Star Wars: Force Bound

Jack looked at the green little alien with a wry smile on his face.

"I am sorry we took so long, Master Yoda. The fault lies in me.", he responded and Ahsoka opened her mouth and wanted to say something against that but Yoda interrupted her nearly instantly.

"Not the purpose to rush, it was. Well in coming out, after finding your crystals, you did." Then Yoda walked towards both of them. The chunks of ice floating in the air neatly placed themselves to the left side on the ground.

Yoda looked Jack over with a certain inspecting gaze and then even pinched his left arm that was hurt.

"Urgh.." That let Jack wince a little. The pinch was not really gently or anything.

"Hmm, weak, the flesh is. Forgot your training, you did. Talk about this later, we must.", commented Yoda after taking in his reaction to his action.

Jack raised a brow towards those words.

Even Ahsoka was also confused. "What do you mean with that, Master Yoda?", she asked near instantly.

"Young Shea upon the dark side, he drew. Not kept a calm mind, he did. Is that not so?", answered Yoda now and actually questioned Jack at the same time with a piercing look from his amber eyes.

Jack thought about it now and had to admit this fella is actually right and hiding things from him is like going back in time being a child trying to hide the obvious pranks. Well...He is still one in age. But that still irked him a little for some reason.

"I..." Jack sighed a little before choosing his words. "I didn't expect the cave to be that dangerous, Master Yoda. I have been in there for hours if not nearly half a day and the path always seemed to have been either dangerously steep climbing or narrow crevices that cut my very flesh. Not even focusing on emptying my mind helped much. At some point, I did get irritated from all the wounds I received. But I do not think I drew on the dark side."

Jack did agree with getting angry but was not convinced that was enough to draw on the dark side. At least not with meager irritation that he basically got rid of by talking through it with Terra.

"Huh? Hours? It hasn't been that long since we entered, you know?", commented Ahsoka now.

"Hmmm, not lying, you are. Very rare, that is. Trial of flesh undergone, you have. What else did you see?" Now Yoda seems to be very interested as he lightly taps his cane on the floor.

"Um?" Ahsoka suddenly felt like she was being ignored and Jack smiled at that. He could feel her slight irritation.

"I think the cave put me in a place where time flowed differently. And by Ahsoka's words, it was only for me. Here, if I am right..." Jack took out a small gadget from around his belt at the front and activated it. "...the time should be different on my clock."

Ahsoka widened her eyes and compared her own with his and it really showed different times. "You're right. They really show different times!"

"Tricked, you were...But insight, you gained?", asked Yoda now.

"Definitely. I had the suspicion that something did interfere with my search but in the end, I still got my crystal. Not even that dark void could hinder me from getting it." Jack smiled after feeling a little bit proud of himself. Come to think he really should acknowledge that he somehow managed to preserve through the annoyance and still make it. Especially with that last trap he went through.

Yoda now widened his eyes. "Reason for our talk later, that is. Well, you did. Overcome the Trial of Flesh, Insight, and Courage, you have. Challenged you, The Force has. Hmmm."

"Huh? Master, are you talking about the Padawan trials? But I am still a youngling, no?", asked Jack now.

"Not necessary it is, that the council makes these trials. Jedi Knight, everyone becomes after experiencing those trials. Different amounts of time, everyone needs. To overcome those trials, they do. Some are fast, others slow."

"Huh!? No fair! So Jack went right up to being a Jedi now!?", pouted Ahsoka her cheeks now after finding out what that implicated.

"No, not yet. Trial of Skill and Spirit will still be held under the watch of the council. Both aspects only learned after training as a Padawan. Not able to fight efficiently with the lightsaber, young Shea is."

Jack chuckles a little at first. Then thinking about his nightmare, he somehow had the impression he did have a small trial of spirit. But he rather not mention it near Ahsoka. The trial of skill. Sure, he is still bad in a certain way of lightsaber combat since he never learned the other forms. Way to rub that in.

"Now, go, we must. The others are already waiting.", nodded Yoda to confirm his own words and walked slowly out of the temple.

Jack and Ahsoka walked slowly behind him.

There was obviously nothing but the ceiling to be seen but the feeling he got was much farther away than just up. Closing his eyes his senses reached outwards in space. Just when he tried to pinpoint what it was that he felt a cane came hitting him on the head.

"Ouch! What the?" Jack saw Yoda looking at him.

"Don't dawdle...", he said and urged him to move now. That was rather weird from him. And when Jack still tried to pinpoint that ominous feeling it was already gone and it confused Jack for a moment.

'Was I just imagining things?'

[You were not. Yoda just now suppressed your senses.]

'What!?' Jack immediately looked back at the grandmaster.

'Okay, now I am worried what he wants to talk with me...Don't tell me he knows about the dark side aura that was around my crystal? That was what it was, right?'

[Correct and not correct. Just talk with him. It would not be harmful. Otherwise, he would have acted differently for sure.]

'That I am not so sure about. If he gives me some weird meditation advice like he gave Anakin then I will pass. Hell, I am not even sure what he still means with his damn phare: Do or do not, there is no try. If something along those lines comes up I will just ignore it.'