Learning to heal

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Voss

A nervous sigh escaped the young hopeful's lips as the nondescript freighter made its final approach to the planet.

She was nervous, among many other feelings, about this journey she was undertaking. This was for more than just her own benefit. Maybe now she could serve more of a purpose to those around if she could master the art of Force Healing.

But, she also felt bad, for going behind her friend's backs, making secret contacts, and eventually slipping away to undergo this venture. Taking with her very little in the ways of personal items, without any weapons to boot.

And here was where Kimiko found herself, the planet Voss, where the contact she had made in all the hours of her searching had told the girl to come.

The freighter clunked down onto the pad and went silent, which gave Ki the signal to stand, grab her single bag, and make for the bay door. She pulled the hood of her cloak up to cover her her white hair as the door dropped, bathing the bay in harsh light, causing an arm to raise shielding eyes. Once adjusted, she could the see the vast spaceport before her.

Not wasting any time on the sights, Kimiko made a swift exit, and began heading to the designated rendezvous, already afraid of her new surroundings and ready to begin this journey before her quickly crumbling confidence told her to turn and run.

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

The meeting place was down in the lab, Training Room 117 was Cathbodua's training room attached to the medical bay in the sub-basement. Sections of it with filtered light and scrubbers for all of the things they could work with down here. It looked like many of the medical bays that would allow healing and testing. They developed procedures down here to work on implants and healing technology like the synthetic healing cubes that worked for different healers. The jedi knight remained standing in her bodysuit without the heavier pack but she was working on it with the hood down in the filtered lights when she left the droids to direct the one who was coming to receive training in force healing techniques. She tapped the datapad while going over the different sections and bringing up some of the new implants they have been developing for medical procedures.

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Ki's trip to the temple through the spaceport and greater part of what she believed was a city, was not very eventful. She never met the gaze of any stranger, nor looked to long at any structure that did not match the description of the temple.

As she approached the temple she sought, the size of the place slightly overwhelmed her. But she steeled her resolve and pressed on.

Ki took a moment to take in the grandeur of the temple before she was interrupted by two serving droids, who caused her to nearly jump from her own skin,"Excuse me, you match the description of the one we were to escort to the Lower Levels. Kimiko correct?"

"I-I am...but how did you...", she gaped blankly at the droids, who interrupted her and turned to make their way back into the temple,"H-Hey! Wait for me!"

The sight of these two droids escorting a short, cloaked, girl definitely drew attention, which she hid from. She did not have to see others looking, but she could feel them, and though they meant her no malice, she still unwanted here.

The trip to the lower levels was tense and silent as they neared their final destination, and the droids stepped through the threshold, leaving a still bewildered and cowarding girl behind,"Master, we have brought your guest as instructed." they sounded in their cold metallic voices.

Kimiko cautiously advanced into the room, awaiting for her first confrontation with whom she hoped to be her teacher.

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

Her attention came up while she was looking over the things with a bow of her head. "Thank you." She said it standing there with a nod of her head turned while she stood in the iconiq bodysuited armor when she stood up tall and while slender compared to most it was deceiving. her and jericho had spent months training in the heavy gravity rooms at levels few others really tried which packed on the mucle and made her physically a match for the super soldier compared to the others who usually tried to face him. She was looking at the droid leave while the filtered light was lower then normal but if she chose to be out of her bodysuit then it wouldn't have adverse effects on her skin. "Welcome to the sub-basement." Her voice came out normal slightly harsh but she was generally sent the students who were considered problem cases while teaching healing she made sure the ones who were learning really learned how to heal. Cathbodua herself moved forward looking at her from behind the facemask with a small nod of her head. "Do you need any equipment to help yourself?"

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

The young hopeful looked in stunned silence at the being that was addressing her, not even paying attention to the words directed at her. That was until she saw the face behind the mask and snapped out of her trance.

Kimiko bowed politely,"Greetings, Master Jedi." was said more of a question than a statement.

"I am Kimiko and I have come to learn the arts of healing using the Force." her currently teal eyes blinked rapidly at the question,"I do not know what I require..."

It was now that she lowered her hood, allowing long white hair to cascade down her back.She stood politely, her arms clasped before her as they began their meeting.

