The Force is Your Tool

[Palara Iscandar]

Palara weaved through the Cadets, pausing only a slight moment or two to look at one or two who'd sat down.

"Cadet Par'Vizal," she hummed. "You are close. Continue."

She stood and watched for a moment as the human boy breathed and attempted to touch the Force, humming to herself as the boy's frustration hampered him again. He opened his eyes and looked at her calmly, though she could feel the rising annoyance within.

"Stop," she said. "You are attempting to skip forward, Cadet, zough ze attempt itself is very good. I am not asking you to touch ze Force, or hold eet in your focus. I am only asking you to feel ze Force as it flows zrough you. 'Ow can you grasp somezing you can barely perceive? As you become more aware of ze Force as it moves wizzin you, you will find zat grasping and moving it yourself, eet is no longer such a frustrating task."

She could see the realisation in his eyes, as well as feel a slight sense of... shame? No, not shame. He felt that he should have grasped that aspect of her instructions sooner.

"So, breaze. Slower. Good. Allow yourself to calm. Do not zink about 'ow zis should be, allow ze Force to manifest itself to you. You do not need to pull it out from be'ind a veil. It is always zere, so when you cannot feel it or touch it, remember zat it is not 'idden, but zat you seemply must attune yourself to eet. Zat is ze point of breazing and picturing it coming in with ze air. So when you feel zat energy, zat sense of ze Force, do not try to move it. Simply feel it as it moves itself zrough you. Try again."

[Jensen Par'Vizal]

He should have realized he was overthinking it all, making the task more complicated than necessary. Where others could be faulted for rushing headlong into a task, Jensen was near opposite in that it was his thoughts that always tried to kick themselves into hyperdrive. The cadet found that typically that could be quite useful, but in an instant like this? Do not think of how this should be. Jensen would have to just accept things for what they were, let the galaxy and The Force just be. It would have sounded near impossible except for the fact that Knight Iscandar had already told him that he'd been close. Not exactly praise for not exactly being on target but encouraging nonetheless.

Another attempt was made as he was instructed, the looming presence of the Knight still perceived even after he closed his eyes once more. He breathed in slowly, though at the same time tried to keep it from feeling forced, allowing the air to naturally fill him to a comfortable place rather than just near bursting. The exhale was done similarly, no longer trying to make his body get the most out of each breath, but rather - as he tried to keep in mind - just let it be. It took a few more breaths before he felt himself begin to calm, no longer straining to focus on the task. His mind as well quieted, thoughts drifting away and silencing themselves as Jensen continued to let them linger purely on the feeling of breathing, not on the task itself.

There was something there, it felt similar to how he knew that the Twi'lek Knight was still standing near him, how there were other cadets in the garden with him, but it felt more real than just a visualization of what he already knew to exist. Jensen wouldn't call it energy, at least, not in the way he understood such things. It was something more, deeper, more meaningful than just energy. It was beyond description and in interest of trying to keep to the spirit of Knight Iscandar's comments, he didn't attempt to give it any. If this was The Force he was feeling in it's natural state, then that was enough. It had to be enough for now despite the urges to tug at it, to see if it would respond in an expected way. As he dwelled on it, Jensen felt that it did move through him as well, with each breath and subtle shift of his posture that came with it. Was it truly always there like this? Just waiting for him? That thought was both terrifying and comforting... Fleeting as well as the cadet let it drift away, carried off by an exhale of air.

Slowly he opened his eyes and nodded his head in thanks, understanding, and confirmation to the Knight before he allowed himself to finally take a seat on the grass.

[Maalik]

Now here was something Maalik could do. Having spent his time in the jungles very much in tune with the life around him, being able to feel the Force permeating his surroundings came somewhat naturally to him by this point. His current surroundings only helped matters. He could feel the energy in each blade of grass beneath his bare feet, each plant and tree that surrounded them, even in the tiny spores that found their way into the very air they breathed. As he closed his eyes, his world stayed very much illuminated, his mind able to see the slowly pulsating lights that signified living things.

His breathing was calm, he felt the presence of Palara and the other Cadets around him, each subtly different. The furry one, Hal, who shined brighter than all but Palara. Jeryd, whose changes in mood and demeanor were palpable. Jensen, who had a mysterious, borderline dark feeling about him that Maalik could not explain. The last of note, Onika, seemed to purvey a steadiness that her fellows did not.

Unintentionally, as he sat upon it, the grass around him began to grow longer and fuller, ever so slowly. Without thinking, he had become attuned to the plant-life in this place as he connected to the Force that saturated it. He found himself imagining he was back on Wayland as his breathing and heartbeat began to slow.

