The next morning was slightly cloudy and damp. But even so, Tustra was beautiful. This place, this planet, had always endowed me with some strange strength, ever since birth. Perhaps because it was here that I was reborn. The old man died there, on distant Earth. I was born anew, got what I never had. A family... The Force... Friends, like Rivi. And the opportunity — to live a new life. And I intend to use everything I have. To live this new life to the fullest, trying to avoid vain regrets. I have everything for that... Taking a deep breath, I surfaced from meditation. Here, it came so easily...
"Enjoying your meditation?" came a caustic voice. I was in the middle of my room and had precisely sensed when its integrity was breached. Opening my eyes, I saw the horned face of my Mentor, Knight Lorm Decer. "I see you're ready for today. So, first — we'll continue the meditation course. We'll keep forging the Force Bond, and then move on to fencing practice. I checked — there are training areas here on Tustra. First, show me your progress with your beloved Soresu, then we'll start learning Ataru. And in the evening, I'll teach you Force techniques. Well, train the ones you already know, rather. Today we'll start with telekinesis."
"That's..."
"That's roughly your schedule for the foreseeable future, larva," Lorm smirked, sitting down across from me. "You remember how to make the Bond, and you just came out of meditation, so you'll get back into it quickly. Let's go."
And I wanted to have breakfast. The open door brought the smell of breakfast from the kitchen — the one my mother had definitely been working on. But apparently I'd have to stay here. I definitely couldn't argue with my Teacher right now. Besides, the Force Bond would help me in my training. Without even getting up, I sank back into meditation. The mentor also closed his eyes, sighed, and, from what I could sense, entered a meditative state. The door closed, presumably so nothing would distract me.
Once again, I felt my mentor's mind touch mine. He seemed to help me form lines toward himself. The mentor's Force... He didn't have more midi-chlorians than me. That was obvious right away — his potential was weaker... But there was something that could outweigh potential: experience. That was what made Lorm's Force impressive. You could see he was strong — strong from his experience. Unlike me, a sentient who relied only on talent. While my talent determined my successes, Lorm's successes were determined by effort, experience, practice.
"Good," Lorm suddenly interrupted our shared meditation. "Not a bad result, though I was expecting more."
"When will they finally form, mentor?" I asked him.
"The Force Bond, my negligent future student," Lorm said importantly, "is a special technique. It can form completely spontaneously. Just appear, binding two sentients together. Or it can appear gradually — between a teacher and student, for example. Let me explain: a teacher and student live together, meditate together, fight together, talk about the nature of the Force, practice fencing together... They do everything together until they come to understand each other. That's exactly the kind of understanding I'm looking for with you. You must understand me — my motives, feelings, goals — just as I must understand yours. It's a long, painstaking process. But a 'teacher-student' pair bound by a Force Bond is invincible, absolute. The teacher gains excellent support that helps him in his activities as a Jedi, while simultaneously sharing knowledge and skills with his student. The student himself learns faster and better, receiving knowledge through the Bond. The Force can't replace physical training, but through the Bond I can try to transfer some of my skills. You'll learn things faster, understand them better. See now?" the mentor asked. "But by the law of the universe, what helps you always takes extremely long to master. Forming a Bond artificially is a time-consuming process and depends entirely on the two of us. Each of us must accept the other as they are, agree to accept their knowledge and views. Do you understand?"
"Well..." I drawled. "Partially."
"At least that," Lorm nodded. "Alright, I can feel you wanted something else. Most likely, your mother's breakfast. Go, and then we'll follow our plan..."
"Okay, mentor," I brightened and shot out of the room like a bullet. During our shared meditation, my stomach seemed to have started digesting itself.
Going downstairs, I almost collided with my father, who was just coming out of his workshop.
"Light!" he exclaimed in slight surprise. "Be careful. You could kill someone that way!"
"You'd have been fine," I noted. "A collision with me wouldn't have killed you."
"Really?" my father asked. "Look how you've shot up! And fine, height has always been a relative parameter for you. But you're trained like a Jedi. Look at your body — all muscular, strong — I'll probably have to pay attention to my own body too, your mother made that perfectly clear to me."
"What did she say, dear?" Mayla asked as we entered the kitchen.
