Tia Learns a Weapon (Finally!): [closed fanfic]

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Welcome to the Warder Yards. This is the place for Warder and Trainee roleplays. Informal non-training interactions take place here, as well as some extended role plays. Yet these events may take place at any area of the Tower, and sometimes outside of it, since the images to the left merely serves as inspiration towards the sceneries of your stories. Channelers are always welcome, and might even find his or her bondmate through the threads that are displayed below.
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Roan
Non-Channeller Representative
Posts: 2463
Joined: May 27th, 2015, 6:46 am
PC: Riahana
SC: Tia Tomosan, Aes Sedai
TC: Paks Liard, Ji'Val
Location: Northerly

Tia Learns a Weapon (Finally!): [closed fanfic]

Post by Roan » March 28th, 2017, 2:35 pm

Tia Tomosan
Tia Tomosan originally hoped to follow in her Mother’s footsteps and become a Gaidin, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel will and it wove a different path for the Tomosan girl. She was found to have the Spark, and while she initially dreaded the news and hated the Novice Whites, she applied herself to all things channeling. If she was to follow in the footsteps of Miahala Sha’hal Sedai, then she was going to do what she could to do her proud.

During her time as a learning rank, Tia didn’t set foot in the Warder Yards. Initially, it was a bitter reminder of what could have been. After moving from Novice Whites to the Banded dress, her focus and passion to soak up as much as she could when it came to Cloud Dancing (and other channeling skills). There was little time to devote to anything else. Thus, the fully raised Aes Sedai hadn’t improved her skill with the bow (which she learned prior to her family moving to the Tower), nor had she learned any other weapons.

There were advantages to your mother being Mistress of Arms, and one of them was requesting discreet lessons in learning how to handle a dagger. She knew all to well that being an Aes Sedai did not mean she was invincible. Learning how to defend herself without the One Power was long overdue, and her mother assigned her a trainer.

Spring had sprung at the Tower, but mornings were still chilly. Tia had a feeling she wouldn’t feel the chill long once her lesson got started. She found the sparring area she was told to report to, and saw a Gaidin who stood a little shorter than her already there, stretching.

The woman looked up when she heard Tia approach, “Tia Sedai?”

“Aye,” Tia replied.

The woman offered a smile that was more a subtle smirk, “I am Malina. I know you asked your mother for lessons with the dagger, but she asked me to work with you in unarmed instead. There is crossover between unarmed and working with daggers. A good foundation with unarmed will only aid you when you pick up the dagger. So what do you say? A lesson or two with me before playing with pointy sticks?”

Tia was surprised, and didn’t bother to hide it behind the famous Aes Sedai facade. She was a good channeller, but if anyone was to grade her on being a ‘proper’ Aes Sedai, she’d fail (not that she cared). She gave a soft laugh and shrugged, “Mother’s looking out for me and my best interests still?”

Malina grinned, “Your parents will always look out for your best interests, Tia. It is in the job description of being a parent.” She nodded towards the Aes Sedai, “I’ve stretched out a bit, but we should probably get you stretched out before we begin. Just follow my lead.” Malina spread her legs beyond shoulder length and then leaned towards her left, “That’s it. Now, tell me, what kind of experience do you have in fighting?”

Tia laughed again, “I know my way around a recurve bow, though I am out of practice. Beyond that? Does wrestling with my brother count? Mind you, it’s been years since we’ve done that, too.”

The Gaidin changed position and smirked, “Wrestling with your brother only counts if it has been within the last decade. Well that makes it easy. We will start with footwork. You will need more than one lesson, but I hope you realize that.” She changed to another stretch, and nodded as Tia shadowed her.

“What, you don’t think I’ll be a natural fighter and pick up everything right off the bat?” Tia quipped with a grin.

Malina snorted as she stood up straight, “In all my time in the Yards, I can honestly say I’ve never met anyone who was a ‘natural’ talent when it came to fighting. Some pick certain aspects up more quickly, but everyone had to work at the craft. Including your mother. Keep that in mind when the going gets tough, got it?”

“Got it,” Tia replied.

“Good. Now let’s start with a basic stance. Keep your hips pointed towards me, put your right foot back and you left foot a bit forward. You can turn your right foot a bit. You want a stance slightly wider than your shoulder width, but not too far apart. Like this,” Malina explained.

The Gaidin went into the stance, her right foot pointing towards her right, “Your weight should be centred, but you can put a little more weight on your back foot. Go on, don’t be shy.


Tia set her feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, and then turned her right foot as Malina had. She then shifted so more of her weight rested on her back foot and then cantered again, “Can I assume you can do the same with the left foot back?”

“Good assumption. Do what feels more natural to you, but know you will need to be able to easily step forward and back. The idea is to give yourself a solid base so that your opponent can’t knock you off balance and on your arse. I want you to try and push me over,” Malina instructed as she settled back into the basic stance.

“Excuse me?”

Malina grinned, “Come on. You’re not gunna hurt me. I promise. I am tougher than I look.”

Tia smirked, “You look pretty tough.”

