Bitter Roots, Firm Branches

[Miranda]

Just on dusk, with the light beginning to fade but the air still heated and thick, a Jedi Knight strode to where a river, in its leisurely winding across the forests of Tython, scooped two channels out of the bone-white gravel of its bed. One bubbled and was milky-green. The other, which ran deeper, was a smooth-flowing blue. Both were shallow enough at that time of year to be forded. Glossy-leafed rosebay bushes grew in flowering clumps on the banks between, and in the air above, swiftbirds, with an excited crying, wheeled in high wide circles feeding on midges or skimmed the surface of the stream.

Sorran Ven-Olar had ventured into the depths of the forest and made his meandering way along a stone-cut path towards an ancient subterranean training ground that lay just on the outskirts of the Jedi Temple. During his return-time on Tython, after spending weeks aboard the Jedi flagship The Will of the Force, Sorran had taken to re-exploring the areas of the Temple grounds that had once brought ephemeral moments, fleeting memories, from his childhood and growth into the man that he was today. A Jedi Knight. A Guardian.

He had decided to utilise this day to focus on rigid training for one of the students that had attended his intensive course on combat aboard the great starship of the Jedi. Andreus Makaryk. The Padawan had shown much potential but lacked much of the prior-knowledge of the other students in that particular class. Sorran had felt that is was more than necessary to give a private tutelage to the Padawan so that he might further his training and hone his combat skills. The young man had brazenly protested to Sorran's teaching methods and instruction during the lecture and the Jedi Knight had sought to give the Padawan an intensive course, so that he might 'catch-up' to the other students and be more well equipped for future lectures and of course real battle (whenever that would eventuate, which it surely must).

Sorran descended a long and broad staircase that had been carved out of the foundation stones of the underground training arena. This place had not been used much, even when Sorran was a young boy. But he knew it was there, and he knew that many of the Masters and Jedi instructors had used it as a place of absolute privacy in which comprehensive lessons could be taught.

The Jedi Knight had sent for Padawan Makaryk to locate the cavernous training ground and meet him there. In the mean time, Sorran simply sat himself upon the cold ancient stone floor and meditated, waiting for the student to come...

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Andreus Makaryk had been summoned...by the same instructor whom he had openly accused of prejudging him. Worse, he had been summoned by a combat instructor to a place where witnesses were extremely unlikely. Oh, dear. The padawan had a bad feeling about this. Jedi didn't kill unruly padawans, did they? Nevertheless, orders were orders, and he did not wish to anger the power structure further by insubordination. Maybe he would get off with a beating. He couldn't really think of any other reason why Sorran would wish to keep this meeting away from prying eyes.

Doubt swirled around Andreus as he navigated his way deeper underground through the Temple's basement levels, from there into the labyrinthine caverns. A soaking rain had fallen hours before, so a constant drip-drip-drip flooded Andreus' ears as that liquid dripped its way down to the water table. The secluded place might well have been intended to be a place of calm, away from the pressures of life, but Andreus found the environment dark, dimly lit, foreboding. He wondered if--or how badly--his instructor intended to crush him as an object lesson. Why else would Sorran pick such a place, instead of simply asking him to remain in the classroom after class?

Of course, it was taboo to express such worries. By now, Andreus had resigned himself to his fate.

He found the winding staircase, which led down to what looked like an arena. Sorran sat in the middle of it, apparently not worried at all. Andreus did not wish to descend, but he forced himself to do it. At least Sorran didn't have his lightsaber on--maybe Andreus wouldn't get cut open and diced into a thousand pieces after all.

Andreus did not speak, did not greet the Jedi of whose intentions he could not be certain. Despite Sorran's outward appearance of serenity, Andreus' bad feeling remained. He waited for Sorran to acknowledge him, so much the better if he failed to even notice he was there...

 

[Miranda]

Sorran sensed immediately the presence of the Padawan as he had entered the underground amphitheatre. Uncertainty, anxiety, concern, portent. All these things the Jedi Knight could feel reverberating outwards like a ripple on a pond's surface, punctuations and reflections of state-of-mind, through the Force.

