Growing Pains
by ardavenport
Master Fayot Uhm glared back with increasing dismay as Qui-Gon explained the situation to her. He mentioned that Master Yuta had highly recommended Uhm for helping with his Padawan's training. Uhm only responded with scowls and occasional glances that sized up Boliv, who stood respectfully behind Qui-Gon.
They stood together in a corner of a large training arena that echoed with the sounds of exertion. Pairs and groups of other Jedi sparred and exercised in their own areas. Uhm, a Twi'lek and a senior Jedi Master, stood with her hands on her wide hips. She wore her own version of a Jedi Master's garb; heavy, dark brown boots, cream colored pants, an obi tied low around her hips and a Jedi belt over that. Two lightsabers hung from the belt. She wore no tunic, only an abbreviated top of a heavy, dark brown, semi-glossy material that supported her generous upper body. Cream-colored tabards hung down from her shoulders, almost to her knees and partially covered her bare mid-section. She was older, with a slightly lined face and a sagging chin, though her skin was still a bright, vibrant yellow. She was very fit and her bare arms well-muscled. Qui-Gon did not know her personally, but he had seen her fight. She was a well-regarded Master with both one and two saber fighting styles.
He continued explaining his request while she looked up at Qui-Gon with an increasingly sour expression in her amber-colored eyes. Her brow furrowed under a dark brown headband; her two head lekku were tied together behind her with a matching band.
Qui-Gon finished and waited for her answer. He sensed Boliv's increasing wariness behind him.
"Qui-Gon Jinn, you're a moron," she finally pronounced, her voice strong and definite. "You had to wait until [i]now[/i] to come to me with this?" He opened his mouth to object, but she cut him off. "You couldn't think of it on your own? Yuta had to tell you to come to me?"
"If you do not wish to help," he began, now quite annoyed. He had been polite in his request and he would not stay to receive only insults in return. He began backing away, "I am sure that-."
"Stay right there!" she commanded with enough authority to freeze him in place. "Of course, I'll help you! But [i]you[/i] obviously don't know what the situation is." She pointed an accusing finger at his chest. He stared back, confused. The young Knight was quite certain that he did.
"The problem isn't just with fighting and lightsabers," she told him, her tone a little less severe. Qui-Gon relaxed, a little, in response. He had only asked her about training for Boliv; he couldn't think of anything else that he needed from Uhm.
"You really don't know, do you?" Uhm scrutinized him carefully; the sense of her probing thoughts through the Force was very strong.
He opened his mouth to reply, though he had no idea what to say, since he really didn't know what she was hinting at, and he was feeling a bit annoyed that she didn't just say what she thought he didn't know.
"Please, don't make excuses," she cut him off. "I can see it all over you; you don't know what I'm talking about." She looked him up and down, again with disapproval. She heaved a sigh, her large chest rising and falling theatrically. Twi'lek's were often very expressive with their bodies.
Uhm stepped around him to look over Boliv. His young Padawan did not flinch, though her unease was strong.
"You've been with this lunk for how long?" She jabbed a thumb at Qui-Gon.
"I have apprenticed to Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn for nearly four years," she stated, defending her Master with the formality of her reply. Though his Padawan was much younger, Uhm and Boliv were of similar height and size. That was why Master Yuta had suggested that Qui-Gon ask for Uhm's help in training Boliv.
For some time, Qui-Gon had felt that Boliv was not advancing as much as she should have been in her saber skills. She was dedicated and attentive to his instruction, and she practiced diligently. The obvious answer was that his instruction was the problem.
Boliv's skills had improved satisfactorily after she had begun training with Yuta, who pointed out that the real problem was probably their difference in body type. His own Master and he had been of very similar body type and height, so the issue had simply never come up during his own apprenticeship. Boliv was short and square in the body, while both Qui-Gon and Yuta were tall and athletic.
Yuta had recommended Uhm, but she had failed to mention Uhm's acerbic attitude.
Uhm now shook her head at both of them.
