K’thri or Ecahni? Only one way to decide!

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel was never one to rest on her laurels. She’d faced a foe that had negated her use of the Force. Given she didn’t carry a blaster – and even if she had – she’d decided to up her game in hand to hand combat.

K’thri was the first option she’d looked at. It was an ancient style of martial arts that dated back to the time of the Old Republic. The nature of the action was significantly different from that of the Echani style – another she’d considered. Instead of using bold, brutal movements, K'thri instead focused on fast actions and fluid strikes, along with excellently balanced footwork to maintain the precision of the form.

This description could have been written for Sorel and her natural abilities. But since K'thri was primarily used in sporting events by athletes trained in a martial art, it also contained many flashier techniques and movements designed to impress an audience as much as to injure an opponent, thereby occasionally making it inefficient. This was a frustration for her and she decided she needed to combine the basics she’d learned with a more pragmatic style.

And she’d heard of a fellow Jedi in the Silvers that was raised by the Echani and would no doubt be someone who could at very least put up a good fight, to allow her to better understand how much she’d learned. And perhaps she could learn from her? There was, as the saying had it, only one way to find out. So she travelled to meet Aria.

She landed and quickly put on her cloak. She wore traditional Jedi robes, albeit a very dark shade of brown and carried two sabers on her belt – she was proficient with both in combat or could connect them to create a staff if needed.

As the landing ramp lowered, she stepped off her ship, hoping she was expected.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria was a Knight now. She had trained with varying levels of intensity in a vast range of different skills - from saber-sparring to shields to conjuring fire - but there remained only one skill she could truly claim mastery to: the Echani martial art.

The ancient style of combat was one that Aria, having been raised into a proudly Echani culture, had been trained in more or less since she could walk, and having been determined to fit into the society, Aria had grasped at it and pursued it as a hobby, which quickly grew into a passion as she fell in love with the feeling: channeling one's emotions, stripping away superficial levels of communication as you focused solely on what was in front of you. Now, twenty years on, Aria had yet to stop training in the form.

Recently, she had received word from another Jedi Knight - Sorel Crieff, whom she had encountered on occasion and knew to be highly respected among the ranks of the Order - who wanted to round out her abilities in hand-to-hand and had chosen to start with the Echani martial art; upon hearing that Aria was Echani-raised, she had come to her for instruction. The first thing she had felt upon receiving the message was the slight smugness of having someone want to learn from her, as even for someone who generally considered themselves matured and responsible Aria had never really been looked upon as a teacher or an example to others. Then pride, of the almost patriotic variation; Aria was proud of her upbringing, and delighted that of the infinite range of hand-to-hand combat styles Sorel could have chosen from, she had gone for the Echani style. Finally came the excitement; a duel in the true Echani style, and the chance to teach! Eagerly, Aria had accepted the offer and arranged a meeting on Voss.

Now she waited, dressed in a simple tunic and trousers under a light grey set of Jedi robes. None of the usual armour that was a necessity to survive saber-sparring - first principle of Echani: no armour, no weapons, no Force-tricks. Light and lithe and agile.
A ship touched down on the land, and as the landing ramp lowered Aria caught a glimpse of a graceful and athletic woman's figure; that would be Sorel. She certainly looked as though she'd be able to fight well, which was promising. Even if today was more about teaching than about Aria getting a good duel, the latter certainly helped.

"Hi!" Aria said cheerily as the woman stepped off the landing ramp, extending her hand. "Sorel, right? Nice to meet you."

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel accepted the offered hand and then bowed. Some traditions she would never tire of – like the wearing of robes, or calling her Master ‘Master’. And she was surprised to find she was pleased that her host was also dressed in Jedi robes. Matsu had gifted Sorel many sets of armoured clothing but she never wore them. She liked to be dressed as Jedi had for countless generations. Not that she objected to others and their wishes. If armour saved lives, how could it be a bad thing? But Sorel found even the lightest armour restricted movement and believed wholeheartedly that wearing the protection had a psychological impact. Risks were taken and corners cut because a Jedi believed they were protected above and beyond what the Force had to offer. At least that was her view. And although she would not enter a debate to change others to her way of thinking, she was not going to have her own opinions on the matter swayed.