The Padawan would have found the Jedi Knight already there, sitting, very erect on the stone floor that had been levelled smooth and glistening-wet by some magnificent architecture and by nature itself. It was a sacred place. A secret place. Not an arena for punishment or private chastising by the Order, not by any means. That was not their way in any case. Rather, Sorran had summoned the apprentice here so that they could effectuate and accomplish the strenuous rudimentary lessons that needed to be learnt, without interruption. But, in some small corner of Sorran's heart, he had fond recollections of training with his own Master in this hallowed place, many years before. It seemed more than fitting. For Sorran too, while he had a certain flair and aptitude for combat, had struggled immensely for much of his early student years to grasp the finer nuances of both battle manoeuvres and combat philosophy. His own Master had been strict and unrelentless, and Sorran had emerged all the better for it.
Padawan Makaryk would learn. And there was much to be learnt.

"Why do you hesitate to approach Padawan? Are you apprehensive to enter my company?"

Sorran rose then and beckoned the student forward. A cruse lamp was burning at the top of a tall copper stand that edged the bottom of the staircase. At the feet of the stone a pot of embers threw out a feeble warmth.

"Do not be intimidated by this place, it is a welcoming abode for us Jedi."

Sorran offered a gentle smile to the Padawan, he knew that there had already been some tension between himself and Andreus - because of the slight disagreement during the combat lecture previously. He wanted to assuage this as best he could. But he would not be an easy taskmaster, for the lessons that the apprentice needed to learn would be difficult, and Sorran would push him to his limit in order for him to flourish, as a Jedi.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The faint light, the embers of the fire...perhaps Sorran had intended such to provide a warm, cozy welcome. It didn't. Andreus' bad feelings failed to abate. He didn't feel he had a choice, a way out of this mess, and Sorran's assurances did little to convince him he would walk out of this cave uninjured. The harsh truth was he was apprehensive to enter Sorran's company, in spite of the Knight's beckoning gestures. Nevertheless, he had to at least try to be respectful. But he didn't approach Sorran, smile or not.

He didn't particularly want to answer, but after the exchange with Sorran earlier, he was not particularly keen to ire him, either. Either way, it didn't seem to matter. Andreus still felt he was about to get mulched, and he wasn't getting out of it. So, distrusting his instructor's motives, he answered with a couple questions of his own, questions that hinted at his real answer.

"Why did you not simply request I stay after class? Why go through all the trouble to drag me to a place with no witnesses, too far from anyone else for screams to be heard?"

 

[Miranda]

Sorran's smile slowly turned to an encompassing look of deepest concern. Had he really scorned the Padawan that much that he felt he couldn't trust an instructor? Or was it that the young man was simply over-cautious and untrusting of everyone? This was perhaps something that could only take time to resolve. Jedi were ever patient.

"I realise that you and I did not start off on the right foot aboard the Will of the Force. I must apologise for my assumptions in that lecture that left you feeling somewhat disheartened. My intentions for that class were meant to be entirely strenuous, but I had not taken into consideration that some apprentices, especially those who are older, would have lacked structure and faculty as much as you seem to."

The Jedi Knight could not be any more honest about everything than that. Sorran did not want to castigate the Padawan at all. But he would not bend to the student's defiant attitude either. To be a Jedi was to follow a strict mandate, to understand the philosophies of the Force, of life, and apply them to everything in their existence. Sorran's job with this particular student, he felt, would be very challenging indeed.

"You seem to think that I have requested your presence here so that I might exact some harsh discipline on you without anyone knowing the wiser. But you should know better Padawan, such acts are not the Jedi way. I have asked you here because this place was once my training ground, under my old Master. I am very fond of it. It is a place of extreme training, where such is needed. And in your case it is definitely needed. Here we can train without any interruption. We are removed from the activities of the Temple or the great Jedi starship. It is just you and I. All I ask of you is utmost comittment to my lessons. And I promise you, you will learn, and you will not feel disadvantaged in a classroom again."

