The Force 101 (IC)

[Shade Leshyr]

There was no day or night on Mustafar, only a continuous cloud of permanent ash, the only light rising from the lava below. No plants or animals grew naturally in the loose soil, glassed here and there from sudden, violent rises from the deadly rivers that covered the planet. In days past, the lava had been mined like a precious resource, but those days were long gone and few, if any, traveled this far out of the way. It was a perfect place for an Academy. The severe weather made flying difficult, making a sneak attack near impossible and in order to launch such an assault would bring the intruder's into the firing range of the massive AA guns that surrounded the building that perched high up upon one of the towering mountains of Mustafar.

A great majority of the leveled top supported the the building, built of a flashy material that was already dulled with ash. The walls of the building formed a great circle, slanted out to catch the dome ceiling of the pressurized structure. The heat shields that kept it habitable glowed brightly as they defended the beings inside from being roasted by the temperatures from below. The windows were dark when seen from outside, but from within the planet below was visible. Not that the inhabitants had much time or desire to stare out upon the bleak landscape.

The round building was divided into six spaces, the walls much like the spokes of a wheel. The hanger bay took the room that pointed to the planet's polar south, filled with various shuttles for both short and long trips. From there in clockwise direction were the living quarters, cafeteria, training room, meditation room, and library. The living quarters were the most lively of the areas, one half filled with a number of games to keep the youngest Jedi initiates and support staff amused in their spare time and the other half split in half again for the male and female dorms and showers. The cafeteria was much like any school cafeteria anyone could expect. Inside the training room it was now a flat area with storage compartments lining the wall, some for equipment and others to house the training droids and the room itself was fully changeable to challenge the students to a number of scenarios. The meditation room was little more than an empty room that could be dimmed to show stars and planets to inspire the sense of reaching out and the library was simply what its name suggests, thought the terminals were a bit dated.

Today, however, the meditation room housed a class of eager, young padawans-to-be, their training all but complete except for one step: the crafting of their first lightsabers. Each student wore their ceremonial robes today, though several questioned this practice since they were going down to the actual surface of Mustafar, and a backpack full of the necessary pieces to build the lightsaber housing. The security detail stood in formation around the hyper young initiates, some giving mild exclaims as an overexcited student would forget to contain themselves and accidentally lift a blaster free of a holster to spin in the air. The question on everyone's mind was what was taking the three teachers so long? Everyone else was ready, where were they?

Shade hopped from foot to foot, trying to stem his impatience like he'd been drilled to do and failing as question after question zipped through his head. Why were the saber crystals so different then regular crystals? Why did they have to walk all the way instead of just taking a shuttle? Why exactly were they wearing these clean robes to rush through the black ash? He shook his head rapidly, trying to clear his mind, but his tail betrayed his excitement, swishing back and forth rapidly. A group of girls whispered among themselves, one pointing to the swishing tail of the vulpine, giggling to each other at some private joke made from the sight.

Shade hoped the teachers wouldn't be too much longer, he could already see some of the security detail getting anxious as the initiates became bored and started toying with them to pass the time...

[Eian]

Jeb walked slowly across the halls of the Academy, checking for a fourth time his pistol holster and his blade, making sure he was ready for the job ahead.
The merc had just recently arrived in the academy again on his ship, the perilous little turns that normally would have been hard to do for any pilot had almost become second nature for him now after so long in the academy.

This was a familiar place for him, a place he had been in more than once during his childhood. His tail flicked with a mix of excitement and nervousness sometimes when he passed through a place that brought good memories back to him.
He was required to be in the meditation room today, the Academy needed his services escorting a group of apprentices on their journey to create their first lightsaber. Something didn't really add up, normally they wouldn't need someone to do such a thing, at least not in such a personal level, but then again he had no reason as to think they would do something dangerous without taking the necesary precautions.

As he opened the door to the meditation room and entered, he saw one of the apprentices he was supposed to take care of, a fox that he vaguely remembered seeing once when he sneaked into the training sessions when his father still worked in the Academy. He was noticeably nervous, his swishing tail and rapid movements were more than enough proof of that.

As he neared him he took his helmet piece off to show his face better, maybe the fox would recognize him back, hanging it by a strap on his side he said "Nerves are getting to you, huh?" he put on a smile and took a more relaxed tone of voice than his usual self.

[Buzzwolf]

The pinpoints of stars winked softly in the darkness around her, the glowing red orb of mustafar a dim light lifting on the horizon, behind, the soft white glow of the moon threw a soothing light across the asteroid she sat on.

