Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian listened to the explanation while walking beside her master, and for the first time all morning, the lesson actually sounded straightforward. Refreshingly straightforward. No clan politics, no military command structures, no discussions about fleets or continents or merchant houses or hypothetical dragon companions named after her. Just don't get hit. She could work with that.

As they stepped into the courtyard, her attention shifted immediately to the activity around them. Cousins balanced atop narrow beams with training sabers in hand while others loosed blunt arrows toward moving targets. One unfortunate participant misjudged a step, windmilled helplessly, and vanished into the water below with an impressive splash.

Xian watched the entire sequence unfold, then nodded once. "I understand this concept." Another arrow sailed across the courtyard. "Finally."

For the first time since arriving on Atrisia, she felt completely confident that she understood both the objective and its reason. Someone attacks. You avoid being hit. Simple. Elegant. Reasonable. A welcome change from trying to memorize the political hierarchy of an entire planet.

Her expression brightened slightly as she stepped forward, already studying the beams, the archers, and the shifting patterns of movement across the training area. "Let's go." The answer came quickly, carrying far more enthusiasm than she had shown for anything theoretical.

After a moment, she glanced back toward Noriko. "I am not saying this is the first lesson you've explained properly." A brief pause followed. "But it is the first one I understood before the explanation was finished."

Before Noriko could decide whether that counted as praise or something else entirely, Xian moved toward the training area with more confidence than she had felt in months, her steps steady and sure as she took in the challenge ahead.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her and gave a nod of her head. "Good cause that high beam is for the learners, I got you the advanced course." She said it and was looking as there was a higher wall going up and several levels of their cousins and droids on the side of the rock wall. With padded walls that they were pushing and striking at the ones who were climbing up while more arrows and others were throwing force abilities at them to send medicine bals. The ones climbing it were moving and scrambling in areas so that they would be able to dodge orr jump up without being hit. Two of them being slammed into each other as they fell down into the water and Noriko looked at it. "Wait until we get to the really hard courses."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed Noriko's gaze upward and immediately regretted her earlier confidence.

The beam she had assumed they would be using was apparently for beginners. Beyond it rose a much larger climbing wall crowded with cousins scrambling upward while others shot blunt arrows, threw medicine balls, and attempted to knock them off with padded weapons. Two unfortunate climbers collided and vanished into the water below.

She stared for a moment.

"I feel like you intentionally misled me when you explained what dodging was."

Her eyes followed another climber, narrowly avoiding a medicine ball. "You said dodge the attack. You neglected to mention the attack would be coming from every direction at once." Despite the complaint, she was already studying the routes people were taking up the wall, watching what worked and what ended with a splash.

After a moment, she let out a small sigh and nodded. "I understand the concept." A brief pause followed. "I do not like the concept, but I understand it." Then she stepped toward the course. "Let's go before I have time to reconsider."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her. "I said dodge training, you assumed the high beam cause it was the first thing you saw entering the room. That is not on my Xian... don't try and put that on me." She said it with a small grin though while moving. "Besides attacks will come from all angles. We are jedi we have to be ready for everything. Just wait until it starts to get hard." She said it but was moving and helped one of the cousins as they fell off the wall as they got nearly to the top before getting smacked.. and then falling on the padding into the water. She looked at him and he got up for a moment... fine enough with only some that would bruise. "See it is perfectly safe."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at her master for several long seconds, her expression shifting from skepticism to reluctant acceptance, because unfortunately, Noriko had a point, and she hated when that happened. She muttered that she did not remember agreeing to this part of the lesson, though even she could hear the lack of conviction in her own voice. Her attention drifted back to the climbers as one narrowly avoided a medicine ball, another nearly lost their grip after being clipped, and a third focused on the wrong threat and was immediately struck from another direction. That part she understood. Life had rarely been polite enough to attack from only one direction. Watching Noriko catch the falling cousin and set him back on his feet softened her resistance a little; the course looked dangerous, but it was clearly designed to let people fail repeatedly without paying too high a price for the lesson.

Her gaze returned to the wall, then to Noriko. "I notice your definition of perfectly safe involves a surprisingly high probability of being struck by things," she said, pausing just long enough for the corner of her mouth to twitch. "That might explain a lot about Atrisia." Still, despite the complaints, she found herself studying the successful climbers more seriously now: the way they moved without fixating on a single threat, the way they adjusted constantly rather than committing to a single path. That looked familiar. Very familiar. Eventually, she folded her arms and nodded once. "Fine. I understand why we are doing this."

