Take It To the Sky [James Prent]

[Salemn Lysce]

A message had been sent to James the previous night requesting her presence at the combat training grounds at nine o' clock a.m. Salemn hadn't signed her name on the parchment but perhaps James would recognize the neat script. Either way, she had no doubts that the padawan would show. Even though James had sometimes shown up a little late for training sessions in the past, she always faithfully came. Perhaps this would be no different.

It was now a quarter 'till and Salemn had arrived. Still wearing the same brown Jedi robes, two lightsabers were clipped on her belt. She sat down and closed her eyes, inhaling the crisp air. She had missed the Order during her absense, but no need to dwell on such things. As she cleared her mind of all thoughts she began to meditate, awaiting James's arrival.

[James Prent]

ooc: I've been RPing as though you've never been gone... just so you know. I'm always saying I'm on the way to a training session with you, or coming back from one. /ic:

James walked into the room, wearing her beige robes and leggings. Her padawan braid dangled just behind her right ear, and she had no weapons on her, having yet to start construction on her own lightsaber. "I got your note, Master Lysce."

The padawan bowed, and awaited her master's words.

[Salemn Lysce]

"Ah, James. I thought I felt your presence." Opening her eyes, Salemn smiled faintly at the woman before standing. After clasping her hands behind her back she continued, "I see you have no lightsaber of your own, padawan. I guess I shall have to tend to that later, but first things first. Please sum up for me quickly everything we have gone over and specific parts of Jedi training you would like to concentrate on."

[ooc - oh ! well, didn't know that ^^]

[James Prent]

"Actually, I ... I was going to begin constructing my lightsaber this week. I know it is a vital part of being a Jedi, and I want to do it right, y'know?" James rubbed her nose a little, and then held her hands together in front of her. "We've gone over telekinesis, basic combat, and of course telepathy. I'd like to get better with a lightsaber, and my telekinesis is a bit spotty."

She blushed, and added, "Actually, I was hoping to begin study as a Jedi diplomat."

[Salemn Lysce]

Salemn nodded in approval when the woman mentioned building her own lightsaber. It was nice to see her take control of the situation.

"A splendid choice, James, I believe you'd make a wonderful diplomat. Now, first things first. As a diplomat you may find yourself facing hostile situations and that's where the lightsaber comes in. A Jedi's life may very well depend on their knowledge of this tool."

As she spoke, she unclipped one of the sabers.

"I believe it'd be wise if we started this training session with a bit of sparring. There we can work on your reflexes and you will learn some pointers."

With that, she tossed the saber to James.

[James Prent]

James caught the 'saber deftly, her reflexes already improved from what they had been when she'd joined the Order. A year ago, when she'd showed up on the doorstep, she'd dropped as many things as she'd caught. Carefully she thumbed the blade on, and tested the weight of the weapon, gliding it through the air from side to side.

"I am ready, master." James fixed her eyes on her mute master, watching her moves.

[Salemn Lysce]

Activating her saber, Salemn took a step forward and closed in on the gap. Swiftly she spun the hilt, the humming growing more violent before she swung it diagonally at James.

[James Prent]

James brought her saber from the 'guard' position, and swung to block Salemn's strike. Pushing against the opposing blade with hers, the smaller padawan shoved her master back, swinging inwards towards her belly.

[Salemn Lysce]

Taking a step back, she swung the saber down to block the padawan's incoming attack. Quickly she brought it back up and aimed a blow towards James's right shoulder.

[James Prent]

As her master brought her saber up to strike at James once more, the padawan was already spinning away from the initial block. The attack missed, and James feinted in towards Salemn, trying to bring another block and perhaps set the other Jedi off balance.

[Salemn Lysce]

A faint smile tugged on Salemn's lips as she watched the woman's tactics. She jumped back and side stepped, keeping her eyes on James the entire time. Gripping the hilt tigheter, she then waited for the next move.