The small piece of rock she sat on floated gently through the dark emptiness of space, barely large enough for her to sit on. She never saw any of the beauty around her through her closed eyes, a soft incantation passing her lips, a few moments of silence, and repeating the incatation. The backdrop surrounding her suddenly stretched as stars became lines only to stop just as suddenly, the view of a beautiful green planet floated below her, two moons softly glowed around the world.

Something brushed against her nose, and the surrounding image faltered a moment as she grimaced before it stabilized around her again. Calm. relaxed. control... There it was again. her nose twitched more, she could feel a sneeze building. why now?! she was so close! she could almost smell the trees of her home world, the rich leafy smells mixing with the tang of the undergrowth and the freshness of the rivers that crisscrossed it's forests! The stars around her flickered and became streaks as the images vanished around her as she shook with a sneeze, putting a hand out behind herself to keep from ending up on her back.

She sighed adn looked at her paws, it's been a long time since she'd seen the green of her homeworld, and the fact that she was trying to see it through the force she knew would worry the masters that she might be getting homesick...'homesick'...a sign of weakness appearantly. she would never understand why the masters believed that having something to ground yourself to, would lead to the darkside, but she learned quickly that such things were best kept hidden, and after such a vision, her aura always showed a sense of joy, never the homesickness she felt before-hand "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum Buir" she muttered under her breath before she finally looked up to the source of her irritation.

A fox tail. how utterly tipical. moreso, it was Shades Tail. flicking about unchecked in his excitement. Her hand snapped out with perfect timing, and snagged the end of it "Control your tail Ner Vod, such a sign of excitement may disturb the masters...and myself." She was easily the eldest of the 'padawans-to-be', and it showed. her demeanor was more refined, she held a sense of duty, pride and poise. not to mention an air of control about her. but like all unknown stresses, it wore on her, but she never let it show to the younger students. She gave up on trying to meditate with all the excitement in the air, having been the first to the meditation room had given her a base to start out with, but now that the room was buzzing, she found it hard to do anything but wait for the teachers to arrive and take them to the cavern "Su Cuy'gar Jeb" habit. she always did it. Mando'a slipped like water into her speech. "you get assigned to watch us 'young'ins'?" She didn't need to have seen his face to know it was him, she could feel his impression in the force, and somehow, her mind had stored that away from the last time they'd run into one another, though she could barely remember him. She smirked, Jeb couldn't have been more than a few years older than herself, yet here he was, assigned to guard detail over a bunch of students. something about it struck her as ironic, but for the life of her, she didn't know what.

[Eian]

"Still as serious as ever i see, Sarina." Jeb could recognize her inmediately, it was hard to forget someone with an attitude and a way to talk like her "Yep...got contracted to watch over your group specifically....its odd, they're never that specific" he said stretching out still, he still was a bit stiff after his flight into the Academy only a few minutes ago "But i figure they're just being a little bit too carefull this time."

He looked over her, he hadn't seen her since he had left the Academy when he was a teenager to continue his Merc training "Man, it's been a pretty long time since i saw you but you haven't changed one bit. You even wear the same pieces of armor i saw you in last time." He knew those were important to her sentimentally, sort of the same thing he felt for his father's blade and pistol "Glad at least someone remembers me aparts from the masters though..." He was a little bit anxious about that kind of thing, in his line of work he didn't really have all that much time to make "friends" of any kind, so seeing someone familiar to him or who knew him was as close as he could get to it

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade nursed his now sore tail with a whine, "woout you plaise remember you 'ave a strong greep Sarina," the vulpine's face twisted comically as he forced his mouth to move in the correct way to pronounce her name, having learned some time ago that saying her name wrong was a good way to earn her ire, "it 'urts vhen you pool my tail so 'ard! Und in case you 'aven't noticed, zhe mastahs are not 'ere right now und I'm not zhe onlay vhun who is excited." He gestured around at the various initiates amusing themselves by irritating the security detail by playing keep away using the force and the guards weapons.

Shade smacked his lips a little. Speaking Basic always left his mouth dry for some reason, so the fox reached to his belt, activating his personal translation unit. The small device that doubled as a buckle was tuned to his native language and was designed to register the words through the vibrations they made, "And it's nice to see you again Jeb, it's been a few years," the device translated as Shade spoke, grinning from ear to ear, "haven't been getting yourself into too much trouble have you? It'd be a shame to never hear from you again since none of the other guards will talk to me when I ask questions. I mean, I asked one why his gun was so small and he seemed insulted... or amused, I can never tell on Rodians."

