Midnight Wanderings

[NightSister]

"Don't go," the woman said, looking tearfully upon the her.
"I'm sorry, mother, but there's nothing left for me here. I'll come back, I promise." Even through her tears, Aria was adamant.
"But when? As who?"
"Mother-"

Aria woke with a start. In her mind's eye, Kandra Vale was still there, begging her foster daughter to stay on Eshan. That was nine times now, since she had come to Voss, that she'd been haunted with the day she'd left Eshan. Every other time, she had resorted to more training as a way to shake it off, and this time would be no different. She pulled on black combat trousers and a black tank top, strapped her lightsaber to her hip, and picking up her boots, she crept out of the dormitory to the nearest training chamber.

Once she was there, she switched on her blade and began practising motions, incorporating all the fighting styles she'd learnt across the years into the smooth, fluid movements of the dance that was battle. The faceless enemy she envisioned as she moved would likely be long dead, but fighting without a partner was rarely useful. She kept going, trying to find weaknesses in her footsteps, waiting for the sun to rise or for somebody else to show up.

 

[Celiana]

Celiana was sitting in her room, well technically floating. She'd been toying around with varying degrees of levitation recently everything from tools, to metal bolts, Holobooks, and various other things. Then she tried herself. First couple of times she'd fallen quite ungracefully onto her face. Now she floated several feet above her bed rotating a small group of crystals in a loose circle.

She was getting restless though, after her last attempt at a full night's sleep she'd jerked awake and pulled her sabers to her igniting them. Memories of her time on Coruscant. Sighing she used her telekinesis to float the crystals into a spot on her nightstand. Then setting herself back down on her bed Celiana pulled on a pair of Olive colored cargo pants followed by her boots. Strapping on her combat belt Celiana hooked her sabers into their now normal spot above either hip. Making sure she had both segments of her Echani bladed staff in their holster slightly to the side of either saber Celiana walked out her door and with The Force waved her door shut.

Walking down the hall Celiana extended her senses in The Force Outwards. Noticing the flow of movement in one of the training chambers near the women's dorms Celiana continued walking until she reached a chamber that led out into the still, night air. A garden training center. Noting the fact there was a familiar face here and one whose saber was ignited Celiana broke the relative silence. "Need a partner? It tends to get boring quite quickly if you don't have someone to cross blades with."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

"No kidding," Aria replied with a slight smile, turning to see that Celiana had joined her in the training chamber. Among all the dozens of fighting styles Aria had learned, the Echani martial art was by far her favourite making Celiana, a fellow Echani, the ideal sparring partner.

"You know, you'd think that all the hours of training, less people would be waking up in the middle of the night. Not that I'm complaining - fighting alone is like trying to swim without water." Aria grinned as she brought her lightsaber back up, gesturing for Celiana to follow suit.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Chuckling slightly at Aria's colorful metaphor Celiana spoke. "Well I....don't tend to make it through a full night's sleep most nights maybe some meditation would help with that, maybe not. I'm not fond of some of my past and it seems I'm having some problems coming to terms with that."

Seeing Aria gesture for her to ignite her blade Celiana held her right hand out to the side and opening herself to The Force telekinetically pulled her right saber off her belt and into her waiting hand. Thumbing the switch on and igniting her saber with a snap-hiss the Aqua blade sprang to life. Bringing her blade in front of her face then rotating it back down to her side in a duelists salute Celiana waited for Aria to make her move.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Even though she was interested now to hear about Celiana's troubling past, there would be other times to chat and as fascinating as the tale would surely be, talking had never been her preferred way to pass the time.

The icy turquoise blade copied Celiana's salute before Aria took a step forward to close the distance and dropped down to almost floor level, swinging her lightsaber with the aim of hitting Celiana's ankles. She straightened into a low crouch, hoping that if Celiana jumped she could take advantage of it to disbalance her.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Sensing Aria's interest in her...checkered past Celiana also saw her move to close the distance and her starting to go low. Flipping over Aria's head Celiana brought her Aqua blade into an inverted guard behind her head with her right hand while also shifting her left foot in preparation for her next move. Interestingly enough Celiana found that she wanted to talk about her past. Perhaps the opportunity will present itself later during this match Celiana thought to herself.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Whirling around sharply, Aria's blade snapped up to meet hers. She had aimed to bring Celiana down as she flipped over her, but she was too quick and too high up. Aria took a step closer, twisting slightly so she was almost facing the same direction as Celiana and brought her free hand - her left one - twisting around Celiana's lightsaber arm to try and lock it in place.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Aria's fighting style was aggressive Celiana noted. Taking steps forward and telegraphing where she planned on moving next. As it was Celiana noticed her twisting towards her, facing her Celiana felt Aria's arm start to twist around her saber arm. Interesting, although too aggressive as well. Having felt Aria's arm wrapping around her saber arm Celiana brought her left fist down in a hammer fist against Aria's arm to pry her away.

