Chapter Five: Here We Go Again

We drive into a small city just a few klicks outside of the main city where our ship was at. Huh, that’s weird to think. The sky has grown dark by the time we get there and Darryl suggests we stay here for the night. We go to find a hotel to stay in, finding it hard because of the festival going on.

“I think I can stay awake long enough for us to get back to the ship.” I say sluggishly. Darryl gives me a look of disbelief and keeps walking down the street.

“So, you remember our conversion then on the way here?” he asks in a sarcastic voice. I purse my lips together, trying to remember, having a hard time though. I just sigh heavily.

“Fine, okay. You win.” I exasperated. He smiles as if he won a reward and I get a feeling of wanting to smack it right off. Yep, I’m a little tired. After walking for a while, we finally come across a small hotel. As Darryl and I walk in, we see nothing but a computer terminal; the screen blinking ‘Hello and Welcome to the Myst Hotel’. I look over at Darryl and we shrug at each other, going over to the computer terminal. He taps on the screen and starts putting in his information. As he does that, I look at the book. I don’t recognize some of these symbols. And I don’t have access to the Jedi archive to look up the language. If only I could somehow just get to them without Aydgages knowledge... My stomach sinks at the thought of Aydgage and I shake my head, trying to get him out of my mind.

“Hey, it’s asking for our age.” Darryl says, thankfully interrupting my thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, uh put 24.” Yeah, I’m almost 24, that’s fine. He looks at me, a bit stunned.

“Oh, I thought you were... Older, to be honest?” I look over at him, my lips tight.

“Do I look old or something?” I retort.

“No, no.” He defends. “Just how you act, and your fighting skill.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Or maybe I am just rusty on that part.” He chuckles a bit nervously. I tilt my head to the side.

“What age did you think I was?” I ask him. He keeps tapping on the computer terminal though. Do I act old? Oh my... that must be why I was put in charge of so many padawan outings... I smack my forehead. It all makes sense. I look down at the ground. Oh well, better to be seen as older than a childish youngling. I hear Darryl put in his cred stick and then sigh.

“I thought you were my age, maybe a little... older. I’m used to older women. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s hard to tell with you Miraluka . Eyes give away a person’s age and you guys don’t have them.” I look up and nod slightly. That is true.

“ How old are you then?” He pulls out the cred stick, putting it to his lips to think.

“Not sure if I should tell you.” he smirks a little. Is he... flirting with me? Why am I being so weird about that lately.

“ Alright, keep your secrets then.” I smile back. Two can play at this game mister. Darryl raises an eye brow, almost as if accepting a challenge. He looks at the key card that comes out and starts walking to the elevator.

“Just so you know, I was only able to acquire one room but I made sure to get the one with two beds.” He gives me lewd eyes as he steps into the elevator. “ I'm a bit of a... hogger .”I hold back a chuckle.

“You’re so strange.” I get into the elevator and he places a hand over his heart, mocking pain.

“I am not. I just like keeping people on their toes.” I shake my head. He clicks the button to the floor we need to get to and the elevator jumbles a little, starting to go up. I take in a big yawn then quickly cover my mouth.

“Sorry...” I give Darryl a sheepish look.

“No need.” he gives me a concerned look. “You looked like you had taken quite the beating in there. What happened anyway?” I look at the ground, wanting to hide in a corner. The elevator reaches the floor we need to be on and he walks out. I follow after him and we walk down the hall towards the room. He stops at the door, touching the key card to it and the bolt makes a click, unlocking it. He doesn’t open the door all the way though, and I look up at him. “Listen, if you don’t want to talk about it right now, that’s fine. I’ll be waiting when you’re ready to talk about it.” Darryl looks at me, his eyes full of understanding and I just want to fall to my knees, explaining everything to him but it’s too fresh. Too ghastly to think about right now. But I should... the longer I take, the longer it’s going to gnaw at me, and I may cut myself off from the force again and I don’t want that. Especially with bounty hunters after us. I look back at the ground, not wanting to say anything because I am unsure of my voice. He walks into the room and I follow in after, bumping into him when he suddenly stopped in the middle of the room.