"See? She heard everything," Dennis grumbled. "Well... That I'll have to start going to the gym, right?"
"Right," Mayla smiled. "And you'll take Ziri with you. She needs somewhere to put her boundless energy. They're already complaining about her at kindergarten — not like about Light," Mayla said with a hint of sadness.
"Complaining?" Ziri's voice snapped. "Tell me who! I'll personally talk to them... Or I'll ask Light to. Right, Light?"
"Uhh... Right about what?" I asked.
"You'll talk to those who complain about me — make them stop!" Ziri planted her hands on her hips.
"I'm afraid that's impossible," I smiled slightly. "They're probably complaining for a reason."
"Right," Mother chimed in. "He's got a point. And you, young lady," she pointed at Ziri with the ladle, "have repeatedly broken the daycare routine and started conflicts with other children. I did warn you I'd send you to your grandmother for upbringing."
"They started it!" Ziri exclaimed.
"Did they?" Mayla asked. "The evidence says otherwise. Either way, Dennis, you're taking Ziri to the training hall too. It's better to build good form from childhood, otherwise, according to Uncle Gadji, you'll end up with a potbelly by a hundred. Not the most pleasant thing."
"What about you?" Father started.
"What?" Mother squinted at him.
"Nothing," Dennis turned his head away. We sat down at the table, and somewhere I distinctly heard the whisper "henpecked." I just couldn't figure out where from.
Mother served our portions, and I caught my breath. I'd missed her cooking so much. The Temple cafeteria makes everything from excellent ingredients, sure. But the problem is, they cook for everyone. Here, at home, you feel the personal touch. Mother took off her apron, which had covered part of her signature maid uniform, and sat down next to Dennis.
"You stink of oil," Mayla noted. "Wash up after breakfast."
"Yeah, wash up," Ziri echoed. I didn't get why she butted into the conversation.
"You too," Mayla drilled her with a look.
"But I washed yesterday…"
"A girl and a young woman must always be clean!" Mother declared. "Boys can get away with washing properly once a day if they're lucky. We must wash at least twice a day! I don't want to hear it, young lady. And don't forget — you have lessons with your grandmother today."
"Got it," Ziri grumbled.
* * *
The family scattered. Ziri was sent to daycare, Mother and Father went to work. Lorm, after everyone had left and he'd had breakfast — separately from the family, by the way — ordered me to follow him. Together we took a taxi-speeder that dropped us off at a park on the edge of the city. The wooded area was pretty far from the city itself, and he even thought to walk with me deeper into the forest. We walked, the pleasant smell of conifers hitting my nose. It had obviously rained here today — light, faint, but it had. Lorm had brought a substantial briefcase with him, which he hadn't explained to me earlier.
"Here," Lorm surveyed the clearing. "This'll do."
The clearing was decent, about thirty meters in diameter, perfectly suitable for training. The grass was short, slightly yellowish. On some blades, dew sparkled in the light of Tustra Prime.
"So," Lorm said. "We're fighting full-contact, everything's allowed. I want to see your combat skills. We'll use training swords," he pointed at the briefcase. "There are parts for a training sword in here. Naturally, the handle material can't be replicated, but the shape of your combat sword's handle can. So we'll use that. Now, replicate the handle of your lightsaber, create a training one, and we'll begin."
I opened the briefcase. Lorm pulled out a copy of his own lightsaber, activated it, and started warming up his wrist. I found the necessary parts and quickly assembled a finished handle, as close as possible to my combat sword's handle. I activated the sword and assumed the classic Soresu stance — the "I'll poke your eyes out" type. I held the sword above my head, signaling my readiness. Lorm immediately raised his sword over his head as well — Shien, no less. But he didn't give me time to be surprised; he launched into an attack with a simple overhead strike. I used my sword to deflect the blow, but he had no intention of slowing down after one parry — he immediately struck from the side. From the very first seconds, he was trying to overpower me with physical strength. I deflected attack after attack, not yet seeing a gap in Lorm's defense. Though… There it was. In an instant, I thrust straight at his chest… and Lorm completely unexpectedly vanished… No! He leaped over my head, using an Ataru element!
I reacted quickly, spinning around and blocking his strike mid-twirl.
"Not bad," Lorm smiled. "You managed to react. Your Soresu is truly worthy."
