Let's take it right back to where it all began...

[Kana Truden]

Right. It wasn’t a lead pipe. It usually worked better with those. They interlocked and much as one could have (and had) predicted Kana found herself at a disadvantage. A poor diet, a lack of overall exercise, being locked inside a cell for a while. If the disadvantage of being slightly malnourished wasn’t enough for her to stand on equal grounds to a well-trained soldier, then the slam to her shoulder certainly would be. She made no attempts at hiding her frustration, the annoyed and pained grunt as she stumbled on backwards began to sound a lot more like a hiss.

Her hands turned pale as she hardened her grip around her saber. She felt herself slipping, losing that measure of self-control that she had to struggle with. A small part of her whispered in her ear, just let go and have at him. Give in and let him know her pain.

But she knew better than that.

“Shut up.” Kana hissed. “You know nothing.”

“There is only so much keeping me from showing you what else she taught me.” Spoken through gritted teeth. “But. I won’t. Do it.”

This could have been a good point for her to call it quits, but she didn’t. Her body seemed to move autonomously, against her will. Reached out in a diagonal strike, waist to shoulder without much of a care if she had wanted to do that at all.

“Stop. Resisting, Jacen.”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

The power of that strike reverberated up his arms as he made a solid block. Pain spiked in his wrist, elbows and leading shoulder. Once again he stepped in, closing this distance between them. However, he pressed out and forced her backwards, using the space to disengage.

At a brisk pace he walked around her in am arc, as if stalking prey. Yet his lightsaber was flicked off and he came to stand still before her.

"Enough," he said firmly, holding one palm out towards her. "I'm sorry Kana," he said earnestly. "I pushed you too hard too soon."

He wasn't entirely sure if she was going to back down. Her breathing was shallow and ragged. " Calm," he said softly. Pull deep breaths from down in the gut, don't push aid down from your throat."

If she regained control, he would sit cross-legged on the cold ground and indicate for her to do likewise.

 

[Kana Truden]

Her entire body had tensed up in struggle against her conflicting mind. Her hands grew ever paler as she clinged with all she could to the saber. Her eyes followed Jacen much like prey to the slaughter, except the small part of her still considered the man in front of her to be the one who took on the role of prey. Doubly so when he turned his saber off.

Do it.
It’s easy.
You can do it.

Don’t do it.​

You don’t want to do this. ​

Yes, you do.

She took a deep breath before another. She needed air, she needed clarity. She needed to get herself out of this state of mind. This wasn’t what Avalore would have wanted, or Corvus, or Adele. Hell, it was the absolute last thing that Jacen wanted, and he was standing right in front of her.

A shaky gasp emanated from the imprisoned jedi master.

The faintest of whispers carried itself through the room. “Fark.”

She didn’t care who the saber belonged to, she threw it as far away from herself as she could in a desperate attempt to distance herself from it. Kneeling down in front of Jacen there was little she could do but take a few moments to catch her breath. Her head was spinning as if she had used up her reserves, pulsing as if she had one too many drinks the night before or as if she was waking up from a horrible nightmare.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want that to happen, Jacen.” She spoke in between gasps. “I’m sorry.”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]


“It’s alright,” Jacen said. He held out one hand, palm down and made a gentle up and down motion. “I shouldn’t have pushed you, but now we know where you are,” he said. “Close your eyes, find your centre. Focus on the sound of my voice and we’ll go try and let go of some tension,” Jacen said. All the while he was thinking on the next steps.

He didn’t believe that completely avoiding temptation displayed control. One needed to be able to take it in moderation and stop when they needed to. Otherwise there was always an inherent flaw of character that could be exploited. The thought of Kana being exploited as she had again sent a shiver up his spine. Adele was much better than him at taking someone through meditation, but still knew enough. The lightsabre she had discarded flew back across the room to find his grip, he had already made a decision on what they would do.

“Find a comfortable position. Stop thinking about the outside world, clear your mind of everything but an awareness of how your body feels and my voice. Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, let your body begin to relax. Imagine that you are breathing in relaxation. Breathe out through your mouth, forcefully blowing out the air.... imagine expelling tension.” Jacen started. Whilst he didn’t have the same tranquil tones as Adele he was actually a very good baritone singer and carefully controlled his calm to be as calming as possible.

