Growing Pains

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan only had to look as far as the colourfully labelled fuel outlet to see what she meant. Even a training blade could set something hazardous on fire. They left a painful welt too. Maybe this hadn't been the best suggestion. Especially if she went and showed him up.

“We can use the observation deck if you're still game. I'll come and wait for you.” Wait a moment, he thought to himself. Did you just offer to come and wait outside her shower?

“I mean, I'll go and ask if we can have the training sabers. You can meet me up there.” Whether he would have the training blades or not was a different matter. Even with the bay doors open he decides he could risk a quick kiss on the cheek. When he took her hand he kept a hold even as he stepped away. As if he didn't want to let go. He didn't really. Her reminded had hammered home that they were on borrowed time right now.

“So she has some training then?” Yvette asked him when he broached the subject. The falleen had predictably been meditating in her room. She opened her eyes to thin slits and watched him carefully.

“Yes. Training from a number of people I think she said.” Yvette seemed to mull this over.

“Teaching any skill that requires the Force develops a bond between master and student. It is a position of trust and responsibility. It doesn't work nor always mesh well with a romantic entanglement.”

Trextan blanched a little at the comment. He fidgeted on the spot. Yvette held up a hand for calm and opened her eyes fully. She was supposedly quite old but Trextan found it hard to recognise the signs of age in her species.

“I have no problem with you having such a relationship young Voidstalker,” she said. Trextan tried not to bristle at the name. “As long as you behave in a manner befitting the Order in all things. If you wish to borrow them to spar then you may. But I shall supervise…”


When Choli reached the observation room she would find a rather sheepish looking Trextan standing before the falleen Jedi master.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]Choli’s stride would slow when she tentatively walked into the observation room. Everyone on the ship was well aware that the North Observatory had been assigned to the small Jedi group that was sharing their space in between missions. Which of course meant that the regular crew would avoid it at all costs. Not just because it kept them out of trouble, but who wanted to have to deal with the religious mooks?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Face clean and with a fresh set of green coveralls - this time zipped up to about mid-chest - the Rogue looked every one of her seventeen years. Full almond-shaped eyes, dark raven hair, and skin a rich olive tone that made one wonder just where she hailed from. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I apologize Master Jedi, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Choli began, giving a small incline of her head in apology. Along the right side of her breast, one would catch the dark patch that designated her rank and name: Lieutenant Commander Vyn, Rogue Squadron, with the iconic starfighter logo in matte foil hues. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A quick second and a shift of the Rogue’s eyes managed to catch Trextan’s sheepish expression. Her reply was a slow arch of her right eyebrow, followed by the rousing of green hues in amusement in her color-changing eyes. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan gave a very brief smile. It might have been a grimace. “You're not interrupting anything,” he said. He opened his mouth to say more, but the falleen Jedi master swept past him.

She offered a friendly tilt of the head. Her arms remained tucked inside her brown robes. She was nearly a full head taller than Trextan, the robes not entirely concealing a lithe form. Her hood was down and two ponytails were tied from the back of her smooth scalp. One laid across each shoulder, falling down to almost her waist. It was still jet back.

Her eyes fell upon the rank patch and then back up. “Nice to meet you Lieutenant Commander. You probably didn't expect me,” she said. Her voice had a low husk to it. Trextan didn't know but it was one of the few things that had changed about her as she had ages.

“I am Jedi Master Yvette. Trextan told me you had some training and told me his intentions,” she held up a hand and exuded some calming pheromones. “I'm not here to recruit you or appraise your abilities.”

There was a thin smile and she turned down to look at Trextan. “I'm here to appraise Trextan actually. My one condition before he could run off with my training sabers.” She fell silent and looked to him.

“Oh,” he said, realising she was waiting for him. “Still want to carry on?” He asked Choli. This wasn't exactly what she'd signed up for.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Now this was an interesting turn of events. The right corner of Choli's mouth gave a small twitch. From what she could tell, Trextan hadn't been privy to the terms and conditions. On the same coin, neither was I.

