Fire can light the darkest depths

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Shamira was giving way, as Tempest knew she would have to. The power of Djem So was the strength of the whole body.
However, the Apprentice had learned a trick. She pushed down the blade and unleashed a kick to the foot, hoping to use that to land a blow.

However the blow to the foot, and the pain it delivered merely served to get Tempest’s attention. Tempest had taken her name not just for her elemental powers of the storm, but because she had something of a ferocious temper.
Thus, when Shamira tried her trick move she merely made Tempest stop playing around and counter for real.

Tempest charged forward with sudden speed, using her left shoulder to ram the Apprentice whilst her blade shot up and zapped both of Shamira’s wrists from below before the girl’s training sabre could touch her.

Standing back, Tempest’s eyes narrowed, but she showed no pain in her foot.
“Sneaky. Just remember that in a real duel it’s not just lightsabres and physical combat, but the Force as well which will be used.”
With a gesture the Apprentice would be lifted into the air, held a moment, and then put back lightly onto the mats.

And then of course the boss entered. Tempest looked up and gave Siobhan a nod.
“Lady Kerrigan, this is my new Apprentice Shamira Karuto. Just showing her the ropes.”
Possibly bad phrasing considering…well…yeah. Anyway, it was said now.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

It was the moment in which Tempest’s eyes flared, obviously angered by Shamira’s cheap shot, that she knew that she had messed up. A shoulder, thrown hard into her sternum, forced her breath from her lungs, and the sudden and harsh slash of the training saber across her wrists made her yelp in pain. She dropped her saber, clutching and unclutching her fists to try to allievate the tightness in them from the harsh shock. Her breathing was ragged, raspy, as she attempted to regain her breath from the shoulder charge.
Suddenly, she was being lifted in the air, prompting an annoyed look on her face. Tempest had been toying with her. Nothing she had done was at full speed, only maybe the final move that had left her gasping for breath. The toying caused feelings of frustration, maybe a bit of anger towards the taller woman. Shamira was out of practice, yes, and the other force user was more powerful than her, but she was not that easy. Being toyed with was degrading, and she wouldn’t have it.
Grabbing her training saber in a tight grip, she made a small show of raising it in an attacking motion. She knew tempest would see. Would attempt to block her easily, because the strike was to look like it was out of anger and frustration. Which, in a way it was, but at no point was she actually going to strike in such a cheap motion. Instead, when Tempest turned, ready to easily block her, Shamira released the most powerful force push she could with the minimal distance between them. She knew it would only knock the woman back a few feet, but it was more for the shock value, and to hopefully knock the breath out of her a bit.
The Togruta spun her training saber after the, admittedly, less than clean move. Bringing it up in a Ataru stance, her face showed the frustration that had been building up in her. “I am not that easy. I am not a beginner. Why don’t you give me an actual shot.” She tried to keep her voice level, but it was obvious that the toying had gotten to her a bit.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Siobhan raised a delicate eyebrow in response to Tempest's Freudian slip. "I see you're, as usual, on top of things," she said wryly. The Togruta looked like a minor to her. Hopefully Tempest kept her tongue in check around her.


A frown creased her features when the girl gave voice to her frustration about being toyed with. To Siobhan, her behaviour seemed a bit bratty. That was to be expected given her age. "If Tempest stopped going easy on you and came at you at full power, you'd be a mass of broken bones. Follow her instructions if you want to learn," she said sternly. She figured they might have to smack some sense into the girl somewhere down the line, but would let Tempest handle things herself for the time being. Doing otherwise would undermine the Dahomian's authority. "Carry on with the lesson."

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The Force push, when it came, surprised Tempest enough that she was indeed staggered, calling on her own power to steady herself.
From this provocation, to Siobhan’s words above, Tempest could feel her irritation and even anger. Her temptation was to show the girl what it would be like to face her at full speed.

Instead, when Shamira attacked Tempest made no move and the training blade zapped her on the arm. She did not even wince or show any discomfit, her dark eyes level on her Apprentice.
“Because you’re not ready for that, Shamira. I take no pleasure in defeating you in a spar, my job is to be your teacher. If the student knows more than the teacher on the first day then you are no student and I am no teacher.”

“So no, I’m not going to beat you or humiliate you, I am going to train you. Unless you are so masochistic that you want to be hurt, you should take the training as I provide it because only that way will you get better. What you are feeling and showing now is what I felt 15 years ago. I had anger, I had passion, but it was undisciplined, it was undirected. That will never help you beat me or anyone else. What makes us greater than the Sith or Jedi is that we realise that passion must be directed. It must be focussed into a laser lance of concentration.”

