Private Beyond the Beskar

[Veyla Krinn]

The following morning arrived with the familiar bite of Concordia's cold.

A pale sunrise spilled across Kelita, painting frost-covered rooftops in muted gold while smoke from the forge district drifted lazily into the still morning air. The city had already begun to stir. Hammers echoed from workshops that never truly slept, merchants assembled their stalls, and armored figures crossed the streets with steaming mugs of caf before another day's work began.

Veyla had been awake long before dawn. Her armor had been inspected, cleaned where necessary, and fastened piece by piece until every strap and clasp sat exactly where it belonged. Her spear rested across her back, her blaster remained holstered at her hip, and a small pack carried little more than water, rations, and a basic medkit. Whatever today became, she intended to arrive prepared.

The Broken Mythosaur was considerably quieter than it had been the previous evening. Celebration had given way to the slower rhythm of morning. A handful of familiar Mandalorians occupied scattered tables, exchanging stories over caf instead of ale. More than one offered her a nod as she stepped inside, returning each greeting before ordering two mugs.

When Kallous arrived, she slid the untouched cup across the table toward him.

"Morning, Kallous."

She waited until they had both stepped back into the crisp mountain air before continuing.

"I thought we could head up into the foothills." She nodded toward the snow-capped ridgeline overlooking Kelita. "There's an old quarry a few kilometers outside the city. It's quiet, open, and nobody goes there anymore unless they're looking for solitude."

A faint smile touched her lips as she adjusted the strap of her pack.

"Figured it'd be a better place to start than the middle of town. Less chance of someone interrupting us."

Without assuming anything further, she started walking toward the northern gate, matching her pace to his once he caught up. The route gradually left behind the ringing of hammers and the smell of forge smoke, replacing them with evergreen forests, cold mountain air, and the crunch of frost beneath their boots. Wherever today's first lesson truly began, she would leave that decision entirely to him.

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous had stayed the evening in a barracks that had been provided to him for temporary use. His new job had yet to be completely finalized and as such he was still, effectively, homeless. It was, weirdly enough, not a strange concept to him. He'd been an exile twice before, living alone in the wilds and without human contact for months at a time. Though this was certainly a little different, and a lot more manageable. As such he was able to wake some time before dawn, slip on his robes, clip on his lightsaber, and depart for The Broken Mythosaur where he was meant to meet his new and first apprentice.

Kallous already had an idea of how to begin. First he would need to get a baseline for where she was starting. Clearly with the force she was a total novice, which was something he could work with. The fundamentals were drilled into him from a young age, and he was confident that he would be able to pass them on to her pretty easily. Though as far as combat went she was a mandalorian. He had no doubt that she was a formidable foe at range, but when it came to force users ranged weapons were nowhere near as useful as one might hope, they could still be lethal, but to a trained adept blasters were nigh useless. He was well aware that the Mandalorians already had a solution to this in the form of slug throwers, but those proved to be less effective overall and had the disadvantage of requiring ammunition, which was weighty. So, he decided it would be a good idea to get an idea of how dangerous a melee combatant she was, to see how well she could hold her own against a lightsaber weilding opponent.

But, first things first, he needed to meet up with her. As he understood it, she already had a place in mind.

So he stepped into the establishment he had been in only the night prior. He hadn't expected a bar to serve breakfast and coffee, but apparently they did. And according to Veyla it was good too. He didn't need a meal, but when he approache Veyla and she offered him a mug, he could't refuse. He took a sip of the bitter black liquid, and sighed contently.

"Good morning to you too Miss Krinn." He wished back, thanking her for the coffee.

They had their beverages in a comfortable silence, sipping them down before stepping outside again where Veyla explained where she intended for them to go. A few kilometers out, an old quarry. Spacious, private, perfect. "Yes, I imagine the city watch wouldn't much appreciate our duelling in the streets for practice."

As they walked, and the city streets gave way to forest foliage, he finally asked the first question. "Allow me to ask. What kind of training have you recieved for close quarters fighting? I'd like to know what you've been taught, what kind of habits to encourage and which I should help you break."

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla took a moment to consider the question as they continued along the forest path, boots crunching over frost and loose gravel alike. It wasn't a difficult one to answer, but it was the first that asked her to look at years of training from someone else's perspective.

