Hunter's Redemption: Knight's Ascension

[Rom]

Three years had passed since the death of his hatch mate, and still Raynor was unable to set aside his guilt and fear about his actions. After arriving at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Raynor had been judged suitable for training, and had spent the next months going through the general education that most Jedi initiates had gone through for their entire lives, and the experience had shocked him. For all of his life, he had only lived with the knowledge of his own little world, knowing there was a world beyond but nothing about it. With the Jedi he learned history, science, Aurebesh, politics, diplomacy, and basic mechanics and astro-navigation. He even got a chance to learn how to pilot through the Temple's simulators, how to swim, and began to learn how to meditate.

Raynor threw himself into his education, hoping that the sooner he proved himself capable, the sooner he would have the chance to apprentice under a Knight or Master and begin to work on finally dealing with his fear of fighting and his own personal failings. Only inn the darkness of night, curled up on the floor of his small sparsely furnished room, could Raynor admit that he threw himself into his education to forget his actions on Barab I before he declared himself an exile. Every day as he walked past the training rooms and heard the snap-hiss of lightsabers being activated and the clashing motions of combat, he had to fight with himself not to slide in and look for someone to spar with. He was afraid of his aggression, constantly worried that he again would be unable to stop himself and would hurt another initiate.

But the day had finally come; a message on his datapad informed him that he had been chosen to be the padwan to a Knight, some person named Cnile. Raynor tried to push away the agitation and fear that seemed to claw up out of some dark recess of his mind whenever he thought about actually becoming a Jedi, and failing that, decided to leave his bedroom for the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The seven story room that housed hundreds of beautiful fountains, flowing streams, and deep pools of the clearest and coolest water that Raynor had ever felt had become his favorite place in the entire temple. Raynor looked upward to make sure that his favorite spot was unoccupied before bowing his head in concentration as he gathered as much force energy as he could into the palm of his hands. Looking up at the technologically generated cloudy sky, Raynor smiled and leapt into the air as high as he could before pushing his hands down with a grunt of effort, releasing the pooled Force energy as a push into the ground that launched him high into the air, his padawan cloak and robes whipping around him as he shot through open space towards the roof high above. Extending his claws to give him a better grip, he continued to climb higher along the tiered walls before finally pushing himself up with another force push aimed at the wall, sending him over the lip of the highest waterfall and soaring into the air.

Twisting as he fell, Raynor sissed with laughter at the speed and the feeling of weightlessness that settled as he landed lightly on the rocky outcropping high above the room, relaxing at the feeling of the artificial sunlight beating down upon his black scaled head. Letting out a long sigh, Raynor folded himself down onto his legs, his long tail curled lazily around to the front of his body, before trying to give himself over to the Force and achieve a meditatve state, hoping to deal with the fear and agitation before he had to report to his new master in Room B-7.

Closing his eyes, Raynor tried to find peace in the Force and work on accepting his emotions and releasing them into the force. The Force did not seem to be with him that day though, as the minute he would begin to find peace his minds eye would again be transported to an empty plain surrounded by a blindly bright wall of white light. Above the wall, dark clouds grew and rumbled their displeasure, each twinge of anxiety and fear he felt being represented by a booming salvo of thunder and lightning echoing in his ears and striking at the tall wall.

Growling in frustration, Raynor forced himself out of the distracted attempt at meditation and leaned back against the rock, staring moodily out across the room. Pulling out his datapad, he sent a brief message informing his new master that he was indisposed and would endeavor to meet with him or her the next day.

Sighing to himself, Raynor muttered into the roar of the waterfalls, “This one iz a skulo...”

 

[Corvis]

The even patter of footsteps filled the air as Cnile ran full tilt than an abandoned Coruscant alley way. She'd left the her traditional robes back at the temple today, opting instead for stylish dark green jumpsuit and a pair of multi-purpose boots. She'd be taking an another apprentice today, and decided to take the time off to clear her head. Her boot falling heavy into one of many rancid puddles common in the Coruscant undercity, she pivoted to her left, and began to scramble up a nearby wall.

