Private Sun Djem, Or Something...

[Asha Sar'andor]

As she stepped into his office, Asha was visibly restless. Antsy, even. While he busied himself with whatever work he was tending to, she sort of pottered about the room, picking up random objects which served either functional or aesthetic purpose on whatever surfaces lay about the place, and feigning a deeper interest than either of them deserved. One hand curled and uncurled by her side, before tapping on her outer thigh.​

​

The last thing she wanted was to actually interrupt him, but evidently her idea of not interrupting him was just as distracting. It wasn't even intentional, that was perhaps the worst part.​

​

Then, at long last, her eyes drifted to the actual object of her attention. The man in the chair... Or, perhaps more specifically, the blade he carried. The one he'd done as part of his Je'daii trial... The one she'd always managed to avoid close inspection of, and which she'd forsaken in favour of making a teapot.​

​

A teapot she loved, by the way. No regrets there. But all the same.​

​

Her eyes lingered upon it for as long as she was able, then she sank into the armchair across from him. Asha didn't actually say anything at all, in fact she went so far as to stare up at the ceiling.​

​

This wasn't easy for her, after all.​

​

She'd spent so long adamantly against what she'd come here to do...​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan glanced up over the datapad he was reading from as Asha entered the room and started pacing around. While he didn't mind the intrusion, it certainly wasn't like her to show up unannounced, and even less so to immediately fail to communicate. It made it a bit difficult to return to what he was reading, knowing she was there and so clearly wanted to say something. Especially once she began messing with things.

"Set that down," he chided when she picked up a small orb from his desk. It was actually a holoprojector that he could use to talk with some allies deep in the Rift, although he rarely used it; still, it was mainly for emergencies, and he didn't want her accidentally activating it. "Don't mix those papers up." He glanced up again. "Don't break—"

Before he even had an opportunity to finish she set the crystal she'd grabbed down, glancing at him, and then at the corner behind him where'd set his sword, before collapsing into the chair across from his desk and staring at the ceiling. One eyebrow raised curiously, and a half-smile settled on his face. He was more confused than anything, although watching Asha get flustered never failed to bring entertainment.

"Credit for your thoughts, love?"

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

Act like a child, get chided like one.​

​

Already flustered, it wasn't exactly difficult for a blush to set over her cheeks and for the tips of her ears to burn. Okay, okay, no more touching. Not that she was clumsy or anything, she couldn't remember the last time she'd broken anything through negligence. Even so she acknowledged that this was his space, and that his belongings were likely important to him.​

​

The woman had to more or less sit on her hands, mind you, to keep from fidgeting further. At least he didn't keep her waiting for too long, and he didn't seem too annoyed at being disrupted.​

​

All good things, all good things.​

​

"How about I give you the credit, and uh... You don't say I told you so at what comes next..?"​

​

True to form, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a decently sized chit to toss onto his desk. That sheepish expression worsened in doing so.​

​

"I, uh..." She drew one hand out from under her legs, and pointed to the sword. "I want to learn how to do that. Please."​

​

Okay, so that really didn't come out the way she meant it to.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

The credit chit didn't even land on his desk before it turned in mid-air, going right back to sender. The sword zoomed over and landed on the desk instead, right between the two of them in its leather-covered scabbard. "Come again?" he asked, nodding down at the weapon he'd just called over. Her phrasing left a fair bit to be desired in terms of actual meaning, given that Cotan might be willing to make the comment she wanted him not to in regards to two very different things relating to the blade.

"Do you mean making one of these, or how to use it?" The second option had his half-smile growing fuller fairly quickly. Oh, if precious, peaceful Asha was coming to him for blade training, of her own accord...

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

She caught the credit chit with her left hand, and deftly tucked it into her pocket all in one motion. No hesitation to be found. Her eyes lingered on his, unflinching even when he grinned; she knew what he was thinking, at least in some capacity. The time had finally come for him to revel in his victory.​

​

Asha could only hope he wouldn't be too loud in his celebrations.​

​

"Both" she replied, putting strength to her tone insofar as she could muster. "I wish... I'd like to learn both. Please."​

​

Maybe she should have given an explanation for this sudden change of heart, but in that moment she was more focused on bracing herself for whatever he'd say next.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"The day you get me to unjokingly refer to you as Sir is the day I'll no longer complain about combat practice!"