"Mostly Mandalorian instruction." she answered after a moment. "Started young, same as most of us. Hand-to-hand, blades, spear work, knives, blasters... learning how to fight in armor before learning how to fight without it." A faint smile touched the corner of her mouth. "Then someone decides you're ready, and the practice stops being practice."

Her hand rested briefly against the shaft of the beskar spear secured across her back. "The spear's what I know best. I can use a beskad if I have to, but I've always preferred reach. Most of my fighting has been in squads rather than duels. Covering someone else's flank, finding angles, looking for the opening the rest of the unit creates." She shrugged lightly. "It's less elegant than what I've seen Jedi do, but it's kept me alive."

She glanced toward him as they climbed higher, evergreen branches swaying gently overhead. "I've fought skilled people before. Mercenaries. Pirates. Other Mandalorians. Even a few opponents who were better than I was." Her expression remained thoughtful rather than proud. "But never anyone who fights the way you do. If someone draws a lightsaber, my instinct is to make the fight unfair as quickly as possible."

A quiet laugh escaped her.

"Jetpack. Flamethrower. Grapple line. Whatever works." She looked ahead again, the smile lingering. "I'm guessing you're about to tell me why that stops working against someone who knows how to use the Force."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous listened to her explanation, detailing what she'd learned, how she'd learned it and why. And he understood it almost immediately. Mandalorians were, by and large, meant to learn how to fight as a team. There was some one-on-one, and there was plenty others beside that. Learning a variety of techniques for a variety of weapons to deal with a variety of opponents. It made sense, and it worked well enough for the general mandalorian purposes. It wasn't quite the same as the training the Jedi gave their people, and was very different from the sort of training provided to the sith. The Jedi generally focused on one weapon and tought themselves how to use it for self-defense, generally resulting in slightly more specialization than the other two. The Sith did somewhat similar training, teaching their apprentices how to use lightsabers and swords primarily, though there were other options, and focused entirely on how to destroy an opponent.

So Mandalorian training wasn't necessarily inferior, as she seemed to think he'd say, it was just different.

"Not at all." He told her, "Any weapon you can use can work if you use it correctly. The reason force users are harder to deal with isn't necessarily that those tools you listed are useless, or simply stop working, it's just that force users tend to be individually more dangerous than most other singular opponents you will face. Your plan to make the fight as unfair as possible is the right call to make. Though it is not what I am going to be teaching you. Rather, I intend to make it so that you can fight on equal footing. Then if you use your unfair methods as a force multiplyer you'll be in an even better spot."

"So you prefer the spear you say?" He asked, more thoughtfully than for actual confirmation. "It's most certainly not a bad weapon. Perhaps a little restrictive if in the wrong place for it, but by no means a poor choice. How long of a spear do you use? I'm assuming yours extends and collapses, since a spear that only reaches about one's waist might as well just be a sword."

"And don't you worry. By the time I'm done with you you'll be just as elegant as any jedi, and a hundred times as deadly." He said, slightly exaggerating for the sake of emphasis, but the promise was sincere. "I'd like to spar with you a little before we start honing your connection to the force. Get a baseline for where you're at. Though I feel compelled to ask, have you at all tried to touch it on your own since we spoke last night? And if you did did you feel anything?"

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla listened without interrupting, taking in the distinctions he made between Mandalorian, Jedi, and Sith training. She hadn't expected him to dismiss what she already knew, and she found herself quietly relieved when he didn't. Instead, he spoke about building on it, sharpening it, rather than replacing it. That, she could understand. There was little point in abandoning years of experience simply because she'd learned there was another part of herself she had yet to explore.

His question about her spear drew a small smile. Without breaking stride, she reached over her shoulder and unclipped the weapon from the magnetic mount across her back. In its collapsed form, it was little more than a reinforced shaft, compact enough to carry comfortably. She turned it once in her hands before pressing her thumb against a recessed stud near the grip. A muted mechanical click answered, followed by the smooth extension of nested beskar sections until the weapon reached its full length, nearly twice her height from butt to spearhead. She planted the ferrule lightly against the frozen ground.

"Keeps it practical." She rolled the spear once through her hands with the ease of long familiarity before collapsing it again just as smoothly. "Collapsed, it's easy to carry in a ship or through a city. Extended, it gives me the reach I want without sacrificing too much control. I'll have to show you what it can really do once we arrive." There was no boast in the statement, only quiet confidence earned through years of practice. The spear returned to its place across her back with another practiced motion. "Still a prototype, though. There are a few things I'd like to improve."

