In the Courtyard

[smallestopener]

It's been a long morning already, or so it feels to Ingress. She's showed Lan all the forms and long-practiced movements she remembers from Arithon's rigorous instruction. A lot of time has gone by, though, and she doesn't remember what some of the steps were called. She just goes by rote through everything she can recall

Comments

[taishar_malkier]

"Not bad."

Lan doesn't give compliments unless he means them.

But he'll unbend rather more for a nine-year-old girl than for a teenaged farmboy with Trollocs dogging his footsteps.

"Tom said you'd kept up your practicing. I see he was right."

[smallestopener]

She smiles and wipes her sweaty brow.

"I like using the sword. I used to train every morning, first thing. It was my favorite part of the day."

[taishar_malkier]

"A good habit. The more you practice, the better you will learn what you need to."

Lan takes his own advice here.

A lot.

"Put your sword back on the rack, and tell me what other fighting skills you've learned. The bow, or knives, or hands and fists?"

This is Lan's version of a break to let her catch her breath.

[smallestopener]

She replaces the sword as instructed and sits down on the ground.

"Um, let's see. I've done lots of lessons. I'm practicing bowing, because I started archery again with Marian. She's going to teach me how to shoot while on horseback. I've done a little dagger throwing practice, and slingshots, but that was a long time ago. I've done some fighting, too, but more like ducking and using my weight against the opponent and throwing dirt in their faces for distractions. It was a while ago, too."

[taishar_malkier]

Dirty fighting is something Lan approves of.

What? It's practical.

The point of fighting, after all, is to defeat or kill your opponent, and ideally to stay alive.

He nods, listening, and making mental notes of each one. "A good start. But archery is the only one of those you are learning and practicing now?"

[smallestopener]

"Yeah. Once we began school, I've had more lessons for learning book stuff, and not fighting stuff as much."

[taishar_malkier]

Lan nods.

"Well. We will see what we have time for, now that I am your teacher as well."

Whatever it takes to survive her battles, Tom said. There are many things that are learned better for an early start, and everything she listed is something Lan can teach.

And she's a diligent student, it seems. That is well.

Ingress has her breath back; he turns his attention for a moment to her rack of practice swords. "Take that one and belt it on," he directs her, indicating a blunted blade with a swordbelt attached. "We will try a basic form. One of mine, but I think it is close enough to your Arithon's style to begin with."

[smallestopener]

She does as instructed, all serious now. You have to concentrate when you're handling even a wooden sword.

This sword is metal, even if it does have a blunt edge.

"I'm ready."

[taishar_malkier]

Lan moves to stand some distance away -- close enough to see and be seen, but far enough that no careless swings will endanger either of them.

"This is the first stance," he says, lifting his own sword.

She's serious; good. That's as it should be.

"Do it as I do. Your feet a little wider, like so."

[smallestopener]

She tries very hard to copy what he does, but his arms are longer than hers. It makes it more difficult.

It's still exciting, though.

[taishar_malkier]

"Every move has a name. This is one sequence, but many are possible. You will learn more as we go."

"First, Falling Leaf." His sword moves in a downward slice, at quarter speed; his shoulders turn slightly, and his back foot pivots in preparation for the next step.

He would hardly expect perfection on the first try, let alone from a child her age. She's serious, and she's trying hard; that's all a man can reasonably ask.

So he goes through a short version of the form at quarter speed, pausing to correct her as they go. Minor points will be for later, so long as she gets the broad shape of it right for now.

[smallestopener]

As she tries this form, she smiles. Once she completes it a final time with only one correction, she says, "It's easier if you think about how a leaf looks when it falls. Is that why they have names like that? So you can match it up in your head?"

Wait until they get to Cat Dances on the Wall. That will be Ingress' favorite.

[taishar_malkier]

"Perhaps."

Lan doesn't really smile, by and large. But there's less harshness in his face right now than often.

"Or the motion of a falling leaf was what made someone think of that cut, long ago."

[smallestopener]

She nods and tries the motion a few more times.

"Is it all right? I'm doing okay?"

[taishar_malkier]

"Straighten your wrists. Yes -- like that."

"You are."

"There is always more to learn," he adds, because this is the kind of attitude one wants to cultivate from the very beginning. "As long as you live. But you are beginning well."

[smallestopener]

She straightens her wrists and tries again.

"Lan," she finally says. "Were you in lots of battles?"