Public The Inner Fire (open Dark Side training)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

LAKE KRUL, BALOWA

The word had gone out through certain networks by word of mouth: Ashin Varanin was alive and offering unique Dark Side instruction for a very specific price. Upon arriving at a campfire on the cursed and blighted shore of Lake Krul, a participant would find a small portion of their power drained away for a day or two. They might not even notice: the lake was a forgotten Dark Side nexus replete with what Darksiders would consider good feelings.

No trickery involved, either: the cost was clear up front, as was its purpose. Ashin meant to use the donated strength for an unconnected ritual later, one that had nothing to do with whomever showed up. She meant to resurrect her wife.

Chunks of Dark Side-twisted wood crackled and popped in the campfire. Ashin had set gnarled logs around it for seating, and she sat there alone, roasting a small Sithspawn on a stick. Beside her was a large bag of interesting things.

 

[Avalore]

You said you'd teach me.

Be worthy of it.

Little had been said by Avalore after that night. She tried her best with the library and the laborious exercises Ashin kept her on, but they always left her frustrated. In the end, it was her own limitations holding her back. Ashin had wanted her to use her anger before and she hadn't known how, but lately the concept was starting to crystalize. Lately, she felt bottled.

She sat on the edge of a log, off to side yet still within Ashin's view. The harsh firelight played across the woman's features, accentuating the years Ashin seemed to have aged in a notably shorter span of time. Concern pinched in the back of Avalore's thoughts. Of course she would not miss tonight. She would not miss any chance to learn. Something told her time was starting to run short. She was hungry for more.

She ran her thumb mindlessly over a carved piece of ivory, ignoring the subtle sense loss creeping through her veins as the cost was leveled from her. Couldn't they start now? She shifted, ever impatient, but held her tongue.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

As apprentices went, Ashin had trained worse than Avalore , but most of those had wound up dead in one way or another. Good help was, and had always been, hard to find. This particular kid had potential, but an awful lot of rough edges to file down or sharpen up before she'd be genuinely useful.

In fairness, at her age Ashin had been a wide-eyed Padawan doing Shii-Cho drills in a remote, naïve Jedi academy, in the last days of the Dark Age. Clear as day, she remembered experimenting with broken rhythm and thinking she was revolutionary. That had to be, what, half a century back? 815 or so?

To her discomfort she realized she didn't remember what year she'd been born. 800 ABY, give or take a couple of years. Lifetimes ago.

"You've been patient, Avalore," she said apropos of nothing. "So you get the first taste."

She took a bite of the Sithspawn, chewed, swallowed, and stuck her fist in the blazing campfire. Her sleeve caught flame immediately.

"You've worked on keeping your body warm in the cold, or cool in the heat. This is an evolution of the same principles. Tapas is a modest branch of tutaminis - energy manipulation, one of my wife's specialties."

 

[Marcis Sorr]

It was a good offer, almost too good to be true. Had it been just anyone Marcis would likely have ignored the whole thing entirely, sensibly limiting himself to the tutelage of the Overseers, but it was not every day that one had the chance to receive the teachings of a former Emperor.

Given what he had learned of the nature of Sith hierarchies, he felt confident that even a small piece of her knowledge would be quite the treasure.

Sitting patiently by the fire - stopping only to flick away another disgusting bug on the approach - the Echani eagerly observed the elderly woman's actions, fully-aware that a decrepit appearance was no indication of weakness when it came to the Lords of the Sith.

From what he had read and heard, some wore mantles of power so great and so heavy that their very bodies inevitably broke down. As eager as he was for power, glory, and respect, he felt sure that even a fraction of that power would sate his appetite for years or even decades.

If he was being honest with himself, he was far more likely to get decapitated, or blown to bits, or eaten by zombies.

