PM to join Daggers and Little Birds (Trill)

[Kiran Pelyna]

Timestamp: 20th of Winter 512

Kiran, rather bored as she walked through the city, found herself heading towards the Yasi part of the city. The wind was making flights impossible so the Eagles were grounded. Pelyna was taking this chance to nap, the lazy bird. The snow also meant she couldn't go out hunting or just to test her prowess against a large cat, which would normally be contrary her character but she was bored and anything sounded like a good idea right now, even taking down a hungry Kougara.

But she'd settle for seeing how Duvin was doing, she remembered the man from when she was a Yasi, before that fateful day she bonded to Pelyna, he was a good man and had always been kind to her. Her personality had always brought a chuckle to him with her fire. She wanted to see how he was doing, maybe offer some help. She didn't like to feel useless and she didn't quite feel like training at the moment, perhaps later today she'd head to the archery ranges. Or beg a training session from Tysala or Harif. She needed some extra training in the long bow and a teacher would be very welcome, and her hunting left a lot to be desired. Something that shamed the Endal girl.

Finding herself closing in on the Yasi section of the city she shook herself out of her thoughts, her dark red braid swung a bit as she shook her head. She stilled her head and walked to where she knew the Youthmaster would be.

The man in question looked very haggard. Like he was having more trouble with the children then he had signed up for. Kiran chuckled as she looked at him, his head shot up at that sound. Her brow creased slightly with worry, he had bags under his eyes. Well winter was a hard time on everyone, she supposed he was having trouble with the kids. Everyone got restless when they were cooped up for long times.

"The kids getting to be too much for you?" Kiran inquired, plopping down into a seat across from him. She had been one of those kids not that long ago, she reminded herself. And she would've been a Yasi until last year if she hadn't been chosen when she was twelve. She leaned forward, her chin in her hand and her elbow resting on a crossed knee.

"Kiran! It's good to see you again girl, how's being an Endal treatin ya? And yea these little heathens are driving me up the wall crazy." he groaned at the last part and threw his hands up as if he just wanted to throw all the kids away. Poor man, poor kids!

"It's good, I always have a full belly that's for sure! And I actually stopped by to offer some help, I wasn't really expecting to find you here, usually you're in the enclave acting the part of a ghost." Kiran smiled at him, and it was true. He was usually in the Enclave, looking through books. Books had never been something Kiran had liked, she preferred the physical world. She liked weapons and hunting too much to put them down for reading.

At the mention of her being here to offer her aid, something a bit strange from an Endal but not unheard of, his eyes lit up. He was thinking of a specific little girl who was very similar to Kiran herself, especially at that age. Everyone remembered how the girl had gotten her eagle by jumping off a cliff to save a girl younger than she from a male Zith. The girl held a grudge against the whole dirty race ever since and had a reputation for being rash but brave.

He smiled at her and Kiran's eyes narrowed at the look in his eyes, it was almost mischievous. She didn't like that look, he'd always get that look when he was fixing to give her a job she wouldn't like but would teach her an important lesson when she was younger.

"Actually there's this girl who needs some help finding what her specialty is. I suppose you could show her what being an Endal is like, or perhaps take her with you to go train in Archery, they'll let her into the better range if you're with her. " he stated his proposition and Kiran relaxed, showing a girl around? Not too difficult. She shrugged and nodded.

"Sure, why not?" she replied with an easy smile. Duvin grinned and bellowed out the girls name.

"TRILL GET IN HERE!" his voice echoed and Kiran winced then waited for the girl, Trill, to come so she could meet her.

[Trill]