“You must be Aria?” It was half a statement and the rest a question. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me. I recently had an encounter that meant that I wanted to up my game in hand to hand combat. I don’t have a lifetime to learn a martial art in the way it was intended, but I am diligent and thorough and so – if you’re willing – I should like to be taught whatever you think I am worthy of learning.”

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria was mildly taken aback when Sorel bowed - even as a devout Jedi, to meet a Knight who so perfectly upheld their ideals was just a little intimidating - but she returned the gesture, feeling slightly self-conscious. Still, she was glad to be surrounding herself with Jedi who were wholeheartedly so: recent explorations had crossed her path with those of ominous Sith characters one too many times.

"Mm hm," Aria gave a nod, "that's me. I'm happy to teach you as much as I can, or as much as you need to know." She tried her hardest to keep the teacher tone out of her voice; it would do her no good to come across as high-and-mighty.

"So, an introduction," she went on, "Echani is as much an art as it is a style of combat; it's a form of expression. On Eshan, you'd follow duelling etiquette to the letter, because duels are viewed as a way of gaining favour or establishing personal connections - anywhere else, though..." Aria grinned. "Well - it's pretty deadly."

"Okay, so to begin with, you don't wear armour or use weapons." Aria gestured with an approving nod to Sorel's robes. "When you're facing off against a saber, you can't go without it, but in Echani your body is the weapon. And no Force-techniques. Though feel free to throw some in once you're getting the hang of it - these are just the principles. Everybody fights in their own way. Um, and if you need to warm up, do," she added, stretching one arm between the opposite elbow. "Just, y'know, get in the right mindset and then we can start."

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

As a seasoned traveller, Sorel had a tried and tested routine. She would do two things whilst between planets – meditate and research.

So on the way here she’d done some background research on Aria but mostly had picked up whatever she could about the Echani martial art. At least as much as you can from a database. Holo-projections were better than words but they were no match for actual learning, so she was attentive as her host spoke. Even more so than usual.

A smile curled Sorel’s lips. “I will learn whatever you are able to teach. I may lack in ability but I’ll look to compensate with tenacity and sheer hard-work wherever I can.”

Much of what Aria said she understood and had read about, but her teacher brought it to life in a way that the holovids did not. And it was not as if Jedi were entirely ignorant of the etiquette around duelling – but she immediately grasped that this was on a different level. And she considered how clumsy Padawans were when being taught to use a saber initially and often saw the lesson as a contest as opposed to teaching and the smile returned. She would have to be mindful not to impose her Jedi ways here. She was learning a non-Force technique and should act accordingly.

Sorel’s smile played across her lips a third time. “As a Jedi I was also taught that we are the weapon. It was apparently a saying Master Windu used to use often. The saber is merely an instrument, a tool. That was how I was raised to fight, so I hope that puts me in good stead.”

Sorel kept herself fit and was at least competent in hand-to-hand combat as well as having learned the basics of one martial art. So warming up was something she was used to, so stretched out her key muscles, starting with her triceps and biceps before moving to her quads and then calves.

Once she had stretched and warmed up, she removed her cloak and stood in her Jedi robes, ready to be instructed.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Finishing her stretches, Aria listened as Sorel explained how she had been taught. It was clear that the Knight was a well-trained Jedi, which was humbling but not overly so, and that it wouldn't prove difficult to teach her, which was more than mildly satisfying, especially today being her first teaching experience.

"I'm sure it will," she said in response to Sorel's comments about her training. "A lot of what it takes to do Echani well is to grasp certain concepts and to build on them."

Sorel removed her cloak and stood waiting; hurriedly, Aria called up the plan she had laid out for how best to introduce someone to Echani. It had taken some thought - it had simply been so long since she herself had first learnt the art.