“What is it?” I look up at him. He is staring at the middle of the room and I follow his stare. Displeasure seethes off him and I see why, my shoulders dropping. There is only one bed in the room, a very large bed mind you, but only one. Darryl puts his hand to his forehead and sighs loudly.

“What the hell. I touched the button that said two beds but it gives us this?” he grumbles unseemly words to himself and turns to me. “I’ll take the seat over by the window.” He juts his thumb behind him to indicate where it was at and I look at it. It is rather small, could probably fit me better than him but not comfortably and definitely not at all comfortable for him. I look back at him, he has a slight scowl on his face, but he isn’t looking at me, just to the side. I can hear his thoughts storm by at how this place is horrible and he wishes he was back on his ship.

“No, please. Take the bed. I will just meditate.” I say calmly. He lets out a quick breath and looks at me again, his emotions coming into check. He straightens up, fixing his jacket.

“No, I would not feel good with you just on the floor meditating. It would be rude, especially with you looking exhausted and drained.” He starts for the small seats and I quickly put my hand, stopping him with the force. He turns around, raising an eye brow. I let out a sigh and drop the ground, feeling dizzy. I groan, holding my stomach. He rushes over to me.

“That’s a different feeling. I haven’t felt dizzy in a... long time.” I try to stand but my knees give out. Darryl catches me in time and gives me a stern look.

“You are going to take the bed and that is final. We’ll talk about using force powers on me when you are feeling better.” He picks me up with one arm behind my back and the other arm under my legs and lays me gently on the bed. I want to say no but a wave of tiredness comes over me and I just nod. “Good.” He smirks a little. “I like you this. Not talking back.” He chuckles to himself. I let out an annoyed grunt. “Oh, I’m just kidding.” He walks over to the seat again, sitting down in it and getting settled in. I turn my head to watch him. “It’s not fun when you aren’t flustered looking or retorting something back to me. I enjoy that about you.” He grabs his jacket and puts it over himself. I turn my head look at the ceiling then to the other side of the bed, seeing nothing but an ugly painted brown wall. I move a little to get into a better position to sleep and let myself drift off.

* * *

Pain sears all over my body and I scream out. My memories feel like they are being ripped from my head and I try to resist. Aydgages looks at me with a sick seductive face, pleasuring filling his emotions up and I feel rotten.

“ Aydgage please! Stop!” I yell, but I can barely hear it over his maniacal laughter. I curl my hands into fists, trying to block small memories. That of Ly’lis , Reneji and Darryl.

“Stop resisting my little bird. You’re only make this harder. I just want to show you the power that was shown to me. The power that can make you unstoppable.” Aydgage gives me a dark look now, lines of dark aura going down his face to curve around his jaw. I struggle and writhe in his grip, feeling dark tendrils trying to break into my small memories. No! Not like this! Please...

I feel something touch my back and hear my name echo in my head but Aydgage doesn’t flinch. Then I hear a howl. Aydgage drops me and I land on my back with a thud. He looks over at what is howling and tries to choke it with the force. I turn over and see a large purple wolf with swirls of blue, teal and yellow rushing over to me. It swipes at Aydgage and he disappears without even a scream of pain coming from him. A dream... or more like a nightmare... The wolf walks closer to me and sits down. I look up at it, feeling something familiar about it.

“Who or what are you?” I ask it but it just stares at me intensely. I stand up, walking towards it. The wolf just holds still except for its breathing. I reach up my hand to it, the fur feeling warm and soft. I smile up at it. “Thank you, whoever you are. That’s twice you have saved me now.”

***

I roll over in the bed and my vision starts coming to. I take in my surrounding, starting at the window where Darryl was sleeping at but not seeing Darryl there. I sit up quickly, looking around.

