Private Something Something's The Charm

[Rik Perris]

SHIRAYA'S SANCTUARY
NABOO

After his first student had decided to give being Jedi another go, it wasn't long before she left him again. Maybe he didn't slow down enough. Maybe she found a place that was better for her, because as far as he was aware, she was still training, just not with him.

How much more, really, could he slow down? Was this his fault, or simply a mismatch? What could he afford to change with the galactic landscape in no state to allow for the almost bucolic pace of training enjoyed in the later centuries of the ancient Republic? Maybe OJT wasn't suitable for everyone, but no matter the reasons, the Council... or the Force, saw fit to test him with another padawan that had a similar outlook — so said the Nautolan's file, and when Rik had read through the details, it sent a hand through his hair.

It felt like he was being tested. With his history between the Lightsworn and the Foundation, might be that was true.

Or could be he was reading too much into it.

"Alright, then." That was acceptance, and that was that. There'd be no beating around the bush. "Let's meet this kid."

He was good with kids, right? Yeah.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————​

The Meditation Summit
Shiraya's Sanctuary
Next morning, at the crack of dawn

If there was one thing everyone learned eventually when getting to know him, it was that Jedi Knight Rik Perris woke early and attended to the start of his day with a nigh-militaristic discipline. He had jogged his way up when the sky was just starting to give up the night, and the brisk summit air of morning in mid to late spring washed the sleep out of him along with the physical effort.

After that, it was no thing to keep himself warm one way or another if he had need. There was no guarantee that Oryn had learned those lessons yet, but he would if that was the case. There were many pieces to adaptability, and the ability to draw on the Force to regulate body temperature was the easiest one to teach, but that wasn't the initial intent, this day. Cool air was a far better sharpener of focus than some stimulants, whether the boy might curse him for the early hour or the temperature, or not.

There was only one way to find out how his new Padawan felt about any of it.

Rik stood, looking out over the landscape, letting his breathing slow as he waited for the Nautolan to arrive. This was one of many awe-inspiring landscapes he had seen over the the more than two decades that he'd been a Jedi, but that fact didn't do much to minimise how it felt to look at any of them, because out of various reasons, it painted the illusion of peace, even when true peace was in short supply.

Oryn Selvar​

 

[Oryn Selvar]

Tag: Rik Perris​

Oryn dragged himself out of bed with a groan and got ready. He made a habit of waking up early, or so he'd thought. This was way too early!

The young Nautolan regretted the late night, he was paying for it now. But he'd made some serious headway on the carvings of his lightsaber hilt. Ever since he'd been given the Entropite crystal by Braze , he'd been nearly obsessed with the idea of finally getting his own lightsaber. Though, being assigned to a Master… Would he even be allowed?

Assigned to a Master. A Master! The thought made Oryn nearly giddy. His heart became a drum that beat away his sense of being drowsy. It wasn't officialofficial, of course, but it was looking likely. Unless Oryn made a terrible first impression and the other Jedi hated him… Oh kriff oh kriff oh kriff.

He stopped. Took in a deep breath. Held it. Then finished putting on his robes of muted white, with its gilded trims. The exercise worked better here, in his quarters, where he'd made sure to turn the air moisture up to max. It made it feel like home, where he was safe, he was in control.

His confidence had nearly been shattered recently, but meetings with other Knights, even the Grandmaster herself, had helped bring him back on course. He wasn't going to fall back now. No, he could do this. He had earned this. Oryn still felt that familiar self-doubt creeping back in, but he wasn't going to let it be the loudest voice in his head this time.

The climb left Oryn warm, but the moment he stepped onto the Meditation Summit, the morning air cut straight through his robes and drew an involuntary shiver. Beyond the graceful arches, dawn spread slowly across the horizon, gilding distant cliffs while darkness still lingered in the valleys below. For a brief moment, the sheer scale of it all pushed his nerves aside. Then he spotted the waiting Jedi, and every anxious thought came rushing back.

Deep breath.

Not too long ago he had started worrying he was never going to becoming a Jedi Knight. Recently his greatest fear had been being shipped to the AgriCorps.

"Padawan Selvar." he introduced himself as he stepped up to the other Jedi. What sort of man was he? Oryn thought of other things to say, but he never got past thinking.

A golden opportunity. Make or break. His last chance to prove himself.

 

[Rik Perris]

The Meditation Summit
SHIRAYA'S SANCTUARY
NABOO

He felt the kid coming, and heard the effort of Oryn’s climb the closer the Nautolan got to the summit, but Rik remained as he was, observing the landscape and the increasing reach of the the light of morning, slowly bleeding up and over the horizon, the lengths of shadows shifting with each increment that the system’s star moved up the plane of the sky.

