“Are you sure you’re alright?” It was the fourth time Booth asked since Des had collapsed. He was behaving like a mother hen. The flood of understanding had ended without any noticeable after effects.

  “I’m fine chief, I’ll speak to one of the knights like you said. If they think I should go to medical then I will”. He would, when it came to his brain he would take no chances.

  “Good, well,” the man looked in the direction he had originally come from, he seemed to be looking for something. Shaking his head he swung back to Des. “come back when you can, if only to let an old man know you’re safe”.

  “Of course. I want to see more ships after all”. Des smiled at the man, he had every intention of coming back, with this newly discovered power he could see himself spending a lot of time here. Booth nodded, satisfied with Des’s answer.

  With that Des made his exit, the whole way back his thoughts raced. Wild dreams of what might be possible danced across his minds eye. When he reached familiar ground he did not head to his room. Instead he sought out knight Casin.

  He found him in a meditation room alongside others from his clan. They were meditating as a group, something Des was yet to try. He wondered if there was any advantage to the practice. Sitting down he prepared himself to wait but Knight Casin must have sensed him, he was moving to intercept before Des finished sitting on the ground.

  In a quiet voice the Twi’lek asked how he could help, in an equally quiet voice Des explained the events of the hangar. Throughout the explanation the Jedi gave no reaction, when he was done Casin told him to do nothing. He would speak with the council of first knowledge, they would know how to proceed..

  Des asked if he should visit the medical wing, still concerned for his health but The jedi told him not to worry, he sensed no danger.

  Reassured he returned to his room. He was tempted to inventory his holopad and begin testing what was possible with this power. What stopped him was his recent collapse combined with a mental image of himself as a drooling old man, unable to move, unable to think. No he would resist, patience was preferable to a vegetative state.

  One day passed and then two, he had retraced his route to the hangar, meaning to let chief Booth know he was alright but the man was not there. The other man he had briefly seen, Jane if Des remembered correctly, was present. He promised to pass Des’s message on. In his meditation classes he no longer failed, it was as if he had passed some undetectable threshold but he felt no different. On the last day of the festival of life, in his final session for the day his usual creepy instructor was not present, Instead her master awaited him.

  “Initiate Cain, please sit” the green scaled Rodian indicating a spot in front of himself.

  Des did so, giving a quick master as he sat.

  ”First, congratulations on overcoming your issue. My Padawan has informed me of your progress, if her reports are accurate you will be free to join your clan in normal training”. This was good news but not the reason master Jenk was here, Des knew that and thus waited for more.

  “Your experience in the hangar. Before we discuss it there is a small test I would have you take”. He reached into his brown robes and produced three small black boxes, laying them between them, he faced Des. “what do you sense?”

  Des looked at each in turn, trying to feel anything but nothing came. “I sense nothing master Jenk. What are they?”

  “I cannot say”, he remained implacable, giving no instruction.

  ‘Can't say or won't say’. Des considered that this might be part of the test, deciding to change his approach he reached out, picking up the leftmost box. It was black with no markings, maybe an inch thick with the approximate dimensions of a credit card. As he turned it in his hands he realised one of the large faces could slide open. When he looked inside he saw a complex assortment of wires, circuits and unidentifiable parts. With the sight came the now familiar itching at the back of his mind. Like before he reached out and pulled on it, he was met with the same deluge of understanding.

  Overwhelmed he waited, the feeling passed and a small measure of understanding was left behind. “There is a flaw, here,” he pointed at the offending component. “That's all I can sense”.

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  “And the next?”

  Sliding the case closed he placed the first back in its spot and moved onto the next. Knowing what to expect this time, he went straight for the sliding panel. He reached out once more and pulled the understanding into himself. This time it was not as bad, though still overwhelming it lasted only a few moments. “The power source is depleted, I can sense no other flaws”.

  “And the last?”

  The third time was different, he had suspected it would be when he looked inside the last box. The pattern was apparent, each box had decreased in complexity and number of components, this last box housing only three parts and a circuit board. When he pulled, this time there was no flood, only understanding. Not all of it stuck but enough was left to realise something. ‘It’s a clock’.

  “It measures time,” he told master Jenk.

  “Is that all you sense?”

  “No. This part stores energy,” he pointed to one of the three components. “This part is a crystal of some kind, the board is feeding it energy causing it to, erm, vibrate. The last part is measuring the vibration and feeding the data back to the board”.

