Private Remember the Name

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

"Just once, it was already in decline so there was not a lot able to be done. We had some exploring but at first it seemed like it was just rives until we realized it sank back in. The changes are something that is difficult to document as there is a likelihood that one will only explore it once and there is less ways to visually confirm." He said it when he was there looking at more of it and her. "But no you are fine it is considerably an exciting prospect. THe silver jedi have set up monitoring equipment to watch for it so that they can deploy drones and try to better understand it. Most of their theories are much like yours and the chance to really explore what Ahch-to was like before. THe underwater drones can function but there is something about a screen apparently and being in perrson."

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia gave Syn a look that suggested he had just confirmed every reason she wanted to see the continent for herself. "There is absolutely something different about being there in person," she said, with enough conviction that it was obvious the archaeologist in her considered the matter settled. "A drone can record terrain and take measurements, but you're still seeing whatever it shows you through its sensors. You don't get to stand there and understand how everything relates to everything around it. Sometimes something that looks insignificant on a recording becomes obvious once you're actually standing beside it." She smiled faintly. "Although I admit I'm probably somewhat biased."

The fact that Syn had only seen the continent once made the opportunity even more fascinating. Talia tried to imagine documenting a place when every expedition might be separated from the next by a decade beneath the ocean. "You'd also have the problem of knowing whether something changed because of the normal passage of time or because it spent ten years underwater," she mused. "And if the continent doesn't emerge exactly the same way every time, comparing one expedition with another becomes even harder. You might document a location during one cycle and discover that it's still submerged during the next." She paused, eyes brightening as another thought occurred to her. "Which means the monitoring equipment may actually be more important during emergencies than when it's above water. At least then you'd have continuous observations instead of isolated snapshots."

She looked toward the water beyond the roost, clearly imagining the hidden land somewhere beneath that seemingly endless ocean. "I'd still want the drones recording everything they could. I'd just want to be standing there beside them when the continent rises." Her expression softened into an almost sheepish smile as she glanced back toward Syn. "I spent years going to places because something had survived long enough for me to find it. The idea of having only a few months to study something before the entire site disappears beneath the sea for another decade..." Talia shook her head lightly. "You have to know that's practically irresistible to me."

Her gaze narrowed with playful suspicion. "I'm also beginning to think bringing me to Ahch-To was dangerous for entirely different reasons than either of us anticipated. I came here to learn from you, and now I have unexplored islands, Fairalee histories, cave images from Ruusan, and a disappearing continent to wonder about." A quiet laugh escaped her. "At this rate, Bramoc is going to ask what I learned during my training, and I'm going to need several hours just to explain all the things I want to come back and investigate."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

He laughed to that. "Well then I am glad to be able to hear that you are having a good time." He said it but there was a lot and the chance for her to be able to come back and enjoy herself or work on things. He was looing at more of it as he allowed the force to expand outwards when he felt a small tremor and some of the others did as well. ONe of the eggs shifting as it started to crack and a few of them were moving around it. THe jedi master watched as they were coaxing it out of the egg and it was upside down. The taloned foot protruding outwards with a look before the leg fell over with some laughs from the others who were there.

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia felt the subtle tremor through the woven branches beneath her before she understood what had caused it. Her attention immediately shifted toward the eggs, and the moment she saw the crack spreading across one of the shells, every other question she had been considering vanished. "Is that..." She stopped herself when several of the Fairalee began gathering around it. The answer was obvious. Her face brightened with unmistakable excitement as she leaned forward, though she was careful to remain exactly where the roost mother had invited her to sit. "Oh, we're actually going to see one hatch."

For all her earlier curiosity about whether outsiders were permitted to witness such a thing, Talia hadn't expected their timing to be quite this fortunate. She watched the cracks spread, fascinated by every small movement until a taloned foot suddenly broke through the shell. Her eyebrows lifted as the leg emerged after it, only to flop rather helplessly to one side. The laughter from the surrounding Fairalee drew a quiet laugh from Talia as well. "That doesn't look like the direction it was supposed to go." There was something wonderfully ordinary about the reaction around her. This wasn't being treated as some solemn ceremony simply because Talia happened to find it extraordinary. A baby was apparently making a somewhat undignified entrance into the world, and its family found that funny.

