Kira Kenvor stood in front of the Council alongside Jedi Master Pao'l Trij and Jedi Padawan Khane Oryn to recount their experiences with the Force-stealing Taavarian race. Pao'l stood in the middle with either padawan on each side.
"The Taavarians were thought to be extinct for well over a thousand years but there are- or should I say- were a clan of them in the caves on the planet Mes Cresta. As you all know, my padawan and I were sent there several months ago to assist the local government in the disappearances of civilians," Pao'l explained. "While investigating the disappearances, Khane and I were captured and held captive by these Taavarians and it would seem that they have the ability to drain the Force from a personI have spent much time meditating between our rescue and now and I am unable feel the Force within me as I once did."
Kira stood silently and kept her eyes averted towards the ground with her hands folded together in front of her, one hand holding onto the opposite wrist. All she could think about was that look Mace gave her. He knew she was lying through her teeth and it would only be a matter of time before everything she knew would come crumbling down in front of her. She had truly risked everything she knew for this. She felt sick to her stomach and couldn't even look Mace in the eyes without feeling a tremendous guilt.
"If not for our rescuer, Padawan Kenvor, I am certain Padawan Oryn and I would have perished under the waterfalls on Mes Cresta." Pao'l said. "I believe we should focus efforts towards Mes Cresta and search for further evidence of any more Taavarians. Their strength was unlike anything I had ever seen before and it could pose a serious threat to our Order."
Grand Master Yoda sat in his council chair holding onto his walking cane and listened carefully. "Agree, I do." He said, thoughtfully. "Investigate these creatures, we must. Powerful enemies they could be."
Khane's mouth was formed into a line. He wanted to tell the Council exactly what happened there and while he didn't want to disobey his master, he also didn't want to be involved in such deception. Kira felt his anxiousness in the Force and knew it was likely she was unsuccessful in controlling his mouth and his righteous heart, he was going to ruin her. That she had no doubt of.
"Padawan Kenvor," Master Yarael Poof asked, Kira's eyes shot to him. She had hoped she could get away from this meeting without so much as a word but clearly that wasn't going to happen. "How did you know to go to Mes Cresta and rescue Master Trij and Padawan Oryn? Surely, you were unable to get there on your senses alone."
Pao'l went to speak for Kira but she cut him off. She wasn't going to successfully lie to the Council, Mace already knew something was up and it was likely the other masters would know the moment the lies left her mouth. Yarael Poof's question alone was proof of their doubt. Kira might be expelled for such lies and in some way she had accepted the possibility but she realized she couldn't bring down Pao'l and Khane with her for her own impulsions, not that Khane would allow it. She had to own up to it and it would sound better coming from her than from Khane as he exposed the lies.
"You're right," She said with a sigh. "I did not know on senses alone… or at all."
Khane gave her a sideways glance but kept his face forward.
"Master Windu," She said, lifting her head high and looking directly at her master. "I was not completely honest and forthcoming in the liberation of the senator's son, Oolan Jatori on Tooma. I did not accomplish this task alone. While there, there was a man who was in the pits of the slave fighting ring when I arrived, he was being tortured so I saved him. He in turn helped me save the senator's son."
Mace's eyebrow rose as he listened. Khane listened intently, he wondered if Kira had a change of heart and decided it was in her best interest to own up to her actions. He would be glad for it and honestly, he might even admire her for it. It wasn't an easy thing to admit your failures to the High Council.
"Anyways, he needed help to rescue a comrade of his and asked for my assistance. It was time sensitive and when he contacted me it was in the middle of the night so I just left. On our journey, we ended up on Mes Cresta. There I, too, was captured by the Taavarians and that's where I met Pao'l and Khane. Together, with the help of my friend, we all escaped and we returned to Coruscant as soon as possible. I realize that my absence and secrecy has caused me to miss my trials and I apologize for causing what trouble I did but I felt that, in the moment, it was necessary."
Khane kept silent but couldn't help but notice she avoided mention of her father, he supposed that was information that wasn't necessary for the council to know and decided as long as she told most of the truth he wouldn't rat her out. He felt his own conscious relax, it was close enough to the truth that it wouldn't burden his mind covering up his fellow padawan's lies.
