Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza

@Arnyn
The days had gone by in a bit of a fog for Trastion, since the incident which had left him awakening in his dorm with a splitting headache after... whatever happened. Those details were fuzzy, and difficult to remember. While he had at first struggled to call them to mind, it seemed too much of a strain and made the throbbing in his head worse, and so he had decided against any complicated thinking for a while. Getting down the stairs to get to the mess hall had been difficult enough, with the waves of dizziness overwhelming him to the point he feared he might tumble down the stairs, rather than walking. It had to be done carefully, clinging to the handrail, proceeding with great caution, waiting until after everyone else had gone down. His vision continued to play tricks on him. Things that looked close were further than they appeared, and vice versa. This was worrisome, yet the thought of getting expelled from the rangers, for having failed in the simple duty he had taken onto himself.. that drove the young man to keep quiet and hide his suffering the best he could.

And still the headache persisted, even days later. He'd lost track of just how many days. At least twice since, he had made his way out to the training grounds, determined that he would not let Arnyn down. She'd said to practice this stuff, and he would practice, although he couldn't really claim that he'd done any useful practicing when he couldn't step onto a balance beam without feeling that the world was spinning around him. Even walking straight was a challenge, these past couple of days. He'd avoided any of the training areas that were occupied by any others, so as to keep his difficulties to himself. He'd get over it, sooner or later, and he was reluctant to slack off just because his head hurt. When the lieutenant would, inevitably, ask whether he had done as she said, he wanted to be able to honestly say yes, he did practice. Even if the results of that practice were lousy. Eventually, he was sure someone would get around to asking him about that day, why he wasn't at his post, and he was worried enough about that. He didn't want to add any more trouble to himself by not even doing the training he'd been told to do.

Today, he stood at one of the archery lanes, holding his new bow upright, one end resting on the ground as he slightly leaned on it, using it for balance. There had been someone at the obstacle course, and so he had come here instead, since it was empty. He was frowning down the lane toward the target. It seemed further than it should be. Having already fired a few arrows, none of which came close to hitting the target, he was confused about what to do to fix that. It seemed counter-productive to keep shooting arrows that seemed determined to avoid the target, rather than hitting it. He was standing still at the shooting line, thinking back over the things the lieutenant had told him about shooting correctly. Standing straight. Everything straight like an arrow. Straight, straight, straight. And that was the one thing that was a bit of a challenge at the moment, he thought ruefully, sliding his free hand through his hair, and let his fingertips lightly feel the still-sore lump on the back of his head, wondering how long this headache was going to keep up.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

While Arnyn had not caught up on the lost sleep from Midsummer until the second day after, she had slept regularly for the past two nights and that made all the difference. Her head felt clear, the affairs linked to her duties were as in order as they could be, and she had been looking forward to this training session. It forced her out of headquarters, and since it was an official part of her duties to oversee Trastion's training, it was not something she would cancel or postpone in order to see to other things. She was also genuinely curious to see how he had progressed by himself. Arnyn thought the recruit had a lot of potential, but she wasn't sure if he already had the maturity to take charge of matters where he could.

The Lieutenant had brought her own shortbow and her longsword. She was wearing her light armour set, and the black drew the sun to her and warmed her pleasantly, since it was not the hottest time of day. On her arrival at the grounds, she made for the archery range. She was a bit early and was not expected Trastion just yet. So it came as a pleasant surprise to see her recruit already present, bow out and already having started his practice. Or, she corrected her own thoughts quickly, perhaps he was just about to begin. There were no arrows in the target yet.

"Hûl, Trastion," she called out with a half-smile, indicating her own enthousiasm for today's session as she closed the distance between them. The Lieutenant halted about a yard away. "Looks like you are in an excellent position to show me your archery stance!" Her smile grew as she gestured mildly.

@Arnyn
The sound of a voice calling at a distance caused Trastion to inwardly cringe. Not exactly from pain, but because he had hoped to find someplace to do his practicing alone. It took him a moment to realize that his own name had been called, and that meant this person was coming over here. Dropping his hand down from his head, Trastion slowly turned. Arnyn? He blinked, wondering briefly what the odds of that might be.. and then suddenly wondered.. what day was this? Was it already ten days since their last session? It couldn't be! But then, he hadn't really kept track after the midsummer incident, and before that... it was five or six, wasn't it? His brain did not want to bother with the math, so he simply put a smile on his face and decided it must already be that day. Oops, he'd forgotten all about their training. And he had only the minimum gear, because having much of anything threw off his balance far too easily.

"Hûl, Lieutenant," He returned the greeting, as she stopped near him. If his response was delayed, perhaps she would think it was because he was waiting for her to get nearer. Arnyn looked quite cheerful and eager, already speaking about him showing her what progress he had made with his practice since their last meeting. His stance should have been improved. And had been, before... but now? He wanted to cringe at her request, and felt bad that he shared none of her enthusiasm for this. "Right," he agreed with a forced smile, with a sinking feeling. He was going to do terribly, and she'd wonder if he had practiced at all. Hopefully, she wouldn't yell at him. His head wasn't eager for loud noises right now.

Raising his bow, Trastion took a slow breath and drew out an arrow, peering intently down the lane toward the target. His stance was actually alright, despite his trepidation about it, mostly due to his having practiced it a few times by now so that it felt right, more than anything. "Want me to shoot?" It was inevitable that he would have to, so he might as well get that over with. He was already trying to think of some sort of explanation for his poor aim, because he knew it wasn't going to go right. Having seen that his earlier few arrows had vanished somewhere in the grass along the lane, he had little confidence that these would do any better.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

She nodded when he returned the greeting, still smiling. His responses were shorter today. Perhaps he was determined to show her his progress and was focusing. If so, that would be a good thing. The Lieutenant's smile faded back to its more common, faint version, as she regarded the position of his legs, back, arms, shoulders and neck.

Unhooking the bow from the loop on her quiver, Arnyn slowly walked around Trastion in a half circle. "Looks pretty good," she complimented him. Then she tapped the back of his shoulder. "Pull them back, not up," she reminded him quietly. He looked tense. Was he nervous about showing her his progress?

When he asked her if she wanted him to shoot, Arnyn was taking her first look at his new bow. "Go ahead," she agreed, and watched in silence as he nocked the arrow and drew the bowstring back. Her brown eyes switched to the target right before he released the arrow. But the arrow never arrived. It fell short. Strangely so. It was one of the worst shots of his that she had seen.

Now, it wasn't the first time that she's seen a recruit so nervous that they were doing worse than their actual capabilities.

"That happens," she said lightly. "Try another. And don't tense up before you release the arrow. That can mess with your aim and it's bad for your shoulders and upper back."

@Arnyn
Adjusting his shoulders, Trastion felt like his balance was off. He shifted his feet a little, holding back a sigh. This was not enjoyable, but he tried to push through. He knew the arrow didn't get to the target, either. And that was frustrating, as well as embarrassing. It was annoying enough to have that happen while he was on his own, but with Arnyn there, watching his miserable failure...

Well, if the arrow wasn't getting far enough, then clearly the target was further than it appeared to his eyes. So he would have to aim... beyond the target? Perhaps above it. That might work. It happens, she said, like this was no big deal. He frowned slightly and gave a small, slow nod. Try again, she said. His frustration was growing, and he felt sure that no matter how many times he tried, he wasn't going to do any better. Trastion took out another arrow, feeling a bit clumsy as he fitted it onto the string, missing a couple of times before he found it. Then he took aim, trying to focus on some point above the target this time, in the hopes it would actually hit it. When the arrow left the string, he let out a little sigh this time. Did it hit the target? He didn't see it, but he didn't see where it did go.

"I.. I think it's the bow," he mumbled, feeling a bit awkward. "I'm..just not used to it, and.." He shrugged. "Maybe my arrows aren't the right size or something for this bow." He looked down at the bow, uncomfortable, knowing it wasn't really the bow. "I'm not used to it," He repeated with a frown. "I've not had much luck with it." He kept his gaze focused down on the bow, frowning slightly.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

The arrows went wide. Over and beyond the target. Arnyn looked at Trastion. She was surprised, although it would be difficult to tell. "The bow," she repeated. It was true that he hadn't hit the target with her bow last time, but that had been at the 100 yard lane. And he had practiced with this bow already. Or he should have.

"Let me see it," she asked without really asking as she returned her own bow to her back one-handed and without so much as looking over her shoulder. "How was your trip to the armoury? Can you tell me why you picked this one?"

She asked for one of his arrows and put it to the string, testing the draw weight. He'd chosen a 35. She lowered the bow again and gave him a measuring look. "You haven't been pushing yourself with this draw weight, have you?" If he had, and he'd gotten injured, that would be one explanation for his bad shots.

@Arnyn
Trastion tried his best not to fidget while Arnyn was looking at his bow, and the arrow. If only he could come up with a better excuse for this, but he had trouble thinking of anything, let alone any kind of explanations. He kept quiet while she was checking the bow. Then she inquired about what had made him select that one. He paused, thinking back to when he got the bow. "The armory.. it was fine." He answered, slowly as he thought back on that day. That was before the awful, lingering headache. "The smith was nice. She recommended it, when I said I wanted a thirty-five draw weight," He shrugged slightly. "That's why I picked it." A simple answer, honest and direct, because that was exactly the reason he 'chose' this one. Because Ms. Dringolben had suggested it.

Trastion blinked at her as he hesitated, hearing her other questions, absorbing them slowly. He wanted to reach up and press his hands to his head, as if that might make the throbbing stop, but he refrained so not to make it obvious that he was in pain. He knew it wouldn't help anything, anyway. "No, Lieutenant." He answered after a moment, his gaze falling downward, and frowned at the ground. It looked a bit further than it should look. And he closed his eyes before he started to get dizzy. "I didn't use the bow at all yesterday. The day before that.." He tried to remember. Had that been two separate days, or the same? He felt a bit confused by this, but carried on as naturally as he could. "The day before that I only practiced my shooting for a short while." The days prior to that were too much of a blur for him to distinguish one from the other, but he knew that at least one other day had been spent not leaving the barracks at all.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

She was watching Trastion very carefully now, trying to see if he wasn't trying to get away with something. His pause before answering her question about why he had picked that particular bow, was not something that drew her attention. But the way he blinked at her when she asked him about pushing himself with the draw... something was off. Looking down at the ground could have been the sign of a lie or of him trying to avoid coming clean about something. But the way he frowned at the ground a moment after fixing on it... then closing his eyes... Yes, something was off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was sure of it.

Arnyn small frown made its way to her face when Trastion seemed to have trouble remembering how much he had practiced. She had given him directions, had she not? Had he failed to remember them? Or had he knowingly ignored them and was now no longer sure of what he had actually done as opposed to what he had been supposed to do? Her frown deepened. Or had she not told him how often he should practice, after all?

No. She had given him advice, in the least.

Then what was wrong with him?

Arnyn focused on the target and shot Trastion's arrow with his bow. It hit the target. Well. "The arrow length is appropriate. There is nothing wrong with the bow," she said slowly, focusing back on her recruit. "But you knew that already."

She slanted her head as she lowered the bow. "Trastion, look at me." She waited until he complied. The best way she could think to describe it... it sort of looked like he had a hangover. Had he been making friends?
"What happened?"

@Arnyn
He heard the arrow leave the bow, and didn't have to look to know it would have hit the target. Arnyn was good at archery, and under normal circumstances he could hit the target well enough from this distance even with his original, weaker bow. He held back a sigh and slowly looked up again, focusing his gaze down the lane. Yep, there was the arrow, nice and neat in the target's center, or near enough to it that his eyes couldn't tell much difference from here. Not only did she know there was nothing wrong with the bow, but she guessed that he knew that as well.

With a further sinking in his stomach, he heard the dreaded words "look at me" and almost cringed. He should know he couldn't hide stuff from the lieutenant, by now. She would have noticed something, although he wasn't really sure what to expect. Reluctantly, he started turning toward her, but suddenly felt like he had swayed slightly off balance, and going to fall to one side. With a small stumble, he corrected his balance the best he could. And now she was sure to know something was off, but he couldn't help that now.

Moving slowly so not to have another near fall, he turned and looked at the lieutenant quietly, uncomfortably worried about what she was going to think of him. What happened, she asked? "I.. I don't know," He answered quietly, and truthfully. He was still rather confused by it all himself, and what was even more confusing is that no one seemed to be asking him about that day when he seemed to abandon his post. Not that he was complaining, but he couldn't figure out why. It was like no one even knew, and so he wasn't exactly eager to draw attention to the fact. But Arnyn might start looking into things now, and what would she think? If she heard about how he'd looked when he awakened that night, would she ever believe the truth? Convincing Mourgan had been a difficult enough task. But he wasn't in charge of whether Trastion got kicked out of the rangers or not...

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

Trastion's stumble instinctively made her step forward and reach out, but he'd caught himself before she did. As her arm lowered again, her frown returned. Its cause was surprise and lack of understanding more than reproach. He was looking less hungover and more... well, actually drunk still! But her mind immediately rallied against that thought. No. Trastion might have presented himself as careless and ill prepared during their first session, but he had always seemed genuinely interested and invested in this. There was no way he was going to show up drunk to a training session. She didn't believe it.

When his blue eyes looked at her and he replied he did not know what happened, this confused her. For one, his eyes didn't look hungover. Nor did they look like he was drunk. He had no heavy lids the way she had seen it on others, no bloodshot eyes or signs of dehydration. But they did look weird. Though familiar, in a way. Like she remembered a set of eyes with a similar look from long ago... but she just couldn't quite remember who, where or when.

Secondly, as far as she could tell, he seemed to be speaking the truth. But if he did not know... The Lieutenant drew in a thoughtful breath. She decided to believe her gut and accept his answer. A different approach, then. "Your balance is clearly off. Is that the only thing bothering you?"

@Arnyn
She was frowning, and it was no surprise. He might have fidgeted, but feared it would throw off his balance again. There was no telling what she might be thinking, but he could guess what she was probably thinking, and that made him upset. He didn't want Arnyn thinking badly of him. He had come out to practice this stuff for the very opposite reason, in fact. If only he'd had a bit more time to practice and figure out what he was doing wrong. If she hadn't arrived so early... Trastion had hoped to have much better results to show for all the training he had done, both prior to this headache, and after. He felt anxiety fluttering around his stomach, which didn't help matters.

