A balancing Workout #2 ....(Open)

[Quay'Na Rakai]

The balancing beam had become one of Padawan learner Quay'Na Rakai's favorite workouts. She came to the Jedi temple's gym at least once or twice a day, to practice more balancing techniques.

After a few moments of quiet meditation and stretching, Quay'Na threw her outer tunic aside, her undertunic was so much more comfortable and easier to manuever in.

She stood barefoot on the mat. With a deep calming breath, she took off and with careful ease jumped at just the right time and straddled the beam. With no trouble, she rolled and came up on her feet.

The beam was slightly cold as she manuevered herself into an easy split. Her muscles were starting to warm up now as she carefully moved her legs forward and held herself up by her arms. Her endurance waivered a bit as she rolled her hips and brought her legs up over her head into a perfect handstand.

She stayed in that stance for as long as she could and then finally brought her feet back to the beam and stood.

With graceful ease she backed up to the end of the beam. Quay'Na closed her eyes and concentrated on calling to the Force. It always seemed to come easy to her while she was exercising.

She held her arms out and sprang forward, manuevering a graceful forward handspring and landed safely on the beam.
The Padawan turned again, her breath calming. The act of balancing always soothed her.

A second later she lunged forward, did a one-handed double cartwheel and catapulted herself into the air. While in mid-air, she twisted her body with ease and landed gracefully on the mats again.

[Pierce Tondry]

The sound of light clapping began to echo in the training room. "Not bad," said a rough voice from the doorway. "You'll be finessing with a lightsaber in no time."

Pierce came all the way into the room, dressed in a black tank top and loose-fitting black exercise pants. A dark black blindfold concealed his eyes, but his face was still looking directly at Quay'Na.

Then he turned and headed towards the weight section of the gym.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"My lightsabre moves aren't as easy as this. I've had plenty of practice on the beam or at least on similar things." She smiled, almost embarrassed with how she had learned the moves.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce stopped with a surprised grin- was she implying she'd balanced above people before? He turned back to Quay'Na and tilted his head appraisingly. "Is that right?"

He folded his arms together. "Like what?" he asked challengingly.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Well..." She hesitated just a bit, he'd caught her off guard. "Do you know how tall the trees are on Endor? I've balanced on them many a times, while being there. I didn't have an exercise room like this one, so my former Master had me make due with what was available." She leaned down and grabbed a towel that she'd brought with her.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Ah. Trees. Right." Pierce smirked, then let the expression drop. "That'd mean you have to climb 'em though, right? You use gear, or just your bare hands?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na heard the touch of sarcasism in his voice and raised an eyebrow. "At first, yes. I used gear, but my master informed me that one day I may not have that gear available to use and then what? So, she taught me to climb only using my bare hands, she taught me well."

[Pierce Tondry]

"Not bad," Pierce repeated. He tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "So how good at balancing are you anyway?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Good enough," she told him smuggly. "Are you challenging me?"

[Pierce Tondry]

"Ain't a gymnast," Pierce replied absently. He rubbed his chin, then dropped the finger, his earlier grin returning. "I'm a martial artist, and I do strength and endurance. But yeah, I'm challenging you."

"Balance on me."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na's mouth dropped open. "W..what?" He had to be kidding.

[Pierce Tondry]

"I told you I did strength training," Pierce clenched a fist, flexing the arm's bicep. "Let's see how good that balance of yours is. I'll lift you up and you balance a couple of different ways."

"If you think you can, that is," Pierce added seriously. "If you think you'll get hurt, I don't want you taking unnecessary risks."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Now, this could be interesting. Quay'Na thought as she smiled in his direction. "Okay, I'm up to that. But, if you drop me, I'll drop kick you to the floor. But, first, I would like to know who you are." She added as she threw the towel down and folded her arms across her chest.

[Pierce Tondry]

"You've got spunk," Pierce chuckled. "Just like a greenie. My name is Pierce Tondry."

The smile on his face faded to deadly seriousness. "Don't ask what I do."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na nodded. "Fair enough, Pierce. I'm Quay'Na, nice to meet you." She stepped over to him and closed her eyes. She drew in a deep breath, and called out to the Force. That was the easy part. She had never balanced over anyone before and wasn't about to let him get the best of her. Balance had been one of her best attributes in her training. No problem. She thought as she said. "Okay, I'm ready."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce stepped around behind Quay'Na, placing his hands on her hips. "Stay very still," he murmured in her ear. "Or this will go badly."

