Late-lit fires... (river)

[Thaddeus]

Balkk wandered slowly among the halls of the Temple attended now and then by young knights or padawans. The Trandoshan was a well-known figure among the Jedi, indeed he had begun spending more time at the Temple recently after having taken his first padawan – after over 50 years in the Order. He was most frequently seen now training his new student, although his sparring sessions in the training rooms with the Temple battlemasters were still famous and watched eagerly. It was quickly becoming a saying that one had not seen Soresu till you had seen Balkk, indeed few Jedi matched the Trandoshan Knight who had studied this form to the exclusion of all others.

“Master Balkk, but how do possessions make us turn to the Dark side?” The young man asked in a hushed and hurried tone, he wanted knowledge but was fearful of asking the question. Balkk simply nodded and as they turned a corner responded in his low and gentle Basic.

“What you possessssss you do not truly rule, but are inssssstead a sssslave to.” His clawed hands illustrated each point. “To wish to possessssss ssssomething issss a hunger, and the cure for hunger isssss not more food for thissss will only bring a desssssire for even more. Rather it issss to make hunger ssssatisssfy hunger.” Another corner and the pair walked on. “You may assssk what of the little thingssss we cling onto, what matterssss the largenesssss or ssssmallnesss of a thing when it robssss you of your sssserenity? After all true freedom isss to be equanimoussss with all that fate bringsss, to trussst in the Force.” Balkk stopped and looked down at the young Jedi, “If you would be one with the Force you mussst crave nothing; for the Force cravessss nothing.”

There was a slight clatter from one of the study cubicles off the hall, the two figures in the hallway looked towards the doorway for a moment and the young Jedi spoke once more.

“I see, but what of…” The young man was cut off by another clutter, and before he could continue Balkk bowed and as he rose to his full height spoke, “We will continue thissss another time, you sssshould return to your training.” The Jedi wanted to ask more questions but reined his curiousity in and bowed. Balkk watched the young boy walk off lost in thought with a smile, to seek wisdom was the beginning of all things, however he turned towards the doorway which had cut short his conversation.

Walking the short distance over to it Balkk rapped his large hands on it, adding, “Are you alright?”

[river]

The young Togruta Ano had been working on combining crystals in her light saber and failing miserably. She hadn't quite learned how to mix crystals or whether it was even possible to mix those little pieces of colored light. Setting a red one down she looked to see what other colors she had found, before she knew what was going on the few pieces of crystal found itself falling to the ground. Getting up from the chair she ended up clumsily tripping over the chair and clattered to the ground. She looked up to make sure no one had noticed but noticed a jedi master there with their padawan but they didn't seem to take much notice. Grabbing the crystal Ano set it back onto the table and set herself back into the seat.
         
       Ano took out a paper from her little satchel and set it onto the table hoping to write down her thoughts on this experiment. It was kind of getting on her nerves. Just some of the experiments and such. She ended up closing her eyes and started to do some deep breathing to calm her nerves down. She wasn't going to allow herself to get all tense or frustrated from this. After a quick breath she decided that her attention span wasn't long enough so she pushed herself backwards in her chair. She really didn't mean to, her mind just wasn't in it today. A few minutes later she noticed the jedi master there asking if she was alright. "Yeah... just a bit clumsy. Apparently they don't make these chairs to roll around." She thought that would be useful if they did.

[Thaddeus]

Balkk’s eyes rested on the young Togruta for a moment studying her carefully. Her quick glances and little twitches seemed to speak of nerves, but Balkk thought nothing of that as there were few padawans who were very comfortable the first time the 9ft Trandoshan stared down upon them. He looked past her into the cubicle seeing crystals and holobooks strewn across the desk therein, and more than a few fallen on the floor too.

“No they are not…” Was all Balkk managed in reply to the humour of the young one, he was not known for his levity. “Your massster hasss you ssstudying crystalsss padawan?” Balkk’s clawed fingers pointed at the desk.

Balkk counted the artisans of the Jedi Order among the greatest of the Order, and perhaps those most connected to and understanding of the Force. Their art demanded it, and their creations were beautiful expressions of the Force. He often watched them at work in the Temple or on Ilum, and it was an illuminating and humbling experience from which the 61 year old Jedi would come away from wiser.

Remembering himself Balkk offered a characteristic brief introduction, “Sissssh Balkk.” He bowed careful not to head-butt the young Togruta – memories of his more awkward padawan years came flooding in, and he had no desire to repeat those almost comic scenarios.

Balkk walked by the padawan and picked up several books and crystals from the floor and placed them upon the desk, “Masster Vodo-Siosssk Baassss’ treatissse On the Properties and Nature of the Crystalsss of Ilum. A very enlightening read, hisss footnotesss dessscribing the beauty of the cavesss are my favourite partsss.” Straightening up the piles with a nod of contentment the great Trandoshan Jedi turned back to his young companion. “What have you discovered during your ssstudy padawan?” Balkk would have smiled warmly, but decades of interactions had taught him that few desired to see the toothy smile of his species.

