The Dark Academy on Korriban

It would be the last time she could look at the horizon of Korriban for some time, Shaisha mused as she slowed her speeder down. For many it was a horrid wasteland, but whenever she looked out at the red sands of the Sith's homeworld, she felt the connection to the history of her people; her pride in her heritage.

She had sent a message to Jo'ren to meet for sparring, if he was up for it, as well as the coordinates. After all, it could be quite some time until they saw eachother again, and she wanted to spend some time with him one last time before they would go their separate ways.

Having seen the beauty of Korriban's morning from the cantina that morning with Moyr Jo'ren had been quite pleased to receive Shaisha's suggestion. His speeder came in from a slightly different route and arrived at the coordinates shortly after her.

He was less dismissive of the planet than his master, but Jo'ren found himself more attracted to the forests of Yavin IV. It felt as though something about it was in his blood. Still, one last waltz in the desert sands seemed like a fine way to spend the mid morning.

He parked up next to her speeder and jumped off.

"Thanks for the message. I like your sense of aesthetic." He gave her a grin and moved over to her.

Shaisha grinned in return and slid herself off the speeder's seat.

"Well, I don't think we'll be able to see this view for some time. Besides, it's a nice spot... I've often come out here to just look at the stars, or the sunrise, or when I feel like the walls of the Academy is closing in on me. I would have personally prefered to have more of our lectures outdoors, to be honest."

"Still," she looked at him with a friendly smile, "I'm glad you accepted my invitation to come out here."

"I wouldn't have complained if we had. Not sure Lord Savas would have liked being away from his comfy chair that long though." He shrugged and moved up under he was right in front of her, towering.

"Thanks for asking. I figure it'll be a busy evening with the party, and then I expect to be leaving last thing, or first thing I guess." A smile. "Would be a shame to leave without spending some time together."

She confidently placed her hands on her hips, drawing herself up in full height as she looked up at him.

"You're leaving soon after the party tonight? A pity... but fortunate that I have you here now. Do you know where you'll be heading?"

The way she held herself drew an appreciative glance from the big sith. "Yeah, I'll be around a few more hours but then I'm gone. So count yourself lucky." He winked.

"I do know where I'll be going. Looking forward to it. Unless my master changed his mind of course. I'll find out later. What about you? Anywhere fun?" A teasing smile suggested it wouldn't be that easy to learn what he was up to.

"What can I say, Vowrawn likes his surprises, so I can't answer that yet," she admitted with a small laugh. "Though I hope it won't take me to somewhere crazy where I won't be able to keep in touch with you."

"It will be a boring change of scenery to not see you anymore, after all."

A deep chuckle came from the depths of the Red Menace. "Well that's true. My good looks and great hair will miss you too. I'm sure you'll manage to have some fun though."

He looked out over the desert. "We can always get ourselves some holo-communicators. That way you can get your fix, even you end up somewhere boring."

She laughed in response. "My, only your good looks and hair? Certainly, there is more to Lord Rath than just that? Like his exceptional skill with the lightsaber."

"Oh, well now you mention it, there is that. I mean who could forget my exceptional skill and sense of humour?" He reached a hand up to gently touch her chin. "Not you I hope?"

Releasing her he stepped back a pace and looked her up and down. Or from his position, down and further down.

"You said you wanted to spar. Anything particular you wanted to train?"

"Never," she smiled, and tried to ignore the hot feeling on her cheeks when Jo'ren touched her chin.

"Hm, mostly want to test my skill against someone who's supposedly a better fighter than me. Besides, my practice with the Shien style has left some expertise to be desired against more melee-based opponents. I'd totally own you if you were to come at with me a blaster though."

"If I come at you with a blaster Shaisha, it probably isn't me." He nodded and drew his double-bladed saber. "Supposedly huh? How did your fight at the temple go? I didn't see you.". Mostly because he'd been right in the thick of the fighting, surrounded by Massassi warriors and cutting a path through them.

"If you didn't see me, it meant some of my tactic was working," she admitted with a chuckle and drew her two lightsabers.

"But it certainly could've gone better. I'm used to fighting bigger opponents," a nod to Jo'ren, "but not that big."

