What Do Dragons Eat Anyway? [Josh]

[Thora Heavenshield]

Dragon School

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

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Kashyyyk
Midday - Lesson Rooms

She was well early. Her papa always said you should never be late for class, especially if a master was taking the class. Thora frown at his words as he left her here alone sitting on the wooden bench, her feet dangling swaying. It was cool in the room, that was nice and suited her well although she had grown a little accustomed to the climate it still bit at her Valkyri blood.

After spending time on Kashyyyk, and watching the other Jedi train and study in the force, she wanted to be one. Just like her papa and her grandparents, it was a long line of Jedi going back as far as greatgrandmama and probably beyond that as well. Although she had attended some lessons about Jedi codes and pillars, she did not truly understand what that all meant. And patience was not really a strong suit for Thora, and she supposed it was the same for most younglings.

Not having a saber of her own yet, she would practice form I with a stick she found in the jungle, she had it with her today and decided to run through some of the moves in the form, as best she could remember. She did not remember them well and kept losing her balance.

Her focus was the issue, her mind filled with the thought of what a Dragon School was all about, and what possibly could a Jedi Master want to train her in about dragons. It did sound exciting though, for one thing she did not know dragons existed which was kind of scary and thrilling at the same time. Thora imagined one before her, she lunged her forward with her stick pretending to pierce the chest of the dragon.

“Dragon! I vanquish you to the abyss”. She called out in victory.

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Heavenshield"

That wasn't a name he had expected to find on the list of new Padawans, but when he saw it, he had taken it in a heartbeat. Josh had known Thurion and Coci to a degree, and was close with Valae. It only seemed right to take on as an apprentice what he assumed to be the daughter of Coci and Thurion.

Though as he found out while doing his research before the lesson, she was not their daughter at all -- but their granddaughter.

That had brought a raised brow from the Jedi Master. Just how old were these people? Did people suddenly start aging more quickly on Midvinter or something? Maybe he should think twice about spending any extended time there... It would not do him any good to get much older than he already was, so soon. He needed his body fresh to continue as a Jedi after all... And to take care of Jason.

Either way, the Jedi Master made his way into the lesson rooms, and sure enough, a young girl that almost looked the spitting image of said couple stood before him, busying herself. He bowed as he approached.

"I suppose you're Nora, then?" He inquired. "I know your... Grandparents. And your aunt as well, I suppose."

Or whatever Valae was in this instance. The Heavenshield family had gotten more complicated than he had initially thought. He smiled softly, his expression very much softening to fit the visage he felt needed when dealing with children. He couldn't help it, he was a father himself.

"Are you ready to begin, then?"

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

The sound of the sudden voice in the room behind her, made Thora start and the stick fell from her hand in a clatter to the hard surface of the floor. She spun on the spot to see the Jedi Master standing there as big as life! He spoke with a kind voice and had a kind face, but time would tell if he was actually kind.

“Thora”, she corrected him, he must be old to know of her grandparents, as old as Master Yoda? Maybe … she suspected as much cause only the old get kids names wrong.

Thora shuffled on the spot unsure of what to do next, but she sudden remembered her papa’s words, bow if all else fails. Which she promptly did in a bend at the waist until she would see her own feet. When she stood up again, she noticed the master was very big, like the people of her home world, Midvinter. Maybe he has their blood he looked like one of the Gods.

She nodded her head, “Yes Master DragonsFlame”, she replied although unsure of what they would begin with, her stomach lurched a little nervous of what he had planned for her first lesson, and more so because she did not want to fail.

But curiosity got the better of her, “Are you… are you Valkyri?”. She walked toward him, stood directly facing him and was ready for her instruction.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]​

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Thora" He corrected himself, gingerly bowing his head. "My apologies."

Despite the setback, he remained calm. It was a habit he'd learned as a teacher. Sometimes you just had to roll with the fact that sometimes... Things just didn't always go your way. But to serve as the best example to students possible, the teacher had to handle mistakes with grace, even if deep himself one felt horrible for making what they perceived to be the worst first impression. He would just have to make a better second impression. Though the girl didn't seem all that bothered by it.

Instead, she seemed to have another question once she affirmed she was ready to begin. She asked if he was... What now?

"I don't believe so" He answered honestly. "Is there a reason you would think that?" He asked. He had no idea what the thing was that she referenced, but it couldn't hurt to humor it. He would move onto the lessons after that.

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

"I come from Midvinter, and the people I come from are called Valkyri .. you look like one. They are big like you and hairy", she pressed her lips together in a hope to stop her smile. Almost in the same instance she heard her papa's words telling her not to be cheeky to the Master Jedi. But her words were true, and he did look like the depiction of the Gods, especially Helm. It was not as if Thora knew of all the star systems and all the races that populated the galaxy, she had only met a few of them here on Kashyyyk, and each one of them surprised and delighted her. The galaxy was widening up to her even with her limited stay on this planet. Everything was new to her.

It was then it acured to her that he might be something else entirely. And her eyes widened with the possibility. On Midvinter the names of the Sires have meaning, from great deeds or characteristics of their ancestry which dated back to when Valkyri first roamed the vast ice plains. "Are you .. are you a dragon?", anything was possible she was fast learning. "Or do you breath fire. I .. I don't mean any disrespect Master .. but you reeeallly have a cool name".

"I don't have a lightsaber, when do I get one?", she asked fully expecting to get one soon, after all everyone seemed to have one. "All I have is that stick", she turned to look at it laying on the floor, and the reality was it was something she plucked off the ground of the jungle.

