with her foster parents, learning all they had to teach - with her friends, exploring and challenging their intellect - alone, meditating as she basked in the mystical beauty of Eshan -

She had woken cold, and tired, and more lonely than ever.

Aria, meet me in my room 134 in the women's dorms. I think I have something to help your homesickness.

Smiling slightly, she put on her cargo jumpsuit and headed to room 134. Perhaps she was not so alone after all.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Still sitting there floating above my bed I levitated a few various things around myself. The various lengths of colored crystal as well as several various sized shards of Amberite singing crystals as well as several spools of shimmersilk thread. Extending my reach in The Force throughout the room I reached into my desk through The Force and levitated them to the rotating spools of shimmersilk thread threading the needles with separate colors of thread. As I finished threading the needles with The Force there was a ping through the Force announcing the lift had opened. Still levitating above my bed I brought the tools into a loose spinning circle around myself and kept my senses open as Aria walked down the hall until she was right outside of my door as she was raising her hand to knock I called out "Enter."

Reaching out with The Force I opened my door allowing Aria access into my room while I slowly levitated myself back over my floor extending my legs and coming to a standing position in front of Aria. "Good evening Aria, please come in."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

The door swung open to reveal Celiana levitating, lowering herself to the ground. Everybody else was still asleep - it was almost midnight after all - so she crept into the dormitory, shutting the door behind her. "It's almost morning by now," Aria said with a small smile, "but good evening to you too." She looked around the dormitory to see various items floating gently to the floor. It appeared that Celiana had been in the middle of some Force ritual or other. "You spoke of a homesickness cure?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

As Aria came in I could see a smile on her face. Then she said, "It's almost morning by now, but good evening to you too." As she glanced at the crystals and such that I slowly brought back down to the floor she asked questioningly, "You spoke of a homesickness cure?" Smiling gently I said, "aye I did, you've heard of dreamcatchers yes? Well an idea occurred to me if you can attune the crystals in a lightsaber to one side of The Force or the other then that's only the beginning.You can also imprint memories, feelings, and emotions into crystals."

Gesturing towards the pile of crystal segments and shards of Amberite crystal I asked, "How would you like your very own dream catcher? It'd have to be made by you of course you've your memories, feeling and such, and I've mine. But I thought perhaps something of beauty and purpose could benefit us both."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

A dreamcatcher...why hadn't Aria thought of that? At once her mind began listing thoughts she could put in - perhaps the first time she had won an Echani-style duel, perhaps the lightheaded sensation daydreaming gave her, perhaps the distant, distant memory of being found on Corellia...
"You're a genius," she said, her smile widening. "Where do I start?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

"Well the memories themselves can be anything you choose. It'd be best if they were positive memories but again anything you choose. From what I've studied defining moments and crossroads moments are especially powerful. You envision the memory of your choice and then use The Force to imprint it into the crystalline structure itself thus making a memory crystal. The same can be done with feelings as well."

Grabbing a small handful of the Amberite singing crystals as well as a few different pieces of the different colored crystals the forest green, Ocean Blue, Aqua, and Ice Blue crystals. When I'd come back from retrieving them I'd had to cut smaller sections off of the main foot length segments. Now I had a handful of the singing crystals as well as another handful of the different colored crystals. Gesturing towards the array of crystal pieces I said, "choose the crystals you want and then sit with me and meditate. Immerse yourself in The Force and focus on the memories that will help calm you, memories of positive defining moments, crossroads moments where you defined what was right for yourself. Calm feelings, happiness, peace, joy, warmth."

Closing my eyes and sinking to the floor tucking my legs into a Lotus position I once more immersed myself in The Force and levitated a mere foot off the floor calling on The Force I dropped the various crystals I'd been holding and levitated them in a loose circle around myself. Then I sent them into a slow gyrating spin around myself while I focused on the memories I would be etching into these crystals. The happiest memories,the most calming memories I could recall...

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

With a nod Aria picked out a collection of crystals in an array of strikingly beautiful colours, each one seeming to be the obvious embodiment of a particular memory, and layed them out in a circle around her. Closing her eyes as she sat down, she let her physical presence fade to let her spirit run the show as she called up each of her best memories of Eshan and her parents.

