Peace Sells(Open)

[.:Falcon:.]

Talarian slipped into the training chamber. She knew she was late. She also knew she was technically a Padawan, hence she probably wasn't technically supposed to be in this class. She pushed a strand of hair out of her face, tucked it back into her braid, and stepped over nearer to the current class.

Two younglings were standing in the center of the group, sparring. She watched impassively, her mind half on the duel before her, half elsewhere. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring her thoughtsaway from the events of the past week.

Maybe this would help her. She watched with a bit more interest now, trying to follow the movements of the duelists. She waited and watched patiently.

[Charlie Sharper]

Surprise was the last thing that Tem was, he knew that his thrust would only force her to dodge, and as Teima flew through the air Tem stood stone still in his stance. As soon as her foot touched the ground, Tem was back into the fight, spinning on his back foot, bringing his saber out to his side parallel to the floor, making a wide cut through the air.

It made contact with her saber as she extended her arm and saber outward to block, Tem then pushed toward her, their sabers locking sending sparks off in every direction as the air buzzed and crackled. Tem’s face turned as he focused on wining the test of strength, he realized that this was his advantage during the first block that she had to sidestep. He closed his eyes again behind the goggles; his Miraluka senses and force sight giving him a heightened sense close if not equal to that of the spry Nautolan.

[Jace]

Jace noticed that once again another presence had entered the class, this one he knew from her visit to the council chambers recently. He sensed much confusion, grief at the loss of her former master, and she tried to shield it. He walked until he was a about two feet behind her and laid his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Be at ease young Talarian, do not let your mind lie on heavy thoughts." he whispered so only she could hear

A stood there for a few moments and then took a few steps back.

"Tem and Teima continue, now Gusha and Jaerel, begin your spar. Remember to the let the force flow freely,open yourself up, if you are closed then no one can help you, not even the force."

Jace was happy with the way things were turning out. He had an interesting mix of young people here, and more had come then he had expected. He could get used to doing something like this, though his mind still lingered on his old friend, Vreem. He knew he was alive, but he did not relish the idea of leaving him on Korriban like he did.

[.:Falcon:.]

Tal glanced at Master Beleren as he came over and spoke softly. She nodded. "Yes Master." she looked inward, honestly trying to cleanse herself of the heavy emotions as she turned back to the duel.

[Jerek]

Jarael looked up as Master Beleron spoke his name. He was to face the Hutt beside him. Jarael bowed and led the way to another mat for sparring. Breathing deep and opening himself up even more to the Force, he unclipped the training saber at his side. The hilt gave birth to a clearescent blue. It was brighter than the other blue blade on the other mat. He swung it around in a little half-circle, feeling the Force flowing through him, around him, guiding his hand.

He turned his brown eyes on the Hutt. He bowed, then dropped into a Shii-Cho stance, one foot behind him the other to his side slightly. This was not the true stance, but he was comfortable with it. Bringing the blade in front of him, Jarael spoke once more to Gusha. "Ready?"

[gusha]

Gusha bowed with Respect toward Master Beleren as he followed Jarael over to an open mat. Gusha was not the best duelist in the temple but he was far from helpless. He would need to have his wits about him in order to perform well. He bowed with respect to the masters and his opponent

Jarael took up the standard Shii-Cho stance. Gusha due to his body would not be able to follow traditional stances and forms. He took his training saber off his belt and ignited it with the signature snap hiss of a light saber. Gusha needed to play this duel carefully. He lifted the saber into the traditional horizontal guard that ran across his chest. Gusha opened himself to the force as he looked at his opponent and said, “Ready.”

[Jerek]

Quelling his anxiety, Jarael took another deep breath. He closed his eyes a moment. Then, he looked at his opponent. He had ignited his training saber as well. He was obviously ready. Trying hard to not smirk, Jarael made the first move. He bent his knees, summoned the Force to his leg muscles and leapt up into the air, gaining much more height than the Nautolan had. He did a small flip in the air and landed behind his opponent. He spun the training saber up above his head and brought it down in a powerful slashing motion.