"And what of your friend? Did you save his comrade?" Mace asked, he had a suspicious look in his eye. Somehow, he knew his apprentice was leaving out details. He just wondered how important those details were.
"We did." She said. "They returned home and we returned here. Everyone made it out alive… except some Taavarians."
Mace and Yoda exchanged looks and Mace sat forward leaning his elbows on his knees. "Why didn't you include the Council or at the very least, myself?"
Kira hesitated. "I just felt I could do it on my own," she said then decided some true honesty needed to come forward. "You believed I was ready for my trials years before most human padawans are even close to being ready but I needed that same belief for myself. I felt that if I could accomplish this mission on my own, then I figured I would feel ready afterwards."
"And do you?"
They stared at each other for a moment before she responded. "I believe so."
Mace's eyes changed from his typical scrutiny to what Kira thought looked like… content? Maybe her explanation was good enough to convince him. She hoped so.
"Very well," He said, sitting back putting his arms on the rests. "Master Trij, Padawan Oryn. We are glad to have you back."
"Dismissed, you are." Yoda said with a pleasant smile. Khane and Pao'l bowed their heads and quietly turned and left. "Padawan Kira, join us you will, to Mes Cresta. Seek out these Force-stealing creatures, you will."
Kira bowed her head. "Of course." She said and couldn't help but ask once Khane and Pao'l were out of earshot. "I must ask, I understand I messed up but shouldn't I be in trouble? Not going out on missions?"
Mace's eyebrow raised as he smirked.
"Helping others is our job as Jedi," Yarael said. "You did not only that for one other but you were able to locate and rescue two of our own when we had no leads on where they went."
"You've done well, Padawan." Mace said "Just remember to include the Council on your missions in the future."
Kira's eyebrows went up in surprise. She was so certain she was going to be so far in the massiff house she wouldn't see sunlight for weeks but instead she was being praised for her efforts. Sure, she did accomplish those things but she felt the guilt seep in.
"Of course," Kira said with a bow. "Thank you, Masters."
"One more thing, Padawan." Yoda said before giving Mace a quick glance.
"Prepare for your trials, Kira." Mace said. "You'll be beginning them tomorrow night at dusk. You are dismissed."
Kira nodded."Yes Sir." She bowed once again as she backed up. "Thank you, Master." She bowed twice more as she left before spinning on her heel and all but raced out of the council room. Once she was far enough away she let out a long breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. She could have easily gone the rest of her life not being in front of the council like that couldn't have been more thankful that it ended better than she anticipated. Even if she had to take her trials the day after she returned from a week of galavanting across the galaxy.
Still, something felt wrong about the whole thing, she had expected to be expelled, at the very least put on janitorial duties for a rotation or twelve but instead… She was being praised for her efforts. Something about not being punished by the council felt like more of a punishment.
"You didn't tell them everything." Khane said, slipping out from behind one of the pillars along the walls coming up behind her. Kira jumped at his voice.
"Kriff." She cursed, curling her hands into fists. "Don't sneak up on people like that." Khane smirked, his green eyes had a cocky look in them as he looked down at her. "I told them what was important." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a hip.
"Still, I'm glad you told them most of the truth."
"Yeah, if I didn't, you would have." She said sourly. "You forced my hand."
"I didn't say a word in there." Khane defended.
"You didn't have to."
"Seems to have worked out in your favor, though." He said as they began walking down the hallway to the cafeteria. "Maybe you'll thank me one day."
Kira scoffed. "That's highly unlikely." She said. "Are you going to tell them what really happened there? About Mandalore?... About Jense?"
Khane paused for a moment, "No," he said, finally. "I don't think that is my burden to bear. Although, I'm glad you told the truth, Kira. You might not have been able to be a Mandalorian but you might make a decent Jedi one day."
Kira scoffed again with a roll of her eyes. "That almost sounded like a compliment, Khane."
He shrugged, "Don't read into it." He said as they came to the doors of the cafeteria, he opened them and stepped aside to allow her inside first. "Are you going to be eating alone?"