"The first thing we need to do is get you something decent to fight in." She gestured toward Boliv's baggy tunic. His Padawan had grown a bit lately and it seemed that her clothes were always either too big or too small. Boliv self-consciously looked down at herself, obviously unhappy with the criticism.
"Come on," Uhm said to Boliv with a 'come here' gesture.
"Stay!" Uhm commanded Qui-Gon when he took a step in their direction. Boliv gave Qui-Gon a 'Do I have to go?' look that became stricken when he nodded back to her. Uhm dragged Boliv across the room, weaving around the occupied training areas.
Qui-Gon stood alone for a moment watching the other fighters. Then he took his own saber and began some simple forms, long, slow exercises that would keep his mind busy while he wondered what clothes Uhm thought were appropriate for fighting in. He was on the fourth one when he saw them returning.
The clothes were not surprising. Uhm had simply given Boliv something of hers to wear.
"It was a little small, so I made some adjustments. It'll do for now," Uhm pronounced as they re-entered their area.
Qui-Gon stared.
Boliv now wore, in place of her usual baggy tunic, an abbreviated top similar to Uhm's. She looked uncomfortable and self-conscious in the unfamiliar clothes. At fourteen years old (almost fifteen), his Padawan was now larger on top than a well-endowed Twi'lek woman. And she was hardly finished growing.
Master Uhm put her hands on her hips, apparently satisfied with Qui-Gon's reaction.
"I trust that you can now clearly see what the problem is?" She positioned herself next to him with a smug expression on her face.
"I underestimated it, at the very least," he admitted. Boliv unhappily squirmed in place.
"Good." Without warning, Uhm slapped him hard on the back. "Let's get started."
The older Master took them through all the most basic moves of Jedi training, starting with the simplest exercises, insisting that she see both Knight and Padawan together. Uhm critiqued Qui-Gon as much as she did Boliv.
Sighing, he accepted Uhm's criticism. He felt more than a bit embarrassed that he had failed to notice anything so obvious for so long. Of course, he had noticed that her weight and balance were changing as she grew, he just hadn't realized that the problem was so....large. Boliv gave him a sympathetic grin as Uhm corrected his footing on an elementary stance. He shyly returned it before focusing on what Uhm was telling him.
Next, Uhm directed Boliv alone through all the basic movements that they had just done, but this time showing her which things she would do differently. Qui-Gon watched with intense interest. More than once, Uhm stressed Boliv's lower center of gravity and how her bosom could get in the way of her swing if she just copied 'idiots like him' (she jabbed her thumb toward Qui-Gon when she said this).
Boliv gave Uhm her full attention, moving her body in place to test out what Uhm told her, but when the Twi'lek wasn't looking her fingers tugged and pulled at the edges of her top.
"Well, I think you've got the basics down." Uhm unclipped her sabers as she spoke. "Let's try something more interesting."
Qui-Gon unclipped his own saber. Uhm laughed.
"Not so fast, big guy!" She put her sabers down on a bench at the edge of their training area. "I just want to see how you move." A little embarrassed, Qui-Gon put his saber down next to hers.
They faced each other in the center of their training area. Uhm gestured toward her body.
"Attack me," she ordered.
Even though he knew what was likely to happen, Qui-Gon did not hesitate. Seconds later, his broad back impacted the firmly padded floor. Uhm's boot on his neck kept him there. Qui-Gon felt the Force pressing down on him through it. She let him up, and after bowing respect, she had him attack her again.
Qui-Gon let the Force flow through him, sharpening the clarity of the moment as Uhm spun to deflect his forward lunge.
Whick!
Qui-Gon leaned back. As she had whirled about, Master Uhm's head lekku had whipped around, the tips of them clipping his nose, catching him completely by surprise. Uhm spun toward him, her body low, sweeping his legs out from under him while he was off balance, and smoothly seizing his arm at the wrist, preventing him from rolling to his feet again. She locked his elbow and kept twisting until he was on the floor again. Her moves were fluid and powered with speed and sureness born from years of experience with the Force that he could not match.
"Did you see what I did?" Uhm asked Boliv after they had risen and bowed.
"You got under him," she answered with a concerned look toward Qui-Gon.
