Andean, Haal homestead
Jes was strapping his backpack on the back of his swoop bike when Marin came running out the front door, backpack in one hand and her jacket in the other.
"Got everything?" Jes asked.
"Yes, I mean, I think so. How am I supposed to know? I never went hiking before! I mean, we went on some field trips but never anything like this!" She hurried to her swoop bike and started strapping.
"Don't worry, " Jes said with a smile on his face. "I'm sure you'll be fine."
At that moment Esper came through the front door which Marin let open. "Here, Marin, take this!" Handing her a small package filled with food. "A little something to enjoy in the evenings."
"Thanks Esper!" Marin said. And she tucked it in her backpack.
Jes gave Esper a slightly annoyed look but kept smiling.
"I know, I know, " Esper said "Surivaling and all... But Marin could really use it. She's skinny as it is. Besides, you should enjoy your time off. You sure deserve it."
"We will. I appreciate it Esper, really do. Well, time to go. you ready?" Jes asked.
Marin fastened a final strap and put on her helmet. "Yep, ready!"
Art came around the corner. "Ah, you're still here. Good. I wanted to wish you a great time out there! It's beautiful out there in the woods this time of year. I remember when I went hiking there with my old man almost every year. We would go hunting for food and sleeping in the woods and..."
"Art! They were just about leave. They don't want to hear your back-in-the-day tales right now and I sure as hell don't need to hear them for the forty-second time! " Esper spit out at Art, in that tone that's often used by couples who've been together for a long time.
"Right, right. Why don't you take my hunting rifle! You could shoot a dainl from a kilometer away!" Art said proud.
"You couldn't shoot it if it was standing on the porch, Art. And I'm sure Jes has though of everything they need." Esper commented.
"Thanks Art, but Esper's right. I think we have everything right here." Jes said.
"Alright, alright." Art said. "And I do have to admit you're a better shot then I am Esper, but you don't need to remind me all the time, alright dear? Now, you two have a great time out there and take care!"
"Will do Art!" Marin said joyfully, anxious to go.
"And watch Jes for us, will ya? He's not as young as he thinks!" Esper said jokingly.
Marin winked.
"Ha-ha. Thanks Esper. " Jes said. "Now, time to go. I want to cross the canyon before we make camp tonight. " And with a humm his swoop bike came to life. Marin followed and started hers. "See you in a few weeks! Jes said and waved to Art and Esper before he set off. Marin was right behind him.
The first part of their journey would take them past the farmlands and through the plains beyond. The plains would eventually make way for a forest. There were still crude roads through that part of the forest which they could follow on their swoop bikes until they hit Lervig's canyon. Named after an old pre-space age Corellian explorer, Lervig's canyon was a large, ancient river bed. It was about a mile deep and a three miles wide. Probably cut out by a glacier in times long gone, the slopes of the canyon weren't very steep. Jes estimated they could hike down and make camp at the bottom of the canyon before it got dark.
Andean, Lervig's canyon
They reached the canyon well into afternoon. Jes stopped his swoop and Marin circled around him once to slow down and stopped next to him. The road had ended a while ago but the trees had been far enough apart for them to keep going on their swoops. With the sun already halfway down, they now overlooked Lervig's canyon. The forest continued on down the slopes of the canyon over the ancient glacial bedding. The forest got thicker on the other side.
"Wow, it sure is beautiful here. " Marin commented, taking in the view.
"It sure is. " Jes replied, taking a moment to enjoy the vista. "Okay, let's cover up the swoops. We'll hike down into the canyon and make camp there. If everything goes smooth we'll have some time to relax and a chance at a good night sleep. We'll start training tomorrow. "
A few hours later they were sitting at their campfire in a small clearing at the bottom of the canyon. They had put up their tents and Jes had caught some of the small birdlike creatures which seemed to be abundant on this part of the forest. Together with the provisions they brought it should present them with enough food for days.
Marin had just finished some of Espers cake as a dessert. She really didn't know what to expect of all this. But she saw Jes was in his element. School was out for a while so if anything, the complete lack of other options made this a nice distraction from it all. And she might learn something too. She missed the hard physical training at the academy. Yet she was a bit afraid that this would be more like a military style training and that Jes would be acting like an angry drill sergeant. But it had been a pleasant hike so far. So she would just have to wait and see.
The forest was stunning this time of year. Around her she saw all shades of green and it was filled with wildlife. As far as they knew there were no large predators in this forest and hardly any poisonous bugs. She hated bugs.
"So, " Jes started, "not so bad here huh?"
"No, it's actually quite nice here. I like being out in nature. We didn't do this very often when I was at the temple. I almost forgot what it's like."
