Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
Chapter 7: Rae Visits the Jedi Temple
A year. A full on year and she was finally invited to the Temple. Sure it was by Obi-Wan and only because he said her gym was deplorable and that he wouldn't step foot in it. Snob. Still, she was actually invited to the Jedi Temple! It was an auspicious day, to be sure. A curious chime rang out a moment before a young Jedi asked, "Who are you?" as he passed her on his way out.
"A friend of Master Kenobi's. He asked me to come over for a spar because, and I quote, 'your gym is deplorable, Rae, and I refuse to step foot in it. You'll just have to come to the Temple for our spar,'" she answered, wondering where the wind chime was. Man, that chime must be loud. There's not a lick of wind around here!
"Uh..." the freshly Knighted Jedi trailed off. 'Knight Austin,' the non-voice she'd learned to attribute to the Force sang.
"My name is Rae Donna Mayar, Knight Austin. I suggest you remember it because I'm going to be coming around fairly often," Rae remarked before breezing past the young man and entering the Temple... after climbing a ton of stairs. "Honestly, what is it with ancient temples and big ol' staircases?" she muttered as she reached the doors.
"How might I help you?" another Jedi asked her.
"If you'd be so kind as to point me toward the training rooms I'd be much obliged," Rae answered.
"And why might... ?"
"Obi-Wan Kenobi invited me for a spar." The alien quirked an eye... ridge? At her. "Oh! I don't suppose the name 'Rae Donna Mayar' rings any bells?" The Jedi swiftly stepped to the side and pointed toward the left.
"Five halls down on the right, Madam," he said. She quirked an eyebrow. "Anyone who can talk down Master Windu and make Master Yoda wary is to be respected, Madam," the Jedi said, answering her unasked question.
"Ah. Guess I shouldn't really be all that surprised. Master Fury is usually the tough as nails bad-ass after all," Rae said, shaking her head. "Thanks for the directions." The Jedi nodded and Rae was on her way again.
/*/
Thirty minutes of wandering later, Rae turned to her Force Intuition to guide her to Obi-Wan. When she found him, several singsonged turns and amused trills later, she latched onto the hapless Jedi Knight and let the steady melody of a rushing river and the whistling tea kettle sooth her with how very Obi-Wan it was. "OBI~! I'm so glad I found you! I would have been lost for another hour if I hadn't!" she cried. Obi-Wan awkwardly patted her on the head.
"It's okay now, Rae. You found me, and now we can have that spar," he told her. Perking up immediately, Rae grinned and began tugging on his sleeve.
"Spar! Spar! Spar!" she sang, tugging him in the general direction of the training rooms. Chuckling, Obi-Wan allowed himself to be half dragged to an empty training room by the excited young woman. "So, weapons or fists?" she asked, turning to him with an honest expression.
"Weapons," Obi-Wan answered, pulling out...
"Are those... bokken?" Rae asked, eyeing the wooden swords. They sure looked like the bamboo training swords used in kendo.
"Well, we call them 'weighted training sabers,' but I guess that works too," Obi-Wan said, tossing her one. It didn't feel like it was weighted, not in comparison to the wooden long sword she had back home, but to a group who used laser swords, she could see how a physical blade would be weighted.
"Cool. You do realize I don't know how to use a sword, right?" she said, a little nervous.
"Then I'll teach you. Can't be much harder than training Anakin," Obi-Wan said with a shrug.
"Fine. But when I disarm you, I'm going to make you whimper," Rae promised, beginning to circle him. Obi-Wan smirked.
"Of course you are," he said.
/*/
Ten minutes later, both had lost their weapons and Rae had Obi-Wan on the run. Neither noticed the crowd their 'spar' had drawn, too focused on the match. "I said I'd make you whimper when I took away your weapon, Master Kenobi, and I intend to make good on my word," Rae snarled even as she dashed after the fleet footed Jedi.
"I didn't say you wouldn't," Obi-Wan deflected, trying his level best to avoid the young woman. She laughed and lunged, Obi-Wan only barely managing to escape... until Rae dropped to the floor in a roll and kicked out with her heels, supporting her weight on her hands. The unexpected tactic caught Obi-Wan off guard and the hit had him reeling backward. With him off balance, Rae easily swept his feet out from under him. The Jedi hit the floor hard, his breath leaving him in a rough 'huff' before he let out a pained moan.
"Eh, it's not a whimper, but I'll take it," Rae said, sitting beside her defeated foe. Obi-Wan gave her a flat look before pushing himself up. "You really should use your arms for that, Ritter. Relying on the Force for such little things, while looking cool, could have detrimental effects in the future. What if you come across something that dampens or even blocks your connection to the Force? It'd be a good idea to have strong base skills to fall back on," she remarked. Obi-Wan shook his head with a faint smirk.
"Ever the teacher," he said. Rae scoffed.
"I am not a teacher. I'm a bouncer. There is a large difference, Master Kenobi," she told him, hopping to her feet. "So... where's the cafeteria? I'm famished!" Obi-Wan chuckled darkly and tossed one of the discarded bokken to her.
"You seem to be under the illusion that we were through, Miss Mayar," he remarked lightly. "I assure you, we are not." She groaned, the bokken's tip sagging toward the ground.
"You're not going to stop until you definitively beat me, are you?" she asked.
"Oh no. I'm not stopping until I see improvement," Obi-Wan countered.
