Private The Blind Leading the Blind

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline sighed deeply as she took in the fresh air. It was still light out, though the day was steadily fading. It had been warm enough as per usual, but now during this phase of transition the temperature was ideal. Kashyyyk was lovely around this time of day. At least this part. Aveline didn't really know much of the planet outside of Silver Rest. She would like to explore it one day. "Exploring", fittingly enough, was also the theme of this evening, but of a different kind.

She had agreed to meet Takui a few paces away from the temple itself in. She picked the spot. It was her favourite, where nature seemed to come together at the foot of the mountain. Aveline was laying down in a spot where jungle turned to open grass, leading towards a great river fed by water coming down from the mountains. The sound of rushing water soothed her. In the background and further away, you could hear the echoes of a great waterfall.

Today she had decided to tie her brown hair up in a bun, finally giving her neck some sun after always being hidden underneath wavy locks. She hadn't brought any weapons, why would she? Her only accessory was a necklace; a long and slender silver chain though without any ornament attached to it. One day she would put something there. She wore it wrapped around her neck three times over, leaving thin silver lines one above the other. It felt nice to have an excuse to wear something other than the brown robes and training gear. She wore a white off the shoulder sweater, contrasted by a black skirt which was quite fitting at the waistline but flared downwards at the hemline.

They were a good bunch now, the Padawans of Silver Rest. Different, but complementing each other. For the first time in a long time she felt surrounded by people who would have her back in a pinch. Aveline wanted to give something back to the group. Takui had seemed a little lost as of late, and she hoped maybe she could help him find his place in all of this and how he fit in.

 

[Takui]

Taku trudged along the path with a vacant expression. It wasn't really far from Silver Rest, and the directions were simple. Still, "lost" was an extremely accurate way to describe the young man. He had been that way since several months past.

He rounded a corner and saw where the canopy broke to reveal grasslands. They stretched out toward mountains and a great, beautiful river that made Taku feel like he was surrounded on all sides by the very essence of life. Vitality coursed through his veins unbidden, and despite himself, he felt relaxed.

Relaxed, and yet, his mind was always moving. He saw the young woman, her attire not the usual Padawan garb that she usually wore when he saw her. When she told him to meet her here, she had mentioned it was a casual occasion. She said he shouldn't be rigid, and that there was no reason for him to be stressed out.

It took a calm mind to assess things, after all.

He was clothed in a sleeveless, loose fitting white shirt that he neatly tucked into black trousers. His hair was tied back to keep it out of his face, but his bangs still fell messily in front of his eyes. Taku realized suddenly that he had never spent any time with the other Padawans outside of lessons, barring an isolated event with a much younger girl getting into trouble in the Kitchens.

He'd noticed the others becoming friends, though.

"Hey," he greeted as he approached. He didn't want to sneak up on her, after all.

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline pulled herself up and looked back over her shoulder. "Takui! Hey" she said with a smile, pushing herself off the ground. Black knee high boots lay beside her on the ground. She'd taken them off, wanting to feel the grass at her feet.

"Look at that, we're both wearing black and white" she grinned as she walked towards him. Aveline didn't really own that many clothes, although she would have liked to. Jedi weren't really about wealth and material gains as far as she could tell.

"You like the spot?" she turned around, both gesturing for him to take a gander and doing so herself. "I love it. I often come here to meditate"

Neither of the two had been with the Silvers particularly long, but if memory served she had been with them longer. "How are you doing?"

Aveline had a lot on her mind. Several questions too, but it hardly seemed right to overwhelm him before going through the formalities. She genuinely cared about the answer though. Her and Takui had talked, but never really talked.

Takui

 

[Takui]

When she pointed out that they had picked the same colors, he looked down at himself briefly. Oh, we are, aren't we? He let out a little chuckle, less nervous than amused by the irony in the situation. For all the time he spent worried about little things, maybe he wasn't so different from everyone around him than he thought.

He took a better look around when she asked how he liked it there. Initially, he enjoyed the soothing feeling that the place gave him and that was enough to affirm that he did enjoy it, but he wanted to give a real answer. When he stopped to admire the mountains for a moment, the words caught in his throat.

Taku had seen mountains, but he had never really seen mountains.

"...gorgeous," he managed to utter after a moment of being utterly overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he was taking in. The Galaxy was so big, and more often now than ever before, he was reminded of how small he was. It felt good to be reduced that way, like his problems were suddenly insignificant next to everything else.