Malina waved, “Come on. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Tia stepped forward and when she closed distance to Malina she stepped forward and pushed out, but Malina barely budged. The Gaidin grabbed Tia’s arms and shuffled one leg around the Aes Sedai’s leading leg, then pushed. Tia fell to the ground and looked up with a shocked expression. “What did you do?”

“I used your momentum and center of gravity against you. You over-committed with the push, and were overbalanced. All I needed to do was use my own leg as a pivot point and push, and down you went,” the Gaidin explained as she offered Tia a hand up. “We’ll work on how to make a move on an opponent later, but all of that was to demonstrate how beneficial a good solid base can be. Take your stance again.”

Tia did as she was told, “Like this?”

Malina nodded, “That is a good start, but bend your knees a bit. There will almost never be a time when you will want to stand straight legged. Sink a bit. . .that’s it. Try not to put your weight on your heels. Good.” The Gaidin circled her as Tia got used to the stance, and when she came to stand in front, Malina didn’t even hesitate. She pushed.

Tia shuffled her feet, but didn’t fall over with the first push, but Malina followed up with another, and the Aes Sedai found herself on her arse once more.

The Gaidin smirked, “Nothing comes easy, Aes Sedai. Nothing worth fighting for, anyway. That wasn’t entirely fair because you could have avoided the fall if we went through shuffling to adjust your weight and center of gravity.” She reached down and pulled Tia up once more, “Take your stance again.” She stood shoulder to shoulder, “Now follow my steps to move forward. Bring your back foot up to meet your leading foot, then shuffle the leaning foot forward. That’s it. Good. Now do the opposite to shuffle back. There you go. Notice I’m not crossing my feet. You can, of course, but you need to adjust how you hold the rest of your body to match the new stance. Ok. . .shuffle forward and back a few times until I tell you to stop.”

Tia settled back into her stance, and brought her right foot up to meet her left a moment before sliding her left foot forward. She did her best to keep her weight evenly distributed, and repeated the move twice more before shuffling backwards for three steps.

“How does that feel?” Malina asked.

“Feels a little awkward.”

“It will, at first, but that is one of the reasons why we are going to have more than one lesson,” Malina replied. “Ok. Good, now let’s take a break from stances and talk targets. If you wanted to incapacitate your would be attacker, what might you aim for?” She asked as she moved to lean a nearby fence.

Tia followed her lead and leaned next to Malina, “Groin?”

“The groin is a good answer, though some fighters might wear protection, and you may not always gave an open shot. Where else?”

“Eyes or nose? Oh, and the throat,” Tia answered.

Malina nodded, “A good starting list. An elbow or fist to the nose will stun most attackers, as will a good punch to the throat. If you hit the throat hard enough, you might impede their ability to breath and incapacitate them. The eyes are a harder target, but tender, to be sure. Never underestimate the value of a well placed blow to the ears or temples. What parts of your own body do you use to land blows?”

“Fists and elbows,” Tia began confidently, then hesitated, “knees and feet?”

“Yes, and your head, though be careful head butting someone. You can ring your bell as easily as you can ring theirs. Now a lot of what I teach is grappling, or using your opponent's momentum against them. We’re not trying to get in a fist fight as much as we are trying to defend ourselves. If someone makes a grab for you, your stance and your center of gravity can keep you out of trouble,” Malina replied.

Tia gave the Gaidin a confused look, “Why talk about targets if we’re going to focus on grappling more than fighting?

“Because the idea is to end the fight or the danger your opponent poses to you as quickly as possible. In an ideal world, you have a warder with you who will neutralize any threat to you, but by learning this, you might buy yourself and your Warder precious seconds,” Malina explained.

“Now then, recall when you tried to push me and you ended up on your arse?” When Tia nodded, Malina continued, “I simply moved my body as you were coming forward, and took advantage of you being off balanced. I’ll show you step by step.”

True to her word, Malina showed the Aes Sedai how to scoop a leg behind her opponent and use it as a lever to push and put someone on their back. She then had Tia try it, but not without making it a challenge. Each time Tia tried, Malina would let her go until she opened herself up to a counter, and each time Malina countered, she held back enough not to hurt Tia, but not so much that the woman didn’t start to learn.

By the end of their first lesson, Tia was sweaty, filthy and a bit sore, but she felt like she’d accomplished something. The pair parted ways with the plan to meet in two days’ time to continue Tia’s training. She was told to practice her stances each day, and footwork too in an effort to make it all seem more familiar. The Aes Sedai practiced the move of pushing someone over her leg on her mother, who seemed more than happy to be a practice partner. In fact, mother and daughter bonded over their thoughts of Malina as an instructor. (Overall, they liked her, but she had this odd fetish for putting people on their rumps.)

***

Two days passed quickly, and Tia found herself looking forward to the next lesson with Malina. The Gaidin offered an amused smirk as Tia walked up, “Glad to see you back.”

“Didn’t think I’d come?”

“No, I knew you’d come. I wasn’t sure how excited you’d be for lesson number two,” the Gaidin answered. “You may not like me at the end of today.”

“Let me guess, I’m going to find myself on my backside more than once today?”

