Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Tea, Teasing, and Teaching

Rosario was still dazed from this afternoon's prolonged meditation session. She felt a bit as if she were dreaming, and the world seemed more magical than usual as she was wandering through it. Some part of her imagined that if she dropped to the floor now, it would be a soft fall, simply because the world felt like a very friendly place. The remainders of a pleasant tingling sensation still occasionally ran over her scalp and down her arms. She wasn't sure that all of this was how it was supposed to be, but feeling relaxed and happy, she didn't think to worry.

Stepping outside into the garden, she was met with the thick, heavy air of a Deneba afternoon. She didn't mind it, on the contrary, it somehow seemed to fit well with her current state. The garden struck her as extraordinarily alive today, despite the fact that it was not exactly a luscious jungle, even if there was more vegetation, in the form of cactuses, low-growing bushes and knotty trees, than occurred naturally in most places in the Deneban mountains. But today, it felt almost like a jungle. Rosario walked up to the low wall that separated the garden from a precipitous cliff and looked down and into the distance. The desert felt dead and grey in comparison to the garden behind her. She noticed this, noticed, that she noticed, but thought no more of it.

As she turned back, she spotted an ancient-looking figure - at least she judged so by the colour of his practically white hair -, back turned towards her, sitting on the floor and apparently manipulating with slow, careful, measured movements something in front of him. Her curiosity piqued, Rosario went around to see what he was doing and watch. She made no attempt at concealing that she was doing so; in this moment, it was inconceivable to her that someone should react negatively.

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 
[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

Tiland knelt lower, inspecting the color of the tea in the mug. He had sensed that he would not be alone, so another cup of tea already sat in front of him, steeping. It was a new blend that he had created and was still trying to fine-tune. One scoop of loose-leaf and a pause. One more and repeat. Part of this was smelling the tea and how the scents mingled as he sought to unite them together into the perfect blend.

"Hello there," he commented, without looking up as swirls of color began spreading through the tea. "Do please come sit down. I have already prepared a mug of tea for you. Should be just about ready."

Satisfied with the results of his work he looked up and gave her a smile.

"I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before. I am Tiland Kortun."
 
Rosario watched the old man with the tuberous nose kneeling in front of his implements. Between manipulating them with precise, measured motions, he would sit and wait, not even looking around. It was a scene of perfect tranquility, Rosario could not feel the barest hint of impatience in his demeanour. But it was not a blissful calm that she saw in the man; there was a heaviness about him, as if in the background there was a constant sadness. It was not threatening to cause anguish and disrupt his calm, there was no tension in him; it was just quietly sitting there within him. Or so Rosario might have said if she had had to put her intuitive apprehension into words.

She was taken aback when the man suddenly spoke without raising his gaze. She looked around only to find that nobody else was there, so he must have been addressing her. That he had noticed her presence was not, in itself, unusual, but how could he possibly have known in his preparations that he would have company? Perhaps he was just really good at reading people and their dispositions, had noticed her when she had stepped into the garden and had somehow known that she would be interested in what he was doing? But how could he? Being disposed to do something was not a way of feeling. One could, after all, only read what other people were feeling, not their thoughts or character - or could one?

"How did you..." she timidly began to ask, but broke off when he looked up and smiled at her. She returned the smile, eager for friendliness though still confused, and approached. She looked him over trying to understand his posture, and then sat down imitating it with surprising grace and accuracy. The closed-off, controlled nature of the seiza seat was a change from the way she usually carried herself, and there was much contrast between it and the way she had just been standing. And yet she settled into it with the accuracy of someone who knew very well what she was doing with her body.

"Why, thank you, Master Kortun! I'm Rosario." She almost forgot to add her last name. "Perlyn."

She hesitated for a brief moment before speaking again. "I've never seen tea prepared that way..." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 
[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

Tiland waved the first question away with an idle gesture. He hadn't known she was coming, just that somebody would be coming. And he never believed in socializing without tea. It brought a wholeness, a completeness, to the interaction that it otherwise often lack.

"Well met, Rosario," he replied and finally sat up straight. Tea dust clung to his hands, which he dusted off on his robes. She was friendly enough and more than welcoming, fearless enough to even intrude upon an old man in his reverie. Not many folks as young as her would dare that. Very few would even be interested, let alone in the preparation of tea. He raised an eyebrow in a touch of surprise.

