Chapter Three: Blades of Light
When I got to Luke quarters I found it empty. After talking to a few students who didn't know where he was I made my way to Tionne. She was in the main audience chamber with a class of students. She was teaching them how to sense their surroundings. They were all blind folded. Most of the students were walking around bumping into one another. The one student though that cought my eye was Vesh. He was just sitting in the middle of the room, cross legged. Bald as a babies butt. I let a smile come to my face.
Tionne saw me from across the room and approached. She had a smile on her face that I had seen many times before. She loved to see the other students advance in their training. Growing, nurturing the feeling of being one with the Force. She was a perfect example of a teacher. I could understand Luke asking her to train students, but me. Luke and I always butted heads when it came down to how the school should be ran. The students need structure. They need dicipline. But Luke thought to restrict a student would not allow them to fully open to the Force. I could understand his point, but I didn't like his method.
"Hi, what can I do for you today Corran? I think this class would be a little to easy for you, but I could use another hand in teaching." She gave me a smile that would melt even the coldest of hearts.
"No, not today. I was looking for Luke." At the sound of his name she let her smile fade.
"Oh, he left in his X-Wing early this morning. He left all us older students a letter and instuctions as to what to do in his absance. Didn't you get one?"
"No, did he tell you were he was going?"
"All that I know is what I learned in the letter. I didn't get a chance to ask any questions."
"I see, well do you think Kam would know?"
"Maybe."
"Where is Kam by the way?"
"He is out on a hike with his class. He is headed for the waterfalls north of the great temple. I think he is going to teach the students the flow of the Force." She gave me a wink. I smiled. Looking back at the students in the class. Vesh was still sitting in the middle of the whole class. The funny thing is that nobady came even close to him. And when they did get close they moved away quickly. That got me thinking.
"Hey, what is up with Vesh? He doesn't seem to be doing the exercise."
"Yeah, well he has his own ideas as to what should be done in this exercise. The point of this one is to have the students use the Force to help them navigate through the room and not allow the other students to touch them."
"Well, what is Vesh doing?"
"I don't know, but what ever he is doing he is making sure none of the students touch him." she smiled to me and walked back over to the class. "Alright students, you can stop now. What did you learn? What did you feel?"
I walked over to Vesh. He was still sitting in the iddle of the room. His eyes were closed. I could feel him searching the room thourgh the Force. When he had gotten to me, I could feel him trying to scan me, read my thoughts. I put an image of him fighting with Gray in my mind and put that into his search patterns. With a jolt, his eyes opened and he looked up at me.
"Who are you and how dare you be apart of a sacred duel?"
"Look, give me your lightsaber now."
"No, why should I give it to you? It is not yours to have."
"Look, Master Skywalker might have let you keep it, but I wont let you."
"Who are you to have my weapon?"
"Corran Horn." I gave him the look I gave to most techs that worked on my X-wing back in Rouge squadren. The look of, "you better not mess with my baby," look.
His eyes widened for only a moment. "Very well, Lord Horn."
Now this was starting to get on my nerves. Why is it that I am now a Lord? Did I inherit a load of land somewhere? I took his lightsaber and clipped it to my belt. "I have a question for you. Why are you not participating with the rest of the class?"
"I am going what was asked of me. I am not allowing the other students to touch me."
"And how are you doing that?"
"Well, most of the students don't know this place every well. I projected an image of a pillar where I was sitting. Nobody wanted to run into a pillar, so everbody moved around me."
"Smart thinking. But you forgot one thing."
"What is that Lord Horn?"
"You were suppose to move around and navigate through the room."
"I know what the room looks like."
"But that has no place in the exercise. You need to understand we do things here for a reason and the methods we use are sound."
"I find your methods pointless. When will I need to navagate through a room I know?"
"Thats the point. If you were blind, and in a strange place, you would be dead in the water." I gave him a look I learned from Booster. Do as I say, not as I do.
"Yes, Lord Horn."
"Why do you keep calling me Lord?"
"You are a Knight are you not?"
"Yes."
