18 Sateles Question

I meditate and feel the force swirl around me. I can't tell how much time has passed, but it should've been long enough. I stop meditating, and I open my eyes. I look at the clock, and I gave Satele an extra hour of rest by mistake. I walk to the room and open it. I notice she isn't actually sleeping and is instead meditating herself. I send a soft wave through the force to brush against her mind. She opens her eyes and quits meditating.

She stands up and makes her way towards me. "I saw that you were meditating, so I decided to do the same. I will teach you how to sustain yourself with the force. You will be able to stay awake longer and not need to eat as much. Speaking of food, let's get some. You haven't eaten since I picked you up on Tython." Food sounds perfect right now. I follow her out of the area all the Jedi are staying at, and we head to the cantina.

She orders us some food, and they are the typical rations used for the republic military. It doesn't taste great, but it is very filling. We spend 15 minutes eating and filling our stomachs. I doubt Satele even needs to eat with how much she has trained. We finish eating, and we give the dishes back to the keep. "Now it's time for your first lesson." I'm more excited than an aspiring Jedi should be. She notices and chuckles. "I was the same way. It's okay to be excited to learn. Just be tempered with it." I nod my head, knowing that she has been in my boots.

We continue back to the quarters we came from. We enter the room and walk to the other side. Satele presses some buttons on the pad, and the door slides open. Another big room is revealed. I see training droids and marks of damage from training. "I want to know your working knowledge of lightsaber combat, so tell me what you know." I know a good amount. There are 7 forms that we can learn, but Jedi don't really study the 7th.

I take a breath because I'm about to explain a lot. "My Shii-Cho classes taught me the 6 zones of the bodies. Zone 1 is the head. Zone 2 is the right arm and side. Zone 3 is the left arm and side, and zone 4 is the entire midsection and torso as well as the back. Zone 5 and 6 are the legs." She nods her head at my words. She waits in silence for me to continue as well. "You use horizontal and vertical strikes to attack and defend the 6 zones in Shii-Cho." She smiles, knowing that I know more than that.

These zones are synonymous with all the forms, but it's introduced in Shii-Cho. "Then there are the 3 rings of defense. The outer ring is for defending wide attacks that take too long to attack. You hold your lightsaber diagonally to use the outer ring defense." She nods her head with an impressed glint in her eyes. "The middle ring is for defending quick attacks and blast deflection. The blade is held at right angles, with the upper and lower guards being horizontal, while the left and right positions being vertical." I studied to the best of my abilities with what I had access to. "The inner ring is the last line of defense. It's dangerous to attack and defend from here. It has only a single guard position, with the hilt covering the navel. Attacks would be deflected by angling the blades tip and shunting them aside with the lower third of the blade, facilitating a swift counter towards the opponent's chest or abdomen." She looks at me, impressed. I studied the most out of all the younglings when it came to lightsabers and force powers. At least the powers younglings had access to.

She looks at me, sensing I know even more, and indicates for me to continue. "Marks of contact is a way to attack and target a specific part of the opponent. There is Sun Djem, which is to disarm without harming by slashing the opponent's weapon, making it obsolete. The second is Shiim, a way to cause a small wound on the opponent. It can be applied anywhere on the body and isn't specific to any Zone." Satele is now actually looking at me in slight disbelief. "Cho Mai is amputation of the opponent's weapon hand, and Cho Sun is the weapon arm. Cho Mok is the amputation of an opponent's limb like a leg or non-weapon hand." She is now waiting with pride on her face.

I continue on my working knowledge of lightsaber combat. "Shiak is the act of stabbing an opponent, and Sai Cha is the act of decapitating by attacking zones 1 and the sides of zone 2 and 3." I take a breath and think about the knowledge and remember the rest of the marks of contact. "Sai Tok is the act of cutting someone horizontally in half at the torso separating the legs from the body. It's also considered Sai Tok when vertically cutting someone in half from the head down or the crotch up. Finally, for marks of contact, there is Mou Kai which is the dismemberment of an opponent through a circular motion of the lightsaber, aimed at the major limbs." The teachers didn't teach marks of contact. I read about that in the library.

She looks at me, impressed, and smiles at me. She sighs and motions with her hand for me to continue. "There are four types of ready stances. Jedi ready is the most common stance in the order and is identical to the opening stance in Ataru. The dominant foot is held back, with the blade in a vertical parry position on the dominant side. The next is defensive neutral, and it's a negligible difference between Jedi ready and defensive neutral. The only real difference is the feet are evenly spaced rather than one held back. This position was intended to provide the maximum amount of blade surface area for blast-deflection." She is now looking at me with slight worry.

I take a breath for the last two, and I'm not done with what I know. "The third is offensive neutral, and the feet are evenly spaced, with the blade pointed towards the enemy. The stance is intended to provide the minimum visual blade area for target and tracking. The last is the center of being, and it's used in both combat and meditation. Users of this stance will hold the lightsaber horizontally, with the lightsaber hilt just below the chin." That is almost all the information I know of general lightsaber combat, only one last subject.

I take a deep breath and prepare for this explanation. "The last thing I know about is moves and maneuvers. There are eight in total. The first is Jung, which is a 180-degree turn. Jung Ma is a 360-degree spin used to build momentum for an attack. Shun is a 360-degree spin when the lightsaber is held one-handed." That's three down, and that means there is 5 to go." The fourth is Sai which is the act of overleaping an attack at the legs." The last three moves are complicated for anyone but Masters.

Satele is now giving me a look she has never given me before. I can't really describe it. "The fifth is flowing water, and it's a cutting technique based on the principle of using the space created when the opponent withdraws their lightsaber offensively to one's own advantage. As the opponent pulls their lightsaber back from a bind, the user will follow it with their blade, in effect causing the opponent to pull the user's blade into themselves." Flowing water is a technique I won't be ready for in a long time.

I think about the next one and remember its unique movement sets. "The sixth is falling leaf, and it's a cut that is an ancient move that involves the user spinning and making a fast slash at an opponent standing behind them and then return to face the way they were before the maneuver. It is described as spinning one's feet to slash from the sky." I personally see the benefits of using such a move. It's just too complicated for an untrained padawan.

The seventh one is up next, and I remember reading the warning when I was researching it. "The next is dulon, and it's a lightsaber move where the hilt's pommel will be held at one's midsection with the blade thirty degrees up and would be slashed at high velocity. The name dulon also refers to solo lightsaber training." This is a useful one for training without a Master to instruct you.

The last isn't really a move or maneuver, but still useful. "The eighth and last one is Kai-kun, and it's not a maneuver per say, but rather a reenactment of a prior lightsaber duel." That is all my working knowledge on lightsaber combat. I've learned some basic things about Niman, Ataru, and Shien after getting our training sabers. However, we were only allowed to learn so much after getting them. I found out I had to wait till I got a Master to further progress. "That's all I really know about lightsaber combat, Master." She looks at me with a kind expression and shakes her head, but not in disapproval.

She backs up and draws her double-bladed lightsaber. She turns a small knob on it to lower the power output and ignites both sides. "We will go straight to sparring since you know everything other new padawans spend months or years learning. Draw your lightsaber and use the pommel on the bottom to adjust power output." I do as she says, and I put it on the lowest output just like I watched her do. I ignite the yellow blade, and I get into the Niman stance and wait for instruction from Satele.

[A/N: Thank you, Wookieepedia, you can find all this information in Lightsabers Combat/Legends.]