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Avalore​

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

With her hand still buried in the coals, sleeve still alight, Ashin glanced up as a young Echani male came to sit by the fire. She took note of the Sith runes on his forehead and knuckles. "Impressively committed runework, friend. Ambition is common; audacity is rare; visible commitment is something else entirely. I'm Ashin, and this is my new student Avalore . Welcome to Lake Krul."

Back to the moment at hand-

"There are different ways to protect yourself. I'm using two at the moment: a Force shield wrapped around my body in whole or in part - Force Protection, some call it - and tutaminis, or energy manipulation. The former is general-purpose; the latter only works against fire, blasters, cold, CryoBan, lightsabers, lightning, radiation - but works very well for those purposes. The vast majority of Force-users can use shields and energy manipulation in some limited or homespun way. What I'm doing now is the result of generalizing those principles and then learning to exert them in new, specific ways. Like so."

She held up a handful of campfire.

"Go on, both of you - try passing your hand through the fire slowly without getting burned. It looks simple, but it's fundamental to greater things, some of which we'll explore today."

Marcis Sorr

 

[Avalore]

Avalore stopped mid crouch besides Ashin, the reward of first bite eagerly taken. It all soured on her tongue as she watched Ashin's next move, the fire eating up her Master's sleeve.

It was an ill kept secret that Avalore was terrified of flames. So much so that she had once resisted tapas in fear of roasting herself from the inside out. She wasn't that same girl anymore. At least, that's what she liked to tell herself. All of this did not stop the goosebumps from prickling over her skin as she face down the point of this lesson.

On second thought, she could have afforded to miss this one.

Sweat beaded under her arms, the cooked sithspawn sliding drly down her throat. No. No, no, no. She wasn't going to-- no.

It was only the desire to meet expectations that had her raising her hand, but even that wasn't enough for the primal fear that gripped at her. "Guests first," she offered, her young face quickly stuffed with sithspawn meat. Let the dude with tattoos make a fool of himself first.

Truth be told, she was just jealous he was allowed to get them in the first place.

Ashin Cardé Varanin Marcis Sorr

 

[Marcis Sorr]

Bowing his head in acknowledgement of Varanin's compliment, Marcis felt a surge of pride. Receiving any sort of encouragement from the Overseers was a rare enough event, but from a Sith Lord of her renown? It was a personal first, enough to bring a hint of pink to his pale face.

Without further ado, she leapt into the role of a teacher; what she taught was simple, deceptively so, but exceedingly useful; he himself had figured out how to redirect kinetic force, if within very specific limits, he was still a novice after all. Alas, his runes were limited, overspecialsied.

He would have to do this on his own - but then, that was the learning experience, wasn't it?

Hesitating for a moment, his eyes flickered to Ashin then her apprentice. "So be it."

Steadying himself, brow knitted in concentration, he slowly moved his hand into the fire. It was warm, his form was far from perfect, but it sort of worked. Not wanting to disappoint, he took his time even as his skin heated up; he was sure he could pull it off, maybe even impres-

A gnat landing on his cheek, he flinched, his concentration slipped, and a lightly burned hand was pulled back to be nursed.

"Ach... sorry, my Lord." Just what he needed, looking bad in front of someone of her calibre.

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Avalore​

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin cringed visibly at the word sorry. "No need to show your belly to me," she said. "Call me Ashin, or Master Varanin - I've had enough bowing and scraping for several lifetimes, so leave the servility at the door and try again. Both of you. Go on - get on with what we're here to do. Show me your respect with action."

Avalore Marcis Sorr

 

[Avalore]

Avalore visibly cringed, the stick lowered from her mouth as she watched the burnt hand be cradled to his core.

Show me your respect with action.

"Master..." A slow glance was cast up at Ashin, but it was the tingling of scars on her palm that left her biting her tongue. She didn't want to do this. In the end, one fear was more powerful than the other. Avalore's breath grew quick and tight, her attention leveling to the flames.

She raised a singular, shaking hand. She leaned into the presence of the amulet on the back of her wrist. I am fear. The air suddenly turning cold around her. Ice began to form along the hand that reached out, the fire faltering around her fingers.

