[Coldlight] Like a knife that's very sharp (lv2 stiletto)

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

OOC: Thread creation approved by GD Gossamer. This will be self-modded.

Timestamp: Mid-Cryxatum, after the Zali'mau

Val had done a lot since the last time she had faced off against Dimiah in the ring. Much of it had involved her performing well above her skill level, at least in terms of the opponents she had defeated. But the girl knew that no matter how smart she was, tricks and brilliant ideas would only get her so far -- she needed to improve her actual fighting ability.

And so it was that she walked quietly into the room, nodding politely to Dimiah when she arrived. "I'm ready for more training," she said. "I've practiced, but I know there's a lot...a lot more that I need to learn from you."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Dimiah nodded in return. She was holding a long staff, and appeared to have been in the middle of some exercises. "Very well, Valanthia. I'd like you to stand over there to begin with." She indicated a spot halfway across the room, an open area ideal for sparring.

"Certainly," Val said. She turned and began walking in that direction. Umbrosus was greeting Dimiah's bondmate, and had taken up his position near the wall. Although they fought as a team, it was important for Val to have a chance to develop her skills singly as well.

"Oh, Valanthia?" Dimiah's voice came from behind her. "Yes?" Val asked. She stopped and began to turn back in her instructor's direction. As she did so, she saw that the other woman was in fact very close, and had already launched a lightning-fast attack with her staff. Val had no chance of putting up any kind of defense, and there was a sickening thwack as the wood met the side of her head.

A constellation of stars exploded in front of her eyes, and Val immediately sank to her knees. The whole room seemed to be ringing, and blackness crept in around the edges of her vision. A dull groan came from her lips, and she slid the rest of the way to the ground as consciousness slipped away from her...

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

When Val came to, she was lying face-up on the floor of the training room. She had no sense of how long she had been out; she did, however, have an absolutely murderous headache. She turned her head slightly, and even that motion was enough to make her feel like she was going to vomit.

Dimiah was standing over her, regarding the girl with disdain. "The moral of the story, Valanthia, is that you should never turn your back. I don't know what you're used to in the Imperial Palace, but you should be perfectly aware that the Empire is full of people who would like nothing more than to kill you. And they're not going to come up to you and say Excuse me, Lady L'Evienne, but would you mind if I stashed this sword in your ribs? They're going to come up behind you when you're not looking and stab you in the back. That's why you always, always, always need to be looking."

Umbrosus was beside Val now, and she could feel his worry for her as he licked her hand. But Dimiah wasn't quite finished. "My job, Valanthia, is to train you so that you can defend yourself in the real world, and you're not making it easy for me. This isn't some sort of a game. This is real life. Daddy isn't going to save you. Big brother isn't going to rescue you. If you place any sort of value on this particular lifetime, you're going to have to learn to protect yourself."

The older woman pressed a cup to Val's lips. "This will help your injury to heal, though I hope it doesn't dull the memory. When you can walk again, go back to your chambers. You won't be any good for training for another two or three days. Come back then."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

It was two days, and then Val was back again. There was still a nasty, nasty welt on the side of her head, and it still hurt like nobody's business. But Val was bound and determined to succeed now, especially after she'd been humiliated, and she wasn't going to let her injury stop her.

Dimiah, who was holding the same staff she had recently used to knock Val out, nodded curtly when the half-vysstichi entered the room. "Are you ready for some actual training now?" she asked, her voice poisoned with sarcasm.

Val said nothing, only nodded back, the look in her eyes poised somewhere between determination and fanaticism.

"Then let's start where we left off. Go stand over there." She indicated the same spot as before. Val's eyes never left Dimiah's figure, but she began backing slowly toward the indicated area, shuffling her feet so that she remained in a defensive position. The girl was halfway there when she saw her instructor tense, and then spring, swinging the staff quickly from the right.

Val withdrew a stiletto from the sheath on her left arm automatically. She didn't really know what to do about the attack, however, given that her weapon was no match for Dimiah's and would never be able to block it. The girl skittered backward, that being the only option that seemed reasonable. Her reflexes were good enough -- or Dimiah was going easy enough on her -- that the staff missed her hip by four or five inches.