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

No matter what assurances the Jedi Knight attempted to give, his student's Bad Feeling refused to dislodge. The student was certain of his fate, the bad feeling firmly planted in his mind not by ill will, but by precognition. Andreus had been perfectly willing to drop the earlier flare-up and move on, up until Sorran had summoned him outside of class, whereupon the Bad Feeling had flared up immediately. His senses had told him to expect to be beaten, which would inevitably happen in a sparring match against someone with decades of combat experience to his none whatsoever. However, his inexperience in processing 'feelings' from the Force had also led him to misinterpret why he would be beaten and instead attribute the bad feeling to the misunderstanding the two of them had had in class.

Andreus had no way of realizing this error, and apparently his Bad Feeling was noxious enough that Sorran had not caught the error, either. Until the Bad Feeling came to fruition and Andreus could sort through what happened and why after-the-fact, dislodging the Bad Feeling seemed impossible.

He remained silent about the apology, mistrusting it. Was Sorran trying to lower his guard? (Why would he, when he could so easily overwhelm his student?) For all the student knew, the story about this being Sorran's former training ground was an elaborate ruse, an attempt to gain some purchase of trust. His response conveyed that nothing Sorran could say would dissipate the oily mistrust that permeated his thoughts.

"Do I really have a choice at this point? Whatever you came here to do, I ask that you get it over with."

 

[Miranda]

"Jedi must learn to trust eachother Andreus. A house divided cannot stand. Together we are united as one through the Force, and only together can we prevail against the enemy that seeks to destroy us."

Sorran could deeply sense that the Padawan was perturbed by something, as if the student had some insight (however incorrect) into some threatening future. But the Jedi Knight, try as he may, could not quite put his finger on the source of the disturbance within the apprentice. Many of the new Padawans had felt resistance to their new lives and the lessons and existence of the Jedi. There was a common time of adaptation, of growing accustomed to their new lives, as any normal being would. But something else was at play here, and Sorran would try his best to deal with it. Perhaps bringing him to this underground sanctum was a bit premature, but he had not expected such opposition from Andreus because of a mere locality and situation. If the Padawan was uncomfortable however, he would need to learn to overcome this. There would be countless more times and places and situations where Andreus would be subjected to great discomfort, and he would need to overcome those in order to prevail.
If there was no trust, there was nothing amongst the Jedi. Not blind trust, but guided trust. Sorran knew that, especially in combat, the Jedi needed their comrades at their back, otherwise all was lost.

"You always have a choice Padawan. I will not restrain you. If you wish to leave, then leave. But you need training Andreus. You lack focus and discipline and equilibrium. I can sense already that you have great aptitudes and powers, but they are surging throughout you because you have no direction, no understanding. So leave if you must, but I will not offer to train you again if you go. I ask for commitment and trust. That is all. If you leave now, there is no turning back."

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Andreus didn't turn around to leave. Like the immovable bad feeling that permeated his mind and told him he was not getting out of here uninjured, the padawan himself didn't move. He became that immovable object, unwilling to leave, yet unable to trust, with anchor dropped firmly where he stood.

Sorran had said he could leave; yet Andreus was fully aware that it came with a death sentence attached. Leave, and forfeit training. Forfeit training, and get hunted down and slaughtered by the Sith Lord he knew to be hunting him. Andreus could defer the Bad Feeling for a while...but he was trapped. An unknown amount of harm now, at the hands of Sorran, or death later. Oh, yes, the Bad Feeling was very much immovable. Sorran did have a point about Andreus needing to learn how to defend himself--and had accordingly but unwittingly reinforced the Bad Feeling by offering for Andreus to leave, with the deadly condition attached of course.

And yet, he still could not bring himself to trust Sorran in any way whatsoever, for he found trusting someone who had just offered him a death sentence inherently difficult, regardless of earlier disagreements. So he could stay for whatever unpleasantness Sorran had in mind--at least it was probably less than a death sentence--though he still could not honestly commit to something he could not trust.

The padawan's response was accordingly cryptic, straddling the line, yet concise, simple, unambiguous all at the same time.

"Do what you must."

The Bad Feeling had to be broken somehow.

 

[Miranda]

There was very little point in attempting to assuage the Padawan's turbulence any further with words. It was apparent to Sorran that there would be no convincing the student that the Jedi Knight posed no threat to him, that he only wanted to tutor him, to train him so that he might hone his skills and become a proficient Jedi.

