At the dojo

"Master Gla told me what he knows about your skills with a lightsaber, but I'd like to see how you do katas myself," Jedova told calmly. In the Force, Arya still looked hurt by his words in the Archives but on the physical level she hid it behind mirroring his serious expression.
"Alright." Arya gripped her training lightsaber and ignited it. The green blade came to life.

Arya assumed the beginning position of kata one, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, emptying her mind before beginning. Jedova started to count in a steady pace. Arya let the Force and concentration purge her mind from all emotions as she moved her body and lightsaber through movements she had drilled deep into her muscle memory. There is no emotion, the is peace.

It felt like the moment when she had sat in meditation position in front of Master Yoda, reciting the Jedi Code as her first Initiate trial, had passed by an eternity ago even though it had happened less than three years ago...

"Kata four now," Jedova's voice returned Arya from her reminiscence. "One... Two... Three..."

He stopped right there. He was not sure if he had seen Arya's footwork right. However, he saw the grimace on the girl's face. Her eyes were open and the whole expression gave a medium for a frustrated, even bitter question: What did I do wrong?
"Repeat the beginning, Padawan. I'm not sure if I saw it right," Jedova said.

Arya just nodded and assumed the beginning position again, closing her eyes. Frustration clamped onto her, fueling a spell of self-hatred. And here I thought I had mastered this kata!
"Go on." Jedova's voice was even. Arya took a deep breath and restarted the kata. One, two, three, four...

She kept doing it until the end. Jedova did not say anything or do anything to stop her. Opening her eyes again, Arya turned to look at her Master.

Jedova nodded in approval. Arya sighed, wondering if she had made a mistake on the first try but not on the second try; she did not remember doing any mistakes but it meant little to nothing.
"Kata five then, if you are ready." Jedova's seriousness faded a bit to give space for supportiveness. Arya did not feel like trusting it, so she just nodded and assumed the beginning position of the next kata. Her confidence and willingness to do this were slowly going down. Suddenly, she preferred her lessons where the teacher's attention was divided; she had a feeling she would be the object of a huge amount of laser-focused nitpicking now that she had private teaching – that thought, while exciting before seeing it realized, was now discouraging whatever confidence she had had.
"One... two... three..." Jedova's voice penetrated the quiet air of their smaller training room. Clashing of lightsabers came from behind the door where other Jedi sparred in the main room.

Somehow, she had no idea how, Arya managed to finish kata five without any problems. Then it was the time of kata six. The muscles of the girl's jaw tightened as she prepared herself for a great deal of nitpicking.
"One... Two... Three... Four..." Jedova's pace was much slower. Arya did what she could to not stumble.

Then she stumbled but managed to regain her balance. However, Jedova had become silent. Arya gritted her teeth and waited.
"You should pay attention to your footwork. Is stumbling your only trouble?" Jedova asked.
"I guess so," Arya told.
"You guess?" Jedova repeated. Arya made a face.
"Show me the part where you stumbled again," Jedova asked. Arya nodded and repeated it, trying to pay attention to how she moved her feet. This time, as her concentration was divided, she fell as she stumbled.

Arya could barely refrain from muttering Veledosian curses after she found herself from her left side, the lightsaber still humming in her tight grip and worst of all, her Master looking down on her, probably hiding his disappointment.

Arya deactivated her training lightsaber and got up with help from Jedova. She was not entirely sure if the help made her feel even more humiliated by her screwup; it probably did.
"Instead of taking the step forward with your left leg, you do it with your right leg. That causes you to stumble," Jedova noted. "Try paying attention to that."
Arya nodded.
"Now try again," Jedova said, receiving another nod as an answer from the grim Padawan.

This time, Arya noticed that she was not even close to stumbling as she did as her Master had instructed.

Suddenly she realized how to correct some mistakes she had kept making with katas. The feeling of enlightenment she suddenly had was amazing; the humiliating event had led to learning something. It had been a long time since she had last experienced that feeling of understanding, so she understood the enlightenment a lot.

Arya stayed as silent as she had been all the time during the training. She kept nodding as Jedova instructed her and told what she was doing wrong. However, the Jedi Master noticed something different in the Padawan's eyes as she listened intently to everything he said. Hurt and frustration had shifted into something closer to determination.

Jedova knew that even with the bond in place the longevity of their Master-Padawan relationship was still questionable. They would have to learn to know each other and how they reacted to each other before their relationship would truly be sturdy enough to persevere. It would take a lot of time and effort as the air between Arya seemed to differ all the time along with the swinging mood of the girl – and it was too often for Jedova to properly keep up with.

The Jedi Master sighed inwardly at that thought. This was definitely a sign that he was getting old.

/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/