"What training room was it in, and when did it happen?" Selith demanded as his fingers flew over the controls.
Pleena quickly supplied the details while Selith worked the controls to find the security recording.
As the recording began to play, Selith and the rest of the students saw the Jedi Master Kirana Ti addressing the students in front of her before programming and activating a practice remote for each of them. Even as Pleena was pointing out her friend Kaldin in the line of students, Selith was counting each of the remotes that were being passed out.
"Twenty six!" Selith exclaimed in a breathless near whisper of awe. "There's twenty six remotes in use."
All but one of the students crowded around the computer terminal gaped at him for a second or two before their attention refocused on the display. They watched in near silence until Kaldin's remote went berserk, and Pleena gasped in horrified dismay. It was fortunate that Selith had never taken his hands of the controls, or he might never have been able to act fast enough to slow the recording to a crawl. Unlike the first recording they'd witnessed, this one came from a training arena that was commonly used by more advanced students, and therefore had a much better recording.
Using frame by frame advances, Selith and the others watched as the remotes malfunctioned, and the Jedi Master acted to immediately clear the room. The sight of a blurred form moving over the heads of the students made Selith's mouth hang open in disbelief.
"They've already shot Kaldin three times!" Pleena nearly shouted in dismay. "Master Cilghal lied to me! She said he'd only been hit in the legs."
Selith glanced over at the now angry Nautolan girl for a split second before directing his gaze back to the recording, which was being advanced frame by frame. "She probably just didn't want you to worry too much. She said he'd be okay didn't she?"
Pleena nodded her head absently as she stared angrily at the display. "Yeah she did… and I got to talk to him too. He didn't even remember getting hit… but she still lied to me!" She finished sullenly.
"Well maybe she didn't know how many times he got hit. Who knows? The main thing is that he's going to be okay… right?" Selith replied.
Pleena nodded her head before she gaped in astonishment at the sight of Talon's tremendous leap over the other students.
Instantly, everyone's attention was completely focused on the recording. Even before landing, the holographic image of Talon had a lightsaber in each hand. Then, they were watching in stunned silence as Talon wielded two lightsabers in complete independence of the other while protecting the downed Kaldin. Even with the high speed recording and viewing still images, they could tell from the distorted blades, that each of Talon's moves were being made with blinding speed and precision.
When the recording was finally finished, all of the students turned to stare at Talon in awe. They had seen for themselves that nothing had been able to hit Kaldin once Talon had begun her defense.
"Wow! You're even better than I thought. I knew your saber skills were good enough to protect Kaldin, but I didn't know you were that good." Pleena exclaimed in open admiration.
Unlike each of the others, Talon had watched the recording just as intently, but for an entirely different reason. She didn't hear the young Nautolan's excited praise, because she was too focused on the incident in question.
"I did it wrong."
"What?" Selith blurted out in disbelief. "What do you mean you did it wrong?"
"I should have used Ataru from the beginning. Instead of concentrating on protecting him, I should have started shutting them down as soon as I got to him." Talon said to herself as she stared at the frozen image of her striking the last of the remotes.
Talon started explaining the differences between Ataru and Soresu, along with the deferent principles inherent in each style. She used the recording to illustrate exactly why the two techniques varied in their effectiveness. The small group of students forgot all about the passage of time while listening to what Talon was telling them. It wasn't long before first Selith, and then others began asking questions about the two Forms that were demonstrated in the recording.
Although she didn't know the names of the emotions, Talon could sense that each of the students around her were curious, and eager to learn what she was showing them. The nice thing about the small group was that their emotions and thoughts had grown strong enough that they were drowning out the constant noise of the other minds on Corruscant.
Talon explained that while there was a drastic difference in the way the two styles were developed, they also had similarities. She was about to elaborate on how the two styles were similar when she was interrupted by a voice calling her name. Talon looked towards the doorway, where the voice was coming from, and saw the man she'd met earlier.
"Hey Talon, have you seen Leia?" Han asked quickly. "I've been looking for her, and she's not answering her communicator."
Talon nodded her head in answer.
"So do you know where she is?" Han continued.
"She's sleeping." Talon answered simply not wanting to reveal her Master's location.
"Really? Well where is she?" Han persisted in exasperation.
Talon swallowed hard, because she only knew of one reason for anyone to search out someone who was sleeping. Instantly, she bolted for the doorway and used the Force to enhance her speed as she ran through the halls to her room. She stood there in front of the door to her room breathing heavily as she tried desperately to think of a way to keep her Master from being disturbed.
