[Demda]

A soft touch at her shoulder was all it took to wake her. It was dark in the pavilion. Not that much daylight flooded it's passages during the brightening, but one could tell when it was night. The elder was kneeling beside her. "It's time."

Demda rose, then followed her teacher without a word, always wary of the orcs that were patrolling the pavilion. Slaves were generally allowed free rein in Orckon, but were never assured of safe conduct unless they were in the custody of their handlers. That was why, Demda supposed, it struck the elder as most prudent that they do this during the night, so they might slip under the notice of orcs who were otherwise indisposed. Quick as a pair of hares, they stayed away from the light of the torches, where their shadows would give them away, and went between the walls of the goblin village and the hide walls of the pavilion. They emerged into a flat field, an underused road to really look at it. Obviously the best surface they could hope for.

"Start by stretching." The elder said, reaching to her toes, "Always stretch in the morning. Your muscles will thank you."

Demda did as she was bid and copied every movement the elder made, watching her intermittently to see if she'd changed positions. First she reached down to touch her toes, then spread her legs to either side as far as she could, touching each leg with the opposite arm, as far down as she could. Ever so gingerly, she rolled her head onto her side, then back, then other side, then front, and then completed the rotation in reverse. They completed this motion twice before the elder stood up.

"Now, you have to learn balance." The elder said in a low voice, "Before we do anything else, you must learn how not to fall, which you'll do enough of, I can assure you." With that said, the elder lifted her left leg, bending it at the knee and placing her left foot behind her right knee. Her shackled wrists were hanging straight down. Demda tried to copy her movements, but swayed and had to bring her left foot down to steady herself.

The elder clucked her tongue. "I would've hoped it'd come easy to you, with your build and all, but I suppose not."

"Dees one can do it. One more try." And so she had one, then another, and another, until she finally managed to stay balanced.

"Now, balance on your toes." The elder lifted her heel from the ground to demonstrate.

Demda tried to do the same, but her leg positively vibrated with the effort. She settled back on her heel, and was about to drop the other foot when the elder stopped her, "No, keep it up. That's it. Try it until you can do it without much effort. Use your arms if it helps, but try to be as still as possible. The key is to find an equilibrium."

The wretch slowly transfered her weight to the tip of her foot, raising her heel. Eventually she was able to do this with a minimum of vibration.

Without a word, the elder extended her left leg behind her while still balancing on her toes. After a few clumsy ventures, Demda managed to accomplish the same form, letting her arms stretch forward as her leg extended. Her chains clinked as she did so.

"Now fall." The elder said suddenly.

"What?"

"Fall down, I want to see you fall." She repeated. "Did you survive for so long by questioning orders?"

The wretch did as she was told, and fell forward, using her arms to brace herself, bending them at the elbow as she made impact with the ground.

"That's right, and when you fall backward, try to land on your rear." She sighed as she got to her feet and walked over to where Demda was. "Although, as I said, it'd be best if you didn't fall at all."

"Now we'll work on rolls..." The elder said.

And so began Demda's nightly acrobatics regiment. Through the night they went through the rolls over and over until Demda had each of them down pat, and finally topped it off by doing cartwheels. By the time they were done, Demda was panting and covered in sweat. Once the wretch was confident that she could perform the motions without hurting herself, she began concentrating on falling back into the different stances from the acrobatic rolls and cartwheels. Eventually, the elder bid her good night and left her to retire. The wretch worked out well into the darkening.