The Grey Tower

[subtitle]The Basics: Stances and Grips[/subtitle]
Although Natlya had some informal experience with knives and daggers, it being an easy weapon to carry and conceal, she knew that some formal training could benefit her.

The Ji’val joined the rest of the day’s students before Arin Gaidin, who was teaching this particular class. She had never met him before, even though she felt like she’d met most of the yards by this time. Although still focused on what she needed to do, something in her was...calming down. She was not quite the dervish seen daily in the yards, driving unfortunate sparring partners into the ground. She wasn’t sure what had changed, except perhaps just time.

The class began.

Forward Grip. Reverse Grip. Those both looked familiar and obvious enough, although she had never thought about them in terms before. The stances were, of course, familiar from both her unarmed training and sword training. At least this part she felt confident in.

After the brief instruction, they began moving into the practice. Nat looked down at the wooden dagger in her hands. She had been holding it in Forward while listening, so she remained in that grip as she moved into each stance: Leading and then Trailing.

Trailing felt more...comfortable to her. She thought about this, and wondered why that was. It just seemed that certain things, she was more inclined to.

“Leading feels more offensive,” she said when the teacher came around. “Trailing seems more defensive. Forward grip feels better for thrusting and maybe blocking.” She thought it through, using training in other weapons to compare it to. “While Reverse works for slicing. And stabbing.”

[subtitle]The Basics: Two Dagger Types, Basic Cutting Strikes[/subtitle]
As she listened, Nat couldn’t help but find much of this familiar to her sword training, and her experience as well. She thought back to Mayene, but tried not to focus on it. That was not a happy place to go, and she knew that she was lucky to be alive...although she hadn’t felt “lucky” at the time.

Once they moved into practice, she held her dagger Forward and stood Leading. It always felt a little weird to cut and slash at the air, but she found it harder now to envision someone in front of her than she used to. It didn’t take a lot of wondering to figure out why that was, really. Still, she refused to let that stop her and she moved through the task.

Downward. Her imaginary opponent was cut from left to right. She moved the weapon in a single curve to slash him from right to left, as if drawing a ribbon in the air.

This felt similar to using the sword in many ways, but she had to remember that the dagger would force her to come in far closer to an enemy. Although any bladed weapon required a certain amount of uncomfortable proximity, this would require more. It made it good for surprises, or when you were already in close quarters and then suddenly had to defend yourself. Pulling a dagger when someone was already in your space was easier than pulling a sword, but still… She struggled to see this as an effective primary weapon, over a sword, that was. She understood now why so many Gaidin chose the sword.

Slice. Side to side. She pivoted her body at the waist slightly, moving with her strikes but not enough to leave her open to attack.

Again, she drew a ribbon, but this time it was upward. Right to left. Around. Left to right. That one didn’t feel right… She paused and thought about it. Perhaps because she knew she’d often be fighting those bigger, so their line of center would be higher than hers. Starting too low would not give her as much damage as she needed, whereas a good straight center slice or straight for the chest would be more effective?

It was a theory she’d have to test when she sparred. For now, she practiced a few more times as she had and then moved to Trailing.

None of them felt right without the step. How could it? You had less contact with the opponent, because more of you was in front of the weapon part of you than when the step was taken or you were in Leading. She tried it a few times without the step, and it didn’t really feel right any of the times. Then she tried it with the step, and this felt better. But she found that the cutting felt better from Leading.

She repeated all of them, however, and let Arin come back to assess her progress.

[subtitle]The Basics: Basic Piercing Strikes[/subtitle]
The high strike in Reverse made the most sense to her, although...frankly, it reminded her of committing a murder. It looked more like something done in the heat of a moment during dinner than a planned out battle tactic...but maybe that was just her opinion. She certainly wasn't going to tell anyone that thought and find out. The others didn't look like that, but she found something... Well, awkward. Not that Arin Gaidin made it look awkward, but it seemed that way when she tried to imagine herself doing it. Coming in from the middle or lower seemed like something better done in Forward, but what did she know? She was just a Ji'val and he was the teacher.

When it came time to practice, she returned to her bout with the imaginary man. This guy took quite a beating to teach her things, she reflected, feeling somewhat macabre.

This time, she started in Trailing because that was what he recommended. With her left hand forward but not to high, she held her wooden practice blade up to her ear and stabbed. With step, without. Again, without just didn't seem to give enough power to be very effective. Maybe just enough, but the power the step gave was, well, more powerful.

