• Solo • Lessons with Purchase Part 2

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

Continued from here


33rd Ashan, 718


By the time that Tei'serin had finished practicing under the expert guidance of her teacher, she was sweating, and tired. But it was worth it. She felt as though she had begun to make a little progress. It was a single step on a long road to mastering the bow she had chosen, but it was a beginning. And with learning any new skill, you always had to start at the beginning. Since most farms had hunters in the family to help supply the food they needed, Tei'serin was confident that she could find other teachers to help her. Practicing on her own whenever she could would help as well.

"You did pretty good for a first lesson. Do you have some more time? If you want, I can give you a lesson with your sword as well." Thakrid offered with a grin.

"From what I could tell, anyway."

Arina nodded with a serious expression.

"She did." she confirmed."

"At the very least, it was amusing." Thakrid said with a chuckle, clearly thinking about the end of the lesson.

"So would you like another lesson?"

Tei'serin blushed as she considered the question. She did want the lesson...very much so. But did she really have the time for it now? Her mother and siblings would be waiting for her back at Valfield Farm. After a few trills of thought, she decided that she did have the time. Since she didn't have an exact time that she needed to meet up with her family, she had a little leeway. Besides, the kids were probably still playing with the kittens that Kaise had wanted to show them. If anything, they probably weren't going to want to leave when it was time to. Idly, Tei'serin wondered if the kittens were for sale, and if so, how many she was likely to end up bringing home.

"I would love another lesson, thank you. And thank you for being willing to teach me."

Thakrid chuckled again.

"I'm happy to. It's only good business, if you think about it. If we offer a free lesson with any weapon that we sell, then people are more likely to buy from us. And if they are happy with both their purchase, and the lesson they got from us, they are more likely to do repeat business with us."

Tei'serin nodded thoughtfully as she considered the man's words.

"Shall we get started?"

Tei'serin nodded again, this time with a grin, and eager anticipation in her eyes.

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

"Can I add one more thing before you get started, Thakrid?" Arina asked hurriedly.

The weapon smith nodded and waited patiently to hear what his friend had to say.

"Tei'serin, one of the things you will find is that although the crossbow is a distance weapon, the actual effective range it has varies greatly due to a number of factors. The quality of the bow, the skill of its user, and the conditions you find yourself in while using it all matter. In perfect conditions, the crossbow has an effective range of one hundred yards or more in the hands of a master of the bow. But the chances of finding conditions like that outside an indoor training area are very slim indeed. One of the things you will learn as you practice is what range works best for you. And as your skills with the bow improve, so will your range."

With that, Arina gestured at Thakrid to indicate that she was finished with what she had wanted to say.

"So. Learning the sword is different than learning how to use a bow. If you do it correctly, you won't even begin to learn any moves with your katana for seasons yet. There are things that are far more basic than that that you need to learn first. And that is what this lesson will focus on. Do you live here in the city? If so, I can recommend a good teacher for you."

Tei'serin shook her head.

"I live in Treth." she explained.

"That's why I was hoping to learn enough in this lesson to be able to learn enough in this lesson to be able to teach myself more on my own as I practice."

Thakrid shook his head.

"You won't be ready for that for a long time yet. Hmm...Treth. That makes things harder. There aren't many warriors living out that way. I don't suppose you would be able to come into the city for lessons on a regular basis?"

Tei'serin simply shook her head again in response to the question.

"A friend of mine quit the Blades and turned farmer when she fell in love, and found herself with child. That was...oh fifteen arcs ago now, but we still keep in touch. I'm sure that her skills are rusty beyond belief now, but she was good with a sword back in her time with the Blades. And rusty skills or not, she's sure to remember enough to be able to teach. I'll write her a letter, and ask her to take you on if you'd like?" Arina asked.

Tei'serin smiled, and gave the older woman a relieved look.

"I would like that a lot. Thank you."

"Consider it done. You can work out payment for the lessons between yourselves once you meet."

"I will." Tei'serin promised.

Thakrid handed Tei'serin the katana he had been holding for her during her lesson with the bow. It was heavier than she expected it to be, and as tired as she was, she nearly dropped it. Metal or not, the blade was slender enough that no matter how many times she held it, it felt heavier than she was expecting it to.

"You'll get used to that." Thakrid said with an amused chuckle.

The look in his eyes told Tei'serin that he knew exactly what she had been thinking.

"Getting used to the feel of a blade is an important step in learning how to use said blade. Until you're comfortable simply holding it, you won't be able to wield it freely the way you will need to in a fight."

Hearing it put like that, it made perfect sense. Tei'serin looked at her katana ruefully. As heavy as it was, she couldn't even imagine swinging it around if she needed to use it to defend herself.

"It will come with time...and a whole lot of practice."