"This one is poisonous. See how its leaves are indicators of its nature. It can kill you very quickly, and because you are all just children, the poison can spread even more quickly-" Trill's eyes blinked slowly, wearily. Her fist was keeping her head propped up, but just barely. The teacher's droning voice washed over her like waves over a polished rock. Then, an explosion. "TRILL!" She jumped and scrabbled for her balance on the chair, failed to find it, and hit the floor with a thud. "GET IN HERE!" Everyone's eyes were on her. Trill didn't even look at her teacher for assent; face burning, she propelled herself out of the room in the direction of Duvin's voice. When she arrived at the main area, her breath coming a little harder than usual, face still pink, he was leaning against the wall, waiting with an older girl. Trill quickly lost interest in the girl; Duvin had called her over. "Yes?" she said curtly, then, remembering that he was her elder and that he wasn't that bad of a guy at all, really, she looked down at the floor and added quietly, "sir." "Trill, this is Kiran. She used to be pupil here, like you." He nodded at the girl. "Kiran, Trill." Trill bit her lip. This was all very interesting news, but why was he telling her? Well, at least she was out of class. "Nice to meet you," she said out of obligation, affording the visitor a polite bow. She turned back to Duvin and was about to ask him why he had called for her when he patted her amicably on the shoulder. "Kiran will be showing you around today," he said with finality. Trill's eyebrows raised. "Really?" She turned to face the dark-haired girl, her face breaking into a wide smile. "You're letting me skip class? Awesome!" "Not skipping class," Duvin cut in sharply. "Think of it as a field trip, or a temporary apprenticeship. You will be getting real-world experience, a hands-on classroom experience, if you will." Hands-on classroom experience, skipping dull time in the classroom, it was all the same to Trill. Then she remembered her lack of skill, and her spirits dampened slightly. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her mentor, however temporary she may be. "Um, where to first?" she asked, her voice coming a bit more tentatively.

[Kiran Pelyna]

"Well that was a tad bit unnecessary." Kiran remarked with a smirk. Duvin just shrugged.
"It's quicker this way." he explained right before a pink faced girl scurried into the room. Kiran couldn't help but think the small girl was adorable, Kiran had around a foot on her and she had beautiful almond eyes and a pale complexion. Of course she had red hair, almost all Inartan's did.

The girl didn't pay any heed to Kiran, something the Endal wasn't too used to. But with her small size she supposed she could be mistaken as another student here to talk to Duvin. She didn't have a direct affect on the girls life, well that probably what the girl thought, so why pay attention to her?


A grin formed on Kiran's face as she heard the girl's attitude in the way she replied to the summons and how the respectful 'sir' had to be pushed out. Kiran's eyebrows rose marginally at that but she was delighted. She had wanted something to occupy her time and this girl was anything but boring by the looks of it.

At the introduction Kiran inclined her head towards the girl, a warm smile on her face. Her not speaking was odd but she wanted to see how the girl was and let Durvin explain things first before she spoke.

Kiran let out a small laugh when the girl reacted ecstatically to being let out of class for the day, Kiran herself would've reacted similarly in her place.

Durvin tried to change the girl's outlook on it, a field trip huh? Kiran smirked, she'd never had an apprentice before. In truth she wasn't adept at anything enough to truly teach someone something. But if the girl didn't know how to handle a bow perhaps she could teach her that. Although Kiran's own long bow was taller than she was, it would dwarf the tiny child before her. A short bow then. Or a small long bow.

Or perhaps she could teach the girl something about a dagger, Kiran was fairly good at welding the thing. Or perhaps she could just show her what life as an Endal was, without flying.


The girls slightly shy voice was adorable, Kiran found that she already liked the girl. Well things could change if she was disrespected but for now she liked her.
"Well little one that depends on the weapon you'd like to learn. I'm passable in three, Longbow, Dagger and Glaive. A Glaive is a type of polearm." Kiran stood up and nodded a fair-well to Durvin as she walked towards the door, glancing at the girl to see if she'd come along with her. Depending on what the girl wanted to learn she'd have to head to the room she was currently hiding in. Pelyna constantly told her she needed to get an aerie but Kiran liked to hop rooms. It was more entertaining that way.

Kiran waited by the doorway for the girl to catch up and inform her of which weapon sounded the most appealing to her. Kiran wouldn't mind honing her own skills anyways, she knew they needed help. But if the girl had no experience in any of the weapons they'd be fine. You couldn't teach someone who knew more about weapons than you how to wield them, it wasn't logical.

