The Aspiring Shadow (Daella Apparine)

[Soeht]

Once @[member="Vulpesen"] placed his training saber back on his hip, Daella locked her own on the magnetic clip at her belt. She looked down for a moment before turning her head back up toward Vulpesen.

"If you want," she began, "I can try to teach you. I only fight this way because I'm weak."

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen laughed. "You sure know how to make someone feel good about themselves." After the statement, Vulpesen lifted his arms and shook down the robes of his sleeves to reveal the slender limbs underneath. He obviously was in good physical shape but he was by no meaning of the word, "buff". Vulpesen had survived on using the tactical advantages such as momentum just as @[member="Daella Apparine"] had. "But if you'll notice, I'm not exactly the biggest person around here either."
The comment had at first turned him away from accepting Daella as a master, but as he thought of it, the pairing became perfect. Daella's preferred style well matched his own and would make training a bit easier as well as more effective as he would learn from first hand experience with tactics that he already loved. Though he absolutely hated sounding picky, Vulpesen had spent two years learning about the force from every organization he could find, and he'd be damned if his training in the force fell short upon his arrival at the temple.

 

[Soeht]

As @[member="Vulpesen"] laughed, Daella simply slightly furrowed her brows in a slightly confused look. She looked at him as he demonstrated his comparative lack of muscle mass and short stature. The petite, one hundred sixty-one centimeter woman gave little reaction, as usual.

“Ah,” was her only reply as her faced smoothed out once more.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen sighed and leaned against a wall. "Why do I get the feeling that if you do train me, I wont be expecting any great founts of wisdom from you?" He paused a moment before finally getting to the real question that was on his mind. "What can you teach me of the force?" Vulpesen had proven what he could do with a lightsaber while he was in arenas and training duels with other padawans. However, his passions lay not within a blade but in what he could do with the power of the force. @[member="Daella Apparine"]

 

[Soeht]

Without much pause, Daella replied with, “Anything suited for a Padawan.”

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen nodded, keeping down a lopsided grin. "Then I would be delighted to take you on as a teacher." Finally, he had been accepted. He wasn't completely sure if she would become officially his master, he was fairly sure that was up to the council to decide. But, he was sure that he would finally be taught by someone that wasn't a holocron gatekeeper, or a droid.

 

[Soeht]

Once @[member="Vulpesen"] expressed his delight in being taught by Daella, the Jedi Knight looked around the room. Her eyes paused on the ground for a moment before she looked back at Vulpesen once more.

“I don’t know your past training,” she claimed, “Yet, the training I underwent should suffice. If you have nothing else to do today, wait here.”

Then, Daella walked over to a set of various weights. Most were in the shape of a ball and weighed a considerable amount. Moving one at a time, Daella eventually brought nine weights near Vulpesen. It took a couple minutes.

Once dropping the final weight to the ground, Daella hardly seemed fatigued. Looking at Vulpesen, she motioned her right hand toward the weights and said, “Lift them to the ceiling.”

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen nodded and gave a small smile. He had learned to do this when we was a small child on Amar. Size didn't matter to him anymore when it came to the force. He closed his eyes and tapped into the living force around him before focusing on the weights. At first he was a bit shaky, but the weights had slowly begun to rise despite his youth. About half way up, Vulpesen began to experience trouble. Sure he'd used the force like this plenty of times, but never for this long. He was still determined to move them and continued his concentration, trying not to let his mind wander from the task. @[member="Daella Apparine"]

 

[Soeht]

Silently, Daella watched @[member="Vulpesen"] attempt his task with her cool blue eyes. She gave little change in expression during Vulpesen’s efforts.

“Do pushups until I say otherwise,” stoically ordered Daella, “Keep raising the weights.”

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's eyes snapped open. He hated conventional physical exercise and the suggestion of mixing it with meditation seemed quite difficult. Still, he did as he was told and dropped down. The weights followed him as he hit the ground.
Vulpesen's focus began to drain as he went though the exercise. Despite his small frame, Vulpesen was physically fit and thus the first push ups came out easily enough for the weights to continue rising, but as his strength started to fail, so did his ability to hold his mind in focus. @[member="Daella Apparine"]

 

[Soeht]

Keeping her head raised, Daella looked down on @[member="Vulpesen"] as he performed pushups.