Through the faint ringing in his ears that refused to go away, he heard her ask him something. But her question was not the one he was expecting. Considering what Mourgan had thought.. well he wouldn't blame the lieutenant for thinking the same. So he was momentarily confused. What was she actually asking? Did she want him to admit he was drunk, as she probably suspected? That was what he kept worrying others would think if they saw how this headache was affecting him, which was another reason he was trying to keep it hidden and stay away from anyone else. So far he had done alright with it, but it looked like the small amount of luck he'd had..had now run out. He frowned slightly, hesitating about how to reply to her.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant." He assured her, slowly. "I'll be alright... really." He couldn't really say when he would better, since he would have thought he would be fine by now, but sooner or later this headache would have to go away.. right? After another hesitation, the worry of what she might be thinking grew to be too much for him. He needed to settle this as soon as possible, because if he could convince her to believe him now.. then maybe later on when the rest of the story came out, she might give him the benefit of the doubt. "I'm not drunk or anything, I promise." He insisted, determined to establish that fact. "Really, I'm not.. I..I need you to believe me, please..." He added anxiously, hoping she would believe him, but fearing she would be skeptical.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

She was getting annoyed. Trastion was telling her he was fine when he clearly wasn't. The bit about him not being drunk was neither here nor there. "Look, Trastion. I do not believe you would show up drunk to a training session with me. It crossed my mind earlier but your appearance doesn't quite add up for being drunk. You also did not strike me as the type for that kind of immature behaviour. If I thought you were drunk, I could just smell your breath and be done with it."

She raised his bow enough to poke him in the chest with one end. "However."

"You are either fine now, or you 'will' be allright later," she threw his words back at him. "You and I agreed one something. No lying. And I have had it with you dancing around my questions." She raised her hand before he could answer. "I want you to really think about your answer before you speak it aloud. Last chance." She poked him with his own bow at every word that followed. "Are - you - fine?"

@Arnyn
Even with the persistent ringing in his ears, he could tell by the sound of her voice she wasn't happy. It wasn't difficult to tell she was annoyed at him, and that was not at all what he'd intended on happening. He tried to focus on the words she was saying, rather than the tone. He should've stayed in the dorm.. but then she would've been upset he missed the training session. Trying to figure out what he should do was getting more confusing by the moment. But at least, it sounded like she believed him. The fact that she could just check his breath was quite logical.. of course. Something he hadn't even thought about. Of course Arnyn would think of that though.

He felt silent as she jabbed him lightly with the bow, emphasizing her words. Pointing out that he had contradicted himself, which he hadn't meant to do. And reminding him that they'd agreed about not lying. He wasn't lying, right? At least, he didn't think so. A headache shouldn't stop him from training. He should be able to push through the pain. If he was in a battle situation, he couldn't just stop and go home because his head hurt. He didn't want to be seen as a wimp because he couldn't handle a headache. He frowned through a long pause, trying to think carefully. Last chance.. that didn't sound good.

"It's just.." He began, then hesitated, trying to think it through a bit more. He was trying to avoid getting in trouble over one matter and getting himself in deeper trouble elsewhere as a result. He figured he might as well come clean as much as he was able to without revealing certain details that might get both him and Mourgan in trouble. "S'just a headache. Nothing that should interfere with my training." He finished quietly, deciding it should be alright to mention the headache. "I'll be alright." He sighed, a little embarrassed. "I just didn't want to mention it. I didn't want anyone thinking..you know, that I'm.. that I can't handle a simple headache." He admitted, frowning as he looked down the lane toward the target. It seemed that it was interfering with his training.. but he didn't know how to adjust accordingly. "I can't get the arrows to go where I'm aiming though." He added softly, frowning.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

Arnyn was frowning. And she was staring at Trastion rather darkly.

Just a headache. Didn't want anyone thinking he couldn't handle a simple headache. Arnyn had heard of headaches so bad, people just wanted to pull the curtains and crawl into bed in a dark room. But... Trastion had come here anyway. If he'd had a headache like that, he would have sent word he was feeling ill, she thought. Unless his male ego had prevented him from doing so. Would he have come here with a splitting headache simply because she was expecting him? She'd heard about people throwing up from headaches like that if they pushed too hard. Questions rose in her head. She answered some of them immediately herself, negating the questions. Others kept mulling around in her head as she replayed his words and searched his eyes.

He didn't look like he was really lying... But something inside her was screaming that things didn't add up.

How long had he had this headache?
Had he had headaches like this before?
And if he had been braving the headache to meet her, why wasn't he geared up properly? Had his headache made him forget about her expectations?

Arnyn narrowed her eyes. She had told him they were going to do archery and swordplay today. He didn't even have a sword on him.

Finally, her frown lifted. "Just a headache," she repeated, nodding slowly, her expression neutral. Well. She would find out if that was true. The Lieutenant walked to the side, put down Trastion's bow and returned to her previous spot. She drew her longsword and held it out for Trastion. "Alright then. Take this. And strike at me."

@Arnyn
There was a long silence. Trastion turned his head back to look at the lieutenant, desperately wanting her to believe he was telling the truth, or as far as he knew. He'd never had a headache this bad, or that lasted this long, and while it was worrying, he didn't really think it could be anything else. But would she believe him? He might have beat around the bush, or 'danced around the questions' as she put it, but he hadn't lied. He'd only tried to avoid telling about the headache, until she left him no way to avoid it.

To his relief, she finally answered, her frown vanishing. He took that as a sign she had accepted his answer. But now she was drawing her sword. He was briefly confused, until she held it out to him. He regarded the weapon for a moment, a couple of protests forming in his mind. She wanted him to swing an actual, sharp sword at her? But then reminded himself, she was far better than him even under normal circumstances. It was unlikely the blade would ever come close to harming the woman, he reminded himself. He reached out to grab it, but his hand misjudged the distance and he had to reach out a bit further to grasp the handle. He hadn't brought his sword today because he had only intended to get a bit of archery practice in before his next session with Arnyn. Which he hadn't connected with being today. And wearing the sword at his side threw off his balance far too easily right now.

With the extra weight suddenly in one hand, for a moment he felt he was swaying, but managed to remain upright without any awkward stumbling. He hesitated, taking a slow breath to try and clear away any dizziness that had tried to sweep over him. After a short pause, he narrowed his eyes slightly to focus on his 'opponent', trying to block out everything else. He had a feeling this wasn't going to turn out well, but tried to steel himself against whatever was going to happen. After adjusting his grip on the handle, he swung the sword. The motion sent his head swimming, and he staggered to the side for a few steps before going down to the ground. He couldn't even tell if he'd tripped or simply fallen over, but that was unimportant. The ringing in his ears grew louder, as did the throbbing in his head. The headache seemed to have become an entity of its own, and it did not like him making sudden swinging motions like that. "Ohhh..." He moaned faintly, feeling a bit sick for a moment. He shut his eyes while he waited for the world to stop swirling around him. "This..is the worst headache.. I've ever had." He mumbled to himself, for a moment forgetting Arnyn was there.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

She watched as he tried to grab the sword and succeeded on the second try. That he had misjudged the distance would likely not have registered with her if he'd been acting normally before, but at the moment she was looking for things just like it and so she caught it when he had to extend his hand further after a very brief pause.

When he swung her sword, she stepped to the side. Leisurely. As if he were swinging at her with a spoon. And her dark eyes exhibited no surprise at all when he lost his balance and fell down. She watched as he staggered. She watched as her recruit, and her longsword, fell to the ground. He did not let go of her weapon, at least. Even though it thudded to the ground in a way she did not particularly like, it had been an accepted risk on her part and she did not blame him for it.

Her expression was, in part, sympathetic. The other part of her sighed. She tucked some of the shorter strands of hair that framed her face behind an ear as she shook her head. Then she crouched next to the recruit. "Trastion. I'm sorry to break it to you. But this isn't just a headache," she said quietly but clearly. She wiped his hair away from his forehead and gently pulled up one of his eyelids to take a clear look at the pupil. "When was the last time you remember not having this headache, Trastion?" She used his name again in short order, trying to keep his attention.

@Arnyn

Despite how awful he was feeling, Trastion had made sure to keep a tight grip on the weapon. With his eyes tricking him lately, he'd been worried about hitting Arnyn with it by accident, and he sure didn't want to lose his grip and have it go flying across the field and possibly hit her or some other innocent bystander. Not that there was anyone else around, but the concern was there, just the same. A similar incident had occurred when he and his brother and stepbrother were practicing cutting stuff with real blades for the first time, many years ago. Trastion did not want to have a repeat of that incident. As she crouched by him, he quietly held the handle out to her, hoping the lieutenant's sword had not taken any damage during his fall. Then he frowned at what she was saying.

Not a headache? Did he hear her correctly, or were his ears now playing tricks as well as his eyes? He didn't protest as she pulled up his eyelid, but frowned. "Then why is my head pounding like this?" He questioned, puzzled and upset that she would say it wasn't a headache. Didn't she believe him? "I'm not drunk," He insisted, frowning. "I don't drink, I promise." Trastion didn't want her thinking anything like what Mourgan had thought, and temporarily forgot they'd already covered this.

It took a moment to process that she had asked him a question. Going silent, he took a moment to think about the answer. How long had this been bothering him? And how much was he willing to tell her? "A.. day or two?" He tried to guess at how long this had been troubling him, then recalled that he'd gone to the training grounds already two days at least, not counting today. "No... I don't know," He frowned, confused. "I can't keep track," He admitted, sighing and added a further confession, "To be honest, I.. didn't realize that today was when I was supposed to meet you. I just came out to get some practice, so I wouldn't be neglecting my training." He slowly sat up, hand pressed to the back of his head, where it hurt the most. "Uh... the last day I clearly remember.. before this, was when everyone was out at the midsummer thing.. then I woke up with this splitting headache and... I don't know... if it's not a headache, then what's wrong with me?" He looked at Arnyn, worried and confused.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

Arnyn took the handle of her sword only to lay it down on the ground again. She nodded at his reiterated statements about not being drunk, her impatience lessened greatly by her concern. "I know, Tras," she said quietly, but mostly she was just waiting for his response to her question. As he replied, her heart clenched. But when she heard this had been a problem for days, she let out the breath she'd been holding. Thank Manwë. It shouldn't be poison if he was still functioning, after a fashion, after four days.

She had to take a moment. She couldn't believe he hadn't at least paid a visit to the Houses of Healing after the way she had warned him about impaired vision and sudden headaches. Maybe he was denser than she'd been giving him credit for. And Mourgan was his roommate. Trastion couldn't possibly have hidden this from him. Why had he not urged Trastion to get a healer's opinion when these symptoms did not subside after a day, or two at the most? The Lieutenant breathed in - and out. She closed her eyes for a moment, sighed and then smiled faintly at her recruit.

"Trastion. Midsummer was four days ago. To me, it looks like you have a concussion." She partially rose from her crouch and extended a hand to him. "Come, stand. Since I am no expert, I will be taking you to the Houses of Healing to make sure."

@Arnyn

Midsummer was four days ago, Arnyn informed him. Four days? As that number sunk in, Trastion found himself wondering what had happened to the other day. Or days. Did he sleep through it? He got momentarily distracted, trying to make the count of days add up. He faintly remembered bits and pieces of things that might have been separate days, or might have been one continuous day. He frowned slightly, and gave up trying to remember. This whole thing was confusing and he didn't want to think too hard about it.

Hearing the lieutenant declare what she thought was wrong, Trastion blinked at her in surprise, and mild confusion. A concussion? He had heard the word before plenty of times in his childhood, but never quite knew what that meant. It was mostly just a vague threat of something bad that would happen if he fell out of a tree, or fell off the rocks he enjoyed climbing. It seemed to rank up there with 'breaking your neck' and 'busting your head open', based on the ways people(like his mother) always told him he'd end up with one if he wasn't careful enough. He'd always mostly ignored those warnings, because none of those things had ever happened and he was always careful enough not to worry about it. He'd never asked what a concussion was, and no one ever explained. If this was a concussion, he decided he never ever wanted to have another one of these miserable 'concussions' again.

"What about my arrows?" He wondered, with a small frown. "There's.." He looked at his quiver, trying to count how many were left, but gave up. He couldn't rely on his eyes to count them, as the nocked ends kept doubling. And doing the math of figuring out how many were missing..that was a bit beyond him at the moment, which was frustrating. He was usually good with numbers. "I don't know how many arrows.. out there." He motioned toward the archery lane. "Probably in the grass," He sighed, annoyed by his failure to hit the target. As it seemed going to the houses of healing were to take priority over his errant arrows, Trastion hesitantly reached out to find her outstretched hand, to get to his feet. Slowly. Still, no matter how slowly he got up, his head spun a little more as he rose to his feet once more, and he swayed dizzily for a moment, closing his eyes until the worst of it had passed. "Sorry... I keep getting dizzy." He frowned as he released her hand, realizing he'd been gripping it a little tightly, as if holding onto her for balance, and hoped she wasn't upset by it.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
Archery range
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

"Don't worry about your arrows," Arnyn said, smiling. That he would think of such a thing, after having fallen down, with a concussion... Was he trying to make a good impression? Or was he simply protective of what little he owned? She would appreciate either motivation, and so her smile grew slightly as he flexed her fingers to indicate he should take her hand. He did take hold of her hand then, and he rose to his feet with her help - with languid movements.

When he swayed, she held out her other arm for support. He would not fall down again on her watch. The Lieutenant waited for him to open his eyes again. She shook her head at his apology, and while she understood why he released her then, it was unnecessary. "Dizziness is another symptom of a concussion," she said quietly, as if to reassure him that it was all related and 'normal' for his probably condition. "This is not the time for you to be independent and try and tough it out." She spoke the words kindly. "I told you I before that I am here for you when you need me. This instance counts." She gestured. "I know you made it down the circles by yourself. But you've been pushing yourself. I'll be right next to you." It was an offer. Whether he used it now, or later, mattered not. It was there.

"I saw you holding the back of your head earlier," she tried as they walked to the entrance (and exit) to the grounds. "Does it hurt more there? Is there any noticable swelling?"

@Arnyn

Trastion gave a faint smile when she mentioned he had been pushing himself. "I thought it would go away.. sooner or later." He explained with a slight shrug. Knowing now that it was more serious than just a headache, he wondered how long this would keep troubling him. Hearing that the dizziness and everything else was all connected to the concussion, he felt a bit glad to know it was all to be expected, yet also frustrated that it was a problem he would have to get through. How long would it take to heal this thing? He sort of wanted to ask questions, but also wasn't sure he wanted to ask. And Arnyn had said she wasn't a medical expert, so maybe the questions should be saved for the healers.

Walking with Arnyn close by, he felt a bit more reassured at least, that someone was there to steady him if he lost his balance again on the way. Her question caused him to take a moment to think as they set off to leave the training grounds. "Yes," He answered after a short pause, after deciding that much could not get him in any trouble. "There was a lump, here." He indicated with his hand where the place was, without actually touching the spot. "There still is actually, but it's less.. lumpish.. now. It's still very sore, though." It had been very noticeable the first day, but now the lump had shrunken to a slightly raised area which was still very sore. "I figured that was probably what caused all of this." He added quietly. "Only I didn't think it was more than a really bad headache, really I didn't."

Captain Pele Alarion
with Abrazimir @Lantaelen and Trastion @Rillewen

At the warning shout from Abrazimir, Pele quickly lowered her sword arm and regrouped herself to stand against the heavy axe hits. As the axe fell against her shield twice, she could feel the impact run up her arm and reverberate through her whole body. She stood her ground though, only giving back slightly when Abrazimir came in with his shield.

