I Shall Teach You Who You Were (Taiden)

[Manu Xextos]

First days in the Army of Light, and Manu finds the one descendent of the House of Keth that doesn't immediately deserve immolation. Although the initial upset of seeing a familiar face, Taiden Keth gave Manu more to ponder than a redemptive course. He knew his face. Both magnanimous joy and terrible ache lasted in that reference to Manu's married House. The House of Xextos continued, Erryn and Manu's family lived on and some time after Manu's encasement, his wife bore a son to him and he hadn't a clue. He'd missed the life of his second child completely.

Still, there was relief abundant in the discovery and Manu filled that relief in himself now in a corner of the training facility reinforced for close hand combat training. To begin that redemption, Manu had to know the quality of his promised student. Simply, he had to smack Taiden around a bit and figure out what made him tick. Dressed in casual white fatigues, Manu limbered up by walking on his hands, two lightsabers clinking on his belt, one obviously of Echani design, the other appeared for all sense and motion to be the design and make of a Sith. A Sith reformed, in better course of call.

Once Taiden appeared, Manu stalked toward him, leveled one of his mighty fists and slapped an easy haymaker down with the intent to smack across Taiden's face.

Hey, they were Echani, it was akin to saying 'hello, Junior' to most of their kith and kin. @[member="Taiden Keth"]

 

[Taiden Keth]

To others this might seem an odd way to begin a training session, but to Echani this was like saying hello. Not the fighting, it was bringing them into a duel, one such as this, to learn of your opponent and yourself. Echani read through motion, they learned of themselves and communicated to others through combat.

Wearing all white, not a spot on him, a tunic and sleek fitting trousers, leather boots. Taiden looked almost as if color couldn't touch him or dare not make a spec upon his clothes. All of this to not distract from why he was here, Echani took nothing from appearance it was all in the action.

Narrowing his eyes to focus. Taiden blocked Manu's heavier attack by pushing the punch where it wanted to go, and not being there, giving him a good shot at Manu's ribs which he took with a light knee. Using his own momentum against his opponent, it was pure old Keth fighting style, before all the corruption had been heaped upon a certain Sith Knight Manu knew so well. Taiden was not trying to hurt @[member="Manu Xextos"], but the shot was good, and would sting if it connected or wasn't blocked.

 

[Manu Xextos]

History, tradition, consistency. The House of Keth hadn't shifted much at all in the past centuries. As they continued to use the same fighting style, Manu grinned deep and relaxed in his bones - these were people he could understand.

@[member="Taiden Keth"] was a man the displaced Echani could recognize. There was a purity to Taiden he was beginning to see had lacked in the notorious Betrayer. Where the Keth House was known for its solid foundations, consistent strokes and use of momentum, the House Najwa was water around statues of Jade. He slid back with the rib shot and pushed off Taiden's knee with one hand, vaulting over to lay a round kick to Taiden's back as he landed behind the man. Najwas, of whom Manu wondered were extinct, paired natural acrobatics with the force of vibrolance and moved through strikes, gladly taking hits to plant a better one down on the opponent.

Manu was behind Taiden, and still moving, capitalizing on the momentary present of his spine with quick jabbing punches.

 

[Taiden Keth]

@[member="Manu Xextos"]

Taiden saw the rib shot coming, the body language spoke it but he was fighting a more able knight and took one to the ribs unable to get out of the way, twisting his body at the last minute to make it a glancing blow. There was no sign of discomfort, just following the natural fight, flowing withing it, through the muscles, and the momentum of where the Knight was going to land.

What Manu saw was Aiden's fair and lighter hand, his love and craftsmanship over cooking, reading and the finer things in life, only repressed inside Taiden. Taiden had been driven to learn as Raien had, the Keth pressing their sons and daughters harder than even before to make up for their disgrace, never again was drilled into Taiden Keth's mind.

Again letting the kick come, merely shifting Manu's weight with his wrist on the ankle, to open up the back of the knight and try a simple punch to the lower back. Although Keth were trained to not hold back in fighting, there was some restraint, because he was aiming at a more vital region on a person's body. Restraint not in speed but in power.

Beginning to read this Manu of history, reading as all Echani did through conflict, it was a slower reading. He'd heard of Xextos before but never fought one, seen the line before but never experienced this, slowly learning of his dueling partner with each glancing blow. Pushing off the attack was a telling sign in itself.

