Flashback Taking Off the Training Wheels (Namorin Xalvratos)

[Eldetthal]

22nd, Spring of 499 A.V.

Sweat dripping. Chests pounding. Feet dancing. The practice swords never left the hands of their masters as they were accurately swung and gracefully parried back and forth for the better portion of the day.

"I think I'm done with this Rin, we need something with more, um... impact! So that way we can start getting some real training done," Eldetthal looked to Namorin in hopes he would have an idea, "I don't know. Maybe we just aren't doing it right."

Glancing to his left Eldetthal spots two human woman making their way to the Sattiu Vineyards where they had found a spot nearby to practice for today.

"Ladies."

He made the word last on his lips for as long as he could without seeming as desperate as he really was. Showing his muscling with best flex too show off his massive chest, at least compared to his body. A few giggles and they move on.

"Hehe, so what's next on our list, Rin?" it was a strange habit he had established to call Namorin by Rin. It started when he stated his name for the first time. Eldetthal wasn't paying full attention because he was watching the death match in Gideon combat arena. He only heard the last bit of his name, Rin, and never forgot it.

[Namorin Xalvratos]

It was a beautiful day and the spring was already warm. Namorin wished that there was a breeze around that could cool them off, but it wasn’t so. The athletic young man with his beautiful blue skin was dripping from the sweet as he set down his blade. His father had insisted that he have some passing understanding in a number of weaponry and today he was working on the blade. It wasn’t that great of a practice as the two of them move through the motions.

He titled his head from one side to the other side to crack any of the cricks out of his neck. His handsome face with its prominent nose. He had to agree that today’s session while practice wasn’t that fulfilling. He was thinking they should probable try something they were both better at. He felt that true Akalaks fighting style was unarmed, with the use of the Lakan when it was needed.

Well look over there Charlain said with a pleased sound to his voice. Namorin focused on their visitors. His white teeth flashed in a smile at the two human women who walked by their practice area. They were both pretty, and seemed nice enough. Charlain didn’t care about the race, a woman was a woman to him, but Namorin preferred the beauty of the Konti, with their shimmering scales, and exotic looks. Someone as pathetic as you will have to make due with anyone who looks at you. Namorin long ago had given up on pointing out that their body looked the same regardless of how was speaking. Namorin wasn’t surprised when the girls giggled, and walked away. In a city full of men looking for women they could have their pick, and who would go for two boys.

”I think both you and Namorin need to work on talking to woman.” Charlain said. For anyone who didn’t know Namorin both personalities would sound the same. To someone who had known them for a while, you could tell the differences, as one voice sounded more nasal and drew the words out more.

“Well lets try some martial arts.” Namorin said continuing as if Charlain hadn’t spoken. Charlain could be charming and nasty. If you had something he needed anyways. “We are both better at it. Lets start with some warm ups then we can have a real match.”

[Eldetthal]

"I think both you and Namorin need to work on talking to woman.” Charlain said.

Eld only listens to Charlain but rarely speaks to him directly, he gets along better with Rin. Thal agrees with Charlain when it comes to adventure. But like always he goes the extra mile to get in trouble.

Eld listened to Rin's suggestion but was quite frankly puzzled. To have a real fight would only put them in danger as Thal takes real fights to a different level. Eld wouldn't put anyone he had any kind of relations with into a situation like that. It was time to stop fighting.

"I think we need to train together and not against each other because we would get better training if we work together. Let us go and..." Eldetthal paused trying to think of something else, "Train in some Djed?"

Eldetthal was somewhat confused about this suggestion. 'Djed? Have I ever used it or even understand it?' he thought. If Eldetthal was bad at one thing, it is definitely speech. He speaks in run on sentences a good portion of the time while once in a blue moon something clever and wise will escape his lips in a flurry of awesomeness. But not usually.

"If we practice some Djed, it could improve combat skills anyways. Is that what we are trying to do anyway? Why don't we talk to somebody about it in the sanctuary?" Eld was hoping this was a good idea as he knew nothing about Djed other than it was magic and the gods manipulate it like his father manipulated him.

It's decided. They hiked up to one of the two temples. Of course that wasn't the hard part. The hard part was the silence on the way there; not even a whisper from Charlain. But they made it. They had that obvious lost look on their face as they tried to find anything. Eldetthal can't remember ever being here. Except that one time. It wasn't special in that it was exciting or memorable but one of those moments that seemed to stick. It's like that one childish joke you heard when you were a kid and would tell to everyone but you always waited for the perfect moment. He was with a friend of his father who came to port to trade every year. Benshira were all but unknown to Eldetthal and he was the first he had seen in his life at the time which made him unique. Being a unique person with strange and fantastic stories, it brought out the adventure side of Thal. But one day and one day only did he bring out Eld. And that day was the day they went to the Temple of Wysar.

It wasn't a normal building to Eld because when he walked inside he felt everyone in there. They were all connected. Some were currently worshiping Wysar while others studied text. Nobody seemed to resemble anyone in more than a few ways. So many people came to and from Riverfall but that day Eld found one reason why. This temple was sacred and the Benshiras man that brought him here guided him to one of the rooms separated from the main lobby. When he walked in he saw people attacking attacking each other. One man swung a mace at an akalak's chest which didn't seem to touch him. It was quite a trick and Eld was riddled with questions as to how and why.

"Shielding." The Benshiras man said. "Not a physical shield. but one made from Djed and it's completely invisible to people who are less skilled than you are at making them."

We didn't stop for any teachings on Shielding but continued to tour the temple. While they did so, Eld couldn't stop thinking about invisible shields and what you could do with them.

