The tiniest flicker leads the way

[Rianna Organa]

Rianna with great silence moved to stand behind her padawan she drew the force to her and then placed her hands on Ian’s shoulders. She wanted to share what she saw with Ian she could not use Mind Walking for that allowed her to see where he had been. Mind walking that was how she could see what it was he saw when he touched the mythosaur.

She took a deep breath, one hand still on Ian. “Master Obi Wan Kenobi said the force is what gives a Jedi their power. It’s the energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together”

Rianna using the skill of mind trick began to create the illusion before Ian. The force glowing in strands of white that bound all of them together force users, non-force users, all living things the trees, the plants that provided valuable herbs. “We are all a part of one another, the force flows through us. See how the strands of the force multiple through the body”

A hand was held up for Ian to see, “see the strands, when there is an injury you need to mend these strands, meld them back together. By controlling the force you can direct it to an injury and heal it.”

She took another breath as she funneled the force to create the image, “Modern medicine can only do so much force healing supplements what medicine can do. Medicines can begin the healing the force ensures that it mends to keep the flow of the force true”

Rianna removed her hand and when she did the image would fade away.

She walked slowly to stand before Ian, “You must begin by recognizing the force within you”

[member="Ian Milàn"]

 

[Ian Milàn]

[member="Rianna be Ar'klim"]


Ian sat quietly through Master Ar’klim’s explanation and demonstration. He could tell she was using a mind trick to enable him to see the force as she was describing it. He had to relax himself not to resist even this gentle manipulation of his mind as it was totally alien to him and went against his impulse to control everything about himself. He closed his eyes and allowed her to show him the waves of force weaving in and through everything around them.

When she stopped controlling the image, he tried to sense what she was showing him without her assistance. He could feel the ebbs and flow of the force more so than actually seeing it, but, as he became surer of the feel of the force, he could begin to put at least a mental image on what he was sensing.

He held his left hand before his face, studying it and the tendrils of force he sensed moving through it intently. It was an oddly energizing experience and he felt empowered by it – realizing the force to be an integral part of him as he’d never done before.

“So injury represents a severance of the force from the wound as well as the physical trauma? And healing requires its restoration?”

Ian could understand the concept if not the process or application. He pointed the index finger of his right hand at his left hand made a small slicing motion with it, envisioning the finger as a blade that would cut the force weaving though his hand.

He yelped with pain as an inch long gash opened up on the thenar eminence muscle of his thumb. He had no idea what he’d done and felt panicked that he could cut himself open so easily… and he really, really didn’t like the sight of blood; especially his own.

His hands were shaking as he frantically tried to reverse what he’d done. He tried sensing and directing some of those elusive threads of force back through the laceration to close the wound. As a child, he had watched a doctor suture up a cut on his knee. His clumsy efforts mimicked that suturing pattern. After some effort, the bleeding was slowing and the pain was less, but, the gash was still open and showed no signs of closing.

He sagged with frustration and said, “I think I can cut things better than I can restore them.” He turned to face Master Ar’Klim and asked, “How did that happen? How did I cut myself like that just by imagining it?”

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

​

"Yes Ian an injury disrupts the natural flow of the force between us, healing is the way it is restored. Jedi Healers are able to use the force to reestablish that natural connection that exists by directing the force into the wound." Rianna was watching Ian as he began to understand.

The force and Jedi a symbiotic connection. When she saw him cut himself, she blinked and made sure she was not imaging things. Very interesting. She had started to reach out and look at the wound herself but stopped herself. Ian needed to learn, to experience, if she ran in every time he'd learn nothing.

She could feel him in the force drawing its energy, feeling its flow as he tried to stave off the bleeding and seal the wound. He did very well for his first time again reinforcing to her his natural ability with the force.

She put a hand on his shoulder, Don't feel discouraged what you did was well done for a first time. She reached over now and touched the wound, she would not seal it closed. In its present state it would scab and heal naturally. Ian's question now that she thought on she looked over at her padawan who she believed would one day surpass her in his skill with the force.

The teachings of Master Luke indicate that some Jedi are able to just visualize what they want to happen and it does. He folded space. Mara Jade made her way out of a cave in merely by visualizing the place of the stones that were on her. Perhaps that is what happened.

At this moment she had no other explanation not many so new to the force could do what Ian had just done. She would be mindful of him.