His promise that she would become deadlier earned a faint grin. "Now that," she said, "is a sales pitch." The humor lingered only briefly before his final question caused her expression to grow thoughtful. She gave a small shake of her head.

"No." Her answer was simple. "I had a few other things on my mind." She looked ahead toward the old quarry, visible now between the trees. "Yesterday was...a lot. Learning I'm Force-sensitive wasn't exactly something I expected to hear over a drink." She glanced back toward him with a faint smile. "I figured I'd wait until I actually had someone who knew what they were doing before I started poking at something I didn't understand."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous cocked an eyebrow at the weapon she produced. It would have been more appropriate to call it a pike rather than a spear. It certainly gave reach, but such a weapon would be incredibly restrictive in enclosed spaces, and once one got past the sharp point they were essentially free from its dangers. Sure one could still strike with the haft, but it would not be easy to do quickly and would not, by any stretch of the imagination, end the fight. It was suitable for battle involving formations, teams and specific tasks. It was not an all-rounder type weapon. In other words, it was not suitable for duelling.

"Hmmmmm." He thought aloud, his mind working on possibilities, it would be a shame to simply dismiss her training with such a large weapon as useless, since it wasn't. But at the same time, the spear was simply too long to be of much real use in a duel against someone who was skilled enough to close the distance without getting skewered. He found himself looking at the blade, trying to determine if it was only for stabbing, or if it was some variant of a hewing spear. With it being near twice her height in length, he doubted it would have been used in such a way, but one never knew.

And then again, it was collapsible, maybe she could use it in a shorter configuration as well that was more suited to what they were doing. So he would withhold his judgement for the time being.

He nodded when she told him that she had not, he supposed such restraint was wise. He doubted there would be any real harm in it, if he were being truthful, but likewise he couldn't help but have respect for her caution. "That is sound reasoning. I'm surprised how well you're taking it truth be told. I expected you either wouldn't believe me and would move on, or would be a little more jarred by the revelation. You seem to be taking it in stride."

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla was quiet for a few moments, her boots carrying her steadily along the winding trail while she considered his observation. The morning air remained crisp, broken only by the occasional call of a mountain bird and the crunch of frost beneath their feet. When she finally answered, it came without hesitation.

"All of that crossed my mind." She glanced toward him briefly before looking back to the path ahead. "Thinking you were mistaken. Wondering if I'd somehow misunderstood what you were trying to tell me. Wondering if I should just ignore it and carry on as if nothing had happened." A small shrug lifted one shoulder beneath her armor. "I considered all of it."

She smiled faintly then, more thoughtful than amused. "But what reason do I have not to believe you?" she asked. "You've done nothing to make me doubt you, Kallous. Yesterday, you could have walked away from people who weren't your responsibility, but instead you stayed and fought beside us. Then you told me something that gains you absolutely nothing." She shook her head once. "That doesn't strike me as the behavior of someone trying to deceive me."

The old quarry was now beginning to emerge through the trees, its weathered stone shelves visible beyond the last stretch of forest. "Moving on..." she repeated quietly. "In a way, I am. I'm not letting it consume every thought I have, and I'm not pretending everything I knew yesterday suddenly stopped mattering." Her hand rested briefly against the butt of her blaster. "But I'm not denying it either. If this is part of who I am, then I'd rather understand it than spend the rest of my life pretending it isn't there."

She slowed slightly as they reached the edge of the quarry, her emerald eyes settling on the open ground ahead before returning to him. "As for the shock..." A faint, almost sheepish smile appeared. "I don't think it's arrived yet." She met his gaze evenly. "Not because I think you're lying. I don't. But I've only heard the truth so far." She gestured lightly between them. "I haven't seen it yet. I haven't felt it for myself. Maybe once I do..." She let the thought trail off with another small shrug. "Maybe that's when it'll finally become real."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

He nodded his understanding, "I suppose that makes sense. There's a difference in being told something, and seeing something. And an even greater difference between seeing and feeling. I do not remember the first time I touched the force, to my understanding my sensitivity was discovered at infancy, and I was taken in by the Sith before I was old enough to remember. So I cannot tell you what to expect, I do not know what sort of reaction you may have. I don't know if you will experience shock, panic, awe, calm... I cannot even begin to guess. I hope that it is an experience of the more pleasant kind."

