Form and Function (Loki Ahmrah)

[Sejah Haversh]

The day before had brought a smile to Sejah's face, and many things to his room. A set of packages he had mailed to himself from home had finally arrived, and he had spent a majority of the mornign putting away clothing, pictures, and his practice weaponry.

Being a First Apprentice to a swordmaster, Sejah had assembled a fair collection of wooden staves, sticks, and cudgels, as well as blunted steel training swords and daggers. Small racks were set atop the shelving unit, and one was even nailed to the wall to hold his collection. Stepping back, Sejah smiled again as he admired it, the room he shared with Corin finally feelign like a home, again.

But, he had an appointment to keep, one he had made with Loki the day before. Kickign the door shut, though careful not to slam it, Sejah changed into his old workout uniform, a kit and vest, and then strapped his sandals back on. Glancing at his clock, he guaged the time form the position of the hands, and then knew he needed to hurry.

Taking a quick look over his practice weaponry, as well as a few of his real baldes, the Nehantite grabbed up his tulwar scimitar, a pair of practice rapiers, as well as a few wooden weapons and other training swords. Then it was time to dash out into the hallway and head down to the Training Center. Along the way, his sandals slipped on the smooth floor, and Sejah nearly found hismelf falling on hsi rear, but luckily he was able to check himself off the wall and then rapidly descend the stairs before running off to the next building.

Bursting through the doors, Sejah stopped and exhaled noisily, a bit dissapointed. Loki wasn't there yet. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't a bad development after all, and he made his way to a large trainign mat and set down his bundle.

Picking up his tulwar, Sejah unsheathed it and swung the curved, saber-like blade in an elegant pirouette before slicing it cleanly through the air before himself. It was good to be teaching again, it made him feel useful; something he hadn't felt in a while.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Darn Padawan Braid!" Loki thought as he ran from Estelle's quarters, yet again he was having difficulty with it and needed her help. Not that he minded, he loved the company of Estelle whom he had become very close to, like she were his big sister. She always took care of him.

He raced down the corridoor at an impressive speed for a boy his age, he had become a lot healthier and very athletic in his seven months with the Order. It was astonishing at how much a person can grow training to be a Jedi. Today he was very excited, for he had an appointment with his new friend, Sejah, who was a very skilled swordsman and Loki was hoping he could develop his technique with Sejah's instruction.

Of course, the lightsaber was just as new to him as it was to Loki but his experience with swords and other such weapons had shone through in his handling of the Jedi weapon yesterday.

"I wonder what style of combat I could use--" He thought to himself as he neared their meeting point, then frowned inwardly, "--what am I saying? There's no way I oculd stand up to a Dark Jedi! I've never seen one my age before, they'd all be too strong! Perhaps Sejah could help me with that problem..."

Finally he arrived at the designated room in the Training Centrel, it was nice and bright for such training, it was a large, circular room which had no walls, just windows surrounding the training area, allowing the daylight to flood inside. He smiled, seeing Sejah waiting for him.

"Good morning, Sejah, I'm sorry I'm late!" He sighed, quickly lifting his small braid from behind his ear, emphasising the reason for his being late, "How are you?"

OOC: Sorry I didn't get to reply last night.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah had been stretchign out his arms in an attempt to limber up as Loki rushed in, obviously aware that he was a little bit late. Thank goodness he didn't know that Sejah had arrived only a few minutes before.

Letting his arms drop back to his sides, Sejah nodded to the boy and replied, "Good morning to you too, Master Loki," he jibed, remembering the trick that the youth had played on him before, "I am doing as well as can be expected after that spar with Marcus yesterday, how about yourself?" Rolling his shoulders out, the mongoose cricked his neck back and forth and then indicated toward a spot in front of himself and said, "Go ahead and begin stretchign out, after all, we don't need to pull anythign, now do we?"

As if to accentuate his point, Sejah stepped his left leg far out, almost performing the splits sideways, leaving his body a foot above the floor. Leanign forward, he set one paw ont eh ground to stead himself, and the other behind his back and began to do a form of push-up. The Nehantite could feel a burn in his muscles that had not been there in years. The last few weeks of little trainign and excersise had allready begun to take their toll on him, causign his muscles to go soft, and lose some of their strength form lack of strain. Still, though, he was well enough to give a lesson, and moved from his split position to a seat, tuckign his footpaws in and stretching out his legs in butterfly fashion.

As he did so, and changed to other various leg stretches, Sejah pointed out the pile of practice weapons he had set off to the side. "I brought a fiar assortment of things to have you try. Today will be an exploratory test to see what styles and weapons your body and mind will lend themselves to. And I'll have you know that I have been teachign for ten years, and have been First Apprentice for eight of those. I have taught many boys your age, and know what you are capable of, so no using your youth or lack of strength as an excuse. But I am a fair teacher, though, so don't get me wrong."

Standing back up, Sejah shook hismef otu and then deemed himself ready to begin. Unbuttonign his vest, he cast it aside, leaving him garbed in his kit and sandals, as he usually taught, though he was not permitted to wear his headband outside of his master's school for sake of honor.

Pickign up a pair of straight wooden practice swords, he passed one to Loki and said, "I want you to treat all of these as real weapons. They are dangerous, especially to those who don't know how to use them. You will respect them as you would your Master's belongings, and do not play around with them unless I give you leave to." His speech had fallen back into that of his normal teachign tone, and the Nehantite stepped back, spinnign his wooden sword once before holding it back and then relaxing.

"Now, go ahead and play with it, learn its balance and size, and whatever else you like. If you have any questions, ask them at any time, okay, Loki?" He smiled to ease some of the tension that was building due to it being a lesson.

(OOC- To see what Sejah is basically dressed in, go to http://www.side7.com/cgi-bin/S7SDB/DisplayImg.pl?INO=146123 ; it is called a kit, and is of Indian origin. that's about how built he is, too.)

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki grinned when Sejah referred to him has master, he'd never let him live it down, "I'm feeling great today, thanks. I've been really looking forward to learning from you."

As he spoke he made his way over to the edge of the room, removed his boots and bare-footed, swung his leg up to shoulder height and with the base of his foot rested on the glass, he leaned forward, wrapping his fingers around first his toes then behind his ankle. He alternated legs a couple of times until he was feeling comfortable.

"I wasn't going to look for an excuse, Sejah, I don't do that. But my size and strength are a concern, that is one of the reasons why I am having this lesson. I need to learn more about swordsmanship and how to conduct myself to maximum efficiency in combat."

His sentances were broken occasionally. as he immitated Sejah, sitting on the floor, the soles of his feet touching, he used his elbows to push his knees downwards, stretching the muscles along his inside leg. Standing he engaged in a couple of more stretching exercises dedicated to his legs. Then began focusing on his arms and waist, listening to his mongoose instructor.

"I respect everyone's belongings, Sejah," He said upon receiving the woodon practice sword. It was a lot heavier than a lightsaber but by no means weighty, he averted his gaze from the weapon and met Sejah's with a smile, "It would be ill-mannered not to."

Loki distanced himself from Sejah to be careful, then gripping the handly tightly, he straightened out his right arm before him, holding the sword straight to test the full weight of the weapon on his wrist. "Not bad at all!" Loki said judgingly.

He then rotated the weapon from the wrist, to further test the strain, but received very little, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. Then he moved onto a simple figure-of-eight, but noticing he didn't feel well balanced, he shifted his weight onto his left leg which was rested about a foot behind the right. The ball of his right foot lightly rested on the floor with no weight on it at all but something still wasn't right. Hs left arm was there doing nothing except moving a bit with his movement of the sword.

"This is quite comfortable actually!" He said, putting his left arm behind his back with his closed fist rested at the base of his spine. He now felt balanced and it seemed like he felt more in-control.

He began to relax more, controlling his breathing, obeying the Force's will, submitting to it and closed his eyes. Suddenly he began manouvering the weapon in a much larger figure-of eight, it narrowly missed his shoulders each time, he was testing for the amount of space in which the weapon could move freely. Control. Control.

"Let's see how this goes--" He suddenly said, when simultaneously the blade came out of it's figure-of-eight pattern and rotated once in his hand. Almost like he was obeying the momentum of the sword, Loki pushed hard from the ground with his left foot, he began to ascend, but before his right foot ciould leave the floor, he pushed with it. Leaping into the air, this sent him into a full sommersault, he swung the weapon through the air in a perfect circle with his own momentum. With grace he landed on his feet, bending them slightly, he exhaled and opened his eyes. "--cool."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: In the distance, Anbira watched his padawan, remaining unseen. It would be interesting to see what was to happen ::

[Marcus Telcontar]

At the other end of the room...