“If you learn and grow and explore under me, there will come a time when I can throw everything I have at you, and you may beat me. That time is not now, and pretending otherwise does neither you or me any favours.”

She activated her blade and raised it, wincing slightly as she flexed her arm. “Now, Ataru vs Djem So. Attack vs attack. Strike,” she ordered.

Her voice had never been raised in the whole discussion, but there was a power in her. A command Siobhan might have seen growing over time but was now finally manifesting. Once, she would have smacked down her Apprentice and at one stage might have enjoyed it. Now she had just enough learned wisdom to know that this would never help.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

It didn’t happen at all like she thought it would. Tempest just allowed herself to be hit, much to Shamira’s complete surprise and disappointment. When those dark eyes focused on her, she couldn’t help but feel her anger beginning to disperse. The mistress was right, and the initiate had let her anger take over for a short time.
When her silver colored eyes flicked to the fiery redhead on the side of the room, Sio’s words hit her hard. Her eyes and facial features softened from the angry, frustrated face she had to one of embarrassment. She knew better than what she was doing. But she had gotten so caught up in impressing Tempest that she forgot her normally calm demeanor.
Her eyes focused on the ground as the words from her silver haired mistress, true, smart words, flowed forward. She bit her lip, nodding the entirety of the time. It was stupid to think that anything Tempest had been doing in the teaching was anything but trying to help her, but Shamira had let her frustration cloud her head until she couldn’t see the obvious truth.
The words were truthful, but confusing to the little Togruta. All within the last thirty minutes, she had been on both spectrums. Allowing her anger to take over, and being too passive and controlling to let it show at all. For all the training she had received, channeling her emotions was definitely something left out. She didn’t know how to do it. But she kept nodding, looking back up to her mistress as she began to back away from her.
Shamira felt worse that Tempest hadn’t yelled at her. She knew that the white haired woman was disappointed in her for her lack of control, and the small wince on Tempest’s face from where the Togruta’s cheap shot had landed didn’t escape her gaze. Disappointment and knowing that she had hurt her mistress was much worse than being thrown across the room with a powerful force grip. "I'm..I'm sorry. Mistress." Her frown was obvious, as was her mood that had calmed down considerably.
Trying to clear her mind of the hurtful and dumb actions she had preformed only moment before, Shamira nodded and spun her training saber back to the ready position, and struck out against the taller woman, starting with a spinning up to down slice. She followed it up with smaller, quicker strikes and jabs, trying to keep the mistress off balance, or at least get her that way. Being unrelenting was the only way she thought that she could keep Tempest from using the hard hitting form effectively.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Siobhan's lips curled into a thin sort of smile. Her expression did not show it, but she was proud of Tempest. The Dahomian had come a long way from the uncertain, angry young girl who'd been defined by her traumatic slave and unable to control the tempestuous powers that were inherent to her. Naturally this was all because of Siobhan's fantastic training...alright, maybe not solely!


You might make a good successor...one day, she thought to herself. Of course, Siobhan had no intention of stepping down from the throne any time soon. Her eyes fell upon the Togruta, who was suddenly contrite and remorseful. It seemed her emotions were all over the place. It made Siobhan wonder if she'd been a Jedi until now...since in her experience that order was terrible at teaching its pupils how to find balance. They did not understand true discipline, replacing it with the empty platitudes of their five line code of purple poetry. But the girl had heart and was determined. That was important.


They might make a good pair, the thought entered her mind. We cannot make the same mistakes as we did with Charlyra, a trace of bitterness entered her mind. The girl had been spirited and brave...but also foolish, arrogant and thoroughly lacking in common sense or control. That was what had gotten her killed on Kaeshana.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

At Shamira’s words, Tempest nodded not unkindly. Her apology had been accepted, it was time to move on.

She felt Siobhan’s gaze still, and though their bond was not as strong as some, she could feel her teacher and friend’s approval and did feel gratified by that.
“She is young, but she will learn,” Tempest communicated to Siobhan.

