I didn't come here to play Peek-a-boo!

[Garza]

Taking a look over the lady once more as she was still trying to hit me, I smiled a little as she came forward with her lightsaber once more. She may have not understood it, but Soresu was a lightsaber form that used small movements to block anything from blasters, to lightsabers, to melee weapons, and once I had blocked a slughthrower. It was only by pure luck, and a little bit of the force to aid me, and even then, it hurt to do that. Regardless, Her strikes were telegraphed much more than other foes I had faced before. Sure, she knew how to use a lightsaber, but not to a proficiency that I had gained over 30 years worth of training.

I let her slide up and while she held her saber out for a block, I swung my own saber. Batting it away from me while sidestepping to the left as she was trying to move around. Strong attacks means no follow up. Weak attacks means there will be a follow up. With before, she came at me with a average strike. Testing me out, bot not to strongto throw her off balance.

Fighting with a lightsaber had a triple threat. Strength, speed, and accuracy. If one were to have more than the other, then the other two would suffer. She was going for accuracy at the moment. Trying to move me into a position to where she could get a hit on me. However, that means her speed, and strength lacked. Seeing these strikes and movements coming, as well as being able for me to defend agains them easily, means she would be having a hard time trying to get to me.

Giving her another chance, I sent a force push at her. while taking a step back.

"Give it another go Betna."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

As he avoided her yet again, Marin swore softly in frustration. She could feel herself becoming distracted. And knew he was trying to do it on purpose to test her. Grumbling a bit under her breath, she took a step to regain her balance as he shoved her away with the force - again. That was really starting to get annoying. She got her footing once more, and took several moments to try and gather herself, both mentally and physically.

Even now, she kept the dissembling in place, as much to try and keep him from reading her intent as to keep him from reading her thoughts. There was so much going through her mind right now that it was very hard to focus. But the dissembling and the focusing techniques did help a lot. She breathed out as she flexed her fingers around the lightsaber. As she did so, she expanded her awareness slightly. She could hear and feel the battle which still raged around them.

Another breath, and she could feel her pulse rate settle a bit as she expanded her senses in the Force for a moment to get a better feel of the room. And then she pulled them back in, keeping a mere threads open to the area around them as she considered what to do next. Attacking him head on wasn't working. Not when he had a clear advantage in skill. So she decided to try something a little different.

And by different, it meant employing abilities she possessed which he might not expect. She took a series of deep breaths to center herself and drew her Force presence back to what it was normally. Then, she concentrated on projecting an illusion of herself in the spot where she currently stood. It would move as she might, and it would feel identical to her... as much as she could make it do so. When she was satisfied with the illusion, she engaged her armor's stealth and at the same time cloaked her presence in the Force as much as she was able to. Stealth and it's associated abilities were what she possessed naturally. And this was what she'd studied during her time with Draco.

As she faded from view, and from awareness in the Force as much as she was able to do so, her illusion moved towards Xander again. It was telegraphing as she always did, though it tried a different tactic, ducking around to the other side and dropping to her knees as she slid under his swing, Meanwhile, the real Mirshko crept around behind him, and hefted her saber in her hand as she readied herself. When she was behind him, she lifted her saber. Just as her illusion jabbed it's saber towards his leg, she activated hers and brought it down towards his shoulder from behind as her stealth field flickered and died.

 

[Garza]

She was almost there. I could feel her mind turning. Thinking. Processing all of this new information to her. She was a smart lass. One that if given time, would become better than myself or even her own mother. However, she needed the training to do so. Intuition was something that I had grown to agree with other the years. Considering that last time I had a feeling about something happening with my wife, I was correct, and it lead to her rescue. I had been foolish with my actions back then. However now, I see why they made their decisions. As such, I also knew how she felt. As though nobody listened to her, or had consideration for her feelings.

Even this much was evident as she began to stand still for a moment. Reaching out to her with the force, I wanted to try and find what she was thinking. How she was going to perform her next moves. I wanted to feel for her mind. Sure she may be upset, as well as frustrated for not being able to hit me thus far, And I expected to feel those emotions from her. Reaching out with the force, I tried to feel her intentions. They were like herself. Angered. Wanting to so deeply prove that she was better. However, this was different. She felt... weird. Even as she came up to attack me, I braced myself for impact.