She glanced toward Syn with a delighted smile before returning her attention to the egg. "I am very glad you didn't explain the odds until after I was impressed." Her voice had dropped instinctively, as though speaking too loudly might somehow disturb the hatchling despite all the activity around it. "I think this might be better than the disappearing continent." She considered that declaration for half a second. "At least for the moment."

Talia resisted any urge to move closer as the Fairalee coaxed the hatchling onward, content simply to watch from the edge of the roost. "Do they usually come out upside down?" she asked the roost mother, amusement still lingering in her voice. "Or is this one already determined to make an interesting first impression?" Whatever answer came, Talia suspected she would remember this far more clearly than anything a recording could have shown her. Syn had spoken of the difference between observing something through a screen and actually being present for it, and now, sitting in a Fairalee roost while a new life struggled its way into the world, she couldn't have agreed more.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

"I do not think so but most eggs don't let you see which way they are facing." He said it while being there and remained were he was as a few other eggs were coming to stand at different eggs. Syn moved as he was going over some of the nest and away from the others who were coming in and going towards the eggs. He stepped out and off of the rim of the nest with a look at Talia as she was curious. "I wouldn't say something common can't still be grand to see or experience. There is something about life and seeing the threads of it in the force is another aspect only a few see."

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia remained seated for another moment, watching the activity spread through the roost as more of the Fairalee gathered around different eggs. Apparently, the first hatchling wasn't going to be the only arrival that day. She smiled at Syn's answer, eyes returning briefly to the little taloned leg still protruding rather awkwardly from its shell. "I suppose that's fair. It's difficult to establish what counts as normal when the subject usually keeps its position hidden until it comes out." There was an almost archaeological quality to the observation that amused her. Even here, watching something very much alive, she found herself wanting to compare evidence and understand what she was seeing.

When Syn stepped away from the nest, Talia carefully rose and followed, making certain she gave the Fairalee plenty of room as they attended to the hatching eggs. His words stayed with her, however, and her expression became thoughtful as she looked back. "I didn't mean common as though it made this less important," she said softly. "I think that's actually what I've been learning from them. Something doesn't need to be rare to matter." To the roost mother, this was part of raising another generation. To Talia, being permitted to witness it was extraordinary. Neither perspective made the other wrong.

His mention of the Force drew her attention in a different direction. Talia quieted herself and allowed her awareness to expand, not reaching toward the hatchlings so much as opening herself to what was already there. "The threads of life..." she repeated quietly. She had spent so much of her training learning to recognize individual presences that she hadn't often considered what Syn described as something larger. Hundreds of eggs, the Fairalee tending them, the newly emerging lives among them, all connected through the Force without losing what made each one distinct.

A warm smile slowly returned as she looked toward the Master. "Then show me." There was eagerness in the request, but none of her earlier impatience. Talia glanced back toward the nest before closing her eyes for a moment, allowing the sounds of the Fairalee and cracking shells to surround her. "I've spent today learning not to force the Force to give me an answer. If there's another way to perceive what's happening here, I'd like to learn how to see it."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

He was looking at her. "I am not certain if your are able to see like a miraluka but perceiving through the force is easier then some make it out to be. While others would push that it requires you to give up your regular sight." He said it when he was there for the moment and thinking about it and what they would be able to do. "To learn you will need to do as I showed you before. Perceive the force through clearing your mind and closing your eyes it will make it easier I am told. THen you allow yourself to feel the force first within yourself and then allowi it to expand outwards through the world until you can map the world in your own mind."

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia listened carefully, a faint smile appearing when Syn mentioned giving up ordinary sight. "I'd rather keep that. I'm an archaeologist. Seeing what I'm looking at is generally useful." Still, what he described seemed connected to everything else he'd been teaching her. Rather than reaching for something specific, she needed to let her awareness expand until the world began to take shape around her.

She closed her eyes and started with the familiar presence of herself, then slowly allowed the Force to carry her awareness outward. Syn was nearby, followed by the Fairalee gathered around the nest and the remarkable concentration of life within the eggs. Some remained quiet while others shifted as hatchlings struggled free. None of it resembled ordinary sight, but distance and direction gradually began arranging themselves within her mind.

