| abstract | - The chair Luke is sitting in creaks, yet the Jedi doesn't seem to notice. "It _is_ who you really are Jessalyn. I'm glad for you, and terrified at the same moment." He stands, brushing at his thigh and stepping over to a small table in the corner, "..and for myself." he murmurs, back turned. "But I feel at home here. It's like things are coming together and it's just.." a marginal shrug, "..easier." He inspects the item on the corner table, "You're going to make a Lightsaber." he says with some finality. "And you're going to become a Jedi." Turning, with his own weapon in hand he adds solemnly, "If you'll just forgive me in advance for not knowing _exactly_ what all the steps are." Jessalyn listens carefully, arms still folded over her chest as she tilts her head to the side. Her hair falls into her eyes and she absently pushes it back before letting her hands fall to her sides and taking a few steps toward the corner where Luke is standing. "That's part of the training?" she asks, just a slightly wry tone in her voice as she looks between him and whatever it is on the table. Luke steps to the side, turning to place a gloved hand on the small oven, "You'll need to make the crystal. It's the hardest part." he says turning his saber over in his hand. "Ben left a book." He swallows and blinks. _Ben.. you could have left more.._ Placing a hand on Jessa's shoulder he adds, "I'll help you with it. It's a crucial step in your training. I would make you create your weapon last, but..." He looks away, toward the door and tilts his head as if he isn't sure what he's sensing or feeling, "..you'll need the weapon." he finishes succintly. Lightsaber construction hasn't exactly been on Jessalyn's mind, and unfortunately it's one of the few weapons she's never even seen a schematic for. Thus, it's the actual, physical process of construction that immediately concerns her, rather than its timing. And it's with a degree of surprise that she asks, "Crystal?" and glances down at the weapon in his own hand curiously. Luke nods, igniting his weapon with a flash and holding it vertically in front of him, "The Jedi's of old used real crystals. We'll have to fabricate one, that's what the oven is for. It focuses the energy. It's like a blaster bolt, but turned back on itself and magnified. It can cut through virtually anything, except another lightsaber." The weapon drones brightly in response. Jessalyn fingers silently with the small stone pendant at her throat, blinking at the bright emerald blade as she listens to the description. "Make a crystal out of what?" she asks, finally turning her almost mesmerized gaze back to Luke's. "There's some material here left over." Luke replies, shuffling through a few containers and a small box next to the oven, "I meant to take this stuff back with me. Here." He hands the items to Jessa and retrieves a small book from his jacket pocket, "..and this." The book has a clasp on it, which Luke presses with his thumb. It clicks open. "Instructions for the crystal. Some of it's not very clear, but part of the training is figuring it out." he adds with a devilish grin. Jessalyn arches her brows as she takes the objects from him, turning each one carefully over in her hands for inspection before he gives her the book. "Oh, great. I can follow instructions perfectly well, but when there's not any, I'm liable to get myself blown up. Is that part of the training, too?" she snorts, turning a few pages and scanning the material. Luke turns away and moves over to the couch, aloofly, "You'll do fine." he replies inadequately, smirking because she can't see his face. "It could take you up to a year you know." he says as flatly as possible, sitting down and reading her reaction while maintaining the serious front. Jessalyn doesn't even catch what he says at first as she focuses more intently on some particularly interesting or odd description in the manual, but as the word 'year' registers, she looks over at him and blinks. "A -year-? You've gotta be kidding! Even if any old person could take that long, not me! I'm a tech, Luke. This should be easy." Luke does his best at containing a burst of laughter, "Patience." he says smiling widely, "It shouldn't take that long." He sits there, looking amused while Jessa pours over the documents and items. His expression turning slowly thoughtful as he regards Ben's old house and the secrets that have been lost to time. His mind wanders, thinking of Obi-Wan and his own fears over this new endeavor. Jessalyn makes her way over to the couch, the strange objects and the book cradled in her arm as she sits down on the opposite end from him. "I should hope not," she grumbles, spreading the items onto a small table in front of her and settling back to pore more closely over the book. Like the quiet touch of a warm desert breeze, a ripple of sensation moves through the hut. "Patience," muses a quiet voice, the tones soft, paternal and obscurely amused. "So now you instruct your own students in the wisdom of serenity?" Logger's note: Luke cleared the OOC situation up via page. Jessalyn was able to sense Ben's presence, but not actually see or hear him ICly. OOCly, however, we didn't think it would be fair for her to miss our fabulous RP. Luke stands and paces the room, running his hand along the stucco walls, over furniture, inspecting every nook and cranny looking for something, the frown returning to his face. Mouthing silent words to himself as he glances at his new student at the other end of the room, 'I don't know if I can do this..' He lets out a ragged breathe, trying to search for something around him or within him that could provide solace. He watches her intently, running through horrors in his mind. Jessalyn in shiny black armor, more machine than.. He shakes that thought off, pacing once again, deep within his own thoughts.. turning wide eyed and sudden as a ripple is felt, a voice long sought for, oft remembered. Luke murmurs, half with elation and shock, "Obi Wan.." Jessalyn turns a page