Shili

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***

Teacher... Tosi was resting. Yes, my yacht has VIP cabins, a luxury shower and many other ways to relax - and they were used by all the guests of the yacht. With the exception of the battered wardroom, the yacht looked like new, even though it was partially new.

Restoring the hyperdrive was a long but interesting task - the circuit was damaged, it is located along the sides of the ship and consists of large pipes of different materials, inserted one into another on the principle of a matryoshka doll. Yes, it wasn't hard to solder them - at first I thought that they could be useful for restoring the coordinates of the jump back in time, but I discarded it - jumping back in time was theoretically impossible, so the theory couldn't tell me anything.

But the local Jedi pleased me with their rationality and readiness to provide some kind of help. How to help - go and work, and in your free time you can do your own things. I was sure that the Master didn't even think about the fact that I had to return, having concentrated all his expectations on keeping me in the Order.

Toshi didn't show any of that - the Togruta seemed carefree, though not always - judging by her skill level, I was going to have to work long and hard to get up to speed.

The journey to Shili took four days. Four long days - Toshi wanted to distract me and go train, but when she saw that I was using force navigation, she immediately left, humming loudly. There was no way I was going to be distracted.

With the best hyperdrive of this time - second class - and on hyperspace routes, it takes seventeen days to get from Coruscant to Shili. That's a very, very long time; I couldn't afford such a waste of time, so I drove my ship along the 'animal trails' of the galaxy - between asteroid fields, through uninhabited regions, straight to the planet.

The teacher only watched as I, tired, landed the ship on some asteroid or left it drifting in space, and after turning in the post Erdva, went to bed. A brief respite, wished Tosi a good morning, and the journey continued.

Tosi didn't ask questions about why we were travelling this way and not that way, but all questions fell away when on the third day of the journey I took the ship out of hyperspace in the Shili system.

A planet was visible far out in space and Toshi, noticing the premature exit from hyperspace, came out to my cabin.

- Henya! Have we arrived already? - she asked, looking out into space in front of us.

- Exactly. The planet is five minutes away at sublight. Master, show me where to land the ship," I said, nodding toward the planet.

- This can't be happening! - Toshi was indignant. - We've only just left! It took me a month to get to Coruscant!

- That was on an ordinary ship," I retorted, "and I had a fast ship, and secondly, we went almost in a straight line, bypassing all the routes. So we got there in three days," I said. - It would have taken about a week on hyperspace routes, but I didn't want to wait.

- How fast you are..." my teacher grinned and sat down in the co-pilot's seat to make room for Erdv, who had come up behind me and was usually in charge of the ship on landing.

- As it is, Master," I shrugged. - So, where should we land?

- Now... so... - she remembered something, and answered:

- "We need a village called Ita.

- I don't know if it is on our maps," I shook my head. Erdva silently agreed with me.

- I have a map.

- In that case, throw it to Erdva, he will sort it out, - the named droid turned towards the teacher and, pulling out its antenna with impatience, received the map from Tosi's datapad, and then announced:

- We'll be in place in half an hour. I'll take over the controls.

- Yes, please," I let go of the wheel and Erdva took control of the yacht. The journey was coming to an end.

Shili was not like land, like Correllia, for example. Shili was wooded - entire continents are covered in greenery when seen from orbit. The descent on the repulsors would take a couple of dozen minutes. It didn't matter, though - while the ship was descending, I usually left to prepare for landing. This time was no exception - having reported to the air defence of the planet, I immediately got up, leaving the droid and the teacher in the deckhouse, and went out.

The first thing to do was to change. Apparently, it was better to dress in hiking clothes and bring a blaster. While I was pulling on my suit and checking my weapon, the ship descended to a kilometre altitude and began landing.

There was no spaceport near the village, but there was a relatively prepared landing site.

After checking with the force - everything was in order - I went to the control room to see my teacher. Toshi was still sitting in the co-pilot's chair.

