light & motion

[ladyofthesands]

Arha drew a breath in, focusing on the curved discs before her as she moved through a graceful set of katas to warm up.  She stretched, letting the sunlight that streaming into the red tiled practice hall warm her back, it glinted of the metal and set her hair afire as she spun through another set.  It was a dance, one she had always enjoyed

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[restoresbalance]

That little blip was enough to turn his feet there. Luke had been hoping to find his father, but Anakin needed time to digest everything that had happened, and Luke instinctively knew that without his space, his father would be liable to simply explode again.

So instead he followed this Force tickle, and found himself standing before a floored Arha surrounded by disks. Curiously, Luke asked, "Are you all right?" as he stepped over the disks and extended to hands to help her up.

[ladyofthesands]

"I'm..." Arha sighed and took his offered hands. "I was unprepared for the last disc." His hands,, solid in her own, were an anchor, and she stood fluidly. She hung inches away as if suspended there. Arha's voice was soft as her words flicked out. "I feel as if I have popped something in my head. I lost my blades and then," she pursed her lips, her eyes slightly, if comically, wide, "pop!"

[restoresbalance]

"That must have been what I felt," he murmured, then seemed to suddenly realize Arha was less than a handspan from his face. His cheeks went pink, and those blue eyes looked away a moment before he stepped back a pace, hands dropping hers.

"I felt a little exertion in the Force," Luke explained. "And I followed it here. It had a very distinct tone to it, one that I think I associate with you now." He smiled, a little awkwardly. "What did you use it for?"

[ladyofthesands]

"I believe I destabilized one of the motors in the disc," Arha said, politely ignoring his blushing. "It would have broken my nose, otherwise. I need more practice if I cannot handle eight blades. I should have been sliced more than once."

She let out a softly frustrated sigh and clasped her hands behind her back.

"I was," Arha gestured to where the cloth strip lie, "attempting to sense the blades without seeing them. I did not expect..." She shrugged. "To pop."

[worm_dancer]

Sheeana felt something jolt, like a thopter having a hard landing on plascrete. She had instinctively crouched. Nothing in the hallways. Hand on her crysknife, she opened the sensorium door.

A columned chamber that could have come from Muad'dib's citadel. Training blades whose design had remained mostly identical for six thousand years.

And Sister Masaari.

She didn't ask what had happened but knew she would be told anyway.

[ladyofthesands]

Arha let out a soft pfft air and sighed before flipping to her feet to face Sheeana. Wordlessly, she collected the discs and folded them back together before setting them down along with the blades and scrubbing at her hair before working at the headache that had begun to build.

"That," she finally said in a voice that she picked clean of any weariness, "was unexpected. It popped. In my head." She frowned and crossed her arms. "I must find real blades, these dull things do nothing for my motivation."

[worm_dancer]

"Hmm...We should consult the Jedi." This wasn't something you'd think a Bene Gesserit would say, with the font of knowledge in their heads. But rely on Other Memory too much and it becomes a trap. Sheeana knew that. Arha probably did too.

She plucked one of the blades from where it was embedded in a marble column. The black plasteel was, to all senses, cold and sharp.

"Precisely why I don't train here. How many?"

[ladyofthesands]

"There were eight, only eight," Arha murmured. "And I shall speak with the Jed-Eye. I should have seen if there were some of these elsewhere. A slice or two would do me well in remembering my skills. They were always my favorite. Very good for peripherals without the blindfold."