35 『Art of the Small』

As Dooku took a seat beside the member of the InterGalactic Banking Clans, Ento and Vaylin walked into the center of the common room. In their hands were training sabers, weapons that couldn't pose a lethal threat against human beings, that only emit only light shocks upon contact.

"Begin."

Tzzzzz!

Tzzzzz!

Two yellow hues lit up the darkening room as the sun was beginning to set.

Ento pointed his weapon towards Vaylin, not initially moving until she moved into her own stance. He had his feet light spread out, stationed for easy movement in a semi-circular motion. The boy clearly planned to keep his distance during the fight.

On the other hand, Vaylin held her weapon in a strong opening Ataru stance, horizontally int front of her just above her hip. Both of her hands were gasped onto the hilt of her weapon.

They then began to circle one another, keeping their eyes on each other's weapons. Their movements were almost ceremonial, their footwork quick and quiet.

If their weapons weren't buzzing and the light wasn't shedding a new hue onto the room, one may not have even noticed them there. Of course, that wasn't the case as everyone's eyes were upon them.

That's when she ran forward, moving in with heavy focus on his weapon. The whole idea of using ataru was to bash at and overwhelm the other saber combatant. Whilst she used two hands to come down on him, he swiftly used only one to parry as he continued to side step.

As she pushed forward, he let her guide him around the room.

"Aaaah!" Vaylin continued to pound harder on his weapon, the sound of electric shocks sounding more frequently as she did so and longer as he parried them.

Unlike Vaylin, he hardly made a sound, his breath holding to a specific rhythm that allowed easy motions. As she lifted her two arms to bring the weapon down on him again, he palmed her in the shoulder, causing her to stumble back.

"Raaah!" She regained her composure and switched into another stance as she went charging forward again. She swiped side to side, he parried each attempt.Though as she went do to this, she was quickly forced back in order to defend herself as he lunged his weapon hand forward.

Ento went at her with a series of jabs, whenever she tried to parry him away, he'd react simultaneously. Each time he came closer and closer to disarming her with swift maneuvers of his wrist.

Both of them were being guided through the use of the force on how they were utilizing their weapons, which allowed them in turn to react to one another instantaneously.

Damask was quick to notice that the boy was not charging into the fight aggressively, not like the girl was. It seemed like he was being purposely spotlighted. However he was taking quick note of the teen's use of a lightsaber.

He was keeping his distance, using the length of the weapon to his advantage as well as the known fact that even just a graze from a saber could cause damage.

Within the next thirty minutes, he had taken count that Vaylin had about two hits on him in the beginning, but Ento scored at least fifteen shallow touches against Vaylin's clothes and skin. If it had been a real saber, she would've had holes all over her attire and even shallow but severe burns that would prevent further fighting.

However they continued, the clashing wasn't coming to an end.

Vaylin was flicking through the various stances that Dooku had used, in particular, Makashi. Her footwork and use of a sword was becoming more and more proficient as the fight went on.

Whenever she raised her weapon to strike him, Ento had no problem taking the advantage. Hardly did he allow their weapons to lock, and he wasn't being flashy either, instead it seemed he was getting rather picky with his movements.

Dooku seemed the most interested in what he was seeing. Vaylin was completely copying the stances he had showed her and arranging them in randomized order depending on circumstance. Though she was also using her instincts to fight even more than organized attacks.

On the other hand Ento was adapting, changing, but remaining the same. His movement was like watching an aristocrat fence, but with a lightsaber, which Dooku himself was a Master of.

It seemed the boy was combining the classic forms with the art of Fencing, with the occasional use of hand to hand combat.

As Vaylin continued her onslaught, she ran her blade along his, finally forcing him into a lock.

Ento chuckled lightly, and she giggled in response with a wide smile across her lips. They were having fun with this, though more so Ento than she. "Surrender?" He quipped.

"Hmm..." Vaylin playfully cocked her head as she shrugged to the side slightly. However that one question was enough to distract her distribution of strength in one arm.

Shifting slightly, he deactivated his weapon momentarily, causing her to strike the wall as he expertly maneuvered around her, grappling onto her shoulder. Within the next few seconds he had his saber at her throat and an handful of her tunic just under her armpit.

Vaylin clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth, "Serious...?" She rolled her eyes and deactivated her training saber, tossing it over her shoulder. Then when he released her in order to catch it, she went to palm him in the side of the head.

Instead however, he grabbed her face by the jaw as it had been a feint and pinned her to the wall. "There is no honor in battle, there is only humiliation and defeat or survival and victory."

"Mmmm!" Vaylin licked his palm, sticking her tongue out as his hand was over her mouth.

"Ew! What the farkle?!" Ento immediately hopped back, flailing his hand around, before wiping it off on his trousers.

"Salty," Vaylin uttered as she wiped her mouth with her forearm. Both of them were covered in sweat. Despite the fact that she got him to retreat, she had lost the spar, having been disarmed.

