Private Way of the Celestial Jedi

[Kaia Starchaser]

She was the heir apparent to the Force Legacy that was her father. Is her father. Jared, while being the older child, seemed to focus more on the life they had when living among the Chiss. He was all about service and enjoyed that military life. He was serving with the Warbird Wing, the fighter wing they group up with, Force based mercenaries that took the jobs they thought would ensure peace. They were typically working within the realm of the OPA, and that was fine, but they were known to settle in and assist the Alliance in Exile, and if their father was making a move to join the Silver Jedi? They’d make a move coreward.

But Kaia, she followed the Force, she was trying to undo what her father had done when he served himself, when he served, unknowingly, at the beck and call of a Sith, before he was frozen and renounced his ways among the Levantine Sanctum. She was a Warden, she fought differently than her father, but was no less a Force prodigy. She had adopted the way the Force worked to suit her needs and to suit her. She was a telekinetic in a loose definition. She focused on manipulating Asperion, and was able to affect the relative mass of an object, on top of that, her Warden training had her learning how to protect her body from blows.

She could sense her foes, and sense the way to move through the galaxy. She had stepped up her training in martial arts, using a lightsaber and attempting to use a whip, but she knew with the way the Force worked for her and her father, it was best if they were unarmed to work. That was why she had sought out Tiland. One of her father’s friends, she had met him in passing before, but now as she was coming into her own, she needed the proper training he could provide…

And that’s what found her on Qi-Ko.

 

[Tiland Kortun]

For nearly a thousand years, Tiland had wandered the galaxy, give or take a century or so. He’d stopped counting long ago, but he remembered hearing of the Clone Wars and the Empire when he was a child. Far away and that didn’t concern the Anzati. He had never had a home since.

But Qi-Ko? That was different. This world felt as old as he did and just as well lived in, despite the lack of inhabitants beyond the small Neti colony he had come across, bringing him his first true apprentice.

Qi-Ko, however, pulled the people to it who needed it. And this, he had sensed, was happening. A familiar presence. One of the Starchasers. Not Coren, but one of the younger ones. Kaia, if he remembered right.

And so, he waited on the plaza of Qi-Lo, which called to him, and he considered the monastery of the Light Hand. The old buildings had been cleaned and refreshed, with fresh living supplies brought in to tide them over until it could be self-sustaining again.

He sat at a low, round table surrounded by mossy cushions for seats, listening to the river burble beneath the monastery as it wound its way through the mountains to one of the many small seas.

The tea was already brewing, steam rising from the pot above the brazier, with two cups ready. She wouldn’t be here to drink tea, as far as he could sense, bit the ritual was crucial. Not only to break the ice, but also to provide an object lesson in the Light Hand and how he taught his students to relate to the Force.

Kaia Starchaser

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

As an explorer, by birthright and training, she was always happy to see somewhere new. It was new nowadays, as she was stepping more out of the ship, and onto a planet. She was working on getting over her agoraphobia… though it wasn’t that. It was more anxiety in social situations with so many people around. Too many variables to understand and prepare for. But this world? It had the Force in spades, and she was fairly certain it produced the light side. That was refreshing and reassuring. On top of that, she was meeting one of her father’s oldest friends. Both in the way Coren knew Tiland and just that Tiland was… well an Anzat.

They aged differently. Some species, she supposed. Like those little green ones, like Yoda.

She was hopeful that she could learn from him. He had supposed the Galactic Alliance and the OPA, and was a Jedi himself. It was who she would probably need. She knew her brother was declaring himself more of a Jensaarai, but Kaia, she was a Jedi, and a Warden, and those two were hard to distinguish. Allowing the Force to guide her, it was not long before she arrived at the table. A smile crossed her lips as she saw the setting. This was definitely the Tiland she expected.

Easing her way towards the table, she stepped closer, finding a cushion and crossed her legs as she sat. Like her father, she was not one to wear Jedi robes, but for the occasion she did have a tunic on, and wore a cloak as well.

“Master Kortun.” She said with an upbeat voice.

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland closed his eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the rich aroma of the tea as the steam curled its way up into the air. He was never able to be sure, but it seemed sometimes like the trees around Qi-Lo appreciated the tea as well. It felt, on occasion, like the branches draped across the square leaned in towards the tea. Which, if they were secretly Neti, that was possible, but he didn't sense the same things from them that he did from the other on-world plant aliens.

Kaia was quite close now and he opened his eyes, rising to greet her, before retaking his seat as she took her own. "Please, call me Tiland. I only use titles when Jedi are trying to be formal."