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[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]​

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Hairy?" He repeated, taking a moment to run a hand through his beard. Was that what he looked like? Hairy? He wasn't offended, of course. On the contrary, this exchange was very amusing to him. Valkyri, was that what Thurion and Coci were? Force, he sure hoped he wasn't one, if they aged that quickly. He couldn't take Jason aging any quicker than he already was. And Josh didn't know about Thurion and Coci, but he wasn't ready to be a grandfather just yet.

Still, he smiled and casually shrugged his shoulders. "I'll look into it" He half-joked. While he was being cheeky, he supposed it couldn't hurt to look into it. He knew his mother was Echani. His father? He had always assumed him to be human, but really... He had no idea. In his few conversations with the man, he hadn't had a chance to actually, well... Ask. Not that he didn't doubt that he would find anything by looking into it besides confirming his initial suspicions. Though his father did have some strong genes... He supposed it would explain why he looked far more like him than his Echani mother.

The girl then asked if he was a dragon, and he laughed heartily. Was he a Valkyri, or a dragon? Was it the name?

"I am not a dragon, as far as I know, but..." He trailed off as he held out a hand, letting flames dance between his fingers as he made the pyrokinetic energies work. Holding them up then, he blew on them, as a stream of flames would woosh into the air above them. "I can do that. Is that acceptable?" He inquired, his amusement growing by the second.

"As for the question about a lightsaber..." He trailed off once more, considering how best to tell someone who was as young as she precisely what his intentions were without overcomplicating things more than they needed to be. Looking to the training sabers on the rack, he would hold out a hand as the flames disappeared, and one of the training sabers would fly from the rack into his hand. Turning it on, he ensured it was one of the incredibly safe youngling models before deactivating it and handing it to her.

"When you are able to master how to use one, you will have a real one" Josh explained in short. Thank the Force for how closely they managed to simulate the real things, without so much of the risk. "You can keep that one for now, to practice in your own time. But only do so after your first lesson with it. It won't do you any good swinging it around if you don't know how to do it right. You won't learn any faster that way" He told her then. "And no hitting people with it. I'll find out if you do."

"Now... Why don't you give me a little bit of a rundown on what you know of the Force, and what you can do with it?" He inquired, deciding it would be a good time to start the lesson properly. "That will help me figure out where to start."

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

There had been many things she had seen her papa and mama do through the force, Thora had an idea that there was more to it then what she could do, and she wanted to know everything. The conjuring of fire was one she had seen before but only briefly and never explained, her Uncle Thyrian could do things with fire and she had only seen his eyes burn with a flame that used to make her turn her head away as a toddler. In this moment, she realised that he probably had more abilities with this then she knew as well.

But watching the flames appear on his finger tips and erupting across the room like he was breathing fire, caused Thora to back away on instinct, but there was a wide smile on her face and everything in her being wanted to learn how to do that too. And involuntary expression of amazement escaped her lips and she turned to Master DragonsFlame with sparkling wide eyes. “Yeah”, is all she would manage to say, it was more than acceptable it was awesome!

Handing over a training saber to her to have until the time came for her to take up a real one, was sort of anti-climatic after that. But she very grateful to have something of her own to train with and to not feel so out of place among the other padawans. “Thank you Master”, she said taking it from him, not forgetting her manners. Even at this age, the saber felt light in her hands, the strength of the Valkyri being to show in her body and in time, Thora would become even stronger physically, then her master. “I promise I won’t hit anyone with it”, and her promise was her word, besides she did not want to get into trouble, not like this anyway.

When he asked about her force abilities, there was a change on his face, the smile vanished replaced by thought and a realisation that she was not special when it came to this. All of her family had something, some ability that set them apart from the rest and she wanted so badly to be the same. “Well I can pull things to me, or push them away”, she looked at him knowing that everyone can do that. “I can run very fast and jump high”, she suddenly remembers, and that was like second nature to her, “That is all I can do”, she lowered her head feeling very sad that her list was not long, fiddling with the hilt of the saber for distraction.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]​

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He would hope she wouldn't hit someone with it. He didn't really want to take it away. She probably knew she'd lose it until she had proved she could be trusted with it if she misused it though, so he doubted that it would be a problem. He had the impression that Coci's family was firm-handed enough in these matters to ensure she knew better. Which was good, honestly, as Josh was probably the worst Master when it came to actually punishing a misbehaving student. Sure, he could be strict at times. Even a little harsh when delivering a lecture to a misbehaving student. But that was as much as it went for him, and if other measures had to be taken, they would have to be deferred to the rest of the Assembly. Josh was just too soft to do it himself.

The topic turned to what she could do, and he quirked a brow as she began to list things off. Then she ended with "that's it" and a lowered head as if it were nothing, paltry, meager. What were they teaching these Midvinter people? He couldn't help but laugh. "That tells me you know basic Force control, Force Push, Force Pull, Force Leap, Force Speed..." He trailed off, considering her words for a moment. "Not bad. Most Padawans that come to me know far less than that. The ones that know more only come to me to finish their training. But it sounds like you have a sizeable amount of pre-existing training in the Force. I suppose that's good" He admitted. "Just don't get a big head about it. Things will only get more challenging as you go. It is your job to rise to meet it."

With that, he moved to the console at the end of the room and began working on it. A holographic box would appear in the center of the room, though one could still touch it, sense it and even focus on it with the Force if they tried.

"Let's crash course and see how far you are in these departments before we move on" He recommended as he motioned to the box. "Train your focus and senses on that box. Force Push, Force Pull. Let's see what you can do."

He had a reason for this, of course. That would show itself in time.