When Arya entered the training room, Maul was standing in the center of it with a rack of weapons in front of him. There were a few wooden training swords, some dull metal swords, and a couple of sword hilts with no hilt guard or blade. These she stared at curiously. What use do those have? She thought. She limped up to the rack of weapons, body tense in case Maul tried another surprise attack on her. No such attack came, so she relaxed a little.

"Today's lesson" Maul began, "will be on the main weapon type you will use, as well as the weapon types that you will most likely have to face. You grew up on a primitive world and I need you to be ready for what is to come."

Arya felt a flutter of excitement. She didn't know what kind of weapons existed beyond swords and bows, but she was excited to find out. Maul pause, and somehow, she knew he was about to show her something special.

"I noticed you looking at the lightsabers." Maul looked at her with interest. "Tell me, what do you think of them?"

Arya looked back at the blade-less sword hilts thinking to herself. Lightsabers. Hmm, nothing seems particularly bright about them.

"They seem like they would be somewhat useless in combat." She said, shrugging.

"Then let this be a lesson for you." Maul said. "Just because something looks harmless, does not mean that it is. Surely, a small girl with a deadly skill set such as yourself can understand." The point hit home with Arya immediately.

Maul continued, "Always have your guard up. Never trust that a situation is safe for you unless you have personally made it so. But, back to the weapons at hand. Tell me, what kind of weapons do you have on your home planet?"

Arya thought about this for a moment. "Well, we have swords and bows and arrows. Mostly weapons made of iron with sharp blades and points for slashing and stabbing, and other weapons with blunt heavy ends for crushing bones."

Maul scoffed. "Those weapons can be effective in the right circumstances, but to the enemies we will meet on our quest they have been primitive for thousands of years. What I will show you now will be the weapon that you use the most, as well as the weapon that will pose the most danger to you. With that, Maul removed one of the shorter blade-less sword hilts from the rack and pressed the side of it. Arya's eyes nearly bulged out of her head and her mouth fell open. A blade as red as embers slid out of the handle with a loud hiss. When fully extended, a low and powerful hum emanated from the blade itself.

"This, is a lightsaber." Maul said in a reverent tone.

He swung the blade back and forth. As he did so, the sound of the humming changed pitch with each swing.

"It is made from a concentrated beam of powerful energy and can cut though nearly anything." With that, Maul used the force to pull a long, thick iron bar from the wall towards himself. When the bar was within reach, Maul gracefully cut the bar into several pieces, leaving each piece to hover in the air until he was finished. Then he released the pieces he was holding up with the force and they all clanged to the ground simultaneously. Maul pressed on the side of the lightsaber and the blade of energy recessed into the hilt with another hiss. Arya watched all of this take place with a sense of awe and wonder. She found that, in that moment she wanted nothing besides a lightsaber of her own. Needle was now no more than a primitive heirloom. Yes, it was still important to her because it reminded her of the kindness of her brother Jon, but how could it compare with what she had just seen?

"How can you defend against that?" she asked.

"A lightsaber will not cut through the blade of another lightsaber. Therefore, the main way to defend yourself from someone using a lightsaber is to become a master of lightsaber combat yourself. The Sith as well as the Jedi use lightsabers as their primary weapon. There are almost no beings who wield a lightsaber that are not in touch with the force. That is because, to become a master in lightsaber combat, the wielder must have a connection with the force to make the weapon truly effective. So, we will spar some more using lightsaber techniques. Most of what you have learned on your home planet will come in useful in terms of instincts and awareness, but there is much for you to learn when handling and fighting against a weapon like this. At the moment, if you came face to face with even a lightly trained Jedi padawan armed with a lightsaber, you would find yourself sorely outmatched."

Arya was going to scoff at this, but she was reminded of the beating Maul had given her when a pain flared up in her chest where he had kicked her the day before, so she remained silent.

"Now, I will let you train with one of the lightsabers I have here but know that your full potential will not be unlocked until you construct your own." With that, Maul used the force to pull one of the lightsaber hilts from the weapons rack and set it in Arya's hand.

"It's so light." She commented.

"That is one of the reasons the force is needed to wield it effectively. It helps the lightsaber become an extension of yourself and allows you to compensate for the lack of weight. Now, hold the hilt out from you and press the button on the side."

Arya did as Maul instructed, and a red blade similar to the one Maul had used slid out from the hilt. The energy blade gave off surprisingly little heat and added absolutely no weight to the hilt. Arya could feel the hilt humming in her hand ever so slightly and knew that what she held was more powerful than anything back on her home planet…except maybe a dragon's breath. She swung the blade awkwardly due to the lack of weight, making the humming change pitch. "I like this." She said though a devilish grin.

"Good. Eventually you will have your own and you will carry it with you at all times." As Maul said this, he used the force to hit the button on the lightsaber Arya was holding to retract the blade, and then force-pulled it into his own hand. Arya looked up at him with annoyance.

"I thought you said we would be using these to practice." She said.

"We will, eventually." Maul replied. "For now, we will still practice with the wooden sabers. Once you prove to me that you can keep yourself from being hit by me for a length of time, then we will start practicing with training sabers used to mimic lightsabers. I did some research and found that in the old Sith empires, the Sith academies used training sabers covered with toxic barbs from the Pelko bug. These toxins will temporarily paralyze any limb that it touches, mimicking the loss of that limb. The blade of a lightsaber is extremely hot and when it cuts through flesh, it automatically cauterizes the wound. So, unless you are struck in a vital organ, there is no chance for you to bleed out, making the possibility of you surviving the loss of a limb very likely…if you survive the rest of the fight."

"When will I get my own?" Arya asked.

"You will get your own when you can demonstrate to me that you can defend yourself completely from my attacks. If we trained with the real thing today, I would cut you to pieces. And remember, you will not simply be given a lightsaber. You will build your own."

"But I know nothing of how these lightsabers work." Arya retorted.

"I know this." Maul said; impatience slipping back into his voice. "You will deconstruct lightsabers which I have collected from Jedi that I have killed throughout the years. Once you fully understand the inner workings, I will supply you with everything you need to make your own. You can make the hilt in whatever form pleases you or enhances your fighting style." Maul looked at her with a critical eye. Arya noticed this and decided to be the obedient apprentice again.

"Yes, master." She said.

"Good. Now, let us continue where we left off." With that, Maul used the force to put the lightsabers back on the rack and push it against the far wall, leaving two wooden sabers floating where the rack had been. He force-pushed one of these into Arya's hand and brought the other into his own. Arya had a better idea of what she was up against this time, but even then, she still received the most brutal beating of her life in those next few hours.

Arya limped to her quarters, bruises covering her entire body and face. She had gotten two strikes on Maul in several hours of training. Two. Each strike earning an evil grin from her new Master. Meanwhile, Maul had shown little discretion and restraint in his training of her, battering every square inch of her small frame with decisive and well-timed strikes. He took time to point out every mistake she made when he'd hit her, telling her that each and every bruise and welt he gave her was her own fault, and that when her training was complete, she wouldn't have a single bruise to blame herself for. When they were finished, all Maul had told her was "Rest" and then retreated from the training chamber leaving her to limp back to her own quarters. Even though she was in some of the worse pain she had ever felt in her life, she knew that if she could survive this, she could survive almost anything.

"Valar Morghulis." she whispered to her door, wincing while she did so as even simple talking hurt the bruises on her face. Her door slid open and she limped inside. She was going to crawl into bed immediately but remembered Maul's rule about showering daily. So, she made her way to the bathing area. She let the warm water cascade over her, massaging every sore and bruised muscle. Afterwards, she crawled into bed and instantly fell into a heavy and dreamless sleep.