Drex led Kade through a maze of corridors towards a turbolift and activated it by voice control. It took them up towards an observation lounge near the top of one of the spires. This place was off-limits to initiates, so unless he had been totally out of bounds, Kade would not know the place. It was empty at this time of the day since most Jedi were busy with work or study. Drex led Kade up to the huge glass pane and sat down cross-legged in front of it. It offered a superb view of Coruscant and the structured chaos that was its traffic.
"You might wonder what business I have sitting here, given that I cannot see what is going on out there," Drex told Kaden. "I cannot see it, but I can sense it clearly up here, with nothing around me to distract me from it. It is like an enormous web of life, of individual beings all interconnected through the Force. And I am part of it. We all are. It is important to remind oneself of that every once in a while."
Kade had to admit that when they reached the observation lounge, he had indeed been wondering what the blind Hrakian could gain from coming up here. The answer did not surprise him; in fact, he was kicking himself for not catching on sooner. "Of course," he agreed simply, and closed his eyes trying to imagine how the world looked from Drex's perspective.
"How did you go blind, was it an accident?" he wanted to know.
"No, I was born blind," Drex replied. "Which means I have unconsciously started drawing on the Force very early in life. It has mostly replaced my missing eyesight. In some ways, I am slower than others, but not in the ways that matter, I think."
With his eyes still closed Kade could sense the beings around him clearly enough, although he'd still be running into stuff if he had to try getting back to Drex's quarters. In fact, he doubted he'd actually find said quarters. "Isn't there anything they can do to restore your sight?" he asked, then after a moment added: "And would you want to have it done if they could?"
"Well, they could have given me cybernetic eyes when I was younger," Drex replied. "But that would have meant messing with my brain and would have rendered me useless for the long time it would have taken me to adapt. I've never felt attracted to that option. By now, I'm too old anyway; my brain wouldn't adapt. Besides, I don't feel as if I'm missing anything. This might be very different if I had not been born with Force awareness, but as it is, I'm getting along just fine. Being a Jedi, I don't even have to make fashion decisions."
He said that quite solemnly, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.
"Don't worry, as a Jedi we get to choose between several shades of brown and cream, you aren't missing anything," Kaden quipped, opening his eyes. He looked out over the busy Coruscant horizon. "You know, the best time to watch Coruscant is at night; the traffic looks like long shiny ribbons twisting and turning through the night, but it has order to it, it's not random. I don't know how to explain that," the boy admitted. He did not feel sorry for Drex – hell, the man was more than capable from what he had seen – but he did want to share his interpretation of things if he could.
"If I hadn't come along today, what had you planned to do? I mean, apart from helping Eeth kick some initiates around the sparring room? Do you teach?" he asked.
"I teach some, yes," Drex replied. "I do research. I am still active in the field service, too. These days, I am mostly sent to conduct negotiations, but I have done lots of other things as well - rescue missions, undercover investigations, anything a Jedi gets to do. Depending on how well I keep up – or don't keep up – physically, other masters might help in certain aspects of your training or take you along on missions later. You should not have to miss out on anything just for having an old man as a master."
His life sounded incredibly interesting to the Temple-raised initiate. That other masters might be called in to help was not a concept he had considered. He said nothing about that, though, choosing instead to ask about the things Drex did now. "What subjects do you teach?"
"All kinds of things, from kata to philosophy," Drex replied.
Kade thought about the man's comments a bit more. "I don't really care about missions that much, although…. I do want to keep up my saber skills," he hedged. Kade wasn't entirely sure what Drex had meant when he said his sparring skills would not be the focus, nor did he like the idea of spending lots of time on analysing his emotions, but he also knew that he wouldn't have a choice and if he wanted to become a knight, this was the way it was going to be.
Drex considered the thinly-disguised question for a moment.
