Maintenance

[Raph]

The light and the dark. Down the middle lay balance. He meditated on the concept. The true concept wasn’t simply light versus dark; that was just the surface level, a superficial appearance. Balance was more than just the theological conflict, it was also a conflict of ideals; action and inaction, a sword versus a hand… In the moments of rage, in the moments of sadness… Such needed tempered with compassion and love. Zaina Thessel… Kathea Sinrae… Souls that had been sith but were never meant to be. He’d seen their faces both on the avatar of the dark and the avatar of the light.

Upside down, in a one handed handstand, Kairos meditated calmly. The light and dark of the Force were horribly out of balance, at the moment, and perhaps it was due to this that so many walked the light. He could not fully walk the light. The newest form of meditation that Zalea had taught him, this version of the Forge was far different than the one that he’d ever known. Different was not accurate enough, but for the time being, Kairos would have to take it. Forge his darker emotions into something else. Tempered. There was calm to be found in every storm.

Defying the light. Healing the darkness.

It wasn’t defying the light, as it would’ve seemeed. What it actually was, was defying violence, that’s what he’d done realistically. He’d refused to continue fighting either the darkness or the light. It was that refusal to continue the violance, the refusal of constant fighting and to becoming the healer. That was the true lesson of Tython: The wisdom of when to fight and when to heal. The most important lesson of Balance.

Zalea’s lesson on Sandra’s version of the Forge had been enlightening. It was only the meditational aspect, even though it led to the technique itself, but Kairos was enjoying every moment. Niman had been an excellent tool, as well. A form not just for combat, and defense but for balance. The movements of soresu calling forth its defense, those of ataru to utilize the aggression and end a fight quicklly, the shien and djem so to focus on power and shii-cho to delve fully into the Force.

He leapt forward, training saberstaff extending and igniting as he started the movements again. He still had much practice and study to undergo, before he was where he wanted to be.

[Raph]

Dawn broke, over the nameless planet and sunlight streamed in through the window on his little hut. He hadn’t been on this planet that long, maybe a day or two? Maybe three, he wasn’t entirely sure; he knew that he’d gone back to his normal haunting ground for a day, and had ended up helping a friend. He chuckled and exited his new house. It was made of the local stone, a sandstone, green from higher concentrations of an older igneous material, most likely peroditite. The door opened to the glorious sight of the ocean in front of him and he stretched, smiling as he did so.

“Alright. Let’s check the list…” He pulled out his datapad and opened it up, looking over a list and muttering to himself. “So… morning exercise, then breakfast… Then meditation and gathering a bit more food…then meditation, makashi practice, personal projects, then meditation…” He exhaled. “Man… what a busy day… Well, I’d better get started, or else I’m never going to get done, and it’ll be well past dark by the time that I finally head inside for dinner…”

He’d already set up his own little garden, house and training area, though the house was extremely simple, at the moment, just a single room for his bed and kitchen. He’d have to expand that later. He’d need more indoor facilities, after all. Hygeine was still important. But he was getting off track. Exercises were first.

Walking to his training yard, which was really just a large cleared out pit, he grabbed a few rocks, and tied them together, before getting down to do pushups and putting them onto his back. Then he began his pushups. While not necessarily grueling, it certainly wasn’t easy, when not using the Force. The stones were all large, porous and granular, so they were much more jagged and he needed to be more careful as he did his pushups. This took about thirty minutes, where he then switched to situps, for which, there was another thirty minutes.

Pushing himself up, he then turned and headed back inside to the, rudimentary, kitchen he’d set up. This was another thing to expand on, as he improved his house. For now, however, he threw in a few pieces of wood, into the opening in the stove that he’d made, concentrating on it for a while, as it suddenly sparks into flames. Then, with a quick flourish, he knocked an egg against the side of the stove and let the egg onto the stove, cooking it as he flipped it slowly. He wondered how the people around the galaxy were doing, hoping that some, at least, were still free and still fighting. He ate calmly, and slowly enjoying the beginning of his day.

Then he got to his feet and cleaned the plate, and his stove, before he went back outside once more and headed to the edge of the bluff overlooking the ocean and knelt down. There was a calm to the morning, a warm and gentle breeze blew up from the ocean and he maintained his kneeling meditative position. Slowly he let all the problems from Viscara seep from his mind, allowing everything to drop into the Force.

He was no longer a jedi, and so he no longer needed to worry about their people, if he didn’t want to, nor did he need to be involved in their issues. He was no longer a Navy man, so nor did he need to realistically worry about the war. He was a member of the Jal Shey as well as a member of Cadence, the group Thalia had started. Though now she was part of these Red Dragons. He allowed this too to drop. This was where he lived. If they needed his assistance, he would recieve a call and he didn’t need to focus on that, right now. He needed only focus on his own healing… Then before he knew it his datapad was going off indicating that his initial hour of meditation was over and he sighed pushing himself to his feet. He would have to gather food. First up… was fishing.