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.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden did not answer immediately. He let Phillip's question hang in the warm air for a beat, not to be dramatic, but because he could feel the effort it had taken for Phillip to arrive at all. The hike, the self-control, the quiet war behind his eyes. Phillip had come looking for direction without wanting to admit he needed it, and Aiden respected that honesty in its own guarded way.

He stepped off the edge of the stone circle and closer by a few paces, close enough to be present without crowding him. The midday light sat bright on the training stones, and Aiden's shadow stretched cleanly across them like a line drawn with purpose.

"This is going to be different than most cases," Aiden said, voice calm and grounded. There was no performance in it, no lecture tone, just plain truth offered steadily. "I am not here to hand you a list of drills and tell you that if you complete them you will feel better. I am not here to turn you into someone else."

His gaze held Phillip's, not challenging, simply attentive.

"First, we figure out where you are," Aiden continued, "Not where you should be. Not where you used to be. Not where you think everyone expects you to be." He lifted his hand slightly, palm open, as if inviting Phillip to set something down. "Where you are right now, mind, body, and the Force around you."

Aiden took a slow breath, then nodded toward the center of the circle.

"Then we go from there," he said, steady and certain. "Step by step. Not rushing. Not punishing yourself for lost time." His expression softened, the edges of it kind without being pitying. "Progress is not a contest, Phillip. It is a practice. And you do not have to do it alone anymore."

He gestured gently toward the stone ring again, giving Phillip space to choose rather than ordering him forward.

"Come on," Aiden said. "Let us start with something simple and honest. Focus, let the eenrgy pass through you."

Aiden raised his free hand, palm outward. The Force stirred with the smallest pressure, like a breeze pushing at a door that was not latched. Aiden sent that pressure toward Phillip's chest, gentle but purposeful, testing for structure rather than strength.

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

"Drills are easier to follow."

Phillip said, rather matter of factly, sighing to himself. It was easier for him to follow a routine. Somewhere he could see his progress. Of course, he wasn't going to complain about it. Aiden was the master in this case, he knew better than Phillip knew. Phillip wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he knew better than any of his betters.

"It feels like you're making me start from the beginning all over again."

A statement. Not an accusation. Not any frustration. Just pure and simple fact from Phillip, as the Padawan took the sudden gentle burst of pressure without stumbling. He wasn't some weak and bumbling fool that wouldn't stand his ground. Not anymore. That was who he was somewhat, before that day out with Isla, but now Phillip was far more rooted and grounded in himself, as he folded his arms along his front, raising an eyebrow at Aiden, before letting out another sigh.

Letting the Force flow through him wasn't difficult as he unfolded his arms and juts held his hand out, waving it through the air as if he was waving it through the Force itself, sending gentle brushes of wind along the stone ring. It wasn't anything difficult for Phillip at the end of the day. He had spent days practising the Force and his own physical capabilities. As much as he could by himself.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden did not bristle at Phillip's bluntness. If anything, he appreciated it. There was something clean about it, no posturing, no dancing around what he felt, just the truth set on the stone between them. Aiden's mouth quirked slightly, a quiet acknowledgment that Phillip was at least willing to speak plainly.

"I do not mind blunt," Aiden said, steady and sincere. "I prefer it."

He took a slow breath, letting the warmth of the midday settle across his shoulders, and kept his gaze on Phillip's face rather than his hands. "But there is a reason for this," he continued. "Drills are easier. They give you something to hold on to. A rhythm, a measure, a line you can follow even on days you feel hollow."

Aiden's expression softened a fraction. "And they can become a hiding place."

He watched Phillip's small demonstration of control, the brush of wind, the ease of it, and Aiden nodded once, genuinely impressed without making a spectacle of it. "You have been working," he said simply. "I can feel that. You have not been idle."

Aiden stepped toward the rack near the edge of the circle and reached for a training saber. He turned back and tossed it in a clean arc toward Phillip, easy to catch, then retrieved one for himself. The weight of the practice hilt sat familiar in his palm, unremarkable and honest, like the work itself.

"It may feel like the beginning," Aiden added as he rolled his shoulders loose, settling into a balanced stance. "But once the wheels start turning, patience. That is what you are building. Not just skill. Patience with yourself."

He gestured with the saber toward Phillip's feet, then to the boundary stones. "Your balance is good," Aiden said. "So let us test your footwork and your coordination. Stay within the circle and control the space you are standing in."

Aiden thumbed his activator. The training blade snapped to life with a sharp, clean hum. He held it at a neutral angle, not threatening, but ready, his posture calm, his center grounded.

Then he looked directly at Phillip, eyes focused and kind in the same breath.