In from the outside, abdomen. Hip. For a tall opponent, she might just be able to cut an artery in the thigh...

High. Mid. Low. Low. Mid. High. Step. No step. Step. No step. Trailing. Leading. Yes, the power of Trailing did feel better with these moves but she could see how her move would be broadcast sooner to an enemy. To achieve anything, she'd have to move quickly.

To wrap it up, she switched to Reverse grip and practiced straight thrusts. Leading. Trailing, step and no step. She repeated them all until they felt comfortable. Or at least, comfortable enough.

When Arin approached, she recalled that she was supposed to give her thoughts on...right, power versus speed. "I can see the disadvantage of a strike taking more time, but if you manage to be just fast enough... Well, maybe they'll see it coming, but won't have enough time to counter appropriately. For these strikes, I think the power is worth it," she said thoughtfully. "It seems like you'd need it, to make them effective."

[subtitle]The Basics: Basic Defense[/subtitle]
Just like unarmed class, Nat reflected, unable to escape the realization that fighting was ultimately...fighting. Details may differ, there may be small differences in benefits and detriments, but ultimately? Fighting was fighting. Things she learned here were very similar to many things she had learned while fighting with a sword, or with just her hands. Like interlocking pieces of a puzzle, they all flowed together. She was grateful she had taken those other lessons now, because they all gave her a solid foundation for this.

The first defense she could easily see would require expert timing. Speed. Certainty.

The next was where one of the differences came in: don't block the blade, block the wrist. That varied from her swordwork and would require some conscious effort on her part to not lapse into sword training.

For this lesson, her opponent was finally not imaginary. She was paired with another Ji'val whose name she thought she remembered, from other classes, as Willow. They didn't speak much, other than to agree that Willow would block first and Nat would attack in slow motion.

Then it came time for Willow to "attack" her.

The other girl moved in the same slow motion, both of them again coming out of Forward Grip, Leading Stance. Remembering her time training with Dax Gaidin in Unarmed Combat, she used her off hand and turned just enough to push Willow’s arm and dagger to the side. Had she been moving at speed, momentum would have kept her going on and Nat would’ve had a good shot at her back.They did this a few more times before moving onto the blocks.

The wrist, the wrist… Nat repeated to herself as she lifted her dagger. She gripped the blade, still wondering how it would work when the blade was metal and had an edge. She had used the maneuver with her sword, but that was a single edge… Problems for later. For now, she gripped the wood and lifted it to catch Willow’s wrist and keep her dagger point away.

Nat reflected on it briefly with someone who was taller. Same work, just a longer time for the blade to come at her?

Then she flipped to Reverse, and used her own forearm as the support to catch the motion.

Again, they worked on these, moving between the two repeatedly and increasing their speed a little as they improved, while Arin made the rounds to asses and answer questions. Nat didn’t have any, but felt like she was getting the hang of the blocks.

[subtitle]The Basics: Simple Counter and Blocks[/subtitle]
Yesterday's class had ended after their blocks, but they all returned to learn more. Nat was ready. She felt encouraged by yesterday's lessons, and looked forward to what they would learn today...

...although as she watched these maneuvers, she determined that this would be...harder. No matter. She was up to it.

Today, she was not paired with Ji'val Willow but another Ji'val, this time a young man. He was taller than her by at least two hands. She knew many opponents she'd encounter would be, so she reminded herself that this was a good thing. (She kept telling herself that, and tried not to think and let memories intercede.) Natlya also had to work a little harder to not intimidated by what she was expected to replicate.

They agreed that he would "attack" first, which she was good with because it got it out of the way.

She immediately realized that "fighting" him (whose name was Byris) would be markedly different than fighting Willow, because of the height difference. For the first strike and counter, she had to lift her arm more than he would during his turn. She wasn't the shortest of women, she knew, and not even the shortest here in this class, but it was something she was aware of and kept in mind while working.

All in slow motion, their wrists met. She angled her blade back, trapped his wrist, and pulled. He obediently 'fell' forward. Of the lot, this seemed perhaps the easiest, although she was very aware that once there was speed (or Light forbid, danger) added, that would change the whole game. She couldn't afford to think of that just yet, because she needed to get the basic move down before adding those things in.