 

[Manu Xextos]

@[member="Taiden Keth"], who should have been gentle, fought like a man possessed of a desperation to expunge his ancestor's sins.

Manu moved like a dolphin in the ocean, bearing the Force as that great water which consumed the universe and he breathing in it. He flicked and shifted direction with near inhuman severity and quickness, a faint memory of swimming with merfolk jetted into his bones. He planted his hand on Taiden's solar plexus and twisted with a heavy push. The one spot in the body impossible to strengthen or coil muscle over, Manu eyed it and Taiden's joints as wealthy targets for his plunder.

Still not all his strength applied, but the speed (forceless though it was) had the capacity to stagger lesser men. Manu moved with Taiden's shifted weight, palming the ground and pivoting on the hand to come back around and scissor kick at Taiden's neck, his ribcage. Eyes open and fierce, the man had a natural affinity toward predation. His targets, but for a brief flick away, were always kill spots.

Manu was a natural killer, but for some grand design of grace his natural targeting became a doctor's care. Lover of life, yet born with a darker instinct which had made him the golden prize to an evil man. Najwa were fierce, deadly vornskyrs with poisonous rapidity, yet his training had taken him to adding kindness at times. Today it was his grief which lingered, his lonely caving chest which pushed out and lashed again and again for Taiden's weakest points. He grabbed for Taiden's wrists and twisted, attempting to throw the man down, after taking the shot to the back and arching because of it.

Lofty, for the Keth Traditions of solid stance.

 

[Taiden Keth]

@[member="Manu Xextos"]

Weaving with him, moving together as partners might in a dance, that was how Echani dueled. Taiden saw the hit coming... he went with it. A hit to the solar plexus could be lethal, thankfully this was a push which caused a sting, not a fist. Most Echani knew exactly what to do and how hard to apply force when it came to martial arts, his body turned sideways using a push of his own, to make the Manu's attack a glance across him, and lessen the blow, taking two steps back.

Exhaling with each movement, strong in his stance. His stance, the foundation of everything Echani held dear. Avoiding the first foot, Taiden narrowed his eyes, bringing all his attention to bear, watching the low dip from the bigger man, walking in closer and using his shoulder so the kicks hit him with much less force on the arm.

Manu probably had more than a one-two rhythm up his sleeves, at least Taiden hoped so, he learned of the man, of his ability to hit lethal points but with just enough force to remind you they were there, without injuring you. Control, seeing the darker aspects of life but control. Then it came....

In close he couldn't avoid the wrist being snagged, and down he went to the floor, Taien turned his wrist over pulling it in such a way, it forced the man to let go or break his own wrist. On the floor now, against a bigger man above him was not the place he wanted to be, so he used it, going with it. Sweeping his legs around Manu's ankle and trying to knock him off balance long enough to roll back up.

 

[Manu Xextos]

The fundamental difference between Manu and @[member="Taiden Keth"]'s fighting styles was foundation. Such an important bedrock for the Echani was simply missing for the displaced Jedi Knight. His flitting motions and feet which never strayed longer than a scant few seconds in any one place were constantly rocking forward and back, attempting in their way to find that foundation which had been stolen first by Palpatine's Crimson then by Keth's Ratakan Runic red and black.

There were moments his soles stuck solid to the ground, moments where the Echani traditions were lanceted in his skeleton and each moment a softer opponent graced Taiden. Swinging, flowing memories of spars with Erryn, who in her vehemence he always handled with a gentle hand. Firm, yet coiling around her. And thus as his ribcage was pushed, he flowed backward with it backflipping away with a tight coil on his legs.

Yet the moment faded quickly once Taiden was on the ground. Manu's wrist twisted and he spun himself with it, avoiding the break to land heavily down with his elbow on Taiden's gut. Manu attempted to push his knee across Taiden's chest and take mount, where with that solid feel of knees on ground his intentionally flowing self was destroyed. His body touching on the memories of his wife and children was too great, why had he awoken? What grisly tap of hammer and chisel had instigated the crack which freed him from his perpetual battle and easy nirvana?

Manu's silver eyes flooded with Raien's void, a sneer taking his solitary lips as he elbowed Taiden across the face, once, twice, daring him to get back up. Ankle grabbed, Manu was indeed knocked back enough to allow Taiden's rise. Manu planted his feet solidly on the ground, a rumbling, rasping exhale tainting the air. He held his arms out and ready, eyes on Taiden's shoulders. He lashed out as Raien had once done to Ahani, impervious to backing down. Solid as a beast of tempestuous scale. Oppressive, and mighty attacks lashing out hard and fast as dragons.

