Ashin Cardé Varanin
Couple bodies in the garden where the grass grows
Mind. Body. Self. Spirit. Life. Earth. Fire.
All of them resisted her, and had for two days straight. The initial torrent of success had spoiled her. Death and Time and all the rest had come easily by comparison. Now Ashin faced a plateau with no obvious end in sight. In search of a quick win she'd spent hours upon hours drilling with Entropy, but even Body eluded her.
Very possibly because this wasn't the body she'd been born to. She'd worn so many faces, died so many times, that this is my body meant far less to her than to virtually anyone. And all that reinvention bled into Self as well.
For the first time, she seriously thought she might fail at this. What that meant for Dissero's work was pure guesswork, but clear enough to spark a frantic terror that Ashin kept burrowed in her heart. Fear led to the Dark Side, and she drew on it for greater strength, some measure of insight.
At last, after ten straight hours of sword work, Shii-Cho velocities adjusted in their nuances for a weighted blade, Body felt...close. As close as she'd come. As close as she would probably get. She'd known body-trading would come with prices attached, but she hadn't foreseen this one. That fear dug in and didn't leave.
Exhausted and sore, she was getting a drink in the kitchen when the explosion rumbled across the estate. In the split second between the flash and the boom, she wrapped Force protection around herself; she needn't have bothered. The windows held apart from scratching and cracks.
As fast as her sore muscles would allow, she hustled toward the explosion's epicenter in search of Dissero . If he'd managed to blow himself up-
All of them resisted her, and had for two days straight. The initial torrent of success had spoiled her. Death and Time and all the rest had come easily by comparison. Now Ashin faced a plateau with no obvious end in sight. In search of a quick win she'd spent hours upon hours drilling with Entropy, but even Body eluded her.
Very possibly because this wasn't the body she'd been born to. She'd worn so many faces, died so many times, that this is my body meant far less to her than to virtually anyone. And all that reinvention bled into Self as well.
For the first time, she seriously thought she might fail at this. What that meant for Dissero's work was pure guesswork, but clear enough to spark a frantic terror that Ashin kept burrowed in her heart. Fear led to the Dark Side, and she drew on it for greater strength, some measure of insight.
At last, after ten straight hours of sword work, Shii-Cho velocities adjusted in their nuances for a weighted blade, Body felt...close. As close as she'd come. As close as she would probably get. She'd known body-trading would come with prices attached, but she hadn't foreseen this one. That fear dug in and didn't leave.
Exhausted and sore, she was getting a drink in the kitchen when the explosion rumbled across the estate. In the split second between the flash and the boom, she wrapped Force protection around herself; she needn't have bothered. The windows held apart from scratching and cracks.
As fast as her sore muscles would allow, she hustled toward the explosion's epicenter in search of Dissero . If he'd managed to blow himself up-