[Palara Iscandar]

Iscandar nodded, and then, without even a backwards glance, threw out her hand to Maalik; the Force became an unfathomable weight upon him, pushing him back from his sitting position and sending the 'wild man' sprawling onto his back.

She turned and strode over to the man.

"Cadet Maalik," she frowned. "Why are you focusing and touching ze Force? And more zan zat, I did not ask you to commune wiz it to sense ozzers or your surroundings."

Before he could speak, or giggle, or whatever curiously annoying tic he'd sprout out next, she shook her head once, to convey her absolute seriousness.

"No. I deed not ask you to use ze Force as you 'ave taught yourself, or to even do anyzing wiz it. I asked you to feel ze Force as eet moves zrough you. Repeat it for me, so I know at least you 'ave 'eard me, even if you do not understand. As a Knight, you will 'ave to remain mindful of your surroundings, and you will learn zis now, as opposed to a live fire exercise, or in the midst of a mission. Stand up. Try eet again. Feel ze Force. Do not act, do not commune, do nozzing else. Understood?"

[Maalik]

"Focusing? You told me to feel the Force, so I did. The Force is everywhere. You tell me not to focus but then tell me to only feel the Force in one place."

Maalik's answer was clearly laden with displeasure, as his green-tinged eyes snapped open. He blatantly ignored her command to stand up again, merely sitting up into his original position instead.

"You may as well ask me to breathe without breathing," he scoffed.

He closed his eyes again, allowing the Force back into him after his connection to it had been so rudely interrupted. The distaste he felt for how he had been treated was evident in his aura now, but he endeavored to focus on only himself, not the wider Force around them.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

"There's a difference," Hal spoke up from where he sat, eyes closed. "Feeling the Force is just that, observing, letting it do as it will. The moment you cross over into how you think it should be, you're inflicting your will upon it, changing it, interacting with it. It's the difference between looking at a painting, and adding to it yourself."

He could feel the disturbances around him from his words; from his fellow cadets and from Palara herself. Remaining still, Hal continued, his voice calm. "Knight Iscandar is right; this is the first thing you must master if you hope to improve your skills. It's the first thing the Knights had to master, too, so bear that in mind, all of you."

[Palara Iscandar]

For the moment, Iscandar simply stayed quiet, allowing Rayner to say his piece. The usually annoying, shallow, and crass individual was gone; he was replaced by a seeming doppelganger, one with maturity and some small bit of wisdom and experience. While externally she remained impassive, internally her attention centred around the Cadet. There were depths and facets of this Nehantite she'd not seen before, and if she could have allowed such an egregious tell, her eyes would have narrowed.

It was but a moment before she banished such thoughts from her mind. She had a class to teach, after all.

"...Cadet Rayner is correct," she said. "Zis exercise is about feeling ze Force. Eef it is difficult, zen it all ze more important zat you learn it now, no? So, stand up, and try again."

Turning around, she surveyed the students. Save for Maalik, who seemed to be grasping the subject now, and a few others, most had accomplished their objective and were sitting on the grass in quiet contemplation.

It was about time to continue to the next part of the lesson.

"We will continue zis part of ze exercise again when we next meet," she called. "As we 'ave only so much time allotted to ze lesson, we shall continue to ze next objecteeve. Everyone, stand up."

She strode to the front of the assembly and turned to face them.

"Now you shall learn 'ow to move while feeling ze Force. Again, zis does not require you to make use of your abilities beyond keeping grasp of zis attunement while in movement. You will need to focus on your movements as well as feeling ze Force as it flows zrough you. Take zis stance."

She settled her feet her shoulders' width apart, and held her hands in front of her, as if she were grasping a ball.

"Zen, we will begin ze first form."

She began to move, each action slow and measured and strictly controlled. She breathed in through her nose, and held it, her movement slowed; she released her breath, and her movement continued in time with it. She stepped forward in a kick, as slow and practised as the rest of her movements, and pivoted, placing her upraised leg on the ground and moving her hands in a circular blocking movement. It seemed like a fighting style, only it was so slow and studied that it couldn't have possibly kept up in an actual fight. She turned and punched, sliding her feet along the grass with grace and poise. The form ended with her standing in the same position as she'd begun, her hands before her as if grasping a ball, and her feet her shoulders' width apart.

"Do not attempt ze 'ole form at once. We will go zrough zis one step at a time. If at any point you lose grasp of your awareness of ze Force, you will stop, regain it, and zen continue again from ze beginning."

She gave each Cadet a glance.

