Of Love and War Book 4: When Darkness Falls

Chapter 10: Freefall

While her first thought was to head back to the Jedi Temple, she had the realization that she would not be able to vent her frustrations and emotions to the degree that she wanted to, nor in the way that she wanted to, if she were to head back to the Temple. So, halfway there, she took a detour, heading for the industrial sector, past the operational facilities, and finding her way towards an abandoned, spacious area that didn't even house a warehouse anymore. She had enough presence of mind to make sure there was no important machinery, piping, or anything of the sort before setting down her borrowed speeder somewhere it would be out of the way.

If there was one effective method of wearing oneself out and channeling a flurry of emotions like what Zelina felt now, it was through lightsaber combat and Force abilities. Her lightsaber combat would be rather one sided, but it would still serve it's purpose.

Master Windu had not gone into advanced techniques, or even applying Vaapad to a duel yet, but he had taught her katas, stances, forms to practice, and techniques. The techniques he'd taught her so far were important—how to channel her emotions, control them, make herself a conduit in order to redirect one's dark energy against them, barely maintained self-control while pushing oneself to the limit both physically and within the Force.

And right now, she needed that in order to get everything out of her system.

Unclipping her violet blade from her belt, Zelina activated her lightsaber, swinging it experimentally as if to see how her emotions were affecting her blade work before she settled back into the traditional Vaapad stance.

And then she started going through the forms with swift precision, letting her emotions guide the power of her swings while making a conscious effort to channel those emotions with precision and purpose, to control them rather than let them overwhelm her.

She should have done an exercise like this before barging into the Chancellor's office, though there wasn't much she could do about that now, was there?

Once she started to pick up speed in how quickly she ran through the forms, the Force swelling around her with the barely contained energy of her emotions, she broke from the form, gathering all of the energy to her center before she planted one foot forward on the ground and pushed, watching as a burst of energy ripped forward through the air at the action, tangible with a faint blue glow.

According to Satele, that glow would grow more prominent with the strength of the burst, though it would always remain semi-transparent.

The action had sapped some of her energy, so Zelina threw herself into building up another, running through the Vaapad forms again to once more gather the barely contained energy she had to keep constantly during Vaapad combat. Again, when she felt she'd built up enough energy, she broke from her form and sent a powerful burst soaring across the empty space she'd found to practice in. The burst wasn't as powerful this time, but she was still developing the talent for herself. At the same time, she was rather sure she saw a bowing of the wall that she'd now hit twice with her burst.

Hopefully that wasn't someone's property, somewhere on this planet, that would make her have to pay damages if anyone found out she'd been hitting it with bursts of raw Force energy to vent out her frustrations.

Zelina felt a familiar brush against her consciousness at that moment, and she heaved a world-weary sigh, deactivating her blade and dropping the ground. She simply sat and stared at nothing in particular, trying not to think of anything. She feared if she formed too much of active, conscious thought, she'd think of what she'd just witnessed—and she wasn't ready to face that.

The sound of a speeder reached her ears, the vehicle coming to a stop somewhere behind her. She didn't turn, already well aware of who it was, and knowing that she was probably about to get yelled at. He'd been given plenty of time to prepare his thorough chewing flying around Coruscant trying to find her, no doubt, a task made annoyingly easier with their bond.