Then, Pierce lifted Quay'Na off the floor. In a smooth motion, he spun her backwards. Her lithe feet came up over her head and the soles stopped on his shoulders so that Quay'Na was horizontally oriented, held up by the hands that supported her hips.

With a final surge, Pierce pushed Quay'Na up into a vertical stand. His hands slid down her legs and clamped onto her feet, steadying her long enough for her to hold her balance. When Quay'Na had stopped shifting for balance and was fully standing upright on Pierce's shoulders, he let go of her feet.

"It's all you, now."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na opened her eyes and breathed lightly. Being on his shoulders seemed very strange, but nonetheless the exercise would give her more confidence. That was, unless he dropped her. With careful ease, she lifted her right foot off his shoulder, shifted her balance slightly and pointed it behind her. While she did this, she leaned forward and brought her arms out for even more balance.
Once comfortable in that position, she went further and slowly began to stretch her right leg up behind her back and followed through with her arms in a perfect arch until she was able to hold onto her right foot. Her muscles shifted slightly and waivered a bit, but she concentrated even more and was able to steady herself once again.

[Pierce Tondry]

Although Pierce was both blindfolded and staring straight ahead, his unique combat senses allowed him an image of Quay'Na's posture. They also allowed him to see minute shifts in her musculature, shifts that threatened to overbalance her position and send her toppling to the floor. Almost instinctively, Pierce shifted his shoulders and arms by those same amounts, the Force acting as a conduit to physical harmony between the two of them.

The two of them were still until Pierce decided that it was enough. "Okay Quay'Na," he said quietly, his words flowing into her concentration rather than disturbing it. "Try something with your hands."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'na carefully let go of her foot and easily placed it back on Pierce's shoulder. Once her balance was back to normal, she told him softly. "Give me your hands, palms upward."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce's shoulders moved beneath Quay'Na's feet; again, slowly so she would not lose her balance. He extended his arms fully with the palms upward, waiting for Quay'Na to take them.

"When you move, give my arms as much time to adjust to your weight as you can, Quay."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Okay, here we go." She told him as she took a deep cleansing breath and carefully placed her hands onto his palms. She'd done this on beams, but not with someone else holding her up. Her arm muscles tensed for a minute, but she focused and relaxed again. Slowly, she lifted herself up onto his palms and as easily as she could so he could counteract her weight.
She carefully, leaned forward and released her footholds on his shoulders. Now she was balanced in a vertical position, held up by nothing more than palm to palm.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce's muscles gave slightly as he'd taken Quay'Na's weight onto his arms. "Hold still again," he said quietly, then pushed her up to the fullest extension of his arms, not letting the muscles falter and lock even for a second.

Again, the two training Jedi stood, balanced in physical harmony, with the Force guiding them to adjust to each other's subtle shifts. It was almost a phenomenon, and Pierce found himself amazed by it. He'd never experienced anything even remotely close to the connectedness he felt now, and so he put off saying something aloud until he felt he had to. Even then, it was in the same calm and low tone he'd used earlier.

"You're fairly light, Try moving or doing something other than the straight up and down."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Another move came to mind, one she hadn't done for sometime.
Quay'Na relaxed her mind and concentrated on her breathing. She closed her eyes again, allowing the Force to flow through her and around her.
With the calmest voice she could muster, she told him lightly,
"Okay, Pierce, I'm going to let loose of my right arm, so all my weight will settle on our left, are you up to that?"
She hoped she could still do the pose, but it would take the most focused concentration. Concentration that she hoped she had.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce inhaled deeply. His muscles were starting to fatigue, and he began running through an endurance technique from the Archives. That connected harmony he was in the middle of with Quay'Na seemed to make the entire process easier.

"Whenever you're ready."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na's muscles were beginning to fatigue as well, so she began to draw on her energy reserves to give her the strength to go on.
Pierce's Force waves seemed to radiate from him, she felt the control he had, it was strong.
Slowly, she began to readjust her weight more and more onto their left side, until finally she was able to let go with her right and bring it straight out to her side.
Her mind faltered for a second with self doubt, but she quickly pushed it aside. Control. She told herself, mentally. I must stay in control.
She stopped as her arm gave way a bit, and her forehead began to glisten with persperation. Breathe, focus on breathing. I can do this.
She drew on the Force again, more this time and within a few seconds was able to gently push herself back up into her stance.
Now, it was time for the leg work.
Carefully, she began to bend her left leg and gently rest her foot against the calf of her right.