"Then you are a Lord. For a Knight would be that of a Lord in my culture. It is a title to you show respect. As is a lightsaber at your side is a mark that shows you are a warrior, not just a farmer." He look down at his lightsaber. A saddness fell across his face. I felt kinda bad and I almost wanted to give it back. I understood now why he and Gray were fighting. Warriors Honor. Tradition holds strong with his people. My father being apart of CorSec and my grandfather being a Jedi were family traits. I wanted to honor their memorys and honor my family name. I took Vesh's honor away from him and Gray took his pride. I underestimated this kid. He was stronger than I thought.
"Look, I will give you back your lightsaber. But only under two conditions."
He looked up to me and I could see a glint of happiness emerge from behind his eyes. "What my Lord, name it and it will be done."
"One, no more duels. and two you have to join my class. I am teaching students how to use this weapon correctly. And when to use it. I will require you to join if you are to keep this weapon. I will not have students walking around the school carrying something they dont know how to use. I saw you fight. your good, but you don't know when to use the weapon. That I will teach you. A true warrior knows that the battle is not won on the battle field, but is won before the battle has begun. I will teach you this and a lot more." I gave him is weapon back and he smiled. Then his face went back to stone as he looked past where I was standing. I turned and saw that Gray had walked into the room.
"That witch. I will return my honor and take hers." he said it with a hiss that the Emperor would have shuddered at. I looked back at him.
"No you wont. What you will do is go over to her and ask her to come and speak to me." He looked up at me and had a look of horror on his face. But he did as I said and walked over to her. She folded her arms and leaded heavly on one leg. Giving Vesh a hard time. But her stature changed when she had found out that it was I who was summoning her. She made her way quickly and promtly across the room and gave me a long bow before she looked me in the eyes. Even then she was hesitant to do so.
"Gray, I would like to give you something."
"Yes Lord."
"Your lightsaber." I pulled it out from my running suit. "But I will only give it back under two conditions."
"Yes my Lord." She looked up for a moment then back down at her feet.
"No duels and you have to join my class."
"Yes, my Lord. it is a great honor to be invited to join you. I will not fail you my Lord." I gave her the lightsaber back and told her that the first class will start in the morning. I gave her directions and the names of the other students who will be joining. I gave her the mission of making sure that all the students knew where to show up. She took the mission with a smile. I was smart not to tell her to inform Vesh. I just gave them both back their lightsabers, all I would need now is for the two of them to kill each other.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well when I got up the next morning I found someone already in my room. I was startled at first until I realized who it was. Vesh was setting out my jogging uniform and my boots. He had a cup of hot Jagga Milk ready for me with a touch of Dimra cinnamon in it. I liked the way this kid thought. But I could have a servent anymore that I needed a slave.
"Vesh?" He turned and looked at me. He had a smile on his face. Which was wierd for me to see. And even more surprising was the fact that it looked good on the boy.
"Yes Lord."
"Stop that. I dont need a servant and I think I am more than qualified to dress myself. I dont even let my wife pick out my clothes okay?" I lied at that last part. But you try and agrue with a woman who gets the lower prices and can sale a heater on Tatooine.
"Yes my Lord, I am sorry. Please forgive me." He bowed.
"I can forgive good thoughts and selflessness. Now can I?" He looked at me as if he didn't know whether to answer or not. "Forget it. Are you ready to begin your training?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Good. Then lets not keep the others waiting then." I held my hand out waving him towards the door. "After you."
The first thing I know about fighting is that its best if your ready for it. And looking at my class I knew that I would have to get them in shape before I could get them to start learning how to fight. Looking over my first class, six in all, was something that made me proud of what I was about to do. Train the future in the ways of enlightenment. I had a few ideas as to how to teach the students, but I knew that each would need my special attention. I had Gray and Vesh, and a Wolfman by the name of Racach. He was tall for a Wolfman, but he had a gentleness that betrayed his appearence. I also had a Mon Calimari, who was some son of a captian in the New Republic Navy. I could tell that he was a Navy brat, by the way he held himself. But I do have to admit for a Mon Calimari he was very physically fit. The fifth member of my class was a Rodian with a sense in mechanics. He came to class with his version of a lightsaber. Now I know the mechanical ablities of many Rodians, and
to tell the truth I got worried. My last student and truly the latest student was one I had requested join the class last night before I went to bed. Alov was pulling on the shirt to his running suit yelling for me not to start without him. It was a funny sight.
