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Amandine & Tesara 9/6/21
Tesara is deep in conversation with a Jedi knight named Amandine Wang when the message reaches her from Durro. She sends back a quick reply that she will come as soon as her conversation with this Jedi knight is finished. ((OOC please note her tone is calm and pleasant, not upset or irritated)))
She smiles at Amandine.
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
"Its okay," she smiled and nodded. "And you can call me Aman," the deep tan skinned human female said softly.
"To answer your question, the Will of the Force isn't like asking your friend, hey what should I eat today. Or is this action wrong or right," she explained.
"More so, we open ourself up and instead of demanding answers we listen to the whispers in the Force," she explained.
She placed a finger on her lip to think, "take me"she started moving her hand back down to her lap. "I was in my dorm room, in deep meditation. My mind trying to bind the Force to my will. I wanted it to show me rather or not a," she blushed slightly, "boy liked me."
"After a while of being frustrated, I calmed down and just let my mind wonder. I saw this place, and Master Palpatine. It was then I knew in my heart here was where I belonged."
"It took me over a year to get here from the Deep Core, and when I did, I was one of the first to arrive," she said softly. "I couldn't have asked the Force to show me this place because I had knew seen it before. I couldn't have asked if this was where I was meant to be, because at the time it didn't exist. I had to stop fighting the current of the Force and just let it guide me."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara was quiet for a moment mulling this over before speaking. “Have you ever been in a situation though, where you needed to know the will of the force in a more…” she paused, frowning, “Urgent fashion?”
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She smiled, "always," she said with a hint of laughter. "Master Palpatine says, that the Force isn't like Quickie Food. That it whispers to us."
She holds out two hands, "which door to take, what choice is right or wrong," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "It just doesn't work like that. We have free choice and the Force should be used to supplement our common sense," she explained.
"Here we learn to Mind Walk," she said softly. "We can see the current of the Force before us. And understand why things happen the way they do. But not all things are shown to us."
"The boat travels on the river, and we know the river takes a bend," she said softy. "Where along the river's bend does the boat stop at, well that is up to us."
She blinked as she looked at Tesara, "does that make sense?"
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Once again, Tesara pondered this information before replying. “My mother spoke of free will. And she also spoke of the whispers of the spirits so I am familiar with this. When there is an urgent need for a decision to be made, and the force is unclear or vague, then common sense and prayer that the right decision will be made is necessary. Then meditate and hope that you did not choose wrong and go against the will of the force.” She sighs a little. “I have not heard of this Mind Walk. What is it?”
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She nodded, "first you must learn that should you make the wrong decision, you don't dwell on it. Mistakes are normal, if you try to be prefect your will fail all the time. If you try to be who you are, you will succeed all the time."
She scratched the back of her head, "yeah okay, Master Palpatine tells me that all the time. Sometimes I get it, others I don't."
"I guess the bottom line is," she said trying to recover. "If you follow the current of the Force, even if you make a mistake its okay. Try to correct it if you can, then or if not move on and don't punish yourself."
"So, I just started to learn how to Mind Walk. Have you heard of the Underverse?"
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara looks surprised. “ yes I have. I don’t know very much about it but from what I have been told and what I have experienced, it is not a good place.”
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She nodded, "its not. There is this fabric between here and the afterlife. The World of Shadows and Underverse are just two places within this fabric."
She nodded, "my class is just learning to walk in the World of Shadows."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
She could feel a thrill of excitement, but took a deep breath to recenter herself. “What is the difference between the two? What is the purpose of walking in the world of shadows?”
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman, "oh my, let me make sure I get this right. The Underverse is a place populated by beings who feed upon the living. The World of Shadows is a place where no beings and exist....um...or is it they don't exist there."
She laughed, "well I know the Underverse is dangerous and the World of Shadows is too but for other reasons."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara never really understood why she felt so invigorated and excited at the prospect of new information, but this was more than she could contain. The excitement in her voice was evident, the look on her face was bright and hopeful. “Oh please tell me more, I’ve never heard of it! I’ve only ever heard of the Underverse!”
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman laughed, "well same here until last month." She leaned back against the tree she was sitting against.
"So the World of Shadows is a very misty place. Its like the real world but like its ghostly side. Sometimes you can see things there that you can't see in the real world."
She thought a bit, "other times you can see things that happened long ago."
Her eyes grew wide, "I saw my own death there in the current of the Force."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara inhaled sharply. "But Aman...you know that the future is subjective. What you saw there could come to pass as you saw it or not. Every choice you make may lead to another path with a different end. We all die and return to the Force, but I wouldn't want to know the circumstances or date of my death. I would unconsciously work to change it and in so doing could just as easily make it happen. If they are things that have already come to pass, then there is no changing them and one can gather information to help in the present. Can...." She hesitated, then pushed ahead. "Can you see things in other dimensions, other timelines, other universes in this World of Shadows?