"Alright, so Echani is a style that relies heavily on the offensive," Aria began. "I think the best lightsaber form to compare it to would be somewhere in between Ataru and Juyo, though it's hard to say. But very aggressive, requires a lot of focus. Um, and so a good move to start with is a rolling throw. There are several variations, but I'll show you one that gives you advantage right away. You just take hold of my arm with both hands and spin round and pull my arm down. It doesn't need a lot of strength if you do it right." Aria demonstrated the hold and the spin without actually throwing the woman to the ground, then stood back. "Go ahead, try it."

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and regularly nodded to show Aria she was taking it in. Sorel was a firm believer that a Jedi never stopped learning and so embraced new things every day. She also subscribed to the concept that a Jedi was a vessel. The Force was like a river. Flowing and never ending. A Jedi can draw from that which surrounds them, but once full cannot take any more. With time and training, a Jedi becomes a bigger vessel and therefore a Master can access more of the Force than a Youngling.

So she was always wary not to learn too many new abilities – a vessel was finite after all. Instead she tended to focus on perfecting the ones she knew. To become a master of a few as opposed to a jack-of-all-trades.

But Echani did not count against the vessel’s capacity – other than practice time – which was, by definition, a different but related constraint. But Sorel was willing to sacrifice learning an ability for the trade-off of knowing a non-Force-dependent skill.

Sorel’s preferred Form was the fifth and so an aggressive style was not alien to her. But she tended to rely on pace as opposed to power in her fighting, so she would have to see how Echani fitted into that framework.

So Sorel listened and then allowed Aria to show her the throw. With her general understanding of unarmed combat plus her recent experience of martial arts, the concept was not lost on her – nor the basic technique. In part it was using the opponent’s weight against them, and pace as opposed to brute power was the key to success.

Sorel used the Force to centre herself. Once she was calm and relaxed, she focused on not tapping into it again until instructed. She slowly replicated the hold Aria had shown to her and acted as if she was going to perform the move. Receiving enough positive signals from her tutor that she was basically correct in her application, she released Aria.

Then, with her trademark speed and flexibility, she performed the manoeuvre at full speed. She did not allow doubt to enter her mind nor did she presume she would automatically succeed. Rather she did precisely what she was told to do and should would wait to see what the consequences were.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria stood with her knees slightly bent and her back low as Sorel stepped forward to replicate the beginning posture. That it only took the other woman minimal adjustments to get the hold more or less correct was unsurprising in that Sorel was a Jedi Knight who in learning would have become a faster learner over time, but it was pleasing nevertheless for Aria as a teacher. Giving a nod to indicate Sorel's accuracy in the move, Aria remained as she was as she waited for her to either do the second part or repeat the first.

Then as Sorel moved forwards again Aria had but a second to note how lithe and flexible the woman was before a carefully forceful execution of the manoeuver threw her across the grass. In an actual fight, Aria would've moved about more to make the throw more difficult and then dug her heels into the ground to avoid letting it topple her, but this was a demonstration and so she rolled sideways as she hit the ground, absorbing the impact without much pain before getting to her feet.

"That was good," she said honestly. "You're fast, too. If you're up against somebody who isn't expecting it, you can knock quite a lot of impact out of them, especially with the more force you put into it. Plus then you have the higher ground, so so long as you watch your ankles you'll have the advantage." She tried to lay out when and why to use the move the best she could. There were some people who could simply hold their own in a fight from pure emotion and adrenaline, without needing coherent thought or to analyse for the best move, but even if that did align with the Jedi principles Aria had never been so in tune with her raw emotions and she doubted that Sorel would be either, so instead she needed to fight smart. It was one thing to know how to execute a move, it was another to do so at the right moment in a proper fight.

"Try it again, slower," she suggested. "Not because you did it wrong, you did it just about perfectly - just because it helps it sink into your mind properly. Go as many times as you need."

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and was pleased she’d executed it well – but as a teacher herself, she knew the value of muscle memory and this came from perfect execution and repetition. Already her mind was wondering how to continue to practice – and she knew she would have to find a willing accomplice to be thrown about initially and then resist her actions in the longer term. Ingraining the action would work best if not opposed. But its practical application would only happen when she knew how to adjust for people who chose not to stand like a dummy and allow her all the time in the world to execute the move.