"Alright class, first we will get to the physical part of lightsaber combat." I could almost see Glarra smile, if his Rodian mouth had lips. "We will start with a ten kilometer run and meet back here for the real exercise. Everybody follow me and pace yourselves. I would hate to have to carry you back to the Temple."
I took them down a trail I had gone down many times before. Most of the class made it through the first part of the run. But I could tell half way through the second part that Glarra was having some trouble. But the rest of the class was doing fine. While most of the class, I could see both Gray and Vesh running next to each other. If I wasn't keeping the pace for the class they would have already made it back to the Temple racing. I knew that I would have to do something about those two. But I just didn't know what at this point. Talyar was giving plenty of room between him and the rest of the class. I could see his fish eyes scanning the class and sizing them up to see who was the weakest. I knew he was planning on embarassing someone to make himself feel better. But that was the way of most bullys, living in the shadow of their fathers.
By the last third of the course I had most of them breathing heavily. Even Taylar was showing signs of fatigue. I slowly started to increase the speed in which I was leading the group and by the time we reached the Great Temple, everybody was breathing like they had been stuck in a vaccum for the past ten days. Racach was carrying in Glarra due to the fact that he had passed out on the run.
"Alright now I would like all of you to get in a circle." Everybody complied. "The next exercise we will be doing today is meditating. I would like all of you to begin with a simple meditation. I will let you know when to stop. Everybody got settled and each slipped into a meditative stance. I could see all of them drawing in the Force to help with their breathing and I could even see Alov starting to slowly raise above the ground. After about a hour of meditation I brought the class out of their states. Standing in the middle of the circle I ignited my lightsaber.
"Alright I would like everybody to stand and ignite your lightsabers." The class did as I said. Glarra was having some problems with his lightsaber, but after a few tries he got it to stay on. "Alright class, I would like you all to look at your blade and see how it shines. This will be the last time you see it for a while. Shut off your lightsabers." Everybody was giving each other a wondering look as each slowly shut off their lightsabers. I walked around the circle, collecting each and every lightsaber. "Class is over you may take the rest of the day and do with it as you please. "
Everybody slowly moved away. Each going their own ways back to their bunks or to the mess hall. All but the two I figured would stay behind. Vesh and Gray were both waiting patiantly.
"Yes."
"I was wondering why you took our lightsabers?" Gray spoke up. She had an assertiveness in her voice, but it was still soft. I could tell she was trying to put up a show for Vesh.
"Because you don't need them." I replied. Giving them a smile.
"I thought we were supposed to learn how to fight?" Vesh put in. Crossing his arms infront of himself.
"You are learning."
"All I have seen is us run around in the jungle and meditate for a time. I see no combat skills in that." He spit out almost giving an edge to his tongue as if it was a lightsaber itself.
"Let me ask you a question. Right now, who would be the easiest person in the class to out run?"
"Glarra."
"So if you were to fight Glarra, you would know that you were faster than him right?"
"Yes." Gray replied. "I see what you mean my Lord."
"Well, I don't." Vesh growled at her.
"Your fighting skills will be worth nothing if you are not fit to fight. How long would you last? Would your opponant win due to skill or endurance?" I said quitely. At which I turned and walked back to my room.
That night I only saw one of the students from my class. Alov was interested in what made a lightsaber work. It came in handy that he came by at that time. I was taking each of the lightsabers I had gathered from the class apart. I thought It would be a good test for the student in the future. Alov helped me take apart most of the lightsabers. I showed him how each part worked. He was very fascinated. He told me alot about the stories of his people and what he had done in his life. It's kinda funny, I didn't like this kid at all. But now he kinda grew on me, plus he helped pass the time. I think i might have to talk more with luke about these students.
