FORSAKEN III - Shadow Wars

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Syrran floated above the ground, meditating in the swamp next to a bloated river, caused by the rain from the previous days. His shotos rested on a stone several meters away from him. Master Yoda watched him, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, feeling what his student experienced. The occasional sound of a native creature broke the silence.

"In your mind's eye the lightsabers fix," said Yoda. "Just like when through hyperspace to your destination navigate. To their kyber crystals your connection feel... Good. As a telepath, your thoughts you project into the minds of people. The same way a weak mind a Jedi tricks. In that tension, between sensing and projecting, a mental bridge lies. Let it guide your consciousness you must."

Syrran opened his eyes, put one foot down and then the other. He walked toward the stone and tried to pick one of his lightsabers. His hand passed through the hilt and the stone as if they were made of air. Syrran looked at his hand and turn around to see himself still floating in meditation.

"Project your consciousness outside your body you have," Yoda said, pleased. "Taken your first step into a larger understanding of the Cosmic Force you have. Well done. Much you have learned since taught you I have."

"Why are you teaching me this, Master?" said Syrran.

"Force beings we are, not the body we have. Experience its energy you must free of such limitations. To the universe connected we are. Only then in harmony with the Force you will."

"Master, when I was meditating, I sensed darkness and feelings of anger, pain, fear, and hatred."

"Hmm, when experience the Cosmic Force its will you understand, and your life's connections clear they become."

"My friends?"

"Strong your connection to them it is, but our lives—our actions—more people they touch. What you need, not what you want, the Force shows you. Fight it you must not. The will of the Force the Jedi accept, while to control it the Sith seeks."

"And the Je'daii want to choose their path within the destiny that lies before them."

"Too smart for your own good you are, Syrran. Your spirit, not your mind, I wish to teach."

Yoda pointed his hand at the shotos, making them hover over the rock. The main blades activated and they turned point down. To Syrran's surprise, the lightsabers dug into the stone until they were buried all the way to their emitters. Then, the boulder rose and submerged in the middle of the stream.

"When your lightsabers you can retrieve from the water, ready to leave you will be."

Syrran gave his master a confused look at such a mundane request. He faced the river and reached out for his shotos with the Force.

"No," Yoda said. "Call them with the Force you cannot."

Syrran understood Yoda wanted him to find a less obvious answer to the problem. As far back as his days as a Jedi Initiate, he struggled with his connection to the Cosmic Force—the more esoteric aspect of the practice, which Master Yoda endeavored to increase in him. Syrran thought of an answer. Yoda hit him with his cane.

"Listen you do not," he said. "Your mind you must let go of."

Syrran sighed and nodded, feeling a little embarrassed for his repeated blunder. He approached the rushing stream and hopped over a few rocks to reach the middle of it. Syrran sat cross-legged to meditate. Once again, he used what Theleema had taught him and connected with nature around him. The Chiss felt himself breathing through the trees, rooted by the earth, and the rush of the water flowing as if it was his own blood. His head tilted down, as he used the Force to part the incoming water in half.