The Grey Tower

It was strange to have the pair of swords strapped to her hip, instead of the usual quiver, the newly raised Mistress of Arms thought as she crossed the Warder Yards. She was dressed in her common training outfit, dark grey trousers, dark teal shirt and a soft leather jerkin, all in all quite similar to every other Gaidin and Gaidar. And yet every trainee seemed to know instantly who she was as she passed - was she that easily recognizable? - and she was met with respectful bows from the ones not actively concentrating on their current training or spar. A few of the newer trainees earned a hard stare or a thwack from a practice blade by their trainers for being distracted.

Amayani found her way onto the Training Yard, followed by a Ji'alantin carrying a bag of practice blades, and found a free spot. She thanked the Ji for his assistance, and unrolled the bag, looking over the practice blades and laying out a few relevant ones. She would give her student the chance to chose her weapon, if she had any preferences.

Yani settled into a relaxed position, standing lightly on her feet, and watched her charges practice around the Training Yard as she waited for her student.

Rhyka looked around the Training Yard, feeling terribly out of place. She had visited the Yards earlier, to ask about lessons, and it had been intimidating enough then. The Gaidar she had spoken to had been very welcoming, but had given Rhyka... a drin’far’ji uniform. Lydie Sedai had told her that to be strong, she must train her body and her mind, but Rhyka couldn’t help but pluck at the pants uncomfortably. Blood and ashes, she missed her dress already. But she longed to be like the people moving confidently about the Yards. She watched a pair of women spar for a moment, their movements fluid and strong. Rhyka felt a bit like a cow in comparison to them.

She could not help but wonder if the men and women training could tell she was out of place, just by the way she was staring. But there was no hope for it; Rhyka had to find her instructor. It took her a second to find a woman with coppery hair, standing over an assortment of weaponry. Rhyka approached slowly, uncomfortable in the soft boots she had been given.

“Mistress of Arms?” Rhyka asked quietly, shifting from foot to foot. It would be terribly embarrassing if she had approached the wrong woman, but she forced herself to still and stand with a straight back. Both the Aes Sedai and Gaidar that she had asked about sword lessons had been kind, and there was no reason for her to suspect that she was unwelcome. But she still felt wrong and out of place, standing before who she suspected to be the Mistress of Arms, wearing a pair of trousers.

Yani picked up the movement of a person approaching, and turned to face her student. The novice appeared uncomfortable and uncertain as she approached, but the girl still held her back straight and head high, which was good. The girl was dressed in a drin'far'ji uniform, which was also good, as dresses was terrible impractical to practice in. It didn't leave any doubt who this girl was, however, as Yani knew fairly well all the faces of the trainees of the Yards.

"Welcome, novice Rhykana," she said with a smile she hoped was calming for the girl. "Yes, I am Mistress Amayani a'Sorene, but please, call me Yani for now."

"You have never trained with a sword before, is that so?" she asked the girl, and waited for confirmation before continuing. "I've found the best way to begin is by getting to know the weapon itself."

She unsheathed the longer of her blades, and handed it hilt first to the girl. She contemplated for a brief moment whether or not she should warn the girl that the blade was sharp. But, she figured, if the novice couldn't even hold a blade without cutting herself, it was probably best she didn't let the girl get near a weapon again. She did hold the girl's eyes for a moment, and hoped a stern look would keep the girl from trying anything fancy.

Yani unsheathed the shorter of her blades and held it in front of her, using it to explain its different parts.

"There are three parts of the sword that you need to know about to start with. First, the hilt. This is where you hold the weapon. Some swords are meant to be held with one hand, others, like these, with one or two hands.

"Next, the guard, which is used exactly as it sounds. Its main purpose is keeping you from getting your fingers sliced off. We'll be using blunt blades later," she added before the girl panicked, "but a hit in the fingers is painful enough with a blunt.

"Last, of course, is the blade. You use this to cut or stab things. This sword is a single-edged blade, that means it's sharp on only one side. Other types of swords are dual-edged." She paused for a moment, letting it sink in. She would not bother to go into more detail about the parts of the sword for now, that would be for a later lesson.