Healing. Rianna wanted to make sure she said this in the proper context. There are some that would use the abilities of healing to harm rather than do good. Healers are powerful Jedi Ian, we know how a body performs and within that is a power to kill. The skill shatter point helps to locate a weakness within I do not know many healers who use that ability and are still able to heal. She looked at his wound again was he a growing power. The skill to make something happen just from thought is powerful. Very powerful she thought.

She held out her hand, Can you see my connection to the force?

 

[Ian Milàn]

[member="Rianna be Ar'klim"]

Ian looked at Master Ar’Klim with shock written all over his face. “Master, you can’t imagine how horrifying it is to me to think that the force can respond to a simple thought. How can you ever be at peace knowing an unguarded thought could harm or even kill.” Ian wondered why this hadn’t manifested before this. Perhaps it had and been less obvious and gone unnoted. He had rarely been in confrontive situations where he might actually wish harm to someone perhaps explaining why that issue hadn’t arisen. Or perhaps he had rarely immersed himself as deeply into the force and for so long as he had been since working with Master Ar’Klim. That would make it a function of exposure. It was all very confusing and threatening to him.

He tried to push his initial reaction aside and concentrate on what she was asking him, “Can you see my connection to the force?”

After a brief glance at her hand, he closed his eyes and relaxed, slipping back into the ebb and flow of the force. “I can’t really describe what I sense as seeing, Master,” he responded. “Although the overall effect is much like seeing it – it’s like a combination of feeling, hearing, sometimes smelling or tasting and visualizing. It’s like when we moved to Corellia and I saw a fresh water river for the first time. I could hear the current; I could run my fingers through the water and feel the current; I could smell the various odors of the water and I could see it; but, seeing it only confirmed what my other senses were already describing for me.”

As he was speaking he, he began waving his fingers in the air above her hand as if he were playing in that river current. He sighed and said, “the current I feel is strong but not as strong as it is here.” He indicated her core where he sensed her major connection with the force.

 

[Rianna Organa]

She tried to calm Ian "I do not worry for the force is living and I have control. You will have control too, do not borrow trouble." Don't worry she was saying. She doubted unless he were trying that this would happen again. The more he used the force the more his abilities would grow, but if his fear also grew them that was a warning that he could fall to the darkness. She would try to help him understand more.

When she asked him to see her connection he slipped into the force easily, good that part he had accepted. She listened and approved of what he said. "Good the force is your sixth sense complimenting and enhancing the other senses"

When he pointed to her core, her soul some would say resided where he was pointing. She nodded "yes many draw from the centre." She smiled again at him. "You are stronger than you realize. Now if we are separated I think you could find me easily." What she had just taught him should keep him busy for a bit there were other skills that worked similar, "if I move room to room do you think you could sit here and still follow me through the force knowing my connection or force signature?"

[member="Ian Milàn"]

 

[Ian Milàn]

[member="Rianna be Ar'klim"]​

Ian thought on it a moment and looked across the room, levitating a book briefly with a though before setting it back in place. “It seems that although the force flows through us in a constant stream, our interaction with it is mainly by mental visualization of thought. I know many jedi use gestures when pushing or pulling or levitating, but, are they really necessary – or – are they just an aid to concentration and their outward method of visualization? Is waving a hand in a person’s face you are trying to perform a mind trick upon necessary for anything other than focusing their attention on what you are saying?”

He looked at his thumb and realized, “When I cut myself, it wasn’t really a random thought like I first thought. I realize that I was clearly visualizing doing it and even used a gesture of my index finger to emphasize it.” He let out a sigh of relief and added, “I feel relieved that random thoughts are unlikely to cause effects in the force.”

He wasn’t free of doubt but he did feel better. Significant actions made through the force would require concentration; not just daydreaming. On the other hand, he focused on things and concentrated quickly and easily. It was an ability that had helped him complete his doctorate in half the number of years required by most at Corellia University. He still felt… dangerous.

"If I move room to room do you think you could sit here and still follow me through the force knowing my connection or force signature?"

Master Ar’klim may have thought he was pondering her question, but, in reality he was remembering [member="Serendipity"] and how when they were in the Felucian jungle together he sensed her movement when they were apart. It had been in large part due to his concern for her safety and possibly somewhat due to the affection he felt for her even after their brief time together. He made a concerted effort to push those memories from his mind and answered, “I believe so, Master. I mean, I would have to make an effort to do so. I couldn’t be reading a book, for example, and keep track of your location; but, if my goal was to follow your progress through the vessel, I believe I could do so.”