Following up the hammer fist with a quick left elbow to Aria's arm as well to make sure she broke the contact. Quickly throwing a right kick with her heel towards Aria's left shin and an elbow towards Aria's right cheek with her saber arm.

"You telegraph, when you spar aggressively I can see you moving before you've moved. Be more subtle."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Celiana moved fast, Aria considered, but perhaps a little too fast. The attacks coming her way we're strong attacks, but they gave Celiana little in the way of balance or defence. As she crouched down to avoid Celiana's elbow, she feinted bringing her lightsaber into Celiana's side to distract as her right hand shot up to grab the heel aiming for her leg. She brought both arms around Celiana's leg, her lightsaber at an angle to prevent Celiana from trying to kick free, and pushed carefully, with the intent of lowering Celiana to the ground.

"I will. And in turn you should stop sacrificing balance for aggression."

 

[Celiana]

Smirking slightly Celiana said, "it's only aggression if done in anger or malicious intent." Aria had a point though Celiana was Sacrificing balance for her straightforward and often aggressive attacks. Still open to The Force Celiana started thinking when she saw the debris from the room rock dust and several various sized chunks of rubble off to one of the corners.

Aria had managed to get hold of her leg and Celiana needed to stay loose. With her left hand she surreptitiously gestured towards the rubble as well as the rock dust. Pulling hard with The Force Celiana accelerated one of the pieces of rubble towards Aria's back as a distraction while pulling the rock dust behind herself and blasting it up into Aria's face.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

It only took Aria a moment to figure out what Celiana was doing. She couldn't risk turning around but at the same time it was hard to stop something that you couldn't see. Sighing slightly, Aria spun on her heel and kicked behind her at Celiana's still grounded leg to try and knock Celiana down before she could recover her balance. At the same time she sent out a single wave of Force power to pull the rubble flying towards her into her control, then blinked away the dust in her face and threw the chunk of debris to the other end of the room, letting it skid past Celiana's face to hopefully turn her head.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

As soon as Aria kicked at her grounded leg Celiana knew she'd probably take the hit. She didn't want to take the full force though and she subsequently moved her free leg to take the hit to her shin. Her balance suffered slightly but she took the fall and kicked out rotating her hips while she did. Moving her left hand in front of and blasting out with The Force to push her away from Aria's reach Celiana brought her knees to her chest and arching her back kicked up to a standing position sweeping her saber out to the side of her right leg.

The darkness of the night was turning to a calm deep blue of early morning. It is beautiful, Celiana thought to herself.

Filling the silence Celiana said, "If you're still curious about my past you need only ask Aria. Be aware though I'll return the favor. There's reasons girls like us tend to not get a good night's sleep and I'm guessing you had a similar reason for coming out here so early. Unless I'm mistaken"

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Seeing Celiana hold out her lightsaber, Aria held her own blade out and aimed a quick swing into Celiana's side just as she spoke.

She let the silence hang in the air for a moment as she dwelled on the offer. Celiana was right; sounds or insomnia weren't what had woken Aria. Her own history was not something she was ashamed of...most of it, anyway...

"No, you're right. Obviously. My story is pretty..." she considered the right word, "...eventful. I'll tell you, but if you wouldn't mind going first."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Catching Aria's quick swing towards her ribs by inverting her saber Celiana batted it aside. Hearing Aria's request to go first Celiana started up her...checkered story. "Well, I was born on Eshan and after graduating battle-school I headed to Coruscant. Father was last I knew an advisor to a very corrupt politician and I quickly became the attractive sex object he'd used to seal business deals. I learned very quickly to notice the leering eyes and wandering hands."

