"Sssshhhh!" Lessat winced as the remote hit her again. Navi stepped up and gently grabbed Lessat's arms.
"Here. You want to block here, here, and hold here. And don't bring it back so far." Navi let go and signaled the remote to start again. She watched Lessat successfully block three bolts before getting hit again. It was an improvement, however slight.
A clank behind Navi served as a reminder of her other 'student', so to speak. Kalita sat on the floor playing with... something. Navi wasn't sure what it was, an odd device with lots of brightly colored knobs and dials that made various sounds. Karlo had bought it for Kali, assuring Navi that it was a perfectly safe baby toy that Kalita would adore. Navi continued to cast a wary eye at it. The baby seemed to be enjoying it, at least.
A zapping noise joined by a faint sizzle signaled that Lessat had been hit again. Lessat made no sound, which indicated that she was learning to tolerate the pain. That would come in handy in combat, like when she got run through by another lightsaber...
Navi broke out of her reverie. What a horrible thought to have.
Lessat got hit again. She now seemed to be getting worse, at this rate. Navi thought maybe it was time to stop. If she hadn't gotten it after all this time, she would never get it. And they still had another training session with the larger Jedi group later. Navi had planned to practice throws with them. Lessat might have problems with that as well, and the last thing the girl needed was more discouragement. Navi went to stop the remote - but paused.
The students were paired in twos, each taking turns at attacking and defending in hand-to-hand. The instructor was the Zabrak Jedi Master Ceto Scyll, and now he walked between the rows, watching the students as they practiced throws. He would occasionally stop to comment on or correct the form of some of the padawans. Master Solari Corin couldn't hear what was being said, but he could make some educated guesses. That Togruta female was going too high. That Sullustan wasn't focusing and always let his partner get the better. Those two Human males had noticed Corin watching and were now showing off in hopes of being noticed...
"A lot of these kids would make great padawans, you know." Corin turned to see a lithe red Twi'lek walk up next to him, resting her hands on the railing. "And they know you're here."
Corin smiled. "So you're finally going to take a padawan? That's good news, Cera. Though I don't see why my presence would be so important."
A scowl crossed Cera Ryare's face, then she laughed. "I wasn't talking about me, though I think I'm ready to train another. But what about you? It's been years since you trained Hayden-" she stopped suddenly as she examined Solari's face. "I'm sorry, I thought..."
Corin shook his head. "No, don't get the wrong idea. It ended on good terms. It's just that we didn't always see eye-to-eye, and it could be... exasperating at times." He smiled.
"Afraid of a few headaches? Solari Corin, you break my heart." She laughed.
"Well, you just never-" he stopped and watched the floor intently. Master Scyll had separated a pair of students and was now practicing with the smaller of the two, a skinny human girl with blonde streaks in her hair. Her form was shaky before, but now Corin could see how flawed it was. Scyll explained something to her and then stepped back, adopting a stance that was wide open to attack. The girl made her advance, only to be tossed to the ground. A few students stopped to watch, but as Scyll turned toward them they quickly resumed their exercises.
"How could she get it so wrong?" Corin watched as they tried again, and focused on her form. Flawed, but she should still be able to perform such a simple maneuver, especially with how Scyll left himself open so she could see how the moves worked. The girl fell to the ground, and he saw Scyll speaking to her, and indicate that he was done. She wanted to keep trying, her face pleaded. Corin had to know how this would turn out.
Scyll let her try again. And she continued to mess it up. He left himself completely open on the right but she never fully took advantage of it. She kept to Scyll's left, even though his right was where she should...
Scyll was leaving himself open on the left. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. A slight flaw, but the girl has noticed it. Was Scyll aware? Corin doubted it, as Scyll would not have let this futile exercise go on for so long if he meant it or even knew. Corin began to chuckle.
"She's terrible." Cera leaned on the railing as the students below took a short break.
"No, just astute and absolutely blind to the obvious... and a bit stubborn." The girl sat down, clearly frustrated. She could do it, just didn't understand why she hadn't. Corin reached out with his mind and came into contact. Her eyes opened wide and she glanced around.
"Navi... you're missing the obvious." He showed her an image of what she was missing. Realization washed over her like a cool wave. He smiled again. "If you want..." He gave her a quick impression of what she could do. She understood. Corin broke off the contact and looked at Cera. "Let's see what she does now."
After five minutes the students resumed the session, and Navi approached Scyll again. The two resumed stance, and Navi attacked. The time she successfully pulled off the throw. Scyll showed little sign of surprise, recovering and following through... which did little as Navi used that opportunity to exploit the weakness in his form. Scyll was clearly off-balance for a moment, but managed to knock her down anyway.