Taku came back to reality when she asked about him, though. It was a loaded question, but she couldn't have known that. Turmoil had wracked the young man's life for several years before he came to the Silver Rest; and while he pushed aside his feelings and hid the hurting well enough, his being physically fine and mentally, emotionally well were two very different matters.

"I'm... alright," he answered carefully. He wasn't dead, and so, he wasn't as bad as he could be. Taku also didn't want to lie to the girl and say he was just fine. She was one of the first people he had met here. "Getting settled into this life has been a whirlwind of a process."

He smiled genuinely, and asked, "how are you?"

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

"Right?" Aveline replied instantly, clear excitement in her voice at the fact that he seemed to like the view too. "Gotta appreciate the little gems out there when you find them, you know?"

"Good" she said in a smile she hoped was reassuring. He might not be great, but he was still here and not succumbing to his anguish. There was something noble and positive in that alone, but she did not wish to say so aloud in fear of assuming too much. It was when faced with adversity one's true character came to light.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Takes some time getting used to, all of this." she gestured with a semi roll of the neck and eyes, trying to emphasise the greatness of it all. "I'm good though, thanks. Better than in a long while to be honest" Like him she gave a answer that was true, but at the same time hinted at more. Scars over wounds healed but not forgotten.

"A kind of got that feeling though, if I can be honest." She said with a cautious smile, trying to send her feelers out to make sure she wasn't overstepping any boundary or acting too familiar. "That it's been a lot to take it?"

"I thought maybe we could just chill here. Talk. Away from the pressures of it all, you know?" She paused, turning sideways slightly, opening herself up to both him and the scenery alike. "Talk about the Jedi and the Force... But we can talk about anything you like really."

"I'm sure we come from very different backgrounds. You knew a lot about the Jedi before coming here? You ever do any... You know, Jedi things before coming here? Training of any sort?"

Takui

 

[Takui]

He settled in as she spoke, finding a bit of comfort in her interest and friendly nature. He wasn't necessarily an introvert, but he also wasn't as outgoing as she was. It was just nice to feel valid, accepted, and to belong in a place. He had not felt that way in far too long.

Taku sucked in a breath when she started to ask. Her first question made him realize that it was obvious. She was able to notice that he was struggling to fit into this world. "Yeah," he said, exhaling sharply. "It's been absolutely wild. Everything is moving at lightspeed and I'm just trying to keep up at a crawl," he revealed.

Her questions were thoughtful and considerate, and she was happy to talk about other things if he felt uncomfortable. That alone made him reassured that there was no reason for him to be. So, he gave her questions his most honest answers.

"I was the son of a merchant, a middle child in a large family. On my homeworld, that wasn't uncommon. People had lots of kids so that they could keep the family business alive and thriving. It was that way for generations." He hadn't really talked about himself and realized how backwater that really sounded when he said it. Still, he continued. "My father was a genius at what he did. Unlike the more local, city to city merchants, he had expanded his influence to the Galactic market, so I had access to books and learning most people didn't. So, I had read briefly about Jedi, but what knowledge we had of them was pretty limited."

Taku took a moment to form his thoughts. "I don't know how much my father knew that I don't. We weren't really close. Not like he was with my brothers, at least. If he was aware of the Force being more than just a religion or spiritual experience, he never told me. And the books never made mention of the Force being this... this interactive... thing."

It was abundantly clear that he was still fighting within himself about all of it. He still didn't want to accept the things he had seen, yet there was no way to deny them. The words he used were the only ones his mind could fabricate.

"I've spent my life studying, reading, learning to communicate, bred to be a merchant if only a middling one. But, about three years ago, my father left us without warning. My mother was the only one who knew anything, but whatever he had said or done, her heart was broken. She started getting very sick, and several months ago, she died."

He looked more calm than a person ought to when he said so, but the reality was that he was still sorting out his feelings about that. He had not properly grieved, but he wasn't sure he knew how.

"She said that what she wanted, her last request, was for me to become a Jedi. That's why I'm here."

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

"Tell me about it" she laughed. "I feel like I've grown ten years in the past month" Her laugh diminished into a chuckle, before fading entirely. Her eyes lingered on nothing at all, aimlessly drifting before she reeled herself back in. Gotta stay in the present.

"That must've been... Different." she didn't know how else to put it. "Only child me." she added with a laugh, perhaps explaining how she found the thought of a full house hard to relate to.

