Dueling with Swords and Tongues (Xazor)

[Gurney Devries]

She was sure to find the note he'd left her: The holopad was resting comfortably on her bed, nestled neatly in the center of her pillow like a little mint.

Gurney knew that there was a way for Jedi to communicate with one another through the Force... unfortunately, that method was beyond his grasp. So he did what the NRSF had taught him to do: Work with what ya' got.

The note was simple:

Xazor Leo Dawnstrider: Meet me in the Academy's sparring area. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 credits. I will be waiting.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor walked into her room after a meeting with some new Padawans about issues that they were having. She made her way over to the bed where she would normally sit and read a book or meditate at the moment....but something caught her eye. It was a note and it was written quite curiously. She had to laugh at the reference to a game in it.....and she shook her head. It seemed she lived in the Academy these days...but did not mind at all. Smiling to herself, she checked to make sure all of her weapons were on her, and they were....so she set off for the Academy.

Several minutes of walking later, she reached the large wooden doors and pulled them open to find a semi-lit room with a lone figure standing within the center of it. His Force presence was unfamiliar to her and she was curious as to who it was.....probably someone she had never met before....another member of this Order whom she had overlooked. Smiling, the Knight crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him curiously before taking a breath to speak.

"You have sought me.....and I have come. What now, is it that you ask of me?"

Xazor questioned softly, though her voice was gentle, it echoed off the walls and resounded in his ears and her own. The Garou's elongated canines poked out over her bottom lip as she smiled coyly and pushed the long braids in her hair behind her back....the golden coins in them clanging softly together. She moved her red robes out of the way and stepped forward into a bit of light that illuminated her features as she stood in waiting....

[Gurney Devries]

The man had been standing calmly in the room with his head bowed when she'd arrived, as motionless as if he were chisled out of pure marble. Even when she spoke to him, he did not make any attempt to move or even greet her.

Instead, he raised the chrome shaft in his hand, sliding a finger across the activation switch embedded on its side. With a snap-hiss, the vibrant blue blade of energy sprung to life, almost a meter in length. It throbbed and hummed with anticipation. Finally, he spoke. His voice was gravelly and hoary, yet strong.

"Do you fear death?", he asked simply.

[Xazor Elessar]

A blade shot forth from a saber hilt.....and it barely illumiated the face of the owner. Still she could not make him out....not even by the sound of his voice. She eyed him curiously and thought of his question for only a few moments before shaking her head slightly.

"No.....I do not fear death....I fear nothing for that is of the Darkside...and I am not. Death is not an end....but a time when I shall become one with the Force."

She said confidently, her words were spoken in truth. Indeed, she was not afraid of death....she had seen it too many times in her life to view it differently. It bothered her when people died around her......but she herself was not afraid of her own possible fate.

"Stranger, why is it you have called me here? To ask me that? To spar? I....I do not even know you...please, reveal your face....."

[Gurney Devries]

"You do not fear anything? That is a careless route."

Even as he spoke, the man raised his free hand, lifting back the hood from his face. It was the face of a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties and was well-weathered. It wasn't his face which stood out, however, but his eyes - the fathomless, blue-on-blue eyes which almost seemed to glow with a light of their own.

"Irrational Fear is of the Dark Side, this is true. To let your fear control you, to become it's slave, is to become a slave of the Dark Side. But to be foolishly confident, to lack the proper respect for the peril you will often find yourself in, is to invite your own demise."

"You must give death the proper respect it deserves. While your Jedi teaching may tell you that it's all great and honorable to die for a cause, there's nothing noble about being dead."

He hefted his sabre, taking on a fighting stance. His glared with inhuman light. And, without the slightest physical or even vocal hint, he charged at her, swinging the blade of his weapon around in a horizontal arc.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor narrowed her eyes at the man whom she did not recognize. Why was he saying this to her? He seemed to be treating her as if she was no longer a Knight, but a Padawan once again. Shaking her head, she smiled gently.

"It is not an overconfidence I speak of, sir....I fear nothing.....even a bit of fear can lead to the Darkside. Now respect....that is something I have. I respect the perils which I face....the enemies which I may fight.....I know that Death may come swiftly to me.....and it is a fact of life. You are born, you live, and you die. I have escaped Death on numerous occasions......"

She paused and let him continue speaking. Lofting a brow, she placed her hands on her hips and eyed him even more so than before. He was a curious fellow, and she did not know where this was going....until suddenly he came charging at her. The Knight quickly drew the hilt of her weapon from her belt and let her finger slip over the ignition switch. Suddenly two blue blades shot forth from each end creating a double bladed, duel phase weapon called 'Love'. She blocked the strike with ease and sent a gentle Force push his way.....making him back off of her as she began to circle around him.

"I have come here to see the one whom left me a note......and you do not seem like the character of someone like that.....you attack me with no reason, yet you speak to me of the Jedi Way. Indeed....I am a Warrior and I attack as well......but not while speaking to someone. Perhaps you should learn some respect!"

Did he not know who he was? Surly to her it mattered not that she was a Council Member, and a Warrior Jedi Knight.....rank was nothing here.....they were all equal....but a bit of respect was due to those whom held those ranks. She had not the faintest clue as to why he was acting as such. The Garou held her saber in front of her in a diagonal fasion.....ready to deflect his hasty moves....

