Sword Lessons - Weyrlings

[stolenhart]

Teaching the Weyrlings swordwork was one of the few lessons that R'lyn availed himself of. Of course he couldn't spar with them like he would want to but he could go through the beginning movements with them. Correct their arms, show them what they needed to learn. It made for quite a conversation when the limping Weyrleader began brandishing a sword at the Weyrlings. It had been so long since he'd taught anything.

"Sir my sword's balance is off", S'fet said softly, holding a sheathed sword out to the Weyrleader. "It's just pot metal boy, it'll be fine. Besides", R'lyn fixed the brownrider with a smile, "You ought to be good enough to deal with an off-balanced sword. Smith that you are". S'fet blushed at the compliment and pulled the sword back. "Anyone else have any complaints before we begin today?"

[saidaltam]

Siten had been surprised and more than marginally pleased to discover that she was to be included in the swordsmanship lessoning. Of all the lessons she anticipated would not include her, this was the greatest, save, of course, for firestone lessons. The notion of complaining, therefore, never even crossed her mind as she turned the sword over slowly in her hand, examining it. Though simple in design, the blade was extraordinarily valuable, metal being as scarce on Pern as it was, and she had never held something of so much material worth before in her life. All she could think was that it was heavy, and that it was probably worth more than it was valued at, as owning and understanding something like this could someday save her life.

She had never forgotten, after all, just how precious Isiloth's presence in the south was, nor just how precarious that made her place, and she did not put it above the North to send an assassin, nor above the Lord Overholder or one of the other Lord Holders. It would be foolishness on their part, of course, but she had never credited any of them with an overabundance of intelligence, and there were places where Isiloth would not be able to help her. She supposed that must be why R'lyn had included her in the lesson. Therefor, when he began, she lowered the sword immediately and turned an attentive eye toward her Weyrleader and instructor. Where her other lessons were important to her place as a dragonrider and the wellbeing of her beloved Isiloth, this one was important to her very survival. She had never been one to shirk her lessoning, but this was a whole new level of 'important'.

[stolenhart]

"S'fet why don't you and Siten go practice", R'lyn told the smith who looked up in surprise at being singled out. "Sir?". "Take Siten to the side and show her how to grip a sword and then start her on beginning exercises. You can do that?", he asked. "Yes sir". R'lyn gave him a nod as S'fet meandered over to Siten. "Well I guess I am to show the beginning of sword work". As an Apprentice Smith, S'fet had been taught sword work along with his other lessons, though he was in no way an expert at the art.

R'lyn turned to his other students and began to pair them off as well. Then he limped among them, straightening elbows here and adjusting swings there. The seven weyrlings were painfully unskilled but that was the fun in being an arms teacher. To see clumsy students grow into deadly swordsmen was very gratifying.

[saidaltam]

"Instruct away, S'fet of brown Evonath. You have my undivided attention," Siten replied, and there was no trace whatsoever of anything but absolute sincerity in her voice. She took this lesson very, very seriously, and S'fet had always been more than steady enough for her to trust him entirely in this matter. Besides, on some level, she suspected that they may be friends, or something close to it, and so she believed that he would put as much into instructing her as she was going to put into learning from him. He was bright, pacifist or not. He knew the importance of this lesson, she was sure.

Even if she had not known S'fet was trustworthy, she did know full well that R'lyn placed too much value on having her whole and hale for the sake of his beloved Weyr that he would never entrust her to someone unprepared to teach her, anyhow, so on that alone, she would have trusted this lesson. That she already knew and liked S'fet was merely an added bonus.

[stolenhart]

He rolled his eyes at her. "Alright so this is a sword", he held the blade out to her, "We hold the hilt and slash with the blade. I won't go into all the various parts since you won't be making a sword, suffice it to say this sword is not good. Anyway", he walked over to her, standing on her right side. "Stand like this and hold it like this", the swords were light enough for a one handed grip so he showed the foot and hand placement for that.

