Ask A Break from the Bustle

[Maura Starwalk]

Master Voran was a busy woman, and Maura couldn't ever blame her for that. The job of the Grandmaster was a big and heavy one, so whenever Maura felt herself missing the woman, she reminded herself of that. Of course, she got to see Alex when the two traveled together - usually in between the various Jedi temples - but once they got there, it wasn't always that Maura would get to tag along. Bringing a sixteen-year-old padawan to council meetings and important negotiations was generally not the move, in Maura's own words. But despite understanding the logic behind it, she just couldn't stop herself from feeling down about it.

However, today there would be none of that. Alex finally had some time, and Maura was more than excited to finally get some training in with her. She wanted to start her knight trials before long, which meant she had some serious commitments ahead of her. "Two years until I'm eighteen..." It felt so far away, but the girl knew the time would pass before she knew it.

"I'm here!" Maura practically kicked down the door to Alex's office on Ithor and immediately placed herself down in the chair opposite to the woman's desk. She had no idea what they'd be doing today. Maybe she would help guide Maura to understand her psychometry, or maybe they'd make their way over to the simulation room to practice lightsaber skills. Or maybe she'd actually get to sit in on a meeting of sorts! Either way, the excitement bubbling off of the padawan was both infectious and incredibly apparent.

"What're we doing?"

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[Alexandria Voran]

Alex was distracted. She was not blind. She had trained dozens of Padawans throughout her history as a Jedi Knight, Master, Councilor, and Grandmaster. She’d lost students both young and old. It was the toll of war. The risk each Jedi accepted. One Alex had always known. She was always careful, but the past few months weighed heavily on her soul. A weight she finally confronted. The future was lost to them. No matter how many hours the Master spent in meditation, the cloud would not lift. They charted an unknown path. They could not afford half of what she was. The Order needed her best. Alex would give it to them.

The Force bond hummed as Maura drew near. Practically bouncing with energy. Her office door nearly flying off the hinges as the fast-talking girl burst into the room. Alex flicked her door closed with a slight tilt of her head. It was hard to believe Maura was sixteen. She’d started training the girl when she barely ten. The galaxy had changed much in that time. She had years of long life left, but she was feeling her age.

“Come on. I have something to show you.” Alex stood slowly. Leading them from the room. Maura’s trials had started and once they began there was no turning back. The Force whispered in her ear. Yes, she knew. The training chambers on Ithor were frequently packed. She’d had one of them cleared for this very purpose. Two circles stood opposite one another. The Morellian Jedi taking her place in one and pointing for Maura to take her place in the other. Alex’s lightsaber, set to training mode, snapped into her hand and to life. The snap-hiss filling the chamber.

“Let’s see what you’ve learned in your adventures.” Her feet were set. Her eyes steady.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura happily followed Alex, buzzing with suspense as she wondered what sort of thing her master would show her. Would it be something cool, like a dangerous Force artifact? Would she finally be getting her own ship? She figured that would be unlikely, but not impossible. She didn’t have to wait for long, because once they started making their way down the hallways that led to the training facilities, she began to get an idea of what they would do.

The girl took her place in the opposite circle and readied herself, bending her knees and lowering her center of gravity as she retrieved and activated her own lightsaber. The buzz of a saber in training mode was louder than a normal blade, and it caused her left ear to twitch a few times as she held it vertically on that side of her body.

What did she do? The thought of landing a blow on her master sparkled with mischief and determination in her black eyes, but she knew that she’d seriously have to work for something like that.

After deliberating for a few seconds, Maura rushed forward and aimed a diagonal strike at Alex’s chest, swinging her saber down from her left to her right.

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[Alexandria Voran]

She could see the moment settle on Maura. She wanted to prove herself. Good. Alex could feel the Force pressing on her mind. I know…I know. It was time. Her padawan came at her. Rushing forward to swing her blade from Alex’s right to left. The girl would never get the chance. As Maura moved, the Grandmaster raised a single eyebrow. A burst of the Force aimed right at Maura’s chest that would be more than enough to send her stumbling backward. If the girl managed to keep her feet, Alex’s white saber would be raised to stop the blow, titled towards her left shoulder. She doubted it would be necessary.

“You can do better.” Her voice was calm. Even. “I taught you better." An edge creeping into her tone. "Tell me about Yavin.” Her stance set. The Force roaring through her. She had to push Maura. The Trial of Skill required demonstration of your abilities in the worst circumstances…when balance seemed to elude you. To pass, Maura would need to defend against both physical and mental stress. Alex could not ignore the will of the Force. Maura's time as a Padawan was nearing an end. There was no turning back.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

There was no feasible way Maura would be able to power through even a casual Force push from the Grandmaster, so when Alex sent the Force barreling her way, Maura was sent flying back. Though the blow almost knocked the breath out of her, she was still able to twist midair and land precariously on her feet.