[Trill]

Weaponry? Trill's eyebrows raised again, and her mouth opened slightly. Sure, she might screw everything up, considering she had never held the hilt of a even formidable kitchen knife in her life, but she could play. Who knew, she might end up being an excellent swordswoman. "Well, I'm pretty handy in a brawl," she said, hurrying to catch up to the older girl as Duvin called out from behind, "Don't forget to pay her some respect!" She grinned. Respect shouldn't be an issue here, the girl seemed friendly enough. Unless, of course, her pride was wounded again, but she sincerely hoped that wouldn't happen. The out-of-school lesson was more important than calling a girl "ma'am" or bowing out of doorways, right? "You don't think you could teach me about daggers, could you, ma'am?" Trill smiled delightedly. "I've always wanted to learn, and self-defense is pretty important, or so I hear." She held out her arms and flexed, baring lean muscle in tight little balls on her arms. "I kind of have hand-to-hand combat down, but I don't know anything about armed. I never did have the chance to learn, 'cause I've been so busy with school and stuff, but wow! This will give me a real edge!" She laughed both at her unintended pun and the unexpected luck of the situation. To think she, Trill of all people, would get to be trained specially for a day! "So how did you learn about daggers?" Trill asked, getting carried away in her excitement. "Have you fought anything before?" Ouch. The question was a bit pointed, considering it could bear heavy consequences just from its personal nature, but hopefully it would yield no offense. Still, Trill tried to remedy the situation. "I mean, unless you don't want to talk about it, I completely understand." She paused, then for good measure, she added "Ma'am."

[Kiran Pelyna]

Kiran smiled lightly at Duvin's admonishment to show her some respect. She still wasn't quite used to that, she was more used to it now than when she had first become an Endal but it still retained some of the weirdness. She pushed the thought aside though. So the girl liked to brawl? Kiran rarely fought hand to hand combat, if her glaive or bow couldn't handle something she depended heavily on her dagger for protection. She only fought hand to hand when all other weapons had been taken from her grasp, and when she brawled it wasn't exactly well done. She had muscles, oh no doubt about that, but she didn't know how to use them.

So in the effort to save face she definitely would not be brawling with this small girl. Thankfully the girl seemed more interested in learning about daggers. Daggers were something she knew about.

The girls ceaseless questions delighted Kiran, she had finally found someone who could ask as many questions as she!

And of course she answered her questions, she found it rude when others didn't. And it was infuriating to boot.


"I could certainly teach you something about daggers, Trill." she informed the girl her voice carrying her amusement. The girl was interesting, and lively. She could see why Duvin had paired them together. It was a shame she couldn't take the girl into the Unforgiving, or even the courtyard. It was best to practice where there were few distractions. She supposed she could use one of the abandoned aeries, no one bothered those unless it was to make room for a new Endal.

Besides, who was going to kick an Endal out of the Aeries? So Kiran began to make her way towards them, mentally informing Pelyna which one she'd be in. Ever since she went out hunting earlier this season on her own he had been constantly checking in on her. Geeze you go out on your own once!

Kiran dragged herself out of her thoughts as Trill continued on about daggers, she gave a laugh at the girl pun and then listened as she continued, oh so she wanted to know how she learned?

"When I was about your age one of my teachers noticed I had quite the interest in his collection of daggers and he took to teaching me when I didn't have anything else to do. It kept me out of trouble, he eventually gave me this dagger." she motioned to the dagger with the carved eagle head on the hilt. It hung at her waist an she was never without it.

Kiran took a left as they climbed higher into the mountain, they were almost at the Aerie she wanted, it was barren, it was also the Aerie Pleyna slept in the most often. She supposed she'd end up moving in here. One day.

But while they walked she continued on the conversation, not minding the slightly person question at all. Kiran was an open person by nature, hiding few things and rarely lying.

"You know Trill you can always just call me Kiran, just don't disrespect me and you can drop the 'ma'am' thing." Kiran smiled encouragingly at the girl. She didn't want the girl to not respect her but the more comfortable she was around her the easier it would be for her to teach her how to fight with a blade.