"Not quickly enough though, I ended up suffering some very unpleasant.....indignities before I left the upper levels of Coruscant and started spending time in the lower levels. Raising her saber Celiana flicked her saber hand left towards Aria's face then right towards her ribs before finishing with a quick flourish of right towards Aria's left thigh in an attempt to deal a glancing blow. Finishing her four count strike Celiana reached out with The Force pulling her left saber to her hand and activating it with the familiar snap-hiss it's Ice blue blade joining her Aqua blade.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

As she brought her lightsaber up to parry each blow, Aria listened to Celiana's story with a great deal of interest.

"I see," she said quietly. "That's not quite how my story goes." The silence was deafening as Aria sent out a quick wave of Force energy, trying to find the right words.

"I was abandoned on Corellia when I was one," she finally said. "My adoptive parents raised me on Eshan. They were Jedi, and the most caring, compassionate people you could ever meet. They trained me in any way they could, they couldn't have been better parents if they'd tried. I...I owe them everything.

"They didn't want me to go." That was what had been keeping her up all these nights. "They wanted me to stay with them but I left anyway. To pursue my own hobbies and my own interests. I promised I'd come back, but that was before I realised how dangerous it was to be a Silver Guardian..."

She didn't go on.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Raising her blades into an X and throwing up a quick Force barrier to block the wave of Force energy Aria threw her way Celiana sank to her knee bracing against the ground as the Force wave hit her pushing her back about a yard. Listening to Aria some things became evident to Celiana. Aria felt guilty Celiana realized. "You feel guilty about leaving then?" It didn't make sense to Celiana but she realized it didn't have to.

"Even though you've nothing to feel guilty about? Growing up and leaving home are a natural part of discovering who you really are free of the influence of your parents. Let me ask you something. If nothing is keeping you from leaving the temple to visit your parents then what exactly is the problem?"

Going on the offensive with a more balanced approach Celiana flicked her right saber towards the left side of Aria's collarbone while flicking her left saber towards the right side of her ribs with a quick follow up to the left before simultaneously dropping to a crouch and inverting her left saber landing a quick glancing blow against Aria's left calf. Celiana was very glad she'd installed the ability to turn the power setting on her sabers down. As it was the blow would probably sting Aria quite a bit later on in the day. Pain was an excellent way to improve technique though Celiana knew that from experience. Her time in the Mandalorian planets of Concordia and Concord Dawn along with the multiple scars she saw in the mirror were a testament to that. Not all scars were physical though and that was what kept her up at night.

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria smiled somewhat - she supposed that from an outside perspective, her story made no sense.

"I really wish it was as easy as that. I was left out to die, and two people with no ties to me and no obligation to even look my way took me in and raised me like I was their own. Even if I had survived abandonment, who know what I'd have turned out to be?
The thing is, leaving the first time was hard enough - for both me and them. If I was to return before my training was complete...I don't know if I could bring myself to come back."

As Celiana sent her lightsaber into her ribs, Aria stepped inwards and turned around, so that the blade went into the space behind her back. Her lightsaber moved to block as an attack came towards her leg, and with the other hand she moved to catch hold of Celiana's lightsaber hilt.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Narrowly missing Aria as she stepped inwards and dodged her strike to the ribs Celiana flicked her wrist striking Aria's back. Celiana felt Aria catch hold of her saber hilt though and Celiana used a quick elbow to break the contact. "So you're worried that if you were to return home for a visit that you wouldn't return here to finish your training?"

"I suppose I can see the dilemma there."

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

After turning and bringing her lightsaber across her body diagonally to block the strike, Aria spun around again to face Celiana and quickly hooked one leg around her left ankle and brought her leg in towards her to hopefully trip Celiana up.

"It is rather, isn't it? Perhaps after a while I will come to terms with it and decide that I wasn't wrong to leave, but in the meantime...yes, I feel guilty." Jedi training had taught her to consider the bigger picture, leaving Aria sure that eventually she would shake the feeling of guilt, but until she did she would have many sleepless nights.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Celiana felt the resistance of Aria blocking her strike and sensed rather than felt Aria hooking her leg around her ankle. Sometimes you have to fall to land the strike that makes a difference Celiana thought. Moving with Aria's hooking her ankle Celiana fell with the intended movement but using The Force she threw herself forward moving toward a pillar in the garden. Leaping up into a run she used The Force to snap her sabers together and locking them into a saberstaff configuration. Force Pushing herself off the pillar Celiana landed behind Aria and went into the unpredictable staff forms.

[member="Aria Vale"]