Training/Sparring Area

"Bye!" *Jake waved to Iella as she departed the training area. He took a moment to consider the spar and her words... then decided he could indeed use some more training today. Holding onto the training saber, he went for the console, preparing for a spar with a training droid on a level slightly higher than he was used to. He paused, briefly considering selecting a saberstaff as its weapon... then shook his head, deciding it was still a bad idea as he stuck with a single-bladed opponent. Then he got to work...*

*Aerandir had been sure to teach Mina about the Force, as well as a child would be able to understand; after all, even to adults, the Force was still one large mystery with many unanswered questions. He'd told her about its existence in every living and nonliving thing, its dark and light sides, its ability to help... and its ability to corrupt.

But where Mina truly possessed talent was in the ways of combat. While he also made sure to begin teaching her to properly feel and channel the Force, he had wanted to see the extent of her combat abilities and hone those. He'd handed her a training saber, and while at first she seemed intrigued by the blade and even a little excited to be holding one, she didn't seem entirely comfortable with it. Eventually, she had asked—in few words—for a staff instead, Aerandir recalling the scene when they first met. He'd handed her one and she immediately appeared more comfortable with it, after first testing its weight and balance. Aerandir, who had been "sparring" with her using his lightsaber's training setting, grew curious and asked her to spar again.

After only a few moves, he now understood why she had gone for the cell bar as a defensive weapon, and why she had seemed to have a competent grasp on it.

So her combat training had been conducted with her new weapon of choice. In the meantime, he'd enlisted Dr. Rollins's help to create a new weapon for her. It hadn't taken long to complete; Dr. Rollins had apparently been experimenting with a lightsaber-resistant material he dubbed "betaplast," and he had been more than eager to experiment with it in some capacity.

He had been present at the demonstration, first handing the weapon to Aerandir and assuring him it had worked as requested, and would stand up to a lightsaber's blade. It was a metallic-looking cylinder, fairly basic save for a release mechanism. Aerandir then knelt and handed the tube to Mina and instructed her how to trigger it. He stepped back and watched as she triggered the release, then nearly jumped out of her skin as the cylinder suddenly expanded into a full staff. He smiled as she had examined it in awe, running her hand along the length of the weapon, impressed by the device.

Then she looked up.* "This is mine?" *she asked quietly, though incredibly eagerly.

Aerandir smiled and nodded.* "Of course."

*Immediately she beamed, then once more became serious as held the weapon properly. She spun and flourished it, getting a feel for it; it seemed to be just right, for a small smile crept onto her lips once more.

And then they had engaged in another spar, Aerandir this time using the lighsaber's normal power setting, if only to test the weapon's integrity. To his delight, it held up quite well, and Dr. Rollins seemed pleased, though did warn that the material wasn't quite perfect, suggesting brief or glancing contact with a lightsaber blade instead of prolonged exposure. Aerandir thanked him for his work; Mina seemed to attempt to verbally thank him, but instead bowed. Dr. Rollins seemed only happy to deliver, and that this weapon was another success.

So combat training continued with Mina, albeit with the lightsaber in training mode. Perhaps one day, he could teach her to utilize Force weapon... but if she chose to remain devoted to the staff, he supposed she may eventually forge a weapon using a material fully resistant to lightsabers. Still, she seemed comfortable enough and proud of her new weapon, and he was indeed impressed with the combat abilities she seemed to have already picked up.

But... from where? He knew very little about her past, partially from her rarely speaking more than a few words at a time, partially because he hadn't wanted to bring up dark memories leading up to her capture by the Sith. But if he was going to continue her training, as well as raise her as his own, he needed to know everything about her that he could.*

"So where'd you learn to fight like that?" *he asked her one day after another practice spar, quenching his lightsaber's blade.

She looked at him contemplatively, as though considering if she should tell him. He frowned, about to suggest she didn't have to answer before she said,* "My daddies."

*Aerandir raised an eyebrow, unable to tell exactly what she meant by that.* "You mean me and your first daddy?" *he asked tentatively.

She shook her head.* "No. I had two daddies."