“Well I told you Jan wasn't the best in form,” her attention shifted to Master Yvette, explaining,” He was from the Jedi Order with the Republic -- but a Seer.” It would explain where Jannicks focus Ana skill set lay. Even then, Jan joined the Jedi Order well in his mid twenties. A smuggler and alcoholic by trade, he wasn't one to be too keen with a saber as much as a blaster.

“I don't have your fancy skills and forms.” What bit of experience she had laid on making the most of close combat and fighting using every advantage - not forms.

“If you don't mind me bumbling and looking like a drunk Mynock, guess it's as good as any training.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

“Perhaps.”

Choli would see Trextan's chin dip just a fraction at the vote of confidence. He did not - but Choli would - see a fraction of a smile on the falleen’s face. Her hands were behind her back now as she circled back behind the young Jedi. He was powerful. That was obvious to any who worked with him, close to gifted in fact. But control was only slowly being enforced where a Jedi would have been provided that discipline from a very young age. There were traits in him that came from the Sith: he relished a challenge and was an aggressive fighter.

He opened a small wooden box with two very plain metal lightsabers. Choli knew how to operate them he thought and if she didn't she probably would at a touch. His right hand dipped as if to toss one over. Then remembering who was behind him he walked calmly across and passed her one.

“These will leave a painful welt if they strike skin, but just sting a little if they hit clothing. How much have you handled a…”

“Ahem.”

Trextan froze. He took in a deep breath and then he continued. “A lightsaber is never for attack. It is always for defence. There is some philosophical debate over what counts as defence seeing as we just attacked a space station, but in the defence of those who could not help themselves.” Trextan couldn't help but go beyond what Yvette had intended to prompt him to explain.

He looked to the master who gave a subtle nod to continue. She seemed mildly amused by his little diatribe. Trextan swept back his right foot, turning the toes outwards.

“At the end of the day it's getting basic patterns down in muscle memory and letting the Force guide you. There are plenty type of intricacies and theory on the most intensive duelling of course.” Choli would notice a shift in his demeanour. Trextan had been observed more than a few times giving trainees some basic lessons now and he fell into that routine easily whilst being watched. His tone was even, he spoke smoothly. Usually with her there was emotion in his voice and plenty of pausing and rewording when he was at his most nervous.

“What have you been shown so far?” He asked. Taking up a stance suggested he expected her to do the same.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]It was interesting to see the shift in demeanor with Trextan. His body language, his tone, even the way he spoke had evened out to a smooth timbre reminiscent of some of the other Masters she trained under. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Of course, none likely had Trextan's touch of wet sarcasm to the mix. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]While in general the Rogue’s emotional intent and mental thoughts were hard to discern, her amusement at this time wasn’t. Jade ellipses met brown, her hand weighing the hilt in her hand. It was a tad heavier than Jan’s old lightsaber. His was more of a junk-it sort; crafted to reflect more of the spacer that the Corellian was than any graceful Jedi, wrought of salvaged materials and a velm crystal. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Fingers would curl and uncurl around the inactivated traning saber, and before she took to a stance, as one would expect of Choli, she brought the training saber up to give it a closer inspection. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Huh, so these are specifically made to be training sabers?” That was interesting. “Jan and Chloe only had their own, but they decreased the power output to make them more in line with these. I had to finangle it a bit more to make sure I didn’t end up with out an arm.” She meant it in mild jest, adjusting her footing and posture to settle in the starting basic position Jan had taught her. While the spacer Seer had only basic experience with the weapon, his teaching was different than that of Chloe, who would utilize the saber in a curious method of close combat and a series of switching the activation of the blade one and off. Jan was pure defense and deflect. Chloe was a focus in maximizing close combat contact for utilizing her body to conduct quick sharp strikes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“That a training droid sure does enjoy getting to zap you.” Another wry twist of her lips, but seeing the Jedi Master watch them, inclined her head. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Guess what you call your basic stance. From here you’re able to make specific movements to block and deflect.”[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

“Promise if I cut one off we'll get you a matching arm,” Trextan replied, his prosthetic fingers sliding down the training hilt in a wave. “I would like to keep one real hand attached though.”

