Finding a seat in the mess wasn't hard for Rey. There would always be someone willing to pull up a chair for the Jedi, and today the whole gang had managed to get themselves a table, leaving a place for her.
It seemed they all wanted to hear about her studies. Normally Rey would be enquiring just as much about everyone else's activities, but this time she found herself fielding questions about the holocron and the lessons she was taking from it, all through the meal.
"You're still just on the preliminaries?" Finn said, with some surprise and just a trace of disappointment.
"Fighting like a Jedi is complicated," Rey told him. "Can't go in half-ready."
"I suppose not," he conceded. "Not after where it got me," he added, moving his shoulders just a little as if the old wound was itching.
As well as that, she met some scepticism about the merits of her studies. "Meditation and spiritualism and all that," Nyzar grumbled dubiously. Naturally, the old gladiator had little time for anything mystic. "Don't see what it'll do for you, Captain, that daily spars in the ring won't. Did all pondering mysteries really help the Jedi that much on the field?"
"Yes," Kaydel said bluntly in response. "I've heard Leia's stories, the ones she got from her father. Hell, old Admiral Ackbar-" they all bowed their heads at the mention of his name "-could spin you yarns about what Kit Fisto and Anakin Skywalker did on his homeworld. Didn't you hear the ones about Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, back in the Civil War?"
This was Kaydel's element – as a second-generation Rebel, she'd been reared on those stories. The older members of Resistance held onto them and passed them on; while Luke had been missing, that had been part of keeping the flame.
"We heard stories…" LM-276 said warily. "Never thought they were much more than that."
Kaydel made as if to hold forth again, but Poe raised a hand to forestall her. "Easy, Kaydel. Though I can actually confirm that myself - I've met General Syndulla and she is not one to exaggerate."
Chewbacca chimed gruffly in. Not that anyone had asked him, but he had fought in the Clone Wars and the things he'd seen…
"Ahsoka Tano?"
"Yoda?" Finn asked disbelievingly.
Chewbacca nodded smugly, and launched into a lengthy story which needed lots of translating by Rey, and thus took even longer.
"Point is," Kaydel eventually resumed. "A fully trained Jedi could go through whole companies of Stormtroopers. I mean, Rey here is pretty incredible already-"
"Alright," Rey mock-grumbled, and nudged her, which only broadened Kaydel's smile. Not that Rey could really hold that against her.
"-but if she can learn all that stuff they knew then, she'll be so much more dangerous to the enemy. And we will all be that bit safer," she finished with a satisfied air.
The burly Zabrak snorted and smiled at the little comms officer. "Can't object to that, Lieutenant."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Later, Rey got back to the holocron. It was getting to the point that she wondered if every Form was a response to the shortcomings of the last. Noting the apparent lack of offensive moves in Soresu, she guessed that whatever came next would be of a more aggressive bent. And sure enough…
"Ataru, the Aggression Form, is popular among the more athletically inclined Jedi. It lends itself to one-on-one combat and ending engagements swiftly." This seemed to be a response to Soresu; where that was limited, Ataru was extroverted. Drallig's footwork became more active, switching rapidly from one stance to the next. Rey saw the intent even before his blade began to move, seeing the range of angles for attack, the unpredictability.
Drallig spoke again when he finished his sequence. "Ataru's poetic name is 'The Way of the Hawk-Bat'. As that implies, it's fast and highly kinetic, even acrobatic at the highest level of its performance. Calling upon the Force for balance and propulsion, a Jedi can employ leaping attacks and dodges. Though I won't show those off just yet," he smiled.
"The skilled wielder can easily put an enemy on the back foot and dominate an engagement. However, it also requires space in which for the practitioner to manoeuvre, and comes with a certain fragility. Prolonged combat, especially against a large number of opponents, can pose particular difficulties."
Rey made a note of that, the Resistance tended to have more skirmishes with multiple opponents than one on one fights like she had in the Gladiatorial Arena.
"A more concise but still aggressive Form is the Fifth, derived from Soresu's principles but applied in a more bellicose manner." A definite frown emerged on the Battlemaster's face, and he admitted, "I am not especially fond of this Form. Its potency is great, but one must be wary of where its emphasis on strength and domination can lead."
