Mirialan Consular

The dark room bore an eerie, pregnant silence. A single figure sat on the grated floor, legs folded under the lithe frame, the dark green tunic fastened around her form with a wide matching color embroiled belt. Her eyes were closed, the black mass of her inky black hair was neatly bound up in to a careful arrangement.

The Mirialan breathed in and out, her body was completely relaxed and her mind drifted freely, soaring through the empty void which her mind was. She was a vessel which the Force filled, rejuvenated and cleansed. She felt the flicker of her Master as he stepped inside the room, thus signaling the meditation training done. She flicked her eyes open, the two different colors, blue and violet, darted up attentively to seek out the face of Master Lom. The human male gave her a soft nod, she felt him keeping his emotions tightly bound, it was a relief to gently nudge such a mind. It was quite unlike the usual minds she had touched. The ones that spilled over her senses with pain, regret, betrayal, grief or worse. Touching his mind was like touching The Great Rock on Mirial's vast arid dunes. That solid mass of earth that gave comfort, and took nothing in return.

“Focus, Padawan.” Master Lom said with a hint of warmth in his tone, as if he would have read her thoughts that were wandering freely upon her home planet. The Mirialan gave him a slight smile, quickly letting go of the wash of embarrassment which rose from the statement. She knew he meant well. The Padawan rose up softly, expectively.

“We should arrive soon, according to the captain. I wanted to check on you before we land. How did your meditations go?” His voice was cool, solid.

She knew he had been feeling out for her emotions as she had meditated, she always felt his presence close where ever she was. The need to ask for her own opinion about it had its reasons. She thought back on the experience carefully before she answered:

“The beginning was smooth. I journeyed to my favorite place of my childhood and from there on I could relax and let everything go. I had a vision, perhaps it was of things to come? I, there was a man I have never met before, I am quite certain of that. It was a place of great peril, warfare.” Her expression grew worried under the calm gaze of Master Lom. There was the glimpse of a child in her.

He had always admired her capabilities in learning everything she willed. She could open her mind to anything, like a child in very many ways, without prejudice and corruption, and seep the knowledge in and mold it to her use. Though the learning process was anything but done, yet. She needed to be forged and hardened by life, by experience. These times of War there were no room for naiveté. She had much to learn and she still had impulsive tendencies and a willful, headstrong mind. Those abilities could once make her a great Jedi but for now, her emotions and her inexperience could take over. She was still under twenty, a teenager.

“We are at war, your vision could be correct. It might occur, but as we know, the future is in constant movement. We make decisions that shape it. I see you are worried of this possible vision. Why?” Master Lom had a calm tone in his voice.

“I remember the feeling I had in the vision. I was worried, afraid. That is not how a Jedi should feel.” She responded. There was the real reason, Lom felt it, heard it in her words.

“You are afraid of not acting like a Jedi should? Perhaps you were yet not a Jedi then, in your vision?”

“Yes. When will I be ready? I feel it is an impossible task. How can I ever conquer my emotions? It is like a great drain when I rise above my feelings. I become empty. Is not the reason for emotions to drive you forward? Achieve the unachievable through great odds? Is love not the greatest feeling there is? I just.. I will never be a great Jedi.” There it was. Master Lom had to smile a little. It was the words every Jedi had once asked and wrestled with. How indeed did one become a super-being? Some did. Others did not. The others were casted away from the Jedi Order, to live as hermits. There were big holes in the Traditions and like many, Master Lom had filled his holes the best he could and then… then he did not think about them. They did not exist. Like great theories of the Universe, so many still unanswered or not being proven completely right, so was the Force. It had great Theories. It had ways to serve and ways to destruct. The Sith choose the ways of destruction. The Jedi chose to serve it through their best means of peace, negotiations, mastery of the mind. They were of course afraid of the power of the emotions. The very source of power for the Sith.

“Next time you meditate, Padawan, be brave and let go of your fear completely. The feeling of being drained by the lack of emotions. Look beyond the emptiness. See the calmness which gives life to silence. There is a great seed of potential in there. Let it flourish, ride the wave of its purity and see what is on the other side.” Master Lom had a way of speaking vaguely – like many Jedi Masters had. It was not his fault, she knew, she felt the Force between his words, inspiring him. She committed those to her memory.

After Master Lom had left the room, she sighed softly, turning to gaze out to the void of the Space. She remembered her vision, it was like a soft pulse in her gut, making her body warm. She remembered the face of the man, a soldier. Beneath the soot and dried blood, he had a piercing gaze which at first sight seemed hard, committed. Beneath those layers she had felt his mind, gently, and the wash of emotions had filled her senses.

She wished, silently, that she would meet him, someday.