Basic Katana - Xanta [Private]

[Aesha]

Timestamp: Morning, the Seventh Brightening of Optia, Era I in the Celestine Mandate, Era X Post Fractum.

Melee Hall One was a large, single-roomed building situated within the rough campus of the Combat faculity that had developed in the Synesi Plateia. The building was made from stone, as most of the city's richer buildings were, and had a pair of huge wooden door at the front, both of which stood open in order for the gentle breeze that sometimes wafting past the classroom to seek its way inside, and cool the bodies of the students hard as work on their close combat skills.

As Xanta entered the hall, it was noticable that the large classroom was capable of taking on more than one lesson at a time, and several pairs of students and teachers were already engrossed in the lesson of the days, some using swords, some using axes, and occasionally a more exotic weapon could be spotted too.

The hall of the training room was wooden, but had not been polished to a great shine, in order to give students more grip on their feet as they practiced. The bare stone walls were lacking any decoration. Around the room, various pieces of equipment had been left. Several weapons racks had been stood up against the walls, some holding proper steel weapons, but others holding practice replicas made of wood. Stuffed straw dummies in their frames had been lined up against one wall in particular, apart from the couple that were being used for demonstration purposes in lessons. Other than that, a few chairs were dotted here and there, handy for short breaks, or discussing the theoretical aspect of combat.

One teacher seemed to lack a student. As such, she was leaning against one of the neaby stone walls, her green eyes watching the other lessons going on with an air of concentration about her. The woman had thick, blonde hair, that had been tried back into a strict-looking bun for the purpose of her teachings. She turned her head, and glanced at Xanta as he walked through the door, her gaze lingering on him in an inquisitive manner before she spoke.

"Are you... Xanta? I'm Langra. Serale."

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta entered the training facilities via the large wooden doors and looked about. The place was pretty nondescript, some practice equipment and such around, some students and teachers, bare walls. A pretty boring place, but once his training began, Xanta figured it'd be a pretty interesting place.

"Serale Langra," Xanta said in reply to the female he assumed was his instructor. "I am Xanta, yes." He lowered his black hood to reveal his bluish face and all-black eyes. He blinked his nictitating eyelids a couple times, studying the instructor.

"I am ready to begin when you are, master," he said. He figured the first bit of training would be theory and study rather than combat, so he left his katana in its sheath.

[Malak]

Langra smiled at her student's eagerness to begin training. "Well then, lets talke about the Katana for a little." he said as she retrieved two training swords from the nearby racks.

"The Katana is mainly a two handed weapon, classify it in the longsword types of swords. I've seen people with enought skill to handle two katanas at a time, when the combat sitaution calls for it. When using one, its not to be put in a chopping or cutting motion, but for a slicing motion. When employed correctly it can slice through many different things. A fighter needs to be smooth with his moves when using a Katana." she explained.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta nodded as Langra explained the proper use of the katana. He eyed the practice swords. Definitely non-lethal. He figured that to wield two katanas would take a great deal of skill, and he would have to work up to that over time.

Xanta mentally noted everything that Langra explained, and waited for further instructions or action.

[Malak]

She handed Xanta a training sword "Alright, the basics. A slash" said Langra. She brought her sword over her head, slashed down fast then slowly repeated it. "Go ahead and repeat what I've done." said Langra.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta took the wooden sword and held it pointed towards the ground. He watched as Langra performed a slash.

He mimicked the motions she had shown when asked to, and it was definitely easy stuff. After a few tries, he figured he had the basics down and lowered his sword. He looked at Langra. "I think I've got it."

[Malak]

"Alright, the slash can be preformed many different ways, vertical and horizontal are what we are also goin to cover. But with a Katana, one only uses these moves to back an enemy off and try to get in a better strike." said Langra. HE raised his sword above his head and brought it down, then quickly brought it upwards and slightly over his shoulder. "Go ahead" he said.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta watched him as he performed his slash. Xanta mimicked it in much the same way, though more crude. He raised up his katana and brought it down hard then back up just over his shoulder. It wasn't nearly as fluid or smooth as Langra's, but the guy had had a lot more experience.

[Malak]

"Good but shakey, you'll get it better with some practice." said Langra. He repeated it a few more times with Xanta, to see if his motion could get better.

After they finished Langra spoke up "Alright now, a jab with a katana is more complicated to do since it is a one or two handed weapon. A two handed jab can seem uncomfortable doing for some people, while a one handed jab is not that steady and not preferable to use. We'll do the two handed if you'd like." spoke Langra as he walked a short path left and right.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta took Langra's idea as more of an order than a question, so he gripped his katana with both hands and prepared to mock a two handed jab. He nodded to Langra, "Yes, that's fine. I'd prefer accuracy, and I don't intend to dual wield any weapons any time soon."

[Xanta'Kun]

As Xanta performed his jabs and slashes, Langra watched with a master's eyes, noting Xanta's strengths, weaknesses, and where he could improve a bit.

"Good, good," he said to Xanta, "However your jab needs to be more balanced between the two arms. You see how both arms need to extend together to keep the katana level? That's a key element in jabbing. If your katana comes in at an odd angle, it can easily be deflected off armor or another weapon, so it is very important. Now let's go back to the slash. Show me your slash again."

