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niki_chidon) wrote2008-03-24 10:12 pm
niki_chidon) wrote2008-03-24 10:12 pm
Fic: Nights of the Old Republic (11/?): Dantooine, the Tests (Carth/Revan)
Title: Nights of the Old Republic (11/?): Dantooine, The Tests
Author: Niki
Fandom: SW:KotOR
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine
Notes: I shuffle up quite a bit of the action in Dantooine. Still following the story of the game, and the bits of dialogue are there, I just change the order a bit.
Previous parts: Prologue, Chapter 1, Interlude, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9
o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o
Chapter 10: Dantooine, The Tests
o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o
Reciting the Jedi Code was easy. Shin had meditated on its meaning often enough to answer Master Zhar's questions easily.
Even building her own lightsaber felt simple, apparently the hours spent reading technical manuals paid off. It was still surreal – until that moment, despite her growing control of the Force, she had felt like she was only playing at being a Jedi. Somehow this made it feel more real.
When she first held the finished weapon in her hand and gazed at its yellow glow she felt a sense of rightness so strong she knew all her hard work had been worth it, and had no doubts about whether she belonged here or not.
A yellow crystal, the sign of a Jedi Sentinel. "For those who cannot decide whether they're fish or fowl" as one Padawan had put it but she felt confident it was a right path for her, at least for now. The colour though...
She couldn't stop testing the weapon, switching it on and off repeatedly, admiring its sound, and the graceful arc it made in the dim corridor. She laughed out loud, again feeling like a child playing a Jedi. She ran outside, still laughing, wanting to share the feeling with Carth, Mission, even Bastila.
"Looking like a Jedi," Carth said, smiling the smile Shin just knew he'd used with his son.
For once she didn't care, she knew she was acting like a youngling.
o o o
By the time Shin faced the Council to get her final test she had calmed down. Her left hand still rested on the weapon on her belt, though, as if it would disappear if she let go for a second.
Again she got the feeling the Jedi of the Council left things out in their explanations as they directed her towards a place tainted with the dark side. Of course, in this situation, it was probably part of the test.
For this, she was allowed to leave the confines of the Enclave, and even to take company. Finally! She knew her companions were getting a little stir-crazy. Now, who should she take? Carth, obviously. Mission? In the end she decided to take Canderous. He was bound to feel a little cooped up and she had heard rumours of Mandalorian raiders...
She burst out in laughter when she saw them. Carth and Canderous were scowling at each other – both of them had managed to choose a similar armour from the Hawk's stores, and were glowing golden in the Sun.
"My royal guard," she got out, choking in laughter.
"Hey, Shin, we got something for you!" Mission appeared from the ship, dragging Zaalbar behind her.
Without ceremony, the Wookiee handed her an armour that shined purple when the light hit it. Mission was chattering away about how Zaalbar had reworked Davik's personal armour to fit her. Not a mean feat seeing that she was half his size.
"Thank you," she said, smiling, and instantly tried it on.
Bastila had been exasperated at Shin's reluctance to wear robes like the other students even if she wasn't allowed Padawan robes yet, and she didn't see herself wearing those even when she could. She felt naked without her armour and concentrated hard to hone her awakening Force abilities so that they would not be hindered by the use of personal armour as she knew Bastila's were.
She now made a few mocking turns in the yard, modelling her new look before sobering up and heading towards the gate with her 'royal guard'.
o o o
Having been restricted to the area of the Enclave for so long it didn't really come as a surprise to Carth that Shin wanted to explore the place a little before heading to the 'tainted grove'.
So again he got to admire Shin at work, talking to the locals, listening to their worries, accepting their missions – to find an errant droid, to avenge a dead daughter... A Twi'lek Jedi told her about a dangerous cave where she might be able to find rare crystals for her lightsaber, and another older Jedi gave further hints about her job at the grove.
Almost instantly outside the inhabited area they encountered their first wildlife, and after that it felt like they fought against kath hounds every five minutes. It was interesting to see Shin working her lightsaber, and occasionally getting frustrated and abandoning it in favour of her blasters.
So interesting, in fact, that Carth forgot to pay attention to what he was doing and took a bad bite as a punishment. He fell, but took the beast with him with a blaster shot to its neck.
"Carth!" Shin's voice was full of concern.
