Trial by Ordeal [completed]

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her shoulder was a bit stiff from their last 'training session,' but after two days of treatment and letting Naj wander the city, De'Ville was waiting for him in a courtyard of the palace. No one was around, as it was about three a.m. and she'd just gotten off the comm with her bleary sounding apprentice.

De'Ville checked her chrono, and did a few stretches while she waited.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj was groggy when De'Ville called him, but it didnt take long for him to get awake and lucid. He usually got plenty of sleep every night, except if he was working, so he generally didnt have a hard time waking up. And he was young, which was something many people didnt realize, due to his pronounced features.

Nearly thirty minutes after the call Naj arrived at the courtyard. He was awake, but awfully somber.

"Where's the speeder parked?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Funny." De'Ville tossed him his staff. "I sent a beastrider to retrieve this."

"Before we start this morning, tell me this: If you had to choose, would you stand and fight, or turn and run?"

[Naj Arilov]

Naj caught the staff, holding it at his side. There didnt seem to be a correct answer to De'Ville's question. One answer would probably lead him into an unwanted fight, another would make him a coward...

"It really depends on the situation. We all have grand imaginations of ourselves standing up to overwhelming odds and succeeding, but only a fool fights a losing battle. I guess it all depends on what is at stake...."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She nodded, agreeing with his answer, although it was pretty vague. He kept trying to tell her what she wanted to hear, or at least, what he thought she wanted to hear. "Then say Daria is being tortured to death by your enemies. If you try to save her, you will almost certainly be captured too, doing her no good at all. If you do not attempt, she will die."

Lilaena watched him closely as she spoke. "Turn and run, my apprentice? Or risk it all?"

[Naj Arilov]

Naj was a tad caught off guard by the question, even though he was surely expecting it. The truth was he didnt know what he would do.

"I suppose if the situation were truly hopeless, then the best alternative would be to run, and get a head start to the day when retribution would come. But for your question, I dont know what I would do.."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville stretched out her hand and a stout wooden staff flew to her palm. She twirled it experimentally, and then mimicked his stance. "And then what if you found that she had not been injured at all, but that it was all an elaborate ruse to take your life? What if Daria were to turn on you?"

[Naj Arilov]

"Then she would die first."

Naj spoke bluntly and without hesitation. That much he was sure about. Naj had dealt with a traitor before. He wasnt strong enough to kill him then, but neither of them would forget that night. Naj had taken scars from the battle, along with a few other things...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Then you have already learned a great lesson. Trust between comrades is important, but do not trust blindly. And do not forgive easily." She spun the staff in her hands, and then slammed the end into the flagstones, holding it diagonally in front of her.

"I know you have done some research on your own. Have you found anything interesting that you wish to ask me about?" De'Ville knocked the lower end of the staff into the air with her right hand, and swung it down in an overhand strike aimed to break his skull.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj was watching her staff the moment it began moving. After his first session with her, he hadnt been the nicest of people, so odds were, she wouldnt think twice about beating him with the staff in her hands.

As she brought the staff up, Naj grasped his own staff with both hands, and as she brought it down, Naj blocked with the upper part of his staff, the shifted his feet and brought the lower part of his staff to meet hers, pushing the end towards the ground. He wasnt an expert with a staff by any means. The fact was, he carried the weapon around more for show than anything. He did know a few little manuevers, but not enough for him to last anytime in a real combat situation.

"Back in the jungle, you killed one of the beasts with a blast of energy. Energy you summoned with no mechanical aid. That is something I would like to know more about."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She expelled her breath in a short burst, moving with his downward thrust by bringing up the opposite end of her staff. Holding it in both hands De'Ville shoved against his hard, knocking him backwards a few steps. Another twirl, and then half of the staff was tucked behind her arm as she spread it out to the side of her body.

"So you want to learn the secret of Force Destruction." De'Ville set the staff back to the flagstones, standing easy for a moment. "It is not a simple art. And yet, not hard, either." She tossed her staff into the air, caught it, and jabbed it at the center of his chest.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj deflected the shot with the top of his staff, pushing De'Ville's staff aside. Taking a few steps back, he readjusted his feet to put his weight back on his right side.

"Ive also read of Sith capable of firing electricity from their finger tips. It was depicted as being one of the pinnacles of a Sith's power. An attack that was as much intimidating as it was destructive."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville stutter stepped forward, feinted right and then went left, the staff tapping him roughly on his right side. "Sith lightning is a dangerous weapon. But easily countered, if one is ready for it." She spun the staff around her hand and then held it up in an offensive stance, as though it were a double bladed lightsaber.