A hooded man, with a sword at his side stood near a doorway, pipe in hand, smoking. And doing as he usually did - just observed. Sejah and he had sparred before and the Jedi Master had been impressed. Now, he would watch to see how he trained others.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah watched with interest as Loki performed his practice maneuvers. The boy was good, and had natural balance, but his footwork could use improvement if he was to score points in competition.

What was he thinking? Loki wasn't going to be trained for comeptition. Sejah had to shift gears in his head and remember just why he was giving the lesson. For ten years he had taught others form and style, picking out finer points of an age-old style, and helping them advance into the upper ranks of the art where he himself was not allowed. Loki was different, he was learnign because his lifestyle would involve a blade like few others would.

"Good, good," Sejah said, tucking his own wooden sword under his arm like a pace stick as he stepped over to Loki's side, "It appears you've watched a few movies, there," he then smiled, "You're better than I thought you'd bem but I do see soem areas that need improvement. Step over here."

Guiding the boy to the center of the room, Sejah stepped back,, then walked around him, noting the way he stood,a nd how he held the wooden sword in its relaxed positon. Rounding abck to his front, Sejah took hold of his own wooden sword by its handle and then lowered it i front of himself, holding his right wrist with his left paw and the 'blade' of it angling down and to his left as it hung lax. "Loki, I am about to teach you things not often allowed off my homeworld. As far as I know, Rho'istaan bladed arts have never been taught to non-Nehantites. I might be subject to punishment by my government, but that is a risk I will take. After all, I know that the life of a Jedi is the one for me now, and I cannot return to where I was. I know your are a polite and sensible lad, but please respect my denial to explain why certain things are in some of these moves. The Rho'istann is very important to me, it's all I know. Now, with that out of the way, lets begin."

With seasoned grace, the mongoose stepped his right footpaw back and lined up his toes as he twisted his left ankle to balance on. At the same time, he wheeled his sword up and placed the pommel firmly against the center of his right pec, his left arm raised at a ninety degree agnle with his left paw up and near his chin. His chest was swelled out, and his chin raised as he looked proudly down at Loki, his shoulders turned so that the boy could only see one of them. It was a classic style, and his personal form. It was obvios form the perfection of his stance that he had known it thousands of times before, and even his tail shaped itself for both practicality anf flair. "Balance is key, both mental and physical." He said, remaining still as a rock.

Suddenly, he shot forward and faked a slap to Loki's face and swung his wooden sword hard in what would have been a killing bow to Loki's head, but he stopped it centimeters away. Relaxing, he smiled as he stepped back. "You flinched." He smiled, and then shook his head.

"Don't worry, that's the only time I'll do that to you. Come on, let's work on that stance. Step back, like this, footpa-, er, feet in a straight line, your shoulders lined up along that same line. It will feel wobbly at first, but you will get used to it. Lean forward over your left leg, plqace most all your weight on it. It will be your power leg when you are turned to your right, able to drive you froward into your opponent, or force you back the other way in need of retreat. Your rear foot will be your steering. We will learn double foot steering when you are ready." Sejah explained, watchign as Loki followed his instruction, Stepping around him, the Nehantite looked the stance over, then reached down and pulled his rear foot further back, straightening the stance, and then squaring Loki's shoulders. "It's always further than you think it is, trust me," He explained.

Now, we will learn basic strikes. But, before we do, I want to see what you can do. I will stand in front of you, and I want you to come forward and attack in any way you see fit. Take as many shots as you want, but I want them all to be based from that stance, though you may shift directions if you like."

Sejah was aware he was being watched, but knew it didn't really matter. If they did not approve of his his teaching methods, then so be it, but as it was, it felt good to be teachign again.

[Loki Ahmrah]

With closed eyes, Loki suddenly realised how easily he had been caught out, he wasn't tuned into what was going on and had let his concentration slip. Like Sejah, no doubt a very well learned instructor, had shown him, a fault in concentration could very well be fatal. He sighed a little at his own mistake and calmed himself, that was until Sejah aranged his limbs in am most peculiar fashion.

"This certainly feels odd!" He exclaimed.

Loki wobbled about unsteadily, it was a strange posture and one the young boy had never dreamed of standing in let alone engage in combat with.

"Very well then," The padawan complied and closed his eyes, exhaling he opened up and he almost felt like he was stretching forwards to Sejah, stretching out with the Force as his aid. Now calm and relaxed, a far more focused Loki attacked.

Getting used to the feel of the weapon, the boy maintained a firm yet supple hold on the handle, he swung out, turning at the waist his left arm swinging back as his right advanced, assisting the momentum of his weapon. In a rising strike, the blade approached neck but in the blink of an eye Sejah's weapon had come to his defense, colliding with Loki's, innitially he was taken aback by the force of Sejah's intervening blade. The boy used the momentum and direction of Sejah's sword, to bring his around on top of his opponents weapon and with his blade pushing down on Sejah's, the boy used the length of the sword as a guide for his own, much like he had seen Master Q'Dunn do yesterday. Sliding upwards he avoided the hand gaurd and thrusted for his instructors throat.

Immediatly Sejah, who was clearly a master with such weapons, not needing to move much to deflect the boy's efforts, took advantage of Loki's weight being shifted into the strike and pushed against the boy's approaching weapon which threw Loki completely off balance. Loki staggered to his right, with his back turning to face Sejah leaving himself completely open for attack. Realising this he regained his centre of gravity quickly and pivoting on his right foot, using his current flailing momentum to assist this turn, he brought his left foot off the ground and raised his weapon to strike at full force.

Now facing his instructor, the blade swung towards his waist from Sejah's right with a fierce velocity and not knowing it, Loki's left hand had also swung around and he had grabbed hold of his right wrist to give his stike power and direction. His eyes narrowed with concentration as he neared impact.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah let no emotion show on his face except for a prideful glow. He was practiced int hat face, and held it well while studying where Loki needed improvement, and where hsi strong points were. He had control of the weapon, at least with speed, but he could tell yet if he would have the ability to stop it. But that would be a test for later, a lesson in humility would end the first onslaught of attacks from the boy.

Sejah simply slid back his front footpaw and let his sword swing in a low to high sweep to his right, catching under the front of Loki's blade and lifting it up and away before looping it all the way over to the other side, letting the tip hit the ground. As it did so, he slid his sword up and tapped Loki's throat lightly. It would have been an easy kill.

Relaxing his stance, Sejah said, "Interesting; few students try a grip like that before they are shown it. Stand back at attention like I showed you, and we will work on basic strikes. If you are to learn the complex, you have to start with the basics."

Stepping back, Sejah stepped into his opening stance and waited for Loki to do the same. "Good. This is the number one strike, and it is a two-stage attack. First, your left hand will swing out as if to either block an attack, or to backhand punch someone, and you will bring it up above your head after the blow or deflection is delivered as if to block an attack comign from above. It also leaves the hand in a positoon to quickly do somehting else. Now, the sword arm gets cocked back, like so, and as you step in towards your opponent, you use your hips to propel your arm around, and deliver a strike to your opponent's head or neck. Remember, -DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR- your arm back, and then swing forward, you will get mroe power that way. Both arms should move at once, like this." Sejah demonstrated the attack in both slow, and high speeds, though showing the slow speed twice so that Loki would better understand it.

"There, now you try, and do it slowly. Once you master it slowly, your muscles will do it well in high speed. The trick is to learn the path correclty." He in structed, relaxing his own stance again.

[Loki Ahmrah]

After Sejah had effortlessly taken the wind out of Loki's sails, the boy felt a little frustrated at his over-confidence but was not discouraged by his mistake but moreso encouraged to better himself for it. Standing in the posture Sejah had instructed, he watched his instructor perform what he called a 'Numer One' strike and at the same time tried to keep steady. Just like the Nehantite, he would hopefully one day have mastered balance both mentally and physcially.

"Ah yes!" Loki said with recognition, "I've seen several other Jedi perform such excercises. A combat art slowed right down in order to relax but at the same time make muscles more supple and simultaneously, perfect the manouvers involved." He paused in thought then confirmed, "Jubei is one such Jedi. A very peaceful Jedi at that, you should meet him!"

Whilst he was saying this he was roughly going over the motion of both arms separately, then did them in time with each other until finally he began to try to include movement at the waist. once the three components were carried out in time with each other he stopped and corrected his posture once more.

"Let's see how this goes!" He said with a sigh, relaxing himself.

His first few attempts were difficult and all he focused on was the movement involved and nothing more, until he was able to do it as one motion. It looked and felt dreadful but everyone had to start somewhere. Then he tried to implement the technique and style with which Sejah had performed the strike, time after time he tried and each time he retried, he would slow himself down a bit moire. This contiunued until with numerous tips of advice and corrections from his instructor, Loki was beginning to feel satisfied with the technique he was using.