The two of them stepped into the old open space that had once been used for extracting stone from the earth. The bare rock of the space leaving them a clearing that was both reasonably level and entirely devoid of any obstacles. It would allow for a suitable sparring match, that much was easy to see.

He then stopped once they were in a suitably spacious spot.

"Alright, enough talk for now. I'd like to see what kind of training you've received, and how much of it is applicable to what I have to teach you." He removed his saber from his belt, and after adjusting the intensity enough that it would be entirely non-lethal he would ignite the blade. The crimson red of the weapon's glow humming ominously even at its weakest. It wouldn't kill her, he'd made sure of that so that there would be no accidents, it would still hurt like hell though.

To begin with Kallous assumed the ready position that he liked to call "The Soresu Salute", with his saber held at shoulder hight, blade level with the ground pointing at Veyla. His other hand extended out ward in the same direction and his legs set a little wider than shoulder width and his knees bent at an angle. He was going to test her offense first, so even though he was no master at Soresu, he was good enough to utilize it to a satisfactory degree.

It was time to see what she could do with that spear of hers.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla's gaze lingered on the crimson blade for a moment as it sprang to life with its unmistakable hum. There was no fear in her expression, only curiosity. She had seen lightsabers before, usually from a distance and almost always attached to someone trying to kill another person. Standing opposite one without that intent behind it felt... different.

She stepped back several paces, giving them both room to move. Her right hand reached over her shoulder, unclipping the collapsed spear before extending it with the same muted mechanical click as before. She settled into a familiar stance, the butt of the spear resting lightly against the stone while the point remained trained on Kallous. It wasn't rigid or theatrical. It was simply comfortable, the posture of someone who had spent years trusting the weapon in her hands.

"You're probably right," she admitted with a small smile. "Hearing it, seeing it...feeling it. They're all different." She rolled one shoulder beneath the weight of her armor before the smile faded into quiet focus. "Just don't go too easy on me because I'm your apprentice. If I'm doing something wrong, I'd rather find out now than during a fight where someone's actually trying to kill me."

There was no dramatic battle cry. No flourish. She simply moved.

Rather than committing immediately, Veyla closed the distance at a measured pace, the spear constantly shifting between high and low guard as she watched his stance. Her first strike wasn't meant to win the duel. It was meant to make him answer. The spearhead darted toward his weapon side in a quick probing thrust, withdrawing almost as soon as it arrived as she flowed into a sweeping cut aimed lower toward his lead leg. She wanted to see how he reacted, how he moved, and where the openings in his defense appeared. If there were lessons waiting for her today, she intended to earn every one of them.

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

"I wouldn't dream of it." He said with a smile.

Kallous faced the opponent he expected to face. An experienced fighter who knew better than to fully commit all at once without knowing what to expect from her foe. Sure there were experts that trusted the blitz, he had been one of them. If this were a fight where they were actually trying to kill one another he'd already be in her personal space trying to stick the blade of his saber somewhere soft. For now however, he was here to assess, not to win. Though she had requested he not hold back, so he wouldn't he would measure her probing attacks, get a feel for her methodology, then he would drop the pretense, and he would test her defense.

As expected, the use of the spear was one he could immediately see issues with. At least for a weapon as long as that one was. He had the distinct sense that once he got past the length of the weapon she would rely on her extremities to offend him rather than use her weapon. It was the only thing that made sense. Once one got in close a ten foot pole wasn't much use, so the best things to use would be hands, elbows, feet, knees and head. Unless of course she intended to draw a secondary weapon for defense at closer range such as a knife or truncheon.

He would have to see once he went on the offensive.

And thus it began, the first thrust was parried with barely any movement from him. His wrist twisted to flick the tip of his blade across the path of her weapon, deflecting the tip only inches away from his body, showing her immediately the essense of Form III. Minimal movements, conserve all enegery possible, efficiency of movement over power. And this minimalism of movement meant that all he had to do to do the same for his lead leg was follow through with the circular motion of his first deflection, once again pushing the tip of her weapon to the side, forcing it to pass by its target harmlessly. It did not need to miss by much, it just had to miss.

She would find that there were no preexisting gaps in his defense, if she wanted an attack to land, she would need to create one.

He would allow her to probe some more before he pressed his own offensive. They had time, and he intended to do this correctly.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla immediately recognized the difference.

He wasn't simply blocking her attacks. He was barely moving. Each deflection came with an economy she had never encountered before, his blade traveling only the distance absolutely necessary before settling back into place as though it had never left. There was no wasted effort. No flourish. Just calm efficiency.