"Good!" Uhm looked pleased. "I see you taught her something after all," she said with an approving nod toward Qui-Gon.
She next had Boliv attack Qui-Gon while she watched and yelled instructions. Qui-Gon did not spare his Padawan unless Uhm told him to. He was not the teacher in this lesson. Boliv was pinned to the floor again and again, but Qui-Gon felt his own pride for her efforts. She got up after each fall, determined to try again. What she lacked in her use of the Force, Boliv always made up for with her steady desire to learn.
Qui-Gon also noticed that as an instructor, Uhm had not once issued an insult, no matter what either of them did wrong, though she had a sharp eye for missteps. Boliv did improve, using her hips to throw Qui-Gon a few times. Uhm often reminded Boliv about Qui-Gon's longer reach and to go either low and close where it wasn't effective, or out of his range entirely.
Uhm's instructions were difficult for the young girl. When Qui-Gon taught Boliv anything new, he allowed her to gain confidence with it by repetition, but Uhm constantly threw out new things for his Padawan to do. Boliv did improve, but only minimally. Qui-Gon sensed her dissatisfaction with her progress, but not a trace of frustration. Again, he felt pride in his apprentice. Uhm seemed to note it as well when she pronounced that Boliv 'needed a lot of work, but had it in her.' Boliv bowed her head and shyly thanked the older Master in response, but Qui-Gon felt a surge of happiness in her. He felt it as well.
Even using the Force in their fighting drills, both Master and Padawan were a little winded, and a little bruised, but Uhm, who had been directing them from the sidelines, stepped forward. Qui-Gon gave Boliv a reassuring smile as Uhm took her place. He noticed that the girl was no longer tugging at her top.
Uhm told him to attack her again.
He feinted high. She dove low, as she had in their earlier bouts. His mind and body perfectly focused and attuned to her movements, he skipped around her and lunged downward.
"Unnnh!" Uhm grunted as Qui-Gon swung his arm upward. His hand clamped on her throat, Qui-Gon held the Twi'let up at precisely the worst distance for her to retaliate, too far for her to reach with her hands or land any effective kicks to his body. Her feet dangling over the floor, she hung on to his wrist, which remained immobile. He held her, just long enough for her to gesture her surrender with her hands, before he set her down.
"Well," Uhm said, pushing air out of her lungs. "I think you learned something after all."
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For the second time that day, Qui-Gon stared at his apprentice. He sat on a floor cushion, at the low table of his simple room. Boliv had just entered and now stood before him.
After their training session, Uhm had taken Boliv away to the lower levels of the Temple to 'get her properly dressed.'
The Twi-lek Jedi Master had quite succeeded.
For the first time in years, it seemed, Boliv's clothes actually fit her. She wore the same type of tunic, tabards and obi that he did, and her usual belt and boots, but the bagginess was gone.
Boliv explained that Uhm had told her how to have her clothes fitted by the supply droids. 'They've got all the programming,' the Twi-lek had explained, 'but they're too stupid to give you what you need unless you tell them.' Apparently, Boliv had just been asking for the same style clothes that she had always worn, without saying anything about how she wanted to look in them.
Again, Qui-Gon felt regret that he had failed to notice when his Padawan might be struggling with something, in this case, her appearance. He asked her why she hadn't said anything.
Boliv shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "I never thought about it before."
"I had not, either," Qui-Gon admitted. He invited her to sit and she eagerly pulled out a floor cushion. He noticed that she moved differently, more freely, now that no part of her tunic or pants were pulling on her somewhere.
He asked her how her time with Uhm had gone. Boliv grimaced.
"She said that I was as brainless as you were," she admitted. "I think that was a compliment," she finished a little uncertainly. "We're going to be training with her a lot, aren't we?" The tone of her question told Qui-Gon that she already knew the answer.
He smiled. "Yes," he confirmed. "She is rude and abrasive, but it is her way, and she has much to teach us."
Boliv unhappily sagged forward, her elbows on the table.
"And," he finished, "we both have much to learn."
- End -
(this story was first posted on tf.n: 18-Oct-2006)
Disclaimer: All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.