Closed Easy as Pie (Orin)

[Sayana]

“Can, can you teach me how to do that?” Sayana purposefully wiped off the dollop of cream that had landed on her cheek. And then licked it. Not bad. She couldn’t help but be a little amused by Orin’s initial expression of complete shock and awe. “Yes I could teach you a little something, but don’t expect to dagger to go in blade first on the first try… or first several tries.” The Eypharian retrieved the small blade and then went to wash her hands of the sticky cream. “So just two pies left? I’m on it.” Sayana replied to the cook’s further instructions and rolled out another two thin circles. She lifted each to cover the tops of the pies and sealed up the edges. She was almost about to hand Orin the pies when she remembered to add the slits in the top. She held each pie carefully in a pair of her hands and opened the oven door with a free high hand. The heat that came out was impressive. She was very careful when placing and sliding the pies in, and she managed to avoid burning herself. Remi almost never let her use the oven saying it was only for those with more skill. “Oh, these ones too?” She asked as she pointed to the remaining four pies. Without waiting for an answer she picked up all four, one hand carrying each, and slid them into the oven to join the others. “Done.” She closed the oven door firmly and clapped her hands together to rid them of flour and dust. “So how long will they take? A bell?” Sayana asked curiously. “Regardless, it should be enough time for some practice.” The Eypharian paused for a moment wondering where to begin, but then realized that if she was going to teach him anything, she really ought to know how good he was to start with. “So… have you held a blade that wasn’t a kitchen knife? Have you used one?” Sayana asked in a tone that might have been interpreted as disdainful. But then she remembered what Orin had said earlier that morning. “Oh, but you were training with Aren, so you do know something. Do you have any daggers of your own?” She herself had the two little throwing daggers in her belt along with her larger cobra hilted dagger. Though she went over to her coat and pulled out a third small throwing dagger. This one however had part of its tip chipped off and hence she only brought it around as an absolute last resort. She shook her head to herself as she remembered throwing it against a stone wall and having it break on the same day she bought it. “I’d suggest we step outside if you want to practice. I would want to… risk the safety of our friends.” The Eypharian nodded at the two other cooks in the kitchen and made her way to the back door. The next more pressing issue would be what sort of target could they use? While a door could work as a target, doors aren’t meant to be scratched and beaten up by flying daggers. Nor would Ser Kevith be very happy about the damage it would cause. What else might be a large enough surface not to miss, strong enough to catch a dagger but soft enough not to break a dagger? That’s when her eyes fell upon the beautifully arranged wood pile outside the tavern. It stood almost as high as her shoulder and would surely work for the practice they intended to do.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin opened and closed his mouth multiple times in one short period. He kept almost correcting Sayana's mistakes but she caught them herself. Some teacher I am Orin thought wryly. Then his mouth dropped open and stayed open and his eyes got larger to match. Somehow the image of Sayana nonchalantly handling four pies with no issue was simultaneously otherworldly and hilarious. It was just so mundane and yet so exotic and Orin felt it would be pressed vividly into Orin's memory. Eventually he recovered his composure. "Yes, I think we can safely say that is all of them for now." Orin hesitated for a few ticks. He felt this weird urge inside himself that he couldn't quite identify because he'd felt it so few times in his life. If he had to put a name to it or guess, Orin would say that it felt an awful like wanting to good-naturedly give someone a hard time. Do I, do I actually want to tease her? This was unknown territory for Orin. But his resolution this year was to be more adventurous and venture into uncharted territory and he decided that included the realm of normal social interactions as well. "Show off..." Orin muttered but he plastered a silly grin on his face to make it very clear there were no hard feelings.

Orin's smiled dimmed only slightly. It was rare that he found someone actually wanting and willing to learn even the slightest about cooking. And Orin was more than happy to impart that knowledge. "Just about a bell. A few more or less chimes on either end won't hurt them none though. Pies are pretty good when it comes to that. And now that you know how to make the dough, I'll let you in on a little secret. You don't just have to put fruitsand sweets in 'em. You can actually put almost anything into a pie, meats, fish, vegetables, cheeses..." Orin let his voice trail off. He didn't want to overwhelm Sayana with every single pie recipe that Orin could think of, and even some he probably hadn't thought of yet. No one else was that interested. "Although, sometimes you do have to cook the ingredients before they go into the pie. So, ask me or Remi before you go experimenting with it, sound good?" After all, Orin was slowly discovering that a lot of people made a lot of mistakes when it came to cooking. Of course Orin had as well and he still did. He didn't think he'd ever messed up as badly as Garland had, for instance.