[Feyrin]

(If anyone is wondering how it happened... it's an "Easter Egg." PM me if you have questions, or admin/mod comments.)

---

Teima was surprised at the speed that Tem came at her with, and she was overwhelmed again, though, again, she loosened up her legs and tightened up her arms, sliding her toes back across the floor to take the pressure off of her body. Being weak only meant she had to learn how to take a hit, rather than push it back, and apparently she wasn't too shabby at that particular technique. Golden and near orange sparks spat through the air beautifully, only a few feet off from the colliding sabers.

As she slid back across the floor, a few tentacles started wriggling on the back of her head, then several more. All fourteen were throbbing and slinging around, noticeable to the eye now. She felt immense emotion spring from someone in the room, someone new. Someone with negative thoughts. With this, Teima's eyes began swirling like a vortex, and her nostrils flared a few times, taking in the smell of saber upon saber. With the opening of her mouth, a commanding and greatly charismatic voice sprang forth, saying, "This... is not the way to live!"

In that instant, Teima slid her saber up Tem's then down again, halfway, bringing her own body down with the sabers. She reached her right leg out and planted it a foot from Tem's left foot, pulling herself forward, leaving her left hand, saber gripped, behind her for a moment. After pulling herself forward across the floor, she spun her body to the left, bringing her left foot around as she disconnected her saber from the other. Using the speed of her sidestep, she snapped her saber around across the floor, tip barely missing the stone panels, then brought it around in an arc from the floor up to the back of Tem's head, stopping just before connecting.

Her eyes were not swirling anymore, and her tentacles were still. The emotions had ceased to her, and she simply stopped moving for only a few seconds then kicked off to the right, landing behind Tem again, body bent slightly, knees bent enough to bring her right palm flat down on the floor, and left hand, saber outstretched, to her left. Softly she spoke to herself, so that barely anyone could hear, "That is not a way to live...."

[gusha]

Gusha felt the force flowing through him and the room. As Jarael launched into his jump Gusha felt the tell tale whisper of the force. He couldn’t explain it but as his opponent launched into the air Gusha swung his tale around giving Gusha the momentum to turn and face his enemy as he landed. He swung his saber up into a high horizontal block to catch his opponents. Where the two sabers connected they hissed and glowed white. Gusha tossed off his opponents saber and moved his own to a vertical position on his right with the tip pointed to the ceiling

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem stayed stone still again, then he stood up slowly, disengaging his saber. Then turning to Teima, he bowed and did the same to Master Beleren, ppening his eyes again "Good match" he said calmly, replacing his saber on his belt, then smiling at Teima before sitting back down. and observe the Hutt and Jarael

[Jerek]

The hutt blocked Jarael's attack. Somehow he knew the Hutt would block. He swung the blue blade around to where the tip faced Gusha. He dashed toward Gusha, enhancing his speed slightly with the Force. At the last moment, he sidestepped around Gusha and brought his lightsaber down toward his back, all in a few swift movements.

[Jace]

Jace was watching Teima and Tem's battle closely, he figured something interesting would happen, he just didn't think it would happen so soon. He watched as a suddenly absorbed a large amount of force, his hand was already up, ready to stop her blade if necessary. There was no need though, as she stopped and then Tem conceded the match.

Interesting he mused.

"Very good both of you, please watch the others and let that battle adrenaline leave your body and peace and calmness flow in instead"

Jace sent his thoughts toward Talarian, only slightly, to see how she was doing. She seemed to have taken his advice to heart, and was doing a little better. She was still suppressing but she was also starting to let go.

He continued to focus on the spar between the young hutt and the older youngling. He figured after this, that would be enough lightsaber work for the class, and they would move on to other things.

[gusha]

Gusha braced to receive the charge of his opponent with his saber read. As Jarael neared him Gusha swung his saber to block the attack that would most likely come on his weak side. He was wrong Jerael was already side stepping around Gusha. It was to late Gush would not be able to dodge the strike that would come. He switched his block into a last desperate attack. He missed his opponents back just by millimeters. Then it came the tell tale pain in his back. Gusha let out a screech with the pain from the stroke, it would leave a nice welt.

