Ways of the Spear [attn; Locke]

[Avyra]

“I figured it would be a bit safer to practice with these." Did she really look that apprehensive? "They’re padded so trainees can hit each other with them all day with minimal injuries. I’ll do my best not to actually hit you though. If you don’t get your block up in time, stop short.” Okay, she could do that. Avyra watched as he begun to circle her, and she followed his movements, turning so that her back was never facing him. He might have been a friend, but he also had two big sticks. His path made about a yard's radius around her, and he stopped once he had gone a full rotation to watch her with his gray eyes. “You see that circle? Anybody within that circle can reach you in about a second flat. That doesn’t mean not to let people in close, just to be aware of people and their intentions when they enter the circle." He went on to explain that the distance was easy to cover, and that while her enemy was still outside, she needed to look for a way out or even talk them out of attacking. To be aware of her surroundings, too, which made sense. "You need to learn to read him. There are two schools of thought on this. First is to watch the hips, because they give good clues about where the body is headed. The second is to watch the eyes. I prefer watching the eyes when I can. You can see your opponent’s entire body and you get all sorts of context clues such as what emotions he’s projecting and what he’s looking at.” Avyra narrowed her own gaze, watching the way he moved, then looked to his eyes. Ever so slightly, he was looking to her left shoulder. She set her jaw, shoving all her fear into the Flame. This was just sweet Terric. She wasn't going to get hurt. “When my attack comes," he continued. "I want you to side step and assume a stance. I don’t want you to counter attack yet but I want you to be prepared too.” He swung, downward for her left shoulder. She stepped away, probably a bit too far in the sands and quickly assumed a stance, facing him. That wasn't so bad...

[Locke]

Terric

The swing wooshed past Avyra’s face as she sidestepped. Terric was pleased to see her feet properly placed. “Remember to keep your hands up,” he said. He assumed a basic fighting stance with the batons. “This time I want you to parry. Parrying simply means to redirect the blow. You aren’t meeting force with direct force so it’s better than trying to simply block a powerful blow. In my opinion your best bet is to simply not be there, but sometimes you can’t sacrifice your positioning.” He dropped one of the batons and used his free hand to demonstrate. He extended his arm, pressing out with his palm to ward off an imaginary blow. “Here, now you try.”

He waited for her to copy his motion before continuing. “Good good,” he said kneeling down to pick up the baton. “Ready? I’ll start slow.” He swung a wide arch with the baton towards her ribs. When she batted the blow away, he followed with a jab from the other baton.

[Avyra]

Avyra copied his motions, careful to keep her footwork steady and center. She knew that it would help her not fall if she was caught off guard and was struck. Terric picked up the other baton and swung for her ribs, and she almsot jumped out of the way but remembered what she needed to actually do. Deflect the blow, not dodge it. There might be a time when she was in the corner and has no room to dodge and run. She batted her hand out, striking the baton away. I wonder if it'll be that easy if he actually wanted to hurt me. She knew Terric was going easy on her, but that wouldn't be useful in an actual life threatening situation. He swung again, a little faster this time, and she decided it was better not to try to push that away; she sidestepped in the other direction to try to avoid it. It barely clipped her side. She'd have a bruise, but nothing too bad.

[Locke]

Terric

Terric’s last attack connected slightly, grazing her ribs. She wasn’t doing too badly all things considered. Always looking for training opportunities, he decided this would be the right time to teach her how to block. He stepped back, holding his batons down by his sides. “You’re doing pretty well so far, but as you see, you won’t be able to dodge or parry everything. Sometimes you just need to stop a blow from hitting anything too serious. It’s pretty simple but you won’t always get away without pain or injury to yourself. It’s just a tradeoff. Taking a blow on your arm is a better deal than catching one to the face or ribs. Here, let me demonstate.”

Terric stepped back and placed the batons on the ground again and assumed his standard unarmed stance, weight rested on his hind leg. He snapped his left arm up, forearm protecting his head. “You can use that to stop a downward blow,” he gave Avyra a moment to follow a long if she needed before continuing. He drew his right arm in close to his body, “You can use this to protect your ribs, that way you don’t end getting hit like you did earlier. You can also use something similar to protect your face.” As he said this, he moved his arm up to protect his face. He walked her through more blocks protecting her legs and the like. He couldn’t deny, he enjoyed training with her. He also realized that they had rarely ever spent time together specifically for the sake of spending time together.