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

​

She listened as he reasoned things while she could serve as a guide there were many things that Ian would discover and reason for himself and with the aide of the force. "Yes if I raise my hand without saying anything is your gaze drawn to my hand, or to my voice? It is a very wise thing you have discovered about the use of the force, our minds our symbiotic to the force it flows through us, around us. There is also the thought that by using my hand to push I focus the force through my hand to the point that will allow me to push." The force is a complicated partner as Rianna had learned long long ago.

She did smile when he said he was relieved. Yes she thought to herself it is a relief to know that your thoughts are not manifested while you dream for what havoc it could cause around the galaxy if all Jedi's dreams came to fruition.

Well, let us see shall we. Rianna nodded and began walking, So you know what my presence feels like in the force, now using the force as that which connects us search the connections to find just me. On a ship where they were the only ones finding her should not be overwhelming, but it would test his skills and push him to use his abilties.

Rianna walked from one room to another and then stopped she began to make medical bags up that they could give to those in need. [member="Ordo"] believed in helping those who could not help themselves. They often made good allies.

Rianna for a moment reached out to sense Ian's emotional state checking to make sure there was no frustrations.

 

[Ian Milàn]

Ian watched as Master Ar’klim left the room. Alone he picked up the lightsaber and looked at it; although, as preoccupied as his mind was, he wasn’t really seeing what he was holding. He felt a connection to it that concerned him. From his readings, a connection between saber and jedi came from meditation during the construction/assembly process. Even though he had had the lightsaber several years, he had made a conscious effort not to hold or handle it because of that inexplicable connection.

Sighing, he returned it to its box, closed it, and turned his attention back to Master Ar’klim’s assignment… locate her with the force. He thought it would be simpler in a ship this small just to walk from room to room, but, that wasn’t the point of the exercise. He realized the usefulness of being able to locate someone in a more difficult environment simply by concentrating. Conceding that to himself, he began…

Ian had never released his connection to the force, but, he allowed it to fill him to what seemed his capacity all the while wondering in the back of his mind if there really was a maximum capacity. Rather than using the force for some other task this time, he concentrated on it - observing it ebbs and flows and the strengths and textures of the various currents that surrounded him.

He then remembered what Master Ar’klim’s force connection had looked and felt like and searched for a flow that had those characteristics. Finding a likely source, he allowed his consciousness to follow it to its source. Disappointed, he found himself floating through her small quarters, an area that was imbued with her force presence from the time she spent there but not where she currently was.

He retreated back and centered himself beginning the process again. This time he found a similar current that somehow seemed more vibrant and full of the color. Hopeful, he followed it and soon found her, packing something into small bags.

Need any help, he asked mentally. He had never been trained in force communications of any kind and had no reason to think he would actually be speaking to Master Ar’klim. It was just a reflex, what he would say if he were walking into the room physically. Retreating back to his body, he walked to the storage/work room he had sensed her presence in.



[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]

 

[Rianna Organa]

She could feel him moving, feel how the force wavered and washed over him. His connection to it stronger than perhaps he realized, It was not unusual for a student to feel frustration, and anxiety. One might even say it was normal for them to feel so, if he were so confident in his abilities and his future there would be concern over his becoming a Jedi, for in her mind only Sith dealt in absolutes.

She closed her eyes as she stood there knowing her task by heart having done it a hundred times before it was automatic and without much thought. The shimmered with activity as he learned and reassured himself of his connection to it. Bright white tendrils reaching out to wrap themselves around him and draw him in to the flow, bringing him slowly down the river of connect to her.

She could feel him whispering Need any help.

Always she smiled her emotion her contentment flowing back along the force to him to show to him yes you did it, and yes come help.

The communications panel was glowing green signalling the receipt of a message. She opened her eyes and moved over to the panel transferring the message to her station, Concord Dawn was in need of Supplies, and Alpha Mae was wondering when she would return.

She would need to speak to [member="Ian Milàn"] she turned to see him in the doorway , "Very good, I have received a couple of messages, are you up to helping me drop some supplies off?"

 

[Ian Milàn]

Ian was shocked yet pleased when he heard Master Ar’klim actually respond to his mental inquiry.

He quickly made his way to the bay in which he had sensed her presence. When she asked if he were up to helping drop off supplies he quickly answered, “Of course.”