"You will most likely be able to keep up your saber skills, although making you a perfect swordsman will not be my main aim," he finally said. "Sparring will be part of your training, but with caution and constraint. You channel your aggressions and frustration into your saber, and that is something you will need to learn to control before I can allow you to focus on your saber skills to any meaningful extent. The more progress you make with controlling your emotions, the more time you will be granted to work with your lightsaber. There will be no unsupervised sparring whatsoever for now."
What Drex did not say, for now, was that he was totally prepared to ban Kade from sparring entirely for a while if he felt that the boy's desire to prove himself with a saber was preventing him from making progress in other, more important areas. That was doubtlessly going to be an effective punishment, but certainly not one that Kade would relish.
It was then that the boy had an idea.
"Hey, since I missed out on my class this morning, do you think we could go to a gym?" he asked, his hand unconsciously brushing his training saber.
"Of course," said Drex. "We can have a workout if you like. But kata first. It will help you find your focus on the Force."
"Sure," Kade replied good-naturedly. He didn't exactly like kata per se, but he was usually well able to keep it up long enough to satisfy most of his teachers. "Be forewarned…. My kata doesn't look anything like Eeth's," he cautioned, unnecessarily, then got to his feet.
The prospect of getting some time to spar after missing his lesson had Kade on a high, but he managed to keep himself from running ahead and kept a sedate pace for the most part. He wondered what the next week of his life was going to be like should Drex accept him as his apprentice. He'd heard from many of his peers who had been chosen before him that the first few months were by far the worst; apparently adapting from crèche to padawanhood was a big step. This thought led to another; what sort of teacher his new master would turn out to be? He wasn't overly strict, he'd said so himself, but he had said a lot and he was taking his time to digest it all.
When they entered the gym some time later he had some questions stored up: "You mentioned that you wouldn't punish me for something I didn't know about, so I'm assuming that you are planning to punish me for those that I do." He scratched at the back of his head. "How?" he hedged, hoping to all hopes that the man would say meditating, extra duties or corner time, anything that did not involve touching his toes beforehand. As it was, he suspected his ass would never be the same after his last encounter with Eeth, not to mention his crèche master who had given him six hard whacks with that horrible stick of hers the next evening. It had hurt, but at least he'd kept his undershorts on.
Drex smiled. What apprentice would not come up with that question at some point?
"It depends," he replied. "I might give you additional chores, I might assign meditations, I might revoke some privileges – including sparring lessons – or I might spank you or use some other form of physical discipline."
Kade nodded as Drex rattled off the list of punishments: extra chores were fine; meditations he'd deal with; having privileges revoked, he would hate but deal with. However, just when the boy thought he was home and hosed, Drex dashed his hopes. He sighed. He knew it had been too good to be true; he had yet to come across a Jedi master who did not believe in the effectiveness of corporal punishment.
Drex left Kaden little time to ponder this. He pointed towards the middle of the room.
"Show me the most advanced kata you've learned so far," he told the boy.
As Kaden walked towards the middle of the room, a thought occurred to him and he paused briefly. "Are you sure it's safe to spank me if you can't see what you're smacking? And, what did you mean by 'other' forms of physical discipline?"
Drex had to grin at that.
"Don't worry, I have dealt out quite a number of spankings in my life and so far, I haven't missed the target once," he replied. "However, I mostly refrain from using implements that have to be wielded from a distance, like canes, unless the circumstances are exceptional. I do, however, use implements other than my hand when your behaviour warrants it - or, possibly, when my physical strength is not up to the task any longer, which is not the case as yet, but might happen in the coming years. That was what I meant by other forms of physical discipline. I own quite a formidable hairbrush, for example. But I don't exactly use it every other day to punish wayward padawans; mostly, I just use it to brush my hair. I've had three apprentices so far, you know; I am speaking from experience. Now go ahead and show me your kata."
Kade wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he didn't. Instead, he drew his saber and ignited the blade.
The boy executed each movement of the tenth with precision and force. In fact, each move was curt, powerful and resulted in a kata that looked rather clipped, stiff and droid-like. For a twelve-year-old the initiate neither excelled nor failed when it came to kata. That said, his approach had prevented him from progressing further.
