22 BBY, Month 5
Rylann
Rylann breathed out, saber in hand, though it remained off. Her eyes begged to open, but she knew she had to wait. Trust your gut, Hunter's voice echoed in her mind as the hairs on the back of her neck tingled. Shifting her feet beneath her, she lit up her saber, bringing it into a frontal block in front of her face, blaster bolt quickly deflected. For the tenth time. Perfectly.
Clapping interrupted her reverie, the training droid faltering as it turned off. Rylann stood up straight, trying to hold back a grin as she faced her master. Shaak Ti slowly glided over to Ry, clapping her hands together, a small smile adorning her face. "Very good, Rylann. You've improved since the last monthly assessment," the togruta stated, holding her hands in front of her. Shaak Ti glanced at Ry, tilting her head as her montrals shifted. "You've been practicing in your own time?"
"Yes, master," Rylann said, trying to stifle a yawn. Just thinking about her late night/early morning training sessions made her exhausted, but if she showed any sign of it, her master would become curious. Ry knew that nothing could stop a curious Shaak Ti.
"Well, make sure you fit time in for sleep," Shaak Ti said as if reading her mind. Ry blushed. How could Shaak Ti always do that? Always know what she was thinking? Shaak Ti suddenly drew her own lightsaber, igniting it in one swift movement. "Though, are you up for a round against your master?"
Ry grinned, though uncertainty washed over her. "What happened to resting?"
"You'll surely have time to recover from this," Shaak Ti stated, pointing the saber down towards the ground in one hand. One thing that Ry always thought was scary about her master was that she did not flaunt or flourish her saber skills, but they were simple and effect. Her pairing with skilled saber skills and extremely potent force connection made her deadly and her humility made her even more so.
Ry was scared of it because she knew she could never reach that potential. She doubted that Shaak Ti didn't pick up on her internal turmoil, though her master had not yet said a word of it. Ry wished that Shaak Ti would just confront her about it so that she could talk about it because Rylann was just so confused. But Shaak Ti never did.
"I would like to teach you one more thing before I go," Shaak Ti said, raising the blue saber in both hands.
Rylann's brows furrowed as she brought her saber up as well. "What? Where are you going?"
"Maybe you do need more rest," Shaak Ti chuckled, starting to circle Rylann, saber unmoving. "I told you earlier this week that I am going to Coruscant to work out what my role entails here."
"Yeah, why exactly are we here?" Rylann asked, slowly stepping closer to her master, lightsaber lifting to match Shaak Ti's.
"Answers will come in time, young one," her master said before quickly spinning her blue saber to clash against Ry's. Shock coursed through Rylann's body as she tried her best to parry each of her master's blows, but she could hardly keep up.
By the next minute or so, Rylann was exhausted. She could barely block the blows when she was normal, but when tired? She didn't know how she could do it.
"You are tense," Shaak Ti said, nonchalantly as she dealt another almost lethal blow.
Rylann scoffed. "Really?" she asked through clenched teeth. "Hadn't noticed."
"You forget to use the force and your gift," Shaak Ti stated, using the force to push herself backwards, saber pointed to the ground. "You have a gift of force empathy--use it."
"Wait." Rylann lowered her sword. "You want me to try to anticipate your next move by probing your emotions?"
"Your people are good at that, are they not?" Shaak Ti asked, for once flourishing her saber which sent chills down Ry's spine.
"But--" Rylann shook her head. "I'll try, master." There was no use debating. Ry was too tired for that.
Closing her eyes, she held her saber in front of her with both hands as was her signature pose--not that it really was anything special. She just felt in control when she was like this. Rylann took a deep breath, waiting for her master's emotions and thoughts to prelude her. For a few moments, nothing happened and Rylann felt stupid. Was she really that bad of a jedi?
But then she felt it. She felt the brief connection to the force and quickly parried her master's overhead blow, going in for a counter strike.
"Very good, Rylann," her master's voice echoed as Rylann was suddenly pushed back with the force. "But remember that there are other mediums to battle."
Rylann grinned. How could she forget? In one swift movement, Rylann stepped into a force push contest with her master. Sure, she'd probably lose, but it was one thing she felt halfway decent at. That and annoying Crosshair. She was pretty good at that, too.
