Kiii awwww!

[Wayfarer]

It had been an interesting couple of weeks.

 

Lia was proceeding well as far as Anton was concerned, not only was she taking in her lessons quite well, she was also healing up rather nicely.  In fact, she had healed up well enough that Anton was feeling confident about introducing her to the fourth main aspect of her training that he had been leery about doing so before.  She needed to learn how to defend herself, after her encounter with the bandits he had little doubt that she would be able to accept that such training would be helpful.

 

So it was that for that day, after they had had breakfast, Anton led her outside with a pair of staves in hand.  Not that this was unusual, Anton usually had one on his person whenever he left his home for a walking stick if nothing else.  Today however, they didn't go on a wander as he gave her one of the two staves.  Instead, Anton smiled at her as he took a few steps back from her and held his staff across his body so the left end was high and the right end was low, leading with his left foot.

 

"Today, we're going to be learning how to use a staff.  As you can see, I've adopted a very basic guard stance.  The staff covers most of the body and I can use it to attack or defend with equal ease.  Now, I want you to do the same, then try and hit me as best you can.  I want to see how well you can handle yourself so I can figure out where we can start with your training.  Don't worry, you won't hurt me, just show me what you have and we'll see from there."  Smiling as he watched her, Anton awaited the first blow.  With any luck, if she had some idea or training, she wouldn't have picked up any bad habits at least.

 

 

Anton Averdal

Farpaw

[Sorandha]

Holding the staff as though it were some kind of snake, she studied Anton's stance and attempted to copy it. With my luck I'll end up hitting myself...

 

Bringing the top end of the staff around, she slapped it against his staff, doing the same to the bottom. Looking doubtful, it was obvious that she didn't want to hurt him, but it passed in a moment as she took a valiant swing to the right side of his body aiming for the chest area.

 

Obviously Anton blocked it, and her staff bounced off his and then bounced off her head. Pressing a hand to her head, it hadn't hit hard enough to really hurt, she started laughing. I've got to learn to be more serious about this. She chided herself.

 

Retaking the stance, she tried once again to swing it in whichever place she thought his guard may be down. A soft swing towards his left hip, another high ended swing aimed for an open shoulder, and then she got too into it and opened herself up to attack by swinging low at his feet.

[Wayfarer]

Grounding the staff next to his feet, the low attack bounced off easily as did the next few that came his way.  It was becoming clear very quickly to Anton that she had never had any formal instruction at all.  Maybe she'd played with some friends, her brothers most likely, but that would have been about it and they would have gone probably gone easy on her too as their sister.  Sliding about a few more attacks, using the staff to redirect rather than catch the blows, it wasn't much longer before Anton spoke.  "Ok, thats enough.  Whoa!  Stop."

 

Barely catching the last belated blow from Lia, Anton grinned as he saw the look on her face but he waved away the embarrassment as he kept going.  "We clearly need to work on basic skills.  The staff is a weapon capable of three things.  There is the simple slashes with the sides."  Anton demonstrated those easily enough.  "The thrust."  That was easy enough to show.  "And then there is using this as a club."  Sliding his hands down the staff so he held it from one end, he swung it once to show how much force could be gathered, he then returned to the first grip that he had shown, holding it was balanced rather than at one end, Anton added.

 

"What we will now do is some simple drills.  I can show you as many fancy moves as I want, but its the basics that save the day.  You have to do them until your body remembers the movements, the attack and the defence so it comes naturally.  Only way to learn that is by doing.  It goes like this."

 

"One."  Anton slashed with the high left down.  "Two."  The low right that was drawn back from the first blow now swung up.  "Three."  Dipping the left side low, it came up in an easy swing.  "Four."  The high right now came down.  "Five."  The staff already parallel to the ground, Anton stepped forward as he thrust with the end.

 

"Now you'll do that to me as I call each number and I'll block.  Remember, keep your knees slightly bent, never straighten your arms either.  Each time you attack, you step forward into it.  The force comes not just from your arms, but your entire body, particularly your hips.  When I block your five attacks, I'll then attack in turn, slowly so I don't hurt you, and I'll repeat the same drill you did to me.  As you defend, step back each time and use the same parry I used against you.  We'll keep doing it till you begin to get the hang of it or we need a break."