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

Looking at the girl and remaining still for a moment longer when she watched her. "I see." She motioned with one hand towards it while pulling a blue cube to her hand as the gas within it swirled around the crystals inside that gleamed. A look corssing her face for a moment before she set it down. "A standard healing cube of fire, designed to give healers of all levels the ability to use and interact with the ancient artifacts. It is just a little more helpful as it is not rare or exclusively held by others." She stayed there tapping it while she grabbed her glove and held it up. "A semi standard tora'yor glove for jedi. Swappable crystals to give a variety of different effects but the healing crystal will allow you to project and augment your abilities over a larger area to help in crisis situations." She provided them for trainign and if needed when she was walking towards the door leading out fo the medical lab. "There is a lot a healer needs to be able to do, the act itself is very tiring and without endurance training you won't last long in the field."

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Kimiko quickly fell in behind the other woman, hanging onto those last words as if her life depended on them.

Not that she did not listen to the rest of the information passed, oh no, quite the opposite. Her eyes took on a yellowish tint as her curiosity took over her being. Here she was: in this Jedi Temple, in the presence of this particular Jedi, beginning her hopeful path. The exhilaration had washed away all thoughts of doubt and fear from her mind.

This feeling of excitement had also apparently dissipated her brain-to-mouth filter, as the young girl became a literal torrent of questions with no stop,"Master...can I call you that? Or would you prefer something different? What is your name? What do you do at the Temple?"

It was as if a switch had been flipped, for prior to this, Ki had shut out a majority of the world around her. But here, she was new, she was free, and she was ready to learn...albeit a tad annoyingly. But she meant well.

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

"My name is Cathbodua and for the laymen I am one of the healers here in the temple. For those who need the information I am a jedi healer who happens to be a trained medical professional in Emergency medicine and trauma surgery who studies and researches new applications of technology to advance the field while training students in both the scientific and force applications." Now that was a mouthful and boiled down to she had spent a lot of time and her training to go to the medical schools in the galaxy as well as train with the jedi healers so she could still function without the use of the force if need be and keep people alive. Given how more and more anti force technology and methods were being made it was something she encouraged others to do to keep that edge. "I am also the trainer of problem students as my methods break through and break down their flimsy justifications of why their failures are not the result of their beliefs but the jedi not embracing the darkside and attacking everything." She spoke it while entering the room across the way as the sterile shite room had panels on the walls and floors to give it a look before she entered standing in the center of it. her hand coming up to her mask as she took it off revealing almost bleached white skin covered in even finer white scars where she had gotten cuts and slices from training. Bruises on her face where she got her face slammed into the floor during endurance training. Her hair was short and shaved almost close to her head with small bacta gel taps that healed wounds along her face where it had been scraped against the floor.

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

The sight caused Ki to gasp, immediately covering her mouth with a hand. It was not an intentional response. She did hope it would not earn her reprisal from the Jedi before her.

"I...I am sorry, please forgive me." was pushed out and laced with fright as she bowed deeply in earnest.

The words however stirred her thoughts slightly. The way Cathbodua worded her introduction was more along the lines of a combat medic. Something Kimiko could definitely take back to the Outback with her.

At the present, she braced for the punishment of her insult...but deeper, she wondered if she could keep up with someone who was much tougher than herself and if she had what it took to train here in the first place.

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

She stood there and raised an eyebrow but stayed quiet. Now saying anything as she was not certain about what it was that had happened. "There is nothing to be sorry about, you have not done anything to merit an apology." She said it while looking over some of the things there and they went through before the doors closed sealing the room. "You came here to learn how to heal, not at the request of a council to be trained or taught so I have no reason to try and get to the root of your beliefs but I do have to warn you. Any use of the darkside will not be tolerated here, healing is an art of the lightside and only the most corrupt and twisted of the darkside know the spells and techniques to bludgeon reality to form how they went. The others barely know how to scratch the surface." Her hands clasped behin her back while securing the face mask on her be;t. "Now show me how much endurance and stamina you have."

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Kimiko tilted her head in confusion at the last statement,"How shall I show you?"

After asking a question she herself thought low of, she twiddled her pointer fingers together, fidgeting in place and adverting her eyes from the Jedi,"I...I am not the most athletic of individuals..."

Rapid deterioration of her own bravery was beginning to show, Cathbodua's boldness intimidating the young woman.

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

Hmm how best to show your skills... hmm it was a tricky one the girl had come here for healing but there were ways without just throwing her into the middle of several beanbag turrets. Though those helped for the purposes of learning how to heal her own wounds and body from attacks and damage which was one of the things she needed to learn while the jedi knight stood there thinking about it. "We'll start off slow, ten times gravity and I want you to preform a standard kata with your movements in it. The longer you last the longer I know you can focus on the force and work with healing." Not the best but it did help to build endurance when your every movement felt like you were carrying lead weights.