The time for talk was over. Whatever the agitation was that had implanted itself in the Padawan's mind could not be alleviated in this situation by mere words any more. Sorran took note to himself that he would attempt to discuss the Andreus with his Master, Galak Avara, and find the truth behind such resistant force. But for now, discussion would not solve anything. The Padawan had not moved from his sticking place for whatever unknown reason, weighted to the floor as if he felt himself that he had no choice. Sorran had offered his conditions, and the student had decided on neither.
It was time for action.

"If you will not move then defend yourself!"

Fleeter than a desert-wolf the Jedi Knight hurtled himself towards Andreus, an agile blur of muscle and sweeping beige robes, he immediately thrusted his open-palmed fist forward aiming for the Padawan's mid-chest. If Andreus did not somehow deflect or move, the student would not only be slightly winded, but would most likely be sent flying backwards a few metres onto the cold stone floor.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The Bad Feeling crystallized to a point, a specific point on Andreus' chest. Just as Sorran opened his mouth, the padawan obliged the instructor's direction by trying to dodge the incoming blow. Had it come from a normal person, he would have had plenty of time to dodge, plenty of warning. But the student was unfamiliar with and unskilled in the Art of Movement, and with the instructor using it against him, Andreus had not a chance. The axis of his body had time only to spin a few degrees away; Sorran's palm struck Andreus' chest less than two inches from where the padawan's senses and precognition told him it would strike had he done nothing.

Unsurprisingly, he flew for several meters. A good thing the ground here was almost completely smooth, probably sanded for this kind of thing; otherwise, protruding rocks and jagged edges would have torn the student's body apart.

He didn't groan or utter a sound, for he had foreseen this.

The imperative to "Defend yourself!" probably meant Andreus should actually get up, so he did, vaguely aware that simply lying on his back on the ground would not do much for him. Someone with maybe an hour of classroom instruction on combat against someone who had lived it for decades...this should be good.

The ground remained slippery from the moisture released by the weather earlier. Hmm. He would have to rely mostly upon instincts, such as they were against someone that fast, but there was that lesson on target zones Sorran had given him...

He charged Sorran, but instead of charging straight into a waiting fist or foot, he tried to apply his classroom instruction from a couple hours before. He slid, feet first, crossing his arms above his chest as he did so, aiming to knock the instructor off his feet. As his buttocks reached and slid across the ground, he released and spread out his arms, thereby allowing him to cover an area of several square meters with his slide. If Sorran wanted to avoid it, he would probably have to go up.

 

[Miranda]

Good, Sorran thought. At least the sudden assault had stirred the Padawan out of his miasma of uncertainty and doubt, a symptom of his untrained and unhoned precognitive abilities. Sorran was of course still unaware that the student had such powers, but perhaps after speaking with Master Avara this would soon be brought to light.

As the Padawan reacted after the chest-blow and recovered himself from the floor, Sorran watched as if in slow motion as the apprentice came sliding towards him across the refined stone ground, he had shown some intuition here, utilising his environment as all Jedi must when in combat. Awareness was an important factor in battle.

Of course, the novice Andreus was much too slow for the ever resilient and agile spirit that resided in Sorran's core of expertise. The Jedi Knight quickly launched himself into the air and somersaulted over the Padawan's sliding form, completely avoiding any impact. Harnessed by the acrobatic specialisation of the Ataru Form, Sorran landed with silent perfection right behind the Padawan, the inertia of the slide would most likely force Andreus to keep sliding across the floor until some friction halted his journey, and the movement that propelled him ebbed.

"Get off the floor and face me Padawan!"

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The padawan wouldn't prove quite so inertia-bound as Sorran had supposed, for despite some imbalances, he possessed a build fairly similar to the instructor. Certainly he had core body strength in abundance. Enough of it so that if he planted his hand on the ground and placed his weight upon it, he could actually thrust himself up using the stationary point as leverage, and pivot about it. Actually doing it made his wrist hurt, however.

Nevertheless, he faced Sorran, as the purported instructor wished, and considered his options. They were few, for the padawan realized whatever he could do, Sorran would be fast enough to evade it. Moreover, Sorran seemed angered, as he had foreseen (the self-fulfilling nature of his misinterpreted precognition notwithstanding). So actually coming closer meant getting another painful bodyblow that would be way too fast to dodge. Or worse.