She took these runs without the assistance of the Force, with the exception of aiding a Force leap here and there. Most non-Jedi assumed that since a Jedi could use the Force, they didn't focus on physical activity at all. Little did they realize the connection between physical and mental mastery. That and how could anyone deny the pleasure of soothing sore muscles in a hot shower.

She grinned pulling herself onto a nearby balcony, and quickly running up a cable. She'd regularly taken this route, regarding as a shortcut back to the temple. It was true, all these runs did ensure that Cnile knew her way around the Temple District better than most of the Jedi, but at the end of the day she did this because calming.

Calm was going to be necessary in the days to come. She'd read her soon-to-be apprentice's file, and want an interesting read it was. She couldn't help but consider him something of a kindred spirit, so far removed from everything that had once been familiar. Her main concern, however, was the route that brought him to the Jedi. All of her apprentice's so far had been raised with some Jedi guidance or another. Raynor had nothing but whatever tribal traditions may have been supplied by Barabel society. This had been enough for him to realize his brush with the dark side, but all things suggested he was still racked by the guilt of his actions.

As the Temple loomed closer, Cnile couldn't help but feel that she relished the challenge. She would have to teach him to deal with his guilt and anger if she was to prevent him from falling. As the she closed the final stretch to the temple, she smiled. “A quick shower, and then I'm ready to tackle my next apprentice,” She mused . Dropping her run to a jog as she passed through the temple's outer gates, she nodded to the Padawan's on guard duty. Largely a ceremonial task, it did teach the younglings a fair bit about duty and awareness. And they were a far more welcome sight than the protocol droids that acted as administrative aids and secretary's throughout the palace.

Cnile could not help but wrinkle her nose as one such droid shuffled up to her, calling her name. “Mistress Mengele! A message for you!”

With a resigned sigh, Cnile skidded to a halt and turned towards the droid, “Let's have it.”

“Initiate Cree sent a message. He regrets to inform you he will not be available to meet with you today. He looks forward to meeting with you tomorrow, however.” Cnile frowned slightly at the comment. While nerves were not uncommon when one was to meet their master, to outright postpone such a meeting without a specific reason was almost unheard of. “Mistress Mengele?” The droids called nervously, waiting for confirmation that it's message had been delivered.

“Yes, thank you.” she said dismissively, quickly turning from the obnoxious machine. The droid fidgeted in confusion, before finally throwing it's hands in the air and going about the rest of it's duties. Cnile on the other hand stalked down the hallways, unsure of where her Padawan was, she opened herself the Force. Following it's nudges and eddies throughout the Temple, she found herself in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Still showing signs of her exertion during her run, she scanned the room for the Barabel. Her eyes falling of the fountains it dawned on her that she'd forgotten to take the shower she'd been looking forward to. While she would have almost no scent to most humanoid species, she mentally shrugged as she wondered how acute the Barabel senses.

In the end, it was her Force sense that pinpointed the obsidian Barabel. Atop a rocky outcropping, Raynor sat brooding, his mood a beacon even most initiates would have been able to follow. Finally pooling the Force into her physical exertions, she bounded up the tiered wall of fountains. Finishing the final leap to the Barabel's outcropping with a stylized flip, she landed in a crouch. Dusting her knee off as she stood, she stared at the Barabel. “Raynor Cree, I presume?”

 

[Rom]

Raynor had been sitting up on the rocky outcropping for an indeterminate amount of time, listlessly staring off into space as all concept of thought and time drifted away, replaced only by the roar of the fast flowing water and the feel of the spray on his scales. He knew that he should not have cancelled on his new master before ever meeting them, but he simply couldn't face them with so much internal conflict raging through his mind. Closing his eyes, the obsidian scaled Barabel slowed his breath and reached out with his sense as far as he could, feeling the overwhelming life force present in the flora and of the Jedi wandering far below. As he focused on expanding his force sense he felt a strong light side presence enter the room, the power easily eclipsing that of the padawan's wandering the paths far below.

