Dair was certainly no slouch in lightsaber combat, as a padawan he'd been in more battles than he'd liked, and had learned hard lessons about such fights. This was not a true battle, this was only a duel. However, without pushing both of them to their limits, there would be no learning and no growth.
One of the most important aspect of combat in any form was kinesthetics, the ability to know what was going on around you at all times. It was one of the reasons that Dair liked to employ rolls in his Djem So. He had a naturally heightened kinesthetic sense, and that combined with his natural empathic sense allowed him to keep an accurate picture of where people were and what they were doing. Dair knew his strike had not landed, and he felt the tempo shift slightly as his sparring partner moved forward and attempted Falling Avalanche. The proficiency in Djem So did not surprise Dair, many people preferred to mix the styles when they fought. Dair liked to know the styles, but he preferred to fight with Djem So above all others. His massive size and strength, naturally inborn as a full-blooded Valkyri, lent a great deal to the form, so much so that he only rarely employed the force to strengthen his blows like most Djem So practitioners do, giving Dair a great deal more endurance with the form. No, the proficiency didn't surprise Dair, but the employment of Falling Avalanche so early in the fight was either [member="Haytham Kaze"] mistaking Dair's move as a fatally flawed one, or some disdain for Dair's style. Dair did not feel any disdain from the man, so he assumed that the man thought that Dair had made a fatal error.
That was certainly not correct.
Dair twisted as he stood from his roll, his lightsaber up above his head, parallel to his shoulders in a classic parry. Dair did employ the force to strengthen him, for the first lesson that needed to be learned was not to make such assumptions about your foes. Djem So was an aggressive style that pressed the assault when it could, but if one did not begin the assault it was often best to pace the fight until you could take the offensive. Dair's blade met the falling blade of Haytham and with the strength in his arms, chest, abdomen and legs helping with their uncoiling from the roll, multiplied by using the force to empower him with greater strength, Dair was able to arrest the Falling Avalanche, with almost no effort. He continued to uncoil and attempted to push his partners blade up and away, continuing the movement of his previous parry. He would then step forward with his left foot and turn his parry into a Fluid Riposte. Dair's shoulders twisted, intending to fling Haytham's blade, arms still attached, to the side to open up his guard more, then his arms snapped from right to left, Dair's blade aimed to land across the front of Haytham's shoulders and chest. At the training setting, Winter would not even cut through clothing, but the magnetic field would still impart the impact of the blade to Haytham and Dair was planning to push past and through Haytham, intending to push Haytham back a few steps. Dair's guard would then come back up to the Djem So starting pose, in preparation to continue the assault.
[member="Evan Kenner"]