No. This was different. She wouldn't be heading straight for me again. She changed her tactics already to try and beat me. Testing the waters to see how i operated. As I swung out at her, she ducked and slid underneath my blade. Agile, I spun in time to see that she was aiming to strike at me. No. This was different. She was being very aggressive. Sure, she may be using an untrained form of Djem-so, but that did not explain the sudden change in tactics. She almost flung herself at me instead of testing waters like she had done before.

She was enticing me to attack or block her. She wanted me to. Instead, I decided to do just the opposite.

Using my left foot as a pivot point, I spun around and backed up a step. I watched to see the young woman materialize before me. I smiled brightly at the stealth capabilities, seeing her swinging, I brought my own saber up and clashed with hers. Oh she was very smart. Very smart indeed. Able to use a force illusion to create a doppelganger much like herself, to phase me. Albeit it was not the complicated force power by the same name, it was very close to this usage. Using her armor to hide, as well as convince me that she was somewhere else.

I pulled my blade back from hers, and came to strike at her twice. Sending an uppercut, followed swiftly with a overhead. bringing it down forcefully upon her.

"Cunning young child. However, when masking your own presence, you failed to give your illusion one."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]


Her eyes narrowed at his comment, and she gritted her teeth. She knew her training wasn't complete. They both did. "At least it partially worked..." she retorted. Sparks flew as their blades crashed together yet again. Mirshko wielded hers a bit clumsily. And that was mostly because she'd not had all that much training in it's use... and definitely not as much training or experience as Xander himself had. As the two blades contacted again, Mirshko let her illusion dissipate. It wasn't easy to keep it that intact for long, and the effort tired her quite a bit. It made her control of the blade even more sloppy than it already was.

She stumbled a bit as she stepped backwards slightly in an attempt to regain her balance. A flash of her danger sense and the flare of color and sparks in front of her eyes w as the only warning she had of the lightsaber sweeping towards her. She was able to block the uppercut, and she shoved him firmly with the Force as she tried to plant her feet more firmly. The overhead slash came swiftly towards her head. Dropping, Mirshko lifted her own blade to block, and gritted her teeth in concentration as the two blades met a few inches in front of her upturned face. Another shove with the Force as she attempted to put some distance between them. But... what to do now...? She frowned as she pushed to her feet as they separated. It was clear he had superior skill. And they'd probably be at this for hours... until she dropped from sheer exhaustion

 

[Garza]

The blades clashed once more as I brought it down upon her. Her own hand coming at the center of my chest to send a force push back at me. Sure it worked in pushing myself away from her. She had a much smaller frame. One that was built for sneaking around, for light delicate work within the force and with enough time, a very lethal lightsaber or weapon user with fast, fluid like strikes that would overwhelm most opponents in seconds. She wasn't the type to be a hard hitter. More along the lines of someone who took more swipes that used less energy, and therefore, had more changes of hitting her foe.

I however, was not that. I was a heavier hitting person. One who used my strength in as few blows as possible, while retaining a very aggressive style of play. In a game my son played, he would have called me a tank. Someone who can take a lot of hits. Considering my heavy training in the art of Soresu, and my heavy but slower attack form of Djem-so. This particular Betna would have been a DPS, or a Damage Per Second as my son would say. She would have a lethal array of attacks at her disposal. Focusing only on power, strength and agility rather than defense, or the force. I think these game terms, or lingo came into my head as we fought because this young lady reminded me much of my sons Vax, and Zeph. Both of them fought the same way that she would. And it made me smile very slightly as I righted myself up after being pushed back.

The push was not very powerful. Meant to get me far enough back to give Mirshko enough time to recompose herself against my stronger attack. Before she could do that, I would close the distance between us with force speed. My almost pounce upon her as I brought my lightsaber down heavily upon her. Pulling back the saber, only with both hands to grip the hilt, and swing from my left to right. I released the hilt with my left hand in the follow through, and with a twist of my right wrist, sent the blade back in the opposite direction. Coming in with a slash from my right to the left. All three powerful blows meant to send the young woman off balance from the sheer force.

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

The first blow she met with a little more steadiness than the last few. And then it just continued from there. She'd not really faced an opponent as powerful as Xander before, and she took a step back to try and re-adjust her stance. And, she almost paid for it. The second and third blows grazed her stomach, but the sheer force behind them sent her staggering backwards as she brought her saber up to block.