Gesturing at Vulpesen with her right hand, Daella then asked, “Tell me what you already know of the Jedi Order.”

 

[Vulpesen]

The weights sank further, hovering about 3 feet to the right of the padawan's head. "That's a lot to tell." The order was founded around the same time of the republic on the planet Tyhon under the name of Jed'aii. From there it eventually had a group split off as exiles that became the sith. Since then, we've been at war with each other though occasionally, one side almost goes extinct."
Vulpesen took a shallow breath. He hated push ups and his muscles were beginning to quiver with the weights in the air. Still, he continued to talk between the breaths, giving a full historical analysis of the jedi order. After all, joining them had been his dream since he was a child on Amar. A dream he kept alive by soaking in every tiny bit of information he could from scrolls, holocrons, and holo documentaries. He had the knowledge of the jedi in his brain. All he desired now was the experience and training.

 

[Soeht]

As @[member="Vulpesen"] began to talk, Daella turned her head to the right and looked toward the side. She remained silent, as always.

Once Vulpesen’s history lecture finished, Daella looked at him once more and asked, “Why do you wish to be a Jedi Knight?”

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen knew it was a risky move but he focused on the familiar weight within his coat pocket, causing a small black gem to fall out and skid towards @[member="Daella Apparine"]. Despite every other breach of focus, Vulpesen's memories seemed to strengthen his spirit, causing the weights to rise. His body was sweating now as he continued to move up and down. "Seventeen years ago I was found on my fathers doorstep with a note saying that it was my destiny to know the force, so he raised me to learn its ways. somewhere along the way I decided to join the jedi. They seemed the most honorable, so it just seemed right. Two years ago, I found that crystal in the grave of a jedi near my home. In truth, I want to be a knight so I can become a master. A master has the entire knowledge of the force at his fingertips and there would be no greater goal than for me to learn EVERYTHING about the force."

As he spoke, Vulpesen began to raise the weights faster than before, making them easily rise up into the air. As each memory surfaced, he clung to it and took in its power, using it to power his determination. His muscles quivered and he was nearing the verge of collapsing, and yet somehow, he managed to keep himself up through sheer willpower.

 

[Soeht]

When @[member="Vulpesen"] slid the gem toward Daella, she bent down and took it in her right hand. She held it just a foot from her face as she narrowed her eyes. When Vulpesen finished his story, Daella placed the gem back on the ground where she first picked it up.

Several minutes of silence passed. Daella gazed upon the ground the entire time. Then, her eyes looked toward Vulpesen. She then said, "Relax. If you wish to continue training, meet me here again at dawn."

 

[Vulpesen]

The weights dropped with a loud crash, followed by Vulpesen's exhausted body. The pain from the work out was excruciating as his eyes locked onto the stygium crystal in front of him. His body had been put through hell and every breath reflected that fact. His mind kept repeating the same phrase, I hate push-ups, and his body was unable to move more than a few inches. Vulpesen prayed to the gods of his home planet that @[member="Daella Apparine"] wouldn't put him through that everyday, but he was certain of several things. He would come back. He would learn. And, he would advance.

 

[Soeht]

Daella was quick to silently depart and disappear into the temple. Next morning, she would return to the sparing center several minutes earlier than she told @[member="Vulpesen"] to arrive. In just a couple minutes, Daella placed the same nine weights as before in a circle. She stood at the far end of the arena and outside of the circle of weights. No other Jedi used the room.

Continuing to hold a stoic face, Daella awaited for his arrival.

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen arrived soon after @[member="Daella Apparine"] finished with the weights. Upon seeing the weights, he gave an audible groan. Still, he was happy enough to be training with a master and thus took off his jacket and placed it on a piece of equipment before coming up to Daella. "I'll take it we'll be doing the same thing as yesterday?"

 

[Soeht]

Daella did not give a response to @[member="Vulpesen"]'s groan. Motioning her hand to the middle of the circle, Daella said to him, "Squats for a minute, with thirty seconds rest at most. Repeat until I say otherwise. Lift the weights to the ceiling."

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen sighed but went to his task. The constant motion proved difficult to overcome at first, but within moment the weights began to lift again. The weights lifted to the ceiling even easier when Vulpesen found himself a rhythm to enter. Having spent much of his time running and jumping from place to place, Vulpesen found most of his strength in his legs which made this easier than the previous night's exercise.