______

Master Ven-Notch was a broad shouldered human by birth and he dwarfed most of his kind, but Ven-Notch wasn't one to use his size to his advantage. Today, he was dressed in ceremonial robes just like everyone else, his single lightsaber hanging from the belt at his waist. Behind him were his fellow teachers, both vixens, one short and busty, the other around an average height and just as, if not more, busty. Ven-Notch's tan face was creased with worry, "It still feels wrong. Most of them are so young, not ready for what they'll face yet, but I'll admit... I too sense something through the Force..."

He sighed, turning away from the one way window that looked into the meditation room from the library, "there hasn't been a disturbance for so long, so why now? And if it's this dangerous, why are we rushing them so much? Yes, there's a lot of potential in this group, but it doesn't do them much good if they're... defeated." He paced back and forth, mulling over it in his mind as he waited to hear the vixens' thoughts on it..

[Eian]

He smirked and pointed to the burn and explosion marks on his armor, a lot of them seemed very recent even "Nothing i couldn't handle my friend...i might not be Jedi trained, but i am just as capable as any of them to handle any situation, as for your pistol remark...let's just say some are a bit insecure about their 'equipment'" as he said this, Jeb pulled out his own pistol, an worn out looking pistol with a compensator on the barrel, he pulled the slide back to check on the heatsink, this pulled back with each shot to avoid overheating, and old concept from the lead and bullet times made usefull again "I don't have to worry about that myself though...This gun is more reliable than most people i've worked with, not including Jedi of course"

he spinned it a few times before swiftly putting it back in his armor's leg holster, one quick and connected string of movements "i wouldn't really make too snide comments about a person's gun unless you know them very well in any case. You never know how they'll react to it, you see, Mercs spend so much time with their guns they get affectionate with them sometimes, it's kind of like how Jedi's become attached to their lightsabers or how someone gets used to a vehicle they've had for years" he said trying to clarify to the young fox, he was able to remember that one little detail of his personality, of how he always needed to know the "why" of things.

[Poliwirl100]

"Lucifer....Luuuciifer...LUCIFER!!" A white fox shouted into the ear of his black companion. The black fox jumped where he was standing, having learned the secret art of sleeping while standing. Lucifer fell to his butt from the shock of being woken up so suddenly. Once he was aware of his surroundings he began to speak.

"Quid infernum? Possumne domini expectantes dum dormiunt?" he said as he got up as he rubbed his eyes and looked at his twin brother.

"No you can't sleep, I'm tired too but we have to....um....persevere." He said patting his brother on the back "Besides the Masters should be here any moment."

He was shot a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' and his brother sighed "Gabriel there were supposed to have been here by now. That's why I sleeped" he said yawning

Gabriel shook his head "It's 'Slept' brother and you better wake up soon and hope that you don't fall asleep again."

"Et post duodecim minutes" Lucifer yawned as he drifted back off to sleep before waking up again because Gabe pinched him

"No you'll wake now, not in twelve minutes." Gabe said with a smile "Let's go talk with the others, maybe that will wake you up." Gabriel seemed oblivious to the hatred towards Lucifer from the others, his cockiness seemed to get the best of him whenever they'd train. Very few students liked him and he liked almost none of the students except Gabe and a certain vixen who would also become a padowan with them. He was nice to her and whenever she'd talk to him he would get tongue tied, sure she was a bit older than him but he has the crush all the same. Due to both reasons he just stayed where he was and just went back to sleep.

Gabriel sighed and walked over to Jeb, Shade, and Sarina "Can anyone wake up Lucifer? he asked the group and motioned towards his twin "He was up all night again."

[Buzzwolf]

"They need to be ready master," the taller of the vixens started. "They need the experiance of field work...this" she waves her hand around the room "this classroom life...it doesn't prepare them for this...thing...that's coming" around her belt, hung two lightsabers, both a bright shining silver with a pair of beautiful blue crystals hidden somewhere within their confines. her snow white furred hand came up to brush a loose lock of her golden hair from her eyes "They won't be ready if we don't start now"

"I have to agree Ven" the shorter crossed her golden furred arms, her long red hair kept well out of the way in a nice, neat tie, flaring up and hanging down to just a few inches from the ground. just above the base of her tail, sat a pair of long saber handles, a double ended blades, both of them. the crystals a pure white with a pair of flawless clear crystals set inside each of them. "Without this training, when it comes, they're all going to be lost in the dark dealing with a real threat. this will be good for them Ven, they need this"

__________

"Perhaps if you did a little more physical training, your tail wouldn't be quite so...vulnerable" she said, throwing the fox nothing more than a glance his direction and returning to Jeb "It is rather odd that they assigned you to us specifically. the masters have a rather annoying habit of keeping us from getting familiar with anyone." getting attached to outsiders was always a dangerous thing, some that might well seem to behave as if the best of friends, might very well be working in to destroy the academy. maybe the importance of today was what brought the familiars around, someone they knew would have their back should they absolutely need it.