- Master? Are we going?

- Already? We haven't landed yet.

- There's nothing more to do in the cabin, now we'll report to the local post, pay the parking fee and go wherever... - I said thoughtfully.

- How do you know all this?

- I worked on a smuggler's ship once. I travelled around the galaxy for a few months.

- Yeah," the teacher scratched the tip of her lekku and followed me out the door. Along the way, Toshi instructed me:

- "So, Ita is a relatively small hunting village and is home to one of the hunter clans, the Dal'kogha. It's an ancient profession that has survived to this day, the way of life in the village is conservative to say the least. And the Dal'Kogha are one of the two surviving clans of hunters.

- I see," I nodded, "It sounds like some kind of aboriginal tribe.

- Don't look at them that way," the teacher said, indignantly, "they are, as you know, highly respected Togrutians, and their lives are part of the history of my race.

- Yes, yes, teacher," I said hurriedly, "I understand. But what are we going to do there?

- Learn,' said Tosi, a little offended. 'A tribe is such a tribe...'

The ship landed on a small earthen platform. Two other light transports, remotely similar to the one I'd pulled from the sands of Tatooine, stood nearby. Apparently, even though they had a conservative way of life here, they were connected to the cities. The weather was... hot. Toshi, as soon as we were downstairs, walked towards a teepee in the distance. Why "tepee"? Because it resembled one, though the colouring and shape of the walls were similar to those of the Togrut montrales. On the way there we came across a flock of Togrut boys, who were playing something, and near us, half a hundred metres away, there were also adult representatives of this race, looking at us with interest.

Erdva, as it was customary, stayed to guard the ship - if anything, he is not badly armed.

Tosi led me into the building, where there was no one in sight. While I turned my head, looking at the unusual, local colour, she quickly found an elderly man and spoke to him in her own language. The language was unusual - quite melodic, with many complex sounds that human vocal cords cannot repeat.

Nodding in my direction, she chanted something to the old man and, after waiting for a reply, led me on. The old man never paid much attention to me.

- They don't like newcomers here, but we're not in any danger. We will hardly live in the village... - Tosi stretched out, looking round the settlement, - the main thing is not to hit on the local girls, and everything will be fine....

- To girls? - I was surprised. - Are humans and Togrutians...

- Yes, yes, they are relatively compatible. Only in our clan you can be kicked out of the clan for having an affair with a human. It's the law," Tosi shrugged. - Besides, no tribesman would respect a Togruta like that, and the path to Shili would be closed.

I sighed regretfully - I wasn't drawn to exoticism, though it sounds strange coming from a half-human, half-worldling. The specificity of self-awareness.

Somehow this village reminded me of an Indian settlement, with a few high-tech elements like droids or a young Togruta carrying a heavy and long blaster rifle on his shoulders. I should bring my own, too; I'm sure it'll come in handy.

- What are we supposed to live on?

- The same thing the rest of the clan lives on. Hunting. Or can't you kill a shark? - Toshi asked in a playful manner. - In any case, the place is rich in game and edible plants - we won't starve.

The journey through the village ended at the local shop. Tosi, finding a rather shabby sign with a Togrutian inscription, smiled and went inside. I followed in.

It resembled not even a village shop, but a medieval one. If it weren't for the blasters hanging on the walls and a couple of droids in the corner, it was a wooden structure, with a counter behind which an elderly Togruta was bored. Her face was richly decorated with white stripes, not unlike Tosi's, and her skin tone was the opposite - almost Negro-like. The old woman looked at the tribeswoman and me and spoke in common:

- What do you want?

- Supplies for a couple of days, a blaster rifle....

- Master, I have a set of weapons. Including a rifle.

- Then you don't need a rifle," the teacher nodded. Next she ordered everything that could be useful, from sleeping bags to another set of hunting clothes for me. Judging by her comment, this suit was something historically Togrutian - almost all hunters wore one. Though to me it looked like a laced shirt made of thin leather, leather trousers, and a poncho. Everything was decorated with white and blue stripes as camouflage. I decided not to test fate and local mores, so I didn't change into my clothes; the ladies had almost got the size right anyway.

