Light shining on my eyelids brought me slowly around, but I quickly realized it was the Coruscant morning streaming through windows set high on blue-green walls.
My eyes had only just opened, but the uncomfortable stone bed I was lying on immediately informed me I was in the Halls of Healing. Sitting up slowly, I was surprised to find I felt completely normal.
Well, my throat was a little sore, but certainly nothing like you'd expect after being drowned like a whole bag of rats.
I took physical stock, and quickly discovered the rest of me seemed to be fine as well, so that left looking for my lightsaber.
My clothes were dry, but so replaceable as to not be worth more than the tiniest amount of consideration. I looked to the foot of the bed, off to the right, then to the left where I found a small night-table like stand, and on it, my lightsaber.
"Felt you wake up" Dark Woman called out to me. She was immediately shushed by three different Healers as I spotted her gliding in my direction, but didn't seem perturbed by that as she made her way to my bedside as quickly as that unhurried-looking, yet somehow ground devouring glide of hers permitted.
She did seem a little more conscious of the need for quiet here in the main portion of the infirmary, however. Folding herself into the seat beside my bed, she began looking me over with a proprietary care.
Overtly, her expression and demeanor were no different than usual, but I could feel her concern. Not to mention a lingering exasperation bordering on anger which was slowly but steadily diminishing. Unsure of where to begin, I waited for my Master to say something.
"Are you feeling fully recovered, Anakin?" Her question is asked in a considerate way, but there was a diffuse sort of frustration underlying the inquiry I can't find an obvious cause for.
"Other than a little soreness in my throat, I'm in perfect health, Master." I reply with a smile and as relaxed a demeanor as I can manage. Which is likely the case, as far as my body goes.
The fact I'll almost certainly be having nightmares about being trapped in a box as icy water slowly rises around me for a while is neither here nor there. I didn't think my Master needed to hear about that right now, anyways.
The answer seems to cause the venerable Jedi to relax somewhat. Dark Woman leans back to rest against her chair, then respond.
"Good, it's tradition so strong it borders on a proscription that there be no more than twenty-four hours between the conclusion of one Trial and the beginning of the next."
Her explanation helps to explain the stress and tension she was still working to eliminate on her way in. Which in turn helps my own peace of mind.
"It being morning already, I'm guessing you're here rather than an Initiate being sent to collect me?" The question leaves my mouth with an outwardly detached calm any Jedi would be proud of, but inside there's some trepidation trying to find traction.
Opening myself to the Force, I listen to it's soothing song in this place where nearly a hundred generations of Jedi Healers have worked to give the rebuilt Halls of Healing a peaceful air so profound it bolsters the spirit in it's own right.
I climbed out of bed, and felt relieved to be experiencing no dizziness or weakness. Giving my Master a warm smile when I see her watching me like a hawk. I scooped up my lightsaber, gave it a once over which confirmed it was OK, then made an "After you" gesture to Dark Woman before bowing respectfully to her.
She glanced at me for a few more seconds, then turned and began gliding toward the door at the far end of the infirmary. I fell into step beside her, but made no effort to restart the conversation.
What was there to say? The Trial of the Flesh was traditionally tough, but it was nothing when compared to the most harrowing of the lot.
The Trial of the Spirit, or as it was more commonly known, Facing the Mirror. It explained Dark Woman's presence instead of an Initiate, of course. What with the Trial requiring an accomplished Jedi Master who knew me quite well. One willing and capable of pushing me.
Our steps were nearly silent as we padded deeper into the Temple. I was opening myself to the Force and letting it's soothing peaceful currents wash over my awareness.
Doing my utmost to remain centered and relaxed, because I knew I was going to need every bit of wherewithal and mental strength I possessed for the apex of the Trials of Knighthood.
Oh, sure, there was still the Trial of Insight after this, but it was difficult to even think of the two Trials in the same league.
One could leave you a screaming broken mess, the other was essentially a basic proof you weren't going to get conned into helping the first shady character with a silver tongue you encountered after being Knighted.
This was the make or break moment, and we both knew it. Just as we each knew there really wasn't much to be said about the Trial. It was like the Crystal Caves on Ilum, only exponentially more intense.
"I have every confidence in you, my apprentice. Your sense of conviction has carried you this far. It will serve to carry you the rest of the way. Personally, I'm already looking forward to your Trials of Mastery in a few years" Dark Woman stated with quiet confidence.