While Abrazimir retreated in anticipation of counter-attacks, the Captain took a moment to recover from the hits and glance over the target. She had to admit that in this case some other weapon would have been more effective since for all the speed a sword granted it would be hard to deal a lot of damage against armour. Quickly she assessed where to guide her attack, and when Trastion went ahead with one of his own, she joined in to see if their combined effort would bring any results.

Pele came at Abrazimir from his left, and waiting for him to react to Trastion's attack, looked for any opening to thrust the tip of her practice sword for his head, and reversing her arm movement just as quickly along with a step back only to follow it up with a push of her shield either against his body or his shield.

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Recruit Trastion Leithor
On the way out
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

She chuckled quietly. "Oh, it will go away. Eventually. But if you push yourself, the symptoms will persist longer. And you should do what you can to avoid more blows to the head to avoid making things worse." Arnyn tapped her own head on the side facing Trastion. "Your mind is a precious cargo. You should take good care of it."

Arnyn leaned her left hand on the hilt of her now once again scabbarded sword. She was holding Trastion's bow in her right hand for now, but would prefer to have her hands free soon. Trastion's answer made her frown, but she let his answer sink in for a while as they walked. Once they got to the training grounds gate, Arnyn told the guards there about the arrows at one of the archery lanes. In the meantime, she took her own bow from her back and wrapped a thin rope from the pouch at her belt around both bows, tying them together. Then she hooked her own bow back onto her quiver. She apologized to the guards for the inconvenience, but offered no explanation for leaving the arrows. The guards did not protest, merely giving Trastion a look and then nodding and saluting the Lieutenant.

As they headed for the Great Gate, Arnyn kept an eye on Trastion, as to not miss it should he lose his balance. "And you have no idea how that now less lumpish lump came to be there?"

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
Between his two opponents, it was the younger man who took the initiative to strike back at Abrazimir. Heavily armored and shielded, he leaned into the attack and absorbed much of it’s brunt. The stroke was blunt and yet precise, the kinetic momentum carrying clean through his defenses if not the fatalistic sharp edge. Yet before he could recover and attempt any counter-stroke or parry, the Captain launched an assault of her own. Abrazimir was barely ready, a look of surprise on his features as he jerked his head back to avoid having his nose or lip cracked by the tip of her blade, before her follow up shove staggered him several paces backwards.

He collapsed onto one knee, but hurriedly resumed back onto his feet, shield lifted to cover the range of both combatants against him. ”Wow, it’s been a while since I defended against that.” He said, referencing the rabid ways orcs would pile on and gang up on singular foes. Maintaining footing and posture was vital. Been too long away at peace.

Now it was his turn again.

Feinting an attack towards Pele, Abrazimir bashed his shield hard into Trastion’s defenses, before using the occasion to hack and slash at Pele’s own shield. He attempted his hook-and-pull maneuver with his axe, trying to lock the bearded, downwards tip over the rim of her shield and yank it, as hard as he could, out of her grip. If she held on tight, his axe would merely slip free and he’d be back where he started. Quickly though, as Abrazimir was sure Trastion would soon recover and be able to assault his flank. Abrazimir was a big opponent though, taller than both, and had to make up for a shortfall in experience, at least against Pele by utilizing that to his advantage.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Abrazimir and Trastion
@Lantaelen , @Rillewen

Satisfaction reflected briefly in Pele's eyes as Abrazimir gave way at their doubled attack, though the purpose of eliminating or incapacitate the opponent to the point of surrender had not been achieved. Everything else did not really count as effective in her mind, so she did not relax in her attitude.

"Chivalry does not necessarily matter on the battle field with enemies who are less so, effectiveness does, does it not?" she expressed her thought aloud and held her shield up expecting the attack. When Abrazimir directed his attack at Trastion first, Pele used the time to adjust the shield and lean into it to withstand the strikes that came against it soon after. However, her stand played against her when she found Abrazi's axe hooked and pulling on it with strength outmatching hers. To avoid being pulled down along with the shield, she let it go and retreated out of range.

Left without the protection of the shield which was now out of her reach to be retrieved immediately, she eyed both men, wondering if Trastion would use her loss of shield against her, and she would end up on the receiving end of attacks from both of them. The shield did in a way encumber her, and she might be able to use her agility more effectively now, but she would have to time her attacks perfectly to get within range and past the defences of more heavily armed opponents.

"Attack, Trastion!" she called out, hoping that the recruit would do just that instead of going after her. At the same time she attempted to move behind Abrazimir looking for openings.

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen

Trastion didn't feel like his attack had been all that great. The impact was a little jarring to him, and didn't seem to do much to the knight. He assumed Abrazimir was a knight by now, anyway. But of course... Trastion wasn't trying to actually do damage for real, but to him it felt like he'd done little. Pele's attack knocked him down to a knee, though. Trastion was a bit concerned, seeing that. "Are you alright?" He called, but Abrazimir soon got up and seemed fine. He looked at first as if he was going to attack Pele, so Tras thought he'd take a moment to plan his next move.

The bash was aimed at him instead, however. Surprised, Trastion staggered back a few steps from the impact. He'd had just enough time to bring the ax up to block the shield so that it absorbed most of the impact, so he wasn't hit as hard as he might have been. And the armor was heavy. Trastion hadn't donned armor, aside from the leather pieces he'd gotten from the armory, in years. He nearly fell down, being unused to the weight of it. It was totally understandable that Abrazimir had dropped down briefly, and impressive that he'd gotten up so quickly.

He watched her let go of her shield in order to get free of Abrazimir's ax, and had a memory of his first sword lesson with Arnyn. As he was recovering from the shield bash, Trastion heard Pele saying to attack again. Trastion moved swiftly toward Abrazimir again, already trying to think of a better way to attack. He first acted as if he was going to swing the ax head toward his legs, but instead, changed his attack and jabbed the handle end toward the knight's abdomen, knowing his armor would protect him even if his attack worked.

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
Abrazimir half expected that Pele’s offer of wisdom was in fact a ruse to further put him off-guard. Get into a philosophical discussion, lower his guard, get an awful smack to the side of his head… Instead he just scrunched his nose and did nothing, following through with an attack that successful snatched her shield from her grip. He pulled with his bearded axe, managing to send the shield sprawling into the sands. She moved back out of range from any further blows, and called upon Trastion to move on his exposed flank.

”Not much of a sneak attack when you call it out like that!” He teased back, turning towards the younger man, just in time to fall for his feint towards his feet. He lifted a booted foot to kick at any such attempt to dislodge his balance, but realized the attack wasn’t coming. Instead, the younger man used the butt-end of his axe to stab, shove, Abrazimir right in his torso. He stood and absorbed the attack, his armor protecting him from any serious harm, though the kinetic energy of the blow still felt like a gut-shot.

Now both men were very near together, within that minimum range that made swinging an axe futile. So Abrazimir held his axe defensively across his chest and simply returned the blow to Trastion, using the length of the axe-handle to slam and shove the other man back. His battle instincts finally seemed to warm up and he remembered Pele at his rear, knowing she would exploit any opening, so he continued to advance on Trastion after his shove, barely a foot from the other man. Abrazimir even reached out to clamp an armored hand on the other warrior’s axe handle, making it difficult for Trastion to swing his, while Abrazimir turned to hold his own axe outwards towards Pele ensuring there was at least double arm’s length distance between him and her.

Of course, holding a two-handed weapon with one didn’t give much leeway in terms of mobility and handling, but as long as Abrazimir stayed very glued within Trastion’s personal space, twirling and wrestling, he was sure he could dissuade Pele from an assault, at least one that wouldn’t endanger Trastion from being struck as well in their grappling.

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen

At first, Trastion felt a bit successful for his feint having worked, but then.. the actual attack didn't appear to do anything. At all. Although again, he wasn't trying to actually cause harm to his sparring partner but it would be nice to feel that his attacks weren't useless, which was exactly how he was feeling. Then, suddenly, the knight was quickly bearing down on him, forcing a retreat. The handle of Abrazimir's ax, used like a bar, shoved Trastion hard enough to send him stumbling back a few steps before he caught his balance, trying to brace himself as the knight continued onward at him, keeping so close to Trastion that he couldn't easily use his weapon. Shoot... big mistake, he shouldn't have gotten so close, he realized too late.

Trastion found himself backing up hastily as Abrazimir kept coming. At first he tried to use his ax to block any additional attacks, but then Abrazimir grabbed it, preventing him from using it. Trastion tried in vain to free his weapon, attempting to wrest it free, and even tried hooking a leg around his opponent's in hopes of knocking him off balance, but saw decided that it would be quite useless. Again he thought of what Arnyn had said in that first lesson, and instead of trying to free his weapon, he thought swiftly to find another plan.

Trying not to retreat too far backward, the recruit pivoted a few times so that he moved in a circular motion instead of constantly backward, avoiding any attacks thrown his way the best he could while he waited for just the right moment. When it seemed that Abrazimir was going to try yanking Trastion's weapon away from him, and then..released it, hoping that would catch him off guard and unbalance him. Immediately, Trastion ducked around and past him, darting toward the shield the Pele had abandoned, hoping to snatch it up before turning back to face more attacks. He figured, if he had to be without a weapon, it would be better to have a shield at least.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Abrazimir and Trastion
@Rillewen , @Lantaelen

"It's not necessarily a sneak attack, mind you!" she quipped back at Abrazimir with a short laugh. She let the sword point down as if she was not intending to attack right away, yet she followed the two around just out of reach of Abrazi's axe. She observed the Recruit's actions and smiled as she found him being quite creative in adapting his approach when things did not work out as intended.

Pele waited patiently for her chance to get back into action, and saw an opportunity when Trastion suddenly let go of his axe and dove for her shield. She hoped to catch the moment when Abrazimir's eyes would be focused mostly forward and he would be engaged in maintaining his balance, and then ran forward. Her left hand aimed for the axe hilt to take a grip on it or at least push it out of her way, the point of her blade aimed for the back of the knee on the leg closest to her reach.

Unwilling to get caught in a close quarters fight, the Captain made to half-dance away and out of reach again, very well aware both of Abrazimir's strength and reach of his weapon.

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
A smirk crept over the Swan Knight’s lips as Abrazimir observed the struggle from Trastion, who tried all manners of ways to escape Abrazimir’s hold. The kick to his armored shin did cause a stir, and a near buckle, but he stood firm, again trying to shove the younger man off-balance. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised when Trastion abruptly released the way, leaving Abrazimir to stumble a step back from the sudden strength of his pull that had no counter-weight. The younger man rolled by, diving for Pele’s shield. He growled and turned…

…and Pele herself was on him, replicating his maneuver by seizing his own axe handle, while trying to prod him with her blade. ”Ay…!’ He gasped in surprise, trying to swerve and turn his body to give a slender target box, but he was too clunky in his armor, with all it’s bulk. He did manage to veer somewhat, so that the tip of her blade seared across the back of his greaves. Pele hurried away, as Abrazimir recovered his wits, inverted the axe he taken from Trastion so that it was more of a heavy stick, and lashed at her ineffectually. But she was out of the way.

Both opponents stood aways from him. Abrazimir, wielding two axes now, one held aloft by the base, the other inverted in his off-hand, held just under it’s axehead, like a blunt object. He took a moment to gaze over his shoulder and down at his foot that Pele managed to nick. Was it bleeding? No, it wasn’t bleeding. Thank the maker, quite literally, in this situation. ”Point, Captain.” He conceded, adopting a defensive posture. Being overly aggressive against two opponents, with some wits, hadn’t availed him none. So now he would hang back a little. Let them overcommit. If they would.

”Come try that again.” He taunted her, with a glance at Trastion to include him. The younger man was wily. Was he sure he had no experience fighting with pirates? He spun his own axe around, so that the sharp end of the axehead would face away, and he would only strike with it’s backend, which was blunted, and would probably hurt more, but not pierce or hack armor or flesh.

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen

Trastion came up with the shield, slipping his arm through the strap as he watched Pele attack the knight. Good for her, he thought with a slight grin. He glanced around though, as Abrazimir welcomed them to come and try it again. He had lost his weapon, and while it had been about the only thing he could do at the time, now it was rather unfortunate. Too bad he hadn't grabbed a sword from that storage shed, in addition to the ax. Now what? He was at a disadvantage, having no weapons to use, but at least he had a shield.

He glanced at Pele to see what she might do, while maintaining a safe enough distance from the 'enemy' for now. "Why don't you attack one of us?" He suggested, hoping that might encourage Abrazimir to attack first, so then he could react accordingly..either dodge out of the way, try to find a way to counterattack, or perhaps even look for a chance to reclaim his weapon. "You have a bit of an advantage, after all." He pointed out with a small grin. He had little doubt that Pele was an excellent warrior if she was captain of the rangers, yet the swan knight had an advantage; while Pele still had her weapon, she had lost her shield, and Trastion had a shield but no weapon, while Abrazimir had two weapons.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Abrazimir and Trastion
@Rillewen , @Lantaelen

"And you think you'd be left in peace to enjoy your two-axe triumph, Abrazimir?" Pele tilted her head, observing the knight and his stance, and then looked at Trastion thoughtfully.

"You know what, Trastion," she then addressed the Recruit. "Let him wait if he wants. A teamwork might make us succeed even if we are both disadvantaged." Coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with the young man, she asked more quietly, "What do you think would be a good strategy? Should we just wait? Or maybe think up some way of combined attack?"

Pele played with the blunted sword, exploring the details on its well-worn hilt with her fingers. "There are only that many spots where any hit from my sword would count any. Unless it serves as a distraction to let you use that shield as a means of offensive weapon. Or..." she looked at Trastion with a raised eyebrow to see if he would come up with some idea.

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen


Trastion glanced at Pele as she moved toward him, and listened thoughtfully to what she was saying. He kept an eye on Abrazimir the whole time, thinking over Pele's suggestion, and trying to think of one of his own. What could they do? He tried to imagine how they might be able to achieve victory over this 'enemy', with only a sword and a shield between them. The young man had studied this sort of thing, once upon a time. Strategy and battle and all that. But it had been a few years since he'd given such things much thought at all. And, he was trying to give the impression that he had little training, lest he be connected with..someone else. Someone who would know things like this. Who had done at least a little bit of fighting during the various battles that had come about due to the war, despite being rather young.

This dilemma made this difficult for him. Should he give it careful consideration, or just make a hasty suggestion as an untrained newbie would do, and wait for the more experienced Captain to correct him..? Or maybe he shouldn't be stressing over this so much. Those thoughts were getting him all nervous, so he tried to clear his head and calm down. "Maybe if we split up?" He suggested simply. "With us standing together he could get us both at once. But he can only attack one of us at a time if we're apart, and as soon as he turns to attack one.. the other can come in to attack... or something." He shrugged, wishing he had another weapon to use. "I doubt this shield will do much good trying to use it against him with all his armor, but I can try." He considered suggesting more to the idea, but held off, deciding to see what the Captain would say to the splitting up idea.