She turned as Gabriel walked up, rolling her eyes as he told them the story of his twins falling asleep again. her hand moved to her side, to a small pouch at her hip, the cover flipping open at a mere whim, and a small, perfectly rounded stone floating up and out into her hand as she brought it up level with her shoulders. it floated there a moment as she sensed out the alignment before she flicked it through the force, bouncing it off the darkers nose and back to her hand "Time to wake up sleeping beauty, the masters will be here any minute"

[Takeru]

Marcus sat in the meditation room, keeping to himself for the time being. He knew all the others in the room fairly well, but still didn't call them his friends. Those who looked his way would most likely recognize him, his iconic blue stripe on his neck and back made that easy enough from behind, as well as his white-tipped tail, which was now curled around his right leg as he sat with legs crossed. He looked around, noting the sleeping one and the girl with the pebble that flung through the air before closing his eyes and concentrating on the stone he had placed in front of him. He relaxed his mind, like he had been taught, and let it flow. Those who watched would see the stone rise into the air, and hover for a few moments before it began to wobble, and Marcus's face would grow into a grimace as he struggled to maintain the force holding the small stone in the air. He exhaled and the stone steadied, and his face relaxed, regaining the focus on the stone. He always had trouble with this part, but had been training his mind to do better. After another minute or two, he would lower the stone, pick it up, and place it back in one of the pouches on his belt, satisfied with himself for now. He wasn't as strong with the force as he would like, and knew that he would most likely never be, but it didn't bother him. He wanted only to be what he could be and nothing more. He stood up and walked around a little, wondering what was taking the masters so long.

[Shade Leshyr]

Ven-Notch sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead, "I suppose you're right... it just seems too... coincidental. Especially with the progress we've seen from these students..." He lapsed into silence for several moments, eyes roving over each student in turn. By now, he knew each of them by name and where they showed promise. He wasn't supposed to favor any of them, but he couldn't help but let a small smile appear on his face as he saw the five students that he had seen the most promise in. True, they tended to focus hard on one aspect of their training: Sarina, always so focused on not allowing herself to be beaten in combat, she would make a great guardian in the future. The brothers Lucifer and Gabriel, the former willing to stand strong in the face of danger, the latter doing his best to control the aggressive nature of his sibling, the two would become a great tag team for the world.

Ven-Notch's eyes wandered across the black-furred vulpine, chuckling a bit to himself as even now he could feel the inquisitive pressure in the Force, with a bit of discipline, he might become a diplomat. And last but not least, there was Marcus. Even now, Ven-Notch could see the wolf trying to establish a stronger connection to the force, and the human wished he could give the wolf the hint he could use, but now wasn't the time. Standing tall, Ven-Notch took a deep breath and nodded, "Let's go."
_____

Shade huffed a little at Sarina's cold-shoulder sentence, but shook it off pretty fast as he listened to Jeb's explanation. His face showed he didn't understand for several moments, having never felt the connections Jeb spoke of, but then he remembered back to his early childhood and a rock that he'd grown attached to, "Ah," he said, his eyes lighting up with understanding, "Vron-Rei, 'affection for the unliving.' I see, I see." The vulpine's head snapped around as Lucifer and Gabriel approached, the latter explaining his brother's exhaustion.

Shade laughed and tapped Lucifer on the nose where the stone had struck him, "You seem to do a lot of not sleeping, eh?" Before Lucifer could react, the doors to the library opened and the three masters walked in. All the padawans-to-be jumped up, those who had been meditating feeling their entrance, and bowed, showing a discipline that surprised most of the security detail. Ven-Notch bowed in return and they all straightened at once, "Today is a special day," Ven-Notch said, his quiet voice carrying strangely around the room, "today, this, the first part of your training ends with a final test," Ven-Notch raised his lightsaber to eye level with the force, "the construction of your first lightsaber, or lightsabers as the case may be. To some, it will be a weapon to defend the weak, to others it will be a symbol of your connection to the force, but to you, it is your ally, along with the Force and each other."