His breathing was very controlled and relaxed, his eyes followed the movement of his hands like the eyes of a hawk, his feet began moving in time with the movement of his arms and then the little boy smiled, feeling like he was getting sonmewhere.

"How is this going?"

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah watched with a teacher's eye as Loki practiced the maneuver over and over, each time getting a little better. Occasionally he would reach out and fix an arm placement, or tap his leg with his sword to tell him to drop his leg back further, but for the most part, the boy was getting it right.

"Good, good. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast, remember that. Bit it appears you can now do th number one well enough that we can proceed on to the second main strike. Keep in mind now that I will call on you to do strikes by their number later on, so remember which is which." The mongoose said before comign to a straight attention stance before Loki.

"Now, the number two is different, we step back with our left root, and pivot our body the opposite way of the number one. Bring your sword arm up and back so you could touch your cheek with a finger if you want, and your blade is aiming down and back. Now, with your left hand, press your arm against your body and hold your fist with your top row of knuckles pressed against your beltline, a bit past the center of your body. Good." Sejah watched as Loki tried what was normally an incredibly odd position. With a few minor adjustments to hand placements, and straightenign hsi shoulders yet again, the boy looked ready.

Falling into the same position himself, Sejah nodded to Loki, and then began to move through it slowly. As he stepped forward, he brought his sword up and over, droppign it down in what would be a left-to-right slash that would have hit the head, neck, or shoulder of his opponent. As he began to straighten out in the step to the same foot position as the number one strike, Sejah hooked his left arm out laway from his stomach and acted as if he were stashing at an invisibile opponent's belly with his pretend knife blade-first, though his elbow seemed to remain glued to his side. When the move was done, the wooden sword he held was held back in a straight line along his body, invisible to whoever was directly in front of him.

Straightening out, he nodded for Loki to continue. "Get that oenright, and we can take a break from forms to try something a little different."

[Loki Ahmrah]

OOC: I'm terribly sorry about the delay, I will have a reply to this up tomorrow afternoon. Been swamped with exams lately.


IC:

Yes the stance was indeed peculiar to say the least and Loki had to wonder how in the world could any sort of defensive or offensive manouvers be pulled off from this stance. Nevertheless he watched his instructor very carefully and a smile crept across his face as it was revealed to him how a swordsman could operate from such a posture; it was all very impressive.

"This is more confusing but let's see how this goes!" He said, encouraging himself.

Again he began reasonably slower than when he started with the number one strike. Carefully he watched his hand guide the wooden sword up and over and slowly brought across from left down to right on occassion forgetting to move his left arm as directed but Sejah always spotted it anyway. At first it was a little frustrating but once Loki had become accustomed to the coordination of the two actions he started to focus on his technique.

This time he was going even slower than before, when he brought the weapon across in front of him, it felt stiff and unnatural so he imagined what it would feel like doing this underwater. This way he could take into account forces working against the movement of the weapon and after several practices he was beginning to feel satisfied. What he didn't know was that as he brought his blade up and over to his left, most if not all of the movement was now coming from his wrist and as the blade descended the wrist flexed to accomodate the arc of movement which was now looking rather graceful.

"When I move my wrist like this, it feels much more natural. Is that better or worse than before?"

[Sejah Haversh]

OOC- This is my 300th post on this board!

"It does make movement easier, but watch your elbow and shoulder as you try it again." Sejah instructed him.

As Loki performed the movement again, Sejah smiled as he ticked his finger in a nagging way. "Thoguh it is smoother, you lose much of the power torquing your body gives you. It is a delicate balance between fow and power. Watch me again, and watch how the strength of my step flows up through my body to my arm at the end. If I were to rely on only certain muscles, I would not be fast enough, or strong enough to compete well. Just as your fingers and your ankle are not connected, they both serve purposes, and can be used together well when the occasion arises."

With that, Sejah stepped back into the opening stance and very, very slowly performed the motions of the strike. Tendons stood out,a nd muscles rippled like ocean waves, crashign into each otehr, and causign seemign chain reactions. One made the other move, and if you looked close enough, you could see the fluid transfer of power from his step through to his swing. Once more he did it, though takign extra care to focus on his arm, and then relaxed.

"You do bend the wrist, but not too much. Let your arm carry the sterngth of the blow, and only let your wrist angle the blade properly, and hold it firmly there. The second hand movement is a piece of my own style that uses a dagger, it would have stabbed your opponent's belly, but I am teachign ti to you so that you know to follow-up with another move of some sort. Now, though, let's take a break form strikes, and have a little fun while we practice."

A smile on his face, Sejah stepped back over to the pile of things he had brought with him and set down his wooden sword, pickign up a lumpy canvas bag instead. With a sly grin, the mongoose reached in and pulled out a tennis ball, or at least somethign close to it. "He'akar is a sport similar to your tennis,a nd the balls are almost identical. This is an excersise I went through when I trained, Loki, so no mocking it." Stepping back, he tossed one of the balls up in the air and caught it deftly, then suddenly changed tack and threw it like a pitcher hurlign a fastball. It whizzed past Loki's head and bounced off the wall a ways behind him.

"Darn, I missed," Sejah muttered, though loud enough for Loki to hear. It was jost a joke, however, and he reached into his bag for another ball. "Now, usign the first two strikes, I want you to deflect all the balls I throw at you. It will be hard with just those two, and will be easier when you learn more strikes, but do your best." He said loud and clear enough for Loki to hear. It was honsetly one of the best excersises he knew, makign him concentrate on aim and form at the same time, while still having fun. Only poor instructors taught without adding a bit of fun every now and then.

As the boy stepped into the number one stance, Sejah nodded and threw out his first pitch, another fastball.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Ah I see!" The boy acknowledged, understanding what Sejah was telling him about the flow of strength and energy. "I've read all about that, in times of old, combat instructors would tell their students that in order to perfect their technique they must first perfect the flow of energy from point of origin all the way through to the strongest point of the strike. Then they must regulate this energy - something called Chi or Ki or something along those lines - and in doing so can perform to maximum efficiency. So by judging what you have told me about the flow of motion and strength, it makes sense."

He was pleased to discover that his obssession with reading was beginning to pay off and was helping him understand something which would otherwise seem completely abstract and alien to someone his age.

When Sejah took out some balls from the bag he had brought - no doubt full of various training equiptment - like these balls? He described the exercise and it seemed strange and Loki was a little worried because although he was familiar with tennis, he had never played it and had never been invited to play it with the kids back at school. He took a deep breath and was about to take up the appropriate stance when a ball shot past his head; at first he was shocked but then smiled at Sejah's joke. It had successfully broke his nervousness - he was certainly an experienced instructor - and he took up the number one stance.

His eyes narrowed on the first ball headed towards him, his left elbow raised and fist against his chest, his right arm straight and held the sword firmly ready to lash out and strike as had been instructed earlier. Quietly he said, "One!"[/I] This helped him to remember the strikes and as he released his left arm and cocked his right, his hips began to turn directing the flow of both movement and strength.

His left arm came up and over as if it were blocking an attack or back-handing an opponent and surely after came the right arm bearing the weapon. He brought it round with sharp control headed straight for the approaching projectile.

"Argh!--" He cried out as he completely missed the ball and his right arm swung right round out of control once he'd realised he'd missed almost wrapping around his body, the ball had hit him in the chest and the second hit him in the stomach. "--OW! Jeez!"

The two spots where the balls had hit stung and were hot and sore, he rubbed his chest and stomach and with frustration turned and booted one of the balls as it bounced about at his feet. It soared off and hit the opposite wall and he asked, "Damn! What happened? Why did I miss?"

[Sejah Haversh]

"Watch your mouth!" Sejah snapped at him in an authoritative tone. Pointing at Loki, he then continued, "You swear again, and I will start aiming for your head, you got me? I demand common respect from my students." Lowering hsi arm, Sejah shifted another ball into his right paw and began to relax a bit, though still a mite irked.

"Anger has no place in learning unless I say it does, and right now I need you to be calm and take what I dish out. When you're mad, you shut off this," He tapped his head to indicate his brain, "And you become arrogant and stupid. I win many matches because I can keep from getting angry longer than my opponent." Now that he had vented, Sejah relaxed his stance and speech,a nd became friendly once more.

"And what happened is that you are inexperienced, no more, no less. I threw those fast, and hard. I didn't expect you to block them, and would have been surprised if you had." he explained, tossing a ball up and then catching it. "You're smart, but don't let that get to your head. Anythign physical takes practice, and you've never done anythign like what I've been showing you before. Even Ramadon the Great wasn't a master wiht he scimitar the first time he picked it up." he smiled in refenece to a historical 'legend' of his own culture. "Now, lets try this again, but with a bit less speed ont he balls, shall we?"