With that, he slid the cup of tea, already prepared towards her before picking his up again and cradling it in his hands. "Always a pleasure to welcome a Starchaser to Qi-Ko. The Force informed me you were coming, but not why. Would you enlighten me on what you're looking for?"

Training, most likely, but perhaps enlightenment, or something had called to her here on Qi-Ko. The world was only briefly surveyed, even after all of this time, and he suspected there were many places waiting to call people to them that he would never find, since they were not his destiny. He would find what the Force willed him to find and nothing beyond that.

Others' journeys would lead them where they needed to go. He was simply here as a guide on their path to help them find the road they sought.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia tried to be like her father, only better. It was her real focus in life, but she had to admit that her father was doing a lot of good now. It took him a while, but he was putting aside the war effort to help train. She felt that it wasn’t the best decision, but it was better than disappearing again. What she really felt he should do was be out there, like her, running strike and fade missions, helping move supplies, but he was a Master, with two children on the way, and he could help instruct the new generation of Jedi. People would seek him out, much like she sought out Tiland this day.

The tone and way he spoke definitely put her at ease right away. Smiling at the elder Master, she nodded. “Of course, Tiland. Some Jedi though, you know how they can be.” She had a grin that was very reminiscent of her father, but the amount of times she heard that? Well, it started to get old. Watching as he slid the tea towards her, she leaned forward, adjusting her cloak and brushing her long hair over her shoulder.

“I’m learning more about who I am, and what I’m good at, and how I can help people. I am looking for guidance and lessons. I’ve been working with the Wardens, but as my Force powers are growing, I believe I need a new approach to martial combat.” She took a sip of the tea.

“I was hopeful you could instruct me in the ways of the Light Hand?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland nodded, a wry look his face as Kaia spoke. "Oh, I do indeed. Known some real sticklers back in the day. Not my favorite Jedi, by any means. Nor were they among the best Jedi, save their insistence on orthodoxy and protocol." He raised the cup of tea in a toast. "To the Outer Rim and Jedi who are less concerned with the procedures and more with doing good."

He paused to consider the words. "Finding yourself, who you are, what you're good at, and what the Force has in store for you. The great journeys and questions for us all. And for those, you are the only capable of finding the answers. But for the Light Hand, that I can teach you."

Tiland leaned forward against the table and wrapped both his hands around the mug of tea. "The question is- what do you know about the Way of the Light Hand?"

There were rumors about it. Stories. Legends. Myths, even. Some were true, some were not. Most had roots in the truth, albeit exaggerated. He had met potential students who wished to learn it because what they wanted was the power to be unstoppable fighting machines. Others sought it because they felt it would fix their problems or make them into Jedi. It could do many things, but that wasn't always it.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

She watched the Master and smiled at him. Kaia was always raised in a more lax school of thought. Her father barely claimed the title of Jedi Master when it was bestowed upon him, and preferred going by Coren, or just Captain… as he was a ship captain. She herself was just always Captain Kaia, or normally, just Kaia. It made it easier to speak to Tiland if he was less high strung about things. She would obviously put her best foot forward, she was a Starchaser, and had to prove herself worthy of that name. Grinning, she lifted her own cup. “To the Rim and Jedi.” A smile widening on her face as she took a sip.

“I’ve been a wandering Jedi since I was 18, when I was instructed to leave the roost, as it were. An Odyssey, is what they call it. Since the families were always wanderers, its better to find ourselves in the galaxy another way, we trying to make it and find where our destiny lies.” Nodding, She wanted to know more of the Light Hand. “I know if it in passing, a martial art that uses the Force to boost what we can do. More so than Teras Kasi?” She knew of that one more, but not as a full practitioner.

“But I feel that anything I say may not be exactly what the Light Hand is.” She nodded slowly as she sipped her tea.

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

"Hmm," Tiland said, listening, and nodding as she spoke. "Wise to take that time. More Jedi need those experiences, I think. It would do a great deal to help them live outside the temple." One hand cradled his tea while the other stroked his beard as she explained what she knew of the Light Hand. A small smile tugged and flickered across his face. He let out a long breath and raised the tea closer so he could examine it.

"There is a martial arts style connected to the Light Hand. But that is a small portion of the Way of the Light Hand," he spoke slowly, considerably, before gesturing at the tea. "Perhaps this is the best demonstration. What is the difference between the water and the tea?"

He raised an eyebrow as he sat down the tea cup again and wrapped both hands around it. "Ponder that question as much as you like and let me know if you ever have an answer. But the tea and the Light Hand are much the same. It is... a philosophy of life and the Force. A way of looking at being a Jedi when there's no temple, no council, no government support. Often not even any lightsabers. Simply a Jedi and a desire to do good."

