Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy A Fan Novelization

Chapter Six - Marooned

"C'mon Rosh! You're not going to tell me anything? Not even how Kyle lost his comlink?" It'd been days, almost a week since Bakura and the mysterious mission to Naboo, and Rosh wasn't budging one bit.

"Nope, Kyle and I swore we'd never speak of it again." At this point she was convinced that Rosh enjoyed dangling the story over her head, like some private in-joke that she'd never be privy to. She'd let it slide. For now.

They walked together into one of the dueling rooms on the Academy's third floor. Kyle stood waiting below the dueling platform, raising an eyebrow at their approach.

"You're both late."

"Sorry," Jaden said, shooting her best glare in Rosh's direction.

"She was asking about Naboo. Again." Rosh stressed.

Surprisingly, Kyle ignored the subject altogether and asked for their lightsabers. After a moment of readjusting their settings to non-lethal training mode, he gestured to a small lift on the side of one of the dueling platform's stone pillars. Both students stepped onto the narrow space, their arms and shoulders brushing against each other. At the top they stepped onto the high platform with a see-through floor that looked down on the ground several feet below. On the ground, Kyle stood off to the side to watch them.

"You ready for me?" Rosh said coyly, gripping his yellow training saber out in front of him. Jaden rolled her eyes as he adjusted his stance like Kyle told him, then looked to her, waiting.

Jaden flexed her fingers around her lightsaber's hilt, wary of swinging it at her training partner even though it'd just been adjusted to be non-lethal like any other training saber.

"Begin!" Kyle called out. Rosh was the first to move, aiming a high to low swing. Jaden blocked it, returning the strike a moment later. They went back and forth in this same way while Kyle called out instructions.

"Remember your forms, but also know that they can only get you so far. You have to rely on instinct as well as your trust in the Force."

"How do we do that?" Rosh asked, parrying Jaden's side swing.

"I suppose it comes down to another question: What is the Force to you? Is it a safe place, somewhere you find peace? Or is it a power source from which you can draw even more power again and again?"

"I guess the power source doesn't sound too bad." Rosh grunted as he and Jaden locked blades.

Kyle merely nodded thoughtfully. "What about you Jaden?"

"I don't know." She caught Rosh's blade with hers and they locked eyes for a moment before breaking away again. "I guess having inner peace sounds more... well, peaceful."

She frowned when Rosh stifled a laugh and took a risky swing at him for it.

"Is there an actual answer to that question?" Rosh asked Kyle.

"Like I asked, it depends on what the Force is to you. Although one thing to know is when we need to go to the Force for guidance and peace. Or when to go for the strength we need to fight whatever battle has come our way. And most importantly, we need to know when to hold it all in balance together. There's a give and take that comes with communing with the Force. The Sith tended to be takers for the most part, with Jedi keeping to the opposite end of the spectrum." Their master shrugged. "Like I said, it's a balance that we all strive for to achieve." His comlink suddenly started to beep and he called for them to keep going while he stepped away.

Rosh smiled mischievously at Jaden. "Whaddya say we put a wager on this duel?"

"Like what?" Jaden asked.