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She laughed, "we celebrated our deaths as we celebrate our lives."
Then she shook her head, "the current of the Force doesn't change. Sure you can choose to get off at your leisure," she paused a moment then added, "in our boat on a river example."
"We can choose to ignore the path the current takes, but that doesn't change what it is doing," she countered.
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara closed her eyes for a moment, her mother's face swimming in the space behind her eyelids. Homesickness filled her for a moment, but she pulled herself back from it and opened her eyes. "That makes sense. I grew up in a village on a river. It was the central lifeblood of everything we did. So your example is perfect. The river continues on, no matter what happens or what we choose. But we listened when it spoke to us. We listened to the spirits and what they whispered. Things have become so much more complicated now than they were then." She sighs quietly, then once again looks at Aman. "Can you teach me how to do this?"
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She shook her head, "I am sorry i am only a month in to my training. It is really dangerous and I don't think I know enough to teach you the right way."
She held up a hand, "but I am sure Master Palpatine will if you ask him."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara chuckles a little. "I'm sorry, I get easily carried away at the idea of new information." She smiled. "I will ask him, yes. Thank you so much for talking to me. This place is..." She smiles a little wistfully as it does remind her of home. "It's lovely and calm."
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman nodded, "I know right. It is just....um, perfect," she said as she looks around in wonderment.
"I just don't get why more don't stay," she said with sadness in her voice.
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara looked at the sky, the warmth of the sun on her skin and the sound of children. "I would like to stay here. But I have also made promises to people that I care about. I swore an oath to protect someone that I had to leave behind on this mission. And there are other things....unfinished things that I need to attend to." She turned back to Aman. "And someone handsome and funny and a little bit naughty waiting for me if we could ever get over ourselves." She smiles a little sadly. "What of this boy you spoke of?" She asked her.
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She laughed, "following the Will of the Force is hard. The boy I spoke of, married someone else. But I am not heartbroken over it. This is where I was meant to be. And I am grateful for what I have learned here."
She looked around, "I couldn't imagine not being here now."
She turned her eyes back to Tesara, "that is the weight that is lifted when we listen to the whispers and follow the current of the Force."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara closed her eyes, focusing in on four of her senses. Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch. She had found that sight often tricked the mind into seeing what it wanted to see. Instead she listened to all the others. She could sense the Force here, feel the current around her.
What is your will? She asked within her mind.
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Around Tesara she can feel the force more clearly than anywhere else. It wasn't stronger or more intense, it was just more clear. Amandine's analogy of a river fit perfectly. It was the nature of the waters that had changed here. They were calm and clear for her to feel. Her eyes moved around the area and fell upon Master Palatine. Her mind raced as she tried to process the sensations she was feeling in the Force. She couldn't understand how he was doing it, but he was the focal point of this calmness. It clicked where she had felt this before. When she had imbued to her kyber crystal. She couldn't help but be left with the question, was his followers imbued to him like he was their byber crystal?
@Tesara Anerin
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman, smiled as she caught Tesara's eyes. "I know, it is what makes this place so much...more..." she said softly. Her head slipped slightly to the side as her eyes found Master Palpatine standing with the same group of followers who Durro had put his little demonstration on for. "I remember when I first arrived here. I didn't have a credit to my name when I made planet fall. So I had to beg for a ride, and in some placed hitchhike. The last two days, I walked here. I was hungry, tired, and well past exhaustion. I remember it was raining when I approached the door and knocked on it." She laughed, I must have looked like a rat ready to be drowned.
"He opened the door and just said he was expecting me," she said softly. "There was a hot meal, drink and dry clothes." She laughed a bit again, "they didn't fit, but they were dry."
Her eyes came back to Tesara, "I realized what he meant by expecting me when others showed up. He knew to expect someone, but never really knew who. Just a general time, and that someone was coming. He could also tell those who would remain and those who wouldn't." She smiled as the happiness was reflected in her eyes, "He knew I was one of those who would remain."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara smiled at her. "That must have been a wonderful feeling, to be greeted so warmly and invited to stay in this beautiful place." She said, looking around. "Does Master Palpatine teach all the lessons himself or does he have others helping him? There is such a wide variety of people and ages here...some must have come here with no true understanding why, and others who knew that what they had been taught before was lacking somehow. You for instance...you came here all the way from the Core. That is a huge journey. What made you leave?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She smiled and nodded, "as I said, for the first time in my life, I heard the soft whispers of the Force guiding me. I didn't know where I was going, just that part of me was missing."