Talon stood in front of the door to her quarters wondering what she should do. Master Leia was obviously very tired or she wouldn't have fallen asleep where she had. Talon recalled hearing the man named Han say that her Master had been up all night, and Talon figured that was the reason her Master was so tired. She was still wondering what to do, when Han came hurrying down the hallway with Master Katarn beside him.
"Where's Leia?" Han demanded angrily as he approached the girl standing by the door to her room looking like she was lost or something.
Talon swallowed hard as she tried to think of what to do. Nothing she'd ever been taught either by the Sith, or by the Jedi had covered a situation like this. One thing she did know, was that she wasn't going to allow her Master to be disturbed in any way. She glanced at the control panel by the door to make sure that it was still locked, and was slightly relieved to see that it was.
Han wasn't stupid. He knew from the single look that the girl had given to her door that Leia had to be inside the room. He gave a quick study of the girl who was standing in front of the door to her room like she had no intention of letting anyone in and knew that she was scared of something.
"Talon… can you tell us where Master Solo is?" Kyle asked in a calm quiet voice as he noticed Han's mounting irritation.
Talon's expression betrayed her fear, but Han paid no attention to that because he was concerned about his wife. Knowing that Talon had been trained as a Sith really wasn't helping to ease his mind either.
"Talon…" Han began with clenched teeth. "Where is my wife?" He demanded sternly.
"Master Leia fell asleep… She's sleeping." Talon answered hesitantly.
Suddenly Talon snatched one of her single hilt lightsabers from her belt and activated it, because she sensed the strong determination from Han as he stepped forward. She dropped into a Soresu stance with the glowing red blade held straight up on her right side as she tried to prepare for almost anything.
Han quickly brought himself to an abrupt halt when he saw that red bladed lightsaber in the girl's hands. He stared in dumbfounded disbelief at the girl who obviously wasn't going to allow him access to his wife. Concern instantly changed to alarm as Kyle pulled his own lightsaber from his belt, but didn't ignite it. Stepping back, Han began sending an urgent page to his wife's com unit. He was hoping that she would answer, but at the same time, he was dreading that she wouldn't.
"Talon… I need you to put away the saber, and take us to Master Solo." Kyle said in a calm voice but with a firm tone.
Talon shook her head apprehensively as her stomach twisted into a solid knot of fear. Never had she directly disobeyed a Master before, and never had she committed such blatant defiance! She wasn't sure what was about to happen, but she did not expect what actually did occur.
As soon as the door slid aside, Leia saw her apprentice squared off against her husband and her friend Kyle. All traces of fatigue instantly fled her mind as she realized the situation. She could sense both determination and a very strong amount of fear emanating from the girl. She knew that whatever was going on needed to be stopped immediately before someone got hurt or killed.
"Talon… what's going on here?" Leia asked as calmly as she could manage.
Leia both saw and sensed instant relief from Han and Kyle once they saw her. The only thing that needed to be determined was why this confrontation was even happening.
As soon as she heard the voice behind her, Talon whipped around to face the threat behind her. The blade of her lightsaber was already in the process of lashing out at whoever was behind her when she recognized her Master. With only centimeters to spare she shut down her lightsaber with a stricken look on her face.
"M… Master Leia." Talon stammered. "Th… they wanted… wanted to know where you were. I told Master Han that you were asleep. He… he wanted to know where you were anyway."
As soon as Talon gave her answer, Leia knew what had to have gone through the girl's mind. She knew that it was merely one more difference between the way the Sith did things and the ways of the Jedi. It was not a pleasant reminder.
"Thank you Talon, you did very well today and I'm proud of you. Now, why don't you go into your room and relax for a while?" Leia suggested casually, before turning to face Han and Kyle.
Talon's mouth dropped open as she stared at her Master in stunned surprise. Never once on Korriban had she ever received any praise for anything she'd done. But here… now… she was being praised by her new Jedi Master.
'Master Leia is proud of me! I did something she approves of!' Talon thought in astonished disbelief.
Leia suspected that such simple praise would have some effect on Talon, but those few simple words meant far more to Talon than a simple statement of doing something right. During her life on Korriban, Talon had never once received any kind of praise or approval for anything. Not even her truly impressive saber skills had earned so much as a nod of acknowledgement. Now, was a far different story; now she had just been told that she had done something to make her Master proud of her. At that moment, Talon knew that she was going to listen carefully to everything Master Leia said, and learn all that she could.
Talon quickly nodded her head, and went into her room, where she immediately lowered the temperature back to what she felt was a comfortable setting. She sat down at the small workstation and began to study the data pad once more.
