Rangers: Training Grounds

[Pele Alarion]

TRAINING GROUNDS

The Training Grounds are located outside of the White City walls, enclosed by sturdy walls to keep out unauthorised people. The grounds are vast enough to provide separate areas for various fighting disciplines, as well as an archery range and expansive obstacle courses, including for riding. There is also a rather large forested area complete with a small stream of fresh water to accommodate for the needs of training in the woods without having to travel all the way out to proper forests.

Shallow pits dotted with practice dummies and revolving poles with horizontal arms are available for sword-, axe-, and agility work. A mock-up of a small fortress stands in one of the fields to be used in infiltration and siege exercises. On one side stands a long row of storage sheds where replacement dummies and equipment are kept.

The faint ring of hammers is heard around the complex where new additions are being made. The Training Grounds are constantly developing, giving the Rangers a chance to work on more and more skills.

The Purpose of the Training Grounds:
Recruits can train with mentors.
Rangers can sharpen their skills or learn new ones, or spar with one another.
Whole companies can train together and perfect their teamwork.

Guidelines for overall thread use:
Always indicate your name and rank at the top of the post.
In character Ranger training posts only, please.
If you must have an OOC comment, white it out, or even better - post in the HQ OOC thread.
Be kind to each other and adhere to plaza rules!

~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you to all the previous Commanders for contributions in development of the idea for Training Grounds!

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
@Pele Alarion

The voice of Ranger Pele interrupted Romeran's puzzlement over several of the training machines. He turned around and replied "Good morning, Captain Pele" he said, returning the salute. " 'Fool is the farmer who fears the morning' my uncle used to say. There's only so many hours in the day during the planting and harvesting seasons and we have to get as much work done as we can. So I got used to early mornings and long days from a young age" he explained. Romeran wasn't sure what Pele's background was, for example whether she knew all about being on a farm and that he was simply re-iterating this information, he decided not to elaborate further. Nevertheless he was used to early mornings including working hard in the mornings and even late into the night as was common during the planting and harvesting seasons where they had only a limited amount of time to get a large amount of work done.

"I was just admiring the training dummies and such just from here." He said, in agreement. There seemed to be a large array of different tools, dummies, and devices, most of which Romeran did not recognize. As they starting the rounds of the Training Grounds, Romeran stopped them at a set of a few dummies with what looked like some sort of revolving arms. "Is this for some sort of individual practice with a melee weapon?" he asked, curiously pushing on one of the dummies to see how the 'arms' would swing. One of them came at him faster than he had expected and he was forced to duck to avoid being smacked in the head. He stood up “those move quickly” he said half smiling and half nervous. He inspected the dummy further to see how it worked.

"I had lessons with Ranger Duinion recently on archery. It seems very clear to me how one can practice archery by themselves. As it lends itself quite naturally to individual target shooting. I hadn't really thought much about how one might train with, say, a sword by oneself." Romeran mused "I had imagined it was something where practicing with another was quite essential." As with many children Romeran had played with sticks as swords with his friends as a child, often coming home with bruised and cut hands from being slapped with sticks. That being said some of these interesting dummies were surely for some sort of individual practice with melee weapons and Romeran was curious to see how they worked.

The plan, as far as Romeran understood it, was to learn some sword play that day. He had covered archery with Duinion and they would soon be off on a scouting trip to cover his scouting, tracking, and survival skills. He was excited at the prospect but he also had some measure of ability already in these skills but swordplay he had never done more than casually playing with sticks as a child and so he was excited but also with a modicum of trepidation as this would also be his first purely combat training, archery was after all most often used for hunting, something which Romeran had done before.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
Balance training

The sun was not yet fully awake when Arnyn arrived at the training grounds that morning. She was wearing her ranger gear, except for her mail sleeves. She'd brought her sword, but had left her bow at home. Still pondering what she might do today ad she entered the grounds, the obstacle courses drew her attention. Hmmm... perhaps, yes.

She wasn't alone at the grounds - there were a few figures off in the distance here and there. But it was calm, still. Arnyn appreciated the calm. The peace. She didn't like giving a show.

