The Dance of the Suvai (Satu - Self Training)

[Satu]

62nd Day of Winter, Year 509

[Satu]

Loreena McKennitt- Tango to Evora Evocative music touched the homesickness within and stirred it about her Heart. She thought the pang of loss could not be made worse, but she was wrong. Compelled to find the distant, haunting music Satu wandered the wet cobblestones and through the crowds trying to find its source. A side street led to an alleyway and an empty courtyard. And there, three stories above her, she spotted the window from which the sound came. There! There was the origin of it! She could almost see the musicians, but Satu would not go up to them. It was enough that they played, and that Art and Beauty resided inside this city of filth and dirt. Surrounded by men and violence, the Konti missed her home, her peaceful Mura. Blessings to those faceless people, how her Heart went flew to them! The melody, hypnotic and beautiful touched her Spirit. It was not a song from her Isle, but elsewhere, far away. Though it was a reminder of how far away she actually was from misty seashores, and lapping waves, and the beach birds, and dance. The sounds stirred her, and closing her eyes she felt the musical pulse within. Rose lips turned upwards, she would honor their beautiful music the only way she knew how. She was alone in the courtyard; no other was about as she stepped to the center of the space, between rubbish piles and wooden crates on either side. Her arms rose into the air above her as her hips swayed to the rhythm, as if pulled by the wave of music, side to side, and side to side again. One gentle slipper lifted and placed itself behind the other. Over and over the small steps turned her body in a little circle. One arm lifted above her head reaching, and her knees bent, then straightened, lifting her to the sky. The fingers of her right hand held loosely in the form of a small cup. The left arm wrapped around her waist, hugging the soft fabric to her, as her body rose into the air. Each dip of the knee caused her to rise higher into the returning lift. The heavy winter travel skirt she wore swayed and billowed outwards with the movements. Arms opening to the buildings, the trash, and the flea infested rats around her, Satu's chest lifted. Her feet stepped lightly outwards, this time one foot placed just in front of the other. The steps widened and slowly she circled the perimeter of the alley. As the placements of the steps once again became smaller with each rotation, they picked up speed. The turns increased rapidly and she began to revolve around herself. Satu spun, not with a beautiful dancer’s grace, but with the abandon of a young woman full of emotion, and life, and sorrow, and hope. It was a wild spin, and she wobbled terribly. But her arms folded inwards, helping to calm the unbalanced passion, as they crossed over her breasts, fingers cradling her face. Her hips moved and she stepped out, left hip leading. The muscles of the right leg contracted and she leapt into the air, legs extended. The jump was impulsive, and unprepared for the landing, Satu slid on some wet, unnamable thing on the cobblestones. Her slender arms wind-milled, but she kept her balance. Still moving as the music increased in level, her Heart filled with the song’s power. Satu could feel them! Sorrow, Pride, Hope, Longing! These people, so far away from their nameless home! Tears came to her eyes as she thought of her home also. The rhythm traveled through her as she turned and spun again, but this time her movements slowed as the music from above came closer to its conclusion.

[Satu]

Satu still danced, but more slowly now and with each turn of her head she gazed up at the window, and at the hidden players that occupied the little room beyond it. The music had slowed, but continued on just as she did. They had touched her greatly, these musicians, though they would never know about their hidden audience in the back courtyard. And while she was grateful for the grace shared, her Heart was also saddened this idyllic reprieve had to come to an end. The music trailed off, and Satu slowed even more, refusing to make a hurried stop to the movements that had brought her such joy. With surprise and delight, the Konti felt the music begin anew. So smooth was the transition to the second song that the impulsive dancer was taken by surprise. Eyes sparkling with renewed excitement, Satu’s very core sensed the faster beat within the song and her blood burned in response. There would be no stopping while they still played! Almost jumping at the chance to continue, she scurried back over the cobblestones, to the courtyard center to place herself for this additional melody. The Konti allowed her body freer, spontaneous movements to fit the more energetic rhythm. Unselfconsciously, her body shifted, trying to match both the instruments’ and the singer’s energy. Satu bent and white hair fell about her face and shoulders. As she turned and twisted, it tossed behind her, white sheen against the dirty shadows of the courtyard walls. To the rhythm, her shoulders undulated, front to back as she stepped with her feet, toes pointing. The scarf about her neck moved with her, lifting as she leapt through the air, to land on the courtyard stones. The soft, diaphanous fabric slowly worked itself loose, gaining in length with each turn she made. The music picked up speed and the Konti with it. The song’s meaning unknown, she created her own within the dance, and within her mind. She raised one knee and then the other, lifting and swinging her heavy skirt as she pranced to the new tone with gusto and Heart. It was Life and Living! It was not the mournfulness of the previous song. Her head turned left and right with each march of her dancer’s legs. Her whole being radiated Joy! And on her face an open expression of abandon in the movement. She was in the dance and in the song. She was the musician and the singer. Their blood beat in her veins, and warmed it! The faster she moved, the more she felt them became her Heart. Her arms snaked around each other rising upwards. Long fingers interwove, linking one into the other as an offering to what must surely be the musician’s deity, Rhaus, God of Music. Hips swung, fingers entwined, she shifted her wrists while her clasped hands lowered reverently to touch lightly at her lips and Heart before releasing them to extend outwards from her body as she turned once more. Mid-turn the Konti tripped over the unraveling scarf. Lifting the end of it, she held the billowy, soft fabric in her palm and danced with its folds. Bending to one side and then the other, her right arm turned and extended outwards with the scarf, as if she danced with a partner. Her pretty hand seemed to hold another’s, like she would a partner or a lover. Straightening, she turned the other way, inviting her mysterious companion to follow her skips and leaps. Spinning around, she led with a series of little steps and footwork. But she turned again in the opposite direction and taking the scarf by both ends looped it into the air as if to catch her lover within its confines to pull him towards her. Disturbed by the twirling scarf and the dancing Konti, a rat hissed as he hovered over his castaway meal. But so in rapture was Satu by the freedom and the release of the dance that she did not notice. Angelic was her face, smooth and radiant in its energetic glow. Eyes closed, it felt marvelous to move again and bring balance back to her mind. And in this instant, the dingy courtyard was as fine and grand as any practice pavilion in Mura.