“Breathe in again.... and exhale as if you are blowing out a candle, blowing away tension.....

“Breathe slowly and gently now....

“Continue to take calm breaths as you focus on relaxing your body. Notice how each area of your body I mention relaxes as soon as you hear the word ‘relax.’”

If she started relax he would then walk her through all the major muscle groups from her toes upwards. He needed her to re-establish a sense of calm because he was going to put the lightsabre back in her hand.

 

[Kana Truden]

Kana took a seat on the floor and crossed her legs. Hands resting by her knees, arms relaxed. Her breathing was still rather irregular but soon enough that too would come to pass as she followed Jacen’s instructions. It wasn’t that she didn’t know meditation, that wasn’t one of those things that you just forgot. She simply liked following instructions, because in the end it meant that she was following some sort of structure again.

On top of waking up, eating, thinking, and going to bed again. Of course.

Kana took a deep breath through her nose and held the air in her lung for as long as she could. It felt like filling a balloon almost. Let it inflate to the point where the muscles begin to tense up and then exhale through the mouth to let it ease up. She repeated the procedure for a bit. Perhaps a bit too fast, her head began to spin again, but that was one of the rookie mistakes that she could remember quite well from when she was still a Padawan on Ossus.

“In.” Kana repeated to herself before exhaling. “Out.”

“It is there, sort of.” She announced to Jacen.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

“Right then,” Jacen said as he opened his eyes. He held out the lightsaber for Kana to take again. “I think that perhaps we’ll start with Shii-Cho second kata,” he said quietly. His demeanour had completely changed from the start of the session. He had returned to the calm and gentle-voiced parole officer.

Sliding to his feet in one smooth motion his other hand would find his own saber. The basic Shii-Cho katas were shown to every student at almost every academy. It formed the first building blocks of muscle memory that each Jedi needed to construct their own particular style around.

“We can move onto the third velocity afterwards,” he added.

Velocities were what most students worked on before they started to spar. It was more of a dance than a duel. Two opponents moving through a known routine of strikes and counters. The pace went up with each repetition until one person reached their limit.

 

[Kana Truden]

Kana couldn’t keep herself from smiling. Just a little. She was very aware of the katas and the terminology behind saber training such as velocities. Not that it mattered. For the sake of getting as much out of Jacen, and possibly picking up something new for her own repertoire, Kana merely kept herself seated and watched Jacen as he instructed her in the pure basics of lightsabers. Which, even if known, was something she would pay attention to. She was rusty, there was no denying that after the recent show of skill.

She was naturally worried about having to hold the saber in her hand after the recent struggle, but ultimately she figured Jacen had things under control if things got out of hand again. Besides, a spar and a velocity were not the exactly the same thing. One of them was about maintaining calm and control, the other was about exercising the measures of both calm and control.

Perhaps things would go pretty well.

Perhaps not.

“I’m ready.” Kana agreed with Jacen. “What do we do?”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

“Let’s just go through nice and slow and controlled,” Jacen said. It hardly made it easier to go through the motions maintain perfect balance whilst moving with a deliberate grace. However, it did make it easier to pick it back up again. She probably had this down in muscle memory and he was slightly taken aback at her question, but then he was now training this every day at the New Jedi Order academy.

He took a few steps to move alongside Kana, with a few metres between them. He turned to put her off to his right as his saber snapped into life. Without waiting he narrows his eyes and launched himself into the routine. The saber traced the well-rehearsed patter through the air as he moved between different guards, strikes, and blocks. If there was a chance she had forgotten some of the very basics after so many years of fighting, she’d be able to pick them up easily enough as they went. If she caught up they could go through the simple Kata in synchronization.

“You need some gym work,” he said quietly as he shifted into a defensive stance, blocking imaginary blows from his left and right in turn. This always helped him clear his mind. The focus on the physical would hopefully follow straight on from the meditative routine that focussed on internal muscle control and relaxation, helping Kana find her centre. “I assume you probably had a routine before, we can head to the weights room later.” That was another activity he always found welcome when he needed to clear his head.

