#2

A Poisoned Apple

'1, 2, 3,' Luke repeated. With every word he clapped his hands together, watching as his students worked through their forms as if they were dancing in formation.

Despite the general seriousness of the task itself, the atmosphere was quite light, with Luke clearly able to see the smiles on several of his students' faces. He had taken some of them from suffering, from poverty, sometimes because he felt the potential in them, other times just because it felt right. In this moment, at the very least, he felt as if he could see the path ahead of him.

The students continued and once they were all drenched in sweat, the Jedi Master lifted a hand and they halted.

'Partner up so we can work through velocities.' Luke murmured. He took a seat perched on the edge of a boulder as he watched the children immediately argue over each other.

Ben was silent and immovable, his arms crossed in front of him. It was irrelevant who he was partnered with, as he always bested his partner. He supposed the others wanted to impress his uncle, so tried to partner with weaker opponents.

Xhona prodded him with the end of her practice weapon – a wooden stick shaped like a Lightsaber – and raised her chin to him.

'Feeling confident today?' Ben inquired, raising an eyebrow.

The young Mirialan laughed and leant against her weapon. 'I often wonder whether your ego has its own centre of gravity.'

Though she was a year younger than Ben, she reached his height and used it to her advantage quite frequently; by staring him down and headbutting him on occasion. Ben fully expected to outgrow her within a few months, but Xhona seemed to worry little about that.

'I hope she kicks your ass,' Jojen called from a few metres away, already eyeing up the much smaller Roonan; Penni, as his partner.

Ben narrowed his eyes at Jojen and with what little mastery of the Force he could manifest, flicked Penni's training sword into Jojen's crotch. The raucous mirth from the incident roused Luke out of a brief meditation and he saw Jojen rolling on the floor and Ben with a smirk across his lips. He rolled his eyes and flicked a hand, ultimately tripping Ben and causing him to land on his coccyx. He raged, but the laughter only grew.

'You deserved that, though.' Xhona stated, her arm held out for Ben to take. He pulled himself up, rubbing irritatingly at his butt.

Jojen eventually settled down and was ready to retaliate against Penni for not controlling his weapon, but took a breath instead, wanting to be the bigger man.

'Hopefully you've all made your picks so we'll get right into it.' Luke spoke, standing again. 'As usual we will start with Form I velocities, and I imagine since yesterday you haven't forgotten, though I do worry about you sometimes Uneed.'

There were several giggles at the expense of Uneed, the uncoordinated Nautolan, though Luke continued.

'Once you get your first hit or one of you yields you may move onto Form II velocities, however I do recommend that those who are hit or yield and subsequently have lost their duel, should consider why they lost. It is important to understand your shortcomings in order to improve yourself.' He rubbed his hands then and gestured for the group to start.

Ben began slow against Xhona, as if trying to mock her, though she just remained rather amused as she parried his strikes easily. Form I was incredibly basic, so the drill was comprised of only six simple strikes that even an eight-year-old could manage.

'You should yield so we can practice Form II,' Ben said simply.

He had read every Jedi text that his uncle had in his possession, he had obsessively watched his uncle practice (even without permission) and drilled himself on how each form worked and its purpose. Ben had already chosen what form he wanted to adapt for himself; Form V and so velocities were practicing things he already knew well. Form I was particularly offensive to him, however, as it wasn't inspiring. It was archaic Lightsaber combat, ineffective against any reasonably skilled opponent.

Xhona chuckled as she hit out at Ben again, speeding up the velocity. 'Perhaps not the most technical, but Form I is where it all started; forged in balance, simplistic and raw. If Master Luke heard you speak so flippantly, he would chide you, Ben.'

Ben frowned briefly as he sped up to match Xhona so that she would not catch him distracted. He caught her eye and she was amused, not worried that he would win at all.

Then he felt his foot slip and Xhona's strike hit him across his shoulder, knocking him onto a knee. His eyes reached up to Xhona and she seemed surprised that she had managed to win, but he didn't miss the snort and he turned, meeting eyes with Tresha.

The thirteen-year-old's chuckles had petered out immediately after meeting Ben's eyes. The young Solo knew that he had not slipped on the hard, impacted dirt and that his ankle had been manipulated and here was the culprit.

'Ben, don't,' Xhona said quickly, reaching for his arm, but he had already flown off, barrelling directly into Tresha and his fists slamming into his face.

All the other students stopped immediately to watch, knowing that only a few of them could best Ben in a fist fight and none of them trusting that they could do so when he was in a rage.

Ben's fists ached almost immediately, but he was embarrassed and he wanted to make Tresha suffer and before Ben knew what he was truly doing, what the consequences would be, the skin on his knuckles had cracked and Tresha had a broken nose, was bleeding from his mouth, nose and the wounds that spread across his face. Ben felt satisfied for a moment, as if revelling in the spilling of blood, and it was addictive. It felt good to see his fellow human become incoherent and start to lose consciousness because of his actions.

'Ben, stop!' Luke shouted, pushing through the crowd.

He did not, however and Tresha was senseless, Ben not pausing.

Luke moved forward swiftly to pull his nephew from his other student. He was forced backwards, however, almost landing on his backside, but holding his hands out to balance himself.

Ben was ready to strike again—seeing the swelling of Tresha's features and thinking it intriguing—when his fist stopped and he looked at it in mid-air, as if it were being held back. Blood covered it and his eyes widened as he fell away from Tresha, onto his backside from being on his knees over the boy.

Xhona was pulling at him, and he could tell she was angry.

Several of the other students immediately went to tend to Tresha, followed by Luke, whose eyes were on fire.

'Take Tresha into the infirmary quickly,' Luke said tightly.

He approached Ben who was still cowering, looking at Tresha's broken face and then at his hands that were stained red. Luke couldn't read him, not at all. There had been such rage and irrational anger and then nothing. Ben was frightened, not of the expectation of a punishment, but of something else that Luke couldn't see. It was like a button had simply been pressed on and off.

Luke considered his nephew, staring him down until his eyes were finally met.

'One week solitary. Minimal food. No company. Meditation only. Understand?'

Ben nodded and Luke tried to search his expression for some explanation as to why he had such an outburst. While his relationship with several of the students wasn't good, Luke had never seen him do such a thing. Ben had been temperate when he was younger, he had chased butterflies and had been easily entertained by a game of Dejarik. Why was it so different now? Even his early training days had been different, yet the last two years had been increasingly difficult.

'I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…I don't know what happened,' he murmured, almost inaudible.

Xhona had pulled Ben up from the ground and led him into the temple, walking him to his punishment.

Has been a while. Currently working on a Reylo multi-chap, coming to a screen near you.

Thanks for reading. Please review! :D