His posture shifted, lifting the blade into a high warding position. Again, Rey was struck by the degree to which the man seemed to inhabit every form, flowing effortlessly from one to the next. "The Perseverance Form comprises two sub-Forms, the first being Shien. Similarly to the form from which it evolved, it is geared towards combating groups of enemies armed with blasters, with a greater emphasis on counterattacks."
Among the exhibition moves, Drallig demonstrated what he called the "controversial reverse grip". Rey was tickled to find that a move she'd adopted of her own volition would have been so contentious in a Temple. I went straight to the unorthodox, she chuckled inwardly. But then she felt a twinge of melancholy as she wondered what Luke had thought and felt, watching her try it out on Ach-To. She missed him, and wished dearly that she had a flesh-and-blood teacher as well as the holocrons and texts.
Still, regrets and wishes wouldn't help her now. She spooled back the feed a little to listen as Drallig introduced the duellist's variant of Form V.
Now this was very familiar. Rey saw the solid stance, the hammer-blow swings, and immediately recognised Kylo Ren's preferred style. A more sophisticated version than she'd seen from her nemesis, to be sure, but the resemblance was there.
She suspected that this wasn't for her, however, looking at the sheer weight of the swings. That was quickly confirmed by her virtual teacher's words: "Form V, especially Djem So, demand strength. The practitioner will bring brute force to bear, breaking attacks with their defences and then laying into their reeling opponent."
Rey had strength. Certainly she had more than most women her age; a lifetime of clambering around Jakku had seen to that. More recently, Leia had had some of the trainers on base devise weights and cardio routines for her, and then there were the regular sparring sessions with Finn and the Scrappers. But she suspected that she was still best fitted for a more mobile form, rather than the more solid and static ways of Djem So.
"Lastly, for our purposes, the Moderation Form: Niman. My personal preference, and the most finely balanced, which in turn makes it the most popular among the Jedi today. It hybridises the other Forms, creating one without any specific strength, but equally no great weakness." Drallig turned to Rey, raising an eyebrow at his presumably sceptical audience. "Is Form VI the most dramatic? No, but in general it is the most practical."
If nothing else, Rey supposed, it could be something to branch out from. And a proper handle on any Form would be better than what she had right now.
"At this point, with a flesh-and-blood class, some bright spark will raise the subject of Form VII, Juyo," Drallig said. His voice had taken on something of a growl, and his expression became rather more stony. "Normally this will be a prankster, who's heard that this is a good way to get a rise out of an instructor. Other times it may be a youth who has yet to work certain inclinations out of their system, and likes the sound of the Ferocity Form. Alternatively it may be a matter of intellectual curiosity, but in any case my response is the same: no." His eyes were hard as flint, and his voice was much the same. "We Jedi will not allow our students to give themselves over to the Dark Side because, to be quite clear, that is what this Form entails."
Rey looked at the image of the swordmaster in surprise, but found herself conceding that maybe, he had a point. She'd felt first-hand how potent the pull of the darkness could be.
"If you truly wish to learn Juyo," Drallig continued, "then I suggest you put this holocron down, find yourself a living Sith Lord or Witch of Dathomir, and give yourself over to their debased arts. To speak less flippantly, such a vicious school of alignment and bladework is absolutely incompatible with the Jedi creed and I will have no part in the knowledge being passed on."
"Hmm," Rey grunted. That, on balance, seemed fair enough.
"The same goes for Vaapad, the nominal Light Side variant of Form VII. I would like to emphasise the word nominal. Those who have mastered it can be counted on one hand. The rest, in opening themselves to the Dark Side – to the darkness of their enemies – as its principles dictate, fell in the attempt. Understood?"
"Yes," Rey said, and only then realised she'd spoken aloud. She glanced around her self-consciously. Mercifully, true to Leia's word, she had been left alone.
"I'll assume that was a yes and say: good," Drallig pronounced with a smile. "Now, having raised some enticing possibilities and bluntly dismissed some others, we will begin with Form I, Shii Cho. Where the Jedi began, thousands of years ago, so too shall we.
"Before we begin in earnest, however, I have a stipulation. Our arts depend upon discipline and dedication, and so you will not cut corners in pursuit of mastery. You will warm up before you begin each exercise, you will not rush and you will give your body the rest it requires.
"When you have prepared yourself accordingly, we will begin."