"And actually there's a very interesting story of how I used my dagger, I was twelve and trying to impress wind eagles, I'd gone up to The Edge of The World when a Zith stole a girl, I jumped off the cliff with nothing but my dagger and a rope to help me down." they had arrived at the Aerie and Pelyna let out a quiet cry of greeting from the nesting room, to the two girls as Kiran sat down in the common room, she wanted to finish her story before she started training. "Well if that wasn't stupid enough I went into a cave the Zith had crept in with the girl. I got the girl to safety but I had to fight the Zith in the dark with only a dagger in my hands. I eventually got him out onto a ledge in the sunlight, always fight a Zith in the light their eyes can't handle it and they're weaker, I was stupid enough to goad the thing with insults as I stood there against him. He sliced open my right arm and I was forced to fight with my left." She turned slightly to show the younger girl the jagged scar running from her right shoulder to her elbow.
"I got a few good slices in there, but I was severely outclassed. I was getting ready to throw myself off the ledge when two Wind Eagles told me to get down and carried the ZIth off and tore him to shreds. That's when I chose Pelyna as my eagle. But to answer your question, yes I've fought things before. And I'll probably fight more. Just as a precautionary warning, if you paln on fighting with a dagger don't wear your favorite Vinati, blood stains do not come out." Kiran grinned then began to stretch out her muscles.
"Lets stretch, don't need to pull anything, now do we? While we do tell me what you'd like to end up doing with your life here."

[Trill]

So Kiran had taken up daggers sort of as a side hobby. Interesting. Maybe Trill could ask one of her teachers if they had harbored any interests in the more interesting arts rather than, say, the study of stalwartly immobile plants, and she could pick up some additional skills. By some luck she might score on some abiding mastery of a subject, and BAM! No more potential Dek life, no sirree. Kiran was leading her someplace far, far away from the Learning Gallery. As they ascended increasingly steeper sets of stairs, Trill's nervousness began to augment. What if she really did screw everything up? And Kiran was taking her someplace special, clearly - they weren't headed for the typical stomping grounds of the Yasi. At this rate, not only would she be bound to embarrass herself in front of her newfound mentor, but she would probably break something valuable too. Meanwhile, Kiran was reassuring her that Trill need not refer to her as "ma'am." Trill's ears perked up at that - a person of authority who didn't lean on their power? That, she felt, was a first. And then the tale of Kiran's braving a Zith at only twelve years of age - just four years Trill's senior, Trill noted - to save a young girl. The story was so amazing, so thrillingly spectacular, that Trill felt the curious mix of sensations of being all at once disheartened and inspired. That this girl was able to perform such a spectacular feat at only four years past what Trill was now - well, such a comparison shoved Trill into rather poor light. Well, I still have time... The story truly was fantastic. Her mentor seemed to have an easygoing sense of humor, too, so Trill felt fairly certain they would get along just fine for most of the day. As they stretched, Trill reflected on their conversation. Kiran seemed pretty friendly, and clearly had some hearty experience with fighting, meaning Trill's lesson would definitely serve its purpose well. Interesting how Zith are so weak in the sunlight, she thought idly, and spread her legs out on the floor in a near split to help stretch her hamstrings and quads. Not that she thought she'd be using her legs very much in aptly-named hand-to-hand combat, but she just hadn't stretched for exercise very much in the past (but this was a normal thing, right? I must have been talking during class...). So, in an effort to appear at least a bit more competent, she began mimicking what Kiran was doing. "We're in the Aeries, aren't we?" Trill said abruptly. The thought had finally percolated through her excitement/apprehension-numbed brain, and she thought back to her previous fear. Don't wanna break anything... it'll cost a fortune, and then some. She looked around, taking in the largely empty room. Well, it seems like that won't be a problem. Another thought burbled to the front of her mind. "Wait, you're an Endal?" Her tongue froze in her mouth, and she bit her lip nervously. Well, that was pretty dang disrespectful, especially for a person of such high status. Oh well, it was said, and now she was gazing raptly at Kiran's face, gauging the levels of emotion playing across her features.

[Kiran Pelyna]

Kiran smiled when she noticed the girl's eye shad gotten bigger after hearing her story. Well she supposed facing a Zith was a different concept to a child. Endal faced Kougara, Sky Wolves, Rashkari, Xanthian, and all manners of dangerous creature when they went out hunting or scouting. Endals died often enough, but it was their job. It was just accepted that, that was how it was.

Kiran smiled at her, she hoped the child didn't end up being an Endal, a safe job as some Avora yes. Where she couldn't get killed.

When the girl finally questioned the whereabouts of their training room Kiran grinned, it had taken her a little bit really.
"I was wondering if you'd notice that. Yup this one's not currently in use. My Eagle likes to sleep in the nesting chamber so I figured it would be good to practice here." she explained with a shrug and stood up. She pulled out her dagger. The blade was simple but strong, it was probably around seven inches in length and had a wooden handle where the pommel was a carved eagles head. She held the dagger confidentiality and motioned with it for Trill to stand.

