Chapter 10

Bastila raised her lightsaber when she saw Aspyre flying to her at full speed. She managed to block the rather anticipated move and found herself unable to do anything else. Aspyre was pushing down with all her might at her and despite her smaller size, she packed quite a punch. Bastila shifted her feet and side stepped her, but she anticipated the moved and disengaged her blade. She jumped in the air as Bastila swiped at her feet and slashed a few more times at her, testing her defenses. Aspyre had already figured a pattern to her method of blocking, but when she tried to capitalize on it, Bastila managed to switch to another form. Aspyre suddenly knelt down and Bastila's lightsaber swiped the air on top of her. She kicked her on her shin and pushed her back. Bastila took a few more steps away from her and smiled despite the slightly tingling she felt crawling up her leg. Aspyre took a few steps back too and they slowly circled each other, waiting to see who made the first move. With the corner of her eye Bastila saw that they had attracted quiet a crowd and about a dozen Padawans were watching the fight. Bastila charged and brought down one end of her lightsaber on Aspyre, who lifted her own and blocked it. She quickly pulled away and brought the other end upwards to her lightsaber, Aspyre had not expected this move and she quickly somersaulted out of the way, she flipped in the air a few times and landed gracefully a few feet away from her, her long mane flowing just like she did and landing down with her, covering her shoulders as she raised her head to look at Bastila.

Aspyre did her best to keep up, Bastila was fighting more seriously now and she pulled quite a few moves she had never seen before. She saw Bastila running towards her and she ran away, towards the wall. Bastila had clearly not expected this but kept charging at her, she would try to pin her against the wall and then she wouldn't be able to do anything. Aspyre kept running and picked up speed when she was near the wall. She jumped and with all her strength kicked the wall and jumped on top of Bastila, she however, managed to see what she was doing and turned around on mid step, turning her back on her. Aspyre kept flying through the air and landed behind Bastila, or rather she would have if she hadn't turned around. She swiped at her and Aspyre managed to lift her green blade to block the strike. The strength of the impact pushed her back a little bit and she managed to regain her balance before another of Bastila's slashes forced her to jump out of the way.

Bastila managed to stop the blade before it cut straight through the floor and saw Aspyre a few feet away from her. She was sweating; the girl had clearly practiced since the last time they fought. Bastila smiled and pushed the Force towards her legs and arms and in less than an second had brought down her blade on top of Aspyre's head. To her surprise, Aspyre did the same and she blocked her attack with great efficiency. Bastila unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes meant to drive her on the defensive, thing they did, rather effectively. She saw a tiny gap on her defense, just when she turned her hand to block her left swing, a tiny spot under her elbow. She aimed for it, but Aspyre was one step ahead of her. She lowered her lightsaber and not only stopped the blow, but also pushed her down against the floor. Bastila did her best to stop both lightsabers, and managed to stop before they sliced through the floor.

"If they ask us about the floor I'll say it's your fault!" she told her, sweat running down her neck and chest. Aspyre laughed but kept pushing down and soon her blade was only a millimeter away from the floor.

"Master Vrook is going to yell at me for hours if I scratch that floor" she thought. Bastila held her blade there for a second and then did the only thing she could think off; she turned that side of the saber off. She hoped the maneuver would throw Aspyre off balance and give her enough time to turn it back on, but instead of tripping forward like she had hoped, Aspyre pulled her blade away and slashed immediately. Bastila's eyes widened and she moved her blade against her. They remain locked like that for a few seconds. She was going to turn on the other end of her saber when she saw that Aspyre had pushed her into an awkward position and if she turned on the other end, she would cut off her own leg. Gritting her teeth, Bastila started to move her leg out of the way but she lost her balance and fell down on the ground. Aspyre yelped in surprise and went headfirst on top of her. She was about to cut off her arm, but she managed to move her lightsaber out of the way. Aspyre landed on top of her and they laughed merrily, like little girls who accidentally discovered a new game together.

Aspyre turned off her lightsaber and stood up; she offered Bastila a hand and helped her up. Both girls took a step back and turned on their light sabers. Bastila was tired, how long had they been fighting? She decided it was time to end it and she began striking at her again, left, right, left, right, left, right, fake left, uppercut, and she slowly started pushing Aspyre against the wall. She saw the look of desperation on the girl and she pushed even harder, determined to end the fight for good, but Aspyre held her ground and tenaciously blocked her attacks, occasionally sending a strike of her own every now and then. They moved all across the room, the fought in the center, they jumped off walls, they fought in the corners and Bastila had even once jumped up to the roof, only to kick off it and come crashing down against Aspyre. That move had thrown her off balance, and she had managed to pin her down on the ground with the brutality of the assault, but Aspyre had managed to press her knees on Bastila's chest and push her off her.