As if she had just made up her mind about something, Dimiah raised one hand, indicating that the exercise was to be called to a halt. "All right, that's fine, and that wasn't a bad reaction, given what you know. Now come over here -- this is a training moment, and I'm not going to hurt you right now -- and we'll discuss what else you could do in this situation."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val wasn't in a particularly trustworthy mood, but she also knew that when Dimiah said she wasn't going to attack, she was as good as her word. So the girl dropped her defensive pose and walked back to her instructor.

"As a beginner, you were taught how to fight someone else with a similar weapon, or someone who was unarmed. Now that you're at a higher point than that in your training, you need to learn how to fight someone with a completely different weapon. A stiletto is a weapon of secrecy, of stealth, and it's probably not going to be particularly often that you're fighting someone else who has one. It's much more likely that you'll be fighting someone armed very differently."

Dimiah nodded to herself. "And, as you noticed, it requires a different strategy. If your opponent has a staff, or a longsword, or an axe, blocking is out of the question. What you need to be able to do, rather, is evade while looking for an opening. More than that, even, you want to be able to create your own opening, to use the motion and momentum of your opponent's weapons and body against him. It becomes more like dancing, except that if you miss a step, you die."

Val inclined her head slightly to show that she was listening. This was an area in which her ability to out-think people would become a major advantage. She had already started thinking about this during the Zali'mau, but here was an opportunity to learn how to do it even better.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

"What you want to do is watch the center of the body." Dimiah tapped her chest. "Arms, legs, head -- all of those can be deceiving. But if you watch the chest, you will always know where your opponent's weight is."

"Your first goal with a stiletto is, of course, to use the element of surprise and end a battle before it starts. Should you be caught in a lengthy engagement, however, your chief objective will be to disrupt your opponent's balance. If you can do that, and you use the proper timing, you can get in and out with a killing stroke before your opponent can rebuild her defenses." Dimiah handed the staff to Valanthia. "I know you're not trained with this, but I want you to try it for demonstration purposes."

Val took the staff, and Dimiah in turn took hold of the stiletto. "Try to hit me," the instructor said. "Don't worry overly about doing it properly -- that's not the point. Just try it."

Val set herself properly on the balls of her feet, and then swung the staff from her left. It was a different-feeling weapon, and Val knew her technique was undoubtedly awful, but she was putting a good-faith effort in.

Dimiah waited until the strike was very close, and then backed out of the way. Immediately, Val reversed her strike and came back at Dimiah from the other direction. As she did so, she could feel her weight move forward, and she leaned into the blow slightly.

The elder Sanguine waited, then spun to Val's weak side, ahead of the staff. Val tried to swing faster, but she was at an awkward angle and couldn't get her weight into it immediately. During that split second in which her execution was delayed, Dimiah struck like a snake, thrusting the stiletto directly toward Val's heart...

It stopped about a quarter inch from Val's body. No matter what Dimiah thought of Valanthia, she had promised not to hurt her, for the moment anyway. Instead, she said, "You see how that works? Use the motion of your opponent against her. Wait for your moment, create your moment by your pattern of movement, and then time the killing blow."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val wished Dimiah hadn't nearly scared her to death during that last exchange -- though her face didn't show her fear -- but she could see the principle. Move, dodge, feint, anything to get your opponent to lose balance, and then strike.

She could also see some limitations, in that if you were in close quarters or were outnumbered, even this might not be enough. Of course eventually, Val hoped to be enough of a mystic to be able to use that as part of her arsenal -- and she always had Umbrosus to fall back on -- but it was still important to know both the usefulness and drawbacks of any approach.

Dimiah saw the look of understanding on Valanthia's face and took the staff back. "All right, now you try it. Try the same moves that I used. I could easily knock you down again, but I'd rather you learn to execute properly, so I'm not going to be going full speed."

Even so, the strike that followed this statement seemed quite quick, and it was all that Val could do to pull back. Dimiah reversed direction, and at the last moment, Val spun around to Dimiah's weak side, aiming the blade of the stiletto directly at Dimiah's chest...

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Dimiah tilted back on one foot, and actually kicked the blade of Val's stiletto. The blow knocked the weapon out of Val's hand; the girl was surprised but instinctively drew another -- she had four more, after all. She fell back into a defensive posture, but Dimiah put one end of the staff on the floor and raised her hand, signaling the end of the exercise.