"This is strange," Talia murmured, keeping her eyes closed. "I know where some of them are, but I don't exactly see them." She turned instinctively toward the nest before catching herself with a quiet laugh. "And apparently I still think I need to look at something to perceive it." She extended her awareness a little farther. "Should I be trying to give what I'm sensing shapes, or just let my mind decide how to interpret it?"

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

He gave her a look for a moment and spoke. "I do not entirely recommend it and it begins small with senssing your own body and movements before you feel and sense the rest of the area. TO be able to preceive the galaxy in the force is still only a small thing and as one said it is merely like looking at the galaxy through a crack in the door." THe jedi master though waas looking as he avoiding the eggs while moving around and able to check on different parts. The babies hatching were being picked up by different ones and they were able to move off towards smallerr nests that they had been set up. He was standing there though and finding a place with muffled footing but could balance.

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia opened her eyes at Syn's warning, deciding that experimenting with an unfamiliar way of perceiving the world while surrounded by hatching eggs was probably not the wisest place to become ambitious. "Small first," she agreed. "I can manage that." She smiled faintly. "Or at least I can try to manage that without immediately attempting to map an entire island." Given her tendency to pursue a question once it caught her attention, the distinction was probably worth making.

She watched Syn navigate carefully among the eggs before finding her own place where she could stand without interfering with the Fairalee carrying the newly hatched young toward the smaller nests. Once settled, Talia closed her eyes again. This time she kept her awareness deliberately close, beginning exactly where Syn had told her. Herself. Her breathing, the placement of her feet, the subtle adjustments her body made to maintain balance on the muffled footing. Rather than reaching outward toward the Fairalee or the hundreds of lives around them, she concentrated on understanding the shape and movement of the one presence she already knew best.

"The crack in the door is probably enough for now," she murmured, a trace of amusement entering her voice while her eyes remained closed. "I think I was trying to open it before I'd learned how to look through it." Talia shifted her weight slightly, paying attention to how the movement registered through the Force rather than through ordinary sensation alone. "So I learn myself first. Then I start widening that awareness?"

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

"Yes, it is like anything you must train it small at first until it becomes just a method. The bodies endurance is what matters most and once you can perceive through the force as barely an afterthought it will begin to be a lot easier. For miraluka it is a mixture of both and about learning how to narrow their focus from the macro to the micro scale in what they are doing." He said it while moving but staying along the edge itself before allowing her to focus on it and the question. "Your mind works on a singular goal and it is beneficial but it also means you almost prepare to steamroll towards it which can be good but the near instant dedication when there is a lot more to do. Learning and working with the force takes a lifetime."

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia's mouth curved slightly at the description of her tendency to steamroll toward a goal. She couldn't exactly argue with him. Archaeology had rewarded that kind of persistence more than once, especially when a fragment of evidence led somewhere everyone else had dismissed. The Force, apparently, was less impressed by stubborn dedication. "That's a very polite way of telling me I get interested in something and immediately want to know everything about it," she said, amusement touching her voice. "I suppose I could argue that's served me rather well, but I'm beginning to understand why it doesn't always serve me here."

She kept her eyes closed and resisted the temptation to reach farther. Instead, Talia concentrated on the smaller exercise Syn had given her, following the subtle movements of her own body through the Force. Her breathing, the shift of weight between her feet, the unconscious corrections that kept her balanced. "A lifetime doesn't bother me," she admitted after a moment. "I don't need to learn everything today. I just have to remember that wanting to understand something doesn't mean I should skip everything between the question and the answer."

Talia slowly shifted one foot, deliberately testing whether she could perceive the movement without letting ordinary sensation become her only guide. "So I'll try not to steamroll this one." A quiet laugh escaped her. "No promises about the disappearing continent, though. I think that one is beyond saving."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Talia Larkin Swift

"You are young it is what usually happens and the mentality of others." He said it though and remained there. "It can take a few hundred years to learn the patience and that you should only rush if there is a danger to others lives as opposed to just going at it. You'll usually end up trying to figure out what to do next and waiting around or getting frustrated." He said it with a look while allowing her the chance to continue her focus and her mind to still. The force relaxing throughout the area as he allowed it to expand from him and radiate calmness and drive. The Fairalee were there for a moment but had the children with coos and were taking care of them.