Four Days Later

Tir Esias could easily discern the improvement he had made in such a short time. He felt much more confident in his ability to control and manipulate the force, and he did so with much less exertion of effort than previously.

Vodo was an excellent teacher.

The Jedi Master made things seem so easy, and he helped Tir try to imitate such effortlessnes. Progress was not as fast as Esias would have liked, but it was being made. Slowly, things were coming to the point where Vodo had done all he could, and only repetition and practice would help Tir Esias advance. He could practice on his own.

But Vodo Baas could not, would not, stay on the Noir Soleil forever. He had duties to attend to. Plus, he was a major secuirty risk. Though he had not made any mention of it, Tir knew that Vodo had been brawling with Qive on the first night of Vodo's stay. In the time since, it appeared Vodo had laid low, though even of that he was not certain. In any event, Vodo had to go eventually.



Slowly, Tir allowed the pair of chairs he had been levitating settle gently toward the floor. In the same instant he removed the pair of earmuffs that had been dulling his most potent traditional sense, hearing.

"Master Baas, there is no doubt that your teaching has improved my mastery of the force greatly. However, I don't think there is much more you can do to assist me in the mastery of the techniques you have already taught me. That meerly takes time.

I also know that you have more students and duties that you are neglecting to work with me. I appreciate everything you have done, but I must ask, can you teach me any advanced techniques before you must go?"

Vodo smiled.

During his time with Esias, he had actually grown to respect and even (he daresay) like the man. Esias was a man of honor and integrity, Vodo observed, which helped to ease Vodo's initial qualms about teaching him.

Over the course of the training, he had taught Esias all the basics, and his 'student' had learned well. They had developed a sort of camraderie, and an equal respect for one another.

"Before I go, I will teach you one more thing."

He held out his walking stick, "Long ago, I learned from a holocron how to deflect concentrated energy assaults with nothing more than this.."

He tapped it on the floor, "If one has the neccessary control and command of the Force, it is a reletively simple thing to use it to bind the stick's atoms together at the molecular level. By binding them more closely, the stick becomes harder than durasteel."

He leaned on the stick and looked at his blind student, "The same technique can be applied to virtually any form of matter. Including many types of metal. Observe, and see if you can follow my lead."

With that, he reached deep into the Force, and sensed Esias reaching out to observe him. Vodo kept his eyes open, like he always did. Little tendrils of Force energy flowed over the baffor wood of his beloved walking stick, and mentally, both Force users could feel the stick tightening and strengthening.

For a moment Tir Esias waited for a surge of power exit Vodo Baas, as it seemed logical that great power would be needed to rearrange the molecular structure of any object. He stood there in anticipation, his connection to the Force strong as he began to draw power to himself. For a moment, it seemed like nothing was happening.

A moment later, Tir Esias realized that the process was already going on. The walking stick at Vodo's side was engorged with power and it glowed more radiantly in the Force than any inanimante object Tir had ever sensed.

Confused, as he had felt no sudden burst of power from Vodo, Tir Esias narrowed his concentration so that he focused solely upon the walking stick. It was obvious that Vodo had embued the stick with great power... but how he had done so was a mystery.

Tir Esias studied the situation for a moment, patiently searching for the answer to the problem. Slowly, it came to him. In his anticipation of a massive display of power, Tir had expected an outpouring of the Force to engulf the stick in one sudden tsunami of power. It turned out, his expectation could not have been more wrong.

Vodo had taken huge swaths of power, and by force of will, condened them into tiny tendrils, in the way that a black hole condenses huge amounts of matter into a relativly tiny space. The tendrils were similarly dense in the Force, and Tir Esias realized that much of the radiance he sensed from the walking stick itself was actually the glow of the tendrils as they saturated the staff with power.



The tactic was something very difficult to teach. Understanding this, Tir knew that only by trying to replicate Vodo's technique could he begin to learn the process. Concentrating on his cane, he drew the Force around him toward it, doing his best to emulate the ultra-dense concentration of Vodo's work. Unsurprisingly, his first attempt was less than sucessful, as it was plain to see by comparision that his ability to concentrate the Force was not nearly as honed as Vodo's. However, he had a good feel for what he was trying to do. Like the rest of his techniques, it would simply be a matter of time.



"Thank you Master Jedi. I am certain this technique will be useful in the future."

Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out the holocron.

"As you were promised." He tossed it to Vodo, guiding the delicate module with the Force so that it would reach Vodo. "I hope you are more sucessful in opening it than myself."

Tir had the suspicion that Vodo would fare much better.

"You have been free to go whenever you choose. The ship upon which you arrived here has been readied for your use.." In fact, the freighter's innards had been completly torn out and replaced, in an effort to keep sensitive information out of Vodo's hands. "and if you would like you may keep it as your own."

Tir Esias had learned more about the Force in his short time with Vodo than he had known before. With Master's like Vodo running the Order, perhaps the Jedi would return to their former days of glory. Of course if they did, they might run up against the Union. Understanding the power of Master's like Vodo, Tir Esias hoped it did not happen soon.

Never underestimate the power of the Force.

If he had learned nothing else from Vodo Baas, it was that.

Naboo

Vodo Baas sat in complete silence in his sparse living quarters within the Jedi Temple of Naboo.

His room was the same one given to him when he had first started his Jedi Training, years and years before. He had modified the room very little since then, leaving the dull gray walls alone, and putting up no decor what so ever. The room only had a bed and desk inside it, and not much else.

But Vodo loved the room.

The sun always set in the east in Theed, which was the direction the window was pointed in Vodo's room. So a nice, soothing red sunlight always filtered into the room at dusk, giving the Jedi Master a deep sense of peace.

But this time, on this particular day, Vodo felt only a deep sense of disquiet. After his experiences with Tir Esias, Vodo could not help but notice that the sunlight was the exact same color as blood.

How much blood would be spilt by Esias with his newfound abilities?

Vodo was afraid to think of the answer.

The Jedi Code was there for a reason, and Vodo had gone against that very code. At the time he had convinced himself that it was beneficial to the Order to do so, but now he was having some deep reservations.

Had he done it for the Order?

Or had he done it for his own gain?




These questions haunted the Jedi Master deep into the night...