Kira raised an eyebrow as she walked across the room. "I usually do."
"Mind if I join you?"
Kira stopped for a moment to turn and look at him. "What? Are we friends now, Oryn?"
Khane shrugged again. "For now, I suppose." He followed Kira and handed her a tray before filling his own with various greens.
Kira couldn't quite understand this padawan, he'd spent most of their time together being the most distrusting little womprat and now he was acting like they were friends. She almost didn't mind it though, it would be nice to have friends who were not her master or a band of buckethead mercenaries. Kira was usually such a loner that she rarely made an effort to befriend any padawans her age, sure she was friendly with all of them but there wasn't one that she could truly consider a friend other than Mace and she certainly didn't think she would find a friend in the likes of Khane Oryn.
Dusk came fast and after a decent meal, a night of sleep and an entire day of meditating, Kira was waiting outside the door to the Jedi Trials Chamber. The chamber was deep within the tunnels of the Temple, it was dimly lit and along the hallway were lined with rows on either side of massive stone and bronzium statues of Jedi Masters long gone.
She smoothed out the front of her robes and made sure her hair was tied into a neat braid that wouldn't come loose. She made sure her padawan braid was tied separately and hung behind her ear down to her chest.
Mace turned the corner and stopped before her. "Your first test is one of skill," he said, as she got to her feet. "You'll be showcasing your skills with not only your lightsabers and physical ability but also with your Force ability."
"Okay." Kira said quietly.
"Are you ready?" He asked as he went to reach for the door.
"Wait," She said, reaching out to put her hand on his outstretched arm stopping him. "I just want to apologize. We haven't had much time since I've been back and I'm sorry I disappeared on you."
Mace smiled lightly. "I must say it caught me off guard to find you gone but also I'm not entirely surprised it happened." Kira raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I know there are things that frustrate you about being a Jedi, I am not blind. I was the same way at your age. You and I are not so different you know. You'll grow and you'll learn to temper yourself as I did. The important thing is that in your core, you are good. You do what you can to help the galaxy become a better place and that's all anyone can ask of you."
Kira smiled. "Thank you, Master. I do not always deserve your kindness and I hope you know how much I admire you. I hope I will make you proud."
Mace put a loving hand on her shoulder. "You do, Kira and you always have." He said. "Now, show the council you deserve to become a knight."
Kira nodded. She loved Mace, for all that she knew of love, she loved Mace so deeply she wondered how Jense could ever measure up to him. Sure, Mace was frustrating at times but in many ways he was her rock, he was the steadiness to her uncertainty and the clarity in her fog. She could only hope to become the Jedi he was. She had a long way to go to even get close.
Mace let his hand drop from her shoulder and opened the chamber doors. Kira followed him inside, taking in a deep breath. It seemed the walls were as tall as a zillo beast, above there was a balcony where all the members of the high council sat up against the wall, behind a deflector shield. Yoda stood in the center of the room. His hands folded on top of his cane. The chamber was so silent that all Kira could hear were boots clicking on the floors as they walked.
Mace led Kira to the center standing opposite of the Grand Master. Kira bowed her head to Yoda as Mace went to the stairs that lead up to the balcony and took a seat in the center where he would be sitting next to Yoda and peered over the edge to watch his padawan.
"Kiratta Kenvor, ready for your first trial, you are?" Yoda asked.
"Yes, Master." She said with a nod, she stood up straight with her hands folded behind her back.
"Good," The little green alien said in amusement. "The Trial of Skill, your first test is. Start off with a training droid, you will. If you pass, duel your master, you will."
Kira nodded sharply.
Yoda grinned a mischievous grin. For being the Grand Master and well over eight hundred years old, he could be a little womprat when he chose to be and Kira fully expected her trials to be challenging, but with that grin she knew he had something special planned for her.
He held out his hand and one of the training droids flew across the room, stopping before it hit his three fingered hand. "Begin when you are ready." He said with a little gremlin giggle. Kira couldn't help but smirk as he shuffled away up to the balcony to sit among the other high council members.