"No?" He clasped his own mug of tea and continued to observe its fluctuating color. "Then you have never seen tea prepared properly. " He gestured for her to come and sit across. "Although rarely do others see tea-makers testing a new blend. That is a close guarded secret. But the ritual..." He spread his arms to encompass the implements spread across the table. "It creates a space of reflection, like meditation. The tea ceremony is a ritual of collective meditation."
 
A whiff of grassy notes caught Rosario's attention as a breeze gently carried it to her nose, and she looked down at the cup where the tea was steeping, examining the culprit. It was a very unfamiliar smell to her, one that she had hardly encountered in her former city life, and which was rare on Deneba as well, whose dry air tended to have more of a dusty smell, if anything, and whose vegetation mostly exuded woody and on occasion slightly sweet aromas. She wondered briefly where tea even came from, but then looked up as the elder Jedi spoke to her.

She wondered how he could be so effortlessly patient, moving slowly when there was something to do, and now apparently just waiting - except for the fact, of course, that he was talking to her.

Rosario listened to his explanations attentively and curiously, her head slightly inclined. She did not appear to have learned to feign understanding for politeness' sake, and her inner state was all too easy to read from her face. It was clear that the concepts the Master talked about were novel to her, and she didn't quite know what to make of them. Was there some secret behind them, or was this merely a curiosity and eccentricity?

"A ritual? But how can you meditate while you're... doing something? It's distracting, after all", she asked, puzzled by the idea of a ceremony as meditation.

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 
[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

Tiland smiled as he raised his tea and inhaled, letting the steam waft into his nose, savoring it. It had a delicate richness to it that some of his other brews had not. He took a sip and let it sit on his tongue, discerning the multiple flavors bound within the beverage.

"Ah," he said after a moment, "that is a misunderstanding of meditation. Padawans often start meditating in silence and stillness to help them become familiar with the process." He took another sip and gestured for her to try her own as well. "But in time, you will learn other forms of meditation. To meditate is to be so present in the moment that you are more open to your instincts and the Force." He nodded towards his staff which rested against the low table. "I meditate while practicing my staff styles."

"Anything can be meditation, if you focus fully on the moment. Even tea." He raised the glass, almost in a salute.
 
Meditating in silence and stillness - indeed that was what she had been doing. The notion of an activity as meditation was an astonishing revelation. Rosario immediately thought of dancing. She hadn't practiced it since she had come to the Jedi, it was just something that appeared to be utterly irrelevant to her new life, even if it was her only real skill. Perhaps there was actually a way to put it to use?

Her face assumed a thoughtful expression that was eventually broken by confusion that evolved into a smile when Tiland returned to the topic of tea. Containing her urge to ask questions immediately, she reached for the cup he had prepared for her. Raising it to her nose, she took in a deep breath of its aroma, looking curious and expectant. Pondering her impression for a moment, she reached a definitive conclusion: there was much more complexity to it than mere grassiness, but she found herself completely lacking any vocabulary to describe it. Briefly wondering whether that was in any way a problem, she eventually just shrugged happily and tried a sip of it. It was fairly strong and something entirely novel to Rosario that had little in common with anything she had known as tea - which for her really had no meaning beyond that of a beverage prepared by putting something in hot water. A new shelf was being added to her mental library of experiences, and this was the first item to be put on it.

"It's lovely", she said with a thankful smile at Tiland. "You said you were testing a new blend, Master. Are they all very different? And forgive my ignorance, but what are these leaves and where do they even grow?" she asked naively, her mind temporarily taken off the topic of moving meditation. Right now, she was almost worried that this might remain the only tea experience in her life.

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 
[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

"Indeed," Tiland answered, savoring the tea on his tongue. "All tea blends are different. Much like we are formed by our own experiences, so is tea formed by the different variations of leaves added to it. These," he paused to gesture at the plants that he had assembled into the brew. "Most of these grow here on Deneba, except for this mint, which is found on the forest moon of Endor. It is my favorite, so I usually add it in."

He pulled a linen bag from his satchel and set it on the table. "Anywhere plants can grow, you may find plants to be made into tea. The tea plant itself is more difficult, but can be found wherever the climate is right." He set his tea cup down and took a deep breath. "Try to meditate on the tea. Experience it in the fullness of your senses. Focus completely on its flavor, its texture, the blend of the plants. When you are so present in the moment, you will find the Force flowing through you as in traditional meditation."

