“Hey, Tera? How do you feel about the Trials?”

“I dunno. I guess I’m a bit nervous.”

“Huh…”

You trace over her drawing with your eyes. It’s a rough sketch, but at least the lines are straight. Your own drawing was all wobbly. Hers is actually not too bad at all, considering her lack of artistic training. It certainly looks like you, though that isn’t too hard considering all the unique features you have.

Her drawing depicts your face as it was before: two normal eyes and a metal headband. Three hastily sketched diamonds adorn the headband, two in line with each other and the center-most vertically offset by a couple centimeters. A pair of stumpy horns jut out from your head, just above the headband.

Tera’s nervousness is understandable. If your own Trials weren’t postponed, you would be just as nervous as her, even with the information you got from Padawans Gilt and Lana.

“Have you been preparing?” you ask.

“Of course! But… I’m just doing the same things over and over now. It’s just like normal practice. I don’t know if there’s anything else I can try.”

“What are you going to do about the third Trial?”

“I don’t know. I thought about what Gilt said about juggling with the Force, but I don’t think that’s right for me.”

“Well, what is it that you want to do in the future? Do you want to be a healer? A diplomat? A guard? Maybe find something related to what you want to do and practice that.”

“That’s the thing! I don’t know what I want to do.”

She sighs and lies back, resting her head on your legs and staring at the ceiling.

“Xena, what are you going to do?”

“Um, first I need to get the Council to let me take the Trials.”

“Well, yeah. There’s that. But, what about after? I know Master Corr likes you, and you’ve got her training you in healer stuff. Are you gonna do that in the future?”

“I dunno. Maybe. I still need to think about it. I’ve even been thinking about Service Corps work.”

“Really? The Corps?”

“Well, yeah. They do important work and all the branches sound interesting in their own respect.”

“But, it’s the Corps! Why go there when you can be a real Jedi?”

“What if I fail the Trials? Or, what if I’m not allowed to take the Trials? The Council could just postpone my Trials until I’m too old to take them.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“That won’t happen! They wouldn’t do that. And, there’s no way you would fail. You’re strong!”

“Really? Then why’d I get myself hurt?”

“You can still make mistakes. Everybody does.”

“Hm.”

You sit in silence, just staring at her drawing of you. If you were stronger, if you were faster, if you were… normal; maybe none of this would have happened.

You can always improve yourself, but you can never be normal. You’re not human. You’re not a known species.

What are you?

“Xena, what’s telepathy like? Can you hear my thoughts now?” Tera says, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

“Huh? Oh, kinda.”

Tera stands up and turns around to look at you, forcing you to shut your eye for her safety.

“So, can you tell what I’m thinking right now?”

Even with your eye closed, you still have all the senses you need to make a guess. You know her well, and her emotions and true-self are clear to see. However, you ignore it all and focus only on what you hear. You strain your mental ears, trying to make sense of the quiet chatter coming from her mind.

“…at … … … ki… … am… … …”

Still nothing clear, but you get the impression that she’s just repeating something — the same phrase, over and over again.

“... ‘What am I thinking?’”

“Wha?! That’s right! You can read my mind!”

“Nah. That was mostly a guess. I got only bits and pieces.”

“But you got something, at least.”

“Well, yeah. It’s not useful though. I only guessed that because I know you well enough. Anyways, could you get off the bed? You’re still wearing your boots.”

You feel the bed bounce as she hops off and tries to sweep the bits of dirt and dust away. Tera’s a good friend, but unfortunately she doesn’t always think before she acts. The same could be said of you, at times. Other times, maybe you think a bit too much.

Tera climbs up into a chair, having brushed away as much as possible. You feel her presence — an indistinct blob — sway about. Master Lasah’s lesson was tough, but you have yet to see results. That’s perhaps not too surprising considering that was only your first lesson. Speaking of lessons, Master Corr will also be coming by to give you another one on Purification soon.

Suddenly, Tera asks, “Have you tried letting others hear your thoughts?”

You feel her lean forward, everything you sense telling you exactly how immensely curious she is about your telepathy.

“No. Do you want me to try it with you?”

“Yeah! Imagine if you could just send your thoughts to me. Then, we’d never have to speak with each other again!”

“That sounds sad, Tera.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. That’s not what I meant!”

You giggle at her panic, but ponder her idea at the same time. Being able to pass thoughts and ideas to others would be incredibly useful. You could pass information back and forth as fast as you can think of it! You could quickly coordinate a bunch of people at the same time and keep everyone informed of a greater situation.

Actually, isn’t that also kind of what happens with Battle Meditation? Is Battle Meditation a kind of telepathic technique? Hmm, maybe. Master Lasah said it’s partially based on mind tricks.

There’s a lot of nasty things that can be done with mind influencing powers. Maybe this is more dangerous than you’d thought. Or, it could be if you’re able to actually send your thoughts to others.

“Are you sure you’d be alright with me testing it on you?”

“Of course!” she happily declares. “This’ll be amazing!”