"It is nice here. The next few days we'll be training here at the bottom of the canyon. After that, we'll hike up the other slope and move further into the forest on the other side. We'll gradually circle back and if all goes well we'll be back at our swoops by the end of next week. That should give me time to train you in the basics of Echani fighting while still leaving some room to relax now and then. "
"Sounds great! I can't wait for the exercise. "
"Good. We'll start with stances tomorrow and maybe the basics of the kanti."
"Stances?" Marin asked.
"Yes. As I said earlier, for the Echani, combat was in every aspect of their lives. They were warriors, but they also used combat as a form of communication and expression. So everyone should be able to fight everyone. But they were not all alike. Like us, the Echani had young and old people, short and tall etc. And to fight someone effectively you would need the right technique, the right style. There were hundreds of different Echani fighting styles and thousands different sub-styles. Most of them have been lost in time but we still know some of them. Some styles were good for large, male warriors. While others were more fit for smaller, younger Echani. Each style would focus on the strong points of the fighter and the advantages that could be created. Of course the correct style was not only determined by the fighter. The opponent was also important. Was he larger, smaller, faster or slower then you. Did he wear armor or was he armed? So, many different styles. And every style has a set of standard stances. How you take position every time you face your opponent determines your options. There are offensive stances and defensive stances. Which is the right one is again determined by the fighter, the opponent, and other situational aspects, like the environment. Learning the stances is the base of Echani fighting. If you do not master the stances, you will fail at every other aspect. So, we'll start with some of the stances."
"Allright, I think I get it. But will we be focusing on one style or will there be more?" Marin asked.
"Focusing will give you a better chance to learn something. So we'll be working on the style called valianna. It is perfect for smaller, more agile fighters and focuses on swiftness and precision. It also assumes that your opponent is bigger and slower then you. This style should suit you fine and I'm a great fit for the opponent." Jes explained.
"How come you know so much about the Echani? Did they teach you all this in NSOC training?"' Marin asked.
"Not all of this," Jes answered. "but I chose hand to hand combat as a specialization. I wanted to become an instructor. When I dove deeper into the theories behind the skills I became more and more obsessed with the Echani and how they lived. During one of my leaves I went to look for people who knew more about the philosophy and the way the Echani used to live. I found an old scholar who had studied them his whole life. We actually became friends and I started to study under him in my free time. "
"Was he also a good fighter? Or did he just focus on the theory?" Marin asked.
Jes put on a small smile while he looked into the distance. "In all the time I knew him. We sparred many, many times. I never beat him. Not even once. And he was older then I'm now while I was a young, fully trained special forces operative. Man, could he fight. But I didn't just learn how to fight. The most important thing I learned is the mental control you can achieve through focus. The training and the fighting helped me deal with a lot of the stress I had from all the missions. This helped me to learn about myself. I hope this aspect can help you as well. "
"Thanks Jes, I hope so too."
The following morning Jes started explaining the basics stances of the Valianna style.
"Now, place your right foot just a bit backwards and your right hand a bit higher. Exactly. This is the basic defensive stance called Kaii. It allows for a lot of freedom to dodge incoming blows. Remember, this style focuses on swiftness and agility and assumes that you are facing a stronger opponent. So blocking is not as important as dodging. Let me show you how you dodge some basic attacks." Jes said as he took position facing Marin. "Now, when I move in with a right high kick you will swiftly roll to the left by bending your left leg and letting yourself roll to the ground like this.
Jes rolled swiftly to the side and ended up in the same stance.
"This will open up my entire right side to a counter attack if you're quick enough. Now you try it." And he moved back to his original position,
Jes performed a slow motion version of a right high kick while Marin swiftly rolled to the left and immediately took up the Kaii stance again. "Like this?" She was a quick learner…
"Excelent, see how you could easily hit me in my right side from this position before I regain my balance after that high kick? Now, I see that you took the Kaii stance after that roll. That's good, but Valianna actually has a lot of subtly different stances, just for counters. Here, let me show you... "
The rest of the day they practiced dozens of stances for all kinds of situations. They also got around to some of the first basic attacks. When they finished with practicing a low kick attack from one of the basic offensive stances, Jes called a time-out.
"Ok, that's enough for today."
"Ok, but I don't feel tired yet!" Marin was having fun. She discovered that she actually missed the intensive, physical training they had at the academy.
"The sun is already on its way down and we still need to find dinner and make a fire. Good that you're enjoying it Marin, we're only getting started. And I think that you might be pretty sore when you wake up tomorrow. But we'll see."
