No Candle in the Dark

[Liliane]

Lilin couldn't stop herself from grinning lightly after hearing the students would be working on their Shii-Cho this time. The lightsaber form, Form I, was the one the girl had worked the most on and which she thought she was proficient at. It was basic, yes, but sometimes simplicity was all that she needed to win a fight. She would tell that to her students one day, as well.

The girl didn't have much of an opinion about people who said they were talented at all seven forms. Yes, they were all useful and had to be used in some cases, but the thought of having to perform such complex moves to win wasn't really dear to her heart. She herself preferred using one main form and a few secondary ones at most.

She looked at the students as they started the velocity. It would be difficult for them to handle such a training for a long time, she knew it from her own experience. But without doing that, she would be nowhere near where she was at that moment.

The Jedi decided to just inspect the youngsters in the beginning and let Jacen do the work so that she could get used to how he conducted his lessons.

[ [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] ]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

"Step out for a moment please Dorn," Jacen whispered to one of the apprentices. Dorn was a human boy, looking trapped somewhere between childhood and teenage years. The boy with tussled ginger hair stepped out of the line and faced the Jedi Master.

"Let me see you move from high guard to the third strike again," Jacen instructed. The boy did as he was told.

"Right," Jacen said, holding up his hand for a pause. He moved to stand behind the lad. "Keep this shoulder low. If you hunch up it lowers your range of motion and takes all the force out of the strike. Again."

Satisfied with the repetition he told Dorn to step back into the line and continue before Jacen addressed the whole class. "Right, into the second repetition. Up the pace, but that's no excuse for a sloppy routine.

"Lilin would you mind sorting out Roshak's footwork please?" he asked, waving towards the massive whipid. "A whipid needs a slightly wider stance for weight distribution, but his right foot keeps moving out of line."

 

[Liliane]

Lilin listened carefully what Jacen spoke of while inspecting the boy's moves. She had to admit searching for other people's mistakes was sometimes the most difficult thing -- she was used to using these moves and forms, but she was not as good at teaching them to somebody else. But she would try her best not to fail herself and not to fail Jacen.

She looked at the whipid whom Jacen talked about and nodded. Well, yeah, this time she could see the creature's sloppy footwork. She was not a specialist at such things, especially since she herself was a human, but she thought she knew exactly how to fix this.

"Hey, Roshak," Lilin said as she marched to him. She looked at his feet for a moment before continuing. "You have some weight management to do." She carefully moved closer to him and took a stance which was rather uncomfortable for her, but which would have been ideal for a massive living being like the whipid was.

"Move your right foot a little bit further away from your left foot like that," she spoke as she showed the man exactly how to do that. "It will keep the right leg locked in place and you have a far more balanced stance so that you can focus solely on your enemy."

[ [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] ]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

Jacen observed the group as they went through several more repetitions of the same routine. Each at a more aggressive pace than the last. Attempting to follow the routine more quickly than one could control was actually excellent practise for attempting to activate these basic skills when under pressure in a combat situation.

"Right, split off into pairs, that's enough for now," Jacen replied. "You know the drill by now, basic two-person routine and then we'll move onto sparring."

It took some a long time to find a partner, whilst others almost instantly found some space and started slow routines. One would follow several strikes and the other met them in the appropriate block.

"Who did you train under for your bladework?" Jacen asked Lilin.

 

[Liliane]

"I learned from various teachers," Lilin said. She had never had a real Master, she guessed having one was not something crucial for her. Many of the Covenant's people had learned from each other, from nearly random Knights and Masters or had just kind of figured their things out on their own. That philosophy seemed to have made it to the Galactic Alliance as well.

"So I put the puzzle pieces together and figured the complete picture out on my own." She looked at Jacen, expecting some kind of a reaction. "Not really the best way to handle dueling, but it's something, I guess."

She let her eyes glide over the training pairs, not knowing much of the lives of these people. They were still so small, so innocent and so enthusiastic. Just like she herself had one day been. Maybe she would have still been like that had the realisation of her corruption kicked in. Emotions managed to really mess up people, that's what she would have wanted to tell all of these people. But that had to wait.

Her feet started moving again and she started walking around the room, relaxing and stretching her muscles while inspecting the Padawans. Whether she would actually get into a real fight during that session or not, she had to be ready.

[ [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] ]