 

Anton smiled as he assumed an easy position once more, his staff ready to catch the first blow as she in turn readied herself.  "One!"

 

 

Anton Averdal

Farpaw

[Sorandha]

“One!” Lia hesitated before swinging the left end of the staff downward, stepping into the swing and a loud “Clack!” as Anton blocked. “Two!” Again she hesitated before repeating the motion shown to her before. As they worked slowly through the numbers, she didn’t always get the motion right, and in some instances she would forget to keep her arms straight or to step forward.

 

Then it was her turn to block as Anton attacked. He kept his word, going slowly as she barely caught some of his swings and nearly tripped as she was stepping backwards; so much of her concentration was on the movements.

 

They repeated the ritual, going back and forth and it took nearly two hours before Lia began to work the movements by rote, no longer having to actively think about it each time he called the number. She began diverting his swings instead of just taking the force of them in a straight block. After finishing a set which had finally been at the pace that Anton had originally set, she was breathing heavily and he lowered his stance.

 

“I think it’s time for a break.” Anton said. He was pleased with the progressed she had made, if however slowly.

 

“No.” Lia’s eyes flashed. She looked up to the sky. “There’s lots of light left, and I don’t want to quit just as I’m getting the hang of it.” She readied her stance more firmly, her golden eyes flashed at Anton determinedly. For too long she had been cooped up in the lodge for healing, her body drank in the exercise and demanded more.

 

A soft smile played on Anton’s lips, it was his turn to attack; and if she felt she was ready to push herself, then he wasn’t going to argue with her. He attacked quicker than before, having prowess at the weapon to know how hard to push her defense without risking her harm.

 

For longer they continued like this, but with a different feel to it. She was forcing herself to work faster at the movements, sometimes swinging before he had had a chance to say the number; he was deflecting her swings trying to throw her off balance.

 

As the sun began to turn towards the west, it was nearing dinner time and they had worked through lunch. Both their stomachs growled, but Lia insisted that she did not want to stop quite yet. Anton no longer called numbers, but instead they easily worked through the smooth movements of sparring with one another. During a rather heated set, Lia was doing a good job of blocking his advances as well as giving a few of her own, when her eyes lit up and she thought she found an opening, she thrust…and as Anton deflected, their staves stuck one another so hard that the tip of Lia’s cracked, a portion about a finger’s width breaking away and flying harmlessly into the distance.

 

Lia began to laugh and they both relaxed their stances. She stretched as Anton checked his staff for damage, her laughter dying down to a chuckle. “I think I’m ready for a break now. And some dinner.”

 

[Wayfarer]

As the day had progressed, Anton had to admit he really wanted to take a break to get something to eat.  Whenever he mentioned it, Lia begged off and wanted to continue though, he hadn't realised that she had such a desire for sparring latent within her.  Then again, she had a number of brothers, perhaps he shouldn't have been so surprised at all.  Though her insistence on continuing without taking anything resembling a real break...  He would indulge it this once, she remained focused the entire time and if she was focused, then she was learning.

 

Working through the same drill, the intensity of it over the day increased, as did the woman's proficiency.  Her enthusiasm remaining the same throughout, it eventually got to the point where Anton stopped calling the numbers out as they flowed through the same movements back and forth.  It was good progress on her part, and it also meant that her body was beginning to remember the movements.  Admittedly, the next day she might not be quite as proficient, but she'd be better than she was, and with time the attacks and defences would become second nature to her.

 

They'd also have to run through other drills, attacks and defences tied together in different ways to make her think.  First one learned a drill by its numbers, then the drill itself became a number.  With time, she'd have a series of drills under her belt and they'd be able to work through them by alternating between drills while they attacked and defended.  But, that was a bit in the future yet, first things first, they had to work on basics.  And making sure her stance was right, but that would also be for the morrow.

 

Why?

 

Because Lia's staff was chipped.  With the setting, it was probably a good thing because they wouldn't have been able to continue much longer anyway.  Practicing in the dark was not a sound idea for new students, even if they happened to have eyes that could see quite well in the dark, the idea itself still seemed dangerous.  Smiling at her laughter and the suggestion of dinner, Anton agreed most heartily, dinner was exactly what they needed.

 

"You're cooking."

 

 

Anton Averdal

Farpaw