When I got to Luke quarters I found it empty. After talking to a few students who didn't know where he was I made my way to Tionne. She was in the main audience chamber with a class of students. She was teaching them how to sense their surroundings. They were all blind folded. Most of the students were walking around bumping into one another. The one student though that cought my eye was Vesh. He was just sitting in the middle of the room, cross legged. Bald as a babies butt. I let a smile come to my face.
Tionne saw me from across the room and approached. She had a smile on her face that I had seen many times before. She loved to see the other students advance in their training. Growing, nurturing the feeling of being one with the Force. She was a perfect example of a teacher. I could understand Luke asking her to train students, but me. Luke and I always butted heads when it came down to how the school should be ran. The students need structure. They need dicipline. But Luke thought to restrict a student would not allow them to fully open to the Force. I could understand his point, but I didn't like his method.
"Hi, what can I do for you today Corran? I think this class would be a little to easy for you, but I could use another hand in teaching." She gave me a smile that would melt even the coldest of hearts.
"No, not today. I was looking for Luke." At the sound of his name she let her smile fade.
"Oh, he left in his X-Wing early this morning. He left all us older students a letter and instuctions as to what to do in his absance. Didn't you get one?"
"No, did he tell you were he was going?"
"All that I know is what I learned in the letter. I didn't get a chance to ask any questions."
"I see, well do you think Kam would know?"
"Maybe."
"Where is Kam by the way?"
"He is out on a hike with his class. He is headed for the waterfalls north of the great temple. I think he is going to teach the students the flow of the Force." She gave me a wink. I smiled. Looking back at the students in the class. Vesh was still sitting in the middle of the whole class. The funny thing is that nobady came even close to him. And when they did get close they moved away quickly. That got me thinking.
"Hey, what is up with Vesh? He doesn't seem to be doing the exercise."
"Yeah, well he has his own ideas as to what should be done in this exercise. The point of this one is to have the students use the Force to help them navigate through the room and not allow the other students to touch them."
"Well, what is Vesh doing?"
"I don't know, but what ever he is doing he is making sure none of the students touch him." she smiled to me and walked back over to the class. "Alright students, you can stop now. What did you learn? What did you feel?"
I walked over to Vesh. He was still sitting in the iddle of the room. His eyes were closed. I could feel him searching the room thourgh the Force. When he had gotten to me, I could feel him trying to scan me, read my thoughts. I put an image of him fighting with Gray in my mind and put that into his search patterns. With a jolt, his eyes opened and he looked up at me.
"Who are you and how dare you be apart of a sacred duel?"
"Look, give me your lightsaber now."
"No, why should I give it to you? It is not yours to have."
"Look, Master Skywalker might have let you keep it, but I wont let you."
"Who are you to have my weapon?"
"Corran Horn." I gave him the look I gave to most techs that worked on my X-wing back in Rouge squadren. The look of, "you better not mess with my baby," look.
His eyes widened for only a moment. "Very well, Lord Horn."
Now this was starting to get on my nerves. Why is it that I am now a Lord? Did I inherit a load of land somewhere? I took his lightsaber and clipped it to my belt. "I have a question for you. Why are you not participating with the rest of the class?"
"I am going what was asked of me. I am not allowing the other students to touch me."
"And how are you doing that?"
"Well, most of the students don't know this place every well. I projected an image of a pillar where I was sitting. Nobody wanted to run into a pillar, so everbody moved around me."
"Smart thinking. But you forgot one thing."
"What is that Lord Horn?"
"You were suppose to move around and navigate through the room."
"I know what the room looks like."
"But that has no place in the exercise. You need to understand we do things here for a reason and the methods we use are sound."
"I find your methods pointless. When will I need to navagate through a room I know?"
"Thats the point. If you were blind, and in a strange place, you would be dead in the water." I gave him a look I learned from Booster. Do as I say, not as I do.
"Yes, Lord Horn."
"Why do you keep calling me Lord?"
"You are a Knight are you not?"
"Yes."
