Solo [Kendoka Sasaran] Sword from the Motherland

[Kaie]

20th Day of Winter, 515 AV

It had been a beautiful morning even for winter. Surviving grass and plants were given a frosty dusting over their green bodies, reflecting Syna's glow like tiny crystals embedded in their flesh. The Festival of Hope had come and passed, fruits had swapped identities in the orchards, and the existence of strange abilities among the populace was growing more and more evident since the Council had made their public statements. Kaie knew little of the others out there struggling with their gifts, but she was well aware of the discomfort and uncertainty it created in herself. Her body and mind was at war because of her instincts. Her years of industriousness and rigorous training that had seen her through since she left Falyndar were stumped with the manifestation of her gift. Self-preservation was grappling with the intentions of a technical soldier. When she wanted to stand her ground and counter, her gift implored her overwhelmingly to move away completely. The tug-of-war was taxing and the consequences of indecisiveness were brutal upon the mats. She needed cohesion, and like two warring spirits within one soul, neither side would concede to bring the warrior woman internal peace. Thus, she was right where she was: sitting along the edge of the top tier overlooking the falls and dreaming of home.

It was a torturous exercise rather than meditation to be honest. Sure, Kaie had come to sit there and enjoy the morning, the pounding exclaim of the powerful water as it crashed into the sea, and potentially get her own head on straight. Yet only a fool would neglect to notice the longing in her stare across the horizon. There, she thought with a forlorn bubbling in her center. Just across the sea there's the shore my ship will take me home when the winter ends. The Village of the Shining Scales will welcome me with open arms, and then I'll be swallowed whole by our jungle. Just another season. Just another season. She uncrossed her legs to let them dangle over the cliff side. Her arms dangled down at her sides, knuckles brushing against the frostbitten grass. "Homesick? You should be." Kaie whipped her head around, right hand instinctively reaching for her gladius hidden by her winter cloak. The fingers immediately unwrapped from around the weapon's hilt the tick her head registered her own native language.

"This barbarian city petching reeks," the other Myrian woman griped as she approached with a disgusted curl of her lip. "You haven't smelled Sunberth, Sister," Kaie returned in their shared language with an airy snort of contempt, shaking her head with a flash of teeth. Riverfall was a far cry from the disastrously vile city at the opposite shore of Mizahar. It was an utter disgrace. If the bodies hadn't dropped from starvation, murder, or disease the smell was surely what must've turned them to corpses. The other Myrian woman offered a short-lived smirk at that. "You come to join or something?" The other Myrian arched a slender brow. "You look like a disgrace." Kaie laughed dryly and rolled her eyes. She always had to hand it to her fellow Myrians. Always so very, very blunt. "If you were my daughter I just might slap you. I might anyways."
"You try and I might just break your hand." The two grinned wildly at one another, thankful for familiarly brutal banter. The other Myrian sighed and resigned to sit beside Kaie on the cliff side to gaze over the Suvan. "Taloba still stands, Sister. Suck it up. Unless you can melt the ice with your homesick eyes you'll just have to wait until spring like everyone else." She pursed her lips. The stranger was right. No good could come from her sitting there, freezing her ass off just in hopes she could spot a glimpse of her home's shore if she looked hared enough. Still, it was hard to pry her gaze away. So close. So far.

"Kaie of the Cutthroat Shadows," she introduced herself simply. The other Myrian nodded in acknowledgement before providing a name for herself as well. "Isa of the Silent Death." Kaie's brow furrowed at that and in a tick she whipped her head back around to eye Isa. "I know you. They say you were the longest to put the Goddess Queen on the defense ever. My kin living in the city told me stories about that day, and how Myri rewarded you." Isa rolled her eyes in the face of her new companion's not-so-hidden awe. Her hand brushed the end of her cloak aside to flash the hilt of a katana fastened to her hip much like Kaie's own gladius. Isa glanced at her sheathed blade, smiling down almost nostalgically. "The Whispering Cut. Blessed Myri had a maledictor craft it for me." The katana was hidden once again, leaving Kaie's amber eyes disgruntled for having to tear themselves away from where it once laid in plain view. "I'm surprised The House of Blades didn't beg you to stay and share your knowledge back home."
"Who's to say they didn't?" Isa answered cryptically with a sideward glance before letting her eyes find the sea again. More starstruck questions dared to bubble like word vomit past her lips, but instead she quelled them. Something else plagued the mind of the young woman she felt she needed to voice with a homeland legend. Someone she was finally sure she could trust.

