Chapter 6

"What do you mean what I am?!" She demanded to know. That one statement had her feeling an anger she had never felt before and she didn't really even know why. He frustrated her with his half answers or just no answers at all. She wanted to scream, she wanted to shake him and she wanted to hit him in the head. These violent thoughts were not normal for her but she felt as if they were. "I am not anyone or anything special or unique! If anything I am a burden and a joke to everyone around me. Just someone they humor." She could feel tears brimming in her eyes and she swiped at them wondering why she was suddenly overcome by so many emotions. He just watched her with concern in his eyes as she brought herself under control. "I'm sorry." She whispered quietly when she was finally able to speak. She stared intently at her fisted hands as they lay in her lap. She was being ungrateful and she knew it. He had taken her in, rescued her and she in return had proven to be every kind of difficult. She felt her emotions start to swirl again and more tears threatened to come. She usually could contain feelings, keep them dampened but for some reason now she couldn't.

She heard him sigh slightly and suddenly his very large hand settled over her two clenched ones. His one seemed to engulf her two completely, his other hand rested on her knee which was currently bouncing up and down. A nervous habit she had developed and she hadn't even realized that she had been doing it. A calmness washed over her as her body stopped its fidgeting.

"Look at me, please." He said softly to her. She hesitated for a moment but with a squeeze of his hand she looked up, an embarrassed blush covering her cheeks. "Good girl." His eyes crinkled as if he was smiling and she bet if she could see his whole face it would be a nice smile. "Now you hear me and for once listen." He was teasing her again on her lack of what he had called her listening skills. "You are special and unique. You were brought here for a reason and I will give you those answers at least help you find them. But before we do you have to understand what you are and for that you need patience."

Patience was something she usually posed herself on. It was a necessity in her line of work but for some reason this was hard for her. Maybe it was because she was focused on her own issues rather than anyone else's and that filed her with a crippling anxiety. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

"Okay." She said softly as she tried to steady herself. She looked down at her hands that still say in her lap with his hand still trapping them there. He gave them a reassuring squeeze that caused her to lol up at him.

"So tell me..." She began. "What am I?" She was desperate to find out all and everything she could. So when his response was less than she thought she was left feeling confused. He withdrew from her and sat back. Once the physical contact was severed she instantly felt lost. Her head was suddenly flooded with an on slot of emotions so strong she gasped slightly at the sensation. She found herself having a hard time breathing, a hard time comprehending and a hard time with not being overwhelmed. The calmness that his touch had brought was gone and she suddenly missed it.

"Tell me how you feel?"

"What!?" She asked, the question so obscure.

"Tell me how you feel." He repeated.

"Right now?" He nodded. "Right now I'm a little pissed off."

"And?" He pressed her further.

"And?!" She looked away for a moment trying to have her answer. So she decided to be as honest as possible.

"I feel overwhelmed and confused. Lost maybe. I feel as if there is something pulling at me, something out there that I can't touch." She looked down at her hands again. "It sounds crazy I know..." He seemed to perk up at that statement.

"Crazy because you have feelings? Emotions?" He asked her gently.

"I...I guess." She answered.

"It has to be so difficult to take on so much from everyone else, to focus on everyone around you. On their thoughts and feelings that you forget about your own. You lock them away and focus on others so that you don't have to deal with your own. I understand that more than you know." She looked up at him in surprise at how he had basically hit the truth between the eyes. "Tell me princess, do you know what an empath is?"

"Empath? Yes but there is no such thing. They are just stories." She had grown up with stories of people who could "read" other people. They were considered fairy tales told to children to get them to behave. Stories were told how those with these abilities would manipulate the feelings and emotions causing them to act out of character sometimes even to the point of violence.

"No more than the Jedi or Sith. And you believe in them or you wouldn't be here at an abandoned Jedi temple past what would be considered safe territory."

"What are you saying exactly?" She narrowed her eyes at him slightly. He met her glare head on.

"You know what I'm saying." He stared at her with those eyes that seemed to bore into her and not for the first time she wished she could see his whole face. Then she realized what he was actually saying.

"No." She simply stated.

"Yes. Yes you are and if I had to guess you are quite a powerful one."

"No...no." She kept saying shaking her head back and forth.

"Tell me." He continued. "Why do you choose to be on your own with only a droid to keep you company? Because it's easier, right? Because being around others is so overwhelming you would rather be alone. It's like when I can sense what others are thinking, you sense that they are feeling." She opened her mouth to protest but she couldn't find the words.

"I thought I was going crazy. Like my mother did." She looked away as she tried to wrap her head around what he was saying, what she really was. A part of her knew it was true and yet another part of her wanted to deny it. She was no one. Just the girl in the back ground. The one who had been left behind to care for her crazy mother who heard voices as her brother went off to join the resistance. Now both were dead and she had still been left behind.

"You're not crazy princess. You were called here just like any other force sensitive being. This place calls to us. It always has and that's why we feel unsettled."

Wait. ..what?

"I thought you said I was empath." He had turned away from her just then focusing his attention on maintaining the fire in front of them. She huffed in annoyance at not getting straight answers from him again and frankly she was suddenly exhausted. Her mind and emotions were heading in seven hundred different directions. She didn't know rather to cry, scream or just punch him in the face. The last bit was starting to sound better and better. Suddenly she heard a bark which could only be described as a laugh emulated from him. He was laughing at her and it only serviced her to get angrier. She crossed her arms and glared at the back of his head. She wasn't normally such an angry person but for some reason he brought that out of her and he was enjoying it. The bastard!

"I am so glad that I can amuse you Pita..." She emphasized the last part. " ...but can you please just answer the question. " she asked tiredly. He must have sensed her frustration because when he turned back around all traces of amusement was gone. Instead a look of determination was shining through.

"What do you know about those who are force sensitive? I'm assuming considering what you do you do know some things." She nodded in agreement and thought back to several conversations she had had with Rey on this very subject. Addie was a curious mind and loved information. The more she had the better she felt. Rey on the other hand eventually became rather tired of her endless questions. Most did in the end so she had shut down and tried to research what she could on her own.

"I do know the basics of what it is but not much else." He frowned at this.

"I'm sorry that those you went to couldn't or wouldn't give you the answers you seek. No one with your ability should be pushed aside." She was somewhat surprised at his answer but she just shrugged it away.

"It doesn't matter."

Not like you are giving me any either. She added in her head to which he replied.

"You're right. But I will." He promised speaking into her head. A feeling she hasn't realized she had missed. "Interesting" He added as he too felt it. Again he spoke but this time I was it loud.

"The more powerful force users usually have other abilities. Were mine is telepathy yours is empathy. You just need to be taught, guided. You need a teacher, someone to show you the way."

"To what? Teach me the force!? I'm still not sure I believe you." He stood just then and came over to stand in front of her. She looked up into his unreadable eyes.

"You believe in something or you wouldn't have left everything thing and come here. You are here for a reason. Something more is coming. Something more sinister than before and you may be the key to finding what will stop it." He had such determination in his eyes that for a moment she was lost in them. She couldn't even begin to understand any of this but she knew with him at least she had a chance.

"Who are you?" She asked again. He just looked at her for a moment before he broke eye contact and moved away from her.

"No one anymore." It came out as a whisper but she still caught it. She also caught the fleeting thought he sent toward her. "I'm a monster." She was suddenly stuck with the thought that a monster might just be what she needed.