"If I hadn't known that was coming, and if I'd been closer to your skill level, I would have found that move difficult to counter. As it is, you did well for a first try, and I'm glad to see you remembered to rebuild your defenses this time." Perhaps these lessons weren't all going for naught after all, Dimiah thought to herself.

"We're going to run that series several more times. I want you to be able to do it intuitively, without having to stop and think every time you want to make a move. I want you to be able to feel where your balance is, and where your opponent's is as well. Fighting this way needs to become natural to you."

Val nodded, and then adopted the appropriate posture, waiting for Dimiah's strike...

*****

It was at least two candlemarks later -- as well as several bruises and what felt like at least a gallon of sweat -- when Dimiah finally dismissed Val. They had practiced the move over and over again, and Val's technique had improved considerably, although she would of course need to continue to practice.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

The next time that Val arrived on the training floor, Dimiah was holding a broadsword. "This time, instead of using a staff. I'm going to use this. The principle is the same -- I want to see if you're capable of transferring what you know."

It was almost a taunt, and Val certainly took it that way. She dropped back into her defensive pose. Dimiah swung the blade from the right; Val waited, then backed away. The second strike came from the left. Val pulled back, staying on the balls of her feet, and then spun around to Dimiah's weak side, aiming her stiletto thrust for her opponent's heart.

Which was fine, except that Dimiah hadn't put nearly as much of her weight into that second strike as Val was anticipating. As Val spun, Dimiah was easily able to pull her blade back, and before Val could get very far into her stroke, Dimiah caught the half-vysstichi full-on with a blow to the ribs from the flat of her sword. The girl reflexively doubled over, the wind knocked out of her, at which point Dimiah kicked her square in the hip. Val sank to the ground in pain, the stiletto clattering from her hand.

"Not good enough, Valanthia," Dimiah said, standing over her. She did not extend her hand to help Val up. "You've got to watch my center. I can feint with my arms, my legs, my head, even my hips to some degree, but where my torso goes, I go. Just because you've done it once doesn't mean you're perfect at it. That kind of arrogance will kill you, as I've half a mind to. Pick yourself up, and we'll run it again."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

As soon as Val could breathe again, she stood once more, taking her stiletto from the ground. There was a murderous look in her eyes, but she took Dimiah's chiding without comment. Her teacher had told her to watch the center once already, and it was Val's own fault for not heeding it.

She settled into her defensive stance, and as soon as she had done so, Dimiah attacked again. Val dodged, watched, and dodged again as the other woman's blade whistled past. When Dimiah's feint came, it was done solely with her arm; as such, Val was able to avoid overcommitting herself.

Finally, Dimiah took one step too many, and her torso shifted. Val saw the opening and immediately twisted to the other woman's weak side, aiming the blade at Dimiah's heart...

Her technique was very, very good. And indeed, she probably would have killed a lesser opponent. Dimiah, however, seemed completely unconcerned, and no alarm registered on her face. At the last moment, her hand that wasn't holding the sword reached up in defense...and actually punched the flat of Val's blade away. It shouldn't even have been possible, but Val had just watched it happen.

"Not bad," was all that Dimiah said. "We'll run it some more, just to make sure that you've got it."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

And run it again they did, several times. Val didn't manage to escape without any bruises, but she did manage to avoid embarrassing herself again, which was perhaps more important.

*****

And over the next several brightenings, they tried it in a variety of ways. From the left side and from the right, with Val's left hand and with her right, with swords, staves, axes, and any number of more obscure weapons than that. It was not an experience that lacked for pain, but slowly, relentlessly, Val mastered it. She was learning to attune herself to the motion of her opponent, to anticipate the way that she would move, to spot a weakness before it even happened so that she could pounce instantly when the time was right.

"I think you've about got it," Dimiah said to Val at last. "But we'll find out...you've got one more person to fight. Someone who isn't me, so that you have to read your opponent differently."

The hairs on Val's arm rose, and she expected another Rhasic to be released in her direction. What happened instead, however, was if anything, much worse. A voice came from behind her, a familiar voice that she had hoped never to hear again. She turned around, hoping that her ears had deceived her, but alas, this was not the case.