Perking his head up, Raynor vaguely felt a sensation similar to that of the meld he used to share with his hatch mate Relesa, the niggling sense in the back of his mind that someone was looking for him. It was in that moment that his concentration failed, the pang of guilt and loss striking at the core of his being causing him to pull back his senses towards himself. Digging one clawed hand into the rocky ground beneath him, Raynor growled at the back of his throat only to stop as a female human flipped up to his sanctuary.

Opening his eyes, Raynor looked the woman up and down, taking note of her appearance. She was, at least to his eye, similar to most humans he had met since he arrived at the Temple. Soft, mostly hairless skin incapable of protecting them from the sting of a bug, let alone the harsh bite of a blade. A mane of hair on the top of her head, brown in color, that seemed to have little purpose beyond aesthetic value and finger's that did not end in claws. Most notably, was the absence of a tail, something that Raynor was still convinced had to be an evolutionary trait designed to lead to extinction. What interested Raynor most were her eyes; they seemed both naively young, and yet world weary. Someone who had faced great trouble or conflict in their life. She also had scars on her cheek, which gave Raynor some hope for this human's ability to survive. If she had been given a wound to the head and walked away with just a scar to show for it, she was either skilled or lucky.

The woman was wearing a jumpsuit and a pair of boots, the only thing marking her as a Jedi to his eyes was the fact that she was up here in the first place. Reaching out hesitantly with his senses, he realized that she was the powerful presence who had been seeking him before. Pushing himself to his feet, he stepped forward to offer his hand in greeting as he had often seen humans do with each other before pausing, his senses indicating to him in a very powerful way that she had recently been physically active and had not cleaned herself of her species tendency to ooze liquid whenever they moved.

"Raynor Cree, I presume?"

Sneezing in a hasty attempt to cover his brief pause, Raynor offered his hand and replied, "This one iz indeed Raynor Cree. Who are you? And if you don't mind this one asking, was the hunt successful, or did your prey ezcape?"

 

[Corvis]

“Just a passing Jedi.” she said with a wry smile, accepting the hand. “And you can say the hunt was successful.” Releasing the hand, she leaned back, eyes darting around the outcropping as if surveying it. Wheels turning in her head, she decided revealing her identity could wait a bit. Letting the silence hang, she looked the Barbel over. Shouldn't deny there was a dangerous beauty to his iridescent black scales and haunted sanguine eyes, but that assessment was nothing more than objective observation. She'd never quite gotten the attraction of inter-species relationships.

Her physical examination went no further than noting he looked like one who had lived a hard life. She had taken quickly to the Jedi teaching that we are not crude beings of matter, but luminous entities. And as such, she tried not to put too much stock in the bodies of others. “So tell me, what are you doing up here?” she asked, promptly settling down on the edge of the outcropping, legs dangling idly over the edge.

 

[Rom]

Raynor nodded slowly, accepting her excuse of being just a passing Jedi without comment though inwardly he was confused; in his experience, unless a human was hiding something they were usually eager to give up their name, history, and an interesting fact about themselves. Granted, the experiences in the initiate classes may not be the best way to judge the species, but still...

Shaking his head to clear the rambling thoughts echoing around his mind, he hesitantly sat down next to her, his tail unconsciously sliding as a barrier between them and hanging off the edge of the outcropping, the tip flicking back and forth as the only evidence of the agitation he felt while he waited for her to finish her silent assessment. Looking over as she suddenly spoke up, he shrugged noncommittally before responding, "This one waz attempting to meditate in solitude before I had to meet my new Longfan.. erm, Master."

Rolling his eyes, he muttered under his breath in Barabel "~For whatever good it did me...~"

 

[Corvis]

The last bit of his comment was unintelligible to her, but a muttering of frustration is easy to pick out in any language. “Peace and serenity is rarely as easily obtained as we would like it to be.” she turned and offered him a genuine smile, reaching out with the Force to monitor his emotional state. “Especially when we need it most.” She took a deep breath, he was an interesting sort, more sociable than she expected a member of a hunting species to be.

