"What happens to those whose powers you collect?"

"They die."

"So - I also dislike being around death, not just causing it."

"...That may be a problem, then."

"The things I want to teach you wouldn't require violence to learn, you know, and - I expect the zenith of your power in the Force will be much greater than whatever you can scavenge here, and it will be yours."

"Self defense is - a bit different. But I can assist in defending you, and I am willing to escalate if nonviolent or nonfatal resolution fails, there."

"Hn."

...Her immediate reason for going after Cask has just been obviated. And it probably is a better idea to lay low for a while. Let people forget, grow complacent.

"...All right. While you're teaching me, I won't go hunting anyone, how about."

"A good compromise."

"Will you also agree not to use my teachings for your hunts, if our arrangement ends?" A brief, quiet pause, before: "I don't object if you use them to defend yourself if you draw attention that you'd need my teachings to escape, but..."

That same sense of sadness. "...I'm tired of enabling death, too."

If she does, Anakin won't know and she has other tools besides. Good to keep this secret.

"Agreed."

"I'll know," she says, softly. "I won't retaliate, but I'll know."

"...Okay."

She regards the Keres for a long moment. 

Then, voice still soft: 

"I destroyed a planet."

Blink.

"Personally...?"

"I didn't order the weapon built. I didn't draft the plans. I didn't construct it. I didn't issue the final order, nor did I activate it."

"I participated, all the same."

"We used a weapon of mass destruction to turn a planet and all its two billion inhabitants into so much dust. 'Personally' is a complicated question."

A small, humorless quirk of her lips. "And that isn't even why I quit."

"I am tired of enabling death."

"I-" understand is the wrong word. "See your point?" she tries.

"Thanks."

"So where do we start?"

"So long as we're here - might as well start with the more subtle foundations."

"Have you ever meditated before?"

"Not really."

"A noisy bus isn't often the best place for classic meditations, but we can start on some things."

She explains controlled breathing exercises and an initial posture to take. (One with much less slouching. Feet on the floor, spine straight, chin up, hands on thighs...)

"Work on establishing an even rhythm first. Over time, you'll want to slow your rate down - but you need to be able to control that rate, first." (The pattern she recommends - breathe in, hold, breathe out, hold. She wants the Keres to try three seconds in, three seconds hold, four seconds out, and two seconds hold first, and increase each of those numbers until she feels she's pushing herself - and exhale time should be increased fastest, the hold times slowest. The point is control, not holding her breath.)

Weird way to sit on a bus, but whatever. She doesn't care about these people.

It takes her a while to get the hang of counting her breaths, but after that she doesn't have much trouble.

Next - mindfulness. Noticing her own body, her surroundings. Not focusing, not analyzing. Awareness. 

And once she's decent at that (it's very hard to do for more than brief stretches), Anakin starts asking her questions about her environment. Tells her not to think to hard, not to analyze - to use her instincts. 

The questions gradually require more and more inference, of course, until Anakin is asking her things she has absolutely no way of knowing the answer to.

(Anakin nudges her whenever her breathing falls out of rhythm, whenever her attention falls out of that ready awareness, focuses too sharply or scatters.)

The questions are trickier. Trying to answer them disrupts her breathing rhythm, and balancing the awareness is even more delicate.

She does best when she forgets to take time to think.

She's good at encouraging that. 

Yeah.

They get pretty far before the next stop.

Does the Keres want to get off here?