She gave Noriko a brief, resigned glance. "I still reserve the right to complain about it while doing it." With that, she stepped toward the base of the wall, eyeing the obstacles ahead with the wary focus of someone who had fully accepted she was about to be hit by at least one medicine ball and was already preparing to be annoyed about it.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Fine, complain and end up distracted... and when you are distracted somehow taking a strike that makes us have to wire your jaw for a month or three to properly set and heal. Causing you to have to drink liquid meals for all of that time." Noriko said it with a shrug of her shoulders while she was moving to look up with a grin on her face. "OH we are going to have so much fun Xian.. think of it like this. if you fall down you can get up and try again. we should make this and the morning run standard... one for legs and this for upper body... that way you won't want to skip leg day."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at her master in pure, silent disbelief, the kind usually reserved for watching a slow‑motion traffic accident. Noriko spoke casually about shattered jaws, months of recovery, and liquid meals as though she were discussing the weather, and Xian could only blink at her twice before managing, "You say these things with a concerning amount of enthusiasm." Her gaze flicked toward the climbing wall where another cousin narrowly avoided being knocked into the water, then back to Noriko. "Most teachers use examples that encourage confidence. You seem to prefer ones involving permanent dental trauma." Despite the complaint, her voice stayed calm; either she was getting better at this, or Atrisia was wearing down her ability to be surprised.

When Noriko suggested making both the run and the climbing course part of a regular routine, Xian's expression somehow became even more incredulous. "You already have a regular routine," she pointed out, gesturing toward the palace, the running paths, and finally the wall. "It begins before sunrise, includes running until my legs stop working, and apparently ends with cousins attempting to launch me into a body of water. Most people would consider that sufficient." But Noriko was not most people, and Xian knew exactly how this would end: Noriko would insist, Xian would complain, and then she would do it anyway.

Realizing this, she sighed and looked back up at the course, annoyance giving way to reluctant acceptance. "Fine," she said at last. "But if my jaw gets wired shut for three months, I am blaming you personally." She folded her arms with solemn finality. "And I expect you to drink liquid meals with me out of solidarity." The challenge sounded entirely serious; whether Noriko would accept it was another matter altogether.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"It isn't really solidarity if it is two of us." She said it but it was good, Xian was prepared for the most important part... she was prepared though for Xian to have a comeback or say she would agree but... there was always a but and not a butt but a but. NOriko would just have to accept that sometimes Xian's but's made her look like a butthead. SHe was having too much fun and snickered to herself when she was going over a few of the things. "But it will be fine, the odds that you would break your jaw are like a thousand to one and with ten thousand people here that makes it more likely one of them will do it... I mean it isn't like the force gods of irony hate you."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian's expression shifted in that familiar way she reserved for the moments when Noriko said something that sounded completely absurd yet carried the uncomfortable possibility of being serious. She studied her master as they walked, trying to determine whether "Force gods of irony" belonged in the same category as actual Atrisian history or in the increasingly crowded category that contained future‑seeing dragons named Xian. The distinction was becoming harder to identify with each passing day, and eventually she folded her arms in quiet resignation.

"Who are the Force gods?" she asked, the sincerity in her voice unmistakable. After everything she had witnessed since arriving on Atrisia, she no longer trusted her instincts to separate jokes from reality. Noriko had a habit of saying things that sounded invented on the spot, only for Xian to discover later that they were, in fact, real. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she continued, wanting clarity before the universe surprised her again. She needed to know whether these gods were an actual religious concept, ancient beings of myth, some obscure Atrisian philosophy, or simply something Noriko had conjured five seconds earlier.