"Tell me," Drex said mildly when Kade had finished, "do you connect with the Force at all when you perform your katas?"
"Yes," he replied, allowing his saber to rest at his side. He met the man with a quizzical expression that clearly asked: why?
"Well, it doesn't show," Drex told him bluntly. "It feels as if you think with your head, instead of following the flow of the Force. In what way do you draw on the Force when you perform katas?"
Kade frowned, unsure how to answer that. "I don't know, I just focus on the Force and execute the move that comes next," he clarified. "Can we spar now?" It wasn't that he didn't want to give a more precise answer, it was more that he didn't know what it was. Not really. He'd never thought about it before.
"No, we can continue to work on your kata until I tell you we are done," Drex replied serenely. "Obviously, you don't follow the flow of the Force, or your kata would feel different. Close your eyes, enter a meditative trance and then perform it with your eyes closed. Or if a less advanced kata will work better for you, do that one. I don't mind which one you do."
Being blind, Drex had no personal experience with this, but he had long ago learned that many sighted beings had a far easier time focussing on the Force when they weren't distracted by their eyesight.
"But…" Kade started to protest but then thought better of it. "Alright," the boy sighed and did as instructed. His movements did flow together a little better now that he was being reminded to focus on the Force. However, each movement was executed as if he were blocking real strikes; powerful and precise, giving his kata an almost sharp appearance. He finished with a flip, adding in a second just for fun. He got bored with kata pretty quickly.
"You're performing the kata as if you were sparring," Drex commented. "But that's not the point of kata at all. Do it once again without your saber, just the moves."
"Alrighttt," Kade groaned, but deactivated his saber and clipped it to his belt. Despite feeling a little silly performing moves sans lightsaber, Kade did as he was told and went through the kata again. This time, however, he made a conscious effort to slow down lest the man have him doing this for their entire session.
"A little better," Drex said. Pulling his saber, he took a position next to Kade. "Link with me, close your eyes and feel how I'm doing the kata," he told the boy. "After that, you do it again, together with me."
Again, Kade did as he was told, if grudgingly. He was getting tired of doing kata. Linking with Drex was something he enjoyed, though, and he did so without hesitation. His Force presence was calming. Kade took a deep breath and found himself falling into step easily. This time the kata was not as rigid; it felt more like a dance than a fight.
"That was well done," Drex said, smiling at Kade. "Let's do it again a couple more times. No, you needn't roll your eyes or whatever you feel like doing. We will only proceed to sparring if you have made a real effort with the things you need to make progress with – like kata. And you are making progress. Come on."
The boy smiled at the praise, then, despite Drex's words, rolled his eyes. That was the extent of his protests, though.
After three more rounds, Drex took pity on Kaden and said: "Alright. We can do some freestyle sparring. But try to curb your emotions, or you will end up meditating instead, like the day before yesterday."
He took a ready stance and nodded for Kade to begin.
"Finally!" the boy exclaimed happily. He didn't think he could possibly stand another minute of kata. He needed to blow off some steam and knew from experience that Drex was more than up to par. Grinning, he waited for the nod to proceed, took a deep breath and attacked with his usual ferocity.
"Stop," Drex said firmly, dodging the attack effortlessly and rising his hand, signalling for Kade to hold. "What happened to following the flow of the Force? Fighting like this is all good and well, but as soon as you are up against an opponent who is in tune with the Force, you won't stand a chance. Have you ever tried working with a blindfold?"
Having been conditioned to respond to commands like 'stop' and 'drop' immediately, Kade pulled his attack and met the man with an incredulous expression. "But, I AM following the flow of the Force, I'm just following it with enthusiasm. Besides, it works plenty good enough against my classmates and they are 'in tune' with the Force." Kade scuffed at the floor with his boot. "I've used a blindfold with droids, but never during sparring."