"Really we should be chopping wood for this", he explained to her just as R'lyn walked by. "That's coming S'fet, that's coming. Just teach her how to stand and show her how the basic block and parry", the Weyrleader commanded him. S'fet nodded and turned back to Siten, "Chopping wood in certain ways helps build your muscles. Anyway this is the basic block and parry", he showed her the movement. He was flawless in performing it, his bulk moving like smooth water.

[saidaltam]

R'lyn's speech had startled the girl, just a bit, as she had been concentrating intently on mastering the pose S'fet had shown her without causing herself too much discomfort, as she understood that, it being swordwork, she'd probably be holding the pose for hours on end, and succumbing to soreness early on was hardly conducive to that. However, Siten had long ago cultivated enough self control to keep herself from jumping, instead just flicking her head swiftly toward the Weyrleader. Chopping wood? Why in the world...

But of course, S'fet had had the answer for her, and she had merely nodded. She had never chopped wood, before, but she couldn't imagine it would be that hard. How could it? She was going to regret that thought, later.

Siten brought her mind swiftly back on track and mimicked the movement, paused, then furrowed her brow. That had been wrong. Shaking her head, she tried once more. It seemed better to her, but what did she know.

[stolenhart]

"It's good you can tell when the movement feels wrong", S'fet told her with an encouraging smile on his face. "But don't try so hard. If you aren't a natural it'll only upset you and if you are a natural you'll figure it out sooner or later", then he looked slightly embarassed, "My Master said I was a natural". He seemed to be embarrassed by the fact, but then S'fet was a pacifist who hated killing or fighting. "Anyway, just do the movement, the smoothness and fluidity will come later", he assured her doing the movement again.

"Practice practice practice. Back home we'd have started with a stick but", he shrugged, sheathing the sword in his hand. "Go through it slowly, think about the movements, why you are doing them. Imagine another sword men, no wait", he unsheathed his sword again and stood across from her. "Poo imagining it. I will attack you", he gave her smile, "Just do your move", then he attacked slowly.

[saidaltam]

S'fet's attack did wonders for making the unweildy movement make sense, and understanding was the first step in mastering. The change was evident in Siten's movement. Though still awkward and nothing like fluid, it was at least correct, this time, and it felt so, too. That much was unquestionably evidenced by the smile that broke her face after the fact. She hadn't been told, but she knew--this was how it was done.

[stolenhart]

She performed the step correctly, not perfectly, but correctly and S'fet saw it light up in her eyes that she had done it. "Better much better. Now you just have to practice and it will get better", she'd never be very good, swordsmen trained from birth to the sword. S'fet had been training with a sword from seven since he'd already been Apprenticed to the Smith even at that young age. "We'll do it a few more then we'll go find an axe to play with", he rolled his eyes and began attacking again. They were the same attack, easy for her to block but each successful block brought a faster attack the next time round.

[saidaltam]

"You know," Siten mused, executing the block again, "I know I'll never master this, but I think," and here she paused again, repeating the maneuver, before continuing, "so long as I can at least get good at the defensive half of it," and she nearly staggered at this block, then paused in her speech for the next before saying, "I should," pause and block, "be alright." It was a very simple way of putting it, of course, and neglected much of the thought, but she was, after all, concentrating on something a bit more important than expressing a notion.

[stolenhart]

S'fet grinned at her as she tried to say her piece around the exercise. He attacked and spoke at the same time, showing off his own small skill. "Well the thing is, as I understand it, swordwork doesn't have a defensive or offensive side to it", he began his explanation, assuming a speed she could keep up with for a while. "You can use the defenses as offenses and vice-versa. Once you have the basics down R'lyn will probably train you in a hit and run style since you won't be expected to defend yourself much if at all", he explained, stopping when R'lyn waved to him. "Good, good. Now S'fet show her what an axe is for", he ordered them.