At Sayana's inquiry about whether Orin had any experience or even had his own daggers Orin felt the ghost of an idea pass through his head. It was probably a bad idea, but he wanted to try it nevertheless. Orin had taken to wearing his twin blades wherever he went. Only recently, however, had he taken to tying his apron off in such a way that they were hidden unless one was looking for and saw the imprints they made against the fabric. Whenever Rondo and Remi hadn't been watching or been out Orin had taken to learning how to quick draw even under the apron. He felt reasonably certain about his ability to do so now. And Orin was feeling the unmistakable urge to try and impress Sayana just as she constantly impressed Orin. Taking two steps away from her, making as if to go grab a pot or something, but really giving himself space to move without endangering anyone Orin replied noncommittally with, "Hmmm what did you ask?" Then quickly, without giving her a chance to reply, Orin pulled his hand out from where it had been resting on the hilt and spun with a low slash directed away from Sayana but in her direct line of sight. At the completion of it Orin stood straight and sheathed his knife. He was feeling rather sheepish after the fact. Especially since he could see Remi and Rondo glaring and rolling their eyes at his childish antics. Embarrassed, Orin ran an anxious hand through his hair and he was a delicate blush graced his cheeks. "Well I guess that was one way to answer your question." Orin stated in a flustered manner.

When Sayana suggested they go outside Orin jumped at the opportunity to get out from under the disapproving eyes of his bosses. In retrospect his silly show had been incredibly dangerous. Beyond the simple cut or wound Orin could have inflicted on someone, Orin could have also knocked over a pot of boiling water and given someone a nasty burn or, even worse, damaged some of the kitchen equipment and himself in the process. He vowed never to try any trick like that unless he was absolutely sure it would be safe or if Orin's life was in danger. Still, stupidity of the kind that Orin had just displayed was going to get someone killed. The most likely candidate was Orin himself.

Following Sayana outside, Orin shaded his eyes slightly. It was bright outside and it took Orin's vision a moment to adjust. Once it did, Orin wondered why Sayana had paused until he directed his gaze in the same direction as hers and it settled upon the woodpile. Orin was confused for just a tick before it clicked into place. "Oh, brilliant! You want to use the logs as targets, don't you? But I think it would be wise if we moved them away from the door entirely. I just think that me throwing anything sharp in the direction where people might be would be, well, I think you get the idea." Orin certainly had a mental image, a very vivid and graphic one. He gulped, suddenly uncertain if he wanted to continue this. But this still counted as new territory and Orin has vowed to give everything new at least one try. So he stepped forward and took up an armful of logs, depositing them a short distance farther down the wall. He also picked a spot incidentally away from the open windows since Orin wasn't going to take any chances with this. Stepping away, Orin looked to Sayana for further instructions. It appeared that the teacher had just become the pupil or something along those lines.

[Sayana]

“Show off.” Sayana gave the cook a challenging look, as if she knew full well what she was doing and was rather proud of it. In fact, she hadn’t even considered the action an attempt to show off but she was plenty happy to agree to his comment. The cook then proceeded to explain how long the pies would cook for and also that they could have different fillings. Some of the fillings seemed a bit unusual but when she really thought about it, she recalled having something like a pie with meat inside. She nodded at the cook’s last comment about cooking the filling prior and asking either him or Remi first. It seemed that for meats you had to be much more careful than with fruits and vegetables. She absently wondered what sort of spices might be used to season such pies, but she wanted to get things rolling with the dagger practice. Orin’s answer to her question actually had a lot more finesse than she was expecting. “You’ve got some show there,” Sayana said with a grin. “I like it.” A quick appearance of a blade, where was none, usually made for a good move when wanting to get the upper hand. The sudden appearance of steel did not unnerve her either, because the last thing she expected would be Orin attempting to attack her. Well, with any true intent. After his little ‘demonstration’, the cook blushed profusely and Sayana had to struggle to keep from laughing at his self-consciousness. Obviously Remi and Rondo were not so pleased but they’d get over it. However, when Orin joined her outside, he came up with the most ridiculous idea. “Orin,” Sayana began in a pointed tone. “Just look before you throw. I am not moving that entire petching pile just for some throwing practice.” The Eypharian gave an exasperated sigh as the cook went over to move some of the logs. The whole point of choosing the stack of firewood was to have a target at a decent height. A decent height and more importantly a constant distance. Besides, it wasn’t like it was the front door of the tavern. It was merely a backdoor to the kitchen. “Alright, alright,” Sayana conceded. “For your first few throws you can do it over here. Just until I’m sure your aim isn’t so utterly horrendous that you’re throwing the dagger behind you. But then we’re going back to the stack. Trust me, it’ll be easier.” As Orin waited patiently, Sayana tried to think of where best to begin. “Well first off, throwing a dagger is not like throwing just any old object. For a dagger it matters how it lands. And it should land point first into whatever you’re aiming for.” The Eypharian pulled out one of her little throwing daggers and held it loosely with her fingers and thumb on either side of the handle with her index finger on the top edge of it. “So there are different grips depending on how much you want it to spin and how far you are from the target, but this one is probably easiest,” Sayana explained as she showed Orin the position of her right mid hand upon the dagger. “And if you’re throwing with your right hands, you’ll want to stand like this,” she continued and prominently positioned herself with her left leg in front and her right mid arm cocked back ready to throw. She then demonstrated a throw by bringing her arm back and tilting her wrist back as well, before bringing her arm forward and giving the slightest flick of her wrist as the dagger was released. The dagger stuck into one of the logs at an odd angle and she frowned at the inadequate target they had. Still, at least she could be pretty sure he wouldn’t hit anyone for his first couple of throws. “Now you try. Just keep your grip light, but not so light that you accidentally throw the dagger behind you.”

