Calling on the Spirits - 10.120

[Ndonsa]

"You hit me in the head and I lost my focus." She rubbed her skull, a small lump forming under her headfur.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

The Hermit tossed his branch aside, and closed the distance with Ndonsa. His kopokeks followed, and he pressed one into her hand.

"Eat. Let's discuss this."

Anbira led his pupil back to the great tree, where a full skin of water hung from a branch. He offered it to the Kufu.

"You have explained the direct causality. You were hit. You lost your focus. Your fruit fell."

A tweak of insight dawned on Anbira and he leaned in closer.

"Do you know what a metaphor is?"

[Ndonsa]

She frowned, chewing thoughtfully. Met and four she knew, but Master Anbira seemed to be saying them together as a different word. Ndonsa shook her head. "What does this mean?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"It's a symbol. Something that represents something else."

Even as Anbira spoke, he realized the error he had made earlier in her training, and now took pains to undo it.

"If you are troubled, someone might say you carry a heavy burden. They do not mean that you literally carry a large weight, but that something troubles your mind or spirit, like a weight on your soul."

The hermit clasped his hands together to await her comprehension.

[Ndonsa]

"Hmm," said Ndonsa, taking another bite. "Something that is not true to say a truth?" She frowned. "So when Akasha tells Drax he is a bantha in a china store...he is not a bantha? I do not know what a bantha is," she confessed. "And he does not have a nuna bird brain either. Not a lie, a truth wrapped in a lie?"

She held up a finger to stop Anbira from answering yet. "Metaphor is like an insult. Like when you tell me I lied earlier, when I had not. But I think Drax is a good padawan, he tries harder than everyone else."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira's smile drew taut at her near-understanding, even as she inadvertently explained just how far the scope of his first lesson had strayed from her understanding.

"It can be an insult, yes. But it can be used in other ways. If you are happy, your heart may be light as a feather."

He was straying dangerously close to losing the plot as he walked Ndonsa through the finer arts of sentient dialogue, so he pressed further.

"A metaphor is a tool to be used, nothing more. It's the intent of the heart behind it that shapes that use."

The hermit raised his own half-eaten kopokek to view.

"The kopokek in our exercise is a physical metaphor. What do you think this represents?"

[Ndonsa]

Food. Something she brought to him and he took and made her get more of. Ndonsa stared at the fruit, certain she should understand this and coming up with nothing. She stared harder. Then:

"Wis..dom?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Her eyes goggled at the fruit, betraying her desperate yearning. At least she was approaching what she sought.

"Very nearly." Anbira reassured.

"Think, Ndonsa. It took concentration to keep one fruit from touching ground. It took even more to divide the task for two. Tell me about what is expected of a Jedi."

[Ndonsa]

"The Jedi are warriors, tasked with maintaining justice and order in the galaxy. We are to lead a solemn, solitary, simple life." Ndonsa was reciting what Loki had drilled into her head. "That task was to practice focus on more than one thing at once. A good exercise."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

She'd picked up on it quickly. Anbira nodded.

"Yes, Ndonsa. Because so much is asked of you; because so much is asked of us all. We are warriors, counselors, protectors. Further, we are the keepers of our own spirit and sanctity. Never forget this. Though the battle may grow intense and desperate, if you lose yourself, you lose everything."

[Ndonsa]

She nodded solemnly. "The Jedi way is to use power while staying calm. I... I learned to use my magic another way. It is difficult to keep to this new way."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"It's more than a sense of calm, Ndonsa. To have emotion is to live. But to let the tides of your emotions pull you from your path and your commitment to the light is to give in to the dark side. If the dark side were simply evil for evil's sake, it would not be the threat it is. It tempts you. It seems so easy."

Anbira shook his head.

"And the moment you give into that temptation, you will let other kopokeks fall. Your commitment to justice, your obligation to protect the weak, your friends. Therefore you must always be mindful of these things you carry with you, even if they may not be easy. Even if they may seem to hinder you. Understand what it means if they fall, and carry that responsibility close to your heart."

[Ndonsa]

"I...understand." Ndonsa nodded slowly. Then she canted her head to the left. "Is there a limit to how many kopokeks one can carry? Does not taking too many on also damage your focus?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

She was beginning to understand the dilemma, and as Anbira finished his fruit and tossed the pit aside, he nodded.

"There are limits. We are both flesh and blood, and mortal. We cannot be everything to everyone, and there may be times when we stumble. But while I believe there is no such thing as perfection, there is a state of harmony one takes in the pursuit of it."

Anbira placed a hand on her shoulder. He'd given her much to think about.

"If you stay true to your intent of keeping all kopokeks aloft, you will have done your best. Less than perfection, but you will have betrayed nothing and no one. That's a difficult commitment, and a Jedi does not take it lightly."

[Ndonsa]

Ndonsa looked at his hand on her shoulder, and then up at her master. "I have been honored that the Jedi allow me to study this...with you...with all of you," she said seriously. "I will do my best to keep my fruit in the air, and become a Jedi too."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira noted his student's solemn commitment and gave a respectful bow of his head to her breakthrough.

"And now you understand that knowing the question is just as important if not moreso than knowing the answer. Cherish that understanding, my Padawan, for that is wisdom."