[Loki Ahmrah]

OOC: I had actually typed up a reply to this last night, as I came to the end of the post I pressed something on my keyboard that closed the window. I went mad!

IC:


"Yeah, you're right." The boy acknowledge, his head drooping a little with embarressment at allowing his frustration to get the better of him. "I'm sorry about that, Sejah, I don't usually get wound up like that - it's just that it hurt - that's all."

The young padawan swung the wooden scimitar about sheepishly, then stopped when Sejah addressed him further regarding what went wrong. He was glad to have Sejah as an instructor, nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel that Sejah had not the right to talk down to him like he were a mere student back on his homeworld. True, Sejah will be prone to slip into "Instructor-more" but Loki felt he was forgetting that he was abusing the age difference between himself and a fellow padawan.

Loki considered Sejah a friend who was kind enough to help, not a master whose responsibility it was to keep him on the straight and narrow. Perhaps it was time that Loki slipped out of "Child-mode" and raised his concerns with Sejah.

"Excuse me, Sejah." He began, not wishing to cause offense, he made it clear how grateful he was for the Nehantite's help. "I am very grateful for all you are doing for me but at the moment, I have to admit, I am beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with this arrangement. Regardless of my age, we are both equals, both Padawan Learners, travelling the same path. I respect adults and I respect you, but although you are a very experienced instructor in swordsmanship, like you have said, you are used to training youngsters. It seems you are establishing some master-apprentice relationship here and it is not right. I have one master, that is Anbira Hichorru; a padawan learner cannot replace his position. It will only make me uncomfortable talking with you outside of these training grounds."

Loki then lost any signs of doubt and stood straight, making his views clear. "Sejah, I am not your student. I thought you were helping me as a friend - it seems you cannot let go of your old way of life back home - would you treat someone like Oriadin as such?"

It was becoming clear that Loki felt uncomfortable with the way things were and was unhappy with the current situation. He just felt like leaving in a vain effort to salvage what friendship they had left.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah regretted what he had just said deeply. As Loki admonished him, the mongoose found himsle unable to look him in the face for shame. His paw let the ball drop, and he sank his shoulders, shaking his head. even his tail was still.

"I-,...I'm sorry, Loki. I'm sorry, I, well, this is hard for me. Everythign is different, and, and... I wish I understood how things worked around here more. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, and you are more than correct about me. It is difficult to put out of my mind what I ahve lived with all my life. I shouldn't have talked to you as a student, and, I respect that you are both more intelligent, and more competant in the ways of the Force than myself." He said, his voice shaken slightly. He felt terrible for having overstepped a crucial boundary, and finally looked back up to Loki.

"I am unused to teaching without being the teacher, and I will work to remember that were are equals, and if one of us is truly past the other, it would be you beyond me. Can you forgive me, Loki Ahmrah?"

[Loki Ahmrah]

An almost inaudible sigh of relief came from Loki when he heard Sejah's response, his heart had been pounding against his chest in fear that he might anger the Nehantite and lose a friend. But then he started to feel a little guilty, because Sejah was clearer finding it difficult to become integrated into a culture that was no doubt very different from that which he is used to.

"Of course I forgive you!" He announced with a smile, casually walking over to his friend. "And I'm sorry too, I should have not been so blind to not notice how difficult it must be for you to settle into this completely different society. I tell ya what - if you have any troubles or worries about your new environment, I'll be there to help you - how does that sound?"

He had neared the mongoose and was touched by what he'd said, "Sej, you're gonna make one helluva Jedi Knight!" He revealed with a big grin. "And I guess I should wash my mouth out with soap though--" And joked, "--but next time, I'll be sure to kick your hide!"

He winked and held out his hand in a sign of friendship.

[Sejah Haversh]

"Like you could." Sejah smirked at Loki's comment.

His head lifted, as did his shoulders as the boy accepted his apology, shaking Loki's hand. It pained him that he didn't know how to interact correctly with others there, he had problems before, but thankfully this one worked out well enough. "I'm sorry I went off like that, it's just that I do not like swearing or foul language, and tolerate it little. But I'm glad you had the courage and initiative to stand up to me like that, that boasts much for your character. And, I might come to you later for help with something."

Sejah looked down at the bag of balls in his paw, and then shook his head and tossed it aside. Lookign back to Loki, he explained, "That's a master-student exercise, we should do somethign different." Walking over and picking up his wooden sword as well, Sejah turned back and stepped up to Loki.

"A little fencing, perhaps? You come at me, and I will defend, and point ot things as we go. Does that sound alright to you?"

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Whatever you feel is appropriate." The boy answered pleasantly, with a smile. He gripped his wooden sword tightly, staring into the strange, pink eyes of his friend. He considered adopting a Rho'isstahn stance as Sejah had instructed earlier, but he had practise with that and it was a style not made to suit lightsaber combat.

Instead he stood in the aggressive-neautral, ready-stance of Form IV, His feet evenly spaced with the right foot truned completely sideways and with both hands on the weapon he held it just above his left hip which was now facing Sejah, after he had twisted his hips to face his instructor.

"Let's try something a little unorthadox here!" The young padawan thought, his eyes narrowed as he focused and then he stepped forward and simultaneously brought his sword in an arc aiming for Sejah's lower right leg. This attack was commonly known as Attack Five in the Jedi Order, however with the flick of his wrist the falling sword changed course and became angled down toward the floor. Loki sweapt the weapon across the front of his body past Sejah's defense as it had swung to block his original attack and so Loki angled the weapon upwards once more and stepping forward with his right foot, lunged at the mongoos's unprotected stomach.

[Sejah Haversh]

A fake, a pull, and a thrust. Loki had evidently either watched a lot of movies, or had been trained a bit in the use of a blade or saber before.

As he came in twoards Sejah's leg, the mongoose stepped back, but as the boy pulled his strike and set up for a lunge, Sejah planted his footpaw again and with one paw he swept his wooden sword down and to his left, clackign against the tip of Loki's sword and pushing it away as he stepped back forward on his right footpaw, pivoting his body. In a follow-through movement, Sejah reached out with his left paw and snatched Loki's wrists, pulling him further in and to his side while he brough his wooden blade back around and thumped Loki on the back.

Letting go, Sejah immidiately said, " You have two hands for a reason. A thrust only needs one, so watch for me witht he other, and use it as a weapon as well. Keep going, you're doing well." The mongoose smiled, and flicked his tail unconsciously in enjoyment of the spar again.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Bah!" Loki exclaimed after being caught out and thus thumped on the back. "You're right, I have to be careful though; I am quite nimble but it's important for me to not make this a contest of brute strength. I have to both think fast and act--"

And then came his attack, something he'd pondered on for a while now after seeing Lance do something similar at the start of their spar; now was a good a time as any to test it but he wanted to try and catch Sejah off gaurd as well as he could and his following array of even further unorthadox manouvers would throw his mongoose friend off enough to be caught out like Loki had been.

With a swing to the left and a swing to the right, Loki's weapon briefly clashed with Sejah's and following through, Loki's sword slid down the blade of the other until he was able to wrap his little fingers around Sejah's great wrist and likewise with his left arm. The moment Loki had a brief hold of the mongoose's wrists he jumped, holding onto them, tucked himself up into a ball and for a moment planted his feet firmly on Sejah's chest. Then before any counter was formulated by his more than able opponent, Loki pushed away with his feet still holding on with his hands which naturally caused Sejah's centre of gravity to shift as he came forward slightly with the sudden, additional weight.

Then with a swift motion, the young padawan, pulling against Sejah's arms, not only brought his fellow padawan forward but also changed the direction of Loki's momentum bringing him back in Sejah's direction. However now with his legs straightened he swooped under his opponent, feet first between his legs and letting go, as he fell his hands grabbed Sejah's ankles and with the aid of his current momentum pulled thus taking his feet from under his already slightly unbalanced body. That and his altered centre of gravity meant that Loki's quick and nimble actions (needless to say unique) had brought Sejah crashing to the ground face first.

Following through, the little boy jumped to his feet, turned and in that same motion swung both his left arm around, under and across and his right arm following suit so that by the time he was facing Sejah's direction this windmill motion would ensure that his weapon would strike across where Sejah would be. This time he had made use of his free hand, swinging into around to block any possible oncoming assaults but Loki had no idea of how fast Sejah both thought and acted.