She appeared to look confused for a moment, "It was the strangest of things for me. Each stop, I would reach out to through the Force and I would see something, or have a feeling of somewhere. That would lead me to my next stop. It was like following a crumble trail without being able to see the crumbles before the one you are picking up."
"My family sent a bounty hunter after me," she said laughing. "They actually believed I had been kidnapped. I don't remember the world, but I know it was in the Mid Rim, when the bounty hunter finally caught up with me. It took me five days to convince her to let me go. Luckily, she moved me to my next stop so I didn't loose my trail."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara is clearly amazed. "What a life you've had! So you were training at a Jedi temple in the Core? From what I have seen and heard from the Jedi order of Coruscant...they are...blinded by the light?" She said wryly.
(((OOC she didn't answer about whether or not Palpatine is the only teacher here)))
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She nodded, "Master Palpatine doesn't do all the teaching, but the advanced stuff like Mind Walking, he is the only teacher."
"I was born on Ruan, my father was the Governor and well Chief Operations Officer of Salliche Agricultural on Ruan. When I was six, I was sent to the Academy to become a Jedi. It was all I could think of was being a Jedi. But I never stopped and asked myself, why? Growing up, I had a personally trainer to ensure that my scores were in the top tier." She let out a long sigh, "it was crazy looking back on it all. Eighteen to nineteen hour days were the norm. My trainer had an army of helpers that would drive me to my very limits. It meant everything for me to not just succeed, but beat everyone else. Each perfect performance was like a major victory that my family and all of Salliche celebrated. Oh, my entrance in to the Academy was paid for and sponsored by Salliche Agricultural. They were the ones who hired all my trainers and study leaders."
"The temptation to cheat was always there, but I never did. Many who did, got caught and were expelled from the Order. I could have allowed that shame to be brought to all those who supported me. The worse part of it was the drug testing, the mental evaluations and the talks with the Hunters." She frowned slightly, "my roommate, Reece, snapped under the pressure. My trainer and I founder her in the bathtub."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
For a split second, Tesara was confused. Then the implication of what Aman had said hit her square in the chest. "Oh no...she...she took her own life rather than be subjected to this treatment any longer." She swallowed, that same familiar sensation she felt when she first learned who the hunters were, then later learning what Daz had done to Nova. "That's not a goal to be a Jedi, that's a popularity contest to see who can claw their way to the top! That's abuse! Mental and physical abuse." she shuddered. "No wonder you left." She closed her eyes for a moment, centering herself again. "What happens to those who are expelled from the order for cheating? And what happens to those who...win?"
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman shook her head, "I am sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you. My roommate snapped not because of her desire not to be subjected to the treatment. But because she failed to score in the top five percent of our class."
She appeared thoughtful for a moment, "though there could be truth to your statement." She paused again, "Master Palpatine teaches us not to judge others. Though looking back, it was very demanding and maybe boarding on abuse. But you can't imagine the feeling of winning. I remember when I made rank for Padawan. There was this huge parade for me back home on Ruan. The celebration lasted for two days. A global holiday was called in my honor. People were dancing in the streets." There was a tear in her eye as she spoke. "It was like, my success was their success. You can't imagine the feeling ten year old me had at that time."
"When I left, I was still a Padawan. Still being trained. Still being honored as a Global hero. Hence the bounty hunter. Two weeks after I left the bounty hunter in the Mid Rim, I got news my father was fired from his post and my family were moved from their home." There was sadness in her voice, "I was devastated," she said as another tear joined the first one. "But this was what I was meant to do. This is where the Force wanted me and I was more determined than ever to see this journey through to its end."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara thought what she had already heard was bad, but this was worse. "They fired your father and kicked your family out of their home because you left the academy?" Tesara could feel a lump in her throat. "Oh, Aman...I'm so very sorry this happened to you." The urge to hug the girl was overwhelming but she had learned a long time ago never to assume someone wanted to be embraced. Instead she reached out her hand and placed it on Aman's shoulder. "I know you are where you are supposed to be. The Force guided you here and this is your future, your destiny. You are so kind and sweet to sit here and answer all of my questions. If I push too much, just tell me. I feel like we could sit here all day like this." She smiled sadly, squeezing the girl's shoulder. "What you left behind left a terrible scar, but here it's being tended and cared for. The Force is so strong and lovely here. It's...right."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
"That is the thing Tesara," she said softly. "Those things are behind me. What happened no longer holds any bounds over me. My family, my homeworld, none of it. I am free within the Force," she explained.