"Was sloppy," he muttered, getting up. "I'll be fine."
"Show me," she demanded, and as he presented the cut to her he felt a weird tingling sensation run through his hand. Warm, soft... healing.
He could only stare, incredulous, as the torn skin was healed, and the pain disappeared. He raised his questioning gaze to Shin's face. She shrugged.
"Been practising."
"Wow. Force healing?" he asked. "How does it work?"
"It's like... Like getting in touch with the Force in and around you, telling the injured part to draw strength from the universe itself, from the Force twirling all around us. Or something like that. Half of what I do is not conscious. I just know what needs to be done, and – ask – the Force to help. Never tried that particular adaptation of it yet."
"Well, thank you, in any case," he got out, looking at his companion in a new way, now.
He had known she was practising to be a Jedi, seen her levitate objects with the power of her thoughts, witnessed her play with her sabre... but this finally brought it home. She was a Jedi. She could do what Bastila and the other Jedi could. She could master the Force, and make the world respond in a way he could only dream about – see the world in a way he could only marvel at.
She grinned at him, as if reading his mind, (Surely she couldn't do that?) as if trying to remind him that it was still her, still the same woman he'd come to know and l... like, despite the new skills she'd learned.
o o o
They ran into some Mandalorian raiders, too. Canderous was disgusted.
"This is what we have been reduced to. Mercenaries, bandits... thugs. Ganging up with Rodians and other dregs of the galaxy, terrorising farmers... We lost our purpose and direction when Revan defeated us."
"We have to come back when we're finished with this test, and find the leader of this little gang. At least we can stop them from terrorising these farmers," Shin said, and Canderous agreed.
He had no qualms in taking down his own when they sunk this low. But he reminded that these would not be the only ones they'd likely run into.
"You'll find many groups like this on other planets. Scattered... Lost."
o o o
They finally made it to the grove, and found the reason for the taint – a young alien padawan who froze Carth and Canderous, leaving Shin to face her alone.
The girl was good, fighting furiously, hitting Shin with her sabre with desperate strength. Shin wasn't that confident in her sabre handling but the many hours of practice with Bastila paid off in her ability to block the strikes.
She fought back with sneakiness, answering a sabre blow with a kick, and drew on every Force-related skill she had learned, time and again sending the girl away from her with what felt like a push with the Force.
Finally the girl was beaten, and expected the final blow to end her life. Shin switched off her sabre and shook her head.
"I'm not here to kill you."
"But... I've fallen to the dark side. I struck down my master. I am beyond redemption."
"No one's beyond redemption..." she made the pause a question.
"Juhani," the young woman offered, and Shin smiled.
Juhani seemed like a sulky child, revelling in her naughtiness, and Shin had to remind herself that this was really serious. The young woman was really strong, and a real threat – one wrong word and they would be in the middle of the fight again, and this time it might not end before one of them was dead.
"Juhani, you are a talented, beautiful young woman, with all your life in front of you. The Jedi won't let one mistake made in the heat of the moment destroy all that for you, waste all that potential."
"What could I do? Surely I will be punished, exiled..."
"If you go to the Council, show them that you have let go of your anger, show them that you truly understand your actions and take responsibility for them... It takes strength to admit your mistakes, and take responsibility for your actions. I believe the Council will understand – and forgive."
Shin let the words roll of her tongue, playing to the subtle clues on her face and stance. She did believe that Juhani could be saved, that she would make a good Jedi one day. She did believe the Jedi would take her back – or they would go against everything they taught. Still, the words were used for certain effect, and she used all her rhetorical skills to say just the things the young woman needed to hear, to persuade her to believe her.
She succeeded. Juhani switched off her lightsaber, and met Shin's gaze with new determination.
"Even with my darkness I couldn't defeat you. You are so strong, so sure in your convictions... I will go back. And maybe one day... I can be as strong as you."
"Don't go back for that. Go back because you believe in what I say."
"I do. I still have much to learn about controlling my emotions. But now I believe I can do so. Thank you..." It was her turn to turn the hesitation into a question.
"Shin Cidon," she said, smiling. "You will be a fine Jedi one day, Juhani. It takes courage to beat the darkness inside yourself."
o o o
Continued in and Chapter 11
Author: Niki
Fandom: SW:KotOR
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine
Notes: I shuffle up quite a bit of the action in Dantooine. Still following the story of the game, and the bits of dialogue are there, I just change the order a bit.
