Astra de Aurora's Jedi Training

[Astra de Aurora]

When Astra entered the room for her Jedi training, the first thing she noticed was the light streaming in through the open window and onto the floor. The light was dazzling, mesmerizing. She stepped into in and squinted in the brightness before looking around at the rest of the surroundings. It was a simple enough room, full of training equipment. Her master hadn't arrived here yet, but hopefully he would soon enough.

In the month since she had finally found the Jedi and been accepted to be trained among them, she had learned much. Her small knowledge about what the Force was had increased, and she knew a little more about the actual Jedi faction as well. They carried lightsabers and lived simple lives with no attachment to anything... Astra didn't know how one could live without coveting anything, but she would learn. She would become the best Jedi she could in order to bring some peace to the galaxy.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

The old man entered the room, clothed in the brown robes of his order, a force sword at his hip hidden under his robes and a long staff in hand. His beared reached down passed his waist and his seemingly ancient eyes stared at his young new pupil.

"I hope you won't mind affording an old man some leway on time. I like to enjoy myself and sometimes that means moving a bit slower in my pass through the garden." He said with a bright smile on his face. "My Name is Saer Khall. It's a pleasure to meet you Astra."

 

[Astra de Aurora]

Astra's head was buzzing with excitement, here she was at last, learning how to become a Jedi Knight! It would be a rewarding job, not to mention a consistent one... She bowed to her teacher; a gesture she had seen many other Padawan Learners perform to their tutors. What was the name she must call him as his student? Ah yes, it was...

"Master. I have only just arrived and it is no trouble to wait a few moments for you. Might I ask what you have in mind for our training today?" Astra queried, her hazel eyes focusing on her elderly teacher.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Of course you may ask." Came the old mans voice he waited a moment and sat down kneeling in a medatative position and closed his eyes. One might wonder if one who appeared so old was actually growing senile at his responce because he gave no answer as to what they were doing. His staff layed down diagnally infront of him he set out his vision into the force and waited to see how his padawan would react.

 

[Astra de Aurora]

"Very well, then. What did you have in mind for training, Master?" Astra asked again, smiling slightly.

She crossed over to where he kneeled and sat cross-legged across from him at a respectable distance. She wasn't annoyed easily by his response; she was used to receiving them when she worked her odd jobs to get by. Upon sitting down, Astra felt something around her, and when she closed her eyes like Saer, the feeling intensified.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"I had in mind to teach." He said simply. "You feel it too then? Very good." A smile crossed the old mans face and he spoke softly. "Your next question I would assume would be what of course. Young people always have questions, they should simply listen more, but not to me. To the force, yes..."

He then spoke the code of the jedi. "Emotion, yet peace Ignorance, yet knowledge
Passion, yet serenity Chaos, yet harmony Death, yet the force." He paused allowing the words to sink in. "Mmm yes, that is what I will teach. This code is not to be known, but to be lived. It is the emodiment of who we are. Can you tell me what they mean?"

 

[Astra de Aurora]

Astra remained silent, taking in the feeling of this "Force". She finally opened her eyes to answer when she thought she understood what the code meant.

"I know that the Jedi aren't supposed to have too much attachment to worldly things. They aren't allowed to love or live in unnecessary luxury. Does this code mean to keep all things to balance to better harmonize the universe and keep things in peace?

"For example, there needs to emotion for peace to exist, ignorance for knowledge to be pursued, and so on. There needs to be black and white, and evil for good to endure. A Jedi needs to live the code by doing their best to restore balance and peace wherever they go... That's what I think it means at least."

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Hmmm very adept of you. Yes it means something like that. But let me ask you if we are not supposed to love or enjoy luxury how can we have balance while excluding something?" He said curiously.

 

[Astra de Aurora]

"Perhaps we are more supposed to love and have compassion for all rather than just lust after one person and throw all caution for the well-being of others out the window. As for luxury, as Jedi, we aren't exactly the richest folk, nor are we the poorest. I'd say we have a pretty good balance of how we live. We have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, and clothes to wear. Others simply don't have anything at all and have to get by. We have enough to live in some comfort, yet we don't live extravagantly."

