Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 304 (Patreon)

While Mara was riding high for the rest of the night, that all came crashing down the following day, and even into the second. Despite her initial success in learning Heal, the disparity between how easy it was for me to learn magic and how difficult it would be for my various students hit her hard. She started trying to learn Lesser Ward early the next day, only for the matrix to fail several times as she tried to refine it, each one costing her a few hours of work. 

It was difficult to watch, and not just because I was doing a lot of sitting around, though I was doing a lot of that. I made a note to set up a meditation area in my enchantment room on the Hope, so I could work and advise my apprentice at the same time.

Eventually, after a long day of failure, her frustration and fatigue had started to seriously affect her ability to make any progress. I convinced her to call it quits for the day and start again the next. She would lose much of the little progress she made on the first day, but hopefully some distance would make the process easier.

I grabbed us a snack and a drink, claiming a corner of the ship's lounge area to chat. Once she had admitted temporary defeat and calmed down from the frustration of wasting an entire day, I asked her if she could feel what was causing her issue, if she could even identify it.

“It's my magic, I keep losing control of the wire I’m pulling from my core,” she explained, referring to her personal visualization method for her magic. “It's like… trying to hold a thin thread while you're wearing gloves. I can’t feel when the thread is pulling loose, and picking it back up is a pain.”

I leaned back in my seat, my drink temporarily forgotten as I tried to parse what she meant. Pulling and directing the magic was the primary difficulty with adjusting the matrix to your personal frequency, but I had never struggled to hold on to it. For me, it was the precision and repetitiveness that got to me, making it difficult to complete projects and stay focused. Yeah, maintaining control wasn't easy, but it had never really been my point of failure. Nonetheless, as my apprentice, it was my job to help her figure out what she could do to mitigate her issue.

“What if you occasionally paused, just to firm up your grip?” I suggested. “It will likely take you longer if you're constantly adjusting your mental grip on your magic, but if you get good at it, that time will likely go down. Plus, if it works, you'll be less likely to have wasted the time you invested. Better to spend ten minutes every half hour to adjust your grip than to lose all your progress completely.”

“Adjust my grip…” she repeated with a frown, shrugging after a moment. “I’m ready to try anything to keep from wasting a whole day.”

The following morning, she attempted once again learn the Lesser Ward spell. This time, while she still failed twice, she did manage to finally learn the spell. As she repeatedly cast it, I tapped the barrier with my knuckle and nodded in appreciation.

“Once we get you in beskar armor, you’ll be tempted to think this is useless, but out of any spell, this one and its higher forms should be the one you learn to cast in a split second,” I explained, walking around to stand beside her, casting Superior Ward and holding it up. “You can’t always wear your armor, and it doesn’t protect from everything. Powerful enough lasers, explosions, electric shocks, repeated lightsaber strikes, beskar weapons, and more can punch through your armor, which is why instinctively casting this to protect yourself can absolutely save your life, or the life of whoever is standing behind you.”

“You… your gonna give me beskar armor?” Mara asked, her eyes going a bit wide, her magic fading. “I… didn’t expect that.”

“...You're my apprentice, you'll be coming with me on missions,” I explained with a frown. “Why the hell would I let you do that without proper armor?”

“I… thank you.” She said, rubbing her shoulder. 

“You’ll be getting a sword like mine as well,” I explained, patting the weapon on my hip that accompanied me more or less everywhere now, especially when we went off planet. “Or at least a beskar weapon if you have a penchant for something else, though I would recommend some sort of sword adjacent weapon, as its that is what I can teach you the best.”

“What about my lightsaber?” she asked with a frown. “Can’t I just have that back?”

“Well, one, your lightsaber is long gone,” I admitted, scratching my cheek. “It never made it to Nirn, or even close. I was worried that the Emperor had made it for you and might have connected with the crystal enough to track it.”

“He… did make it for me, actually,” She responded, looking a bit sick. “Could he actually track me with it?”

“Potentially, if he took the time to bond enough with the crystal,” I assured her. “I have no idea if he would actually do that, but he could, and that was enough to abandon it.”

“Damn… could I make another?” 

“Making a lightsaber requires a connection to the Force,” I explained. “The placement of the Kyber crystal is too precise to be done by hand. And besides, you can’t fight with one, it requires a connection to the Force to safely use. Without that, most of its advantages become negatives. A beskar weapon, properly treated, will be much safer for you to use and will have several advantages of its own. If you really want, I can have a Jedi put together a lightsaber for you, as I won't deny they have a lot of utility as a cutting tool, but using it as a weapon is a bad idea.”

She frowned, looking down at her hands for a moment, as if envisioning a lightsaber in her hand. When she looked back up at me, she looked disappointed but determined.

“And you'll teach me to use a sword?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “You're qualified to do that?”

“I spar regularly against Ahsoka and Luke,” I responded with a shrug. “I’ve also beaten a few Inquisitors. Actually, speaking of them… do you know what happened to those guys? We killed a few, and then we haven't seen any of them since then.”

“They still exist as far as I know, they've just been forbidden from seeking you out,” she explained. “The Emperor still thinks you are a Force user, and was afraid that you would sway them away from his clutches with the promise of training and knowledge.”

“... Idiot,” I said, shaking my head, forcing myself back on track. “Anyway, I’ll also teach you how to fight as a battlemage, something no one else really can.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll learn how to fight with a normal sword,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How much crossover is there between lightsaber and swordsmanship?”

“Don’t know, I never trained someone who already had one,” I admitted. “But relax, we can worry about that later. Just cast Lesser Ward a bit more, and then we are heading to bed. We only have five hours before we arrive at Tatooine.”

