Author's note: Although I wrote the words, it would not be fair to call this story mine alone; it's a joint production which I could not manage without my good friend Marcuse.

I don't consider this AU, but I will be altering the Sith line to insert a couple of OCs, the Belletani are my own invention although for the time being I inserted them onto a canonical planet, and the ending might alter the established EU to explain a minor plot hole.

The children sparred in the ring. The taller of the two was quick, and accurate, but she was sweating with effort while her young opponent moved one step for every three of hers. His lightsabre moved, and hers was lunging just where he blocked, skittering harmlessly aside.

She took two paces backwards, and both combatants waited, sabres at the ready. One balanced on her toes, almost trembling in anticipation, and sucked in hungry breaths. Twice her head dipped, facing the other with the broad span of her horns, but she straightened up. He stood all but motionless, and the girl's patience broke first.

She struck again, springing forward and bringing the blade around in an arc. The little boy's sabre was already moving to intercept, and caught hers, forcing it up and sideways. She was off-balance when she landed, and now he made an offensive stroke, which she evaded by a hair's breadth. Unable to recover her stance and parry, she flung herself to the floor and rolled to the side, getting back to her feet in a fluid movement, almost behind him.

He had begun to turn as she hit the floor, and faced her again, still not out of breath.

There was another lull, and Kaitos could see the girl trying to stay as calm as her opponent, slowing her breathing. Her eyes closed, and the boy made his first unprovoked attack. Reflexes, not sense, almost saved her, but his blade skimmed down hers, which flickered as she momentarily released it. Fingers stinging from the burn of the practice sabre, she caught the hilt before it hit the floor and hopped backward a step, buying herself a breathing space.

She took the offense again, her stroke a little slower than before as she feinted to the right. The boy didn't try to parry. His lightsabre moved a little to her left in readiness as she paused for an instant, and then struck right again. He was moving back again but she was quicker, and scored her first burn of the bout on his ribs before darting away from his counterstroke.

He still held his weapon but his free hand went to his side and his eyes left his adversary's sword-tip. She darted forward again, with no hint of beginning to tire. By the time he recovered she was inside his guard, but by chance or design his attempt to block became a strike that caught her upper arm an instant after hers made contact with his hip.

This time he kept his eyes on her and held his sabre at the ready, though as he took two steps back his pace was uneven. The girl showed no sign of feeling the blow, and did not retreat. He blocked her first rush, and she needed all her speed to dodge as he slashed at her body. The next hit would end the fight.

She was breathing hard now, but the boy's face was flushed as well. She struck out straight in front of her in a downwards arc and he blocked, the lightsabres meeting squarely, but she continued to push against it. He braced himself against her greater weight, pushing up and out, and then her blade flickered off.

The strain released, the boy staggered forwards, his sword-arm swinging wildly up and harmlessly to the side as she ducked under it. She had reactivated her lightsabre but seemed to be unbalanced by the move as well, stepping forwards with her head down.

As the crown of her head caught her opponent heavily in the midriff, she twisted sharply, and sent him sideways as well as backwards, landing hard.

She recovered her balance while he was still flat on his back, and slashed down at the hand still holding his sabre. He was not too stunned to whip his arm away, but had released his grip and she kicked his weapon away to a corner of the room.

'Andiana-' the instructor reproved, but she did not give any sign of hearing. She stood over the boy, panting but keeping unblinking eye contact, until he held up his hands.

Andiana's face relaxed into a smile. Her blade flickered off, and she seized his hand in her scaled red one and hauled him to his feet. He put a hand to his shoulder.

'Did I hurt you?'

The boy winced, but then smiled back, 'Only a little. That was clever.'

'Are you fit to continue, Anton?' asked the instructor. Kaitos looked up in surprise as the girl exclaimed

'I beat him!'

The boy walked to the corner and hesitantly picked up his weapon. He turned back to face the others but didn't move.

'This is a duel, Andiana, not a brawl. You were told to use your lightsabre. The rule was three burns to win, you have scored two.'

Wordlessly, the girl pushed the training lightsabre into her belt and turned away. Between her reddish scales Kaitos could see her skin flushing to the same shade. She seemed to hang her head, and then with explosive speed she ran straight towards the wall.

The sound made Kaitos wince but the youngling did not seem so much as dazed by the impact on the thick skullcap formed by the base of her horns. She backed away several paces and lowered her head again.