She nodded to demonstrate that she was listening and that she agreed with what she heard. Aria was a patient teacher, which made learning all the more easy to accomplish.

“I tend to use pace over power,” she said, “But I can always boost my strength with the Force if needed.” And she looked down at her feet. The higher ground was always advantageous when fighting with sabers, but Aria was right – the area below the knee was always vulnerable. And she listened to the simple but thorough guidance on not only how to execute the move but when. Tactics were a key part to saber duels – and Sorel often held back initially, looking to see if her opponent had weaknesses, or ‘tells’ or simply manoeuvres that they favoured.

Finally she repeated the move, this time her focus was on perfect execution and slowing the throw right down. And once she did, she repeated it – over and over. Every couple of throws, she would feel where she made a mistake and corrected it the next time. She wondered how long this would go on for before Aria became tired of being thrown to the ground, but to her credit she allowed Sorel to keep going – until finally Sorel stood up straight. “I think I’ve got it,” she said.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria nodded. "It's more important to do a move with skill than to do it with power for sure. That said, always try for both when it's possible." Certainly Aria herself lacked the physical presence to rely on brute strength, but weights sessions thrice weekly - twice when the Jedi training got tough or when insomnia reared its head - as part of her self-imposed regimen had done something in the way of powering her fights.

Adjusting her feet, Aria let Sorel drill the move into her mind, willingly being thrown down time after time and occasionally giving quick corrections. Her experience in the martial art had heightened her capacity for pain of this sort greatly, but by the time Sorel stood back announcing that she felt she had it she was perhaps not as sore but mildly out of breath and had a few sore spots from times where she had either landed or been thrown slightly wrong. It hadn't taken the other woman long certainly; occasional revision of the move would ensure that Sorel could successfully recall it whenever an opening arose in a hand-to-hand confrontation.

"Great," Aria asserted, her tone warm and congratulatory. "Now, go again; this time I'll try to stop you. If you manage, try and hold me down with as much force as you can; make sure I can't get up. Knee to the stomach works well, but go ahead and improvise. Then we can try a different move."

Assuming Sorel followed the instruction, as she moved in for the throw Aria would begin to circle, bent knees putting more of her weight on the ground and her hands in constant motion to make taking hold of her arms more difficult. She had every confidence that with some thought, Sorel could still execute the move, so she didn't hesitate in making the throw rather trickier to pull off.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel was pleased that pure power was not key to success in the martial art. Her research had indicated as such, but it was good to hear it from the person themselves. For Sorel, pace and the opponent’s own weight tended to add to the power of any move – even when using a saber – and she had the Force to call upon if needed of course. And if power was an advantage, she’d be sure to use it when she could – but for now was looking to practice as if she were not Force sensitive, to learn the moves with regular reflexes and strength.

Not that she could override her innate qualities. Her ability to glimpse a possible future often manifested itself in dreams, or when deep in meditation or even concentration, but it also showed up in combat – an ability to predict moves based not on intuition but effectively seeing the future a fraction of a second before it actually happened. Here it gave her a slight edge when defending, but was of limited help when doing the throwing.

Sorel knew that so far, she’d effectively been tackling a willing victim. Now she would face opposition – and not from an average person, but someone highly skilled in the martial art.

Sorel nodded when she received the instruction. Holding Aria down would be a challenge. Getting her down would be the real test. And given that worrying about how to hold her down would be an unnecessary distraction right now, she pushed it out of her mind.

As soon as Sorel reached for Aria, her tutor lowered her centre of gravity and kept moving – sideways and ultimately in a circle to be precise. And with her hands moving, Sorel struggled to get any grip. So she thought back to her Skorch days. It was a Jedi game and she remembered the advice the coach had given at the time – follow your opponent’s belt buckle. It was a tactic she used to this day in any spar. People could feint left or right and move their arms and legs in a variety of ways – but their body always travelled in the same direction as their belt buckle. So she kept an eye on Aria’s midriff and gauged her direction of travel and pace from that, looking to ignore any other movement as intended to merely distract her. And she held her hands by her sides, not looking to grapple until she was ready.

