Prompt 66 - Point of View

'Regardless'

“Well, do we have an assumption for today?”

The question was casual, careless even, and just a tiny little bit vacant. Not that she’d expected anything else, with so much going on in the temple, with the shadow of some grasp-less fear lingering in the air. If anyone, then Jyn could feel how the Force pulsed with eager, devouring darkness under the surface tension, still smooth as glass – but equally transparent.

Master Luke, however, was nothing if not dutiful. And self-consistent.

“No, Master,” Jyn said, gathering all the insolence she could find in herself, “we most certainly have nothing for today. Your thoughts are so far away from here I cannot even feel them. I, however, have something you would perhaps call an assumption, although it is more like a persuasion.”

“Persuasions convey emotions, and emotions are enemies to neutrality. Your assumption – in itself – is a paradox.”

“You have not even heard it yet!” Jyn snapped, suddenly out of his patience. “Master,” she quickly added.

“Yet I seem to have teared it down already, since you are careless enough to label your thoughts like one labels jars.”

“Fine,” Jyn gave up, “then an assumption it is. Would you care to hear it?”

“It seems that I shall, regardless.”

Jyn wished Master Luke would look just a little bit less smug while she prepared to make the greatest revelation of her young life. But wishes, as we know, are not always granted.

“I assume,” she said, taking a deep breath, “that truth, as a notion, is fictive.”

“And not relative,” Master Luke tilted his head, blue eyes X-raying her mind.

“No, Master. Completely fictive.”

“Very interesting,” the Jedi’s mind suddenly felt less distant, less obscure through the bonding power of the Force, and his focus switched to dimensions Jyn could at least perceive. “How can you support that claim?”

“With conclusions I have drawn from what we already know about relativity,” said Jyn. She knew she needed to watch her words now. “You know how my… power works, and that sometimes, I catch a glimpse into people’s minds without even wanting to actively do it. I have witnessed many arguments, many grudges people held against each other… and in each case, all of them were equally certain about the truth of their own assumptions, their own point of view. Now, let’s imagine that two people claim completely opposite things, and both of their claims can be supported with equally strong arguments. In this case, either both claims are true or neither. Consequently, either the truth is ambiguous in itself, or it is completely non-existent. And if truth is what we claim it to be – something absolute, something superior – then how can it be ambiguous?”

“Absolution is ambiguous in itself, containing all assumptions and their opposites, as well all elements of the scale in between,” said Master Luke calmly. “Truth, from one point of view, is a synonym of absolution.”

“In that case, Master, what we, in everyday use have named truth is non-existent, and the real nature of truth is completely irrelevant in argumentation. Which means that you are proving my point.”

Her master smiled at her. “Then tell me, at what temperature does water boil?”

Jyn furrowed. “Depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“Physical and chemical conditions. Location. Pressure. Tension. Perhaps even gravity, I don’t know…”

“Which means that provided the necessary data and background knowledge, we are perfectly capable of saying at what exact temperature shall water boil. Let us say that water shall boil at X. Even if I say, with all the conviction of my mind that it shall boil at Y, even if I list logically supportable arguments to prove my point, the accuracy of temperature X shall not change. Which means that we have one solid truth there, regardless of any argumentation, however brilliant and flawless it might be.”

Jyn sighed as the beautiful arch of her logic collapsed in front of her mind’s eye. “But,” she shook her head. “Well, there are many counter-examples.”

“Whenever emotions are involved, as it seems.”

“Can you show me one conscious being without emotions, Master? Or instincts, even? Anything that may distort pure logical principles in their head?”

Master Luke smiled approvingly, and Jyn read his answer from that smile.

“The conclusion I’m tempted to draw from what I have heard today,” said the Jedi, playing with the foldings of his cloak, “is that truth, as a notion, is incomprehensive for any being with thoughts and feelings – or instincts. Nature seems to be based on principles of truth and occurrences, yet we, as products of nature seem to be completely alien to it. The true question here… can we label a notion as fictive, merely because we do not have the means to grasp it? This is what I would like you to answer tomorrow.”

“But that is just a question of belief,” Jyn’s eyes went wide. “Or preference.”

“Tomorrow, I said.”

Prompt 76 - Harbor

'Anchor cast'

“Did you know…,” said Han from the far end of the cockpit, then his voice trailed off. Luke, however, half-heard, half-felt the rest; all of it – even the parts he did not care to know. So much for being a renowned Jedi Master, completely in control of the Force…

“Did I know – what?” He asked back when the tension became just too much to bear. All the possible continuations of that question were drumming on the scattered walls of his retreating mind like lazer-shots on an X-wing’s shield.

“Jacen told me the other day that he couldn’t believe what people said about me,” Tall, graceful General Solo stood with a wry smile, waving around the remains of some half-cut wire in his closed fist. “Ain’t no way you could have ever been a smuggler, Dad…”

Luke could not suppress a soft, light laugh.

“You think that’s funny? I’m becoming the sort of guy I’ve made fun of my entire life! General Solo, my ass!”

“It’s not like you’re a General of the Empire, either…”

“No matter, it’s all the same!” Han muttered a few unprintable words under his breath. “I mean, of course it isn’t, but – my own kids don’t even know me. No one knows me anymore. Ben and Jyn are safely tucked away at your Academy, growing up to be clean-mannered mind-readers. Jacen has these completely delirious dreams of leading the Senate and bringing peace to the Republic – we have heard that before, haven’t we -, and Leia is just helping him around with whatever stupid idea sticks into his mind. And I… everyone in the entire Republic has forgotten who I truly am.”

“Starting with you, perhaps?” said Luke gently, although he suddenly wished he wouldn’t.

“Starting with me, damn it. I must have truly believed for some time that I was General Solo, and not some no-good rascal. How I miss being a no-good rascal, you have no idea!”

“And I miss being a rebel, sometimes,” Luke bent backwards in the pilot’s seat, watched the alignment of distant stars in the view the Falcon’s front windows offered. “But you can’t rebel against your own system, can you?”