"I've been told that," I smiled, hopping back into a backflip.
Lorm kept up the pursuit, this time reverting to Djem So. He attacked, again trying to break through my defense… Trying? No! One of his strikes was too strong, and my sword couldn't deflect it properly. The blow hit my shoulder, burning through my clothes.
"Still, you can't fool the body," Lorm smiled, jumping back after the strike. "Or yourself. It would have been easier for you to dodge. Earlier you showed some Ataru elements that would have helped you right now. Soresu is an excellent form, I won't argue, but in your case — for sword fighting, not deflecting blaster shots — Ataru is better. If I'd been using a combat sword, I would've cut your arm off!"
"Ataru, then," I said, assuming a stance I'd trained with Yoda's holocron. I'd had a little practice with him and kept up the sessions.
"Interesting," Lorm grinned, this time taking a Niman stance. "Well, show me…"
I jumped, landing right in front of Lorm, and immediately attacked him from the side. He parried my strike and simply, without any tricks, countered. I dodged… Another deflection. This time he attacked very fast, landing three strikes from different directions. My body went on autopilot, switching to Soresu and quickly deflecting all three. Now I leaped over Lorm, landing behind him, and delivered a powerful thrust to his back. He ducked… Damn, that thrust left me in momentum, and now I was at a disadvantage. My right hand with the sword was over Decer, my left hand off to the side. The master himself, smiling, was already preparing a counter-thrust to my gut…
Oh no you don't! I'm not giving up that easily! My left hand pointed at a tree, and I closed the contacts on my wrist comm. The grappling hook fired, hit the tree… The line retracted, yanking me out of Lorm's strike path… His eyes widened in surprise… A second of focus, and the hook retracted into the wrist comm. I landed on the ground, even doing a flip to absorb the impact… I couldn't stop moving — as soon as I paused, I used the Force for another burst, instantly closing the distance to him…
A side strike, a dodge. Now it was my turn — I attacked Lorm's legs, he jumped, and I used telekinesis to shove him back, jumping myself. Lorm landed about five meters away and immediately blocked my overhead strike. I used the momentum to roll behind him… He immediately struck with a wide swing; I ducked, letting the sword pass over me… Counterattack… Ow! He stepped on my foot! Using my second-long hesitation, he struck my wrist, knocking the sword from my hand.
"Phew," Lorm sighed, watching my sword fly out of my hand. "Well done."
"Master," I looked at him in surprise, rubbing my wrist. "Are you okay?"
"What do you mean?" he asked. "Surprised I praised you? But why, little larva, tell me? What did I say to you before the fight? 'Show me everything you've got.' We weren't training Soresu, Ataru, or improvisation right now. I wanted to see who I'd be working with, and I'm satisfied with the baseline skills. Watching you fight other kids is one thing. You were the best in your age group, even better than many older ones. But testing you myself is a completely different matter. You showed your full strength, and pretty damn well at that. You didn't forget improvisation when you used that gadget of yours, but the most important thing I saw was your swordsmanship. When I forced you beyond your beloved Soresu and made you show what you'd picked up in Ataru — you know what you did? You did exactly what's needed to achieve true mastery — you used two sword styles at once. First you used Ataru, and when it was more convenient, you used Soresu, and you made all those switches, let's call them that, in a split second, right in the middle of combat. I won't hide it — I wasn't fighting at full speed for the first few seconds," he smiled bloodthirstily. "I didn't use anything more serious against you than body enhancement, but even so, the result exceeded my expectations. You're accepted…"
"Accepted? But Master! I was assigned to you much earlier…"
"Don't nitpick my words," Lorm smiled. "Right now, you're a larva. By the end of our training, I'll call you by name. Though I'd like to call you by name when you teach me something. Yoda said that a student also teaches the teacher, and I want to know what."
"As soon as I find you worthy material, I'll teach it to you," I hissed angrily, pulling the sword back to me.
"Don't be angry," Lorm said, reactivating his icy-white training blade. "Better get ready. We'll be fighting for a long time. And I expect you to keep the pace I set. This time, I'll attack, and you'll only defend with Soresu. After that, we'll switch, but before 'your attack,' you'll do the exercises the holocron gives you…"
* * *
After three hours of nonstop training, barely alive physically, covered in scorch marks and scratches, I stood before the holocron from which Yoda was speaking.