Finally, she was in rhythm with Aria and she threw her hands out to grab her. In a real fight, Aria would not be patiently waiting to be attacked, and Sorel knew she would not have the luxury of time – but it was all part of the learning curve for now.

Her first three attempts to grab failed and for the fourth attempt, she feigned a grab and then followed up quickly with a real snatch for her opponent’s upper arms. This time she was able to hold one, which was when she started the hardest part of the exercise – to throw Aria! This time, she knew that her hand-hold would not last indefinitely, so she could ill-afford the same degree of patience, so she simply persisted…attempt after attempt. Once or twice Sorel slipped, but she refused to let go with her hands. Oddly it was after her third stumble that she was successful – in gaining her feet, she was able to gain the leverage to throw Aria. Caught by surprise herself, she was unable to put the power or the pace into the throw she would have liked, but what she lacked in execution she made up for in determination – it was more like arm-wrestling than a martial arts throw – but eventually she managed to tip Aria’s balance and throw her to her back.

Instinct kicked in and she landed heavily on Aria’s abdomen with her flexed knee. It would have been painful and Sorel’s immediate reaction was to pull back – a foolish mistake as she immediately found herself on her back, having allowed her tutor the time and space to right herself and dump Sorel on her derriere.

Sorel smiled ruefully and jumped to her feet. “Sorry if that hurt and also sorry for not seeing the move through.” It was an odd apology – sorrow for the placing of the knee and also for removing it too quickly. But the logic was solid in Sorel’s mind.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria could see Sorel's initial hesitation, which was good in that she was not making her lesson too easy, and that the other woman assumed a stance confirmed Aria's thoughts of her apparent persistent nature. The Knight spent a few moments matching Aria's pace, trying to sync her movements in time with her own. Aria would break her rhythm in preparation every time she thought that Sorel's flickering eyes indicated that she was about to make her move, but other than that she was unable to predict the woman's movements due to her speedy application of moves. Soon though, she was able to sense the woman moving in time to her, a steady flow, one foot after the other, and she could clearly see that Sorel was becoming more stable.

Then Sorel reached out, and Aria sped up the movement of her hands to push the reaching arms away just in time. Her next two or so attempts were reacted to in the same manner, until Sorel feinted a grab and managed to get hold of Aria's arm before the Echani could move to match her speed. As she went on to attempt the throw, Aria dug her heels into the ground, knees still lowered as she made herself as heavy as she could. She didn't want to discourage her student, but at the same time, through her own training she had become accustomed to the method of constantly being pushed. At times she complained about such a method, but it was the method that had made her a Knight and the only style of teaching she was really familiar with, so by default she reverted to making lessons as tricky as they could be without being impossible.

Sorel slipped, and as she recovered she used her momentum to nudge Aria into falling over. It had been less graceful than Sorel's previous attempts, but it was excellent when the additional challenge of Aria's resilience was taken into account. Aria let out a small grunt as Sorel leaned into her knee and landed on her stomach; apparently her reflex reaction that, to an Echani fighter, would have been too insignificant to take note of, had panicked Sorel into pulling back her knee. Continuing with her tough love approach, Aria took the opportunity to lift her torso slightly, driving one knee into the other woman's front as she leant forward, knocking Sorel down unceremoniously.

Aria swung one leg round to show the appropriate posture for holding an opponent down by the knee-on-the-stomach method, though she refrained from dropping her weight, figuring that she didn't need to take it too far. Getting to her feet, she offered a hand to Sorel to help her get up, pleased when the woman got to her feet of her own accord.