His saber returned to waist as he paced slowly back and forth, "Since the day you came here, we have done all we can to prepare you for this day, but as a Jedi, you must remember that you will always be learning. From this day on, the training will be different. As a padawan, you will accompany us into the real world, outside these walls where your training will be put to the test and it will be up to you to decide when you should use your skills and how. We will guide you as much as we can, but the universe is unpredictable at best and we may not always be there to help." Ven-Notch could see the understanding in the eyes of his students and he nodded solemnly, "Come."

The students formed up behind the three masters, a few speaking quietly out of excitement as they were lead toward the hanger bay, masters in front and security to every side. Across the hanger they strode, the masters ignoring the ships, making several students speak in panicked voices, which grew shriller as the masters reached the door leading out to the ashen surface of the planet. They were going to walk across the planet on foot?! Ven-Notch spoke quietly to the vixens and turned to address the class as they began opening the door, "This is your first step, the transition between initiate and padawan. Somewhere beyond this door is a cave filled with the crystals necessary to complete your lightsabers. These crystals exhibit a very particular impression on the force. Find them."

The door opened behind him, letting in the temperature of the planet, many students starting to sweat and he turned, stepping out onto the ramp leading down to the spiral path leading to the bottom of the mountain. The students followed him tentively, ushered on by the two vixens. Shade's eyes took in everything as he stepped out, his tail wagging softly as he tried to memorize everything he could see, "This place is beautiful in its own way..." Shade mused as he followed the students in front of him as they followed Ven-Notch.

[Eian]

Jeb took a look outside to the hot lifeless surface of Mustafar, it was not the kind of weather his fur was made to resist, but thankfully his suit would keep him at a cool temperature. He took his headpiece back from his waist, placing it carefully with his two hands untill the locks snapped in place and a small mist of cold air passed in between the cracks, his HUD system appearing slowly before his eyes, a modified version of the republic special operations HUD that showed him all the information he needed about his enviroment and his own armor "Allright...let's go".

Stepping down onto the planet the temperature change between the Academy and the actual surface of the planet became an issue for some people, Jeb even felt it through his suit for a few moments before it automatically set it to something more comfortable to be in.

Something about Mustafar was...exciting, it was very few times you could see some sort of "order" in a place as chaotic and filled with dangers as Mustafar, Jeb felt however that there was something still off about this whole procedure...it seemed almost rushed to him. Usually when they needed his assistance for such an excursion the padawans would be a little bit more experienced, more matured if you will, he tried just shaking that feeling off and moved on with the rest of the people, keeping his hand close to his pistol holster just in case something did happen

[Takeru]

Marcus watched master Ven-Notch with eager eyes, smiling as the thought of his very own light-saber, with his tail wagging with excitement. He had so very many questions he wanted to ask, so many things he wanted to know, but he knew now was not the time for questions, and he followed the master in silence. Marcus cringed and almost recoiled as the hot air hit him like a wall. He shook himself a little to regain his composure, cursing the fact that he had to walk, almost completely unprotected, in the arid landscape before him, and he wondered just how far they would have to walk. He mentally sighed and reminded himself yet again that he had to control his emotions, and that anger would not only lead him astray from the path of the Jedi, but would be utterly useless in this situation. The masters wouldn't lead them into such a dangerous place if they didn't think we could handle it. He scanned the landscape, his right ear twitching as he heard Shade's comment. "You're right, it is beautiful." he said in response, but his voice was so low one would think he was speaking more to himself, which he was.

[Poliwirl100]

Lucifer started to spazz when the rock hit his nose until he saw who had did it and he just stopped and looked away to regain his composer before approaching the group. When Shade tapped his nose though it took all he had not to try to rip Shade's arm off as they lined up. He halfheartedly listened to the master's speech and followed with the others. He was to excited about becoming a padawon he couldn't help but whisper to Gabriel "Nam padawan, sum jedi recta iter esse militis." which resulted in a chuckle from Gabriel.

"If anyone here can go from initiate to Jedi It's Sarina." Gabriel said as he replayed the speech in his head "Besides I don't even think the Master skipped being a padawan, so you'll just have to make do like the rest of us." Gabriel's tail nearly started to wag at the temperature of the planet. He loved warm temperatures, but this....this was too warm. "It's a bit.....what's the word?"