Xanta stepped a couple steps away from his instructor, so he didn't hit him, and began slashing away. "Once again, you're doing a good job. You seem to have a feel for the katana, but again it's little imperfections that need fixing. When you slash, make sure that if you put your index finger up, it goes along the backside of the blade. If it's held at this angle, you can more efficiently wield the weapon, and it'll do less wear on your sword when you attack things. Keeping that in mind, do it again."

Xanta held the sword in the correct position and began to slash again, and he could feel the difference in the swing of the blade.
"Good, good, you appear to have a basic feel for the sword. That's a good amount of work for today, so tomorrow we'll begin working on blocking and continue working on your slashing and jabbing. Make sure to practice at home," Langra said, motioning to Xanta's katana.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta returned to the training hall the next day about mid day with his katana. Langra was there waiting for him, having a fencing match with another instructor whom Xanta didn't know. He waited for them to finish their match, and Langra came out the winner. Xanta was astounded by some of the swordmanship he had seen, they were both obviously very good, and Xanta was grateful to have Langra as his trainer.

"Serale, Xanta," said Langra, dabbing some sweat from his forehead with his shirt.

"Serale," Xanta returned with a smile. "You've really got some skills, I haven't seen such a swordsman before, not personally anyway."

"Well," said Langra, "that's why I'm an instructor. I want to share my skills with others. Perhaps one day you will be good enough to spar with me yourself. But enough chat for now. Let's teach you how to block." Langra headed over to the weapons rack and took off two wooden katanas as before, handing one to Xanta.

"Now, we'll start with the simpler blocks. Slashes are simpler to block, because you have the length of the blade to hit. Take a swing at me, and try to hit me with a slash."

Xanta did as he was told, but now matter how fast or hard he slashed, Langra would block it. "Do you see what I'm doing?" he asked. "You just have to knock their slash wide of your body, don't worry about anything else. If you try to make them miss to widely, they can pull a jab on you faster than you can think. Now you try."

Xanta held his katana at ready, as Langra had shown him. Langra began to slash, hard and fast, much more so than Xanta, and Xanta had only time to bat his swipes to the side, as he was supposed to, but he made the mistake once, and Langra made him pay with a painful jab to his chest.

"If this were a real fight, you'd be dead. I was hoping you would make that mistake so that I could give you a good reminder. Now you'll probably not do it again. Now we'll learn to block jabs. It's the same principle, but you've got a much smaller area of the sword to hit, because it's coming at you lengthwise. Try to block these," he said, beginning to jab even before Xanta was at the ready. Xanta blocked several of them, but got a few more painful object lessons.

They continued on for a few hours, and eventually Langra dismissed Xanta for another day.

[Xanta'Kun]

Xanta returned the next day a bit sore and bruised from his 'wounds' the previous day with Langra. He waved to Langra from across the practice hall and equipped himself with a wooden katana at Langra's command.

"Okay, let's get right to business today," Langra said. "Let's practice your blocking some more, like we did yesterday, and your slashing and jabbing as well."

And so they began, with less 'woundings' this time on Xanta's part, and by some miraculous stroke of fortune Xanta even managed to get a hit in on Langra. At this point Langra laughed and shook Xanta's hand. "You're obviously coming along quickly, good jab there," he said jovially. Xanta was a little surprised at his happiness, he expected him to be a bit cross.

The day continued on in much the same way, but with less luck on Xanta's part. After several hours of practice and having worked up a good sweat, Langra lowered his sword and wiped his brow with his sleeve. "Good work Xanta, really good," Langra said happily. "If we continue on at this rate, you'll become a swordsman in no time. You've earned a break, so return here tomorrow and we'll continue." He patted Xanta on the back and took his sword. Xanta was tired, but felt good.

[Xanta'Kun]

The next brightening Xanta returned and was limber and ready for some more katana lessons. He strode into the training hall as was quickly becoming the norm and took a wooden sword off the rack. He looked around for Langra, but couldn't find him.

Just as he was about to take off for the day, a man with long red hair approached him. "Serale, I'm Dan. I'll be your instructor for today. Unfortunately Langra's come down with some sickness or another, so he might be out for a couple of brightenings."

Xanta nodded his acknowledgement and shook the man's outstretched hand. They began right away without any chit-chat. They started with reviewing the things Xanta had learned during previous training sessions, so it was pretty easy goings. Then Dan broke out a new technique, a lunge. It was really just a jab with some more force behind it, Xanta thought, but it was hard to keep one's balance while lunging, so he had to practice at it for a bit.

By the end of the day Xanta had started to get the lunge technique down, but before he could get too good a hold on it the session was over.

"Good job, Xanta," said Dan, "Langra was right, you do learn quite quickly." And so that brightening ended and Xanta returned home to the tavern.

[Xanta'Kun]

Returning to the practice hall the next day, he found that Langra was still absent, and could be so for a while. "He has pneumonia," Dan said, "He will probably be in the healing hall for a cycle or so."

The words between them were sparing that day, they got down to business quickly, testing all that Xanta had so far learned, and pretty much forcing him to use all of his knowledge lest he receive a painful reminder.

Since Xanta had all the basic techniques down, Dan introduced to him footwork, and how it aided one in sword combat. Xanta now had to concentrate on his food placement as well as his swordmanship. It was tough, but he found that it aided him more than any technique he had so far learned. By keeping his balance and staying out of range, his defence was increased tenfold.

After several more hours of training, Dan dismissed him to return home, reminding him to practice his footwork like he would a dance. Xanta noted that and headed home.