Tei'serin nodded with grim determination in her eyes. She was going to learn this no matter what.

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

"Are you ready to continue?"

Tei'serin nodded.

"Another of the absolute basics is the act of drawing your sword out of its sheath when you want to use it. If you can't do that, and do it quickly when you need to...well."

The implications were obvious, so Tei'serin simply nodded again. She watched while Thakrid walked into his shop and returned with a sword. He demonstrated how to draw a sword from its sheath several times.

"Now you try it." he told her.

Tei'serin tried to copy his movements, but it looked a lot easier than it actually was. When Thakrid drew his sword, it came out of the sheath in one easy movement. But she kept fumbling it. The sword would catch on something in the sheath. Or she would lose her grip on the hilt, and it would fall back into the sheath. It took her several attempts before she managed to do it for the first time. And it took her several more attempts before she could do it more than once in a row.

"Like with everything else, skill will come with practice. Endless repetition is crucial. The repetition of movement is what creates muscle memory. And muscle memory is the key when it comes to using a weapon...or when fighting without using a weapon as well. If you practice something enough times, not only do you get the hang of doing it, and learn how to do it correctly, that action becomes habit. Instinct. You know you are doing it the right way by the way your body feels when you are doing it."

Tei'serin nodded to show that she understood.

"Muscle memory plays a part in archery, too. It will help you in loading and shooting a bow." Arina added.

Tei'serin nodded again.

"Muscle memory will also save you when you are too tired to think, or if you are attacked too quickly for you to decide how best to respond. Your body will react on instinct if the muscle memory is there."

Tei'serin nodded yet again. Muscle memory seemed like it was extremely important when it came to fighting. She hoped that one trial she would have it.

"Another thing that will come with time is that using a sword on a regular basis will create calluses in your hands. That will help because it will hurt less if you have to use a sword for long periods of time if you have calluses to toughen your hands."

Thakrid looked as though he was planning to say more, but he was distracted by loud shouting near by. Several men were shouting in Rakahi. Tei'serin knew some of the language, but she didn't recognize what was being said. Then again, judging by the frown on Thakrid's face as he glanced at her, she didn't think she had to. It was obvious that they were swearing, and that Thakrid didn't approve of such language being used in front of a woman.

It didn't surprise Tei'serin that Thakrid understood what the men were shouting. He was a Biqaj, and Rakahi was the native language of the Biqaj. It was the language that was spoken and written primarily in Ne'haer. But she also remembered from her own lessons in school that it was one of the three languages that were spoken in Rynmere.

"Shut up you idiots!" Thakrid snarled in Rakahi.

Tei'serin knew what the phrase meant because one of her neighbors was a nice Biqaj family. The father was a gruff man who always called his sons idiots, but it was obvious how much he loved them...and how much they loved him in return.

The men must have heard him because they were silent for a few trills. Then they began singing sloppily. It was obvious that they were drunk from the sound of their voices. Tei'serin realized that they must be singing sea songs because she recognized the word "sea," and it was prevalent throughout the songs.

Thakrid glared in their direction for a few trills before turning back to Tei'serin.

"I think we had better end the lesson here. That lot can be very rowdy when they're this drunk. They've caused quite a bit of damage on more than one occasion. I don't know if they will head in this direction or not, but if they do, they aren't the kind of men a young woman like yourself should be around."

Tei'serin couldn't help but agree. She had more than enough experience with men who could be dangerous when they were drunk. If Thakrid knew these men, and knew that they could be..."rowdy," Tei'serin wanted nothing to do with them. So she thanked both Arina and Thakrid sincerely before heading back to Valfield Farms.

[Pegasus]

Tei'serin

Overview

There was a lot of detail in this thread and I liked how you dealt with the NPCs and your pcs reactions to handling and firing the weapon. Nicely written! I liked how you got the Rakahi and biqaj history for your PC in there, too - nice writing - all adding flavour to what was fundamentally a training thread - I enjoyed the addition of story.

Points

XP: 10 (not for magic)

Renown: NA

Loot

None

Knowledge

Blades (Katana): is heavier than it looks
Blades (Katana): getting used to the feel of the blade in your hand is important
Blades (Katana): drawing the katana
Blades (Katana): building sword calluses in one's hands comes with time, and makes wielding a sword easier
Blades (Katana): repetitive movements build muscle memory
Ranged Combat (Crossbow): in perfect conditions, the maximum range of a crossbow is 100 yards or more depending on your skill

Non Skill Knowledges

Rakahi: language of the Biqaj
Rakahi: a spoken and written language
Rakahi: primarily spoken in Ne'haer
Rakahi: one of three languages spoken in Rynmere
Rakahi: drunken sea songs
Rakahi: "sea"
Rakahi: swears
Rakahi: "Shut up you idiots!"