So strong, so defiant. Even now. She stared him in the eye, refusing to back down even as she spoke. Haltingly, but sure. He could feel the bit of wicked exultation growing deep within his chest as she spoke up, threatening to drown out the rest of his racing mind. Thoughts of measurements, the right type of blade to have her make, where to find the necessary crysals for it...those were all important, of course, fitting alongside other thoughts he'd had since he first forced her to begin combat training again.

But now...

"Sir," he corrected mildly. Not too loud, not drawing any undue attention to it, but just this once, just to make her mad, he couldn't resist making the joke about their last discussion on such matters. Not that he didn't have questions—he was certainly wondering just what made her to seek him out herself, for one—but undoubtedly they'd be answered in time.

"Which do you want to start with?"

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

Asha was not typically a prideful woman, but when that word was loosed from his lips a lump formed in her throat that was impossible to swallow down. It was a callback she knew, one she'd been dreading ever since she'd made the remark back in Cloud City so long ago. Was he really going to make her eat her words, or was this more for his own satisfaction?​

​

Truthfully she couldn't decide. Her head lifted just a smidge higher, her eyes still fixed his with a bold stare. He wanted to go there? Fine.​

​

"I would like to learn both, Sir."​

​

Word now claimed, she turned her thoughts instead to his question. Truth be told, Asha was looking for something in the realm of instant gratification, she really did want to put her money where her mouth was and show Cotan that she was capable of change, capable of stepping up to the mark. She wouldn't flake, wouldn't continue her resistive streak. With that in mind...​

​

"Training," she stated, lowering her chin some to a more comfortable state, "Please."​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

She even said it! Cotan was honestly surprised at that—he wasn't actually planning to push her into calling him sir—but he'd delight in it all the same. "As you wish," he replied. He pushed his chair back, standing quickly. He picked up his blade, holding it loosely in his hand. He wouldn't use it, of course—he had training weapons to use, or if she wanted to focus on a lightsaber instead of a real sword, they could always lower the power of their blades to keep from hurting each other. But the Force-imbued weapon never left his sight.

Except for that one time she flew off to Mimban, anyways. "Would you prefer to train in the garden, or my personal training space?" he asked, moving to hold the door for her. "Either way, I'll be able to grab what I need, since we'll be passing by the latter if we go to the former."

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

Much to her surprise, he didn't gloat. Sure she could feel the satisfaction rippling from him, but to his credit he held his tongue. That was something at least.​

​

She watched as he rose up, taking the sword with him, and as he held open the door for her to step through she pondered the options presented to her. Apprehension held her in a vice like grip, it had been too long since she'd last trained in earnest after all...​

​

With that in mind, she nodded once to herself.​

​

"The training room" she decided, "Less distractions..."​

​

And Force knew if they went to the gardens Asha would be distracted. In that moment, fueled by a need to rip off the band aid, Asha led the way to his training room, a path she knew by heart though she'd never made use of it. Hey, she liked to make sure he was okay even if he didn't know she was there.​

​

As they reached the door she hesitated just a touch, peeking back at him. She'd made the decision to approach him about it, sure, but that didn't lessen her nerves any.​

​

After a moment, her soft eyes settling upon his face and soaking in the details despite the fact she'd seen it countless times now, she turned and stepped into the room.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Following along closely behind, when Asha stopped just in front of the door, Cotan nearly walked straight into her. Luckily he didn't, just meeting her gaze with a curious look. "Worried about something?" he asked, just before she opened the door and stepped in. With a shake of his head, he followed; the door shut and locked behind them, and he set his blade against the wall. Then, with a wave of his hand, the pair of training blades he'd been using with Rhia the day before came into his grasp, and he tossed one of them over.