For a moment, she held it there unharmed, until the fire's heat outmatched her ice. She jerked her hand back, yelping violently. Water dripped from her fingers, coating the burn.

"How?" She demanded. They were clearly doing something wrong.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"The key," Ashin said softly, "is the scar. The repeated injury, the repeated effort, the callus. You've both controlled your fear. Only repetition and practice will make you genuinely, enduringly fearless. I wish this was my original body: I'd show you two all manner of scars. Visible Dark Side corruption will have to do; that's a scar in and of itself. Visible commitment, as we discussed."

She gestured at the Dark-tainted water lapping at the shoreline. "Sooth your burns in Lake Krul and go again, you two. You'll suffer no permanent damage tonight, I promise you."

Avalore Marcis Sorr

 

[Marcis Sorr]

Failure. Failure of action, as his burned hand made evidently clear, and failure of reaction, given Ashin's rebuke.

Truth be told it hurt more than the fire had, a pain only slightly lessened by his fellow learner experiencing similar shortfalls. The way the former Empress acted after their failure made him take heart, however - the willingness to suffer pain in pursuit of one's goals was part of the test too, and that, that he could do, especially with the assurance that he would suffer no enduring harm. It was not the nature of the Dark to give without also taking.

Approaching the stagnant waters of the lake, he plunged his hand in, shuddering slightly at unpleasant comfort of coolness caressing his burn even as the dark energies of the place seemed into the skin. It was no wonder that the local beasts avoided the place, but he was Sith. He could use this.

Approaching the fire one more with determination in his eyes, he positioned himself, drew a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Focusing intensely on his earlier failure and the desire to avoid a repeat performance, he nevertheless opted for much the same approach, but altered in key points; he dispersed what heat he could, but the rest entered his body - unlike before, however, he spread it out, a sweat breaking out but no true harm done anywhere...

... and just like that, he was through, an exhalation of relief leaving him as his eyes snapped open, droplets of sweat flanking them.

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Avalore​

 

[Illian Dragos]

He was getting the hang of it. When new information presented himself, he was among the first ones to investigate. And when he heard that a Sith Emperor had offered exclusive training to a few students, Illian had hoped on a ship right away.

The fledgling force user had only began his studies a little while ago. And he, like everyone, was motivated to get ahead for his own specific purposes. He did not know much about the Sith. Illian never cared, nor bothered to understand the different sides of history. That was for history class. All he desired was to at least touch the force.

He had tried many times, with many different methods. Scouring through libraries and troves of data, and to no success. Perhaps Ashin was the one that held the key, or perhaps it was a lost cause. All he knew was that he would keep on trying, and he would not get a better opportunity than this.

That was why he was here. It appeared he was the third to arrive. Not bad, considering he didn't know how to fly a ship.

"Ms. Ashin.". With a slight bow to show some form of respect, a rush of excitement permeated in his being.

He was ready to get started.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Avalore]

Avalore was sure that burning herself on repeat would only make her fear the fire more. She did not say this, unconsciously leaning into the fact that Ashin had never lead her wrong before.

It did not stop the forlong look she gave Ashin, her burnt hand clutch to her chest. She hated this. She took her master's promise and walked away, silent as she kneeled besides the older acolyte with tattoos she wasn't allowed.

The tension left her shoulders as the lake's energy washed over her skin, the rush trilling pleasantly through her. Her head lulled, her eyes flickered back open. She raised her hand, the moonlight reflecting over the smooth surface of her healed skin. Oh.

She walked back calmer, kneeling back besides the woman as she carefully watched Marcis Sorr second attempt. He succeed, which was probably why he had those damn tattoos in the first place. Avalore frowned, taking what lessons she did know and trying to piece them into what she had seen.

