The Giver and Taker of Life (Alexandra)

[Veino Garn]

Veino frowned in concern at the small garden he had been working for several weeks now. Weeds were beginning to spread among his carefully tended flowers and vegetables, all arrayed to create a spiral of green and red and white and black, intertwining among each other in an allusion to the mosaic on the floor of the Jensaarai council chamber.

Weeds had sprung up within in the pattern, and he picked up his clippers, and then began snipping them away, delicately and with precision. There was no mercy here. Nor would there be. To create a garden was to wage war against nature itself. Nature hated gardens with a passion that rivalled any Sith Lord. He was never quite sure why that was. Why would it wish to destroy what was essentially a refined version of itself? That would be something he would have to consider.

He yanked his other hand away as the clippers slipped given his lack of attention and sliced into the top of one of his fingers. He gave it a quick shake on instinct to dissipate the pain. How ironic. Here he was waiting for [member="Alexandra Cinthra"] for lessons in Force healing and he had injured himself while doing it. He shrugged. So the stars spun.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra had been watching him tend to the roof top garden with a Zealousness to it that she didn't quite understand, sure it was a beautiful thing, but would the nexus itself not survive with or without the weeds? Oh how people confused her and so after watching him for a dozen or so minutes she jumped down into the garden and smiled at him as she looked at the current matter. "You know, i think i preferred you harming yourself when you were tripping, not cutting open your skin." She smiled at her friend and found a place to sit as she looked at him with a calm that was unnatural for the woman had she been whole unlike of recent times.

@Veino Garn

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino shrugged, removing a few more of the weeds. Not in the rooftop garden though. He did some work up there, of course, but this was his jewel, set off in a corner of the temple, on a small knoll surrounded by a stream and draped in willows. It was peaceful here and reminded him somewhat of a stream that ran into the ocean back home that he often spent time at.

"This," He said, gesturing to the small garden, "Is worth the hurt more than the tripping." He paused, trying to explain it the way he saw it, and eloquently enough as the idea deserved. "There is so much ugliness in the galaxy, especially metaphorical, and the darkness it brings, full of fear and despair." He gently pruned a dead flower from the plant. "It is worthwhile to create beauty to counter that. A garden. A smile. Kind words. They all add together to bring beauty." He tilted his head, sensing something different about her. "You seem much calmer than usual. Despite my intentions, I don't think it's because of my garden."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Im missing something, but its not important... your garden though is certainly have a place in this galaxy, and i am happy to see the thing is doing very well and i do hope that it remains this way for a long time. You wanted training in healing?" She looked at the nearest plant and let her hand rest on it for a moment as she seemed to be silently communicating with something before smiling and leaving her hand and pulling it back to her body. In the next moment something all too new popped out from her robes and sat beside her, a Emerald colored, runt of a Ashlan wolf that Alexandra waved her hand to. "This is Daeda by the way, a friend of mine brought me to the planet where i made a bond with him."

@Veino Garn

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino nodded and set the shears down, and then tilted his head to one side, peering down at the small creature. There was something different about it. Something unlike other animals he had ever met. "Hello there, little one. Nice to meet you." He said softly, but looked back over to Alexandra, nodding again. "I am, yes. I'm not much use to the galaxy if all I can do is destroy." He looked over his garden again, studying it. "And it might spare others some avoidable pain."

All of which he could feel, at all times, unless he was especially cautious and kept his emotional shields up all the way. It was odd how emotions worked, almost like the sea. Many had a combination of multiple emotions at any one time, weaving in and out, nudging and pulling at the others, a sea that pounded against his mental levees. Sometimes though, one emotion would cut through the rest like some great predator and would punch through his barriers. Pain was one of those, and he wished to ease it in others when he could. Not for his sake, but for theirs. He ached himself when he felt theirs, for to feel someone's pain at their core was to know them on a deeply intimate level that surpassed all other barriers and allegiances. It was what made them all, to use an old phrase, human, no matter what species they were.

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Ya.... so how about we get started, it looks like you already have your example, just as i will have mine in just a second." Without hesitation, her hand reached down and drew a vibroknife before cutting her palm and then wiping the blade on her on a cloth she had with her. The blood would slowly flow from the wound as she sat there and there was something all to strange about her now, she had felt no pain, had not hesitated, or even so much as paused to take in the fact that she had wounded herself. "Ok, first step is to center yourself..."

[member="Veino Garn "]

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the action. That was unexpected. But, it didn't seem serious, and she didn't seem to find it painful, so he took a deep breath and centered himself in the Force, letting it soothe him and disperse the sting from the cut. It was easier to accomplish here than at other places. It was partly why he created it. He waited for the next step.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Now, communicate with your body on a primal level, feel your blood as it flows from the wound, feel it as the area tries to clot and stop the bleeding. Seal the wound with the force to keep from things getting in that should not and then feel your nerves. The healing of the body is hard to keep painless, especially in the case of greater wounds, but you must work with the nerves and around them while also creating new bonds. The tendons and skin would be next, willing them to grow, modify, and move to fix the broken area, pushing levels of energy into the area and literally speeding up a biological process that would normally take many months in some cases. Note you cannot regrow a lost limb though, as bone is one of the hardest things to fix much less create more of."