He probably should've reminded Rhia to take them along, or gotten them back to her at some point, but the feel of the brylark wood in his hands was nicer than the synthetic trainers he had. And, given that Asha had indicated his sword rather than his lightsaber, the bokken seemed a reasonable choice. Now, though, he had to determine where she sat when it came to older, earlier techniques of combat, whether with lightsaber or steel. Soresu and Shien, he knew she had some training in, but as for the rest...

"Alright, miss Hex, let's start from the basics. None of the fancy stuff you know." Were he a more formal person, he would have given her a bow before raising his blade, but between the two of them he didn't consider it necessary. He placed both hands firmly on the section of the bokken designed to be the hilt, and raised it up into a high stance, directly over his head. Highly aggressive, quite different from anything that Asha would likely ever do of her own accord or had even learned in the first place.

"Mirror me."

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

"Just thinking" she murmured in response, offering him a small smile before she crossed the threshold. Her gaze scanned the innards of the room, familiar and foreign both at once. She paced toward the center, though not before she seemingly slipped off her shoes by the entrance, and therein she waited.​

​

A bokken was tossed her way, and she caught it from the air with as much ease as she had the credit chit earlier. Span it in her grip in a practiced fashion just once, though as instinctive as it was for her it still felt like forever since she'd actually seen fit to do so.​

​

She'd be lying if she tried to claim she'd done very much training at all since Bespin. But she was here now, hoping to right that wrong.​

​

When Cotan stood across from her Asha lowered herself into a bow, the way that Jericho had always insisted, and then she looked upon him and watched as he raised his sword up and over his head. It was not a stance she was familiar with.​

​

All the same, she studied his form and then made to mirror it as best she could. There was a conflict inside of her as she found herself both loaded with all manner of stupid questions, while also wholly incapable of actually speaking any of them into existence. Instead she sort of just stared at him.​

​

She almost looked spooked, truth be told.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan looked over her stance critically for a moment—ignoring the apprehensive look in her eyes—before shaking his head. "Hold on, don't drop that stance," he commanded, stepping forwards and out of the stance he'd just held. His bokken came down, hooking first around her leading leg. "A little wider, you want a strong base to stand on." And it pushed the rear foot back just slightly as well. Then it came up, tapping at the inside of bother of her elbows.

"And relax your arms, don't lock them out. You'll lose flexibility. You're not my size, so don't try to match my dimensions exactly. Just the posture." He glanced up at her grip, clicking his tongue absent-mindedly as he thought. "Relax your grip a bit, as well. Even with two hands, treat it more like you're holding a handshake, not a hammer. Secure, not tight." It was all exceptionally basic instruction, most of which she likely knew already, but her nervousness about the training was already making itself noticeable in everything else she did.

He didn't even bother to say as much; he knew she could already recognize it and didn't need the reminder. Once he was sure she had her posture proper, he resumed the stance himself, back where he'd been standing. "Now, slowly at first, just so you can get a feel of the weight compared to a lightsaber. I'm going to step forward and slice down towards you; you step back out of the way, and then repeat the same cut down at my head." The simplest kata among them all, the first one taught to any learners.

Assuming she nodded, he would do as he said, stepping forward slowly and cutting downwards just as slowly, so that she could observe how he moved, how every muscle from his legs up through to his fingertips was part of the entire act of cutting, hopefully to replicate immediately after. Assuming, of course, she even took his tempo exactly; she looked almost spooked enough to step back as though the speed were that of a battle.