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

“That was what my… aunt and uncle had said?” They weren’t blood relatives but did help raise her while her father was in carbonite, Corellian as well, so that helped. But they kept her aboard the ship, while her brother was able to venture beyond. But as she continued, she entered that territory which she wasn’t keen on, admitting her shortcomings in knowledge. But if he wanted to talk about starships and travel lanes? He’d be in for an earful. She was watching him, and that actually didn’t make her feel too uncomfortable. How old was Tiland anyway? He was obviously going to know more than the early 20 something Mirialan.

A puzzle, that was sort of what she suspected, based on all she knew from the rumors of Tiland. Tea and water? “Well, water is used to make tea, but tea is an additive from the leaves, so… tea enhances water?” She was grasping here, she knew the thought she wanted to make, that tea and water could exist without one another, but they created something new when leaves were steeped.

As he continued, she was nodding. “It’s a way to be Jedi, a flavor?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland shrugged. "Maybe tea enhances water. But it cannot exist without water. As I said, I don't have an answer for that." He squinted more closely at the cup of tea. "And I've never known a chemist capable of extracting tea from water. But that is not the point. And yes, it is a way of being a Jedi, or any other tradition that adheres to the Light."

This was where the explanations became complicated. Everyone knew what Jedi were. They were peacekeepers and diplomats with laser swords and space magic. But the Light Hand was something else, something outside of that traditional norm.

"A flavor of Jedi, yes. A sect, some call us. A few even added the word splinter or heterodox but I pay them no mind." He set the cup down and ran his fingers through his hair. "In the Way of the Light, there are three aspects. The first is our interaction with the Force. The second is our ethics. The third is the martial arts, as a way of serving the first two by developing self-discipline and control over our own selves."

The old Anzati poured another cup of tea. "For us, the tea and the water are our relationship with the Force. Two things, yet immersed so deeply that they are inseparable. The training of the Light Hand emphasizes existing in a constant deep state of meditation. Alchakas, if you're familiar with them, but they never end, and by existing so deeply within the flow of the Force, it moves us every day in every situation. We take no orders from councils or missions from governments. Like a sailing ship, we go where the Force guides us."

He tapped a knuckle on the table. "But that is incredibly difficult to develop, hence the martial arts as a way to develop awareness and get used to existing in a permanent meditative state. It is the secret to the skill."

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Finding her words was always a challenge for the Knight. She didn’t always have someone to talk to when she was out being a Warden. But lately she was coming to the galaxy and to planets more and more. The way Tiland was putting the thoughts into words, that was the way she was trying to make it work. Tea was only a leaf without water, it wasn’t realized until it was steeped properly. And the process changes both forever. Not all water, but the water in the cup at least. “I remember my father saying there are many ways to be on the Light Side. Especially when I brought up my work as a Warden.” Her father was one as well, but when the New Jedi Order was founded years back the Grand Marshal Omai Rhen had allowed other groups of light siders to support the Alliance along side their Jedi cousins.

This was all making sense, what Tiland was saying. There were a number of sects out there, as it were, and she;d met some, but they didn’t click with her. From what she heard of Tiland and the Light Hand, this may be one she could find herself in. She wanted to be a better Jedi than her father was, and for her, that meant starting small, helping a smuggler here and there, restarting a ship, or assisting stranded beings on getting to their destination.

Three aspects, she was sipping her tea as she paid attention, so more listening than sipping, but she didn’t think Tiland the type to judge. As her cup was refreshed though, she nodded. “Are we the cup then, and the tea is the Force as we use it?” She tipped her head to the side, her long black hair falling from her shoulder as she shook her head no regarding Alchakas. She may be the daughter of a Jedi Master, but she wasn’t the most book learned of the Jedi.

“The martial arts acts as a focus?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland sipped his own tea as Kaia contemplated what he had said. When she asked which was the Force and which was them, Tiland could only shrug. "For that I have no answer. Are vessels filled with the Force? Or are entering into the Force and being shaped by it? I can't say. Could be either."

The fact she didn't know Alchakas didn't surprise him. It was a more esoteric skill pursued often by only more advanced Jedi knights and Masters. That was the purpose of them, in fact. It was meant to be very difficult and complicated and push the practitioner to the edges of their limits. And the question on the martial arts was a good place to combine them.