[James Prent]

James grunted with effort to restrain her swing that had connected with nothing. She spun on her ankle to keep her momentum from chopping herself in two, and centered her blade once more, in an offensive guard. "Well, master?"

The padawan moved the same as she had on her last offensive strike, but instead of feinting, she followed through with the first move. She stepped up quickly behind her blade to add her body weight to it's power.

[Salemn Lysce]

Bringing her saber up to block the attack, Salemn clenched her teeth together as she slid back half an inch. She would always be a little bit weaker than her fellow Jedi because of her petite frame, but that didn't slow her down. Placing her right foot back firmly, she thrusted herself forward to make James move back before swinging the saber in an arc, bringing it down towards the padawan's left side.

[James Prent]

The two combatants were about the same height, but James had a few pounds on the very slim Salemn. She shoved her backwards a few inches, but her master pushed back, returning the favor.

Lysce swung her saber in an arc, and James countered, blocking the blade to her left side. As both drew back for another blow, James flicked out her foot and kicked Salemn in the knee, following up the blow with an overhand swipe with the borrowed saber.

[Salemn Lysce]

Salemn dropped to the ground as pain shot up from her knee. However, she ignored it temporarily, knowing that a nasty bruise would be there later on in the evening. She put her other hand on the hilt of the saber and brought it up as to block the attack. Outwardly, her face was a stoney mask, revealing nothing, but inwardly she was quite pleased with James.

As the two sabers collided she began to stand before suddenly forcing her saber to the side, which in turn caused James's saber to follow suit. Without delay, she then swung the blade horizontally towards the padawan's midsection.

[James Prent]

Salemn didn't look pleased, but James had no time to contemplate that as her master's saber swung back around, aiming to slice her in half.

James' saber was out to the side, and she brought it in quickly to try to block the attack. She barely succeeded, Salemn's saber sliding along hers and still coming in towards her side. James winced, bringing her hands in closer to her body, her saber crackling along the length of Salemn's blade traveling towards the tip. In a desperate gesture the padawan pushed her weight into her lightsaber, picking up her feet and jumping backwards and just out of reach.

[Salemn Lysce]

Slowly she brought her saber down, but didn't switch it off.

"You've advanced in your saber and improvisational skills, James," she said with a slight trace of humor, but it quickly disappeared, "Now, the choice is yours - would you rather finish sparring with your wound, move onto telekinesis, or get that bandaged up and continue this another time?"

It was another test to see how James would react, although there was no right or wrong answer.

[James Prent]

The words sounded in her head, between her ears. James was familiar with the mental touch of her master, and it didn't bother her at all now. Her hand on her side, the padawan pulled her hand away to look at the cauterized wound.

"We were sparring with live sabers?" There was a bit of blood on her palm, but not much, and the wound was only a scratch. She'd avoided most of the hit. "And...well, I guess move on to telekinesis?" She was still trying to deal with not using a training saber for a spar.

[Salemn Lysce]

Her lips pressed thinly together, she forced a slight smile.

"Yes, you were using a regular saber, James. I believe it time that you hold a true Jedi tool in your hand and realize the potential danger - and in your case, experience it."

She deactivated her saber and held out a hand, the other lightsaber flying out of James's grasp and into her own. Quickly she clipped her own to her belt, but remained holding the saber James had used.

"Now onto your telekinesis. Concentrate and try to force this out of my hand."

They had worked on telekinesis before so there was no need in telling James what to do, except to observe and help guide the woman. However, she knew that the padawan was a fast learner and would probably have no problem with this.

[James Prent]

She'd been practicing to fine tune her control on moving things through the Force, although she was probably still a lot slower than she should be. James closed her eyes, visualized the saber pommel, and grasped it in an indescribable way through the Force. Then she pulled on it, attempting to draw it towards her.

Salemn felt the tug, but still James did not open her eyes to see what was going on around her. The tug became a steady pull, steady and strong, so that if Salemn continued to hold onto the saber, she herself would be slowly pulled towards her five foot tall padawan.