Alex’s words immediately irritated Maura, provoking her maybe as her master had intended. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her saber but didn’t make another move quite yet. ”Yavin?” Maura’s eyes glazed over for a moment as she recalled that day. ”I escaped with a group of younglings,” she answered, pushing her foot back to brace herself much like a sprinter about to burst forward might. ”I wanted to stay and fight, but I was told to get the younglings out.” They’d narrowly avoided contact with a Sith on their way out, but she avoided a fight.

As soon as she finished, the padawan burst forward, moving in an almost zig-zagging path toward her master, hoping to make a direct blow like before more difficult to aim. If she was able to reach Alex she would duck down, strafe to the side, and swing her leg forward in an attempt to kick Alex’s left leg out from under her while her saber remained horizontal and to block any attack from above.

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[Alexandria Voran]

Good. Sometimes she forgot Maura wasn’t the rainbow haired child that had bounded into her office looking for juice boxes. The twist and land were well executed. Irritation bubbled in the Force. Alex smiled. She’d hit a nerve. “Annoyed?” She clucked her tongue. “That’s unlike you.” Her Padawan gave her very bare bones explanation. She knew there was more to tell. More that Maura did not want to discuss.

The girl sprinted forward. She watched carefully, the Force coalescing in her body. Maura’s got close and her leg swept out. The Grandmaster practically floated backward. Easily out of reach of the kick. The Force flipped from her left hand again while she moved. The same burst of telekinesis aimed to send Marua backward. “Are you even trying?” Alex shook her head. “6 years of training and you’re barely close to me…perhaps I have lost my edge.” The Grandmaster reset again. Beckoning for Maura to try again. "How embarrassing for me."

“Now tell me why Yavin bothers you.” Alex’s eyes never left her student. Her mind focused on the Force bond. Push her. The Force whispered in her mind. Find the truth…can she remain balanced. Push her.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"No." Her answer came a little too quickly to be true, and the shortness in her tone would make that even more obvious. Her leg swung forward and Alex jumped back. Quickly, Maura reacted and prepared to use her planted foot to spring forward, but the Grandmaster's Force push caught her off balance and sent her tumbling backwards yet again. She grit her teeth, frustrated, but she narrowed her eyes and started forward again, trying to ignore Alex's obvious attempts to provoke her.

"Because I couldn't do anything," she answered, her voice distant as she juggled pondering the question and focusing on finding an opening in her master's stance. Her ears were still pinned back, and her eyes were narrowed into slits. Where could she find an opening? Maybe if she just kept attacking, she could force one?

"I couldn't do anything on that space station either." She dashed forward and appeared to repeat the same movements as before. But instead of sweeping out her leg she pushed forward, either closing the distance between her and Alex if the Jedi bounced back again, or putting her right up in Alex's business. "The only thing I could do was just get out and take others with me." Quin, the younglings... but what if she'd been strong enough to stay and fight? Could she have saved more? Could she have saved Drow, the temple?

Assuming she even made it up to Alex, Maura would hold her saber horizontally as before but push up, putting pressure against any defending strike and using that to get a knee up and try and jab Alex in the abdomen.

"It- it makes me feel- " Useless. Weak. She couldn't even finish the sentence as irritation bubbled up and choked her throat. Her nails dug into the side of her palm as she squeezed the hilt of her saber even harder, and she put as much force into her attack as possible.

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[Alexandria Voran]

A small smile flicked across her face. Alex’s focus staying trained on the girl. Maura dashed forward. The same few steps as before. The Force flooded her body. Strengthening her reflexes and limbs. The Force bond hummed with certainty. Alex could just see the edges of her student’s decisions. Enough to read them on her face. She let Maura come in close. Hammering her own white blade down vertically onto Maura’s. Her abdomen flexed, she let the knee come. She felt the bruise when Maura’s knee connected. Alex simply shook her head. Her left hand at her side, perfectly next to her Padawan’s chest. The Force burst out again to slam Maura backward.

“Say it.” Alex took a step forward. Her blade burning brightly. “Useless…weak…disappointing.” She wanted to tell Maura to focus inward. To fight through the confusion to find balance. She could not. Maura had to pass the Trial on her own. It was not like the crystal. Her master was of no help.