The Jedi master kept her distance. This time she did not interrupt his commentary by cleaning her throat. He could feel her gaze on the back of his neck and some of the smile faded back to a more serious expression.

Trextan gave a nod to her reply. With his feet in place he slowly moved through six basic blocks: high, mid and low on each side. It always felt a bit strange to go through the motions with a blade that wasn't his own. At the same time he knew that it wasn't really the weapon that mattered and that there were certain to be times when he would be forced to use whatever was at hand to defend himself.

“Is that anything like the basics that you know?” He asked. If it wasn't it would be worth trying to understand what style she had been taught. Her education might not have been that of a typical Jedi but there were only so many ways to swing a glowing, massless blade about.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]This part was easy. Their training sabers gave a slight clashing hiss every time they came into contact. It was at a standard pace, set to allow the trainee to get used to the near weightlessness of the blade and the six basic blocks. High, mid, low. High, mid, low. Rinse and repeat. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Choli had this down. She even managed to speed the rotation a bit before giving Trextan a nod, “Yeah, like I said, Jan knew the basics.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A pause in the blocks and Choli took a step back, “Chloe was a bit different.” Deactivating her training saber, the girl brought the hilt up. A quick frown, and then an intense furrow of her brow came as she seemed to be focusing on the hilt. She was studying it’s construction, determining what the other knobs and applications were for. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Ah,”. Her expression grew brighter, discovering what she was looking for. A blade adjustment knob. Better that it was there than having to play with it in other ways to get it to the length she wanted. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Chloe’s saber has a shorter blade.” Choli explained, adjusting the length of the training saber until it was about two thirds of the length of Trextan’s own.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“She used it more for close combat.” Satisfied, the young woman gave a brief smile. Activating it again, she gave it a slight whirl. Better. It was evident that the young woman was more comfortable with the smaller length. However, a press of the button deactivated it and flipped it so the blade would activate parallel to her forearm. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“But even then that was sparingly.” This time, her body had naturally shifted towards a different stance, almost as if expecting a brawl, her fingers fanning the hilt she held the hilt defensively. Most [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]certainly[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] not a traditional Jedi stance. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan hadn’t seen anyone use a reverse hand grip for a long time. An echani at the Sith academy had for a time, but one of the other students had murdered him in his sleep. It wasn’t always easy for Trextan to sleep for long hours now. The Masters had not encouraged the behaviour directly, but as long as no one was caught a blind eye was turned if anyone managed to kill off their peers successfully.

Noticing a look from the Jedi Master he removed the smile from his face. He had been enjoying watching her reacquaint herself with a blade. Taking pleasure in the provision of a lesson probably wasn’t entirely appropriate. He altered his stance slightly. His blade was brought down such that the tip of the sabe was at chest height. With Choli using a shorter blade and in that grip it made sense to occupy the middle ground and extend his defensive circle.

“Interesting,” he said. “How would you block like that then?” he asked as he closed the distance between them. Trextan never crossed his legs as he approached. He kept his weight higher as he moved and then dropped it a few inches for stability as he threw out a few probing strikes.

Master Yvette circled the two as this continued. Her path brought her quite close to Choli. As if it were a murmur on the wind a few words brushed past Choli’s ear whilst failing to quite reach Trextan. “His left elbow is too low to guard low quickly.”

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

The corner of Choli’s mouth gave a twitch. Maybe it was cheating a little bit, but the method that Chloe taught the Rogue how to fight with the shorter blade had nothing to do with extended bladework and more of using it as a weapon of opportunity in the midst of quick footwork and hand to hand combat. All the more when the barest whisper from Master Yvette drew focus to Trextan’s weak low guard.