Previous parts: Prologue, Chapter 1, Interlude, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9
o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o
Chapter 10: Dantooine, The Tests
o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o o-o
Reciting the Jedi Code was easy. Shin had meditated on its meaning often enough to answer Master Zhar's questions easily.
Even building her own lightsaber felt simple, apparently the hours spent reading technical manuals paid off. It was still surreal – until that moment, despite her growing control of the Force, she had felt like she was only playing at being a Jedi. Somehow this made it feel more real.
When she first held the finished weapon in her hand and gazed at its yellow glow she felt a sense of rightness so strong she knew all her hard work had been worth it, and had no doubts about whether she belonged here or not.
A yellow crystal, the sign of a Jedi Sentinel. "For those who cannot decide whether they're fish or fowl" as one Padawan had put it but she felt confident it was a right path for her, at least for now. The colour though...
She couldn't stop testing the weapon, switching it on and off repeatedly, admiring its sound, and the graceful arc it made in the dim corridor. She laughed out loud, again feeling like a child playing a Jedi. She ran outside, still laughing, wanting to share the feeling with Carth, Mission, even Bastila.
"Looking like a Jedi," Carth said, smiling the smile Shin just knew he'd used with his son.
For once she didn't care, she knew she was acting like a youngling.
o o o
By the time Shin faced the Council to get her final test she had calmed down. Her left hand still rested on the weapon on her belt, though, as if it would disappear if she let go for a second.
Again she got the feeling the Jedi of the Council left things out in their explanations as they directed her towards a place tainted with the dark side. Of course, in this situation, it was probably part of the test.
For this, she was allowed to leave the confines of the Enclave, and even to take company. Finally! She knew her companions were getting a little stir-crazy. Now, who should she take? Carth, obviously. Mission? In the end she decided to take Canderous. He was bound to feel a little cooped up and she had heard rumours of Mandalorian raiders...
She burst out in laughter when she saw them. Carth and Canderous were scowling at each other – both of them had managed to choose a similar armour from the Hawk's stores, and were glowing golden in the Sun.
"My royal guard," she got out, choking in laughter.
"Hey, Shin, we got something for you!" Mission appeared from the ship, dragging Zaalbar behind her.
Without ceremony, the Wookiee handed her an armour that shined purple when the light hit it. Mission was chattering away about how Zaalbar had reworked Davik's personal armour to fit her. Not a mean feat seeing that she was half his size.
"Thank you," she said, smiling, and instantly tried it on.
Bastila had been exasperated at Shin's reluctance to wear robes like the other students even if she wasn't allowed Padawan robes yet, and she didn't see herself wearing those even when she could. She felt naked without her armour and concentrated hard to hone her awakening Force abilities so that they would not be hindered by the use of personal armour as she knew Bastila's were.
She now made a few mocking turns in the yard, modelling her new look before sobering up and heading towards the gate with her 'royal guard'.
o o o
Having been restricted to the area of the Enclave for so long it didn't really come as a surprise to Carth that Shin wanted to explore the place a little before heading to the 'tainted grove'.
So again he got to admire Shin at work, talking to the locals, listening to their worries, accepting their missions – to find an errant droid, to avenge a dead daughter... A Twi'lek Jedi told her about a dangerous cave where she might be able to find rare crystals for her lightsaber, and another older Jedi gave further hints about her job at the grove.
Almost instantly outside the inhabited area they encountered their first wildlife, and after that it felt like they fought against kath hounds every five minutes. It was interesting to see Shin working her lightsaber, and occasionally getting frustrated and abandoning it in favour of her blasters.
So interesting, in fact, that Carth forgot to pay attention to what he was doing and took a bad bite as a punishment. He fell, but took the beast with him with a blaster shot to its neck.
"Carth!" Shin's voice was full of concern.
"Was sloppy," he muttered, getting up. "I'll be fine."
"Show me," she demanded, and as he presented the cut to her he felt a weird tingling sensation run through his hand. Warm, soft... healing.
He could only stare, incredulous, as the torn skin was healed, and the pain disappeared. He raised his questioning gaze to Shin's face. She shrugged.