Mara nodded and cast her newly learned spell several more times before eventually heading off to her room. Meanwhile, I checked in with the bridge before heading in myself. The following morning, we woke up just in time to watch the drop from hyperspace. Tatooine hadn’t changed much visually since we had last visited, as it was still a ball of rock and sand. However, despite being the same oven masquerading as a planet, the people who lived on its surface had changed quite a bit. Somehow, the people who had stood up to lead had managed to keep anyone from claiming it as their personal domain like Jabba had. They did this by turning it into a burgeoning center for illegal trade. That way, it was more valuable as a place to unload stolen and smuggled goods than it was as someone's domain base of operations.

Jabbas Palace had already been converted into a sort of bazaar, with a bustling market starting to grow around it.

It was an interesting idea, and it seemed to be working. I didn't quite understand why people would be so desperate to claim Tatooine, as it was as close to a hell world as you can get with breathable air, and there were plenty of other, safer, better places to claim. Either way, the planet's population was shifting into something new, and despite still being a hive of scum and villainy, at least its natives weren't slaves, and seemed to be doing alright for themselves.

Once we arrived in orbit, it took us a moment to find the Starcaller, as they arrived before us. When we did, we picked a random plateau in the desert on the planet below and began descending. Our destination was smack dab in the middle of nowhere, which was just about perfect for our requirements. Both of the ships landed a good distance away, with Mara and I the first ones off the Ark. I was tempted to let the crew walk around a bit and stretch their legs, but we might need to leave in a rush, so for now, they needed to stay on board.

“Alright, so here is the plan,” I said, watching Ahsoka and Amescoll step out of the Starcaller and start making their way towards us. “They are going to find the edge of the ysalamiri bubble, then we are going to approach it. I'm going to be standing right beside you, ready to knock you back in, while they meditate and concentrate on you. With both of them working together, we should be able to sense anyone reaching out for you.”

“I… That makes about as much sense as any of this,” She admitted. "Let's get this over with." 

We watched Ahsoka make her way closer, walking out ahead of Amescoll, until finally she stumbled a bit and immediately stepped back. We then made our way to them, stopping a few extra feet ahead of them, just in case.

“Hey, guys, no issues?” I asked the two Jedi. "Ahsoka, how are you feeling?"

“It is not fun, but I’m fine,” Ahsoka said, now fully recovered. “I’m at least semi-functional under the field, I just need a minute to recenter myself."

“Well, there's no need to push yourself.”

She nodded, and after a few minutes, both she and Amescoll settled into a meditation, sitting cross-legged in the sand. It took some time for them to properly sink into the right state, but eventually Ashoka gave the go-ahead, and I turned to Mara.

“You ready?” I asked, giving her a searching look. 

“No,” she responded quickly, before letting out a quick breath. “Let's do it.” 

I nodded, and we walked forward together. I had my hand out, Paralyze already charged and ready. Eventually, we crossed where Ahsoka had marked out the limits of the anti-Force bubble, stopping once we were standing between the two meditating Jedi.

“Go ahead and sit down,” I said, Mara nodding and sitting down silently, closing her eyes. "I'm right here, ready to push you back, so relax and let them do their thing."

For a while, I stood there, watching her closely, looking for any sign that she was struggling with anything. It seemed that leaving the field hadn’t affected her in any obvious way, and so far she was simply sitting there, face calm. I glanced at Ahsoka, then at Amescoll, noting that both of them seemed calm as well. 

One minute turned to five, turned to fifteen. At the half-hour point, I had some of the crew bring over a sun tent, quickly setting it up so that we didn't burn to a crisp under the dual balls of heat beaming down on us.

After about an hour, Ahsoka and Amescoll both opened their eyes, the former looking up at me.

“So far, we haven’t felt a thing,” she revealed. “Her presence in the Force is just about the same as yours, as in barely anything. If we wanted to find out more, we are going to have to be.. More invasive.”

“What does that mean?” Mara asked, her eyes now open as she looked between Ahsoika and I. 

“It means I will have to delve into our mind to see if there are any bonds formed, or if it's being influenced,” Amescoll revealed, catching our attention. “It’s invasive, and I will be able to feel your mind, but I promise I won't delve too deeply, and anything I see I will keep to myself.”

“...If it means we can be sure I’m not a catastrophe waiting to happen, then do it,” She revealed with barely a pause. “I just want… All of this to be over. I want to move on.” 

Amescoll nodded before reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder. After a moment, he gave the younger woman a nod and closed his eyes again, Mara quickly following his lead. Meanwhile, Ahsoka stood up, stretching a bit before leaning against me, her head on my shoulder.

“Amescoll has more experience with this than I do,” she explained. “I never really got this far in my education. I've been meaning to continue working on it, but...”

I nodded in understanding, both of us going quiet to wait. This time, it was only around ten minutes before both Amescoll and Mara opened their eyes. 

“I cannot feel any connection at all,” Amescoll announced with a smile. “Her presence is so minor, I suspect it wouldn’t even be possible to make any.”

“Makes sense,” I responded. “Otherwise Ahsoka and I would have likely formed one already.” 

“Wha... huh, you know, that's true. How did I not think of that?” Ahsoka said with a frown. “We really should have had one, considering our relationship. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to say anything before we confirmed it," I explained, holding out my hands to help both Amescoll and Mara to their feet. “I didn't want to give you any preconceived notions or bias.” 

With our test complete, Mara and I headed back inside the Ark to grab our stuff before making our way over to the Starcaller. The Ark lifted off after we had cleared the ship, heading up out of the atmosphere to head back to Nirn.

Meanwhile, the four of us climbed up the remaining starship's cargo ramp, happy to get away from the blisteringly hot planet. Not long after that, we took off as well, angling upwards to breach the scorching atmosphere, jumping out of the system a few minutes later.