Malina’s lips twitched, “You know me so well so soon. Today, we’re going to work on creating space between you and your opponent by using their momentum against them, or using your own momentum to your advantage. Take your stance.”

By now, settling into a guard stance felt natural to Tia. She sunk down a bit as she bent her knees and brought her hands up, holding them in front of her.

“OK, so we didn’t talk too much last time about how you hold your hands. You’re not too far off there, and your mother said you two worked together a bit, so I’m guessing you’re doing what you saw her do?” When Tia nodded, Malina smirked, “OK. It’s a good start, but not quite right. You should bring your left shoulder up a bit to protect your ear, and your right hand should….there you go.”

As Malina was talking, Tia adjusted how she held her arms, bringing her shoulder up to guard her ear, and her right hand came up a bit more, as well. “Is the ear such a good target?”

“It is. A well placed blow of just the right force can do significant damage to a person. People who aren’t fighters may not know it, but a trained fighter would, which is why we try and protect it,” the Gaidin explained.

Tia made a face, “It feels awkward.”

“You will get used to it buttercup. Now, come at me. Try and grab or push me. Your choice,” Malina replied. She wore a smirk Tia was coming to recognize as a warning that the Aes Sedai would soon be on her back side.

Without hesitating, Tia shuffled forward and stuck an arm out to push, but her hand and arm missed Malina, as she stepped to the side, grabbing Tia’s wrist as the Aes Sedai’s momentum carried her forward, then brought the woman’s arm up behind her back. “Strike one, better luck next time,” Malina teasingly whispered in Tia’s ear before pushing her away.

The Aes Sedai stumbled forward a step or two, but caught herself and her balance. She turned to face Malina again and gave a confused look. “You were in front of me, then not, and before I knew it, you had me by my wrist and my arm behind me. How?”

“Momentum. I will come at you, in slow motion and talk you through it. Ready?”

Tia sunk into her guard stance again and nodded.

“OK. As I get within striking distance, step to the side and take hold of my outstretched arm by the wrist if you can,” Malina instructed.

Tia waited and watched as Malina sunk into a stance of her own. A moment later she shuffled forward. Tia stepped to the side, moving her body out of the way of the outstretched hand, and grabbed it with her own. Malina stopped, “Good, now you have a choice at this point. . .push me on by (and kick me in the arse), or what I did. To do what I did, pull their wrist down and back towards you, then up to the middle of their back. Go on...you won’t hurt me, remember?”

Again, Tia did as instructed, “OK, now that I have you, what do I do with you?”

Malina looked over her shoulder and smirked, “Perhaps don’t leave yourself open for such an easy teasin’ buttercup. But at this point, you could move your other hand around my shoulders or neck. You just need to be wary of my free hand. The other option is to kick the back of my knees and push, which would send me to the ground. Whatever you do, you can’t think. You just gotta do.

“Now let go and we’ll do it again, but this time, instead of pulling my arm up, just push me past.”

The two squared off once more, and Malina came at Tia faster. Somewhat surprised, Tia stumbled as she tried to step to the side. Malina didn’t hesitate, and swept Tia’s feet out from under her, “Rookie mistake, Sedai. If you lose your balance so easily, you will be an easy kill for your opponent.”

Making a face, Tia pushed herself back to her feet. Her mother hinted that Malina would give no quarter, and didn’t really appreciate what she meant until that moment. She flashed a wry smile at her trainer, “Mother warned me you would not go easy on me.”

“Going easy on you will get you killed down the road, Tia. My job is to teach you to defend yourself, and if I slack on it at all, and you end up injured, it’s on me. . .my failing. I ain’t about to let that happen. Now come on. Let’s practice some more. See if you can keep me from getting a hold of you,” Malina offered.

The pair squared off again, and Malina surged forward. Tia deflected her arm as she sidestepped, then attempted to sweep Malina’s feet out from under her. The Gaidin was too sure-footed and quick of reflex for Tia to do much more than make her stumble ever so slightly. The two turned to face each other, and Malina didn’t hesitate to charge again.

Tia expected the Gaidin to react quickly, thus managed to dodge Malina’s attempt to grab her. Tia ducked the arm, and moved her leg around the Gaidin, and attempted to put her on her arse. Malina had other ideas and swept Tia’s feet out from under her. The Aes Sedai went down with a thud, and her head hit the ground with force. She winced with the impact, and nearly had the wind knocked out of her.

“Mother’s milk in a cup,” Malina cursed and knelt by Tia’s side. “Are you ok, Tia?”

Wincing again, Tia nodded slowly, “I think so.” She started to sit up, then groaned as everything seemed to go sideways, “Mostly ok.”

Malina helped Tia sit up, “Perhaps we should call it a day. Let me take you to the infirmary and get someone to check out that hard head of yours.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tia protested.

“Oh no, Aes Sedai. If I damaged you, and your mother found out, I’d be sent to the furthest outpost we’ve got in the Blight. I’d rather not,” Malina teased as she helped Tia up.

Tia quirked a brow, “Mother wouldn’t do that.”

Malina laughed, “No...likely not, but I would never hear the end of it.”
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