"Been practising."
"Wow. Force healing?" he asked. "How does it work?"
"It's like... Like getting in touch with the Force in and around you, telling the injured part to draw strength from the universe itself, from the Force twirling all around us. Or something like that. Half of what I do is not conscious. I just know what needs to be done, and – ask – the Force to help. Never tried that particular adaptation of it yet."
"Well, thank you, in any case," he got out, looking at his companion in a new way, now.
He had known she was practising to be a Jedi, seen her levitate objects with the power of her thoughts, witnessed her play with her sabre... but this finally brought it home. She was a Jedi. She could do what Bastila and the other Jedi could. She could master the Force, and make the world respond in a way he could only dream about – see the world in a way he could only marvel at.
She grinned at him, as if reading his mind, (Surely she couldn't do that?) as if trying to remind him that it was still her, still the same woman he'd come to know and l... like, despite the new skills she'd learned.
o o o
They ran into some Mandalorian raiders, too. Canderous was disgusted.
"This is what we have been reduced to. Mercenaries, bandits... thugs. Ganging up with Rodians and other dregs of the galaxy, terrorising farmers... We lost our purpose and direction when Revan defeated us."
"We have to come back when we're finished with this test, and find the leader of this little gang. At least we can stop them from terrorising these farmers," Shin said, and Canderous agreed.
He had no qualms in taking down his own when they sunk this low. But he reminded that these would not be the only ones they'd likely run into.
"You'll find many groups like this on other planets. Scattered... Lost."
o o o
They finally made it to the grove, and found the reason for the taint – a young alien padawan who froze Carth and Canderous, leaving Shin to face her alone.
The girl was good, fighting furiously, hitting Shin with her sabre with desperate strength. Shin wasn't that confident in her sabre handling but the many hours of practice with Bastila paid off in her ability to block the strikes.
She fought back with sneakiness, answering a sabre blow with a kick, and drew on every Force-related skill she had learned, time and again sending the girl away from her with what felt like a push with the Force.
Finally the girl was beaten, and expected the final blow to end her life. Shin switched off her sabre and shook her head.
"I'm not here to kill you."
"But... I've fallen to the dark side. I struck down my master. I am beyond redemption."
"No one's beyond redemption..." she made the pause a question.
"Juhani," the young woman offered, and Shin smiled.
Juhani seemed like a sulky child, revelling in her naughtiness, and Shin had to remind herself that this was really serious. The young woman was really strong, and a real threat – one wrong word and they would be in the middle of the fight again, and this time it might not end before one of them was dead.
"Juhani, you are a talented, beautiful young woman, with all your life in front of you. The Jedi won't let one mistake made in the heat of the moment destroy all that for you, waste all that potential."
"What could I do? Surely I will be punished, exiled..."
"If you go to the Council, show them that you have let go of your anger, show them that you truly understand your actions and take responsibility for them... It takes strength to admit your mistakes, and take responsibility for your actions. I believe the Council will understand – and forgive."
Shin let the words roll of her tongue, playing to the subtle clues on her face and stance. She did believe that Juhani could be saved, that she would make a good Jedi one day. She did believe the Jedi would take her back – or they would go against everything they taught. Still, the words were used for certain effect, and she used all her rhetorical skills to say just the things the young woman needed to hear, to persuade her to believe her.
She succeeded. Juhani switched off her lightsaber, and met Shin's gaze with new determination.
"Even with my darkness I couldn't defeat you. You are so strong, so sure in your convictions... I will go back. And maybe one day... I can be as strong as you."
"Don't go back for that. Go back because you believe in what I say."
"I do. I still have much to learn about controlling my emotions. But now I believe I can do so. Thank you..." It was her turn to turn the hesitation into a question.
"Shin Cidon," she said, smiling. "You will be a fine Jedi one day, Juhani. It takes courage to beat the darkness inside yourself."
o o o
Continued in and Chapter 11
no subject
Anyway, I just read this and chapter nine in one sitting and can tell you that your quality level is consistent, which is always a good thing. You're very good. I'm really enjoying this, so thank you for putting your time into it. :)
no subject
I'm glad you think I'm being consistent. The breaks between chapters are sometimes so long I think I'm losing touch with the characters...
More coming very soon, I've been possessed lately;P