[Flashback] Wood Is Not A Person (Seley)

[Lilium]

15th Day of Summer, 511AV - The Halls of Peret, Midday. Ahnatep amused Lilium, a world caught in its own self-worth and ideals of beauty. Women flaunted themselves and slaves were bought and sold at whim. Men paraded like peacocks out for a sunny day stroll. And they all dressed so...lavishly. The Gods themselves didn't dress so garishly. The ethaefal, garbed in her autumn colors and horned facade wandered through the Halls of Peret, bemused by the lessons on offer. She had been here before, when the city was young, and the lessons then had not been much different. They always cycled back to the beginning. Over and over, again and again. In and out, the words the people. The words. Pausing in her tracks, Lilium stopped her garbled thoughts, brow drawn. "Syna, you mock this race. Glitter in the day. Yes glittering so." Laughing slightly, she turned and made her way to the courtyard, bare feet padding across smooth stone onto sandy ground and sparse grass. Her horns caught the sunlight, ruddy gold and smooth as a river stone. Her steps were slow and purposeful, appearing to almost float as she moved. Her golden eyes scanned the courtyard, watching people training in their chosen professions. Bloody, their faces bloody. Their bodies broken. Closing her eyes, Lilium forced the images away, ignoring the screaming in the back of her mind. She would not allow those faces in.

[Seley Elthen]

The shavings of logs lay around in heaps, feshly cut logs standing nearby. Seley Elthen sliced and choped and jabbed at the wooden dummy, with a small crowd gathered. They admired his discipline, his resolve, and his stamina. He had been at this activity for 8 hours a day, for 5 days so far. His hands had increased in speed, his strokes stronger, and his footwork doubled with a rise in pace.

He chopped again at the log, and watched as the crowd began to grow. The other trainees were still hard at work, attempting to follow his example, and yet, he still works faster and harder. Although sweating, tired, and with splintered hands, he worked longer. His toil would help in the event of an attack. He stopped, drank from his flask of water. He looked around, trying to distinguish any specific faces. He could not find anyone he knew.

Slowly, late at night, the crowd had dissipated. He was still working.

[Lilium]

It was the noise that drew her attention first, the chop chop...woody. Not fleshy. Opening her eyes, the horned creature scanned the courtyard again. A figure, a man? Wielding a huge sword. He chopped, he slashed. At wood. Curiosity caught her feet and the statuesque creature glided to the pillar closest to him, leaning slightly against it and watching him for a while. The strokes of the sword, coming down at right angles...he had been at this for a while it seemed. The slivers of wood on the ground also gave away her discovery. Watching for a while, bemused by what she saw, Lilium finally spoke up. "Curious...why is it, that you shave away at that log? What purpose does this have?" Her tone was not condescending or nasty, simply curious. As though the idea of practicing on a wooden log was a foreign concept to her. Moving away from the pillar, she leaned down to pick up a chip of wood and twisted it in her fingers, examining it closely. "And so harshly. So determined. As though you feel to sliver head from shoulders...yet you face simply a dead tree. Why?" Casually she flicked the wood away as she waited for a response.

[Seley Elthen]

Seley continued to chop away, all the while, saying to the horned creature, " I chop away at this wood, not for money, not for living, but for fighting. I live to fight. After my father's death protecting a merchant ship, i swore to annihilate every evildoer I meet." He chopped and swung with more force, as the subject of his father's death angered him. The slivers flew, falling many meters from the pile near him. His greatsword flew with blinding speed, and in only one blow, the lod split in half. He bent over to reach for another. " The determination is to be ready. The harshness is to get rid of every bandit in Eyktol."

He continued to hack away at log after log, cutting through 4 whole logs in 20 minutes. The sun had set, and he still worked, with the horned creature still watching. "How may I be of service, young creature?" he says.

[Lilium]

Lilium threw back her head then, laughing heartily at his comment and finding genuine mirth in his words. Chuckling still, she moved forward, pushing the broken and splinted logs aside with her feet. "I haven't been called young in well over two hundred years, it's a strange sound to hear." Glancing at the blade, the ethaefal had a sudden flash of red...screaming...pain...closing her eyes the auburn haired creature shook her head. Regaining reality she looked at him. "Nothing, nothing. Your service is not for me. I merely ponder why you blunt your sword against defenseless splinters that offer you nothing in return. They do not parry, they do not block. They do not..." Pausing, she took a deep breath and leaned over slightly. "Bleed." She whispered conspiriously, before straightening with a soft laugh. Reaching for the plaited belt around her waist, the tall creature pulled a white weapon from behind her. A three pronged device, seemingly made from the horn of some long-dead beast. A konti weapon, not large by any means, but dangerous none-the-less. It was known that the horns were poisonous to any not of konti blood. Turning the weapon slowly, she stared at him between the prongs with wild golden eyes. "We might dance, you and I stranger. Dance and bleed and let the world turn. Always turning. Perhaps I can offer more of a challenge than the sticks you so hate." It didn't seem to bother the woman that his blade was almost as long as her arm. Either she was confident in her skills, or did not fear the pain it could bring. Moving to settle into a defensive stance, Lilium waited for him.

[Seley Elthen]

"So you think you can be much of a challenge?" Seley says, " I have trained long and hard, and just because these logs cannot block, parry, or attack, does not mean I haven't learned anything from my work." Seley laughs at her posture, and poises himself in an attack stance, known as the Snake. "Do you really think you can beat me?" He says confidently. He lunges at her, and just barely caught blood on her arm. He pulls back to his Snake stance, saying, " Lets get on with it."

[Lilium]

Lilium didn't move to block the blade, didn't even flinch as it nicked her arm and left a quickly bleeding mark. Slowly, she glanced down at it, and laughed. A little sound, that got louder as it got more developed. Chuckling, she suppressed the sound, glancing back at the sword-fighter with wild amber eyes. "I never said I would beat you. Fighting is for dying, and I have no desire to kill you. The bodies they don't need to bleed, the life can remain. And on it goes and on. I merely offer you a partner you can spar with. More limbs than a stick, have I. More moves." Standing still in her defensive pose, the golden skinned creature tilted her weapon, inviting him to spar with her. "Come now, we shall dance. And the Gods shall watch, and they will laugh as they do. The laughter, it does not cease."

[Seley Elthen]

Seley says to the Ethaefal, " Let's be doing this." He swings a wide arc, but then feints, switching quickly to an underhand cut aimed at disarming the creature.

[Lilium]

Lilium watched the swordsman's movements with an eagerness that electrified her from horned head to bare toes. Almost in slow motion she saw the arc, but to quickly he feinted - showing his hand to early. With a divine sort of grace, she twisted her body, turning to arch away from the blade and catch it between the prongs of her Suvai. Stronger than she appeared, the ethaefal tilted her arm, pushing upward and throwing the sword away from her body like pushing away a branch in her way. He was strong, and fast, but she was older. Much older. Straightening, she smiled delightedly and nodded. By the damned faces of the Gods, this was fun. "Yes, yes. He looks to disarm, but no. Too much, I see you. I see you there...tsk tsk. Again." Humming softly, she moved into her defensive stance again. Her free hand twitched, clawed slightly in eagerness.

[Seley Elthen]

Seley begins swinging the heavy blade from side to side, the movement picking up speed until the red-orange blade was nothing but a blur. He continues doing this until he feels enough momentum has been gathered. He asks, "What's your name?" And then swings an overhead slice, feinting, and then pulls a quick side slash, hoping to hit his opponents blade with enough force to shatter it.