 

[Taiden Keth]

Flipping was not something he expected to see the larger man capable of. Strong was the force in Manu, and fighting it for the first time was not like the archives had said, this duel revealed not just Manu but the force in him, and that concentrated an Echani's mind reading it through motion, for the first time ever. Taiden's eyes lit up, knowing what was inside of himself in a new way, moving through his own muscles and body. @[member="Manu Xextos"]

Seeing the shot coming he still continued to roll, a heavy exhale of air was only thing that greeted it upon impact, too slow to match the knight. Flowing white and silver, like the grace of a dancer, this was his song. An Echani's delight, Taiden's opposite leg came up, moving with the roll, he twisted the body weight using leverage on the neck of Manu to continue to roll free. Trying to twist him in two directions to offset Manu's balance, one with his weight, the other with his leg.

Pressure pulling, using the natural twist of his own youthful spine to simple try and topple the larger man from off of him. All about balance and stance, that was a Keth, that was what they were gifted in. At the moment Taiden scrambled to redefine a foundation upon the ground, to make the fallen position advantageous to him, pushing against it for strength.

The Betrayer to the Betrayed.

 

[Manu Xextos]

Sombre and resolute, the attacks of the Betrayer came down upon this slip of Keth. Man's head seemed to lower, his shoulders falling and the age in his body began slipping from the barriers of his force-controlled pain. He rasped, lashing out with boot-stomping feet and hands which stabbed their palms then twisted for a mean grab and fling. He was systematically attempting to break Taiden's balance. His concentration and foundation.

Yet an astonishing safety overtook Manu's countenance toward @[member="Taiden Keth"]. Any residual fondness for his brother Aiden coming through the slip of relic in Manu's heart was decidedly kinder than Manu alone had been. Where Manu's natural affinity toward kill spots and flicking from place to place was displayed, also was displayed an absence of empathy and mercy. In battle, the man born of Najwa and made into Xextos was a horrible, disastrous maelstrom devout in his killing. The Raien in him was far more interested in strength, than outright murder of any potential pawn. Raien's gentility in the sight of one to foster was granite lined, but present where Manu had no mercy.

Under Raien's black influence, Manu protected Taiden's joints and soft locations, going for those locations which would instruct Taiden - unbalance him but make the Son of Keth fight harder for his ground. Earn his foundation. Win it, and own it anew. 'Be resolute, my Kinsman' he said with his battle, 'Take me if you can.'

 

[Taiden Keth]

Taiden went with the grab, rolling with the fling, actually launching off of it to gain more distance.

Manu's emotion for Raien, Taiden shared in his complicated scheming to return the Sith to life just to face him, and then reclaim his family's honor. Taiden was still a padawan and hadn't had the life lessons Manu had made a part of himself to deal with that. A heavy burden he saw in every single Echani's eyes he walked past, every Keth did, the looks they received. That was coming out in his duel here, through the body language the undeniable will to cleanse past mistakes, re-correcting errors he'd made in a technique a few minutes before, seeking to get it right the second time around, perfecting it.

While Manu attempted to break the balance Taiden had, he corrected it, and kept correcting it with how he moved the body, how he used the floor and more importantly how he used his opponent's moves or weight against him, always going with the flow of their momentum. Perfection. It was a need in Taiden, and it was obvious. All Traditional Echani worked at their martial abilities but Taiden had the need for it to be spot on correct, every time.

There was a resolution but he saw Manu's head sagging, it was screaming to the Echani who read from body language, and so despite being hit. Taiden stopped, holding a palm to his Master's chest, "Elder what is wrong?" The question didn't need to be verbally asked, he was already looking for what was wrong in Manu's body, in the joints and the muscles.

Elder, to an Echani, meant Master. A term of respect not everyone understood. @[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Manu Xextos]

The burden of one's ancestors could be a constant thorn, as @[member="Taiden Keth"] was demonstrating to his new Master. Raien's presence in Manu took it, his body responding from both the originator and the original opponent. Four hundred years and Manu had become in his way a synthesis of the truths he'd found in his battles with @[member="Raien Keth"]. What burden could be displayed in his own family line? Was the House of Xextos a contented one, relying on the glory of ancestral sacrifice or had they borne the taint of sins? Manu charged, coming back to himself in the flight of his natural acrobatics craving his own family. His kin. What did Taiden Keth know of the Xextos Clan?

