Satele Shan had better luck no doubt

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel looked at him quizzically. She had never considered the possibility that one day she might teach others. She was, in her mind, just a Padawan and had never thought about progressing to become a Knight and take an apprentice of her own. “I’ll do my best, but I suspect that time is a long way away. And when we’re all safe and sound, I’ll seek you out to learn.”

She observed his stance. The fifth Form. An offensive style and seen as too aggressive by some. On the plus side it avoided prolonged combat, which was the weakness of the third Form to so many Jedi. Sorel simply held her hilt in front of her, she would activate it when necessary and not before.

He advanced towards her and she raised her hand at the last moment, the golden blade snap-hissing into life in time for her to parry his heavy blow. As she deflected the blade on its downwards path, she neatly stepped to the side. Pace, balance and dexterity were her main weapons — but she still struggled coping with power and that’s precisely what Amadis was using against her.

She wasn’t sure what to expect next, but a repeat blow was hardly top of her list. She reacted slowly, even with her speed. The blow was parried once more but she stumbled as she did so — leaving her defences open.

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

Kei, had wiser words in his later years, having tried and often failed to teach young padawans, he was aware of his limitations too. “Then Sorel. How will you teach me new tricks?” Solid grin given to see if she understood. Everyone taught you, as she would here. Kei’s strong forward strike made her stumble, and although Sorel hadn’t gone for a full heavy block, she stumbled as most students might.

Was Sorel in Soresu, he couldn’t tell yet fully. Amadis was an encourager, “Well done, parry, deflect, lighter the better, roll the beam. Don’t seek to control, just answer. Djem So wants you to block with heavy strikes. The stronger your block the better for your opponent.” He advised, not giving her the exact answer to improve her technique, but assisting. Because Djem so focused on overwhelming a block and stance, battering it often into submission especially in a Sith’s hands, whereas Soresu was light orbits, gently glancing blade aside. Taiden would have said, be as the water was.

Not taking advantage of her open defenses or moving overly fast. To assist her, he swung from her side, putting all his weight into the beam this time. Some force power was used, but not enough to injure the padawan, the beam still at very low power. It was a heavy, two handed horizontal slash, and unlike traditional swordplay that discouraged overextending the swordsman, Djem So aimed a few meters behind your opponent.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel grinned. “You have me there!” She was in many ways old-school Jedi. The Master-Padawan relationship was always described as a two-way process and learning went both ways. “I guess teaching is innate and we take the opportunity to learn but also share knowledge whenever we can. I stand corrected.” The smile remained on her face to show she took his ribbing with good nature.

Sorel’s style wasn’t truly any one. She tended to flow from one to another as the situation dictated — as her opponent required. She avoided the first two Forms and had no interest in learning the seventh, but the others were all in her developing repertoire. And when on the defensive, she tended to revert to the third, it actually suited her lack of power and complemented her pace and dexterity. So her response was not intentional but a desire not to have her bones broken by blocking the powerful strikes as opposed to parrying. Plus parrying gave her the opportunity to counter more easily. But for now she was thinking defence first and foremost.

As she recovered — no doubt due to his generosity in not pressing his attack — she flexed her right hand. If appeared to be working fine once more. As she did, he swung at her from the side. She took one step backwards and used the pace of the blow to aid her parry. Even so, she felt the blow jar her left arm. And the moment his momentum took his saber and arms past her body, she extended her right hand. The other saber snapped into her palm and the second golden saber was illuminated and she made for a quick stab at his knee, hoping to have both surprised him and activated her blade behind his overextended defences.

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

A clever knee hit she half got, edging along his armor to leave a mark. Grin given. A Niman style, balanced use of all? When you overspent yourself in the physical power of Djem So, you needed more strength than usual to change the swing midway, which is what in real terms tired a Djem So fighter quicker. Finding need to overwhelm the opponent with raw power and pressure sooner from most practitioners, he pulled his stepping foot back the other way, hips, shoulders, power extended up the arm.

Kei was pressed to apply the force now, not just technique! Moving the forward leg back a half step, to avoid her knee strike, feet pushed the other forward in toward her, and the beam came back the other way, attacking her sabers rather than Sorel. Brushing heavy downward stroke looking to collide with both. There was more strength in the attack now, more power only aiming at her blades, not her.