Walking past a few of the courses, she halted at the beginning of one course in particular, which focused on balance. With a faint smile, she unbuckled her sword belt and carefully placed her weapon to the side. She pulled the tie from the end of her braid, used both hands to roll up her long braid in a bun and then used the same tie to secure the newly created bun at the back of her head. One supple leather boot stepped up onto the balance beam, soon followed by the other. Arms lifted to find her balance. Arnyn straightened her back and closed her eyes. Four counts breathing in, four counts holding her breath, four counts out, and four counts more. Four counts in... After repating the sequence three or four times, she opened her dark brown eyes again and calmly focused on the course ahead of her.

The balance beam at the beginning of the course sloped upward. She walked up quickly, her feet aligned with the beam (toes forward, heels backward), making sure her steps were spaced far enough apart to ensure she wouldn't lose her footing. At the top, she stopped. She had to jump to the next one, which was about two feet farther, and stood perpendicular to the beam she was still standing on. Arnyn jumped, landing on the second beam with both feet at the same time, spaced shoulderwidth apart. She used the energy of the jump to continue on to a higher, similarly positioned beam, and onto a third beam which stood higher still.

From there, she could jump onto a small landing. The next challenge was a downward angled and perfectly flattened beam. It could be as simple as running off it, but there was also a small, rectangular board you could use to slide down. Seeing as that would be more of a challenge, Arnyn only took a heartbeat on the small landing to decide, and then lightly jumped on the rectangular board.

She had to be precise: both of her feet had to land on the board at the same time, and in the right spot - her right foot to the right side of the board, her left foot to the left side, and both needed to be at the same distance from the edges. Arnyn slid part of her weight forward to the balls of her feet so the board would start sliding down, bending her legs slightly and shifting her weight in such a manner that she wouldn't faceplant. She used her arms for additional balance part of the way, stretching them out in front of her, and pulling them in to prepare for stepping onto a straight, low balance beam. She ran down that one and jumped onto two hanging rings from there, swung her legs up to spin into a flip and let go of the rings just when her feet were starting their downward trajectory again.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training with Romeran
@Romeran

“That is a very good insight,” Pele responded, as she listened to Romeran’s wise words about using mornings. “My father’s saying was that the morning has gold in its mouth. And I think there is something rather special about being out to meet the first rays of sunshine. Unless it rains, that is.”

She listened to the young recruit’s wonderings about the use of the dummies, and stopped to watch him try one out and almost get hit. The Captain couldn’t help but laugh at the small incident, though it also showed her that Romeran’s reaction was quite good for someone his size.

“Archery is definitely easier to practice alone,” she agreed, “but these dummies are very good to get down the basics for handling melee weapons. Practicing the correct stances, footwork, accuracy, and control of a weapon are all very important aspects, and dummies come in handy for that. Though you are right: training with a sparring partner is very important as well because then you learn to read the opponent’s body language and anticipate the movements to adjust your own to it.”

Reaching to the sheath at her belt Pele retrieved the dagger and moved towards the dummy to provide a small demonstration to Romeran.

“If you end up in a close quarters fight with your enemy, speed and precision definitely count,” she said, as she pushed one of the dummy’s arms to get the arms to rotate around the body of the dummy at a rather high speed. Positioning herself sideways just out of reach of the arms Pele placed her left foot forward and her right foot back at about a 45 degree angle. Knees bent, she looked ready to jump into an attack, left arm bent and raised as if to protect her face, and the right arm held back with the knife pointing diagonally upwards.

Waiting for the arm to swing by, Pele sprung forward, thrusting the dagger diagonally at the dummy’s face, and yet not letting it make contact before she pulled the arm back and lowered herself to let the arm swing by over her head harmlessly before she attacked the dummy’s face yet again, and ducked under once more, employing the same practiced movements with seeming ease. She repeated the drill several times, until the arms slowed down.