"Have you heard what they've been saying? About the people with...abilities?" Gods, could she have been more awkward trying to voice that absurd topic? Isa raised her brow in perplexity and Kaie certainly didn't blame her.
"Abilities?"
"Yeah just, like, people have suddenly been able to do things they shouldn't be able to do."
"I know the city Council said something about it. What kind of abilities are you talking about?" Isa eyed her curiously, the intensity of her stare burrowing into the very soul of the minor in her midst. Not even Razkar had placed so much pressure on her with a single expectant stare.
"Well...what if someone had one that could tell them when something was going to---Ow, dammit!" Kaie rubbed the back of her head and growled, amber eyes flickering sidelong to glower at the Taloban celebrity. "I'm not going to listen to petching barbarian riddles. Spit it out!"
"Alright already!" Kaie looked up at Syna, grit her teeth, and exhaled. Suck it up, Kaie, suck it up and just say it. It took everything in her being not to just take it all back and switch the subject. "I think I'm one of those people. I get these feelings I have to leave where I am sometimes. Like someone nearby wants to jump me or something. And when I spar I can...sense...when something's coming before it happens." Her voice was only just above a careful whisper. She turned away to face the sea, hiding from Isa's expression. The other woman threw a jab into her shoulder. "Go on. What kind of something? Like an attack? What?"
"Yeah, like a punch. It's just like my whole being gets possessed by this desire to move off my center and out of the way. What are you doing?"

Kaie's brow furrowed as she watched Isa mumble with closed eyes and her head lifted toward the sky. A bright smile was upon her tan features long before her eyes brightened and head leveled again. She seized Kaie by her arms with both exuberant hands. "Praying. This is a gift, Kaie. A gift from the Goddess Queen like our blessings or my blade. She has deemed you worthy to bless with this ability!" Any thoughts in her head were slain right then and there. She blinked dumbly at Isa, searching her face for the lie. Could she be right? A gift from the Goddess Queen Myri herself? A blessing? The smile never faded from Isa's glowing face. Kaie's hand ran down her own. "It's petching with my head. I get it, self-preservation and all that, but it's bound to get me killed. I can't get this need to move and my own instincts to reconcile. It's got me hesitating, trying to figure out who to listen to when I can get out of the way or hold my ground and counter. If this is a gift from Myri, I am dishonoring her." Isa pursed her lips. For several ticks she stared at Kaie, still gripping her arms, in total silence. Then, without warning, the woman all but ripped the young woman up off her feet. "Up. I will not allow you to shame our Goddess Queen with failure."
"Where are we going?"
"To teach both your warrior hearts to beat as one!"

OOC:20,212/50,000

SPECIAL NOTE: Isa exists within the NPC Creation thread under "Special Groups"

[Kaie]

Several times Kaie swore she'd lost Isa for good among the throngs of other travelers through Riverfall's streets. Of course it was never truly hard to pick out her fellow Myrian the tick she glanced her wild hair or unorthodox clothing not so different from her own. The two wound up and down the path, zigging this way and zagging that way through the crowd and around corners. Finally she stopped before one building in particular. Even that lasted only a tick. Without giving her companion so much as a chance to breathe, the woman was unapologetically bursting through the front foors to reveal the stone interior within. It was much like another place in the city the Myrian woman had been. That one had been designated for unarmed combat, however. As she shoved her way inside behind Isa, she found herself confronted with one massive room and greeted by rows of practice weapons. While Kaie dumbly glanced around her new surroundings, gauging the environment with her newly found sense of danger, Isa was already picking two pairs of wooden sticks from a display and shoving one pair into her hands.
Kaie shook her head to find a semblance of focus before following the other woman into an open area on the mats.