[Avyra]

Terric haulted once the blow connected slightly, and she straightened out of the fighting position, rubbing her side as she did so. He began to explain the concept of blocking, saying that she should use her arms to take blows if needed rather than her vitals like her head or ribs. Well, breaking an arm was better than breaking a face, she knew. He began to demonstrate the different motions, showing her how to properly block a blow from the top or the side with her arms pressed against her body or head. She followed along, copying his motions. It was time to practice. Avyra fell back into her stance, once again holding the Void to avoid being frightened again. Avoid. Void. She amused herself sometimes. He swung for her head, slower than she expected, but it was indeed a blow. She was ready for it, and she tucked her arms over her head and let the baton hit them. It hurt, but not as much as she thought it would. Another swing, a tad faster, came for her ribs, and instead of jumping she threw out her arm, letting it take the blow. That hurt more, and she visibly winced, but tossed her pain in the Flame. It was fine.

[Locke]

Terric

They developed a steady rhythm, Terric making slow exaggerated attacks with his batons and Avyra defending. Sometimes her block would come to slow and he would have to stop short, but that wasn’t a problem. So far she hadn’t made any egregious mistakes. He would speed up, once he knew she understood the basics. For now, he needed to teach her how to read tells. Then an idea occurred to him. He stepped back and gave Avyra a moment to catch her breath, then he launched into another series of slow exaggerated strikes. The first was a wide right handed swing at her cheek which she blocked. He followed with another right handed attack which she also easily avoided, and then another. He followed the last strike up with a left handed swing at her thigh. He pulled the blow slightly but allowed it to make contact.

He knew he had intentionally tripped her up, but sometimes a teacher had to in order to get a lesson through. His old spearmaster Vishik would use moments these to allow his students to assess their own actions. Following his example, Terric said, “You were doing really well until the end. You made a rather fatal mistake though. Can you tell me what it was?”

[Avyra]

This was easy, once she got the hang of the rhythm he was giving her. It was like a dance, well, if she knew how to dance. But this must be like a dance. Eventually, they sped up, the rhythm staying almost the same. But then he changed it up at tad, striking her thigh where she hadn't expected it. She gave a surprised yelp, jumping backwards, the Void shattering. Yeah, she would have a ton of bruises tomorrow. “You were doing really well until the end. You made a rather fatal mistake though. Can you tell me what it was?” "I got comfortable," she admitted. "I thought I knew what was going to happen. I didn't."

[Locke]

Terric

She was a quick learner, that wasn’t something that could be taught. Not easily at least. “You’re right, don’t get lulled into patterns. Watch what your opponent is actually doing, follow cues in his eyes and his hips.” As he said this, he feinted towards her left leg before thrusting at her chest with the other baton. She almost fell for the feint but she was learning, she watched his body language and side stepped his thrust. Terric felt a swell of pride as she returned to a balanced stance, hands up and ready to ward off further attacks.

They practiced back and forth across the sands until the bell rang signaling the end of the free period. They parted planning to meet again the next day so he could teach her strikes. Before he left, he paused turning to look at her, “I was going to spend my free period after dinner at the Library. It’s probably better than collecting more books in my room. I’m finally back in Aikaterine Torellion Sedai’s good graces. You should come read with me.” He shuffled slightly, “If you want to. If you’ve got nothing better to do. “

[Avyra]

The rhythm of the fight gradually picked up, and Avyra had gotten most excellent at watching his body language. She would watch the hips, mostly, to gage where he was going to go, seeing as his hips were closer to her line of sight than his eyes. The bell signaled the end of the free period and lesson, and Terric suggested where to meet tomorrow. But not after bringing up something else. “I was going to spend my free period after dinner at the Library. It’s probably better than collecting more books in my room. I’m finally back in Aikaterine Torellion Sedai’s good graces. You should come read with me. If you want to. If you’ve got nothing better to do.“ He looked apprehensive about asking, shuffling his feet in the sand as he did so. Avyra laughed, her voice soft and kind. "Of course I'd love to come." She really loved spending time with this big goof of a Drin. Giving him a parting smile, she said, "I might need someone to help me get books off the top shelves. They're all way over my head." They said their farewells and went along to classes, and Avyra couldn't stop smiling. Did she look like Seonin did after she came to their room after her kiss with Danos? Probably.