In my thirteen years I began to grow quickly, so I would definitely need clothes.

Having bought everything I needed, Tosi said in a commanding voice:

- Tomorrow we'll go into the forests. And today, please finish all your business. The ship can stay as long as you like, we'll spend the night in it, and then we'll move out.

- Will we take the droid with us? - I asked. - Because Erdva is so restless... I'm afraid to leave him alone, he will fly off somewhere in search of adventure....

- Droid? - Toshi didn't understand. - You mean an astrodroid?

- Yes, my Erdv. He's very willful. His intelligence is about the level of a ten-year-old child, and that's what scares him.

- Well, you can take him with you.

We went back to the ship. At night, lying in my bed, I remembered my not too long but full life - Tatooine I hardly remembered - just sand, heat, nasty slave owners... then Ju and his Lucky Old One - that was better - travelling all over the galaxy, orders that kept growing. Then Alderaan - studying is such a time that seems to be long, but it is not memorable in any way. Probably, intensive work of the brain in the other direction affects, and everything unnecessary disappears from the memory. I remembered only that day when I learnt about my origin and "Alderaan" - Ali, wrapped in two towels, just out of the shower, a few drops of water dripping down her slender waist, which glisten in the light of stars....

I chased away the sad memories and fell into a sound sleep. There was an equally long but unmemorable period of life ahead, and I needed to prepare myself for an intense training session.

The outing into the forest was in the morning. Nothing remarkable - we packed up and went out, throwing our bags behind our backs. My teacher decided to take me to a special place.

We walked for a long time - all morning we stomped through the forest. I, who was not used to such a walk, stumbled regularly, until I realised to use my intuition while moving. When I did, the branches under my feet stopped crunching, and I stopped stumbling and walked as silently as Toshi. The teacher hummed loudly at that:

- Lex was right, you guessed it yourself. But it's going to play tricks on you someday.

- What?" I didn't understand her comment.

- Yunlings are taught in the temple to move using intuition. You have no problem with intuition. If you can intuitively steer the ship in hyperspace, then there will be no problems. But your movements may very well be. Stamina, flexibility, speed, all of which you're so far inferior to the average youngling. I reckon you can reach the level of a good Padawan within a year.

- Master, I have a question..." I walked around some trees and continued my speech, "I have a question, at what age do you become a Padawan?

- Yunling is taken into the temple usually at the age of four-six, four years of compulsory training and after that they can be taken at any time. If no one has taken him before the age of sixteen, the youngling is given a diploma from the temple as a primary school, after which he can go to all four sides. As a rule, all more or less strong students quickly disperse, immediately after training, to the masters, and the knights sort out the rest.

- So there are a lot of Forsuiters in the galaxy who have left the temple? - I asked.

- Exactly. They are not dangerous, so the Sith will not take them. In life, they tend to have only a slight advantage over the rest of the citizens....

I was surprised at that. Really, what could a weak forceuser do with almost no training? And what would be the point of restricting him, since an ordinary Mandalorian hunter could be so much more dangerous?

Leaving these thoughts about the fate of the Forcers in the galaxy, I moved on to thinking about my own fate. Or rather, how I would find my way back. Apparently, judging by events and decisions, the leadership thinks I'll be doing that after I finish my training and become more or less self-sufficient. For now, I am an easy target and a typical rear worker, with my tendencies and dislike for petty extreme behaviour and looking for adventures on my heel....

I already understood something about strength, and guessed about something, but without a teacher, trying to master something more complicated than forging or intuition would be futile. The "feel the force" method would not work here - you need to know the sequence of actions and the best way to learn, and you can't achieve any results on your own. The teacher walked briskly ahead, scouting the terrain, and I kept at a distance and sometimes came closer to talk. Erdva closed the procession, flying behind us and surveying the terrain.

