A Finely Honed Point II (Training/Open)

[Jaelyn Baroth]

Season of Spring, Day 15, 511 AV

Whish... Thunk! Whish... Thunk!

Despite the other people in the training room Jaelyn's thoughts were so focused on her spear training that she only consciously heard the sounds of her spear as she went through the training drill over and over. Holding the spear in both hands, in a ready position, she would bring it down diagonally in a quick slash, and then thrust it into the training dummy in front of her.

Whish... Thunk! Whish... Thunk!

She was clad in the full armor of a Knight as she worked, shield on her back and sword at her hip. The sound of metal on metal, the rustling of chain mail, was a soft undertone to the sound of her spear. It was almost musical sounding to Jaelyn's ears, though not nearly as pretty as the actual music she had heard before. It provided a nice background as she continued to drill the slash and thrust, her mind shifting from the movements of her spear down to the placement of her feet. Moving enough to help provide power to her strike, but not enough to make her dangerously of balanced.

Whish... Thunk! Whish... Thunk!

Less than a year to go before she would be able to go on her Knightly Quest. Less than a year until she could finally truly make her Father proud, and see a fully happy smile from him. The thought of that smile, of setting her Father's heart at ease, helped push her as her arms started to ache from the repeated motion and the hard resistance each time her spearhead struck her target. Previous times she had practiced this move lightly, so she could learn the motion, but now she was putting strength behind it. She had to make sure she could handle the use of her weapon.

Whish... Thunk! Whish... Thunk!

[Kendall Saarinen]

Hadrian had spoken of training with knights. He said it would be good for learning how to fight. Although Kendall was a bit embarrassed of his skill in fighting he decided to see if there were any knights who would be interested in helping him train or at least training beside him. There would be another issue in his way though. He was just so petching shy. As he walked to find where the knights trained he quietly sang to himself. He was trying to get better at singing. His voice still cracked horribly when he tried but at least he could sing a little. He tried to think back to Zeltiva and to the songs he used to sing with his mother while playing the piano. He smiled sweetly at the memory. He missed her so much even if she had no thoughts left for him. When he arrived at the place where the knights were fighting he was relieved to see Jaelyn. He knew her! He walked up to her slowly, not wanting to disrupt her practice. He watched as she moved with her spear. She was much more skilled than him with his broad sword. "Hey Jaelyn. I haven't seen you in a while." He bit his lip as he looked at her. "Sorry… I should be disrupting your practice." He looked sideways at the wall. "I was just looking to get in some practice. Maybe you would like someone to spar against?" He was really worried she would say no. He would look like a total fool.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

A familiar voice cut through the focus of Jaelyn's practice causing her to jump slightly, and her last thrust of her spear went wide of the target. Cheeks heating slightly at the miss she turned to see who it was, and felt her face burst into a furious blush as she was confronted with the very handsome form of Kendall.

"Kendall... I... Of course I do not mind," Jaelyn took a slow breath, trying to calm down before giving Kendall a smile, "It is always better practice with someone than against a target," she paused a moment, trying to come up with something else to say, "It is nice to see you again, I thought you were leaving for Ravok?"

Jaelyn was a nervous bundle of emotions at Kendall's surprise appearance, but she was trying to gain control of them. She was embarrassed at her reaction, excited to see Kendall again, and yet nervous at the same time. She just hoped that she wouldn't make a fool of herself again in front of Kendall.

[Kendall Saarinen]

A shy smile formed on Kendall's lips. He felt comfortable around Jaelyn even if he did not feel as though he could share his big secret with her. He blushed as he saw her jump. "Oh petch, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He walked to her side as he placed his hand on her shoulder. He laughed a bit. "I never found myself to be that intimidating but at least I know I am not just a pathetic pretty boy." The words hurt a bit coming out but he still kept his smile firm on his face. He would not let her know that he felt uncomfortable calling himself a boy. "Thanks. I really need to train before heading out." He thought on when he was going to leave. He had the best intentions of leaving but now he did not want to. He didn't want to leave Hadrian. He thought back to their shopping trip and then the night that followed. He would happily give up going to Ravok to stay with the tall mage. "I am not heading out yet. My plans to leave have been put on hiatus." He did not know if he should say why. It seemed a bit innapropriate to bring up, let alone a little childish. Kendall's knowledge on weapons was very limited. He had taken up broadsword for the sole fact that since he had been kicked out of his home he needed a way to defend himself. He had been very uneasy about using reimancy back then which was why he used a good portion of his saved money to buy himself a sword. "Well all I can do fighting wise is broad sword and a little unarmed combat. I'm fine with working with either one. I intruded on your practice so it is only fair if I practice what you want." He smiled at Jaelyn, trying to let his nervousness leave him. He needed to keep up the facade. The moment he let it down the moment Jaelyn would leave.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

"It was not really your fault," Jaelyn gave an apologetic smile at Kendall's apology, "I was too focused on my training and so was startled when you spoke."