Jo'ren shrugged. "Shien's great when the blaster bolts are flying. Not so good against a wall of irate Massassi. They all have their moments, the styles."

He activated his blades and called on the force to Sense her movements. "Let's see what you've got."

She extended her senses to become more aware of Jo'ren's movements, though they were not yet as sharp as his yet.

Sliding forward, she made a feint with the shoto to test his defenses as she aimed to cut the distance between them in the hopes that the shoto would give an advantage in close-quarters against the unweildy double-bladed saber.

Unfortunately the double-bladed saber was only unwieldy in the hands of less physically accept users. Jo'ren used it like he was born to this, easily countering the move and ready for the follow-up.

As their blades clashed he smiled fiercely, red light reflecting off his eyes. "Nice idea."

"Thanks," she gave a dazzling smile and quickly followed up, the two lightsabers coming in at two different angles as she pressed the attack.

Both were parried with a flick of his wrists and suddenly Shaisha was on the defensive! He jumped over one low swing and struck hard enough that her off-handed defense would likely still knock her to the ground.

"It's all rather exhilarating, wouldn't you say? You know, I'd have loved to see a sparring match between Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma. If I ever get to go back in time that's where I'd go."

She parried his attack, barely, sidestepping away rather than relying on brute force to stop him. It was still enough to throw her a little off-balance and forcing her to regain her footing rather than retaliate right away.

"Really?" she retorted with a wry smile, moving the shoto with a flourish for another feint. The true attack wasn't the other lightsaber though, but to keep him busy so as not to notice that she was using the Force to shift the terrain to her advantage, trying to set Jo'ren up for tripping over rocks as she went on the offensive to push him backwards.


(OOC: Not sure if that's actually a thing in the game, but hey, since we're narrating it, it seemed fitting from the Shien Expert description )

"Really. They were some of the greatest duellists, well, ever." He smiled as she came at him again, sensing her strikes just before she made them. Parrying them came effortlessly, but the shifting terrain was indeed a clever trick. Realising that something was amiss he used his natural athletic ability to somersault backwards, ending up balanced on top of a big flat rock. It gave Shaisha a bit more breathing room.

"Hey, good strategy. Outmaneuver a bigger opponent if you can." The break in the combat gave him a moment to gather his Second Wind and then he was off the rock and racing back at Shaisha with his twin-blade.

"Mother always said that a battle can be won easily by choosing the terrain," she said as the both caught a break.

As he came at her again, she raised her two blades to block the strike in time and sliding backward as Jo'ren's overpowering strength forced her back.

"Why else did you think I chose this location?"

The shoto twisted in her hand, in the Shien style's reverse grip, and came in an upward riposte at him.

"I thought you liked getting sand in everything." He smiled and as the reverse blade came up he shifted suddenly to one side, bringing the double-blade behind his back to deflect the Shien strike, and then spinning his weapon so that the energy struck the sand, kicking it up at her with a sizzling sound and leaving a blackened mark in the ground.

As the sand flew he dropped low and swept her legs with a martial arts style kick, spinning back to a standing position and backing off back up the sandy embankment. "It's a nice view from up here. And your mother's advice is good, just don't get cocky."

Her senses warned her of the incoming sand towards her eyes and a swift motion with her lightsaber deflected that attack with ease.

It did however give Jo'ren the perfect opening for his low sweep and she lost her footing. Falling back, she rolled back and up in a low crouch, a pouty frown on her face.

"Clever. Didn't know Shii-cho used such tricks, or are you trying something new?"

Jo'ren gave her an enigmatic smile. "The forms are not the only path for a duellist Shaisha. They are a foundation, a starting point. There is other knowledge out among the stars, waiting to be found." Of course, Koro's book had been found here, on Korriban, but there were likely to be others with such insights out there.

"You've become quite the philosopher since Yavin, Jo'ren," she retorted with a light-hearted chuckle. She could tell that Jo'ren was the superior duellist of the two, but there was no progress if one didn't take the chance to test their mettle against their betters. There was no strength in defeating the weaker.

And Jo'ren seemed to know this, she felt, yet he was still willing to enter this match.

"Maybe you'll become the new Bladesmaster at the Academy someday."