[Orin Fenix]

Orin gave Sayana a look when she refused to help him move any of the woods. It was not a very complementary look although it was far from antagonistic. "And what if Remi or Rondo appeared suddenly to get some wood and they came from an angle and I had already released the knife? I mean that's not even that farfetched." Contritely Orin moved another load of logs to his much smaller but safer area. He wasn't nearly as sure as Sayana was about Orin's chances of hitting someone, whether or not Orin looked before he threw the dagger. "Look, you've never seen me do anything physical and trust me we do not want to take chances. I'm just about the most awkward person you've ever seen on two feet and my hands aren't much better. I trip myself just walking sometimes I'm so uncoordinated. The few times I ever actually well, danced I mean not like you dance but one of the country dances, you know, my partners told me I had not just two left feet, but three I was so terrible. And my fighting ain't much better." It was true. Orin was getting good at ignoring physica pain partially because he put himself through so much of it. By running into walls or tripping on stairs or any number of clumsy accidents. At least he felt mostly recovered from his bout with Aren the other day. The bruises still hit but Orin could walk with no problem.

Taking the throwing dagger from Sayana's mid-hands, Orin transferred it to his left hand so he could wipe his suddenly sweaty palm on his trouser leg. Orin was getting more unsure about this by the tick. But he didn't want to back out now. And he was conquering his fears, slowly but surely. This was just the logical next step. So Orin took it back into his right hand.

He realized his fingers were in the completely wrong grip just as he was about to bring it up for the throw. They wanted to slip into one of the normal forward grips and Orin had to struggle to break his hard-earned habits. He basically was reduced to moving one finger at a time until his thumb was on one side, index finger along the top and the rest of his hand on the opposite side of his thumb. "I'm sorry I'm being so slow it's just this feels so odd, I mean, not in a weird way it's just not what I'm used to doing if you know what I mean? I mean I know a lot of ways to hold a knife for cooking purposes and for fighting and this just well, isn't one of them."" Orin shrugged. It was just a new technique and as he had already mentioned to Sayana he wasn't the most graceful when it came to those.

Bringing his arm back in the position that Sayana had demonstrated, Orin forgot to switch his feet at first he was so focused on the hand. Smiling awkwardly, Orin shuffled his feet until his left leg was clearly in front. He hoped it was close to or the same as what Sayana had shown him. Then of course he noticed that he had basically a death grip on the dagger. Remembering what Sayana had said about the pressure, Orin eased up. Unfortunately, he went a little too far and essentially let go, although if Orin was asked it merely slipped through his fingers. Orin jumped forward, not wanting the blade to hit him on its descent. As it clattered to the ground, Orin bent to retrieve it, unwilling to meet Sayana's eyes after his amateur mistake.

Orin reset his stance and took a chime to readjust his fingers again. Then he threw the dagger forward and let fly. Unfortunately, it was immediately clear that something was wrong as instead of going straight forward, the dagger headed straight for the ground. Luckily, it didn't damage itself on the stone cobbles. Orin groaned then scooped up the dagger again. At least I'm getting a lot of practice getting into and out of the stance and it's getting a little quicker each time. Obviously what Orin had assumed was the apex of the throw had been far too late. So he levered his arm back and repeated the throw. Unfortunately, he overcompensated and let go far too early this time around. Orin watched as the blade arced upward, seemed to hover in midair for a bit, then came plunging down. At least this time Orin had gotten closer to the pile. He hoped that counted as progress.

Stumbling forward, Orin gritted his teeth as he got the knife from where it had fallen. He was going to master this. Sayana had certainly made it look easy. Getting settled once again, Orin narrowed his eyes at the pile. He pushed everything else out of his mind as he world came into sharp focus. Then Orin's arm went back and forward. This time, he let go in between where he had the first two times.

And miracle of miracles it seemed to work. The dagger spun through the air and Orin turned to Sayana a whoop building in his chest. However, Orin's elation was short lived as instead of sinking in blade first, the hilt of the dagger slammed into the wood instead. Slumping in defeat, Orin walked over and picked it up. Coming back to Sayana, Orin held it out dejectedly. "I don't think this is for me. I don't even know what I did wrong that last time. Was it, I mean, what was I supposed to do with my wrist?" Thinking back on it, Orin had been holding his own wrist as rigid as possible during this whole process. But now he was remembering Sayana's had been a lot looser and had maybe moved during the throw.