Don't over compensate.

She held the position for a few more seconds, until her right leg shifted and she panicked for a second.
But, that second was all it took as her body shifted to control her balance and she...over compensated.
She groaned as she felt herself begin to topple towards her right, or was her left?
She couldn't control it anymore and closed her eyes hoping that it wouldn't be too painful.

[Pierce Tondry]

The red tinges warned Pierce that Quay'Na was about to fall. Immediately, he shifted his balance to compensate, only to realize that it wasn't working. Quay'Na was working against him for some reason. A sense of panic flashed into his mind and the harmony between the two of them was gone.

Pierce's fingers took hold of Quay'Na's hand and through strength alone he pulled her in the opposite direction. Quay'Na continued her inevitable tumble towards the floor, this time to the right-

-but she fell into Pierce's arms instead.

For a moment, the two of them just stood there, catching their respective breaths. Then Pierce spoke.

"Were you going to stand up, or did you want my hand on your rear all night?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Sithspit!" She growled and stood. "I can't believe I over corrected! You must think I'm some idiot!"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce began laughing loudly. "Why do I have to think that?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Because, it wasn't supposed to go that way. We were so connected with the Force, couldn't you feel that?"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce sobered immediately. "I've never felt anything like what that was, I'll admit. But that doesn't mean things can't go wrong. The Force is more of a guide than a cure-all, Quay."

After a few random stretches, Pierce sat down on the exercise mat Quay'Na had lain out. "You can still make a mistake regardless of how skilled you are at something," he told her. "What you've gotta do is have faith that you won't misstep when it really counts."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na flopped down beside him and began stretching again. Her muscles had begun to ache. "My connection to the Force is so limited right now, if I'm not exercising or around nature, it's so hard to stay focused."

[Pierce Tondry]

"The more you exercise or meditate, the easier focusing will be," Pierce told her. "But you're gonna end up limiting yourself if you just stick to what you're familiar with."

"With the strain you just put yourself through, I'd get a massage from one of the physical trainers if I were you," he added. "You kept on tensing and relaxing while you were up there, and that's not good when you're putting a constant strain on fully extended muscles."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"So, I've noticed." She cringed as her left arm cramped. She shook it out. She sighed heavily. "I think, I pulled one in my arm."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce scooted over and took Quay'na's arm. He began rhythmically working her muscles with his hands. "Pretty good knot here," he said. "You feel any pain or anything?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na cringed harder and bit her lip. "Yeah, you could say that. Ow!"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce stopped immediately. "You might just have an injury. Let me back up a bit."

Pierce transferred his hands up to Quay'Na's shoulder and began again, but slower and more deeply than he had before. His hands began working their way down her arm, ironing out all the kinks he could feel. "If you feel any more pain, let me know."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na breathed slowly as his massaging seemed to help out , a lot. "That feels better, Pierce. But, I don't think I'll be able to keep it from Master Sage. I wonder if he'll get mad."

[Pierce Tondry]

"Not if I know Sage, and I do," Pierce shrugged, but kept his hands going down her arm. "But Masters are there to help Padawans get through things they don't really know how to handle. Telling Sage could prove beneficial."

"But there is the other side of the coin- sometimes a Master is too close to you for you to feel comfortable telling them something. Sometimes you need a non-judgemental third-party."

Pierce applied a slow and gentle pressure to the knot in Quay'Na's arm with his thumbs. "You really need to work on staying relaxed during physical activity," he said. "This is as tight as an Endorian redwood's branch."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'na smiled gently. She wasn't quite sure where Pierce was going with this. "Third-party, huh? What are you talking about?"
She wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce snorted. "Talking out my own way of thinking, I guess. I like to solve my own problems. Even if nearly every Jedi Archive article on the subject says 'Talk to your Master' in big bold font, I don't always like to. Some things I don't really feel like sharing."

"And since I see that side of the coin, I don't always spout the standard blather. Besides- Masters have problems, too. Usually, they're named Padawans." Pierce chuckled ruefully. "So why unload everything on em, you know?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Could he tell? Could he feel the pain that she had locked away? Impossible! Or was it?
Quay'Na shook her head. "I...I don't have any problems, Pierce, everything is fine."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce stopped and let go of Quay'Na's shoulder. "You know what 'fine' stands for?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"You're going to tell me, aren't you?"

