It's About Time (Owyn Deak's Training)

[Raif]

By the Force, has he been crying? Why won't he just tell me what's wrong with him?

These thoughts flooded through Owyn's mind as Shingen turned to address his student. Which his master stood, Owyn quickly rose to his feet as well.

"I have had some basic training in Shii-Cho like most apprentices, but no, I'm afraid I do not yet have my own lightsaber."

Owyn was completely and utterly confused by his Master's actions and attitude right now. If this turned out to all be some sort of ruse to catch his student off guard, then Owyn had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. If only it was something as relatively harmless as that, but the cold feeling Owyn was getting through the Force had him believing something worse was going on.

 

[Void]

Shingen raised his hand slowly and pointed to the shelf covered in sabers. "'Kay if you pick a training one from the side there we can begin. Would you like to continue with Shii-Cho or learn something else?"

 

[Raif]

Owyn walked over to the shelf and picked up a training saber as he thought over his answer. Turning on the blade, he stared at its green glow before answering.

"Well, sir, I think Shii-cho is a good foundation, but the reading I have done on Form V, specifically Djem So, has led me to believe that maybe it would be the best of the forms for me. To be honest, Maste--I mean, sir, I was hoping you might be able to tell me if I was heading in the right direction."

 

[Void]

"Go... go with what feels right to you, this choice is very personal so it should... should not be influenced by others." He pulled out his saber and a violet beam appeared as he ignited it. "So then let's see what you... you got."Shingen snivelled again and pointed the beam towards Owyn.

 

[Raif]

Owyn faced his Master as he settled into the opening stance of Shii-cho. Since it was the only form he had any practice with, it would have to do for now. The hours and hours of training he had endured as a younger apprentice claim flooding back to him, and as he opened his mind and body to the Force he unconciously began dividing Shingen up into the different strike-zones taught by Form I. Letting out a deep breath, he nodded once at his Master.

"Bring it on, sir."

Owyn kept his legs spread and his weight on his back leg, ready for what may come. He would let Shingen make the first move, and try to react to it as best as he could.

Who knows? Maybe he will even learn something through all of this.

 

[Void]

Shingen was also waiting see if Owyn would make the first move. The seconds clicked past and when it became clear that they were both waiting Shingen decided to make a move. He took a step forwards, then a second and then a third, his saber still raised. When he was close he pulled his saber back and then lunged towards Owyn's chest.

 

[Raif]

Owyn waited...and waited...and waited for his Master to make the first move. Waiting was fine with him, though; he was not going to make the mistake of rushing into an attack on a more skilled opponent.

So instead, holding his saber vertically in front of him, Owyn spent the time drawing the Force into himself to strengthen his muscles and calm his nerves for the attack that would be coming...eventually.

And come it finally did. Shingen's saber lurched toward Owyn's chest, and the padawan tried to let what he already knew of Shii-cho take over his movements. Still holding his training saber vertically, he nudged the attack off to his right and then stepped in with his own attack; first, an overhead slash towards Shingen's head, then a quick one-two swing to Shingen's right and left flanks.

 

[Void]

When Shingen's saber was knocked to the side he allowed it to continue traveling out and got his entire body to exaggerate it's movement, resulting in him completing a full three hundred and sixty spin.

When his saber made it round to it's starting position it was more or less in position for a crude block of Owyn's first attack.

This manoeuvre was very out of character for Shingen and distracted him enough for Owyn to sneak his saber round and make contact with Shingen but not only in one location but in two.

He froze for a second before his saber deactivated and fell from his hand, followed by himself droping to his knees. The saber clattered about as Shingen reached for his stinging sides by placing his arms around his stomach and placing his hands over the injuries.

 

[Raif]

Owyn let his own training saber deactivate and fall to the floor as he dropped down next to Shingen.

"Master, are you ok? I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Owyn let his voice trail off mid-sentence; striking Shingen was exactly what he had mean to do - it was the whole point of sparring, after all - but Owyn hadn't really thought his attack combination would be successful. What in the world was going on with his Master?

 

[Raif]

Owyn let his own training saber deactivate and fall to the floor as he dropped down next to Shingen.

"Master, are you ok? I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Owyn let his voice trail off mid-sentence; striking Shingen was exactly what he had mean to do - it was the whole point of sparring, after all - but Owyn hadn't really thought his attack combination would be successful. What in the world was going on with his Master?

 

[Void]

Shingen tried to look up as best he could. "I am sorry. I have probably not been myself today. Would it be possible to take a few days out of training?"

 

[Raif]

Owyn reached down and picked up his training saber from where it lay on the floor. He could have easily used the Force to pick it up, but doing it himself gave him a moment before he had to speak. He had no idea what was going on right now and was unsure how to proceed.

"Uhh...yeah, I mean yes, of course. I can spend the next couple of days practicing what I've learned so far. Just summon me when you need me, Master."

With that, Owyn left the training room, shaking his head in confusion. Tikk followed him through the doorway, and the two set off aimlessly into the inner halls of the temple.