At the same time, she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed with the Force. She wasn't entirely certain what she was doing. But she was getting frustrated. Maybe even a little angry. It drove her crazy. She'd not had as much training and experience as he had, but she had enough that she'd survived Syvris. And she'd learned some from Draco, but it was more specialized stealth techniques. It was after all where her skills lay. She could feel the ripples moving outwards from herself and opened her eyes slightly, keeping her saber up to block, even as the stinging across her midsection caused her to want to curl up into a ball.

 

[Garza]

The woman stood up to the attacks. trying to remain standing against me. Clearly she was not going to be making any moves against me as I would be hitting her with swings meant to take her off balance. However, what got me, was the fact she specialized in stealth. She could have so much skill in using that. There were so many chances she could have hit me, however, she didn't see them. It was my job to train her as such. She needed to see these faults in my fighting style. Instead of blocking straight out, she could dodge. It would be more effective for her, but until she would learn of this, she would continue to feel the power of my blade upon hers.

Closing the distance once more. My arm held low, I came in from the right side with an uppercut. Slashing with the back of my hand facing her, As soon as it came across her body, my left arm came up, gripping the laser sword and bringing it back down with the force of both of my arms. Aiming to almost cut her in half should they be real sabers. However, as a training saber, if I were to hit her, she would just get a nice sized goose egg on the top of her head.

"Come on Betna. Are you really going to let me hit you?"

[member="Mirshko Betna"],

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

She felt it coming. That spike of warning as he rushed back in. Every attempt at putting distance between them seemed to be turned against her. Grumbling under her breath, Mirshko raised her own saber to block again. And yet something was different. She'd been focusing on her breathing....but now. Now, her breathing was slow and even. And time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. As he swept the blade towards her from the right, Mirshko sucked in a breath.

She could almost feel the motion disturbing the air, ass low as it appeared to be moving. She didn't quite move out of the way of the strike, and she could feel the stinging burn across her stomach - or at least the heat of it. The force of the strike itself drove her back a step or two. A frown crossed her face then, and she sucked in a breath before letting it out slowly. Focus. she told herself. She focused tighter on her dissembling.... but also tried to expand her senses a bit and get a better feel for their surroundings. The battle still raged around them.

For a moment, her eyes drifted closed - even as she could feel Xander moving again. This time, his saber was sweeping down towards her head from above. A knot of apprehension formed in her stomach. She could feel the ripples in the Force from the movement. it was those ripples which spurred her into action. She still felt as if time were crawling for reasons she couldn't explain. As his saber swept downwards, she breathed slowly outwards and moved to the side fluidly. As she did so, she found herself along side him. She slipped easily behind him then and applied a little pressure behind his knee with her own as she brought her saber up and attempted to tag him across the back. It was that moment that time snapped back to normal.

 

[Garza]

Very nicely done. She used my own strength against me. Moving her body to swing around my own. However, she expected me to only use the lightsaber and the force. Much like how she used her knee behind mine, preventing me from moving in a circle, I provided my defense, with an offensive move. She was at my side, and open to an attack. She let herself "extend" too far. My swipe had no resistance to it. Meaning, I was free to move my arms, using the momentum that had once been used for a swing, ended up with my arms coming around and shoving to the smack dead center of her chest.

Not sure if she would avoid it or not, but even as I did so, I could feel the smack of the lightsaber onto my back. There would be a pretty good line of a bruise across my skin after this, and I was glad she finally got a hit in, however, first time is luck, second time is coincidence, Third time, you can do it.

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

The ripples of his movement pushed at her in the Force. And then she felt herself shoved backwards. The Force of it sent her stumbling to the side, and she tightened her grip on her lightsaber as she dropped to a knee. Her chest ached. She wasn't entirely sure if the push had been his own strength, or aided by the Force. Either way, it hurt to breathe. She stayed kneeling for a second or two to get her bearings before she pushed to her feet again. Fighting him... it was a challenge. Moreso of one than she'd face in all her time with the pirates. But then, the only Force user she'd had to deal with there was Kuryr. And he had been a hard teacher.

This... felt much the same. And yet... different. She took a deep breath, in spite of the pain that lanced into her chest when she did so. Her need for oxygen outweighed the pain for the moment. When she'd gotten her footing back, Mirshko flexed her fingers around the hilt of the lightsaber. Around them, the battle still raged. But for now, her focus was Xander. Yes, she was frustrated. And dissembling or no, he could probably fel faint ripples of it. She'd had years to work on the technique, after all.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Mirshko charged at him again. She knew she had to change tactics. It was if he could read her every move before she did it. And that frustrated her. It meant she was either too predictable, was telegraphing... or both. Probably both, given his years of experience beyond her own. Sighing, Mirshko mentally shook herself as she closed the gap between them. As she neared Xander, she closed down on her Force presence as much as she could. And as his saber swept towards her she dropped and slid underneath it, the glowing blade passing mere inches from her upturned face as she slid behind him on her knees. As she did so, she twisted quickly and tried to tag him across the back of the thighs before rolling away.