“Darryl?” I call out his name quietly. I slide to the edge of the bed but my foot nudges something on the ground. I pull my foot back up and look at the ground. Darryl is sleeping on his stomach with his face towards me. He doesn’t have his jacket on either but it doesn’t seem to bother him. I bite my lip. Kriff , did I do something last night? Oh no... I pull of the blanket and notice that I have Darryl’s jacket on me. I take it off gently, along with the blanket, and start to get off the bed; trying to avoid Darryl’s body. I walk towards the refresher, going inside. I lean over the sink, starting it up. Who is that wolf? Why does it keep following me? Especially now? I turn my head up, looking at the mirror. An image of Aydgage starts to form, his hand starting to go to my shoulder to caress up my neck and I quickly turn around. There is no Aydgage though, my heart beating fast. Why am I so scared of him suddenly? I turn around, looking back in the mirror. My hair is a mess and my cloth visor looks disheveled.

“Cilla?” I hear Darryl’s voice in the other room. I lean back and see what he is doing. He is getting up and looking around groggily.

“Good morning sleepy head.” I say smiling. I give myself one more look in the mirror, turn off the sink and come out. He stretches up then looks at me as I pull my hair back into a ponytail. I’ll deal with my hair later. “ So, should we head out?” He gives me a concerned look. “What?”

“You were screaming last night.” he softly says. Heat raises to my cheeks and I look away. I did? Well, that’s embarrassing. I shake my head and look back at him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you nor wake you...” I say, scratching the back of my head. I know I screamed in my dream but I didn’t realize I screamed in real life.

“ What happened? Did you have a nightmare?” I rub my face a little. I might as well tell him... I just don’t know if I am ready... Anxiety feels me up and I chew the inside of my lip. Come on, you can do it. I need to tell him or else this might get worse...

“I... saw...” I struggle, then sigh. Darryl gives me a pitied look and I don’t like it. This is no time to be pitied. I don’t want to be looked at like that. I straighten up and feel more confident. “I saw Aydgage .” Darryl’s pitied expression changes to a quizzical look.

“Who is Aydgage ?” He asks me. Right, he doesn’t know who he is.

“ Remember those holo messages I listened to on the ship?” He nods his head. “Well, the second person that sent me a message was an... old friend of mine. His name is Aydgage .” his face is still in a quizzical expression.

“How do you mean he was there then?” he seems... concerned now.

“I’m not sure how he managed it honestly but it’s as if he... projected a vision of himself into my vision.” I say, thinking of the moment. I start to panic though, my heart quickening, my breath turning shallow. Calm down, it’s fine. I will just have to build a better mind shield so that doesn’t happen again. I let out a steady breath, my heart calming down a little. “He dug through my mind.” I can feel anger seep a little out of Darryl and he lets frustration be expressed on his face.

“What do you mean ‘dug through your memories’?” He gives me a studied look. I look at him, chewing my lips again.

“it’s a technique he must’ve have learned from Revan.” the panic rises again and Darryl touches my shoulder gently, a jolt coming from his touch but it feels... nice. It calms my nerves down.

“That must have been unpleasant.” He still has anger in him but now I can feel calmness coming from him. I nod my head.

“It... wasn’t the best feeling in the galaxy... in fact, it was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my head.” I shiver uncontrollably and tense up. The anger leaves Darryl and all I feel is calm. He nudges gently with the hand still on my shoulder to continue and I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “He wanted to come find me so he can show me how amazing the powers he got from Revan are. And because...” I remember the look on Aydgages face when he said that he loved me. I used to love him, in a brotherly way but now... a small feeling of hope stems from a memory I have of Aydgage showing me the proper way to use the double-bladed lightsaber. No, I still love him as brother. Nothing would change that. Maybe I can help him. That is...if he wants it.

“ Because what?” Darryl breaks the silence that I created when thinking of Aydgage .

“He said because he loved me. He wants me... no he said he needed me...” I swallow hard. Suddenly, a small hint of jealously comes from him. I almost didn’t sense it but I see it flash across his eyes, going away as soon as it came.

