[The Anthonius Fighter's Pit] Schooling a Squire

[Lorden Ladis]

2nd of Spring, 515 AV

Lorden took a few light steps, and as he dragged his black booted feet across the sand of the pit, his heart floated in his chest, but didn't quiet flutter.

After a few ticks, and when the knight's stride had finally slowed, a thought that had become familiar recently, bubbled into his mind.

Was it wrong to consider this a date?

Petch, do I even have a reason to?, Lorden thought to himself, as he ruffled tiredly though the weapon rack, that he had just walked over to.

Lorden pushed aside a broad sword, and pulled up a short sword hopefully, before putting loosing his hand from its handle, and allowing it to slink back into its place on the rack.

They have to have a damn arming sword..., the knight thought in an annoyed manner. As he mused, Lorden's previously weightless heart, began to become considerably more dense. He hadn't even considered, that there might not be a sword for the young-old Dhani, that he was expecting, to practice with.

As Lorden's increasingly agitated eyes, glanced over the entirety of the rack, a shot of lightness, once more danced up his spine, and into the base of his skull. The shot of relief, elicited a small smile, from the raven-haired swordsman.

Thank Peace himself, the knight thought, as his searching hand, redirected its movements, towards setting its wiry fingers, around a brown leather-wrapped hilt.

Flexing his bicep in relief, Lorden drew the blade, from the section of the rack, that it was sitting in. The knight took a breath, as he rotated his hand, while simultaneously bending his elbow back towards his torso. In a tick, Lorden had brought the small arming sword, that he now held, to stick straight up from his hand, which was hanging out slightly, in front of his thin unarmored form.

Dull as Hai, but it might as well do, he thought, as he tilted the blade to the right, and brought the end of its thin body, to lay flat against the upturned palm of his left hand, before he ran his relieved blue eyes over the sword.

Tyveth had blessed him with the tools needed to 'train' Asen. Now there was only one issue...

How in the petch am I going to go about, showing her how to use this thing..., Lorden thought a bit wearily, as his eyes still took in the dull blade.

The twenty year old, had never had a squire.

[Asen]

Asen had, at first, forgotten where she agreed to meet Lorden. She'd found herself at the Training Grounds, but no knight. It took her several chimes to get to the Fighter's Pit, but when she arrived he was there.

The half-Dhani's heart slid up to her throat. She rubbed her palms on her thighs, trying to calm herself. It's just practice, for Siku's sake. There's no reason to be nervous. He's gonna teach you how to use... what, a sword? Probably a sword. You'll be fine.

Lorden was examining the swords, his black hair catching the sun. She admired his tolerance of long hair, remembering when she possessed locks that extended past her shoulderblades. Of course, it was when she was little.

After standing at the entrance for a good bit, Asen finally plucked up the courage to cross the sand over to the young knight. He was staring at the sword in his hands, so she crept up behind him.

She curled her fingers into a fist, then uncurled them. She wasn't going to punch him in the shoulder, that'd be mean. Instead she gently poked his arm, hand shaking. "Hey, Lorden," she said, voice cracking.

"Is that what we're going to be practicing with?" questioned the half-Dhani, nodding towards the sword.

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[Lorden Ladis]

2nd of Spring, 515 AV

Lorden's eyes dilated, forming quickly into small orbs, as he felt the finger touch the side of his exposed arm. The air was almost instantly stolen from the man's lungs, but a tick later. And he couldn't help but tighten his fist around, the dull blade, that felt more than a bit off in his hand.

"Hey, Lorden," an obliging voice drifted into his perked ears. Reluctantly, the knight's biceps unflexed, and his shoulders lowered a bit.

It was just Asen.

The twenty-year old breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey Asen," Lorden smiled a bit shakily; as he did his black pupils, began to slink back towards their normal size.

Perk up Lorden, the knight coaxed himself, as the Half-Dhani in front of him, asked about the sword he was holding.

Lorden's smile stabilized somewhat at his self-prodding, and it took even less coaxing to get his heart to stop speeding. Although, the organ that beat in his chest, was hardly what you could call calm, even after it had begun to stop panicking. Still, it was different, the knight was beginning to feel the good kind of anxiousness, the exiting kind, the kind of socially-induced high, that one could live on and for; rather than its darker, trauma-induced brethren.