"I am not our Goddess. I am not a Priestess. You and I are soldiers, and we will conquer your inner battle as we conquer one another in the Training Yards. Do you understand?" Isa began with a sharp, commandeering voice as she stood straight up before her newest student. Kaie found herself straightening up herself in the face of such authority and solemnly nodding her head. Yes, I understand you're about to kick my ass. Isa rested her sticks on either shoulder. "Good. I noticed you like a good gladius. These sticks will simulate our blades. I'm going to use them to condition you into re-defining how your mind sees self-preservation and survival in combat. First...I want to see this ability for myself. Drop the sticks." She fought the exasperated growl that threatened to rise from her throat. She threw the sticks down off to the side obediently, but not without silent qualm. Then, without warning, the sensation rocked her world. It possessed her, writhed in her mind like a parasite until she relented all within a single moment. Her hands came up and she pivoted to the right as the stick came soaring down from above. Goddess damn her. Guess we're gonna just jump right in---. Her feet reeled back beneath her with a clench of her jaw right when the other stick came with a horizontal arc. Move! her mind squealed once again, and the Myrian found herself dipping her shoulder to bob and weave away from the third attack. Isa bit her lip skeptically, though even Kaie could spot the growing excitement in her eyes. "Not...bad." Kaie was a fool if she thought that meant she could sigh a breath of relief.

The sticks flew into motion once more. Kaie was moving like a mad woman, pivoting this way, reeling back that way, bob-and-weaving from there, and dodging to shift herself over there. There was no pattern or forethought for she was not in control. Isa's frustration grew, and with it speed of the sticks. "Petch! Petch!" the gifted of the two protested after being struck the second time despite her best efforts to move out of the way. Isa paused mid-strike and returned both sticks to her shoulders. "Well I'm not magic! You've got me up against a wall now." The other Myrian considered that, turning her back on her student and pacing away. To Kaie, waiting for her criticism felt like a lifetime. "Your gift and your fighting style are not wrong alone, but faulted. Your gift can be manipulated by someone who knows what they're doing and what they're dealing with. I managed to herd you up against a wall. Your fighting style may not be weak. You wouldn't have lasted so long out here, I suspect, if it was. But if you could combine them and have them work together...gods, so much potential."

Kaie watched Isa pace about their given area, mumbling to herself. One of her sticks gestured curtly in the direction of the discarded pair. "Pick them up. The only way you'll learn to let them coexist to achieve one, smooth flow of motion, strategy, and thought will be through practice." The younger of the two Myrians retrieved the sticks and wandered back over. Isa placed both sticks on her shoulder again. Kaie mirrored her and lowered into her stance. "Let's go back to basic drills from home. Start with something familiar. Sky and Earth. Go!" The right stick came shooting forward from Isa's shoulder as if it meant to strike Kaie's collar bone. The gift ignited and subsequently controlled, bringing the frustrated Myrian stepped backward to the side rather than engaging in the drill. She cursed foully but humbly repositioned herself before her new teacher. "Again!" The same stick shot forward once more. The panic set in, controlling, controlling. Resist. Resist, resist, and engage! The stick paused inches from her collar bone. Isa gave the spot a little tap before shooting the end of the stick over to tap against the side of her head faster than she could move. "We'll go slower. Control, Sister. Stop letting your mind war with your gift but don't concede either. Simply let the two forces flow together." She fought the urge to snap both the sticks right in her hands. What the petch is that even supposed to mean, Isa?

OOC:21,156/50,000

[Kaie]

The Myrian gripped the gladius-like sticks in her hands with a sharp exhale through her nose. Focus. Don't think. Just do, she tried to coach herself internally. Kaie nodded at Isa and motioned for her to begin again. The other Myrian woman obliged her with the decency to begin slowly. With both sticks resting on her shoulders to start, the familiar sequence began. Isa's right stick came shooting down once more as if to strike Kaie's collar bone. The gift begged her to do its bidding, but in a single act of desperation, Kaie's own right stick surged forward to meeting Isa's in the space between them. Both their sticks were paused by the other, lowered, and recoiled to strike each other again. Then they switched sides and repeated the motion with the other sticks so that Isa's left stick came to war with Kaie's left. Each time Kaie managed to swing her stick into her mentor's, it was more like a last ditch effort of desperation than one of control and technique. She was all but begging her gift to forget the foreshadowing it detected, to let her complete the simple drill she'd known since she was a young girl. The effort was exhausting and she did not doubt Isa wasn't blind to it. Showing it would surely only bring the struggling young woman more pain.