"There is no such thing as following the flow of the Force with enthusiasm," Drex said mildly. "If you truly follow it, there is simply no need for enthusiasm. Your emotions become irrelevant. And I don't doubt your style of sparring works against your classmates, but if you're aiming at developing your skills to a degree where they will help you against serious, grown-up, fully-trained opponents, you should better listen to advice."
He walked to the wall of the gym which contained a hidden closet with training gear and retrieved a blindfold.
"Try it," he told Kaden.
"Alright," the boy complied, not at all liking said advice; there was just something about losing himself in a fight that was satisfying.
He took the blindfold and tossed it in the air once before flicking out the wrinkles. "I haven't done this before so just don't fry me, your saber looks a bit better than mine," he said through a grin, then folded the cloth and placed it over his eyes, knotting it roughly at the back. He didn't like the feel of having one of his major senses cut off, and instinctively reached out with the Force in an effort to compensate and sense his surroundings.
"Exactly," Drex said approvingly at what he sensed from Kade. "Don't worry about me. I practice Soresu; my style of fighting is defensive. And I will adapt to your pace, of course. Come on, give it a try."
Without his vision, Kade had no choice but to rely on the Force to guide him, and as a result his attacks were far less intense, but also far less satisfying. After five or so minutes of careful attacks, he stopped and lowered his saber. "Can I take it off now?" he asked. Kade couldn't believe the man had found a way to suck the fun out of sparring, but he had.
"Kaden, this is exactly what you need to do in order to make some progress," Drex said gently. "And you did well. Your body knows what to do, and the Force guided you through the actual moves. You will get to do some freestyle sparring without a blindfold later, but only if you pull yourself together and do what you are told, for as long as I deem it right. You have barely worked with the blindfold for five minutes. The more you get used to it, the more natural it will feel to draw on the Force, and that is what you need to achieve. Even if it is hard work. Now go on."
Receiving praise from the man felt good to Kade, but he couldn't hide the fact that this was boring to him and he tugged one side of the blindfold down. "I am together," he defended himself, feeling a little indignant, "but we've been doing boring stuff for forty-five minutes now."
"Yes, and we will continue to do boring stuff until I tell you to stop," Drex replied, entirely unfazed. "Get back to work. The more you complain, the longer you will be doing boring stuff."
Kade huffed, yanked up his blindfold and took up a ready stance once again. "Well, just for the record I think this sucks," he grumbled, and started attacking once again. It was clear that he was not enjoying this, and it showed in his lack of enthusiasm; it was like eating ice-cream without sprinkles!
Drex was not looking for enthusiasm, but he was expecting an effort. He also knew that Kade could have found this far more enjoyable than he currently did if he wasn't wasting so much energy on feeling hard done-by.
"Stop," he told Kade once again, and when the boy had complied, he said calmly, but quite firmly: "Initiate, I want to see you make your best effort, no matter what you're told to do. Any exercise can be a learning experience if you allow it to be, but that is not what you are currently doing. You're sulking over not getting your way. Let me cut this short and tell you how I would deal with such behaviour if you were my padawan. I would continue this exercise for as long as it takes you to pull yourself together and do the best you can. If it took you entirely too long, I might end up disciplining you and then tell you to try again. The behaviour you are currently displaying would definitely result in your forfeiting the right to do any freestyle sparring without a blindfold, at least for today, maybe for longer. I think it is only fair to tell you that before you make up your mind about whether you want to train with me. Now, since you are not my padawan yet, I will do this a little differently and simply give you a choice. Either we stop this session right now, you go off to your usual lessons and take your time making up your mind about whether you really want to become a padawan, even if it means you won't get to do fun things as often as you would like. Or you stop sulking, do this properly and might just be given a chance to do a little sparring without constraints at the end of the session. What is it to be?"
That wasn't much of a choice…. "Am not sulk-king," he retorted, arms crossed about his chest. Kade couldn't believe how much being told off by this man was actually affecting him; Force, he had taken a paddling from Eeth without shedding a tear, yet here he was almost sniffling at being scolded by Drex. Grateful that the older Jedi could not see how red his face had gotten, or when his gaze lowered, Kaden swallowed and ran a sleeve under his nose. "I'll do it again," he stated, feeling far less indignant and suitably chastened.