【 ⌖ 】
Shaak Ti was going to be away for at least a week so that meant more opportunities to train with her friends. Rylann quickened her pace to pass the clones in front of her, making her way to the elevator where she prayed that no one would join her. Oof, too late.
A cadet rushed into the elevator, arms full of dirtied rags. He had the regular clone cadet cut but Rylann noticed there was a smiley-face tattooed on the nape of his neck which made her grin. She just hoped he wasn't going where she was going. She didn't want the whole planet to know about her secret training and she had heard that the clone gossip trains were the worst. She of course had heard that through the said gossip train.
"Where you going?" Rylann asked, praying he wouldn't go to the lower levels. The clone glanced at Ry as if just noticing her, brown eyes lighting up in confusion.
"Oh, er, LL-24," the clone said, holding the clothes a lot closer to his body as if embarrassed. This young clone was not good at hiding his emotions. She could practically feel it radiating off of him like rays of a sun.
Dang it, she thought, pressing the button on the lift for him. She had to go to LL-23. He would be curious why she was going to a lower level.
"Are you one of the people from the Republic?" the clone asked out of the blue. Rylann looked up at the clone. He was probably only a little older than her defective clone friends, though this clone didn't seem like he was deployed anywhere yet.
"Yeah," Rylann said as she failed to hold back a grin. "Are you one of the clones?"
The clone looked at her for a moment before letting out a strange, high-pitched laugh. "Yeah, I'm one of a few."
Rylann let out a genuine chuckle, looking down at the clothes in his arms, noticing that they were covered in what looked like paint. "What have you few been up to?"
The clone's eyes widened as he tried to hide the cloth, only to sigh in defeat. "My squad--" he paused, internally fighting over something, but finally gave in. "My squad decided it would be a good idea to paint Jedi Master Shaak Ti's ship."
Rylann fought back the urge to guffaw. Normally, she would just laugh, but the embarrassment oozing off of the clone made her hesitate. "What was the picture of, may I ask?"
The clone's color deepened in a blush. "Brodes painted a cute little General Grievous with hearts."
It was Rylann's turn to be confused. "Why, though?" She knew her master had dealings with Grievous from earlier in the year, but the hearts?
The clone took a deep breath before stating very quickly, "There's a running joke amongst the clones that they used to date before he turned evil."
Rylann shook her head, sighing. "That seems highly unlikely," she said, before smiling. "What is your name?"
"CT-21-9022 of the Crest Squad, ma'am," he said, struggling to salute, only to drop a pair of painted trousers.
"What is your real name?" Rylann asked, sure that others besides her friends gave each other names. She had heard rumors of "regs" known as Rex, Wolffe, and Cody, but hadn't met them. The clone muttered something but she couldn't hear it. "Excuse me?"
"Giggles," he whispered, head cast low.
A grin spread across her face. "I get it," she said. "The smiley-face."
"The what?" he asked, confused.
Rylann paused, pointing to her neck. "The one tattooed on your neck."
"The what--" Giggles dropped the clothes to feel his neck when he growled. "Brody."
"Is Brody the 'Brodes' that painted the Grievous?" Rylann asked, as the lift slowed, reaching her floor.
The clone only nodded, picking up the clothes. "What's your name?"
"Rylann Tetra, Jedi Master Shaak Ti's padawan," Rylann said, her grin growing as shock grew on his face.
"Ma'am!" he said, saluting her once more only to drop the clothes again. He scurried to pull the clothes back into his arms. "What brings you down here, ma'am?"
Rylann hesitated as the door slid open. "Secret jedi training," she stated honestly, turning to him as she walked backwards out of the elevator. "I won't tell anyone about this," she stated, gesturing to the clothes, "if you don't tell anyone you saw me here."
"Yes, ma'am!" And the last thing she sees is him saluting and dropping the clothes as the elevator door closed.
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A/N:
SURPRISE!
Another chapter. Two in one night, now THAT is crazy. I got into a roll writing this and I'm happy with how it turned out. But beware, it is NOT EDITED.
Also, meet Giggles, the cinnamon roll and love of my life minus Rex.