Traditional? Not so much...

[Mother Askani]

She of course continued teaching, but not so much as leading classes lately. She had recently taken on two Padawan for a full time Master and pupil relationship. Thing would be different, and not as they usually were, but she felt it a good idea to have two students learn together; they would learn how to work together, and apart, necessary skills she deemed fit for a successful Jedi Knight. She would see sooner or later.

She had contacted them both to meet her in one of many gardens just outside the temple. There was a grove off to the side that she usually made use of, and it was a pretty large clearing so more than enough room were visible.nthis would be quite interesting.

[member="Dagos Terrek"]
[member="Caira Zee"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

Dagos went to meet his master in the gardens as she requested, Dagos had been spending most of his time in the gardens since he came to the temple with Master Ru. The temple was a new and strange place but the gardens were peaceful and reminded Dagos of the jungle planet that had been his home his whole life up to these last few weeks.

Dagos found his master and approached somewhat cautiously, still not quite sure what to make of the woman. He hardly knew her and yet he trusted her almost completely, he had left his life behind to come here with her and be trained as a JedI. She saw something in him, Dagos did not know what but he put his faith in her.

“Hello, Master.”

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[CairaZee]

Caira went into the gardens to see that someone else was already there, she had to force herself not to groan out loud. She hated working with other people.

She didn't know what to think of her master, who had chosen her. Caira hated to become people's projects. She hated trusting people. The only reason she had come to the Jedi was to find Zagan, and now that she knew what Zagan had become the only thing keeping her here was the chance that she will be able to end Zagan.

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

She slowly stood up when she felt the presence of the others along with their voices. Not only had she chosen these two, but she saw the most potential in them both. She stood up, and her long robes moved about as she fixed her posture. Her hands ran down the lengths of them to straighten them out, patting off any wrinkles she could. She reached out with her hands, one for each of their shoulders. She wanted them to grow to accept her as she has them, though this would take time. First introductions and then they'll go over what, how things will happen.

"Greetings you two, I'm content with you guys joining me today, for allowing me to teach you. As your familiar with me and I with you, I want you two to make introductions as we'll be spending quite an amount of time together." she slowly! and softly shook their shoulders to make them feel welcome! but at the same time to urge them! to push them to the point where they needed to communicate with one another! and introduce themselves.

[member="Caira Zee"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

One did not need to be a Jedi to see that the other young lady was not thrilled to be here. Dagos on the other hand didn’t mind her presence, he could always use more friends, or at least one friend here at the temple.

“Dagos Terrek.” he held out his hand for shaking with a welcoming smile on his lips.

[member="Sochi Ru"]
[member="Caira Zee"]

 

[CairaZee]

Caira froze due to the other boy's friendliness. That was something she was accustomed to. She thought for a moment that perhaps he was faking. He was just pretending to be friendly in order to get close to her before he would snap at her and leave her alone on her own.

That's she when blinked and realized that this boy was not her brother.

She took his hand for shaking, a slight smile slowly appearing on her lips. One that she tried to hide. Caira chose not to feel happiness, she didn't deserve happiness. "Caira Zee"

[member="Sochi Ru"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Mother Askani]

She nodded at their introductions, she was glad they had got off on a good foot at least. She didn't expect them to hold conversation, but names were a good start. She motioned for them to follow her further towards the grove. It had a open center, where the grass and vegetation was scarce, and only a decent sized ring, of sand and dirt filled most of the area. It had been carved out so to further make it useful for training.

She decided she start with some simple exercised first, trying to get them working at once, but also for them to not feel rushed. She hoped though over the course of their training they would grow to become associates, and learn to work along with each other as team, and also as an individual.

"Alright, first we'll start with some basics telekinetic training. This exercise is called Sand Levitation, and it only involves manipulating your innate abilities to move things with your mind, and manipulate the sand surrounding us here. I want to see how well you can figure this out on your own before I give any more instruction. You know your body better than I, so give it a shot first. You may begin whenever your ready."

[member="Dagos Terrek"]
[member="Caira Zee"]

 

[CairaZee]

Caira moved over to the sand following her master watching Dagos carefully. She closed her and told her brain to move the sand, unfortunately that didn't work. She bit her lip in frustration as she slowly tried again, once again failing.