"Yes! See? That's it! Now down!" Isa commanded after her right stick struck Kaie's right again, forcing the younger of the two to adjust with the threat of beading sweat emerging on her forehead. Jump back! Back and away to safety! came the warning in her head that spread like wildfire through her nerves. She grit her teeth and all but threw her stick across and downward from the pivot point at her elbow, like a tree bending down to touch its roots in the wind. Both sticks collided as if protecting their masters' legs. With a sharp exhale, she willed the same stick to rotate back up to meet Isa's once more up above. "Now switch!" Isa demanded just before her left stick flew out to strike Kaie's left. Then, just like with the other, Kaie's left stick rotated down to block Isa's advance before shooting it up to meet her again at shoulder height. Her mentor's stick flew out to gesture for their introduction to the lengthier drill to end, and when Kaie's intuition had her reeling back and away from it, the older of the two laughed aloud. "Progress! Hopefully when we are through you'll tip-toe around more like a Myrian Tiger than a skittish jungle rat!" Kaie doubled over. Her hands shot down to catch herself on her knees, lungs laboring for breath. That would be ideal, she thought to herself between sucking in breaths. The proud woman only allowed herself half a chime though. Sweat was wicked from her forehead with the back of her hand. Then she was straightening back up, adjusting her jaw and setting her sticks upon her shoulder at the ready. Her teacher grinned broadly, if not a bit sadistically. "Sky's six."

Thus her torture began again at a new chapter. Isa tucked her left stick beneath her right arm and Kaie was quick to mirror the action. Her ability bubbled violently to life, warning her Isa had indeed consciously made the decision to strike at her without a moment's notice. It wasn't wrong. Isa's right stick shot forward to strike at her head, and Kaie willed her own to rise to meet it. Upon making contact, both Myrians transitions their right sticks onto their left shoulders. Then, their left sticks untucked from beneath their right arms to attack the same spot. Kaie ground her teeth as she watched her stick successfully meet Isa's. Her heart thumped in her chest. Part of her felt as though her whole being might fall apart. Both Myrians brought their left sticks back to rest on their left shoulders, and that's when the right stick rose from that spot to whip outward at each other's heads. The two sticks collided again and swooped down to wrap back beneath their left arms. Then the cycle was set to begin again. Kaie and Isa whipped their left sticks outward to meet once more before the younger of the two broke away. Isa's right stick struck none but air with Kaie fading just out of reach. The Taloban celebrity furrowed her brow and frowned with disdain. If she had a tail, Kaie's would've been drooped shamefully between her legs.

"Craven! Myri has blessed a craven?" Isa spat foully, dropped her sticks from her shoulders so they hung in clenched hands at her waist.
"I'm not afraid," Kaie spat back with a snarl, twirling the sticks around once in her hands. Lowered brows cast thin shadows over her fiery, narrowed eyes. "It's petching harder to keep up than it looks."
"Hah! So it's weakness then? You're too weak to bear your ability? A waste!" An agitated tongue shot across Kaie's lips to moisten them. Then she lunged forward with a shriek, birthing her rage into the world through the gladius-like stick she swung down at Isa from above. Isa's brow shot up and she grinned wildly, settling her body down to deal with the ambush. She shot her right stick up so that the long end pointed down at the ground, and when Kaie's connected with it, she used her left stick to cross it out and away from her body. Then, without missing a beat, she used the blocking stick to circle around her own head before bringing it down to strike at Kaie. The gift gave its warning, and the agile young woman stepped to the side (almost losing her balance in the process) to avoid the strike. She beat Isa's stick down with her right one, and backed away to circle the woman. Isa only grinned broadly, expression alight to boundless
excitement. "I held my own for a time with Myri! Come on! Let me wipe this petching floor with you!"