[Sayana]

“And what if Remi or Rondo appeared suddenly to get some wood and they came from an angle and I had already released the knife? I mean that's not even that farfetched.” Sayana gave the cook a meaningful look. Yes it was possible, more than possible, but it had an easy solution. The Eypharian opened the door to the kitchen and called, “Oi! Remi, Rondo! Don’t come outside until we’re done. Orin is worried about accidentally getting a knife in your eye.” She turned back to the cook with a smug expression on her face. “And that’s now settled.” But it seemed as though the cook had an unwavering number of excuses lined up. Uncoordinated, three left feet, yada yada yada. She absently wondered if there was a race that instead of having six arms and two legs, had only two arms but six legs… Nah, it wouldn’t exist. Sex would have been too difficult and it would have died out years ago. Nevertheless, when the cook seemed ready to start practicing she handed him the dagger with the chipped tip. Even if he battered it up some more, it wouldn’t matter all that much. The Eypharian watched as Orin tried to mimic her earlier stance. She adjusted her position to reflect that stance so that if he needed to he could see it. He seemed to be really trying his best and getting the hand hold right but she couldn’t quite hold in a snigger when he dropped the blade on the swing back. She then watched as his first thrown went straight into the ground, his second shot far too high, and the third actually made it to the pile of wood. At Orin’s tone of defeat, Sayana rolled her eyes. “Orin, don’t give up before I’ve even taught you something. That first little bit? That was just helping you get a feel for how it worked. If I spent a whole bell talking at you, it would just go in one ear and out the other.” She didn’t know all that much about teaching but she knew she learned by doing. And even if that ‘doing’ was failing utterly at first. Better than being overwhelmed and then doing nothing at all. “Now, before I talk about the spin of the blade – and I’ll get to that – I want you to practice your general aim. Otherwise, you’ll manage to completely break that dagger by having it hit the cobbles or the wall too many times.” Sayana took out one of her throwing blades and held it in her mid right. “I want you to practice the swinging motion, but don’t throw it,” she continued and sternly emphasized the last point. “And at the end of the swing I want you to be pointing at your target. Not the ground, not the sky, your target.” She demonstrated slowly as she brought her arm back and went through the slow throwing motion without releasing the dagger. Then she waited expectantly for Orin to complete the exercise several times. “The reason why I want you to point at your target is that is roughly where your dagger will be going. Your aim will get better, but for now I don’t want you accidentally throwing the dagger onto the roof.” Sayana explained and then prepared for the next part to the lesson. “Now I’ll talk about the spin. This is how your dagger should be flying through the air.” The Eypharian proceeded to mimic the throwing motion starting with the dagger’s blade pointing behind her, but instead of actually releasing it, she held the dagger in two hands and slowly spun it as she walked towards the pile of wood. The blade started off pointing behind her, while in her throwing hand, then at the time of her ‘release’ it was pointing to the sky, and then when it reached the target it horizontally going into the wood, or in this case going into down into the wood. “Some throws have an extra spin, but this is just a straight forward throw with nothing extra. It’s better when you have a flat, straight up and down target. And that’s when you want your dagger to go in like this.” She held the blade horizontally and then nodded meaningfully at the other wood pile. “It’s also easier because it’s all the same distance. And distance really matters when your blade is spinning and you’re trying to get it in point first.” Sayana realized she had been doing a lot of talking and figured it would probably help if he just practiced some more. But she at least wanted to try to raise his morale. With her two daggers each in a mid hand, she stood ready with her left leg in front of the other. “And don’t think it’s easy. I’m pretty good with my right mid, but I still have to practice with my left mid.” She made a strong throw at the wood pile with her right and quickly stepped forwards to do a second throw with her left. Thunk. Clatter clatter. Both hit the wood pile but only her first went in point first.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin nearly sputtered at Sayana's audacity. While yes that was certain a much simpler solution Orin did everything in his power to avoid drawing attention to himself. So, while it might have occurred to Sayana, the thought just honestly hadn't even crossed Orin's mind. Also, even if it had, Orin wasn't sure he would have gone along with it. He would have assumed that it was a bother and that it would have annoyed the cooks to no end. However, since the damage was already done Orin might as well go along with it. "Fine you win, but I'm not paying for the healer's visit when the inevitable occurs," Orin told her tartly, but he returned the wood he had taken to where it properly belonged quickly enough.

Sayana didn't seem at all in awe of Orin's skills and Orin didn't blame her, although he had warned her in advance that he would be terrible at this. So, despite a snicker and an eye roll Orin did his best not to let self-doubt take over him, but it was hard and he wasn't sure how well he succeeded. Still, she was continuing his instruction and if Orin had survived his training with Aren then he thought he could definitely survive a few blows to his pride from Sayana. Especially since he was learning what he saw as a useful skill and also in light of Orin not having much of a pride to bruise in the first place. Orin knew he had a lot to learn in pretty much every aspect of life. He just hoped his ineptitude didn't damage his relationship with Sayana as it had destroyed so many of Orin's friendships in the past.

So Orin watched Sayana's demonstrations eagerly. If he could just figure this out, master this one skill that Sayana performed so easily and effortlessly maybe Orin could get back his flagging self-confidence. And Orin would never let it be said that he backed away from a challenge. As Orin took the already damaged blade from Sayana he listened intently to her explanations and advice. If he just kept his motions slow and steady, then he promised himself he would be able to do this. After all, that's how it worked in pretty much every discipline Orin had ever worked on. Started with the basics, the very bare bones of the technique, and work your way up from there and you improved. Surely throwing a dagger was not different in any way.