Caira gave out a deep breath and tried to remember calming techniques she had learned before. Gently, she calmed herself. And tried again.

[member="Sochi Ru"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

All he had to do was lift the sand? Dagos couldn’t think of anything easier, he had been levitating things for years without training, things much heavier than sand. Dagos followed his master toward the sand pit and caught Caira looking at him and threw her a playful wink. Dagos approached the ring of sand, a confident smile on his face and tried to lift the sand.

A small, thin trickle of sand rose maybe a foot from the ground hardly noticeable and in Dagos opinion pretty embarrassing. He concentrated harder, this sand was much harder to get a mental grasp on than he could of imagined, there were so many grains it was hard to feel in his mind how to focus and raise them from the ground.

He tried and failed again, realizing just how much effort he was putting in with no results to show he stopped, hoping to get some answer from his master. It seemed becoming a JedI would be no easy task.


[member="Caira Zee"]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

She watched on as the two seemingly struggled with only a basic application of telekinesis, no matter some struggled and some didn't. However it was best they started here anyway, as a base for all of their future abilities. One seemed detached in a way, though she was proud to see [member="Caira Zee"] using calming techniques, that showed her determination. Then there was the other, who seemed pretty confident; maybe just a little over confident, though at least he didn't succumb to frustration and anger himself.

She walked over, and placed her hands on their backs. They needed to clear their minds, and focus. "Manipulating the force isn't something you can tell yourself to do. You must focus on it entirely and allow the force to grasp whatever object it is through you. Take a few deep breaths, clear your minds, and reach out with the aid if the force and levitate the sand. Don't worry about how much to pick up, I want to see that you have the concept. Try again, and if one fails, or succumbs to frustration, help the other through it." She said calmly.

[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

He knew he could do it; he had to do it; so he would. Dagos closed his eyes and concentrated focusing on nothing but the sand. The world around him faded, while he was still aware of everything around him, his master, Ciara, the noise and feel of the breeze, those things were all in his periphery. The only thing that mattered now was the sand, though they were unperceivable to the naked eye, Dagos could feel and see each grain through the force. He reached out with his mind willing the sand to rise and to his satisfaction it did just that. A column of sand about as thick as his arm rose from the ground and hung suspended in the air he turned toward his master with a proud smile on his face.

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[CairaZee]

Clear her mind, think of only the sand. That didn't seem too hard. Unfortunately, she was paying way too much attention to what the other padawan was doing, [member="Dagos Terrek"] if she remembered correctly.

She saw his pillar of sand and grew frustrated that he beat her to it. Slowly she closed her eyes and began to shut everything out. A technique she wasn't used to practicing. Slowly she began to feel the grains of sand. She smiled. She was making progress.

She couldn't lift a big pillar like Dagos could, but she could lift some of it, enough it tell she was lifting sand. She smiled, she had never really accomplished something like that before.

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Mother Askani]

She smiled, already they were showing promise. She walked up to them, and nodded in their presence to show that they had accomplished something. This wasn't a hard task, well for some, but it was good for development. Now wanting to test them again, together she began to present her next task she had available for them. This however would require them to work together.

"Now, how about a good game of a Push-Feather? If your not sure with such, it is simply an exercise that helps develop your telekinetic skills even further by allowing you to use such an ability and only that ability to spar with your opponent. This however will be modified as you two will be facing me. Your going to have to work together, and I will be testing your creativity, and precision. I believe you both are more than capable. This forest behind us will serve as partial cover for us, that will be our playing field. Now whenever your ready, come up with a plan, and come after me." she said turning and jogging towards the foliage that were the surrounding trees.

[member="Caira Zee"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[CairaZee]

Caira froze. She was very unclear on what was supposed to happen so she hoped that [member="Dagos Terrek"] had something in mind. She watched Sochi Ru run off and then looked at the forest behind her. Caira was good at hiding, very good at hiding. Unfortunately, she felt like this game wasn't about a whole lot of hiding.

She turned to Dagos "So, do you have a plan?" She asked slightly on the quieter side. She looked down at the ground waiting for his response.

[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

“So, do you have a plan?”