Most people saw two sabers as more dangerous, truth was it took a lot more coordination and timing to use them both effectively, generally balancing out against the use of singular one in a battle. Driving his shoulder toward her firmly but not hard, to highlight the extra space and opportunities she had to find in use of two. Teaching her the Epicanthix way, firm pressure, not seeking to harm.

"Not bad." Kei said encouragingly at a tease, very good actually!

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

She had a partial success — but she didn’t smile or allow herself a moment of satisfaction where once she would have. That over-confident and self-important Padawan had changed over the past months since joining the Silvers and the progress was a testament to her Master’s tutelage.

So rather than gloat, she simply knuckled down and waited for what was to come. She hadn’t forgotten she was facing a Master and expected he would raise his game a notch, once he knew what she was capable of. And he didn’t disappoint.

Instead of targeting her body — which is what she expected and was used to, he seemed to focus on her sabers. And the force of the blow was significant. Were her reflexes and Force presence better, she would have deactivated both blades and then ignited them again. But hindsight was not afforded a duellist, so she had to take do with what she actually did, rather than what she would have done!

She did go with the blow, rather than try to block it but it pushed her sabers to one side and opened up her defences completely. If there was a small saving grace, it was that his force of blow made it harder for him to follow up the blow swiftly. But the saber was not the only weapon at his disposal and so she struggled to avoid his shoulder as he drove it into her. All she could do was turn her body, so that she took the blow on her own shoulder, as opposed to her chest. The force of the barge unbalanced her and she took a couple of faltering steps backwards, hastily bringing her sabers up in a defensive stance.

“Oh I suspect you’ve got more in the tank, so I shall take great pleasure in leaning from you.”

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

Grin reaffirmed. More he was with her, the more he had developing respect. Knew when to hold her punches and when to make them. Most Padawans did not, he certainly had not! Indulging in a moment of self-reflection. She also knew how to banter!

“Subdue threats, and defend those around you.” If the threat were the lightsabers, you remove them. Disable not kill, unless you had no other choice.

“I am a sith. Have hostage behind me and his life is in danger.” Amadis took a step back, nodding to the boulder behind him, assuming a Soresu guard, wrist and knees flexible for rotations of the beam. People sometimes did not bring into their lessons, real world practical application, situations she might come across in her time as a Jedi, as he had.

His own saber now held near the top of the hilt, index fingers providing stability either side, and middle fingers allowing for fulcrum in the circling movements that followed, circling around in his wrist but now also orbiting around his body in his hand. Would her focus be him, or the hostage, or both?

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel nodded. The brash and arrogant Padawan of only a year ago had changed. Now she listened to every piece of advice and added it to the vault of knowledge she had amassed. Each piece part of a jigsaw that made her the Padawan she was today. Not perfect by any means — and now prepared to accept the fact.

And she appreciated the role-play, something she’d not experienced before. It was an interesting and challenging scenario. A mental teaser as well as a physical threat.

The solution was not obvious — at least not to her — but she was honest and a Jedi. So she didn’t seek an answer that she thought he wanted to hear. Better to be wrong being true to herself, and learn from it, than lie and ‘pass’.

“I am a Jedi. My first thought is to protect the innocent. But if the Sith is the present danger to the hostage?” She shook her head. “Immaterial…I think. I must protect the innocent, even at the risk to my own life. But I am a Jedi. I plan to succeed and also plan to fail. So I focus on the hostage and the Sith, but if a choice has to be made? The hostage will be the one to survive.”

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoGAKXsMjE​

Although perfection was a myth, Sorel was a Jedi. She might not know it fully, Kei saw it clearly, times like this he got a boost of hope for the future seeing her.
She reminded him why he was still here.​

Amadis nodded firmly. “When the Sith taunts you, as he will, that you caused the hostage to be made by facing him?” This was common tactic to confuse padawans or younger Jedi. When Sith faced Jedi they took hostages, and then claimed the Jedi were responsible for their creation. By bringing it up here, he prepared her for some of the more cunning Sith’s trump cards.

Kei left her to think of that, while he stepped forward, as a Sith often would, only his orbits in soresu were purely defensive. Hard to face, stepping in towards Sorel, symbolic of how a Sith would say he was merely defending himself by bringing innocent life directly into harm’s way, anything to win, no matter who they harmed. Showing her visually through demonstration as he was prone to do.