Kira took in a deep breath before pulling out her two lightsabers and igniting them. The two golden blades shot up with a low hum. With a wave of her hand the droid chirped in activation, the red light in the center flicked on. It chirped again as it set itself into the 'easy' mode. Kira would have to work through all three difficulty levels of the droid before dueling Mace.
The droid fired out a red blaster bolt, which Kira deflected with ease. It fired several more times, each time the blast was deflected. Within a few moments, Kira quickly and easily beat the first level before the droid activated into the intermediate level, where a second training droid activated from across the room and flew to the center on the opposite side of the first.
Kira raised her lightsabers, one in front of her, one behind her. When the one behind her fired, she blocked it before ducking as the second droid fired. The blast flew over her, narrowly missing the second droid. A third droid activated and fired. Kira threw out her hand, waving it towards the first droid guiding the bolt to hit a different target. It screeched in alarm.
All three droids flew at her and fired. Kira deflected two of the bolts before one grazed her arm. She hissed as the blast burned her skin. She glared at the droid before calling it to her, stopping it before it touched her hand and threw it back into the second droid. They sputtered as they both hit the wall and fell to the ground defeated.
The third droid fired rapidly. Kira dodged the bolts before throwing her hand out to grab one, freezing it in the air with the Force and shooting it back at the droid then grabbing the droid with the Force and flicking off the activation button.
Yoda chuckled as the droid fell to the ground. Many students would have just defeated it, it amused him that her way of defeating it was to simply turn it off. He could appreciate innovative thinking.
Kira couldn't help but smile at Yoda's reaction, proud of herself for making the Grand Jedi Master laugh. She released her own quiet chuckle as round three, the hardest level, was activated.
The first three droids reactivated along with another three. They all flew to circle Kira. She stood with her lightsabers ignited behind her back. She felt out throughout the Force sensing when the first world attack. Two shot out at the same time and she jumped. The bolts flying under her feet singeing the rubber soles of her boots, when she landed she threw out her hands sending three of the training droids flying across the room, when she straightened she blocked the incoming blasts before jumping behind them and slicing through the remaining three droids.
The first three droids regained themselves from the Force push and fired at Kira again. She held out her hand, grabbing hold of one of the droids through the Force as it was about to fire again and turned it so that it fired on the other droids. The unsuspecting attack disabled the two remaining droids. The last remaining droid she called to her and sliced it in half.
With defeating the six droids, she had concluded the first part of her skills portion of her trials.
Kira deactivated her lightsabers and looked over her shoulder to the Masters. Mace looked pleased, as did Yoda. She turned to face them lowering her hands to her sides, her knuckles turning white with how tightly she was holding onto her lightsabers.
"Well done, Padawan." Saesee Tiin, the Iktotchi, said. "Your master has trained you well in both combat as well as the use of your Force abilities."
Kira bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Master."
"Duel your master, you will." Yoda said, giving a slight wave of his hand as Mace got to his feet.
Kira gave a nod. She had yet to best Mace while sparring, he was good. Very good. She would have to pull every trick she had ever learned out for this trial.
Mace had the ability to see shatterpoints, where an enemy's weak spot was and even if he had not been her master, he would have been able to spot all of her shortcomings in an instant. Her eyes followed Mace as he came to stand opposite of her. Her eyebrow rose with a smirk crossing her lips.
"Are you ready, Kira?" He asked.
She rolled her shoulders and assumed the ready stance. "Are you?" She taunted.
A look of cockiness flashed Mace's eyes. "Begin then." He said.
Master and Apprentice stalked each other. Kira's eyes fixating on Mace's, his purple lightsaber ignited with a hum. Kira kept hers off waiting for him to strike.
Mace knew how Kira worked, she rarely was the first to attack, she waited, trying to bait her opponent into attacking first. Until then, she took notice of how her opponent walked, did they have a limp? Were they stronger on their right side or their left? Did they leave a window open that exposed a potential weakness? All these things were what he had spent nearly a decade teaching her to look for.
She was small and she lacked the muscle to outweigh or out muscle many opponents, Mace had his size to use, she did not so he taught her to use her smaller stature to her advantage. She was faster and she was smart but she also tended to either be overconfident or underestimated herself and she was also impatient. She would grow tired of him waiting to make the first move and when she did he would use her impatience against her.
Kira's eyebrow raised as she saw him analyzing her. She circled him, still waiting for him to make the first move. When he didn't, she did as he predicted. She got impatient. Under the eyes of the rest of the Jedi Masters, she felt the confidence she had previously begin to falter.
She threw her silver hilted lightsaber, activating it before it left her hands, at Mace. When he dodged it, she called it back to her but instead of it flying back to her hand, Mace caught it right out of the air. Her eyes widened as he swung at her. Kira yelped as she flipped her black hilted lightsaber forward and tried to do as much damage control as she could.
Mace swung at her with the intensity Kira knew could only be Vaapad. A lightsaber fighting style Mace created and it was only ever Mace who had ever been able to successfully master such a form and it was all she could do to keep up with blocking the blows as he pushed her back.
Mace would not be going easy on her this day. That was abundantly clear. Mace was not used to fighting with two lightsabers but that didn't make much of a difference. He raised his own lightsaber above his head to slam it down on Kira's.
Kira saw an opportunity to level the playing field though. She blocked his lightsaber, purple clashing against yellow, sparking as it did so. Kira pushed the blade to the side and grabbed hold of Mace's wrist as she spun into him then ducked under his arm, twisting his wrist as she did so.
"Ah!" He yelped as Kira pried his lightsaber from his hand before jumping away. She flipped both lightsabers back to the reverse position as Mace spun on his heel to face her. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips as their eyes met. She hadn't tried that move before. Kira's eyes beamed, proud of herself for stealing Mace's lightsaber right from his hand.
She looked down at her master's lightsaber in her hand. "You know, Master, I think purple is a good color for me."
Mace raised an eyebrow. "It looks better on me."
Kira scoffed. Now she was having fun and almost forgot the other master's eyes on her. Mace walked towards her with her yellow lightsaber extended towards her. He lunged at her, to which she leapt to the side and rolled creating distance between her and Mace.
Mace held his hand out and activated the three training droids that lay at her feet, they chirped as they rose in the air.
She let out a sharp breath. She blocked them before slicing through one of them. The other two began firing at her with an intensity she hadn't expected. Kira blocked one bolt, redirecting it to aim for Mace. He dodged it as it hit the wall and dissolved into the durasteel.
Kira raised her hand and activated the floor panel across the room. The floors began to move out from beneath them as they floated up to the balcony level. Kira stood and allowed the tile she was on to take her near the top of the chamber. She kept her eyes on Mace until tiles finally stopped. She had the high ground but she knew it would only be a matter of time before Mace had overthrown her from her post.
The two remaining droids floated up to her level, Kira made a plan to dispatch the training droids before going back after Mace. She took a deep breath as the droids made it to her level, she held her lightsabers out and deflected the blasts but in her distraction from the training droids, she lost sight of Mace. She grabbed hold of one of the droids and threw it into the other, the attack sent them falling to the ground.
When she looked back to where Mace had been previously, he was gone. She glanced over the edge when the remaining of the dimmed lights went out. The only thing that had any light was the glow of Kira's remaining yellow lightsaber and Mace's purple one that she still possessed. The chamber went silent, one could hear a grain of sand fall with how quiet it became. Then backup light activated along the pillars on the ground, giving the chamber an eery, red glow.
Kira's eyebrows knitted together as armored soldiers began filing in the chamber with their blasters raised. Her eyes grew wide and her breath hitched in her throat. She quickly deactivated her lightsabers and crouched low to get out of sight of the soldiers. There were over twenty that filed into the training room.
Kira almost believed this was an invasion but the lack of reaction from the High Council members proved that it was simply a part of her trials. Padawans were discouraged from sharing too many details about their trials and each trial was catered to each padawan. They were meant to test the padawan in the most trying of ways.
