Private Quandary, Sundry

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

The mission back in Ambria was a successful one, both in terms of the objective in hand, and in terms of what it meant for my career. While undergoing the mission, purging spirits and cleansing structures, Master Valery had requested for us to meet afterwards for a dedicated training session. Naturally, I took that invitation eagerly. Even if that means that I have to take a temporary leave from the Coruscant Temple, and have a change of scenery in form of the New Cov Temple.

Arriving in my starfighter, I immediately made my way to the main temple, taking some of my belongings, including the trinket that Master Valery wanted to learn more about, and a new Shadow suit I just finished making. The temple is definitely a quiet one, as I haven't even walked past anyone since walking out of my starfighter. It makes things complicated, since this is the first time I've been here and I'm not familiar with the place. I heard that Master Valery took most of her padawans here, yet I wasn't her padawan, and I only got closely acquainted with her this past mission on Ambria.

After looking around for some time, I finally made it to the council hall where we are set to meet. Talking to the comms at the door, I revealed my presence to her. <Master Valery? It's Aymeric.>
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

After their collaboration on Ambria, Valery had set his training as a Jedi Shadow officially in motion. He was one of the more promising students to her, with great skills he had already developed on his own, and a good head on his shoulders. With some training to grasp the finer details of being a Shadow, she felt certain that he'd be able to complete the tasks she had for the branch. Now, perhaps even more than during the war with the Maw, the Jedi Shadows were needed.

The Sith were rising up to great power, yet still awfully hidden in the shadows.

Hearing his voice reach out to her telepathically, Valery decided to walk over and opened the doors, "It's good to see you again, Aymeric," Valery said with a smile, before she stepped out of the room, rather than let him step inside. The training she had planned wouldn't exactly work there anyway.

"I hope you've been well since Ambria?"

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

Greeted by Master Valery in front of the door, I gave her a soft smile. "I'm good, Master, excited for the training." It seems like she has been ready for some time now, while I took a while exploring the temple. "I hope you are also doing well, Master." It's better not to waste any more time, there's so much to learn and so little time to do so. The threat of the Sith has been on the rise, and with the war with the Mandalorian Enclave taking the majority of the Alliance's focus, there needs to be Jedi that stay true to their purpose, observing, keeping a lookout, and purging any form of dark side corruption from the galaxy.

Master Valery started to make her way towards the other side of the temple, rear gate, perhaps. Shadow training, as far as I know, demands a lot of space after all, and it would be natural for a Jedi temple such as this one in New Cov to have top quality outdoor facilities. This is a rather new setting for me, one that I quickly started to enjoy too. It's quiet, but friendly, far away from the bustling solitude that is Coruscant. Still, I find it quite strange that I haven't seen anyone since I arrived here, sans a couple of service droids. "I can't help but notice, this temple is much calmer than the one in Coruscant. I haven't even seen a single soul yet here." Perhaps most Jedi just don't go here?
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

"Doing as well as I can," Valery said with a smile of her own. The war was definitely taking its toll on her, so she couldn't ever claim that everything was perfect. But with her family safe, the Jedi Order growing and thriving, there wasn't too much to complain about either. She just hoped that this conflict could end before more worlds were thrown into chaos, and even more lives were lost for completely unnecessary reasons.

This war felt wrong.

Guiding him out of the Council Chambers, Valery started walking through the main Temple hall. They soon reached the stairs in the back, which coiled around and brought them up to the bridge. Built into the mountains, the Temple was split into two sections — the main building, and the Temple grounds in the back. They were connected through a large bridge that ran across a huge waterfall.

It was a unique sight in this Galaxy.

"This Temple is where I grew up and trained as a Padawan. Later, I became its Grandmaster," Valery said with a warm smile. "I found it in ruin many years ago, when I got out of stasis. My husband rebuilt it as a surprise for me, but also to offer Jedi another outpost in this part of the Galaxy," Valery explained with a certain warmth to her voice. This place was clearly very dear to her.

"That said, before we go into training today, I'd like to look at your trinket and learn more about how it's made. If that's alright with you?"

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

"That's sweet of him."

To be honest, I'm very curious about everything about Master Valery's circumstances, how she was a Jedi dozen thousands of years ago, how she was caught in static for so long before re-emerging in a galaxy completely different from the one she used to live in.. However, I'm not quite sure how to address the curiosity. They say, it's a bad idea asking a woman anything remotely related to her age, and given how her circumstances puts her in… let's just say the top 1% of the galaxy's upper bracket, I have to word this question, rather delicately?

"Must be nice having a place that reminds you of, how do you say it… your past life?" I asked with awkwardness in my voice, Chit, that didn't come out bad, did it?

As we walked on the bridge, across a huge waterfall, I can't help to think, how nice it is having this temple for herself, for the most part. The landscape is just simply magnificent, the air clean, no unnecessary noise, just a lovely place in general. Sure, it might be far from any other sign of civilization, but it's not like she's spending all her time here. This temple is such a nice place for a short getaway trip, meditation in solitude is something that most people need after all.

