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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3883973" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 538: The Force Never Makes SenseTobias’ eyes were closed as he sat on a small patch of grass a good kilometer away from the Great Temple. The jungle around him had thinned slightly, and so he’d decided it was a good place to meditate. He would have liked to stay near the Temple, but the tension in the air was tangible and extremely distracting. It was hard enough to sleep, let alone focus through distractions and meditate.    Of course, this was completely discounting the fact that Tobias had never been any good at the whole meditation thing. The root of the problem was that he didn’t understand the point, but it also ended up extending to the fact that his mind had a habit of just wandering. Over the last few months, Master Ral had taught him a great deal to take control of his thoughts, but it was something that usually took years to truly accomplish.    For the moment, Tobias was simply relying on a technique that Marix had taught him. He closed his eyes, then began to focus on his breathing.    In.    Out.    In.    Was that a bird...?    In.    No, out.    Out.    In.    Every so often, stray thoughts would seep in, but eventually he reached a point where the repetition simply took over. It was a very tenuous kind of focus, with Tobias basically drifting into something very close to sleep and any simple thought that might make its way in completely snapping him out of it. But, for the moment, he had reached that perfect point. Tobias’ mind was as blank as it could ever be, his only actual thoughts focusing completely on breathing in and out.    And then...    “Are you alright?”    It was a voice Tobias didn’t hear with his ears. It was also a voice that sounded odd because it was...    Tobias could see. His eyes were closed still, he was sure of it, and he could even hear himself silently focusing on his breathing, but he could see. And he didn’t see trees, either. Instead, there was a rather large, cream coloured wall behind a figure that, oddly enough, Tobias realized was himself. Leaning against the wall of an archway a few meters away from ‘him’ was another figure that was unmistakable.    Having heard the question, which had come from ‘Tobias’, the other figure turned over his shoulder and nodded, “Of course, little guy.”    ‘Tobias’ walked along the clean cut grass to stand next to Jyren, “You don’t look it.”    At this point, despite hearing himself counting his own breaths and feeling his eyes closed, Tobias had lost track of where he was. Part of him was even confused over who, if that was even possible.    Jyren gave him a rather curious look, which even could have held a hint of annoyance there, too, “Aren’t you supposed to be taking your lessons right now?”    Tobias at least had the decency to look panicked, despite knowing that Jyren wouldn’t do a thing about it. As he was involved in this terrible acting, Tobias wandered over to the other side of the archway and mimicked the way Jyren was standing against the other side. Turning his head, Tobias glanced out towards the wilderness beyond. There was a soft, blue shimmer to the grass and the trees just beyond, as they were at the very bottom level of the Palace on Alraxia. The odd thing, though, was that there were always Knights guarding these open entrances to the Palace grounds. Tobias couldn’t help but wonder where they were, and he never even considered the fact that it might have been because Jyren told them to get lost.    “I didn’t sleep last night, either,” Tobias said quietly. It was a rather cryptic statement, but Jyren knew what that meant.    Arms folded across his chest in a very defensive pose, Jyren carefully eyed the younger Alraxian, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”    It was an old habit for Jyren, and Tobias had only picked up on it indirectly. When he couldn’t sleep, Jyren would wander into Tobias’ room to make sure the kid was alright. He had done it for years, sometimes falling asleep in a chair but always waking up before Tobias and slipping out unnoticed. Well, he thought it had been unnoticed. That had never been exactly true.    Tobias wasn’t exactly a genius when it came to conversation, but he could tell when someone was trying to steer away from a subject, “Mother only ever glares at me when I’ve done something wrong or when you’re acting like this. And I’m almost sure I haven’t done anything this time.”    A heavy sigh escaped Jyren and he looked down at the ground at his feet. After a few moments, he looked up and Tobias noted that Jyren’s voice had become much harder, “Tobias, sometimes things do not heal.”    Despite having pried straight for such an answer, it left Toby at a complete loss. His thoughts were easy to vocalize, “...what?”    A hint of a smile tugged at Jyren’s face, but it definitely wasn’t a happy one. In fact, it looked rather haunting for some reason, “Toby, this isn’t exactly the best conversation to have right now. In fact, its probably best to wait another twenty years or so.”    The last sentence had been said under his breath, as if it was an afterthought, but Tobias had latched onto that immediately. Pushing himself up off of the wall, Toby looked up at Jyren though his mess of blue-black hair and asked, “No...what do you mean?”    It really worried Tobias to see Jyren like this. This was his hero, his father, and despite putting on a rather hard exterior, the way he was suddenly avoiding people was the first tip off that something was extremely wrong. Add to that the fact that Jyren’s voice had none of the usual qualities to it, and then finally the rather oppressive feeling in the Force that surrounded him, and Tobias could tell without a doubt that something was wrong. Jyren had helped him so many times that Tobias wanted to return the favour...not really having any idea what he was getting himself into.    Jyren studied Tobias’ face very carefully. Eventually, he looked away and off towards the wilderness outside the shield protecting the Palace, “Remember when Eilat died?”    Eilat had been Tobias’ pet dragon. But it when both he and Eilat were still young, the dragon had gotten very sick and, sadly, there was nothing the Redstars were able to do for him.    Nodding, Tobias spoke the thought that came to mind which seemed relevant to the vague words spoken already, “You said that, eventually, with time, it would stop hurting.”    “And it did,” Jyren said with a nod, still talking off towards the trees in the distance, “But some things...sometimes, we encounter a situation that time doesn’t heal. A hurt so deep that it actually only gets stronger with time and we just have to find a way to live with it. Even if you learn to live with it, some days...some days are harder than others.”    Tobias didn’t even say ‘oh’ or anything like that. He just stared, unsure of what he’d gotten himself into and lost as to what to do now. But then Jyren did something surprising, he stood up, put on a smile, and said...    The comlink on Tobias’ belt beeped, snapping him out of the rhythm of focusing on his breathing and right back into the jungle of Yavin IV. Eyes opening, Tobias’s hand naturally went to the comlink on his belt. His mind, however, was elsewhere, trying to figure out why he’d just relived that event. It didn’t seem connected to anything at all and just seemed very...odd.    “I’m here,” Tobias mumbled at the comlink when he pressed the activation switch.    When he released it, Master Ral’s voice came through the other end, “Need you back to the Temple right away.”    Still slightly lost in the past, it was hard for Tobias to completely pull all of his awareness right into the present. But hearing Master Ral’s voice with an edge to it, a very hard one, was enough to tell Toby that something was wrong, “On my way. What’s going on?”    “A fleet of ships has shown up in system and they’re setting up a blockade. They don’t look to be Yuuzhan Vong, and they’re trying to stay unnoticed from the distance they’re keeping to us. We’re going to try to get everyone off planet before they try anything, though.”    Tobias didn’t say anything to that. It said enough. What he did do, however, was start running back to the Temple. It wasn’t surprising that something like this had happened, but Tobias couldn’t help but feel like it was the worst possible time. He was still busy trying to figure out what he’d just seen, and now the damned Academy was practically under attack!</blockquote>

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