The training chamber hummed with low anticipation from everyone inside. Light filtered down through slats above the domed ceiling, casting pale gold rays over the smooth floor and polished columns. Morning meditation had passed, and for once, there was energy among the younglings, eager whispers, fidgeting fingers, and glances cast toward the door. It was one of the few days where even the softest of slippers echoed with restrained impatience.
Weiss sat with perfect posture near the edge of the room, her white ponytail tight and motionless, the long fringe of her bangs obscuring one eye, similar to Winter's own style back home. It felt comforting to her, a small touch of what she used to have. With her hands were folded in her lap, legs crossed and back straight, she was the image of serene discipline, of being a proper Jedi. She remained calm, though the surrounding buzz was infectious. It was their first day using training sabers, albeit under supervision.
She already knew how this would go based on her experiences. They would be given the most basic sabers, low-power models that had been locked onto one setting alone, with no chance of cuts or burns, merely delivering kinetic energy. The worse someone would suffer here is a bruise if they landed a blow. Not that Weiss intended to be hit.
Master Vash entered in her usual quiet stride, brown robes trailing behind her like a muted whisper of authority. At her side floated a sealed gray container. A training droid followed her, its chrome legs whirring gently.
"Today," Vash said, voice level as ever, as she gazed out at the room full of hopeful younglings. "You will begin practicing controlled sparring with these."
The container hissed open. Lightsabers, training variants albeit, all of which were dull gray with bright emitter guards, rose into the air. The swarm of sabers began splitting off, each one going to a youngling in question, seemingly at random. Weiss accepted hers with both hands, inspecting the hilt critically, it lacked the elegance of Myrtenaster. It was heavy, clunky, and lacked the fine-tuned balance she preferred, but it would do for now until she was allowed to build her own.
She turned it over once in her hand, memorizing its weight and center of mass. A rather poor tool, but not unusable. The real issue would be having to get used to a blade that didn't have any weight to it.
"Each of you will practice Form I stances." Master Vash continued, pacing slowly before the assembled students. "Observe discipline, do not let excitement cloud your judgment. Even at low power, these sabers can leave bruises."
A collective gulp rippled through the younger initiates. One of the Rodian younglings squirmed on his cushion, and another tried to activate her saber before being gently corrected by the droid assistant.
Weiss suppressed a sigh, Shii-Cho again. The fundamentals were important, she knew that, but it felt like being forced to crawl after having once flown. Still, she adjusted her grip, feeling out the balance, left foot forward, elbow bent.
"All of you will begin with paired drills." Master Vash instructed them with a tone of authority. "Then you'll form the Circle of Challenge."
Selang nudged Weiss with an elbow. "Think you'll actually smile if I win?"
"You won't." Weiss replied without hesitation, drawing a short laugh from the Pantoran girl.
They rose and broke into pairs, splitting off with friends joining friends, or even just random people as needed. The drills began with an orchestra of snap-hissing as lightsabers activated all over the room. All around her, Weiss could see her classmates engaging in a variety of moves. They moved with an interesting combination of textbook moves and tension, brought on by this being their first time with lightsabers. Weiss moved through them with sharp precision, even slowing herself to avoid standing out too much. She watched the others as she practiced, her experienced eye noting how sloppy they appeared to be. First was Paulan overextending his elbow, and then she saw Akicas hesitating between parries, and worse yet, Selang was grinning even as she missed the mark.
Master Vash's gaze swept the room like a hawkbat, sharp and steady. She offered correction with minimal words, her footsteps never breaking rhythm as she roamed around the room.
Weiss found herself falling into rhythm too, not just with her saber, but with the others. She could hear the rhythm of training echo around her, a steady cadence of strikes and parries, of feet shifting on stone. There was something comforting in that familiarity, however faint. Not Beacon, not Atlas, but order, structure. Something she had been missing and didn't know before, it seemed.
After half an hour, Master Vash raised her hand. "Form the circle."
The students obeyed without a word, yet there was an air of excitement. Cushions were pushed to the sides, and a wide ring formed, with younglings sitting cross-legged around it, lightsabers resting across their laps. In the center, a single duel would be held at a time. Weiss remained at attention as she sat.
Master Vash gave each student a glance as her head scanned the circled students, her gaze ending on Weiss's face. "We shall begin with Weiss and…Paulan."
The human boy stood quickly, his hair messy, his cheeks flushed with anticipation. He had never bested Weiss in any drill, and clearly, he intended to try. There was a glint in his eye, of pride, maybe, or it was just his nerves.
They met in the center of the circle. Weiss kept her saber low and her posture relaxed. Paulan adopted an exaggerated high guard, feet too far apart, his shoulders too tense. Someone was feeling unusually confident, it seemed. Time to cut him down to size.
Master Vash gave a curt nod, and their sabers activated with a soft snap-hiss.
"Begin."
Paulan lunged, predictably, and sloppily at that. Weiss parried the first strike with a flick of her wrist, and sidestepped the second. She then tapped his exposed flank with her blade, causing the fellow youngling to yelp. There was a hum from the droid, and a flicker of blue light. First point, Weiss.