They repeated it slowly several times before trying a little quicker. It was harder, but with practice, all things are achieved. It had to be done all over again, of course, when she tried it with the other hand, like Arin had directed. Then they switched places, so she could attack and he defend.

Then it was the trickier stuff...

Byris "attacked" her. She stepped forward into it and twisted her wrists to bring the back of her hands together. It wasn't smooth, but she managed. Then she twisted her off-hand around to try to grasp his wrist, with her other hand sliding up slightly to give her some leverage against his arm and lock his weapon-use. She pressed slowly with her right hand and pulled with the left. This was not achieved with anything even resembling speed or strength, but the slowness helped her see for herself how it would work.

They had to do this one more time at the slower speed for her to get used to it, however. She refused to stop until she felt at least somewhat comfortable with it and felt she had any sort of chance to replicate it with speed. As before, each change--speed or hand--was met with renewed difficulty, but she wouldn't stop until she felt like she had it. Only then did she swap places to let Byris practice his moves.

She would have to keep working at this, she knew.

[subtitle]The Basics: The First Grapple[/subtitle]
Nat’s hazel eyes moved to each point of the demonstration, trying to take it all in so she could copy it and achieve it for herself. When learning things, she became remarkably focused. It had been like this back in the day when she was running a con or about to thieve something, because one needed to be bloody sure of what they were doing to pull those things off without losing a hand...or something else.

She then returned to her pairing with Byris when it was time to practice the scissors hold.

This time, she attacked first and let him practice the hold. She examined his technique as he moved like the instructor had. Though for a moment once he had her in the hold, she almost thought he was going to pull her down like the teacher had said not to. She arched a brow at him, and he didn’t do it. Would he have if she didn’t give him a look? She decided she wasn’t sure she liked him, but she might well not have to see him again after this class.

They ran through the same move for his practice several times. She “escaped” him twice and forced him to work harder. She couldn’t miss there was a certain tension now, but she didn’t say anything.

Then it was her turn, and she knew he’d make her work for it too.

His dagger came down towards her, and she had to lift her wrist more than he had to meet his, but not so much as to overextend herself. She had to be patient. Their wrists met and she had an easier time getting her off-hand around to grip the blade than he had, life as a thief and plenty of sword practice making her limber and strong. He tried to escape but found he couldn’t as easily as she had. She could tell he didn’t like it and she was almost tempted to prove a point and pull him down. But she didn’t.

They practiced a few more times and he only escaped her hold once, but she otherwise improved with practice, and determination against him.

[subtitle]The Basics: A Counter to the Grapple[/subtitle]
Day Two was almost complete, and Natlya was feeling fairly...accomplished. She had seen distinct similarities in this training with her other training, and yet also particular differences. She liked the way they meshed together, and it gave her the beginning of an idea. Something she was going to have to think about more thoroughly later, and decide if she really wanted to pursue it...but it might continue what she had felt here. And that would be good.

For now, counters to...counters.

She watched closely. Simple in theory, but like all things, she knew it would be more difficult in practice. The first would require all of these movements and reactions to be rote, muscle memory, to achieve properly in a spar or a real fight.

Returning to face off with Byris when it came time to practice, she felt her back tighten again with the tension of their last work. She took a slow breath through her nose, forcing herself to calm down and be ready to make the most of these efforts. Emotions had no place here, which was why the Void was so strongly taught and encouraged. It wasn't a concept she had gotten as strongly as others, but forcing down emotion, well, she was getting decent at that.

Byris attacked first. He moved slow, as he was supposed to, and she moved just a little quicker to gain a scissors hold before he had a chance to. This would be impossible right now at speed, but in time...in time... They practiced this a few times before it was his turn, and she attacked him. Again, at this speed, it wasn't hard to achieve and he managed to do so without trouble.

After that, they moved onto the second counter. She knew this one would require less muscle memory, although still speed and agility. And practice, practice, practice...

He attacked her and she gained the scissors hold. He dropped his dagger and attacked her with his bare hand. She released. They did this a few times and he tried to shift his dagger into his other hand, although he flubbed several of those attempts. Natlya kept a straight face, even as he grew frustrated. They kept at it until he was able to shift the weapon between hands, and then it was her turn to have to do the same.

The first few times, she just dropped it. She didn't like doing that. It was...uncomfortable, even if they were just training. She only did that a couple of times before working on hand to hand, which she did drop the first time. But her more nimble fingers allowed her to move hands more easily than he had. Again, straight face. No gloating.