"Yes sir", S'fet sheathed his sword and put it back where he found it before heading down a trail to a small stand of trees where the Weyrleader had thoughtful put a few axes. Logs were placed at odd angles to help the new sword swingers learn how to swing the axe in different ways. "First the over hand chop", S'fet replied, demonstrating the skill by holding the axe above his head and swinging down on the log. "Straight down and try to hit the same spot", he demonstrated for her, hitting the same general area several times in a row.

[saidaltam]

Siten had never chopped wood before, but she had wielded hammers, driving stakes into the ground for the makeshift lean-tos from which she had, periodically, told her stories. The motion was very similar. Collecting the other axe, she joined in. Though the axe was far heavier than the hammer she had used, she was precise and she understood the motion, so this much, at least, she had little difficulty with. She could tell, however, by the heft of the axe, that it would end up becoming tiring very rapidly if she did not pace herself. Just as well that she was a fair hand at that much, then.

"I'd rather be capable, just in case," she added to S'fet between chops. "There are enough people who would be happy to see Southern fall, and enough of those who understand that Isiloth is critical to Southern's survival, and that I am critical to hers, that I would rather be prepared. I'm the weak link in this chain. That means that I have to see to it that I'm the hardest link to find, or that I learn to be much stronger than I was before."

[stolenhart]

"True which is probably why you are being taught sword work", he agreed with her, leaning against the tree. "Still, I doubt you will be anywhere that you will be forced to protect yourself. That would be a failure on our part to protect our Queen", he gave her a wide smile before bending over to pick up an axe. He hefted it like it didn't weigh anything and swung it at another log. "And you are not a weak link", he explained.

"Now, swing from the side", he told her redemonstrating his previous swing. "Go right to left making sure to swing from each side. It works the side muscles which helps with speed and stability", he explained before indicating she do it herself. "I know this is boring but this will be your practice for a few sevendays".

[saidaltam]

"Please," Siten replied, shifting her chops to mimic his. "I've done weaving. If I survived months of that, I can survive a few sevendays of this." She wrinkled her nose, however, very quickly noticing the significant increase in strain of doing things this way. "At least this has visible progress," she finished, before turning her focus back to the wood cutting, which was really not the most prudent idea, but having never done significant amounts of hard, physical labor, Siten wasn't really familiar with how much distracting one's mind helped in ignoring the pain of tired muscles.

Then again, she was thoughtful as she worked. Despite S'fet's words, she couldn't bring herself to agree. She was the weak link. Isiloth, despite her youth, was growing large, rapidly, and was much, much stronger, and much, much harder to kill than any human ever would be, and Siten had never been combat trained, and, despite feeling she was doing well, so far, knew that she would never be a master swordswoman, either. The best she could hope for was passably skilled, unless she was able to squeeze another few hours into her days for continued training, and the idea didn't particularly appeal to her. Unfortunately, she also knew that it was probably necessary, and, with a grudging sigh, conceded, if only to herself, that she would probably find herself getting just a little bit less sleep in the sevendays to come.

[stolenhart]

"Oh yes visible progress to the kitchen help", S'fet replied. "My Master never started teaching weaponswork until the fall, when it was time to lay wood in. We hated the change in seasons because it meant that we had to chop enough wood to last through winter", he sighed wistfully. He missed those days where he had only wood and lessons to learn about. He'd never give up his dragon but sometimes the old days still beckoned. "That's it, smooth easy strokes. When those become difficult switch back to the other swing", he gave her a hint, "Works a different set of muscles so each set can rest".

[saidaltam]

Siten smiled dryly and sighed, shifting her hands before continuing to chop. It was definitely tiring work. "Weave, some time. I promise, this won't seem so bad, after," she assured him briefly.

Truly, though, she was grateful for the lessons she'd received, both previously (weaving included) and here. Every piece of knowledge she could claim was one more piece of knowledge which would serve her in the time to come, and was one more piece of knowledge on which she could draw to keep Isiloth safe and happy, and the weyr--HER weyr, now--safe and strong.