Kira took a deep breath and wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow from her previous skirmishes with Mace and the droids. Kira jumped when the floor tiles moved; they were bringing her back to the ground but began forming different barricades and walls with some of the tiles remaining in the air. Kira leapt from her tile to another that seemed to be remaining in the air. She looked down and saw the armored soldiers but still too far away to make out just what kind of soldiers they were.
They spread out and hid behind various tiles and walls, while a few began climbing the walls to get to the high grounds. She still was not able to get a visual on Mace but kept her senses on high. She took the time to regain her breath and calm herself. Seeing as the soldiers were now making it to the high ground, she leapt to the ground landing quietly before ducking behind a wall.
Kira caught sight of one of the soldiers ducking behind a wall and slipped around behind him to flank him. She gripped her lightsabers tightly as she crept up on the soldier. When she got within a few feet from him, her heart sank.
She clenched her jaw tightly. The shape of his helmet, the antenna on the side. The jetpack on his back. The shoulder pads. He was Mandalorian, there was absolutely no doubt about it. Then he noticed her, he spun around and the t-shaped visor stared her down. The chest of his armor was identical to the mandalorians she had previously spent days with.
He fired at her, to which she immediately activated her lightsabers and blocked the blasts. Kira dove behind the wall and felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Either the council knew she somehow had ties to mandalorians or it was coincidence and the chance of it being the latter was incredibly unlikely. The look Yoda gave her before she began her trials had all but confirmed that.
She evaded the mandalorian until she came to the wall feeling her heart racing. The blasts and the glow of her lightsabers alerted the other soldiers and they had all begun making their way towards her.
Kira sprang out doing her best to simply defend rather than attack. It seemed that all the mandalorians had all opened fire on her at once and all she could do was deflect if she wasn't going to strike any of them down.
This went on for hours and Kira had begun to believe these were no longer trials, the longer she fought the more it seemed like a real war. She had forgotten all about the council that sat above watching and began believing that the mandalorians she was facing were real. She hadn't seen the hide nor hair of Mace in hours but she was getting exhausted. The numbers of the mandalorians weren't diminishing but her energy levels were. She was nearly drenched in sweat from the constant hiding and deflecting. This couldn't go on forever and the trial wouldn't end until she did something.
Then she realized exactly what the trials were about.
"There is no emotion, there is peace." She said out loud. To pass these trials she had to leave her emotions and find peace within herself. She had to let go of her attachments to the mandalorians. She could not think with her heart. If she were to become a Jedi, she had to let go.
Kira then sprang from her hiding spot and began swinging and twirling the yellow and purple blade with such skill and determination it surprised Master Yoda.
The padawan had spent hours avoiding the problem whereas now she was facing it head on. Yoda leaned against his cane as he felt the fear and chaos within Kira begin to settle. She struck through one of the mandalorians and when the figure disappeared she realized they were not real like she was beginning to believe, they were holograms.
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." She murmured to herself as she looked down at Mace's lightsaber in her hand. The ignorance, believing what she was seeing was real. That they were real people, real mandalorians. Now she saw that it wasnt that. The knowledge came when she let go of her emotions and found peace.
Kira went on and attacked, she struck down several more hologrammed mandalorians when the rest of them ganged up on her and pushed her back, cornering her behind a wall as they blasted it with such ferocity it made the tile she hid behind shake.
"There is no passion, there is serenity." She said, pressing her back against the tile with her eyes shut tightly. "There is no chaos, there is harmony."
She took a deep breath then sprung out from the tile and threw her hands forward, knocking the rest of the mandalorians to their backs. She then grabbed hold of one of the tiles through the Force and threw it at them, crushing them.
"There is no death, there is the Force." She said, breathing heavily. She had defeated the mandalorians, she had finally grasped her greatest weakness and overcame it. The trials should have ended, but then she heard a lightsaber ignite from behind her. She spun and saw Mace walking towards her with her yellow lightsaber extended in front of him.
Kira was exhausted and her joints and muscles began to ache. She looked up at him but the look in his eye told her she was not done yet. He engaged and swung at her. She quickly deflected the strike.
