(no subject)
Her Master doesn't question her sudden good mood, but accepts it and uses it, pushing her hard in the next few training sessions. The last one, the two remaining True Gunner snipers are watching, and their commentary (good, bad, indifferent, and snarky) punctuates their bouts. At the time she's irritated by it, these two talented soldiers who are decidedly younger than her giving her grief.
Two days later they are on the same patrol. When they come under fire, the both of them drop to her left side without being ordered, covering her weak side.
She very nearly cries at their thoughtfulness.
She tries to thank them, once the chaos dies down, but when she's met with blank stares and a decidedly confused 'well, what else would we do to help you?' she backs down. After that, she doesn't mind if the clones watch when she duels her Master.
*********************************************************************************
The dust chokes and blinds in the worst battles, bringing both organic and droid combatants to a halt - the organics can't breathe, the droids can't move, and yet they are still being goaded on by generals in their tattered ships up in orbit.
The young tow-headed padawan, two clones, and she are taking cover against a pile of rocky rubble, sharing their one functioning rebreather between them. A dust storm howls around them, blinding and deafening. They don't bother speaking - both of the communicators in the clones' helmets are broken, and shouting only invites swallowed grit. By mutual consent (mostly communicated by hand gestures, it has to be said) they've decided to wait the storm out before going to find the camp. Laranth has managed to notify her Master, through their link, but she gets the impression he's in a similar predicament, elsewhere on the field that used to be a raging battle.
She's just wondering if she shouldn't try to catch a nap when she catches an impression of movement out of the corner of her eye, and a sudden flare of warning through the Force. She abandons herself to it, lashing out with the heel of her hand which catches the approaching B1 Battledroid under its mechanical chin, snapping it up and back with a force that cleanly snaps it off of its metal neck. She doesn't think, just reacts, grabbing the droid's decapitated body and shoving it backwards. The resulting crash is both unexpected and utterly natural - of course there's more. She ignores the muffled shouts behind her of the team she's abandoning and charges in, blind and helpless except for the grip of the Force.
********************************************************************************
Her Master comes to visit her in the camp's medcenter, looming in the tight quarters. She tries to take the oxygen mask off as he approaches, but his Force-backed gesture slaps it back on and stops further argument about it.
"You abandoned your teammates." He growls fiercely, as he sits next to the low cot. She fervently wishes she were still unconscious - this is something she's been dreading since she woke up.
"You nearly got yourself killed, Padawan." He adds, and she looks up at him sharply. The anger in his voice is backed by something she can't identify. "You need to be more careful, Atin. I will not lose you to this ridiculous war."
She wants to tell him she's sorry. She wants to tell him that at the time, there was nothing she could have done differently - The Force called, and she had obeyed as best she could, dealing death to the droids around her. It was only when she started second-guessing herself that the droids had gotten through the fire of her lightsaber.
And then she realizes that he knows that already, with a crystal-clear clarity she only rarely gets through her bond through her Master.
"When you've recovered, Padawan... I think I haven't been hard enough on you in training. I will teach you not to break under doubt." He threatens, and it is a threat, she knows - after this, he will drive her to the point of breaking every single chance he gets.
Suddenly, she hopes she's going to be recovering for a very long time.
****************************************************************************
A week later she's on her feet, if still moving slowly, limping through the camp under the watchful gaze of one of the spare R2 units. The two snipers try to sneak her a bottle of lum (and are chased off, laughing, by the irate R2 unit). The young human Padawan greets her with cool disdain - all he knows, all he's been told, is she lost her concentration in the middle of a fight, above and beyond abandoning him and the clones without explanation. He wasn't told that it was her sudden departure and furious fight that most likely saved their lives. Her Master huffs in frustration at her attempts to make her way to their tent, and sweeps her off her feet without so much as a by-your-leave, hauling her to their quarters in a fireman's carry.
****************************************************************************
As soon as she is healthy enough, her Master hauls her out to the flat barren field just south of camp and makes good his threat. Both of them leave their lightsabers behind, and he opens with a roundhouse punch that would have taken her head off if she stayed put. That day, and every day after that, the two of them battered each other relentlessly until one of them had to be hauled off to the medcenter. At first, every single time, it was her that ended up in front of the droids.
The last time in her run of straight medcenter visits she ends up perched on her master's chest, her bloodied fist poised to crush into his muzzle. She holds off.
He doesn't, and she spends the next two days undergoing bacta therapy.