So, Orin would work on his aim then. He brought his arm back then forward and stopped when it was aimed at the woodpile. He did so many repetitions Sayana probably got bored out of her mind but Orin couldn't think about that right now. He would not allow himself a repeat of his earlier performance. In fact, Orin went into that hyper focused mode he sometimes entered when he was working on a particularly challenging dish. More recently, Orin had done something similar while fighting with Aren. This was somewhere between the two, or, more accurately, a weird meld of both. Finally, though, even Orin couldn't stomach one more practice throw without the release.

Orin held the blade down for a few chimes so Sayana could show him how the spin was supposed to work. The trick seemed to be that the dagger needed to be pointing upwards immediately before Orin let go so it followed the proper trajectory. Orin could do that. He didn't particularly need the reminder that he wanted the point to go into the wood horizontally. But the tidbit about distances and that one needed to judge the number of spins and how far away the opponent was useful, although Orin didn't think he would have to worry about that for a good while yet.

Before Orin could give it another shot, Sayana decided that she wanted to prove that she wasn't that skilled in this either. Of course, she then belief that statement by still managing to get the dagger from what Orin guessed was her dominant hand or side potentially even if her second one missed. "If it's all the same to you I'm just going to stick with the simple single throw and leave the fancier stuff for you to figure out," Orin replied as dryly as he dared. Turning to face the wood and remembering to put his leg leg in front, Orin tossed his hand back then forward as quickly as he dared. His release in terms of where he was aiming was good since his arm was making a straight line to the wood. Unfortunately he'd tipped his wrist so the dagger hadn't been pointing at quite the correct angle. So, instead of the point going into the wood, the whole blade slammed into the wood, tip pointing downwards. Still, it was good progress in Orin's mind. Not waiting for Sayana to correct his mistakes Orin decided to go for one more throw. Lining up and then releasing in a much smoother motion than when he had first started, his dagger flew true and this time thudded into the wood properly. Orin cheered, then glanced at Sayana to see her reaction.

[Sayana]

She was glad when they finally moved back to the larger stack of wood. She really did mean it for the best even though Orin was deathly afraid of hurting someone. The Eypharian smiled as Orin practiced the swinging motion over and over and thought back to when she first learned the basics of throwing daggers. Usually she preferred to actually hang onto them so she wouldn’t lose them, but it was sometimes rather useful to know how to throw one. Even if just to intimidate an unwanted customer at a tavern. After her little demonstration that she wasn’t as good with her left mid, the cook didn’t seem to take it the way she had intended. “If it's all the same to you I'm just going to stick with the simple single throw and leave the fancier stuff for you to figure out.” She chuckled softly at his comment but let him be as he focused on preparing his next throw. This time it hit the wood pile, but didn’t go in. Still, it was better than falling short and landing on the ground. She watched as the cook quickly retrieved it and made his second throw. There was a satisfying thud, and Sayana grinned at the result. “Nice work. It probably took me a whole afternoon to get my first blade in point first.” She said with genuine encouragement. “But then I was twelve… well, maybe thirteen.” With a bright smile she made note of where Orin had been standing and then went to retrieve a small log and place it at the same distance away from the pile. “Now, I want you to stay at this distance away from the pile. It’ll be easier to get consistent with your throws if you’re at the same distance and you can also correct past throws this way. If you find your blades are entering the wood at an angle like this—” Sayana held up her dagger with the point angled downwards. “Then you’re flicking your wrist too much at the end, or not giving it enough of an overall push, or you’re too far from your target. If it’s pointing upwards, then you’re either too close, or you’re not giving it enough of a flick at the end.” She was about to start practicing herself but then remembered a really important point. “One more thing, only go and grab your dagger once you’ve thrown yours and I’ve thrown both of mine. Alright? And if you want to get daring, then grab yourself another piece of wood and mark out a farther distance.” Sayana figured she had covered the safety aspects enough and started on her own practice. It had been a while since she had tried anything with her left mid, but she knew if she ever wanted to produce a rapid fire of daggers she’d have to sharpen up her skills there too. Eventually she’d work on her other hands but it would take some time to wield multiple blades, especially all at once. She smiled to herself as she went back to the basics of stance, this time with her right leg in front. If anything, she should really follow her own advice in front of her student. Gripping the dagger lightly in her left mid, she pulled her arm back and followed through with a flick of her wrist. Too much flick. She realized that fact even before it clattered against the wood pile. But she quickly prepared the second dagger and tried again. This time it landed pointing sharply downwards into the wood, but at least it had sunk into the wood. Sayana waited to make sure Orin had thrown his before giving him a nod and retrieving her daggers. She planned her next set of throws to be her left immediately followed by her right. At least this way she could really focus on her weak arm and then successfully follow it with her stronger arm. Carefully she gauged the distance and swung her left arm in a solid throw quickly followed by a step and a throw with her right. Thu-thunk. The Eypharian grinned, pleased with the result. However, after closer inspection, the blade thrown with her left had gone in at a downwards angle and the one thrown with her right had gone in with a very sharp upwards angle. She frowned at the second one. What had made her technique so poor for that? Then she realized that the extra step forwards and maybe the added forwards momentum too might have caused the blade to reach the wood faster than the spin she had given it.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin refused to let himself be daunted by Sayana's statement. He was far too elated by his success, even if he still felt it had taken him a long time, Sayana's comment aside. But now that he'd done it at least once Orin knew that at some point he'd be able to do it once again. Even if it took him days he'd eventually reproduce the result. "I bet you were a precocious twelve or thirteen," Orin responded giddily still on a high. He couldn't resist just a little dig.