Making use of the slower movements, Pele caught the arm of the dummy and pushed it in the opposite direction, clockwise. Then she proceeded to show a slightly more complicated drill. Letting the arm pass over her head she thrust upwards again as in the previous drill, yet instead of crouching under the arm, she stopped the arm incoming from her right side with the palm of her left hand as if she were deflecting an attacker’s fist and pushed it away. Then she turned her whole upper body and brought her dagger around to what would be the dummy’s left temple with the hilt of her dagger while simultaneously stopping the arm swinging at her from the left with the other palm yet again. She repeated the same motions again for a few times: crouch – thrust – stopping the arm from the right – hilt attack – stopping the arm from the left.

Eventually she stepped away from the dummy to turn her attention back to Romeran, as she slid her dagger back into the sheath. “Never hit these dummies with live steel though,” she advised. “You’d damage the blade. Only blunted training weapons, unless you have enough control of your body and weapons to stop short of hitting the dummy. I’m sure you could use these quite effectively for practicing your axe stills, as well as sword. Do these training tools make slightly more sense now, Rome?” Pele asked him afterwards, her blue eyes smiling.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

The swift and accurate motions of Captain Pele were mesmerizing and he watched in awe as she dived in and out, dodging the swinging arm and striking with deadly accuracy. It definitely provided an adequate demonstration of the use of the dummies which Romeran had so awkwardly toyed with moments prior.

Watching carefully, Romeran tried to take note on where the Captain was placing her feet, the angle of her blade, and the position of her arms. All of her motions moved in the shortest possible distance to their aim, never a wasted movement or a energy spent not directly at the target. It was impressive how each strike hit in precisely the same location, the muscle memory showed in the perfect repetition of the action with no stray motions or off balance recovery. It must have taken thousands of hours of practice to achieve such mastery. Romeran found himself suddenly humbled and glad that he had such an impressive tutor.

“That was a most impressive demonstration, Captain” was the best complement he could muster “it must have taken a long time to hone such precise and minimalist attacks” he said expanding somewhat so as to show he had paid sufficient attention. The timing of the arms swinging was predictable, even if it did slow at a constant rate, and this allowed for repeated practice of important motions. “I imagine that care must be taken not to rely on predicting the motion of the mechanical arms?” He asked. He could imagine getting used enough to the precise motions of the dummy so that one could even dodge them with eyes closed. But this would hardly be of much use against an opponent where closing ones eyes might mean certain death.

“Nevertheless I can see now how much I could learn from practicing with such a tool. Especially in wielding weapons which I am yet still unused to using in combat. Even my axe I have had to use in violence only twice…” Romeran seemed hesitant to discuss anything further and continued quickly “so I could certainly use the practice with any weapon” he smiled. He was looking forward greatly to learning how to wield a weapon properly both as a defensive and offensive tool, rather than relying simply on size and raw ferocity.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Romeran
@Romeran

"Yes. It does require lots of time," Pele agreed with Romeran's evaluation, and added to it: "Also, many failures, a plenty of bruises, relentless effort to continue." While she had indeed mastered this skill and some others, there was always room for improvement. And after she had returned to the Rangers, she had spent many hours yet again to gain back and improve her strength and agility. Yet, it seemed to her that there would be no such time when she would consider herself to be at the best possible peak performance, especially considering that she now had to work creatively around the loss of her left little finger. She still had not figured out how to turn this loss into advantage, something that would actually work for her rather than simply impair her grip and strength.

Continuing onwards to the sheds containing equipment, Pele commented: "You should definitely not rely on the motion of that dummy. Of course, it is perfect for practicing the basic movements - as you say, it is predictable - just one kind of motion at certain intervals. But when you face a real opponent, they can be very unpredictable, so you have to learn how to read them. But first things first: if you don't even know the basic stances and uses of weapons you would have no real options to choose from."

When Romeran mentioned using his axe, Pele looked at him for further explanations, but he did not seem inclined to continue, and the Captain did not press the matter judging that he would speak of it when and if he thinks it necessary. Yet she made a mental note of it, even if it was never to be spoken of again.