Then again, Andreus remembered Sorran had come to him to deliver that bodyblow. So no matter what Andreus did, he had already lost. May as well accept his destiny.

But then he realized his precognitive abilities were not completely untrained. He had had Master Avara teach him how to utilize them to correct for flying through highly unpredictable windshear, in fact. Like Sorran, those conditions left nearly no time to react. Perhaps Andreus should focus in on those abilities. Perhaps if he paid enough attention, he might actually be able to lead with enough warning to block and/or counter. Or at least a reasonable approximation.

Sorran thought his student lacked focus. Truth be told, his student had enough focus to land with no repulsorlift and no control surfaces in an eighty-knot crosswind. He had done it. Andreus just hadn't learned how to apply all that focus to combat yet.

He approached Sorran, unwilling to charge, but at a normal walking pace. He wanted to see what Sorran would do. And he poured all of his considerable focus into anticipating it. He needed to lead Sorran's speed.

 

[Miranda]

A wry smile crept over Sorran Ven-Olar's face as he watched the movements of the Padawan, from halting his slide and utilising his body strength to do so and lift himself from the floor. The Jedi Knight watched with some keen interest as Andreus made his next moves. Sorran was not indignant or furious or menacing at all, but merely wanted to throw the Padawan into the heat of battle and learn from the experiences that would unfold. Though, the Jedi Knight hazarded to guess that the Padawan probably could not tell the difference between anger and stoic efficacy.

Rather than bolting himself forward into another clumsy and unrefined assault, the Padawan stood calm and firm as a tree, he seemed to be assessing the situation carefully now.

"Excellent, you are already learning. You are using your intuition to gauge the situation rather than blindly fumbling into action and leaving yourself vulnerable. Now we must work on progressing your intuition to work swiftly! For there are only split-seconds in combat with which to judge and commit. Your enemies will not give you any time to think!"

With those words finished he sped forward again, fuelled by the Force, and launched himself towards Andreus. As Sorran came into close enough proximity to the Padawan he lashed out with three rapid lotus punches, his fists curled into tight balls he struck once at the Padawan's left ribcage, the second directed at his left shoulder, and the third hurtling towards his mid-chest again, all three in perfect succession. The fist-assaults were forceful and fluid, enough to bruise, but not enough to seriously injure the man. Hopefully the student would use his intuition and reflexes to at least block or evade one of the punches.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

While Sorran lectured, Andreus focused, diverting all of his attention into the one counter he might have available to Sorran's speed. Of course, Andreus paid attention. But not to the lecture. That was a distraction.

"Excellent, you are already learning. You are using your intuition to gauge the situation rather than blindly fumbling into action and leaving yourself vulnerable. Now we must work on progressing..."

Andreus' attention was rewarded. His senses flickered. Sorran had something up his sleeve. He focused harder, as if that was possible, upon drawing it out. Of course, he poured everything he had into it, meaning the instruction went in one ear and out the other. Sorran would have to go over this again later, though he probably didn't yet know that Andreus already sought to apply the second part of what he said, before he said it.

"...your intuition to work swiftly! For there are only split-seconds in combat with which to judge and commit. Your enemies will not give you any..."

Two-and-three-quarters seconds. That's how much time Andreus had, including the time Sorran would spend finishing his sentence. That was actually enough time for him to react, and now his intense focus on his precognition would be rewarded. Already, he shifted his weight, a preparatory movement that would allow him to react much faster without telegraphing his intention too far in advance.

He had a feeling of where Sorran would be two-and-three-quarters seconds from now. If he had focused correctly, he had a very precise idea. He would soon find out.

"...time to think!"

Andreus and Sorran committed at the exact same instant. Sorran had speed, but had to cover about ten paces. Andreus had both precognition and economy of movement on his side, as his movement could be accomplished in one footstep. He pivoted away from where his senses told him the blows would land--but his dominant hand reached out to a very specific point, that they might grab the wrist of the hand that would deliver those blows and yank it to the ground as hard as possible.

