Flashback Training In Chains

[Talia]

6th of Spring, 506 AV "Wake up Dra!!" It was Dovna Voroku yelling at her. Of course it was always Dovna yelling at her. Sibea Sarissa preferred to not even be in the same room as someone as low as Dra-Talia, an orange-haired slave whose mother had betrayed the Symenestra by laying with a human man. Dovna reminded her everyday how her ugliness and strangeness offended Sibea, how they ought to just kill her. These threats always involved him showing her his long, sharp nails. Of course she would then look mournfully at her own nails, cut so close to her fingers. Whenever she did see Sibea, the older woman made sure to flaunt her long, dark locks, reminding Dra-Talia that her own strange hair was cut to her ears. Dra-Talia crawled out of her niche, straightening her skirt, and squinting in the darkness. This was another sign of her half-blood status. Although her eyes had the look of Symenestra eyes, she's always had more trouble seeing in the darkness than everyone else did- not that she had anything else to compare it to. She'd never even stepped outside of Kalinos. The way her life was going, she probably never would. "Here." Dovna shoved a piece of stale bread in Dra-Talia's small hands. "Eat and do your morning work quickly. Then you have someone to meet." Dra-Talia sighed. Dovna knew very well that with her weakened poison, she would never be able to consume something so hard in so short a time. She stowed the bread away into her niche; maybe she could try to eat it later when she went to bed. Then she set about her chores immediately, there would be no reason to beat her today. At least not on her part. She went about her work faster than usual, finishing by preparing a breakfast stew for her owners, and then reporting back to stand in front of her niche, where Dovna had instructed her to wait for whoever she was supposed to meet. It took forever. While she waited, she could hear Sibea slurping breakfast in the other room. Her stomach growled in hunger. Finally, Dovna re-entered the enclosure. Following behind him was a man. Not a symenestra. A real man. Dra-Talia's eyes widened, and she tottered forward in curiosity, for her owners usually made it quite clear that any creature that was not 100% Symenestra was worthless, and yet here before her stood a free, unharmed human. And Dovna was talking to him in his important person voice, which he didn't even use with Sibea. Dra-Talia felt hopeful. Perhaps this man was related to her father; her father had been human. Maybe he was her father's brother come to take her away. "Dra!" Dovna snapped sharply. Dra-Talia stiffened, preparing for a blow, but none came. She peered up at Dovna, who was watching her expectantly. "Yes, Dovna?" She didn't tremble. Trembling only ever got her into trouble. Dovna was more likely to beat her for sniveling. Her master motioned to the man. "This is Master Ivan." Dra-Talia fell to her knees, the expected sign of respect to anyone superior to her, which was, of course, everyone. "Get up, Dra." Dovna's hand grabbed her shoulder- too tight- and pulled her to her feet. "Master Ivan will be your combat trainer." Her eyes widened again in confusion. Why did she need a combat trainer? She was just a little slave. Sibea had told her she would spend her entire life a slave, doing hard work for her masters. "You will get up early to do your morning work, and stay up late to do your nightly chores. You will spend the rest of the day doing whatever Master Ivak tells you. Do you understand?" Dra-Talia nodded, then paused, looking to her feet. "But what about my daily work Dovna? Serving you in the business? And preparing lunch? How can I do both?" His palm hit her face roughly, knocking her light body to the ground. "Did you not hear me?! Stupid Dra. You will forget all those duties. This is your most important work." She crawled to her feet, restraining tears that would only get her hit again. "Yes Dovna. Sorry Dovna." "Now," her owner said, turning to Master Ivan. "Is that all you need?" The human raised his hand. "Three things. First, you'll need to feed her better. She'll need more meat on her if you expect her to perform as you desire. Second, the nails. Don't cut them anymore. Third, do you have a weapon for her?" Dovna nodded, holding up a small, intricate knife that Dra-Talia recognized. She felt a thrill within her, as her master handed the weapon to her new trainer. "It belonged to her filthy father. Only she's dirty enough to use the damn thing." Dra-Talia ignored his words easily, focusing her attention on the knife. It had belonged to her father. And it was to be hers now. She had never had anything of her parents before, at least not since they had died. She felt the twinkle of hope re-ignite in her as Dovna walked away, and Master Ivak turned to her. "Come with me," he said stiffly, turning away and not waiting for her to follow.

[Talia]

6th of Spring, 506 AV Master Ivan led her out of her owners' home, and they climbed down to the floor of Kalinor. They walked to find a clear, abandoned space. "Now," Ivan said. "What training do you already have?" Dra-Talia paused, confused. "I never learned to fight before, Master. I only did dance and school when my parents were alive. Now I don't do anything." Ivan nodded. "You danced? For how long?" "Three years I think. Sometimes I forget though." "Well that's something at least," Master Ivan sighed. "Well, girl, now you will learn to fight. Now. Try to knock me over." Dra-Talia's eyes grew frightened. "M-Master?" "Go on." She hesitated again, and his voice grew angry. "Now, Dra-Talia!" Flinching, she ran at him, trying to push him over, but he didn't even move. One little nudge from his foot had her falling backwards. "Get up," he ordered gruffly. "Now think, girl. Look at yourself, and look at me." She did as asked. She was small, much smaller than him, a man who was taller even than Dovna. He was twice as tall as her, and three times as thick. "If you carry on like that," he continued, "you could try all day and I would never move. Now stand still and watch me." Master Ivan dove down towards her, wrapping his arms around her small legs, and pushing through. Dra-Talia let out a cry of surprise as he caught her off balance, and she fell forward, scraping her arms when she landed on the ground. He released her legs and she scrambled to her feet. "But you're bigger than me," she complained. "That's not fair." Ivan shook his head. "It will work for you if you do it right, even on people bigger than me." Her eyes went wide in wonder. "Tell me how!" "Bend down, and grasp your arms around the bottom of my legs. Good. Now push your shoulder into my shin. And now you've got to remember the important part. Do not use your arms to push, you must draw all your power from your legs. Push with your legs. Right. Now takes a couple of steps back, and try it on me. Remember everything I just told you." Dra-Talia took three steps back, and then took them forward again, this time faster. She wrapped herself around Master Ivan, and pushed (with her legs since Ivan said so). Suddenly Master Ivan was falling. He landed partly on her, so it hurt a little, but she didn't care. She had made him fall. This was probably the best thing she had ever done. She grinned as Ivan pulled her to her feet. "Now what, Master?" "Now I teach you how not to get crushed when you pull this move. When you feel the person you're using it on start to fall, you have to let go of your legs, and roll all the way to your feet. Then you will be standing over them, and will have the advantage. Practice that first, rolling to your feet. No- not on your head. Never roll on your head in combat. That's the best way to get hurt. Go over one shoulder to roll on your back. There we go." With Ivan's additional instruction, it took Dra-Talia only two tries to roll properly, and get all the way to her feet. "Now we do the whole thing together. Knock me down, but his time don't let me fall on top of you. Go on." Dra-Talia did as she was told, and was successful the first time. She grinned, but received no praise, only instruction to perform the routine several more times. After, Master Ivan taught her several simple techniques. How to throw a punch (thumb outside the fist), how to throw a kick (never curl your toes, do not hit the elbow, and make contact with your ankle or the top of your foot), and how best to attack with an elbow (twist with your hips). By the time Master Ivan said she was done, Dra-Talia was exhausted and covered with scrapes and bruises, dreading her night chores. She still had to cook for Dovna and Sibea, and there was cleaning too. Plus some lifting for Dovna's business. Nevertheless, she felt better than she had in forever. She liked combat training.