He rummaged through the satchel and pulled out several implements, quietly arranging them on the table.
 
Rosario had heard that one could use all sorts of bodily sensations as the object of meditation, but it had never occurred to her that one might choose a taste to fulfil this function. Perhaps it was the short-livedness of it that made it so appear so implausible, or the need to put things in one's mouth, but the truth was that none of this was really prohibitive to applying the principles of mindfulness as she had come to understand them.

She put the cup she was still holding down, as if to start entirely afresh. She put her hands on her knees, noting their touch to the fabric. She fixed her eyes on the cup and noted her own intention of grabbing it. Slowly and deliberately, she lifted her right hand off her knee and stretched out her arm towards the cup. She noted as her hand came into her field of vision, the action of gripping, and its making contact with the ceramic. Her attention lapsed: she noticed the wind tugging on her hair and raised her eyes looking at Tiland, whose beard was being moved by the air. She smirked with amusement, at which point she finally noticed that her mind had wandered away from its purpose. She gently refocussed her attention on the cup she was holding in her grip and lifted it very deliberately to bring it to her lips. She noticed how they were touched first by the cool brim of the cup and, a moment later, by a whiff of steam from the hot beverage. She took a sip of it into her mouth, noting the sensation of warmth as it spread along her palate. Then the taste rose to her awareness, which was in truth vibrating mixture of separate tastes following one another in quick succession. A predominant bitterness intermingled with grassy, woody, floral, and even sweet notes. She noticed her desire to swallow, deliberately formed an intention to satisfy it, and executed it. As she did so, she noticed the warmth descend deeper into her body, and suddenly it became much more than just the warmth of the few drops of tea she had swallowed. If she had been forced to describe the sensation in words, it was as if there was a wave of energy flowing through her body, extending from her stomach in all directions, striving for her knees and toes, approach her finger tips, the top of her scalp, and her nose. Eventually it exited her body. Rosario noted this with a puzzled, but interested attitude. However, she rejected the opportunity to contemplate what had just happened in favour of the cup she was still holding at her lips. She set it down deliberately in the same way she had taken it, and looked at it for a moment sitting there in front of her with a pensive smile.

"That was... interesting", she finally said out lout, almost whispering. With a smile, she raised her gaze once more towards Tiland. But the steadiness of her attention was gone again, and she was immediately distracted when she noticed the implements he had manipulated in front of him. "What are these, Master?"

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 
[member="Rosario Perlyn"]

It had made its effects known and Tiland nodded, sensing the reaction through the Force. He smiled. It always was delightful to see tea have the desired impact on people. So often it was underestimated by the ones uneducated about its effects. He arranged the tools carefully on the table and set the war to boil once more.

"These are part of a tea ceremony," he explained. "It is a pre-meditation, one could say, and establishes the participants together in a community, bound by ancient custom, in the grand spread of the Force through time."

He also set out several pouches of herbs, all different and prepared for tea-making.

"But now it is your turn to prepare a blend of tea."
 
"Me, Master... ?" asked Rosario with hesitant incredulity. She felt quite out of her depth here. But then Jedi Masters had a habit of suggesting outrageous things and they always seemed to know what they were doing. It was best to just go along with it, Rosario reminded herself.

And so she regained focus and investigated the pouches. One after the other, she took them, smelled them, sometimes poured a few dried leaves into the cup of her hand to look at them and smelled them there, before returning them.

Each time, she concentrated her attention on the smell and tried to memorise not the words she would use to describe them, but the sensory quality itself. Afterwards she would try to conjure it in her imagination, and if she couldn't, refresh her memory. It was an interesting exercise that she amused herself with only for curiosity's sake, without much of an idea of what, if anything, it was good for.

Eventually, she identified three kinds of leaves that had seemed particularly interesting. On of them had a strong green colour that one wouldn't have expected in dried leaves and gave off an air of curious citrusy freshness. The second was perfectly black in colour and had an earthy and smoky aroma. The third, of a dark brown hue, and smelled, to a first approximation, nutty. She mixed them in a cup with a preponderance of the first sort. She had an expectation that this was not going to be a very usual concoction that anyone would imbibe in large quantities to relax. She was going for novelty here. But to see if she was right, the tea would have to be brewed first.

She looked expectantly at the Master, evidently waiting for further directions.

[member="Tiland Kortun"]​
 

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