Stand

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian smiled slightly when Lei'Lira commented that her teacher might have been right. "I've never had reason to doubt the wisdom or validity of Hector's lessons. Everything he told me while I was under his training has been right so far." she said, her tone calm. She watched without comment as Lei'Lira worked to draw the blade, realizing that she could never recall Lei'Lira having even played with toy swords when they were little. Her cousin really didn't have so much us a single aggressive bone in her body. "Pull back on the sheath while you draw the sword, it can help." she said, after Lei'Lira got it pulled out, her tone calm.

Once Lei'Lira had the sword in hand, Vivian circled her cousin, taking in how she stood with the sword. "You'll want to keep most of your weight on your front foot, and move your back foot a bit further back." she said, helping Lei'Lira get her feet into the right position for the stance to feel natural and comfortable. "Now, as to whether you're going to be using a shield, let your arms do as the please for a moment. Your body will automatically move to where it feels most comfortable." she said, before stepping back slightly to see how her cousin stood with the sword.

[Lei'lira]

Lei'lira nodded, happy for the advice. She put the katana back into its sheath so that she could try it, and found that Vivian's advice really did help. It still took her several tries before she was able to manage it, though.

When she was holding the katana, it felt horribly awkward to her. It was heavy, and she could imagine how sore she would be after holding it for any length of time. But it was more than that. She had this big piece of metal in one hand. The extra weight on one side left her off balance, and convinced that she would fall if she tried to move quickly. Her cousin had an answer for that, too, much to her relief. Vivian helped her position her feet properly, and it did help somewhat. Hopefully practice would make it feel more natural.

Vivian's next suggestion was to let her arms do as they liked because her body would automatically move to a position that felt the most comfortable. And it did. After a few trills, Lei'lira found herself standing with her arms loosely at her sides. The tip of the blade was resting lightly on the ground. When she tried to raise it so that it wasn't touching the ground, she found that her wrist ached after just a few trills. As a farmer, she was used to lifting, and carrying heavy things, but this was an entirely different situation. Normally, she would be carrying something with both hands, or she would have a bucket in each hand. The weight was more balanced than it was now. And the hilt felt strange in her hand. Thick, and hard to grasp rather than thin like the handle of a bucket. So while her current position was more comfortable than she had been before, she still felt awkward, and strange. And she was also painfully aware of the fact that she could cut her own foot off with the katana in her hand if her wrist gave out, and it fell in the wrong direction when she dropped it.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian watched as Lei'Lira led her body assume the stance it was most comfortable with for the weapon. The result was a surprisingly open stance, one that wasn't aggressive or defensive to a casual observer. She knew better, however, and saw the stance as a counter-focused stance, the kind that would be most effective against an attacking enemy, interrupting their attacks and using their own aggression against them. However, counter-based fighting styles were difficult to pull off, and she knew she'd need to teach Lei'Lira the basics before she could get into counters. "Right now, a katana is a similar weapon to my rapier in its design. It's a lightweight weapon, designed for quick, light strikes. It doesn't have the weight for power of something like a broadsword, nor does it have the blade strenght. It's not designed to block incoming blows with the blade." she said, her tone taking on the cadences of a teacher.

Then she stepped back from her cousin. "Swing the sword a few times, slowly." she said, before falling silent to watch her cousin, see how she handled the blade. After a moment, she held up a hand. "Okay, hold on a moment." she said, before stepping forward and taking hold of Lei'Lira's wrist and guiding her hand through the right motions, using her free hand to guide her cousins shoulder and waist motions to match the swings. "One smooth motion, transition from swing to swing. The swings looked a bit like a figure eight in motion and eventually, Vivian had Lei'Lira performing the swing a passable manner.

When Lei'Lira had the motion down, Vivian stepped back again. "This is a basic swing, but you don't have the right muscles for swordplay built up. Working on this swing will help you get the right muscles built up." she said, smiling slightly as she spoke. "It also help you build up the right sort of endurance. The fact that you work on a farm gives you a head start, but this isn't the same thing. You'll tire quicker at first, but you'll get the hang of it faster than if you had started from scratch." she said, as she watched her cousin work with the blade.

[Lei'lira]

Lei'lira listened to her cousin's words closely. Making connections with other things helped her to remember new information, so she made special note of them. A katana was like a rapier in that both were lightweight weapons that were made for light, quick strikes. Neither blade was meant to block incoming attacks from another blade because they didn't have the blade strength for that. Vivian mentioned a broadsword, implying that it was a heavier sword that was more powerful than her katana was. Lei'lira couldn't even imagine the strength it would take to wield a heavier sword than the one she was holding now. This one was heavy enough as it was.

"So...different swords have different abilities? Different strengths?" she asked slowly.

That was something she could relate to.

"They have something in common with horses then. Some horses, like draft breeds are big and strong, good for pulling heavy plows, and large carriages. But it's harder to ride them. Other breeds are more suited for riding, but don't have the size and strength of a draft horse. Is this something like that?"

She hesitated before asking another question.

"Is my stance okay? Should I be holding the sword differently, or something?"

When Vivian asked her to swing the sword, Lei'lira obeyed. Keeping the point down so that it wouldn't hurt anyone if she dropped it or lost control of it, she swung it back and forth slowly in front of her like a pendulum. As it gained momentum, the tip rose higher and higher as it swung back and forth until at the height of its swing, the part she was clutching in her hand twisted our of her grip. The momentum of the swing tore the katana out of her hand, and it went flying off to one side. Lei'lira stared at the sword in dismay for a few trills. What if someone had been standing in the path of the blade when she lost control of it? She could have hurt them badly.

"Well...at least I know what not to do now..." she muttered softly as she promised herself that she would do better.

Her wrist ached fiercely from when the blade had been torn out of her hand. But that didn't stop her from picking it up, and trying again. This time, Vivian corrected her after a few swings, guiding her hand and body until she was doing it correctly. The blade looked as though it was moving in something a little bit like a figure eight pattern when Vivian told her that it should be one smooth motion as she transitioned from swing to swing. The advice helped, and after a while, it seemed to get a little easier.

Vivian watched her in silence for a while, and Lei'lira wondered if she was doing it correctly. After a while, her cousin explained that what she was doing was a basic swing, and that practicing it would build up the muscles she would need if she was going to be able to use a sword to defend herself. At the same time, it would build up her endurance. The latter was something that Lei'lira had guessed from her experiences working on a farm. As a child, she had needed to stop and rest several times when carrying buckets full of feed or water. Now she didn't, because she had built up the endurance she had needed to carry the weight of a full bucket around the farm. She nodded when Vivian told her that working of a farm had given her a head start, but she knew that she had a long way to go before she could consider herself able to fight if necessary. When Vivian told her that she would tire quicker at first than someone who had started from scratch would, but that she would get the hang of it faster, she nodded again.

"What next?" she asked softly.