However, that comment caused Orin to realize he knew almost nothing of Sayana's past. Her present, definitely, almost too much so seeing as Orin was in contact with both Sayana and Aren and was eagerly awaiting their child's birth, mostly for Sayana's sake. Although maybe the joys of fatherhood would help Aren be a more mellow person. Orin die his best to conceal his glee from Sayana, unsure how she would take it. Orin didn't foresee children in his future since tying himself that closely to another person's fate frankly terrified him, in light of his own experiences in that regard. But that didn't mean he couldn't live vicariously through others. Orin had every intention of spoiling that baby if he had any say in the matter, which, admittedly, he probably wouldn't.

All thoughts of the baby were firmly pushed aside. Orin wanted to know more about Sayana herself. He didn't know where she came from or what interested her or how she'd ended up on Syliras. It was unusual to see Eypharians up here, although since Orin had met Sayana he'd seen a few here and there. Orin waited patiently for Sayana to complete her throws, not wanting to distract her in those crucial moments. Once she was done Orin launched into his questions."Where'd you learn this anyway? Or from who I guess would be more accurate, although I don't actually know where you're from or anything. From your parents or mentors or what? I mean it's just you mentioned learning it at twelve or thirteen which seems young to me but then again I wouldn't know. Is twelve or thirteen old for an Eypharian or, well, I mean do you grow at the same rate as humans or what?" Belatedly, about halfway through his inquiries, Orin had realized that when people didn't talk about their pasts usually it was for good reason. Orin himself knew all about not wanting to dredge up past hurts and wrongs. And if Orin wasn't open with them normally then he definitely shouldn't expect anyone else to tell him theirs. So he'd tried to shift to a more neutral topic, about her race in general. He wasn't sure how successful he'd been."I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry or anything. You don't have to answer any of that if you're uncomfortable. My curiosity just got the better of me is all."

Orin would've been content to simply watch Sayana practice further, but she clearly indicated that she expected him to take his turn. Carefully noting the new target, Orin took a few steps so he was at the right distance: His arm went back and forward and his dagger sped out of his hand. It hit the upper corner of the target, but didn't go in cleanly at all as Orin could tell from back here. Seeing as Sayana hadn't gotten her daggers back yet, Orin felt safe enough going over to the log and examining his error. It was pointing upwards. Since Orin was reasonably certain he had been close to the same number of paces as he had been before, Orin assumed he hadn't given it enough of a flick with his wrist, if his memory served him correctly. It never hurt to check though. "Upwards, the blade I mean, is caused by too little with the wrist right?" Orin called over to her. Another thought had occurred to Orin while watching Sayana earlier and he wanted to know the answer for certain even if it did make him appear idiotic. "So this is a horribly ignorant question but it would be the same if I were using my left hand correct? You'd just reverse everything?" Orin didn’t want take any chances with this. He still had his reservations about practicing this in a place where someone could get hurt other than himself.

As Orin strode back to his spot, he figured this down time in between their throws was a good time to broach a topic he’d been thinking about for the past few days. He’d overheard Kevith and Remi talking about it and eventually had gotten up the courage to ask them permission to participate and they’d granted it. Since it was arts related at its core Orin figured Sayana might be interested as well. ”So I don’t know if you’ve heard but Leena Holbrand—she’s the lady who runs Inner Fire Glass, the glass shop, and apparently one of Remi’s or Kevith’s friends, not sure which—anyway she’s holding an open contest, sort of, for inspiration for her own work. The details are a bit unclear to me but basically any artist in any medium can participate. You just need to use sunset at Sunset Falls as the basis for your piece.” Orin shrugged, then immediately realized he’d left out the most significant part. ”Oh, what I meant to ask you is since I was well, planning to take a trip out there and the woods are dangerous for one person, and you’re a dancer so I figured you might…Let me start over. Would you like to go out to view Sunset Falls with me? Remi’s giving me a few days off and I’m sure you could get Ser Kevith to do the same.” Orin smiled at what he hoped was an inviting way. He didn’t want to go out there all by himself.