"If you say so. It's not as hard as I imagined it would be. " Marin said.
"It will get harder. Now, if you'll get a fire started I'll go see if I can find us something to eat to go with the bread Esper baked. "
At the campfire that night Marin was wondering about something.
"Jes, can I ask you a question? A personal one I mean." She asked.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Did you ever have a family, like a wife or kids?"
"No," Jes answered. "Guess my relationships never lasted long enough. I was hardly ever home when I was in the CDF. It just never worked out, I always picked my job over my personal life. Then, after I ran... Well, my life really wasn't suited for any kind of relationship. How about you? I understand Jedi take children at a young age to train at the academy. Did you ever miss having a real family?"
"I didn't used to. I guess I never knew what I missed. The academy was all I knew. I don't know if I miss having a family, but I like living with you, Art and Esper."
"Yeah, we're really lucky with them. Good people seem hard to find sometimes."
They both sat in silence for a while, staring at the fire until Jes said: "Well, Let's call it day. Tomorrow will be busy. We'll start with learning about the Kanta."
"Kanta, What's that?" Marin asked curiously.
"Hah, I'll explain tomorrow. Sleep well Marin." And Jes jeaded into his tent.
The next day they were up early and started training right after breakfast.
"A fight can be quite similar to a discussion." Jes started to explain while faced each other on a small clearing in the forest on the canyon floor.
"In a discussion you have arguments and counter-arguments, just like in combat. In this comparison a kanta is more like a speech. There is no opponent, but everything you do must be perfect. Your body language, your intonation, your carefully chosen words. It all must come together. A kanta is a chained series of moves and combinations, executed perfectly. They're used to train the different styles and stances, but when you're experienced enough they can also have a meditative effect. Your mind will be focused, and everything you do will be muscle memory. It will be the easiest if you picture your opponent standing right in front of you. The first Kanta in the Valianna style is the Valia'kei. It starts in the Kaii stance and consists mostly of moves we practives earlier. I will start slowly and tell you everything I do. Please follow my lead Marin. Kaii, dodge left, punch, spin-dodge..."
Marin tried to copy Jes' moves but this was harder then she imagined. There were a lot of moves to remember and every time Marin made a mistake Jes made her start over again.
"Again," Jes said after Marin's seventh try. "Start with Kaii."
"But I was almost there, I almost had it this time!"
"You did. Now show me you can get it completely right."
Marin sighed, closed her eyes for a second and assumed the basic defensive position. Alright, she thought. Again.
And this time she did it.
"Excelent! " Jes said. "Well done. Now we will focus on getting each step of the Valia'kei perfect. "
"Which steps weren't perfect?" Marin asked annoyed.
"None of them were. "
"But wasn't this good enough to fight?" Marin asked.
"You have to understand, All Echani styles focus on perfect control of your body. Valliana, being based more on finesse then strength, even more so. You will learn to hit your opponent in places which will have the most impact. Making those hits in the heat of the fight requires absolute control of your body. Perfecting the Kanta's will help you achieve that."
"Alright, but you'll have to show me what to correct. Because I thought it was pretty good already!" Marin said.
"Of course. I'll show you. Come on, Kaii!"
Marin and Jes simultaneously took the basic defensive stance.
"Now look at your right leg. You need to turn your foot just a bit more towards me and shove it a little backward... "
They spent the next few hours perfecting the first Kanta and starting on the next. Even though Marin had hoped they would be fighting for real about now she was starting to appreciate the exercises. Suddenly Jes said: "Ok, enough Kanta today. As a final exercise for today we will spar. Semi-contact and you're only allowed to use moves from the Valia'kei."
"Alright, I'm ready!" Marin said enthusiastically. And they started by standing across from each other. "Ok, show me what you've got!" Jes taunted.
As Marin tried to attack Jes she found that he was a lot quicker then he looked. He easily dodged every kick and punch Marin threw at him.
"Mind your stance Marin, your left side was completely open after that kick. Next time I see it I will strike." Jes said as he deftly dodged another kick.
"You're doing great Marin. Excellent execution. "
"If I'm..." *kick* *roll* "..doing so great,"... *dodge low*, *jab*... "then why am I ..." *step backwards* *kick*..."not hitting you!" *kick!*kick!*
The last kick left her left side wide open again and Jes effortlessly ducked and punched her in the side. Marin was caught of balance and fell, barely able to catch herself with her left arm. "Oof!"
"Ok, let's stop here. Don't get distracted during a fight. If you're opponent wants to chat, let him. You say focused. Only listen to what his body says. Now get up and let's do that last attack again, but slowly. Let me show you what you did wrong there. "