Damask started clapping slowly, followed by Dooku and then the Handmaidens.

Padmé giggle snorted as she was clapping, seeing how Vaylin had not only licked Ento, but said that he tasted salty. Though that could be taken in all the wrong ways.

Damask was grinning the best he could, though it wouldn't be evident to anyone due to his current condition. He coughed lightly into his rebreather, not really wanting to laugh at something as childish as this.

"Well done, are you ready to go onto the next demonstration?" Dooku stood up from where he had seated himself and walked towards the duo with his hands folded behind his back.

Along the way, he picked up the training saber from the ground and collected the one from Ento's hand. Giving the young teen a light nod of approval, giving Vaylin one as well.

If this had been a true duel, she would have already taken Ento out with the two hits she had laid before him, even though they may have been a fluke. He however dismissed this and looked to Ento for an answer to his question.

Ento nodded lightly before looking to Vaylin, "Take a seat in the center of the room and get comfortable. Legs out in front of you, lean back on your hands."

Vaylin blinked hearing his words and nodded. Moving into the center of the living room, she looked towards the audience before sitting down just as he ordered. She let out a relaxing sigh as she rolled her shoulders.

As Dooku stood nearby to watch closely, Ento walked over to her. "Ready?" He asked, looming over the smaller female with short dark brown hair.

Determined the girl gave a single sharp nod of her head. "Yessss," her answer was drawn out as she watched as he moved to straddle over her legs, essentially sitting on her lap in reverse. "Huh?"

Ento then placed his hands on her head. His thumbs on her forehead, his index middle and ring fingers pressed onto her temples, and his pinky resting on the back of her jaw loosely. His fingers despite the fight, were ice cold and sent tingling sensations down the sides of her head.

"Close your eyes... Clear your mind... Narrow your focus." Ento whispered quietly as he leaned forward as he entered a meditative state.

Vaylin stared up at him, her blue eyes darting side to side as she looked over his closed lids. At that moment, she felt his presence shrink and shrink until it was nearly impossible for her to feel it. Though, the same was happening to her, as if he had casted a veil overtop of her.

She couldn't tell what he was doing to her as pins and needles seemed to have taken over any and all feeling from her scalp. The girl even found herself blinking from sudden disorientation.

Dooku and Damask had wide eyes as they were watching this. They couldn't sense either one of them very well, let alone see them clearly due to their presence being distorted.

Ento could've very well made them completely invisible, but he didn't.

"Narrow your awareness of the force... Your mind..." He continued to whisper as if giving instruction to himself or her, as if telling her how it was done. By now their force presence was microscopic and he could feel and see each and every molecule of theirs through the force.

To Damask this was like the boy was doing Sith Alchemy, but by different means. He wasn't focing a change, he wasn't putting his will upon something, instead he was reconstructing the molecules piece by piece.

This was an advanced technique, one that neither of them had ever seen. Soon enough the two teens were floating, telekinesis being used in Ento's meditation. This was when things started to change.

Her dark brown hair began to shine dimly, the very hairs becoming heated individually, the very pigment changing and bleeding. There was no pain, no discomfort other than the pins and needle feeling that came from the altering use of the force.

They sat there for what felt like hours in suspense, though it was only a little under thirty minutes. When Ento removed his hands from her head, and his eyes opened, her hair was a light dirty blonde with dark roots along the scalp. She had her hair back, and he had even extended its length down to her shoulders.

Slowly, though feeling a bit out of it from the changes, Vaylin reached up and touched her hair. She moved her dirty golden locks in front of her face and smiled in triumph. "You did it!"

Mentally exhausted, Ento leaned in forward and nearly rested his head on her shoulder as he whispered in her ear. "Your hair is also now blaster proof."

"Oh...?" Vaylin turned her head, nudging his jaw with the bridge of her nose, before she blew cold air onto his notably sweat covered neck.

"...OHoho..." This caused him to shiver and fall over onto his side, his chest heaving up and down as he rolled onto his back. "I was just kidding..." He lifted one hand with a finger in the air, "Though I could've done it given a few more hours..."

"You're exhausted, my Apprentice." Dooku chuckled at the boy's claim before looking towards the Queen, then towards Damask, holding a hand out in gesture towards Ento. "That was quite the demonstration."

"He turned her hair blonde," Damask was impressed by the young boy's talent in the force. Especially from the way he was able to sense him soon after they came out of that meditative state... Even though he still was hard to sense even with the force due to his nature of being.

Padmé's Handmaidens were beaming at the revelation that the force could be essentially used as a cosmetic tool to change one's looks.

Vaylin was the first to stand, before reaching down for Ento to take her hand so she could help him up. He wasn't even hesitant to take her hand, letting her pull him up to his feet.

"Thank you," He chuckled quietly.

"...No... Thank you," the girl seemed to be smiling at him with little stars in her eyes.