[Salemn Lysce]

This time her smile was genuine as Salemn loosened her grip on the saber, until it eventually broke away and floated in the air towards the padawan. She didn't speak in James's mind, for she believed it would break her intense concentration. Instead she waited for the woman to open her eyes and see her task done.

Perhaps later on in this session she would incorporate all of the teachings James had learned before the Jedi testings.

[James Prent]

As Salemn let go, James was unprepared for the sudden change, and nearly smacked herself in the shoulder with the lightsaber hilt. Just in time she sensed what had happened, and halted the pull on the lightsaber. Opening her eyes, James grinned, and snatched the hilt out of the air in front of her, and flipped it over in her hand. "I can't do it with my eyes open, I dunno, I have to concentrate a lot on it."

[Salemn Lysce]

"Patience, James. Soon you will be able to do it with your eyes open with practice."

Silently she mulled over a few thoughts before 'speaking' again.

"Infact, now's a good time to start."

The saber glided out of James's hand and in the air, and with ease she reached up and caught up.

[James Prent]

She laughed, "Somehow I knew you were going to say that...and I didn't have to use the Force, either." James wrinkled her nose as she stared at the lightsaber, and only the lightsaber hilt.

After a few moments she managed to block out the other distractions in the room, like the hissing of the air in the vents, and Salemn's breathing. Her and the lightsaber. And the lightsaber...here. It wiggled in Salemn's hand, and then was yanked out of her grasp and into James'.

The padawan blinked hard, her eyes slightly dry from too much staring, and flipped the saber in her hands.

[Salemn Lysce]

Cocking her head to the side, she grinned and crossed her arms. She found James's livelihood rather infectious.

"Knew you had it in you. Now all you have to do is practice, and it'll become a second nature." James was well on her way on becoming a fine Jedi, and she looked forward to seeing her serve the Order as a diplomat. "Now do you feel up to sparring again, this time using the Force?"

If she said yes, Salemn would activate a sparring droid and set it against James. If no, then the two could perhaps grab brunch at Yog's.

[James Prent]

She shrugged, "More sparring sounds good to me." Because of her visions of death by the hands of a superior lightsaber combatant, James had been pushing herself to her limits in the area of combat. Her training as a long distance runner meant her stamina was high already, but the moves and the use of a lightsaber had taken a lot of hard work.

James brought the saber in front of her in a salute to her master, and waited for Salemn's response.

[Salemn Lysce]

"This time we will use the Force to aid us, unlike previously."

Once more she unclipped the saber and it hummed steadily when ignited. She waited until James followed suit before closing in the gap between the two. Striking hard against her saber, she then pulled away from the lock and ducked quickly, swinging her saber at James's left thigh.

[James Prent]

James grunted slightly at the pressure against the two blades, and then as her master backed off and cut in towards her thigh the Padawan spun her saber downwards to block. The lightsabers sparked and crackled as they hit each other and the smell of burnt ozone filled the air.

She pushed against Salemn's blade with her own, and the Jedi knight backed away before coming in with another attack. James readied to block while concentrating on finding Salemn in the Force.

[Salemn Lysce]

She spun the lightsaber before striking at James again, this time exercising an easy sweep towards her midsection. As the padawan blocked, she bent her knees and swept kicked her right leg, knocking the woman to the floor.

[James Prent]

James landed heavily on her back, but as she did so, she had a perfect picture of Salemn in her mind. The padawan pushed at her master, sending her backwards and out of striking distance as James scrambled to her feet.

Lightsaber held tightly, James stepped up after Salemn, ready to strike again.

[Salemn Lysce]

Grunting, she fell to the ground and landed on her back. However, instead of standing, she got to her knees and swept the saber towards James's feet.

[James Prent]

James jumped into the air, turning a backwards somersault before landing a bit awkwardly, but out of reach of her master's live blade. She grinned, trying to hold Salemn's blade arm still with the Force as the padawan stepped up and attacked once more.