 

[Void]

Shingen rocked back off balance and his shoulder blades cracked against the pain of glass, he then crossed his arms on his knees and began sobbing into his sleeves. When he looked up the sun had set and no light was in the room. The motion of raising his head was however enough to trigger a sensor in the room and the lights sprang to life revealing Owyn sat towards the centre of the room staring at him. "O Owy-" He stopped to clear his throat and steady his voice as much as he could. "Owyn what are you doing here? I thought you left."

 

[Raif]

Owyn tried to keep his face and emotions calm as he stared across the room at his teacher. He took one of his customary deep breaths before he spoke to Shingen.

"Well, Master, I would love to tell you that I sensed a disturbance in the Force that lead me here, but it's a bit simpler than that. You see, I haven't exactly had the easiest time fitting in here at the temple. But you, Shingen, have been the only friend I've had- -

Owyn broke off midsentence and glanced down at Tikk, who was sitting in his lap and had just glared angrily up at him. Owyn grinned and scratched the small primate behind the ears before returning his gaze to Shingen.

"I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. You've been the only human friend I've had in, well, as long as I can remember. My point is, you and I both know something is wrong with you. You can deny it as much as you want, but I will not stand by and let my friend deal with whatever this is all by himself. Whether you want it or not, I'm not going anywhere. Not anymore."

Owyn stared straight at Shingen, using the Force to keep his limbs from shaking with the nervousness and adrenaline that were coursing through his veins. This little stunt of his was either going to finally break through the walls Shingen had erected between the two of them, or it was going to send him packing in search of a new master.

 

[Void]

Shingen had seen this coming, he was nowhere near the correct mindset to be trying to train other Jedi. "I see you definitely want answers, it must have taken a lot for you to stand up to someone of a higher status." For a second he saw Ikazyur sat across from him instead. Owyn's words sounded just like they had come from Ikazyur's mouth.

He could feel himself welling up as he began to form the words in his head, was it fear he actually felt, fear of being alone, again. He had lost someone else and he was not there to stop it.

"Yesterday when we split up I came to this room, this is the room I trained in and it belongs to my trainer and friend Nuka. I don't know why I came here I wanted to ask here a question or something but I... I felt her slipping away and now... now I can not feel her anywhere.... at all..."

He dropped his head back into his sleeves, he felt relieved to have revealed to have released his feelings from his chest but everything came flooding back to him at the same time and he could feel his eyes tearing again.

 

[Raif]

Owyn didn't know why, but he had been sensing it may have been something like this. Obviously, he lacked the clairvoyance to know that it was specifically pertaining to Shingen's former Master, but the sense of loss being projected by Shingen was almost palpable.

Owyn had of course heard of Master Nuka in his time at the temple, and he considered her one of the top Masters in the order. She had trained a very large number of jedi after all, and the Council would not have approved so many students had the teacher not proven her mettle. For her to have been lost would be a huge blow to the Order...

...but no, Owyn shook his head as these thoughts entered his mind. Who said she was dead?

"Master, I am so very sorry for your loss, but isn't there a chance she could still be out there somewhere? If we could find out her last known location, we could go search for her and maybe find her. I know I have no field experience yet, but it would be my honor for my first mission to be searching for Master Nuka."

Owyn tried to project as much of his positive energy into the Force as possible, hoping that maybe Shingen would pick up on it a bit.

 

[Void]

Shingen's ears pricked up at his padawan's words and he raised his slowly. "You... you think she could still be out there but how could her presence have just dropped like that?" He brushed the tears from his eyes, undistorting the room before him. This glimmer of hope lightened his mood and seemed to clear his thoughts.

 

[Raif]

"I'm sure there's a way! She could be in a healing trance, maybe, or else hiding her presence intentionally. There could be loads of other explanations I don't know about, maybe there's a mention of it in the archives somewhere. All I know is that there is always a way as long as we hold on to hope."

Owyn hoped his words were helping Shingen; they were certainly doing a good job of riling himself up.

 

[Void]

"YES.... yes there is!" Shingen got to his feet. "Of course there is! We will make immediate arrangements to leave, if you would like to collect anything before we leave do so now otherwise follow me to the dock. Shingen made his way around Owyn and through the door, heading in the direction of the spaceport.

 

[Raif]

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Comin' through!"

Owyn yelled apology after apology as he sprinted through the halls of the temple. After Shingen's sudden departure from the training room, Owyn had headed straight to his small padawan's quarters to gather his things. It had taken longer than intended- his hands shook so bad from nervousness and excitement he kept dropping his things- so he was now hurrying to get to the spaceport and not leave his Master waiting.

The one thing Owyn was not bringing with him for this trip was his friend and familiar, Tikk. The small primate had initially been furious, but Owyn had been able to convinve his friend that this time, at least, Tikk would do better staying at the temple. After all, Owyn and Shingen were heading towards an unknown destination to confront- - well, Owyn didn't really know what they were going to be confronting. Something had obviously happened to Master Nuka, though, and Owyn grimaced in determination at the thought that he was going to find out what the details were.

Finally, Owyn screeched to a halt just outside the area he had been told to meet Shingen and dropped his rucksack unceremoniously on the dirt. He began to bend over and suck in air but then decided to use the Force to aid in regaining his wind. He usually frowned at using the Force for such a trivial reason, but this was his first mission and he didn't want Shingen to see him wheezing like a beached Whaladon before they set off.