Before she could start instructing her though the girl said something that made her burst out laughing. She had assumed the child knew!

"What did you think I was Trill? Yes I'm an Endal. I'd offer for you to go meet my Eagle but the lazy thing is sleeping." Even though it was an insult her voice carried the love she had for her eagle. She shook her head and motioned the girl closer to her.

When the girl was close enough she began to point at things on the dagger and name them.

"You hopefully know what a blade is, and a handle. But do you see the little groove running down the middle? That's called a fuller or cannelur, it helps prevent flexing or bending on the blade's part. The blade itself is a full Tang, or rather it was made from one piece of metal. Some of the better, or perhaps worse depending on who made them, daggers out there are made from several pieces of metal forged together." Kiran then turned the dagger so it was facing the ground and pointed to the two parts of the handle that dripped towards the ground, half crescents outlining the beginning of the blade.

"These two things are called quillions, they're used to protect one's hands from slipping onto the blade." Kiran smiled at the girl who was probably wondering why they'd stretched then proceeded to go into learning about the anatomy of a knife.

"I believe you need to know about a weapon before you use it. This way if you buy one you know what to look for in a quality weapon, besides you can never truly use a weapon you know nothing about." she nodded, done teaching about the boring parts of it she sheathed the dagger, she'd have to see how the girl fought first.

"I'm no good at hand to hand combat, I'm good at long range and close quarter fighting, as long as I have a dagger in my hand. But I know a thing or two about how one must stand, so you said you brawled, show me how you would stand before getting ready to throw a punch at someone."

[Trill]

Trill flushed. She hadn't meant to sound stupid, but she supposed it came out that way. Of course Kiran was an Endal, she should've been able to tell. Just at this moment, she couldn't decide whether or not Kiran's heightened rank also increased her respect; for an Endal to allow herself to be acknowledged informally was rare, and would most likely have made Kiran rise in Trill's esteem had not Trill felt so embarrassed. Well, she'd get over it. She probably would have laughed too, in that situation. When Kiran began instructing her on the different parts of the blade, Trill caught on quickly. She could understand parts to whole pretty well; as Kiran assumed, she could already distinguish the handle from the blade (thank goodness, or Trill would've felt REALLY far behind), but the crease along the middle had entirely escaped her notice until Kiran pointed it out. "A can-ne-lur. That's kind of cool." It was counter-intuitive, too; she would've thought more metal would have resulted in a stronger blade. She could understand the thought process behind forging a dagger with several different types of metal, however; 'mutts' tended to be superior in many aspects of life, it appeared. Kiran then explained the reasoning behind the quillions, the pieces of the dagger Trill had always thought of as "wings." She supposed they served a similar purpose, if she considered that wings prevented something from falling down. Trill pulled at her arms a bit to stimulate blood flow, beginning to feel impatient despite (or, perhaps, because of) her curiosity. Then Kiran instructed her to get into a fighting stance. A fighting stance? Trill looked down and curled her fists, feeling awkward. She hadn't really considered fighting to have an art form; she just kind of launched herself at her opponent, fists swinging, and learned how to survive during the course of the brawl. Let's give it a shot. She assumed she would have to stay on her feet, keep her balance and whatnot; from harsh experience she knew that she would be okay as long as both feet were planted firmly on the ground. So, she spaced her legs, dropping her center of gravity so she would be harder to push over. Then, feeling a tad ridiculous, she bent her arms and tightened her fists. Well, that didn't feel right. She still felt vulnerable, but hey, might as well look like she knew what she was doing. She threw on a confident smirk and stood there for a second before relaxing. "How was that, yeah?" She smiled, feeling her nerves quiver in her stomach. She'd just made a giant fool out of herself, but that was how people learned, right? Make mistakes and all that?

[Kiran Pelyna]

Kiran smiled at the girls embarrassment.
"Stop embarrassing the poor thing, she doesn't know what to do around you." Pelyna's voice suddenly filled her mind telling her that the Eagle had been paying attention teh whole time. Wasn't he supposed to be napping?