[Pierce Tondry]

"Darn right." Pierce raised his hand and began ticking off fingers. "Frelled-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. When people say things are fine, they always mean the opposite."

Pierce's eyes searched Quay'Na's own from behind his blindfold. "So what's eating you?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na stared at him. He could feel her pain, it was obvious. "I can't, Pierce." She looked down at the mat. Her lower lip trembles slightly as she tried to swallow past the growing lump in her throat.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Okay," Pierce shrugged and got up. "Call me when you can."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Pierce, wait. Don't leave like that." She said as she stood and walked in his direction.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce laughed- she'd misinterpreted him, but then, he was easy to misinterpret in these cases. "Look, I'm not gonna pressure you to tell me anything you don't want," he explained. "But if you're gonna let yourself get hung up over... whatever you're getting hung up over, then this conversation of ours ain't goin' very far, darlin'."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"You're going to think it's lame." She told him as she nervously bit her fingernail. "And I know that I'm not supposed to keep things in, but this..." She felt tears well up in her eyes.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce turned around and faced Quay'Na again. "If you don't want to say it out loud, you can show me. I'm an empath- well, empath in training. I can read other people's thoughts, if they let me in. It might be easier to let me feel what you're feeling instead of trying to say it out loud."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na blinked back the tears as she looked at him and took a deep breath. Perhaps, that was what she needed, to share a part of herself that she had sealed away from everyone.

"Okay," she nodded. "What's involved?"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce sat back down on the mat. "First, you gotta relax. I'm not experienced at sneaking into someone's brain when they're trying to keep me out. So just sit on the mat, relax, and don't think about anything."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Easier said than done, but okay." She answered and joined him once again on the mat. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and relaxed. "You aren't going to fry my brain, are you?"

[Pierce Tondry]

"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Pierce deadpanned. " 'cause I like wasting people's brains for no reason."

He shut his eyes and placed two fingers to his temple. He didn't have a lot of trouble sensing things outside himself, but other people's thoughts were a different matter. They were quick and flitty to begin with, and without just the right attunement it was the difference between picture and static on a holovid.

Fortunately, the calm in the room lent itself to to focus, and it wasn't long before Pierce could feel the fuzzy jumble of thoughts that had to be Quay'Na. He nudged his perceptions closer and closer, slipping his essence through senses and then going still.

~Okay, Quay~ he said telepathically. ~Just think about it and I'll see.~

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Okay. Quay'Na thought as she took her mind deeper than she had in a long time. The thoughts errupted quickly with a heavy force.

A loud explosion rocked the starship as Quay'Na struggled with the controls. Her master; Ira Valko had just left seconds before.
"Master! Master!" She screamed as red lights began flashing all over the control panel.

The ship began to plummet back towards the atmosphere of Kabal at threatening speeds.
A few seconds later, the cockpit door flew open and Ira rushed in, she seemed a bit shaken.
"What was that, Master? Was it..."
"A bomb." Ira finished as she threw herself into the co-pilots chair and strapped herself in. "Seems the poachers that we had arrested had some friends. We've got to land, now." Quay'Na's hands flew over the controls in a blur as she tried to slow down the speed that they were going.
Once they broke through the atmosphere, the green landscaping could be seen. At any other time, it would have been beautiful, but now it could be the last thing she saw, ever.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Another explosion rocked them. "Easy,Padawan." Ira told her gently.
Quay'Na concentrated hard, "I can't hold it, Master."
"Start the landing cycle."
Quay'Na did just that, but it didn't respond. "No, luck, Master!"
"Alright, let me find a clearing." Quay'Na heard her Master say. A clearing? All that was in front of them were trees.
Ira leaned back in her seat, her hands folded on her lap.