The fire was not unlike Ashin's saber, the woman had touched that once as well. If it was all just an extension of tapas, maybe she should be thinking beyond temperature itself. Problem was, in her distress, she had forgotten the mention of force shield too.

These thoughts raced behind her furrowed brows, the woman left to deal with the new comer without interruption from Avalore. After a long moment, Avalore reached out, shaking a little less as she applied half the lesson to her efforts.

She gathered the fire's energy to her and stuck her hand it. She screamed, the flames exploded as she released the pent up energy. A tuff of dead brush caught on fire. She jerked wildly backwards, putting her own shirt out.

That was not how it was done.

Ashin Cardé Varanin Illian Dragos Marcis Sorr

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

She met Illian Dragos 's greeting with a nod. "Ashin will do fine. This is my student Avalore and our new friend Marcis Sorr . Right now we're working on-"

Her head snapped around at Avalore's eruption. It took special talent to go from 'pass your hand through the fire unburned' to 'make the campfire explode and set your own shirt alight.' Her mouth compressed to a thin line.

"Control your fear," she said. "You work yourself up to chaos bordering on a panic attack. Rest, calm your body, use some burn cream, try again when you're ready."

She turned back to Illian. "The exercise here is straightforward. Draw on your anger and ambition, pass your hand through the fire, pull heat into yourself or shunt it aside into the air or simply deny it, rebuke it - there are many modes of thought that can work."

 

[Marcis Sorr]

Few things were as sweet as success, but this one came with a tinge of inadequacy. Unlike the little girl he had completed Ashin's task, but as his heated body made evident his technique had been sloppy. He could handle the fire, sure, but trying to do the same against a flamethrower would boil his blood in his veins, so lacking was his ability to disperse the energy. He would need practice, a lot of it, to wield the skill in mortal combat...

... and if one thing was sure about those who walked the way of the Sith, it was that sooner or later they would kill or be killed.

Sitting back down as the newcomer was expected to make his attempt, the Echani silently pondered his earlier attempts - what he had done right and where he had gone wrong. Their teacher would not have mentioned drawing the heat into themselves as an option unless there were better ways of doing it, practical ways. Could the energy be converted into a different, more usable form?

Or perhaps he was better off taking a page from Avalore's book and releasing it outwards, preferably in a more controlled manner.

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Avalore | Illian Dragos​

 

[Kaalia Pavanos]

The pain of losing one's spouse was something Kaalia was intimately familiar with. It had consumed all of her thoughts and feelings and dragged her down to the lowest point she had ever been at. Despite all of the trials and hardships Kaalia had faced in her life, that time where she was without Ishana was the darkest period she had to endure. It had put much into perspective, even if some of it had taken time to figure out. All these wars she had fought in, defending nations with her life, it was ultimately pointless if those you cared for weren't there.

Hearing about Ashin's loss and her intention of bringing her wife back from death reminded the redhead of that time. She herself had been successful in her efforts and she once more had her beloved in her life, but knowing of Ashin's loss somehow ate away at her. She wouldn't wish such a fate on anyone. Her memories demanded she helped, and so she would. No strings attached.

Kaalia wouldn't go in alone, though. When Darth Daiara caught wind of her plans, she insisted on coming along. Her apprentice was made aware of why she was going and what would be happening there, but her insistence remained.

By the time the Sith lady arrived, three others had already found their way here. Ashin had promised training and so Kaalia assumed them to be students and with the reputation that preceded their teacher, they were no doubt in good hands. As she approached she witnessed them attempting to pass their hand through fire, something that for Kaalia had become second nature. As a master shaper whose greatest affinity was fire shaping, the element was an extension of her being.

"Please, don't mind me," Kaalia stated as she took a seat on one of the logs set around the campfire. "I am merely here to lend you my strength. From one wife to another." A look of understanding was cast towards Ashin. "I am sure my apprentice would appreciate any lessons you could teach her, though," she did add. Through different teachers, one could learn so much more than just one.