Shouldn't you be asleep? Kiran replied her mind voice amused if slightly exasperated. She couldn't do anything anymore!

She shook her head and noticed the Trill was starting to look rather fidgety and impaitent right before she began her physical instruction for this.

Kiran looked over Trills stance, not that she had long before the girl went back to normal, obviously not confident in herself. Kiran shook her head, she needed to at least pretend she was confident, it was amazing how many people fell for fake confidence.

Well that would probably be a good thing to address right away. Sometimes you didn't even need to be good at dagger work, you just had to make people think you were. If they thought you knew how to use that blade better than they knew how to use their fists there was a good chance they'd back down.


"I don't believe I told you that you could drop the pose." Kiran said slowly with an easy smile, her voice had a slight warning. She was still and Endal and as such Trill should obey her orders until told otherwise. Unlike some of her 'colleagues' though she didn't yell or hit the girl. Some of the other Endals had so little paitence.

When Trill re-assumed the fighting pose Kiran circled her slowly, tapping at places where she needed to straighten.

"First lesson, confidence. If you can make your opponent believe you're proficient at a weapon you might not even need to fight them. So, keep your chin up and you're eyes level. Keep you're eye's locked on them and fake your confidence until even you believe it" Kiran had now come back around to face the girl, the confident smirk that had been on her face needed to come back. Anyone could see her nerves on her face.

Kiran pulled out her dagger and handed it to Trill.

"Make me believe you know how to use this." Kiran ordered.

[Trill]

A surge of furious adrenaline raged through Trill's heart before it slowly dissipated, sending the tips of Trill's fingers tingling. She didn't know what her problem was with authority, but it so irked her to the core. No, irked wasn't strong enough - it enraged her. But she had to keep her head, keep herself calm, and she thought of quiet and silence and cool winds and let the words of the Endal push her back into her embarrassing pose. Kiran began walking around her, and Trill felt gentle jabs where her form needed to be adjusted. A stronger knee here, tighter arms here, her back needed to bend ever so slightly... And so Kiran began telling her about confidence, how Trill could use it as a way to fool the enemy into submission. It felt underhanded, even shady, but Trill's rebellious nature was warming to the idea. All she needed was a mask, right? A confidence mask. A simple sneer wasn't going to do it - she needed to act. For some reason, that didn't feel very hard at all. Kiran handed her the dagger and told her to make it seem like she knew how to use it. A tall order, Trill thought, considering her fingers had never curled around the handle of anything except a broom. Her imagination became her greatest ally. She made-believe there was an opponent in front of her. Someone armed, a classmate - a bully, she didn't care which one, just one of those conniving little thugs. She flipped the dagger absent-mindedly in her hand, feeling for some instinct of an easy fit; when none came, she thought back to how Kiran had held the dagger - like so - and let her thumb rest on the top of the handle while the rest of her fingers curled around. But not too tightly, it would seem like she was afraid of dropping it; ever-so-slightly loosely, almost carelessly, but she had to be very aware of the bully, so she could tighten her grip in an instant for... well, whatever the heck would happen when she would attack. Probably toss the dagger aside and go at him with her fists, taking whatever blows may come. Nevertheless, she cocked her head, her smirking pulling at the corner of her mouth so a jagged child's tooth was shown. Her stance was as poised as her grip: almost deceptively relaxed, but with a quiet tension. She was a little concerned about how she was standing (this is too blasè!), but let the worry drift away, lest it wrinkle her face and betray her emotions writhing underneath her... her mask. She flipped the dagger again, this time certain to return it to the position she had seen Kiran hold it. Yes - this was it. What was that people said - "an extension of the arm?" Yeah, they said that, but it certainly didn't feel like it. Her stance was too relaxed. She widened her feet, braced them against the ground. This was much better. She just felt too vulnerable standing like she had been - whatever she did, she knew with that vital, primal instinct that she would have to stay on her feet, stay on her feet, no matter what. "Is this better?" she asked, her tone not quite monotone, but very, very far from disrespectful. She had struck that perfect solemnity, her voice low but not gravelly, that she might use when calmly addressing the bullies. She could see it - they wouldn't try to beat her up again, would they? Not that they had had time recently, anyway. The information was irrelevant to the task at hand, so she, much like with her rage, let it just... drift away. If only I were a noble...