Becoming a Mystic

[The Gloaming]

Neptune sat outside, surrounded by quiet nature in perhaps the most serene place this planet held. He tried patiently to quiet his mind, something he had done often. Today was different though. Today, he had a Master.

Technically a Knight, but this Knight would guide him in the ways of the Force, so he would treat her as his Master. Neptune had already subdued every form of excitement that boiled up from time to time, but now it was threatening to show on his face, and creep out with a smile.

She'd better hurry then, I don't want to go insane out of excitement and wear myself out. Nineteen years in the Jedi Temple, and Neptune had never felt this way.

 

[GABA]

It was easy for Ebberla to find her new student, she could feel how excited he was nearly several meters away. She walked outside, down some steps, and into an open court outside.

The Knight raised her hand to inform his sitting was all right and he didn't need to stand. She bowed her head to him, introducing herself, "You probably most likely know who I am, for proper introduction of namesake, I'm Ebberla Daw, I will be training you Neptune." she said taking a seat across from him. "Want to tell me about yourself?" she asked.

 

[The Gloaming]

"Well, as you may be able to tell, my vocal chords don't work, and I only recently learned to use telepathy, so conversation is somewhat new to me. I've spent most of my time studying history and philosophy. I'm sorry, I'm not much of a combatant. I don't joke around often, but I try to keep a positive attitude. Serving the people is my mission, plain and simple."

Neptune kept a straight face, all his excitement melted to general comfort. Ebberla already seemed to be easy to get along with, it was something he could sense. He stifled a half smile.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla smiled, listening to him speak in her head, "I doubt conversation is new to you, you most likely watched others talk, listen to those talk to you, and I'm almost positive you have had something to say back, though you may have had limitations." she stood up and beckoned her hand for him to stand also. She took a few steps back, "You'll make life hard if you doubt yourself."

"Shall we jump right into things..." she pulled out a small ball bearing from her bag, holding it in between her thumb and forefinger, "I understand you've been here at the temple for a majority of your life, lets do a review, Force pull...take this ball bearing away from me."

 

[The Gloaming]

Neptune reflected on those words as he stood.

The ball between her fingers, the one Neptune had to take. He wasn't necessarily doubting himself now, he just hadn't trained much in Telekinesis. He tried anyways, stretching out with his feelings until he felt the small metal sphere, and he clutched it. Then he pulled it into his hand, felt the cold durasteel on his palm, and closed his fingers around it.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla observed her student, she felt the slight tug of his Force pull from her fingers as she released the ball bearing and allowed Neptune to pull the object to him. She nodded in approval, "Okay, now give it back to me." she told him holding out her hand.

 

[The Gloaming]

Neptune held out his hand, palm up, and channeled the Force through his hand. The ball bearing lifted slowly and hovered. Then, Neptune began to push the small sphere forward, and brought it to rest in Ebberlas hand. This was getting easier every time he tried.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla watched the ball bearing gently guide back to her and rest in the palm of her hand, "Good." she replied then took a few more out her pouch, she held up three ball bearings with telekinesis in front of her and smiled, "Can you move more than one at a time?" she asked.

 

[The Gloaming]

"I've never tried, but I could give it a shot."

Neptune felt the first ball bearing and kept his grasp on it. Then he extended his senses, and grasped the second, remembering to hold onto the first. He extended his grasp even further to the third ball bearing, all the while still holding the first and second. With all three ball bearings under his influence, he began to pull them in toward his hand. They all rested neatly in his palm.

 

[GABA]

"Good, now make them orbit around me." she told him, watching him and feeling his struggles and success in the Force, he was doing not too bad. She stood still relaxing in her own thoughts.

 

[The Gloaming]

Neptune could feel his control growing as the ball bearings ventured out and began to circle Ebberla. They continued to orbit, slowly at first, then faster and faster as they moved up to circle her head, and then down to her waist and feet.

Neptune continued this for a while, and then when he tried to go even faster, his grip loosened slightly. Slightly was just enough for one of the ball bearings to fly out of his grasp and nearly pelt him in the eye. He ducked away just in time, and stopped the others from spinning away as well.

"My apologies, it seems I got ahead of myself." Neptune smiled lightly, clamping down on his embarrassment. He bad no reason to feel that way, so he put it out of his mind.

 

[GABA]

Ebberla felt a equilibrium of a pull and a push around her body, the ball bearings orbiting and continued to move faster and faster up and down around her body. Her senses automatically alerted her of the rogue sphere that shot out of its orbit. She caught the other two in the grip of the Force and brought them to her hand. She easily found the third bearing and she put them away.

"Its fine, we'll have more opportunity to practice later lessons. Lets walk." she said taking some stairs back into the temple.

"How much you know about Force Sense?" she eventually asked.

 

[The Gloaming]

"Of the aspect I do understand, the ability to sense is my favorite. I can almost always feel what's around me. Also, I have visions quite frequently, but I have yet to make sense of most of them. Beyond those talents though, I am not encredibly skillful. I understand it's a fundamental ability."