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Eyes widened at the order and Ki audibly swallowed. She shook her head to quickly regain her focus as she hurried to drop her bag and cloak by the door, returning to her previous spot with a bit of hesitation.

Her previous training was slight and very basic, especially in martial arts. She was going to follow her teacher's lead regardless.

Ki moved into a basic stance, nodding that she was ready and awaited whatever [member="Cathbodua"] threw at her...although internally she was terrified.

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

Cathbodua threw her arm out as she tapped the wall of the room. her training room was designed specificially for her use but the lowest setting were for padawans to use. With a look at her as the gravity was increasing in the area the jedi knight stepped in and while she was in her bodysuit she couldn't show off the cut of the muscles and toned skin but she was moving through it with ease. her body was made for this type of environment and she was walking there to circle around the padawan so she could appraise her. "There is now failure, every mistake is something you can learn from, everything something new to work from. We teach a healer stamina so that they will not pass out in the field from healing a few cuts or wounds. That will endanger you and if you fall then everyone who is relying on your abilities can fall. This is a serious weight you need to carry."

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

It hit Kimiko harder than she had thought it would, immediately finding it harder to breath and even keep her limbs raised in the stance. Her stubbornness kept her going though as her eyes followed Cathbodua around the room and ears remained open to any and all instruction. The words that were spoken reverberated within her mind, thinking back to the battle that had begun her venture to this planet. She had only been able to stabilize one patient. Her teacher was right, she needed he stamina to perform the act any multitude of times, even back-to-back, without falter.

"Please, teach me everything...I am ready." Ki spoke through gritted teeth, her resolve finally showing itself for hr worth as she awaited her teacher's next move...

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

She was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "The best way to build that stamina is here, in a controlled safe environment that allows you to feel the weight of your burden." She held up one hand with ease while turrets came down and up from the sides on the floor and ceiling with a small look at her. "Each breath and movement becomes a labor, it will hurt don't delude yourself. It will grind your bones and make everything feel like it will crush your chest and you will want to quit." She moved there while looking at her. "But you won't want to at least you shouldn't. Learning how to move in this room, learning how to focus your mind and body so that it can continue to go on even wen you have been healing for hours on a battlefield." THe turrets were moving around with beanbags. "Dodge and move around to avoid the beanbag rounds."

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

And they were off; training had begun.

The first several bean bags impacted, painfully, before Ki began attempting to move, which was more sluggish than her norm. It would appear to an outsider's perspective she were trying to get hit by the projectiles, though she really wasn't. Tears of pain and frustration formed at the edges of her eyes.

Try as she might and move as fast as she could, she continued to get pelted by the shots. Several times she grunted in pain or frustration...or a mixture of the two.

It must have been comical to watch from an outsider's perspective...

[member="Cathbodua"]

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

She was watching her with a nod of her head now, the training had begun and the jedi kngiht herself was moving with the force when she was looking at the girl get pelted. It wasn't a funny thing for the most part, this was a serious situation and she didn't find humor in it she could let the force energies come out while she remained focused on seeing where the flaws were in her form. The heavy gravity was designed to buld the strength and muscle. She had worked them out with jericho to levels that exceeded many others in skill as it she thought about it. "You are learning, there is something in being hit. A healer needs to know how to shut out pain, control it for themselves and for others."

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Shut out pain...

The words rang out in her mind for several moments...several long agonizing moments of moving as fast as her untrained and unconditioned body could under the circumstances...before Ki attempted the unthinkable; she stopped moving in the middle of the cross-fire.

Emerald eyes disappeared beneath the lids as the onslaught continued, the hits feeling harder now than before. But her stubbornness was showing as her breaths were dragged out heavily through her nose and her jaw clenched tight, beginning to feel a slight pain in her teeth.

Her headway was almost shattered when a rather hard hit smacked her cheek...but she returned her focus forward and pressed on...

 

[Cathbodua]

[member="Kimiko"]

She was watching the girl now as she seemed to be focusing, not unsurprisingly by standing still. The moving meditation was not something many practiced or used she had seen outside a few teachers so that a padawan could dodge and practice while in a state or serenity and harmony. Cathbodua herself dodged the random shots that went past her when she gave a nod of her head. "You are doing well, focus on yourself and the body." She remained with some of the things there when she was looking over all of it while she was waiting for her to move and stick with it. They had even more going on before she held her hand out to the turrets adjusting it a little but they could be painful but wouldn't knock you out.