Her blade had yet to be activated, her dominant leg sliding behind her, lightsaber hilt sweeping down by her back. Right hand barely was outstretched in front of her. Instead of blocking the swipes she took a few quick steps to the back and left, using the footwork and her body to move out of the way of the strikes.

“Depends.” The young woman breathed out, her braid swaying at her back, watching Trextan’s training saber come at her anew. Left right, half a step, until she caught an opening, darting forward amidst his swing that drew his blade to the side, prompting Choli to move in. Her thumb quickly activated the shorter trainingsaber, moving in a slashing motion that allowed her to move close enough for her to attempt a strike at his shin.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Choli Vyn"]

Trextan advanced carefully. Choli seems a pretty tough individual, but he didn't think she'd appreciate him giving her a quick few strikes for keeping her saber deactivated. Her footwork was good and there were no obvious mistakes to punish. If he hadn't been thinking about what Choli was doing and how to proceed with the lesson he might have seen the strike coming.

In she came with a snap-hiss followed by a crackle as it struck his shin. He sucked in air so quickly through his teeth it made a loud hiss. Trextan took two quick steps back and lowered the tip of his saber further to keep Choli at bay. Frustration flashed across his features. Master Yvette stopped her pacing and levelled all of her attention at Trextan. He didn't notice and in the next instant he was smiling again. Smiling with the odd touch of a grimace from the sting across his shin.

“Left elbow tucked in too close again, good spot,” he said. “Well, if you want to go on the attack you can pick any more holes out I've got left,” he chuckled. “Try to make sure you keep one foot on the ground, even when shifting quickly. Someone quick might give a sharp telekinetic push to knock you off balance.”

“I think I've seen enough for now,” the falleen spoke up. Trextan lowered his saber and deactivated it. “You can both carry on, but no more than thirty minutes. If you haven't practised in a while it will push muscles that aren't used to it. It was a pleasure to meet you Cholivyn,” said the Jedi master with a bow. To Trextan's surprise she left the room. She had seen enough to know Trextan was taking it seriously. More importantly she'd met Choli. Amongst the higher echelons of the Jedi Order Yvette was actually considered quite the gossip.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Surprise shone across the Rogue’s features. There was a hint of bemusement as well as mild humor. Perhaps Trextan would catch it. Perhaps not.

[SIZE=9pt]When Choli had been brought to Mos Eisley years back, they had inquired on her name. She replied with Cholivyn, having no distinct surname. However, the woman processing her must have thought that the teenager’s name was Choli Vyn, separating the last syllable. From then on, the assumption had been that her last name was Vyn. Choli didn’t mind, she pretty much answered to various shortened versions of her name. It was just odd hearing someone actually place the two together again. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Thank you, Master Yvette,” Choli replied, giving a small incline of her head, her training saber giving a distinct buzzing snap as the Rogue deactivated it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The two surprised teenagers were left to their own devices. At least for the next 30 minutes. With an amused, ‘Heh,’ Choli swung her head towards Trextan. With a small gesture of the hand that held the hilt, she pointed over to his shin.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Didn’t get you that bad did I? Not sure how much these sting, but when I used Jan’s at a reduced power setting,it still stung as bad as a bantha fly’s bite.”[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

“It's not too bad,” he said with a shake of the head. Lips underwent a little battle between staying neutral and smiling.in the end they went slightly pursed.

“If only there were some way for you to find out…”

Snap-hiss

The fact that the Jedi Master had decided to trust them enough to carry on had not been lost on him. Actually it would give him a positive boost for another few days. Right now it reinforced the notion that he was supposed to take this semi-seriously. Not to just find a way to give Choli a saber slap across the shin.

“Why don't you go through some of the basic strikes you know with the reverse grip?” He asked. “Just slowly and then we'll build it up into a rhythm.” Like when we kiss, he thought to himself.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

“Well honestly, I just turn it on and off and in between I try and punch them in the face,” this was said with a deadpan expression, at least until the corner of her mouth gave a twitch. Choli wasn't beholden to keeping neutral expressions.