"It's what you'll be using, Ms. Dhani," he said, offering the worn sword that he was holding to the woman; and hoping the attempt at tacking a nickname on to his statement, would be taken as endearing to the girl, that was before him, rather than as odd or even rude.

Were Dhani proud of their race? It only made sense, Lorden was proud of being human, or at least, not against it. What about Asen though, she was a Half-Dhani. She had said that right?

Lorden's smile stayed fixed to his lips, yet, he was beginning to doubt the appropriateness of his subtle flirt.

Calm the petch down, she probably won't even notice, he said to himself, as he gestured his arm further out towards Asen.

"So, I know you said something about not being good at fighting 'fair'. But, do you know anything about sword fighting? Or are we going to have to start from scratch?," he trailed his voice off, both trying to push down his inhibitions as he spoke, and to sound as if he was more than alright, with any answer the girl could give.

Mostly, because he was.

[Asen]

Asen smiled in response to Lorden's, but her face was already warming up in a blush. She forced herself to stay calm and quell the rapid beating of her heart. She noticed that Lorden had seemed almost scared at her touch.

Bah, it's nothin'. Just my imagination, she thought to herself. When he told the half-Dhani that she'd be using the sword in his hands, she felt her throat close up and her mouth went dry.

I'm gonna use a sword. An actual, real sword. What if I hurt 'im? What if I hit someone else an' hurt them? She was fretting and worrying, and as she reached for the hilt of the sword. It was heavier than she expected, the tip dropping into the dirt. She winced, looking from the blade to the knight with an expression that simply said 'sorry.'

Her limbs, she could control. They didn't have blades on them. She could control her fists, her feet. She could redirect them or soften the blow without much effort. But a sword? A sword was heavy, a sword was big; she didn't have the same control over a blade as she did her body.

Asen brushed her curls from her face with a shaking hand, then licked her lips and put the hand back on the hilt. It was only the second time -- maybe -- that she'd ever held a sword. What if I let go of it? What if it just flies out o' my petchin' hands and hurts someone? Does he really expect me to learn?

A tiny, irritated voice in the back of her head decided to make itself known. Get over yourself, damnit! You en't gonna hurt anyone, you en't gonna let go of the damn thing. You'll be fine. Just do what 'e says, an' everything's gonna go well. Gods. So petchin' annoyin'. Just shut up an' do exactly what 'e says.

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[Lorden Ladis]

2nd of Spring, 515 AV

Lorden watched a look of distress forme itself over Asen's features, as he removed his own hand from the old sword's hilt, and allowed the woman to replace it with her own dominant-hand.

He watched ticks later, with a bit of amusement, as Asen allowed the sword he had just handed off to her, to stab into the sand, before looking up sheepishly.

"So that's a no?," the twenty-year old said, with a coy look on his face, as he referred to his previous question.

Petch, I can't have her looking like this the whole time, the knight thought to himself, despite his playful words, as he just barely resisted the urge to nibble his lip.

Well... at least she looks willing to learn how to cut peo-, Lorden's thoughts on how obliging Asen's posture appeared ceased suddenly, as the wording of his musings gave him an idea.

That's it!, he exclaimed mentally with a quick, and unexpected smile.

The knight knew how he would teach Asen. Well, at least, he had an idea how to.

But before any of that could happen, he'd have to wipe the pained look off the Half-Dhani's face.

"I bet you're happy you got one of the lighter swords, eh?," the knight batted his left hand against Asen's right arm coyly. Any fool, could see by the way she had almost dropped the blade, that she hadn't expected it to be so heavy. Of course, his words did hold some truth to them, an arming sword was meant to be wielded with a shield, and thus was lighter than most blades.

Lorden allowed his hand to fall from Asen's shoulder, soon after it first connected with it. The knight kept his smile, as he took a half-step back. Not taking his eyes from Asen's own, he drew his own arming sword routinely, from the scabbard that hung on his left side.

For a moment, the twenty-year old's eyes did flutter from Asen's face, to glance inquisitively, at the buckler than hung from his belt. With an uncertain glare in his blue orbs, the armed swordsman drifted his gaze to the empty waist, of the girl in front of him.

Lorden shook his head mentally, and looked back up at the blonde.

"Alright, if you know nothing about that metal in yer' hand, I'll need to show ya' how to go about holding it, I guess," the knight said, with a hearty breath.