As Kendall came over and placed his hand on Jaelyn's shoulder her eyes briefly glanced at his soft looking fingers, and she wished that she was not wearing full armor so she could actually feel his touch as more than just a slight increase of weight. It would be even nicer to feel those fingers against her skin... Jaelyn quickly flushed at her thoughts and glanced away before they could go any further.

Jaelyn took a moment to try and swallow down the fluttery feeling in her stomach at Kendal being so close, "Well, I am glad you have time to train before you go," she turned a smile towards the handsome man next to her, "And I would be happy to train with you. I do not know much about unarmed combat so it would probably be best if I helped you with your broad sword practice."

Retrieving her shield from her back Jaelyn took a moment to make sure it was securely fastened to her arm before she took a reluctant step away from Kendall and turned to face him, "How about you show me what you know first, so we can work on building on top of that? Just attack me with your sword, and I will block with my shield," she brought her shield up and at the ready at that, watching Kendall so she could respond to his movement.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall smiled softly as he looked at Jaelyn. "I'll have to be more loud next time I guess." He had not noticed much but since becoming a male he had become much more quiet. It caused him to spend a bit too much time dwelling on his thoughts but at times it was better than hearing his deep voice where a much higher once sounded from his throat. "I'm glad too. I want to be able to protect everyone, or at least try." Kendall was much more used to people taking care of him. His entire life he hid behind his brothers and father. They never let anything or anyone hurt him. Now he was an entire city away from home. He needed to learn how to be strong for himself and he hoped through working with Jaelyn he could get a bit closer to that. "I'm glad I get the chance to train with you. This will help you get closer to knighthood right?" Although Kendall had not known Jaelyn for too long he could not help but feel an interest in her quest to become a knight. A blush burned on the blond's cheeks as he readied his sword. He was scared of how he would size up against a knight. He knew he was not too skilled but Jaelyn would not judge him, right? With nervous hands, Kendall pulled out his sword and held it ready in front of him. "Sorry if I embarrass myself Jaelyn." With a breath out Kendall dashed forward, swinging his sword once he got in close to Jaelyn. He did not aim to hit her. Instead he hoped she would raise up her sword or shield and block his blade.

[Jaelyn Baroth]

"Yes, any training I do now will only help me to become a better Knight," Jaelyn responded to Kendall's question with a smile, charmed by the fact that the handsome man had remembered about their previous conversation.

As Kendall moved forward to strike Jaelyn quickly brought her shield up and easily deflected it to the side. Too easily even. As she lowered her shield back down she gave a reassuring smile to Kendall, the focus of training helping her to overcome some of her nervousness, "Do not worry Kendall, you will not hurt me. I am trained well, and also fully armored," she tapped a gauntlet encased hand on her breastplate to emphasize her words, "You need to train as you will fight, and hesitation or not trying to hit your opponent all out could be a deadly mistake in a fight out in the wilderness or against someone trying to harm you or your friends."

Taking up a ready stance once more she gave a nod and a soft smile to Kendall, "Again, and this time try to hit me. I will be fine, but you need to go all out with your attacks."

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall was not extremely surprised when Jaelyn blocked his hit. He was nervous and he was sure that she could tell. Her smile did helped to calm him a bit though. At least she was not upset with him for taking it easy on her. "Heh…, you are right. I'm sorry." He was still scared to swing his sword at her but if she was armored there was not a risk of her getting hurt. Especially with how unskilled he was. Jaelyn spoke like a knight, clearly knowing more about fighting than Kendall. "Okay, I'll try again." He smiled nervously at Jaelyn before readying his sword again. He was not sure how much harder he could swing his sword at the knight. With a breath in, he swung his sword at Jaelyn again, aiming for her torso. He was still scared that he would hurt her but he needed to keep in his mind she was protected. If anyone was going to get injured in this practice session it was him. He was in casual clothing.