Private Open Chance

[Aiden Porte]

Naboo
Porte Homestead - Training Circle
Phillip Slate​

Midmorning on Naboo carried a particular kind of quiet, the sort that did not ask anything of you except that you breathe with it. Sunlight spilled across Aiden Porte's homestead in clean, pale sheets, catching on the edges of terrace stone and the soft green of the fields beyond. The air smelled like damp earth warming and distant water, and somewhere near the orchard line a small flock of birds argued noisily over nothing at all.

At the center of his land, the stone training circle waited.

Aiden stood at its edge with an easy, grounded stillness, boots planted on weathered slabs that had seen more than a few long days and longer nights. The circle was simple by design, no banners, no ceremonial markings, no grand Jedi aesthetic to impress anyone. Just stone, space, and truth. It was the kind of place that did not allow for pretense, and Aiden had come to value that more than he ever expected.

He let his gaze drift across the ring, then out toward the path that would lead Phillip Slate up from the main road. The Force moved through the morning like a gentle current, steady and familiar, and it brought with it the faintest sense of anticipation, of a life about to be reshaped, piece by careful piece.

Aiden was pleased Phillip had asked him.

Not because Aiden needed to feel useful, and not because he wanted the weight of responsibility again. He had stepped away from the Council and from the expectations that used to sit on his shoulders like armor. This was different. This was one person, one choice, made honestly.

Training would take time. It would take patience. It would take days where progress felt invisible and nights where doubt tried to make a home in the quiet. Aiden knew that path intimately. He also knew what it meant when someone chose to keep walking it anyway.

He folded his hands behind his back and exhaled slowly, the motion unhurried, deliberate. In the distance, the breeze shifted through the grass like a low whisper across a crowded room. Aiden's expression softened, a small, private resolve settling in his chest.

It would be worth it.

And Aiden would not let him down.

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

Phillip wasn't sure if this would help him. If it would make him feel more capable. But it was pleasant to say the very least. To no longer have to rely on his own rhythm when it came to training. He could only push himself for so long, especially as he had no goal in mind. No destination that awaited him. Everyone else was growing and progressing under the guidance of their masters, something Phillip had been absent for such a long time.

The hike was needed at the very least. It helped him collect his thoughts ever so slightly. Condense them into a tight ball to restrict their control over his actions. He was the one in control of himself, not his emotions. There might come a day where he could let himself worry about them, but not today. Today, he had to keep himself calm. No matter how pathetic he might have felt, or how much he felt like an underachiever, Phillip had to focus on the moment. Not the past. Not the future. This moment that he was in now.

And so he arrived, with the sun bearing down on him, raising a hand in half-hearted greeting towards Aiden. A lot of the youthful energy Phillip had in the past, when he had lessons with other Padawans under the tutelage of other masters was gone. The bright eyes and eagerness to learn replaced with a cold gaze and desire for more. Perhaps not for strength...but for progress. He needed to progress. He needed to feel himself growing in something instead of becoming stagnant. Stagnancy was death of beauty. Of growth.

"So. What's on the agenda today?"

Tossing his backpack off to the side, Phillip brushed himself down. He had brought some water and a few snacks for the hike he had took. Sure, he could have gotten some kind of speeder to make his way over there, but that would have been him rushing. And like he had came to the decision, he would not rush to meet the future. He would take it one step at a time. Focusing on the here and now.