Lorden brought up his left arm, and shifted his sword from his dominant-hand, into his non-dominant. However, as the sword slid seamlessly from one extremity to the next, the one that had been holding the sword, stiffly retained its shape, rather than simply slipping from the blade's handle.

"You see how my fingers are? How each one is bent at its fold, but the knuckles don't bend in to touch my palm?, the knight-turned-teacher held his hand up and rotated it, to make its shape hopefully be easily discernible, for his 'pupil'.

Lorden's fingers were bent at the upper joints, just as he had said, however, the bases of the phalanges did not bend; though if one did deign to clench their knuckles over, then the hand's shape, could seemingly easily translate into a fist. As for the knight's thumb, it was sticking straight up. If Lorden had rotated his palm to face Asen, she would see, that it almost resembled a dog's paw from that angle.

Lorden lifted and held out both of his arms, and slowly shifted the leading edge of his sword's handle, from his left hand, to sit in the folds of his right's fingers. Meanwhile, the back end of the handle, came to touch the area of the man's palm, that was directly under his knuckles. Finishing up the quick formation of the basic sword-hold, Lorden allowed his thumb to stick up along the blade's hilt. When the human's thumb was in its final position, the pad of the finger, was just barely touching the silver guard of his sword.

Lorden looked up at Asen, after self-consciously checking, to make sure that he himself was doing the hold right.

"You never clench the sword, in any kind of fist. You need to direct the blade with yer' thumb and wrist, not yer' palm," he said, as he once more rotated his hand towards Asen's gaze.

"But don't even worry about moving it right now, just try copying how I'm holding it," the knight said, gesturing upwards with his free hand, for the girl to pick her sword's tip off the ground.

"I know you can do it," he added finally, with a surge of forwardness.

[Asen]

"This is one o' the lighter swords!?" Asen exclaimed, "Sweet Siku, how heavy do they petchin' get!?"

In reality it was only two or three pounds, but in her inexperience the half-Dhani felt it was extremely heavy already. Liftable, but heavy. Lorden's hand tapped her shoulder in a playful way, but the girl was too astonished for it to have much effect. She was built for speed, for getting in and getting out before her opponents could grab her. A sword was long and unwieldy in her mind.

A faint slither of metal against leather drew her attention to the knight beside her. He'd drawn his own sword so smoothly that Asen turned red from embarassment. She had to remind herself that he was a knight, and as such he had more practice than she with such weapons.

Unfortunately Lorden seemed disappointed in her. Whether it was due to her swordsmanship skills or something else, she didn't know. He changed hands, passing the hilt easily from one to the other. The way he held the empty hand made it easy for her to see how she was supposed to wrap her fingers around the hilt of her own sword.

She copied his hold for the most part, but her hand curled into a fist around the hilt. She'd looked away from Lorden, going off memory, and when she looked back and compared the two she quickly adjusted. She stuck her thumb out like he had, straight up like a flagpole.

That looks right... I hope, she thought to herself. She shifted her arm so Lorden could see her grip, searching his face for approval. He sounded like he believed in her, telling 'you can do it' and all that nonsense. She wasn't sure herself, but she figured that if she met the knight's standards then she'd be good enough.

"Like this?" she asked, lifting the sword enough so the tip would come off the sandy ground of the Pit. She could feel whatever heat the earth had absorbed, and it wasn't exactly an unpleasant sensation since it was still relatively cool from the winter.

Sweet Siku, I hope I'm doin' this right.

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[Lorden Ladis]

2nd of Spring, 515 AV

Lorden opened his mouth, to point out Asen's obvious mistake, as she went and did the exact thing he had told her not to do, and balled her hand around the old arming sword, that she held inexpertly.

"N- Actually, that's right," the knight quickly changed his train of speech, as the blonde spotted her own mistake, and fixed her own sword-hold, before he could even begin to correct her.

'Smart and easy on the eyes, that there's a combination, that I can appreciate. Even in a Squire,' Lorden thought, as the disapproving frown, that he had worn for but a tick, was quickly replaced with an surprised smirk.

Lorden blinked.

Stop starring at her, and do what ye' said you'd do, he berated himself, as he cleared his throat.

"So Asen, I'm sure ye've been in fights before, ye' did say something along those lines, at the hot springs...," Lorden trailed his voice off. The knight was was stalling, as he attempted to formulate a lesson plan, that could relate to the young-old Half-Dhani, that stood before him.