The journey did not end, but we stopped for a rest. The teacher looked round the small clearing and dropped her bag to the roots of a large tree and stretched tiredly. I followed her example and immediately asked:

- Shall we stop?

- Let's take a break," she nodded briefly, "and then we'll be on our way. We'll see if you've learnt the first skill you need.

She took a sip from the flask she carried on her belt and continued:

- "Let's start with the most fundamental part of your training. You're going to have to build muscle mass while you're too... skinny. But you'll just have to work at it for five to seven years. You can do it faster, but you'll have to learn how to energise your body.

- Energise?

- Of course. Yunlings don't usually learn to do that - it's too subtle to feel the power, but you'll do it, I'm sure. - Toshi said confidently. - Your training was planned by the Master, and it's very different from the usual programme, because you can use the power and intuition at a level that is unavailable to most knights. About the level of an average master. Just don't get cocky.

- Yes, Master! - I said. - Where do we start?

- Theoretically," Toshi said with a thoughtful look, "theoretically it's a medical skill, but it doesn't require medical knowledge, just a subtle sense of your power. The power flows in you like blood. You can consciously change the rate of flow in one part of your body or another. You don't have to change the structure itself, only the speed of the flow. Where the force flows faster, the efficiency of the organs increases - cell regeneration and growth accelerates, they become more immune to aging. There are many cases of Jedi living twice or three times longer than the rest of their race. We Togrutians live about eighty to a hundred years, and those skilled at controlling their own bodies can live up to three hundred years.

- So," I interrupted the lecture, "you can extend your life?

- Of course. As a rule, the body can not survive if the power flows too slowly, but each race has its own peculiarities. Some can extend their lives dozens of times.

I was just thinking of old Yoda. If the green men could live for a thousand years, then more would be known about that race - all long-lived races are well known. But I think I get the point.

- The important thing is not that, but using the power as a natural dope. Before we start training for stretching, building muscle mass, speed, you need to learn the appropriate skills, with the help of which you can accelerate the process of development of your own body. If it were an ordinary Padawan, it would shorten his life span, but your abilities are enough to counteract all the negative effects," said the teacher. - Shall we proceed?

- To what? - I asked the question, for which I received a joking slap on the back.

- Weren't you listening to me? Let's get started. There, see that blade of grass? - she nodded at some white streak near a tree.

- "A blade of grass?" - I was surprised.

- 'Yes, that's grass. By the way, in other places it takes up whole fields, that's why our race has white pigment on its face. A disguise we inherited from our animal ancestors.

- I see, Master," I interrupted her.

- Your job is to speed up the power flow inside her. Speed it up so that it grows faster.

I didn't argue and got up and went to this metre-high "blade of grass". The plant is really quite unusual. I decided to approach the task in the same way as all the others - start with meditation. My unusually deep immersion in the force allowed me to influence it in such a state almost absolutely. As I began to meditate, I immersed myself in the force. The power flowed everywhere, like the natural background of the entire galaxy. The grass was no exception, and within it, from the root upwards to the tip, I could feel a continuous flow of power. I couldn't speed it up right away, I had to get used to the speed of the force. Synchronised, I slowly pressed the force of the "blade of grass" with my own force. My own force slightly accelerated its flow, but not as much as I needed. The blade of grass, unexpectedly for me, began to dry up, and in half a minute I was sitting near yellow, cracked dry grass. It didn't work.

- You're too persistent," my teacher commented. - Remember what I told you - the body can't take it if the current of force is below a certain limit. And if it's higher, neither can it. Smoothly.

- Yes, Master," I agreed and took another blade of grass. There were quite a few of them here. This time the result was faster - after just a minute the grass started to grow faster, increasing by almost thirty centimetres within five minutes, and after that the speed exceeded the limit and it withered away.