[SIZE=9pt]“Generally catches them off guard.” She admitted with a roll of her shoulder, lips curving up again. “Not quite used to a full length saber because the Aurora was full of narrow corridors. Which is why Chloe’s was this length.” She gestured with the hilt, activating it with a snap hiss again. It gave a soft humming sound, the gentle vibrations flowing up the hilt where Choli held it in her grasp.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Sobering her expression, the Rogue figured that it was as good of any training to continue. She was likely going to get smacked a few times for her troubles, but since she already tapped Trex, perhaps he deserved a tit for a tat. Not that she was going to make it easy; although, with her lack of training, it might not be too difficult at all to give her a welt or two. Fighting with the saber wasn’t her forte and she wasn’t going to pretend she was. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“Basic blocks are like so.” The next few minutes were spent with Choli elaborating on the methods Chloe had taught her. It would become clearer as they spent this time going over these blocks and parries that the style was a version of Shien form, if combined with a trakata functionality of taking advantage of the ability to turn on and off the saber at a notice. When it came to showing Trextan offensive capabilities, Choli began by again, keeping her dominant hand at her back, saber in a reverse grip. Her attack came in the form of broad, sweeping strokes akin to one using a knife in a brawl.[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Choli Vyn"]

Trextan held his ground as Choli moved through the set of basic patterns used to attack. It clearly wasn’t a style devoted to building momentum in attack to force the mistake, but in punishing a sloppy attack and getting in under the guard with a counter.

Now the Jedi master was gone Trextan was less certain of how to direct the session once she’d gone through a routine. It wasn't because she had provided guidance, but it had kept him from being distracted. They could just sit and talk again after all. Or not talk. The chance of being interrupted was less. Yvette knew they were here and most of the crew had been told to leave this observation room alone.

“I knew one person who occasionally used a reverse hand grip like that,” he said as he deactivated his saber. “Used a saber in the other hand though, in a normal grip.” He was impressed. Despite not having been in the thick of it with a blade recently the fundamental components were still in place. As well as a good eye for an opening. Apparently.

“Nothing to stop you having a blaster in the other hand I guess,” he mused. He had tried fighting with both. His left hand was becoming more dextrous and perhaps in time it would be something he could seriously consider.

“Well, if you promise not to punch me in the face we can try some light sparring for a few minutes?” The corner of his lips twitched as he battled to keep the training itself on a serious level.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

“Well I could try not to,” Choli replied, moving in a half circle and coming to a stop. Her braid had swung over her right shoulder, prompting her to raise her hand and flick it behind her back.

“But then what will you do when someone, later on, tries to punch you in the face?’ It was a half tease, but she adjusted her stance nonetheless. They had about twenty minutes left of the assigned timeframe.

“Could make it interesting.” Pearly white teeth shone under the overhead lights of the observatory.

“Winner gets a prize?” A little competitiveness never hurt anyone. Choli was well aware that her level of skill was on the lower edge of the spectrum compared to Trextan, but if she was able to use her other abilities in a spar, she might be just good enough give him a challenge.

“There are these neat little desserts at the mess. The ones that are cream filled and with the red cherries on top?” Dessert rations have long since been used as a bargaining ship be it in Sabaac or the usual wager.

Unless Trextan had other ideas or preferred to keep this a little more serious without the additional challenge.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

The attempt at keeping his expression passive failed spectacularly then. Being punched in the face wasn't pleasant. People in films always took punch after punch and just looked increasingly grubby. When Trextan had first taken a strike to the side of his had training with the sith it had caught him by surprise. Instead of brief pain his vision had vanished in a flash of light, his hearing replaced with a constant whine. When he had blinked his eyes open he had been looking up at a ceiling that refused to stop spinning.