"Cum invenisset non molesti verbum Gabriel, scimus omnes, qui est calidus." Lucifer said before his brother could find the synonym for hot.

"Well I wasn't saying that it was...toasty that's the word, anyway I wasn't saying that for you I was saying it for me brother. A mere observation never hurt anyone right Shade?" Gabriel asked, making a friendly joke about Shade's curiosity.

"Oh leave him out of this." Lucifer mumbled, still fuming at the fact that Shade was able to get away with tapping his nose.

"Oh and Brother?" Gabriel asked and got mumbled response "You may want to talk in a language others understand, you never know when an eavesdropper can help in a situation."

[Buzzwolf]

"Yeah...beautiful and deadly as a verpine shatter gun..." a few of the students threw an odd look in her direction before realizing it was her, then back to the task at hand. trying to sense the crystals in the force.

Sarinas fur, was the last to take on that soft shine as the heat started to get to her, even teh human masters bald head began to shine in the intense heat, but Sarina, having spent more time out in the wilds of the planet training than she was probably supposed to, remained soft and dry till long after the others glistened.

She loved it out here. everything about this world. living breathing planet, growing and making itself, and every living thing on it, stronger simply by existing. she knew all the lava tubes, streams, falls, where the most beautiful crystal caverns were, and the most deadly of trenches. she'd been out in the hot molten landscape as long as she'd been at the academy, one of the things few students even did once, given the choice, while there.

Suddenly, the female stopped, and put a handpaw on a crystal vein on the wall, the white furred vixen slowing her pace a few steps later to look back "Excuse me Masters" she bowed slightly, "I will return to the hanger when the task is complete" crouched, and launched for the sky, kicking off through the force to carry her high into the air along a craggy wall and landing nimbly on the edge, not even the brittle lava rock breaking under her landing before she vanished out of sight and was gone. The white vixen master, watched as Sarina soared skyward, a soft smile slipping her lips. she could handle herself, she could just feel it, and didn't worry for the girl as she glanced over the rest of the padawans to be, wondering who might be next, and if she might need to send them in groups to accomplish their tasks

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade wasn't sure what to make of the comparison between the planet and a gun, but Sarina was already leaping away before he could ask. His disappointment didn't last long as they finally reached the bottom of the mountain and Ven-Notch raised his arms, signalling the students to begin. Shade didn't dash out as many of the more impatient students did, choosing to close his eyes and focus before he even moved. The lessons in the meditation room had told them that the force felt different for everyone that touched it, as unique as the person feeling it, and to Shade it started as a single, haunting note that flowed around and through everything. Slowly it filled his senses, vibrated the air with its melody, before everything it touched began to answer with its own beat.

The melody grew, taking over all his senses, sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. The glassed rock buried beneath the ash thrummed in a steady tempo, holding all the other tunes in time as they filled the burning air with their music. The lava coursed its way through an energetic rhythm as the still air carried a soft, melancholy tune. He'd been training to use the force for so long and yet the pulsing melody still dazzled him with its brilliance. He could feel the students around him flaring up with musical tones as they reached out to the force as well. Quietly Shade wondered what the experience was like for them, but he put it out of his mind, focusing on the task at hand. Reaching out, he felt along the surface of Mustafar as a blindfolded man reaches out to find the food upon the table, delicately searching every dip in the plane.

Minutes passed as the students wandered where they felt willed to go, carried by the calls of the force and before long they were no longer one solid group, spread into small groups that felt connected. Shade found himself in step with Lucifer, Gabriel just behind, Takeru joining from somewhere to the left, and Sarina just a few paces ahead, her melody ringing with a mild amusement.

Then Shade felt it...

It was nothing like he'd been expecting, a huge, blaring song, but something more subtle. Beneath his feet he could catch faintly the twisting of notes, each seeming to be changed as they flowed through something. Down below the surface of Mustafar, the crystals called out quietly to the young jedi...

Shade opened his eyes to see Sarina staring at them from the mouth of a cave that lead down into the darkness, as if expecting them. The curious vulpine cocked his head, "You already knew about this place?" he asked rhetorically as he stepped up beside her, peering into the cave, "It's rather dark... but they're down there... let's go shall we?" His demeanor changed back to his usual self as he skipped into the cave without a care in the world...

_____________

Ven-Notch paced at the base of the mountain, "I don't like this. I can barely sense the students, but they're at least close to the caves... but... can either of you feel the students that were heading toward the old mining station? I lost them a few moments ago..."

"I have a bad feeling about this..."