A trip to help whoever was in need of these supplies seemed imminently more preferable to whatever unknowns lay before him in answering some of the mysteries surrounding his very existence.

“What is our next destination then, Master Ar’klim?” He would make course adjustments if needed.



[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]

"I need to go to Vena, with a quick stop on Alpha Mae at MandalTechs new offices. You did very well Ian, truly well done. How did you feel while performing the task?" She moved around then added another medpak to the kit.

Seven days rations, water, shelter, substance analyzer, these things could save lives to anyone stranded. She wanted to talk more to him about the plants he was studying that perhaps Matsu could also help him in identifying properties, she after all had a great lab, and an unending source of energy that she wished she could bottle and sell.

Now her student before her a young man that held a mystery one she did not know the answer to, one that seem to always be at the edges of her mind. She smiled he presented a great many puzzles did he not.

 

[Ian Milàn]

Though he knew little about it, he remembered Vena as being on the Lesser Lantillian Trade route about mid-way through the expansion region. He knew less about Alpha Mae except that it was near Colla IV. He plotted each destination’s numeric coordinates on the navigation computer. Before allowing it to calculate a course, he asked, “Do you need to stop on Alpha Mae first, Master Ar’klim?”

Ian thought a moment before answering her question. “I actually feel more complete when I’m actively using the force so the feeling was good. The task was a little more problematic. I allowed myself to be misled by your residual force presence in your quarters. In retrospect, they were like weak echoes of your actual presence. I’m sure I would be able to tell the difference in the future… at least for you and your force presence.”

Ian sat quietly for a moment before continuing on a different question. “If I understand the process correctly, when a jedi crafts something like a saber he imbues it with his force presence by meditating during at least part of the construction process. That attunes the object to its owner.”

“If that’s true, how can I be so connected to that light saber… unless I’m a descendant of its maker?”


[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

​

Part of any training was problem solving to use one minds to gain knowledge figure the problem and then work it out, Ian had done just that. She nodded, "You handled it all very well Ian. How we handle problems is also part of Jedi training, you showed no frustration, you used what knowledge you had, and then expanded on it. Now you know how to find me, now you are only a few steps away from being able to find others."

She heard him respond to a previous discussion, "Yes when crafting your saber it is done with the force, your force signature becomes part of the creation and attunes it to you, thus making it an extension of yourself." His deductive reasoning was becoming clearer, "Yes for the saber to recognize you there is a connection, it could be one of family." What other could it be? Someone he shared a deep bond with.

"Let us go to Alpha Mae first Ian it is where I must pick up a delivery for Vena" She smiled, she couldn't help but smile she liked smiling. "I can set you up with your own lab on Alpha Mae if you like Ian." She wanted her student to feel he had his freedom to move about and research what interested him.

 

[Ian Milàn]

Ian nodded his head in acknowledgment of her positive feedback regarding the completion of his assignment. It was one of those social situations he was pretty sure his experiences on Mustafar hadn’t prepared him for adequately. He had accomplished her task as she wished and she confirmed that fact. Should he thank her for her comments? Unsure, he replied to her comments regarding the lightsaber instead.

“My parents never revealed any force sensitivity when I was around them, Master Ar’klim, so I have no reason to think it came from them. Grandparents and more distant relatives… I have no idea about any of them. No one like that ever visited or were in our lives in any way. Besides, I could be wrong but it seems very old to me - passed down perhaps but not crafted by any recent relative.”

Ian couldn’t bring himself to say that there was no one else with whom he had a deep bond. It depressed him at times to admit that to himself.

As he had been talking, he had programed the nav computer for landfall at Alpha Mae. Satisfied with the waypoints it assigned, he announced, “The course to Alpha Mae is set and engaged in 3… 2… 1. Engaged. Our estimated arrival is approximately ten hours.”

[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]​

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

​

​

Alpha Mae ​

Rianna and her family had become citizens of the galaxy, they had homes in different parts of the galaxy their livelihood depended upon two totally different points one of war the other of peace. However did they manage to balance it all?

Today she would take medical supplies from here to take to Vena, a request of one of the new nobles there in order to help ease a transition. Rianna took a deep breath of calm she always tended to get excited when coming to Alpha Mae. This place, this was her dream, a single world devoted to helping, peace, and healing.