"And if they are real," she added, glancing toward the climbing wall just in time to see another unfortunate cousin tumble into the water, "I would like to formally object to being singled out by them, because so far their sense of humor seems questionable."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Which pantheon?" She looked at her while walking and took position. "There is quite a lot XIan, almost every world has some myth about them a name, a story but it is not always apparent. The gods of Atrisia we have Wapoe but Wapoe has several names across other worlds." She said it and then waited for a moment as a grin formed on her face and Noriko was moving. Her run letting her burst forward and she lept as she flung herself towards the wall and then was moving. Grabbing a hand grip as she started to ascend until her feet could step on a grip and send her up into the air. THe momentum keeping her as she directed with inertia to jerk her body to the side when something came out of the wall and kept moving up. SHe wasn't near the top yet but as the wall shot forward and altered her speed to cling to the wall and kick upwards.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at Noriko for a moment as they took their positions, trying to determine whether she had actually received an answer or simply been handed three new questions disguised as one. That seemed to happen with alarming regularity whenever her master started explaining something. She folded her arms briefly before calling after her, "I was asking about the irony ones. You know, the ones that supposedly have a personal grudge against me." The complaint followed Noriko up the wall while Xian remained firmly on the ground, watching her master launch herself upward with an enthusiasm that suggested either remarkable confidence or a complete disregard for her own safety. At this point, Xian was no longer certain which explanation was more likely.

She tracked Noriko's progress as the Jedi Master swung between handholds, twisted around obstacles, and avoided the mechanisms hidden throughout the climbing course. The speed alone was enough to make Xian question whether they were participating in the same exercise. She had expected instruction, perhaps even a demonstration she could reasonably follow. Instead, Noriko appeared determined to teach through increasingly reckless examples. A quiet sigh escaped her. "Also, if every world has different names for them," she called upward, "that sounds less like gods and more like people making things up as they go."

With that observation delivered, Xian finally approached the wall and began climbing. Unlike Noriko, she made no attempt to turn it into a spectacle. Every movement was deliberate, each handhold tested before she trusted it with her weight. She wasn't interested in looking impressive. She was interested in not falling into the water. There was a significant difference between those two goals. Slowly but steadily, she worked her way upward, her attention divided between the next grip and the various moving sections of the course. Momentum might have worked for Noriko, but Xian preferred knowing exactly where she was putting her hands and feet before committing herself.

"Besides," she continued after climbing several more feet, "if there really is a god of irony following me around, I think they've already done enough." Almost as if the universe had been listening, a concealed panel somewhere above her suddenly slid open with a mechanical hiss. Xian froze immediately, eyes narrowing as she stared suspiciously at the obstacle that had revealed itself. After a long moment, she muttered, "And I would prefer not to remind them that I exist." Only once she was satisfied that nothing was about to launch itself directly at her head did she cautiously resume climbing.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Yes." She said it looking down. "But I would be careful about talking while you." Noriko said it as she lept and grabbed a handhold that ejected from the wall and it jerked her before she grabbed with both handholds. "You don't want to get distracted." Noriko said it while she was moving and hung there for a moment longer thinking about it. "Distracted means the water and you will mess up that hair of yours that you endeavor to not get wet." Noriko was moving with her looks going more when she pulled herself up as it was returning to the wall itself. Another part jutting out before she was using them like steps. "Now come on Xian, lets get down to business to defeat the course."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked up from her position on the wall, one hand gripping a hold while the other searched cautiously for the next. Her expression immediately flattened as Noriko launched herself across yet another moving section, as if this were all perfectly normal.

"I am not distracted," she called back. "I am having a conversation while performing a highly questionable training exercise. There is a difference."

Her eyes narrowed as another section of the wall shifted somewhere nearby. "And for the record, I am not worried about getting wet. I am worried about falling because somebody decided climbing wasn't difficult enough and added surprise architecture." Despite the complaint, she continued upward, carefully testing her next foothold before committing her weight to it. "The hair is a secondary concern."

A moment later, she pulled herself onto the next section and glanced up toward her master. "Also, if we're getting down to business, I would like to formally state that this course appears to have been designed by someone who enjoys watching other people suffer." Still, she resumed climbing, determination winning out over common sense as usual. "Which means there's a very real chance it was designed by you."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Oh I wish." Noriko said it while she was moving and stood there for a moment as the platform jutted outwards towards her. Using a flip to grab a portion of it so she could hold and build up speed. Then kicking up and off while she scaled using the force to make small handholds for a moment.. She grabbed another handhold and looked down before she was about halfway to the top and swung to the side. her voice coming out as she breathed in and then outwards with a laugh. "This was designed long ago and has only been given repairs and some upgrades... The padding and safety features was only added a few months ago."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian nearly missed her next handhold when Noriko casually mentioned that the safety features had only been added a few months ago. Her head snapped upward immediately, disbelief written plainly across her face before she remembered she was currently hanging several meters above the water and should probably focus on not falling.

"A few months ago?"