Aspyre felt as her grip on her lightsaber faltered, she was very tired, she could barely feel her fingers gripping the metal handle and did her best to block the barrage of attacks Bastila unleashed on her. She saw as she slashed at her with the lightsaber equivalent of a bitch slap and she felt her lightsaber fall to the ground. She saw Bastila smile and she brought her lightsaber next to her face, obviously as a fake threat, but Aspyre reacted without thinking. She did not have time to think, her brain did not realize that Bastila was only playing with her, and it reacted out of the instinct to protect its own existence. She brought her hand up to block the blow.

Bastila's eyes widened and her moth fell open when she saw Aspyre's hand darting up, she couldn't stop the blade, it was less than a millimeter away from her finger, and she would cut them off! To Aspyre's, Bastila's and all the other people watching the fight, surprise the blade did not cut cleanly through her fingers but rather clashed against them and bounced back slightly. Bastila felt her jaw open even more. What had just happened? She saw Aspyre slap the lightsaber away from her with a smile on her face. Bastila turned her gaze to her, she tried to speak but Aspyre grinned at her and threw a quick jab at her face, she instinctively blocked it with her lightsaber and again, it bounced back when it touched her fingers.

"What are you doing?" she asked her in unreserved alarm as she kept throwing punches at her, which she clumsily deflected with her lightsaber. "HOW are you doing it?"

Aspyre smiled and shrugged, and kept punching her, so far Bastila kept blocking them, but a lightsaber was not made for hand to hand combat and after deciding she felt fortunate today she grabbed one blade with her right hand and the other with her left hand and she pulled, ripping the lightsaber from Bastila's unsteady hands. She looked down in shock and saw how the blade hummed in her hands. She moved her hands and she felt it. She felt the energy coming off the lightsaber and she felt as her hand pushed back and prevent it from cutting through her fingers. She stayed like that for a few seconds and looked back at Bastila who was still staring at her hands. Aspyre freed her left hand and touched the power button. The lightsaber went silent and for a second the stillness filled the space between the two of them. Bastila shakily grabbed her hands and started to check them. There was nothing. Nothing! She had seen her lightsaber hit her fingers and she had seen her hold it by the blades. Those blades were made of pure energy! How could there be nothing! Bastila did her best to comprehend what had just happened but she couldn't. Aspyre grabbed her hands and smiled at her. Bastila however, did not return the smile, her mouth was wide open and she did her best to find the words to ask her.

"How?" she managed to mutter.

"I don't know, I just did it, and luckily it worked or you would've chopped up my poor fingers right off!" she said with a grin on her face.

They both felt a presence behind them and they turned around, to their shock there was at least thirty Jedi watching them in admiration. Aspyre felt her face turn a glowing crimson color and she grabbed Bastila's hand for support. Bastila did her best to regain her equanimity and she opened the door that led to the bedrooms rather than through the crowd of Jedi staring at them and they hurried back to the Ebon Hawk. They tried to avoid the curious gazes directed at them and Aspyre kept her gaze on the ground as Bastila led her to safety. They reached the Ebon Hawk and Bastila quickly led her to the girl's bunker. They sat down on Bastila's bed in silence for a moment and Bastila was the first to break the silence.

"You got me really worried when I saw you hand darting up" she spoke in a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry Bastila. I simply reacted I didn't see my hand go up until your blade hit my fingers" she explained to her.

"I don't understand what happened. What did you do?"

"I'm not sure; I think it was a variant of the Force Shield. At the beginning I was creating a shield around myself to push the blade back, I think. But when I grabbed it I was no longer pushing the energy away. I was… I think I was absorbing the energy."

"Absorbing?"

"Yes. I actually feel a little stronger than before you disarmed me. I think… I think I was feeding off your lightsaber and using its energy to regain my strength."

"I had never heard of something like that before" Bastila admitted.

"Neither had I. It was pure instinct."

Bastila nodded absentmindedly and after a few more minutes she hugged her. They stayed like that for a few minutes and they felt as their breaths normalized and their bodies began to cool down. Both girls were exhausted and they laid down on the bed and quickly fell asleep, their faces only centimeters apart from each other.