"Do you ever wish you could go back to that? Forget all you know about the Jedi, and just be a merchant?" A little calm away from it all. A merchant's life was stressful to be sure, but at least you didn't feel like the weight of the whole galaxy was on your shoulders...

There was a long pause as he finished his story. "I'm really sorry" she said, finally. "Really, Takui, I am" she closed the distance between them. There had been no invitation, but she felt he needed a hug. Perhaps he could've used one all that time ago, but better late than never right?

"I know maybe it's not what you want to hear." she said, keeping her hands on his shoulder as she pushed herself back for a moment, creating space to speak. "But you have been selected by the Force. For something, however big or small. You have a purpose here. A place to call home. A family. Eh?" she smiled, what she hoped would bring some level of comfort and assurance.

Takui

 

[Takui]

There had been times when Taku wished he were an only child. When Aveline told him that, he remembered that feeling. There was a part of his heart that ached simply to have been loved by his father, a sad hope that ultimately dwindled and died. If his brothers had not been better at everything, maybe the man would have seen Taku as adequate.

On the other side of that coin, Taku loved his sisters. They were kind, dutiful, and though they picked at his laziness and impressed on him to be a better person, he was ultimately thankful that they had. His elder brother Kenichi had never been terrible, either. He was everything a younger sibling aspired to be like. Shisui was the only sibling ever harbored any contempt toward.

He did find himself a bit envious of the love her parents must have given, but beyond that, he was happy with his own life. At least, the way it used to be. When she asked about if he would have liked to have gone back, he smiled sadly. His eyes were distant.

After he finished his story, she embraced him. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since before he left home. His sisters had bid him farewell. He didn't know anyone well enough in this new place, or he hadn't. His cheeks filled with color at her unexpected, kind gesture, and his body froze in place. He was stunned.

When she pulled back, he let out a sigh. Finally, he answered her question. "...if only I could go back," he chuckled, somber. "Time flows forward, and so, I've come to terms with the fact that this is my life now. I don't think even the Force can change the past. But, I don't think I'd use it that way. I don't hate the person I am now."

You've been selected by the Force.

Taku had to imagine anyone or anything, especially a cosmic energy selecting him for something. It made him wonder if the Force had some kind of sick and twisted sense of humor. Takui Mizhu, who was good for absolutely nothing, called to become a Jedi.

If nothing else, his smile split into a grin. He had to laugh at that. "I think the fact that you guys accept me here is about the best I could possibly ask for," he said. "Whether I end up as the janitor or something a little more dignified, I'm at least glad I met you. Thanks, Aveline."

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

"I..." she started with a smile, hesitating once she realized what she was talking about, but pressed on all the same. "I don't really think about the past. Whenever I do I feel lost. So I don't allow myself. Always set on the future. Or present. Or anything but, you know" she admitted. It probably wasn't the healthiest coping mechanism, but they all needed some way to get by, right? Everyone had skeletons in their closets.

"I for one am glad you're here. And that I'm here too. It didn't make sense at the time. It was big, new, and scary. But now I kinda like it" she laughed. It felt strange going from sinister topics to such merry ones, though all the time spent in darkness did leave you with a desperate need for some sort of release. Laughter was just that.

"I'm sure if you became the janitor, the floors would be the cleanest we've ever seen them!" she laughed again, then shaking her head with a chuckle "Although I'd hate to be the one responsible for that. I mean, on Kashyyyk? Can you imagine? What a mess" This wasn't like Commenor. Smooth, clean, civilized. Out here, on the doorstep of nature, it would be impossible to keep the dirt and dust from flying in. "I thought I was more of a city girl, but I think I am going to miss this one day." Aveline turned, and looked out once more at the stellar view. What a place.

"But so..." she started, eyes moving back and fixing themselves on his. "How're you doing with this whole Force thing? Getting a handle of things yet? I mean, back on Deneba you said... I mean before.... The" she found herself completely at a loss for words. Aveline wanted to speak, but the words choked up in the back of her throat before they could come out. She could practically see the Devaronian Knight falling before her eyes, even now.

Takui

 

[Takui]

Taku found himself plagued by the past more than anything else. It seemed so idealistic to him and upbeat for someone to be able to 'focus on the future.' The future was in a constant state of flux, changing and shifting based on a literally infinite number of actions and consequences. There was nothing certain about it.

