kylo watched his apprentice focus on the stormtrooper, wondering how easily the information was able to come to her. did she struggle with summoning the force for something she hadn’t practiced as much, or did it come naturally to her? it didn’t seem to take much effort out of her as she spoke his birth planet and date aloud, as if it were written on the stormtrooper’s helmet. but afterwards she paused, and kylo turned to her expectantly. she seemed as if she were suddenly in a daze, or visualizing something…either way, kylo grew impatient, wanting to know what was going on in her mind, but preventing himself from using the force himself to find out. he preferred to push her to focus through words of discipline instead.
instead, he trodded her, “yes? and the rest…his greatest desire?” the supreme leader shook his head irritably, pacing back and forth between adni and the stormtrooper. “you’re not focusing hard enough. channel all of your energy into your task,” he reminded her, doing his best to ignore the slight guilt he felt at using the stormtrooper as a test subject. but this was the man’s job; it was part of what he had signed up for, even if indirectly. besides, he hadn’t shown any visible signs of being harmed. the stormtrooper seemed perfectly fine, and remained quiet as kylo looked from him back to adni. “if you can’t master simple mind reading, it’s going to be a long time before you can accomplish other, more important tasks.”
Adni was snapped back into reality by Kylo’s coaching. Her first instinct was to scowl at him, but she shook her head, reminding herself that what he was saying was completely warranted. It was her fault as she wasn’t able to pay complete attention to what she was supposed to be doing. The force didn’t come to you when you half assed it. It was something you had to dedicate whole focus to. And that was exactly what Kylo was trying to remind her of, which only made her more angry. She hated when he was right, when he repeated things she already knew, when he made her feel lesser.
Adni’s hand balled into a fist at her side. “I can do mind reading,” she said, teeth gritted tightly. At Kylo suggesting it would be a long time, she felt the frustration swell inside her. She had already waited long enough in her mind. She didn’t know how much longer she could wait. A voice inside her suggested how much easier it would be to crumple the stormtrooper inside his armor instead of reading his mind, but she knew that wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing right now, so instead of acting on that impulse, she relaxed her hand. Adni closed her eyes again, forcing herself to remove her thoughts of Kylo, of her apprenticeship, of anything other than what was on the stormtrooper’s mind. Adni wasn’t sure what she would find when she searched for his greatest desire, would it be military? Or would it be something more human? She wondered if Kylo would be unhappy if it was the latter.
Finally she located it, seeing a scene as clear as a memory, although it hadn’t happened yet. “Success of the First Order. To wipe out the Resistance. Peace in the galaxy,” she told him, eyes reopening, the fire behind them cooling as she knew she had succeeded, then added almost respectfully, “Captain Phasma trained him well.”