"Alchakas date back more millennia than I can count, to the days of the original Je'daii, but has been passed down to the Jedi. Are you familiar with the concept of moving meditation? Alchakas is a much more difficult, challenging form, with movements and repetitions dictated by the practitioner to push them to their absolute physical limit. And martial arts is a way of focusing on with moving meditation."

He clasped his hands together and interlaced his fingers, leaning forward. "Anyone can know our fighting techniques. Most fighters know them in part. What I did was combine the various styles, picking the most effective techniques to build the foundation. But what distinguishes the Way of the Light Hand is how we combine them and utilize them in conjunction with a meditative state that allows for a much better flow state and movement between them, as well as the precognition of the Force to better anticipate what will come next."

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

She thought she knew a lot about the Force, but the way Tiland approached it, she knew that he had seen a whole side most Starchasers don’t see. She was a spacer, and a Starchaser, and her approach to the Force was unconventional at best, but as she was spending more and more time on a planet, she was starting to get glimpses of just what the Force could do to a quieted mind, to a mind that was receptive to it, to learning its ebbs and flows. She didn’t voice this feeling to Tiland, but she could feel that maybe she could twist and bend what she had seen to suit her needs, to improve up, or modify what someone was doing. It didn’t matter here though. Watching the Master, though, she was waiting for what he had to say.

Reaching into the Force, she was feeling the world around her, so alive. And the Tiland, so… collected. The original Je’daii… maybe she should have reviewed some of the holocrons she had been shuttling around for her father. “Moving meditation, yes, that I’m familiar with.” She bit at her lip as she watched the man, listening but watching, hearing and feeling his meaning. Moving meditation, she’d seen that in some more monk traditions that some could or could not use the Force, it was… interesting.

“So, we use the forms to help bend and direct the flow of the Force?” She watched him, thinking she was starting to understand. “And interpret another’s movements?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

She was beginning to understand. He could feel it. Not just what he was saying, but the nature of the Force on Qi-Ko, and by extension, the rest of the galaxy. It was part of why he liked it here. It gave him clarity of thought, of sensation, of purpose. And it gave him a sense of peace. That was hard to find in the greater galaxy.

"Alchakas are a form of moving meditation, but the goal of a meditation session is to be so present in the physical exertion that there is no thinking involved. It is very difficult, very personal to every practitioner who creates their own forms and exercises." He took another long drink of tea, considering what she said. "In a way. But perhaps more precisely, the opposite. We train so rigorously, so intensely so our bodies memorize the movements, that when the Force flows through us, or prompts us to move, we respond instinctively with the forms that we've trained in."

Tiland was silent for several moments. "Water takes the shape of the container it fills. The martial arts training is to shape our instincts and actions for the Force to fill it. If we must fight, it is instinctive in how we respond. The Force flows through us and we take the shape of the forms that are needed at the moment."

Did that make sense? He wasn't sure. It was the first time he had ever looked at it that way, but it made a decent enough amount of sense. In his head, at least. Hopefully Kaia would get what he was trying to say.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Certain things clicked with Kaia in odd and different ways. Maybe it that she had spent so long away from worlds that teemed with life, that now she was around the very source of the Force, life, which feeds the Force and makes it grow, amplifies it. And when it came to a Jedi, maybe that was exactly what she needed, a way to feel the Force and see how she could bend it and shape it, in new ways. And Qi-Ko was exactly the type of place. Maybe this was more than enough reason to come down from the stars every so often.

Alchakas, that sounded like it was a way to focus on the here and now. Kaia could appreciate that. Being a Warden she had to be present in the here and now, letting her mind, and her meditations only drift so far as the current path she was on, and on her path ahead. She could watch for many lost pilots, but she new better than to try to reach into places that she would not be able to arrive at quickly. Her father seemed to try to watch the full galaxy in his meditations, or at least that was the story he told. But that latter part… That was interesting.

“So we can focus the Force through our motions, and can direct the Force in a specific way, using our body motions as the trigger?” A physical move for a metaphysical result. “Similar to lightsaber forms?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland paused after he finished speaking to let her process the words and come to her own conclusion about the meeting. It was difficult. Many Jedi spoke of using the Force, but for the Circle and the Way, it was about letting the Force use them. A paradigm reversal, especially for the people who lived in the Outer Rim, where being practical wasn't a personality trait. It could be the difference between life and death.

She spoke and he considered. "Yes, I suppose you could say that." He paused for another few seconds and the nodded. "Yes, very much so, actually. Perhaps a demonstration will be of more use."