Halfway along the way, Master Valery asked me about the trinket that I used in Ambria. She has shown her interest in it ever since, and this is our first meeting after Ambria, so it's only natural that I was prepared.

"Of course, master."

Taking it out of my pocket, I showed her the decent-sized, cube-shaped artifact, now that she has the chance to see it up close and personal.

"See, dark side spirits, unlike you and I, are purely made up of the Force, they essentially are just Force essence. They fight using the Force, which is their whole existence." I explained to her with pride on my face. Of course, Master Valery understands this concept very well, but it was an important concept of how this trinket works, and as such I'm taking the chance to explain a Force concept to the Sword of the Jedi.

"The trinket is just a cage that can trap a limited volume of Force essence. Catching and isolating the spirit is just Tutaminis." I opened the trinket, each part moving around to finally show the inner side of the cube. The inside only becomes apparent this way, a small microchip is visible inside. as is the slightly different color of the material that actually allows the trinket to hold the Force essence trapped from making its escape.

"What this trinket allows me to do is to trap the Force essence, instead of quickly dissipating it for other uses. The purging is purely me channeling Force light in." I handed the trinket to Master Valery, offering her a chance to inspect and examine it.

"Now, the details can be much more complicated. I have a workshop in Coruscant where I keep the stuff that I have made, if you're interested in a deep dive."
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

Valery's gaze slowly turned to him with quite a smirk, "Don't be so nervous," she teased, knowing that calling it out would probably only make it worse. "It's okay to ask about this stuff. But to answer the question, it does feel very nice. Finding this Temple in ruins was one of the hardest things after I got out of stasis. So having it rebuilt and seeing it being used again is... heart-warming." Especially because many other Jedi now called it home too. They cared for the Temple, put effort into maintaining it, and they respected the history.

Kahlil, herself, and many others made sure of that.

"Really? Tutaminis?" Valery asked, and slowly, it started to click. There wasn't a Jedi Master of her time who was unfamiliar with the ability, and she certainly knew how to use it. But she had never really even thought of applying it in this way, to capture the essence of a spirit.

One dark side in nature, too.

"Yeah, I'd really like to be able to make one myself too. Maybe we can go to your workshop for it? My plans for today were to maybe build one of these, and cover how Force Cloak works with you in return. Force Cloak can be quite demanding though, so maybe we should save it for last?"

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

“Uhh, who was being nervous?” Master Valery was definitely teasing me for the question that came out the wrong way. At least, she’s not offended at all, but it’s quite annoying how people can so easily run around him with words. It’s something that I’ve never been good at, and I don’t think more Jedi training would ever improve it.

On the other hand, her story about the Temple only made me appreciate it more. Which is also the reason I was taken aback when she just offered to go back to my workshop. Don’t get me wrong, I am very much flattered, but the magnificent sight is just right across my eyes now, not to mention the fact that I had to travel here to New Cov only to immediately fly back to Coruscant.

“Honestly, I was hoping to spend more time in this temple first, master. Maybe we can do some training there first.” I pointed at the training ground beside the waterfall, perhaps too eagerly like a little kid for the first time seeing snow. What can I say, I’m born and bred Coruscanti, in the slums nonetheless. This kind of sight was only a pipedream for me fifteen years ago. Yet beggars can’t be chooser, I know that all too well. It was already an honor to train with the Sword of the Jedi, if she wants something, I should’ve said yes without a second thought.

“But we can always do that another day, and fly back to Coruscant now.” I said to her, blushes rising on my face, ashamed of the impatience I showed earlier.
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

Valery didn't answer his first question and just chuckled with an innocent smile. He knew what she meant, and that's all that really mattered to her. But she wasn't going to keep teasing him, and just walked along the path to Temple grounds while they talked a little more about their plans for the day. She had wanted to learn about the trinket and perhaps make her own, or at least learn how to.

He was interested in learning something critical for his path as a Jedi Shadow.

So, as much as Valery was tempted to head over to his workshop now and focus on the trinket, she figured it was best to first address his training. "No, we'll handle your training first. As long as you don't end up as tired as you were on Ambria," she said with a smirk.

Okay, maybe she was going to tease him a bit more.

"What do you know of Force Cloak already?" Valery asked to start their lesson with a bit of theory as they headed for the waterfalls. It was as good as place as any for this lesson, and he seemed drawn towards it.

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

Now she's definitely going out of her way to tease me. I would never have expected her personality to be like this, she seems cold and intimidating from afar. I'm not going to complain too much about it though, that could very well mean that she actually enjoys this rather than just doing it out of obligation.

"If I don't end up tired, we're not training hard enough," I answered with a small smirk on my face, showing her that I'm up on her shenanigans.

She ended up deciding to stay in New Cov Temple first, aiming to make some progress in my Shadow training first before we moved on to her wants. That's something that I could admire from her, she has been an excelent teacher and facilitator so far, even when we only got acquainted right before Ambria.

As we arrive in the mouth of the waterfall, Master Valery asked me about what I already know about Force-cloak, starting from the basic. I've read about it on a couple of scriptures, and I have been trying to learn the technique on my own in the mean time, so I don't have much trouble answering the question, or at least I'd like to think so.