“Don’t take this the wrong way...” Now I sense sadness. “But do you love him? Do you want to be with him?” My heart sinks a little. No... I don’t want to be with him. I don’t love him enough to be with him like that.

“ No... I have always viewed Adygage as a brother... a friend to tease around with but nothing more than that.” I look towards the windows of the room, clasping my hands together in front of me. “As a Jedi, I'm not allowed to have attachments or have relations like that. Passion is forbidden.” I don’t mean to, but hurt lines the last bit of what I said.

“What about compassion?” His voice is low, almost sad. I look back at him, thinking about it.

“Yes, we can have compassion. It also depends on the person though.” I say, nodding my head and smiling. Darryl gives me a hopeful look.

“Good. Wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with the Jedi Order.” he gives a small smile, then his smile fades, growing more serious. “If he went through your memories...does that mean he knows where you are then?” I swallow back the fear creeping into me.

“I don’t know... I hope not but I think it would be best to leave now.” Darryl nods his head and he starts to head out of the room. Grabbing the book from the bed, I follow after him.

We get out of the hotel and the streets are filled with people, speeders, and vendor stalls. I look towards Darryl and he looks at me.

“Do you remember where you parked the speeder?” I ask, concerned we may get lost in the crowd. He gives me a serious look and then nudges his head in the direction we need to go in. He starts walking and I follow after him. He dodges and weaves through the crowd as if he has done this before. I follow his pace, trying to copy his movements. We eventually make it to the alleyway where we parked the speeder and he gets on, starting it up.

“Can’t believe you doubted me.” He looks at me with smugness written all over his face and I purse my lips together.

“Oh, shut up. I was tired last night. I thought you maybe didn’t remember.” I retort and get on the bike. He chortles a little and starts driving out of the city slowly. Once out of the small city, we start traveling faster to get to the main city. Something itches in the back of my head and I get nervous. “Are we almost there?”

“Yeah, we’re coming up to the hanger bay do-” Darryl gets cut off by the sound of a ship coming in to land. It’s not landing in a docking bay though; it’s landing out in the field. It is big, almost as big as a cargo hauler but is sleeker and more menacing. A familiar presence comes from the ship and I tighten my jaw. Darryl starts to slow the speeder down.

“No, get to the ship.” He’s about to retort but I hold a finger up, sliding the book into his jacket. “Please. I made sure to block my thoughts and memories of you.” I look towards the ship again, the exit ramp coming down. “If that is who I believe it is, I don’t want him to see that I have been traveling with someone. He may become... outraged.” We reach the hanger bay door and I can sense Darryl wants to protest but I jump off the bike, throwing my jacket off and landing on the ground with my right leg outstretched and my left hand touching the ground. The hanger bay doors close and I stand up, walking towards the sleek ship. I see five cloaked figures walk out towards me, all in similar masks and clothing except for one. What looks like the leader wears a mask similar to a Mandalorian but seems to have sharper angles. The person pulls off the mask and I see Aydgages face, being the same as I saw it just yesterday in my journey vision. He smirks at me, holding the helmet under his arm.

“So, this is where you were hiding, huh my little bird?” He takes a look around, as if to view the scenery . I stop walking towards him, being a few meters away and he stops as well. Fear trying to build back into my mind of him tearing through, I shove it away letting my knowledge of control come back.

“Who said I was hiding?” I retort. Aydgage continues to smirk and he looks me over.

“The clothes kind of give it away.” He teases. Then he looks off to the side. “And the fact that every time I tried to connect you through the force using visions, you seemed to run away.” He looks back at me.

“Do you have a reason for coming here? Other than to judge my clothing choice?” I ask, trying to give Darryl time to get out of here. He tilts his head to the side a little, seeming a little amused.

“You know why, my little bird. And you will come with me.” His voice grows dark but he still holds a smirk.