Quay'Na knew the hardest part was yet to come, and if she could get them slowed down, a crash was envitable. Nothing would stop that now.
Her master didn't look at the landscape before them and didn't seem concerned with the speed that they were going at. "Pull back on your breaking thrusters, now."
Quay'Na applied as much pressure as she could and with the air currents coming against them, they slowed down.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na could feel her master stretching through the Force to 'see' the landscape before them. Everywhere Quay'Na noticed, it ended up being to late to even try.
"Start descending now, Quay'Na."
The Padawan did as she was told and was soon just above the tree line.
The ship rocked violently again and Quay'Na fought to control it.
"Quay'Na...drop." Ira told her.
The Padawan dropped the ship like rock and she thought they were going to smash right into the tree line, but at the last second a clearing appeared out of no where.
A grassy meadow, that stretched along a creek.
It was a good place to land, but they were still coming in to fast.
With a deep breath, Quay'Na dropped the belly of their ship right to the ground. The dragging sensation that caught them slowed them, mowing the grass down but it wasn't good enough. The treeline was right before them.
"Hang on!" Quay'Na yelled as their ship plowed into the trees. "Hard left!" Ira yelled.
Quay'Na tried, but it didn't work and saw the large rock formation headed straight for them. She gritted her teeth and at the last second veered to the left and just barely missed it. But the larger trees didn't give away much more and they plowed right into them with a force that threatened to take Quay'Na's consciousness.
The ship flipped over completely and as it did, Ira's restraining belt broke, sending the Jedi Master every which way.
Quay'Na's head hit the control panel and for a brief moment, she didn't see anything.
When she awoke, all was still.

Quay'Na gasped slightly.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce relaxed, the creases in his brow going smooth. ~Relax, Quay. This is the Jedi Order. You're safe. That was just a memory.~

The experience had been very vivid and memorable to Pierce, and why wouldn't it be? Seeing her Jedi Master die before her very eyes would have to be a hard experience for Quay'Na to go through. Very much like several experiences Pierce had been through himself in the military. But the question was, why was this something Quay'Na was trying to keep to herself?

Guilt? That was the most obvious answer. Quay'Na had been at the controls of the ship- perhaps she felt it was somehow her fault that Master Ira had died? If so, it would be similar to the way she'd felt about losing her balance.

He needed some kind of confirmation. ~How does this make you feel? Don't use words, just feel it. That'll tell me a lot better.~

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Weakness...
That was the first thought that entered Quay'Na's mind, once she relaxed again.
It swirled about her like a whirlwind. Shadowing the light within her.
This feeling was edged with guilt. The pressing guilt that it had been her fault Ira died.
The same guilt that left that ache in her heart that threatened to consume her. Hurt her.
She didn't want to fail anymore. She didn't want to fail Sage the same way she had failed Ira. She couldn't.

It was bound to eat her alive, if she let it. So, she would push it back again and again.

I can not fail.

Her mind took her back to the time an place where she just left.

Quay'Na opened her eyes to a gray fog. She hurt everywhere. It took her only a moment to realize where she was.

Master.

The wreckage was vast as she noticed she was hanging upside down in her restraint. She half fell, half jumped down onto what once was the ceiling.
Her master was near, she could feel it. But, her life was fading, fastly.

Digging through some of the wreckage, she found her. Trapped between another control panel and some kind of storage compartment.

"Master!" She cried and pulled the debris from her.
She knelt down by her and wiped at some blood on her face. "Master!" She said again, hoping to revive her.
Ira opened her eyes and smiled.

"I'm going to get you out of here, Master and too a med clinic. You'll be fine." Quay'Na told her in a desperate attempt to keep her here. But, she felt Ira's life force fading.

Ira looked at her Padawan, her eyes filled with love and compassion. "You need to continue your journey, Padawan."

"We are, Master. You and I, I want you to be the one to knight me."

"That won't be possible, Quay'Na. My journey ends here. But, you must go on."

"No, please, Master! We can do this! Please don't leave me! Not now, you've taught me so much!" She cradled her master's head on her lap.

Ira was fading faster. "You...promise me that you'll go back to the Temple....get a new master, Quay'Na."

"Master, don't talk like that, please!" She was desperate, desperate to keep her here.

"Promise..me, Quay."

Tears of regret fell down her cheeks. "Master..."

"Promise..me..." Ira's voice softened as her eyes glazed over and her body relaxed as her spirit left it's shell. Quay'Na fell over her master, "no, please! Don't go! I will go back...I promise..." She sobbed uncontrollably.

Quay'Na jerked out of the near trance she was in as the thoughts came to a halt. The pain and agony hit her hard as she pulled her knees up to her chest, buried her face into her hands and sobbed.
Her emotions reeked from her and there was no stopping them, at that point she didn't even care if Pierce were there, watching her fall apart.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce took a deep breath. It was hard to separate Quay'Na's emotions from his own just now, but he knew that Ira had not been his Jedi Master and that made it easier. After a moment, he had recovered from the shock of those overwhelming feelings of hurt and anguish, of guilt and despair...