"Zis eez not a race. Do not concern yourself with ze progress of your fellows 'ere. Only mind your own movements and pace. So, ze first movement. Enter your beginning stance. Feet directly below your shoulders. Knees slightly bent. 'Ands before you. Imagine you are compressing somezing between zem until it is compacted and straining to release its kinetic potential. Zen, breaze in. As you do so, step back with your right foot, tweest your shoulders to ze right and rotate your 'ands until ze right eez directly below ze left. Breaze out, zis time moving your right foot forward in a step forward. As you do zis, twist your shoulders to ze left, and rotate your 'ands so zat your left 'and is directly above ze right. Practise zis, and once you 'ave it well enough, we will try it again, only as you move you will feel 'ow ze Force moves zrough you."

She left her stance, standing once more in a relaxed attention.

"Begin."

[Khoovi Wan]

"'Old your energy," Knight Iscandar said loudly, projecting her voice that all her students could hear.

Khoovi frowned, his eyes glancing from her to the others around him. In all honesty, he still had questions and didn't feel he'd completed the first task sufficiently to move on, but before the words could come, he remembered the sheer revulsion and disgust he'd felt from the Knight. There was no way he'd risk having that happen again, so he remained silent.

He placed his hands before himself and briefly pondered what she meant by 'holding his energy'. Given the emphasis on passive recognition in the last task, he assumed that it carried over into this one, especially given the way Iscandar had reacted to those who'd tried to actively manipulate their powers; obviously, 'holding' was a metaphorical command. So, instead he just imagined he was carrying a ball and positioned his hands accordingly.

"Cadet Khoovi, continue," Iscandar's voice penetrated his focus, and he opened his eyes to see her nodding to him briefly. He breathed in, and turned his body, and moved his hands.

[Jeryd Redsun]

Despite having achieved, albeit with Knight Iscandar's assistance, a small measure of harmony with the Force around him, it was not until instructions were given for the next exercise that Jeryd finally released his focus. Even Rayner's inherently-irritating voice failed to distract, instead, his words were muffled and incoherent, beyond the cocoon of tranquillity. In the end, it was with some reluctance that he returned to the garden room. Knight Iscandar was performing slow, graceful, sweeping movements with her arms and legs; back home, his mother did something similar, the ALEC program (Advanced Limbering Enhanced Calm), which was a sequence of tedious and unadventurous exercises officially sanctioned by the Imperial Wellfulness Committee. Not once had he seen so much as a single bead of sweat on his mother's brow; calling it exercise was a crime.

With a private litany of reservations, he assumed the position. First, he relaxed, and closed his eyes as he started to search for that modicum of peace. Without Palara's help, it was difficult, but in remembering the experience - in all of its vivid wonder - he slowly started to find his way back to that same feeling that was at once empty and full of warmth and light. That was the natural ebb and flow of the Force itself, brushing against his senses like a gently-lapping tide. Next, the movements. Eyes open, he watched the Twi'lek Knight weave her way through the motions with effortless grace. Holding his senses open, he took a step, rotated his shoulders, and moved his hands. Then, he remembered to breathe, which was wrong, so he started again.

Breathe in, step back, twist, rotate.

Dividing his attention between the movements and his connection to the Force was challenging. In a way, it felt like not thinking at all, but instead being poised on a tightrope, with a drop on either side. And, instead of worrying about the fall, all of his attention was poured into remaining on that tentative spot in between. Maybe this was the Enhanced Calm his mother claimed to experience when performing the Mounted Dewback on the living room floor. It was then, just as he thought he was beginning to get used to the exercise, that Jeryd found himself somehow stumbling over his own feet. Luckily, he didn't eat dirt, and a few clumsy steps saw him right again. But Nebbil's snort of amusement told him his misstep had not gone unnoticed. A no-nonsense glare, and a slight shake of the head silenced his friend, but Jeryd could already feel his face starting to burn.

When he resumed, it was with the intention of getting the movements right first, rather than attempting to do both at once. He wasn't small like Khoovi, or supple like their instructor; another wrong step like that and he could end up making a fool of himself, or a pancake of someone else.

Breath in, step back, twist, rotate. Breath out, step forward, twist, rotate.

[Jensen Par'Vizal]

Thinking the process would be easy was faulty, he recognized that from the very start. Just because he had managed to feel The Force flowing around him in stillness did not necessarily mean it would carry over. Assuming it would was naive, but worrying over whether it wouldn't was just as disastrous. Jensen tried to keep these things in mind as he got to his feet and assumed the basic beginning stance as instructed.

It wasn't difficult to focus entirely on himself, but it was challenging. He supposed that was a weakness of being human, in a way; competition, the need to be better, was practically built into his race's DNA. There was only one way of dealing with it here, though, and that was to overcome the shortcoming.

Breathe. That part was recalled, just as it had been before, though now with his hands before him with fingers gently curved inward. He remained that way for several breaths, allowing that connection that he had gained before to return, to simply feel what was always a part of him. Once it was realized he moved on to the next part of the instructions, the empty space between his hands gaining his attention and for a time it felt as if there was simply nothingness there, just as his rational mind would predict in such a situation.

