The Journeys of Jon Snow
Book 1: Chapter 4
First Steps Into A Larger World: The Teacher
The three days Jon and Valin spent in hyperspace traveling from Winterfell to the Jedi Academy on Ossus were not wasted. Once they had entered lightspeed, the two went into the ship's cargo hold where the Jedi Knight began to teach Jon how to consciously draw on The Force.
"Close your eyes and breathe in and out," Valin explained. They were sitting cross-legged, facing one another.
Jon followed the instructions, focusing hard on trying to locate the feeling of the nudges The Force had given him.
"You're trying too hard," Valin interrupted him. "Think of The Force like a river. If you spend energy trying to take all the water in the river or stop it, you will fail. Instead, you need to simply let yourself be carried by it. Then, you work with it using simple movements to propel yourself along the current."
Jon nodded, before once again breathing deeply. He decided to give himself up to the current.
'Be with me,' he thought, hoping The Force would hear him.
He almost gasped when he felt The Force wash over him like water from a river. And then it was as if Jon was part of the river. He was conscious of everything touched by the river. Every vibration of every bolt in the ship was felt, along with the hum of the hyperdrive.
Further out, things blurred and were less clear, but Jon was still aware of the burning stars passing by outside of hyperspace. And everywhere, all along the river were little candles the young Force User realized were people.
Because they were in the same room, Jon had a much clearer view of Valin through The Force. The young Jedi Knight's presence blazed like a roaring fire in one of Winterfell's hearths. It beckoned Jon closer and when he stretched out toward his teacher, the boy could feel his joy at Jon grasping the lesson.
"Well done Jon!" Valin exclaimed, snapping Jon out of his meditation. He could still feel The Force around him, but it lacked the detailed vision he saw while in the trance. Valin noticed his disappointment and reassured him.
"You are already miles ahead of most students your age," He said comfortingly. "To sense through The Force with the same clarity as when you are meditating takes a lot of time and focus. I typically try and wake up early enough for two hours of meditation in the morning and then I do two hours at night."
Valin rose and gestured for Jon to do the same. As they walked to the other end of the cargo bay, he explained the next lesson.
"One of the best ways to practice using The Force without being in meditation is a drill I think you're familiar with," the Jedi Knight said as he fished out a training saber and a remote. "However, there is another variable we will add that ups the challenge."
Valin then pulled out a piece of dark, thick cloth and gestured for Jon to stand in front of him. He began tying the cloth around Jon's face, covering his eyes and plunging the boy into darkness.
"So I have to use The Force to see the attacks without the help of my eyes?" Jon asked. It made some sense, after all in his fight with Theon it had felt as though something had been alerting him to what the attacks would be before they came.
"Correct!" He heard Valin say as he guided him back to the center of the bay. "However, I wouldn't think of your eyes as helpful. They can deceive you and relying on them makes you less likely to listen to The Force as intently as you need to. You fared well against the likes of Theon Greyjoy on the basics alone, but it will require greater focus to anticipate attacks from a more experienced opponent, much less another Force user."
As Valin finished his explanation, Jon heard the remote activate and begin its dance around the room. Breathing deeply, he centered himself in the river and reached out all around him.
Swish-swish-LEFT SIDE LOW!
His training saber dropped to cover his leg and Jon was rewarded with the ping of the bolt slamming into its blue blade. Quickly, he went back to the opening stance with his blade going straight up and centered in front of him.
Swish-swish-swish…CENTER HIGH!
He flew into the new position and once again blocked the attack. Now the remote was speeding up, buzzing around him like an angry hornet. He blocked a shot aimed at his right side, then another immediately going for his leg, and finally his stomach.
For some reason, no further strikes came. Still, something was nagging at Jon. He took another breath and reached out in The Force once mor-
BEHIND YOU!
Jon dropped, feeling something go right over his head, so close he could feel his hair tingle. The apprentice spun as he went down and tried to use a sweeping kick against whoever attacked him from behind, but there was nothing.
"There is quite the difference between fighting a machine and a living, breathing opponent, don't you think Jon?" Valin asked from somewhere in the room. Where he was exactly, the boy could not tell.
"One of the first lessons for combat between Force Users is to create a shield that prevents your opponent from reading you like a book, or using telekinesis to toss you about like a ragdoll, let's see if you can counter it."
Desperately, Jon tried to sense through The Force for a hint of Valin's presence, but the more he got worked up, the harder it was to find him. It was as if he were scared of drowning and flopping about, creating ripples that spread throughout the water.
"Jon." Valin spoke strongly, "Calm down and focus. Fear will get you nowhere."