"You don't need to apologize," Aria said hurriedly as Sorel asked for pardon on having hurt possibly Aria and having pulled back. "If you end up hurting me more than I can take, I'll say so. And don't worry about not seeing it through - it's natural, it means you're a good Jedi. Also, be sure to tap when you hit the ground, it makes it hurt less." With a smile, Aria brought her hands together and took a step backwards.

"Anyway, we can try something else now and go back to that one later. You're off to a good start; you're a fast learner and you execute moves well. With practice you'll be a force to be reckoned with for sure. So here's one, if you do it fast it's pretty foolproof and you can use it in a lot of situations. If you can just, uh, throw a punch, or try and grab my collar, I can-" Aria demonstrated, waiting for Sorel's punch to come before ducking and carefully knocking her to the ground by one leg, being sure to use minimal force, then stood and readied to swing an arm Sorel's way so that she could try it herself.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel was above all else determined. She believed in hard work and kept her Force powers to a bare minimum, to allow her to practice them all properly. Whereas many of her peers were jack-of-all-trades, Sorel focused. Most, if not all, of her abilities were linked to combat in some way – and she worked at each and every one daily – even those that seemed basic in nature. It was for Sorel, the only way to remain sharp.

So working hard over one move was second nature to her and she would continue to work hard for the rest of her days. And once she dusted herself off and listened to the feedback Aria gave, she was ready for the next move. This pleased her, as she had felt she had at least understood the basics and her teacher obviously agreed. That they were on the same page was reassuring for Sorel. And she noted the correct way to pin an opponent and resolved to try it the first chance she got.

Sorel nodded at the advice not to apologise. She was about to say sorry and bit her lip – the irony not lost on her.

Then, as requested, she threw a punch. She aimed slightly to the left of the woman’s face and did not hold back with the pace – throwing out a quick jab. The fist was only half-way to its target when she sensed as much as saw Aria duck and then she realised her focus was being purposefully misdirected, as she felt her legs being taken from under her. Once more she landed on her posterior and she smiled before regaining her feet. Nodding as she did so, she closed her eyes momentarily, slowing down the mental replay in her mind, looking to see how the move was performed.

Once she felt she had a good idea, she nodded to show she was ready and did her best to repeat the act. She ducked well enough, but found that in lowering her head, she could not easily swing a leg out to knock Aria over.

Instead of her tutor ending up on her derriere, it was Sorel once more. She wore a determined frown this time and stood straight up. “Again?” she asked as she prepared to repeat the move, this time looking to compensate for her lowering and moving centre of gravity as she would swing a leg out.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Sorel's determination was admirable - not to mention, it made teaching much more enjoyable. Of course, she noted silently, training a Padawan would likely prove to be a far greater trial of her patience; that was why she hadn't done so just yet. In the mean time, she would take the opportunity to train her teaching muscle and pass on some of her knowledge.

Aria watched as Sorel paused to figure out the move, and at Sorel's nod swung her arm. Seasoned fighters would be a lot less likely to resort to punches, but the actual motion behind a punch could be found in many other moves that would be more commonly seen in duels - it could even be used against an incoming saber blade if the defendant could think enough on their feet. Until Sorel found herself having to test her knowledge in a real fight, however, the technicalities mattered considerably less - and Aria had faith that in time, she would learn to vary moves somewhat to her advantage. It came naturally with enough training.

When Sorel charged into Aria's attack, as before Aria made it easy the first time. Though Sorel could assume the beginning position for the knock-down with little difficulty, taking her down appeared to be presenting more of a challenge. Aria's balance was slightly toppled, enough that were Sorel heavier she might have fallen over, but in the end it was Sorel that ended up losing her balance, landing on her backside.

Again Aria had to respect the woman's capacity to fall and get back up. She hadn't planned the lesson with the intention of making it easy - even if Sorel hadn't been a Knight herself, Aria had chosen what she would teach with the thought in mind that if the two never met for another lesson, Sorel would take away enough that provided she practiced regularly, the likelihood of her getting severely injured in a duel would be down considerably. She had condensed the most effective and the most flexible moves she could think of - whatever the level - into a lesson that would last just hours; if Sorel had been able to get the hang of them quickly, Aria would've doubted she'd have needed the lesson in the first place.

