II
Jembi and Shirra began training immediately. Starting with Force powers, Shirra made Jembi meditate on the cavern's mouth till he felt the Force resonating through him. "How will I know when it is happening?" About 5 minutes in, Jembi was already getting impatient. Shirra looked at him witheringly, "Do you think you'll feel it blabbing?" Jembi shook his head reluctantly. "Then sit quietly and concentrate," Shirra started pacing around him, "Try breathing as slowly as you can, once you think you're there, go further. Feel the Force around you." Jembi tried to do as she commanded.
Hours passed. At one point Jembi had thought he felt something then it was gone, evading his grasp. He furrowed his brow and fought furiously to get it back. He eventually got it but it took all his strength and concentration to grab hold of it. Once he had it he cried out in victory. "I have it," he yelled… to an empty room. "Shirra," Jembi called, "are you there?"
He saw Shirra come pacing down the tunnel a while later, "Well Jembi," she asked slowly when she saw him waiting impatiently, "do you have it?" Jembi had been practicing summoning the power of the Force the hour Shirra had been gone. "Yes, I do. Watch," Jembi said proudly. He picked up a rock and threw it up. Then as it was coming down he summoned the Force and slammed it against the wall. The effort left him panting and he looked to Shirra for approval. She simply shook her head, "It's a start but that's not using the Force, young one."
She picked up the stone he had hurled across the room, "The Force is not something to be commanded. It's something to direct and guide," as she spoke the rock levitated and started spinning. "When one commands the Force, that is when one falls to the Dark Side," she continued, "You see Jembi, there are two sides to the Force just like there are two sides to you, a light and a dark, a push and a pull." The rock started bobbing up and down, spinning faster and faster. "The way of the Jedi is Light and the way of the Sith is Dark. These two powers push and pull on each other, jostling the world around them while they vie for dominance," Jembi's new master continued, "The battle consumes them, eats them whole and they never attain true balance." The rock was humming and shaking apart, chips flying everywhere. Jembi shielded his eyes from the hail as Shirra continued, "If force wielder desires to be whole they must balance the two forces within themselves and stop the turmoil," the rock suddenly stopped dead and hovered without any sort of quake or quiver, "Then and only then can one attain the power they need to achieve their goals." Shirra suddenly slammed her open palm towards the wall and the rock drilled a hole straight into the rock wall.
Jembi watched this in awe. The raw power his master commanded was amazing. And she did it with such ease! "Now try coaxing the force to obey you. Ask, don't tell." Shirra's command broke Jembi from his trance and he rushed to grab another stone. He sat down and began meditating with the stone in front of him.
Months passed like this, Jembi showing Shirra what he had learned and Shirra would give him wisdom and pointers. Eventually Jembi felt he could learn no more about the basic force and he set out to find Shirra to ask for more knowledge but she was nowhere to be found. On her bead roll was a small note. It read:
If you can find me then you will be ready for what I have next. I am somewhere in the forest, waiting.
-Shirra
P.S. Use the Force.
Jembi looked around for clues as to where she had gone. But there were no tracks and all her stuff was still there in the cave. As he read the note again he remembered one of Shirra's lectures. "The ability to sense the world around you is the pinnacle of the Force. If one can sense their surroundings they can control them and what better way to sense your surroundings than with the very tool and weapon you use."
Jembi had rolled his eyes at this. What use is that when I can see with my eyes, he had thought. Now he saw the value of that lesson. Not all things are visible. Some things may be very far off, other close at hand but hidden form sight. He needed to embrace the world around him and let the Force show him what he wanted to see.
Jembi sat down and began meditating. He lost himself in feeling the currents of the Force. He spread his senses further and further till he could feel the whole forest. He felt every animal, blade of grass, tree. He felt everything but Shirra. Where is she, Jembi thought. I don't sense her, he began picking through every crack and crevice of the forest but he searched for hours to no avail. Maybe he wasn't looking hard enough? No, he thought, she wouldn't make herself impossible to find. It must be a trick. He began searching for some sort of oddity, something to signify her presence.
There! He found it, an absence of the Force. It was only about 100 yards away too. Jembi grinned to himself, I'll have to ask her to teach me that.
Jembi got up, stretched and set out towards the disturbance. He walked into a large clearing where a large furnace was set up and roaring heat and various machining tool were humming with power from a large battery. Shirra was standing next to it deep in thought. She smiled as she sensed his approach. "Well look who swaggered up all proud," she said in a mocking voice then softened, "I knew you could do it."
Jembi smiled and pointed, "What's all this and where'd you get it?"
Shirra gestured around, "You don't think I came here on a shuttle do you?" Jembi frowned, "No, I guess not… This came from your ship?" In all the time they'd been in the woods he had never heard her mention a ship. "Yes, young one. It's a very regal cruiser." She smiled, "But yes it all came from my ship. These tools come in handy you know."
Jembi looked at all the strange equipment and small piles of raw materials strewn around, "What are they for?" Shirra looked at him blankly, "to make your lightsaber of course."