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

Asha was beyond patient as he pointed out the flaws in her stance and moved to correct her. She did her best to set the changes to memory, the distance between her feet and the angles at which they were placed, the loosey-goosey grip she held over the blade, and the slightly more relaxed nature of her arms. Cotan was precise in his corrections, but it didn't come across as chiding. Part of her had expected it might.​

​

Though it wasn't even really Cotan she was imagining when that thought came to mind, another man entirely.​

​

Slowly that shellshocked expression began to wane, as she reminded herself that this was not her Father. Not his presence, not his teachings, not his memory. This was the man she chose to be with, the one she loved more deeply and intensely than anything else in the Galaxy. Her home. She inhaled a slow breath, and then smiled.​

​

"Okay," she replied, in response to all that had been said and then the further instructions he provided her with. Her voice certainly seemed more stable and present, if nothing else.​

​

Just as he had said, he stepped forward and carried out the described motion; in response, Asha stepped back and remarkably managed to more or less match his pace. Not perfectly, of course, that wasn't exactly possible especially not on the first attempt, but she wasn't rushed either. She lowered her blade down toward his head in turn.​

​

There was a familiarity to the act, but if it was something she'd been drilled through before it hadn't been for a very, very long time.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

As she stepped back, his blade continued on its path; as slow as they were moving, it was important both to show a proper, fully-committed strike, demonstrating the full engagement of the musculature through the strike, as well as to maintain his proper role. As the teacher in this circumstance, that meant that in every simple kata he could show her, he would be the one getting theoretically injured or killed. So, as the last third of her bokken rested just above his forehead, the tip of his was just over the floor.

"Use your full body," he corrected her; the tip of his training weapon raised again, this time tapping at her upper arms. "The arms guide, they help mantain edge alignment, but the strength comes from everywhere. The legs, the back, the core. With a metal blade, even a Force-imbued one, you're fighting resistance each time you cut into something, and arms alone will rarely be enough to deliver a decisive strike."

At least she was starting to relax overall; it wasn't difficult for him to figure out just what had her so apprehensive to start, especially after the conversation they'd had not long ago. Truth be told, it was a factor in his decision to move away from lightsabers for the time being. "Here, I want you to make that same cut at me, repeatedly." He stepped back slightly, raising his bokken into a single-handed parry position over his head. "If you can make me budge, you're getting the form and muscle recruitment right."

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

She halted the path of her blade just before it could come into contact with his forehead, and a quick glance down revealed where his had ended up. Not lingering there long, she matched his gaze once more, and listened to the further corrections given. There'd be a lot of that, she knew, in her future. Careful alterations made at the tip of a training blade, and with a patient tone.​

​

He wanted her to use more than just her arms, and of course this was nothing new to her in general. Asha was rusty though, and more and more it was likely going to become obvious just how much she'd been avoiding all of this. She'd told him numerous times that she kept up with ger training... But how true could that possibly be? Maybe around Bespin, but since they'd come to Tribunal? Since she'd genuinely begun to feel safe and stable and at home?​

​

New instructions kept her from drifting into her thoughts too much. Repetitious activity was something she could lose herself in, it was meditative in many ways. Cotan stepped back, and Asha reset her stance as he took a new one. "This suits you" she remarked softly, cutting through the more serious nature of what he'd been instructing her in. She couldn't help herself though, he really seemed in his element.​

​

Then she stepped into the motion as she brought her blade down toward him once more.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan waved off her compliment with his free hand. "We all have our one or two skills we can teach," he replied with a shrug. "This is one of the only things I can't just pass off to a holocron and feel like it will have been taught better." Overall, he didn't really think of himself as much of a teacher in general, except in the sense that everybody travelling with him long enough would end up learning something useful. Generally accompanied with a fair amount of danger involved and a whole lot of thinking on the fly.

He offered experience more than learning.

Asha's practice blade lightly clunk-ed against his own, still moving slowly, but the body mechanics of the slash were better. "Good," he said. "Now. Faster. Like you actually want to hurt me." That might be a difficult mental block for her to get over, her of all people, but he'd already told her she'd have to get him to budge before she could be done with that exercise. Plus, he'd have to see how she did it at speed to know if there was any unconscious sloppiness that would creep in. Any holdouts of poor technique that were masked when she was moving slow and actively thinking about how to move.

Still, two arms against his one. She should be able to get his arm to drop, or force him to move aside so that he didn't take his own blade to the face. Eventually.