He took one more deep breath and the water stilled. Except not totally. There was a place in the room where it seemed the Force was flickering, as if there was something swimming right below the surface of the river's water.
Smirking, Jon drew on the energy and leaped to that spot, prepared to strike at where he now knew Valin to be. As he brought his saber down in an overhead slash, he felt his teacher slip right past him, before kicking his legs out from under him. The fledgling student of The Force dropped to the ground flat on his ass. Truly a dignified sight.
Jon pulled the blindfold off of his head to find Valin offering him a hand to help get back up. Despite his annoyance at being so easily countered, Jon knew he was about to get a lesson that he would need to take to heart.
"You were overconfident and too eager to attack me Jon," Valin chided. "There are times when you should seek to finish a fight as soon as possible, but you had no idea of my style, or what I was about to do. You must be patient."
Jon nodded, seeing the sense his mentor was making. "I also went for a move that left me completely exposed to your counter," he said, critiquing his performance with the gift of hindsight.
Valin smiled and nodded, "Correct. Don't worry about it Jon, training is the place to make these mistakes, just make sure to learn from it. Now, let's stay on lightsaber training and go over the body zones."
For the next two hours, the Jedi Knight led Jon through the basics of the first lightsaber combat form, Shii-Cho. This involved going over multiple drills aimed at striking various areas of the target, from legs to arms to the head.
At the end of the session, the two had gone over five drills and Jon was interested in trying out an idea of his.
"Valin, can I try running through the drills in a spar with you before we're done?" the student asked.
Valin nodded and the two faced each other in the center of the bay, lightsabers held at the ready position.
Jon quickly began the spar, going for through one of the drills that focused on attacks to the upper body. But, he soon reached what he was waiting for. The middle of the first drill involved a horizontal slash to the midsection, which would then go into drawing the blade upward to the opponent's head. However, a similar move was in the beginning of the fourth drill and instead went down into an attack on your opponent's legs.
Jon pressed the attack, hoping to trick Valin into thinking his attack would go high as the drill called for, but instead he would go straight into the fourth drill.
He began the slash to the middle and tried to feint the upward strike. Valin countered by striking his blade down, but Jon had already drawn it down to begin the lower body attack.
There was a flash of recognition in his teacher's eyes as he jumped back to avoid the attack. Jon brought his blade back up into the ready position before beginning the second drill, which he cut off once he could re-enter the first drill, which had a spot near the end where he could switch into the kata for the fifth drill, which involved focusing on attacks to your opponent's dominant arm.
Valin countered all of his attempts to gain the advantage, slipping through the katas as easily as Jon was. Finally, the knight feinted high, before going low to take out Jon's legs.
Jon was left with the need to either abandon his attack on Valin or be hit in the legs. He chose neither.
Leaping over the blade, the boy was now inside Valin's guard and slashed at the arm holding his lightsaber before he could bring it back in. Before the blade made contact with his teacher, Jon felt Valin's other hand grab him by the wrist holding his lightsaber and squeeze, causing Jon's hand to open and drop the saber to the floor. Before Jon could react, Valin's blade was at his neck.
Valin breathed deeply and deactivated his saber, signaling the spar was over. He proceeded to smile brightly at Jon.
"Well done!" He congratulated his student, and despite himself, Jon grinned at the praise. "I hoped it would be a while before I would need to resort to hitting your pressure points to keep you from landing a blow on me. It's not a trick I use often."
Valin clapped Jon on the back and called an end to their training for now, sending him to get cleaned up before lunch.
Thankfully, there were two bunkrooms on the Ebon Hawk, each having their own refresher and sonic shower, so there was no need for the two of them to take turns.
The feeling of having ultrasonic vibrations basically blast him clean was admittedly a feeling Jon never thought he would get used to, he pondered as he changed into fresh clothing. Hot water showers were a luxury on bigger ships, much less small freighters like the Ebon Hawk, Valin had explained to him after they finished training. Too much water would be needed and not enough space to keep it all.
The two met back in the lounge that took up the center of the Ebon Hawk for lunch. Jon helped Valin as he cooked up some of the salt beef and onions Father had ordered Winterfell's stewards provision them with before they had left for Ossus.
As they enjoyed their meal with some dark, crusty bread, also courtesy of Winterfell, and bottled drinks Valin had brought with, they went over Jon's next lesson, the Jedi Code.
"There is no emotion; there is peace. Do you know what it means when we say that?" Valin asked.
At first, Jon wanted to reply that it meant a Jedi shouldn't be emotional, that they should always be at peace, but something in the back of his mind told him that wasn't right. "You and Jysella seemed kind of emotional when we talked back at The Sanctuary," he said, trying to work out the answer.