Guilt.

He reached out and placed a hand on Quay'Na's shoulder, saying nothing, but just being present.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na had no idea how long she'd wept, but Pierce had been there the entire time.

Finally, when no more tears came, she took a deep, shaky breath to relax again.

She raised her head and wiped her eyes. "For weeks, I've kept that in, Pierce. Just hoping, that it would go away. Returning here without Ira was the hardest thing I'd ever had to do. I keep wondering what I could've done to save her."

Quay'Na sniffed and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I fell apart like that. I thought, I had better control." She looked away for a moment. "Why is this happening?"

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce said nothing- the only sign that thoughts were buzzing through his head was the bitter twist to his lips.

"Quay'Na," he said eventually. "You're making it happen. Every time something reminds you of Ira or the time you spent together, I bet you take it and push it somewhere inside your head. Thing is, you can only stew in your own juices for so long before you'll burst. You gotta start accepting the fact that you did the best you could and it wasn't enough."

Before Quay'na could reply, Pierce held up a finger. "Let me put it into perspective for you. Who's more to blame for Ira's death? You, or the rat bastitch that planeted that bomb?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na didn't answer right away, she simply nodded. He had a good point, a point that she hadn't really allowed herself to have. She'd been so busy trying to block everything out, it hadn't occurred to her what she was really doing. Hurting herself only more.

"I see what you mean." She finally told him, expressionless.

"And you're right, I have blamed myself for what happened. I felt like...there is just something that I could've done more. I just didn't know what that was." She looked right at him. "I felt I had failed her, in the worst way."

[Pierce Tondry]

"Well, you gotta accept it somehow," Pierce said. "You either accept your actions as right- as taking the best path you could through a bad situation- or you accept 'em as wrong and work out a change for next time. But one way or the other, you gotta accept it."

"Personally, I think you did pretty well for someone who's never been in that situation before," Pierce said, shifting his sitting position. "If anything, you almost had Ira saved. But then again, maybe it was just her time to go. No one can really plan for these things. You just gotta deal with 'em as best you can and not lose too much of yourself in the struggle."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

Quay'Na smiled lightly, how was it that he could say just the right things at just the right time?

She didn't even know him, yet she felt like she'd known him for a very long time.

For the first time since her return, she actually felt better. The dark shroud that had shadowed her, had begun to lift.

"Thank-you, Pierce." She finally told him. "But, how did you figure it out? How did you know something was wrong? You don't even know me."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce clapped Quay'Na on the shoulder and chuckled. "Ma-agic," he said, wiggling his fingers mysteriously.

[Quay'Na Rakai]

It was Quay'Na's turn to laugh now. "Eww, Mr. Mysterious. Now, that is interesting. After all, my first impression of you wasn't so kind."

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce shrugged, a slight smile still on his face. "Yeah?"

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"Yeah, at first I thought you were kind of...what's the word...arrogant. But, that seems to have changed and now you're not too bad." She smiled back and leaned back onto the mat, stretching her legs out. "So, what now?"

[Pierce Tondry]

"I have a workout to get to," Pierce gestured to the weight section. "If I don't do it, I'll regret it down the line. So I'd better get to work. I'd still advise you to see someone about that muscle, just to be certain there's no major injuries. You never can be too careful with your own body."

He stood up to go on to his own tasks, but stopped in the act of turning to leave. "And," he added. "Lemme just say something. Words aren't the best measure of a person. Actions are. If you ever want to really know who someone is, watch what they do when it counts."

[Quay'Na Rakai]

"I'll do that, Pierce and thanks for the workout, perhaps we'll run into each other again sometime." She sat up and crossed her legs.
She needed to meditate for a while, to regain her strength and have time to 'see' herself for what really counted. Perhaps now, she could move on and let the death of her former master go.


There is no death, there is the Force.

How many times had she run through that? It hadn't been until Pierce had actually thrown it at her, in his own kind of way that perhaps she would believe it.

She reached up into her hair and pulled out a pin, letting her Padawan braid fall loosely about her back. Now, she was ready.

Today, would be the day that she would allow herself to move on, not banish all her memories and thoughts about Ira, but move on. Ira would want that of her.