Efnir and Nomi 2

On Correllia, once she had gone to work at the night club, Nomi had been too busy to interact with others much since her shifts were long and she was sleeping late hours. Once the ship is in orbit around Corellia, waiting to get a bead on the tracking device, she finds herself wandering a bit, figuring out what to do with herself now that she has once again joined the ranks of the unemployed. When she comes across Efnir she gives him a wave. "Hey, I hope you weren't too bored cooped up here in the ship. I feel bad about that. I was the person who said we should follow after those guys at the Arena... If that's what got you recognized I'm sorry I didn't tell you to drop back when I did." Her eyebrow and lip draw toward the center of her face as she gives a pained look. "Did you find something to do?"

Nomi ran across Efnir in the common area where he has been spending quite a lot of time due to the extra space to swing a saber and have the training bot flit about. The bot is fairly scuffed as is some parts of the wall, and Efnir's stance appears honed and confident. "Oh hey Nomi. No worries about that. I am not so sure being spotted in the street there was really connected to the bounty. That crime ring was not apparently where it came from and it also mentioned Force ability which they would have no knowledge of, so likely a result of being noticed Moving something about in public. Can't be helped now. As far as entertainment, well..." He gestures with his training saber to the hovering bot. "I decided to spend time honing my Niman technique that Master Tiin had started to show me. I think I have a good handle on the basics, and can even reflect away some of the bolts now, so seems to have been worth it. It still seems more natural for me to Move targets when we are in combat but the point of Niman is to combine both Force and Lightsaber skill equally. I suppose with that bounty up all the more reason to practice in case someone comes after me and I need to defend myself. Or my friends." He gives a little smile and bow to Nomi, then turns back to the training bot and enters a Niman ready stance. "You were out a bit yourself lately. I know it was for a job but was it still nice to do something kind of normal off the ship?"

Nomi's smile falters just slightly as he mentions the need to defend friends. In answer to his query about the job she shrugs. "It was different. I have never waited tables before. I am just glad it wasn't one of those night clubs where they would have asked me to dance. Honestly, I can't say that I know what 'normal' is. I don't think I have ever been normal. I may not have gone to the temple for Jedi training, but I still never did anything a normal adult would do, did I? Really?" She shrugs again. "I don't know. Maybe." Nomi turns her body trying to copy Efnir's stance, but while she is agile she is not incredibly athletic so unpracticed she looks a little awkward. "Can people who don't have the Force train and use lightsabers? Or do you need the Force to be able to turn it on or wield it without cutting off your own limbs or something?" she asks him.

Efnir moves into a casual stance and retracts the training saber. "There is not anything about the lightsaber itself that requires the Force. The Force only amplifies our abilities and skill. And helps us not cut off our limbs with an errant movement. But certainly you could give it a try. Here." He hands over the training saber. "The switch is here. Make sure this end is away from you. Let me reconfigure the bot to just float there and try to give it a whack. Now you can really look like Somi."

Nomi takes his lightsaber in her hand, looking a little nervous and embarrassed as she does so. Hefting it a bit and looking down at the switch under her thumb she answers him. "Yes, well, there's not much that differentiates us physically besides what we carry, I suppose." Once he resets the droid, she presses the switch and her grip tightens on the saber as the lighted part of it extends from the hilt. "Is that what you think I should do? Be more like her?" she asks. Nomi grasps the hilt with her other hand and steps forward with a quick movement. She hits the training droid so hard that it flies toward the floor and only just keeps itself from hitting. Being trained, Efnir can, of course, see where she can improve her stance and movements to hit better, but for her first swing with a lightsaber, it was a good hit. "Ha! I hit it!" she says, standing straight and beaming. "After missing again and again with a pipe against the Mirror's droids I was sure I'd never be able to hit anything."

"Impressive hit. I think most people find the lightsaber movements strange when compared to similar weapons. Be like Somi? No, I said look like Somi. The thing you did for pranking people at the temple. All I mean is that if you needed to do that now, being able to wave around a lightsaber with some skill could be helpful."

Efnir sits down cross-legged on the floor. "Let's each practice together, if it suits you. I was going hard with the saber so a break would be nice." He reaches out and the training bot floats up, bobbing in front of Nomi, ready for more.

"Oh. Right. I suppose if I needed to look like Jedi-Somi wielding a lightsaber would be a good way to do it. I'm not sure anyone should really be waving a lightsaber around with the purpose to get seen with it right now though." Nomi tries to hit the droid again and misses, but she at least looks a little lighter on her feet doing it. As they continue it is clear that the first hit was more of a fluke than an exercise of skill and Nomi appears to be getting more and more frustrated. She finally hits the droid again so hard that it ricochets off of a nearby wall and hits her in the temple. Looking embarrassed, Nomi blinks hard and shuts down the lightsaber. "I don't think I'm cut out to be a Jedi," she says as she hands the hilt back to Efnir. "Perhaps that's why Somi can feel the Force and I can't."

Nomi sits next to Efnir with her legs crossed. "So I've been talking to the others about the Force. Mostly the dark side and how people fall and what Sith are and stuff. But can I ask you, what is the "Light side of the Force?" What does it feel like? Is it worth it to give up all the things you need to give up in order to use it?"