[Gurney Devries]

"An excellent answer, indeed. Respect, not fear. That is essential. One does not fear the viper, nor begrudge it for the poison it bears. But you must also respect the power it holds."

He smiled, and the gesture did seem to be both genuine and warm. Still, his saber did not falter from its position.

"I do not hand out my respect as one would a treat to a child. It is a token to be earned. And, should it comfort you, you have earned a measure of it for your wise response. But I did indeed invite you here for a duel - both with words and with weapons."

He charged again, and again their blades met briefly. The air was livid with the smell of oxygen as the blades rapidly clashed... one, twice, thrice. The third time, he held his to her's in a lock, pushing it forward until his face was close to her's.

"A hypothetical: Suppose you had the opportunity to sacrifice your life to save a woman, who would surely die without your help. But, through a flash of clairvoyance, you found out that you could instead save two other people.... but in order to do so, you would have to let the woman die. If you saved her, you could not save the other two. There was no other way. Which would you choose?"

[Xazor Elessar]

The Knight blocked his saber strikes and shoved him back off of her, then began circling the man. Her eyes searched his face momentarily as he proposed the question to her. It was drilling at her ethics now.....and it was a hard choice to make. She let her eyes fall to the ground briefly and then back to the man....shaking her head slowly.

"And how are you sure there would be no other way? In the Force one can always find a way.....even if that way seems blocked and unreachable. I would sacrifice it all to find that way....that path. And if, in the end I could not.....I would save the woman. For from women the very essence of life comes....and she could easily replace those two other lives."

Quickly the Knight spun around and labeled the stranger in the stomach with a Force enhanced back kick, pushing him away from her further....so now she circled around him at a greater length....

[Gurney Devries]

Gurney grunted in pain as he was knocked backwards, but he regained his footing easily enough. He laughed.

"A slightly biased answer, I admit. But the right one, it is. If there is no other way... you make one. It is a Jedi's duty to make the impossible possible."

The blade twirled in his hands, creating a hypontizingly rythmic sound as it did.

"Finally, I present to you what is probably the oldest of moral dillemas ever presented to a Jedi: Suppose, for a minute, that the Galaxy was plagued by a genocidal madman. A madman who's deeds put even those of the terrible Darth Vader to shame. He has already wiped out entire races of sentient beings, and will surely continue to kill more unless someone can find a way to stop him. Children have begged him for their lives, only to be slaughtered in cold blood."

He paused, allowing time for his words to sink in.

"But he is not yet this man. When you come across him, he is but a boy. And you knew what he is destined to become. You have this one opportunity to severe the threads of fate - to save hundreds of thousands of lives. All it would take is a simple flash of your lightsaber, and the Galaxy would be in your debt. You would be the greatest unsung hero of all time. Would you have the stomach to do it? Would you have the strength to end the life of one, in order to save countless others?"

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor stopped in her tracks as he began speaking to her once again, this time, the questions seemed to hit home. Her eyes fell to the floor for a moment and then wandered back up to his, a smile upon her face.

"It is impossible for one to truly know the outcome of one's path......always in motion the future is, remember.....Master Yoda spoke those words. Yet.....the Darkness clouds the minds of all. I would let the boy live and show him the path of the Light in hopes of his heart being changed then....and if he was to turn into a mass murderer as told.....it was the Force that willed him to do so. For all things happen by way of the Force.....and I am no judge of the Almighty......"

She said softly, beginning to circle around him once again, a smile upon her lips as she eyed him curiously. It was his turn now for an attack, and she gladly left him plenty of time for one.....if he so chose......

[Gurney Devries]

Indeed she had. But instead, he shut down his lightsaber. He seemed only interested in her response now.

"You speak of the Force as if it were a single entity. Curious... but not of my concern, at the moment. An interesting topic for further discussion, nonetheless.

"You said that you would try to teach the child of Right and Wrong, to take him in under your wing. But isn't that exactly what happened with the legendary 'Chosen One'? Our Holocrons tell us that Master Kenobi taught him as best he could, yet the boy still grew up to become Darth Vader, one of the most terrible forces this galaxy has known.

And if the boy grew up to become that man, could you really live with yourself, knowing that you could have prevented it? That the blood of every person he kills would be on your hands? It is something to think about. Just because something terrible happens, that doesn't mean that it's the will of the Force. Were we to stand idly by, a great number of tragedies would befall the innocenets across the galaxy. That doesn't mean that it's what's supposed to happen, or what should happen.

Life is about choices. Sometimes, we must make choices that we take no pleasure in."

The man took several slow and deep breaths, recovering after his lengthy soliloquy. He returned the saber to its resting place inside his robes, pulled his hood back up, and made his way out of the room. He stopped briefly when he reached the doorway, casting a sideways glance over his shoulder.

"Mah name's Gurney, by the way. Be seeing you, Xazor."

And with that, he left.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor listened to his words intently and nodded....they made sense, yet......she had her own reasons. It seemed to her that she was indeed of The Lost now. Sighing, she turned and began to leave until he spoke again. Gurney.....she had heard the name before but where, she could not remember. Bowing in return, she smiled.

"Indeed.....perhaps we shall meet like this again. Just call on me and I shall come......."

She said softly, and then as he did.......the Knight parted as well.....but to meditate on all that they had discussed......