The question carried the sort of quiet horror normally reserved for discovering a bridge had only recently stopped collapsing.

Carefully pulling herself onto the next section of the wall, Xian paused long enough to stare up at her master. "You are telling me generations of Atrisians looked at this thing and collectively decided that padding was optional?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Actually, no. Do not answer that. I already know the answer."

A sigh escaped her as she resumed climbing, considerably slower than Noriko but still making progress. "I think I am learning more about Atrisia than Atrisia intended me to learn." Another handhold, another cautious step upward. "Every time somebody explains something, it somehow becomes both more impressive and more concerning." She glanced down at the water below, then immediately looked back up. "I am beginning to suspect your entire culture was built on the phrase 'it will probably be fine.'"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"It is your culture too Xian." Noriko said it while she stood there and waited for a moment. Allowing the force to wash over herself... allowing her mind to reach outwards and then she was moving and scaling for a moment when some of the cousins were there with poles to make her dodge and add a more random element to it all. Noriko was moving and she looked at them as she hung there and swung left to right to dodge for a moment but she took a pole to the stomach and caught herself. With a look on her face though as she was grinning. "And this is what you want, you want to be able to have a situation where you have some danger or risk. Otherwise it loses something for the field."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian reached for another handhold and pulled herself upward, pausing briefly as she watched Noriko take a pole directly to the stomach and somehow look pleased about it. She wasn't entirely convinced that was a normal reaction.

"I keep forgetting that," she admitted after a moment. "Every time you say it's my culture too, I have to stop and remember that."

Her footing shifted to the next hold as she carefully continued climbing. Atrisia still felt new. The people, the traditions, the endless cousins appearing from nowhere, the dragons, the stories, all of it. Some days it felt less like discovering her heritage and more like being dropped into someone else's life.

Looking up toward Noriko, she shook her head slightly. "I've only been here a short time. You say things like they're obvious, and then I remember everyone else grew up with this while I'm still trying to catch up." A brief pause followed before she added dryly, "Though I am beginning to understand why nobody here seems particularly concerned about danger."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"We've spent decades recovering from constant wars, there is always someone trying to attack, always someone who wants to wipe things out. It has become less and less about just existing then about preserving and everyone on Atrisia and within the Commonwealth learns now. More then that they work to learn essential skills to a number of improved areas of the galaxy and the force. Or with combat and shipbuilding and design. It allows us to constantly improve and evolve many more aspects for ourselves." Noriko said it when she got to a small point to stand and she could dodge in place as she moved. "Careful not ot look down, you are going to fall something like three miles if you do." SOmething like might have been much but with the safety measures it was a slower fall to reduce impact so might feel like it.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian was doing perfectly fine right up until Noriko mentioned the distance.

Immediately, against her better judgment, she looked down.

The decision was regretted almost as quickly as it was made.

Her hands tightened around the handhold, and she froze for a moment, staring at the enormous drop beneath her before very deliberately lifting her gaze back toward the wall.

"That seems like information you should have kept to yourself."

There was a suspicious edge to her voice now as she resumed climbing, noticeably more careful than she had been thirty seconds earlier.

As Noriko spoke about Atrisia's history, however, Xian found herself listening despite the circumstances. The explanation made sense. Constant wars, constant threats, generations growing up knowing that peace wasn't something guaranteed. It certainly explained why everyone here seemed to treat dangerous training exercises as perfectly reasonable recreational activities.

"I think I'm starting to understand it a little better," she admitted after pulling herself onto another foothold. "Not all of it. Probably not even most of it. But if people spent decades fighting to keep what they had, I can see why nobody here wants to become complacent."

Her eyes briefly flicked upward toward Noriko before she continued her ascent.

"Though I still maintain there had to be a safer way to teach this lesson than hanging people several miles in the air." A pause followed. "And before you answer, I know. The answer is probably 'where's the fun in that?'"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"You get all upset when I keep things to myself. say I don't tell you anything... now when I tell you stuff you act like it is a problem." She said it when she moved and got smacked into the chest but banked into the other side of the wall where she was going.. then dropped and caught herself with a laugh. "See fun times and think of it this way Xian... we get the best chance to learn and improve ourselves." She was laughing and even if she took a strike to the chest or side the bruises were important itself. NOriko pulled herself up as her muscles were going and going with the strain but ti was worth it and this was why she worked out all the time.