Interesting.

Rather than becoming frustrated, she became more deliberate. If there were no openings to exploit, then she'd have to create one. Her grip shifted subtly as she advanced another half-step, the spear flowing from one angle to the next without ever stopping. The point snapped high toward his shoulder, then immediately dipped low toward his ribs before reversing direction into another quick thrust aimed for the center of his guard. None of the attacks were committed fully enough to overextend her. Each one existed to draw a reaction, to see whether repetition, timing, or changing angles produced even the slightest imperfection.

Her footwork changed with the rhythm of the exchange. Instead of remaining directly in front of him, she began circling gradually to his weapon side, forcing him to pivot if he wished to continue facing her squarely. The spear never stopped moving, alternating between quick jabs, sweeping cuts, and feints that suggested closer engagement without ever truly committing to it. It was the sort of pressure she'd used countless times to herd opponents into mistakes rather than overpower them outright.

She still found none. A faint grin tugged at the corner of her mouth despite herself.

"You're annoyingly difficult to hit."

The words were accompanied by another burst of motion. This time, she committed slightly more weight behind the attack, driving the spear toward his centerline before abruptly changing the angle halfway through into a rising cut, testing whether even his disciplined defense could adapt to an attack that changed shape after it had already begun.

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

"That's the idea." He said with a grin.

Kallous and Veyla continued their dance for a few minutes, with her continuously applying her probing attacks, increasing the intensity a few times and including a few feints into her patternless offensive. She had the fundamentals down really well, she had been trained since childhood so it only made sense. And her connection to the force was something that woud only enhance that once she learned how to take proper advantage of it. And he had an idea for how to help incorporate that into this little sparring session of theirs.

He already had a decent idea of where she was starting, and she was starting in a very good place as far as combat went. He wouldn't need to give her too much instruction here, though he could certainly use it to give her the lessons she needed.

One of the things about Soresu was that it utilized the force's ability to grant its users foresight. It was hard to maintain in combat with one's focus on the fight, but it was most certainly doable. He himself wasn't able to maintain it for too long, but he was able to directly read the intent of his opponent through the ripples they made, telegraphing what they meant to do before they did it. And as such he was ready when she finally committed to a proper strike.

Suddenly his form changed, his effeciency of movement went from barely moving to moving a lot more. Throwing his weight behind a horizontal slash along the path her spear was taking, and stepping forward as he did, he threw her spear far off to the side while chambering his weapon for a second horizontal cut along her now unprotected torso. From here, were this a real fight and she not wearing beskar, he could cut her in half or decapitate her. A smooth riposte that emphasized overpowering his opponent. This was much more like how he'd fought the day before, momentum and power to end a fight immediately.

Though now came his lesson. He deliberately reached out with the force to touch her mind, and telegraph to her his intent to cut at her head and neck. Giving her time enough to duck it and either disengage or attempt a counter.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

The shift caught her immediately. One moment, she had been pressing against an immovable wall; the next, that wall became a hammer, driving her back with sudden, overwhelming force. Her spear was knocked violently off-line as Kallous stepped inside the reach she had relied upon from the beginning of the exchange, and before she could recover the weapon, she saw the follow-up cut already coming for her torso.

Then something else happened. It wasn't sight, and it wasn't instinct. It was certainty. The warning arrived without words, brushing against the edge of her thoughts with the unmistakable conviction that the next strike was coming for her head, as if the future had briefly revealed itself to her.

There was no time to question it. Years of Mandalorian training simply took over, and she abandoned the exchange entirely.

Instead of trying to recover the spear, Veyla released her lead hand and dropped beneath the incoming slash, bending deeply at the knees as the crimson blade hissed through the space where her head had been a heartbeat earlier. The motion carried her forward rather than backward, slipping inside his reach before planting one gloved hand against the quarry floor to stabilize herself. Using the momentum, she pivoted around his lead side while pulling the spear's haft back toward her, forcing the weapon into a shorter grip more suited to close quarters before creating several steps of distance once more.

Only after she had disengaged did she straighten fully, drawing in a steady breath as she reset her stance. Her emerald eyes remained fixed on Kallous, though now there was something different behind them—confusion threaded with a sharp, searching curiosity. She blinked once, as if trying to clear something unseen from her vision.