After that, she doesn't hold off any longer, and one week later she is the one hauling her unconscious sparring partner to the medcenter, much to the stunned amusement of the clone troopers.
Two days later they are on the same patrol. When they come under fire, the both of them drop to her left side without being ordered, covering her weak side.
She very nearly cries at their thoughtfulness.
She tries to thank them, once the chaos dies down, but when she's met with blank stares and a decidedly confused 'well, what else would we do to help you?' she backs down. After that, she doesn't mind if the clones watch when she duels her Master.
*********************************************************************************
The dust chokes and blinds in the worst battles, bringing both organic and droid combatants to a halt - the organics can't breathe, the droids can't move, and yet they are still being goaded on by generals in their tattered ships up in orbit.
The young tow-headed padawan, two clones, and she are taking cover against a pile of rocky rubble, sharing their one functioning rebreather between them. A dust storm howls around them, blinding and deafening. They don't bother speaking - both of the communicators in the clones' helmets are broken, and shouting only invites swallowed grit. By mutual consent (mostly communicated by hand gestures, it has to be said) they've decided to wait the storm out before going to find the camp. Laranth has managed to notify her Master, through their link, but she gets the impression he's in a similar predicament, elsewhere on the field that used to be a raging battle.
She's just wondering if she shouldn't try to catch a nap when she catches an impression of movement out of the corner of her eye, and a sudden flare of warning through the Force. She abandons herself to it, lashing out with the heel of her hand which catches the approaching B1 Battledroid under its mechanical chin, snapping it up and back with a force that cleanly snaps it off of its metal neck. She doesn't think, just reacts, grabbing the droid's decapitated body and shoving it backwards. The resulting crash is both unexpected and utterly natural - of course there's more. She ignores the muffled shouts behind her of the team she's abandoning and charges in, blind and helpless except for the grip of the Force.
********************************************************************************
Her Master comes to visit her in the camp's medcenter, looming in the tight quarters. She tries to take the oxygen mask off as he approaches, but his Force-backed gesture slaps it back on and stops further argument about it.
"You abandoned your teammates." He growls fiercely, as he sits next to the low cot. She fervently wishes she were still unconscious - this is something she's been dreading since she woke up.
"You nearly got yourself killed, Padawan." He adds, and she looks up at him sharply. The anger in his voice is backed by something she can't identify. "You need to be more careful, Atin. I will not lose you to this ridiculous war."
She wants to tell him she's sorry. She wants to tell him that at the time, there was nothing she could have done differently - The Force called, and she had obeyed as best she could, dealing death to the droids around her. It was only when she started second-guessing herself that the droids had gotten through the fire of her lightsaber.
And then she realizes that he knows that already, with a crystal-clear clarity she only rarely gets through her bond through her Master.
"When you've recovered, Padawan... I think I haven't been hard enough on you in training. I will teach you not to break under doubt." He threatens, and it is a threat, she knows - after this, he will drive her to the point of breaking every single chance he gets.
Suddenly, she hopes she's going to be recovering for a very long time.
****************************************************************************
A week later she's on her feet, if still moving slowly, limping through the camp under the watchful gaze of one of the spare R2 units. The two snipers try to sneak her a bottle of lum (and are chased off, laughing, by the irate R2 unit). The young human Padawan greets her with cool disdain - all he knows, all he's been told, is she lost her concentration in the middle of a fight, above and beyond abandoning him and the clones without explanation. He wasn't told that it was her sudden departure and furious fight that most likely saved their lives. Her Master huffs in frustration at her attempts to make her way to their tent, and sweeps her off her feet without so much as a by-your-leave, hauling her to their quarters in a fireman's carry.
****************************************************************************
As soon as she is healthy enough, her Master hauls her out to the flat barren field just south of camp and makes good his threat. Both of them leave their lightsabers behind, and he opens with a roundhouse punch that would have taken her head off if she stayed put. That day, and every day after that, the two of them battered each other relentlessly until one of them had to be hauled off to the medcenter. At first, every single time, it was her that ended up in front of the droids.
The last time in her run of straight medcenter visits she ends up perched on her master's chest, her bloodied fist poised to crush into his muzzle. She holds off.
He doesn't, and she spends the next two days undergoing bacta therapy.
After that, she doesn't hold off any longer, and one week later she is the one hauling her unconscious sparring partner to the medcenter, much to the stunned amusement of the clone troopers.