"You want to tell me what's going on Princess?" Han demanded sourly.
"I'd like to hear the answer to that as well." Kyle stated in a much calmer tone.
"You act like she hasn't done anything wrong." Han added in an angry tone.
"That's because she hasn't. She was actually trying to protect me." Leia explained calmly as she looked at each of the two men.
"What? What the hell do you mean she was trying to protect you?" Han demanded in confusion.
"Look… both of you need to understand something here. Talon was not raised in a normal family environment…. she was raised on Korriban… by Sith! I can't be certain without asking her, but after seeing some of her memories, and reading that… that journal… my bet is the only reason that one Sith would try to find another while they were asleep is for the purpose of assassination." Leia snapped quickly.
"She thought we wanted to kill you… that's why she pulled her lightsaber, and wouldn't let us pass! Isn't it?" Kyle insisted with dawning realization.
"Yes… it is."
"What the hell kind of messed up life has she had?" Han demanded in disbelief.
Leia was silent for a moment as she actually considered the question and the answer before she replied. "One where slaves are treated a lot better than she was." She finally stated in a dull monotone.
Han shook his head slowly as he stared at his wife stupidly. During his time as a smuggler, he'd seen the various ways that slaves were often treated, some, by owners who were far more than simply cruel. Other slaves had gotten lucky, if one could call it that, and ended up in the ownership of a being that actually treated them with an amount of compassion. The problem was that he was certain that his wife wasn't referring to the lucky ones.
"Look, I've been from one end of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of things…" Han began in protest.
"That's true, but before I found her, the only times that Talon has seen someone smile or heard them laugh was when they were about to put her, or someone else, in enough pain to make them wish for death. Even though her life has been worse than trying to walk through the Maw, she still hasn't become… become…" Here Leia faltered and her voice trailed off as she squeezed her eyes shut, because she just couldn't bring herself to finish what she'd been about to say.
"I know this won't be anything close to easy, but Leia can make a positive change in Talon's life. Both of you can! Talon isn't evil, although she has that potential, just about everyone does given the right circumstances, but I know that there is one serious difference in Talon's life now. She's now a member of the Jedi Order. She'll have a lot of adjustments to make as she learns how things are done here, but then we'll have to make some accommodations as well. Talon's presence here can offer a lot of benefits to the Order…" Kyle said softly when he was interrupted.
"Benefits? Like what?" Han asked in confusion.
"Like how to properly counsel someone who has become immersed in the Dark Side. What it takes to alleviate the constant state of fear that Talon's in. How to make others less afraid of us. Then there are those incredible saber skills of hers. I saw her practicing last night, and honestly… if it came down to pure saber skill, there isn't anyone in this Order who could survive more than a few seconds against her, and truthfully… the only one who could last that long is Luke." Kyle explained easily.
Han couldn't help it as he switched his gaze back and forth between Kyle and his wife suspiciously. He would have sworn that his wife would say that Kyle was either joking or exaggerating, but then he saw that she was in full though silent agreement.
"Are you seriously telling me she's that good?" Had demanded skeptically.
"Yes, she is Han, and Luke plans to take lessons from her. Not only that, but, if she's willing, all of the Masters will be taking some lessons from her." Leia answered.
Han blew out a silent whistle as his whirling mind tried to grasp what he'd just been told. He knew from what he'd seen earlier that the kid was good, and he'd even heard Luke's son say that he wanted some lessons from her, but he still hadn't understood that she was that good.
"I see you're finally beginning to understand." Leia proclaimed with a light smile. "She's just a scared child, Han. She's not out to conquer the galaxy, or kill anyone. The only things Talon seems to want right now are very simple things. An environment that's comfortable to her, far too cold to suit me, but she needs it. Food to eat when she's hungry, and to be able to live without someone putting her in a lot of fear or pain. Those are very simple things Han. In return for a bit of simple compassion, Talon was willing to face off against someone that she's been taught to be terrified of throughout her entire life. Add in the fact that Kyle broke her leg yesterday morning, and Talon has even more reason to be afraid of him. Did that keep her from trying to stop the two of you when she was concerned that you might try to kill me while I was asleep? No it didn't! Talon was ready and willing to sacrifice her life to preserve mine. It didn't make any difference that she's known me for less than two days, she was still ready to die for me!"
Leia's expression softened a little as she looked both Han and Kyle in the eyes. "What ever shortcomings Talon may have, they can be dealt with as she learns. In the meantime… I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed."