Moondance [Carn Dista]

[Lief]

Mygeeto​

Icefields​

Dusk​

​

​

At first the cold had burnt, her skin completely unadjusted to the harsh climate and as such forced to retreat beneath thick layers of fur-lined attire. Even after a week of exposure she didn't seem to be adjusting well, but she had not come here to lazy around and keep warm. Cold climate conditioning was her reasoning for being upon Mygeeto, just like Tatooine had been used for heat training, the stark contrast hadn't boded well with the young Miraluka. But she pressed on, and after the aforementioned first week Kassa Sahl had forced herself to adjust to her surroundings, even braving the cold winds and harsh snowfall without her outerrobes. It was time for Kassa to begin her training.

Many moons had passed since then, and slowly she had acclimatised to the weather. The sun was low on the horizon when she awoke, barely even glistening its rays off the icefields. Kassa dressed in very plain and simple training garments consisting of tight-fitting leather trousers and short sleeved tunic, a sash around her waist and her beloved vibrosword at her back. Then she stepped out into the freezing cold and began her daily regime. For hours she trained amidst the snow, wary of the sharp ice shards which spiked the ground at random intervals and threatened to stab the unwary traveller. When she felt herself beginning to tire she pressed on, using the Force to fuel her.

A short break was taken in the middle of the day, when the sun had finally risen to its peak, already willing to set again as it made its decline back against the horizon. She ate sparingly, and drank a chilled juice, preferring to save her warm beverage for the evening as it helped her to sleep. After a moment of respite to allow her food to settle she finally stepped back out, and thus her regime began anew. There was little time for anything else, save for the off-days when she ventured from the barren wasteland she had been situated within, consisting of one small run-down and half buried building she called home. Then her time was spent aiding those in need within the towns and cities which congregated around vast spaceports. Justice had to be dealt to those without a considerable voice, and Kassa was always more than willing.

But today was not such a day; she was not to be found within one of the bustling cities or towns, instead she was in her isolated plot of land, well away from any civilization, unknown and unsought within the ice. But in many ways this was how she liked it, all she could see was the Living Force at its best, shining brightly and unhindered, a lovely blue aura twinkling off the ground and the soft slope of the dome which made up her home. And there, as the sun reached the lowest point in the sky and threatened to kiss the horizon, as the moon began to rise on the opposing facet of the sky, Kassa stood, her breathing sharp and laboured as she finished up the day's regimes. One thing was certain, she would sleep well tonight.

@[member='Carn Dista']

 

[Carn Dista]

Midnight. The hour of the Bantha.

It was not a time he relished visiting, and nor was Mygeeto a planet he relished setting foot on. Still, there were things that needed to be done on world. Things that could not wait for daylight, nor warm weather. Not that the latter was ever going to happen on an ice world. Still, he pressed on. The planet's elements seemed to conspire against him, and with each step, the wind picked up. However, he had learned the ways of the Mynock, and understood that endurance was half the battle. So he endured.

The ice picked at his face like small daggers made just for him. The wind blew snow, which coated his robes, beard, and hair. The cold clung to his bones like a foul memory might cling to a guilty conscience. Yet still he endured. Still he pushed on. The Force had guided him to this forsaken icerock. She had been here. He was sure of it. The ripples of a being he knew well lingered here, out in the wastes. Perhaps he would find more knowledge... Perhaps. If the cold clung to him like a foul memory, hope gripped him like a Sarlacc.

And then he stumbled across it.
The plateau.
She had been here. He was sure of it.

The wind and the snow died down as he approached the flat section of raised land, as if unwilling to disturb his search any further. It was almost like the planet had attempted to hide it's secrets from him, and admitted guilt once it had been uncovered... Yet... had he uncovered anything? Anything other than tracks, that is. Tracks? Here? The thought was a strange one. Here, so remote. He had expected to be alone, and he had expected to have found very little other than whatever the Force was guiding him towards... Yet there they were. And not just tracks... The marks in the ground, the sweeping footwork. Someone had used this as a staging ground for a training exercise... Perhaps the Mandalorians?

No. Not the clans. The footwork was too... Elegant. Too flowing. It suggested a singular person. His hand reached down to grip the hilt of his lightsaber. Whatever, or even whoever was out there was not going to find him unarmed, or unaware...

@[member="Kassa Sahl"]​

 

[Lief]

When she judged the peaked time of the evening to have passed she threw down her beloved blade so it shot bolt upright, hilt up, in the ice before her while she wiped her brow. While at the peak of her fitness as it stood, through practically a lifetime of combat and endurance training, the young girl was still outside in the freezing cold, wearing no extra protection, while doing excessive amounts of exercise; it was safe to say the two together made her flesh feel on fire. She began to warm down, ensuring that her body would not seize up, stopping aspects such as stitches and cramps to catch her offguard. Only then did the young girl fetch her blade and make to leave the site she had chosen for the day's training.

Next came the walk back to camp, while her muscles burned with a small build up of lactic acid. Yet it was to be expected, so she pressed on all the same and put up little protest to doing so. Tonight of all nights she decided a nice, hot drink was owed to her; the session had gone on longer than planned, and she had even mistakenly skipped one of her breaks to press on. Now that the weather was less imposing on her she had felt more able to go for longer periods of time, although it was not ideal and in many ways dangerous to her and her health at large. You need to learn when to stop, Kass she warned herself, with a small outward sigh. There was little for her keen sight to pick up on, instead the same hue through the Force could be seen.

But when her base came into view something odd happened. She picked up on the presence of another, more so than this a visual sign of their existence. No one was supposed to be here, it wasn't common knowledge that the young girl resided all the way out here, for the standard person it would be difficult to get to, and supplies would be vastly limited. So who was it? Quietly she unsheathed her blade from its place on her back, taking it into both hands for a sturdy grasp, and with that she began to edge towards the being she could sense...

@[member="Carn Dista"]

 

[Carn Dista]

@[member="Kassa Sahl"]
The snow crunched softly beneath his feet, and the chill of the air made him less and less aware of how his saber fit into the palm of his hand. Yet he didn't need to be aware of it in his hand, for it's grooves had been ingrained within his memory over the years. Something else that had stuck in the Master's memory, was always being prepared. His saber slowly moved from his belt to the secure safety of his hand, for he had not only seen, but also sensed that he was not alone here. A Force user. Was it her? He couldn't tell. Yet he was not going to simply stand here and let them pass.

And so he advanced. He allowed the living force to guide his actions, and thus draw him naturally in the general direction of the being that was near by. Even if it wasn't who he was looking for, she would know things, or be of importance. When it came to these matters, the Force didn't leave room for co-incidence. As he walked, he naturally lowered his center of balance, so that if whoever was near decided to spring upon him, he would be more than ready to deal with their surprises...

 

[Lief]

The vibrosword fit snug within her hand, crafted specifically with Kassa in mind. As she stepped through the snow her senses deepened until she could pinpoint this individual who was not supposed to be here. Alert as ever she shifted the blade so that it was held comfortably with the right balance, taking it with both hands for better control. There was one thing to be able to fight against the wind and training dummies and obstacles, but it was another thing all together to manage it and to keep her cool when it came to a real life person. The Tusken had assisted this area of her learning. But out here, in the middle of nowhere? She had no such luck finding a sparring partner.

Her natural instinct was to ditch the sword all together and fall back to her Echani roots. Her Miralukan heritage allowed the girl to pinpoint the movements of another's body more specifically, because she did not have to watch for physical signs and instead simply sensed and trusted in the Force. But if this person was truly a hostile she wanted the fight over as swiftly as possible. Should things go wry and she lost the blade then she would definitely choose to fall back on her natural talents, after all that's why she had learnt them in the first place.

Finally Kassa made it to the location of the individual, crouching low in the snow in order to avoid detection. At the last minute, when she was a few feet away, the girl lunged; her feet should have slipped, and would have done so, if not for her experience out on the difficult terrain over the past few months. Instead the blade soared through the air, practically singing as it cut through the air, aiming straight for the back of the stranger. There is no honour in taking a foe from behind she scolded herself, the Elders would not be impressed with her for that slight...

@[member="Carn Dista"]

 

[Carn Dista]

@[member="Kassa Sahl"]

He could sense her - And he could sense... The Force? Could it have been one of Asha's students? Perhaps. Yet she drew closer now, creeping across the ice and snow. A slight smile crept across Carn's now somewhat snow tinted face. She was hunting him, just as he was hunting her. The irony was not lost upon him. His deep connection to the living Force allowed his senses to reach further. There was danger here.

