<snip>

“PAUSE!” Urg barked and the instructors froze. Sven was panting and was holding his side, a large smile on his face. K’Letn’s cheek was already swelling, and she regarded the Chief Justice with predatory eyes. Urg stepped into Astrid’s line of sight. “That. That right there. That feeling of the warriors inside you. That is where your strength lies. It may come from hate… fear… pain… it doesn’t matter. That is the part of your soul that you fight with, Justice. I don’t mean spar. That is not a feeling for fall-mats and technical joint locks. That, my friend… that is for when you must win. Do you understand? That feeling is the one weapon you can always draw. No one can take it. And that is where you train from here.”

Lord Duroc’s voice rose and everyone freezing in place caused something to click in Astrid. For a long moment, her primal urges could not catch up to her rational brain. She was ready to fight, attack, destroy… but soon enough she blinked and was once again in complete control of herself. She was breathing hard and noted there was pain in several places on her body. Mentally, she let those be for the moment as she took in Urg’s words. She finally looked up at him and then at the others, each in turn. Sven’s large smile made her giggle a moment before she regained composure.

He stepped away, and then crossed his arms on his chest. “K’Letn. Sven. Did you see it?” K’Letn nodded and snorted, looking like a bull about to charge. Sven slowly stood and said “Ja, Lord Duroc. This one has fire.” He looked at Astrid and said “My Lord is correct, that is where you fight from. But that is also a dark place, and that fire in your belly can quickly consume you if you aren’t careful. You have to be able and turn it on and off, like a switch. Now… take a breath. Let it go. And then.. we go again. And you find it again, yes?”

Lord Duroc and Trainers

She took in a deep breath and let it out, letting out the tension that had grown in the absence of action. “I can.” She replied but shook her head. “But it’s just chaos, primal, feral. How do I use it to fight effectively? How do I combine it with the training I received so that I am effective?”

Rousseau, HotJ

It was the Romulan Dri’hul who spoke up finally. “Muscle memory and practice, Justice. Your martial movements should not be conscious… more like water flowing naturally as it will. That comes from practice. Daily. At least two hours. As for the dark place that Master Harmussen and Lord Duroc speak of… that is the engine to power your movements. It is the drive to win that you must have. Win at all costs, and to cause as much pain as you can, as quickly as you can. That place is what will cause your fists to hit harder, your joint-locks to move your opponents appendages past their normal limits, and you to survive your contest.” Dri’hul moved to stand directly in front of Astrid. She was tall, lean, and had an air of subtle malevolence about her. She looked directly into the Chief Justice’s eyes and said “You must learn that there is a time to be you… and a time to be the animal from whence you came. That time is when you raise your hand to engage another in combat. Then is not the time to waste thought on form, on stance, on technique. Then is the time to put all of those into action… and fueled by the desire to hurt your opponent. Many cannot… or will not… allow themselves to feel such emotions.” and she took a small step back from Astrid and moved smoothly into a fighting stance.

“We call those people ‘victims’.”

Urg and Co.

Practicing for two hours everyday was going to be a challenge. She practiced every other day and did mindfulness and yoga style stretching the other days but not for a full two hours. Her schedule was hectic as the Chief Justice and mindfulness exercising was also imperative for her mental health given what she dealt with every day. Then too was the dark place she hated to go to within her. How was she to dig deep into that pit and still come out as herself at the end. When she used the survival instinct of fight to enable her just now, she felt like the flood gates were attempting to open on a place within her that scared her deeply. At the very least, she had much to contemplate when they were done with this training session today. And at the most, she was going to have to recover emotionally should this continue down a path that hurts her in a more than physical way.

Dri’hul’s movement to stand before her brought her attention back to the task at hand. She shoved away all the thoughts running through her mind for later consumption. Her eyes locked with the other woman’s and the energy that came off of her foretold of danger. Astrid didn’t want to be a victim again; not from her would be kidnapper, and not from her step brother, and not from anyone else who viewed her as small and weak. Whether or not that would be good for her was yet to be seen. As Dri’hul took her fighting stance, Astrid made an opposing stance, let out a slow breath, let her senses stretch through the room for other attacks and then attacked.

Her left hand shot out to grab her opponent’s right hand as her own right hand went out and upwards towards the nose aiming to break it.

Rousseau, HotJ

Bump

Dri’hul moved like languid water. It seemed almost impossible that someone moving seemingly so slow could have the back of their own hand simply lift and gently move the Chief Justice’s attack harmlessly out of the way, and her other hand… the one whose wrist was clasped in Astrid’s grip… was smoothly turned, twisted, and pulled free. Dri’hul then moved gracefully forward, stepping between Astrid’s arms and putting her left foot behind the ankle of Astrid’s right, hooking it, and then with equal amounts of power and grace…

She pushed Astrid’s shoulder’s backwards while simultaneously pulling her foot (and by default Astrid’s leg) forwards.

Dri’hul, Honor Guard of Kvaar’ton

Dri’hul’s hand was freed from Astrid’s grip and she saw the other woman move out of the way. It wasn’t as if she expected the hit to land, but now both hands were outstretched and Dri’hul was inside her personal space. She found herself falling from the complex move of shoulder push and leg hook but she wasn’t going down alone. Dri’hul was too close to pull away if Astrid grabbed her as she went down. This she did, with a teeth baring growl. She gripped the other woman’s collar and added a measure of power of her own, turned her fall into a roll backwards. She aimed to toss the woman up and behind her then possibly to land atop her if the roll continued its natural progression.

Rousseau, HotJ