Jedi Academy

Zanja lurked about in the training hall until the combat trials had finished and the other candidates had mostly left. Better to just get this over with, right?

"Master Orgus? What did you want to talk to me about?"

To the credit of the students, it looked like Orgus had actually gotten a bit of a workout from earlier. His appearance was just the slightest bit disheveled, more than a few hairs out of place. But... not that out of place.

"Student Zanja." He gave her a nod. "You did pretty well today." A beat. "But I wanted to ask you about your actions during your match with Jaric. Trading blows with lightsabers is not the way to a long and fulfilling life, you know."

"Thanks, Master Orgus! Uh..." Zanja's brain catches up to the rest of the Master's comments. "Well, no. But those weren't really lightsabers," she says, cautiously neutral.

"No." Master Orgus said agreeably, nodding. "They were training sabers. The name implies that there's something that they're training for."

His eyebrows went up. "You don't intend to use a training saber out in the field, do you? Or expect to be going up against them?"

"No-oo... that is..." Zanja scowled slightly, without registering that she was doing so. "We're taking them on our trials, though, aren't we? And the test was just to stay up and strike Master Kaedan. I did that. Twice."

Orgus folded his arms casually across his chest. "The test was to demonstrate your skill at fighting with a lightsaber. And to show that you would handle one properly. Just as the point of the trials is not to 'pass' the trials, but to demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a proper Jedi." He gave her a nod. "You see the distinction." It wasn't a question, exactly.

"Sure, yeah," Zanja agreed, though her face was still set in slightly stubborn lines. "Jedi are supposed to be adaptable, though, right?"

"They are." Orgus' eyebrows went up.

"So... I adapted? Form V is all about strategic counterstrikes, and being prepared to face all kinds of different weapons." Despite a measure of conviction, it was probably clear Zanja knew she was pushing it at least a little.

"Huh." Orgus smiled. "That's an interesting tact to take. A danger of Shien is that if you are too aggressive in looking for openings, you'll attack when none are there. As a practitioner of Soresu, I would caution you to make sure not to advance until you are sure of your footing." He paused there, eyebrows still up.

"Sooo... just to be clear, does that mean 'don't try any more smart arguments on Master Orgus today'?" Zanja's eyes wandered off toward a corner of the training hall rather than meeting the Master's.

That got a smile from the aforementioned Master Orgus. "You are adaptable, aren't you?" He chuckled.

Still smiling, he sighed. "You did well today, Zanja. It's not easy to land a hit on Jaric, even if he does hit you too. Just remember, the Force is much more about the spirit than the letter of the rules."

"Yeah, okay." Zanja swallowed a sigh. Honestly, the Master could have been a lot harsher than this. "I wouldn't fight like that against a real lightsaber, I really promise." She shifted her weight from foot to foot and added, "If all I had was a training saber, I wouldn't get into a straight-up fight at all if I could help it."