[member="Veino Garn "]

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino nodded, and let his awareness narrow in on the gash, becoming fully aware of its depth, the activity of the body as it worked to repair the damage, and then step by step as she described, working to seal the wound. He wasn't sure it really mattered for a small one like this. He kept his equipment clean, and it was fairly minor. Pain sparked through it as the Force began to knit the nerves back together, and he inhaled sharply, but kept going. Then he worked on skin, since there were no injuries to the tendons or other tissue. It was merely a flesh wound.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Veino Garn "]

"Good..." Her own hand opened back up and she placed her other hand over her palm, letting the force cycle from one arm to the other and then through her body and again and again. Her hand moved a good dozen seconds later with a scar on her hand, not having worried about fixing that much about what she had done to her hand as she had done it a million times and will do it a million times more in the same place.

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino watched in surprise the cut on her hand vanished to become a scar. He looked at his own injury. It seemed to be a tiny bit smaller than than it was before, but not by very much. He shrugged and went back to working on knitting it back together, one cell at a time. Sweat began to drip down his forehead and he wiped it away, face growing paler, and his jaw tightened as he worked to main the focus on such a small area.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Wooh, Veino stop, you are going to pass out you moron. We can still exhaust ourselves even on the smallest of tasks and sometimes the most simple. Dont force it and take a break between attempts so that you dont waste your energy. The art of healing is not fast and even now i am working to keep the cells in check to avoid causing them to become cancerous."

[member="Veino Garn "]

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino opened his eyes and leaned back against a rock that he had moved to form a wall for the garden, breathing heavy and rasping. The world swayed before him and he closed them again for a moment until it settled back into normality. He opened them again, more slowly this time. It seems his old recklessness still hadn't fully left him. He still threw himself headfirst into whatever came his way without thinking of the consequences. It had gotten better after it had gotten his best friend killed, seemingly forever ago, but really not that terribly long. He quirked a small, sad smile at that and leaned his head back.

"Healing can't be rushed then, can it? Even with the Force, it still takes time." He paused for a moment, thinking, "Any kind of healing, now that I think of it."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"YA, this is one of the most boring force powers that can be learned, its literally finding stuff to fix and then slowly doing so... before then finding more things to fix. Its like you are on repeat or something, but that doesn't really worry me as much, things could be worse than they already are and that is already bad enough in the first place." She moved to look back down at her own hand, once more remembering she had done this to the one spot a million times.

@Veino Garn

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino shook his head slowly, considering, "Slow, yes. Not boring. I'd even go as far to call it a miracle. It's one thing to brow rocks around. It's an entirely different thing to be able to repair cells on the microscopic level without directly coming in contact with them." He paused, and tapped his fingers on the rock. "Does it work the same on other beings as well? Or only one's self?"

It was one hint to heal himself. What he really needed to learn to do was to heal others. They typically needed it more than himself. Much more, usually. That was he went to them.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"It can be done to most any creature in this galaxy... but i would suggest you study the anatomy and biological processes of each species you come across before you do, that way you do not come into contact and find yourself repairing bone or tendons in a way they were never meant to be connected. We know our bodies better than even machines, but we do not know that of another species'."

[member="Veino Garn "]

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino gave a half chuckle. "No kidding. Wouldn't give a Twi'lek an extra leg after all. Fortunately most of the people I know are humans." That was a bad joke, to be sure, but so be it. He found it a little amusing. Hopefully Alexandra would as well. Maybe he could start a career as a stand-up comedian. Actually, probably not. That would be less profitable than being a knight errant, which made no money at all.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

@Veino Garn

"Stick to tripping, its funnier, and more important to the lesson." She smiled back at him and let her own joke settle as she looked on her friend, wondering how long it would take him to recover his own power as she had down so, it had been a long time since she had last met her friend in a field where she could test his power, but that was not the point of the lesson. "Tell me when you are ready to continue, we can move on to the next part after."

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Alexandra Cinthra"]

Veino waved his hand with a 'pfft.' That had been one time. Or maybe three. He couldn't actually remember. It certainly wasn't as big of a deal as the jokes would make it seem. Probably, anyways. He could be wrong. He dove back into the bottomless pool of the Force, feeling its cool, calm depths reinvigorate his mind and restrengthen his muscles. "I'm ready."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

@Veino Garn

"Ok... continue with the effort on your own, then i will present you with a challenge far different than what you had done so far." She didn't like where she was going to take the training, but she had done it before and to train her friend he would know how to deal with all injuries, even the most painful and excruciating ones.