The past was already etched into the history books. Things that made him who he was were simple to recall, and lessons that he had learned served to shape who he had become. Unfortunately, demons slept in that same dark place. There were some memories even Taku did not want.

"I think the future is the scariest thing," he said honestly. "You know where you want to go, but not if you're going to get there." His expression was more thoughtful than anything as he spoke, watching the woman as she slowly moved from that steady smile to something more visibly uncertain.

Somehow, she moved through all of that turmoil with laughter. That was admirable, even enviable. Taku wished he could find a smile for any situation, even if it wasn't heartfelt; but there were some things even a brave face couldn't conjure a smile over.

She took the joke as an opportunity to ground herself. Taku was glad he'd said it, if only for that. He wore a lopsided grin when she suggested that the job on Kashyyyk might be too much for a single man, and frankly he had to agree. Beautiful though the planet was, it was a whole other kind of beast.

When she spoke of how one day she would miss it, his scarlet gaze moved toward the horizon once more. "Somehow, I think we'll come to miss these times," he said quietly. "These days as a Padawan, where everything is simple."

If their experiences so far were any indicator, life as a Jedi Knight and beyond would be filled with strife. The sorts of decisions that they had to make now, and the trials that they had to undertake were meant to shape them to be equal to even greater challenges. "See what I mean? Terrifying," he laughed it off, but Takui did not want to go down that rabbithole of thought.

She looked into his eyes now as she spoke, and the topic turned toward the Force. She started to speak about Deneba, and he felt the cold creep along his flesh again. It lacked all heat, like the blood in his body ceased to flow and he had been robbed of warmth. His mind had obsessed over that feeling since they had left, struggling to rationalize it.

That was the first time he had ever knowingly, willfully felt it. In the moments before his death, that Jedi Knight had taught Taku the means to open himself to the Force. Before they could move forward to any semblance of control over that flow, the man got gunned down. He died, and Taku- fully open to every possible sensation, aware of the entire universe- saw and felt it happen.

Understandably, his mind and spirit recoiled.

That hadn't crippled him in any physical or emotional way. He had seen death. In a spiritual way, however, he had closed himself off entirely. Whatever he had felt, he didn't want to feel it again. "Watching someone die isn't easy," he said as he placed a hand on hers, "and you don't get used to it, no matter how many times you see it. Not even the most war hardened soldier is immune. People don't get better at it. They get better at pretending it doesn't bother them."

Aveline was a strong person. That was how Taku saw her. In that instant where she lost the words she wanted to speak, he knew that the experience had deeply wounded both of them. For her, it was a psychological scar.

"For me," he decided to answer her question, because it might help bring her back from the edge of despair, "it feels like a door slammed in my face, violently. I'd only just opened it, and I could conceive of a whole new reality- then all of the bad things in that place came, all at once, and forced me out."

He squeezed her hand gently. "I've been too afraid to try again. But, I'll never jokingly tell myself that the Jedi are some weird cult or that the Force is some kind of hokey religion again."

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline smiled, deep in thought at his words. She wasn't aware how long she zoned out, but when she finally snapped back so just looked back up at him. "I think you're right." They would come to miss these times.

Reliving what had happened on Denba... It was rough, to say the least. She didn't fully know how to process it, let alone come to terms with it. She'd signed up, or rather been signed up by someone above her, probably Caltin, for some counselling. Little good had it done her. Yet... She was still here. Still out. Still living life... Suppose it was helping, in its own way. Slowly and slightly.

"People seem to think Jedi are without emotions. I don't think that's the case. They just deal with them well. For me, that's something I still need to learn" ain't that the truth.

It was hard to talk about, but somehow she knew she should. Especially with Takui , who had been right there with her when it had happened. She squeezed his hand in return, forcing through a smile.

"Wanna try it again? Together, with me?" She knew it probably wasn't the most tempting proposition, considering what had happened to him the last time he had opened himself to the Force. "Safe environment, no one else around... And it's Kashyyyk. Nothing bad will happen." just as she said that, she realized how hollow that might sound, considering... "I know the Deneba Enclave was also a Jedi location... But it was mostly abandoned. And outside of Silver space. This is different. Right?" She felt at home here. She felt safe.