[Sejah Haversh]

Loki was full of surprises, especially for one his age. What Sejah wouldn't have done to have had a pupil with his ingenuity and drive. But that wasn't the first thing on his mind as the boy executed his grapple, sway, and half-moon swing. Sejah could do little to stop it, and he decided not to grab onto the boy's wrists as he swung, preventing him from taking him down. IT was more interesting to see what else he could learn bout the padawan instead.

From the floor, Sejah glanced back and saw Loki land. With the distraction attack he had pulled, the mongoose had little doubt that he would try something else quickly.

Using the solid grip the leather int eh palms of his gloves gave him, sejah palmed the floor and bucked his body quickly forward before shoving back, lifting his legs and driving them straight into Loki's side as he spun to attack. He didn't mean it to hurt, but it might have. It was more than enough to knock the boy back, though and disrupt whatever attackl he was planning.

Using the momentum form his launch, Sejah rolled over as he landed and scrambled to his footpaws once more, though he was only ready for defence, not a secondary attack. He mainly wanted to make sure he hadn't hit Loki too hard.

[Loki Ahmrah]

With that spring kick Sejah had pulled on the boy, he was sent rather unceremoniously soaring back onto his rear, it had hurt bad but what else could be expected? But Loki was more fearful of Sejah landing on him but luckily the Nehantite rolled away, innitially the boy found quite a bit of difficulty in climbing to his feet; everywhich way he turned his side ached. The attack had really winded him and he found himself having to act like it wasn't so bad; he kept forgetting that he was still just a nine year old and was in no way the physical equal of most at the Acadamy.

After a bit of work he was standing up, hunched over a little but not particularly noticeably, he then quitened his mind and exhaled heavily and with that it seemed like he'd just blown the pain right out of his body and felt completely rejuevenated. He was getting better and better at resisting pain, only insignificant pain though, nothing serious. But it was a comfort to him when training; the more he practised, the more he improved.

"I knew I was taking a risk with that one. But I have to think about the factors, you're bigger and stronger than me, plus you are a master in swordsmanship as opposed to me. So I assume I have to compensate for my weaknesses by focusing on my strengths; speed and agility." He stepped forward, raising his weapon and bringing it down in a heavy swing aiming for Sejah's chest, not being tall enough to bring the weapon down upon his head. Sejah stepped in to block and brought his sword under Loki's and pushed against it as he had done previously.

"Tell me," He said with strain, pressing down against Sejah's defense, "What are your weaknesses and how do you compensate for them?"

As he finished asking this, he put his weight on his left leg and took some of the strength away from his sword arm as he leaned back and raised his right foot for a quick, sharp kick to Sejah's stomach.

[Sejah Haversh]

Holdign his own agaisnt the boy's pressure on his sword, but only using one paw, himself, Sejah smiled thinly, "You talk too much."

There was a slightly change in pressure on his wooden sword as Loki wound up to kick, and it was enough of a signal for Sejah to watch the rest of his body more closely. There it was, in the feet, he was going for a kick.

The fast twitch muscle fiber of a mongoose is capable of tranferring a signal and movement faster than that of the average human, and he would have used that to his advantage had he not had something else in mind. Ki. The method of controlling mucles, and essentually takign blows without injury or pain through concentration and breathing. It was a method that was tought him by another master, but one that helped incredibly. He couldn't take a full blow to his throat and go unphased like his master could, but Sejah was rather adept at using it.

With a held breath, Sejah prepared his thighs, groin, and stomach for a blow, and then took the kick Loki gave him with hardly any feeling. Standing there, still blocking Loki's sword, he smiled as the boy brought his foot back down. "You never tell your weaknesses to an opponent during a match." He said, then jerking his shoulders around and forcing Loki's wooden blade out of the way, sweeping his own back down and around to trace along the boy's stomach. "Your opponets will be able to find your weaknesses anyhow, if they're good enough."

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki's foot retracted from the mogoose's stomach, the kick didn't even phase him and the boy had to stop himself from looking shocked. Clearly he was outmatched in every aspect of combat bar none up against Sejah, however he smiled when he was told, "Your opponets will be able to find your weaknesses anyhow, if they're good enough."

At the same time he had thought back to when he'd first met the nehantite at the Bar and Grill; he remembered how he had responded to Salemn's telepathy and this got the young padawan thinking. "Judging by his phsiology, it looks like he definately has heightened senses. Oh well here goes..."

He stood now in defense, even though Sejah wasn't going to attack, his thoughts rested on the small wash bag he'd brought with him, he'd only done this twice before but he was familiar witht he feeling. From a moment, his eyes slid shut and he held his side were Sejah had kicked him, thus making it seem like he was trying to shut out his pain.

Slowly, the small cannister of deodorant began to move of it's own accord in his bag, he stepped back neared to it and prepared himself, to the mongoose it would just look like he was formulating another of his rather unorthdaox strikes. The object now levitated above the bad and as he tried to pull it towards him it began to tremble in the air - he was doing something wrong - and there wasn't much time left.

"Come on!" He thought, "I just want the deodorant in my hand!"

Suddenly, he felt the cold metal cylinder rest in the palm of his left hand, hidden behind his back and he smiled slightly, in fear of giving the game away with that he lashed out immediatly. He stepped forward and pivoted on his left foot, turning around he brought his right arm up and bended it so that his elbow would be facing Sejah and sword would be pointing backwards across his chest whilst the left hand which held the cannister of deodorant was positioned just bellow his navel. He spun around once and now facing Sejah in stance two he pressed the button on the cannister which was hidden out of Sejah's view by Loki's elbow sticking out and immediatly the strong-scented fluid sprayed upwards and hit the Nehantite's nose dead on.

Not waiting for a response, Loki pulled back a little and released his sword are sending the wooden weapon aimed directly at Sejah's right hip.

[Sejah Haversh]

The smell and burn of "Mountain Breeze" scented spray deoderant hit Sejah full on, and he had to close his eyes to keep the stinging spray form burning them.

"AAA-CHOO! Haa-CHOO!" He sneezed violently, and his sinus cavity burned. The spray was so distracting that he didn't even think to block Loki's strike, and it hit him square on his side, smacking his kidney. The sharp pain made him grab his side and growl just before blowing out another sneeze.

Opening his eyes, they had started to shift from pink to red, a sign that he was getting angry. When a ,ongoose became mad, or excited, their irises shifted from pink to a blood red. At the moment, his rested at a deep rose hue. Sniffling to clear his nose, Sejah clamped his jaws together, and had to keep from pulling his lips back to expose his fangs. He didn't want to scare Loki, but, that had been a cheap trick.

As the boy wound up for another strike, Sejah lashed out hard, and smashed his sword away violently, thoguh not out of Loki's hands, for he had too good of a grip on the practice blade. "Loki, don't you ever do that again," He had to stop to sneeze once more, "That really hurts."

[Loki Ahmrah]

It had worked but Sejah had reacted rather angrily to Loki's assault. Loki frowned and shook his head immediatly retaliating, "Well then, you have to ask yourself if that would've happened if 'You never tell your weaknesses to an opponent during a match'? What do you think? Don't get so angry, if I had known that it would have had such a powerful affect on you then do you think I would've used it to my advantage?"

The boy threw down his weapon and had a grave look of concern on his face, "You were very angry with what had transpired just then and I am sorry for it but like I have been learning from you; you can equally learn from me. You should've warned me about your weaknesses and then I wouldn't have exploited them but it was you who said: 'Your opponets will be able to find your weaknesses, if they're good enough.' So what am I supposed to think?"

"It is undoubted you are a very experienced swordsman, however one thing I have learned is to not only accept my weaknesses but embrace them so that what disadvantage they once presented can become an advantage. You seem to shy away form talking about these weaknesses, but you should learn to accept them as part of who you are and then you can benefit from them."

Loki threw down the deodorant cannister, irritated with what's just happened - he doesn't get angry about his height, it's frustrating but he wont let it get the better of him but he wished Sejah would see the same way - he sighed then added. "Your anger, check that at the door, too. You are a Jedi and if a Dark-Sider exploited that weakness would you lash out like you just did with me then? It may cost you your life."

With that the boy crouched down and retrieved the training sword. He waited for Sejah to shake off the effects of the deodorant spray then made a suggestion.

"Ok, how about a change of approach? You attack and I defend, that way there isn't any risk of there being a repetition of the deodorant incident and also I get to practise some defensie techniques with your guidance."

[Sejah Haversh]

Again. He had screwed up again.

Pursing his lips, Sejah shook his head nervously as he looked around, somehow wishing that there would be a suitable hole to crawl into. His tail snapped in agitation, and his paws shook slightly out of a tremor he developed when angry or perturbed. The mongoose's eyes hovered in their mid-colored state as Loki berated and instructed him.

