Fire can light the darkest depths

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


The encouraging word from Tempest made the girl smile in happiness and excitement for the coming day of training. Watching the training saber fly from the case into the woman’s hand made the Togruta shake her head and smirk, watching the woman assume a position which she assumed was Ataru. It was, like Tempest said, a much more aggressive stance.
Shamira raised her eyebrows at the comment about her teacher having seen use a Sorseu stance. Where had she seen her? Was there videos of the Togruta in combat on the holoweb? Had Tempest watched her training that morning without her knowing? The former jedi frowned lightly at this thought. If Tempest had watched her, there was a good possibility she had seen how Shamira parried and what her go to moves were, meaning she would be at an disadvantage should duel.
The Togruta tried to shake off these thoughts as she backed away a few feet from the fire mistress. Igniting her training blade, she brought it vertical in front of her body, before pivoting and assuming the basic Sorseu stance. She hadn’t ever focused much on training lightsaber forms while still a jedi, and would definitely categorize it as her biggest weakness as a force user. Shamira hoped that that would not be obvious to Tempest and that she would at least be able to make the duel interesting.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest waited until the girl assumed the starting stance, and then straightened up whilst motioning for Shamira to stay as she was.
Moving around the apprentice with a critical eye she made subtle corrections to the Togruta’s stance and balance.
“I am not a master of Soresu, but I know enough of the basics to give you a starting point. The key of Soresu as you know is defence, therefore your balance and movement are the most important factors.”

She produced a controller and activated a button. A training orb appeared from a niche in the wall and hovered in the one place, firing sting blasts. The blasts were regular, randomly aiming for different parts of the Togruta’s body.

“Good, balance, use the Force to guide you. Take control of it.”
She hit the control and a second one appeared, this one firing at Tempest.
“Emulate my movements as you block. You’ve got a good understanding, so I just need to make sure you properly understand all the key elements.”

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


The lithe Togruta’s brow’s furrowed lightly when she was told to stay in place. She had assumed Tempest would test her by dueling, but that evidently was not the case whatsoever. Her breathing slowed as the mistress began to circle her slowly, fixing her quietly, carefully, until her stance was perfect in the eyes of her teacher.
While Tempest did admit to not being a master of the form, Shamira did trust her plenty to further her skill in the art. From the way she had been maneuvered so far, she already felt more on balance. More of her weight was moved from the entirety of her foot to being focused more on the balls of her feet. It felt as though she could move faster and more maneuverable in this stance as well.
Movement from the wall caught her eye as a training pod droid emerged, spinning slowly as it approached her. Shamira exhaled fully, then brought her saber up to a ready position. The first few shots, two at her torso and one at her arm, were easy enough to block without difficulty. It was when two shots were fired almost simultaneously that she was caught off guard, one high aimed towards her chest, and the other at her knee. She was able to block the top shot, but couldn’t recover her swing quick enough to block away the low shot, and it caught her on the knee cap.
Gritted teeth blocked the deep inhale of stinging pain as the initiate went down to a knee, breathing in and out slowly. It had been a while since she had felt that familiar, stinging pain. Shamira slowly her breathing, gripped her training saber tightly, and stood tall, readying her saber once more.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tempest’s movements and did her best to emulate and move along with them. The orbs were firing in unison together now, and the beautiful dance of two training blades, moving simulations through the air, matching the others’ movements, filled the air. Two training sabers wielded by trained individuals, mirroring the others movements perfectly. It was a gorgeous sight to see, and Shamira could not help the smile that peaked at the corners of her mouth as the pair moved together.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest saw Shamira go down, crying out from the impact. However, she did not call off the attack. Shamira needed to get used to dealing with pain and danger under stress. Besides, it was just a shot to the knee.

To her great delight, the Togruta stood and began to emulate her closely, deflecting every bolt away. When Tempest called off the droids a few minutes later not a single shot had pierced either of their cordons.

“Excellent work, Shamira. You learned from your mistake. The blade must be kept close to you at all times. Give space for time, do not fail to defend yourself by any means necessary.”
She stepped closer.
“The pain you felt, let it buoy your resolution. Use your emotions. Neither smother them like the Jedi nor let yourself become prey to them like the Sith. Find the centre. Feel the fear, the pain, the anger, and use it to make you stronger, but always remember that you are the centre, in charge.”

Tempest stepped back. “Take a brief break and then we’ll spar…though we’ll not both use Soresu. Trust me, a duel with two form III’s is like watching a Rodian stand off until one side gets bored and switches form! What other forms do you know?”