"The sword you're holding now is called a Katana," she continued, "and the sword I'm holding is it's little brother, the Wakizashi. Behind me there's an array of different types of swords, practice blades, which we'll use from now on." She sheathed her own sword and held out her hand to retrieve the katana from the novice. A more experienced trainee she would've allowed to use the sharp blade for the first part of the lesson, but with a fresh trainee, be it novice or drin, she thought it best to use practice blades. The girl had gotten a feel of a real sword at least.

"Do you have any particular type of sword you wish to learn?" she asked Rhykana as she sheathed the katana.

The other woman’s manner immediately put her at ease. “Then please call me Rhyka, Yani.” She told the Mistress of Arms, smiling. Yani was the first person she had met at the Tower who had not expected and demanded honorifics. It was refreshing and surprising all at once, and Rhyka didn’t think she would be capable of it. Once she was Aes Sedai, she would want others to recognize that fact.

“I’ve never trained with any weapon.” Rhyka said, frowning down at the ground. Before coming to the Tower, Rhyka had never thought such a thing would be possible for her. Back in Caemlyn, swords and the like were for men, and not all men. That she was allowed to learn here was still amazing to her, and she found herself looking at the weapons before her yearningly. It was another type of power, one that she had never expected to be available to her.

She looked up, startled by Yani’s words. She had expected lessons before she would be allowed to hold a sword, and it was shocking to find one in her hands already. It was heavier than she expected, and she twisted her wrist to look at the blade from different angles. It was strange to hold it, but not nearly as strange as she had expected.

Rhyka watched attentively while Yani pointed out the parts of the sword. Learning about saidar seemed natural to her, and everything came easily. Rhyka could already tell that the sword would not be like that at all. She tightened her fingers around the hilt of the sword, and touched the guard lightly with her other hand.

It was surprising to know that only one side of the sword was sharp. It seemed counterintuitive to her. Why not be able to slash with both sides? Rhyka almost asked, but Yani continued before she could.

She had known that there must be many types of swords, but Rhyka had never really thought about it. She handed the katana back, and looked at the spread of swords behing Yani. “I don’t know much about swords.” She said slowly, yanking her eyes from the array of weaponry to Yani’s face. “I think I would like to learn to use a lighter blade, though.” She had seen several people practicing with large, heavy looking swords, and didn’t think she could manage such a thing. “Perhaps a sword that makes speed and agility more important than strength?” She asked, smiling uncertainly.

Yani nodded at Rhyka's choice. It was quite common among the female portion of the Yards, and the Tower, to want a light and nimble weapon. Her thoughts went quickly to Vibyka and Elisha, both wielders of daggers. Personally she preferred the heavier blade at her hip, but she understood the reasoning for lighter blades, especially from those new to weaponry. A two-handed, or hand-and-a-half sword were heavier than the one-handed swords, and especially heavier than the even lighter rapier or jian. For untrained arms, a heavier sword felt clumsy and wrong. She remembered how heavy her own sword had felt when she'd first started learning it under tutelage of Shyne, and later Riven.

"Strength comes from training, and any sword you start with will feel heavy and clumsy at first," Yani said while part of her mind was still working out what kind of sword would be suitable for the girl. "Though I think we can safely rule out any of the greater two-handed swords. The kind I use, the one you just held, is also meant to be used two-handed, but it has got the weight and reach more similar to a one-handed sword, and can thus be used in only one had as well.

"But," she continued, looking over the practice swords, "I believe a single-handed sword would suit you." She bent down and picked up a pair of the simplest practice swords, which were basically wooden lathes tied together and wrapped in cloth. "For now we will start using these, and once you've gotten a feel of swordfight, we can work on what kind of sword would be best suited for you." She handed the girl one of the lathes with a smile, and unhooked her own swords from her belt, laying them gently on the ground.

"The first thing you need to learn is how to stand," she said as she took place in front of the Novice again. "Stand with your body angled towards me," she shifted her body as she spoke, so her right side was towards the girl, "your feet a shoulder width apart, left foot sticking out from the body and right foot pointing forwards, towards me. Your knees should be slightly bent." She paused and waited until the girl got the position right, correcting her if needed.

"This is the offensive stance. Now, the defensive is quite similar, just reversed." She moved the right foot a step back, turning her body on the toes of the left foot until she stood in the same position, only mirrored. Her left side was now angled towards the girl, left foot forward and right foot pointing out. She watched as the girl moved into the defensive position and nodded.