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
Did he have an advantage? He grinned towards Trastion but made no move as of yet. What was his advantage? ”Two weapons is an advantage? Wrong, my friend. I’m against two minds, and there’s more advantage there.” Abrazimir noted back, looking towards Pele who returned his thoughtful defensiveness with taunts of her own. And a ploy hidden beneath it all, no doubt. She discussed it with her fellow, wondering how they might approach. Abrazimir gave a little chuckle, intending to disrupt where he could. ”Discussing strategy aloud with your foe in hearing range is always a good start to victory.” He quirked an eyebrow, but no, Pele seemed serious in trying to educate the younger man, so he kept his mouth clamped after that, for the lesson.

Maybe he ought to be nice and play his role and attack, so that the young man might learn…

Trastion seemed to utilize his mind after that, discussing something with Pele that he only faintly heard. He looked between them both and decided on a course of action. He’ll be the nice guy and advance on them. Which he did silently and determinedly, not announcing his approach or assault, except through the imposition of his bulk moving towards them. Two axes, one inverted to use the handle as a blunt age and the other reversed, using the back of the axe head as a heavier blunted object.

And he picked Pele first to attack, targeting her sword to batter her defenses, whacking left with one axe, right with the other, hoping the violent momentum of each blow might dislodge the weapon from her grip. Hoping as well, perhaps, to strike her shoulder or side with the inverted axe handle, which should be no more painful than being struck by a broom perhaps. All the while, he knew Trastion was left momentarily unfought, with just a shield…

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen


"Watch out!" Trastion warned, noticing Abrazimir advancing before they had finished their consultation. He decided to take the initiative and back away, separating himself from Pele so he would have to go for one or the other. It turned out the man went for Pele; probably because out of the two of them she posed the greater threat. But Trastion wasn't to be dismissed. Once he saw that Pele was the one under attack, he ran forward, coming at him from behind to distract his attention from Pele.

Having nothing but a shield, the recruit used it with the intention of slamming into the armored man, with the momentum from running behind the attack. He was aware it was probably not the wisest plan, but then he was pretending he had barely any training so that should be just fine, right? If his attack worked it might jar them both quite a bit, but he'd put his shoulder into it. If Abrazimir saw him coming and dodged, he figured he would either carry on running or fall, but at least he'd made an attempt at attacking with what he had. If the attack did work, he might have helped Pele by distracting the 'enemy' long enough for her to find a place to land a blow from her sword.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Abrazimir and Trastion
@Rillewen , @Lantaelen

"Splitting up..." Pele was about to comment but then Abrazimir jumped in with his comment. "Well, if we don't do it now - when is a better time? Who told you we would act on what we say out loud?" she teased back, and then grinned at Trastion. "Shield can be used quite effectively to attack at need, don't look down on it," she said, but there was not much time left to continue a lengthy discussion.

"Whoa there!" she exclaimed at Abrazimir coming straight for her. The Captain had no wish to measure her strength against that of Abrazi's straight on, so she quickly dropped her sword below the level of axes and removed herself just beyond the reach - she could feel the axe handle brushing lightly against her arm as she did so. With the corner of her eye she spotted movement of Trastion behind Abrazimir and smiled to herself. Good thinking, though she would have used the shield otherwise perhaps.

She had the tiniest sliver of time to try and slip in a quick attack before the knight could stop the inertia of his heavier weapons and reverse or change the movement. Pele aimed her sword up at his face, but then dove forward in a low lunge, bringing the shortsword down in a small arc to aim a slash at the outside of his left knee. Hoping to escape being caught by the axes, or any impact of Trastion's attack, she tried to recover from the lunge to take a couple steps backwards and slightly to her right.

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
His laugh was musical in response to Pele’s counterpoint, that what they were discussing in fact may all be a ploy! He doubted it, and ultimately it didn’t matter, as he wasn’t going to give them the luxury to plan too much in detail, how they might bring about his ruin on these sands. He advanced boldly, laying into Pele, knowing she had the strength and skill to survive a dedicated onslaught from his axes-turned-clubs. They were stuck in, until Pele twirled out of reach, and he nearly popped her arm. His eyes were locked on hers, trying to gauge her next movements, and caught only the flicker of them when…

…when Trastion came barging up behind him, trying to use the shield to stagger and lurch him over. Abrazimir managed to pivot and took the shield bash right to his armoured chest, though that was what the armour was for, though the kinetic force of Trastion’s move still winded him, he dug his back foot into the sands, dropping one weapon, and squeezed his forearm up between his body and the shield. A few paces backwards and he stabilized. When trying to knock a larger opponent off-balance, center your own weight beneath the center of their bulk, to better throw them off their footing-

Well he didn’t get to impart this lesson, either verbally or through a physical demonstration, as Pele returned to strike at his knee. A direct hit, in actual combat, it would incapacitate him and most likely lead to his death. So instead, he moved his foot towards her assault, twisting his calf so that the armored greave in front of his leg would meet Pele’s strike and deflect it, rather than the exposed backside of his knee. Still counted as a hit, albeit not a fatal one, he hoped. And as before, the kinetic force of the blow still hurt like salt on a fresh cut. ”Ow.” He just declared in the most casual, indifferent tone, trying to cover up the hurt though the flush of color into his cheeks probably dispelled that notion. There was no time to acknowledge the hit or praise their scheming, he needed to land one back. And while Pele danced out of range, Trastion was still with him.

Abrazimir clamped his armored hand on the lip of Trastion’s shield and yanked it to the left, towards the side of Trastion’s less dominant arm, twisting the other man’s shield arm, while Abrazimir raised his inverted axe high and swung it down to strike the back of Trastion’s shoulder with the butt-end of the handle. After the strike, it was Abrazimir’s turn to run, as he shifted and put space between himself and the two combatants, both of them in front of him once more. He raised his leg and shook it, feeling the throb of Pele’s blow. Looking up, he just wordlessly pointed the bottom end of the axe towards her, a silent challenge and promise that retribution would be forthcoming in this sparring session.

And deep down, he was having fun, even if he was, technically, losing at the moment. They had gotten the best of him twice so far, while he managed one real blow.

@Pele Alarion @Lantaelen


Uh oh. As soon as he realized he had been slow in retreating, Trastion also knew it was too late to do much about that. Abrazimir had grabbed his(Pele's) shield and was pulling it to one side. Unlike with the weapon, Trastion couldn't easily let go of the shield since he had his arm through the strap. He struggled not to make a pained expression as the shield was twisted away, still attached to his arm. Still, he noticed something else while that was going on. Abrazimir had dropped one of the axes. Though he was distracted with everything else going on, Trastion's mind subconsciously noted this as a positive thing, something that could be quite useful to him. And, given the fact the knight was twisting his left arm toward the left, he understood without actually thinking about it that the dropped ax was therefore somewhere to his left. It also told him that while it was Trastion's left, it was Abrazi's right. So his right hand was empty. That might be good, somehow.

Just as swiftly as all those thoughts and revelations flashed through his mind, the recruit also noticed the attack coming toward his shoulder. He had armor on, sure, but it would be better to act as if he didn't, and assume the blow could pierce through the armor. If he was fighting, say, an orc or something similar, he definitely would not want to stand there and take the blow if he didn't have to. Swiftly, Trastion lunged in the same direction the man was trying to pull his arm; left, in a desperate attempt to avoid taking the strike to his shoulder. He felt the ax handle whoosh past him as he dodged just in time, then saw the fallen ax lying there on the ground.

He had no idea if it was the one he started with or the one Abrazimir started with, but it didn't matter. Snatching it up, he turned to find that Abrazimir had already fled, and was pointing toward Pele in a mock-threat. Trastion grinned, feeling a little more hopeful of success now that he had a weapon again. So far he felt that he'd done little in this sparring match but dodge and make useless attempts at attacking the 'enemy'. He would continue trying, though it was nice to take a quick respite and catch his breath.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Trastion and Abrazimir
@Rillewen , @Lantaelen

Pele had been lucky this far in escaping direct hits, even though she had lost her shield in the process, and she had managed to land a strike or two of her own. Sword pointing down she grinned at Abrazimir in return for his challenge and wondered how long she would still be able to avoid getting bruises. She cast a quick look at Trastion to check on him and saw that he had once again an axe in his hand.

"Well?" was all that she said, her blue eyes glinting merrily. Even though they were rather playful about their sparring, it was still very good. And she was not about to just stand there, so she began to circle around Abrazimir in a leisurely manner as if she were just out for a walk. "Are you gonna try to make me bite the dust?"

Another look at Trastion to see if he was ready to join in another attack, and she decided to test Abrazimir's reflexes with a direct frontal attack. She lunged straight at him, sword pointed at his throat, prepared to retreat again as quickly as she could.

@Rillewen @Pele Alarion
Rather than try to fight the momentum of Abrazimir’s pull, the recruit instead threw his weight in that direction unexpectedly and managed to break free of Abrazimir’s grip. The oncoming attack missed by mere inches, which was probably for the best in a way, but still, he was starting to get a little frustrated with the nimbleness of his opponents. One of the crutches of wearing heavy armor. He couldn’t move as fast or agilely as them, in exchange for protection, even if he had been wearing this suit of armor much like a second skin for the past several years. Trastion got away, axe in hand that Abrazimir had dropped.

Pele now taunted him. Make her bite the dust? Abrazimir quirked an eyebrow and grinned. Dust in the mouth would be unnecessarily cruel, but justifiable in a situation like this. The Captain began to circle around him, trying to put him between herself and Trastion. Abrazimir in turn continued to maneuver himself, not wanting to get caught in the middle, like a stag being hunted by a wolf pack. He glanced several times between the two, ensuring he knew exactly where they were at a moment’s instance, so that he would be ready when they-

They attacked.

Pele first, coming straight on. Abrazimir raised his buckler shield to meet Pele’s blow, intending to smack it away. But rather than follow up with a counter-attack at her, he thought to anticipate the hammer-and-anvil tactic of being surrounded by two foes and instead swung the blunt end of his axe around him in Trastion’s direction, hoping to ward him off if not catch him by surprise, then quickly turned to counter-assail Pele, though the Captain already retreated out of range expecting such an attack.

So instead, he shifted his own energies against Trastion, targeting his axe with Abrazimir’s own, trying to force an opening where he could put the brunt end of his buckler shield against the younger man’s chest and shove him back, hoping to make him stumble and trip backwards in the sand. If the younger man did indeed fall, Abrazimir would risk it all to exploit the advantage and force a killing move, even if it left his flank open to Pele. She would have to save Trastion if he did fall under the onslaught. And if Trastion did keep his footing, Abrazimir would attempt another shove and push, though the second attempt would be his last in that tactical approach…

@Cubanopele @Lantaelen


With ax in hand, Trastion watched Pele lunge toward their 'mutual foe'. He was debating how he might manage to get in some sort of attack when Abrazimir swung his ax toward Trastion, unexpectedly. He jumped back swiftly, barely avoiding getting hit with it. He'd have to make sure to watch for that, since the other guy was more practiced at this sort of thing. He almost wished he'd gotten a sword to practice with instead, but then, his goal today had been to learn a little more about fighting with an ax, instead. So, he might as well make the most of it.

Trastion thought he might have a moment or two to recover and come up with another plan, but instead the knight turned his focus onto him sooner than expected, trying to knock his recently acquired weapon from his hand, it seemed. Trastion jerked his hand away to prevent the two axes getting hooked together, then moved to swing the blunt side toward the "enemy's" head. But he was so focused on that, he didn't see the bashing attack coming in time. He had armor on, so it didn't hurt his chest, but the impact did knock a little wind from him and forced him to stumble backward a couple of steps.

It would have been fine if the knight had stopped there. Not expecting a second, identical, attack, Trastion went to swing his ax downward toward the other's shield, thinking of what he'd seen Abrazimir working on practicing when he first walked up earlier, and thought he might try hooking the shield with the ax. But instead, the shield shoved toward him a second time before he realized it, and his eyes widened slightly as he felt the attack shoving him backward, off balance. The weight of the armor he was wearing was noticeably more than the leather armor he'd claimed from the armory, and it had been a few years since he'd worn any of this type of armor. Inevitably, Trastion fell down, landing on his back in the sand. But he was not stunned by the impact of his fall. Though the armor made movement a bit more difficult than if he had none, he knew not to stay where he was. As fast as he could, he rolled himself to one side to avoid what might have been a killing blow, and tried to quickly get onto his knees, and from there to his feet, while keeping an eye on what Abrazimir would do.

As Romeran heard Captain Pele's proposal, his heart started to beat a little faster. "Very well, captain. Let us see who will be the first to fall," Romeran replied with a hint of a smile on his lips. He knew he was not as skilled with the sword as the captain, but he was strong and determined to prove himself. Romeran stood firm in his defensive position as he waited for Captain Pele to make the first move. As she advanced toward him, Romeran shifted his weight to his back foot and moved his front foot slightly to the left, creating a more stable stance.

As Captain Pele thrust her sword towards Romeran's face, he raised his blade just in time to meet the attack, deflecting it with a sharp clang. As the training swords made contact, Romeran felt a jolt travel up his arm, but he remained focused and alert, ready for whatever was coming next.

He was not used to going on the offensive, but he knew it was necessary if he wanted to improve his swordsmanship. He was determined to do his best. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, Romeran decided to try a feint, and he launched an attack towards Captain Pele's right shoulder. But just as his sword was about to hit the target, he changed direction, redirecting the attack towards her left shoulder instead. Romeran knew that this move could possibly catch his opponent off guard, and he hoped to gain an advantage. But as far as feints go, it was a poor one as Romeran had to redirect his entire arc of the swing in a circular motion over Captain Pele's head. From an unskilled swordsman like Romeran it was likely such a feint would be easily telegraphed and possibly lack power due to the sudden change in direction of acceleration. Despite this, Romeran aimed to use his strength to his advantage, being able to swing the sword with immense force even over a short distance. It was unlikely that Romeran was aware that he had chosen such a risky feint and was only able to compensate by pure brute force.

As he made the attack, Romeran did realize, however, that he was putting excessive force into it, hoping to use his size and strength to his advantage. He knew that this was a risky move, especially on a balance beam, but he felt confident in his ability to control the sword and maintain his footing. At the same time, he knew that Captain Pele was a skilled opponent who could easily turn the tables on him if he made a mistake, and this made him suddenly nervous.

As Romeran's sword came closer to impact he felt a moment of panic as he felt his balance shift slightly. He quickly adjusted his stance, using his powerful leg muscles to keep himself steady on the narrow beam. He waited, tense and alert, for Captain Pele's response to his feint, hoping that his aggressive move had thrown her off balance.

Despite the risk, Romeran felt a sense of satisfaction in the power of his attack, and he knew that he was making progress in his training. He also felt a deep respect for Captain Pele, whose skills and experience were helping him to become a better swordsman. As he waited for her next move, he felt a surge of energy and determination, eager to face whatever challenge lay ahead.

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Abrazimir and Trastion
@Lantaelen , @Rillewen

Pele’s sword collided with Abrazimir’s shield as could only be expected when her attack had been very obvious. She did not resist and let her arm follow a ways with the direction her sword was moved before pulling it back in towards her in preparation for the next move. Yet, since Abrazimir did not chase after her and rather turned towards Trastion again, the Captain had ample time to reorganise herself.