"For instance, the lightsaber is the one weapon that can catch and hold a blast of Dark side lightning. Destruction, on the other hand...it merely explodes early when connected to a lightsaber blade."

[Naj Arilov]

"Then it is like any weapon, most effective when used at the correct moment. If we ignored all weapons that were easily countered by preparation, then weapons would not exist."

Naj took another step back as De'Ville moved into an offensive position, so he would have a little more reaction time when she attacked.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She wasn't really attacking him, merely prodding him around the courtyard as they talked. It was useful to be able to do more than one thing at once.

"Indeed, Arilov. The secret is not to give your opponent time to prepare. Or to use one attack when they are expecting something else." De'Ville pushed forward with the right end of her staff, and then stopped short and slammed the left end towards him, trying to catch him off guard.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj blocked the hit, barely. He'd gotten used to the slow pace at which they parred, so a sudden change did catch him off guard. He was able to get his staff around to block the hit, but it was sloppy at best, and he stumbled slightly from being off balance.

He shifted his feet again to regain his stance.

"The true value in these weapons, are that they cannot be purchased, only learned. Finding someone to teach them is much easier said than done."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She frowned as he blocked, and then tried to regain his stance. De'Ville spun around to his side, and then whacked him in the back on his knees with her staff, sending him falling forward. The Dark Jedi caught him with the Force before he hit anything, and held him there as she walked in front of him, holding the staff at her side with one end on the ground.

"Ah yes, finding one to teach. Even harder is finding one worthy of being taught. Or capable." De'Ville released her hold on Arilov, and he completed his tumble to the flagstones.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj hit the stones with a slight thud. It hurt his pride more than anything, but not too badly.

"But you can never know just how capable one is until they've been given a chance..."

Naj spoke somewhat strained as he pushed himself back to his feet. Physical combat wasnt his strong suit. This was especially true as he was growing up, being the smallest person in his family, and probably the whole planet, for his age. Even though humans, in general, were not as athelitcally built as Chiss, Naj still found himself to be generally weaker than normal.

He did have a strong mind though, and was almost literally a sponge for knowledge, and extremely quick minded. It was what had kept him alive this long...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Indeed." De'Ville tapped the end of her staff on the ground lightly, and then stood easy, finally relaxing her stance. "You are a horrible warrior. So. We will have to find something else for you to be good at."

[Naj Arilov]

Naj took the comment lightly, mainly because she was right. He also didnt want to argue and end up having to try and prove himself to be a warrior. He didnt have much of a chance against De'Ville.

"Im guessing you percieve that to be something of a challenge to your mentoring abilities?"

Naj pressed a little, just to see how insulting she wanted to be. He rather enjoyed some insults, as much as he loved making people eat their own words.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She spun her staff up into the air, and held it there, spinning in the starlight with the Force. "I only see it as a challenge to you, because if you cannot defend yourself you will not last long away from this planet." De'Ville thought for a moment. "Actually you won't last long here, either.

"So we will work on energy attacks." The spinning staff seemed to spin faster, and then it fell between them, a twirling end about to smack into his forehead.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj followed the staff's movement with his eyes, although there was no outer sign of this, as Naj's eyes had no detail aside from a slight red glow. It wasn't a matter of if, but when the staff would come in his direction, and when it did Naj was waiting. Without so much as a flinch of his head, he simply brought his own staff upward, deflecting De'Ville's staff away from him. In an instant, he pivoted and brought the bottom end of his staff up, stopping inches away from De'Ville's chin.

"I suppose I'll be following your lead then, Master."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She didn't flinch away from his attack, but used the Force to call her staff back into her hand. "You will follow my lead, or the powers you unleash may tear you apart. I doubt you want that, do you?"

[Naj Arilov]

"I guess your last apprentice must not have been the brightest star in the sky..."

Naj's voice trailed off, refering to the obvious insult to Naj's intelligence.

"But back to the topic at hand. I guess this whole process would go along much easier if I were to say something like, Where do we begin?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her hand shot out towards him and he flew backwards, off his feet, landing painfully against the wall behind him. "We begin with this. Manipulating the living Force."