"It's a Force-light based ability where you manipulate the light and reflections to conceal yourself from the naked-eyes."
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

"Very good," Valery said with a twinkle of danger in her eyes. If there was one thing she enjoyed more than teasing and poking fun, it was for someone to go along with it when she did. Aymeric, as awkward as he had seemed on first sight, actually appeared to have some fun humor and an interesting personality underneath his more stoic facade. Maybe by pushing the right buttons, Valery could get it to show a little more.

Not that he needed to be more open, especially not as a Jedi Shadow, but he seemed to enjoy it.

"It's much more than that," Valery said with a chuckle. "It's not really based on Force Light, which we draw from within to purge the Dark Side. What Force Cloak does, is manipulate light waves that normally reflect off of us so we can be perceived, and bend them around us to make us invisible."

"In addition, it does the same to sound waves, so we can't be heard either," Valery explained. These were the more technical parts about the ability, but they were very important to know. "Because it bends light waves, you also can't be seen on any kind of sensor, as they all rely on it. But there's one thing that it doesn't mask at all, and it's scent."

"So be extremely careful around species, animals especially, that rely on scent."

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

I guess there was a bit of misunderstanding on my part on the nature of the Force ability. No wonder I faced immense trouble trying to practice the ability on my own. "So, you manipulate directly through the Force?" I asked after Master Valery finished explaining to make sure that I understood correctly, scratching my hand at my own mistake. Her explanation was simple but it covers most of the basics and was enough to steer the training towards the desired outcome, even if just slightly.

"Hides the visual and sound, but not scent. Got it." I repeated what she said, going through all the senses and possible scenarios in my head. That would mean droids are easy to pass, as are most non-FU sentients, but that might leave some of the higher ranking Sith Lords and rogue FUs. Those who just happen to be Jedi Shadows' priority target. Tilting my head ever so slightly, I asked her a question, trying to steer the conversation towards the more sinister sects of FUs.

"I suppose it also doesn't conceal us from people who use Force-sense to detect others?"
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

Valery nodded, "We use the Force to directly manipulate light and sound around us. I'd like to think of it as removing myself from an image. At least to the eyes, you really are taking yourself out of the equation." But as Aymeric likely understood, actually doing it wasn't that simple. Young Jedi learned to manipulate physical matter through Telekinesis, but now they had to alter something on a much smaller scale.

It required an intense focus.

He was quick to also ask another very relevant question, and her smile made it clear she appreciated it, "That's right, so in addition to Force Cloak, you have to learn how to use Force Concealment at the same time. That ability masks our presence in the Force, and it's especially crucial if you're anywhere near a Force User whilst cloaking. Of course, if they're not expecting you at all, their senses might not find you either way, but... better safe than sorry." Especially around more powerful foes, or people with particularly strong senses.

"Now, using Force Cloak on its own is already quite demanding, and adding Force Concealment in addition will require even more focus, especially in the beginning. So while you're in cloak, don't ever try to fight or do something else that's demanding. Your stealth will more than likely drop, and you'll be exposed. Force Cloak is at it's best when you're trying to infiltrate, or when you need to make an escape."

 

[Aymeric Prendergast]

QUANDARY, SUNDRY
~no I don’t know the path, or what kind of pith I’ve amassed~

OUTFIT: x
TAG: Valery Noble

NEW COV TEMPLE, NEW COV, CHURBA SECTOR, MID RIM

I hummed at her explanation. I'm quite aware that this path I am seeking is one with bumpy roads and detours. It isn't going to be easy at all. The usual, Knight-level Force-wielding, fighting multiple opponents, or diving deep within yourself and the Force are already taking a lot of focus and can be taxing if not managed correctly. This path of Shadow is even more demanding. I already know from the start, but it doesn't take the intimidation factor away.

It shouldn't be an issue, though. It should be normal to feel intimidated and anxious. It should be a fuel for the training going forward, that I've made it to this point in spite of everything, that the righteous path is often the hardest one to traverse. I trust that Master Valery is going to make the journey smoother anyway, and so is Allyson Locke .

Cocking my head towards the waterfall, I closed my eyes for a few seconds, trying to reach the tranquility of heart, mind, and soul. The pure ambience of New Cov Temple surely helps, it feels like there's no better place to start. Then I shifted my gaze to Master Valery, signalling to her that I'm ready.
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[Valery Noble]

New Cov

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsaber
Tag: Aymeric Prendergast

Valery dipped her head once he was ready, "I'm going to bring you somewhere in the jungle where we'll be sneaking past some Gundarks. They're some of the most dangerous creatures you can find, and while they can see perfectly fine, they also have especially good hearing." Something that Force Cloak would also help nullify if it was used correctly. Of course, it was a dangerous thing to do for a first test, but it was necessary.

"I understand this might seem risky, but it's important you feel this pressure. If a Jedi Shadow loses their stealth, they're essentially dead. There's no making mistakes, and you'll feel that pressure if you're out in the field. It's crucial that you feel it here too." Even if Valery was going to be close, so if things were to go wrong, she'd be there to protect him.

She just wasn't going to tell him that.

"Let's get going, alright?"