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[Ashfalcon]

Darthalien strolled along the edge of the warder yards, watching a group of drin'far'ji as one of the Ji'val led them through the earliest of the sword forms. He'd never learned the sword; likely he never would, though he thought he might have enjoyed it. But while he wouldn't abandon ordinary weapons entirely, he could only split his attention so far; he needed to master the One Power as well, as well as he could, and that was only slightly more important than increasing his fluency in the language of the westlands -- while retaining as much as he could of his own native tongue, so helpful to the scholarly tasks the Browns set for him.

He was standing beside the weapons racks for the training polearms -- mostly fashioned of carved wood, though there were steel blunts further down -- when a voice asked, "Are you seeking a trainer?"

Darthalien turned and offered a slight bow; the man behind him was evidently Gaidin, given the color-shifting cloak and the long and short blades tucked into the sash around his waist. He was nearly as pale as Darthalien himself, but his hair was black, going gray at the temples, and his eyes were a curious gray-green. "I'd thought to improve my skills with the long weapons," he said. "I'm competent with staff and spear, but if ever find myself on a battlefield I might need to use an ashandarei or poleaxe instead."

"Were you on a battlefield," the older man reminded him, "most likely we'd need you using the Power itself." His accent was Cairhienin, and -- yes, that was a heron worked into the sheath of his longest sword. A Blademaster, then.

"Most likely," Darthalien admitted, "but I don't want to give up these skills... and sometimes even the One Power isn't the best tool for the job."

The Gaidin laughed. "It's good to hear you admit that," he said, "though most of your sort prefer the sword."

Darthalien shrugged. "Likely that works better for them. This is what would work for me."

"As you say. I can train you, if you don't mind waiting a bit to see if anybody else wants tutoring as well."

OOC: Okay, this one's open to anybody who wants to do some... well, basically sparring, but with an NPC trainer overseeing and offering corrections. You can find out more about Firredal in the Library; he's one of my old PCs. If you want to train with something that would be a serious mismatch against a polearm -- say, dagger or unarmed -- then Darthalien can switch to dagger instead; I'd like to advance both, so either works for me.

[Div]

Cole was walking the Warder training grounds, a little wide-eyed as the newest drin'far'ji to enter the Grey Tower. Having been shown where to place his stuff and told what parts of the Tower he was to stay out of, Cole was left to his own affairs. Such was fine to him, he was the child of a merchant family. Finding his way in new places wasn't unusual for him. It did make him miss his sister though, they'd always explored new places together.

Like others, including a not surprising number of the ladies of the Tower, Cole stood along one of training fields and watched as the Ji'val trained the people he would be joining on the morrow. He sighed a little, knowing he was going to be rusty in the morning. Months of traveling to get here from Tear did not leave him much time to keep up his training. And it was definitely traveling and not fleeing, not that he would admit to anyone else anyway. He had figured lying to the person that would allow him to train here was a terrible idea, but to anyone else, he still had his pride.

As he moved along to another training area, he slowed down to catch the conversation between a man who could apparently channel and one of the Gaidin. When they mentioned waiting for another, Cole looked down at his slightly travel stained clothes and shrugged. At least it wasn't one of his few good outfits left.

"Sirs," he started, realizing he had screwed up the ranks introduction and shook his head, pushing onward toward his goal. "I was told I don't officially start training until tomorrow, but I've been on the road for months traveling from Tear and I would very much appreciate a chance to knock the rust off my skills. I was training to be my older sister's guard Captain before I was sent here. I have intensive training with both sword and axe that I would love to work on so I don't make a horse's ass of myself more than usual tomorrow. I dont even care about the polearm, gotta fight against them eventually?"

[Ashfalcon]

"In that case..." mused the Gaidin, and Darthalien turned a curious look in his direction. The man met his eyes and said, "Perhaps you might be interested in trying another sort of polearm? This one is called the ashan'caba, and it's as close to a sword as you can get while still being a polearm."

Darthalien considered that, but only for a moment. Hadn't he just been thinking about swords? "Show me, if you would, Gaidin...?"

"Ah," said the older man. "Firredal Osiellin Gaidin, though you're both welcome to call me Trainer for now."