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Marcis Sorr | Avalore | Illian Dragos ​

 

[Darth Daiara]

What mattered to Kaalia, mattered to Aradia. Some might view that as another chain to hold the apprentice back, but for Aradia it was everything. The freedom to cast her loyalty where she saw fit was a strength in itself. Kaalia wanted to support this sith lord, so Aradia chose to too.

The lesson was an added bonus, her eyes alight with interest as she sat before the flame. She took after her master's skills with fire shaping. The concept of handling fire without injury was like breathing to her, but she already sensed another layer to the lesson the the others struggled through. A thoughtless wave of her hand snuffed out the wild flames Avalore combatted with, her lips twitching.

She herself had once set a whole training room ablaze. It was all rather amusing in retrospect.

She looked up at Ashin, unhindered by slight pull on her strength, as she asked inquisitively, "Is there a technique you're trying to reinforce?" She knew all too well there were many ways one could protect against injury.

 

[Illian Dragos]

Before Ashin Cardé Varanin spoke to him, he had analyzed the exercise already. It appeared that Avalore had some difficulty, where Marcis Sorr was the most proficient among them. Whatever the case, he was happy that at least he was not the only one that had difficulty in this class.

Draw on your anger and ambition.

Closing his eyes, the squire considered all that he had suffered; the death of his parents, the loss he endured in his duel; all he had endured in poverty on Nar Shaddah. There was plenty of fuel to fire his anger, and his ambition. He knew that if he could not survive this, he would amount to nothing. He came was no one and he would amount to no one if he could not pass this test. That was firmly entrenched in his mind.

Pass your hand through fire

Before this, he called on the force. Or at least, he attempted to. But there was nothing. He could feel his hand burning but the force did not heed his call. Perhaps it did not favor him today, or perhaps if he survived his test, it would come to him in aid. All he knew was that, in this moment, there was no attempt at absorbing the fire.

Clenching his hand, the youngster could feel the pain. It was a great source to draw his anger from. But without a connection, would it amount to anything?

Time would tell.

Kaalia Pavanos Darth Daiara

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Marcis Sorr got an approving nod. His approach might be unrefined and patchwork, but he was achieving more or less the desired effect. She refocused on the new arrivals - Kaalia Pavanos and her student Darth Daiara .

"Thank you," she said, and meant it. "I know who you are, of course, Master Pavanos." The vibrant red hair and the scar were standout points of identification, and Kaalia Pavanos had cultivated a serious reputation for years. "Welcome to Lake Krul. Thanks for your sympathies and support, and you've got mine as well."

The depth of feeling behind her crusade prickled her eyes unexpectedly. She cleared her throat and addressed the three initial students, looping Aradia in with a glance.

"None of you are succeeding with ease, like I've seen in so many training exercises that lowball difficulty and give Sith students an unearned feeling of accomplishment. You're facing real struggles and challenges, and your ability to persevere is what we're training just as much as your Force skills in energy manipulation and self-protection. In fact I don't see a distinction. Your power of will in the face of adversity is fundamental to your relationship with the Force. So by that metric - Marcis, Avalore , Illian - you're all doing quite well." She smiled with perhaps a spark of humor. "And since I don't believe in participation trophies, you can take me at my word. Avalore, there are plenty of people who learn best by teaching others; why don't you start another fire down by the shore and teach Illian what you know that's relevant. He could benefit from your experience."

Illian Dragos

 

[Daeron]

Daeron accepted the offer, just as others had.

Arriving after lessons had begun as well and after Kaalia and Aradia greeted the group, Daeron approached. He did not attempt to hide or sneak, though Daeron refrained from announcing his arrival as Ashin focused on providing feedback to her students.

Having some Sith education, Daeron knew of his place within Sith society. And he knew of the relatively recent history.

So, he silently waited. Watched. Listened. If Ashin spared any attention or desire to have Daeron introduce himself, he would do so with, "Apprentice Daeron, Your Majesty."