“And if I refuse?” I ask, knowing the answer already. Aydgage finally drops his smirk and gives a neutral face. He sighs loudly and pulls out his lightsaber, the others following him.

“Then we will do this the hard way.” He ignites the blade and it glows red. I gape a little. What did he do to his lightsaber? I grab mine and ignite one side. His followers ignite their lightsabers and they have the same color. I smirk a little.

“I guess so.” Aydgage glowers at me, surging forward to attack. I dodge to the side of his thrust, front kicking towards his ribs. He manages to dodge the kick by jumping back. His followers finally reach me. One with a tonfa lightsaber uses a back-hand swing as they run past me and I block it with my light saber. Another one with a crack in their helmet gets low to the ground to leg sweep me and I jump over their leg. Aydgage takes another swing at me and I ignite the other side of my lightsaber to parry it. This isn’t good. I am too outmatched with the five of them.

Being caught off guard, one of Aydgages followers with a cross guard lightsaber manages to slice my left arm. I let out a groan, jumping back from the group. Pain sears down my arm for a moment then it goes numb. Blast it. Aydgage smirks again, taking another swing at me. I block it, but he pushes down on the block.

“Give up Mikacele . You are outmatched with the five of us here.” He uses his brute strength to push down my blade, the crackling of the lightsabers pressed to each other getting louder in my ear. I tighten my jaw and press back toward him. His smirk fades again and he jumps back. We all stand there for a moment, staring at each other. Then there is a roar of a ship's engines coming from the sky and I look up to see Darryl’s ship up in the air. I let out a sigh of relief and look back at the group, they are still looking at the ship.

“You should know me by know Aydgage , I never give up.” I finally say with triumph in my tone. He looks back at me and ignites the other side of his lightsaber. “Oh, struck a nerve, did I?” I mock. Aydgage is about to attack me but a volley of laser bolts flies past me and goes into at the group. They all jump out of the way quickly, but Aydgage glowers again, deflecting them. I turn around and see it is Darryl’s ship attacking the group, with the ramp down and Darryl at the bottom of it.

“Come on! This won’t last long!” Darryl yells. I look back at Aydgage and he stands there, still deflecting the bolts. I extinguish both ends my lightsaber, and run towards the ship. Using the force, I jump up and Darryl catches my hand, pulling me in. He gives me look of concern and I just nod my head, to say I am okay. He nods back and runs to the cockpit. I turn around and see Aydgage staring at me, anger writhing in him. I look at him for what feels like hours but is only a few seconds and turn my back, going inside the ship. Now he knows... I just hope he didn’t see Darryl... Or Darryl will have another target on his back.

I get to the cockpit and sit in the co-pilot chair. ‘ This isn’t over my little bird. I will find you again. And your little friend too.’ Aydgage’s voice echo’s in my head, the last bit said with a hiss. Putting my elbows on the console in front of me, I put my head into my hands, letting out a shaky sigh. Darryl clicks a few buttons and pushes the lever forward, jumping us into hyperspace. His chair makes a soft noise as he leans back in it, clasping his hands behind his head.

“So... that is Aydgage ?” Darryl finally asks. I tilt my head to look at him. He is starting up at the viewport and I lean back in my chair now.

“Yeah, that’s him.” I deadpan, still looking at him. Darryl finally turns his head to look at me and I see a hint of jealously in his eyes.

“Didn’t realize you were into clawed finger creatures.” He playfully smirks. I purse my lips together, then lean over to punch him in the arm.

“I can’t believe you just said that. And he doesn’t have clawed fingers.” I retort at him. He only continues to smirk.

“Oh, so you are into him? Thought he was like a brother to you.” He teases again. I let out a huff and then smirk back.

“I didn’t realize you were into Lekku’s .” He purses his lips together now and scowls at me.

“I’ll have you know that a lot of people are into Twi’leks.”

“Right, right” I nod my head. “Of course.” I still tease. Darryl doesn’t seem amused. His face changes a little to be more serious and I look down, knowing what he is going to say.