Meanwhile it became clear that the Knight’s attack on Trastion had turned out to be rather successful.

“Suppose, the dust… or sand… has its attraction after all,” she gave a light chuckle when the Recruit gave in under Abrazimir’s relentless attack. Regardless of the humour, it made Pele act on behalf of the downed Recruit, and she lunged for Abrazimir’s legs, once again aiming to prod the back of his knee with the blunted tip of her sword. If nothing else, it might distract the man long enough to give Trastion a moment to recover.

---

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Recruit Romeran

Pele was glad to see that Romeran seemed rather confident in comparison with his insecurity and dislike for a balance beam not that long ago. The progress was swift and visible, and she appreciated his eager learning.

After her initial attack, Pele did not press forward with a follow-up. Instead, she shuffled her feet back a little without switching her stance to gain just a little bit more distance between them and have more room to ward off any attacks – which followed soon after.

Watching Romeran’s movements, she brought her sword up under his, the hilt in front of her head and the blade pointing back over her shoulder and slightly up so that it would meet the blade well above her left shoulder. Yet, the hit never came. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked straight into Romeran’s, though a small grin lingered on her lips. While he needed quite an effort to make a transition from attacking her left shoulder to the right, Pele’s adjustments required less. She rotated her waist and upper body so that she now fully faced to her left, and along with this shift the position of her blade changed. Her hands held up the hilt before her face, the blade now pointing back at Romeran again.

Pele took the impact near the hilt of her sword, and she found herself both leaning into Romeran’s blade slightly and deepening the bend in her knees to absorb the powerful impact and avoid from falling off the beam. She said nothing, only her back and shoulders tensed, when she attempted to lift the hilt of her weapon up slightly to try and push away Rome’s sword while simultaneously aiming the point down at his upper chest.

Romeran realized too late into the attack that he had employed too much of his weight. His swing was too heavy, and he could not retract the blow. As the blade impacted with Pele’s parry, Romeran felt suddenly off balance. He stumbled for a moment, his weight unsteady on the beam, and his foot landed awkwardly.

Pele’s crouch to brace the attack caused a shift in Romeran’s weight which, coupled with the awkward landing, caused him to stumble even harder. As Pele pushed away on Romeran’s sword, it acted somewhat in his favor, rebalancing him, but also pushing him to one side. He swung his arms to maintain his balance, eventually steadying himself after several seconds. But the captain's training sword had caught Romeran’s tunic as she aimed her attack at his chest. Despite the stumble, Romeran managed to maintain his grip on the sword, his knuckles white from the pressure. He had to give up all notion of defense, as he struggled to regain his balance while looking towards the captain to see if she would take advantage of his misstep. He wondered for a moment whether he was going to be thrown off the beam, but he kept his eyes on Captain Pele.

Somehow managing not to fall, Romeran found his footing and stumbled back several paces on the beam, the blade of his sword still held up in front of him. His muscles tensed as he tried to find a good position to defend himself. He decided to hold a neutral guard, his sword held in both hands at chest height, seeing if the captain had moved forward during his awkward recovery. Romeran took a deep breath, realizing that he was lucky to have avoided being thrown off the beam entirely. He stood there for a moment, his eyes fixed on the captain. He lowers his sword slightly and takes a step forward, hoping to regain his confidence. He moved slowly and carefully, trying not to make any sudden movements that could unbalance him again.

The night before Romeran's first training session with Orla, he had gone to bed early in anticipation. Romeran woke up before dawn as instructed, feeling a mix of excitement and nerves for his first training session with Orla. He donned his brown long sleeve tunic, gray wool pants, a thick leather belt, and gloves, and tied his mane of black hair up to keep it out of the way. He grabbed his hatchet and long hunting knife, making sure they were both securely in place, and made his way down to the Training Grounds.

The morning air was chilly, and Romeran could see his breath fogging up in front of him as he walked. The stars still glimmered overhead as he made his way down the familiar path, the city quiet around him. As he approached the clearing where the Training Grounds were located, he could see a flicker of light in the distance.

As he got closer, Romeran could make out the form of Orla waiting for him. She was already dressed in her ranger gear, her wild red hair pulled back in a braid. Romeran approached her tentatively, feeling a rush of nerves as he wondered what was in store for him during his training session. Romeran was taken aback by Orla's size and muscularity, causing him to feel a bit intimidated. He tried not to let his nervousness show and approached Orla, who greeted him warmly.

"Good morning, Romeran! I'm glad you made it," Orla said, smiling. "You're looking a bit nervous there, don't worry I won't bite!"

Romeran saluted Orla, in a sign of respect to his superior.

"Good morning, Ranger Pelecconer Orla. I'm ready to learn and work hard," Romeran said.

Orla smiled and replied, "Good to hear, Romeran. You don't need to salute me anymore, though. Just call me Orla. Now, are you ready to begin?"

Romeran nodded in reply, eager to start his training.

Orla stood with her left hand on her hip and smiled slyly at Romeran. “All right then” she said cooly “Take a swing at that wooden dummy over there, hard as you can now” she said, motioning to a wooden practice dummy nearby to Romeran’s right. The dummy itself was heavily beaten and scratched with large dents cut out of it. Clearly this would not be the first time someone had attacked the dummy with a real weapon.

As Romeran looked over to the dummy where Orla pointed he noticed this as well and held in his question about whether or not he should leave the leather cap on his axe. He was wondering now whether he should ask too many questions at all. Romeran hesitated for a moment but then pulled the hatchet from his belt at his right hip and flipped the leather cover off, it hung loosely an inch below his belt, attached by a cord.

There was no enemy to intercept the attack and Orla had given him no specific instruction and so Romeran took his grip to the very end of his axe, maximizing the force he could deliver. Romeran took a step forward with his right foot and judged it would be two long strides to the target. He gripped the axe firmly in his hand and took two great strides forward, first with his left and then firmly planting his right foot. The axe came down on the right side of the dummy, where the neck would have been. Swung from overhead at a diagonal angle, Romeran had put in practically all the force he could muster. The head of the axe sunk deep into the wooden dummy and the force reverberating up the handle of the axe caused Romeran to lose his grip.

“Well you’re not weak, I’ll give you that” Orla said with a grin, seeing if she could get a rise out of the younger ranger. Orla was larger than many men, but Romeran was larger still and truly she had been impressed at how much force he had managed to impart on the dummy with such a small axe.

Romeran did not rise to the bait, he smiled weakly, unsure of whether that had been a minor compliment or a sarcastic criticism. Romeran had always struggled to read people and Orla seemed particularly perplexing.

“Clearly you have some practice with an axe” she continued, before Romeran had a chance to speak, and stepped closer to the dummy into which Romeran’s axe was still embedded.

“You have good edge alignment, especially given the force at which you struck” Orla inspected the angle of the hatchet before wrenching it free, making it seem effortless. Romeran balked quietly at the feat, he was sure that even he would have had to use his foot to brace in order to remove the hatchet.

“I suppose you must have chopped a lot of wood in your time eh?” Ola concluded finally, looking Romeran up and down.

“You suppose correctly,” Romeran said, nodding. “I grew up on a farm and my uncle favored me for chopping tasks, or really anything which involved heavy labor…” Romeran trailed off, it was poor taste to speak ill of the dead.

“Well, it will save me some time at least, you seem to have a good foundation with the ‘chop’” she continued, noticing Romeran had trailed off but choosing not to acknowledge it.

“Today we will begin the first series of lessons on The Hatchet” As she spoke, Orla tossed Romeran’s hatchet back towards him. The action came as a surprise to Romeran, caught off guard he could easily have injured himself, but Romeran was paying rapt attention and caught the weapon smoothly. Orla smiled, content with the reaction. She’d gotten in trouble for that one before when a less observant recruit had missed the axe and it had landed on his foot. Luckily for him it had been the hammer end and not the sharp end.

“The other rangers might tell you that the sword or the spear, or heck even the bow, is the greatest weapon” Orla began, beginning to pace. Romeran wondered whether this was going to be the beginnings of a lecture on why the axe was in fact the greatest weapon “and they’d probably be right” she said, to Romeran’s surprise.

“Very few weapons can beat the versatility of the sword or the ubiquity of the spear nor the power of a bow. But the axe is different. Yes, it can be a formidable weapon and a hafted axe retains many of the reach benefits of the spear but is able to output the greatest force on the smallest surface area” Orla ran her finger down the edge of her hatchet but her finger continued much longer than the blade’s edge, miming as if it were the foot-long blade of a hafted axe.

“But no, these are not what makes an axe special. An axe, unlike the other weapons, is, as you well know, a tool. In fact most people would imagine a wood cutting axe rather than a battle axe when asked to picture an axe. A battle axe, however, is a poor wood cutting axe and a wood cutter’s axe is a poor weapon. A hatchet, however” at this point Orla smiled and looked over to Romeran “A hatchet” she repeated as if for emphasis “is both an effective tool and an effective weapon and for this reason many rangers, especially a Pelecconer, would not be caught without one.” Orla tapped the head of her axe which she had promptly returned to her hip when she had finished running her finger along the blade.

“The hatchet is notable because of its ease of maintenance and its durability. Its head is virtually unbreakable, and only a file or stone is required to maintain a functional edge. An occasional application of oil or grease is sufficient to prevent rusting. Even under the most extreme treatment, the handle is usually all that requires replacement, which is an easy task. Whether you are throwing it or banging it around doing farm chores, the hatchet is always ready to function as a weapon.” Orla smiled at Romeran, impressed at her own ability to weave in his experience with farm chores into her monolog concerning the benefits of the hatchet.

“The head of the hatchet is especially versatile. In addition to cutting, the top can be used for thrusting. The back hammer can function as a mace or club. The hatchet can be thrown up to 50 feet, and the weight of the weapon alone is sufficient to drop an enemy whether hit by the edge, hammer, or handle.” Even as she spoke, Orla took the hatchet that she had been holding and threw it violently at the dummy that Romeran stood still nearby. It embedded itself perfectly in the center of the target, axe handle practically parallel with the dummy so that the entire blade edge sunk deeply into the wood, an impressive throw.

“The close-quarter combat characteristics of the hatchet are also impressive.” Orla walked over towards the dummy and looked over to Romeran who still appeared in mild shock at the hatchet having been thrown even vaguely in his direction, although he was confident now that there was practically no chance that Orla would have struck him. Orla removed her hatchet from the wooden dummy and gripped it half way up the handle.

“Holding the weapon with the hand halfway up the handle allows the delivery of close range slashes with the edge. This grip also extends the handle for clubbing or thrusting.” Orla mimed these actions against the dummy as she spoke, tapping it only lightly instead of attacking it, not wanting to distract Romeran from her words.

“Perhaps the hatchet’s greatest advantage is the ability to use the downward curve or hook of the head to pull or trap an opponent’s limb or weapon.” Doing just that, Orla used the beard of the axe to trap the wooden appendage which acted as the dummy’s arm, and pulled it towards her. This pulled the dummy off the iron braces holding the dummy down and the wood creaked with strain as Orla pulled.

Letting the dummy go, Orla continued “The hatchet has four disadvantages. First, the tapering handle makes the weapon difficult to hold if a target is missed; second, and closely related, the heavy head makes some strikes very expansive and therefore difficult to recover from should they be missed and the enemy counterattacks” Orla demonstrated these facts by swinging widely with her hatchet in front of the dummy, letting it pass in a wide arc. With a sword, the balance of the weapon would make recovering from such an attack a simple affair, but the heavy head and asymmetric balance of the axe made it far more cumbersome.

“Third, the handle of the hatchet can be easily broken if it strikes a heavier weapon and fourth it lacks reach compared to a sword or spear” Orla concluded, tapping the wooden shaft of the hatchet and holding it out, fully extended, showing that it reached less than two from her hand.

“Despite these shortcomings and due to its ubiquity in the ranger arsenal and usefulness as a tool the hatchet will lay the foundation of our axe combat training, Romeran” she said, looking to him for reaction but Romeran, did not react at all, eager to learn anything from the Pelecconer who had quickly gained his interest. “For the next several lessons we will focus exclusively on the hatchet. I told you to bring your long knife and we will discuss it briefly when we get to drawing weapons and eventually we will cover the hatchet and long knife combat in conjunction, but not for a long while yet” Orla said the last part noting the eagerness on Romeran’s face.

“The first thing we shall discuss is the various ways you will grip your hatchet” Orla motioned to Romeran to hold his up as she did the same. “This is partly for terminology so that when I ask you to do something you know exactly what I mean” she clarified, as Romeran had likely guessed the obvious ways to hold such a weapon. “First, where you hold your hand on the axe handle is called the ‘choke’. When you hold the axe like this” she said, gripping the axe with her hand pressed against the head. “This is called ‘Full Choke’ and this” she said, moving her hand down to be roughly half way down the handle “is ‘Half Choke’ and finally this” she said dropping her hand down to the end of the handle “is just called Long” she laughed “to keep you on your toes.” Romeran smiled although he couldn’t think of an appropriate level of ‘choke’ anyway, his mind wandered and Orla looked at him raising an eyebrow.

Quickly, Romeran shook his head to clear his mind from wandering and repeated the three positions that Orla had shown, saying their name out loud in an attempt to show that he was, in fact, paying attention. “Good” Orla said, approvingly. At least Romeran did appear to be paying attention, mostly.

“As you might have guessed, each position offers different advantages and disadvantages. The Long grip offers the most force and range but the least control whereas the full choke offers the most control but least power and range.” Orla explained quickly as it was clear Romeran would already know this.

“You can also grip the axe in two grips, the familiar ‘Hammer’ grip” Orla held out her axe with her hand completely orthogonal to the handle gripped firmly with her hand in a fist. ”and the ‘Extended’ grip.” Orla released her grip and let her fingers slide forward so that her thumb and index finger created a ‘V’ shape. “The extended grip is better for cutting or slicing motions” she said, gripping the hatchet at half choke and showing close almost knife-like cuts with the edge of the hatchet. “Whereas the traditional hammer grip is preferable for the chop. Which grip that you use will depend entirely on the situation and there is no single correct grip for the hatchet in combat.”

Romeran moved the axe around in his hand switching from the hammer to the extended grip trying to get a feel for the difference. He mirrored Orla’s cuts, holding the axe at a half choke. It was an attack with an axe that he was completely unfamiliar with. It felt strange, almost like treating the axe as having a knife on the end, rather than an axe head. He could imagine the uses, however, in a close combat situation. He had used an axe as a blade before, now that he thought about it, shaving bark off logs for kindling in order to spare his knife blade.

(Source material on the hatchet taken from The Fighting Tomahawk by Dwight C. McLemore)

“Alright, here we are.” Duinion declared as the pair entered one of the small forests contained within the training grounds. He and Trastion had chatted as they traveled down through the city, although admittedly, Trastion had done most of the talking. He had done enough talking for three or four of him, in fact, all the way down each level from the sixth to the first, out to the Pelennor, all the way to the Training grounds, and up to this point. Duinion had to wait for an opening just to shush him, though he couldn’t help being a little amused ever since Unalmis had admitted to giving the recruit coffee. For the first time, apparently.