- Don't feel bad, you've figured out the speed for this plant," the teacher commented again. - Now take a small one and grow to the end.

I did as required and accurately dosing the power, nourished the blade of grass. Within half an hour of meditation it grew into a metre and a half tall grass, taller than me. However, the soil was very depleted, because the roots absorbed the nutrients with terrible force, and I made up for the lack of nutrients with the help of my power.

- Amazing," the teacher approached me from behind. - It takes months to learn.

- And what is the basic training?

- To learn how to use force," the Togruta shrugged. - But you already know how to do that, I see. When we get there, we can start working on the body. Remember, speeding up the flow of power not only leads to faster cell division, but also to exhaustion. So for any Jedi, proper nutrition is an important part of life. You need to have some nutrients in your body at all times so that you don't suffer the consequences of using the force. Meat is best. To increase cell growth, you need to speed up the flow of force, and to increase endurance, you need to increase the amount of force in a particular muscle group.

- Yes, Master," I nodded. "Are we moving out?

We set off again after a while. The forest was teeming with animals, but they didn't bother us, except for the insects that couldn't bite through our clothes. We moved towards the mountain range visible on the horizon.

Monotonously pacing, I walked for another two hours and began to get tired. Very tired. That's when I remembered my teacher's words about endurance. Immersed in a kind of trance, I felt a current of strength in me and began to experiment right on the move.

Almost every muscle was tense, except my arms. Torso, back, legs...

That's where I began to build up the volume of force, while examining my body. The only difference was that gradually more oxygen was getting to the muscles, and their ability to absorb it was increasing. Adding about a fifth of the already available volume I snapped out of the trance, driving the maintenance of the changes to a subconscious level. I felt like I had at the beginning of the hike - well rested. My tone had clearly increased, but the teacher didn't notice. Then I dove back into "myself" and began to examine the changes. I noticed almost nothing, except that oxygen was going from my lungs, through my blood, to my muscles. Oxygen was flowing as it was, the increase in strength only allowed the muscles to absorb it faster and more actively, relieving fatigue. That was... gratifying. The intake of other substances changed as well, but almost imperceptibly - like a hard workout, the body was burning fat cells and protein, increasing the number of muscle cells. I hadn't told anyone about my ability, like a Jedi medic, to sense my body. In fact, I had mastered the necessary skill - I was stimulating my own body, and even a simple walk through the woods would benefit it like hours of hard training. But I wasn't going to scare the teacher just yet, especially since she was walking ahead of me, also increasing her stamina with strength.

The journey became monotonous as we walked until dark, but Tosi didn't say a word. When dusk came and the mountain ridge was just a stone's throw away, she stopped:

- So, I see you have learnt this skill too. And I was waiting for you to run out of steam..." smiled the teacher. - But it is dangerous to experiment with your own body. You have to test everything many times on test subjects before you can use it on yourself. Do you understand?

- Yes, Master," I said, my head down. She was right, it was risky to start experimenting on my own body, but that's just the way I am....

- Good. We'll stay here for the night. There are predators here, so you sleep first.

- That won't be necessary, Master. Erdv has a bioform sensor, he can smell anything within half a kilometre. And he's armed. Are there armoured creatures around here?

- Armoured? - I raised my eyebrows at the teacher. - No.

- Then Erdva will shoot anyone. Right, Erdwa? - I asked. The droid responded by pulling a blaster out of its body on a long tentacle arm and firing it toward the forest. Then, with an attracting beam, it attracted some small animal that looked like a ferret or a gopher.

Tosi was surprised:

- Your astrodroid is armed? Isn't it dangerous?

- No, I trust Erdv," I said, embarrassed. - Besides, he with his temper will not prevent. And what kind of animal is that?

- Timiar. Delicious, but small. It's good for breakfast," said the teacher, spreading out the sleeping bag. - All right, let your droid keep watch. Go to sleep. Good night, Henya.

I, hungry, fell fast asleep.