The elder Echani's lungs laboured for atmosphere, his back bowed and shoulders hunched heaving, feeding off the pain. Taiden did well to find his balance, a constant struggle for that bedrock driving him where his ancestor had once been driven mad. "The Krystallsovn had its costs. Costs I have not finished paying." Why had he awoken? The quest for truth burned his muscle fibres, he leaned momentarily on Taiden's hand. Shutting weaker eyes, Manu threw himself into the presence of the Living Force, and as the Force lasted so too did Manu Xextos. The Force's presence in Manu was the only thing keeping the man alive. "I need to know why after so many years I was ripped away from it. Doesn't make sense. Ahani never lets go." More a question to the wind, Manu stalked away and rolled his shoulders back to their proud position and bearing.

Two lightsabers veered to his hands, one the Lightsider blade Nuada with her Echani craftmanship, the other the much Darker Borghan and its borrowed presence. Manu held both hilts out to the nineteen year old. "You are far from a Youngling being trained in their first combat. Any other Apprentice, and I would start with sticks, but you? You are a warrior in your own right. Do not think I will go too easy or too hard. And try not to chop off your own limbs on the first try. Or the seventh. A lightsaber is no vibroblade. Its weight and texture is of a unique nature, and all depends on the crystal and its bearer. Take your choice, and I will prepare you for the Jedi blade."

 

[Taiden Keth]

@[member="Manu Xextos"]
Studying the discomfort with an unrelenting silver gaze, "then you should rest Elder." Taiden said bluntly, not someone who minced words when it came to physical well being, keeping the body in its top fighting shape was critical to a Traditional Echani. The body was their temple, battle its veneration. "Perhaps it was time to show what Echani are again, to a galaxy that has forgotten us." He said to Manu's next question, clearly by his body language, that was what Taiden was ultimately committed to, after restoring the name of his family, he intended to do so for all Echani.

To pick the darkness or the light, Manu held both in his hands. Taiden was unproven in the eyes of any Jedi or Sith for that matter. Either way the acolyte could go, his rigid discipline meant making such a choice wasn't easy, as he naturally wanted to go for both.

Moving his hand toward Nuada by instinct, but no. "There was something I was saving.... Elder," Taiden walked away to a nearby pack, opened it and revealed Starborn, a silver saber glowing to match the hull of the ship. His choice, neither the dark or the light would he take too much of, he would naturally need to keep the light at bay else like Sera it would consume him completely. Taiden was that committed to his task. He would train like that Jedi of legend Atris, with a natural discipline. Once like his ancestor Raien Keth had the choice of becoming, he would be a Knight and do things the right way.
Taiden held starborn for the first time, its weight difficult to get used to, finding it very difficult to hold in place at all, wanting to feel weight and direction but instead holding nothing but energy as his guide. The grip eluded him, even if he had the stance naturally, just like his ancestor all those years ago...

 

[Manu Xextos]

"I rest when my work is done." Definitive and absolute, Manu's voice cut through @[member="Taiden Keth"] with the ferocity of a Kae's Consort. There was work yet, Taiden was not ready and Manu would not let the boy go forth without a hand up in his training.

"Perhaps. The act stinks of intrigue, anyone who wishes @[member="Raien Keth"] released is a fool. I'm more concerned with my mother. Ahani is more vicious than Raien, where Raien searches for strength and tactics and can be ployed with reason, Ahani destroys to protect her husband and his name. She lashes like a predator scorned and cornered before its young, killing on its last breath. Pray they never find release. Pray they sleep eternal." Manu felt the weight of Borghan in his hand, the lightness of Nuada in the other. This training took a lighter hand.

For the moment. Manu put Borghan back on his belt and lit Nuada. "Feel the weight of the hilt. The Lightsaber is not a weapon of muscular fortitude. It will cut through opponents with equal ferocity, whether thin as ice or hard as durasteel. Whatever you do, don't let the blade touch you. There is no safe edge."

He began moving in basic footwork, building in complexity until he lashed out in sweeping arcs at Starborn's grey beam, showing the Apprentice the angles of attack.