Alissa Story, School Arc Part 1, Chapter 2
“Not fast enough young one, too rigid. AGAIN.”
The adolescent girl got up from the floor, her skin was just starting to show the beginnings of at least a dozen bruises from this training session. Again, this young girl stands straight, not taking much of any stance. The teacher mentally sighs about the whole thing, too open a stance, too vulnerable to too many things at this moment.
The student begins to move, a little better, not as rigid, a little more fluid about things, more adaptable to anything that her teacher might do. The teacher test her with her own slight charge, mixed with a feint to the left to be followed by a low sweep kick. The girl notices the feint just as she finishes it, but again, missed the low incoming kick aimed to take her to the floor. A thump denoted this failure, but the girl didn’t stay down this time, she rolled quickly, putting some distance between herself and the teacher. She snapped up into an awkward stance.
“Better, you’re getting the hang of it Alissa.” the teacher says
Alissa simply nodded, her tied back hair bopping slightly where it had slipped over to her front. Her grey training garb beginning to show slight signs of becoming saturated with her sweat. She once again launches herself against her teacher, trying to read every little movement without more than a cursory glance. The teacher makes for a punch, Alissa steps to the outside of it, keeping her guard up and gets the impulse to move faster, to try and get behind her teacher. She doesn’t make much of it and again finds herself tumbling away and flowing back into her proper stance.
“Come on, this is the tenth go at this, you’ve got some parts of it. Remember, we go until you get the basics of this and get at least two more parts of this.”
“No, we keep going until I can dodge it all.” Alissa says sniffing the air.
The teacher chuckles to herself, that statement reminded her why she liked this girl as a student. She would practice every move. This time, the teacher didn’t wait, she attacks. Her student was shocked for the first half second, but recovered and shifted into the subtle defensive stance she’d be taught the previous week, decent form, not refined, but decent. The teacher let out a small barrage of attacks, punches and a kick. Just as she was taught, Alissa reacted instinctive to it all, using the style just right, yet not to its full effects. In turn, Alissa attacked her teacher, doing a bit better, keeping more aware. Once again the teacher threw a sweep kick into the barrage of attacks the young lady was already fending off. The impact was solid, however, the girl had managed to keep her balance for once, absorbing the attack instead of the usual fall and roll. Alissa smiled just there, made a grab and flicked her teacher to the ground in a single motion. The teacher was back up faster than Alissa could blink and launching into a completely new set of attacks she hadn’t ever used against the girl. This time, Alissa felt more than she had in the few years that she had been training here amid all the other pupils. The teacher’s blows were blocked and just by looking in her student’s eyes she knew that the girl was beginning to learn a little.
Now all that remained was how long she could hold this state. It was five minutes later she noticed her pupil begin to sway in the state and not long after, she was obviously just herself again. She never let on to her student that this was the ultimate goal of these training exercises, to hold that state of mind for longer periods of time and eventually get to the point where it was as natural as breathing to consider things and actions in that matter. Eventually it would be her living in the moment as a fighter would, aware of all the threats around her with little more than reaching beyond herself. The teacher moved back in a manner that Alissa couldn’t understand in the least, as if she had been there all along.
“That’s all for now, you did better today.”
Alissa simply nodded.
“Now, go eat, you’re going to be famished soon and you know it.”
Alissa knew this and left, keeping herself in a decent stance just in case of a surprise attack from her teacher.
The teacher, Gae Bolga, walked to the window and looked out over the surrounding courtyard of the school. The girl with the silver eyes she’d been training for those years indeed looked more confident.
“You know she’ll be a great fighter, she has all the makings innately and in greater quantities than some of even the most elite of the King’s guard.”
Gae turned around and saw her intruder, the cloaked figure. This figure had been rumored to appear around those who taught the girl. The rumors were watched carefully so that she never heard, there was enough already going on around her any given day as things stood on the day to day. He, at least Gae thought it was a he, showed up infrequently. Always wore the same cloak, it always looked new, always dark, sometimes it seemed to meld with the shadows of the corridor. That would account for the sudden vanishing when this person is done talking with the teachers. It covered everything about him, leaving nothing that one could possibly identity, even the voice seemed to be off from the normal tones. This person had interest in Alissa, yet no one could get any answers out of him about it.