“Are you okay? You look like you got hurt a little.” he asks. Okay, not what I expecting. I look back up and he is pointing to my cut on my arm. I look down at it, the cut itself going pretty deep. I let out a laugh. Darryl gives me a quizzical look.

“I just keep getting myself hurt. I feel clumsy now.” I laugh a bit more now. “And somehow, you keep saving me.” I scoff, getting up from the chair. Running a hand through my hair, a nervous feeling goes through my stomach. “What is wrong with me? Am I really so weak? How did I even become a Jedi Knight?” I look out the viewport, staring at the swirling pattern of hyperspace. I feel Darryl’s hand on my shoulder, reassurance spreading from his touch.

“Sometimes in life, we have to find ourselves again. We feel vulnerable and fall prey to tricks we thought we knew about. Then, once we find our self finally, we no longer feel that vulnerability. We no longer fall prey to those tricks anymore, but you first have to learn to trust yourself again.” I turn around and Darryl is looking out the viewport as well. His face looks haunted, pain showing in his red eyes.

“Do you... feel vulnerable sometimes?” I ask softly. He moves his eyes to look at me and takes in a deep breath, letting out slowly.

“Only once. And I won’t let it happen again.” he looks at me with such intensity that I turn my head away finally, my feelings that were rising from earlier going away.

“What was it?” I ask, looking towards him. He turns to head out from the cockpit.

“A story for another time.” He leaves, going towards his room. I bite the inside of my lip. I hope I didn’t bring up a painful memory for him...

My feet move me before I realize I am in the makeshift training room. I should meditate, but what if I get another vision? Will Aydgage appear in it? I start to pace the room. I should find out a way to create a better shield for my mind. He tore through them as if it were ripped cloth. I put my hand to my chin. Maybe if I practice my shield, I could teach Darryl how to protect his thoughts. So Aydgage can’t find a way to him. Or worse. I try not to think about something worse than just ripping through someone's memories. Blast it. Aydgage probably saw that I have the book. I scoff. Wait, he doesn’t care about the book. Just me... I stop pacing and sit on the ground, leaning against my right arm. Then I remember my cut from the fight and sit up straight. I reach over to touch it, only feeling the pressure of my hand touching it. Guess my body was fed up with this arm hurting consistently that it just made the arm numb the entire time. I let my arm drop into my lap and then I hear footsteps behind me. Darryl walks in front of me and kneels down, handing me something.

“Here.” He holds out a bandage roll and I take it slowly. “You used the rest of the kolto I had with that other wound and that was all I had left.” He sits down, giving me a small smile. I sheepishly smile back.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been nothing but a burden huh?” I look at the bandage roll then start to apply it to my arm, having a hard time though because it keeps slipping down. Darryl grabs the part that keeps slipping and takes the roll from my hand, wrapping it around my arm for me.

“Only a little.” He teases. His thoughts are different though. He doesn’t think that at all, he thinks he has been the one to cause problems for me. I look down at my crossed legs.

“You haven’t been a problem Darryl. I’m sure you were just fine until I came along...” He finishes wrapping the bandage and his hand lingers on my arm for a moment. I look back up and he just stares at my arm.

“Actually, it’s been rather fun. I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” He pulls his hand away slowly and looks at me, raising an eye brow. “But we should set some ground rules. Wouldn’t you agree?” I nod my head. “I’ll lay out some rules that I want and then you can lay out what rules you want then we will come to a compromise. Sound good?”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.”

“First, no using Jedi powers on me. That whole freeze thing you did yesterday? Yeah, nuh uh. Didn’t feel good.” I chuckle quietly but he continues. “Second, and I know it’s hard, but try not to read my thoughts? It doesn’t feel fair that I can’t read yours.”

“Well actual-” He puts up a hand.

“Hold on. Not done yet. Lastly, I need to know that I can trust you hundred percent. Can I?”