"Ian, welcome to Alpha Mae." she put her hand on his shoulder, "I know that I shouldn't but I get excited here" She laughed, "Well let's get what we came for and shuffle on off to Vena"

A short stop that Rianna had not expected, "give thought to a lab here as well as your other lab, you can have both. It only takes space, and our hospital and research centers have plenty of space."

Alpha Mae also presented opportunity.

 

[Ian Milàn]

The ten hours passed quickly with a brief rest period, pleasant conversation, exploring the galley for a meal, and monitoring the ship’s progress. In reflection, Ian realized that it was one of the more enjoyable, relaxed ten hours he could ever remember spending.

Ian wasn’t sure how to respond about the lab so he just expressed his concerns.

“I’d love to have a lab here, Master Ar’klim. I can easily envision myself researching and gathering specimens for MandelTech as I did on Corellia.”

Here was a interesting place. Alpha Mae was a beautiful, vibrant world and the medical center and MandalTech buildings appeared fresh and alive. It was an odd way to describe buildings, but, they seemed to have a vitality Ian hadn’t experienced before. Yes, he would love working here, but…

“My only concern is my training. I feel how vital it is for my future and I want to be readily available to you when you are able to spend time teaching me new skills. So, if your activities will mostly be centered on Alpha Mae, then, I will happily set up a lab here. If you are going to be somewhere else the majority of the time, I feel that’s where I need to be also.”

Ian was trying not to sound like a needy child. Rather, he wanted to be readily available when his master was able to spend time instructing him. Other times, he could happily spend searching for new medicinal plants.

[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]​

 

[Rianna Organa]

Corellia poor Corellia though a small part of it still existed it barely existed. She had heard of an effort to find a new home for the Corellians but did not know how that went. She had to remember to ask [member="Eliza Steele"] about that effort.

"Ian you can have a lab here and still travel and be with me. We must continue your training" Rianna remembered much of her training as a child, the repetition, the frustration, the wishing she could get more right than wrong. She knew that Ian would face this as well but still there was the training to do, the simple skills first, then the more complex. She needed to give him time to sift through his dreams, and release his memories of his teacher who brought so much pain to him.

Rianna too faced something, she had to remember to be a teacher and not always the healer running around the galaxy. So she had given him enough information to find her, this was important as a master and an apprentice.

Perhaps they needed to stay a bit this time before moving onto Vena, "Maybe I should show you the gardens here Ian perhaps we can work on another skill, something that requires a focus on the force and your connection to it. Have you ever heard of Tapas?"

There was time, there were no plagues or disasters currently that she was aware of. So, her student must come first.

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

 

[Ian Milàn]

Ian tried to hide a smirk and as innocently as possible answered Master Ar’klim’s question, “Yes, I had tapas in a cantina on Corelllia a couple of years ago. They were delicious little appetizers.”

He saw the arched “are you serious” brow on his master, gave a soft chuckle and recanted, adding, “Keven explained the idea - drawing on the power of the Force to remain warm in a cold environment. He never explained how it was done because there was never anything that needed heating on Mustafar.”

He was thoughtful and quiet as they entered the gardens. Plants were another thing you didn’t see much of on Mustafar. He had grown to enjoy them exploring their variety from both a personal interest and as a benefit of his job on Corellia searching for plants that might offer medicinal benefits.

Even while enjoying the gardens and stopping to examine a new plants here and there, he was still thinking about this lesson and Tapas.

“Master, is the temperature effect direct or indirect? I mean - do you use the force to directly raise your body’s temperature or do you use it to raise the temperature of your immediate environment indirectly warming you?”

[member="Rianna Ar'klim-Organa"]​

 

[Rianna Organa]

[member="Ian Milàn"]​

"Tapas," she had to laugh at his joke she knew he was teasing and went along with it, "It is warming or cooling your body or the retaining your own body heat, or regulating it, changing the environment is another skill. One that..is called alter environment and depending on how one uses that skill it could be either for good or evil. So Tapas is about you and your connection to the force, and to your own body."

Rianna looked at Ian, things that were focused on him she believed he would do well at, after all a Jedi must know about themselves within the force before they go too far in their studies.

Rianna loved the gardens she had always had them around her it seemed, no matter where she was or what she did. She needed the feeling of life around her, to feel the connection between all living things, this enhanced her healing skills, kept her balanced. Mustafar did not have such, "Shall we look around a bit first?" She did not want to deny him simple pleasure that life offered, and a garden was certainly a simple pleasure.