"Then you are a Lord. For a Knight would be that of a Lord in my culture. It is a title to you show respect. As is a lightsaber at your side is a mark that shows you are a warrior, not just a farmer." He look down at his lightsaber. A saddness fell across his face. I felt kinda bad and I almost wanted to give it back. I understood now why he and Gray were fighting. Warriors Honor. Tradition holds strong with his people. My father being apart of CorSec and my grandfather being a Jedi were family traits. I wanted to honor their memorys and honor my family name. I took Vesh's honor away from him and Gray took his pride. I underestimated this kid. He was stronger than I thought.
"Look, I will give you back your lightsaber. But only under two conditions."
He looked up to me and I could see a glint of happiness emerge from behind his eyes. "What my Lord, name it and it will be done."
"One, no more duels. and two you have to join my class. I am teaching students how to use this weapon correctly. And when to use it. I will require you to join if you are to keep this weapon. I will not have students walking around the school carrying something they dont know how to use. I saw you fight. your good, but you don't know when to use the weapon. That I will teach you. A true warrior knows that the battle is not won on the battle field, but is won before the battle has begun. I will teach you this and a lot more." I gave him is weapon back and he smiled. Then his face went back to stone as he looked past where I was standing. I turned and saw that Gray had walked into the room.
"That witch. I will return my honor and take hers." he said it with a hiss that the Emperor would have shuddered at. I looked back at him.
"No you wont. What you will do is go over to her and ask her to come and speak to me." He looked up at me and had a look of horror on his face. But he did as I said and walked over to her. She folded her arms and leaded heavly on one leg. Giving Vesh a hard time. But her stature changed when she had found out that it was I who was summoning her. She made her way quickly and promtly across the room and gave me a long bow before she looked me in the eyes. Even then she was hesitant to do so.
"Gray, I would like to give you something."
"Yes Lord."
"Your lightsaber." I pulled it out from my running suit. "But I will only give it back under two conditions."
"Yes my Lord." She looked up for a moment then back down at her feet.
"No duels and you have to join my class."
"Yes, my Lord. it is a great honor to be invited to join you. I will not fail you my Lord." I gave her the lightsaber back and told her that the first class will start in the morning. I gave her directions and the names of the other students who will be joining. I gave her the mission of making sure that all the students knew where to show up. She took the mission with a smile. I was smart not to tell her to inform Vesh. I just gave them both back their lightsabers, all I would need now is for the two of them to kill each other.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well when I got up the next morning I found someone already in my room. I was startled at first until I realized who it was. Vesh was setting out my jogging uniform and my boots. He had a cup of hot Jagga Milk ready for me with a touch of Dimra cinnamon in it. I liked the way this kid thought. But I could have a servent anymore that I needed a slave.
"Vesh?" He turned and looked at me. He had a smile on his face. Which was wierd for me to see. And even more surprising was the fact that it looked good on the boy.
"Yes Lord."
"Stop that. I dont need a servant and I think I am more than qualified to dress myself. I dont even let my wife pick out my clothes okay?" I lied at that last part. But you try and agrue with a woman who gets the lower prices and can sale a heater on Tatooine.
"Yes my Lord, I am sorry. Please forgive me." He bowed.
"I can forgive good thoughts and selflessness. Now can I?" He looked at me as if he didn't know whether to answer or not. "Forget it. Are you ready to begin your training?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Good. Then lets not keep the others waiting then." I held my hand out waving him towards the door. "After you."
The first thing I know about fighting is that its best if your ready for it. And looking at my class I knew that I would have to get them in shape before I could get them to start learning how to fight. Looking over my first class, six in all, was something that made me proud of what I was about to do. Train the future in the ways of enlightenment. I had a few ideas as to how to teach the students, but I knew that each would need my special attention. I had Gray and Vesh, and a Wolfman by the name of Racach. He was tall for a Wolfman, but he had a gentleness that betrayed his appearence. I also had a Mon Calimari, who was some son of a captian in the New Republic Navy. I could tell that he was a Navy brat, by the way he held himself. But I do have to admit for a Mon Calimari he was very physically fit. The fifth member of my class was a Rodian with a sense in mechanics. He came to class with his version of a lightsaber. Now I know the mechanical ablities of many Rodians, and
to tell the truth I got worried. My last student and truly the latest student was one I had requested join the class last night before I went to bed. Alov was pulling on the shirt to his running suit yelling for me not to start without him. It was a funny sight.