And then he heard it. A faint singing of a blade coming for him, from behind. With the reflexes and reactions that only a Jedi could muster, his body span out of the way of the lunge. In an instant his lightsaber had burst into a blaze of green fury, illuminating the grim visage of the Jedi Master and bathing them both in a deep green. He swept upwards with his blade, to push the sword up and away from his torso. And that is when he got his first glimpse of his attacker. A female, with... Bandaged eyes? No blind girl could strike like that without training. And no training would be given to a girl who couldn't see... Unless, of course, she was a Miraluka. That would explain it. But it didn't explain why she was out here, alone... Still, she was trained with a sword, and that sword would need to be removed from her hands before he could get his answers. He stepped back, twisting his blade into the opening stance of Shii-Cho. It was basic, but it suited his goal in this situation...

[Sorry about the post delay, and bad quality. I've been trying to drum up my muse and it's not been playing ball. x]​

 

[Lief]

[No worries lovely]

The stranger was fast, that she had no doubt of. The young girl pulled back when his lightsaber struck at her blade and she bit her lip; she had never fought someone wielding a lightsaber before, it put her on the defensive, it put her on her back leg, and Kassa did not like that. Despite the difficulty of the situation facing her she did not give in to raw emotions in order to counter, stepping swiftly aside in order to avoid a brush with the pure energy which was emitting from the hilt in his grasp. From the man she found a floury of Ashla energy, radiating from his form, yet despite this and the knowledge of what it meant she could not backdown. He did not know whether she was friend or foe, and if she lowered her defence who knew what might happen.

Her body slipped back, keeping moving not just to keep distance between them but to keep her body from seizing up, a trick she had quickly learnt while out here in the frigid cold air. She span the blade to pick up a small momentum before grasping it with both hands and skirting around the edge of his body, agile with the Force flowing through her firedancing body. With that she tried to undercut his own defences, her blade aiming to hit his hilt; if this man was a walker of light she had no reason to wish him ill.

@[member="Carn Dista"]

 

[Carn Dista]

Her attempt to get past his guard by way of flanking was well thought out, and had he not devoted his life to the Jedi arts, her blade would have found its mark, and he would likely have disarmed him... Unfortunately for his assailant, however, he had been well trained... His mimd flashed back to his knowledge of Makashi, and the art of evading such a situation - and so he let go of his ligtsaber, allowing it to plummet from his hand, while his more fleshy parts shifted out of the path of the oncoming blade. It whistled as it passed, and Carn could sense the energy given off by the strong vibrations. A plan formulated.

He threw his body into a roll though the snow, scooping his lightsaber back up from the ground before she could capitalise on the advantage he offered. By the time he was upright, his blade was reignited. He turned around to face her, and struck out with a sweeping backhanded strike at what seemed to be her right leg - in actuality however, as he swept his blade across her body, he thumbed the ignition of his lightsaber - by the time her body responded to the apparent threat of a strike to her leg, his trakata based saber combat would likely move past her guard, and inflict a light wound to her left shoulder. Unless she was more skilled than he anticipated, of course... which was entirely possible, considering how she moved with blade in hand.

@[member="Kassa Sahl"]

 

[Lief]

[SIZE=10pt]She watched as he dropped his blade and narrowly missed the vibrosword which sailed through the air. His body dropped alongside the hilt and she turned to keep him within her sight, her hand resettling itself upon the hilt of her weapon. As he rose she noted the ignited blade and all but cursed under her breath; of course this one would be well trained, she would have been silly to expect otherwise given the flowing presence of Ashla she felt from him. She raised the blade, enough that it would remain a guard while a set-up point for an offensive attack, but the man was as swift as she and with the lightness of a lightsaber hilt he had the advantage.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]When the lightsaber swept toward her leg she performed a brief Sai, but it proved ill placed as the moment she began she sensed a shift in his being, in the blade itself, through her oversensitive senses, and before her feet touched the ground again she knew she was mistaken in her actions. The shiim against her shoulder made her suck in a breath but it did not disorientate or catch her off guard; instead the young girl slipped backwards, putting ground between them both, only just keeping a tight enough grip on the hilt of her weapon that it remained in her grasp.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Definitely a Jedi” was all she said, the blade remaining in a defensive guard yet it was clear she had no further intentions to fight. She knew what he was, and that was all she needed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]@[member="Carn Dista"][/SIZE]