At both of these things they kept practicing until Arin appraised their progress, offered advice, and dismissed them as passable.

[subtitle]Part Two: Combat Theory[/subtitle]
It was the third day of their class, and their education was advancing. They were going to learn more complex things, but also have to think for themselves more. This was going to start moving beyond just copying.

After Arin dictated their assignment, Nat immediately began thinking it through. She had her thoughts pretty well in line by the time he got to her, and indicated that it was her turn. She turned to the woman beside her for her demonstration, which turned out to be a little intimidating since the woman was a Gaidin who was learning daggers with the rest of them. It had never even occurred to Nat before that Gaidin took classes.

She steeled herself, because they were both students here. She could not allow herself to be intimidated, and then give a lesser answer. The Ji'val moved into a Trailing Stance, dagger in Reverse, and the other woman mirrored her. Then she nodded for the Gaidin to "attack," and she did so with far less speed than Nat was sure she could achieve. Stepping forward, she brought her dagger up in a high strike.

Even though they were both women, Nat was still smaller and seemingly a bit quicker. (For the moment.) She stepped forward to meet the Gaidin and lifted her own arm, their wrists meeting. Her brain moved quickly, and she turned her wrist back to trap the Gaidin's before Nat pulled her down.

Nat let her go and they both straightened back up. "Simplicity can be a weapon," Nat stated. "Sometimes, if you make a game too complex, if you overthink, it ends up against you. Your opponent may over-think, and you can use that against them. Sometimes a truth is as deceiving as a lie." She smiled slightly. "I don't look like much, and am like to get under-estimated. I can use that, achieving a simple but strong maneuver. She attacked, but I got her to the ground with that one move. I can then move into some form of hold, or press the attack with my weapon or even my knee."

They returned to their previous positions, but this time Nat attacked the Gaidin. She had to show a counter to a counter. She struck high, and was trapped in a scissors hold.

Just like she had been taught yesterday, and practiced repeatedly, she moved her other hand up to shift the weapon into. Now the Gaidin had an empty hand trapped in both of hers, so she was able to show the start of an attack with her other hand. "Simple but effective. Knowing these movements by heart and learning speed with them will allow one to go far. I attacked, she trapped me, but now I can attack her and she'll have to move fast to stop me."

They returned to their "resting" positions as she looked at Arin.

[subtitle]New Counters: Dagger vs. Dagger[/subtitle]
Natlya listened to the next part of the lesson and rolled her shoulders, loosening herself up. She liked that they were continuing on from the basic elements they were taught before. Since "follow up" was a concept well driven into them, it felt right to now turn to learning what options for that follow-up might be.

They all partnered up while Arin made his rounds through the class. Nat found herself with that same Gaidin, whose name was Irela. While they waited, they practiced the maneuvers that they had already learned. Irela was of course far more fluid even in practice, but she regulated herself and they were both new to the specific maneuvers. Since they had already learned them, they were able to work on gaining swiftness and smoothness with this practice.

When Arin approached, Nat turned to him. "Knowing the weak spots on an unarmored man or woman is easy," she said with a faint, wry expression. She turned back to Irela. They moved into Forward-Trailing. Irela moved with a piercing strike to Nat's middle, and Nat moved forward to meet that hand with her own. She pushed it away, and Irela kept the follow-through toward her like would have happened at speed. Now Nat was in her guard.

"If unarmored, you can reach gut, chest, throat..." Nat said. She thought back to moments she'd done so and then blinked the images away, stepping back.

"If you are up against an armored opponent, it is of course harder," she went on. She didn't know as much about full armor, but there had been discussions in her other classes. She didn't think she'd need to demonstrate the same maneuver, so she answered aloud. "If I had achieved the same move with an opponent in armor, I could still try for the throat, if they did not wear a helmet. If they do, I can try for the eyes. Hard, but possible. Or I could attempt to stab their armpit, since their arm would be up and extended."

She paused, trying to make sure her answer was complete. "All of the points I have made referred to piercing daggers. With one for cutting, it remains mostly the same, especially for an unarmored opponent or one without a helmet. A slice under the arm will still cause much bleeding, though one may have to resort to less effective stabbing even with a cutting style dagger if the armor is considerable."