He fervently hoped he had done it right.

 

[Miranda]

Sorran had not been made aware of Andreus' natural abilities in precognition (nor that they were unrefined and untrained), but the student seemed to have reflexes enough to react as the Jedi Knight was upon him and engaged in delivering blows.
The Padawan had utilised his time effectively, Sorran had given the student time to assess the situation by offering him some discourse on battle between attacks. The Jedi Knight knew there would be no worthy lesson in an all-out flogging. The student was greatly outmatched, at least for the time-being. Sorran had to allow Andreus at least some time to catch his breath and be ready for the next assault. No sense at all in kicking a creature while it was down. That of course was not the Jedi way.

The student had moved with some agile faculty out of the way of Sorran's blows, as if he had sensed inherently where the attacks might register. All three punches scooped the air as the form of Andreus had moved from their striking vicinity. Sorran was impressed, to say the least. And it was not until that moment that the Jedi Knight hazarded a guess that the apprentice had some augury within him, some inherited precognition. He would definitely have to inquire into this with Master Avara.

Sorran noticed then as his third punch hit emptiness that the Padawan sought to arrest his wrist and the Jedi Knight brought his arm snapping back into his own chest to avoid being grabbed. It was a bold attempt from Andreus nonetheless, and Sorran was pleased that he had at least provoked some sense of fight within the student.

Once Sorran had avoided the counterattack, which could have easily ended with Sorran throwing the apprentice to the ground, the Jedi Knight lunged forward with his other hand and fuelled with some momentum drove his clenched fist forward at a point in the centre of the Padawan's chest.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Andreus' outstretched hand grabbed air at first, instead of yanking Sorran down. Probably a good thing, as surely throwing Sorran down to the ground would have snapped Andreus' wrist from the stress of the maneuver as well. But scarcely before Andreus could retract his ever-so-yankable hand, he found himself moving it just a few inches to block an incoming punch.

It came in way slower than most of Sorran's earlier attacks, almost as if Sorran was just a normal person, the same as Andreus (who remained pretty much ignorant of how to use the Force's reflex-boosting abilities). As Andreus shoved the incoming punch out of the way, he couldn't help but wonder: Had Sorran picked a fight only to throw the match? It seemed an odd thought, almost completely ludicrous, but surely Andreus should have been beaten to pulp by now.

He couldn't dwell on it. Sorran's sudden...voluntary forfeiture of his major advantage made it relatively easy to block the punch and at least try to throw off his center of gravity. At any rate, Andreus' leg probably was stronger than Sorran's other arm, so the padawan acted quickly to try to take advantage of his instructor's apparent willful sluggishness, attempting a bone-jarring kick to the head as quickly as his body could deliver it.

 

[Miranda]

Sorran had slowed down his attack for a reason. For no combat specialist would simply 'throw' a fight, just for the sake of training. In fact, 'throwing' a fight would only serve as an antithesis to education in the battle-arts; for no truly skilled enemy in combat would ever let down their guard or discard an opportunity.

The reason for slowing his attack down was to give Andreus the opportunity to deflect and feel capable enough to assault back at Sorran by instinct and within close quarters. Earlier, Sorran had created distance between them both, but now it had to be all about close-quarters. That is exactly what had occurred, just as Sorran had hoped. Andreus had managed to block the attack, and obviously feeling some renewed self-efficacy in what he was doing committed himself to a kick at Sorran's head. A rather violent direction for training, especially with such force behind it.

Sorran may have slowed down his punch in a calculated manoeuvre, but as he noticed the kick coming he ducked beneath its trajectory and Andreus' leg and foot journeyed right over the top of him. Moving faster now, with such agile spirit, the Jedi Knight spun himself - left leg out - and performed a sweeping kick at Andreus' standing leg, if it registered the Padawan would be knocked over in an instant and land on his back with a crashing thud.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Had Andreus been more agile, he would've jumped in a backwards somersault. Alas, Sorran was up to full speed again, though it was probably understandable he didn't want to get kicked in the head. The padawan saw the sweeping kick counterattack coming--though he couldn't jump high enough to clear Sorran's leg in time. He thudded on his back to the ground.