All of the other students had stopped to watch. Scyll looked surprised. Navi winced as she hit the ground, but a small smile crossed her lips, before she sighed and got back up.
Corin didn't need to hear what was said next. Scyll had just learned something, and so did Corin. "I'll take her."
Navi watched the rain hit the windows as she remembered that day. The day she became an official Jedi padawan. An extremely unlikely outcome, especially given how her instructors had always told her that she was too stubborn, too impatient. Navi probably would have ended up in the Agri-corps, or something similar. But Master Corin saw something in her.
There had to be a reason she remembered this all of a sudden. Navi turned to watch Lessat practice some more. Maybe Lessat wasn't the one making the mistake. Navi let her consciousness come into contact with Lessat's as to understand how the girl was reacting.
Her form was perfect to what Navi had shown her. Navi's later advice had improved her reactions, but there was still that one mistake...
"Hold." Navi pulled out her lightsaber. "Let me try. Just a minute."
Lessat had wanted to keep trying. Navi broke off the telepathic contact and focused on the remote. It began to fire. Navi blocked several bolts, though she found herself reaching for a few of them. She blocked another, and again, then quickly twisted out of the way as she missed one. She stopped the remote.
Lessat stood by quietly watching. Navi turned to her. "You haven't been doing anything wrong." Navi got quiet for a moment as she thought. She was out of practice. Her form was sloppy. "It's been so long since I've been shot at that I think I'm actually bad at it now. Let me show you the right way to do it." Lessat nodded, watching intently. Even Kalita had shifted attention to her mother, waiting to see what happened next. Navi smiled as the remote started up again.
Navi sat on a bench in the Jedi Temple, legs extended so that her feet rested a third of the way into the broad corridor. She had been directed to wait there while Master Corin made the final arrangements for her to leave with him. Whatever those were. Navi had seen Corin engaged with discussions with several of the instructors, a few of whom had spoken to Navi after. Nothing serious, but Navi got the distinct impression she was being appraised. But their approval or disapproval didn't really matter. Navi could sense it. Corin had a made a decision, and was determined to stick to it. As she thought about it a warm feeling rose up in her, nervousness rising into a giddy excitement. She was leaving. She was going to become a Jedi.
A door opened several yards away and Master Corin stepped out. Navi could hear someone quietly speaking in the room beyond, and Corin nodded. He turned and came down the hall, stopping just at her feet. He stared at them with bemusement, before looking her directly in the face. She sat up on the bench, hand reaching for the small satchel that held what few belongings she had.
"Well then, I guess that's it." Corin crossed his arms and waited. Navi stood up and faced him.
"Er... thank you. For taking me as your padawan. I... promise to do my best. I'll try... I will not let you down." She shifted uncomfortably as Master Corin continued to study her. His mouth turned into a slight smile.
"Well, I would hope for the best. Otherwise I'd be making a mistake now, right?" A frown crossed her face as she thought about that possibility. Corin must have noticed the slight change because he put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "Now, what did you learn today?"
She was a bit surprised by the shift. "Mmm... that everyone makes mistakes? That one shouldn't become careless? That one learns something new everyday?" The sudden silence made Navi anxious. One of those had to be the right answer.
Corin looked at her for a minute, then laughed. "Actually, I was thinking that your lesson for today was not to ignore the obvious." Corin turned and began to walk down the hall.
"Oh." Navi chastized herself for missing that one. She grabbed her satchel and jogged to catch up. After a short length she started walking, making a conscious effort to match his stride as they left the Jedi Temple.
A hour later Navi sat on the floor of the gym, rubbing the spot on her shoulder where the remote had hit her last. Her record wasn't that bad today. She could block a number of hits in the neighborhood of thirty shots before being hit. Lessat was doing better, catching up to eighteen in one particularly good round. They were doing good. They could do better. It only took one shot to kill. Even with her special abilities, Navi knew she wasn't invulnerable. Practice didn't make perfect. But it came pretty damn close.
"I think we can stop for today." Navi reached over and grabbed the remote away from Kalita's curious hands. "Stop that."
"Very well. Thank you master." Lessat gathered her robes from a nearby bench.
Navi sighed. "You don't have to call me master all the time. Feel free to use my name."
"Yes master." Lessat walked toward the door.
Navi inhaled sharply. "Right... oh, Lessat?"
The girl turned halfway to the door. "Yes, master?"
"What's today's lesson?"
Lessat paused for a second. "I suppose it would be that experience can make one careless. We should be careful to avoid this." Navi wondered if the girl had a smug tone of voice, and whether she was using it now.
"Er... right. I'll see you later." The padawan was right. It had to be the right answer sometime. Navi just never figured it would apply to her.