Facing forward, no twist to his upper body. The hips formed the basis of the orbiting blade's technique, the beam rolled around him fluidly. His body not as suited to Soresu, Kei doubted he’d ever Master it fully, but the technique was solid enough, well trained.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel nodded in unison with the Master, demonstrating her understanding at his words. She was a quick learner and as long as the training fitted within her understanding of the Code, she processed it and added to her knowledge bank for future reference. Even if it didn’t fit, she tended to store the information — for regular review in case understanding came slower to her. Her first Master was always posing things to her it took days, weeks and often months to fully comprehend.

As Kei stepped up, Sorel did not initiate combat. She saw that initiating combat was something of a hypocritical position for a Jedi to find themselves in. Sure, she considered the Sith to be an enemy — but taking a life was a last resort. She would explore all other options first, although the hostage’s life was paramount still.

So she observed him and his technique, looking for possible flaws, tells or repetitions. And given they were role-playing, she entered into the spirit of the exercise. She rarely spoke to an opponent, if it came to locking sabers, the time for discussion was often past. But there was a hostage at play here and she needed to ensure their safety.

“What do you want, Sith?” she asked simply. “Let the hostage go and we can discuss your demands.” She stood in a standard defensive posture, making no obvious moves towards the ‘Sith’.

[member="Kei Amadis"]

 

[Kei Amadis]

Impressed she didn’t just strike. As a Jedi didn’t need to always be on the offense to maintain control of a situation, especially with the danger of another involved, something Kei often struggled with his own nature, wanting to be out front to protect first before holding back to move more steadily.

Ignoring the question to set the terms, as a Sith might well do to suit their own purpose. “You’ve come here, you’ve made this.” Kei’s nodded toward the boulder, “they suffer because of your presence,” reciting the all too often heard line. Not done in the same bitterness a Sith would lay on, but his face was serious all the same for the purposes of their training. Strong eyes faced her, trying to put her there in her mind, right there where she would be.

Sith transferring responsibility for their actions onto the other, and then using it as justification of doing it, so they could live with their actions, or just unbalance their opponent. Kei was no great thinker, he’d just faced this too many times now to not train people in it. Unknown to him, the next time he'd be in a coma.

Cleverly she held back to analyse him. Sorel would find a flaw in Amadis’s technique, a subtle one, in that his feet often left the ground when they didn’t need to, every third step he was vulnerable to being unbalanced if she went with his swing rather than against it. Soresu was about shuffling your feet, minimal movements, either frontal or keeping the dominant side back, ready to deflect, that lift was a subtle flaw.

She’d have to time it just right though, waiting till his beam was moving toward the end of his rotation.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel listened and processed the ‘Sith’s’ words. A role-play or not, she took the scenario as seriously as if it were a real life-or-death situation.

“I am here to protect them. I know that and you know that. Leave now, without bloodshed. I am a Jedi. I do not wish to take a life. But I will if I have to save one.”

Her words were true but lacked any depth to them. She was as focused on the ‘Sith’s’ bladework as she was with his banter and she’d noted a flaw. Small — but in battle that was often enough.

But she chose not to press the advantage. She would not attack, even if presented with a clear opening. Her understanding of the Code did not allow for it.

 

[Kei Amadis]

Amadis nodded encouragingly, keeping the steady look ahead. She didn’t attack, listened but didn’t waver from the situation. Many Jedi would have walked off and left that hostage at the Sith’s mercy, others immediately struck. “Leave, they will not be harmed. Stay and you endanger them.” He took step forward, which left more room between him and the hostage, his blades rolling technique coming to a stop.

Some Sith could appear harmless, rarer to meet meek darksiders, outward acts often deceiving. The fact they took a hostage and used it as a shield, could be indication enough, at least worth investigating. “What will it be.” Absolutes, ultimatums, dictating terms. Fight me or leave terms. Jedi were more than that, they had no need to do either, and often that was what launched a Sith to taunt, taunt, taunt, or give up to launch into an attack, often both.

Whatever she did, the sith would make out she was wrong. Doubt was the weapon. What was her response? So far, her qualities were everything he'd ever known in the highest of them.

[member="Sorel Crieff"]​

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel shook her head. The Code was very clear and that was to her favour. Her thoughts and feelings could not be swayed or tempted by the Sith to waver from her intended plan.

"I shall not leave until the hostage is freed. That is not negotiable. Leaving would endanger them, this I know."

She did not talk of fighting or of right or wrong or even of any negotiation. She simply stated her response to his demand. Was this the correct approach? She did not know but expected Kei would let her know if she faltered.

[member="Kei Amadis"]