Private Secret Tunnel!

[Klar]

"The speeder?" Klar asked quietly. "I read up on it, then took a couple of training courses. They make you get a cert before you can rent a speeder." She explained softly. The energy was fading out of Klar's voice as the night wore on and the hours grew wee. "'s fairly easy, all things considered. Though I'm still learning." A brief pause, as Klar glanced up towards the lake with a faint smile. "It's nice, when you can let the throttle out and see the world zipping past you. And..."

She hesitated a breath. "I've never been excellent at using the Force." Klar confessed - though anyone who'd attended classes with her knew this. Klar was a fairly capable duelist with the devastating trump card of being able to bring four sabers to bear at once, but when it came to using the Force outside of the most basic utility of Control, Sense, and Alter she was nearly hopeless and incredibly self-conscious about it. "When people talk about the Force guiding them, or moving through them, I don't... get that?" She explained. "It's not my experience. Using the Force feels like trying to pick up a ball with my feet. A heavy one. That doesn't wanna be picked up. Clumsy and it takes awhile. And the result is usually a little embarrassing compared to everyone else."

"But when I'm speeding along on a swoop - I think I get it." Klar added with a wistful smile, her fingers idly scratching Xuko's chest. "I know where to go and be safe, I think. I open the throttle up and a part of me gets to feel confident for the first time. Part of the reason that I've been enjoying it so much is that I just haven't felt like I was really being guided by the Force before, but I think this is as close as I've ever been."

 

[Xuko Pagoi]

Xuko could sense the energy slowly ebb from Klar as the evening became night. Or maybe it was his own energy level that he was feeling growing low. Either way, he felt the pull of his bed- or in this case, the sleeping roll. But although the two of them were winding down, there was still meaningful conversation happening.

"Yes!" Xuko sat halfway up in Klar's arms, froze before he accidentally poked her with his horns, then slowly relaxed again; a bit sheepishly. "I know what you mean- feeling like it is hard to use the Force." He had admitted as much to Reina during their first meeting, but time had passed since then... and he felt no closer to achieving success with the Force than when he'd started. The only time that wasn't true for him was when he was in combat, but the ability to easily call upon the Force in more mundane settings eluded Xuko. Like Klar, he was certain that others had noticed.

Then, his fear. "I worry that it is because I am not suited to be a Jedi" he said, feeling both a weight lift and a weight settle on his chest. Out there, spoken, to another humanoid, it was no longer merely his burden to bear... but with that came a strong feeling of vulnerability. What if he hadn't been meant to join the Order? What if the Force was rejecting him?

What was wrong with him?

Nothing... and everything.

Xuko sighed to himself, then looked back up at Klar. If anyone deserved to be a Jedi, it was her. "And then I remember that using the Force is not what makes someone a Jedi. There are those who use the Force to do evil things. Instead, I remember that being a Jedi is about who we are as much as what we are capable of doing." He paused for a moment. "I look at you, Klar, and I see everything that I think a Jedi should be: kind, patient, good with children, a friend to many and a helper to all. You look to fix inequalities and right wrongs. You seek to understand and to communicate. You persist in the face of adversary, even when it is difficult." Klar had her blind spots and her flaws- as anyone did- but Xuko sensed that she needed some encouragement in the moment.

"I wish that you could see yourself as I do. Maybe then you would not doubt yourself so." To punctuate his words, he took two of her hands in his and gently squeezed.

Klar