An Affinity For Mending

Closing her eyes, Avaleah took a deep breath. She pictured the scratch on her hand, imagined it closing, the skin knitting together. She felt the Force around her, warm and comforting....and then....

Her concentration burst like a soap bubble. Opening her eyes, Avaleah let out a frustrated sigh."Sithspit!" she muttered, rubbing her throbbing temples.

"Something troubles you young one?"
Aveleah sprang from her sitting position, or tried to. Unfortunately, her foot had fallen asleep, and so she sprawled ungracefully at her masters feet instead of coming to attention.
Eletha Tam looked down at her, an eyebrow raised. "A jedi moves with patience, not haste" the woman said, not unkindly. Coming down to one knee, she reached out a hand to her pupil. Avaleah took it, blushing.
"I'm sorry master, I should have known better then to move so rashly." she said, awkwardly standing.
Her master shrugged. "I wasn't speaking of your attempt to rise just now, but of your healing work. It comes slowly, and you are frustrated."
Sighing, Avaleah nodded. "I know exactly what it is I must do master, I must encourage the cells to heal, the red blood vessels to clot and weave together. But I cannot make it happen."
The woman tilted her head. "Walk with me."
Aveleah followed her down the corridors of the temple, walking by her side in silence.

"Do you know," said Eletha suddenly, "That you have been sitting in that same room for six hours, trying to make your Force healing work?"
The student blinked in amazement."Has it really been that long?"
The other woman nodded.
"Yes.....it isn't good for a Jedi to become so stagnant in their efforts."
"But master, I often see you meditating in the same position for hours."
"That is true. But I have learned to move while being still. When I am meditating, although my body does not move, my mind is free and agile, moving through the Force. But you are not flowing, instead, you have been using your mind like a cudgel, trying to break down a barrier that does not exist."
Aveleah frowned. "I...do not understand Master."
Eletha turned to Aveleah. "You have an affinity for mending. You are quick to interrupt a fight between friends, offering a diplomatic solution. Your needlework in unmatched, as is evidenced by the other students coming to you for repairs. And most importantly, you understand the workings of the body, and what a body needs to heal. In your heart, you know that you can do this. Yet your mind insists that it is hard, and you believe it."
She put a hand on Aveleah's shoulder, looking deep into her eyes. "Believe the heart, not the mind. Do not push, flow."
Aveleah looked down at her feet. "I don't know how." she said plaintively.

"Close your eyes now, and focus on the cut on your hand. Do not push the Force, simply let it work through you. Like blood courses through the veins, like the breath that flows through your lungs, it is natural. It is a part of you, not something to be sought out. It simply, is. Now. Close your eyes."
Sighing, Aveleah did so.

A part of me....a part of me like the blood in my veins....there....like a river....all around me...like the Force....a part of me like my skin....like the air that I breathe....I am a part of it, it is a part of me....feel it....the flow....I am...I am...
I am the Force...... let the air flow....I am the Force.....it surrounds me.....I am the Force...a part of me like my skin....I am the Force.......like the pulse of my heart....I am the Force.

Aveleah opened her eyes, and saw the cut on her hand vanish before her eyes. She smiled in delight, looking up at her master.
Eletha gave her an approving nod, smiling. "You've taken your first step into a larger world."