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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3875589" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 536: Sight Training“We’re not leaving with the others?” Tobias asked, confusion quite apparent in his voice, as he followed Master Ral through the corridors of the lower level of the Great Temple on Yavin IV.    A few steps ahead, the Omwati Jedi Master nodded, “For the time being, we will remain here on Yavin.”    Master Ral then turned a corner, just as Tobias had opened his mouth to speak. Not wanting to speak at the wall, he was forced to wait a few seconds and round the corner himself before asking, “But isn’t it dangerous? I mean...the Vong are basically calling for ours heads and everyone knows the Academy is here on Yavin...”    “The Yuuzhan Vong do not seem to know that,” a slender blue hand was raised as the point was made. A moment later, the Jedi Master stopped and a door in front of him silently slid open. Before stepping into the room, Master Ral spoke over his shoulder, “It is only the older students and a few other Masters that are leaving for Coruscant. Masters Tionne and Solusar are remaining here along with many other students.”    Tobias followed Master Ral into the relatively empty, stone-walled room, “So three Jedi Masters and a handful of young students who can barely fight are staying behind...”“Master Skywalker is attempting to have a fleet sent here to protect the planet,” Master Ral turned around and motioned for Tobias to step next to him, “Close your eyes and draw the Force to you. When you’re ready, keep your eyes closed but stretch out your senses and use the Force to let you see this room.”    Many times before, Tobias had questioned instructions like that. It had never helped, however, usually only getting him a flash of annoyance through the Force. Having actually learned something, Tobias simply did as he was told, curious as to where, exactly, this was going.    Once in the center of the room, he closed his eyes and began to pull the Force around him. It was an odd feeling, all of the energy condensing around him, and in a few moments it felt like he had another few layers of skin...very heavy skin. It took some effort to keep his eyes closed, but Tobias very slowly attempted to push the Force outward, around him, letting it be his eyes instead.    This was, of course, much easier said than done.    While he could feel the Force around him expanding, then contracting, then expanding outwards a little more each time, he still couldn’t actually see. Tobias could feel it all, though...the weight of the air just in front of him, the slight shifting of the stones that made up the room around him, Master Ral’s calm mind, yet bright presence just a meter away...    Bright.    Bright wasn’t a word of feeling. It was a word to describe something that could be seen. It wasn’t an emotion at all.    His mind starting to put the pieces together, Tobias shifted his focus to the bright spot in the Force that was his Jedi Master. Instead of trying to bring the whole room into focus, which obviously wasn’t working, Tobias instead concentrated on the one thing that he was close to seeing without really seeing...that bright spot of Master Ral. And the more he focused, the more it began to take shape. It was slow, but soon, eyes still closed, Tobias could see a vaguely humanoid outline in a way that the eyes could never see anything.    It was like looking directly at the Force, seeing it flowing through everything that was alive about Master Ral, and being so bright that if Tobias looked to hard his ‘vision’ was blurred for a few moments from everything else...    That was when Tobias realized he was seeing more than just Master Ral. He could see the floor, the walls, the door...    It took every bit of his concentration to maintain it, however, and all of his self control not to burst out laughing and open his eyes. Tobias did, however, grin from ear to ear without meaning to, or realizing it.    “Good,” Master Ral’s voice was soft and seemed to gently slip through the air in front of him, “Now, instead of focusing on me, try one of the youngest students in another room.”    There were so few students left in the Academy that the nearest wasn’t likely to even be on the same level of the building, but Tobias didn’t say that. Master Ral knew it. That was likely the point. So, keeping his breathing calm and steady, a part of him anchoring his focus on the bright section of the Force that was Master Ral, and another doing its best to keep from him from opening his eyes, Tobias attempted to push outwards a little farther and find another student...    Very slowly, and very oddly, the hallway beyond Master Ral came into ‘view’. It flowed and shifted with Tobias’ odd form of sight, going black and then suddenly coming to life brightly as his focus wavered, and then began to expand again. Doors could be seen, then ceilings, then light fixtures that were darker than the walls, themselves and then...    And then Master Ral was there, clear as day.    It took a moment for Tobias to realize that it was so clear because he’d opened his eyes by accident. The real clue was colour, which the Force didn’t really have in the same way, if at all. It just was. But seeing the blue-face of his Master watching him was enough to make Tobias sigh heavily, “I almost had it.”    “You are doing quite well,” the Omwati Master nodded, his feathery hair shifting oddly with the motion, “I want you to do it again, but you must stop worrying about succeeding immediately. These things take time to learn, especially when our other senses will do their best to distract us.”    Nodding, then shifting his position slightly and even stretching a bit, Tobias closed his eyes again. He began to try again, but before he could really ‘see’ anything, a thought came to mind and then escaped through his mouth, “Am I the only one that is so worried about a Vong attack here?”    There was silence for a few moments, but Master Ral seemed to understand that it was doing nothing to help Tobias’ lack of focus. A few steps on the stone floor could be heard, then Master Ral’s voice from off to Tobias’ right side, “We cannot hide forever. Master Skywalker will attain extra protection for us soon enough.”    “What if the Vong find us before then?” it was an obvious question, and Tobias had opened his eyes and looked straight to Master Ral when he asked it.    Making a smooth motion with a hand in front of him, Master Ral’s head tilted to the side slightly in an odd gesture, “We will deal with that situation if it comes,” he then nodded again, “Until then, you must concentrate on your exercises. Part of being a Jedi is learning to focus on the moment, not what might happen in the future.”</blockquote>

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