It wasn't that thought that broke through. It was the memory of breaking into the hospital mess and stealing the pudding put aside for the ranking officers. He grinned as he pretended to weigh this up. It probably wasn't a good idea to try the same thing here; he'd probably wind up in the brig.

“I accept with one condition. The loser has to go and fetch said dessert for the winner now. And then I'm going to eat it in front of you.”

Oh this is probably going to go badly, he thought to himself. He really was setting himself up for failure now. Already she'd shown that she could analyse his patterns and find a gap.

He dropped his weight and gave the saber a flourish before lowering it into a guard stance. If she was going to win he was now just compounding his error.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]
Choli wasn’t sure what she was more amused at. The fact that Trextan assumed that it would be do difficult to hand over her desert rations or that the cocky little Forcer was already assuming he was going to win!

The pink tip of her tongue went darting over her lips, moistening them in growing anticipation. Oh, this was going to be fun.

“Oh, so certain Knight Voidstalker that you’ll do so well?” She gave a click of her tongue in a tsk tsk. Her mouth did its best to try and not laugh.

“I’m pretty protective about my dessert, just saying.” Choli added, watching Trextan’s movements and stance carefully, searching for any lowering of his guard of areas that she might be able to take advantage of. For the most part, Choli’s fighting style could be described as defensive, set to be executed at the chance of another trying to harm her. Yet when it came to her making the first moves as opposition, it was a little more problematic.

Well, unless I start thinking of Trextan as Ronto for the evening meal.

Very separate state of thoughts from a simple spar to hunting for food.

Well, since food was already on the line -- The only telltale was the sudden shift of color in her hazel eyes, melting into a silvery hue of concentration. Her saber swung up, igniting in an upper diagonal slash to his hip, moving forward to attempt to get within Trextan's personal space. The training saber gave a soft hum, whipping through the air without the typical finesse of a Jedi duelist but with the actions of a knife wielder.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Choli Vyn"]

He'd seen enough to know the blade would come in quickly. She had also talked of turning the blade off and on to break through a defence. His advantage was as a technical swordsman as far as he saw it. His counter was a subtle one. Rather than move to make a block and risk falling into a trap he smoothly shifted his left leg back and lowered his blade. It put him out of range of the strike and put the tip of his weapon in the line between them to stop her from closing. He wanted her to have to deal with the blade and strike at it directly to try and find room for a counter of his own.

“Clearly didn't recognise the threat of bartering over pudding,” he replied. He gave another step and more ground, forcing Choli to make the approach. His eyes widened in mock terror. “Just not the face remember. We agreed that.”

This wasn't a tickle fight and he had to keep control. Being punched or struck could hurt a great deal. Being hit by a prosthetic that could put a dent in durasteel was another matter.

The tip of his saber gave a little spin and flick. It drew a little circle in the air between them before he made the weak feint high just to try and keep her off guard. Also as a slight tease.

“Is it too late to say no taking control of prosthetics?” Damn. Should have stated that one up front.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]“Guess you should have thought of that sooner, eh?” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The impish snort that came from Choli was answer enough. With a mischievous grin, the Rogue added, “It isn’t [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]only[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] your arm you should be worrying about.” The way she gave a wag of her eyebrows was enough to reveal the potential devilry in mind. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]However, Trextan’s feint would draw Choli’s attention, the Rogue reacting to it as if to block it high. Again, the girl wasn’t used to having to use a lightsaber to defend herself. Not for a sustained attack that is. The upward swipe to a high guard left her left flank open were Trextan take advantage of it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]In her youth, Choli didn’t really practice dueling as much as practiced hunting. She could track a Ronto across the desert, she could skin a Tatooine Howler for it’s hide, she could even hold her own with a Gaffii stick. Chloe’s and Jan’s tutelage would broaden that experience, allowing her to learn close combat in confined quarters along with the confidence to at least be able to use the lightsaber without cutting her own arm arm.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]But to use it with the finesse of a practiced dueler? Not so much. [/SIZE]