The Tirdinen honestly thought it a bit ridiculous to have to come from the Pelennor, up to the sixth, then back down to the Pelennor, and then back up to the ranger headquarters after this training session wrapped up. If not for the meeting earlier this morning, it would have been far simpler for him to come straight from home to the training grounds, and then up to the headquarters. But that was what the lieutenant had decreed two weeks ago, and he had decided to stick with it for this week, for certain reasons only he and Arnyn knew of. Regardless, he had become rather intrigued by the tale Trastion shared with him along the way, concerning the lieutenant and a recent battle with an over-sized wolf which was really the evil sorceress, and it helped to pass the time spent in their journey through the city circles. It didn’t take much observation to notice that the recruit seemed quite in awe of their lieutenant, and eager to relay this incredible tale of her "amazing feats". Duinion couldn’t help a little smile, listening to the young man, but now they had arrived at their destination. It was time to be quiet and pay attention.

This summer had been quite eventful so far, and if that was any indication of life as a ranger, Trastion was feeling pretty pleased with his choice to join the ranks. Despite the possibility of danger, it was much better than long, dull days of balancing books and managing an estate, or the repetitive day after day monotony of chopping down trees or cutting stones out of a cliff.. as much as he’d enjoyed those two jobs, each in their own respect, he found this much more exciting. And he was making friends, and that was a little unexpected but quite nice, even if it did mean he ended up shorted on sleep. But, on top of all of that, he had received orders to do some training in the woods today. Finally! That was exactly the sort of thing he enjoyed and was already fairly good at. Plus, he was supposed to get lots of fresh air after the smoke inhalation, and what better way than to be out in the woods among all the trees? And with all the extra energy rushing through his veins at the moment, Trastion really wanted to take off like an arrow, and climb things or something. But he managed to restrain himself, waiting for instructions from the experienced ranger.

He had brought his pack with all his gear, and was eager to do this. Nodding as Duinion spoke softly, Trastion tried to follow his example, though it was difficult with all this energy coursing through him. “So!” He practically bounced in place, eagerly waiting to hear what they’d be doing, and only just kept his voice down to a 'normal speaking volume'. “What’re we doing today? Camping? Do we get to stay overnight? Can we catch our own food and everything?” He asked with a grin, hopeful. It would be a nice break from the barracks, especially after they’d recently become considerably more cramped as people condensed into fewer rooms. Plus, while he enjoyed talking with his new friend, he feared that staying up through the night talking was going to become a regular thing, and he really, really wanted to get some sleep tonight.

“Sadly, no.” Duinion sighed. He wished… but that was not in the plans. “We’ve only got a few hours this afternoon, then we must return for supper.” He shrugged. It wasn’t exactly how he was used to doing stuff, but that’s what the lieutenant had ordered. “We’ll just cover some basic survival things, today. You mentioned you had some experience with outdoor living, didn’t you?” He asked, recalling from some of the conversation the two had shared during the ride out here.

“Yeah, plenty!” Trastion replied with an enthusiastic nod. “My brother and I used to go off hiking and camping and all that sorta stuff, all the time. It was great, we were always going off in the woods to sleep, swimming and all sorta stuff.. lots of fun. And then later…” He hesitated, the exuberance fading somewhat with a touch of sadness entering in its place. “Well, I did a good deal of it on my own. That was a bit more… intense, I guess you could say.” He added with a slight shrug, trying to take a deep breath. Slow down, he told himself, feeling his heart going a bit faster than normal. ‘I am never drinking coffee again, wow.’ He thought with vague amusement at himself, along with a tiny bit of concern.

Duinion nodded slightly and tried not to show too much amusement. “Alright. So maybe you can start out by selecting a spot for a camp, as if we were going to camp overnight. You lead the way.” He motioned, then called out swiftly as Trastion took off like an arrow, “Not too fast!” and watched the recruit skid to a halt before turning back toward him a bit sheepishly. “Try not to leave me too far behind, if you don’t mind.” Duinion added with a wry grin and a glance down at his crutch.

Though slightly disappointed that they couldn’t stay longer, Trastion nodded. “Sorry.” He grinned as he adjusted his pack up on his shoulders. “Ready?” He asked, then took a look around briefly before setting off deeper into the woods, struggling to keep his pace leisurely so the ranger could keep up well enough on his crutch. It was a nice day, and enjoyable to them both to spend it out in the woods. But Trastion really wanted to run and burn up a bit of this excess energy. Coming across a large boulder, he hopped up onto it, turned and saw that Duinion was still catching up, so he amused himself by jumping down and then back up until the ranger reached him. Then he set off again, doubling back now and then to keep from getting too far ahead.

Watching with hidden amusement, Duinion couldn’t help being reminded of a mixture between Hattie and Aggie’s new adopted six-year-old son. He shook his head in amusement, while also feeling frustrated that his crutch and injury were slowing him down so much. He sighed softly and waited for Trastion to double back around so that they were walking together for a moment. “What are you looking for?” Duinion asked when he had such a chance, sort of curious whether the recruit had anything particular in mind, or was just roaming aimlessly.

“Water, of course.” Trastion replied automatically, half-assuming it was a test of some sort. “It’ll be downhill, so that’s where I’m going. Once I find water, I’ll be able to select a place to set up camp.” He glanced back and grinned. “I know about the 5 W’s.”

“And what are those?” Duinion laughed softly, curious what the young man had been taught, and whether that person had indeed taught him well enough.

“Water, wind,” Trastion jumped onto a fallen log and glanced back to see if the injured man needed assistance, while he himself walked down the length of it as if it were a balance beam,“widowmakers, wood, and wildlife.” He finished, hopping down at the end of the log. “I learned all that ages ago. This forester guy back home taught my brother all about stuff like that and then he taught me!” He explained, playfully swatting at a leaf that was hanging down about face-height, to move it out of his way.

Duinion nodded as he got over the log without too much trouble, and continued onward. “Widowmakers?” He was unfamiliar with this term, and assumed it must have something to do with being from different areas of the country. He recalled that Arnyn had mentioned that Trastion wasn’t from this area, and had not asked where it was that he did come from.

Trastion paused and blinked, then glanced around the trees, his gaze searching around a bit before he pointed to a tree in the distance that was half-fallen over but the upper branches had caught in another tree, preventing it from completing its fall. “Like that,” Then a short distance away, he pointed to another tree with a large branch that had broken off of its tree, but had gotten entangled in the branches of neighboring tree and hung suspended above the ground. “And that.” He answered, quite familiar with things like that from his prior work in lumber, not to mention stuff he’d learned growing up. “Don’t wanna set up camp anywhere around where something like that can fall on you, you know?”

“Ah.. yes, those. I’ve never heard them called that before, but yes, I’m familiar with the danger they pose.” Duinion remarked with a small smile. “Interesting. And you’re right to be watchful for things like that. Good.” He nodded for him to continue, and they went on until they came upon a stream.

Trastion was starting to worry that he had made a poor impression so far, since he knew that he wasn’t feeling quite himself. But he was very eager for this chance to get out in the woods, and had once done this sort of thing simply for the fun of doing it, with Aearonor. Then after he’d had to leave home, it had become more serious, and he’d had to become far more attentive and mindful about the sort of campsites he selected for himself, and unable to rely on his big brother to help him. Now, with the more experienced ranger here watching him to see whether his selection would be approved.. it reminded him of those years in his childhood when the brothers used to go off into the woods for fun, and the older had taught the younger how to select a good spot to spend the night. He applied as much attention to these details that he had throughout the few years he’d been on his own. Or at least as much as he could, given his difficulty in focusing at the moment.

After venturing a ways from the water, Trastion rejected a few potential options and kept going. After quite a ways, he stopped and studied the area. “This looks good!” He commented. “Level ground. No indication of water run-off through here. These big thick bushes and saplings will help protect from the wind,” He looked up and studied the trees around the area. “I don’t see any dangerous trees,” He added, but walked up closer to a couple of them to check the soundness of the trunks. “And there’s plenty of deadfall around to use for the fire.”

Nodding thoughtfully, Duinion glanced around and tried not to frown. “Anything else?” He was careful to keep skepticism out of his tone.

“No signs of wildlife lurking around or having nests or burrows nearby,” Trastion answered, taking a moment to look around before turning to look at the Tirdinen, suddenly feeling like maybe he had overlooked something. He hesitated, rubbing his eyes for a moment as he tried to focus and see whatever was making the ranger look less than impressed. “Am I missing something?”

“How far have we come from the water?” Duinion asked patiently.

After a look around, Trastion sighed as he realized that he’d continued venturing further from the stream, instead of alongside it, and if they camped here it would be unreasonably far from the water. “Oops. I see.”

Duinion hid a smile. “It’s alright. You did find a great spot.. just further from the stream than is preferable.” He followed as the recruit backtracked to the water and started over.

Eventually, Trastion found another very nice spot within the ideal range of the stream, with all of the same factors checked off the list. With a glint of afternoon sunlight reflecting on the nearby stream through the trees, Trastion inspected the area to ensure that a camp here wouldn’t be disturbing the local wildlife. A cluster of large boulders formed a natural wind barrier, with some brush and small plants growing around and between them. All the trees around seemed healthy and stable, though there was also a fallen tree a few yards away which would serve well for firewood. “How’s this?” He asked, looking around looking pleased and hopeful at the same time.

Duinion took a thorough look around, both at eye level and upward, pausing as his gaze rested for a moment on a certain tree not far away. No need to call undue attention to what he had seen, however. He smiled to himself in mild amusement before turning his attention back toward inspecting the chosen site. Once he was satisfied, he nodded. “Perfect. Good job, recruit.” He smiled, pleased to note that the young man did know about picking out a good camp spot, at least, but as far as the rest went… he’d have to wait and see.

Settling onto a big boulder which would provide a windbreak for their campsite, Duinion risked a subtle glance toward the tree that had caught his attention before, while he gladly rested his foot. He’d been pushing himself slightly, but tried not to overdo it, as per the healer’s instructions. Trekking through the woods was probably not what the healers had intended by ‘taking it easy’ but whatever. He had orders to oversee this part of Trastion’s training, and that meant going out in the woods. “Alright.” He spoke up once he was situated comfortably. “Now, supposing we were going to stay the night.. or a week.. here. We’ve found our campsite. So what’s next?”

Trastion dropped his heavy pack to the ground and rolled his shoulders a couple of times, then blinked as he mentally ran through all the things he would ordinarily do if he was going to stay somewhere for a while. “Um.” He paused, running a hand through his hair and looked around. “We don’t have a tent. So.. lay out the bedrolls?” He suggested, figuring that seemed most logical.

Duinion refrained from giving any yes or no answer.. it wasn’t as simple as that. “Personally, I prefer not to spread out my bedroll until I’m ready to sleep, as it minimizes the chances for spiders or other unpleasant guests finding their way into my sleeping space... But that's another matter,” He shrugged, and paused to think. He wouldn’t bother with a shelter if he was only pausing for a night or two, and knew there was no rain expected, but he wanted to make sure the recruit remembered to factor in the possibility of inclement weather, plus he wanted to make sure he knew how to make one if necessary. “So think about this; what if it rains?” He tilted his head curiously. “Or, suppose it gets really cold overnight, or it storms. Neither of us brought a tent. So what then?”

Trastion hesitated, thinking back to what he and Aearonor would do in such a situation. “Find a cave.” He half-teased, though he figured that wasn’t the right answer. “I guess if that happens, we get drenched and then freeze,” He laughed slightly before trying to be more serious. “Sorry. This.. I’m not sure about, honestly.” He admitted, shrugging. “My brother and I always brought a tent along when we went camping, in case the weather turned bad. Or, if we didn’t use our tents, we knew where some caves were and could just run for the nearest one, if a storm came up.” He explained. “But.. this is a little beyond me. Sorry.” he shrugged and dropped his gaze, wondering if he’d failed some test.

Duinion smiled softly, pleased he was honest about it at least. “Alright, then today you’re going to learn how to build a shelter.” He declared. Though he would have rather went along and guided the recruit through the process of gathering the supplies, he had already spent a while longer than he should have on his foot. So he talked him through each step, including instructing him on what sort of branches to gather.

Listening with intrigue, Trastion took the small ax he’d brought along, and eagerly ran off into the nearby woods to gather sticks and branches, as per the ranger’s instructions. He ventured fairly far from the campsite in his quest for branches but it wasn’t a large forest so he had little concern about getting lost. Plus he’d grown up in the woods, so he knew a bit about navigating around a forest. He hurried back to the camp with his arms full, dumped the branches down in a pile, and ran off again to find more. Some were larger and thicker, and others were more splayed with many branches, while several were long and straight. As he was about to dart off on another trip to gather more, Duinion said it looked like he'd gathered enough, and it was time to select a place to build his shelter. Duinion gave a few suggestive ideas that would be suitable, but left the recruit to decide for himself where he would build it.

After taking a look around, Trastion stood for a moment in thought as he tried to decide which would be the best option. He rubbed his eyes, studying the surroundings, and ultimately started off by leaning the main beam against a nearby tree. Once he’d made that decision, Trastion began adding more branches to the sides, to form a basic conical type structure. Just as he was starting to think he was ready to add all the leaves and stuff to fill in the gaps, he rested one last branch against the structure, only to watch the original beam slip off of the tree it was leaning on, and the rest collapsed. He blinked, watching his work crumble into a heap of branches on the ground. While one might normal become upset or discouraged to watch this happen, Trastion instead burst out laughing. He sat down on another boulder near Duinion, and laughed for a good solid minute or two before he managed to tone down the amusement. “So… that failed.” he declared the obvious, unable to stop laughing for a long moment.

“So it appears,” Duinion replied with a bit of a laugh in wonder at the recruit. Admittedly, it was a bit humorous, but he wasn’t sure why Trastion found it quite that hilarious.

“Sorry,” Trastion struggled to compose himself, and rubbed his eyes as he took a few deep breaths after all the laughing. He was feeling the tiredness beginning to creep back in, despite the energy he still felt, and he had no idea why it had struck him so funny when the sticks collapsed. He blamed on exhaustion but didn’t say anything about that. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself and stood up. Time to try again. He looked around for a better spot this time, and this time selected two slender trees growing together.. or perhaps they might have begun as one and split into two after emerging from the ground, since they seemed to be joined at the root, and grew mostly parallel of one another, with little space between them. He wedged the end of his beam between these at about waist height, and made sure that was stable before beginning to arrange the other sticks against that one, and made sure each was secure. Once he felt satisfied with the overall ‘skeleton’ of the structure, he took a moment to give it a couple of solid shakes to see if it would hold, and smiled in satisfaction when it didn’t budge.

Once he was sure it was secure, he begin adding leaves and other stuff to fill in the gaps between the branches, all the while listening and trying to pay attention to Duinion explaining about various things that could be done while building a shelter. It was easier to work and do things with his hands, but a bit more difficult to focus on what the man was saying, and had to stop working a few times to pause and look at him, and ask him to repeat something. While he wasn’t sure how much of that was going to absorb in during this training session, Trastion was still rather intrigued with the whole building a shelter out of natural stuff, and even more so with the idea of camouflaging it so that it was hard to find. Unfortunately, Duinion said they didn’t have time for all of that. Still, he was eager to have something to do with his hands and actually use a little of this pent up energy.