Gusha deactivated his saber knowing he had lost. If that was a real lightsaber he would now be cut clean in two. Gusha sighed and bowed his head letting go of the force. He raised his head again to look at his opponent. “Thank you Jerael, you have helped me learn more about myself.”

[.:Falcon:.]

Tal watched the rest of the two duels with interest. After the first ended, then the next soon after, Tal stood there, thinking a moment. She felt much better now- but she still felt bad about Master Moonflow's death. She waited for the Master to give them any further instructions.

[Feyrin]

Teima watched as Tem disignited his saber, bowing in respect to her. She had only just begun to fight, and was rather closing to pushing Tem further. She wanted to know just how much he could do, and she was disappointed that the rush of emotions had taken her so quickly. None-the-less, Teima turned her own blade off and clipped the ring on it's butt-end to the metal ring on her belt and stood straight up, bowing back to Tem. She felt then another small wave of thought, from Master Beleren. She was glad at this feeling, as she could tell it meant he was quite pleased with how her and Tem's spar had turned out.

When the other spar ended very soon after her own, Teima felt rather put down. She was hoping to see the fight, but had missed the whole thing in her own spar. Teima wondered how long the other two had actually been fighting, and figured it must have been pretty long if it was over already, even though the two had only sparred for about a minute or two, Teima hadn't been paying much attention. Though she could have watched the other spar as well, she kept her attention on Tem. Teima slid her legs in and down again after showing her respects, then laid her arms across her legs, sitting Indian Style as she had when she entered the room. Her palms spun to face the roof, and opened slightly, fingers hanging loose. Her eyes began swirling again as she reflected on the spar, meditating on her mistakes, and how she could advance her own style. She was trying to copy Ataru, Form IV as best she could, and was still rather hoping to find a Master that could teach her the Form.

As she focused the force into her veins and calmed her flexing muscles, Teima waited for Master Beleren to give the next orders.--

[Jace]

Jace watched as Gusha conceded the match, with Jarael using some force techniques to his advantage. Jace was impressed by the skills that each youngling was showing, it was not easy to perform especially when a Council member and Grand mistress were there.

He walked to the center of the room again and spoke softly

"Alright younglings, please take a seat around me"

He waited for a few moments for the younglings to take their seats before continuing.

"Alright younglings, we have seen that while in 'battle', our senses are focused yet open. We are focused on the opponent, yet open for the force to flow through us. I wanted you all to get a feeling of what that was like, and for you to understand that concept. Focus can sometimes turn to a narrow minded nature, which leads to ignorance. Remember there is no ignorance, only knowledge.

Now I want to work on an exercise, one that will help control emotions and let go of them. Eventually this same technique can be used to rid one of pain and the bodily needs. Many of us feel emotions that weigh us down, such as pain, sorrow, and even anger. We must learn to let these emotions go, to let them flow out of you.

The best way to do this, is to imagine your emotions as a physical and tangible object. When we are holding something heavy, our natural instinct is to put it down. That is exactly what we will do with our emotions, they are heavy, so we will push them down..not suppress but let go. Remember they are heavy, so let them flow down through your body, all the way to your feet...and then let it dissipate into the floor.

It is of course possible to do this technique other ways, which you will learn later, but this is the easiest way. Just let the emotions flow down your body, down your consciousness, and let the flow out of you. Then let that calmness, that quiet, that peace, flow into your body.

Now I want you all to give this a shot, it will be easier for some if they stand up. Thinking of something that might bring a strong emotion in you, and then release it with this technique."

The Force has many powerful uses, and they all didn't involved flinging lightning and throwing large objects. Being able to rid yourself of emotion, and gain inner peace, can be one of the most helpful things in any situation.