[river]

"I uh..." Ano tried to calm her nerves down but couldn't seem to at the moment. She just nervously smiled before getting up and placing some of the crystals up onto the desk. "Just minor stuff.. I haven't quite delved into it much.. just testing out colors and how to make different shades of colors. I find it kind of cool. Most of it doesn't make too much sense to my young mind. The mixing part at least... my master hasn't gone into that other than how to make my saber. So far I haven't broken a single saber.. unlike some other padawans around here." She snickered quietly to herself but tried not to sound too proud of it. "I'm Ano, padawan of.... uh.. well, its been a short time since he took me up so I don't really remember his name."

[Thaddeus]

Balkk’s clawed hand reached out to offer the Togruta a hand up, but the padawan was up and on her feet quickly. She set to work nervously tidying up not even taking a moment to brush herself off, Balkk quirked a brow imagining that this padawan was more than a handful for her master. He listened to the padawan talk without saying a word, she spoke quickly and informally but Balkk sensed an underlying pride and confidence – a sensation which only confirmed what he had deduced previously, yes her master would indeed have their hands full.

Balkk remembered how confident and prideful he had been in his youngling years, how the pride in ever excelling all his peers with lightsaber or the Force hurtled forward to new heights… but it was a path which was ever at the risk of falling. He sighed quietly and recalled how, when he felt the dark fires within burning in every muscle and cell of him, the Force had reached out and he found something else – a warmth that wasn’t burning, a strength that came not from him, but from abandoning himself to something greater.

“Where we sssstand, those abilitiesss we have in our possessssion, matter not ssso much asss the direction in which we are heading.” Balkk opined after the padawan’s snicker and proud smile with the rumbling tone of his Basic adding to the words a portentous air. He would have explained further, elaborated on how it did not matter that she excelled in this and others did not and that all that mattered was that they all obeyed the will of the Force. But she had quickly introduced herself, and as Balkk inclined his head in acknowledgement she had added that she did not know her master’s name.

“It may be better to remember your master’ssss name first, and then begin sssstudying lightsssaber crystalsss.” From anyone else it may have sounded sarcastic or slightly amused, but Balkk said it in his deadpan manner – because he did not mean it as a jest.

[river]

"Well, I think his name was or is Kaelan.. I tend to have short forgetting spells which doesn't help at all... I think I was supposed to be doing an essay on planets.. crystals are so much more fun to learn though.. perhaps doing the paper tomorrow would be good.. maybe.." she coughed slightly before putting the crystals and everything in her bag. The study would have to wait for some other time. It was time to talk and be social and after perhaps a quick raid to the kitchens before working on her paper. She listened to her elder but felt a bit lacking in understanding to his speech. She tilted her head a little to grasp it then nodded. Yep... accent 101 wasn't her forte but she'd figure it out. "I still have no clue what direction I'm going."

[Thaddeus]

Kaelan, Balkk mentally repeated the name wondering if she referred to the same Kaelan he knew? Further inquiry though was cut short when he listened to Ano go on, he did not approve of ignoring your master’s instructions. Balkk was a stern taskmaster, and while he never asked of his padawan anything which he believed her capable of, he expected however his instructions to be followed. Moonfire was proving an able padawan, and had improved greatly under his tutoring, but she still lacked the confidence and faith in the Force that would make her into a truly great Jedi.

The more he looked at the young Togruta the more he saw pride and ambition, tempered by a kindly nature true but even then it did not excuse the other faults. A Jedi was powerful not because of their own skills or talents, no they were powerful because of the Force, to truly become a Jedi meant having to relinquish yourself. Even masters struggled to do this, for the Force was infinite and for an individual mind to abandon itself to the eternal infinity of the Force was difficult.

“To be a Jedi isss to put yourssself assside.” Was all the Trandoshan Jedi said about the padawan’s skipping of their lesson. Balkk supposed that other Jedi may have launched into a lecture, but he saw no need for anything else to be said – what he had said he imagined was as plain as day.

The padawan had set off down the hall but continued to talk, so Balkk easily caught up with his long strides and soon was walking alongside her. “Where do you need to be padawan?” He looked down at her gently, despite his disapproval he was not angry or disappointed he was certain that her master would correct her – in the meantime all he could offer was sage words and company.

He was about to ask a question of the padawan when a young Jedi knight walked up to the odd pair. The human bowed politely to them both, and then turning to Balkk asked with a little sound of nerves in his voice, “Master Balkk, I am looking to study Soresu and would be honoured for any instruction you may offer.” Balkk held back a smile, if others were not so afraid of his toothy grin the Trandoshan Jedi would have a less stoic reputation – well a slightly less stoic one – and replied, “Of courssse, I am taking thisss padawan back to her massster if you would like to meet me in one of the sssparring roomssss ssshortly?” The knight smiled and inclined his head again, he had never imagined a sparring session with the Sish Balkk he thought the Jedi Knight would simply recommend some texts in the library. “Thank you Master Balkk.” And with that the man rushed away, and Balkk looked down once more at Ano,

“Now where isss your massster padawan?”

[river]

Ano watched him for a moment then giggled, she was going to play this jedi master a little trick. She skipped a bit more towards the direction that she thought her master would be. "I don't know where my master went... last I saw him he was on his ship.. last I saw his ship was when I parked it on another planet.. so I don't know where he is right now.. I lost the key.." She coughed then laughed. She felt as if she had eaten too much sugar that day. Maybe she did and didn't know.