Aveline walked with him (presumably) towards the water, wanting to be closer to the river. Then she sat down, crossing her legs in the process, and held out her hands up towards him. Maybe he'd feel more comfortable then

 

[Takui]

He stared down at her hand in his, the most human contact he'd known in a long time. There was a warmth there that didn't exist before, something born of a newfound awareness. Whether or not he was open to it, his mind now conceived of that great mystery, a cosmic connection between all things. In the small act of touching another person, however briefly, there was a nuanced intimacy. It wasn't anything impure, nor was it affectionate, or anything complicated. It simply was.

In that instant, Taku was aware of Aveline. He couldn't feel anything more than her existence, but it was enough. He exhaled, closed his eyes, and pushed those feelings out. He needed to focus.

"People aren't droids. We don't have programming. What we experience becomes our reality. What we feel, is real."

There was still a part of him that questioned certain aspects of the Jedi. They said things, mentioned a lack of emotion, or a triumph over it. Annihilation of the self at a metaphysical level. For Taku, it sounded like a goal. Not a realistic one, but something to strive toward. In a way, it vindicated his belief that the Jedi were a religious sect.

Nonetheless, it was a path he had decided to take for himself. She asked him to join her, and to try again. He watched her quietly, but followed without protest as she moved closer to the flowing water. When she sat and held out her hands, he finally spoke. Both his forearms rested on his thighs, legs crossed in a sloppy lotus position. He kept his palms facing up.

"I trust you," he said quietly. "Kashyyyk or Coruscant, it wouldn't matter." He didn't think anything of what he'd said, eyes focused on the ground between them. If he weren't trying to concentrate, he might have realized what he was saying or how it sounded.

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

She smiled back at Takui . "I trust you too." She closed her eyes. "This is usually how I do it... I take a deep breath. Clear my mind. It gets easier when you've done it a few times and know what to look for. Now I can feel as if the Force speaks to me... Or rather, it's always there. Like an old radio signal. You just gotta tune your mind to the right channel to be able to receive it." She didn't know if any of this made sense. Takui would find his way of visualizing it, Aveline had hers.

"Then I just kind of... Reach out. I first look inward. Focus on nothing but my breathing. The tip of my fingers. My chest moving. The light wind in my hair. Then... Outwards. The grass around me. The sound of water. Can you feel it? Like you're expanding..." She wasn't sure if Takui was following her so far, but she tried to think out loud and go over her process. Maybe it would help him. If not, maybe she could learn how to help him.

"Can you feel me? Even with your eyes close. I know you can hear me because I won't shut up, but" she laughed, interrupting herself before going on "Even with my eyes close I can feel you. I sense you're there." As if to nudge him along, she tried to brush her presence in the Force against his, a gentle nudge. He might've been able to feel her on his own, but perhaps now he might sense her reaching out to him. Her consciousness actively interacting with the Force as a separate entity.

 

[Takui]

It felt like memory.

If he had to describe it in words, that was the closest thing Taku could come to accurate. It was like something he had always known, or so familiar that even if he had forgotten it, it came back easily even after many years. What she described was raw and personal. It was her own experience. Regardless of how vague, her description of what she felt opened volumes about Aveline that piqued his curiosity.

She was like a tome written in a language that he could not understand. Parts of it were decoded, but they only made the parts that weren't that much more enticing. He listened intently to her words, trying to visualize what she described. For Taku, radio signals and frequencies weren't something he had grown up with, so he could only use his imagination to fill in the parts he did not understand.

Taku related it back, in a way. The way Aveline described tuning the signals reminded him of categories, of an aged and forgotten system for calling up books and finding them among thousands. He felt himself reaching out like a Librarian, running his finger over the pages of some fragile, worn copy of a beloved book.

The world around him converged. Taku remembered the sensation from when he had watched the Jedi Knight die in front of him. Instead of pain, though, he remembered the initial sensation. A bright, shining beacon that drew his attention. The feelings that surrounded it were irrelevant.

He saw that same light in front of him now, perhaps slightly dimmer, or perhaps if he strained, far more brilliant. The Padawan had barely scraped the surface of sensing the Force. This was the first time he had the chance with nothing else to impede his efforts.

Taku was always aware of himself. Fingertips, toes, and everything in between. Perhaps that came with anxiety; but the way Aveline described it, awareness within the Force made those things almost seem significant. It made him realize that his senses were more than just a plague. He realized now that his hyperawareness wasn't just an ugly thing he had to bear.

Taku's eyes opened when she laughed at herself. He was more aware than ever of the words she was saying, and perhaps... the feelings tied to them? The young man tilted his head slightly. When his eyes were closed, the light she radiated had been a faint orange, almost fading to gray around the edges.