[Vreem Took]

How long had it been now since he’d really admired the sight of the Jedi Temple? Of course, every time he returned from a mission the sight of it would instantly bring him comfort. As he sat in the cockpit of his stolen vehicle, slipping in between consciousness and the arm unconscious blanket of sleep, he was able to, for a few brief moments, come to value the grand structure which housed his Order. It was the only place he could really consider a home, a place where there was nothing to worry about in terms of safety, there were no threats.

As he came to fully Vreem adjusted his position in the pilot’s chair and flicked off the auto-pilot, bringing the ship in for a delicate landing. With the hiss of numerous ship systems, he was ready to leave the ship and finally rest in the temple; he’d managed to return home. After all he’d been through, all that time he’d spent on Korriban, every hour eating away at him, feeding the darkness within him, the darkness he thought he’d left behind long ago. That world had opened his eyes in many ways, he’d discovered that one flaw had been overcome, another one existed to take its place and there was a new threat with which he would have to concern himself.

First, however, came the necessary procedure of reporting to the Council, there would be much discussion concerning what he had to tell them. Yet there was a task which would come even before that, he needed a medical check-up, healing was not this Jedi Master’s strong point. He did know someone; trust someone, who would be able to fix him up no problem. It was a while since he’d seen Niv-Taro and whilst the healer was sorting out any of the more serious injuries that Vreem bore they managed to catch up a little, but soon the Council Member had to leave and report to his peers.

Before that he made his way to the Council Chambers Vreem headed to his own quarters to drop off the baggage from his trip. But when he entered his quarters, he was greeted with the beeping of a data pad which lay on his desk. His personal planner, as a member of the High Council Vreem often had many appointments to attend and in order to make sure he turned up to all of them, he thought that it was best to have a planner. Right now it was flashing to tell him that he was, in fact, meant to be teaching a lesson right now. He was out of the loop, he didn’t know if the younglings had been told or if someone was going to be covering for him, either way it was important that he drop by, just to make sure.

So with a silent haste Vreem soared through the hallways of the temple, heading for the room in which he was meant to be teaching right now. However, when he neared the room Vreem recognised the force presence of many from within, two in particular, Master Jace Beleren and Grand Master Eris, quite the duo to take his place for this class. For as much as Vreem complained about how little he got away from the Temple, he did enjoy teaching the younglings. He had set many on the path to becoming a Jedi Knight in the nine years he had been teaching and most of the younglings seemed to enjoy his lessons. It had been a mystery to Vreem why, after failing Ren as a Master, he had become one of the most active teachers in the Temple, signing up to teach as many lessons as he could. Many of the Masters chose not to teach any of the lessons, or even thought about doing so. In that way, Vreem was quite unique.

He arrived outside just as Talarian entered the room and decided that he would spend his time watching the events as they unfolded inside, fortunately he was able to hear the events of lesson. Not wanting to be disturbed, Vreem shadowed himself in the Force, cloaking his presence from Master and youngling alike as he watched the sparring matches. There were two matches going on, it was the one which had started first that consumed his attention. The fight was brief, but it was the Nautolan’s reaction to the emotions in the room which spiked Vreem’s interest, it was quite a unique response. However, Vreem’s experience with fellow Masters and the Council made him aware that this girl’s traits would not put her in favour when it came to finding a Master, with an unpredictable ability like that, many would veer away from training her, she may only live to see the Corps. Vreem thought upon for a while, deciding that he would speak to her after the lesson was over, in private.

Now the matches were over and Jace was setting the younglings onto another form of training, once they were all trying to follow his words, Vreem let the shroud fall and entered the room. His attention was upon the two Masters and Council Members in the room, after all he had been missing for a number of weeks now, they could have thought him dead many times over.

But Vreem being the way he is, spared little thought for this, instead he decided the best way to make his return would be to poke fun at both of the Masters. “Why is it,” he started with a smile, “that the only time you show interest in teaching is when I’m not around, Masters?” He finished with a brief bow of the head. “Perhaps you’d like to take on more of my classes in the future Master Beleren, Grand Master?” He just kept the smile spread across his face, some of the younglings had focused their attention on him, most knew or at least recognised him, a lot he taught regularly or had taught at least a few times before, even some of the youngling may have recognised his absence over the last few weeks was quite… unexpected.