They stepped inside and suddenly it all came flooding back. Eld moved directly towards that room he remembers so vividly at this moment. Found it. It wasn't the same people but they doing similar activities where people pounded bricks and smashed clubs over heads. He spotted a human who seemed to be instructing a few others and Eld sat down to listen.

"...Only then could that work to your own advantage. Another question?" the instructor asked.

A younger boy raised his hand and asked, "Could you repeat the beginning part , then the middle part, and then the end?"

They laughed as the instructor replied to his question, "I would advise you to just try it out." He stands straighter to address everyone listening, " Whether you are unsure or not, this form of Djed has no side effects and therefore can be used at your level as much as you want to without fear of damage or disease. So go practice."

The students thanked him for the lesson and scattered to practice. Eld took the chance to speak with the instructor. He briefly raised his hand towards him to show that he wants to speak to him and moved through the students toward him. The instructor seemed suprised and happy to see a new face but just asked him directly, "How can I help?"

"I don't know anything about shielding other than it is Djed and that it could be said to be an invisible shield. Would you help me and my friend learn more about this?" Eld said this with as much intelligence and willingness to learn as possible to hopefully entice the instructor to teach them.

"Of course, what do you know of Shielding?" his question was pointed towards Namorin. He put on a smile to show he means no harm and waited for his response.

[Namorin Xalvratos]

Standing up Namorin looked over at Eld as he worked on explain his idea. Listening to eld at time was like watching a stone skipping along the surface, his words only skimmed the surface of his thoughts, eventually they would start working together, but by then he was usually well into an idea. Namorin had seen it many times in the years that they had known each other and always waited patiently for to get this thoughts straight. Namorin didn’t speak before his idea was completely formed but as a byproduct some times the time say something had already passed.

’I really would like to listen to that mind at work.’ Charlain said silently in their mind, a smirk in his tone. Charlain could relate better as tended to start speaking before he had thought something all the way through. The difference of course being Charlain couldn’t come back later and admit to speaking before he thought.

Namorin relaxed but didn’t hold still, he didn’t want his muscle to stiffen after such a serious exercises. It was common knowledge for well maintained body, so Namorin did some stretches for his cool down, nothing serious just enough to help him muscles stay louse. He paused in the middle of one stretch as Eld finally got his idea out. Namorin hadn’t ever suspected that was what Eld was thinking. Djed and magic were subjects that Namorin just didn’t have any knowledge with. To be honest he wasn’t even sure if he was curious, he had just never thought about it.

’I knew I wanted to see how that mind worked.’ Charlain chortled in their shared mind. ’I think the man has struck on something.’

Namorin was startled all around, not only by the suggestion but by Charlain’s complete support of it. He usually didn’t like others to suggest the activity, thinking he knew what was the best use of time, but Namorin could feel his other personality to pressuring him to say yes. ‘You seem rather excited.’

’Controlling djed would be excellent skill to have while exploring.

‘AHHH.’ Namorin turned back to Eld and spoke his agreement with a nod of his head and a wave of his hand telling him to lead the way. At this point Namorin was over the surprise and was now kind of intrigued, he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to use djed, not everyone could from what he understood, but he had also never tried so who knew what was possible.

So it was that the young Akalak followed his friend through the city towards the Tower of Wyrsa, were apparently there were lesson on Shielding. Namorin slipped quietly into the lesson and watched his intense golden stair watching all in the room. Eventually the teacher turned his attention to the two Akalak boys who still smelled of sweet and looked like they hadn’t see an bath all day. Namorin hadn’t even bothered with a shirt not having expected to do anything academic.

The golden eyes meet the instructors as he asked a question, but the look changed just a bit and Charlain spoke, as was often the case were intelligence was the skill of choices. “It is one of the different school of the Djed. It also isn’t one of the more prestigious even if more practically. To be fair thought I don’t know much about Djed. I haven’t ever really had a chance to start learning about it.”

[Eldetthal]

A good response. Eldetthal didn't know that Rin knew much about Shielding at all. A good guess says he did a brief study on this when he was younger then moved on to something else more practical to all akalak like hand to hand combat. Eldetthal knew this didn't appeal to Rin or probably Charlain but anything to keep Thal from fighting.

"Well it seems we may need to start from the beginning. The history of Shielding is is the prime student and is the best teacher of this art. Would you like to here this history?"

Eld thought it wise. It would mean better progress, but Thal groaned.

"Well we feel as though it would be time to get started because we were just working up a sweat all day and we want to keep that going. Is that ok?"

"I had a feeling. The younger they are, the less they want to learn," the man's voice full of yearning, but he continued on.

"All shields have a purpose, similar to you and I. We have a purpose created by the gods and usually they guide us to that purpose. Sometimes we are left alone because of our actions or our purpose has been fulfilled but whatever it may be, shields have a purpose created by you," He steps forward onto a large mat in the center of the room to give a clearer picture.

"so one of you attack me," He said with no change in tone.

"your serious?" Thal said. He was eager but attacking an unarmed old man seemed petty and not worth the energy. He let Namorin or Charlain do it.

"What was the purpose of my shield?" He questioned them.

"Was it to block him from attacking you?" Eld answered.

"It is more general than that. The purpose of this shield was to not allow any object inside. What if you attacked me? Or if you had thrown something instead? Shields are easy to create but to master the art is to know what the shield is for. If you know what it is for then create it. It will fill it's purpose if you have the djed."

Being exonerated, the master left them alone as two lessons back to back is exausting for many a teacher. Eld was eager and said,

"let's give it a try!"