 

[Garza]

SMACK!

I could feel my right leg bend a little more than it was supposed to. My previous injury on my right leg. The training saber hurt, and would leave a nice bruise on my leg. I smiled. This woman was starting to get a hang of the lightsaber rather well. She had slid down at the last second while I was in my follow through with the lightsaber to strike at me from behind. However, in the process, the girl had given stable footing, and a defensive advantage for a simple smack on the legs.

She was down closer to the ground. As I spun around, I kicked my boot into the ground. Kicking up a mix of dirt, mud, and water right at her. It would be an attempt to blind her, and would show that there is more to lightsaber fights than the lightsabers themselves. In this hologram world that was created, everything was made to be almost life like. Should the kicked up debris hit her in the face like I planned, she would be unable to see as long as she didn't wipe off her face.

However, I was moving in fast, and sent my lightsaber blade to slide up along side her neckline, and just held it there.

​"You got a strike without thinking about the consequences. A battle is not winning hit per hit. Its who can deliver the final blow."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

As Mirshko stayed crouched near the ground behind Xander, Her vision was suddenly obscured by mud as Xander kicked it up towards her face. For several long moments, she was blinded as the mud clung to her visor. With a gloved hand, she swiped at it, trying to clear enough of the visor so that she could see. She was... partially successful. As Mirshko stood to her feet again, she reached out with the Force once more.

And it was then that she felt a tingle of warning. In the few seconds it had taken her to clear her vision and push to her feet, Xander had closed the distance rapidly. Even in the slick mud which sucked at their boots. Her mouth set into a line, and she breathed a frustrated curse. She should have known that he would use everything at his disposal.. and not just lightsaber skills. Mentally, Mirshko kicked herself. She knew better than to rely on one skill alone. It was how she had been raised, after all. But, she'd become narrow-sighted in her goal to hold her own against him.

And she paid for it. In a matter of mere seconds, Xander was in close again. His lightsaber swung in quickly, riding along her shoulder plate. The blade left a smoking scorch mark along the metal. But, her eyes widened as she felt the blade hovering mere millimeters from her neck. And as she realized this, she froze. It was an understood killing blow. A deep breath, and she sighed. But, she kept her grip on her saber for now. For she didn't know if he planed to continue the lesson or not. regardless, her gaze met his.

"I... understand..." she said softly, glad for once that her visor hid the embarrassment that colored her cheeks. Though, he could probably hear it in her voice. "Are we to continue?"

 

[Garza]

Taking the saber away from her neckline as she was asking if the training was to continue. Shaking my head, I started to walk a little bit away from her. Walking backwards to keep my eyes on her. I simply spoke my mind.

"How can I train you if you are dead?"

Putting my lightsaber up, and onto my belt, I flicked my hand to turn the automation off, and with it the mud and dirt on her helmet. I had some disappear from myself as well. Pointing to the lightsaber that was still active in her hand, I continued to speak.

"Keep it. You will need it later. You can 'die' once per day when training with me. Once you die, the training is over."

Looking her over, I offered her my hand to help her off of her knees and down low to her feet in which if she accepted it or not, I spoke one last time.

"Your training is complete when you can 'kill' me. We start again tomorrow after we make contact with your mother."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

She relaxed ever so slightly as he took the saber away from her neck and deactivated it. And yet, she remained watchful now. At his question, she merely shrugged and sighed again. He was right. And she frowned slightly as she watched the simulation vanish once more. She'd trained to.. and past exhaustion at the hands of Kuryr. But this... was different. The frown remained as she deactivated the saber and carefully clipped it to her belt before taking his offered hand. His conditions were acceptable, but a slight knot formed in her stomach, regardless.

He'd beaten her rather soundly, and that frustrated her. She'd failed before, certainly. Plenty of times with Kuryr. And she remembered that all too well. She knew, though... or at least she hoped, that Xander wasn't like Kuryr. She definitely needed to start paying more attention. And utilize what she'd been taught growing up. It might have served her well in the fight. But there was always next time. it didn't bother her overly much that Xander would be contacting Mom.