  “Good”. Des could not read him but he thought the master was smiling. “The power you have just demonstrated is Mechu-deru, it is rare but not unknown to the Jedi. Yours appears to be a variation of the power but that too is a known possibility”.

  “Variation master Jenk?”. Des had his suspicions as to why that might be.

  “Typically it manifests as an innate understanding of machines, for you, it appears less innate”.

  “How so,” Des thought he understood but wanted to hear the master say it.

  “Your understanding of the last box was beyond the norm for the power. However your understanding of the first two was less than typical”

  “What does that mean?” Des needed to be sure he understood., “what should I do?”

  “What it means is you lack knowledge, that is why you collapsed. What you should do, you are already doing. Continue your studies”. Jenk must have sensed Des’s disappointment, “have patience initiate, you are young, you have time. Focus on the basics and build a strong foundation. Knowledge, self discipline and the force, the core tenets of the path. All of which can be improved with”

  “Meditation” Des finished for him

  “Indeed. Now let us continue with that very thing,” saying that he proceeded to secure the test boxes back into his robes. “This time, try to enter and return without the vocalisation''.

  Des began the mantra within his mind, then sent himself deep into the force. Once he achieved the altered state he reflexively sought the familiar harmony that was his anchor. It was not there of course, but that trained response was enough, he had not lost himself, so he rose from meditation.

  “Excellent. Again”

  They repeated the exercise a further nine times without fail before Jenk was satisfied. From there he changed the approach. “This time, complete five cycles of the mantra then return”.

  Des followed the instructions, first doing five cycles successfully, then ten, then twenty. After that he was instructed to awaken upon a voice command from the master. He failed the first time and the second, he did not lose himself but he did miss the signal to return. It was just too difficult for him to split his attention three ways between the force, the mantra and listening for the recall signal. On his third attempt he dropped the mantra, splitting his focus two ways was easier, when Jenks spoke Des heard him. Returning he explained what he had done

  “Adequate. Again”

  For the rest of the session the Rodian master devised increasingly complex ways to test Des’s meditative awareness, pushing him to limits he didn’t know he had. It was the most gruelling session thus far.

  While making his way home to his room he thought about Jenks words. ‘I lack knowledge,’ if he understood correctly, this power Mechu-deru, or the variation of it the void had given him needed knowledge to work properly. That was vital information but it was not the part that stood out to Des.

  In his mind he could still hear Jenks words, ‘ Focus on the basics and build a strong foundation’. The words resonated with Des, something about them felt right. If it was the force nudging him he could not tell. For some reason it made him think of his father, he pried at the thought trying to understand the connection but it wouldn’t come.

  “You alright gramps?”

  Startled from his thoughts he looked up to find Shofo and Krit approaching him.

  “What, oh, yeah I’m fine”, Des gave his answer assuming she was asking about the incident in the hangar. He hadn’t got around to telling them yet, he thought there was no point speaking on it till he knew more himself.

  She looked him up and down as if checking for injury, “You don’t look evil”.

  “Wait what?” Des’s thoughts stalled at the absurd statement.

  “I said You don’t look evil, that's what they’re saying, you turned bad”

  His mind restarting he asked, “Shofo who’s saying that I’m evil?”

  “Everyone” she said with the finality of a hammer.

  Des could have been upset, but it was so ridiculous he wanted to laugh. “Why is everyone saying I'm evil?”

  “Because you learned a darkside power, they said it means you’ll become a sith”

  Playing catch up in his mind he tried to put the pieces together. ‘Mechu-deru is a darkside power, why didn’t Jenk mention that? How did everyone find out before me?’. When he thought back on who he had told, one exchange stood out. He had told knight Casin in front of a group of meditating salamanders. One of them must have been listening, somehow they figured out his power and told the rest of his clan.

  “Well, I’m not evil and definitely not a Sith” he reassured them.

  The Ithorian just nodded, not speaking as always. Shofo seemed like she’d take more convincing. “Master Jenk just finished testing me, if there was a problem with the power he would have said something”

  “Oh, ok. You’re sure?” a last vestige of doubt remained in her tone.

  ”Yes I’m sure” he wanted to offer more to reassure her but could think of nothing.

  He didn’t know what removed the last of her doubt but Shofo nodded in a way that told Des she had reached a conclusion then said “Ok gramps”.

  Relieved, Des wondered ‘This won't cause me problems, will it?’