Dantooine system

5 Galactic Standard years ago
 
Valos and the boy were sitting next to a fire in a courtyard of a small farmstead. Valos had just healed the boy's mother of a particularly nasty sickness that was sweeping through the small farming community. He had been telling the boy stories and the subject of the Force had come up during the tale of Qua’zhinn’ga and the thousand Kowakian monkey-lizards.
 
The boy was laughing aloud during the story, but when the story ended, the boy looked at Valos inquisitively. “What is the Force?“
 
“What is it that you wish to know other than what you can already see and feel? Do you not feel the heat from this fire? Do you not feel the breeze on your face? Do you not feel pain when you hurt yourself? Do you not see the stars moving in the heavens? The awe that fills you when you realize that there are countless people looking back at you from those stars? Do you not feel their gaze?”
 
The boy started and stared up at the sky. It was an extraordinarily clear night and the stars were showing their best this evening. The boy shivered.
 
“Why were you suddenly overcome with fear when I mentioned people looking back at you?”
 
“I.. I don’t know…”
 
Valos raised an appraising eyebrow. He could sense something from the boy. It was extremely faint, but there was a spark.
 
“You must understand that the Force itself is neither good nor evil. The Force simply is. It encompasses everything in the galaxy and everything in the galaxy is a part of the Force.
“There is what is known as the Light side of the Force. It is logic, patience and control. Some would say that it also represents order and Life itself. Walking its path requires peace and presence of mind. You must be calm and not let emotion take hold. It is difficult to master, but… actually master is wrong as you do not master the Force. It is difficult to become one with the light side as our very natures interfere with it.”
 
“Our Nature?” The boy asked. His eyes were wide with wonder.
 
“Our emotions, our darker emotions to be more precise. Jealousy, Fear, Anger, Hate. These directly interfere with using the light side of the Force as our emotions actually tap into the Dark Side of the Force. The Dark side is emotion, immediacy and power. It is closely connected with chaos and Death. Some would say it is the easier path as it readily gives you power, but there is a price to pay.”
 
“Price?”
 
“The Dark side takes a toll on anything it touches. It can corrupt if left unchecked, and weaker beings have fallen completely to its seductive ways, falling ever deeper into its embrace as their own power grows. These two aspects, or more appropriately, sides of the Force, make up the living Force. It is Light and Dark, Order and Chaos, Life and Death. It is really two sides of one coin.”
 
Valos produced an old gold coin he had in his possession since he was a child. One side of the coin bore what appeared to be wings and a crown, on the other side, a skull over two crossed curved blades. He gave it to the child to examine.
 
“See the sides? See how one displays freedom and control? While the other side shows death and destruction? Now turn the coin and look at its side. Do you see anything?
 
The child shook his head. “I just see the side of the coin.”
 
“What you see young one, is the Force in its entirety. The Living Force rarely shows us Itself as it truly is, what we normally experience as the Force is one side of the whole. And just like this coin, the Force is only good or evil in how it is ultimately used by those that wield it. You could take this coin and purchase a month’s worth of food for a family in need, or you could use this coin and purchase a slave. Which would you rather do?”
 
The child handed the coin back to Valos.
 
“Feed the hungry of course!” He said. “Slavery is wrong. My Da says so.”
 
“Indeed it is.” Valos smiled glancing down at the scars on his wrists remembering his own terrible childhood. “But what if you could give a slave their freedom?”
 
The boy’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”
 
Valos flipped the coin. It hung in the air, spinning as if it would never stop. The boy looked at it in awe.
 
“Anything is possible child. With the Force, anything is possible.”
 
He looked at the coin and reached out with the Force. It floated slowly into his grasp.
 
Valos stood up. “It is time for me to leave. Go see to your mother. I will be back in a couple of days to check on her.”
 
“Thank you so much for your help Healer!” The boy ran back to the house. He turned in the doorway. “I want to hear more stories when you come back!” The boy waved and disappeared into the house.
 
Hitching up his shoulder bag, Valos walked out of the firelight back toward town.
 
———
 
Five hundred meters to the south of Valos, floating on a small hill, an Imperial probe droid had just recorded everything he said.