Mirshko had always had a close relationship with her parents. And.. given how she'd left rather abruptly - albeit, with her parent's permission - to train with Draco, she could understand that they would be concerned for her. A slow breath, and she nodded. It seemed that Xander had a very different teaching style than Draco, and certainly from Kuryr. And she hoped that over time she'd be able to hone her skills. Mulling those thoughts over in her mind, she slowly stood and nodded.

 

[Garza]

As the young lass accepted my hand, I helped her off of the ground, and motioned towards the window that was up against the wall. It was a one way mirror currently, but she would know that it was only myself and possibly my proxy droid being used behind that window. Letting my voice echo in the room due to the lack of foam to prevent it as such.

"I will train you to fight many forms of adversaries. You will not only face myself. Training against one person will only get you to learn the mannerisms of one, when you need to not learn how I act in battle, but how to learn when in battle. Your skills are not to be kept against me, but to become flexable. Understand?"

Motioning over to the panel on the wall, I would let her choose when she wanted to train. It was not my job to train her and keep her in line. She needed to remember herself about when she needed to. Keeping yourself in shape was not about a person shoving you into what you didn't want to do, but forcing yourself to do that.

"You can use this panel any time you wish. Activating it will produce varying battle scenes, and even one on one fights for you to train. You can come in whenever you wish, as long as you can stand. As for facing me, you get one fight, once a day."

I then walked out of the room as I continued. Calling a jacket to my hand, I pulled it over myself to look somewhat presentable. We were going to be contacting her mother so I could confirm that I had her under my watch.

"Speak up if you have questions."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"]

Her stomach ached where he'd grazed her with the saber several times. She definitely would have bruises. Sighing softly again, she followed him out of the room even as she studied it. Trying to learn every detail of the simulator and commit it to memory. As they walked, she looked over at him as he continued to speak. it wasn't so much that she was angry at him. More that she was frustrated with herself. She knew what training she'd had. And she knew she needed to work on a lot of things.

At his question, she nodded and resisted the urge to rub at her stomach where it still stung. "I do understand," she said firmly. She watched him motion towards the wall and frowned. From all appearances, training with him was going to be very different from those she had trained with before. And she hoped that was a good thing. She wanted a challenge. But not to the point she'd be broken like had happened with Kuryr. His outlined boundaries seemed reasonable enough.

As they made their way out into the corridor, Mirshko looked around again. She'd not really paid much attention as they'd entered the ship earlier. But, she was beginning to notice small things about the ship itself. They moved through the corridors in relative silence. When they reached the location of the ship's holocomm, Mirshko sighed. Now, they had to talk to Mom. what that might lead to, Mirshko honestly had no idea.

 

[Garza]

Walking into the room that had a table ready to seat 6 people. A holocom was in the middle of the table. Walking over, I pulled the chair out from where it sat, and indicated for her to sit. I then went to move on the other side of her, and took a seat myself. Truth be told, I would be hard on her with training. I took it very seriously. If you were going to train, then you will train. I was going to push you as hard as I could. However, out of training? I wasn't going to. It was her time to relax, to study. Even if she wanted to just play on one of those console systems or even watch holovideos all day, that was fine with me. It was her decision. She was an adult, and she could choose to do that.

As I sat down, I leaned back in my chair a little.

"Before we call your mother, and let her know that I have you with me, I want to let you in on something. Training is training. You will be pushed past your limits. You will feel the sting of a lightsaber every day, and you will overcome it by your own blood, sweat, and tears. Outside of that room, you are free, within reason. I can talk to you, I can take you on missions I may have, you can even sit them out and just do whatever teens do now days. There is no reason to push you every second you breathe. Pushing you that hard will not be good."

Nodding to her to make sure she got the idea, I then stood up and pressed a few buttons to call her mother. Eventually getting to the right contact, I made the call. Once I saw her image pop up,

"Ner Vod, It is good to see you again. I call to let you know that I have your daughter in my presence."

[member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"] [member="Anija Betna"]

​

[media] https://youtu.be/kbQi3Z7V3ms [/media]​

Mirshko suddenly found herself nervous - much as she had when she’d first gone to Draco for training. But this was a little different. She took a slow breath to calm her sudden case of nerves as she sat down at the table. Though why she was so nervous about talking to Mom of all people - she really had no idea. As far as she knew, she’d done nothing ‘wrong’, but she knew her mother would be concerned regardless.

