-Grace-

One of the oldest students, a seventeen-year-old human male, boasts to a group of friends about his skill with a lightsaber as Jaina and Kyp walk by. Kyp isn't paying much attention, lost in contemplating a conversation he wants to have with her, when she suddenly stops.

"Apprentice Gisk," she says suddenly, and the boy straightens.

Kyp thinks the kid is young, so impossibly young. He had no longer been a boy at that age, forged into a man far too early by loss and circumstance. He isn't sure this boy will be a man in his thirties.

"Yes, Master Solo?" Gage Gisk squeaks.

"You say you're good with a lightsaber. Show me."

". . . Pardon?"

"Master Durron is going to have a seminar on advanced swordfighting. We're looking for students for it. You need to audition, though."

Gage glances nervously at his friends, then at him, and finally says to Jaina, "O-okay. Now?"

"Unless you have a class you're supposed to be in."

He nods rapidly. "Okay. I can show you."

The kid, Kyp thinks, is dead meat.

Jaina leads them all-her, the boy, Kyp, the kid's friends-to one of the larger training rooms. A few masters are in there, watching younglings exercise with stun rods. Kyp wonders idly if they ought to get those out for this exchange, because if Gage isn't as good as he's boasting, he might lose a limb.

Gage is advanced enough to have made his own lightsaber. It's a vibrant blue-green, more teal than turquoise. He stands steadily enough, in a high guard, classic Soresu style. Jaina ignites her violet blade and stands casually, not in any particular style. He himself prefers a mix of Ataru and Djem So, though he, along with the other Masters, know all forms. He knows that Jaina has trained in all and likes switching randomly in the middle of a fight just because she can.

If this kid really thinks he can take on the Sword, Kyp hopes he's as good as he says, because otherwise, Jaina is going to pretty much take him apart. Maybe it's perverse of him to be entertained by the idea, but there it is.

She lets Gage come to her. He's at least a head taller than she is, which makes it all the more amusing when she lulls him into a false sense of security. Jaina tests him, blocking his blows with the Soresu he's using. She's calculating, graceful and minimal in her movements.

The kid is pretty good, Kyp notes. His problem isn't that his skill is less than he says, so much as that his ego is bigger than it should be. Too much pride is dangerous. He should know. He's probably the Order's best example of "arrogant idiot".

He senses movement to his left, and glances over at Master Kyle Katarn. The older man, brown hair and beard now heavily tinged with white, watches with brown eyes as Jaina draws the student out, gets him to lower his guard.

"What's she doing?" Kyle asks quietly.

"He was boasting that he's going to be a swordmaster soon," Kyp murmurs. "Jaina is having a teaching moment."

Kyle snorts. "She's going to flatten him."

"Pretty much."

Gage shoots his watching friends a grin. It's then that Jaina attacks.

She slides under his raised arms and clocks him in the chin with her elbow. Then she sweeps his legs from under him and kicks his blade away. He's on the ground in less than three seconds and his weapon is in her hand, deactivated.

"Distraction will kill you," she says, and tosses the hilt to him.

Gage climbs to his feet, face red. "You cheated. That's not fair!"

"You think when the Sith come, they'll fight fair?" she demands. "You think a pirate with a blaster is going to fight fair? There is no such thing as fair!"

His blade roars to life and he leaps at her, letting his anger and embarrassment get the better of him. He has speed and size on his side. Jaina stops him with a block to his blade, the two weapons meeting with a crack, and then she doubles him over with a kick to the stomach.

Even when beating a cocky kid to a pulp, Kyp muses, she's nothing but graceful.

It still takes three minutes for Gage to concede the duel. He does so from flat on his back on the floor, red-faced and wheezing.

Jaina, Kyp notes, hasn't broken a sweat.

He steps forward and offers Gage a hand up. The kid blinks at him, then takes it and lets Kyp pull him to his feet.

"You're good," he says, "but you're not anywhere near ready for my class."

Gage nods. "Yes, Master Durron."

He turns to Jaina. "My apologies, Master Solo. I let my need to impress my friends make me stupid. Thank you for showing me that."

Jaina eyes him, face unreadable. "I could send you back to the beginning for your arrogance. But I don't think I will, because you can recognise your mistake. Just don't let it happen again, Apprentice Gisk. Reality isn't a lightsaber against a remote. It's ugly and dangerous and will kill you."

"Master, if I may ask . . . who trained you?"

Her dark eyes flick over his face. "Initially, Master Mara Jade Skywalker. I don't think you ever met her. But she wasn't my only master."

"Who else?"

She jerks a thumb at Kyp. "He was. And incidentally, Master Durron is the only one who can fight me to a standstill. So don't try that with him, either."

She clips her lightsaber to her belt and goes to talk to Kyle.

Gage watches her go. "She's amazing."

"Don't go getting a crush," Kyp warns him. He doesn't want this kid hanging around, googly-eyed and asking for advice as an excuse to be near her. "Not only is she twice your age, she's taken."

Gage gulps, nodding quickly.

He pats the kid on the shoulder. "Give it another year or two, and I might consider training you."

Kyp turns and goes to join Jaina. He's never been prouder of his former apprentice than when she's pounding on people.