The spike of anxiety didn’t go unnoticed, but nervousness in this situation was hardly surprising: Rik was an unknown to many Jedi, and to a boy who’d been waiting to be chosen, that lack of knowledge brought more uncertainty than otherwise. When Oryn stepped up and into Rik’s peripheral, announcing himself, the Corellian immediately noticed that this padawan was taller than him, but returned his attention to the slowly progressing sunrise after a scant moment.

“Morning,” he replied, “Knight Rik Perris.” He was still going to introduce himself, despite the summons carrying his name and rank. “That’s Master Perris or Master Rik to you.”

One of the ways he wasn’t lax, where appropriate.

“This here’s the Meditation Summit, but that’s not what we’re up here for,” Rik pulled a hand out from behind his back, rustling the green outer robe hanging from his shoulders as he brought the hand forth, to gesture out over the valley, “I want you to take a few minutes’ time to observe the sunrise, quietly: watch, listen as the day wakes, and feel. Try to remember it. Enjoy it if you can.”

He pulled the hand back to where it had been.

“Then tell me why you think we’re up here,” only then did he glance at the Nautolan once again, a half-smile lifting one corner of his mouth, “consider me curious.”

Oryn Selvar​

 

[Oryn Selvar]

​

"That's Master Perris or Master Rik to you"

It was hard to not turn giddy. That's Master to you. He had a Master. Someone to guide him, make him aware of his blind spots and iron out his mistakes. He had a Master. This wasn't a test. The morning sun looked brighter already, its embrace drawn over the hillside like a warm blanket. Maybe he wasn't going to shovel shit and plant trees for the rest of his life after all.

"Yes Master Rik Perris" that particular iteration hadn't been one of the options given to him, but Oryn failed to notice. He also failed to keep that grin from sliding open. The nerves were still there, but hope overshadowed it simply from being welcomed and not immediately brushed aside.

Then came his first assignment. Quietly observe, take your time, tell my why we're here.

Oryn stepped up closer to the edge of the summit. If nothing else, he would show that he understood the assignment in that he didn't shower Rik with questions or casual conversation.

He listened for the wind, breaking like a soft wave onto the cliff. Oryn was far from his beloved sea. In place of the smell of salt on the wind, there was the faint trace of mountain pines and mist from the waterfalls below. Oryn took in a deep breath, using this as an excuse to practice the meditation techniques Balun had shown him. Clear your mind. Let the Force flow through you. Here on the summit where it was as if the world itself paused to listen.

And the answer to Master Perris' question? He hadn't the foggiest. Don't rush it. He had been given time, and so he watched as the sun climbed higher. Whenever his mind started to drift, usually to the hilt he had been meticulouisly carving and crafting. When would it be finished? Was it going to be as good as he hoped? Now that he had a master, would he even be allowed to make a lightsaber yet? Taking another deep breath, he let the breeze carry his thoughts away again.

Try to remember it. Enjoy it if you can. Outside of it all, Rik and Oryn aside, this was a good day. The higher the sun climbed, the more the chill was chased away.

"We're here because you asked to meet here. Maybe this place meant something to you when you were a Padawan." In a way, he was taking a gamble. But he thought this wasn't so much about the view as it was Rik trying to learn something about Oryn. "But I think you wanted to see what kind of person I am." Would he complain about the long trek up? Would he complain about the cold? Would the answer reveal him to be a philosopher, an idealist, naive? "...Before you begin my training" He almost didn't dare add that last part. What if he'd reject him? Perhaps he was being presumptious. Was it too soon to believe this was real?

Rik Perris​

 

[Rik Perris]

The Meditation Summit
SHIRAYA'S SANCTUARY
NABOO

While Oryn observed as instructed, Rik took the time to also enjoy the sunrise, and centre himself with the peace such a view, or memory of a view, could grant. It was one of a number of tactics he could use to remain fixed on the Light, in even the most harrowing of circumstances. An aspect of his resilience, beyond the foundation of his beliefs.

When the young Nautolan started to speak his answer, Rik's head turned, giving Oryn his undivided attention.

"You're half-right," he answered, when Oryn was done, "you can tell something about how a person thinks and who they are by listening and paying attention, but a full understanding takes time. As for me, I started out on Corellia, with the Green Jedi." He looked back out over the valley. "I could tell you I like it here solely for the view, and while I do like it, there's something more to be had from it."

Rik then turned fully to the padawan.

"You settled into that exercise easily," he noted, "so you must've had some lessons in meditative practise, already. That'll help for your first lesson," the Corellian informed; both ends of his mouth then rose up, "but before we do that... what were you thinking about?"

The padawan was no master of meditation, and had to will away his recurring thoughts, whatever they were, with deep breaths, while one settled into meditation spent most of it breathing shallower.

