"Akya," whispered a voice. The Padawan blinked a couple times then rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling as the light flooded in. "Good morning," said the same voice.
Akya rubbed her eyes, then looked beside her to find her husband's smiling face. She didn't smile back at him, and instead turned away again. "Five more minutes," she said, her voice raspy.
"Nice try," he said, pulling the blankets off of her. "I've got a briefing to go to, remember? That means you have to get out of my room. And you have training with Obi-Wan."
Akya groaned, finally sitting up. She smoothed out her sleepwear and got up, taking her robes into the washroom with her so that she could get ready for the day. Once she was finished and dressed, Anakin was in the room waiting for her. He handed Akya her lightsaber and she thanked him with a smile. "So," she said, clipping her saber onto her belt. "How did you say we were getting out of here?" They were still inside the Temple, and though the dormitory halls of the Temple weren't often full, you would occasionally see someone walking through. They couldn't risk this. Akya wasn't even sure why she agreed to stay in his room for the night in the first place.
"I'll go first, and get anyone out of the hall that could see you, then you rush to the lift once I signal you."
"And what's the signal?"
"I'll engage your comm." A beep would sound from Akya's communicator once he engaged it, even if he didn't speak.
"Easy enough."
Anakin looked both ways before sneaking out the door, spotting two newly inducted Jedi Knights on their way to the lift. He walked up to them and engaged in conversation, then after a moment, the three Jedi began walking away from the lift, Anakin leading the way. He seemed to be making his way towards the opposite side of this floor of the Temple, taking the two Knights away from the lift and leading them to one of the meditation rooms.
Once the coast was clear, he pressed a button on his own communicator which sent the signal to Akya. She was careful before stepping out the door, but once she knew for sure no one else was there, she took to the elevator. She pressed the button and waited for it to come up. A short ding symbolized that it had arrived, but when the door opened, she found her master looking back at her, his calm face turning confused.
"Akya?" he said. "What are you doing on this floor of the Temple?"
Akya took a step back upon seeing him, trying not to reveal her surprise. "Master," she greeted, as calmly as she could. "I, was, um, just taking a look at all the meditation rooms. I haven't taken good looks at them all yet." Each floor did indeed have one, and it was lucky that this part of the Temple wasn't only dormitories. "What are, um, you doing here?"
"I came to make sure Anakin was awake. He's got a—"
"I know," Akya said. "A briefing. He's up, I just saw him. He's conversing with some of the new Knights." She looked back to see Anakin in the distance, opening the doors to the meditation room at the end of the hall and allowing the two young Knights in first.
"I see," said Obi-Wan. "Well, good. I was coming to you next. Are you ready to begin training?"
Akya nodded. "Always, Master."
That was close.
— ★ ✰ ☆ —
"Good," Obi-Wan commended with a hand on his chin, watching his Padawan dance around the room, using her lightsaber to create various fighting forms. He had taught her these long ago, but as her skill progressed, she took a different approach to these forms, and it always amused him to see where they were now. "Very good."
Once Akya had finished her routine, she stood with her feet together and held her lightsaber to her side, then retracted the blade.
"Wonderful job," he said. "I noticed your Soresu stances are becoming more defense-ready than the offense. That's good."
"Thank you, Master."
"Today, I wanted to try something new," he said, taking his lightsaber hilt from his belt. He held it out for her to take, and she looked at it, confused. "Form five," he explained. She took the saber from his hands. "Shien."
Akya looked back up at her master. "You want me to use two lightsabers?"
"I thought it might be beneficial to learn," he said. "I'm not looking for you to master something like this, but dual blade combat can be beneficial. You can use any form of combat when using two blades, but Shien is favorable."
"Okay," she nodded. "Let's try it."
"Now, I want you to try your ready position in each of the basic forms before we begin," he said, as she ignited the lightsabers. "Shorten one blade so that it acts as a shoto, and try to attempt a reverse grip. Akya nodded, adjusting her own blade so that it was shorter than Obi-Wan's, then took to her Form I stance, and began running through them all.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The reverse grip was unfamiliar, but nothing Akya couldn't get used to. It was easy to integrate it into her stances, especially because she had seen it so often. Shien was Ahsoka's favored form. She only knew so much because she'd watched her.
"Good," he said, once Akya had repeated the ready stances a couple times. "Now, what do you know about Form Five?"
"There are two variants," she said, retracting both blades. "Shien, and Djem So. Djem So is based on defending with solid blocks and parries, then immediately countering with strong counterattacks. The Shien variant allows for the unconventional reverse grip to be incorporated."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Today, I want you to simply try to incorporate the reverse grip into your Djem So practices so that you can slowly evolve it into the Shien form. Remember, I'm not expecting you to master this. And especially not in a day." He reached his hand out and used the Force to attract a training saber to himself, then ignited its yellow blade. "We'll run through some form stances," he said.
Akya always liked when their training was something new. Obi-Wan liked to incorporate all lightsaber forms into their practices, because he knew that one was often more useful than the other in some situations. As a Jedi Master, he was knowledgeable in all forms, most notably Soresu, which had quickly become Akya's form of choice after becoming his Padawan. Lightsaber training was something she was familiar with, and it always brought her comfort to do in the quiet of a sparring room, just her and Obi-Wan.
Though Akya had studied lightsaber combat for years and passed many exams, there was always more to learn. Even exams at Padawan level which she completed as an Initiate never showcased the full range of what a lightsaber could do. She was always happy to learn, and Obi-Wan was a good teacher. She was very grateful for him.
The Master and Padawan repeated their dance for an hour, slowly reaching the day's proficiency. Once finished, the two Jedi sat on the bench by the door. Akya handed back her master's lightsaber.
"You did good today," he said, taking it from her and hooking it back onto his belt. "You're a wonderful duelist. And you made great progress today."
"Thank you, Master."
"These are Anakin's favored forms," he said. He stood up and put the training saber back onto the wall. "He's practically a master of Form Five. He taught them to—" He stopped mid sentence, his eyes not leaving the wall where the training sabers rested.
"Ahsoka," Akya completed. Obi-Wan turned to face her again, then sat. "I know."
"She's the reason I wanted you to learn it," he said, looking down. "It's served her well."
Akya put her head back against the wall and stared at the crown molding around the ceiling of the room. "I wonder what she's doing now," she said, almost to herself.
"Something good," he said, turning to his Padawan. "She can hold her own."
"What would you have done if I had left?" she asked. "What would you be feeling?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "I'd be upset," he said. "And frustrated. But in the end, it would be your choice. No one can choose for you. Ahsoka believed that the reason her trial happened was to show her the untrustworthiness in the Order. Everything happens for a reason, Akya. If you did leave, I would eventually have to learn to accept it."
Akya looked at her master and smiled a soft smile. "But you would miss me, right?"
Obi-Wan chuckled. "Yes, Akya. I would."
a.n.:
i love them so much. this is basically a filler chapter but idc i love it.
it's also the last chapter in the clone wars section of this book! You are onto revenge of the sith! this is so exciting. i cannot WAIT for you guys to read this. one day i'd like to add in some extra chapters to the clone wars part but for now you just have all that. It's still the longest section though!
ily, don't forget to vote
molly