“You’ve been interested in her ever since she first came here. No surprise you’re aware of what she can do. She’s still got years left here before she’ll be ready for her next teacher.”
“Are you going to teach her your namesake?”
“Perhaps, just perhaps, if she keeps a good head and morals. She’s already got enough seals on her to allow her to lead a normal life here. I dread the coming of when those have to be broken. A terrible fate, but she’s one who could take it all in stride better than half of the instructors here and every last one of the students.”
“A neglected existence brought to its full potential.”
“You speak of too much now.”
“No one is here.”
Gae laughed at that, “Here, no one is ever alone.”
The figure hesitated for just a brief moment and Gae flicked a hidden knife at the figure. The blade hit nothing, not even the outer most layer of the shroud it’d been aimed at. The figure laughed.
“As good as teacher as always. But you are right, it’s time for me to take my leave of you and this place.”
“Quit stalling and leave, you’re wasting my precious time.”
The figure vanished into some nearby shadows. Gae was happy for its going, that figure was creepy enough with it’s interest in Alissa. It would be back again in a few fortnight to check up again on things. She never told Alissa about this figure. The girl has enough on her mind simply knowing about her seals. She still remembers life before them, having nothing holding all that power back. Gae sat down and pulled out a kettle and poured herself a small cup of the potent tea she kept there. It shook her up just right and helped her relax plenty. This girl was a lot of trouble for her, she could only imagine what it would be like for the next instructor who got her for training. It was going to be sooner than she said, the girl was training more than any of the others. Some even thought that she didn’t sleep because she seemed to constantly be in the training group or somewhere, working out and stretching. That girl was striving to meet what she was to be, as if that would allow her to control her own fate and undo the very wrong that had created her in the first place and replace that with something more proper. Gae left the training room for her own quarters now. Alissa had been the last student of the day and she still had her own training to do. As she gathered her equipment, again, she looked out a window. The moon had begun to rise. How many more will you be able to enjoy of these my young one?
The adolescent girl got up from the floor, her skin was just starting to show the beginnings of at least a dozen bruises from this training session. Again, this young girl stands straight, not taking much of any stance. The teacher mentally sighs about the whole thing, too open a stance, too vulnerable to too many things at this moment.
The student begins to move, a little better, not as rigid, a little more fluid about things, more adaptable to anything that her teacher might do. The teacher test her with her own slight charge, mixed with a feint to the left to be followed by a low sweep kick. The girl notices the feint just as she finishes it, but again, missed the low incoming kick aimed to take her to the floor. A thump denoted this failure, but the girl didn’t stay down this time, she rolled quickly, putting some distance between herself and the teacher. She snapped up into an awkward stance.
“Better, you’re getting the hang of it Alissa.” the teacher says
Alissa simply nodded, her tied back hair bopping slightly where it had slipped over to her front. Her grey training garb beginning to show slight signs of becoming saturated with her sweat. She once again launches herself against her teacher, trying to read every little movement without more than a cursory glance. The teacher makes for a punch, Alissa steps to the outside of it, keeping her guard up and gets the impulse to move faster, to try and get behind her teacher. She doesn’t make much of it and again finds herself tumbling away and flowing back into her proper stance.
“Come on, this is the tenth go at this, you’ve got some parts of it. Remember, we go until you get the basics of this and get at least two more parts of this.”
“No, we keep going until I can dodge it all.” Alissa says sniffing the air.
The teacher chuckles to herself, that statement reminded her why she liked this girl as a student. She would practice every move. This time, the teacher didn’t wait, she attacks. Her student was shocked for the first half second, but recovered and shifted into the subtle defensive stance she’d be taught the previous week, decent form, not refined, but decent. The teacher let out a small barrage of attacks, punches and a kick. Just as she was taught, Alissa reacted instinctive to it all, using the style just right, yet not to its full effects. In turn, Alissa attacked her teacher, doing a bit better, keeping more aware. Once again the teacher threw a sweep kick into the barrage of attacks the young lady was already fending off. The impact was solid, however, the girl had managed to keep her balance for once, absorbing the attack instead of the usual fall and roll. Alissa smiled just there, made a grab and flicked her teacher to the ground in a single motion. The teacher was back up faster than Alissa could blink and launching into a completely new set of attacks she hadn’t ever used against the girl. This time, Alissa felt more than she had in the few years that she had been training here amid all the other pupils. The teacher’s blows were blocked and just by looking in her student’s eyes she knew that the girl was beginning to learn a little.