 

[Kana Truden]

He was taken aback, and all Kana could do was grin. She may be in rehabilitation, she may be well aware of her crimes and actions, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy a joke. She most likely did have the moves down in muscle memory, truth be told she hadn’t practiced the first form particularly much after it had gone and gotten itself replaced by other forms, Makashi mainly, but that wasn’t exactly news to the people she had associated herself with before.

She ignited her saber and followed along with [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]’s routine. It wasn’t as hard as one could have expected it to be. Her footwork and overall performance would indicate the absence of practice, but having lived the way she had, and not to mention she officially resided in a cell these days, that wasn’t very hard to go figure.

“I don’t suppose the lovely world on the surface has a field track or several square kilometers of lush forests to run around in?” Imperial measurements in space? Hell no. Kana shrugged for a second before continuing to go along with Jacen. “I always liked to just walk. Hike, climb things.”

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]
“There are places you can climb on Sullust,” Jacen replied. His voice was distant, his speech slow and each word drawn out. His mind was relaxed and his focus on the careful motions between each position. There was a long gap before he spoke again. “However, the surface here requires breathing apparatus. I can look into it if you’d like. The upper biome has plenty of open space. What time of day do you like to run?”

Coming to a halt with his saber in a guard that left it almost left the buzzing blade against his cheek. He walked around and came to face her. “Third velocity?” he asked. A velocity was more akin to a dance than a competition. Hopefully she could managed that without threatening unseemly things as long as he didn't wind her up and further. She had been coiled tight like a spring before, but she seemed to be gently unwinding.

 

[Kana Truden]

“Early mornings.” Kana spoke as she followed the Marshal’s movements still. “I’d love that, if you looked into access to the outside.”

Nevermind that he said breathing apparatus. Kana was glad enough to hear she could gain access to some of the ‘real’ world. As real as the exterior surfaces of Sullust could get at least. She was unaware of the surroundings, yet what she could imagine Sullust to be like Tatooine except dustier, unbreathable. Unless, of course, it was like Mustafar. It was a fair assumption as well, Kana had after all mainly experienced life on Sullust within the proximity of magma and the smell of molten sulphur.

“Sure.” She nodded at Jacen at the mention of the ‘third velocity’ again. “Just, you know. Go easy.”

She placed herself in stance in front of the man.

“And I will try to do the same. Hopefully.”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

"Just focus on the movements and flowing from one move to the think. Don't think, just do," Jacen said slowly. She'd read his mind there. Already he was concerned that he'd forced her to take a backwards step, but he had faith she could maintain a level of control.

His blade came up to a low guard. With a shared nod he started the routine. It was a challenge in of itself to shift the weight to his forwards foot and bright the blade up and around. The slow swing came in for her right shoulder and met the appropriate block. He backed off, bringing his blade up in a high guard in advance of her scripted counter blow.

 

[Kana Truden]

Focus. That wouldn’t be too hard. Kana took a deep breath and did a quick run over any spare parts she had forgotten about during the repetition of the first form. There was a small lingering cloud of trepidation hovering above the mind of the former Jedi. Jokes aside, she had tried to unsuccessfully persuade her parole officer that he was going to die less than an hour ago. In fact it was quite possible that it had been even less than half an hour ago.

It wasn’t her finest moment.

The slow swing for her shoulder was met by a horizontal block as she raised her saber first to her side to deny it, and then to slowly move over into an overhead attack looking to come crashing down and clash gently against the man’s blade.

Equally gentle movements lowered her saber in a low guard.

“Going pretty good so far.” She spoke to Jacen through without letting her focus drop. “Slow and steady.”

Just like rehabilitation, almost.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

“Perfectly well,” he remarked. “I’m sure you could do this with your eyes closed.”

As the routine came to an end they backed off with sabers returning to neutral guards. Best foot forwards and it started again, this time the pace of the movements increased. Slow and graceful transitioned to smooth and flowing movements.