"Alright class, first we will get to the physical part of lightsaber combat." I could almost see Glarra smile, if his Rodian mouth had lips. "We will start with a ten kilometer run and meet back here for the real exercise. Everybody follow me and pace yourselves. I would hate to have to carry you back to the Temple."
I took them down a trail I had gone down many times before. Most of the class made it through the first part of the run. But I could tell half way through the second part that Glarra was having some trouble. But the rest of the class was doing fine. While most of the class, I could see both Gray and Vesh running next to each other. If I wasn't keeping the pace for the class they would have already made it back to the Temple racing. I knew that I would have to do something about those two. But I just didn't know what at this point. Talyar was giving plenty of room between him and the rest of the class. I could see his fish eyes scanning the class and sizing them up to see who was the weakest. I knew he was planning on embarassing someone to make himself feel better. But that was the way of most bullys, living in the shadow of their fathers.
By the last third of the course I had most of them breathing heavily. Even Taylar was showing signs of fatigue. I slowly started to increase the speed in which I was leading the group and by the time we reached the Great Temple, everybody was breathing like they had been stuck in a vaccum for the past ten days. Racach was carrying in Glarra due to the fact that he had passed out on the run.
"Alright now I would like all of you to get in a circle." Everybody complied. "The next exercise we will be doing today is meditating. I would like all of you to begin with a simple meditation. I will let you know when to stop. Everybody got settled and each slipped into a meditative stance. I could see all of them drawing in the Force to help with their breathing and I could even see Alov starting to slowly raise above the ground. After about a hour of meditation I brought the class out of their states. Standing in the middle of the circle I ignited my lightsaber.
"Alright I would like everybody to stand and ignite your lightsabers." The class did as I said. Glarra was having some problems with his lightsaber, but after a few tries he got it to stay on. "Alright class, I would like you all to look at your blade and see how it shines. This will be the last time you see it for a while. Shut off your lightsabers." Everybody was giving each other a wondering look as each slowly shut off their lightsabers. I walked around the circle, collecting each and every lightsaber. "Class is over you may take the rest of the day and do with it as you please. "
Everybody slowly moved away. Each going their own ways back to their bunks or to the mess hall. All but the two I figured would stay behind. Vesh and Gray were both waiting patiantly.
"Yes."
"I was wondering why you took our lightsabers?" Gray spoke up. She had an assertiveness in her voice, but it was still soft. I could tell she was trying to put up a show for Vesh.
"Because you don't need them." I replied. Giving them a smile.
"I thought we were supposed to learn how to fight?" Vesh put in. Crossing his arms infront of himself.
"You are learning."
"All I have seen is us run around in the jungle and meditate for a time. I see no combat skills in that." He spit out almost giving an edge to his tongue as if it was a lightsaber itself.
"Let me ask you a question. Right now, who would be the easiest person in the class to out run?"
"Glarra."
"So if you were to fight Glarra, you would know that you were faster than him right?"
"Yes." Gray replied. "I see what you mean my Lord."
"Well, I don't." Vesh growled at her.
"Your fighting skills will be worth nothing if you are not fit to fight. How long would you last? Would your opponant win due to skill or endurance?" I said quitely. At which I turned and walked back to my room.
That night I only saw one of the students from my class. Alov was interested in what made a lightsaber work. It came in handy that he came by at that time. I was taking each of the lightsabers I had gathered from the class apart. I thought It would be a good test for the student in the future. Alov helped me take apart most of the lightsabers. I showed him how each part worked. He was very fascinated. He told me alot about the stories of his people and what he had done in his life. It's kinda funny, I didn't like this kid at all. But now he kinda grew on me, plus he helped pass the time. I think i might have to talk more with luke about these students.