It was obvious that his thoughts wandered.

Oryn Selvar​

 

[Oryn Selvar]

​

Oryn breathed out. This was seeming more real by every moment that passed by. At this stage it didn't seem likely he'd be rejected outright for anything he said, but pushing those thoughts down was an old habit hard to quash. He anchored himself in the memory of every interaction he had over the past month here on Naboo. Every Knight and Master he had spoken or trained with had provided solutions, support, or challenges that in some way helped him grow. The Jedi Temple was a network to build a person up, not tear one down.

"Yes, I've had instruction on meditations from Balun Dashiell " The memory brought out a warmth in his tone. Many of Oryn's demons had been vanquished in that lesson. Though he had yet to master meditation in any meaningful way, Balun had gone a long way in helping Oryn master his own mind.

Oryn had heard of Corellia, of course, but the Order Rik Perris mentioned was new to him. "Are the Green Jedi very different from those here on Naboo?" He had once thought Jedi were Jedi, but his travels to Jedi Enclaves on Dantooine and Chalacta had taught him about some of the differences, subtle or grand.

"but before we do that... what were you thinking about?"

Oh Force, what had he been thinking about? Everything, nothing, all at once.

Honesty, Oryn thought, was the only way to approach this.

"At first I was thinking about the view. How it all connect together, how well suited it seems to the Jedi Temple here. Or maybe it's the other way around." he stopped himself before he lost his train of thought. It would, after all, be easier to ramble on rather than get to the meat of things. "Then I thought about you. Trying to analyze you, and the answers you were looking for. And I thought of failing to meet expectation. Failing... In general." Oryn really, really, wanted to make it as a Jedi. And when he cared for something that deeply, he found that emotion easily mirrored.

"I tried not to think too much on that, and focused back on what you asked me to do." in the silence that followed, Oryn's nerves had him fill it with even more words. "I often worry what will become of me if I can't make it as a Jedi. If I don't have what it takes to become a Knight. I've started building a lightsaber, but I don't know if you'd approve of the crystal I got... or if I should wait until I've earnde the rank of Knight first" One big if.

Kriff. Rik hadn't asked him that much, had he? Yet within mere moments of meeting the man, Oryn was spilling out his deepest fears. Either Rik was very good, or Oryn was more nervous than he thought, and was oversharing to a fault.

Don't talk so much next time. Less is more, less is more. Kriffin' kriff

 

[Rik Perris]

The Meditation Summit
SHIRAYA'S SANCTUARY
NABOO

The question about the Green Jedi only pulled a half-smile in response when it was asked. The differences were more stark in centuries past, but nowadays there were more similarities between the Green Jedi and others, excepting the particular commitment some Green Jedi had to their home, and its defense over any other concern. Some could still hold to traditions so old, that they were insular and only married within the culture and peoples of Corellia... and at times he couldn't help but think there might be some merit to the old ways. Only sometimes, and he quickly disabused himself of such thoughts. It was a personal relationship that would take more than simple explanation.

Rik listened patiently as his newfound padawan divulged the structure of his thoughts, and his worries came right along with them. The same kind of worries that had been tied up in Perris' own young fears when he first came to the attention of the Jedi. The kinds of worries he figured many Jedi had when they were starting out. Making it as someone with such galactic responsibility and stewardship of their own power was no simple feat. But there was no better expert on that than others who had also walked that path.

By the time Oryn was done unloading his thoughts and worries, Rik had his thumbs hooked loosely, relaxed, into the pockets of his trousers, fingers curled, sure of what he would say. He had compassion for the Nautolan's concerns.

"Listen, I was around a third your age when I came to the attention of the Jedi," he started, recalling the memories, "my power had manifested itself as fire—pyrokinetics—and resulted in my sister getting hurt. It took a long while for me to settle into training, and longer still to accept training of my pyrokinetic ability beyond only controlling the fire. A long while to move beyond the fear of hurting someone else." He gave a rueful smile, and clapped a hand on the teen's shoulder. "We all start somewhere, Oryn Selvar. It's my responsibility and that of the Jedi around us to do our utmost to make a Jedi out of you, and you've my word that I will strive for as much. Yours is to ask questions, learn, grow, and have faith in that commitment."

The hand slipped away from Oryn's shoulder, and returned to the pocket it was previously hooked on, as he continued on to the next subject.

"Now, I'd like to have a look at your progress on that lightsaber, soon, but as for the crystal? Most cases the crystal chooses the Jedi; that's between you and the Force, and I've little cause to disapprove. Still, let's hear about this crystal of yours, 'cause I want to know what we'll be working with, and I do have to learn you in wielding it."

Oryn Selvar​