“In fact I wonder, could you…with your eyes closed” he asked. It would be an interesting test. Could she silence her mind and listen to the Force, moving from position to position without any conscious thought. She would have to maintain her calm throughout to keep that level of focus

 

[Kana Truden]

“What, right now?” Kana blinked. Saber pointed at Jacen’s neck she waggled back and forth in hesitation. “Really?”

She remained idle as she stared at Jacen in a brief moment of disbelief. It wasn’t as much the fact that she didn’t know the moves as much as it was the fact that she had only just now started to wield a saber properly again.

Manslaughter aside.

“Uh, okay.”

And with that Kana closed her eyes. She let a deep breath in through her nose and quickly let it out through her mouth.

“Hit me.”

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

"Sure, I trust you."

He sucked in a deep lungful of air himself and then let it out slowly. His left foot traced a small semicircle on the floor and he lowered himself into the starting position.

"We begin," he said quietly. Once again he slowly shifted his weight forwards and brought the saber up and around, flicking it down towards the right shoulder.

 

[Kana Truden]

Kana was breathing with as much calm as she could. This wasn’t about using the force as much as going from memory, which in itself meant that she had to remember it all without the visual indication of where her attack would land.

Her saber rose towards her right, aligned on the vertical and ready to catch the saber as it came for her. But she went too far, raised the saber just a little too high and the brunt of the attack was delivered further down the beam than was ideal. The low-powered plasma nearly touched at the hilt. Kana held back the urge to open her eyes and see what she had done wrong and simply kept on going.

Besides, it was pretty obvious what the problem was. She was going too high.

She twirled her saber back and went low. Except far too low. The saber was off by far, more likely to striker at Jacen’s left shin than his left thigh. Not that Kana would know that yet.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Jacen swore under his breath as his saber dipped low and caught the blade. The tip delivered a hot kiss to his shin. He backed off quickly, breaking the routine. "Alright, that went a bit too far off to recover," he admitted. Sometimes it was easier to reset than the try and pull everything back together in a velocity. It was one thing to go through a practised routine in synch without visual aids, quite another to re-adjust together to get the next move back together.

"Let's go from the top again. Open your mind, silence your thoughts. Let the Force guide the minor adjustments you need," he said quietly. For his own part he dropped some of his own mental walls. Far easier if she could pick up on his intentions through the Force, but he was so used to completely closing himself off these days. "A Jedi is always calm and collected. A Jedi listens. A Jedi has control. We do not overcome the Force with emotions and strength of will, we let it flow, we excise control."

His saber came up once more, his expression serene. He closed his own eyes and immersed himself in the Force. Reaching out he could sense her apprehension. That dark storm was brewing again. She was ashamed of what she had done. Her self confidence was shot to the netherworld. Jacen thought back to his own time in isolation. He'd called on the darkside once. It was true that his many failures in the past amplified the pain that came with that one. But Kana had joined the Primeval in a war, sold secrets to the One Sith and been used and tossed aside by the Sith Lord.

You can do this. The thought was conveyed directly through the Force, not as a simple verbal expression. Again, with me not against me, he stated and once again he came in for that shoulder.

 

[Kana Truden]

Crap. She had gone too low.

She nodded once at Jacen’s initiative to start from the beginning. Kana took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as her cheeks puffed up and deflated. Calm, collected. Listen and keep control. Her eyes were still shut and she repeated the inhaling and the exhaling again until the point when she almost began to feel light headed. Let go of the outside, focus on the inside. On remembering and playing along.

An ear-deafening weight started to descend upon the woman’s hearing to the point when all she could hear was the hums of both participants sabers.

It came from her side, she raised her saber to collide. Mind had her instinctively reach above her head and bring her saber down towards Jacen’s head in a surprisingly smooth transition.

Oh yes, falling into place like pieces of a puzzle. Kana had half a mind to smirk at her success, but withheld the notion.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Kana Truden"]

What started as tentative, yet accurate slowly became something else. It was graceful and fluid as they moved through the forms. Jacen even risked a slight flourish to his reverse sweep that she caught with ease before transitioning into a quick jab.

At the end they each stepped back and lowered blades. Jacen opened his eyes, affording Kana a respectful nod and a smile.

"Much better, much much better. Shall we go again and make the pace a little more serious?"