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]

Encouraging words were always nice to hear, especially for someone you had come to revere. It was no different when Tempest praised her for following her movements, and getting back up from a shot. She probably reacted more than she should’ve to the shot that got through, but it did hit her kneecap. It felt worse than usual, with it hitting a sensitive spot.
Shamira frowned slowly at Tempest’s words. From day one in the Jedi order, she was taught to repress her emotions and not let them control or influence her whatsoever. “Master, I’ve been told since I was a little girl not to let my emotions control me. I was told it was dangerous, a path to the dark side of the force. During my time in the Temple I did everything I could to repress them in training. I..I’m not sure I know how to let them go. Especially not how to control them.” The initiate’s frown grew a bit. She didn’t want to disappoint Tempest, especially not since she had just praised her.
The Togruta tried to shake off the disappointing feeling that ran through her, trying her best to force a smile to her face to answer the other question. “Well, I knew most about Shii-Cho and Sorseu. I learned a small bit of Ataru, because they felt I could use my athletism well in that form, but I left before I learned much more than the absolutely basics. I feel most comfortable with Sorseu.” Shamira shrugs, crossing her arms, looking up at Tempest. “Is that alright?”

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest nodded. “I will defend in Soresu. When we start again use Ataru or Shii-Cho to attack. First though, we need to discuss philosophy.”

The Dahomian frowned. She was not an eloquent and learned lecturer, nor one given to theory, but she did have a very practical sense of things. She sat down on a crate with Shamira.
“I’ve never been a Jedi, but I know their way, I can see it in you. They want you to suppress your feelings and emotions, dam it all up. It’s like water. You can hold it in place but eventually it will burst free, uncontrolled. The reason why so many Jedi go Sith and go evil is because they’ve repressed the human…uhh…sentient part of them for so long when it bursts free it’s wild and uncontained.”

“Now Sith on the other hand pride themselves on giving in to their emotions. They are a wild torrent, and because they think that control will only limit their strength they are uncontrolled. They are at the whims of their passions, killing, intriguing, destroying because that is what passions unleashed cause. That is not ideal either.”

“What we are, Shamira, is the balance. We place controls over the torrent and use it to our advantage. We also have a code which encourages discipline, honour and fidelity. Unlike Sith or Jedi, we are a militarised Force tradition. We are strong but we are restrained. Any of the Order of Fire who kills innocents or murders a companion faces instant execution. We expect you to act within our laws, so if you want to get married or have a girl or boyfriend, you can. But you must be able to follow our rules and know what is important, what isn’t, and what’s the difference.”

She placed a hand on the girl’s shoulders. “Now, that’s a whole lot of speechifying but basically it comes down to; be a person, follow the rules, don’t be a jerk. You’ll learn how to release your emotions constructively quite quickly.”

She stood and offered the girl a hand. “Oh, and I’d prefer Mistress rather than Master, if it’s all the same to you,” she added with a smile.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


“I want to get better with Ataru, so I’ll attempt to use that. I feel like it’s the best long term for me.” She grins, allowing herself to be lead to a pair of crates, sitting on the one beside of the fire mistress. Pulling a towel over her shoulders, she leaned forward, listening intently to her words, hanging on every one.
The water analogy really spoke to the Togruta as she listened. From her time on Shili, she had been allowed to play in the forest and near the small creek that was close to her parents’ home. Like any child, she would take the time to build little dams that could hold the water back for a short time, before slamming forth, destroying the little wooden dam and shooting forward with intensity for a short time. Slowly, over time, she found it more satisfying to make the creek go off into small streams by controlling the water flow with little dams. It wasn’t stopping the flow of water, just controlling it and making it work the way she wanted to. Her physical power couldn’t stop the water flow, so she found ways to make it work in her favor.
It was much like the force and emotions in the way that Tempest talked about. Letting the water run free was dangerous, but so was damming it up, for eventually something would go wrong. Only when someone chose to freely control the water, the emotions, in a way that did not hinder them, but let them flow, did the water conform to the persons wishes to the fullest extent. It was something that both the Jedi and the Sith missed, and the Order of Fire had seemed to understand.
Shamira had been nodding and listening the entire time Tempest spoke, blushing lightly at the mention of a girlfriend, before smiling lightly at the end of the speech and the simple end message she was given. Even for someone who wasn’t an eloquent speaker, the mistress had been able to place an analogy in her head that would allow her remember this conversation forever.
Her smile widened at the touch from Tempest, nodding at the request. “I apologize. Kinda drilled into me. I’ll do my best to remember that, mistress. And to not be a jerk.” Snickering lightly at the last bit, she wiped her face with towel before sliding off the crate, offering a hand to the white haired woman. “Ready to get your butt laid out on the mat?” A sly, wide smirk grew from her smile.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
She was glad that her explanation had gotten through to the girl. It made things much easier. Siobhan Kerrigan had given her a similar talk early on in their partnership and so she was mildly plagiarising.

Shamira’s bravado was amusing. “My dear girl, if you can lay my butt out on the mat in our first session with a form you barely know it’s you who should be the Mistress!” she said with a smile.