[Sayana]

“Precocious?” Sayana asked mildly but then shrugged it off. She hadn’t heard the word but she figured that Orin was either trying to make some ‘enlightening’ statement or was attempting a joke. However, when he began talking about her past, she seemed all too happy to share. “My parents?” Sayana repeated incredulously with a laugh. “My mother nearly had a fit when she found out. No, it was my aunt who taught me. And for good reason too. Or so I realized when I was a little older. It’s not that common in Ahnatep for a young Eypharian to be dancing in a sensual and provocative manner. That’s what the concubine slaves are for. So by the time I wasn’t too young and childish-looking there were plenty of men happy to lay more than just a hand on me.” Despite the seriousness of her story, she was beaming as she told it. Even though there had been some close calls, the combination of her own skill and being friends with the right people had kept her safe in those early years. And she looked back upon it with fond memories. “And yes, Eypharians grow up similarly to you humans. You look like you’re similar to my age. In both age and maturity, though maybe not confidence.” She gave a little grin that accompanied her tease. “So yes, I was young, but I had blossomed early.” Sayana placed a pair of hands on her chest to emphasis the fact and then watched as the cook took his turn throwing the dagger. She couldn’t help but feel a hint of pride as it sunk into the wood. She went to retrieve her own daggers and strode over to where he stood examining his shot. “Yes, not enough with the wrist,” Sayana answered. “Or just too close. But also don’t overdo the wrist either. It’s easy for beginners to do too much wrist.” At his second question she nodded. “Yes, and don’t forget to switch your stance too. That’s where a lot of your power comes from, your body. Though you might want to get good with one side first before switching.” As they returned with their blades, Sayana was about to get ready to throw when Orin launched into an interesting preposition. Inspiration for creating glass. And going to a place called Sunset Falls. It sounded pretty. One could definitely see the Eypharian pondering the idea. “So where is Sunset Falls? Far? You said we’d have to go through the woods?” For a moment she hesitated, uncertain of the dangers that lay beyond the walls. But then, wasn’t this exactly what she had resolved to do this spring? Go beyond the walls and leave her fears behind? A new sense of determination spread across her face. “I… would love to join you,” she finally answered. Even though her voice had been carefully slow as she spoke the words, she was quite sure she meant it. “A few more throws and then we can check on the pies?” The Eypharian suggested and readied her left mid. Holding the blade loosely in her hand she made two throws at the wood pile in quick succession. Clatter… Clatter… “Petch!” Sayana shouted at her dismal results. She leaped forwards to retrieve her blades. “I don’t want to end on a bad note. Orin, see that doorknob? I’m going to stick one in on either side of it.” Before the cook could protest about the safety concerns of her endeavor, she focused on her new target and let fly a dagger from her right mid hand. It thudded into the wood about an inch or two to the right of the doorknob and she grinned with pride. But when she launched her second one, it landed even further to the right of the first. Still, she thought it was a good way to end the session. As she went to retrieve her daggers and go inside she started thinking of all sorts of questions about the proposed trip. “So Orin, is it just the two of us? Are we going to need horses? Have you even seen a map? What about a tent of sorts? Or food? How much food will we need? Oh, I guess you’ll worry about the food. What about… blankets? It’s still kind of cold out. Or pots to cook with. We’ll need something like flint to start a fire…” Already she was starting to plan out the possibilities in her mind. First she needed to know how long it would take them but then there were a lot of things to consider to make sure it would be a comfortable trip. Fortunately, she had a lot of useful items at home like flint, a warm blanket, pots, dishes and cutlery. But they might need a tent of sorts if they wanted to be remotely comfortable and maybe a map too. She fondly remembered how before leaving Ahnatep she had spent several days memorizing an old map she had managed to get access to. Even though she couldn’t take it with her, the details had proved invaluable, lifesaving.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin’s joke fell entirely flat, as Sayana apparently didn’t even know the most important word in the sentence. ”Precocious? It means well, basically it means that you were old for your age. And cheeky. Now you’re just old and cheeky.” If his first attempt failed maybe his second time through would end up better. Orin made sure Sayana could see his grin since he didn’t want her to think he was upset with her for any reason.

It seemed like Sayana had a much more colorful childhood than Orin and he snuffed out the first pangs of envy before they could even begin. Orin couldn’t hold other people accountable for his own past and he certainly wouldn’t wish hardship on anyone. Still, although Sayana’s story wasn’t exactly cheerful in its content her face clearly indicated that she had enjoyed every last second of it. Still it was a bit of an odd one. ”So, how, I mean why, what made you choose the dancing style that you did in the first place? If it’s, you know, not something ah, and here Orin paused and swallowed, still slightly uncomfortable with the subject matter at hand, ”someone who wasn’t a...slave...would do? Did it just call to you or was there something else behind it?” Orin understood all too well the strange urging to do something that wasn’t necessarily accepted by those around you all too well. It’s not as if Orin’s cooking had been well received by the hard-working farmers at Mithryn Outpost who needed every able bodied hand in the fields and couldn’t afford to have Orin puttering about in the kitchen. Until Orin had proved that this wasn’t an idle fancy and that he was, he hoped, better than the average cook out there and the leaders and his peers had finally accepted and maybe even embraced Orin’s profession. Still, his father had never understood Orin and he hadn’t lived long enough for Orin to try and prove it to him.