As they settled at the table, Mirshko listened closely to what he said. And, she found herself nodding in agreement. She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a moment before she nodded. “I accept those terms,” she said firmly. “And, I think it will help me to.. work through some of what’s happened in the past..” she finished softly. With [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]’s help, she no longer suffered from nightmares, but there were times that she could feel the darkness creeping in.

And it was that fact, and her wish to learn how to properly use and control her abilities which had helped her decide to accept his offer of training. Taking a deep breath, she sat and watched as he dialed in Mom’s comm frequency. She’d called home a few times over the year she’d been gone, but this was the first time she’d done so since leaving the Chiloon Rift. And she wasn’t entirely sure how Mom would react, but she was about to find out.

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Xander Carrick"] [member="Mirshko Betna"]

[media] https://youtu.be/yNzbnIBsdr8 [/media]​

The soft warbling of the comm unit on her desk at Mandal Hypernautics caught Anija’s attention. The time was late by local standards, but still, Anija was here working. It was hard to tell what might be happening to the company itself. [member="Captain Larraq"] had gone missing months before and left Anija in charge. She’d done the best she could, but she wasn’t sure it was enough. Larraq had always excelled at finding and creating new technology to develop into things for the Mandalorian Clans. And so, she’s tried to fill the void when he was gone. Whether she’d done well by him remained to be seen.

But for now, that was a lesser concern. As she approached her desk and leaned down to glance at the comm panel, her forehead knitted in a frown. The comm frequency was a familiar one, to be sure. But it was a call she’d not expected for some time yet. At least if the call was about what she thought it to be. She took a deep breath to settle the sudden flutter of worry and apprehension in her stomach as she sat down.

A single touch of her finger activated the comm unit. She sat at her desk, her helmet resting beside her. If one looked closely, they might see stacks of datapads carefully moved to the side… and perhaps a half-empty mug of behot by her right elbow. It was something she drank often, but more so now. It was that or resort to something stronger. And that she didn’t want.

The image slowly resolved on the screen, and Anija found herself smiling as she caught sight of Xander. She’d not seen him in quite some time, though she had tasked him with finding what had become of Mirshko, and perhaps bringing her home. There was also the other request she’d made of him, which she began to suspect when she heard his words.

Her gaze swept from him towards Mirshko. She noted with some concern that Mirshko seemed rather uncomfortable. Perhaps nervous was the better word for it. Anija sighed softly and took a deep breath to center herself, even as she tried to project a sense of love and acceptance towards Mirshko. Truth be told, she was happy that her daughter had been found. Manda only knew what had happened in the last year and then some.

Certainly, there were the physical changes. These she’d noticed through the time of her daughter’s absence. Mirshko had never really said where she’d been during her time with Draco, but she’d been gone a year. And, something about the location had changed her. Aged her physically. While her experiences had aged her mentally. Anija could see it in the set of her daughter’s jaw and by the look in her eyes.

“Xander, Mirsko,” she greeted. Her tone was a bit tired, but also hopeful. She looked from her daughter back to Xander. “Thank you for finding her for me,” she continued, her voice full of gratitude. “I knew where Mirshko had gone - at least in a general sense. But when she was gone for longer than a few months, I began to worry…” she sighed and looked back to Mirshko. “I’m glad you’re safe, Mir’ika..” a moment to steady herself, and she continued. “Will you be returning to Mandalore?” Anija felt she knew the answer to that, but she wanted to hear it anyway.

 

[Garza]

After the student accepted the terms that I had set forth, the call came on with her mother standing before me. I stayed standing as I addressed her. Even as she spoke. Clearly grateful that I was able to find her daughter. Explaining herself for a moment, even though I knew it, Mirshko needed to hear it. She needed to know that this was not an act against her will as a growing young lady, but an act of love. I kept my face clear as the question was asked about when we would be returning. We both knew what the answer would be.

​"Not immediately. I need to assess more of your daughter and what she has learned from those she was with before me. No point in reteaching what was already taught."

looking at her, I was watching her reaction to what I was saying.

"limiting the distractions if you will. After such, I will bring her home."

I stared directly back at the mother. Her concern for her child's life was clear. And I would act the same way. Treat her as though she were my own daughter.

"Ori'haat"

[member="Anija Betna"], [member="Mirshko Betna"],