"Darthalien," he offered as he followed the man over to another rack. "No patronymic." He stopped in front of the rack, and turned to look at the practice weapons there. They were... not unlike an ashandarei, but the proportions were different. The blade was a fairly standard sword-blade, while instead of a longer pole the handle was fully as long as the blade, putting the whole weapon at about five feet long. "As you wish; I'll try it." He selected one of the wooden-bladed practice weapons, one with a blade like a katana. There were other styles; one with a scimitar-like blade that widened near the tip; another with a straight, double-edged blade. This one interested him the most, though; the curved edge suggested some emphasis on slashing attacks, though it could obviously be used for thrusting as well.

Turning back to the newcomer -- the very, very new-comer -- he smiled. "I'm Darthalien, Dedicated of the Grey Tower. It seems as if you're rusty from travel and I'll be experimenting with an unfamiliar weapon, so hopefully it all evens out."

The Gaidin nodded. "Choose your weapon, and let us see how you both bear up."

OOC: Looking at your bio, it's obvious that Cole has experience with both swords and axes. Do you want to do this as an evaluation for whichever he decides to use? If so, how many points are you looking for?

[Div]

Cole watched as the other man chose his weapon, his eyes widening at the sheer variety. He knew the style of sword he preferred was considered odd in his home but with this collection of weapons he was bound to find someone to help him. It also boded well for finding someone to *really* teach him the axe. There was only so far you could go when your teacher considered it an inferior weapon.

At the Gaidin's command, Cole stripped out of his coat and hung it on a fence post, eagerly hopping the fence and headed toward the sword racks. “Cole. Cole Lopez, um… Drin of the Grey Tower? I guess,” he answered with a small chuckle. The other man had obviously been here much longer than he had.

Cole took his time choosing a sparring blade; first checking out the hilt lengths, then blade lengths. Finally he found one that felt as close to his normal blade as possible; hand and a half hilt, long tip weighted blade made for sweeping and slashing attacks.

Sword chosen, Cole gave it a few test swings and nodded, making note of how the weight was different from his normal blade. He'd need to keep that in mind.

Cole bounced on his toes a bit as the Gaidin called them to guard positions before immediately sinking into The Kingfisher Watches the Sky. “May we both learn well this day,” Cole remarked, his voice more even now that training was to commence.

[Ashfalcon]

"May it be so," Darthalien replied, watching as Cole settled into a well-practiced guard stance. He might months and miles out of practice, but there was nothing wrong with his stance.

Neither of them glanced at the two trainers, but he could hear the men murmuring to each other as they observed.

He was still considering the nature and usage of the weapon he'd selected. In some ways it was similar to the sword Cole had chosen: the curved, single-edged blades were similar lengths, though Cole's selection put more of the weight out towards the end. The ashan'caba had a much longer handle, which would give him an advantage in reach and leverage -- if he could use it. His initial stance would be a Middle Guard, essentially the same one he'd use with a staff or spear: knees slightly bent and feet shoulder-width apart, angled to put his right shoulder forward. His right hand gripped the handle just below the guard, while his left dropped down to rest near his left hip, gripping near the butt of the weapon.

"Your stances look good," said the taller, heavier trainer who had come over at the Gaidin's gesture. "You will begin on my mark, you will stop when either of us call stop. Now, let's see what you can do. Begin!"

Darthalien didn't hesitate, because he didn't for a moment think Cole would either. Shifting his weight forward into a lunge, he brought his left hand forward and let his right hand guide it as the handle slid forward until his hands were touching, making a thrust at full extension towards his partner's throat. It was what he would have done with a spear or staff, a quick move designed to catch an opponent off-guard and keep them at a distance, though the ashan'caba was shorter than what he was used to and the blade didn't quite behave like a speartip would.

OOC: if Cole lunges right in, he might conceivably fling himself onto Darthalien's tip, but I suspect he's more likely to either slap the attack aside, or try to slide in past it. If he parries, Darthalien is going to go with the motion and bring the blade around for horizontal or diagonal sweep; if Cole slides past, he's going to yank it back to Middle Guard to keep the blade in between them. Feel free to work any of those reactions into your response if it helps you get a decent wordcount.