OOC:22,168/50,000

[Kaie]

The two Myrians whipped into a flurry of movement with Isa first being put again on the defensive. Kaie swung her gladius-like sticks down upon Isa with little rhythm but with a surplus of reason. The left came down from above, and when it was swiftly neutralized, she compensated by bringing it back up and doling out intended pain with the right. The moment of looming triumph vanished in less than a tick. Isa blocked the right stick before it could make any contact with anything other than her own stick, and planted her foot directly into Kaie's chest. The young Myrian rocketed off her feet and landed sorely on her back. She grimaced and scrambled for her feet. Isa, with eyes as fierce and cunning as none other than a Panglima in the jungle, offered her opponent not so much as a brief pause. No sooner had Kaie found her feet had Isa already launched a new series of punishment. The elder of the two was a tornado of strategy and superb technique, and Kaie's mind was set in a civil war destined to end in flames.

Her gift was sending her body reeling one direction and then the other, all while the level-headed warrior conditioned for chaos attempted to process and react aggressively to what was coming her way. Kaie was send certainly on the defensive as she stepped back and trying in vain to consider an offensive strategy, which was surely thwarted long before it could be executed. She felt her back hit the wall again. Trapped! A shrill shriek ripped from her lungs in defiance. She dipped beneath the forward juts Isa offered with her sticks at her torso, slipped to her opponent's flank, and whipped her right stick into the back of her senior's ribs. Isa let out a yell and turned on her heel for vengeance with a brief semblance of surprise on her face. Then they were dancing again, Kaie with two left feet in comparison with her shoddy dual-wield work. At one point the younger of the two dipped beneath one of Isa's swings to rush past her if only to gain distance to gather her own head. It was when Isa had turned to see Kaie pass her with her back still turned, that she did something only a foolish Myrian would ever do in combat. Something no opponent of a fellow Myrian would ever expect a well-trained sparring partner to ever do. Just as Isa turned her body around to square to Kaie a few feet away, she released her stick to hurl it at the young woman. The explainable sensation absolutely gripped Kaie, and without a single thought, her body swayed out of the way. The stick soared past her and struck the opposite wall. Both Myrians stopped dead in the middle of their spar to stare at the stick where it had fallen. Then Kaie turned on her heel with a raised brow to spy Isa behind her with a similar expression.

"You couldn't have known that was coming," Isa breathed with wide eyes that searched Kaie. "Your back was turned. How did you see?" Kaie slowly shook her head and her shoulders shrugged pathetically. "I didn't see. I didn't turn around fast enough...I just knew." she tried to explain to the bewildered woman like a fool. The two continued to stare at one another, Isa deciding finally she indeed did believe in the ability and Kaie paralyzed by the discovery of a new piece to the gift. Isa broke first from her state and approached the younger of the two, placing her hands firmly on her shoulders. Her voice was low. "Return the sticks."
"Not yet. I'm not fixed. I still bring dishonor."
"Do as I say. We are being watched." The notorious Myrian left her then to retrieve the gladius-like stick she'd thrown. Kaie let her amber eyes wander the Kendoka Sasaran, finding a few pairs glancing back. She swallowed, set her jaw, and followed Isa to the weapons rack to return the practice equipment. Something very wrong bubbled in her head. Something at her rear. It wasn't the same sensation she had when there was an overwhelming threat to her person, but it was damn close. She glanced once over her shoulder as the two savages departed at the Akalaks still within, but no source could be found.

"Knirin Gardens. Tomorrow at sunrise," Isa murmured to Kaie before departing from her side and vanishing into the crowd. The younger of the two jungle-born women stood there for several ticks, watching her go and replaying the previous bell's events in her mind. Then, with a shake of her head, she too vanished into the streets of Riverfall in hopes none would seek out the strange foreigner with an unfounded intuition.


OOC:22,967/50,000