Any notion the padawan had had a few seconds ago about Sorran throwing the match was quickly replaced by something even worse, as he realized what Sorran had done. He had slowed down just to goad Andreus into fighting more. Worse, as long as Sorran held a full order of magnitude speed advantage over him, Andreus would scarcely be able to do anything at all in the fight, unless he had something like a polearm that could literally clear everything within a three-meter radius around him within a second or so. He didn't like being strung along and manipulated like that. Sure, he could get up and try to fight again, no doubt exactly what Sorran wanted, so Sorran could blur himself out of the way and then knock Andreus back to the floor again.

The padawan didn't see any point to that, really. If his instructor wanted to force a fight, he would have to come to him...that is, on the ground, where even if Sorran tried to pin him down, at least headbutting might be effective. So Andreus did not even bother to get back up.

 

[Miranda]

Sorran was a firm believer that in combat training one had to fall a thousand times in order to truly learn. It was not the actual assault that was the lesson, but rather, in getting back up and committing one's self to the cause, perserverance, that was the lesson to be learned. The Jedi Knight could only hope that the Padawan had learnt from the mistake he had made in making his position vulnerable to a more agile opponent in attempting a head-kick. By doing so Andreus had opened his one physically grounded part to his opponent. Sorran had felled him like a tree because he had left his trunk vulnerable to attack. The student had come crashing down as a result. But hopefully he had learned something from this.

""Now...do you see where you went wrong? You were so focused on striking me that you left yourself wide open. You blocked my punch with much efficiency, but then rushed into a kick, to my head no less. If you had have replied with a punch from the opposite side of your deflection, or even a low-angled kick, I would have had to defend myself and not been able to bring you down so easily, regardless of speed!"

Andreus had been so focused on assaulting his opponent that he had not thought any steps ahead in protecting himself.
Of course, this was not merely a fight to prove how much more efficacious Sorran was in combat. Though that, he gathered, was probably what Andreus was thinking the entire time. Sorran watched as the student merely lay on the ground, choosing to remain defeated rather than getting back to his feet. Perhaps the lesson had not been learnt.

"So you have given up just that easily hmm? Where is your determination? Would you simply lay on the ground if you were to protect the lives of innocents? Or would you fight for them?"

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The lesson didn't register. Or more accurately, the lesson did register, but quickly found itself torn apart by a rather analytical mind that had already reached a conclusion concerning the efficacy of the fight and then subjected the lesson to its own confirmation bias. That left a very nasty situation for an instructor to be in, as Andreus considered the natural and probable consequences of his instructor's proposed alternative course of action. Pointing out the existence of confirmation bias would likely get Sorran nowhere, because truth be told, there was not much a student completely new to combat could hope to accomplish in a fight against someone ten times as agile and thousands of times more experienced than him.

"Perhaps you are correct about my high kick, but after observing you, I am not ignorant enough to conclude that your proposed alternatives would have left me in any better of a situation," Andreus growled, clearly annoyed at what he perceived to be Sorran's manipulation. "Sure you would have been able to bring me down--no matter if I attempted a low kick or punch, you could have--would have--backed away from it so fast that my attack would never land, and since I had hold of your arm, I have no doubt you could have moved it quickly enough to catapult me across the cave, or at the very least, fling me to the ground like I tried to do to you earlier. You wish me to fight in conditions where no matter what I do, it will be proven wrong. That is not rational. As for your rhetorical question, I must reject it out of hand. If you were the one killing innocents, you would proceed to kill me first the second I lifted a hand, and do so easily. I simply do not have the ability to stop you. Then you would kill the innocents, and the net result is still the same regardless of what I do--dead innocents."

Sorran had moderated the mindless beating he could have easily applied to Andreus in the hopes of forestalling just such a conclusion, but the effort had very clearly failed. To make matters worse, Sorran's manipulation of speed to allow his student the confidence to continue fighting, to goad him to keep fighting, had only fed into Andreus' earlier mistrust of the motivations of the instructor. Cold logic had overridden perseverance, determined that perseverance against an unbeatable opponent was simply irrational. Certainly that combination left Sorran's instruction in a precarious position.

Andreus still didn't get up.