[SpringsSong]

"Are you sure about this, love?" Lana asked. "If you'd rather use your pike..."

"No," Xyshari said. "This is the weapon I have chosen, and this is the weapon I will use. She closed her eyes, and opened herself up to the flow of the Force around her. Lana could feel the swirling vortex gather around her wife, and she could see her wife standing calmly against that vortex - the calm in the eye of the storm. Her eyes would open slowly, and Lana would become aware of another presence - though it was faint.

Xyshari tilted her head slightly to the side. To everyone else - even Lana - it looked as though she was looking at nothing; maybe the ground, or a leaf on the wind, or a bug.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

However, through Xyshari's eyes, she saw the world through the lens of the Force. She could see those that had fallen on the field of battle reenacting their last moments, perhaps unaware of the conflict they were caught in. She could see the auras of those still living - she was fond of the way both light and dark swirled and clashed within Lana, showing that there was a way to balance both, and knowing there was a similar clash within herself. But, most importantly, where she was looking, she could see a Zabrak, a good head taller than her, clothed in the very armor she always remembered him wearing.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"I wish I'd been able to take your holocall that day," a voice in her head said, and the corner of her mouth twitched up in a small smile.

"I know, nya'mayu," she replied in kind. "It's not your fault, and... I've done my best to stop blaming myself for not being able to feel your distress sooner."

"I'm grateful you felt anything at all," he said, looking towards Lana. "...one day, we'll talk about that."

"Sounds like words I've said to someone we were both familiar with," she said, turning her eyes to look at Lana. "Your move, ra svet," she said, shifting her stance to where her feet were shoulder-width apart, bent slightly at the knee.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

Lana nodded, pulling her saber from her belt and igniting the blade. When an amethyst blade hissed into existence, Xyshari could feel the surprise radiate off of the aura next to her.

"Her crystal feels..." he began to say, and Xyshari smiled as she kept her eyes on Lana.

"We went to Ilum together," Xyshari responded. "I know what her appearance might say, and I know what we were taught, but... nothing is set in stone, nya'mayu."

Lana would be watching Xyshari, whose eyes seemed to be glowing faintly. She'd seen it once before, when Xyshari had been blinded. She said it was the ability to see through the Force, but that she used it sparingly.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

Suddenly, Lana surged forward, bringing her blade up overhead with the intent to bring it down hard towards Xyshari's shoulder. The Cathar began to turn on her toes, her shoulder almost touching Lana's for a brief moment before she would spin a little faster, bringing the rear blade towards her wife's legs. Lana would leap out of the way of the rear blade, landing squarely on the ground.

Xyshari, however, had anticipated that, and had already begun to move forward and brought her front blade up to the side, making an attempt to slice towards her right arm. Lana brought her own blade up firmly, stopping Xyshari's in its place for a moment.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

Their eyes met - Lana's yellow-orange eyes narrowed in determination, and Xyshari's blue eyes, faintly glowing, almost smiling. She would fight against the bladelock for a moment, reaching into the Force and tracing the flow of energy through her lightsaber. Again, she could feel surprise radiate off of the Zabrak next to her.

"When did you learn that?" he asked.

"I asked a certain Thyrsian engineer we both knew if he would teach me when our paths crossed again, after we had both left the order," Xyshari responded, tracing the paths once more until she was certain she had the right spot. "He said that I was a natural."

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

It was only when Xyshari gave a slightly lopsided grin that Lana realized why she had been engaged in the bladelock, despite one of the key points in Ataru being the avoidance of bladelocks because of its lack of defensive capabilities. In an instant, her fore and rear blades were gone, and she spun to the side, leaving Lana to stumble as Xyshari re-engaged her blades, wrapping her hands near the middle of the weapon.

"You'll need to show me that trick one of these days, love," Lana said, not yet turning around as she gathered her bearings.

"One of these days," Xyshari said, turning her head to the side and smiling at the Zabrak, who had folded his arms, a wide smile on his face.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"Using mechu-deru to utilize trakata," he said. "You know, the battlemaster would have never allowed for that - largely because you never would have been able to learn mechu-deru."

