Staff's At Dawn (Attn: Eve/Garren)

[Lou]

Vance had received a note the evening before to inform him that he had a spar session with Garren Gaidin at the edges of the training grounds at dawn. He had no idea why so early, but it was not in him to question, he would simply make sure to be there. He left a message with the night duty trainees, and asked them to wake him an hour before dawn, and then retired for an early night. He was tired anyway, and the fact he knew he had to get up early meant that he forced his brain into silence, so he could sleep. He did not want to think all night, and then be up early. That was a killer after all.

The knock on his door woke him, and he thanked the trainee who had come to wake him. He washed, dressed and picked up his staff, the one he had taken with him when he had left the Tower the previous year. It was made from hardwood, and was wrapped in silk strands in certain areas for grip. He stopped on the way for a drink of water, and then made his way to the area. He ran, to get his muscles working, working his arms as he did with the staff, so by the time he arrived at the area he was warmed up and ready. He had no doubt that Garren was around here somewhere, the man was a legend in the Grey Tower, and Vance was a little apprehensive to meet him.

[Eve]

Garren had actually gotten up only a little before his newest student. It seemed that since his return, the Grey Tower had taken advantage of his skills, and his former willingness to teach any and all that came to him. It hadn’t really changed now, either. His natural habit was to wake as the world began to smell of dawn, which was only about half an hour before the actual rise of the sun. Turning over, he had watched Angel sleep for a moment, and then softly kissed her upon the cheek. When she opened her eyes to his smile, he kissed her once more. “I have to go to training.” He explained. He knew he had already told her, but when one awoke they were often groggy. She nodded, understanding coming to her eyes, and then she rolled back over. She was asleep again before Garren had climbed out of the bed.

Knowing he had plenty of time, the wolfkin padded into his small kitchenette to cook himself some eggs. Soon he had eaten, washed his face and hands, dressed, and was gone. On the way he grabbed Whistler from it’s place on the rack by the door. Today he would actually need it. Soon he was within the Warder Yards, one of the only places he still felt comfortable here, outside his own rooms. By the time Vance arrived (on time he noticed, he was still a stickler for that) Garren was going through advanced staff forms. The twirls and strikes were slow, holding them for longer than needed to work up muscle memory and balance. As the trainee approached, Garren went up onto the tip of one toe like a dancer. Placing his other foot against his knee, he extended his staff in a frozen strike and held there, not quivering or wavering at all. His eyes were closed, though his ears and nose easily picked up the scent of the new comer.

[Lou]

Vance noticed the man he was here to meet was already warming up. He stood and watched him for a moment, not wanting to interrupt his own workout. There was a reason everyone spoke of this man, even while he had been gone from the Tower, and Vance was getting a front row performance of what he could do. The power and grace this man had was amazing, and Vance watched as he held an incredible pose without moving a muscle. He almost wanted to clap or something, but he continued to not move, not wanting to put the man off his focus. He waited until the man dropped back down to both feet before moving forward, though he guessed again that if the rumours were true, he probably knew he ad been there watching.

"Master Gaidin Brighteyes, I am Drin Vance Koltrin." He bowed to the other man, his staff at his side.

[Eve]

Garren held the position for only a few minutes, though he could have much longer. He wasn’t here to show off, however, and his body was perfectly stretched by this point. He allowed his toe to touch the ground first, and then let his leg down to join its brother until he was standing even footed on the dirt ground. Whistler’s butt joined his feet a moment later, and he opened his eyes to look at the Drin as he approached. He nodded. “Good morning, Drin’far’ji Koltrin.” he said, not offering his own name, since obviously the other remembered it. To this day it still surprised him that Garren was well known among the Tower, even with his time gone.

His golden eyes surveyed the other quietly as he leaned casually upon his staff, the dull gun metal color of Whistler barely twinkling in the rising daylight, the holes at either end silent for the moment. “We have been assigned to practice your staff skills. Tell me, how familiar are you with the weapon?”

[Lou]

Vance could only admire the strength and grace that Garrenn had, it was everything the legends of the Gaidin and Warder should be. Vance had no idea how he could ever live up to such standards, maybe it was just something else he would fail at in his life. He had been unable to protect his family, and now he knew he had failed before he had even started. When the Gaidin welcomed him with such formality, he guessed that was the way the lesson would go from here on in. Some Gaidin were informal in spars, but he guessed that would not be the case here. That was fine, he supposed, better than someone pretending to be his friend. No one here actually cared after all.

When the man spoke, Vance found he was only just able to meet his yellow eyes. He did not know any Wolfkin before, and he had always thought the rumours exaggerated about their eyes. But no, as he looked into them he saw the yellow wolf stare looking back. His knuckles tightened on his staff. "They label me as Competent with it, though for the last year it has cracked a number of Bandits and Looters heads." He shrugged, it was not a boast, not that he would ever have boasted over such a thing, boasting was not his way. "But I am sure I am rusty and have taught myself many bad habits."

[Eve]

Garren shrugged at the other’s self effacement. He looked calm as the other stood before him. “We shall see.” He told the younger man. Lifting Whistler, he moved into the training circle once again. “We are going to have a brief practice spar, focusing more on technique than on winning. It will continue when until I say to stop, so you do not need to spare your attention on trying to push me from the circle. From there, I’ll know how to instruct you to help you become an even better staffman.”

[Lou]

Vance watched as Garren moved and spoke, nodding his head to show that he understood what was expected of him. "Yes Sir." It was all he said, it was all he needed to say. They were hardly here to talk after all. He picked up his own staff, and moved to stand opposite the man, holding his staff before him and at an angle (left side highest.) He began to circle Garren slowly, after all this was not a competition, nor was he trying to defeat the man. This was a spar to see how long it could last, to see what one another was made of. Ad that was fine by him. He started with a few test jabs with the ring end of the staff, knowing that they stood little change of getting through the man's defence. After those he tried a jab with a leg sweep combination, to see how that turned out.

[Eve]

Garren’s expression eased almost as soon as they started to exchange staff blows. He didn’t attack at the moment, but only countered, tapping away the ends of Vance’s staff with each strike. He seemed more comfortable in the old motion of the fight, even a play fight. The jab/swipe he dodged and then simply hopped over, but suddenly he gave a smile. “Good.” He praised. “Your execution is a little slow, but your form is near perfect. Try practicing that one more often, and you should be able to pull it off with the time needed to make it work. A sweep is always something surprising, if it is seen coming, not only does it fail, but it places you in a precarious position, with your weapon and body extended, taking precious moments to recover.”

[Lou]

That was something that Vance was learning about most Gaidin; they all looked more at ease while either sparing or fighting. You could only expect a living weapon to stay inactive for so long before it snapped. But the man before him seemed to change from an impatient Alpha Wolf to one almost at play. He had not expected any compliments on his staff work, it had been to long since he had used it with a expert of the weapon. (Though he had used it in defence of himself when he had left the Tower.) He accepted the constructive criticism from the older man, with a simple nod of his head. He was right, Vance had been slow. That was all there was to it. He needed to work harder. He moved to try Anna faint left, and brought up the staff for two quick jabs to the right, aiming to deaden a man's arm; no arm then no weapon to hold.

[Eve]

Garren was an expert at staves by now, and though the boy had talent, it still seemed that he was able to easily counter the other’s strikes. For a moment they circled in silence, Garren giving neither feed back now strikes of his own. Finally he spoke, “I was told you recently abandoned the Tower.” His tone was quiet, and for once there was no judgment to those words, as there might have been for many, many others. “May I ask why?”