Valin nodded and helped him walk through it. "We were sad, and angry, we acknowledged that those emotions existed within us, and then we let them go. Think back to the water metaphor we used to view The Force, what do you think would of happened if we hadn't?"
This time, the answer came to Jon quickly, and with it, the whole precept.
"When I was panicking during training, it was like I was flailing in the water and causing ripples. Would that have happened if you leaked anger into The Force?"
"Yes!" Valin hissed as he leaned forward in his seat and pointed at Jon to show he had hit the nail on the head. "You are connected to The Force Jon. If you throw emotions into the river, it will have an effect on it, and through it the world around you."
Jon nodded, thinking on the words. In his anger, he had already had an impact on the world, throwing Theon across the yard. If he gave into those emotions, he could seriously hurt someone, or worse.
"The next section is this: 'There is no ignorance; There is knowledge.'" Valin recited, gesturing for Jon to contemplate it.
"A Jedi should visit the library every so often?" He suggested jokingly.
Valin let out a short bark of laughter, before continuing, "I'll see about getting that added to the Code, but no, that is not the meaning. Try again."
Jon rubbed his chin and looked at the question. Suddenly, a memory came to the forefront of his mind. It was one of the first times his father had taken Robb and him hunting. The boys had been eager to go charging in after a herd of elk they had found signs of. Lord Eddard had held them back.
"Remember to take time to survey the land and take in as much as you can see before you act."
In their haste, Robb and Jon had missed a path that led to higher ground, giving them a perfect vantage point to hunt the elk. Had they tried chasing them through the woods, the group would have been at it for hours, and probably lost their quarry.
'Thank you Father' he thought.
Grinning, Jon gave his answer to his new teacher, "A Jedi needs to take in all the information they can and not just go with what they think they know."
Now, Valin jumped out of his seat, "Yes! Correct! Next, 'There is no passion; There is serenity."
'Didn't we just go over this with the first section?' Jon thought. What was the difference between 'There is no passion; There is serenity' and 'There is no emotion; There is peace.'?
After a few minutes of thinking, Jon voiced his confusion to Valin, who nodded and elaborated, "As I understand it, the first precept is to keep you from stewing in your anger, fear, etc. The third part is to keep you from acting on your impulses. Let's go back to when we met. If I was ruled by my passions, what do you think I would have done when I was angered at how you were treated?"
"Would you have attacked Lady Stark, or Septa Mordane, or someone else?" Jon asked worriedly.
"Why shouldn't I have?" Valin asked with a shrug. "They made you, a child of only 10-years-old, feel hated and worthless. Jysella and I had the power to give them what they deserved."
Jon was horrified at what he was hearing, "Because it would be wrong! They don't deserve to be attacked for saying unkind things to me. And my siblings and Father would be devastated if anything happened to Lady Stark. You can't just act on your impulses…oh."
Valin nodded, seeing Jon had stumbled on the point. "Congratulations Jon, you just stumbled on a multitude of reasons why it is so important for Jedi to follow this part of the Code. We have been given enormous power. If we use it to satisfy our impulses, there will be consequences."
Jon leaned back in his seat and sighed. Part of him wanted to only enjoy the perks of being a Jedi. The Force powers, training with Valin, and the connection to his Mother's family. But, there was always a price that would need to be paid, and one of the prices of being a Jedi was the need to constantly keep himself under control.
Still, thinking of the possible consequences, it was one The Bastard of Winterfell was willing to pay.
"Now, for the fourth section," Valin continued, breaking Jon out of his brooding. "There is no chaos; There is harmony."
Jon found his answer for this one from his time meditating. "I saw living things as little candles floating on the river when I was meditating. Jedi are supposed to keep them from crashing into each other and getting thrown about, right?"
Valin nodded. "Correct! We've talked a lot about restraining ourselves, but ultimately the Jedi are supposed to get up and serve the Galaxy. However, as the statement says, 'harmony, not chaos.' We're supposed to do everything we can to settle things peacefully, not through violence."
Jon gestured to Valin's lightsaber, "So why are we so well known for those?"
The Jedi grinned and shrugged, drawing the blade and igniting it with a flourish. "Four reasons. First, there are times when you will need to serve the Force with a blade. Second, while it can be used for attacking, it is also a powerful shield, blocking blaster fire. Third, it is a symbol. It can bring blazing light to the darkness. And finally, it does look rather cool."
Now, Jon had to laugh at the thought of the ancient Jedi choosing to use lightsabers because of how cool they looked. The laughter was infectious and Valin joined him for a bit before they calmed down and moved on to the final part of the Code.