The instructor seized her by the shoulders. She wrenched herself free with a jerk and stood, glaring at him.

'Andiana Rengen, how do you hope to become a knight if you will not control your temper?'

Andiana stood for the space of half a dozen breaths and then turned and walked away without a word. yGrev Berand shook his head,

'That one will not learn discipline. She indulges her anger.'

The boy glanced at the door and timidly back at his teacher.

'You may go, Anton. You fought well today,'

Andy beat me.'

'You fought well.' Anton walked away.

'He is correct, yGrev,' said Kaitos. 'I might have let the win stand, myself.'

'With another student, very likely,' Berand replied. 'But it is not Rengen's fighting ability that is in doubt.

'If it was only that she is wilful and angry, that would be one thing; she is hardly the only one.' He sighed, 'she does not try. She would rather slam her head against the wall than try to calm herself and she is not so young that such temper tantrums are excusable.'

Kaitos nodded slowly and the two masters were silent for a moment. The younger man went on, 'The boy, now. He is strong in the Force, you agree? Not many of our initiates can keep up with Andiana, and he can't match her for speed or stamina – or cunning.'

'An impressive performance,' Kaitos agreed.

'He understands the Jedi values as well, and he's gifted in skills other than combat. The girl, she is a fighter. Anton Reska will be a Jedi.'

'You believe he would be a good match for me.'

'His ways are much like yours, Kaitos. And I want to see him trained by a true master; he has great potential if he is taught well.'

Kaitos raised an eyebrow, 'Is that flattery?'

'It's truth.'

'I think I will go and speak with the younglings.'

A heavy thud told Kaitos where to find Andiana. She was alone in a small courtyard open to the air, pacing in circles and from time to time charging at the wall. She didn't notice him at first. A low wall circled the courtyard, broken by pathways. He sat down on its broad, benchlike top.

Andiana noticed the intrusion into her sanctuary with a grimace of annoyance, and then stopped short in recognition.

Kaitos acknowledged her notice with a polite nod, 'I am Kaitos Ackamar.'

'I know.' Andiana spoke curtly. After a pause she added 'Master,' and finally, Andiana Rengen.'

'I know.'

This brought a smile from the girl, for a moment.

'I did beat Anton, and I'm not sorry about how.'

'Your teacher agrees. If young Anton had beaten you in such a way, he would have allowed it.'

Andiana's yellow eyes opened wider.

'He would admit it to you himself, if you spoke to him about it. He speaks highly of your combat skills.'

'He didn't want me to fight Anton today. He wanted him to win in front of you. But none of the others wanted to lose in front of you. Anton can beat any of them.'

'But you can beat him.'

'Sometimes. He's as good as I am, I just got the best of it today.' She turned away and began to pace the courtyard again. 'Master Berand thinks I only use my horns when I'm angry. He wants me to forget I have them.' There was silence for a moment. Kaitos picked up a handful of the small stones that covered the paths of the courtyard, and let them trickle idly through his fingers. Andiana burst out, 'I know he thinks I only didn't want to be beaten in front of you.'

Kaitos raised his eyebrows a fraction but let her continue, 'I wouldn't mind losing, I wouldn't. And I never wanted to show Anton up or anything.' Her brow furrowed in anxiety and she spoke quickly, 'He'd have beaten me another time. He wins as often as I do.'

'I suppose you train against him often,' Kaitos interjected. 'you defend yourself well against the left hand.'

A genuine smile broke over the girl's face. 'I like fighting him. The others hardly ever give me a challenge. Anton likes to fight me too.' Her face clouded again. 'I didn't just beat him with brute force.'

'It was a good trick.'

'I could have used my sabre after I got past his guard, it just wasn't what I thought of first. If I'd been thinking about hitting him he'd have sensed it, but if I just tried to get my blade past his, he might miss it.'

'It can be as important to think about how an opponent uses the Force as to use it yourself.'

'It's just the same, to use my horns, as a practice lightsabre. If I was grown and my horns were sharpened, that would have cut him. And I could have broken his ribs if I'd tried.'

Kaitos nodded slowly. Andiana resumed pacing.

'Do you believe Master yGrev would have disallowed it if you had not been in a training bout – in a contest?'

The girl did not reply.

