"Know a man by the name of Daliner Alrim?" Gaidin Thomosa almost growled at him in amusement.
"Heard the name, seen him a bit. What do you ask Gaidin?"
"Heard he wants someone to see how good he is with one of those little stickers you two use"
"Swords, much better than axes. Wait...why are you telling me?"
"Time to put your training to use lad!" came the barked response and a toothy grin, "go see what he's made of. You're Ji now, time to start leading others!"
There had been a few more words after that but they had been inconsequential banter really, the Gaidin was just having a word with him. He had noticed that had happened more of late, since he had been raised. It was like he had joined a small club but wasn't really a full member yet. The meetings were few and far between, short and usually consisted of giving him a job to do. As it was he had been scheduled to practise the blade so it was not that much of a change this time.
So it was with a curious feeling that he entered the Yards and sought the man out, it took some time but he eventually spied him and approached softly, slowly. He took the time to circle him a bit, he was already at work with a lathe and it proved useful to observe before teaching he had found. Had taken him a while to figure a teaching method but one was starting to coalesce over time. He hefted his own lathe and rolled his wrists as he awaited the right moment. It came soon enough, the man going to pivot and slash - his lathe blocked by Alrim's, the vibrations rippling down his arm dully.
"If I were an enemy you'd be dead," he grinned and adopted a cheerful tone, "Daliner right? Alrim Farshera, or Bells if you like. Hear you're a man who knows the sword some," he set his lathe across his shoulder and extended his other hand to the Soldier in greeting, "been sent to see how good you are, make sure you've got the right training program....very boring things, I know. But they says jump and I say, well I just mutter behind their back.
"Tell you what, talking and saying 'this is the pointy end don't stab yourself with it' is pretty boring and if you were that dumb you'd be in the Infirmary already. Moving on to the next point of order...try to hit me," he winked and stepped back, relaxing his muscles and letting the ko'di - still unreliable but more often than not worked for him - settle in, "hard as you like. I don't mind bruises"
He didn't adopt a defensive stance yet, he wanted to see how the man went at it, besides which he was light on his feet and would mostly go for dodging at first, perhaps swatting aside the lathe that came too close. He was more interested in footwork and balance and that didn't need the click clack of wood that gave headaches to all. Just quick feet, circling and maybe a trip or two. |