"Oh, I know something else she would never approve of, but she'll never find out about," Xyshari said, turning her attention to Lana. She would advance, her stance shifting as she did so.

In Ataru, Xyshari was elegant: her lithe form twisting as she moved, her natural agility lending itself to the form. She had never thought to dedicate much to strength training, as the form she had chosen to excel at and master was based on agility, not power.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

The energies within her began to swirl and clash. As she aimed a series of rapid, staccato strikes towards Lana - strikes that the Sith, the Zabrak observed, had just barely been able to beat back, surprise registering on her face - he understood. Xyshari could feel confusion rolling off of him.

"But... I... how?" he asked.

"There were only a few of us. No battlemaster. Those of us who... became council agreed that at least one of us needed to know this form," Xyshari said. "Two of us learned it. He and I... agreed that, if either of us were to start to fall, the other would be in the best position to deal with it."

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"The two of you would still be close," the Zabrak said, and Xyshari could feel his smile as she leapt back, luring Lana into feeling like she was retreating.

"He went through the coming-of-age rite of my people, nya'mayu," Xyshari said. "At this stage, he is more than my friend; he is my ina - my brother," she said, watching as Lana charged towards her, her saber in her right hand. Xyshari braced herself as Lana stopped shy and spun around, angling to kick at her. She moved just enough out of the way that she wasn't caught in the face with her wife's shoe.

"What was I, then?"

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

Xyshari had to force her body to keep moving, although the Zabrak could feel her shock at the question. She brought her hilt up quickly to catch Lana under her leg as she was coming down, landing the Sith on her back. Xyshari would stand over her, one of her blades angled downward. She could tell that the Zabrak was waiting for her answer patiently; however, her eyes remained on Lana.

"Vysok. Ya'kezra. Kaz R'i'kezra. Nya'mayu. Svetlobi nya'mayu. Kaz svet," she finally answered. Without being prompted, she translated. "Champion. Gatekeeper. First Warden. Friend. Dearest friend. First love. Someone who never... fit into a familial bond like that of father or brother, but was much more than a friend."

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

It was an eternity before Lana said anything. When she did, it would be with her hilt resting in her hand, free of her grip, and with the blade disengaged.

"Solah, I believe you told me the word is," Lana said. "When you told me you knew Juyo, I thought you meant you knew of Juyo."

"No, my brother and I fought two different Sith when we were off on a mission. Both were Juyo specialists, but of different aspects. One was clearly an apprentice; the other, the master. I suspect the master not primarily a Juyo specialist; rather, a Makashi specialist," she said. Xyshari would raise her head and look slightly to her right.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"Shari..." the Zabrak said. "I wish I'd known sooner."

"It's not your fault," Xyshari reassured him. "You'd already left the order when I realized how I felt. I was hurt that you'd chosen not to say goodbye to me... but I understood, because you were right. I would have tried to stop you, or to go along with you. And... I think we both know that we both would have enjoyed that, either way."

"Well, I suppose I'll have to keep a closer eye on you, then," Lana teased, tapping Xyshari's nose as she stood up. "I know I very likely have more Juyo experience than you do."

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"We'll talk later," Xyshari said softly to the Zabrak, and slowly, the glow in her eyes died out. Before it did, though, he placed a spectral hand on her shoulder. Lana would notice Xyshari's eyes shift slightly to the right here.

"I hope... you realize what you meant to me," he said softly. "I'm grateful that you found me, and it... hurt to hear your cries. But I'm grateful that part of me remains." He would say nothing further, but Xyshari felt a distinct request as her sight faded. She would lower her head, and stumble forward slightly, into Lana's arms.

"My love?" she asked.

[ 3BPs awarded ]

[SpringsSong]

"Don't worry about me," Xyshari said, sighing heavily before she opened herself to the Force. Lana could feel her direct it through the channels of her body, pressing insistently against the various blockages that had built up while she was maintaining her Force Sight. She could feel them fade slowly but surely, and soon, Xyshari's breathing had normalized.

"You saw him," Lana ventured, more a question than a statement. Xyshari nodded.

"He and I were speaking as you and I were sparring," she said. "Needless to say, he was surprised to see me use a form so often hailed as a Sith form."

[ 3BPs awarded ]