A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!
xXxXxXx
He hated to admit it, but he felt nervous to be eating with the Knights. Even though Ember thought it would be okay, Kylo still feared it would undo what little progress he had made so far.
"I suggest not saying anything and just acting like it's the most normal thing in the world," Ember said softly as they neared the mess. "They'll probably end up doing the same."
Kylo nodded and did exactly as was suggested. Ember walked in first and headed towards the buffet at the side of the room. The Knights looked up and followed them with their gaze. None of them said anything, but their attention felt heavy on Kylo's back.
He continued to follow Ember's lead and piled a plate with food before heading to the long table that housed the Knights. Deliberately avoiding the head of the table, he settled down on a chair next to Ember and started eating.
The Knights gazed at him for a bit longer, then resumed eating as well. It quickly dawned on Kylo that he wouldn't be getting any conversation during this meal either, as they all ate in a deadly silence. He was surprised Shadow actually managed to stay quiet for that long.
As if on cue, Shadow started chattering.
"Dot, you must teach me some of those tricks of yours. Well, maybe you should just teach me how to shoot properly. I've never been very good with a bow. Never trained much with it either, to be honest. But really, your shooting is so impressive."
Ember sighed and Kylo quickly tuned Shadow out enough to be able to tell if the conversation shifted without actually listening. Dot was giving small 'hmms' and 'uhu's' back at Shadow and soon she found a different topic to chatter about. Kylo almost laughed. So much for the silence he'd feared.
He surreptitiously glanced up at the Knights every now and then. Burman ate with enthusiasm. Shadow barely managed to eat anything at all between her words. Dot was almost nonchalant in the way she picked at her food.
Once more glancing up, he caught what was obviously a silent conversation between Quicksilver and Daze. He watched as Quicksilver put the cucumber he'd set to the side of his plate onto his fork and placed it on Daze's. Daze, in return, started plucking out the cherry tomatoes he'd been happily eating before, and gave them to Quicksilver.
The slight stutter in Shadow's inane monologue, combined with the glances both Ember and Dot shot the two Knights, told Kylo that this wasn't a regular occurence. Burman was the only one who seemed completely oblivious to the interaction.
Quicksilver and Daze continued eating as if nothing happened.
Only by the time he'd finished eating did Kylo realise most of the Knights had finished before him but were still sitting at the table. It occurred to him that they were probably waiting for him to leave first. That was not something he had anticipated, but he quickly realised he should have. He suppressed a sigh. There was no need for them to wait, but he would address it some other time. Dinner had gone better than he'd hoped and he didn't want to spoil it.
Kylo stood and was quickly followed by Ember. As they walked out of the door, the scraping of chairs told him that the Knights were getting up as well. Even Shadow's chatter halted for a bit.
"Well, that was informative," Ember noted once outside the mess.
"It was?" Kylo doubted she was talking about Shadow's monologue.
"Believe it or not, Shadow mostly remains quiet during meals. She likes to eat almost as much as she likes to talk. Either you make her nervous, or she wanted to support you by breaking the tension and got carried away."
He wanted to comment that he would suspect Shadow would hide if she got nervous, but realised that non-ending talking could be just as much a way to become unseen as melting into the shadows was.
"There's no doubt about Quicksilver and Daze's support," Ember continued.
Kylo glanced at her.
"Sharing food?" she said, catching his glance. "That's a first."
"I told them they could be open about it if any feelings between them existed."
"You did?" Ember asked with a little more shock and enthusiasm than Kylo would have expected.
He looked at her, surprised. "Yes," he stated simply.
xXxXxXx
The next days progressed in relative quiet. Shadow was first after Burman to accept his offer to learn the Force. She had stepped out of a shadow in the hangar while he was on his way to inspect the construction work, scaring Phasma to death, even though Phasma would never admit it. He smiled at the memory.
"Supreme Leader," Shadow greeted with a glance at Phasma.
"Shadow of Ren," he answered. "You do realise that there is no reason for you to keep hiding yourself?"
"It's a habit, sir. You know, I spend most of my time in the shadows and watching people. It can be quite entertaining. The things you learn when nobody sees you. But you always know I'm there, don't you? That's so interesting. Can really nobody sneak up on you? Such a wonderful skill to have. Must be useful. Very useful."
"Shadow," he interrupted her. "Was there any specific reason you stepped out of your shadows to greet me?"
"Oh." She stuttered to a halt, her demeanor changing into something more serious. "I want to have that ability too."
"You can," he merely answered.
Shadow nodded once. "Then I accept."
"I am honoured by your trust," he answered with a small, formal greeting.
She had walked away after that. Kylo had laughed as he heard Phasma report through her com that she'd spotted Shadow in the hangar. He'd teased her about constantly losing sight of Shadow all the way up to the construction site.
Dot had been the one after Shadow, although, just like with Burman, she had needed some convincing that the Force could be useful to her.
It had only taken the construction crew two days to build the outside sparring area. Built on the far side of the complex, out of view from the construction crew, they had decided to protect it with a solid, not electrified energy shield instead of opting for physical walls.
After his morning session with Derek, Kylo decided to walk up to the surface to inspect it, only to find Dot already there. She was shooting laser beams from her bow towards a target. He stood to the side and watched her. There was a beautiful sort of fluidity in the way she pulled the bowstring back again and again, at the same time manipulating the tiny buttons on the handle to adjust the strength of the laser bolts, as well as how many of them she shot away in one go.