Still, these sad thoughts had no place in the bright spring sun. And Orin had something in the present that he had to focus on. ”You can say that again,” Orin muttered at Sayana’s comment about Orin’s confidence. Then, of course, she gave a very tangible and earthly demonstration of that very fact when she cupped her chest. Orin felt the heat immediately rush to his cheeks and he looked away hastily. He really didn’t need her to point out what she meant by maturity. ”Yes, the dagger, distance, throwing, ah, well, no I mean I think that I was right, well no the wrist was wrong but the distance right I’ll just keep practicing I promise and why don’t we get right back to it sound good to you?” Orin was well aware that he was babbling uncontrollably and incoherently but he really hadn’t been expecting Sayana to do that. Maybe where she had grown up that was normal behavior between friends and in public although from her family story he didn’t think so. But, regardless, people in Syliras were a lot more modest, at least Orin thought they were. Maybe he just hadn’t been hanging out with the right people. Then again, Orin didn’t think he wanted to meet those kinds of people. Orin eagerly soaked in Sayana’s comments about throwing, glad the subject had changed. Still, he was unwilling to look at her quite yet. He would definitely hold off on using his left hand and he would remember to switch his stance when he finally did.

Orin nearly jumped with joy when Sayana had agreed to join him. His early uncomfortableness faded complete. ”Oh I’m so happy you said yes! It’ll be so much fun I promise. And, from my understanding yes, it’s through the woods and it’s two or three days away, by horse, depending on how hard we push the pace. Seeing as I have barely ridden a horse before I would suggest we take the third day? Would you mind?” Although Orin was occasionally around horses he’d never really had much of a chance to ride them. Once or twice, but in general since Orin didn’t travel much he hadn’t seen any need. Maybe that should change. Just in case Orin did ever want to travel he’d probably need to pick up quite a bit of knowledge and condition his body to the hardships and the dangers of the road. However, they appeared to be resuming practice now. Or, they would have until Sayana brought the pies up. ”Oh gods, how much time has past? I got so caught up here that I completely forgot.”

Glancing at the sun, Orin guessed they were close to the time, but a few chimes more of practice would be absolutely fine. Setting himself up, Orin released and watched the path. This time, although still at an upwards angle, the blade at least was more centered in the block. Orin would have called himself satisfied, but seeing as Sayana was going for one last shot, Orin figured he should as well. He let her go first, then applauded when she managed to actually get both even remotely close to her target. ”While I don’t approve of you abusing the door like that and I would never do that in case someone stepped out, you are really good at this. And look at it like this: if that were a real person, he or she would be deader than dead, even if one of your blades was off a little. Not that you should throw these at real people. I’m just pointing that out to you. Ok, my turn, then we’re going back in.” Orin lined up and threw. Since his wrist had been too weak the last two throws Orin put more force behind it this time. His arm was pointed straight at the smaller wood block. Of course, Orin had clearly overcompensated. The blade went in downwards and it also landed towards the bottom of the block. Shrugging, Orin went to pull it out, then handed it back to Sayana as they reentered the kitchen.

Orin had been going to retrieve the pies from the oven and the cherries from the stove when Sayana began barraging him with questions. ”Let a man breathe will ya? First things first, we have to take care of the pies. Here, take these, wrap them around your hands, and carefully remove them from the oven?” Orin tossed a whole pile a cloths to Sayana, then pointed out a pile of even more that were designed with just this purpose in mind. While she was taking care of that, Orin went over to the stove. ”I hadn’t planned on anyone other than us but I’m open to having more. Probably safer that way too.” Orin chewed his lip. He could think of one person, if he could find her, that he would ask to come along, simply because he felt she needed a bit of sunlight and company in her life. Isolde seemed to have spent far too long in the darkness of her own thoughts. ”I haven’t seen a map, but since it’s a common destination I’m sure we can get directions or a map or something somewhere. Maybe we could ask the Order? They probably know these woods better than anyone. I don’t have a tent but seeing as it rains all the time you’re right we should get one. Or...two probably seeing as I don’t know if sharing a tent would be ah, prudent. Considering your arrangements with Aren that is.” Orin didn’t want to be beaten to a pulp, basically, and if even the slightest hint of a rumor got back to the Akalak Orin could imagine the results. ”I don’t mind the temperature but blankets are never a bad idea I suppose. And I guess I can get us the food. I mean, I’m not a hunter and unless you have hidden talents in that area I don’t think our chances of catching anything are very high, do you? Although I might be able to catch a fish. If I get a rod that is. I can get pots too, and I have flint. And, as I already said, horses are a must. To answer your first question that is.”

Orin took the pot over to the few remaining empty pie dishes. He rolled out some dough for the bottom and the top of each. Waiting a few more chimes for the mixture in the pot to cool sufficiently, Orin began pouring. Somehow, he managed to make the amount in the pot stretch to four whole pies. Hoping that Sayana was done with the oven, Orin picked up two and took them over. ”If you wouldn’t mind grabbing the last two I’d really appreciate it. You shouldn’t have a problem, after all. And once these are in we’ve got another bell or thereabouts to plan.” Orin waited patiently. He was already bracing himself for Sayana’s next set of inquiries. She definitely seemed to be organized and a planner, far more so than Orin himself was. So he’d leave that aspect in her six capable hands.