With a skip of the heart, his smile faded slightly and his voice lowered so the younglings wouldn’t be able to overhear him, unless they tired to amplify their hearing through the Force just to try and do so of course. “I’m sorry it took me so long to return, I ran into a number of… obstacles. It’s highly important that I address the entire Council as soon as possible, there are things we need to talk about,” his eyes shot wearily to the younglings, lingering upon Teima for a few moments before he turned back to look at his fellow Council members, “grave things.” He tried to strengthen the failing smile as best he could, but the seriousness of the matter would not allow a comfortable smile to touch his lips. It might be a while now until he smiled like he used to, a very long while.

[.:Falcon:.]

Talarian listened to Master Beleren quietly, then closed her eyes. Pulling her feet towards her body in a semi-Indian style. She took a deep breath, and felt herself slowly rise...not her body, but her essence, as if she were floating away. Her emotions over Master Moonflow coalesced into a growling darkness.

She loosed them, sending the darkness spinning and whirring from her, down. She watched it go, then concentrated on the peace she felt instead of the darkness. The growling threatened to fight its way back, and Tal once again loosed them, concentrating once again on her peace.

She felt the darkness grow ever farther, and it slowly muted to low growl, then became almost nonexistent.

[gusha]

Gusha didn’t have to work hard to pull up an emotion he wanted to forget. Right now he was disappointed at himself for losing his spar. His back was his weakness and he was frustrated he had not done better protecting it.

He did as master Belerren said he focused and tried to gather up all his emotions into a single location. He felt it just behind his eyes wanting to escape. That was when Gusha began dropping his feelings that passed through his head as he cleared it of all disappointment in him self. Then he felt his heart beat slow as he brought them through his chest. As they passed through the lower part of his body and to the floor he seemed to feel as if his bulk spread imperceptibly. He became more aware of the floor as passed the motions out his body into the floor.

A sense of profound calm and strength seemed to rise out of the floor and replace his pervious feelings. He felt the force echoing through the room and beyond. He was at peace with the galaxy again. He may not have triumphed today and attracted the attention of one of the masters but he felt him self grow. He was ready for what ever would come next

[Feyrin]

The fierce vortexes in Teima's eyes stopped instantaneously when Master Beleren began speaking. Her ears twitched a little, listening as best they could to each and every detail of what the Master spoke. When he was done, Teima's eyes showed one milky swirl in them for a moment, then she became completely still, consciously reflecting on the orders she had been given. After about half a minute, her fingers twitched, and in her eyes, milky swirls started spinning around on the edges. The force sank into her veins from the air around her. Teima felt it, like long fingers that were both cold and warm at the same time, sinking into her skin at different points. The "weight of the world" started slipping off of her skin around the translucent tendrils of the Force.

Teima's tentacles wriggled a little as the emotions in the room began surfacing, spreading, then dissipating. From her, the other younglings, and even the Force itself. Teima rolled her wrists around, letting her fingers roll in on themselves and outward as well. The mass of emotions was apparent to her for the first true time now, now that she felt so much lighter, so much more free. Her eyes stopped swirling and her hands stopped moving, but she still felt the Force sinking in, enveloping her, soothing her, encompassing her, all at once. She stood quickly, her legs and arms moving with fluid and perfect precision. Teima stood with her back straight, legs tight, but bent a little at the knees to keep the circulation going, and her head held up high. She shook her head a little, letting her tentacles flow around freely. The great feeling she felt was overwhelming and beautiful at the same time.

Teima glanced at Master Vreem for a moment, not realizing who he was for a moment, then her face lit up with a giant smile, though she stood in place. "Master Took! I misse-... I mean, it's know that you are safe." Not wanting to open up too much in front of everyone, she bowed to Vreem and then turned her attention back to Beleren after standing. "Thank you fro that inside, Master Beleren, I will use it to my advantage in the future." Teima, once again, was trying to be too smart for her own good and said inside, not knowing that the word she was looking for was insight.--