of the book, her brow furrowing both at the sudden warm presence that seems to pervade the room, as well as Luke's odd behavior. She remains silent, staring at him before glancing worriedly around, as if seeking the source of whatever it is that's disturbing him. Awash in the cool blue aura of the Force, Ben Kenobi stands comfortably in the archway of his old home. The kindly smile of a proud teacher rests just as easily on his lips. "It's a very different position, being instructor, is it not? So much easier to recognize the dangers; so much easier to see the need for restraint." Luke pales, looking for all the world like he might run from his duty this instant, bolting down the path and back into the simple farm complex of his youth. He blinks as Obi Wan speaks, "I.. I might fail." he manages. "Fail at what?" Jessalyn asks, looking annoyed as she's disturbed from her reading. "What's wrong with you?" Ben steps forward from the shadow of the arch, sitting down on the arm of the couch with the casual grace of a former general. One quick nod acknowledges Luke's fears as sound. But the old Jedi Master's words still seek to instruct. "Fear is a very powerful force, Luke. Like any other, its influence is strongest when associated with those who have strength. If you allow it to rule your destiny, then whether it does so by dictating your action or your inaction becomes immaterial. You will have allowed it to take precedence." Luke looks to Jessalyn, not answering her. His expression distraught suddenly and closing his eyes, calming himself as Obi Wan taught. Nodding at his words now, "There is so much I don't know.." he says softly toward the image, then looking at Jessalyn, "She's strong with the Force." His voice whispery soft, almost hissing and labored, "..powerful." he squeezes his eyes shut, shaking his head then bursting, "What if I fail!" he shouts. Trying not to show how disturbed she is by being addressed in the third person when she's sitting right there in front of him, Jessalyn watches him with suddenly concerned eyes, her mouth almost gaping when he shouts his final protest. Calming herself, she glances around, her spine tingling slightly as she at least partially senses the presence in the room, and she narrows her eyes as she tentatively tries to reach out and find its source with her untrained senses. If if he were unable to sense Luke's torment through the living connection of the Force, Ben would know, perhaps better than any other, the very nature of the young man's thoughts. But he speaks the name of his own failure in a matter-of-fact voice: "Vader was fond of reminding those around him to 'never underestimate the power of the Dark Side'. It was, I think, his best advice. But neither should you underestimate the power of the Light. You've seen it. You've felt it. You know its strength." There is something wholesome and satisfying about a well spoken word from a trusted friend, like a good meal. Luke nods slowly, head drooped and eyes closed, "I've felt it." he answers softly, his hand clenching in it's glove. "I know it's power." he looks concernedly to Jessalyn, one eye squinted ever so slightly, the age in the young man's face evident now; from the scars to the nearly imperceptible wrinkles he's noticed around the eyes to the ache in his wrist. "I know she's ready, but.." his gaze turning to Ben, "..am I?" "A difficult question," Ben admits with his characteristic honesty. "But one which you can answer yourself." The grey head tilts to the side, regarding Luke with a steady, expectant gaze. "How do you know when to raise your lightsaber to parry an opponent's thrust? How -did- you know, when you first began to duel with the drone on the Millennium Falcon? Listen to the Force, Luke. It can guide your larger movements as well as the small." "I know." Luke answers plainly, he looks at Jessa again, straightening, speaking still to Ben, voice intent and confident, much unlike it was long ago on Dagobah when he spoke similar words, "I _am_ ready." Jessalyn has pretty much give up on Luke actually addressing her worries, and turns her head away from him, still trying to pierce through what seems like a fog, knowing only that something feels -different-... although not altogether wrong. It's a peaceful, complete feeling that somehow seems connected both to the very building and to Luke as well, and finally she looks at him, shaking her head slowly. Ben's gaze remains on Luke's profile, studying the new lines, the firmer voice, the stronger control. "Yoda once told me that you looked too much to the future-- that your mind was never on where you were, and what you were doing." Ben's voice is gently chiding as he applies the old master's words to an excess of caution instead of impatience. Perhaps he's judged Luke -too- serious. If that's the case, his next words are poorly suited to change him. "If she is ready, then there is danger in hesitation as well. The future will come, whether we ask it or not. But your place is in the present. You must use your knowledge of what has been to help shape what will be, or other forces will take that opportunity from your grasp." "I will Obi-Wan. I promise." Luke says emotively. "The Jedi must thrive again. It's the only hope for the Galaxy." he glances at Jessa, "I understand now.. why I've felt such a strong pull to bring her here. The time _is_ now." Jessalyn mouths the words, 'Obi-wan' as her eyes widen and she stares at Luke, the pieces finally falling into place. Her head jerks around as if her eyes will now be able to verify what her other senses have already figured out. "The Jedi -will- thrive again," Ben's voice is confident as he too faces Jessalyn. "The Dark Side is not the stronger, Luke, merely the easier. Stay vigilant, let the Force guide you, and have confidence in its care." The last whisper of a word is felt, not heard, its coalescence of life fading softly back into the Force that suffuses even the barren desert of Tatooine.
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