She took a few steps away from Shamira and activated her training sabre, assuming a Soresu starting pose.

“Start slowly if you want. The purpose is not instant victory, but to learn for the future.”

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


“Who knows, I might just surprise you, mistress.” Her smirk widened, nodding as she was told to ignite her training saber. Shamira decided to back away a few feet from the taller woman to begin.
Igniting her training saber, she brought in front of her face in her usual, sparing maneuver to ready herself, before settling into the stance she had been taught for Ataru.
Her breathing slowed, eyes closed, as the small Togruta began to gather energy. Slowly, her eyes open, and with the guide of the force propelling her legs, the initiate sprung forward towards the woman. Her training saber slashed down from Tempest’s high right shoulder down to her left hip, in an attempt to get her to block and open up her right hip so that Shamira’s follow up attack, a heel spin mid level slash. The Togruta hoped the that quick attack and follow up would be enough to get her opponent on her heels enough for Shamira to press the attack and win before Tempest could make a counter.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest replied by stepping back swiftly and using her blade to slide the attack away. This placed her in a good position to also counter the spinning slash also in the same way.
“Soresu performs best when you can use footwork and the angles to deflect the attacks,” Tempest explained.
“The defence is strong because of the economy of movement. By exerting just enough to protect yourself you make the opponent use more energy, more strength. That will eventually cause them to leave themselves open to a counter.”

She nodded to Shamira. “Attack again. You did well the first time.”

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


It would be easy to say that Shamira was at least a little surprised at the ease at which Tempest blocked and took a step back from her strikes. Not that she had underestimated the woman, but she was still hoping for at least a miniscule more of effort to block her on the other duelest’s part. It was way too easy for her.
The Togruta had to take her mind off the duel for a second to make a mental note of Tempest’s words, nodding at the strategy that was behind using a Sorseu stance. She was trying to learn two different stances at the same time, which made her head hurt a small bit trying to think like that.
Nevertheless, the initiate nodded when prompted to attack again. Deciding she’d take a different approach, Shamira started with the same swiping attack as last time. Instead of bringing her saber in a circle to attack Tempest’s midsection with a follow up swipe, when the Togruta turned, she brought around her other heel, attempting to swipe out the woman’s legs from under her. Change speeds, and change areas of attack were the two things she remembered most about going on the offensive, to not allow her opponent a second to make a mistake.
After finishing her spinning leg swipe, Shamira reversed her grip on the saber, holding it backhand, slashing at Tempest’s left shoulder to her right hip. She hoped changing grips might throw the woman off just a bit for her to press attacks.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest again deflected the first strike, but the Apprentice’s leg swipe had caught her somewhat by surprise, but she went with it, flipping backwards with the aid of the Force to land on her feet in a crouch. When Shamira reversed her strike, Tempest side-stepped to the left and deflected the attack again.

She had made no riposte yet, merely defending for now.
“Good! Alternate your methods. Never become predictable.”
Tempest resumed her stance and waited for Shamira to attack again.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


Shamira nodded, and began to circle her opponent opposite to her. She kept her grip reversed on the training blade, holding it at a ready position in front of her, horizontally across her body.
Suddenly she sprang forward, starting with the same left to right downward slash, only to bring her training blade reversed back up the path of first strike. It was meant to disarm, or at least knock Tempest’s blade back far enough to make her next strike effective and to strike the woman.
As soon as her blade had risen back through the path of her first strike, leaving it raised slightly in the air, Shamira tucked her shoulder downward, pulling a, admittedly slow, 360 turn of her shoulders, swiping her saber back up through the path of her second strike. The full turning of her body was done to hopefully put everything she had, and maybe a bit extra, into the strike. If the follow up strike she had already performed had been successful and Tempest’s blade was just now getting back into a blocking position, Shamira hoped that this powerful down to upwards strike would totally disarm her.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Shamira’s strategy was partly successful, and Tempest was impressed by her range of movement and her speed. Her second strike had succeeded in pulling Tempest’s blade out of position so when she made her acrobatic move she nearly succeeded in her intent.

Except that Tempest had jumped back a pace so the two blades met only at near the top of Tempest’s blade rather than the bottom or on the hilt.
However, seeing that Shamira had committed to her attack strongly, Tempest suddenly riposted, aiming for the Togruta’s left hip. With her blade having gone up and her acrobatics just completed she might have left herself open to a counter attack.

The training blades delivered a zap, but nothing more, they weren’t capable of causing real injury, fortunately!