"Good," Drex said calmly. "And yes, you were sulking. Please stop it and pay this exercise the attention it deserves. Giving yourself over to the Force can be an extremely enjoyable experience if you allow it to happen. It might be enjoyable in an entirely different way from what you're used to, but you should give it a chance."
"Wasn't….." he said under his breath, silently cursing himself for how childish that sounded! What the Force was wrong with him? He was fast to cover it with compliance, adopting a ready stance and waiting.
This time, Drex incorporated more elements of attack into his usually defensive sparring style; this would force Kade to seek help in the Force in order to block the attacks and might make it easier for him to open himself up to what the experience had to offer him. That said, Drex was careful to leave openings for Kade to exploit if he sensed them.
Being Force-sensitive the boy knew how to sense an attack, however without the use of his eyes and body language cues from his opponent, and having to rely solely on the Force to guide his blocks, it turned out to be more difficult than he anticipated. He dodged the first by fluke, then parried the second and third due to added concentration as a result of said fluke. The remainder of their bout was one miss in every five blocks.
The boy was just about to give up, sweat beading on his forehead from concentration when Drex called the exercise to a halt. Apparently he had done something right… Or at least he hoped.
"That was a big improvement," Drex told him. "I have no doubt it was hard work as well, but how will you make progress without putting in some hard work? You may remove the blindfold now. We will spar for fifteen more minutes in the way you're used to."
"Thanks," the boy replied with genuine enthusiasm. The idea of fifteen minutes of free-sparring had Kaden smiling, and he ripped off the blindfold with a little more gusto than necessary.
The next fifteen minutes were bliss for the initiate although his style had changed, if only slightly; instead of concentrating solely on how best to make the most devastating attacks, Kade was now focusing a little more on the Force than he had previously, at least for the moment.
Drex was willing to allow Kade his bit of fun. He did not consider it part of Kaden's actual training at this stage; it was more of a reward for good behaviour. Kaden had nothing to gain from this type of sparring, but as long as it did not impede his progress, there was nothing wrong with it either. And there was a slight, if almost indiscernible improvement in the way he sparred. Drex was happy to point it out as they left the gym.
"Do you need to shower?" Drex asked. "If yes, we should best pass by your crèche, since I do not have any clean clothes for you on offer."
"Yeah, I'm kinda sweaty and no offense, but, so are you," the boy quipped. He was still smiling from the man's praise. Sure, the session may have been predominantly boring, but the last part made up for it because, blind or not, Drex could fight as well as any sighted master, if not better.
"Master Jedi. Initiate Kaden," K'Mi greeted the pair as they entered her crèche.
"Master," Kade bowed, then knelt to be at the Kushiban's level. "I was training with Master Zaryth, and I wasn't doing anything bad, I promise," the boy said in a tone that had the feline creche master struggling to contain her smile.
"I am confident that Master Zaryth would have kept you out of trouble," she intoned, placing a white, fluffy paw on the boy's shoulder and gesturing that he stand. "Although I must say you are in need of a shower, young man." Her eye colour changed from black to silver, morphing to match that of the older Jedi as she glanced up at the Hrakian. "Thank you for taking care of Kaden this morning. If you would like to stay, he will show you to his room. However, after that I must insist the boy take a shower and has a snack," K'Mi said, then glanced back at Kaden. "There is a clean uniform on your bed. Off you go."
"I had planned on providing Kaden with lunch," Drex told Master K'Mi politely. "After a shower. Kaden, why don't you show me your room, take a shower and then come to my quarters? That way, I can take a shower myself in the meantime."
"As you wish," K'Mi purred, her eyes darting left for a moment before flicking back to the Jedi. "If you will excuse me," she said. Believing Kaden to be in capable hands, she left to investigate the ruckus coming from what was supposed to be a morning snack followed by a quiet period of meditation.