“Do you think you’re the only one who feels that way? The only Jedi who wishes they could have done more?” She cocked her head to the side. “And what would you have done?” Again, the Force whispered to push. “You’re not special. What could you have possible done?” Come on. She knew Maura could succeed. She just needed to focus.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura didn't know why Alex was acting like this. She had to assume it was a test of sorts, because why else would she be trying to egg her on like this? Still, the Grandmaster's words cut deep. Even though nine times out of ten, she could push past mean words out of spite and with a grin, coming from Alex, it was different.

But despite that, she didn't want to say it anymore. Call it stubbornness, spite, or something else - her teeth grit again and her lips closed around them. She was thrown back again, overpowered by the Grandmaster's counterattack. But her knee had connected, and it improved her mood ever so slightly.

"No," she answered, pulling the Force into her body as she spoke. "There was nothing I could've done," she further admitted, steadying herself as she slid her non-dominant foot behind her. She hated it, and it could be clearly heard in her voice, was it was the truth. What could she have done against an invading Sith force? Even knights had fled rather than fought. "But next time- " She'd been training. She was getting stronger. "I won't- I'll be ready."

Maura burst forward, using the Force she'd pulled into her body to augment her speed and strength her muscles for it as much as she could. She dashed for the Grandmaster, strafed to her left, then rotated her chest away from Alex and swung her left arm around and toward Alex's back, hoping to strike there with her saber. She gathered the Force in her right hand, and if the Grandmaster were to leap away, she'd push her free hand toward her and send out a Force push of her own, hoping to stagger her master even the slightest.

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[Alexandria Voran]

Maura was stronger. Alex could see it in her movements…the way the Force coalesced around her. It was time to admit something that had been a long time coming. Maura was a Padawan in name only. The galaxy had shaped her into a blooming Jedi Knight. Alex had to let her go, for both their sakes...it was time. She could not protect the girl anymore and Maura did not need her protection. Her concern was the swirling emotions. The test required her to find her center…balance.

Alex didn’t speak this time. She just watched. Time slowed down while the Morellian Jedi worked the Force. One step than another Maura took forward. She let her Padawan come. The girl's blade swinging from Alex’s right to left. She turned and brought the tip of her blade down, she held it vertically to block Maura’s strike. Sparks suddenly flying. She could feel the Force gathering in Maura’s right hand. She cocked her head. The Force quickly wrapping around Maura’s wrist, seeking to strap it to her side. “Sorry.” Alex’s left knee whipped up into Maura’s side as their sabers locked, the Force bristling in her legs.

“You’re not ready.” She shook her head. “You’re angry. I can feel it. Lashing out like a child…but you’re not kid anymore.” Alex leveled a hard stare. “You’re not ten in my office asking for juice, coloring your hair ever shade of the rainbow. Prove to me you’re ready for this…for what comes next.” She could almost hear the Force in the room.

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[Maura Starwalk]

Sparks flew, Maura's wrist was strapped to her side, and Alex's knee to her ribs sent the padawan careening toward the ground with a twisted look of pain on her face. She almost lost her breath again but kept it by the string of a thread.

She listened for a few quiet moments, unable to do anything else, and spoke up when her master finished. "I'm not angry," Maura protested as she sat up, one knee pulled toward her chest with her arm curled around it. She didn't look Alex in the eye as she spoke, instead wandering around the room with her gaze. "I'm- I'm frustrated. You're busy all the time, so we rarely get to do any training, and then when we finally do, it's some test."

She pulled her other knee up to her chest and frowned. "How would you even know if I was ready?" she added, still looking to the side. "I've fought Sith, I've fought abominations, I've crashed landed on planets and made my way home..." Memories of the space station flashed before her eyes, and she grit her teeth. "I've watched people die before me. I've come face to face with death before. And I did it without you there to guide me."

Maura unwrapped her hands from around her knees and slowly stood up, pulling her lightsaber back into her hand after she was back on two feet. "But you're right, I'm not a kid anymore. That's why when bad things happen, I figure things out. I have nightmares every night about what I saw on that space station, but I try really hard not to let them affect me. I try really really hard to do things I think would make you proud."

The padawan pushed her foot back, reignited her lightsaber into training mode, and assumed a defensive stance. "So... sorry if I get a bit frustrated." She paused, then continued, her brows set with determination. "But I think I'm ready for whatever you throw at me."