Now all that remained was how long she could hold this state. It was five minutes later she noticed her pupil begin to sway in the state and not long after, she was obviously just herself again. She never let on to her student that this was the ultimate goal of these training exercises, to hold that state of mind for longer periods of time and eventually get to the point where it was as natural as breathing to consider things and actions in that matter. Eventually it would be her living in the moment as a fighter would, aware of all the threats around her with little more than reaching beyond herself. The teacher moved back in a manner that Alissa couldn’t understand in the least, as if she had been there all along.
“That’s all for now, you did better today.”
Alissa simply nodded.
“Now, go eat, you’re going to be famished soon and you know it.”
Alissa knew this and left, keeping herself in a decent stance just in case of a surprise attack from her teacher.
The teacher, Gae Bolga, walked to the window and looked out over the surrounding courtyard of the school. The girl with the silver eyes she’d been training for those years indeed looked more confident.
“You know she’ll be a great fighter, she has all the makings innately and in greater quantities than some of even the most elite of the King’s guard.”
Gae turned around and saw her intruder, the cloaked figure. This figure had been rumored to appear around those who taught the girl. The rumors were watched carefully so that she never heard, there was enough already going on around her any given day as things stood on the day to day. He, at least Gae thought it was a he, showed up infrequently. Always wore the same cloak, it always looked new, always dark, sometimes it seemed to meld with the shadows of the corridor. That would account for the sudden vanishing when this person is done talking with the teachers. It covered everything about him, leaving nothing that one could possibly identity, even the voice seemed to be off from the normal tones. This person had interest in Alissa, yet no one could get any answers out of him about it.
“You’ve been interested in her ever since she first came here. No surprise you’re aware of what she can do. She’s still got years left here before she’ll be ready for her next teacher.”
“Are you going to teach her your namesake?”
“Perhaps, just perhaps, if she keeps a good head and morals. She’s already got enough seals on her to allow her to lead a normal life here. I dread the coming of when those have to be broken. A terrible fate, but she’s one who could take it all in stride better than half of the instructors here and every last one of the students.”
“A neglected existence brought to its full potential.”
“You speak of too much now.”
“No one is here.”
Gae laughed at that, “Here, no one is ever alone.”
The figure hesitated for just a brief moment and Gae flicked a hidden knife at the figure. The blade hit nothing, not even the outer most layer of the shroud it’d been aimed at. The figure laughed.
“As good as teacher as always. But you are right, it’s time for me to take my leave of you and this place.”
“Quit stalling and leave, you’re wasting my precious time.”
The figure vanished into some nearby shadows. Gae was happy for its going, that figure was creepy enough with it’s interest in Alissa. It would be back again in a few fortnight to check up again on things. She never told Alissa about this figure. The girl has enough on her mind simply knowing about her seals. She still remembers life before them, having nothing holding all that power back. Gae sat down and pulled out a kettle and poured herself a small cup of the potent tea she kept there. It shook her up just right and helped her relax plenty. This girl was a lot of trouble for her, she could only imagine what it would be like for the next instructor who got her for training. It was going to be sooner than she said, the girl was training more than any of the others. Some even thought that she didn’t sleep because she seemed to constantly be in the training group or somewhere, working out and stretching. That girl was striving to meet what she was to be, as if that would allow her to control her own fate and undo the very wrong that had created her in the first place and replace that with something more proper. Gae left the training room for her own quarters now. Alissa had been the last student of the day and she still had her own training to do. As she gathered her equipment, again, she looked out a window. The moon had begun to rise. How many more will you be able to enjoy of these my young one?