[Satu]

The musicians played, the singer sang, and Satu danced. Each gained confidence as their combined efforts intertwined, becoming something more exceptional than the self. What was time within the circle of their Art? Nothing existed for the Konti, but the swell in her Heart and her feet lightly stepping on the cobblestones. The instruments and the magical voice from above wrapped her within a mysterious timeless embrace. It was a song of Hope, and Potency, and even of Awareness. Vital was the placement now of each foot, and each arm as it reached into the air about her. Vital was also the focus within the body as she attempted to bring inner passion out into a Heartless world. Essential trainings from the Suvai Pavilion flooded her mind and the dance changed. The flowing impromptu dance transitioned to the smooth, controlled flow of Konti Unarmed Combat Forms. The one flowed into the other seamlessly without breaking the rhythm of the mysterious song. But to Satu’s mind, the Combat Form was still a dance, a beautiful Art in itself. Each movement she made punctuated the firm beat running through the music. Each swing of the hip, each punch, each kick, matched the pulse of the instruments in exclamation. She took three steps to the right, bent the leading knee and swung her arms to the front, wrists bent and palms out. She held her arms immobile, breathing heavy. Swinging the left arm back and around in a circle, she turned her head also to the left and the right arm circled to land with elbow bent into a fist block in front of her chest. Pushing off with her front leg, the back exploded upwards as she leapt into the air, kicking out. Her arms gracefully revolved around each other, before separating into another strong block to the right, and then the left.Satu turned suddenly, reversing her stance. One arm soared ahead to block an imaginary attack, while the other paused in its movement behind her, held in reserve for a punch or a block. Continuing the momentum, she used the length of the courtyard for her long strides and spins. Sweat glistened on her exposed skin and her lungs labored for air. With the next strike of the drum, the Konti turned, practiced hands guiding imaginary opponents away gracefully. The beautiful brilliance of Konti combat was in using another’s force and momentum to the Konti’s benefit. Ever peaceful and lovely, the traditions and history of the movements filled the dancer with grace and Satu was no exception as she spun in the hidden courtyard. Practicing the Dance of the Forms, she believed as the young do, that no harm could possibly ever cause her to use them in actual combat. When the music finally slowed to a graceful ending, Satu followed suit in her movements. The Konti dancer was worn physically, but emotionally she felt renewed. Joy shown in her eyes, and in her stance. Finally in the city of Syliras, she had found peace! Standing below their window, hidden from sight she was like the beggar, who did not want to leave the source of a magnificent feast. But the sun was beginning to set and her companions would be worried.Turning, she searched for the scarf she had misplaced amidst the dance. It lay discarded by an old pile of bricks and Satu ran to retrieve it. Hearing voices, she looked up again as one of the musicians leaned out of the window, possibly to breathe the cool, outside air. Satu grabbed the scarf and happily ran, already breathless, out of the courtyard. A streak of white hair gave her presence away as she rounded the corner and was then out of sight.

[Dusk]

XP Award! Satu XP Award: Dancing: 3 XP, Unarmed Combat: 1 XP Lore Award: Lore of Finding Beauty in Syliras, Additional Note This is an awesome training thread... do you mind if I use it as an example to show people how training threads usually work?