Ultus Sum (Part I)

[Southstar]

The sun was barely poking its bright light over the mountains behind the Sith Palace and there stood Southstar in the training grounds watching the new day arrive. He exhaled hard and saw his breath in the cool morning air. Kathrine should arrive at any moment for her resumed training. This little session was something he was greatly looking forward to.

He had let her off easy when she first approached him about resuming training. When the broke apart he had nearly, and intentionally tried to kill her. That was only the second time he had half heartedly attempted to do so. This morning he was going to exact a little vengeance upon his wavering apprentice.

Why should he be vengeful? He justified it in the simplest way, it was he who was the master and he who was 'allowed' to do so. Sure, he had punished her on a number of times, nearly killing her, but a lesson had to be taught. Kathrine needed to learn to accept her place as the apprentice to Southstar, she chose it after all. Kathrine needed to trust his judgement. She needed to learn that a half-effort was as good as not trying at all.

His glance again set upon the slowly approching dawn. Didn't I tell her dawn? he thought angrily.

[Kathrine]

Kathrine ran through the halls of the Palace as she fumbled to get herself dressed. Most of the male occupants stopped outside of thier doors and the last bit of sleep disappeared as they saw the half dressed girl run by her. By the time she reached the door leading outside, she was hopping on one foot, putting on the boot she had forgotten.

Great I'm going to be late. This must be a real improvement to him, she thought angrily as she shoved her foot in finally and leapt down the stairs. As soon as she cleared the steps and her feet touched the ground, she called on the Force to boost her speed. Soon she stood in front of Southstar, her breath heavy and cloths hanging off where she had gotten dressed in a hurry and hadn't properly tied something down or tucked something in.

[Southstar]

Close enough He thought as she arrived. It would be trivial to hassle her over the slight tardiness, it wasn't as if dawn was a setting on the chrono. He unhooked his lightsaber from his belt and held it in one hand as she stopped ebfore him.

Fully aware that her's had yet to be reconstructed he spoke. "We're going to start off with a spar. Where's your lightsaber?"

[Kathrine]

She looked down to the bag hanging on her hips before looking back to his eyes. "It was destroyed."

[Southstar]

"I'm aware." He stated. "Shouldn't you have reconstructed it?"

[Kathrine]

"I haven't had the time to properly find the parts nor the time to construct it without fault this time."

[Southstar]

"I'd suggest you get on with it then." He said. "Since our opening spar has been cancelled, we'll just get to the thick of things." He lead her farther into the training grounds and gave a brief description of what she would be working on.

"So its been established that you work well with minds. Especially those of animals." They rounded a corner and entered into a little cove created by the tall walls. Set in the corner was a cage and in it a firce looking creature. It stared ahead at the Sith with green eyes that filled the sockets. It stepped forward on its four legs, its thin tail still. The creature was covered in thin hair from head to the thick claws on its feet. "This," he continued "is a Be'erog. A semi-sentient being imported of a moon somewhere out in the outer-rim." He intentionally didn't mention that it was also resistant to mind invasion, though not completly impermeable.

"Your job is to overtake its mind and make it completely submit to your will." Due to the Be'erog's superb resistance to mind invasion, he didn't expect Kathrine to succeed in her task. This served two purposes. The first being the most obvious, it was to embarress her with failure. The second was to find out what her current limits were.

"You're free to start whenever you feel ready. As a point of suggestion, you might try the constructs we spoke of earlier."

[Kathrine]

Kathrine kept her eyes on Southstar even as she stretched out with the Force and went to brush the animal's mind. As soon as she touched it though, she knew something was wrong. The animal was resisting her and she had a feeling that it wasn't even trying. Probably just a natural resistance. He wants to try and embarass me. Well, he'll find that I'm not that easy to embarass.

She flicked her eyes to the Be'erog and noticed it staring intently at her now. It knows.

She turned her body more towards the animal, this time focusing the energy of the Force through her and towards the animal. Nothing happened. As far as it was concerned, she could have been a little bug in the Force to it. Stand up will you! Get over here and obey me!

She formed the image of a large reptile that's name would strike terror into the heart's of most sentient beings. A kyrat dragon. The Be'erog, however, just merely stood up and she could see the muscles of the animal, rippling underneath its skin, but nothing more. "What is wrong with this thing?"

[Southstar]

"It's being difficult." he said. "But with a little creativity, you can make it do what you want." He intentionally hid his mind and its actions from her. He was a telekinesis master and that was how he would get past the obstacle of this animal's mind. He knew enough anatomy to know how to manipulate the animal's muscles and compulsed them to walk forward. He pushed his hand down and the creature sat. He raised it up and it rose.

With additional telekinesis, the lock on the cage slid open and Southstar forced the creature to walk forward. It circled Kathrine and then Southstar and returned to its cage. "I can do it. Why can't you?"

OOC: Thanks for being patient.

[Kathrine]

She stared in disbelief. She hadn't known Southstar to be a great mentalist, but that right there had just shown that is powers went far beyond her own natural and raw instincts. "Wha...but..."

She set her jaw and looked back at the animal, now back in the cage and formed the picture of another kyrat dragon and with little more effort another. This got some reaction out of the animal, but not what she was hoping for. Instead, it seemed to go on the defensive and started jumping back and forth in its cage.

"Stop it!" She yelled at the Be'eorg. "Sit down and behave!"

The animal stopped in its tracks and just looked over at her. It kept glancing around at where it thought the dragons were, but beyond the twitching and glancing, it didn't move. Then again neither did it sit down.

[Southstar]

The animal's rear muscles twitched as Southstar compelled them tighten and loosen, forcing the animal to sit. "I not impressed." He stated and then offered a bit of vague advice. "You're using your anger to empower yourself, but not in the right way." He released his grip on the animals muscles and it stood up immmediatly. "Keep trying."

[Kathrine]

She huffed at both of them as she turned back to fully face the animal. She drew up two more dragons in the animals mind, and projected the thought of them moving in on the Be'eorg. "Sit...down..."

She could see the animal's confusion and realization as it realized she was controlling the animals. Suddenly it decided listening would be a better option than the alternate option.

She turned back smiling confidently, ignoring the sweat that had started to roll down the side of her face. "There."


ooc/ sorry it took so long to reply i been having a bit of computer problems and it will be until next week before they are comletely fixed.

[Southstar]

"That works." He said. "Now make it do something it wouldn't normally do. Sitting down is just a trick, break its instinct." This exercise didn't have so many ways around it. Either Kathrine would have to be extreamly creative, or she would fail. He looked forward to seeing either one.