"Sure," Aria replied to Sorel's question, readying to continue. "If you hurt yourself or need a break or anything, you let me know right away."

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel nodded at the acknowledgement that a rest was always possible. Although she disapproved of almost all of the Siths’ teachings, she found one aspect admirable. Part of the training involved being pushed. Pushed to the point of exhaustion. Pushed when hungry and sleep deprived.

Not that she would put a young Padawan under such extreme pressure, but one ready for his trials? It made a certain degree of sense. Challenges happened when they happened, and not at a point you were well fed and rested. So only training when conditions were perfect created a false expectation of real-life. So Sorel tended to train in all conditions and pressed herself through pain barriers and exhaustion alike. So stopping was rarely, if ever, an option. You learned often more through adversity than when things went well.

Which was how it felt right now. So Sorel dug deep and persevered. Aria had taught her the movement, she replayed it over in her mind a few times before attempting the action herself. Each time she made a little progress. Moments quickly became minutes and before long she’d lost track of time. She simply practised and practised. Over and over, each effort slightly better than the last. After a while, it stopped being her own backside that hit the deck – instead they reached a stalemate that Sorel would step back from and re-start.

And finally, after innumerable attempts, she achieved the move. And like many things, the successful completion felt totally natural and she knew instinctively what she’d done differently and how to repeat the move. And as Aria changed things around, Sorel was able to made adjustments to ensure she was able to repeat the success – if not all of the time, at least most of it.

Finally, she smiled at Aria, aware her brow was sharing the fact that she’d worked hard. Sorel wiped it with the sleeve of her tunic. “Two down, I wonder how many to go?” Sorel took the chance to grab a drink of water as she waited for Aria to explain the next move.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria certainly was wondering whether taking a Padawan could prove as rewarding as teaching Sorel was turning out to be. Perhaps it wouldn't be as fun when the student wasn't as capable and willing to learn as the woman opposite her was - even if she got lucky and her Padawan came to her half-trained as she had done, Aria was certain she'd been a lot of work - but the apparent success of her teachings was massively boosting her mood and certainly put a positive light on the prospect of a full-time student.

For now though, she would focus on Sorel, who was proving a remarkably resilient and quick learner, and how she could make the other woman learn faster. She would be noticeably adjusting how she threw her punches, just so that Sorel would have to work out have to shift her angle or vary her strength and speed. Never very much, however; but no two opponents would execute a move exactly the same, and mastery came with being able to adhere to the relative differences between an enemy's attack. In that sense, every martial art was the same - they relied on being able to flow, conform, pick one's moments. Graceless punching wasn't a martial art; it was drunk boxing.

Then as Sorel got the second move under her belt and took a drink, Aria thought over the plan. She'd been intending to go through a few more moves, but she was tempted to see what Sorel could do in way of improvisation. It was unlikely that the woman had had zero experience in hand-to-hand before today, and the principles remained similar to improvising against a lightsaber duel. Would it be cruel of her? Maybe a little.

"Well, let's go over another move or two and then we'll see how well you improvise." That was a reasonable compromise. "This one is a kick, because you can never go wrong with a kick, so you can just..." Aria took a few steps in front of Sorel to demonstrate, spinning and swinging her leg around gracefully. The kick could easily be dodged with fast reflexes, but was effective in way of unbalancing opponents, which was often an easier way to take them down than actually landing the kick would've been. Aria gestured for Sorel simply to copy along until she felt she had a good grasp - if she could get the hang of it, then her overall balance and agility in fighting would benefit greatly.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel always enjoyed the Padawan-Master relationship and was almost disappointed when she was appointed a Knight in her own right. She still worked with her Master and would consider her so for the rest of her life, but where she found a void in her life, the introduction of Padawans filled it. Naturally not all lasted the course, and that was disheartening – but she had come to understand was a part of the natural order. But here and now was like being a Padawan again – and she relished the experience and did her best to be the sort of pupil that you enjoyed teaching, not shied away from.

