A Mikkian walked back from another visit to the base of the Gonks, the sound of some of the chimes she had taught them how to make and insisting on placing at some parts of it still audible. It had been weeks since she had given them the datapad with the info on what happened.

On them.

She had gone through nothing that could compare to that, of course. Had no way to know what they actually felt, having had their bodies and senses betray them, and apparently force them towards violence.

What she did know were some techniques help keep anger, violence and frustration in check when they felt overwhelming. Techniques to help focus, find one's center and a sense of purpose in simply being.

It was little, she knew that. And to deceive oneself into thinking a few small rocks could contain a river of emotion was nothing but lying to one's own mind. But maybe by trying to help those that would agree to that follow the water in that river in one's mind, learning from it and understanding its flow instead of just letting it rage and flood unbounded... maybe they could find some sense and control.

Not many found much sense in what she was trying to do. But patience was a very important step in finding peace, as she had learned, sometimes the hard way.

--------

The girl sat in a lotus position again in her favourite spot in the Grotto. Not the centre stone, but under one of the pathways that led to it. A small green stalk on a mound of dirt close by reflected some of the sunlight filtering through the cracks on the ceiling of the cave, contrasting with the otherwise still barren ground. Eyes closed, tendrils moving about slowly, almost rhythmically, as if they felt the air for signs of renewed life - or performed a ritual dance to honour what life and energy slowly seeped back into this area.

The natural peace in the area was still very much lessened... but there was still a hint of it there.

A smile grew on the girl's face. She knew that well. Peace would not come from the outside. Not only. It flowed. Came from within each being, was shared among beings of all kinds.

It was still there, some of it was. And she found greater place there. They did - she, her J'jyeh, and others who no doubt similarly still visited the place, to honour it, practice, centre themselves.

By centering themselves, they contributed to the Grotto centering itself. She felt it.

A draft of wind came by. The small chime on her neck tingled sharply, while three wooden chimes placed in different parts of the cave produced a softer, pleasing sound reminiscent of a river.

She felt the feeeling of peace extending from outside and inside at the same time, her calm, pleased smile growing even wider, and waited.

Or... not waited.

Rather, she just was.

Often, as Zim came to know, Cartess would focus herself toward the practical aspects of how she might help. Never a young woman who would rest idle when she was once simply a Jedi Padawan working through her trials. Now things were different, but also similar in ways that were unexpected. Today, specifically, was a day where she came with Zim to the Grotto and mediated with her on the state of the planet. Opening herself up to the force. Something, she confessed, she hoped would grant her further visions perhaps on what she was meant to do.

As she had told Zim some of these times, they never did. Something Cartess began to understand meant she was exactly where she was meant to be at the moment. Something Cartess believed in the faces of those she helped.

Sat nearby, on a rock, Cartess was likewise meditating and enjoying the peace within this place even if it was the silent kind of piece one must find in oneself.