The unshakable certainty in the woman's voice causing me to flash her an appreciative smile. The gesture of support meant a lot to me, so I made sure she knew that.
"Master, I will never be able to fully encapsulate with words everything your teachings and training mean to me.
If I possessed the secret of time-travel, and could thereby manage to become the apprentice of any Jedi who's ever lived, I would change nothing. The Force saw fit to give me the mentor I needed. Something I am ever so grateful for."
I made these statements with the surety of someone communicating facts which were self-evident, but underlying each was a great deal of otherwise unexpressed emotion.
Laughing softly at me to diffuse the overtly emotional overtones connected to my statements, the weathered yet handsome Jedi Master's tone was filled with wry humor, but her aura communicated how touched she was, as she joked.
"Either my coverage of the Order's storied history was more deficient than I thought, or I fear I've taught you to accept a low standard of excellence.
I'd like to think I'm a serviceable Jedi, but certainly nothing when compared to the likes of Satele Shan, Nomi Sunrider, Fae Coven, or our own Grandmaster. You flatter an old woman, Padawan."
We were coming to the T-intersection I was beginning to have a negative association with, as I replied in a low and intense tone "Many of them might have been more powerful than you, Master, but I very much doubt I would have come so far, so fast under anyone else's tutelage.
You've been firm, stern, and sometimes quite harsh with me, but never once did you treat me like something second rate because of my background, or an unstable catastrophe in the making because of the rate at which my power grows.
You were never afraid of me, and that went a long way in helping me deal with being afraid of myself."
The two of us were at the door to the Trials Chamber now, as she turned quickly quickly enough away from me for a moment her silver bob-cut whipped across the side of her face.
I thought I'd seen a shiny streak of moisture on her cheek, but it could have been a trick of the light, as it was gone when she turned back.
"Shall we?" Dark Woman asked in a simple, steady manner that had touched off our response to conflicts in a couple dozen points throughout the galaxy.
"Let's" I responded just as simply, with a confident smile thrown in to bolster my own spirits as much as my Master's. I followed her quickly through the door she'd just opened. Wondering if I was really ready for this as I did so.
...
The floor, walls, and ceiling were all the polished black of obsidian. There was an extremely diffuse light whose source I couldn't pin down with Force-enhanced senses giving the entire eight or nine meter on a side box a feel like a candlelit mausoleum.
It definitely gave the place a weird vibe which might have made me edgy much earlier in this life. Now, I more curious than anything.
Dark Woman crossed the room until she was nearing the far wall, then turned back to face in my direction and dropped smoothly into a cross-legged seated position on the black floor with a fluid grace that belied her age completely.
Once she'd done so, she motioned to me to join her. Which I did, after a split-second's hesitation to try and wrap my mind about what was going to happen.
I failed, of course, as my expectations came up with nothing to ground a reasonable prediction in. I mirrored my Master's cross-legged seated position opposite her, then waited.
"I want you to sink as deep into meditation as you can, Anakin. You'll eventually feel an external mental pressure. One which I need you to do your best not to resist.
Your mind will create a narrative to incarnate the conflict between light and darkness within you. Resolve the conflict, and you'll have faced the mirror" Dark Woman quietly related in a respectfully subdued manner.
The look on her lined and weathered face as serious as I had ever seen as she communicated this.
Closing my eyes, I focused on the steady beat of the Force's song. It was slow and subdued in this place, but no less beautiful for the lack of vibrancy.
I gave myself up to the almost wave-like advance and withdrawal of the harmony. Systematically blotting out first my awareness of my Master's Force-presence and emotions, then her physical presence. Drawing in further, I began with more effort to do the same to myself.
My heartbeat drumming ever more faintly in my ears was the last thing I was concretely aware of for some time.
Suddenly, a downward push like someone placing one hand on the crown of my head and the other about the nape of my neck to shove my face underwater hit me.
It was powerful, and momentarily unexpected, but I remembered what my Master had said before I began to fight. It wasn't effortless by any means, but I allowed my essential self to go slack as the gripping pressure pushed me deeper and deeper into something.
I couldn't feel my body. I couldn't even feel the Force, and I was always aware of the Force on some level. It was frightening as this drop into nothingness as nothing but a point of awareness continued, yet I drew on my training and composed my mind. It was easier than I'd expected.
easier than it had been only yesterday, in point of fact. The pressure continued to increase, and with it the speed of my drop into the blackness.
...
Hey guys can you throw some power stones to Elevate the ranking.
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