And Sorel learned from Aria in different ways. For a start she was able to sense how well her teacher added and varied the lesson as Sorel progressed. It was subtle and someone who was not used to teaching would, most likely, not notice it. But Sorel did, and she was both impressed and determined to ensure she added it to her own repertoire.

She took a long sip of her drink. Then another and another and realised she’d finished the bottle already.

Improvisation? It was a logical progression once she had a few moves under her belt. There was a standard form for a reason, but even the best proponents tended to mix things up from time to time. Too rigid an adherence made you predictable and therefore easier to defeat.

Sorel watched the next move closely. She resisted the urge to think it would be difficult to master – she always told Padawans that a lack of faith invariably led to failure. So she resolved to practise until she was competent and began.

Initially her efforts were wobbly and in a real fight she would be vulnerable to an easy counter. But she was a beginner – and the only way to overcome that was to practise. So she did. Over and over, until her form was at least acceptable. Once ready, she nodded to Aria.

“I’m ready to try it out for real.” She suspected the intent was less to immobilise an opponent and more to take the initiative away. Perhaps to unbalance them to the extent that they fell, or just were open to a follow-up attack.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

After pausing to catch her own breath - perhaps uncharacteristic of a teacher, but everybody got tired at some point - Aria shifted her footing, and let Sorel copy the best she could as she spun and swung her leg out in a fluid, perpetual motion. With practice, the kick could look very elegant, not that that was the point, although grace did matter in a fight. Only trying it for the first time, Sorel lacked such grace initially, but quickly the movements became more flowing as the other woman began to get the hang of the kick.

It took a comparatively short amount of time before Sorel was suitably familiar with the movement that she felt she had enough to build on. In truth, one could improvise on relatively little - spontaneous learning became much easier, oddly enough, when the teaching environment was removed - so Aria was confident that the range of attacks and defenses she'd given Sorel would equip her reasonably well for a mock duel. In any case, she'd make it a tricky fight, but not outrageously so. Aria felt she could find the balance.

"Nice job. Yeah, we can go for real now." A quick pause to decide how she would start the spar, then she gestured for Sorel to assume an appropriate stance as she moved to stand a few extra feet away. She crouched into the usual combat position, that she had used earlier as Sorel practiced on her, readying for the other woman's posture to indicate that she was ready.

"Your move," she offered. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she stayed in the same spot but readied herself to move accordingly with whatever move Sorel started off with - but also, should Sorel take more than a few moments too long to begin, to execute the same kick that she had been teaching moments ago with a mildly apologetic grin.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel understood the conflicting views of so many of the teachers she had since she was a Youngling. One camp believed in purity. A Form was a Form for a reason. The other camp was diametrically opposed. A Form is predictable. So, one group believed vehemently in keeping fighting styles apart and the rest wanted everything mixed up.

Sorel could not fully endorse either viewpoint. For her it was all about the situation. Often she found that her preferred Form was ideal for a duel and so she maintained the moves only associated with that style. Other times she realised a fight was at a stalemate and it was the change of moves that gave her the edge.

So she was in a quandary. She was learning a specific fighting style. The learner in her felt obliged to stick with what she knew. But the fighter in her wanted to demonstrate a performance that demonstrated she was capable of holding her own in a fight. And using a few moves from the other martial arts she knew would both validate that she knew how to blend them into a fighting style that was her own and also show that she was capable of holding her own in a fight.

But tugging at her conscience was the fact that Aria might feel she had learned nothing. And as this thought played on her mind, something else tugged on her. Aria had executed the kick she’d just been taught and Sorel felt her legs being taken out from under her. Smiling ruefully as she realised her analysis had paralysed her, she allowed the kick to sweep away her legs and used the momentum to allow her body to spin in a form of cartwheel, so she quickly regained her feet and nodded to Aria. “My bad,” she said. “And I believe it is my move.”

This time she feinted to perform the kick on her teacher but used the move to get closer and looked to throw Aria in the way she’d been taught.

[member="Aria Vale"]