She didn't even realise she was levitating as she let the Force sink into each crystal, one after the other. The hazy memory of seeing her father for the first time imbued itself in a foresty green crystal - it perfectly matched the colour of the Corellian woods at night where he'd found her. Then the faded light blue jewel was filled with the feeling of floating peacefully on the identical light-blue waters of Eshan. Crystal after crystal was embodied with feelings and memories ofEshan, some vivid and some distant, some happy and some sad, but when they all merged together the sad ones seemed less like tragic moments and more like times of growth when they were layered with the happy ones.

Finishing with the memory of her most recent duel - the night when she had found not just herself but a friend as well - Aria let out a shaky breath as she floated back down to the ground. She blinked several times and then scooped up the crystals. Now they had the faint glow of items touched by the Force.

Fighting to keep the shakiness out of her voice, Aria waited until Celiana had opened her eyes and then said, "So now what?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Continuing to meditate I remembered the feeling the first time I'd started working with mechanical things, how the tools had just felt right in my hands. Then the forest green crystal I remembered my time in Mandalorian space and the peace I'd felt in the forests of Concordia and Concord Dawn. The first true Echani duel I'd been in, I still had the scar from. The still, calmness of mind leaving the upper levels of Coruscant after protecting some dancing girls. The day I'd joined The Silver Sanctum and swimming in the crystalline clear aqua waters of Eshan. Forging my lightsabers.

All of these memories floating back to me and the emotions I felt were a mix. Mostly good, but there were some bad as well. Reaching out with The Force I imprinted those memories and feelings into the crystals then reaching out in The Force I felt the crystals to make sure the memories and emotions had been etched into the crystals. Feeling the different memories and emotions emanating from each of the crystals I breathed in then exhaled lowering myself back to the floor. I'd noticed Aria had started levitating while meditating so at least she picked up a new trick.

Then I heard , "So now what." Smiling I turned to her and said, "well now that we've done the difficult part all that's needed is to bore small micro-holes through the crystals and thread them through before weaving them in a web with these." Producing two moderately sized loops of Chrome plated durasteel I showed Aria that I'd already drilled several holes through both loops of metal. "However you choose to weave your web is your choice Aria."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"All right." Aria picked up the materials and set to work, weaving an intricate web of memories with the crystals once she'd drilled the holes. It was hard work and fiddly, but the labour felt good. They were both relatively quiet as they worked, letting the peaceful environment stay intact. It was nice, actually, to make with her own hands. Even though she loved combat more than anything, the feeling of making something so tangible and elegant and magical - it almost deserved its own crystal.

After a little while, the dreamcatcher came together, a sea of greens and blues and greys bound with a delicately patterned web of thread. She felt proud of it, and she felt at peace once more.

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[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Still immersed in the currents of The Force I drilled small holes through the crystal shards making sure that the memories I'd chosen were intact. After having made sure they were I reached out with The Force and took both colors of shimmersilk thread twisting them together into a blue-green strand. Re-threading the needle I started with the Chrome plated durasteel loop and threaded the needle through the loop. Transferring the control of threading the needle to The Force I visualized the pattern of the crystals in my mind and let The Force and my mind merge to thread the image of a dream-catcher in my mind into reality. Floating slightly above the floor I settled into the image in my mind and just let go of everything else.

After several minutes I felt a tug in my mind from The Force. Opening my eyes I saw the needle lying in my hand and an elegant web with the crystals sitting where I'd envisioned them. The forest green crystal as the center-piece. Tying the final knot I finished my dream-catcher and after lowering myself back to the floor I lifted it and showed it to Aria.

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Slowly rising to my feet I saw Aria's dream-catcher and it looked very....her. Gorgeous, elegant, and like it belonged. A blessing my mother had always said to me before I'd gone to sleep leapt to my mind. "Aria. May good fortune rule over you, peace live in your heart, and may the stars watch over you."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Blinking several times to return to full consciousness, Aria looked up from her dreamcatcher to see that Celiana had finished hers. It seemed to shimmer with her friend's spirit and personality. It made her feel more at ease to know that Celiana - usually very on edge, as she had come to realise - would have such a peace-inspiring item at her side, and that she herself could have such a powerful connection to her child with her at night.

Just then Celiana spoke a blessing that she'd never heard before, but had a beautiful stillness to it that made her feel very nostalgic.
"And the same to you," she said quietly. "I hope that this provides the peace and closure you're looking it for."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Hearing Aria wish me to find the peace and closure I'd been looking for was a wish come true for me. Blinking away tears of joy I said, "I hope that this will help you Aria. Remember though if you're ever in need of any late night talks I'm here. By the way, you'll find your peace. I'm sure of it."

[member="Aria Vale"].