"I thought Jedi were against such things as sadism," Rae muttered, barely catching Obi-Wan's strike and deflecting it down.
"Against such things, we are," Yoda piped up from the wall. "Lax, we are not." Rae glared at him. And his popcorn.
"So not helping, Troll," she hissed, then snapped her bokken up to catch Obi-Wan's slash. "Attacking when your opponent is distracted, Obi-Wan? How very opportunistic of you, Mr. Jedi," she said, turning with a return strike.
"I was testing your intuition," Obi-Wan defended, easily evading her clumsy attack. Rae laughed, pulling back and circling, her bokken held in a sloppy guard position.
"You know I'm not really Force-sensitive, Obi-Wan. That doesn't work as well on me as it would on even a Youngling!" she told him with a smile.
"Sense the Force, you do," Yoda felt the need to say. "Know things otherwise, you could not."
"Remind me how I got to this world, Master Greenie, I seem to have forgotten," Rae quipped, catching a body-blow to her torso. "Ow!" she yelped, hopping away from the impact.
"You need to focus, Rae," Obi-Wan told her with a faint smirk.
"Little hard when I've got a shriveled little elf-troll babbling at me!" the young woman bit back. Obi-Wan had no answer to that. Being unable to argue the point, he instead pressed his attack. They kept at it, Obi-Wan pausing at times to offer instruction on what she was doing wrong, for another hour. By the end, Rae really wanted to pound him into the ground.
"We'll break for lunch," Obi-Wan said. Rae grinned.
"Thank you," she purred. Obi-Wan felt a shiver of fear run down his back at her expression.
/*/
After lunch, several curious young Jedi, along with a mildly amused Yoda, followed the pair back to the training room they had used previously. Obi-Wan reached for the bokken, but Rae proved to be faster, catching his wrist and pulling him down to the ground in a textbook arm-bar. "Ah ah~! Not so fast there Sword Boy," she purred in his ear. "It's my turn now."
"In trouble, Obi-Wan is," Yoda mused.
"Why do you say that, Master Yoda?" on of the watching Padawans asked.
"Guah!" Obi-Wan exclaimed as Rae drove her knee into his gut, forcing him backward.
"Most dangerous unarmed, she is," Yoda deadpanned, watching the gasping Jedi as Rae bounced on her toes in front of him.
"Come on Ritter! Didn't you best me on the way to Tatooine? Where's that skill?"
"You've gotten better," Obi-Wan wheezed, rubbing his stomach and giving her a gimlet eye. Rae laughed.
"I'd certainly hope so!" she remarked. "I've only practiced everyday for a year, not to mention I'm attending Nightclub Security School." A few of the more senior Padawans winced. They knew from experience how thorough a doorman or bouncer could be. They considered Obi-Wan lucky she didn't have a shock stick handy.
"I'm suddenly far more sympathetic toward my Denshi," Obi-Wan muttered as he picked himself up off the floor. Rae chuckled, squaring herself with the man.
"Well, I have always had one of the more aggressive styles. My size allows me to get in close to most opponents, making my fists my primary weapon. With the introduction of shorter aliens, I might just begin to utilize my strong kicks a bit more," she admitted. He just groaned before moving in. It was a fast paced spar, the two breaking apart every now and again to regain their breath, but it was clear Rae was the better martial artist.
/*/
In the end, Rae was quite pleased and Yoda asked her to tea. She was mildly apprehensive about what kind of tea the troll drank, but that turned out to be ill founded. Yoda actually had Human safe tea that was rather tasty. "So, why did you ask me to join you for tea? And don't act like you just wanted company, I can hear you plotting," she said. Yoda hummed and sipped his tea.
"Use the training room, you may. Good for us, it may be," he said. Rae quirked an eyebrow at the troll as she sipped her own tea.
"How? I'm not part of your Order, nor do I wish to be, so if anything me using your training room would be a distraction," she said.
"Spar with Padawans, you will," Yoda added. Rae quirked an eyebrow.
"Let me get this straight, as long as I spar with the Padawans, I can use your training room like a gym?"
"Good training, it is," the diminutive Jedi Master told her with a grin.
"I want Obi-Wan to oversee," Rae bargained.
"Padawan's Master judge, he will."
"I can't deny a Padawan's Master their right to observe their student's training, but I still want Obi-Wan to teach me," Rae declared, crossing her arms in determination. Yoda nodded. "Oh and, can I bring my shock stick?"
"Against the Masters, use it, you may," Yoda allowed. Rae could have sworn his eyes had a mischievous glint in them.
"Any Master?" she asked.
"Chose the weapon, the challenged does," he answered.
"So... I have to get them to challenge me before I use my shock stick on 'em?" Yoda just smiled and drank his tea, causing her to let out a dissatisfied huff. Still, she wasn't too unhappy. She had a new side gig after all. Teaching Padawans, and possibly their Masters, how to adapt to unusual fighting styles in exchange for the ability to use the Jedi Temple's training room wasn't much of a price to pay in her mind. "Heh, I now have a whole temple worth of sparring partners," she told herself with a grin.
(Someone, somewhere in the Galaxy, felt a shiver go down their spine as a premonition of doom flitted across their senses. The next moment, the feeling was gone, leaving them to wonder if they hadn't just imagined it after all.)
/?/
A/N: Okay... there wasn't as much insanity as I was hoping for in this one. Oh well, she has a standing invitation now so she'll have plenty of chances to cause a ruckus. Let me know how you liked it in the review box down below!