Huffing a breath of anger, he then turned to face the boy and opened his mouth as if to say something, his face a mask of irritation, but he paused, then closed his mouth and withdrew, lowering his practice sword to a lax grip hanging by his side. Looking over his shoulder he saw Marcus and Anbirs standing there and then closed his eyes in shame as he turned around, his back to his friend for a moment while he thought.

The wooden sword dropped from his paw, clattering for a moment on the smooth floor before comign to a stop. The mongoose's arms raised and he moe one paw to unstrap the bindings of his left glove, then his right, and he pulled them off. Slowly his eyes opened and he looked down at hsi trembling paw. The heat form his eyes was gone, btut he tremor still remained and he could feel the beating of his heart in his chest. Tuckign his gloves into his belt, Sejah sighed and turned abck around.

Loki was still standing there, willing to give him another shot, but, Sejah wasn't sure if he'd mess up again, but had a feelign that he would. The boy had corrected him twice, and his points were irrefutible, so Sejah knew he was wiser, despite his youth. His own face having returned to a calm, yet somewhat pained state, he looked into Loki's eyes and said quietly, "I'm sorry." Then he lowered his head and ran a bare paw through his headfur. Still looking down, he continued, "I think we need to talk before we continue. Please." Inclining his head, his ppink eyes looked straight into Loki's, all his anger gone from them at the moment.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Ok." Came Loki's quiet reply, at first he felt a little uncomfortable then with an audible sigh which suggested he had reached a conclusion on something, walked over to his fellow padawan and sat on the floor.

"Please join me. We should talk, everythings a bit awkward at the moment and it's best to clear up a few things." It was times like this when Loki forgot about his age and remembered that regardless of age, all padawans are embarking on the same journey.

"Sejah, I'm sorry." He said heavily, continuing, "I have been a fool. Y'see, I have a habbit of assuming that because I'm only nine, I have naturally more difficulty adapting to this new way of life than people older than myself. However that is not the case, in fact it's quite the opposite - the older you begin training to become a Jedi, the more difficult it is to let go of your old way of life and quite frankly - let's be honest - it is a very difficult thing to do."

He then thought about his parents and home, he missed them dearly, however he has always been used to his parents being away from him for extended periods of time due to their work. Then he thought about Sejah, he'd done some reading about his culture and people, very traditional and honorable race following a dedicated way of life. So how can one move from one dedicated way of life to another and what kind of motive or drive would one need to make them decide to break away form their old life?

"So--" Loki began, thinking down another avenue, "All these years, aggression in combat has been natural and from aggression anger can be spawned. Of course, in competition there's nothing wrong with a healthy aggression but when dealing with the Force it can be the difference between life and death. What I'm trying to say is, say for example if a civillian pulled something off like that on you; as a Jedi you have to learn to shut out your anger, resist it. I only spoke out of concern. So, let's hear it from you - are you finding it difficult, this new way of life?"

Of course, the answer to this is the same with everyone but Loki just wanted to help his mongoose friend talk about it.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sitting down, Sejah listened as Loki spoke, and nodded as he made good points. But when he finished, the mongoose grinned slightly and said, "Anybody ever tell you yo talk too much?"

Spreading his grin into a smile, Sejah then sighed and settled back down. "You make some good points, Loki, you're definiely wiser than most your age. And I'm often not as smart as most my age." he nodded a bit glumly, then continued, "This has been a huge change for me. And a dangerous one, at that. I, I can't go back home, Loki. If I can't do this, then I have nothing."

Seeing the look on the padawan's face, he elaborated, "I never got clearance to leave Nehantish; I snuck out. For all offworld transport you need authorization from the N.I.S.C., and you also have to give your reason for leaving. If they knew that I, a nobody from a low-rankign house, was goign to become a Jedi, I wouldn't ahve been allowed to leave, and all the money it costs for authorization processing would just be kept by them. If they find me, I will be arrested and taken back home, no question." Shifting his position to sit cross-legged, the mongoose leaned his elbows on his paws and sat like an eight-year-old who ahd done something wrong and was now hafing to apologize.

"You said it yourself that it is hard to let go of your old life, and that's my big problem right now. I don't know anything outside of swordsmanship and some empty paw, er, hand fighting. And janitorial work..." he muttered, "I'm not as smart as you, I never went to school, Loki, I can't even read. I made my money in the ring with a piece of steel or wood. That was all I could do, and it seems that that's not even good enough to pass off here." Reachign up, he scratched his left temple as he thought, and then went on, "I don't understand these ways, or how I'm supposed to act, and it's not like I can just read about them like you can. No, I have to look like an itiot, even at what I do best, to learn something. I don't think I'm cut out for this, Loki, I'm just not good enough."

There, he had said it. Things he hand't admitted to hardly anyone in the order yet. But Loki had the courage to stand up to him, and tell him what he thought. At the moment, Sejah needed someone like that.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki grinned at Sejah's comment, "I try reminding myself of that all the time...emphasis on the try!"

Sejah's tale was compelling and had caught the young padawan completely off gaurd; he made sure he remained silent whilst his Nahantite friend told his tale yet there was a silence once he'd finished. Inside his head, the little boy was trying to put all of these factors and deal with all of the abstract matters of principle, honor and law. He found it too difficult for he was only a child and psychological it was not yet possible.

Nevertheless, he had a go at it and whichever solution he thought up, there would be a handle of other problems that would reveal themselves. Suffice to say most other boys or girls were incapable of dealing with such complex scenarios but then despite all the factors that came into it the truth is that the answer lie in the simple solution. Perhaps only a solution a child could give.

"Sejah, I know it will be difficult but when it comes down to it a choice must be made and only you alone can decide. On one hand, there's your old way of life, shackled to tradition which means because of your status your abilities deep inside will never flourish. Alternatively, you have the life of a Jedi ahead of you and your only limitations will be here--" He leaned forward and pressed a finger gently against his forehead, then bringing it down pressed it against his chest, "--and here."

He sat back and stared at him curiously for a moment. His brow furrowed and with narrowing eyes said, "I feel that the only thing holding you back now is your attatchment to Nehantish and you have to decide if that place is your past or your future. Don't be fearful of the future, embrace it and make the most of it. Only you can decide what that means for you!" He emphasised his point by stressing the last word and pointing at him.

"As for those who come for you, when and if they do; by that time you have to have made your choice, otherwise the Jedi Order cannot protect you. In the words of the great Master Yoda: 'Unlearn what you have learned' and let go. I did."

Once more, the boy went quiet, giving Sejah a while to think about things, it was a very grave situation he was in but the fact of the matter - as far as Loki was concerned - is that he has to make a choice between two opposites and everything else will fall into place. Perhaps the boy was naive, or perhaps in his simplistic way of seeing his friends dilemma lay the truth. After a moment, Loki smiled and comforted the mongoose padawan.

"And don't worry about your reading, I can help with that. Myself and Natia Lerf are teaching some unfortunate children how to read and write to benefit their future, perhaps it would benefit yours too if you joined us?"

[Sejah Haversh]

"Perhaps it would," Sejah replied, though he wasn't sure how he would be able to maintin some level of pride while learnig with children. "And I know you are right, but, it will be hard for me to let go."

Sitting up straighter, the mongoose said, "Since I can't go back, my only option is to stay here and keep training; that makes that desicion easy. I guess it'll just be a while before I get used to to things. Was it hard for you? I mean, was it ahrd to change your life to suit this one? I'm sure you'd miss your parents, and the way of life you had before. Not to mention your friends. How did you do it, Loki?"

[Marcus Telcontar]

If there was one thing Marcus was getting impressed with watching this spar and the result thereof, it was the un-natural wisdom of Loki. A wise, wise young one. Much wiser than his size would let on. Marcus was really goingto watch this one, for he had the signs of greatness marked on him

It was also good to listen to Sejah. Another one who had the potential to be great, but a lot of attachments to his past which were holding him back. A burden if you will. But Marcus was also seeing the signs the mongoose was beginnign to cast this burden aside and set himself free of it.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki grinned when Sejah came to the conclusion that his future lies with the Jedi Order, he was pleased that his Nehantite friend would be sticking around and that he considered his offer to help him learn to read and write. When Sejah asked Loki if he had difficulty adjusting the boy nodded immediatly.

"Why yes of course and it is still difficult, I--" He stammered a little, this was the hard part, "--I really miss my mom and dad...but, then again I'm used to them being away for extended periods of time, just, not this extended. That's because of their work." He went quiet for a moment and smiled, "When they came home I would wait for them at the spaceport. They'd step down from the ship and I'd just run--" He cut himself off and his his smile faded as he went quiet, his head lowering.