"That is an interesting question for me," says Efnir. "Remember, on Iktoch we are all force sensitive. Some more than others, yes, and those that seemed to have special talent were sent for formal training at the temple. But for my people, we give up nothing for this gift. It is part of our identity. While the Jedi have established these rules about attachment and emotional control to stave against the dark side, for many of my people they do not need to think of such things. Perhaps that is partly why sometimes I feel the Jedi might have had good intentions for these rules, but did not solve everything all the time. Most of my people do not acquire abilities to make dark or light side matter, and in this I think I feel a sort of understanding about Rhen's view of the cosmic Force, even if I do not know the details of their teachings. But to your main question, the light side is the Force used from a place of calm serenity. In that state abilities of protection and healing can be manifested by certain masters. In contrast, using the Force from a place of hate and anger, or fear, amplifies those emotions and leads down a path of self destruction for the sake of power and dominance. This is why I was so surprised to hear Master Quiet voice that he is out seeking power in this way, even if he feels it is for some greater good for the galaxy. The dark side will find a way in and twist those goals. These are common themes in the parables taught in the history classes at the temple. We have tales of great Jedi who fall, as we say, to the Dark Side seeking power to stop an evil, or save a loved one, or a civilization and so forth. Those attachment clauses exist because of this. It is also so plain for me to see Master Quiet walking this path I do not know how he is blind to it and it makes me very uneasy. Did that shed any light on the subject?" Efnir smiles at his pun.

Nomi smiles a little as she looks down at her pants and fiddles with a small flower embroidered at the cuff. "I never forget the things you tell me. I just didn't realize that all Ichtochi being Force sensitive would lead to a different philosophy on the subject. It makes sense. If being Force sensitivity on Iktoch held the same strictures as Jedi rules there would soon be no Ichtochi. I also suppose having premonitions of the future also gives you greater insight into the consequences of certain actions and decisions with regard to the Force and the impact thereon?"

"I had always wondered about how Jedi were expected to just never fall in love. How do you control that? I mean, if you like someone, don't you just like them? Maybe you just have to avoid it somehow? Because I don't think you can describe love as 'calm' and passionate feelings can easily swing from happiness and excitement to sadness or hate because of the sheer volume of the feeling and the nature of more than one heart being involved. I certainly know when I like someone that it never feels 'calm' and not 'serene,' unless maybe if I knew that person felt the same way. Not that I am super experienced about love or anything." She continues to play with her cuff, not meeting his gaze as she speaks.

"I perhaps should clarify a bit," Efnir says. "When I stated that many Iktotchi do not need to think about or worry about Light side or Dark side, it is more that it really does not affect them being only Force sensitive. Those that actually have the talent to wield the Force are sent out to formal training as soon as they are found. For those, like me, it can be dangerous to go unnoticed and draw on the Dark side unaware of consequences. That also means that the average Iktotchi can live, love, make more Iktotchi (Efnir wiggles his eyebrows at her jokingly) or hate and so on as does everyone else in the galaxy. For Force users, we still feel these things, but the training is supposed to help us use strong minds to overcome them and act from that place of calm, logic and serenity I mentioned. I had many fewer years of this training compared to others, or rather more years as an Iktotchi youth doing silly impulsive things so it is still hard for me. I will tell you I have drawn from the Dark side on a few occasions since fleeing the Temple to help us. I do not feel any different for doing so, perhaps because it was conscious and with moderation. It actually feels like by using some Dark, it strengthened my resolve to the Light. Maybe one can use the Dark side for it’s own power manifestations but still from that place of calm, and in so doing prevent falling and becoming like the Sith. So maybe there is something more to the moderation Rhen has spoken of, or the Jedi are not full masters of all the mysteries of the Force even yet. Or were, I suppose now. Maybe now I can delve into learning more of the cosmic Force unhindered by the filters of Jedi philosophy? Find old relics and Holocrons, learn the old secrets and practice something new maybe. It sounds quite tempting to me now I put voice to it."

Nomi blushes when Efnir makes a joke about making more Iktotchi and when he is done speaking she just says "Oh," and lapses into thought. As she looks around the room, not making eye contact with Efnir, she appears pained and embarrassed and maybe a bit sad. After a moment she says, "I'm glad that you are stronger in the Light than before. I would not want to see any of my friends here on this ship struggle with the dark side or temptations to use the power in the dark side to get what they want." Nomi's intonation is more formal than it was just a moment ago. "Do you think you'll be able to? Study the Force on your own, I mean."

Efnir obviously notices her shift in tone. "I obviously have said something to distress you. I apologize. I only wished to share this honestly. To answer your question, it is not a matter of if I think I can - I must. My teachers now are any lore we run across, data recovered and experiences gained. I can not rely on finding a master and going back to old ways. What I learn, I can hopefully help pass on to your sister and Vesper, perhaps even Rhen if she is open to it. I feel that you are putting a lot of thought and worry about attachment, and your place with us. Perhaps trying to reassure yourself that you are not causing us danger." He grabs her hands and looks in her eyes. "You. Are. Not. Put down this shield you just put up. You are a better captain without it." He then stands up and puts away the lightsaber and training bot. Returning to Nomi he extends a hand to help her up. "Well, I thought your saber use was enthusiastic for sure. If you want to try more let me know I can loan you my training saber anytime. Now what about this music you play? It looks very different from anything on Iktotch and I think I only heard it a few times in passing at the Temple. Maybe if there is time tomorrow before this tracking beacon shows up you can show me something in return?"

Nomi sits very still as he takes her hands and she responds after a moment. "Yes. I don't want to put you - any of you - in danger." She blinks rapidly and looks away. "I do hope you can figure things out and help Somi and Vesper. I think you have the best chance at it." She watched Efnir put away his training items and uses his help to stand, but drops his hand a bit quickly once she is up.

Glad for the change in subject she nods. "I can show you the Dotaesivar. Do you want to try playing it or just see me play it? Do you have any skill with instruments?"

"I have no musical experience for sure, talent will need to be seen. Maybe you can show me first. I would like to hear something aside from Gigit's Jizz on repeat for a change."

Nomi nods. She agrees to play her Dotaesivar at the next opportunity and they part.