The tiles began to move once again, Kira took the opportunity and jumped to one that was moving back into the air. She needed to create distance in order to regain strength but Mace was following behind her quickly. She cursed under her breath, the tile stopped moving and Mace leapt to the tile she stood on and attacked once again, he was tapping into Vaapad once again and struck at her with such ferocity she could barely keep up.
Kira threw out a hand trying to Force push him away but it was unsuccessful. He managed to stick it and remained planted on the tile. She cursed again.
She threw herself at him, they danced on the tile. The swinging and twirling of yellow and purple ignited the platform. The clashing of lightsabers filled the chamber.
Mace managed to knock Kira's grip on his own lightsaber and freed it from her grasp before it fell down to the floor of the chamber, clanking loudly as it hit the ground. Kira slipped under Mace's arm before flipping her lightsaber forward and held it in both hands extended out in front of her. Mace struck again as he moved closer. He backed her to the edge of the tile until her heel dipped over the edge. She gasped as she lost balance. Her lightsaber deactivated as her arms waved as she began falling backwards.
Mace quickly reached out and caught the front of her shirt in his fist before pulling her back over his outstretched thigh and held her teetering over it with her own lightsaber to her face.
The padawan could only stare at her master, breathing heavily as one of her hands held onto his wrist that held the fabric of her shirt. The heat of her lightsaber warmed her already sweating face.
The lights turned back on, Mace was certain he had beaten his apprentice and that in her defeat she had failed the Trial of Skill. He almost felt guilty for not going easier on his padawan until he felt something jabbing him in the sides and when he looked down at his ribs, Kira's free hand, wrapped tightly around the black hilted lightsaber, was pressed against his side. He looked back at her to see her with a smirk on her face. If she was going down, she wasn't going alone. This was the closest she had ever come to defeating Mace in lightsaber combat.
Yoda and the High Council stood from their seats.
"Finished the Trial of Skill, is." Yoda said.
Mace deactivated the lightsaber in his hand and released the front of Kira's shirt, dropping her to the ground on her back. She landed with an 'Oof!'. He straightened as Kira forced herself to her feet, her thighs straining as she did so. She returned her lightsaber to her belt and called Mace's to her from the depths of the chamber and held onto it folding her hands in front of her as she continued to breathe heavily.
She stood at attention waiting to hear if she had been successful in the first leg of her journey to knighthood.
"Demonstrated your knowledge of combat, physical and mental ability in the Trial," Yoda said. "Letting go of your attachments has brought you success, Padawan. Passed the Trial of Skill, you have."
Kira bowed her head and let out a long sigh. "Thank you, Master Yoda."
"Already completed the next trial, you have." He said, Kira raised an eyebrow. "The Trial of Courage. Test of bravery, it is. Your mission to Mes Cresta and defeating the Taavarians, much bravery it showed. Master Trij speaks highly of your rescue, he does."
Kira could only blink. "Oh, thank you." She was unsure of what else she could have said.
"Tomorrow, begin the Trial of Spirit, you will."
"What about the Trial of Flesh?" She asked, she knew the order of the Trials and she knew that was supposed to be the next one.
"The Trial of Flesh, a test of great pain and hardship," he said. "Attachment is your greatest challenge, Padawan, attachment to your master."
Kira's hand squeezed Mace's lightsaber until her knuckles turned white.
"After your Trials, go to Mes Cresta, you will. Lead the search for the Taavarians. Months, you may be gone. Years, maybe, but without your master." Yoda said. Kira's jaw tightened. Mace told her she would still accompany him for several years after being knighted. "The separation of your bond with Master Windu, the Trial of Spirit will be."
"Oh." She said, before nodding. "Yes, Master."
She felt sick to her stomach, she would have rather been electrocuted for a week straight then not see or speak to Mace for months or years. She couldn't imagine but she stuffed down the feeling deep within herself. She knew she had to break the attachment to him but she didn't want to.
There was a reason they were considering that as her trial. She knew how attached she was to Mace and how jealous she felt whenever she thought of him taking on a new apprentice. Of course, this would be how she completes the Trial of Flesh. Sometimes the greatest pain was not physical.