"Well," He quickly recovered with a brief grin, "Yes, it is difficult and as for friends--" He hesitated again. "--Well, y'see the truth is--" He paused once more, looked down at his fidgeting hands and then looked up and nodded, "--Yeah, I sure do miss all my friends!"

He didn't want to say anything but his integration into the Jedi had been so much easier than most others; in truth there was only one aspect of his life on Chandrilla that he missed and that was his parents. Nevertheless, he still got to see them occasionally and when he puts things into perspective, his life with the Jedi Order was a vast improvement on his life beforehand.

"I guess there is no easy way to adjust; it just takes time and patience - bucketloads of patience!" He added with a smile hoping to comfort the troubled padawan.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah had dealt with kids before, and though Loki was much mroe intelligent, and a rock of common sense, he wasn't all that different from some of those he had taught. And Sejah definitely didn't miss it when Loki fumbled a bit about missing his friends.

"Perhaps you're right. Maybe I just need to settle down and be a little more accepting of what others say. I was a little hot-headed when Master Rej took me, in, so, maybe I need to calm down once more like I did back then." He said, nodding a bit, but instead of finishing with anoter anecdote abotu that, he changed tack.

"You didn't have many friends, did you, Loki?" He said, though he knew it was impolite to do so, "You stalled, and then changed your tone when you said you missed them. Just as I can tell you things, Loki, feel free to tell me. Trust me, I knwo what it's like nto to ahve many friends. Where I lived, you didn't trust anybody, really, even in your own friends. One of my pals ended up stabbing one of his friends when I was fifteen, and they were best buddies. Believe me, Loki, I know what it can be like to feel a little alone."

[Loki Ahmrah]

Immediatly Loki looked away and then down at the floor; Sejah had caught him out and it was on the one thing he was most sensitive about. He was quiet for a moment, then knowing that any attempt to lie his way out of the situation would be pointless, he spoke, although quietly and kept his head low.

"No--" He answered, not making eye contact with the Nehantite for he felt like he was about to lose to the waterworks. He swallowed, removing that lunp in his throat and added, "--not one."

Now it was his turn to feel bad, he had been honest with Sejah earlier and helped him to confront his difficulties and now Sejah was offering him the same outlet. Could he open up about all that he'd kept in, he felt obliged to and owed it to Sejah. Perhaps he could help him confront his own demons from the past.

"I've never told anyone this - not even my parents - so please don't say anything to anyone. Back at school and where I lived, none of the other kids liked me, at first I thought I was being paranoid but that was until it was clear that they weren't even willing to give me a chance." His face lifted a little, he looked at Sejah's furry foot paws, still not comfortable with eye contact.

"But it didn't stop there, some weren't happy with having me as just an outcast--" He cut of as his voice broke and his face changed, he lifted his head and his bloodshot eyes met those of his fellow padawan. A tear trickled down his cheek, and he finished with a quivering voice, "--mom and dad always thought the cuts and bruises were from sports."

[Sejah Haversh]

Had Loki been a student, or a friend of the family, Sejah would have reached out and incluned his chin so that he would have no choice but to make eye contact. But Loki wasn't his student, and Sejah was beginnign to look to him as more of a friend than just a boy. Sighing himself, the mongoose let a moment of silence pass.

"I was bullied too. It wasn't fun, I know that all too well. It's not easy being the one who gets picked on. Thankfully, it wasn't normally me, but, I had my days." He said, thogh not patronizing Loki in any way. And instead of dishing out canned advice that he knew was mainly the fluff of honor roll student parents, he gave what he knew to be true.

"There's no good way to stop them. To regress to violence will only bring them at you more, or will end up in you getting in trouble from authorities. Kids can be mean, and so can adults. I'm sorry for what happened to you Loki, I can sympatathize with your plight, but, I can't give you any advice that will make it go away, or keep it from happening again." He said, leaning down to see if he could look into the boy's face. "You've done a most admirable job at handling it, it seems. If we ahd not ahd this discussion, I would have never known. But, as you told me, you need to decide if it is your past, or your future. You're smart, kid, smarter than me, that's for sure. Now, shall we get back to our trainign for a bit, or are you up to it? Might make both of us feel a bit better."

[Sejah Haversh]

Bump.

[Loki Ahmrah]

OOC: Sorry, had no idea you'd replied. :\

IC:


Sejah was right, there was no good way to stop them and even if he'd tried back then he wouldn't have been able to stand up for himself. But now was a different matter and inwardly he smiled, listening to his friends words. He dried up the few residual tears on his sleave and looked up, smiling with a returning confidence.

"Y'know, anybody ever tell you yo talk too much?" Then his grin broadened and he laughed quietly.

"When you said you can't give me any advice to prevent it from happening again, I realised something - it will never happen again - all that is in the past now. It was good for me to get it out oif my system though, y'know - talk to someone about it." He let out a heavy sigh and hopped to his feet with a hearty, "Anyway--"

"--I thought you'd had enough!" He said, stepping back, he crouched down somewhat and in both hands held the training sword in a familiar ready stance in lightsaber combat. The length of the weapon stretching across his front at a diagonal angle starting at his right hip. By crouching low he was hoping to somehow turn his size disadvantage into an advantage by catching the Nehantite from a much lower level. But he waited.

"Why don't you attack this time, I could do with some defense practise." He smiled and remained still.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah was more than happy with how Loki was able to realize and adjust to his problems. It seemed he had overcome many in his short life. In some ways, Sejah connected with him, but, Sejah also needed to keep himself seperate. tehre were thigns others best not know about him.

As Loki got up and stood ready for another round, Sejah rose to a stand, his spirits lifted. Taking up his wooden sword once more, the mongoose rolled it in his wrist and replied, "Hmm, givign me the chance to hit you... Not too smart, there, Loki," He grinned, and then adopted a high beginning stance. "Just kidding. You want to defend, all right, that's fine, just don't yell at me if I accidentally hit you."

With that, Sejah stepped in and swung in from his right, trying to catch Loki about chest-level. Had he not been a teacher of younger pupils, he would have had difficulty deciding where to strike, but, falling back into his instructoral mode, the Nehantite swordmaster began to test Loki's abilities before really going at him.

[Loki Ahmrah]

OOC: Might as well keep these next few posts short and snappy then. :)

IC:


Instinctively the boy brought his weapon upright, his hands slid across his chest so that the wooden shaft stretched from his left hip up past his left shoulder thus intercepting Sejah's attack. Then with the Nehantites weapon on the outside Loki saw a chance to snap his weapon across the exposed underside of Sejah's forearm curious to see how his opponent would react.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah had not expected Loki to counter attack on the first strike, but he feilded it well anyhow. Spinning his wrist over, the Nehantite whipped hsi wooden blade over and knocked Loki's downwards quickly, then stepping sideways to give himself room for the next attack. the boy was keeping hsi stance low, and Sejah was okay with that; it displayed his knowledge of his own self, and his abilities.

Fortunately, Sejah knew how to play to a low striking zone. But at the moment, he was still interested in feeling out Loki's skill. After he had appropriately guaged it, he would up his pressure. Snapping his next tstep towards the boy, Sejah delivered a close-bodied strike aimed for Loki's left hip, his left paw laying across his own stomach as he did so.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Loki pivoted on his left foot so that he faced Sejah sideways, arching his back to gain himself more time he slid the wooden across his body one more but this time turned his right wrist so that the shaft faced downwards once again intercepting Sejah's attack. However despite what he had been taught he was blinded by the heat of the moment and was oblivious to the Nehantite's free hand.

He placed his weight onto his left foot however and from the hip turned to deliver a sweep to Sejah's closest knee. However he quickly put his foot back down, he felt himself losing his balance due to the position he was in and left himself in a very vulnerable state, his front completely ungaurded.

[Sejah Haversh]

With his left paw held against his waist, Sejah snuck it in and then, as Loki prepared to deliver another strike before losing his balance, the NEhantite snapped his arm out and dealt a smakcing blow to the boy's upper chest with the heel of his palm.

It was enough to knock him over, but Sejah reacted quickly, snatching the scruff of Loki's shirtfront in in his paw and then stickign his wooden swoard down under Loki's other arm, preventing it form delivering another blow. He had the boy pinned, and smiled as he let go. "Good job, you didn't panic." Was all eh said.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Jeez, he's fast!" Loki thought as Sejah held him up and simultaneously had his arms restrained, but no only that made it look effortless.