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


It was all going to plan, much to Shamira’s surprise. The second strike had hit Tempest’s blade in the perfect manner, knocking it back bit. Everything was perfect leading up to her spinning upwards strike that would finally break through the woman’s defenses.
Until it wasn’t perfect. Until it didn’t work.
She hadn’t expected Tempest to have the time to take a step back and throw off the accuracy of her spinning strike. It had left her totally open to a counterattack, to which Tempest capitalized and zapped her hip. It left her on the floor, dropped to a knee because of the surprising counter. In a brief moment of frustration, the initiated hit the training mat with an open palm before returning to her full height.
“How am I supposed to..break you down without leaving myself constantly open for counters? I seem to overextend myself every single time.” She sighed, still a bit frustrated, looking up to the woman with a hand on her hip.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
Tempest deactivated her blade and helped Shamira up.
“Patience, my dear. I did not become a Mistress of the Force instantly, it’s taken me many years of training, experience and fighting to get to where I am. So it will be with you in time.”

“As a more accurate and direct answer though, Soresu is called the Persistence Form for a reason. It emphasises an ironclad defence at the expense of attacking power. It lets the opponent tire themselves out until a single counter can win. As for what you can do in future? You did well until you did the flip. Improvising your attacks, keeping them unpredictable, using feints and physical strength is a good recourse.”

“Now, you take Soresu and I will show you Djem-So. It is the form I have specialised in because its nature matches mine well. It is an attacking form which emphasises strength and movement. It’s a good counter to Soresu’s defence. Whilst Makashi attempts to pierce the defence, Djem-So is the hammer which crashes through.”

Tempest stood back and activated her training blade, holding it in a high pose.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


Shamira sighed and let herself be helped up, smiling softly and nodding at the words of the mistress. Patience was never a great strength of the little togruta, so she shrugged sadly. “I suppose. Its beyond frustrating feeling like you’re being toyed with, unable to break an opponent’s defense.”
The Togruta nodded slowly, crossing her arms while listening to the woman’s words as she spoke about the finer techniques and uses for Sorseu. Shamira made a mental note of this and filed it away for later. Her first stance, Ataru, would be good against single opponents not using Sorseu. She could overpower people with her quick movements. However, Sorseu would give her something good to fall back on in case her first stance failed on her, or there was more than one attacker.
Tempest’s words didn’t exactly give Shamira the most confidence as she slowly reignited her training blade, giving it a spin before assuming a defensive stance. If Tempest intended to use a stance that would totally overpower her, perhaps she could use a few trickery moves to keep her from using her full strength.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]
“In many ways these lightsabre forms are a bit of a crock,” Tempest said with a grin. “They’re fancy names given to different styles and the best way of doing those styles. But they’re useful to train with. Basically, no form is a hard counter to another. Any form can beat any other, you just have to know how.”

Tempest took a high guard with her training blade, as if she was about to play a game of baseball. When she advanced on Shamira her movement was quick and precise, her blows rained down on the Togruta, hard and punishing, interspersed with lightning fast slashes and stabs lower down. Always there was movement forward as well, not giving Shamira a chance to use fancy footwork or give her time to disengage.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]


The words rang true through Shamira’s ears as she rolled the thought over and over through her mind. ‘Any form can beat another..’ The togruta’s eyes narrowed as she slowly nodded to the woman, before raising her blade to get ready for her full strength attack. She was hoping to use what Tempest had used against her in their first duel.
The first of the heavy, overhead attacks almost shattered the initiates defense instantly, and made her back her up quickly, which apparently was just what Tempest wanted. The white haired woman advanced, and advanced, making her back up constantly. There wasn’t a chance her to counterattack whatsoever. Until…
Even if the form was Tempest’s main, attacking constantly would get anyone tired, at least by a step. After a few overhead attacks, her forward stab would come, but the half second to get to the stab was getting longer. Shamira knew if this move failed her, then her defense would be shattered. However, if she kept backing up, trying to defend, that was going to happen anyway.
Finally, the Togruta made her move. The stabbing motion, unlike any of the another times she had tried to defend it, was suddenly hit downward. Her blade connected with Tempest’s, forcing it downward. Her foot shot forward, striking the taller woman’s left, hoping it would distract the mistress long enough before sliding the practice saber up, slicing left to right up the woman. If it worked, Shamira’s strike would catch her shoulder, zapping it, and give the Togruta time to gather her defenses again.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Shamira Karuto"]


Tic.

Tic.

Tic.

Shkishhh.


The cane that rapped a rhythm on the floor was long and slender, with an intricately worked metal tip and some elaborate, vaguely esoteric runes. The rhythmic sound heralded the arrival of Lady Kerrigan. She was garbed in a flowing black dress that contrasted strongly with the flaming red hair that cascaded about her shoulders like a mane. Her feet rested in a pair of leather boots, while a lightsabre was strapped to a silver belt.


An aura of power surrounded her. Though subdued, her Force presence seemed to fill the room without any conscious effort. When perceived through metaphysical eyes, her presence resembled a storm tide. Her stance was regal, her expression stoic . Extensive, vicious scars ran across her face. No words left her lips as she stood there, leaned on her cane and watched the show through her hard eyes.