Vodo waved his hand.

"You do not need to see the chair to pick it up. Just envision the object you are touching with your mind rising into the air."

The chair Vodo was referring to suddenly lifted itself off the ground. Vodo watched carefully and felt Esias's mind grasping the object firmly.

"Focus! You must concentrate. Focus all of your concentration onto the object. Once you have firm hold on it, ease back on your focus. In your spare time, practice focusing on an object you are touching with your mind."

After a minute, Esias replaced the chair to it's former position, "The Force transcends your senses. Do not think for a moment that you should use the Force to replace your sight. The Force is above it. The Force is better than all of your senses combined. Once you have a strong grasp of how to use the Force properly, you will find you do not need even your other senses, taste, smell, touch. Remember this."

He gave Esias a light whack with his stick and ordered him to follow. The Jedi Master found it extremely easy to slip back into his Teacher/Headmaster role. He put his mind off to the fact that he was training a potential enemy. But he believed that the Force had led him to Esias.

They began walking down the hallways out of the little resturaunt, "Nothing will replace your sight. Despite the fact that you deny it, I still get the feeling that you want to use the Force as a tool. If that is not what you want, then why do you desire training in the ways of the Force?"

Tir Esias focused hard on the chair... forming the necessary mental images with some difficulty. His problem had not been that fact that he could not see the chair.... it was that he did not "envision" things in his mind. Vodo was not blind. He took for granted that people could conjure up images in their mind's eye at will. Tir Esias did not... and had he not once been able to see he doubted that he would have been able to. It was a struggle to do as Vodo asked, but he managed.

He lifted the chair, then returned it to its former place.

Vodo gave no encouragement for the completed task. His next words concerned the nature of the Force itself. Vodo believed said Force was better than all the mundane sense combined. Once he controlled it properly, he would see. That thought was encouragement in a way Vodo could not have known.

The pair of them started walking out of the dining room. Tir Esias ordered the guards, with his mind, to the medical bay. He followed Vodo out into the hall.

Nothing will replace your sight. Despite the fact that you deny it, I still get the feeling that you want to use the Force as a tool. If that is not what you want, then why do you desire training in the ways of the Force?"

"Master Jedi, I would be lying if I said that I did not use the Force to compensate for my blindness. But, this is no different than the Jedi who uses the force to aid them while flying a starfighter... or a short Jedi who uses the Force to obtain an object from a tall shelf.

Everyone who uses the Force, uses it in some ways as a tool. But I didn't ask for training for that reason.... I've gotten along just fine on my own. I have an opportunity few will ever have. I have potential some can only dream about. Wasting that potential and opportunity would be... a terrible waste."

"Ah." Was all Vodo said at first. The diminuative Jedi Master simply hobbled along the hallway next to the tall blind man.

"So you wish to exploit your potential simply... to exploit it." Vodo murmured.

The hallway was silent, and only the clicking noises of both being's walking canes was heard.

"You think that the Force will make you a stronger person? Perhaps a better person?"

"Is it not natural to wish to better employ a power with which have been blessed?"

Tir Esias noted that the motion of his cane was out of rythmn with Vodo's. He spun his cane like a baton wielder, so that it landed in stride with the Jedi Master's, and the rapping of their crutches came in unision.

He was unsure of why he had been compelled to make that show of unity; only that he had felt very strongly about it.

"I have no doubt that the Force will make me a stronger person. The great Jedi Yoda once said 'the Force is my ally, and a powerful ally it is.' As for better..."

He paused, but stayed in step with Vodo.

"To ask if I would become a better person, one would have to assume that I am not 'better' right now. Is that your opinion of me, Master Jedi?"

Vodo shrugged slightly, "There is always room for improvement. Which I would assume is your point."

They continued moving down the corridor, which was completely spartan - typical for a Star Destroyer. Vodo had not been on many of the Imperial-class vessels, but had served extensively on the Acclamator-class troopships during the Clone Wars.

Memories of that time suddenly drifted forward from the dark recesses of Vodo's mind. He had tried to forget the Clone Wars, and what he had seen and done in them, but the memories always returned to visit him.

Vodo wondered if this blind man had any such memories.

Which brought him to his next statement, "This is a nice ship you have. You must be well... connected to be able to afford such a ship."

"You could say that."

Vodo, like just about everyone else in the galaxy, had no idea who or what the Union was. 'Well connected' barely covered the extent of the power Tir Esias could call upon if needed.

The pair turned a corner and came upon a turbolift annex.

"Where to?"

Vodo ignored him. We was not going to be shot down so easily.

"One might wonder just how well connected you are, Mr. Esias."

Vodo slowly began to circle him.

"You send your mindless Gen'Dai to hunt down a Jedi to come train you. Not many people can afford the services of someone like Qive, I know. You bring me to this ship - and I am proud to say I know a little something about these ships - which is very difficult to obtain... and you have many servants at your beck and call..."

Vodo stopped in front of him, and made his presence very small in the Force.

"I would like to know just who you are."

"Would it change anything, Master Jedi, if you knew? If you knew how I obtained the power which I have so causually displayed? Do you really care?"

Tir Esias retrieved the holocron from inside his jacket.

"You are defying the rules of your own Order. You said so yourself. I have no illusions, if I did not have something you want you would never have consented to train me. I believe we made a deal."

Tir Esias took a moment to focus, concentration on the holocron as Vodo had instructed him to earlier. He drew the force around him, much less than he was accustommed to, and then exercised his will. The holocron rose from his hand, and began dancing around in the air.

"I am a quick study. You have my word that when my training is complete you will have your prize and I will trouble you no further. Let me remind you though, you are not a prisioner."

Tir Esias manuevered the holocron back into his outstretched hand and released his hold on the object with the force.

"If you wish, you may leave. The ship in which you arrived is yours."

He tucked the holocron back into his jacket and awaited the Jedi's reply.

Vodo stared at Esias for a long time. He greatly desired to know who Tir Esias was and who he worked for. But Vodo knew the Jedi Order, and himself, needed that Holocron.

He did not doubt he could easily take it from Esias. Even with his limited Force abilities, Vodo could easily defeat him in combat. And he even felt like doing it.

It wouldn't be hard. All it would take was a strong Force push and a hard rapping of his his stick to temporarily distract the blind man. After that, it would be reletively simple to get to a ship and take off.

But a nagging voice in the back of his head kept him from doing it.


It's not the Jedi way.


Damn blasted rules.


Rules he himself taught to padawans every day.


"I will not leave. Not yet. What else do you desire to know?"

Tir Esias held no illusions of his own power. He was confident that if Vodo wanted to, he would take the holocron by force and escape from the ship. Only Qive would truely be able to fight Vodo, and even he would have difficulty. But Tir had not expected Vodo to resort to violence.

Vodo had not become a Jedi Master by bashing heads in to get what he wanted.

"There have been reports, Master Jedi, that you know a force technique that allows you to make your walking stick nearly impervious to damage. It can even stop the blade of a lightsaber.

Considering that we both utilize similar extra appendages, I thought that this technique would something that I would be able to learn."