"Move your feet." Aiden voiced softly, yet sternly. He was her father, but he also had to learn how to separate that role from being her teacher. While she wasn't his student, he didn't look at it that way. She still had to be taught the necessary things.
"There you go! Excellent!" Aiden voiced in a rather excited tone as he watched Lira move forward, progressing much better than the previous times. The training droid was programmed to act with minimal aggression, but to an eight, almost nine-year-old girl, that was definitely more than enough, perhaps much more than needed.
"Was that good?!" Lira asked, turning around rather excitedly, ignoring the droid altogether. Aiden waved his hand, powering the droid down. He chuckled lightly as he moved forward, kneeling next to her. "Yes, sweetheart, that was good." And thus, the teacher vanished, and she was his little girl again. He really had to get better at this, but he was learning. Being a parent wasn't for the faint of heart.
"Just make sure not to turn around and have your back toward your opponent in a real situation." He laughed again, which prompted her to turn red and glance back toward the droid. She then looked back, smiling at him sweetly. "Oh, yes. Sorry, sir."
Aiden smirked, shaking his head and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Let's take a break, shall we?"
"I'll get the water!" Lira spoke excitedly, running off to the edge of the training circle, grabbing the two small water canteens and bringing them over. Aiden took a seat just as she rejoined him, watching her sit down as well.
"You really are doing better." He took the canteen from her, taking a small drink.
"You really think so?!" she asked quickly with a smile.
"Yes, of course. I'm not just saying that. Your affinity with the Force is strong, much stronger than mine was at your age."
"Is that why those jerks are after me?"
Aiden let out a small sigh. "Yes, but they aren't going to get you. We aren't going to let that happen. That's why we are training more now. I mean, if you trained as much as you spend time with your friends, you probably would be a better Force user than me."
She giggled lightly, turning a small shade of red before taking a drink. She let out a satisfied sigh. Clearly, the water was needed and refreshing.
"You mean Jedi." she corrected with a sweet smile.
Aiden chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm not training you to become a Jedi."
"Oh…" she said in a sad, defeated tone. But then a small idea, more of a tease, crept into her mind as she showed the smallest, sweetest smile she could muster, perhaps to lessen the sting of her next words. "I guess… I'm training to be a Sith then?"
Aiden shouldn't have been surprised, yet somehow he was.
"Okay, smartass…" he said with a wry look on his face, shaking his head.
"Language! And I'm just kidding, Dad!" she said. A fit of giggles escaped her as she rolled onto her side, unable to contain herself.
"You know, I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. I really think this is Alina's influence."
He raised his hand to his chin for a moment. "You know, I should probably…" He trailed off, snapping his fingers as a means of getting her attention, as if he had forgotten what he was going to say. But he knew the entire time. It was just his own way of getting back at her.
"What do parents do when their kids are being disrespectful, not listening, being heathens…"
This seemed to get Lira's attention as the giggles slowly stopped. She sat up, looking at him, her eyes narrowing slightly."Ah, yes… grounding. Yes, that's right. Where they don't do anything, they just stay home. No friends, no temple runs, just stuck at home all day." Aiden sighed and trailed off, but a smile slowly showing on his face, as he was unable to contain himself, as the look Lira was giving was....death.
"You wouldn't dare…" Lira narrowed her eyes even more at him as she moved to stand up. "I'm telling Alina…"
Aiden scoffed, shaking his head, his tone shifting to a sad tone as he looked down, yet there was a smile on his face that she couldn't see, indicating he was teasing her. "Great, now I'm in trouble…"
"Dad!" she shouted, hating the sadness in his voice, even if it was just a joke. She ran and playfully tackled him.
"Okay! Okay!" He laughed as the playful skirmish ended just as quickly as it began. Aiden then moved into a kneeling position to look her in the eyes.
"So… why are you being trained?"
She smiled lightly and sighed in an almost defeated tone. "So I can defend myself, and learn to think for myself, and be the best version of myself I can be."
"Exactly!" he said, tapping her on the nose with his finger before moving to stand up. "Now, just twelve more hours of training, and we will be done for the day." He said with a laugh, because that was clearly ridiculous.
Lira, however, just laid back, her arms at her sides in mock surrender.
"I give up…"