Tiland finished his tea and stood, leading the way into the main central room of the monastery. Inside, was a wide circular room with training equipment along the walls and a circle painted in the center.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The Force was many things to many people, that was one thing Kaia knew well enough. Watching her knew instructor, she was feeling the way he could use the Force, he greeted it as if it was an extension of himself, but he also had a feel to him that he wouldn’t be completely lost without the Force. Starchasers tended to be the type who would use the Force as often as they could, maybe why it wasn’t just her and her father that disliked the world of Myrkr. Those little lizards.

As for a demonstration, she did nod at this. “Demonstrations always help… Kinesthetic learning and all.” She smiled, it was kind of part of being a Mirialan, at least that was what she blamed it on, that and being Corellian. Was better to be thrown to the wolves than too much time with a book. She watched Tiland step up and followed behind.

Looking around the room she gave a low whistle. She always loved seeing training rooms, she had no idea why.

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

"Of course, kinesthetic learning. Very useful and important," Tiland agreed, draping a robe over a hook on the wall, revealing the simple tunic and trousers beneath. He chuckled as Kaia whistled. "Yes, thank you. This is the heart of the Way of the Light Hand, here at this monastery." He paced the circumference of the circle painted on the stone at the circle of the round building. "When there are any of us here, at least. But in time, I hope that this will be place of home for others."

As for the demonstration, he considered how to best demonstrate. It was the flow and motion between the Force and the body that he was aiming to demonstrate. Tiland stopped in front of one of the muk jongs and pulled several more to create a circle around him, roughly two staff lengths in diameter. At the end, he tied a sash around his eyes.

The room was dark now, but he could sense Kaia's presence and the lingering life in the muk jongs. A deep breath and he let the Force guide him.

He moved, letting his instincts guide him through the training routine. It was like a kata, but not. It was organic, free-flowing, with the end of one movement being the beginning of the next. His hands, arms, elbows, knees, and feet hammered the training stands, a few blows to one and then turning around to strike on the far side, and moving in concentric, varying patterns around the circle as the impact strikes echoed across the room.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia had a few skills she was good at, and nearly all of them took some form of physical practice. She was a Jedi, sure, but she was a Warden first and foremost, and that meant hand to hand combat, mostly. Firing a blaster in a spaceship could be dangerous, and even more, was using a lightsaber. Sure, if you were on the interior of a ship it was one thing, but with the wrong people, it was just better to get close and drop them. Maybe why her own skills seemed to manifest, for the most part, in modifying mass and directional gravity. Sure, she realized when she saw a Force power being used, she was able to replicate it, and put her own spin on it, but…

Right, kinesthetics, piloting, combat, music… it all helped. Following suit of the Master, she removed the cloak she had, wearing a black tunic paired with tighter combat leggings. The young woman was very slim, frail in appearance, but that kept a fair bit of wiry strength. She nodded as Tiland explained. “I’ve been sent between so many temples, but home is still out there.” She looked up, and it was clear she was looking to the stars. “Its nice to have a place to set down at from time to time. There was the Starchaser Estate, on Corellia, and the Sentinel Temple on Sullust, and she could always crash on Yula Perl ’s couch, even if the Zeltron didn’t know Kaia sometimes did that…

But this was different!

She kept an eye on him, before wondering if it was for her to be blindfolded already. She was in new territory, so she was not going to begin to predict that.

“Shall I blindfold as well?”

Tiland Kortun

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Kaia Starchaser

Tiland stopped his warm-up and felt the ebb and flow of his breath. Still normal, without escalation or hurry. Good. He had maintained the breath control perfectly during the exercise. He removed the sash from around his eyes and shook his head at the question. "No, not yet. That was my warm-up. Do yours as well, as you normally do, and I will watch to better understand your level of skill."

The thought of the place being a place called home for others brought a bit of a smile. "Well, this place gets lonely when empty, since I am often gone for long periods of time. You are always welcome back. I ensure that the monastery is well-stocked before my departure with teas and food supplies, and the surrounding buildings are all suitable for housing. Pick one and write your name on a sign, and it'll be reserved for you."

He stepped clear of the circles of the muk-jong and rolled his shoulders, ensuring that the muscles had the chance for a proper cool-down and recovery. Not enough to stiffen up as he would need them for the sparring bout after the ensuing warm-up. The only way to teach was by doing and that meant sparring with the advanced students. Less experienced students were easier, of course, as they performed kata drills and conditioning exercises mostly. He practiced the katas with them, but not the conditioning. He already practiced conditioning with repetitive strikes on a durasteel equivalent of the muk-jongs. Full speed, full impact. If pressed to use the Force to augment his strength and durability, he'd dent and crack the metal, shearing off the thinner extensions if not careful.