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

Asha wondered what her one or two skills to teach were, but frankly she'd never really had the opportunity to dive deep into much in the way of passing on her knowledge to others. With Caedyn she'd still been a student herself, barely any older than he, and that had made for a strange dynamic. Maybe one day she'd find her stride with such...​

​

Either way, it didn't much matter in that moment did it?​

​

When her blade struck his she took a step back to reset her position, and then frowned at his critique. Faster, he wanted her to mean it when she swiped down at him. "But I don't want to hurt you" she stated, brows knitting together. Asha stared at him for a solid few seconds, before relenting with a sigh. How was she ever going to learn if she pulled her punches and held back? She knew she was being foolish, he knew she was being foolish, and it wasn't as though Cotan was inept. Quite the opposite in fact.​

​

If she could land a square hit on him then the entire Universe will have turned on its head.​

​

With resignation, she nodded her head. "Alright, point taken," she quipped, as much to herself as to him. This time as she stepped into it it was at a rate that was somewhere between practice-strike and real deal. Testing the waters... Then another reset. A couple more followed similarly, before finally she loosened up enough and quietened her mind to come at him with a full strike.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Clack. Clack. Wood struck wood repeatedly, as Asha came at him multiple times, before finally allowing herself to actually move like she intended to attack. Cotan had to brace against that final strike, putting more muscle into his parry than he'd done for any of the lighter ones previous, and nodded in approval. "Good. Now, again. Once I'm sure you can't do it wrong anymore we'll move on to the next couple of sequences." The only way to practice anything, to Cotan's mind; don't do it until you get it right, do it until you're unable to get it wrong again.

"At least you'll—" Clunk. "You'll like the next sequences." Clunk. "They're focused around—" Clack. "—using restraint, and not—" Clunk. "—killing the other person." Maiming them, sure, but not killing them. Though he had to hope that Asha would at least be willing to go all the way if a situation proved it necessary, he knew that pointing out the non-lethal focus of much of the form he'd be teaching her would help her keep some enthusiasm to learn it.

Asha Vynea

 

[Asha Sar'andor]

As much as she might have been loathed to admit it, getting back into the swing of things where her training was concerned was more than a little exhilarating. While she remained an active individual, seemingly ever in motion, it was nice to really push her body again. All she had to do was push from her mind the fact that she was practicing to rain hell down on someone...​

​

Cotan finally seemed satisfied with her work, and from there pushed her to continue on in the same vein. She'd even had the satisfaction of feeling him brace against her strike, which caused the faintest sign of a smirk to play over her lips. She could get used to that... A slightly competitive side which rarely reared its head awoke within her, and urged her ever onward.​

​

No stopping, she carried on as requested.​

​

Though maybe it was the promise of learning something less caveman-whack that really fueled her.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Given that she wasn't entirely new, just out of practice, it didn't take long for her to get back into proper form; before long, he stepped back, letting her strike go wide. "Alright," he said, taking up a stance similar to the one he'd started with earlier. "Now for the second and third sequences. Once we move through those you can decide if you'd rather keep training and move to some sparring, or if you want to talk smithing."

As with the first, it didn't take long to run her through either—small corrections here and there, of course, but whatever determination and competitiveness had come into her seemed apt to spur her towards quickly fixing anything he pointed out. And, as he'd said, both were more about subduing the opponent, rather than killing them; in the last of the three, neither person even ended up wounded. All three different ways that a blade could be used to end a fight.

Beyond, of course, form zero. Know when to draw the weapon, and when to seek a different solution...but often the sight of the weapon alone could be enough to ensure cooperation where it wasn't found before. It generally worked better with the surprise of pulling out a hidden lightsaber rather than having a sword hanging from the belt at all times, but both applied fairly well.

"Good," he said after the last time running through the third sequence, with the tip of Asha's training blade still up at his nose. "Superior positioning and a show of will and dedication can often be enough to make someone surrender without having to actually cut them. You might have to slice their blaster in half, but that's a nothing compared to crippling or killing them, however necessary those might be sometimes."

Asha Vynea