As he struggled to his feet she was beside him, kneeling and keeping him down on the ground. "Arilov. Watch. The air is part of the Force. We draw our energy from it, at least for now. Eventually you will be able to drain the Force from living creatures, but for now, use the inert Force that is around us all." She spoke, and the air above his chest glimmered as air molecules sped up, gaining heat and energy as she applied the Force to them.

[Naj Arilov]

Naj stopped struggling for a moment and stared. Witnessing someone create energy from thin air wasnt exactly something you got to see everday, let alone this closely. Already, he was nearly salivating at the thought of having the ability to do this.

Of course, a part of him was frightened also. A ball of energy was being formed right there in front of him. It was kinda like staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, and having to hope the person on the other end didnt suddenly decide to pull the trigger.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She felt his fear, and thrilled in it, grinning in spite of herself as she allowed the glow in front of him to intensify. Sweat began to drip off of his forehead as the heat grew greater still.

"This is not Destruction. Frenzied air can be used as a weapon, but it is not the explosive force that a sphere of Destruction is." To his relief she used the Force to move the shining air further away, towards the center of the courtyard. "Manipulation of air molecules will provide you with heat and light, two things that most beings cannot live without."

Her hand on his chest moved off, and he found himself free to stand up as the light in the center of the courtyard glimmered, and then dissapated. "This is where we start. At the bottom."

[Naj Arilov]

Naj quickly scrambled to his feet and immediately, almost instinctively, stretched out his hand. As he did, his staff flew from the ground to his hand. He wasnt trying to show off by any means, it was just becoming second nature to him.

He watched as the ball of energy dissapated near the middle of the courtyard. As uneducated he was about manipulating energy, from his own training and meditation, he was able to view some things in a much different light. Somehow, while he was on the ground, he could sense the air becoming excited around him. Though he didnt experience nearly enough to attempt a mimic of the feat, the process somehow made sense to him.

"Im eager to learn more, Master."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Of course you are." He was a weasel, but probably a useful one. "First you must focus yourself. There are many ways to accomplish this: one most used is meditation." De'Ville brushed her hair out of her eyes, and then slapped him across the face with an open palm.

She stepped back as his red eyes flashed. "Anger focuses one much quicker. Hold out your hand, like so," she held her out in front of her palm up, "and focus on the air above it. The Force flows through the particles in the air as much as it flows around the largest mountain. Size matters not."

[Naj Arilov]

Naj followed her instructions and held out his hand. Just as he had done when he first started moving rocks, Naj focused, feeling the air in front of him with his mind. It was tough, he even had to close his eyes to rid himself of distraction. The target of his concentration was very small, not like the rocks or his staff, which he could easily get a grasp on.

After a few silent moments, he felt that he had a good bearing on things, and began trying to alter the movement of the particles. The change started slowly, but soon he could feel a difference as the particles in the air sped up slightly. As they did, he found it harder to focus on, until finally his concentration broke, punctuated by a heavy sigh.

The air in front of him quickly slowed back to normal, and no real energy had been created...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She watched him closely, and snapped at him when he stopped. "Do it again."

[Naj Arilov]

Once again, Naj held out his hand and focused. It was the same as before, although this time, he didnt have as much trouble 'finding' the particles. As before he began using the force to alter the movements of the particles, speeding them up. One thing he did different this time, however, instead of trying to keep his focus on every little particle, he only focused on what was in front of his hand. If a particle sped up and escaped, it was forgotten.

He could feel the air in front of his hand heating up slightly, but not much, This time however, his concentration didnt break. Slowly the air would heat up then cool slightly, as particles sped up and escaped....

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville saw his progress, and then looked down at her wrist, checking her personal chrono. It was nearly four thirty in the morning. "You show that you have grasped the basic princibles of the trick." She raised an eyebrow at him in the darkness of pre-dawn. "You must practice this until you think you have perfected it."

She held out her hand, and he felt the air above his palm grow cooler. "If you know how to heat air, then you also know the princibles of cooling it." Dew gathered on his hand as the temperature of that small area continued to drop. "Not many focus so small, preferring to remain stagnant on the large objects, such as rocks, furniture, et cetera. The payoff, however, is large, although it takes a longer time to master these skills."

[Naj Arilov]

Naj drew his hand away as the air in front of him became almost icy cold.

"I see your point" Was his simple reply. It really wasnt a statement to continue the conversation, just one to let her know that he was paying attention.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Then get practicing." De'Ville took a step away from him. "You are free to leave now."

She took a few more steps away, breathing slow and easy to calm herself. She would have to get a workout in before the start of the day.