So, I'm sure you know, that how you stand is important in a fight, right?," Lorden attempted to explain.

'Stance Lorden. How you stand when you fight, is called a stance,' the thought interjected itself into the knight's mind, right after he had spoken, and caused him to tack on an abrupt explanation, to his previous question.

"You know that yer' stance is important, that is?" he said.

Lorden took a breath.

'Maybe this is why the Order hasn't given me a Squire,' the raven-haired swordsman thought with an internal sigh, that he did his best to mask, underneath a smiling and confident guise.

"Anyway, can you just show me, how you would stand in a brawl? Don't even worry about that sword there," the twenty-year old prodded, in an attempt to engage the Squire, rather than just lecture to her.

[Asen]

The corners of Asen's mouth quickly curved up into a smile at Lorden's approval. She looked down at her hands and adjusted her grip, making it a bit more comfortable, then turned back to Lorden. He was watching her, although staring might've been a better description.

"Uh, Lorden?" she asked, another blush creeping up her cheeks. The young man had already realized what he was doing before her sentence ended, though, and began his own.

The half-Dhani's gaze roamed from the knight's eyes downwards as she listened, thoughts drifting away from his words. She blinked and forced herself to pay attention.

"Uhh, yeah. Stance," she said, straightening her back. The sword was an awkward weight in her hands, fingers clasped too tightly around the hilt. She set the bladed weapon down in the sand, spreading her feet apart to better distribute her weight.

"Kinda like this, I guess. An' then you just put your hands in whatever position you want." The girl raised her fists, putting them close enough to her face to block but far enough to not smack herself if someone tried to do so.

After a moment she stood normally again, somewhat embarassed to show Lorden anything. She'd rather have him teach her. Not just fightin' though, no ser... Ohoho.

She leaned over and picked up the sword again, attempting to recreate her hold. Asen furrowed her brow in concentration, the tip of her tongue peeking out from her lips. Bend the... an' then thumb... That looks right. I hope.

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[Lorden Ladis]

2nd of Spring, 515 AV

Lorden felt lighter, happier, a bit more relaxed, than his usual hyper-vigilance allowed for. Things had been going well enough, teaching really wasn't as hard as he had thought it to be.

As he watched Asen move to follow his prompting; the knight figured if he could just be a bit more confident in his own skill, then he might just make a Patron, that a Squire could be proud of, some day.

He'd probably never be as honorable, as noble, as good-hearted, as Ser Cyrus, though...

"That's not too bad," -Lorden cleared his throat- "But you know how you think yer' swords heavy?" Lorden tilted his head slightly, to point down to the girl's borrowed blade, as he spoke. And as the words poured from his mouth, a coy wink, could all but be seen in his smiling face.

"Well... think of it like this. If you stand like that-," the twenty-year old took a step, and stuck the palm of his unused left hand, straight out in front of his unarmored torso.

With a careful calculation -that nonetheless caused the knight's heart to fly- Lorden leaned his sword-arm and the shoulder that was attached to it, to the right slightly, as he took a half-step forward.

"You'll fall back, if someone pushes ya'," the bottom of twenty-year old's outstretched hand, edged towards the top of Asen's collarbone in a gentle shove of sorts.

If the blonde girl didn't overreact, or dodge the knight's non-threatening advance, then she'd find herself stumbling back a bit; it was simply physics.

[Asen]

"But you know how you think yer' swords heavy?" asked the knight. Asen nodded slowly and squinted suspiciously at him. He was doing something. She knew it.

His hand was extended towards the young woman, and she looked from said hand to his face, shying away slightly. "Whaaat're you doin'?" she asked.

The half-Dhani narrowed her eyes further, ready to drop the sword on a whim if Lorden wanted to spar suddenly. 'E en't in the right stance to spar, though. Anyways, if 'e grabs me like Aventis did, I'll just jab 'im in the ribs.

I could always knock 'im down, though. Get 'im on 'is back, she thought slyly, suppressing a smile. In the midst of her planning, however, Lorden had gotten close enough to push her.

She felt the press of his fingers, then her center of balance tipping. She stumbled, almost falling on her backside, but managed to regain her equilibrium. Her face twisted up in a mock-sneer.

"The petch was that for, eh?" she asked, her own hand extending to shove him back. She pushed her palm against his chest, just below his collarbones, putting her weight behind the motion.

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