He shook his head. There was no way that it meant anything. "I do that too," he commented absently. "I feel uncertain about myself and try to lighten the mood with humor." His eyes were on the ground as he spoke. "I don't think you talk too much. You're trying to help me. If anything, I appreciate that you're trying to explain the things I still don't understand."

Taku wasn't sure why he felt the need to reassure her, but he did so anyway. "I do," he added. "I can feel you, I mean. I can feel... a lot. More things than I thought. I think maybe I've always felt it, but I thought I was crazy."

Aveline Cuiléin

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline had closed her eyes too. She thought she could feel Takui reaching out, connecting with the Force. She used it as an exercise herself, as she normally had a hard time sensing the emotions of those around her or the presence of those far away. At first she tried to identify his, and make a mental note of what made his 'signature' in the Force unique. Then she reached out to the birds, the bees, and even a couple of fish found in the river nearby.

"I can relate to that. And that's good. Thanks" she smiled, genuinely. "Good!" she said again, as he said he could feel things. "You're not crazy. Not because of that anyway" she stuck out her tongue at him in jest. "There's no harm in taking things slow either. Don't worry about lifting stones with your mind or flipping through the air until you're comfortable with this. Though when you are, you should give stone-lifting a try. " she chuckled, looking over to where they'd stood before.

Again, she closed her eyes and held out her hand in their direction. The hand gesture wasn't really necessary, but it helped her visualize it all. Slowly the boots moved as if touched by a wind, though there was none. Then they started levitating. Slowly, hovering only a few feet above ground, they made their way next to where they were now sitting, before dropping down onto the ground.

"That too becomes easier over time. You just gotta change how you view things, you know? It's like if you see a big rock, because of gravity and it being too heavy to lift, you think it can't move. But it can. Small rocks too. You can pick them up physically, and with the Force it's the same. Or, well, not the same really, but similar? I guess it's all in how you look at it. But the Force is like an element unaccounted for, making the impossible possible. I'm rambling, but it helps to think out loud, you know?" She hoped so at least. She wasn't a Jedi Master. This was an unstructured mess.

"Just because someone worked out something they didn't know about fifteen minutes before doesn't make them better than you. You're not any worse, dumber, or any of that. You just haven't had the same training yet. None of this comes natural. You just need someone better than me to show you, is all. You'll get the hang of it. And maybe then, sometime far into the future when you long for those simple days back on Kashyyyk when you were a Padawan maybe you'll remember me. Maybe it will make you laugh, being capable of doing all the amazing things you'll be able to do by then"

 

[Takui]

It was only the second time Takui had witnessed levitation, and he still could not comprehend it. The Force was monolithic as he struggled just to touch it. She lifted something with her mind almost like it were second nature. His eyes lingered on the floating stone before they moved back to the other Padawan.

"Even though I can see it happening, it doesn't feel real," he admitted. "I guess, none of it does. Even the parts that do feel real feel disjointed."

Aveline seemed more like a butterfly, where Takui was a flightless bird. She had transformed already. Her efforts blossomed and she was on display.

The white haired Padawan could only smile up from that grounded existence he might never leave behind.

For Taku, there was nothing wrong with being normal; and Aveline affirmed that by assuring him that it was fine to be where he was. It was fine that he had not developed as far as those who had training.

"...yeah," he agreed. "Sometimes you need to hear yourself, to see the things you're missing. Perspective."

That, he was good at. His observational skills and the ability to perceive and calculate things at mind-numbing speed were things he kept quiet. When he sensed the Force, it almost seemed like those talents were perfectly natural.

It was the sole thing that grounded him.

He could feel the rock. It was strangely light, weightless in his thoughts. The concept of mass was no longer a solid thing, rather, it had become nebulous. When he strained, he could even faintly feel her mind surrounding it.

That sensation unnerved him.

Taku exhaled sharply and shook his head. The Force overwhelmed him even when the situation was peaceful. He sank back on his haunches and his fingers laced the grass. Kashyyyk's beauty was an adequate distraction.

She spoke about looking back fondly, and he nodded. That was something he had to wonder at. Will I? I've heard staggeringly few people even make it past the Padawan stage. Aveline seems like she'll spread her wings and take flight. I don't have any doubt she will look back on this fondly.

"I hope so," he smiled softly. "It'd be nice..."

...to be remembered.

Aveline Cuiléin