There was a little bit of the padawan's confidence and cockiness in her voice, but it was ninety percent determination. Frustration, fear, panic, hurt - it affected her just like anyone else, but she tried so hard to handle it in a healthy way. Alex's own words about fear had helped her countless times, her nervousness and anxiety could be manhandled into excitement, and frustration could be pounded into grit and determination. She wanted to make Alex proud, so she would try as hard as she could to do it.

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[Alexandria Voran]

Alex met Maura’s defiant face with calm consideration. She looked inward. The Force swirling around them. Her mind searching their bond. Maura was honest. She wasn’t mad, hateful, she wanted to be better. Pushed to be the highest version of herself. Muara was not perfect, but no Jedi was. Alex had preached that since her first days as a Jedi master. Perfection did not exist. They should strive to be one step better every day. There would be mistakes, errors, and a Jedi was meant to take those in stride. Maura was still young. She had seen more horror that most her age while still standing tall. Alex deactivated her lightsaber.

“I am proud of you.” The saber flew and clicked to her belt. “You have grown into a young woman who I know has a good heart and will make a fine Jedi Knight.” Alex took a few steps forward. Her face softening. “I push and I test because the galaxy is darker…and growing darker. Something I know you have already seen.” The future was as clouded as ever. They could not keep the Padawans safe. Even calling them home would not protect them forever. The dangers were simply too great.

“Despite everything, all you have been through, the challenges, even today, you have remained yourself.” Alex smiled. The Force ringing clear in her mind. “I know that will continue.” The Morellian Jedi’s voice softened. “But the path does not get easier. Your trials are nearly finished. Much will be expected of you as a Jedi Knight, more than you have ever been asked before.” Alex had always known this day would come. It was a joyous one. Soon, Maura’s trials would be complete and she would join the ranks as full Jedi Knight. “You are ready. I have never been more certain.”

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[Maura Starwalk]

Alex put her saber away, and Maura's face immediately revealed her confusion. But the second Alex spoke the words "I am proud of you" her expression widened with surprise. She listened wide-eyed as her master continued as she wasn't sure how to take the sudden change of vibe. From taunting to genuine; it was certainly a change.

But it was so nice to finally hear those words. Maura sheathed her own saber and looked up -- no, forward, as they were the same height now -- at her master whiles she spoke. Words about tests, darker galaxies, and her having a good heart. Maura supposed she shouldn't really be too surprised Alex was pushing her so hard; she was the Grandmaster and Maura was the Grandmaster's apprentice. She was basically expected to face things that were challenging.

But she was only sixteen, so it still felt daunting to hear that she was almost done with her knight trials. It felt like only yesterday that she'd turned ten and begun training with Alex in the first place.

In the end, not knowing much of what to say, Maura gave her master a firm nod of her head. She would be ready, whether she felt it or not.

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[Alexandria Voran]

The Force rang with unmistakable finality in her mind. She could see the path extending before them. Her feet firmly walking into the future. There was tremendous danger ahead. She knew it but this step was so clear for both of them. The Trial of Flesh. Alex was being pulled towards Coruscant. She could ignore that summons no longer. She wanted to leave Maura behind. To keep the girl safe from whatever waited but that was not the path. There was no telling how this would end.

“We are going to Coruscant.” Her voice was heavy. “Tell no one.” Alex’s eyes staying firmly on her student. “No one, Maura. Only the Council will know.” They would not have the chance to object. “We leave in one hour. I’ll have armor and a mask waiting for you on the ship. Pack lightly and quickly.” With that she turned and walked from the room. It was done. There was no turning back now. She had a few loose ends to tie before they left. Alex took a deep breath and looked around the dark durasteel walls. She hoped to see them again.

@lizziie

OOC: Alex Exit.

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"Coruscant?" Maura repeated, surprise lacing her tone. But she tucked her lips in the second Alex said to tell no one and gave her master a slow, understanding nod. "Only the Council will know?" This had to be something serious, especially if she was being provided armor and a mask. "Okay, got it."

Alex hurried off, but Maura took a second to just stand. The blonde tilted her head back, her choppy-cut hair finally slipping out from its elastic prison and brushing against her neck as she looked up at the ceiling. She was about to face something she'd never faced before, she just had a feeling. So she took a second to breathe, her mind completely empty as she stared up at the featureless, smooth, gray roof over her with glazed black eyes. The girl who could never sit still was completely so, almost lost in the moment.

Minutes later, she finally tilted her head upright and exited the room. Nervousness, excitement, and all sorts of emotions began bubbling under her skin as she headed for her room to grab what she needed for the trip. This was big if only the council was going to know about it, and she was going to have a hand in whatever it was.

She was ready.

/ END THREAD.
tag: @Valen Pelora