"Move back and forth between the two stances a few times to get the feel of them," Yani said, "and then we'll add the sword." She gave the girl a nod to start and moved into a relaxed stance, watching and available for support and corrections as needed.

"Good," she said once she was satisfied. "Now to add the sword. The offensive stance is still the same, right side forward," she moved her body as she spoke. "You hold the sword in front of you, grip loose but firm, arm bent like this," she held the sword in her right hand, upper arm down alongside her body, elbow bent and upper arm slightly upwards and out from her body towards Rhyka, the sword pointing upwards from her hand at waist level and tip of the sword tilted forward towards Rhyka's face in height. "Your left hand should be held out of the way. You can either hold it at your hip or tuck it behind your back. I prefer the latter."

"Now, the defensive stance," she continued, and shifted her body. As she moved her foot and turned her body, she moved the right hand up, turning the sword until it was horizontal about the height of her eyes. The tip stayed almost still as she moved, and was still at the same height and pointing towards Rhyka's face.

She moved back into offensive stance and went through the two once again, this time with Rhyka joining her. "Go through them a few times again," she said with an encouraging smile. "And feel free to ask if you're wondering about anything."


OOC: Sorry for taking so long! My muse got eaten up by renovation I think.. Should be back now, I hope..

Rhyka couldn’t help but be relieved that Yani had taken the decision about what sort of sword to learn out of her hands. With the array of weaponry before her, it was impossible not to feel intimidated by all of the options. She smiled at her teacher’s comment about strength; it sounded like something Lydie Sedai would say. Strength came with training, and Rhyka still felt clumsy with saidar, let alone a sword. Most novices complained about the many years as a novice and Accepted, but Rhyka rather looked forward to the change that those years would bring. Looking at the Aes Sedai at the Tower, she knew that she would emerge a stronger woman if she ever made it to the shawl.

She nodded along with Yani’s words; a single-handed sword sounded a lot more manageable. It was a relief to be handed a practice sword; after Yani had immediately placed an actual sword in her hands, Rhyka had been a little bit worried.

Hefting the bundle of wooden lathes in one hand, Rhyka watched as Yani fell into a stance before her. On the other woman, it looked very natural. But as she moved her body to follow Yani’s instructions, it couldn’t feel more foreign. She angled herself towards her teacher, spreading her feet carefully. Rhyka felt a little silly, but looked down to check if her feet were shoulder width apart anyways. She shifted her feet, bent her knees. It was an unnatural and uncomfortable position. Rhyka glance up at Yani nervously, but the other woman didn’t correct her. Logically, she knew that the stance would become more natural with practice, but her discomfort made her feel even more like an imposter in the Yards.

Rhyka mirrored Yani’s change in stance, and the defensive stance felt just as strange. But Yani nodded at her change in position, so she must have done something right. Moving from one stance to the other felt cumbersome, and Rhyka managed to almost trip over her own feet more than once. Her face was bright red from embarrassment, but Rhyka kept going through the movements until Yani moved on with the lesson.

It almost felt better to incorporate the practice sword in the stance; it made Rhyka feel a little less silly. She tucked her left hand behind her back, and angled her right arm the way Yani demonstrated for the offensive stance. She watched intently as Yani moved to the offensive stance, eyes following the way the other woman lifted her right hand as she moved in order to keep the practice sword at the same height.

She attempted the move slowly, not wanting to make the same blunders she had made early. Rhyka’s arm was already starting to ache a little from the strain of holding up the practice blade, which was surprising considering the amount of time she spent scrubbing floors. She gritted her teeth and continued, trying to make her own movements feel as fluid as Yani’s looked. It was a challenge; with her eyes on the blade of the practice sword, it was more difficult to move her feet. The harder she tried, the more she wondered what she was doing. Yes, the practice yards were open to her, but that didn’t mean she had to go and learn the sword. Her day would have been so much easier if she had just spent her free time in the library, like she usually did! But Rhyka was still determined to be strong; she wanted to be the type of person that could do anything. If she couldn’t manage to learn a little bit of the sword, how could she ever expect herself to kill a man? She would kill Derin for what he had done to her, just like she would learn the sword. Rhyka wouldn’t allow anything less from herself.

“Does this look better?” She asked Yani nervously, shifting once more from the offensive to defensive stance. It didn’t feel natural, but her feet moved smoothly enough from one stance to the other, and the height of the practice sword hardly wavered.