Not that she could see how weaving would do that, in the immediate, but she was hardly going to scoff at it. Stranger things had happened, after all.

[kat]

Ooc: hope you don't mind another rp'er joining in! ^^;

K'ian wasn't unfamiliar with swords, but it wasn't to say he was overly familiar with them, either. Fact was that K'ian wasn't a huge fan of fighting, no matter that it was necessary. The thought of cutting into someone with a sword or the thought of killing someone made his stomach turn. So, it was with this nauseating sort of feeling that he chopped the wood like the other Weyrlings were doing, each time imagining that the wood were flesh and blood rather than a piece of wood.

He glanced over at Siten to see her paired off with S'fet, and frowned slightly. He'd do whatever it took to protect his Nemyath. Still, he was grateful that she'd never truly be a fighting dragon. No, she was too small to take hits from anything larger than a blue. Even a blue would be able to overtake his small peridot green dragon. She would likely be used to carry firestone, and other tasks that weren't so arduous as fighting. Still, it wasn't to say she'd be safe. They would both need to learn how to fight, whether or no they were at the front line or merely delivery service. He knew it, and so did Nemyath, who fancied she'd be a fine and agile fighter. Agile, maybe. Good fighter...really debatable. He grimaced as the 'thunk' of the wood being chopped resounded in his ears. Yup...one day that might be a person. When that time came, would he rise to the challenge? the other person wasn't going to hesitate to kill or maim him--why did he have to be so weak-minded about doing the same in his own defense? If he died...Nemyath died.

His eyes narrowed at that thought, reminding himself of why he was doing this. To protect Nemyath, to protect those who would be his friends, his fellow Weyrlings. He had to do this, like it or no. He just hoped this resolve would stick when the time came to actually follow through. What he really hoped was it would never come to that.

[stolenhart]

"Good Gravy in a an eggshell K'ian hit that log", R'lyn's voice came snapping across the practice area towards K'ian. The Weyrleader limped across the loosely packed dirt towards K'ian and his log next to S'fet and Siten. "I know you don't like the idea of fighting but don't think of sword play in terms of fighting", R'lyn put a hand on the boy's shoulder. He understood all too well the passive tendencies of some in his Weyr. "Think of it in terms of dancing. A sword fight is nothing but a dance. Most fighters are artists with a blade so think of it in that terms", he encouraged the lad.

"A little more enthusiasm wouldn't hurt you people either", R'lyn said, making sure every Weyrling heard his voice. "We can do something more boring and more physical if the enthusiasm level doesn't pick up", he added, clapped K'ian on the shoulder and moved on to Siten.

"Looks like you'll be a decent sword Siten", R'lyn told her nodding towards S'fet. "He's a good teacher. S'fet can you find her a lighter sword? Maybe speed and accuracy will balance her out more", he asked the brownrider. "Yes sir, I'll go down to the smithy and see what I can find after dinner".

[kat]

K'ian was so startled when R'lyn addressed him that he missed the wood altogether, the sword hitting the dirt with a dull 'thump' as he turned to face the Weyrlingmaster, his face touched with pale crimson. However, he looked grateful for R'lyn's admonishment. He had plenty of appreciation for things that took skill and artistry. If he thought of sword fighting in that manner, it might ease his negative feelings. Besides, chances were he might not have to use the sword on people nearly as much as the others here. Siten with her gold and S'fet with his brown? Would be using theirs, rest assured.

Still, he hefted his sword once more and this time he tried to think of the swing of his blade as graceful and artistic...like dancing, R'lyn had said. The results were instantly notable, as the wood was neatly chopped in two, then four, and so on. It became rhythmical, really. The moment it became about something more than what would become of the people he used the sword on, it became apparent that K'ian might actually have a flair for using it. Still, he was far better with a bow and arrow at this present time. Maybe he always would be, he wasn't sure. Still, it was satisfying to hear the 'thwack' each time the wood was hit dead on. A blade artist, huh...