But there was something there, though strangely it felt as though it expanded past his hands, through them. It was there though, and that was what mattered. Energy, if Knight Iscandar wanted to call it, though to Jensen it felt more like the potential for energy. A soft vibrating hum that wasn't quite on the same plane of existence as himself was the best way for his mind to try and discern it. The cadet brushed the thought aside, a minute shake of his head following.

Don't try and describe it, don't try and manipulate it, just feel it, and Let. It. Be. The mental scolding only lasted as long as an exhale of breath.

The next inhale he decided was the right time to move, stepping back with his right and rotating his hands as their instructor had told him. Good, the feeling was still there, still between his hands, still all around him. The following inhale he moved again, right foot coming forward, hands rotating and...

It was gone. Just for a moment his concentration had focused more on the movements than the energy he had been holding and just like that, the feeling of awareness of The Force left him.

Jensen felt strangely numb in it's absence, as if something had been removed from himself though he couldn't quite place what. Briefly he considered if it was a feeling shared by amputees.

Nonsense. What he had felt wasn't truly gone, only his focus.

And so the Cadet began again, slowly returning to the motions. It took a handful more tries, and his frustration at the exercise had to be swallowed down and shoved aside more than once, but in the end he finally completed the last of the beginning steps of the form, his left hand hovering over his right, his right foot before the left. It felt peaceful yet energizing. Jensen tried very hard not to listen to the voice in the back of his mind that whispered to release the energy he felt, that nagging instinct to unleash it somehow. Faint visualizations of trees being knocked down or his fellow cadets sent hurtling drifted behind his consciousness, trilling from his mind's eye.

The visuals were shaken off and for good measure, Jensen went through the steps one more time to make sure they wouldn't intrude.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Ah, yes, the fishbowl ballet; we remember this one, don't we? Hal's higher functions chuckled inwardly.

I remember lots of you distracting me until I got it right. Grumped his base natures.

Was merely enhancing our training.

Yeah? Well, enhance this.

The form was old, ancient long before his own time at the Jedi Order, and yet its purpose was clear. For a Jedi, both mind and body had to work in unison, both coexisting with each other on the same plane as the Jedi coexisted with the force. Movement brought focus, focus brought understanding, and understanding converted training into effectiveness. Rising to his feet, Hal took a breath, pink eyes still closed, and he started into the focusing kata. His bare footpaw extended in that slow kick, muscles working from memory as he allowed his body and mind to revert to an older, simpler time. Paws rotated, holding and shaping his imaginary fishbowl until the punch slipped seamlessly into his movement. Each motion Palara had made, Hal mirrored, his tail sweeping and turning behind himself to grant enhanced balance, until at last he returned to his starting point, feeling the grass deformed perfectly beneath the pads of his footpaws, and there he stood, waiting, as they had not been instructed to repeat.

Instead he looked through the Force to those around him, sensing struggle, anger, worry, and doubt. Jensen approached it all analytically, while Jeryd felt ready to punch the kata in the face for being difficult. Khoovi focused too hard, expecting perfection from himself - a trait Hal would have to work with him on, while Onika... well, she was a difficult one to read. Not as difficult as the crazy tree dude, though; that guy was just bonkers.

[Palara Iscandar]

"So, our time, eet runs short. I will, as I 'ave been eenstructed, show you some of what zese exercises build to become."

She extended her hand, and the datapad floated into the air, holding steady for a moment before zooming quickly into her open hand.

"Zis is among ze most basic of techniques. After you learn to move ze Force wizzin you — and you are welcome to attempt it outside of class — you will learn to 'arness ze Force to manipulate your surroundings. Zis foundation you learned today is essential to learning 'ow to use the Force in zis way. Zat eez because 'using ze Force' is misleading as a description of what we do. We communicate with ze Force."

She smiled slightly, remembering a man with kind eyes and a gentle presence.

"It is like dancing. When you move, your partner moves; and when your partner moves, you move. Eventually, you will move wizzout zought, with no delay or miscommunication. With focus, and awareness, you will stand firm wizzin ze Force, a good lead. If zis analogy is not martial enough for you, zen per'aps you are not fit for zis class. Zis class is not about becoming a warrior, or a leader, or 'ow to make yourself more deadly. Zose are corollaries, side-effects of what you will learn, like 'ow doing a pull-up does not teach you 'ow to strangle someone, but ze strength such practice grants you makes such an endeavour much easier."

Her eyes swept the assembled students, lingering on those she could feel were eager to apply anything they learned to the fanciful ideal of a warrior or a soldier, and disregarding anything they felt was not conducive to that end.

Some had yet to learn that they knew nothing.