Neptune communicated in a voice he had always imagined was his. Slow, somber, calculating, and bold. He always relished talking about the Force, it was his favorite subject.

 

[GABA]

"I am quite uncertain of what to make with with Force Visions also." she explained to the padawan, "We'll investigate further about them later." Ebberla lead him into a quiet circular room.

"This place, no one can disturb us. It is completely sound proof. I enjoy coming here when I can't focus, or when I just can't escape my synesthesia." she walked inside, dim lights illuminated the room, and she allowed the door to slide shut behind them, "It will allow us also to focus on your mind without disturbances. Let's sit." she told him taking a seat on the floor.

As soon as Neptune sat, she begun, "Your telepathy is a very talented gift, it is a definite rarity amongst individuals. However, it will leave your mind open and exposed to mind tricks and the such. So we are going to work on putting up barriers in your mind to protect it from invasion and to isolate your thoughts so they cannot be interrupted. However, I trust you to go into my head, do you trust me to go into yours?" she asked very seriously.

 

[The Gloaming]

Neptune thought to himself before answering.

"Yes, I trust you." He smiled lightly, and considered all the good that would come of training. He was finally on the path to knowledge.

 

[GABA]

"Very well." she replied and then the Knight was quiet. She felt her thoughts seep into her padawan's head. To make things a little easier, she created the illusion of a room inside his head with her and him facing standing a facing together.

"The illusion makes understanding a bit easier. Your mind needs to have barriers I don't want to see stray thoughts floating." she said pointing to misty images above them, "Your dearest thoughts and desires with the strongest of barriers. Strong enough so if needed you can protect yourself if you need to retreat into your own thoughts. Everything currently in your unconscious needs to be triggered only by you and you alone. Memories are controlled by key triggers, these key triggers need to be controlled by you to how much you want to release when memories are triggered." she paused, "Think of it as a bank, your thoughts are the contents being protected by the bank and the only way to access those thoughts if you had the correct account code or vault number in order to retrieve them. And the wrong code sets off alarms."

Ebberla explained to the best of her ability without revealing how she kept her own thoughts secret from everyone else. She pulled out of his head, now back inside the meditation chamber. "How you secure thoughts and memories is up to you, and I do not want to know how you did it, I just don't want to be able to penetrate. I leave you to your task, seek me when you are completed." Ebberla rose from her spot and left the chamber to dily-daly in her own tasks until Neptune was done.

 

[The Gloaming]

The padawan sat still, and dove deep into his mind. Thoughts surrounded a conscious depiction of himself, unguarded, unsafe. He locked those memories away, all fear and desire, until his mind was sorted into two collective tiers. The first tier contained all thoughts conscious and innocent. Trivial knowledge and a few memories of his days in the order.

The second tier held everything that could be used as a weapon, all darkness and insecurity. He sealed the second tier completely, and would not be able to release those thoughts until he focused all conscious effort on loving others. Compassion was the key.

Neptune rose, feeling more in touch with himself, and wandered out of the room. He could sense Ebberlas presence nearby, and began to follow. Soon he found her, engaged in thought in what appeared to be an office of sorts.

"I think I've done it, master."

 

[GABA]

Ebberla felt her padawan's presence as soon as he was in the same hall as her. She sat back in her seat as he made it known he was there and finished. Ebberla put down her data pad without a word a dived into his mind. Nothing. No loose thoughts, no open ends or mangy filters. It was quite solid. She pulled out of his head, "Good, now you can never think you are done, you must be diligent in keeping up with your barriers making sure you always fix any weakness." she rose from her seat and left the room with Neptune, "Your telepathy is great for also picking up other beings thoughts too, however to pry into another's thoughts can be dangerous, as well as raise an ethics issue in general. The best way is to focus on empathy. Every being is capable of reading one's emotions, however with the Force we can enhance and even influence that reading." Ebberla lead her Neptune outside where there were several other individuals minding by their own business. "Questions yet?" she asked.

 

[The Gloaming]

"No. I think I underst-" Neptune picked up a faint scent of jealousy. It was almost as if he could see it emanating from a fellow padawan, conversing with two others. It was incredibly light, and he had a hard time getting a fix on it. But it was there. It seemed Neptune was being battered by new concepts by the will of the Force. Things he hadn't experienced before were rushing in.

Neptune felt a brief moment of pride, but dispatched it quickly. He realized that his master probably noticed it, and he began to feel emberassed. But he clamped down on that too, and just locked both of those sensations away, remembering what he was to be diligent about.

"I think I understand somewhat, but it's faint. How do I control it?"

 

[GABA]

Ebberla looked at her padawan, she could tell he was understanding, before he finished his statement, she also felt a hint of pride followed by embarrassment. She smiled, and shook her head, "No, never control, control leads down a shady path, control is addicting." she said sternly, her attention turned to some padawans boasting about themselves, "You can influence them, emotions, soothe them, or arouse them, not to control them. I'm positive you felt that jealous padawan to our left, why don't you rouse them up some more." she instructed.