*Aerandir's eyebrows raised. Not unheard of, but uncommon enough that this was the first time he knew someone who was raised by same-sex parents. Was she born via surrogate then, or adopted? Asking her would be futile though, so he only added that to the mental file of questions to answer about his adopted children. Along with the reason Jake was separated from Morgan, and which twin was born first... the former of those two being the far more important question, of course.

Although maybe he could get a clue if he asked,* "Did you have a mommy?" *Immediate shake of the head. More likely adoption then... though it didn't necessarily rule out the surrogate route. He sat down on the ground and she followed his example. Changing subjects, he asked,* "What did your daddies do?"

*Her eyes looked this way and that, once more contemplating the answer, before they settled on him and she answered,* "Fought. Trained me. Trained others."

*Aerandir tilted his head to the side.* "Others?"

"Lotsa Wookiees."

*Some sort of resistance movement, then, no doubt. Attempting to raise a force to fight back against the Sith's oppression, but were put down. This much was obvious, and he debated asking her more about that. Maybe not directly... Instead, he asked,* "What was it like?"

"Scary." *She slowly lowered her head, looking into her lap. He regretted asking. But she looked up again and continued,* "Had to hide from Sith all the time. Then some pretended to be Jedi to help us, and..."

*She trailed off, but her expression finished the thought for her. Aerandir frowned sadly, both with sympathy and realization.* "That's why you were afraid of me..." *She nodded. He reached forward and set a hand on her shoulder gently, looking into her eyes, offering a reassuring smile.* "Well, I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen to you again. You know that now, right?" *She nodded again and he patted her shoulder.* "You got it."

*He released her shoulder and silence fell for a moment. Mina then unfolded her legs and crawled the short distance between them, climbing into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her as she clung to him, whispering,* "Don't leave me too, Daddy."

*Now knowing what she'd been through, he felt a pang of sadness for her and he held her tighter, cradling her as he whispered back,* "I don't plan on it, kid." *He allowed the moment to linger a little while longer before he sat up, loosening his grip on her.* "Right, well I'd say that's enough for today. Back home, huh?"

*She gave a nod as she smiled sweetly up at him, then wiped her glistening eyes. He smiled back at her, waiting for her to pick up her staff and retract it before taking her hand and leading her away from the training area.*

*Iella led Kent into the training area, though it was already the second time she had been here. Kent didn't seem terribly enthused by the idea, but then their first attempt to have her feel the Force hadn't gone well.

She quickly crossed the room and picked out a training saber for Kent. This wasn't going to be a spar though, as she also plucked one of the training remotes, as well as noting the location of one of those helmets with the eye shields on it. She handed the training saber to Kent and set up the training remote.*"So I think we'll try something different this time. It was a mistake for me to try teaching meditation, because you haven't yet learned how to quiet your mind. But that's my fault, really. I can't train you the way I myself was trained." *She pointed to the remote.*"We use this remote to help train Initiates the basics of lightsaber combat. That's why I gave you that training saber too. It's a low power blade so there's no danger of injuring anyone."*She smiled.*"This remote is going to fire some low energy shots at you, and you're going to try to block it with that saber I gave you. The shots will sting, but they won't do any damage to you if they hit. So whenever you're ready, turn on your saber and the remote will begin its program." *Iella took a few steps away to give Kent plenty of space to work with and she waited to see how it would all turn out.*

Ok. Was I supposed to hit it? It seemed rather silly to just sit there and let it shoot at me. She continues talking to Iella, waiting for the exercise to begin, not realizing that it already had.
Thanks again for doing this.
The remote was fine, but the power selector was now little off. When in fired it would be fast and ferocious, more suited to a full Jedi knight than a teenager holding her first light saber. Not lethal, but powerful enough to leave a decent scare if not treated with bacta.

For a moment the girl was still in the out of body state. She heard Iella speak. Get what looked at? Then in an instant she was back and the searing burning pain on her cheek, the smell of burnt flesh filled her nose. The pain on her side from the other impact lingered as well. She dropped the still lit saber from the pain, it hummed as it fell to the floor. She grabbed her cheek causing more pain as she touched the burned flesh, and held her side. Ahhhhhhhhh! She cried in pain.