She smiled softly, "I am grateful for your empathy, but it is not required as I have no scars. The memories of back then are just that, memories," she explained. "And yes, the Force here is right. It is calm, and focused."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara let go and sat back on her heels, looking at Aman. There was a tiny sensation of alarm inside her chest, a wondering if she would ever feel that way. To look back on her past and have no emotions, just memories? Somehow, that felt wrong. But that was not something she would share with Aman. She glanced at the younglings and back at Aman. I am still considered a padawan because I did not attend any academy therefore cannot rise to the rank of knight. My master is Durro Thel-Tanis - he met with Master Palpatine last night. I do not know if he will be leaving here soon or not. I am torn, myself."
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman smiled and shook her head, "I fear I have taken a misstep with you." She motioned for Tesara's hand, "What I am saying isn't that I don't feel or that I am somehow less human. I have the emotions within me. I even feel them." She reached up with Tesara's hand in hers and let Tesara touch the tears that still hung to her tanned face. "See, the emotions are there. I just choose not to let them control me or my actions," she said, trying to explain. "Master Palpatine makes it sound so easy when he says it. It is actually very hard to explain." Her eyes shifted to the side and downward, "its actually even harder to achieve."
"You said you have made promises to people you care about and given oaths to protect," she tried to remember what Tesara had said prior. "That is why you can't stay. These actions you speak of are all emotionally driven. You care about people and that is good. But what if the current of the Force directs you here? Can you separate yourself from these attachments to follow it?"
She let Tesara's hand go, "I no longer have the need to lie anymore. So there is no reason for me to lie to you now. When I left the Temple, I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. So many people were counting on me. There was so much at stake. But I knew in my heart, that this was the path I had to take. I don't know how I knew, or why it had happened. I just know that when I stopped asking the Force to do my bidding, I started to feel and know the path I was meant to be on."
She frowned again, "I knew that I was leaving everything behind, but I had to follow the Will of the Force. And here I am, this is where it brought me. And I now know why I was led here."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara relaxed visibly at Aman’s explanation. “Oh. That makes more sense. Having emotions is a human thing, but allowing them to control you is what allows you to remain calm and aware. It’s very hard to hear the will of the force if you are hearing voices in your mind in a chaos of emotion.” She sat back, contemplating what Aman had said. “Why were you led here?” She asked quietly.
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She smiled, "I had hoped I cleared up the misstep." She nodded, "we can't follow the Will of the Force if we are governed by our emotions. The two will always clash."
Her face returned to a more neutral state, "There is a coming war that will leave entire solar systems in ruin. An important message will be sent to a woman dressed in red. As I am one of few pilots here, the mission is given to me to deliver the message. My ship will arrive, but I will be dead at the controls. Two large holes in the cockpit window is the cause of my death. I saw her, a woman dressed in red reading the message over my body. My mission will be a success."
She tilted her head slightly, "this is where the current of the Force is taking me."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara listened. An odd sensation washed over her. There was no subterfuge in her words, no hint of a lie. This woman was telling her an absolute truth. A future that was coming in which she knew her own demise. “How much time between now and then?” She asked quietly. Entire solar systems in ruin sounded exactly like the prediction Orchid had given her. The family was coming. She suddenly had the distinct impression that no matter what they did to try and stop it, very little could actually be done to prevent it. And now, looking at this beautiful girl across from her, she understood that the will of the force may be that they weren’t supposed to stop it at all. She allowed herself a moment of grief for what would be lost, then waited for an answer.
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I am sure I will know when the time is right." She smiled to help ease the discomfort she felt in the Force from her new friend, "this is why its so important to free yourself from your emotional attachments and be ready to serve the Force."
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
Tesara closed her eyes. She knew that she would have to meditate on this and this time, ask no questions. Just wait to hear the whispers of the force.
“Thank you, Aman.” She said with a small smile. “I’m going to take advantage of this place and find out what that looks like for me.”
She stood, stretching and loosening her muscles. She had been sitting longer than she realized. She knew she had a request from Durro to see him. “I hope we can speak again soon.”
@TheTraveler
TheTraveler — 09/06/2021
Aman smiled and nodded, "I am only waiting for my moment when the Force calls upon me. Till then, I am here, training and preparing for that moment."
"It was a pleasure meeting you Tesara," she added.
Tesara Anerin — 09/06/2021
“You as well.” She gave her a hand sign of thanks her people used for gratefulness and honor, then turned to go find Durro.
(((OOC this the namaste mudra)))
Tesara Anerin — 09/07/2021
/end
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