Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 1 7 -- Yoda

WARMTH LEAVES LUKE'S BODY from Terra's essence disconnecting, now that he was hundreds of feet away, much farther than either Luke or Terigo could have stayed connected. The lack of soothing warmth makes Luke feel tense and cold for a moment by comparison, until he realizes this was the normal warmth of his body. It makes him feel a little disturbed again to now almost miss Terra's connection. It makes him feel a little manipulated too.

"Did you read anything else from him?" Luke says, keeping a mostly tepid essence.

"No," Terigo says, failing to force a chuckle as if he said a sick joke. "I stopped once I realized who he was. I didn't want to be any more disrespectful or childish than we are. I didn't want him to feel bothered."

"Well," Luke grumble-sighs through his nose, "I already know I'm like a child compared to him, he didn't need to rub it in my face." Knowing there's more dignity in remaining polite regardless of how disrespectful someone is, he says half serious, "So I'm not so sure I'm concerned with how he feels if he is going to disrespect us like that—

"He's not disrespecting us, he's 700 years old," Terigo says, then collects herself more into the Mid.

Luke now feels conflicted with who was actually polite or rude, concerned he was disrespectful to anyone much less a great Jedi Master. He mumbles, "That still doesn't give him the right to be rude."

"He wasn't being rude, we were. He was just responding truthfully to our disrespect. Grounding us."

Terigo was washing her mind of concerns and returning to the Light. She begins allowing the nonchalance of trust for Terra to overtake her, whether she really did trust him or not. She particularly grows Light by allowing herself to indulge her curiosity for the reacting, living vines all around them. The plant's exterior feel like flesh. Malleable tentacles, able to move rapidly and still hold moisture. Some even feel like fingers.

Though Luke hadn't fully appreciated plants until his aunt's were gone, Terigo always had. She always liked them for the way she could feel them, unlike the deadened feeling of anything man-made. She takes her time with these new ones, remembering home for its surrounding life, and remembering the challenges now of being surrounded by a barren feeling of death, wherever she went. It was all deserts and structures and technology, everywhere. But these vines seem more alive than anything she had seen. Though they feel the same to her essence as any plant, they still seem like a sort of halfway point between two things she loves: people and plants.

Luke remains a bit oblivious to her moment. He was continuing to mull over everything, trying to keep as serene as he can to better process the flurry of sensitive information, The word Vader... yet the act of calming his heat by clearing his thoughts was proving to be time-consuming because thoughts were what he was after.

After his ears grow used to the shifting plants, the faintest sounds of trickling spring water becomes noticeable. That's when Luke's thoughts begin to take part in everything around him, with his attention half outside, half inside.

He begins playing with the vines as well, and when Terigo sees this, she comes over to share the experience and socialize. But when she opens her mouth, Luke says, "I can contact Yoda here."

Terigo's mouth closes.

Luke explains, "I have to. There's so much I need to ask him. Too much. But I need to try. It may take time to tune in well enough, but I know what it takes now, now that I know what the Light feels like, compared to the amount I had when I first spoke to my father in the afterlife years ago."

Terigo stands very still for a moment, unsure of how she feels about this, until she tells herself it's all for the better. She smiles, "Well... good. I hope you're able to achieve that level of Light. I hope you're able to master speaking to the dead. Let's see it."