Before long, Trastion stepped back, rubbing his hands off on his trouser legs as he admired the shelter he had constructed, with the ranger’s verbal guiding. “That is really impressive.” He grinned. “That’ll really keep out rain and wind?”

“If you made it right, it should keep most of it out.” Duinion grinned. “Assuming there isn’t severe wind. If that’s the case, I can make no guarantees.”

Trastion grinned and gave the structure another little shake with one hand, pleased when it seemed to be quite secure. “This is great. I wish I’d known how to do this years ago!” He could imagine how much fun he and his brother would’ve had, doing this instead of setting up a boring old tent!

“Next, you’ll be building a fire.” Duinion informed Trastion, a bit amused by his continued enthusiasm. “I assume you must have done this before..?” He added hopefully. He was pleased that there had been little need to instruct him on the selection of a campsite, but he wasn’t sure whether this might mark where his skills aligned with the average person’s. Lighting a lamp in the comfort of one’s home was one thing; lighting a campfire for survival was far different. There were different ways of stacking the firewood, depending on your needs, for one, but he also wondered if the recruit would need to be taught how to make fire from the tools around him.

“Sure.” Trastion grinned and refrained from making some joke about the recent barracks fire. “With or without a fire-starting kit?” he asked, swiftly going through his memory to make sure he hadn’t forgotten how to do this. Having a kit with flint and char cloth made it far easier, but when he left home he’d had to manage without those. And since it seemed almost as if Duinion were appraising what skills he already had, Trastion couldn’t help wanting to show off a tiny bit… he just hoped he wouldn’t succeed in making himself look like an idiot.

Duinion was mildly surprised by the question, but pleasantly so. He grinned. “Without. Might as well see if you can do it.” He added with a shrug, settling back to watch with his foot stretched out comfortably. So maybe the recruit did already have a little experience in this matter. He was interested to see how well he would manage.

Nodding, Trastion left his fire kit in his pack. He started to take off, intending on scrounging around for some dried, dead pieces of wood from the surrounding forest. He’d already used most of it for building the shelter, so he figured he would have to venture further and further from the campsite. But then Duinion called out and stopped him before he’d gone three steps.

“Trastion, hold on,” He waved him back. “We won’t need the shelter anymore.” he pointed out.

Trastion blinked, glanced at the shelter, and back at him. “So?”

Duinion remembered that the young man was not entirely himself, due to the coffee Unalmis had given him, so he just waited for a moment, giving him an expectant look.

“OH.” Trastion laughed at himself and shook his head. “Right,” he grinned and began to take the shelter apart, selecting the suitable pieces of wood for this new purpose. Once he had a reasonable amount of firewood, he made a pile of it in a spot upwind from where he would build the fire. Then, he worked rather energetically, clearing away any fallen leaves and sticks in a circle on the ground, and found a dry, old stick with some frayed, fibrous bark. With his knife, he shaved some of that bark off until he had a nice, big pile of it. Once he had the tinder, he took a portion from the pile and laid it in the center of his circle, then moved on to arranging the kindling. For this, he used twigs, dried leaves, and old, dead pine needles. “Are we going to be cooking, or is this a ‘last through the night’ sort of fire, or what?” he wondered, glancing up as he held some sticks in hand, prepared to stack them accordingly.

“We have to return to the mess hall for supper in a few hours, so no, I doubt we’ll be cooking anything.” Duinion replied with a small smile. “Although I would like to hear what you would do, if we were.”

Trastion nodded and thought for a moment, tapping his fingers against one of the logs. “I guess I’d use a log cabin style. That's with two sticks laid out parallel, then two more sticks on top turned the other way, forming a square.. then building up with more sticks, and the kindling and tinder goes in the center.” He described easily. “It’s supposed to be the best for cooking.” He added with a shrug.

Duinion smiled and nodded slightly. “And what style are you thinking of, now, for this instance?”
“I.. think the star style,” Trastion decided, glancing at him as if for verification.

“Why’s that?” Duinion asked, curious. He was slightly surprised he knew of that one.

“I like stars,” he joked, then added more seriously, “It’s the slowest burning. Good for when you want to keep a fire burning through the night. And it uses the least amount of wood.”

Nodding with a faint smile, Duinion watched each step carefully.

Trastion arranged five sticks so that they were all roughly the same shape and size, and all meeting together on one end, the other ends pointing outward in a circle. Or, like rays of a star. The kindling he placed in the center.

“What would you do if there was a storm, though?” Duinion asked suddenly. “Or a lot of wind?”

Trastion paused, blinking as he considered that and had to take a second to reorder his thoughts. “Lean-to style,” he answered after a second. “For that, you take a big chunk of wood, like your thickest log, and put it where it’ll block the wind, and lean the smaller sticks up against it so the fire is like, sheltered from the wind and then it’s easier to light it and keep it lit even with a storm, and all that.” He drew in a breath after and smiled.

Duinion smiled with a small nod. “I suppose there’s little need to ask if you know the cone style?” He guessed.

Trastion laughed lightly. “Right. That one’s simple, but it uses a LOT of fuel, so.. really, I can’t think of any good reason to use that one at all.”

“Alright.” Duinion smiled, and decided to wait for another time to quiz him on other ways of building the fire. He knew the basic ones well enough, and that was good enough for him, for today, but he did want to add a couple of useful bits of information. “The star style is also useful for cooking, by the way.” He added.

“True, I just tend to think of the log cabin one for cooking, mostly.” Trastion admitted. “I guess they’re both good for that.”

“And as for the cone style, that one is useful as a starter for building bigger, longer-lasting fires. Because it uses so much fuel, it burns very hot so it’s also a great fire for a quick warm-up or water-boiling snack break, or things of that sort.” Duinion explained. “Like the bonfire at the midsummer, I assume was probably that style, based on what my daughter described.”

“Ohhhh, right, yes! That makes sense!” Trastion exclaimed, a little more excitedly than was necessary. “Yeah, I think I might’ve heard that once before actually, I guess I just forgot, but yeah, I’m glad you reminded me of that because yes, that one is useful after all.”

“So, now that you’ve shown you can stack the wood for the fire.. let’s have an actual fire.” Duinion suggested with a small laugh, wondering if he was ever going to calm down from that coffee rush.

“Right, Star it is!” Trastion grinned back and retrieved a couple more sticks he had decided would be perfect for this purpose.

As Duinion watched, it became clear the young man had done this plenty of times before.

Trastion carefully selected the sort of sticks he would use, a hardwood for the friction stick, about a foot long and about as thick around as one of his fingers. For the fireboard, he chose a softwood about the same length, but a few inches around, and cut a groove down the entire length. This one, he rested on the ground and held it securely in place with a knee on either side of it, placed the end of the friction stick in the groove, and began pushing the frictionstick back and forth along the groove, holding it at about a forty-five degree angle.

The activity was a great channel for burning off some of the excess energy, and as the friction deepened the groove, it also shaved a little of the wood from the groove. These shavings would become embers as Trastion kept up his work, until a little smoke began to rise. He grinned as the signs of burning increased, then leaned in closer, gently blowing to coax the little flame to life. After adding a little tinder to help it grow, he soon had a tiny flame, which he carefully introduced into the bundle of tinder he’d made on the ground, surrounded by the kindling. Trastion put his head down close to this and gently blew at the base of the fire, encouraging it to grow.

It wasn’t long before the recruit was adding a few more sticks and dry leaves, feeding the growing flames, before finally putting a little more firewood on, and watched the flames take hold. “There. How’s that?” He grinned, pleased with his success.

“You’ve done that a few times before,” Duinion acknowledged with a return smile.

“Guilty.” Trastion shrugged, and grinned. He sat back on his heels and rubbed his hands together as if he needed to warm them, despite the summer heat. Realizing this was actually going to make them get hot, he stopped doing that and put his hands down. “So, what else?” He asked, eagerly beginning to drum his hands against his thighs as he waited for further instructions.

Duinion smiled slightly. “Let’s see if you can get us some good clean water to drink.”

“Water?” Trastion laughed lightly. “There’s a stream just over there.” He grinned teasingly, but hopped up from where he’d been kneeling. “But, I’m guessing you mean making sure the water’s clean. In which case,” he motioned to the fire. “We’ll boil it.”

“Right.” Duinion smiled. “Have you got anything to hold the water in?”

“I do!” Trastion brushed his knees off and went to his pack, and dug out a small tin pot from his mess kit he’d brought from home. “It won’t hold a lot at once, but that’s alright. Right?”

“Go ahead, then.” Duinion smiled, folding his arms across his chest as he showed he intended to wait and watch.

Trastion gave a quick nod and practically bounded off toward the stream.

Shaking his head a bit, Duinion glanced up again, curious if all of Trastion’s energetic antics had disturbed their 'guest', and saw that they did indeed have an audience by now. “What have you done?” He muttered, shaking his head in amusement before turning his attention back to the recruit as he returned.

After a quick trip to the stream, Trastion returned with his pot a little more than half full, and set it carefully on the fire. “Maybe I ought to get a bigger pot for the future,” He commented thoughtfully, having never thought much it. It had always been enough for him, but he’d always been on his own before.

“If you want to be able to boil larger amounts of water, then yes, I would suggest so.” Duinion nodded. “Or, cooking stew for more than one person, or more than one meal.” He shrugged. “So long as it’s not too big for your pack, it’s always a good thing to have.”

“So now what, we sit around waiting for water to boil?” Trastion frowned, staring at the water in the pot. He wasn’t sure he wanted to wait on the water to heat, as it felt like that would take ages. He rubbed his eyes, fighting a yawn as he started to pace around the campsite, drumming his hands against his legs as he wandered about the campsite, apparently bored.

Duinion smiled slightly. Trastion was clearly impatient and still rather energetic, and Duinion found his attention span was a bit lacking at the moment. “No, so long as you know what you’re doing, I suppose it isn’t really necessary to actually do it, when we’d just be tossing it out right after,” He decided, feeling no need to waste time waiting for water to boil. It wasn't like it took a lot of knowledge to boil water.

“What, really?” Trastion whirled around to face him, surprised.

“Sure. But do tell me this; How long do you leave it to boil?” Duinion wanted to make sur that he did in fact know what to do.

“You let it sit on the heat for ages and ages until it finally starts to boil, but then after a few more minutes it’ll come to a really good, fierce boil, then you leave it for about a minute.. which seems like ages.. then it’s done..” He paused, looking at his small container of water. “I just hope it won’t boil away to nothing, or overflow.” He laughed, realizing his small pot wasn’t as useful as he had thought.

“Yeah, ideally you would have a bigger pot, and a larger amount of water in it,” Duinion grinned.

“Right, so we don’t actually need this?” Trastion blinked at the pot of water, wondering why he’d had to go get water if they didn’t need it.

“No, I guess not.” Duinion shrugged.

Trastion laughed and took it off of the fire before it had to heat up any more. “Well then, what do we do with it, then?”

“I’m sure we can find a use for it,” Duinion decided with a small smile.

“Right.” Trastion set it down. “So anything else?”

“Hmm, yes.” Duinion decided with a nod. “Do you know any other ways of ensuring you have clean water to drink? Say, if you couldn’t build a fire for some reason?”

Trastion blinked and stared at him for a moment, his exhaustion briefly striving with the false energy of the caffeine. “Um…” He felt as if the answer to this was something obvious, yet it was not coming to him.

“Rain?” Duinion prompted, seeing he was having a bit of trouble thinking of anything.

“OH! Right, yes.. rain!” Trastion shook his head a little in amazement at himself for not thinking of that. “Yeah, collect the rain water if you can, but then that only works if it’s raining.” He frowned, tilting his head slightly.

“True. In which case it’s good to know a few ways of ensuring your drinking water is clean. You may not always have access to a pot, for instance. Or it might not be raining. Or you might not be able to build a fire for some reason. If you have any charcoal, you can use that to filter the water, but there's a particular method of doing that. Since water is so important, I want to make sure you have as much knowledge about that as possible. So perhaps that’s something we can work on in our next session in two weeks. That, and a bit more about shelter.” He decided, thinking it might be best if he waited to teach him more until the recruit was more.. normal.

“Yeah, definitely.” Trastion grinned, eager to learn more stuff. “But what about right now?"

"Well, you know at least one way of making sure your water is clean. That's good enough for now. We'll get into other ways, next time."

"Alright. So what about this?" He motioned to the fire and the pot of water.

“Well, if we were really camping, we’d want to keep the fire burning so we could use it for cooking and anything else we might need it for, and then probably keep it going through the night. But, since we aren’t, I suppose you might as well show me how adept you are at putting out a fire.” Duinion sighed. “Though it’s sort of a shame, after all the work you did in starting it…”

Trastion laughed lightly. “That’s fine. I’ve got a bit of practice putting fires out..” He said with a small grin and picked up the pot of water again. Slowly pouring the water onto the fire, he stepped back as smoke rose up from the spot. But it wasn’t enough. “Be right back.” He declared, and took the cooking pot back to the stream and swiftly returned with his pot refilled.

Duinion watched in slight amazement as the recruit flew from stream to fire, pouring another couple of batches of the cool water over the fire. After that he spent a moment stamping on any lingering bits that were reluctant to go out, until he was satisfied that it was extinguished.

Glancing toward the ranger, Trastion smiled to see him nodding approvingly. “So, what now?”

“You said something about wildlife earlier,” Duinion remarked. “How are you at hunting?”

Trastion hesitated. “Good enough to keep myself alive, if needed.” He answered, a little uncertain. “My archery is.. a work in progress.” He added sheepishly.

Duinion smiled. “Well, luckily, you needn’t always rely on your archery to get yourself some food.” He assured the recruit.

Trastion tilted his head, looking a bit curious at this. “How else can one hunt for food?” He wondered, vaguely thinking of how their downstream neighbor, Lady Azrubel, liked to use hawks for hunting, but that was more of a leisure sport. He couldn’t imagine being stuck out in the woods, and capturing a wild hawk, then training it to hunt for you…

“Traps are usually fairly reliable,” Duinion replied, curious that the recruit had not thought of this. “But wildlife isn’t the only source of food. There’s also foraging for plants. Meat is useful for protein, but it isn’t the only food the forest can offer you.”

“Oh… right.” Trastion blinked a little tiredly. “But we didn’t bring any traps.” He frowned, thinking of those metal traps that the foresters found sometimes left by poachers.

Duinion laughed lightly. “Have you got any string?” he asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes. “That’s all that you need, usually. And a knife, to cut sticks if needed.”

“String? Yeah, I think I have string,” Trastion, intrigued by this thought. He went to his pack and dug around for a moment before finding a length of coiled string. “I do have string!” He declared, pleased that he hadn’t used it all for other things.

“Good!” Duinion grinned and stood carefully, making sure not to put much weight on the one foot. “Let’s go over to the stream. I want to see if you can find any sign of wildlife on your own.” He said with a small grin.