"There is no death; There is The Force." Valin recited solemnly.
This statement was the most difficult to consider for Jon. How could there be no death? People died all the time, Jedi included. Closing his eyes, the boy sent a silent plea to The Force to help him with the answer.
He felt as if he was being drawn backward. Opening his eyes did nothing as darkness surrounded him, and it was now as quiet as the Crypts of Winterfell. Then suddenly, the dragging feeling stopped and his vision returned.
Jon found himself standing in the midst of the cosmos, stars surrounding him. There were also all the candles he knew to be living beings, Valin's light blazing next to him. But now, Jon noticed little threads of light connecting the candles.
His and Valin's threads joined innumerable others tethered together in a network that spanned the galaxy. Occasionally, the candles flickered out, but their threads brightened, shining as they were drawn back into the web of light.
Curious, Jon grabbed the thread connected to his candle and focused.
It was a terrible mistake, as his vision whited out and it felt like he was in the middle of a storm. He could hear countless people talking, but could not focus on anything, only able to make out brief snippets of conversations.
"'What is this madness Targaryen! I was promised a trial by combat.' 'And you shall have it Lord Stark. Fire is my House's champion. We shall see how you fare against it!' 'You have no honor, you madman!'"
A new voice entered the fray as the other two flew away on the storm.
"Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead."
The man's voice once again flew off. Jon tried to let go of the thread, but his hand kept an unwilling death grip on it.
"Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!"
Jon's mouth was open in a silent scream. It felt like white-hot pokers were being shoved into his head.
"'Power! Unlimited POWER!'"
"Help me!" He screamed.
Suddenly, the boy felt a sharp rap on his hand and he was no longer holding the thread. Jon was back in the cosmos, only this time he was not alone in the place.
"Find another as reckless without the last name Skywalker, I did not think I would find," said a little green gnome. He was leaning on a cane and staring at Jon with a considering look, as though he was trying to get the measure of him.
"What was that?" Jon gasped, trying to catch his breath.
The old man harumphed and tapped his stick to the floor before answering, "That was The Force youngling. Dove too quickly and too deeply into it you did."
Jon's shoulders sagged and he looked down, ashamed. "So much for understanding 'There is no ignorance.' Thank you for helping me…I'm sorry, I don't know your name?"
'Hm-hm-hm' The gnome chuckled, "Yoda, I am called. For over 800 years I trained Jedi, Luke Skywalker among them. And know do you what in common both us masters of masters have, hm? A great many mistakes!" The master emphasized his point by jabbing Jon's arm with his cane.
He gave the master a small smile in return, before asking his next question, "How did you find me Master, how are you here?"
"Ah yes, a simple answer there is," Master Yoda said thoughtfully. "Dead, I am."
Jon blinked once, then twice, all the while looking at the former grandmaster. "Oh. I'm…sorry?"
Yoda waved him off and looked very unconcerned, "Do not be. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter," He explained, gesturing at Jon. "When I died, become one with The Force I did."
Understanding dawned on Jon. "'There is no death. There is only The Force.' That's what it means, even when we die, we remain part of The Force!"
"Oh-ho, found your answer, you did, good. Good!" Yoda said, looking at Jon warmly.
The student smiled in return, before frowning, "Master, what was it I was hearing when I was connected to The Force?"
A thoughtful look overtook the old Jedi's face. "Echoes of the past, visions of what might be, you witnessed. Pulled to you by your thoughts they were."
"So I'm able to see into the future?" Jon asked, but Yoda shook his head.
"Impossible to see the future is. Too many paths can we form with every decision that is made. Beware the lure of controlling fate, doomed Jedi older and wiser than you it has."
"But when I spar, it's like The Force is telling me what will happen before it…No wait, by the time I get the warning, the move has been decided and acted on, there are fewer paths for it diverge onto!"
"Yes. Yes! Finding many answers you are, young Snow." Yoda complimented.
Jon grinned and bowed his head to the master. "Great teachers make it easier."
'humph' Yoda chuckled and tapped his cane once again. "Time for you to return to the living, I think it is."
Jon rose and steeled himself, bowing to the Grandmaster. "Thank you for the lesson Grandmaster. I will try my best to live it out."
Yoda had already turned and begun walking away, but called back over his shoulder, "No. Do or do not. There is no try. Remember that, young one." And with that he continued walking into the distance, becoming less and less clear to Jon.
"Wait, master, what does that even mean?" He called after the retreating figure.
But the wizened, old Jedi had already disappeared and the only thing Jon could hear was his laughter in the distance.
Still, he could not focus on that for long, as the mindscape of The Force began to disappear into the darkness, and Jon felt sleep overtake him.