"...I knew." The words came quieter than she'd intended, almost lost beneath the lingering hum of his blade. Her gaze drifted briefly toward the space where the lightsaber had passed, replaying the moment in her mind. "I knew where you were going before you moved." She looked back at him, brow furrowing slightly as the realization settled in. "That wasn't instinct."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

She heard it, and she responded accordingly. Perhaps not the way he would have, but it was her first time experiencing this sort of thing, at least consciously. She'd sensed things before, he'd seen that when they held the cliffs to buy time for the evacuating civilians only the day prior. She'd gotten the sense that something was going to happen, she had felt the ripple in the force. She simply didn't know what it was. And now she had it happen to her with an overtness that was impossible to miss.

The fact that his saber would have struck her head had she not might have also added to the effect...

He followed through with the motion of the would be "killing" blow until his saber was out in front of him. Then he slowly turned to face her with an expression of satisfaction, his saber now held loosely at his side, briefly forgotten.

She had her revelation, and he could see in her expression that she was computing what had happened in those fractions of a second that, in a real fight, would have decided life or death. She made her statement, understanding that it had not been pure instinct that drove her response, and he nodded in affirmation.

"No, it was not." He confirmed for her. "What you just experienced, is the keystone. The fundamental skill that makes those who can touch the force so incredibly dangerous. I projected my intent, and you read it. In a real fight your opponent will try to conceal this, if they know how. And as you move forward I will teach you how to read it anyway, how to feel their intent and where they will be before they ever get there. It is this that will be the most fundamental part of learning to use the force for war. It is not the only thing the force can be used for, but it is perhaps the one you will find most useful. If you are intrigued enough, maybe I can begin guiding you into the philosophy and cosmic concepts. But for now this will do."

He then smiled at her. "Congratulations Miss Krinn, you have just taken your first real step. You have truly touched the force for the first time."

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla remained where she stood for a few moments, the tip of her spear resting lightly against the stone as she replayed the exchange in her mind. She could remember every movement. Every step. Every deflection. Yet the thing she kept returning to wasn't the lightsaber. It was the certainty. Not a guess. Not intuition. She had simply...known.

Slowly, she exhaled.

"Call me Veyla." A faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she looked back at him. "I have a feeling we're going to be spending enough time together that 'Miss Krinn' is going to start sounding awfully formal."

She rested both hands atop the spear's haft, still considering everything he had just told her.

"Or..." Her expression shifted into one of quiet amusement. "am I supposed to start calling you Master Kallous?" She tilted her head slightly. "That sounds even stranger."

The humor lingered only briefly before genuine curiosity returned.

"Actually..." she said. "I've only ever known you as Kallous." She frowned thoughtfully. "You never told me a family name. Or is that another one of those Force-user traditions where everyone mysteriously has only one name?"

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

A hearty chuckle escaped the man when she asked if she was supposed to start calling him "Master". It was an amusing prospect to be sure, but one he found to be strange, despite it being tradition. "That would be the tradition, yes. But given that this is not a traditional setting, I think we can ignore that. And to answer your question, it isn't a tradition no. I simply do not have a family name. I was... recruited, at infancy. So Kallous is the only name I've ever had. Nothing else."

"There is a tradition among the sith specifically, where one would forsake their former name and assume a new one once they'd attained the title of "Darth" but I never quite made it that far."

He then held his arms out to his side in an inviting manner. "Would you like to continue? Or do you think you'd like to move on?"

It was up to her now. Whether she would like to try to hone her ability through combat, or if she would like to stop and have him guide her more deliberately into the exploration of her newly discovered power.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla considered the question longer than she expected to. Her hands rested comfortably on the haft of her spear while her eyes drifted across the old quarry, taking in the weathered stone walls that had stood here long before either of them had been born. Combat, she understood. It was familiar ground. This... this was something else.

"The warrior in me wants to keep fighting." A faint smile crossed her face as she looked back toward him. "I finally managed to make you move, after all. I feel like I should see if I can do it again." There was a quiet competitiveness in her voice, not born of ego but genuine curiosity. She wanted to learn how that impossible defense worked, and more importantly, how she'd eventually overcome it.

The smile softened into something more thoughtful.

"But..." she admitted, "I also think I'd be doing myself a disservice if I ignored what just happened." Her fingers shifted slightly around the spear. "Yesterday, I didn't even know this...Force...existed outside stories about Jedi and Sith. Today I felt it." She shook her head once, still trying to put words to the experience. "If we're going to build on that, I should probably understand what it is before I try using it in another fight."