"Again." Vash said, her eyes narrowing at the sight in front of her.
The next exchange was faster. Paulan shouted as he brought his saber down in a diagonal slash. Weiss turned her body, letting it pass, then twisted into a low strike aimed for his knees. He barely blocked in time, stumbling backwards as he did so.
She caught herself smiling, just slightly. There were things muscle memory never allowed her to forget.
Paulan's stance wavered, his feet dragging as he recovered. His saber trembled in his grip, he was eager, but not disciplined, not yet. Weiss didn't press the advantage, she didn't need to, and she didn't wish to humiliate the poor boy more then she already had. Instead, she stood in perfect form, her mock blade held diagonally before her, its emitter softly humming.
He came at her again. This time, he had a tighter control of what he was planning, a tight downward sweep. Weiss pivoted and caught the strike with a smooth parry, letting his energy glide past her. She stepped around him, a feint.
Paulan spun to meet her, surprised she hadn't taken the opening. He smiled, excited that their duel was still taking place. That's when Weiss realized her mistake.
He was enjoying this. She wasn't, Weiss had forgotten that these were children. She needed to hold back more.
Paulan lunged forward as she made that realization.
This time, he moved faster than before, his footwork tighter, more aggressive strikes. He overcorrected for her last trick and closed the distance with a short jab at her side. Weiss turned, guiding the strike away with her saber, but Paulan twisted with it, letting the saber bounce and redirect. His follow-up, a rising arc across her shoulder, wasn't elegant, but it was effective.
And fast. He was moving faster than he'd been previously.
Weiss saw the blow coming towards her. It was too late to block cleanly, so she moved out of the way.
It wasn't calculated, it was instinct. The kind of reflex you couldn't teach, honed from childhood battles and real experience. Her body twisted sharply to the left, shoulder tucking in as she leaned back just enough for the training saber to miss its mark by a finger's width. She swore she could feel the heat of the training blade as it whizzed past her. She brought her own saber up and across in a slashing motion, fast, crisp, and low, catching Paulan's arm before he could recover.
There was another dull hum, and a flash of training light.
The hit landed cleanly to everyone's surprise, including Weiss's.
Paulan staggered backward, eyes wide. "Wha-how did you even see that coming?"
Weiss didn't answer immediately, as she was busy trying to catch her breath and figure out how she had seen that. Her heart was racing, and her breath caught in her chest. She hadn't meant to move like that, not so quickly. Not so fluidly. Did she use her Aura to enhance her speed? No, it wasn't, but something underneath, guiding her, empowering her.
"I didn't." Weiss said flatly. "I felt it."
The room had gone quiet as the confrontation played out. The watching younglings stared at her with confused eyes. Akicas looked curious, and Selang squinted at her, more thoughtful than amused now.
Master Vash's boots clicked softly on the stone as she approached them.
"The match is over." She said, calm and clipped. "Point to Weiss, return to your seats."
Paulan gave her one last look, less frustrated now, and more confused, before backing away and sitting down with the others. Weiss remained in the ring, her saber now held loosely in her right hand. She was trying not to think about how fast she'd moved, or how right it had felt.
Master Vash stood before her, causing Weiss to start slightly. She hadn't heard the Master move. She just seemed to appear in front of her.
"You reacted quickly." The Master said, her face unreadable. "Remarkably so."
Weiss nodded once. "I've trained hard, Master."
"Harder than most younglings your age, I see." Master Vash seemed amused at what Weiss was trying to tell her.
"I take my preparation seriously." Weiss defended lightly, forming a small childlike smile. It was a fake one, of course. One of her lesser smiles she'd learned to use at galas for the SDC.
There was a beat of silence, the sort that wasn't accusatory, but wasn't trusting, either. This was going to be an issue, she could already tell,
"Your reaction was impressive. Precise." Master Vash's gaze lingered a moment too long. "But perhaps more than reflex alone."
Weiss kept her face composed, and bowed her head. "I listened to the Force, Master."
There was another pause. While Weiss's answer was mostly correct, it was still suspicious at best.
Master Vash's lips pressed together, but she nodded. "Good. Listening is the foundation of understanding. You may sit now."
Weiss returned to her place at the edge of the circle, some of her classmates moving away from her. Selang, by contrast, leaned over as soon as she sat.
"That wasn't Shii-Cho." The Pantoran whispered.
"I improvised." Weiss whispered back as Master Vash called up two more younglings.
"That looked more like something you practiced in your sleep." Selang teased her friend with
Weiss didn't respond, simply because she couldn't come up with a good explanation.
The remaining duels played out, though she paid little attention. Her body was still, but her mind wasn't. Something in her had shifted, or maybe awakened again. Her movements hadn't been Jedi-trained, no, they had been Schnee-honed.
She'd fought like someone who knew what a killing blow felt like.
And worse: someone who'd once delivered one.
A/N
Kinda feel like doing a Clone Wars Weissikai at the same time.