She leaned back onto her hands, eyes gazing out through the transpirasteel roof, watching as high altitude airspeeders. The stars hadn't been seen here in millenia, drowned out by the planet wide city lights even before she had boarded that sleeper ship all those years ago. Even then, their sheer expanse of it was calming and awe inspiring none the less. At least until she started thinking about space travel. “Meditation is a tricky thing, you can't leap into it and expect it to work. Especially when it's new to you.”

She stood up, stretching her legs a bit. She was still sore working him out of this funk seemed worth pushing herself. “You find the hunt calming, no?” she asked with a wry smile.

 

[Rom]

Raynor stared down at his clawed hands as the unconsciously clenched at the female's words, internalizing his snort of disbelief and frustration. This Jedi was just like the Mind Healers; capable of parroting vague or useless platitudes about peace and serenity, but incapable of giving any sort of useful advice on the *how* of the issue. On Barab, it was always so simple. The Longfang instructs you to do something. Your clan-mates show you how. You try until you succeed, and then you move on. Encouraging him to "feel" for the solution was the equivalent of asking a blind man to describe the majesty of the sun setting - an exercise doomed to failure.

Pushing himself to his feet, Raynor turned to bow to the Jedi to show his intention to leave with a muttered excuse, but he froze as the woman asked him whether the Hunt calmed him. The barabel wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. How could he possibly ever explain the feeling of hunt-glee to someone who had never experienced it? How could he ever possibly put into words how right it felt to run through dusty canyons with his fellow hunters by his side, a large beast fleeing ahead of them to escape the deadly swipes of their claws and the bite of their blades.

How could he put into words that the thing that used to bring him so much pride and joy, was the thing he was most afraid to do?

Raynor slowly shook his head and leaned forward, his tail acting to balance him as he looked out over the peaceful room, the roar of the waterfall slowly drowning out his racing thoughts and leaving him in a contemplative silence. Clearing his throat, the Barabel turned his head in the direction of the human and softly uttered with his eyes closed in shame, "This one no longer findz comfort in the Hunt. This one cannot allow himself to feel that way anymore. It only bringz anger and pain and death."

Turning away from the woman, Raynor looked downward at the pool below and prepared to dive down the seven stories to the cool blue water. At that point, he would have gladly jumped down into a volcano if only to escape the confession he had been too proud to admit to before, even to himself. He had lost the very essence of what made up the Barabel. The Hunt had abandoned him as surely as he had abandoned it in seeking the Jedi.

 

[Corvis]

“And that is why you fail.” Cnile said bluntly. She genuinely regretted keeping on him. But even though Raynor didn't know it, his well-being was her duty now, mental and physical. She cracked her neck slightly as she eyed him.”You're not a sedentary people, Raynor. And how can you expect to be at peace with the Force if you are not at peace with who you are.” She hoped she'd assessed his species correctly. She only had what she'd read of his file and this brief encounter to go on.

She stepped towards him, casually looking down at the deep pool below. “Some Jedi will tell you that it's necessary to overcome all needs and desires which are bound by our physical bodies.” She paused slightly, “And in some sense, they're right. However, what many fail to mention is that one must understand where these needs come from, and be able to confront them, before you are able to conquer them.” She emphasized her smile, reaching out with the Force to attempt to take any sting out of her words that she could.

“And so that leads us to a basic question. How does one confront their base needs, without becoming a slave to them.” She slowly gathered her Force reserves as she spoke, “The answer, in this case at least, is deceptively simple.” Her expression settled into a soft gaze of apology, “But, you're going to have to earn that answer. And as for how.” She paused, “Well, sorry in advance.”

That was all the warning she gave. Releasing a telekinetic burst of energy meant to send him over the edge of the outcropping straight into the pool. Immediately following her Force shove, she bounded down the tiered layers of fountains to a door. Standing in it long enough to catch Raynor's eyes and send a single telepathic message, “If you want your answer, catch me. Do so without giving into your anger, and I shall give you your answer.”

 

[Rom]

Whirling around to face the female Jedi, his tail snapping out in agitation behind him, Raynor growled at the back of his throat as she tried to lecture him about his people and who he was. "This one knew who he was. This one never doubted who he was for an instant his entire life... and then thiz one accidentally murdered his hatch mate after being consumed by the dark side in an ambush. Losing control like that iz contrary to everything that the Barabel and the Hunt stand for! Losing myself like that is not who this one iz!"

Breathing heavily after his uncharacteristic verbalized emotional outburst, Raynor clenched his fists and tried to calm himself down, her words making sense as she spoke of needing to learn how to master his emotions by understanding them and then facing them. Bowing his head in deference to her wisdom, Raynor struggled to find something to say before he felt a sudden warning echoing in the back of his mind as she said something about earning the answer before a burst of invisible energy slammed into his back like a rough tackle. Spiraling out into the air, Raynor barely managed to cry out in surprise before he was falling, the wind whistling past his ears as the obsidian scaled Barabel oriented himself in a straight line pointing downward, his tail ramrod straight behind him with his hands clasped forward over his head, fingers pointing directly down into the pool. The fall was a familiar one after the past few years, but the Force push messed up his sense of timing and he hit the water at the wrong angle.

The falling reptilian alien hit the water with a loud splash, the impact and the height of the fall forcing the air out of his lungs. Opening his eyes under water, Raynor quickly stroked out with his arms while beating his tail back and forth in the water, angling himself towards the surface and propelling himself out of the pool into the air before landing hard on his hands and feet, his cloak and padawan robes soaked through and weighing him down as he gasped for air. Looking around furiously, the Barabel caught sight of the woman ducking out the door as her voice echoed in his mind telling him to catch her if he wanted to find the answer. Pulling himself out of his wet robes and cloak, the padawan bounded out of the room only wearing his pants in pursuit of the woman.

 

[Corvis]

Cnile giggled to her self as she rushed headlong into the crowds of knights and padawans bustling about the temple's hallways. Years spent as a courier had taught her how to navigate a crowd without slowing down, but that simple skill was brought to an art level with the aid of the Force. A nudge here, a flicker of warning there, she spiraled and pivoted through the crowd. Spying an open walkway where one of the upper floor's corridors intersected with the one below, Cnile dropped to a knee.

With a concentrated burst of Force energy, Cnile sent herself somersaulting through the air. Dropping onto the upper walkway, she used the Force to decelerate herself to where she landed effortlessly. She turned back to with a flip of her hair look at where the Barbel would now be navigating the same crowd she had just slipped through.

 

[Rom]

Ignoring the startled cries of padawans and initiates as he raced through the halls, his wet feet slapping against the cool tiled floors, Raynor narrowed his eyes as he darted around a corner only to see the woman soar through the air and land on a highly placed walkway. A large crowd seperated himself and the best position to try a jump for to get up there. Darting forward, the Barabel tried to move through the crowd, expecting his bulk to allow him to part through the crowd like a a hot knife through butter. Within a few seconds he had been knocked backward out of the crowd, his long tail and his ungraceful attempts at movement leading to him falling down onto his arse. Staring up at the ceiling and the bright light fixtures, Raynor grinned widely, his fangs an intimidating sight for those who hadn't seen them before - he had an idea.

Standing up and looking at the female Jedi with a defiant glare, Raynor turned and stalked down the hallway as if he had given up only to turn about once he was down the corridor and started to sprint back towards the crowd, gathering force energy into both hands as he sped down the hall. Leaping forward, the Barabel pushed out with both hands aimed beneath himself and launched up into the air, using the Force to propel himself off the ground as he had done in the Fountain room over the crowd. Grinning at the look on the faces of the various Jedi below him, Raynor reached out with both hands and dug his claws into a hanging light fixture, dangling above the walkway the female Jedi had made it to. Looking down at her, the reptile grinned and dropped onto the other end of the walkway, ignoring the slight ache in his legs from the high drop and blocking one of the routes leading deeper into the Temple.

 

[Corvis]

She smirked as she watched the Barabel catapult himself into the air. It was an interesting technique, effective if a bit crude. Not taking much time to dwell on it, she pivoted on her heel and took off down the less populated walkway. Pouring the Force into her legs she boosted her speed, zigging and zagging as she pretended to turn down hallways and into different rooms.

Finally reaching the room she had been searching for, Cnile ducked in. It was the Ataru dueling room, filled with hovering platforms and other obstacles. It turned the simple room into a fully three dimensional battlefield. Dashing towards the far well, she used to force to anchor herself to it. Dashing straight up vertically before backflipping off the wall and landing on one of the hovering platforms. She turned to back to watch her pursuer, and stood ready for if he tried force-push assisted jump again.

 

[Rom]

Cursing as he watched the woman scramble away, Raynor paused to give his knees a second to recover, the question in his mind firmly focused on how the hell after a jump like that the Jedi was still able to move so smoothly. Putting it up to some trick of the Force(all the while mentally planning when he'd ask the Jedi for how she had done it) the Barabel put on an extra burst of speed, running as fast as he could down the hall following the near-blurring form of the young Jedi woman. Grinning widely as the thrill of the chase started to fill his mind, the Barabel skidded around the corner only to stare up in shock at the floating platforms and the woman standing smugly on the top of one.

The room was, in the mind of Raynor, the most fun death trap he had ever seen. Spotting the nearest highly placed platform, the Barabel crouched down as he gathered more force energy to repeat the catapulting move he had used for as long as he had a finer control of the force and let out a whoop of joy before releasing the energy, sending him spiraling in the air up towards the female Jedi.

 

[Corvis]

Cnile laughter filled the room as she watched Raynor release a burst of force energy beneath him again. Standing ready, she reached out with the force, grasping the Barabel in an invisible grip, jerking him through a few spirals before setting him down on a platform near the bottom of the room. She touched his mind as she released him, her amusement no doubt flowing through, “That's an interesting way of Force jumping, but you lose all control once you leave the ground.”

She paused, wanting to give him a moment to focus on her words, “Try that again, but this time, use that Force energy to encompass you for the whole flight. Use it to guide your path and cushion your landing.”

 

[Rom]

Soaring through the air as he was used to, Raynor let out a quiet yelp of fear as he suddenly stopped in midair and was then spun around like a top. Falling to his hands and knees on the floor of the low platform, the barabel growled at the feeling of amusement filling his mind, knowing that he himself found nothing amusing about feeling as though he was about to vomit. Hearing her voice offering instruction in his head, Raynor got to his feet and again crouched down, his eyes staring daggers up at the woman as he gathered as much Force energy as he could, feeling the soothing power fill every limb of his body before being released in the strong pumping motion of his legs as he jumped, adding a little bit of power to his hands to give him some sense of familiarity with what he was doing.

Raynor flew into the air like a rocket, the Force helping him to calmly direct himself up to an even platform with the woman with two strong jumps on ascending platforms, each landing less painful than the last. Panting at the exertion, Raynor tried to do another jump to get himself closer to the woman, focusing on pooling his Force powers into all of his body rather then just focusing on a certain area.

 

[Corvis]

Cnile smirked, “Very good,” she called out “You can apply the same technique to enhance your running speed.” Her grin grew as she looked at the whirling platforms and orbs. He may not know she was his master yet, but this was a golden opportunity for some tutoring in the more basic aspects for the Force. With a snap of her fingers all light died in the room, even beyond the ultraviolet and infrared ranges. It was a true darkness rarely seen anywhere in the galaxy.

And yet to a Jedi it was bright as day. She leapt off the plat form, dodging the silent objects weaving their chaotic patterns throughout the room. Focusing on his mind once more, she projected he words, “The Force can also give you sight beyond that what even a species such as yours knows. Project your force energy out. Feel how the physical world effects it.” She kept moving silently throughout the lower reaches of the room, knowing full well he could likely still track her by smell or sound. “Make your way to the bottom of the room safely. Then we'll see if you can track someone merely through the Force.”

 

[Rom]

Not having the heart to tell the woman that her body heat and her supposedly quiet breathing stood out in the room like a beacon, Raynor did as she instructed. Closing his eyes and releasing a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding, the Barabel pushed outward with his senses and the Force only to gasp at the sensations surrounding him. Knowledge of the swirling platforms and not only where they were but where they would be overcame his mind in an instant. Using his new found knowledge, the Barabel started to swiftly propel himself downward, calling on the Force to cushion each impact with the platforms beneath him, making his way towards the luminous being far below.

Grinning widely with each successful drop, Raynor suddenly felt panic overcome him as the hunt-glee encroached on his mind. Cursing in barabel, the reptilian struggled to fight back against his nature and be composed again, but his senses were clouded. Leaping off of a platform, Raynor smashed into the lower one chest first, groaning in pain as he tried to dig his claws into the metal to prevent his fall. His nails dug grooves into the metal as he slid off the platform, landing on his back after a meter and a half fal to the next platform. Grunting at the impact, the reptilian jedi attempted to roll over onto his stomach, only to fall off the edge. Letting out a started cry, Raynor gathered as much energy as he could as he fell, hoping the Force would protect him as he swiftly hurtled towards the ground.

 

[Corvis]

Cnile grinned as she sensed Raynor hopping from platform to platform. While he did have some emotional issues to work through, she could easily see his aptitude for the Force. She stopped moving to begin looking for the next curve ball she was going to throw him, her search interrupted by a sickening thud and a startled cry. As she refocused her attention on the Barabel, it was apparent that he was no longer in control of his movement, hurtling rapidly towards the ground.

All this processed in the fraction of a moment, breaking into a headlong run, Cnile sprinted across the room, pooling her Force energies into her legs as she leapt up to meet the hurtling Barabel mid-flight. Matching his speed for only a fraction of a second, Cnile began to slow them both down, changing their angle of descent to a much slower one. As the slowly descended to the ground, the knight nodded towards the control panel, a quick flicker of the Force simultaneously shutting off aerial dueling arena and reactivating the room's lights.

Quickly setting him down, she started checking him over, “That could have gone a bit better.” she said, her frantic state of concern trickling into her voice. “Not to insult your hunter's pride, but where does it hurt?”

 

[Rom]

Squinting against the sudden brightness of the room and the pain emanating from his chest. Raynor cocked his head to the side and said stupidly, "If you're here this one either went to that hell place those Corellian humanz keep talking about, or the floor was softer than this one thought." Sissing in laughter at his own joke, the Barabel jedi winced as the shaking caused a sudden spike of pain, his hands pressing down on his chest out of reflex. Wincing as he rolled over onto his hands and knees, the padawan ignored the fussing of the woman as he pressed his hands down onto his chest and took a deep breath. Hissing in pain from the motion, Raynor then tried to bend forward, finding the action painful but not nearly as bad as the chest. Turning to the woman, Raynor staggered forward as if to lean on her, muttering quietly, "Rib feelz cracked, scales are cracked and flesh is bruised on the back..."

Reaching out a hand to steady himself on her shoulder, the padawan paused for a moment as he stared at where he had put her hand before gripping slightly. "This one has fulfilled your test, your turn to answer questionz." Pushing away his pain as he had been taught to do from a young age as a soldier, Raynor hissed in laughter at his own joke, assuming the human would get it as well.

 

[Corvis]

Cnile laughed as she released her nervous tension, glad to see he wasn't seriously hurt. "I think I caught you, but I'll count it," she said with a wink, leading him off to the door. She smiled warmly, as she lead the way, "Go ahead and ask your questions while we take you down the med bay."