Annabeth

Annabeth and Athea stood in one of the Temple's courtyards in the middle of the night. Annabeth's hair, except for her Padawan Braid, was just in a ponytail instead of some elaborate braid or updo other Jedi did. The air was cold, and they had both discarded their robes, leaving them in their short-sleeved tunics. Goosebumps raced across her skin as she drew her lightsaber. Athea did the same. Annabeth held her lightsaber with one hand in front of her chest with the emitter pointing up. She activated it, and it's yellow blade became the sole source of light in the courtyard. She felt her energy flowing into the crystal and it mixing with the crystal's energy to form the beam. It made her feel warm. She swept her arm to the side and pointed her lightsaber towards the ground.

Athea activated her lightsaber as well. It was a shade of blue more vibrant than that of any lightsaber of a similar hue that Annabeth had seen. She mirrored Annabeth's stance and they began to inch towards each other. Annabeth pressed her lips together in concentration as she examined Athea's expression. Her face revealed nothing, and her eyes only revealed that she was examining Annabeth as well. She could tell Anthea was silently calculating what Annabeth was going to do. Annabeth knew this because she herself did it often, so she hypothesized that her new Master fought very similarly to her. She decided to test that theory. When she was close enough, she swung at Athea's left. She quickly blocked, but Annabeth figured that would happen. She quickly withdrew, angled her wrist, and delivered an upward swipe to Athea's left. Again, she blocked without much difficulty.

Annabeth continued her offensive; swipe, swipe, feint, slash, swipe, chop, jab, swipe. Athea defended herself with Soresu forms, similarly to how Annabeth would defend herself. However, Athea's seemed to be much more refined and she only held her lightsaber with one hand. Her movements were rapid but her face remained calm. Athea suddenly parried and caught Annabeth slightly off guard. She took a step back and righted herself.

"I should have known you would use Makashi," Athea noted, her voice unwavering. She wasn't even breathing heavily. "Luke was one of our most skilled practitioners of that form."

Annabeth could sense that Athea held malice and distaste for Luke. This didn't make her feel optimistic. She took a breath and lunged forward. She swept high and swung for Athea's left shoulder, but she blocked by holding her lightsaber across her body. Annabeth spun three hundred and sixty degrees, swinging for Athea's right but she blocked with her blade held upright. Annabeth thrust her lightsaber forward, but Athea held hers in just the right place so that they were exactly perpendicular. Annabeth swung for her back, and Athea quickly held her arms over her head and blocked, this time holding her lightsaber upside down. Athea flicked her lightsaber, knocking Annabeth's away, and she gave a wide swipe, forcing Annabeth back. She then jabbed, forcing Annabeth to move her head to the left and knock the blade away with her own. She chopped downwards, but Athea blocked horizontally. They continued this duel, slowly making their way up and down the courtyard. Annabeth found that Athea's movements made her own look rigid. She was sure that this probably came from the years of training and practice she had over her.

"You don't seem so bad at Makashi yourself," Annabeth said, trying to make conversation.

"You're attempt at flattery is ill-placed," Athea said. She jabbed towards Annabeth's thigh, but the Padawan brought her blade down, forcing her master's into the ground. Annabeth huffed as Athea pulled her lightsaber back and moved to slash. Annabeth was beginning to wonder if Athea was toying with her as she blocked, but as she pulled back to prepare to defend herself again, Athea pressed forward with her blade. Annabeth fell off balance and actually fell on her back. She quickly rose to her knee and blocked high, defending herself from Athea's chop. If she was toying with her, she didn't want to see her go all-out. Annabeth pushed Athea's blade away as she stood up, but this left her partially exposed. Athea swung her blade and struck Annabeth's upper arm. Luckily, they had both set their lightsabers to "practice mode," so Annabeth didn't actually lose her arm. That didn't mean this didn't hurt though. It felt like some horrible combination of being punched, burned, shocked, and stung.

Annabeth growled slightly and steadied her stance. She steadied her breathing and calmed herself. At the moment, adrenaline was keeping the pain in her arm at a level where moving it don't make her cry out in pain. She channeled the Force and began to move even more swiftly. She forced Athea back into the defensive with a flurry of light but rapid strikes. Annabeth noticed that Athea's expression had a mild look of shock and also concentration. She moved her left hand to also grip her lightsaber hilt, giving her more control as Annabeth attacked. After another minute and a half of this, the rush Annabeth had been feeling was beginning to wear off. Athea pushed Annabeth's blade away, forcing her back a step, but she remained standing. She resumed a ready stance, still standing up straight despite her body begging her to double over.

"Very good," Athea said, seeming slightly taken aback by Annabeth's proficiency. "It appears Luke wasn't exaggerating about your skill." Annabeth felt mixed emotions; pride that her new Master was impressed, but also dismay about Luke's departure. She tried to keep her breathing steady, or as steady as it could be after such an exertion. Athea deactivated her lightsaber and returned it to her belt. "You are dismissed for tonight."

"Thank you, Master," Annabeth said, breathing heavily as she did the same. She bowed and then looked to the sky. "Do you mind if I stay out here for a few minutes?"

Athea looked to the sky also. "Very well," she said. "But I will have a guard come and take you back inside if you're not back in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you," Annabeth said. Athea nodded as she picked her robe off the ground and walked back into the Temple. Annabeth put her robe back on and lay down on the ground, looking at the sky. Due to being a city, there was a great deal of ambient light and pollution, leaving the stars dulled. She could see a few of the larger ones, but not many -not nearly enough to make up constellations- and three of Coruscant's four moons. She sighed. She couldn't wait until she was allowed to travel the galaxy as she wished. She'd never spent the night on any other planet, meaning the only other view of the stars she'd ever had was from space. Sure, space was the ideal place to stargaze, but she felt like there was something different about seeing it from the surface of a planet.

After a while, she heard a door open and a pair of feet walking out. She turned her head to see a Temple Guard waking towards her. She took one last look at the sky before she rolled back onto her feet. She walked past the guard towards the door, ready to return to the dormitories, shower, and go to bed.