'He does not claim it wasn't a fair victory. He disallowed it because it wasn't the lesson he set you to learn. He knows you can fight, but he wanted you to fight the way he told you to.'

Andiana paused in her track and her horns dipped. But she straightened up and faced Kaitos. 'I am Belletani, my horns are part of me. Why should I not use the gifts I've been given? He thinks that I only use them in anger and I can't be a Jedi unless I stop being Belletani. I won't.'

She stood for a dozen heartbeats, glaring, and then charged at the wall again. The impact made Kaitos wince.

'Does that truly not hurt?'

'It would hurt you. I'm made for it. The wall doesn't yield like if I was butting heads with another person, but then they'd be running too so there would be twice the force, so it's about the same. I know it's hard to believe it. No-one else believes I would do that without being too angry to control myself. Did Berand say I was having a tantrum?'

'It did look that way,' Kaitos admitted, 'to a human. I don't know much of the Belletani. Perhaps you will teach me something?'

Andiana sat down opposite Kaitos. 'I was angry. But in a tantrum you scream and hit things and make yourself angrier. A zayifka wouldn't slam their head into the wall for any other reason, but Belletani do. I'm not hurting myself or trying to damage things or shock anyone.

'Besides, it isn't just for anger. Belletani children butt heads when they're excited, friends do when they're glad to see each other. It's not violence. It's like saying you shouldn't smile or frown because you should control your emotions.

'I do get angry, sometimes. But I do try and control it. I have the fire of Corron in me.' Seeing Kaitos' questioning expression she went on, 'It's just a story. Well not just a story, but...'

'A myth?'

'Yes. Corron is a volcano in the heart of the Southern Desert on Klatooine. It's sacred, I guess. They say that the God who made us put a little of its fire in the heart of each one of us, so we could endure the burning desert.' She bit her tongue, 'it's just a story.'

'Most myths have a grain of truth to them,' Kaitos replied. 'I think you come of a fierce people, who were shaped so by a fierce land. Humans came originally from Coruscant, when it was a planet of oceans, and I was born in a land of rivers and green grass. In a way, the fires of Klatooine's deserts run in your veins, and the quiet waters of Dantooine in mine.'

Andiana smiled. Kaitos nodded again. He stood up. 'I think I will go and speak with your young opponent.'

'Anton will be a good padawan. He'll be sorry he has to go before the tournament, though. He hasn't been in one. I was last year, it was fun, but I'll be thirteen before this year's.'

Anton was trying to suppress a grin. Andy did her best to smile, and fidgeted where she stood.

Kaitos smiled, 'I hoped I might find you together. I've talked with your teachers, and they have agreed.' He held out a hand, 'Andiana Rengen, I would like to take you as my Padawan learner.'

Andy took a step back, her mouth slightly open. Her horns dipped, but she immediately looked up again, 'You were supposed to pick Anton.' She looked from the white-haired master to the little boy, whose cheeks were dimpled in a smile.

'That was, I think, what was expected of me.'

'He liked you better, Andy,' Anton broke in. 'I get to stay here and be in the tournament.'

Andy's eyes narrowed. 'I told you, I'm not better than him. I just won one fight, and he's better at everything else. And he's like you, a lot.' She paused to draw breath, but then shut her mouth and glared at Kaitos.

'Do you not want this?' The master asked, 'If you don't want to be trained or you don't want me to train you,'

'No!' The girl lowered her head again, but stayed where she was. 'I do want to be a Jedi. But not...' she glanced at Anton and bit her lip.

Kaitos nodded. Andy looked up at him, her forehead creased. 'I don't know that I would have taken your friend as an apprentice if you had not been here, or that I would if you refused. I did not choose you because you won that fight. And do you truly think that in more than two years and a half an initiate with so much promise will not find a master to train him?' Andy opened her mouth, but closed it again when he held up a hand.

'No, I did not decide to take you on because you will be too old in less than two months. It would be no favour to you if I undertook to train you when we were not suited to each other, or against the will of the Force.

'Young Anton and I are somewhat alike, it is true. You and I are quite different, as are the two of you, and from what I see you make a good partnership, no?

'I think we will complement each other. No doubt with Anton as my padawan we would have very few disagreements, but we would both have the same approach, and then we would never find out if there was a better way, and neither of us would learn as much as we could. Fire and water together are needed to forge good steel.'

He held out his hand again, and Andy took it.