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Very good indeed." He said. "But there is a difference between knowing the code and living it." He then stood. "Over there is a training lightsaber, I'm curious to see how you'll fair." He said pointing to a table on which two long metalic objects stood. "Please pick one up, or both if your more comfortable, then attack me as best you can." Came the old mans voice. He was curious if she would take his apparent age into account and try and go easy on him.

 

[Astra de Aurora]

Trying to hide the excitement in her walk, she stepped forwards to the table and nervously picked up one of the objects. She ran her fingers over it momentarily before finding the switch that turned it on. Astra flicked the switch and twitched as the blue beam of light suddenly shot out of the hilt.

I have never been so close to one of these things before... So this is what a lightsaber is. It feels... nice, she thought to herself, smiling again.

She twirled and slashed the weapon around her a few times to experiment. The lightsaber was lighter than any vibroblade she had ever wielded before, yet she sensed that she would adapt to it quickly anyways, despite the strangeness. Nervously, she turned to face her Master, after all she had never attacked someone she had been friendly with before. There was a first for everything at least.

Astra jumped forwards towards Saer and slashed down at his left shoulder, hoping he would react in time.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

He simply turned out of the way. "Mmm more complex, be fast be fluid. Feel the force around you, don't wave it around like a stick, it's far more majestic than that. Make it an extension of yourself. More importantly...be aware of your surroundings." He brought his staff around and swept at her legs attempting to knock her feet out from under her.

 

[Astra de Aurora]

In an instant, she closed her eyes and felt the intense feeling around her, but this time, she welcomed it, pulling it close to her. Astra jumped in the air to avoid the staff, higher than she had ever jumped before, somersaulting in midair. She opened her eyes and she landed on both feet, crouching and turning around simultaneously to slash at her teacher's legs with the training lightsaber.

The feeling in the air was still there, but this time it was stronger. She realized that she had been feeling it all her life, but it had always been so faint, and so easily written off as intuition.

So this is the Force...

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

((shit sorry didn't see the reply))

He brought the staff around in a circle simultaneously defending the attack and attacking her left side. He was curious as to how she would react to the sudden change. He then let a blast of the force our just enough to off balance her, a real test of her focus.

 

[Astra de Aurora]

His circle attack didn't surprise her much, after all, she had seen many vibroblade fights outside of cantinas and that maneuver had been practiced dozens of times. She parried his staff easily with her lightsaber, but the sudden - what was it, a gust of air? - off balanced her and she fell off her feet, landing on her back roughly. She shook the confusion off her head and jumped back on her feet, settling into a defense stance.

"What was that?"

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

The old man smilled, a hard thing to do through his beared. "That my dear, was the force." He reached out a hand to help her up. "What, you thought it was only something that augmented your reflexes? That doesn't seem like something that amazing, after all steroids and cybernetic implants can do that. No no the force is much more than that, and much more than pushes or pulls." He paused, reflecting for a moment.

"Think of the force as water, and us swiming in it my dear. If you learn to control the water you can manipulate things. Pull them, push them, far, far more than that though. You can change peoples minds, you can even levitate off the air. Some through darker thoughts twist it, they make it into something grotesque. Crushing peoples organs from the outside in with it, or breaking a persons will. Those are the ones who walk on the dark side my dear, be ever mindful of it because there you can risk falling, and once you fall it is a slippery sloap indeed to climb back up."

 

[Astra de Aurora]

(Sorry, life caught up with me for a sec, I have finals so I may be slow in replying again...)

"So what exactly isn't possible with the Force? What are Jedi limited to?"

It was a lot to think about. As a Jedi-in-Training, was it possible for her to be able to do any of these things in life?

"Before I became a Padawan, I would take on these odd jobs... A couple of times I acted as a kind of exterminator and I'd have to kill these giant rats. I was able to find them most times just by sensing they were there, not by hearing or anything... Was this the Force?" she asked hesitantly.