“Of course. You have saved me twice and helped me repair my ship. But...” Darryl tilts his head to the side.

“But you don’t know if you can trust me completely?” I nod my head. He straightens again and puts out his hand. “I promise to be nothing but forthcoming with you in all deals that I have. Even second thoughts on where we are going for your books.” I reach out my hand and we shake.

“Okay, then... my first rule is that even though you have a second thoughts, you will still trust me.” We pull our hands away at the same time. “And my last one is more of a request. Allow me to train you to block out Jedi from reading your mind and letting thoughts slip out.” He puts a hand to his chin, looking down a bit. I tilt my head to the side, waiting for his response. He finally looks up.

“But I’m not a Jedi? How would I be able to be trained?” I smirk a little.

“I won’t go into details but the basic is that everyone has the force within them. Some just have more than others. It’s how I can see, remember?” he purses his lips to the side then nods.

“Okay, then we have already come to a compromise on the rules.” He smiles a little. “So, how would you train me.” I let my smirk fade and turn more serious.

“Well, you are going to have agree to some things first. Blocking thoughts is in itself hard. So, what we will do first, is learn how to read thoughts.” Darryl smiles big now.

“Wait, so it won’t be an unfair advantage anymore?” I scoff a little.

“Depends on how well you take the training and if the person doesn’t have this training as well.” He frowns.

“Oh. How long will this take?” I can sense he is a little sad at the thought that this could take a while.

“For me, it took a little over a year to master. I’m an excellent teacher though so, we should have the basics by at least four months, and if you continue to master it, then by nine months you should have master reading thoughts. Then we will move onto blocking thoughts. But as I said before, it depends on how well you take on the training. It could take longer then we hope or shorter then we expect.” He nods his head slowly, looking down at the ground as if in thought then he looks back at me.

“I am a quicker learner.” He smirks. “When do we start?” I smile now.

“So, you are okay with me reading your thoughts and you reading my thoughts?” now he gives me a quizzical look.

“You have to read my thoughts as well?” with my face serious, I nod my head.

“Yes. It will also teach you how to communicate with me.” tilting my head to the side, I give a soft look. “You know how you were able to bring up a memory and show me it? That’s almost like how we talk when we don’t want to use words. Only a few Jedi know this ability as it is hard to master.” he lets out an annoyed sigh.

“Okay, fine. I agree then.” he gives me a slight smile. “Let’s start now.” I sit up straight, smiling again.

“Perfect. First, let’s relax. I’m assuming you know to meditate?” I look at him. He nods and gets into a more relaxed pose. “Good. Now, let all your emotions drain for your body. Not too quickly though, slowly. Allow the emotion that passes through your mind to be acknowledged then let it go.” He gives me a confused look.

“What do you mean ‘be acknowledged’?”

“Emotions are what drive almost every creature. Jedi are trained to show no emotion because we have acknowledged them, knowing how we feel when that emotion is present and being able to let them go in order to think clearly.” I take his hand. “I am not training you to be a Jedi but allowing yourself to know what the emotion feels like so you know to let it go still helps a lot of people keep their heads level.” He stares at his hand in my hand. I let my calm demeanor flow into his hand and he just sits there for a bit. “Do you feel calm?”

“Yeah, I do actually.” his face is still confused.

“Good. What I am doing is allowing you to feel my emotion of being calm and knowing what it should feel like.” I let go of his hand now and he lets out a soft oh. “Sorry. I know it feels funny.”

“How were you able to do that?” I put my hands back on my knees.

“A story for another time.” I repeat back what he said earlier to me and he just gives me a stern look but then mimics my pose. “But that is what it would feel like to let it go. Thought, not quite as quick.”

“Should I be closing my eyes for this?” He asks. I chuckle.

“If you want too.” Darryl nods his head and closes his eyes. I can hear his thoughts rush by; having more questions for me, thoughts of just quitting, wanting to ask more about my past, and more. I try to ignore them and continue to relax.