"Attack me," Aiden said, voice level. "Do not apologize with your strikes. Do not overthink it. Just commit."

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

"Sometimes people need to hide. Being seen is too much for them. The idea of being watched, of making some form of mistake is too much for them."

Of course, he never said if that related to himself or not. It was more that drills were simpler to follow as opposed to his own thoughts as he brushed himself down for a moment, making sure to fix his robes ever so slightly. Yet he raised an eyebrow when Aiden had said that he had been working. Phillip wasn't the kind to be lazy. He couldn't waste time on painting anymore, or on his creative processes.

"Patience for myself isn't important. It's patience for others I need."

At that, Phillip reached his hand out to take the training lightsaber rather easily, frowning as he twirled the hilt around for a moment. The balance wasn't what he was used to. Of course that was because he had started to use a curved hilt for his lightsaber, as it felt more similar to him using a paintbrush. It played into his work he had been doing with Makashi. There was some slight irony in someone who wasn't quite aggressive or strong to be focusing on a classic duelling style but he didn't think about that much. Phillip couldn't be like Aiden, or Lorn, or any of the other Knights he had seen. Strength was not something that came to him.

He wordlessly struck out with his lightsaber, focusing on the imaginary line he had formed in his mind. Phillip was only going to advance or retreat in accordance with that line. Throwing out various thrusts with the training saber in an attempt to throw Aiden's off balance. Thursts, and simple cuts with the blade were his main avenue of attack, avoiding any sweeping movements or sudden slashes. Strength and aggression would not help him to control the space. It was like painting. Quick and sharp movements. There was a time and place for sweeping movements, but this was not one of them.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden absorbed Phillip's words without flinching, letting them land in the open air between them as honestly as they had been spoken. He did not press for what Phillip meant, and he did not pretend he had not heard the weight beneath it.

"Sometimes they do," Aiden said quietly, meeting Phillip's eyes for a heartbeat before shifting back into motion. "Hiding can be a way to survive long enough to come back to yourself."

Their blades met again, Phillip's precise thrust, Aiden's smooth parry, training sabers crackling as Aiden redirected the line rather than resisting it. He stayed within the circle, feet light on stone, posture calm and balanced.

"But if you live there too long," Aiden continued, voice steady even as he defended another quick cut, "It stops being shelter and starts being a cell."

Aiden gave him no easy openings. He let Phillip work. Each parry was clean, each deflection deliberate, Aiden's blade always where it needed to be without wasting motion.

"Good form," Aiden said as he turned aside another thrust and reset his stance, eyes attentive rather than critical. "Keep it going. Let it build."

"You are strong, Phillip," Aiden said, the words plain and unembellished, as if they were a fact of the world. He caught Phillip's blade in a brief bind, then released it smoothly so Phillip could continue. "Do not think otherwise."

Aiden stepped back a half pace, giving Phillip space to choose the next strike.

"Again," he said, hopeful in the way he did not allow Phillip to shrink. "Show me more."

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

"Promises are cells. Prisons. They can be broken. But you will always be looked at differently for it. For breaking your word."

As beads of sweat dripped down his face, Phillip focused on the the line. He didn't expect to be able to match Aiden's skill or expertise. As the blade crackled and echoed through the air. If the line was being redirected, then he just altered its position in his mind. Back and forth. Left and right. Advance and retreat. It was all relatively simple.

"Strength is a spectrum. Just because you think I may be strong, doesn't mean I am capable."

He continued to attempt to advance along the line, focusing on simple thrusts for now. Being careful as not to overextend himself. Yes, he could go in for the agression, in an attempt to prove himself, but that would just make him an open target for when the thrusts were redirected. So he kept his extension to a minimum. Aggression was not his way. It never had been. Frustration perhaps, yes.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

About an hour had passed, measured not by a clock but by the rhythm of their exchanges. Boots scuffed stone, training blades snapped and hummed, and Phillip kept coming forward with that careful precision, adjusting each time Aiden redirected him. Aiden met every thrust with steady patience, offering corrections without cutting Phillip down for needing them.

Aiden eased back a step and lowered his blade. His expression softened into something quietly encouraging.

"You have done good work," Aiden said, voice warm with honest approval. "You kept your control, and you kept showing up. That matters more than you think."

He deactivated the training saber and gestured toward the edge of the circle.

"Let us take a break," Aiden added. "We can get some water, breathe, and then we will come back to it."