[subtitle]New Counters: Unarmed vs. Dagger[/subtitle]
Again, Natlya was caught with the feeling that these were going to be harder. She didn't begrudge that, because she knew that the more advanced the lessons, the more difficult they would be, but acknowledging and realizing it was important. This time, she did worry a little bit about her ability to achieve the maneuvers, but she could only try.

Nat turned to Irela and put her dagger on the ground. She would go first at learning these moves. Starting slowly, Irela came in high. Nat shifted forward, grabbed Irela's wrist and turned, grabbing the elbow with her other hand and moving around. The flowing of Irela's body after all her training was so clean, even when "giving" Nat the advantage. The Ji'val knew that this was what she now aspired to be, and she hoped she could...

They repeated it again, gaining a little more speed with each time. As they went, she felt a little more resistance in Irela's body and knew that she was reacting a little more defensively; like this was a real spar. Nat took it as something of a compliment, like she was improving. It continued as they tried the next step, which was the same move but to catch Irela in the variously demonstrated holds. Their comparable size gave Nat some help, though Irela's training continued to be silently inescapable.

It provided secret pleasure to make the Gaidin stab herself, since she knew that in reality, if this was a "real" fight, Nat would be toast.

Irela thrust towards her and Nat moved forward again, taking the dagger-hand's wrist in her own. Slowly, the wrist-lock. Again, she pulled the dagger free. Arm-bar. Arm-twist. Headlock... It was all easy when moving slowly, learning and replicating what they had been seen. Nat felt the need to go through it slowly several times before even contemplating moving to great speed, since she felt like she'd fumble if they moved too soon, trying moves like this.

She was right, but she wouldn't give up and Irela was patient. They kept at it until Nat felt like she had it, and then she repaid the favor to the Gaidin.

[subtitle]The Final[/subtitle]
It was the last day of class. Natlya had made it this far without embarrassing herself, or bringing shame upon the whole of the Warder Yards. Not that she spent much time thinking it was possible for her to do so, but every now and then... The pressures of this life and the training and the things left behind, well, sometimes it got to her. She had finally moved away from being the demon she had been, training to excess, but that did not mean the shadows were gone. They had just...changed shape.

When they were directed to work among themselves, Nat found herself with Willow, the first partner she'd worked with. They shared a small smile, but then simply began. They were focused.

Once it was Natlya's turn, she was called up to Arin and the young man (a Ji'val) who had been helping him to demonstrate his techniques throughout the class. She bowed her head to the both of them and took the practice dagger as it was given to her. "We each have strengths and we each have weaknesses. I have learned in my time here, and my time in training, that I must not only identify them but learn to work with them. I must forge them into both my instinct and my intuition if I'm to not only thrive, but just survive."

She smiled slightly, a little self-consciously, and then stifled a sigh. She moved into position, taking up the Trailing Stance she preferred but holding her dagger in a Forward Grip. She stepped forward with a thrust to the mid-section. Without hesitation, the Ji moved forward. He grabbed her wrist with his off-hand and pulled her forward into an arm-bar. It having been a right-handed thrust, he incapacitated her right side by lifting her shoulder.

Nat had to let instinct take over, and hope. Much like she had in Mayene.

Not a moment to be wasted, not a beat to be missed, she brought up her own off-hand and hit him in the chest like this was a spar. Because, basically, that was what it was. It wasn't enough to truly hurt him, but he did cough slightly and let her go, stepping back. She slipped away and returned to her position, keeping her nerves off her face by nothing more than sheer strength of will because she knew they weren't done.

She thrust again. Once more, he grabbed her wrist with his off-hand but did not move the same as before. This kept her from the opening he had previously granted. Instead, he pulled on her arm and tried to put her off balance while his dagger hand moved for a gutting thrust to her mid-section. She saw the movement and brought her own off-hand up, re-directing his thrust. For a moment, this put them in an awkward cross-arm. But with his thrust averted, she was able to pull back her arm (still in his grasp) across his chest and kick slightly at the back of his knees; for show, not intent.

They broke apart and she looked at the instructor. "I've learned in all my training that we cannot rely solely on any one thing," she explained, hoping her improvisation would not get her in trouble. "If you want to live, all combat is full body. No matter your weapon. I'm not the biggest and I'm not the strongest, so I have to be the cleverest. Especially if I'm going to be fighting against those who are bigger and stronger."

Natlya bit her lip until she realized what she was doing and forced herself to stop, awaiting her instructor's approval or disapproval.