Trastion grinned, excited at the thought of learning something new. “Ohh, tracks! Yeah, I saw some on the opposite bank earlier!” He announced eagerly, and took off for the stream.

“Hold up,” Duinion called, frustrated he couldn’t move as fast. He had to be more careful with the crutch here in the woods, too. Trastion was obviously eager to get to the stream, but Duinion insisted that he stick close. “If we were actually going to set traps, then you don’t want to go rushing through and frightening away any prey in the area. You want to be slow and steady, calm, and patient.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Trastion sighed, looking around at the forest as he was forced to maintain a slower pace. He watched the leaves flutter in the breeze and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. Passing under a low-hanging branch, he reached up and grabbed it, using it to swing forward, leaping through the air to land on the ground, as if he'd jumped over an imaginary chasm or something.

Still rather amused, Duinion shook his head slightly and continued along toward the stream.

At last they reached the streambank. “There, see?” He said in a loud whisper, pointing across at the opposite bank. It was lower than the one they stood on, and looked like an easy access point for small creatures to drink from the stream.

“Good,” Duinion nodded, coming up behind. He could see the tracks well from here, and wondered how the recruit was at identifying. “What animal is it, do you know?”

“Um,” Trastion studied the tracks from where he stood. “Might be a rabbit?” He frowned, a bit less familiar with those sort of things.

“Indeed, you guess right.” Duinion smiled. “So if we were going to actually set a trap, we’d need to go over there and get a closer look at the tracks, and-”

“Alright!” Trastion saw no trouble in this, and eagerly leaped across the stream before Duinion could stop him, or even finish his statement. What he didn’t realize was that the stream bed consisted of slippery stones and mud, so the moment he landed on the lower, far bank, his feet went flying out from under him, and he lost his balance and went sprawling backward. With a startled yelp, he fell splashing into the water. Though a bit embarrassed, he quickly tried to scramble back to his feet, trying to grab onto a moss-covered log nearby for aid, but fell back in clumsily and ended up laughing. “I’m alright!” He called out to assure the older ranger.
(about like this)

The whole incident took only a few seconds to play out. Too fast for Duinion to do anything but watch in shock as the recruit fell into the stream in the most comical way possible. Hearing that he was alright, Duinion couldn’t help it. He started laughing. Leaning on the crutch, he laughed hard for a long moment before wiping away the tears of mirth. “Well, luckily, we weren’t trying to actually catch anything today. Otherwise you’d have just run off any chance of supper.” He informed Trastion, still grinning despite his mild scolding.

“Sorry,” Trastion managed to climb out of the water at last, and stood dripping with mud and water. “But hey, at least I tested the stream and found out it’s slippery.” He grinned as if this should make up for the whole matter. “It’d be much worse if you ended up slipping or something, right?”

“Right, I apprecitate that.” Duinion laughed. “I suppose you’ll claim you were only thinking of my safety, then?”

“Uh, sure.” Trastion grinned. “Need help getting across?”

Duinion’s pride instinctively flared up with a desire to say no. But he fought that, thinking of how much it might hurt if he did slip, and how much longer his recovery time would be if something like that happened. But it wasn’t even necessary, he remembered. “Actually I thought you might come back over here with me,” He laughed lightly. “I was about to say that we didn’t have to go over there since we’re not actually going to trap anything today. We'll just practice making traps.”

“Oh.” Trastion blinked and looked down at his drenched clothes, and laughed. “Well. Alright then.” He took a bit more care now as he crossed the stream again, and scrambled back up the bank to rejoin Duinion. “Alright. So what do we do?” He wondered.

Duinion paused then. This might be difficult with his injury, but he’d make it work somehow. “One of the first things you want to take into account is making sure you don’t leave any more of your scent around the area than you must. We don’t want the prey to smell us, and decide to avoid this area, after all.”

Trastion nodded. “Yeah, I know a bit about that. Despite.. you know." He motioned down at himself with a little amusement. He did remember hearing about standing upwind rather than downwind when attempting to hunt, for example. And now, he listened as intently as he could as the ranger explained about how to make a snare, and tried to see it in his mind. Once he began to actually tie the knots and arrange the sticks, under the guidance from the Tirdinen, it began to make more sense however. He carefully made a mental note of the man’s warning not to get his fingers caught in the trap… it was easy to imagine how bad that could be. Soon, he stepped back from the trap he had made, and smiled.

“Looks good,” Duinion remarked, having observed him setting it. “Let’s see if it really is,” He grinned and handed him a stick. “Use this to test it.”

Getting the trap to spring took a little more effort than Duinion liked, but Trastion was impressed. “I wish I’d known how to do that sort of thing before,” He mentioned, thinking about the years he had spent surviving on his own. But at least it could be useful for the future.

“Yes, well, I think this one needs a little work.” Duinion decided. “I’m only going to show you a couple of simple trap types, today. And I want you practice them a few times. By the time we leave today, I want to be sure you can do them on your own without me having to give you any guidance. That way you can practice them on your own over the next two weeks. Alright?”

“Sure, sounds good.” Trastion smiled, though with less energetic enthusiasm than he would have shown an hour ago.

“Alright, let’s find a different spot, so you get more variety in where you put your snare.” Duinion suggested, waving a hand to indicate Trastion should pick out the spot this time. “I think we need to pick a stronger sapling this time, and you need to work on making your notches a little smoother, I think.”

Trastion nodded and chose a sapling little closer to their campsite, and they went through the process again. And again. And again. By the fifth time, Trastion needed no assistance from the ranger, though he was finding it a little harder to pay proper attention to what he was doing.

“Good, you’re doing well.” Duinion glanced at him. “A small snare like that can work for small animals like rabbits and such. A bigger one will work for bigger game, and so forth. I used a snare similar to it to trap a man, once.” He added. “But today we’re focusing about catching food. And another easy food option is to catch fish. And I don’t mean sitting on the bank for hours with a pole and line,” He added with a smile. “There’s an easier way, which enables you to be more efficient with your time. Let’s go back to our ‘camp’ and we’ll reuse some of those sticks you used for the shelter.”

And so they sat down comfortably on the ground and Duinion showed him how to make a trap out of sticks, although there didn’t seem to be any fish in this part of the stream. They weren’t going to try catching anything, since there was no need.

After he’d made finished making it, Trastion handed it over to Duinion to inspect. “So how does it work exactly?”

“You find a spot in the stream where you either know there’s fish or hope there’s fish, tie a string to the trap, and then drop it onto the water. If it needs to be weighted, you can put a stone in it. And then you wait. When you want to check if there’s any fish, you pull on your string and haul it out.” He explained, handing the trap back to Trastion.

Trastion found it intriguing to hear how it worked, and nodded as he listened to Duinion talk about he could make this trap bigger or smaller as needed, or make the gaps closer or wider apart depending on the trapper’s needs, and so forth. Still, he was feeling the weariness creeping in and found himself struggling to stay focused on what Duinion was saying.

“So, now, take it apart and make it again, taking more care.” Duinion suggested, although he thought it seemed like he was having a little more trouble focusing.

Trastion did as Duinion said, trying to make the trap neater this time. Then he took it apart and remade it a third time at Duinion's suggestion. Trastion continued to feel his focus drifting, but made an effort to pay attention to what he was doing. By the fourth time, he decided it looked best, and he felt pretty confident in making this sort of trap in the future. “Can I bring it back to the dorm, and practice making it later?” He asked, thinking it might be better to do this during a time when he wasn’t exhausted.

“Absolutely.” Duinion smiled. “Good plan. You might try making it with wider or narrower gaps, depending on what sort of fish you want to trap in it.” He added.

Trastion nodded thoughtfully and laid it aside with his pack. He was half-tempted to lay down and rest ‘for a little while’, feeling a bit of fogginess creeping into his mind, and his limbs felt a little heavy, but he tried to shake it off. He’d be fine.

The next style of trap that Duinion showed him was a deadfall type, and that seemed fairly simple, yet it turned out to be a little less simple than it appeared. Rather than simply propping a stone up at an angle with a stick, there were intricate mechanics involved in making the trap work, and yet fall at the slightest amount of pressure on the carefully placed string. It took Trastion a couple of tries before he made it work properly, but before long, he had practiced this technique enough times that he was pretty confident he could do it later, without the ranger’s guidance. Still, his alertness was fading, and he felt like he was dragging more and more.

“That’s all for now,” Duinion declared after a while. “You’ve done very well.”

Trastion smiled, rubbing his eyes wearily. “Thanks. I’ll practice these between now and next time.”

“Good,” Duinion smiled. “just remember, always, always, always keep safety in mind when you’re practicing this. So yes, probably best to wait until you’re better rested first. Keep your hands and other body parts clear of the trap… and when you’re finished with it, always disable it so no creature gets trapped in it by mistake. If you’re using the trap to catch food, that’s one thing, but just doing it for practice…”

“Right.” Trastion nodded a little, thinking about some poor rabbit getting caught in a snare when he had no intention of coming back to retrieve it. “No leaving active traps lying around. And no poking around with my fingers and all that.” He nodded wearily. “I was paying attention, I promise.”

“Good.” Duinion smiled. “And, when you’re setting a trap for real use, where do you set it?”

“Look for like… a trail or something where the animal...comes often, you know. Like the rabbit trail we found by the stream. And set the trap there.” He answered quietly, fighting a yawn. “But first you need to.. you know, check that the animal is gonna to be coming around.” He said, repeating the general idea of what Duinion had told him earlier.

“Good.” Duinion nodded with a smile. “And now, about foraging, how much do you know about that?”

Trastion blinked, trying to force his attention to remain on the ranger. “Foraging.” He paused and tried to think. “Plants and stuff. Right, I know a bit about that.”

“Alright.” Duinion stood up with a bit of aid from his crutch, then glanced back down, expecting Trastion to hop up and rush off, but instead he took longer getting up than Duinion did.

Trastion wanted nothing more than to just stay where he was and lay down, but he struggled to his feet with a bit of effort. “So, what, just go find stuff that’s safe to eat?”

“Yes, if you’re up to it..?” Duinion raised an eyebrow. He had noticed that over the last hour or two while they were working on traps, he had been acting more and more fatigued and lethargic.

Trastion took a deep breath, and with a bit of effort managed to keep his eyes open. “No, I think I’m good.” He nodded, and then looked around, trying to smother another yawn.

“Hmm.” Duinion frowned, noticing the recruit’s obvious weariness, but thought he’d wait and see how it went. “Let’s take a quick look by the stream here.” He let Trastion lead the way, and found his energy level drastically lower than when they set out a few of hours prior. Duinion had no trouble keeping up with him now, and even noticed Trastion nearly tripping on things as he walked. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, fine.” Trastion mumbled, though he figured he wasn’t very convincing. He paused though, spotting something familiar. “There, queen’s lace.” He nudged the head of one of the flowers.

“And what can we do with that?” Duinion asked, though he knew perfectly well.

“Eat it.” Trastion laughed faintly, resisting the urge to lean against a nearby tree. He gave a little shake of his head, trying to clear away the tiredness. “Sorry. So the root is like a carrot. And the top,” He paused, taking a long moment to remember stuff that forester had taught him and Aearon about this. “You can eat the leaves, like put them in a salad. Same with the flowers I think.” He shrugged. “And seeds can add flavor to soups and stews.”

“And how can you be sure that is a safe plant to eat?” Duinion asked, leaning on the crutch.

Trastion paused, having to take a longer moment to think about that. “Oh. Well, poison hemlock looks a lot like it. But it’s..different.” He was trying to remember but felt like his mind was trudging through thick mud by this point. Obviously, the effect of the coffee had worn off.

Duinion nodded, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“Poison hemlock gets a lot taller than Queen’s Lace. And this has the fuzzy leaves. Hemlock’s is smooth. Hemlock has splotches on the stem, this is green. So.” He paused as he briefly lost his train of thought, and then did another tiny headshake. “Yeah. it’s Queen’s Lace.” He concluded.

“Yes, and now I think it’s time we wrapped this up.” Duinion decided. There wasn’t all that much time left before supper anyway, and it was getting increasingly more obvious that Trastion was losing the battle to stay awake and alert. An indistinct mumble was all the reply he got from Trastion, but it seemed the recruit wasn’t protesting.

Trastion was feeling so tired he thought he might just fall over when he leaned down to grab his pack. All of his gear was stowed away again by now, and it was heavy. He groaned wearily as he hoisted it up on his back, and wondered how he managed to carry it out here to begin with.

“Unalmis,” Duinion called. “We’re heading back to the mess hall for supper. Would you like to ride back with us?”

Trastion blinked at him in confusion, wondering if he had heard him right, or if he’d missed something. Then, following the ranger’s gaze, Trastion blinked harder and rubbed his eyes. And then saw what Duinion had spotted right away; the young ranger was hidden up in the high branches of a tree right close to where they had made their camp! “Wait…” Trastion blinked again. “He was there the whole time?”

Duinion laughed lightly. “Yes.. I imagine he was doing a bit of.. stealth training,” He added with a sly glance toward his young friend in the tree. That wasn’t exactly what Nal had been doing before they came along and disturbed him, Duinion knew, but ‘stealth training’ sounded better than ‘napping in secret’.

“I gotta learn to do that.” Trastion muttered, somewhat impressed as he looked back up toward where Nal had been ‘hiding’. Although, at the moment, it was hard to feel much of anything besides complete exhaustion, and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep for a week solid. He’d settle for one night of rest, however.

Seeing Trastion sway slightly on his feet, Duinion figured it was definitely time to get him back to the barracks. It was getting a bit dark out anyway, and he didn’t want the two young men to miss supper. So, whether Unalmis chose to join them or stay there, he set off to exit the training grounds, keeping a close eye on the recruit who looked like he might nod off at any moment.

(The end)
(Mention of Unalmis was plotted in advance with Ercassie)

It was early when Trastion arrived at the training grounds. He had been trying to make up for the time he missed during his concussion, and while he was trying to make sure he didn't overdo it (Arnyn would probably kill him if he did, he thought with amusement) he was trying to get in a little extra time in with sword, bow, and the obstacle course. He had yet to get much, if any, training in the use of the ax, but as that was his third weapon choice he supposed it wasn't anything urgent for him to learn.

Yet, when he arrived at the area where he planned on practicing with his sword, Trastion was surprised to see Romeran there with a ranger he didn't know. And they had axes! He stood off to the side for a moment, watching as his fellow ranger-in-training swung his ax around his head, and the other ranger seemed to be giving him some instructions. Trastion considered going over to ask if he might join, but he hadn't brought his ax along. He frowned slightly, debating as he remembered there were some axes like that in the supply shed, which he had used during the sparring match with Pele and Abrazimir. But he also didn't know whether they would mind. Still, it might be rude to just stand around watching without a greeting or letting the others know he was there.

"Hello," He spoke up, and waved, then hesitated. "Um, is this area reserved?" He asked, approaching a few steps, but prepared to go elsewhere if he was not welcome, wondering if this was a private lesson of some sort.