"- to be clear I'm impressed. Positively. Successfully stealing a ship at your age is nothing short of incredible, even for one with the advantages of Force sensitivity. And I imagine you needed very badly to escape."

He floats a small brick of nutrient-dense cake over to Teela using the Force, since it doesn't look like Talon is going to let anyone near his box.

"I don't especially want to talk about it." She nibbles delicately at her cake.

"Entirely understandable. We can move straight to business, if you prefer."

"Yes. What did you mean, about being a Jedi Seeker?"

"Are you familiar with the Jedi Order in any capacity?"

"...I've read about them, but I don't know if anything I read was true."

"Sensible of you. I myself have read things about the Jedi Order that... well. The Jedi, actually, are an order of Force-users - people with the same abilities as you - who seek to understand and control those abilities. And to understand and control themselves. I work for them in the position of Seeker. This means I travel the galaxy finding Force-sensitive children, explaining to them and their guardians what the Force can do, and if they consent, bringing the children back to the Jedi Order on Tython, where they can be taught to use their abilities."

"What if they don't consent?"

"We have a policy of not kidnapping children. Even under circumstances that might justify it."

"Could've fooled me," Joy mutters.

"You gave explicit verbal consent. Generally, kidnapping is when you don't do that."

"Emotionally blackmailed me," Joy says under his breath, but he settles down.

Scromf nomf snarf "what's emotional blackmail?"

"Ordinarily it's unfairly using emotions that someone is having to make them feel like they will be betraying you personally if they do something you don't want them to do. Joy is using the phrase to mean calmly explaining the consequences of all the alternatives to my proposed course of action, thereby making him feel like he has no other choice than to do what I want because, realistically, he doesn't."

Talon waggles his ear-wings thoughtfully. "So what're all the consequences then?"

"If you remain in the wider galaxy, you will be in danger from a wide variety of sources. Slavers seek out Force-sensitive children to sell to the Sith. You will also be in danger from your own emotions and impulses; the Force is a dangerous thing, if you do not know your own mind. The best possible outcome of your refusing to come to Tython is that you become... a wanderer. Someone who knows a little bit about how to use the Force, enough to be dangerous to those around them, but not enough to truly understand it, to use it to its true potential. Most outcomes are much worse."

Talon is now deep in thought.

"We have only your word for whether that's true," Teela points out.

"True enough. Joy is from an uncontacted world, so he can't really back me up either; his fathers trusted me largely because I was able to demonstrate Force powers and discern that he had them as well, and I can't exactly rely on that here. Any holonet resources I give you could be fabricated; anything I tell you could be a carefully crafted lie. But."

He closes his eyes and retrieves a metal cylinder from his belt and lays it on the table. "Do you know the reason a Jedi carries a lightsaber? Was that in your reading of dubious canonicity?"

"It was not."

"It isn't, primarily, for self-defense. If someone attacked me with a blaster and I did not have my saber on me, I could easily toss him into a bulkhead, or simply close the distance with a Force leap and beat him unconscious. I've done it before."

"It certainly isn't to intimidate people. You may have noticed this, but if a Force-user wants someone to feel intimidated, generally, they do."

"The lightsaber is a tool, like any other."

"Currently, as far as tools go, you have your wits, and you have the raw Force. And, I suppose, you have Talon. Of these, your wits are by far the most powerful. The Force can be blocked, and you will not always know the right technique to apply. Talon, though I'm sure he's an effective combatant, is not invincible. Your wits can tell you how to use the other tools you have, which is vital - but if you have no tool appropriate to the situation... then you will fail."

"The lightsaber is a tool. And the reason we carry it is that the more tools you have, the less likely you are to need any particular one."

"The Jedi can give you many tools. With those tools, it is my fondest hope that you will never again be trapped without any means of escape."

"I'm not a tool," says Talon. "I'm a person."

"Sorry. I didn't mean it that way, but I do see how I misspoke. You are a person, but - you are also someone she can call upon for aid. Perhaps I should have said that you are a resource."

Distrustful grumbly noises.

"You should put that away before Talon tries to eat it," Teela suggests.