She looked back at him, her expression settling into the same calm resolve that had carried her through countless battles.

"The quarry isn't going anywhere." A small grin returned. "Neither are you, if I have anything to say about it." She rested the butt of her spear against the stone and nodded once. "Teach me about the Force, Kallous. Then, when my head's full of things I barely understand..." Her grin widened ever so slightly. "...we can go back to trying to hit each other."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous smiled at her when she made her choice, and the hiss of his saber deactivating would be heard as the blade disappeared back into the hilt. He hung the metal cylinder from his belt and raturned to his usual, relaxed pose. "Very well then. I suppose the best place to start would be theory."

"The force is, at it's core, the power of life. The favourite thing for the Jedi to tell you is that it is an energy field spanning the entire galaxy. Surrounding, binding and empowering all things, living or not. And to a certain degree this is true. For the purposes of introduction, it will suffice." Kallous began to lecture, he'd given this same guidance to a few of the younger ones at the tower on Bastion. And so he had some idea of how to guide someone new into understanding. "Please, have a seat. I've found that the least you have to think about in the waking world, the easier it is to touch the force for someone not accustomed to it. Sit, close your eyes and clear your mind of all thoughts. Think of nothing and simply feel. You'll know that you've gotten it right when you've stopped relying on your worldly senses to see, hear or know. You'll know you've done it right when you can see with your eyes closed."

It was a hard concept for some, especially people who had no concept of this going in. It was, Kallous had to admit, a bizarre theology. One that was very hard to explain fully with words, since this subject went well beyond them. It was not something that could be taught in its entirety. Kallous would only be able to show Veyla the way, she would have to reach the destination largely on her own. Deliberately screaming into the force so that her undeveloped senses could hear it was not the same as her taking her first dive into that vast ocean.

Veyla Krinn

 

[Veyla Krinn]

Veyla watched him deactivate the lightsaber, the familiar hum fading into the quiet of the quarry. The sudden silence felt almost louder than the duel had. She mirrored him by collapsing her spear with a practiced press of her thumb before securing it across her back. Somehow, putting the weapon away made what had just happened feel even more significant.

Without argument, she crossed to a broad, flat stone worn smooth by decades of weather and lowered herself onto it. It wasn't the way she normally sat; years of wearing armor made it difficult to become completely comfortable. Still, she rested her forearms on her knees for a moment before following his instruction, drawing a slow breath, and closing her eyes.

"Seeing with my eyes closed," she repeated quietly, more to herself than to him. "That sounds impossible."

Even so, she tried.

The sounds of the quarry reached her first. Wind slipping through broken stone. The distant rustle of trees above the rim. Somewhere far off, the cry of a bird echoed against the rock walls before fading into silence. She concentrated on each one in turn, then deliberately let them drift away, trying to empty her thoughts as he'd instructed. It was...considerably harder than she'd expected. Every time her mind settled, another thought intruded. The sparring match. The refugees from yesterday. House Kryze. Siv. Whether she was actually doing any of this correctly.

After what felt like several long minutes, she cracked one eye open just enough to look toward Kallous with a faintly embarrassed smile.

"Either I'm very bad at this," she admitted, "or Mandalorians spend too much time thinking about what comes next." She closed her eye again with a quiet exhale. "I'll keep trying."

Kallous

 

[Kallous]

Kallous thought for a moment or two, she seemed to have trouble quieting her mind the way he'd asked her to. It wasn't altogether unexpected, she was a warrior after all, always worrying about what came next. He understood the way that the thoughts of what was going to come next, what was about to happen. And generally, in order to break that cycle one needed to, counterintuitively, focus. And that was the next best thing.

"Alright, try this." He said after a brief moment. "Imagine you're in a vast, endless ocean. Picture yourself slowly sinking deeper into that ocean. Feel the water around you, feel the currents pulling you somewhere. Feel the disturbances left behind by whatever else is in the water with you. Focus on that, it will help clear your mind more."

He took a seat facing her, waiting to see how she would do.

He did not expect immediate success. And this was unfamiliar territory for the woman, who likewise had already fully grown being taught another philosophy altogether. This left Veyla somwhat disadvantaged, so it wasn't altogether surprising that she was struggling. Though given her warrior ethos, he had a feeling she would keep at it until she finally succeeded.

Veyla Krinn