"Well Serale there, inky," Ailisah Davian said, a nasty smile on her face. "I've been looking forward to this."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

"Somehow," Val said evenly, though the anger was shining through her eyes, "I don't...doubt that." She was already dropping back into her defensive stance, her stiletto in the neutral position.

"And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it," Ailisah added. Her weapons were out as well. Sai...two of them. They were balanced weapons, and she held them easily, as if she had worked with them so long that they were simply an extension of her.

Val made no further response, only nodded to indicate that she was ready. Dimiah moved off to the side, along with the three Virkyn in the room. Ailisah was all business now, and she poised herself on the balls of her feet before launching into her attack.

Val was a good twenty feet away, and she shuffled back, maintaining her distance. She still had thirty feet between her and the back wall, and she kept careful track of that space as she prepared to defend.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

What came first was a series of short thrusts, left, right, left. Val backed easily out of the way, keeping herself from overcommitting. Ailisah grunted, then moved to strike again.

An uppercut stab with the right, and then a quick knuckle blow with the left. Val ducked and dodged right, and both weapons swung harmlessly through the air. Ailisah was still centered, however, and Val didn't immediately launch a counterstrike. Instead, she took advantage of her motion to the right to pivot so that her back was to the larger part of the room, instead of to the wall. She wasn't going to let Ailisah pin her down so easily.

"Not going to fight, eh?" Ailisah sneered. "Well, you've always been a coward, and I can't see why that ought to change now." She took two quick steps, and then aimed a sweep kick at Val's legs, followed by a strike at the other girl's face.

Valanthia jumped over the kick -- barely, since she hadn't been expecting it -- and then dodged out of the way of the other blow. It was closer than she would have liked. She watched the way Ailisah's balance shifted, noting that her opponent's weight was further forward this time. Ailisah was starting to get impatient, and that impatience was something that Val might be able to exploit soon.

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Two more thrusts, left, right. Val ducked right out of the way of both of them. She was moving around to Ailisah's left side, although she was doing it subtly. "Scared?" Ailisah called out. Then she struck again, a knuckle blow with her right.

The momentum of the strike pulled her center of gravity off. It was a small mistake, but it was what Val had been waiting for. She spun to Ailisah's weak side, and her arm uncoiled a strike at Ailisah's heart. The other girl's eyes grew wide. Ailisah couldn't get her right sai back into position. Her left rose frantically as she tried to block Val's stab.

There was a clink of metal on metal as Ailisah caught Val's stiletto with her sai a fraction of a second before it was going to pierce her skin. Val had been waiting for this, however, and imitated that move that Dimiah had tried on her, kicking Ailisah hard in the hip. There was a groan as Val's blow connected, and the other girl staggered back in pain.

She didn't go down, however. Val was already moving back into a defensive position, having anticipated that Ailisah would fall and that would be the end of it. As she did so, she heard Dimiah's angry voice from the side of the ring. "You press your advantage, Valanthia. You don't stop in the middle to admire it."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

And indeed, the opportunity had vanished. Ailisah was back in her own defensive position, given that she hadn't gone to the ground, and she looked very, very unhappy. "You're dirty, and you fight dirty," she said through gritted teeth. "But at least you can't finish anything you start -- not now that daddy isn't around to help you."

Val thought seriously about arguing that last point, given that finishing things wasn't one of her many character defects, but Ailisah had already sprung to the attack. She raced in Valanthia's direction, and executed two quick stabs and another sweep kick. Val managed to dodge right around the stabs and jump over the kick. As soon as she did so, however, Ailisah followed with a knuckle strike, and Val was caught momentarily back on her heels.

The blow connected with Val's left arm. It was a solid hit, and the pain raced from her elbow to her shoulder. Fortunately perhaps, since Ailisah had been using the knuckle of her sai, the injury didn't draw any blood. Val clenched her jaw and darted backwards, meaning that Ailisah's follow-up strike caught only empty air.

Her left arm wasn't broken, but it was bruised seriously enough that she could hardly use it. Fortunately, it wasn't the arm that was holding her stiletto, but Val still cursed herself mentally. That was what she got for assuming a battle was over instead of finishing her opponent...