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

He didn't bother to complain about taking a break. Phillip knew that Aiden was the kind to suggest recovery for growth, as opposed to keep pushing. The style was different to what Phillip was used to. He was the kind of student to push himself to the point of exhaustion, so taking a break was out of the question for him most of the time. Even as the sweat dripped from his hair, the Padawan just pushed his hair out of his face, heading off towards the side of the circle before throwing himself down onto the ground.

"It's not enough. It'll never be enough."

In reality, Phillip meant that he wouldn't be enough. No matter how much he broke himself. No matter how much he tried to reforge himself, he couldn't be on the same level as the other Padawans. He wasn't even on the same level as his family when it came to art. But it wasn't something that bothered him as much anymore, now that he had accepted it.

"I'll...just have to do the best I can. Even if my best isn't good enough."

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden watched Phillip drop to the ground and he did not rush to fill the silence. He let the words come out and sit there, raw and heavy, because Phillip had earned the right to be heard without being corrected too quickly.

Aiden moved to the edge of the circle and lowered himself to sit a short distance away, close enough to be present, far enough to not crowd him. He rested his forearms on his knees and kept his voice calm.

"You have spent a long time measuring yourself against everyone else," Aiden said. "It seems like its a staple point for you now."

He glanced toward Phillip, steady and kind. "It is enough that you showed up. Your best does not have to beat anyone else's best. It just has to be honest. And today it has been."

He let that settle, then added quietly, "Here....." Aiden had a bottle of water in his hand, and he rolled it over to him. "Make sure to stay hydrated too."

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

"One can not find their true potential, until they have broken their shell."

That was what Phillip saw himself as. He needed to break out of this shell. Find out his true potential. It wasn't something he could simply do it in a sparring match, or through his own training. It was experiences that would make or break him. Such as when him and Isla had encountered the Star-Weird when they had been younger. That was what showed your true self. Whether you'd make it or break it.

Either way, he took the bottle, flicking it up into the air to catch it in his other hand before popping it open to sip away. He was at least healthy when it came to making sure he had the proper hydration and nutrition at the end of the day. Phillip sighed to himself ever so slightly, as he ran his hand through his hair, staring up towards the sky.

"It might be good enough for you that I've shown up. But it's the bare minimum I could do."

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

"It might feel like the bare minimum," Aiden said. "But most people do not show up when they are convinced they are not enough. They isolate. They disappear. They make excuses, or they burn out and call it discipline."

Aiden shifted slightly and rested one hand on the stone beside him, grounding his posture. "You came anyway," he continued. "That is not nothing."

He looked over to Phillip, expression steady and hopeful. "If you want your true potential, we will find it. Not by shattering you. By testing you in ways that build you."

Aiden's voice stayed gentle, but it carried certainty. "We will spar. We will drill. And when the time is right, we will put you in controlled situations that force you to adapt, to lead, to stay calm under pressure. Experiences, yes. But not the kind that gamble your life just to prove a point."

He paused, then added plainly, "You do not need a monster in the dark to justify your growth, Phillip. You need consistency, recovery and time."

 

[Phillip Slate]

Tags: Aiden Porte

"Those who isolate themselves truly do not want growth.

Phillip shook his head, mostly in thought to himself as he stared off into the distance. Phillip made sense. Plenty of what the Jedi had said made sense to him. But there was a part of Phillip that didn't want to admit to it. He didn't care to admit to it. There was so much time he had to make up for in his eyes. Progress to be made. Growth to be made. He couldn't just stay stagnant yet he raised an eyebrow at one part of what Aiden had said, turning his head to look over at the Knight

"We don't always have the choice to rely on controlled situations. Not whilst the Sith are growing stronger out there. Not whilst we're here, and there are innocent people out there, who need help."

Those people needed someone. They needed a hero. Perhaps Phillip was too...arrogant. Believing that he could be that person. but he had to believe that he could be someone.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Phillip Slate​

Aiden did not interrupt him. He let the words settle, felt the tension beneath them, the urgency and the weight Phillip carried like a mantle he had decided to wear long before he was ready. When Phillip finally looked at him, Aiden met his gaze calmly, without judgment, without correction rushing to the surface.

"You are right," Aiden said gently, his voice steady. "The galaxy does not wait for us to feel prepared. People suffer whether we are ready or not." He paused, folding his hands loosely in front of him, posture open rather than authoritative. "But being present does not mean charging headlong into every fire alone. It means knowing when you are strong enough to stand, and when you are wise enough to stand with others."

He studied Phillip for a moment, not as a Knight assessing a Padawan, but as a man recognizing something familiar. "Wanting to be someone is not arrogance," Aiden continued. "Believing you must be everything, to everyone, all at once is where it becomes dangerous. Heroes who burn too bright do not last long, and the people they leave behind pay the price."