"Your device for maneuvering, you too can use. As well as Form Three knowledge for situational defense. Your main mistake, however, is that sometimes you make the wrong jumps. Your jumps are monotonous, always trying to land behind the back. Your opponent gets used to this more quickly. Ataru is a style that contains the greatest amount of improvisation. Each attack must copy the previous one less, or you will lose quickly."
"Then…"
"You have everything you need to master Ataru," Lorm interjected. "Your body, your potential. You are an ideal Ataru master, in the future. But your problem is that the 'rigid Soresu defense,' built on using standard combinations — has played a trick on you."
"Your master speaks truly," the holocron supported him. "You attack standardly, by the book… Dodge, backflip behind, wide swing. You maneuver by only that one pattern. This is a weakness, a rigidity."
"Only training can fix this," Lorm noted. "When we reach the Outer Rim, we'll visit wild planets, and I'll set up obstacle courses for you to run through, using Ataru maneuvering elements. That way, you'll learn to move less predictably and apply different maneuver techniques. An Ataru master breaks their opponent's battle picture through improvisation in maneuvering."
I closed my eyes, recalling Sidious's fight against the four Masters. He used Ataru then… But the one who used Ataru the most was Yoda. That's who shows it… His movements, even now, replaying my memories of Yoda's fights and overlaying them… No matter how I look at it through the lens of my Jedi upbringing, I can't predict most of his moves. An Ataru master must be able to maneuver so that their opponent can't guess the trajectory… Lorm easily read me… Soresu really is excellent for blaster defense. And it helps in sword fighting too… Though… In a pure duel, Ataru is still better, at least for me. Was I stupid to focus only on Soresu? I don't know… At least for now, the only duels I can have are with Lorm or at the Temple… But I'll be facing blasters very soon. By the time I might need a duel — and win it — I'll have mastered Ataru to a decent level.
And if you combine the perfect defense of Soresu, against which even the Chosen One nearly broke himself, with the fast attack of Ataru, which can cut through anyone… the resulting individual style… Mmm… What did the master say about combining Ataru and Soresu in one fight? Yes, if I create such a style, I'd be in the top ten swordsmen of the Galaxy! Merging them like that would be incredibly rare!
"Still, it's too early for you to think about combining those two styles," Lorm's voice cut through, dispelling the illusion of a defeated Sidius in front of me… Damn! How did he guess… "It's written all over your face," the teacher replied. "Plus, some of your emotions reached me — the Force bonds are forming properly."
"For your own style you wish to create," Yoda's hologram cut in, "Master Ataru you must. Soresu you handle decently for now, but without Ataru, nothing you will achieve."
"Yeah, I know," I snapped.
"Don't be rude," Lorm cuffed me on the back of the head. "The Master gave you a holocron with his knowledge of Ataru form, the path of the sword, for your development! Roan would have killed for that during his padawan days! Patience will help you, larva. Systematic development will eventually make you a great Jedi. The main thing is, you know what?"
"What?" I asked Decer.
"Don't be lazy!" the master declared in a stern voice. "Laziness is what destroys talented beings. You can have talent — so what if you don't develop it! If you try to coast on talent alone instead of its development, you'll lose quickly. You're in a golden period now. Time for painstaking work, my promising young student. So I hope you won't be lazy. You'll work until you drop. And then I'll be proud of you. Believe me," the master said arrogantly. "The one Lorm Decer, student of Teym Cerullian, who once even taught Dooku, will be proud of — will be a great Jedi."
"I understand, Master. I won't let you down."
"We'll see," Decer nodded. "Alright, let's head home. We'll rest, then continue — you have a Force training session this evening…"
And no matter how much I thought Lorm couldn't come up with anything new for Force training — I was wrong… This madman dumped out a Lego set he'd bought at the Shopping Center on Tustra… Lego, which he made me assemble with telekinesis. I thought after drying the clothes — which I had to hold with telekinesis on Yoda's orders — nothing more twisted could be invented… But, according to Lorm, this was necessary for telekinesis and Force control, so I'd learn to control the Force better… I had a feeling the next couple of years were going to be extremely eventful…