Without breaking her stride, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and shot that instead of a laser bolt. It exploded on impact, answering Kylo's curiosity about why she even carried arrows when she was equipped with a laser bolt bow. Behind him, he could hear Phasma grunt in surprise.
"Is my training to your satisfaction?" Dot spoke up, turning to face him.
"I am not here to judge," Kylo answered.
She gazed at him for a bit, then, without saying anything, turned and went to replace the destroyed target with a new one. Kylo realised she hadn't greeted him but decided not to mention it. After all, he no longer demanded such continued greetings from either Phasma or Ember. He guessed he could allow a somewhat laxer attitude from the Knights as well.
Dot resumed her earlier position and started shooting again. "This Force of yours," she said, not halting her training. "What would I gain from it?"
The question was so similar to what Burman had asked that Kylo almost huffed out a laugh. He managed to hold it back though.
"You could shoot blindfolded."
"I can already do that," she answered, looking over her shoulder and hitting the target dead center twice in a row without looking at it.
"Even when the target moved?" he countered.
That seemed to get her attention. "What do you mean?"
"You would be able to sense where your target is. You could shoot it without visual confirmation of its location."
Kylo figured that, if all things went well and a new group of Knights came to learn the Force, it would be beneficial if he explained this from the get-go.
"That is … hard to believe."
Sighing, Kylo resigned himself to yet another demonstration. He walked onto the field, stopping roughly at the center, and closing his eyes.
"I don't have anything with me to blindfold myself, so you're just going to have to believe me when I say I won't open my eyes."
"Sir," Phasma said, sounding exasperated.
He knew she was protesting his actions but had already resigned herself to the inevitable.
"Phasma," Kylo answered with mirth. When there was no further reaction forthcoming, he addressed Dot again. "Place the target wherever you like, then shoot a laser bolt at me."
"Sir?" Dot asked in surprise. "I will offer you my bow, sir," she added.
"I'm not particularly fond of bows," Kylo answered. "Just shoot a bolt at me; I'll redirect it to hit the target."
He could feel Dot's hesitation but, eventually, she did as he'd asked her to. She walked to and fro a couple of times, obviously trying to confuse any hints her footsteps might have given concerning the location of the target, and then Kylo could feel the blaster bolt come to life. He caught it easily. Scanning the area, he discovered the target and promptly redirected the bolt.
After it hit, he opened his eyes. Dot was eyeing him with a speculating look in her eyes. Kylo turned to confirm that the bolt had hit the target dead-center.
"How?" Dot asked.
"I must admit that it is less accurate than actually seeing your target," Kylo started explaining. "Because the Force flows through and around everything, it is possible to sense where everything is. Compare it to a radar. Because of this, I could sense the location of the target, yet I could not sense where the bullseye of it was.
"In this case, given that it's in the middle of the target, it doesn't make much of a difference, but if you're trying to hit a specific spot in an otherwise unremarkable target, its use is limited. In a busy environment or in the middle of a battle, the ability to both see and sense your targets will improve your accuracy. Especially when you're shooting in quick succession at moving targets."
"And you could teach me this?"
"Yes."
She eyed him for a little longer, then bowed. "I will accept your offer, sir."
Kylo smiled, returning the bow. "I will be honoured to train you," he answered.
That only left Quicksilver and Daze, Kylo mused from within his chambers. Which was odd, given the support they continued to show by the small, more-than-friends interactions they had in front of everybody.
He wondered if he should talk to them again. Especially given that Ember was confused as well by why they hadn't accepted yet. It was a battle between wanting to give them the time to come to the decision on their own time, and wondering if they perhaps still had questions they were uncomfortable to ask.
At least the meditation practice was heading in the right direction. Kylo had started going around and correcting the Knights. It had caused some tension in the beginning, but they were accepting of it now. Their daily session after lunch now easily lasted half an hour.
Surprisingly enough, it was Shadow who progressed the quickest. Kylo would have expected that she, with her never-ending stream of words, would struggle the most with clearing her head. He had thought wrong.
The training the Knights gave his Guard seemed to be successful as well, although Kylo realised that a few days was hardly enough to assess the situation.
He'd let his curiosity get the best of him only the day before and had gone to check out the lesson Quicksilver was giving the Guard, wondering how he would teach them to hide in plain sight. Much to his surprise, he had found all of the Guard sitting on the floor, avidly watching Quicksilver who was using Daze as a human prop.
Quicksilver had glanced up at him, then promptly ignored him. Leaning against the wall, Kylo listened to him explain to the Guards about anatomy and the best places to slice a knife into a human being so they would drop dead with the least amount of fuss. It was not what Kylo had had in mind when he'd ordered these training sessions, but he figured all knowledge was valuable. After a nod to Quicksilver, he'd left them to it.
Sighing, Kylo decided to go see if the outside training area was free. There was a meeting planned later about the upkeep and supply routes for the facility. Luckily, Hux had everything firmly under control and the meetings never lasted long. There was still an hour and a half to go before he needed to be there though, so he decided some training would do him good.
He'd only taken a couple of steps out of his quarters when alarms started blaring all around. The hallway turned red by the lights changing to alarm-mode. Phasma immediately deployed her baton and stepped in front of him. Kylo eyed her questioningly.
"An intruder, sir." Her words were curt. "Reports coming in now."