Dagos thought about it for a moment he looked to where his master had run and couldn’t help but feel slightly confident. He had grown up in forests just like this one and had experience hunting and tracking through areas just like this. A plan was starting to form in his mind, he wasn’t sure it would work knowing how experienced his master was.

“I got one but it’s not great. We’re gonna have to flank her, and that’s going to be, well as close to impossible as anything else but it’s our best bet. I don’t know how confident you are but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to track her, and if we can get close enough one of us will have to drive her toward the other so we can try and get the jump on her. “

Dagos sounded confident, because he was pretty sure this plan would work. he had just met Caira and he didn’t want to seem like he was trying to take charge or anything of the sort, he wanted things to go well with her but back on Haruun Kal he had been used to leading.

[member="Caira Zee"]
[member="Sochi Ru"]

 

[CairaZee]

Caira nodded. She still had no clue what was happening so his confidence made her feel slightly at ease. Caira was used to working independently, but even she could admit that having someone to lead her when she was confused was much easier then having to figure it out on her own. "Lead the way," she said gesturing the forest where her master just ran to.

[member="Sochi Ru"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

“With pleasure.”

Dagos could sense her apprehension and he could not blame her. He didn’t exactly look foreword to chasing a JedI master through the woods, but he thought it better to seem more confident than he was, it would probably be better for both of them. Dagos entered the forest at the same point his master had and walked maybe 10 meters in before stopping. He could sense her, but he could get an exact location, his nerves were making it difficult to focus. He turned to Caira

“Can you sense her?”

 

[CairaZee]

Caira froze alarmed by his question. Could she sense her? Of course not. She could barely lift a bunch of sand. Except maybe she did sense [member="Sochi Ru"] and she just didn't know what it was she was feeling.

Caira closed her eyes and imagined herself reaching out in the force. She reached out and touched [member="Dagos Terrek"] as she tried to figure out what sensing someone meant. She reached out farther looking for her master's presence. Although, Caira wasn't overly familiar with the presence, she figured no one else was in the forest besides the three of them.

"I think she's that way." Caira muttered pointing to the left as she opened her eyes. She truly had no clue what she was doing.

 

[Mother Askani]

Experiencing a throwback to her Togrutan roots, she felt right at home amongst the foliage if the forest around them. A some point she had taken off her boots, and allowed herself to connect with the living force around her. She ran with a good stride, and proceeded to taking to the trees around her. She jumped off the ground, maneuvering from one tree trunk to another until she reached the top.

Landing in a crouched position, she slowly stood up, and from where she was she could see the forest floor. She could sense her apprentices, she wondered if they assumed they would only have to pursue her. She jumped from branch to branch making her way towards them, although above them. She wanted to see how they would fair against a surprised attack.

She stooped down, and watch the two pass underneath her. Their surrounding went silent for a second, it seemed like it lasted over an hour. She brought up her left hand and threw a couple of rocks in the opposite direction they were facing. If it were successful it would serve as a distraction. This allowed her to set up her next assault, where she used her telekinetic abilities once again to break apart a piece of a branch. She shattered it with only her force prowess, and sent shard towards the group. They weren't anywhere near fatal, but would hurt a bit on impact of course.

[member="Caira Zee"]
[member="Dagos Terrek"]

 

[Dagos Terrek]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

Dagos moved off in the direction [member="Caira Zee"] had pointed, never for a moment thinking she didn’t know what she was talking about, he could sense her apprehension but attributed it to nerves, it never crossed his mind that she wouldn’t be as a tuned to her senses as he was. Growing up on Haruun Kal had it’s advantages, one of those is that all the Korunnai or uplanders in basic we force sensitive, some like himself had a stronger connection than others, on Haruun Kal this connection was called Pelekotan and there was a popular saying: “You don’t use Pelekotan, Pelekotan uses you.”

That saying was never more true than it was right now, in the midst of the dense jungle there was a unnatural calm that washed over Dagos, the was a noise in the distance and he turned to face it certain it was his master and as he did his body was taken over by the pelekotan, his body tensed as sensed danger but only for a moment after that without much of his control he was defending himself. He could feel his master above him in the trees and could sense the pieces of wood the hurdled toward him and Caira, instinctually, no, not with instinct with the force he reacted, using the force he redirected the shards of wood back at his master, surprised at his own ability.