And then she had to turn back to the battle. Shamira’s strikes were rapid, agile. Normally one would lapse back into a defensive stance to withstand this, but Tempest wanted this demonstration to show a clash of styles.
Therefore, when she parried she did so in an aggressive manner, slamming her blade into the parry to unseat her opponent so she could in turn counter attack.
“The best defence is a good offence some say. Silly, but it’s not entirely wrong. If you attack the enemy they have to dedicate effort to defence. If you are attacking do not give them the initiative.”
She pressed forward, turning defence into attack, with heavy cuts of her own, alternating between high and low.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


A good balance of attacking and defending was definitely the best way to go for her. She wouldn’t have to overextend herself attacking during a duel, but also not only defend herself into a corner. If Shamira could find the happy balance between her forms of attacking and defending, she hopefully would become a much better dueler. Or at least start on her way to becoming one.
Keeping this in mind, Shamira began to allow the heavy strikes of her Mistress to push her backwards, before counterattacking, then pushing her own attack. Quick strikes, lighter than Tempest’s heavy handed strikes, but able to get more in within a small period of time. Back and forth they went, trading attacks and defenses, their duel lasting the longest it had yet during their trading session.
Eventually, the initiate’s stamina began to run out on her, and her attacks became fewer and fewer before she was on the defense again. Finally, another heavy attack from Tempest knocked the training saber from her hand, and Shamira collapsed to one knee, breathing hard. Sweat dripped from her chin as she attempted to regain her breath. Looking back up to Tempest, she smiled lightly, tiredly. “How was that, mistress?” Reaching out with her hand, she pulled the training saber back to her hand with the force, deactivating it. She stood slowly, still breathing and sweating hard, smiling tiredly up at her new mistress.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The duel was a grinding battle, a war of attrition. Finally, Tempest’s greater stamina and experience told and it was over. However, Tempest offered the girl a hand.
“That was much better. See what you can achieve when you focus yourself?” she asked encouragingly.

She retrieved the training sabres and put them back in their place.
“That’s all for now. You’ll have other trainers teach you later today. However, a mission has just come up for me, and I’d like you to come. It’ll be good for you to see how we work.”

Leading Shamira over to where Siobhan had been watching she placed a hand on her Apprentice’s shoulder.
“I definitely think she has good potential if she works at it. I’m going to take her to Kashyyyk to oversee that transfer you mentioned. Should be pretty simple,” she said with an optimism which absolutely would not come back to bite her….

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Tempest"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


Shamira grinned widely, nodding at the encouragement from her mistress. It made her very proud to know that she had somewhat redeemed herself from her atrocity of a frustrated outburst earlier. The Togruta took her hand firmly, pulling herself to her feet with a little bunny hop, the playful happiness she had at the beginning of the training returning.
That smile fell a bit at Tempest’s next words. It was obvious what was going to happen. Obviously Tempest didn’t have the time to train her personally at all times, but she was still hoping to spend more than a few hours with her. She had been so kind to the new initiate, that spending time with her would be absolutely wonderful. “Of course, mistress.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of a new mission for the pair to go on, and while overseeing a handover didn’t seem like the most fun or challenging mission in the world, it was still time she could spend /doing/ something.
The redhaired woman was much more intimidating up close. While her looks were ones of beauty, there was definitely a presence about her that radiated power and control. Shamira licked her lips lightly, blushing at Tempest’s nice comment, before bowing her head to Siobhan then turning it to Tempest to look up at her. “Mistress, I am going to go shower then get a proper meal before I find out my schedule for today. I hope to see you later.” Turning back to Siobhan, she gave a little wave, then walked out of the training room, grabbing a towel on her way out. Wrapping it around her shoulder, Shamira began humming a happy tune as she made her way back to her room, ready to continue her first day as an initiate in the Order of Fire.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


"Tempting fate, are we?" Siobhan asked dryly. "If it turns out to be more than a milk run, it should be a good test. So take her there. Oh, and Tempest, make sure you educate her thoroughly on our principles. What our order stands for - what our rules are and who we fight," she spoke.


"I don't want another Symara Tarriq or Natoline. I just got back from administering punishment to Initiate Fionnuala for consorting with Sith." Her words were cynical, perhaps even harsh, but she felt the reminder was important. Beneath the regal facade lay a woman who'd been damaged a lot. Symara had betrayed her, while Natoline turned into a deranged lunatic.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tempest nodded, sighed. “I’ll do everything I can, Sio. I can tell them everything, but I can’t make them do it without putting a gun to their head. She’s got to choose her path, and I’ve got to learn to spot the signs earlier.”
Signs like becoming a traitor death-charging one’s former allies.

“I heard about Fionnuala. Shame. You’ll make sure she regrets her crime,” she added with a touch of vengeful glee.

She gave Siobhan a final smile and headed for the door.