"If only I could--" With quick thinking, the boy leaned as far foward as he could using Sejah's support before he let go and allowed him to fall on his behind. Then pulling himself back swung his legs up as far foward as possible without damaging his arm against the Nehantites weapon, tucked them in and kicked out using the counter motion to propel himself in an unorthadox way relying on Sejah's grip on his clothes for support. He flipped up and over his fellow padawan's paw and landed on his feet, Sejah having released his hold on him before his wrist was either twisted or even snapped.

OOC: I can draw a small diagram of that move in sequence if you'd like, so it doesn't sound like a load of nonsense. :)

It had all happened in one fast motion and required speed and agility to pull off - this Loki had - however it was a first for him and he wasn't sure how it would turn out. Luckily it all turned out rather well but he found himself a little disoriented after the manouver leaving himself open for attack once more but he was too pleased with himself to care; the advancements he was making as far as physical feats are concerned were something he thought only existed in a dream.

[Sejah Haversh]

With Loki executing a fantastic righting maneuver, Sejah let go and quickly snapped a backstep, giving himself some room lest the boy try an attack following the escape.

"How did you do that?" He asked wheeling his wooden sword back up near his shoulder, "That was impossible, nobody can do that." He was in disbeleif that Loki had just done what he had seen, and wary of future tricks like it. Though he had been called unorthodox in his style sometimes, he had never seen anythign like what his opponent just did, and it frightened him a little.

[Loki Ahmrah]

"Whew!" Loki sighed, turning around with a smile on his face, he was pleased with himself yet like Sejah, didn't know exactly how he'd done the manouver. "I don't know, I--" He paused, thinking back, "--I just acted in the moment. The only explanation is that it had something to do with the Force. It was interesting to say the least, I didn't have to think about it, I just did it."

The boy shrugged, he didn't want to ponder on it anymore, knowing that it is a mystery that cannot be solved right now. He readied himself like before and stood waiting for Sejah's attack or for what he had to say.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah stood while Loki talked, but instead of replying, he swiftly stepped forward and down to almost a kneel while bringing his wooden blade in at Loki's left shoulder without warning.

And just as before, he kept his free paw close to his body, the muscles in his arm tensed for another quick strike. It was time to see if Loki would learn form his previous mistake, or if he would need to repeat it again. and if he did repeat it, if Sejah would be able to figure out how to block the escape the boy had pulled.

[Loki Ahmrah]

After what had just happened, Loki was well aware of Sejah's free hand; he'd already been caught about by that twice and like they say: "Third time's a charm!"

Nevertheless, in order to successfully deflect Sejah's attack, the young padawan would have to use both hands to hold his weapon, otherwise he'd be completely overpowered and as such has to rely on his speed to compensate. Stepping back a little, he parried his opponents wooden sword away from his shoulder but once the weapon was at a safe distance, he quickly slid his weapon forward, guiding it down the shaft of Sejah's sword. His intention was to deflect any oncoming attacks from the Nehantite's free hand the moment it lashed out.

If this proved successful he would then keep Sejah's free hand at a fair distance with his weapon and pivot so that his back faced the mogoose and if he could move quickly and accurately enough he could land his right foot on Sejah's right wrist (OOC: I'm assuming your right hand is wielding the weapon and the left hand is free) and by pushing outwards would keep Sejah's free hand away with his sword and his sword-hand away with a raised foot. This he hoped would give him time to think ahead further, but it would all depend on the Nehantite's reaction to his first deflection and attempt at a second deflection before he even considered pulling this off.

But in the heat of confrontation, Loki was beginning to rely more on his senses and feelings, both heightened by the Force giving him the ability to think ahead and anticipate attacks more effectively. These truly were the boys first steps into a larger world.

[Sejah Haversh]

As his young friend's skill began to show, Sejah smiled. It was fortunate that Loki was not one of his students, for if he were, he would know that when Sejah smiled in a spar, something bad was about to happen to them.

The flow of consiousness that coursed through Loki's veins, his connection to the Force, was something Sejah ahd felt for years, but had always thoguht it was just natural intuition. But though it did flow through him, it was not as strong as that which Loki knew, and he had tuned his phyical body to feelign oncoming attacks as well to compensate for it. Loki's sword held his own at bay, and Sejah kept his left paw close, knowing that the boy would be able to block it that time. His smile brew bigger.

From his low stance, Sejah let the knee that was almost on the floor drop, and his forward leg shoot out to catch Loki in the leg with the sole of his footpaw as he straightned it before him. It had enoguh power to knock Loki over, unless he was able to pull some form of Force maneuver again. And in all honesty, Sejah was hoping he would.

[Sejah Haversh]

*bump*

[Loki Ahmrah]

So he successfully deflected Sejah's oncoming weapon but whilst he was focusing on the Nehantite's retracted free hand, his attention was diverted from his legs. Sejah being the seasoned fighter that he is no doubt knew what would happen and anticipated not just one or two steps ahead but three of four.

Loki saw the leg but it was too late, Sejah's footpaw impacted with the young padawan's leg and his balance was completely disrupted. Unfortunately, it had been the leg in front on which he had placed his weight and thus the force of the kick took him right from his feet, he spun in the air due to the attack's momentum and landed to the ground with a thud.

His free hand slapped the floor moments before impact, breaking his fall somewhat but his senses were still alert and the moment he landed on his back, the boy had formulated a new attack. His weapon came up and swung left to right, aiming for the inside of Sejah's legs, he dodged one and parried the other. Taking advantage of the momentary weapon lock, the boy, still on the floor, rocked back onto his shoulders and brought his legs up together, he intended this to be a kick to the Nehantite's lower abdomen, all the while keeping their weapons locked to one side.

The manouver would hopefully either stun Sejah for a second or knock him back, giving Loki enough time to get to his feet. However there was a risk that this kick may prove unsucessful and if that is the case the boy will be finding himself in a very precarious position.

[Sejah Haversh]

Loki's two-footed kick landed firmly, but unfortunately not quite where he had intended it to.

Unfortunately for Sejah, that was.

The mongoose's face screwed up as his whole body paused, and then leaned over. Loki had successfully planted a blow into his groin, and it hurt like the dickens! Staggering back a few paces, Sejah could only grunt through tightly grit teeth. His free paw made it's way down to instictively block another accidental attack to his nether regions, and his tail was stock still.

"I-, I think that's enough for today..." He eventually wheezed, setting down his wooden sword, "Ow..."

[Loki Ahmrah]

"It worked!" Loki thought, bringing his legs down he quickly came to his and hopped some distance before turning to meet Sejah.

"Oh!" He said with suprise, a frown appeared on his face and his sword-hand relaxed. He approached with hesitation, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Looks like I need to work on that one, huh?" He asked rhetorically.

"Sorry about that!" Appologising, he collected the Nehatite's training sword and along with his own, placed them both back into the bag Sejah had brought with him.

[Sejah Haversh]

It hurt. Oh, how it hurt. No matter how many times it happens, crotch shots always hurt like mad. SSejah had nearly gone cross-eyed after Loki kicked him, and no matter how much he tried to block out the pain, he couldn't make it go away.

As the boy put away his wooden sword, Sejah was finally able to stand back up straight and limp over to his back where he picked up his vest and put it back on.

"Well, aside from that last blow, you did quite well today, Loki," Sejah said ina more normal voice to his young friend, "I know I'm not the easiest teacher, but you held up well, and even taught me a few things. I see a lot of promise in you, kid, and from our talk, you're definitely wise beyond your years. If you promise to lay off the low blows, I'd be happy to go a round with you again sometime, and maybe we can even try sabers, too."

[Loki Ahmrah]

"I am glad you think I did quite well, the approval of a Nehantish swordsmaster is more than enough to convince me to keep up my training. I believe lightsaber combat is important as it symbolizes the service which the Jedi provide - protection - ao perhaps next time we could use training sabers." The boy said enthusiastically. He bended over, wrapped his hands around the staps of the bag and gave a grunt as his arm tugged at it, quickly he let go with a little embarrassment. He hadn't realised how heavy it was.

"Thank you very much, Sejah. Your guidance is very much appreciated and it has been a pleasure. I look forward to our next meeting but until then, take care." He gave a slight bow from the neck as he was still a little uncomfortable with the reverent bowing at the order. He smiled and turned, making his way out.

[Sejah Haversh]

Bowing in return to his young friend, Sejah picked up his bag of training materials and looked around the room once more to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

Confident that he was all packed, Sejah limped out of the trainign room and back to his own apartment. His groin still throbbed, but the only thing that could make it better was ice, and in an injury such as his, ice usually only made it more uncomfortable. Having to grin and bear it, Sejah simply lived with the pain, and was glad when eh finally reached his room again. Loki showed a lot of promise, and even more intelligence. It would be interesting to watch him advance, and he would have to talk with Anbira to congratulate him on a padawan well trained.