"Here," she threw open the door of a big shed, letting some light in along with themselves. "Pick your sword from the blunted ones, not wooden - see which one you would feel more comfortable handling. Your build would permit you to handle a bigger sword, though you may try smaller ones if you like." Pele walked to the racks as well to pick something for herself, trying out a few swords until she settled for a well-used longsword. Tucking the selected weapon under her arm, she turned to observe Romeran. "Talk me through the process of how you pick your blade. Looks? Balance? Size?"

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
Balance training

She'd landed on both feet, hip width apart. However, as pleased as she was with the result, she was not yet done with balance training. Balance was one of her most favored skills, as it had proven to be so useful time and time again.

Looking for a level, even patch of ground, she stalked the grassy area next to the obstacle course a bit until she found something suitable. Then she proceeded to stretching, considering she was about to practice arm balances that would require both muscular effort and movement to achieve, which made them physically demanding, she wanted to make sure her muscles were warm. Warm muscles simply performed better, and it was cold out. Although the trek down the circles and the obstacle course had warmed her up some, she wasn't going to risk having forgotten something.

Methodically, almost subconsciously really, she stretched her arm muscles, her shoulders and her wrists. Moving on to her legs, she lunged with her right foot forward, her right hand on her right knee. She slid her left foot as far back as she could, stretching out the left leg, and she placed her left hand level with her right ankle, her shoulders positioned above her left hand and right ankle. She held the stretch for about 30 counts, then maintained the position of her legs and put both elbows on the grass, where before her left hand had been. Her forearms touched the grass as well, and she lightly clasped her hands together. Thirty more counts. Then she stretched her right leg out as well, the foot sliding forward as she pushed up with her hands to shift her torso into a sitting position, thus ending up doing the splits, right leg forward, left leg back. As she counted to thirty, her dark eyes scanned what she could see of the grounds. Next, she repeated the same stretches with her left leg forward. Then she stretched her back by lying on her stomach, legs stretched, and putting her hands palm down on the grass ib front of her hips, stretching her arms and pushing up her torso, raising her head to look at the sky directly overhead. Next, she arched her back the other way, almost rolling up into a ball.

Finally, she lay down on her back and then positioned her hands so she could form a bridge position. She walked her hands and feet a bit closer together every ten counts. Then she lowered one arm down to rest on her elbow and forearm, then the other. She let out asingle, long breath before pushing back up onto her hands and ending the stretches. She sat for a few moments, then got back up to her feet, rolling her head a bit.

Arnyn put her hands on the ground, shoulderwidth apart, stretching out and slightly bending her fingers for control. She was looking down at her hands, positioned her torso as upright as she could and then raised her legs into the air; one after the other. The Hyandaner made sure to maintain some of the natural curve of her spine, and engaged her adbominal and back muscles as to prevent overarching. She squeezed her knees together and focused on keeping her feet together as well, almost automatically pointing her feet as much as she could wearing her supple boots. She had found her center.

The idea was to hold the handstand for about one minute. It had been a while since she had practiced in this particular way, but since her muscles hadn't deterioritated, it was more about finding out whether she still had the required balance, rather than the strength.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

Learning that even the captain had to go through hours of practice and bruises and mistakes before she became such a competent fighter made Romeran feel somewhat better. At least his lack of experience wasn't something which would hold him back too much, now was his opportunity to learn and to practice. Romeran took another look at the practice dummy as they left it, seeing it with new eyes and possibilities which before he did not see. Some of the drills or something similar to what Captain Pele was doing would certainly be invaluable for him, especially as he was learning the basic movements as the captain had pointed out, he nodded in response.

When the captain opened the door to the shed, Romeran walked in with awe. There were wooden swords but also metal blunts. They came it seemed in many different shapes and sizes. Romeran was at a loss with what to do. There were rows upon rows of swords of all types, some short swords, some longer but still one-handed arming swords, bastard swords, longswords, even some two handed swords whose pommels reached nearly to his eye level. These were impressive but seemed rather intimidating to Romeran. At present he wasn't sure whether to look at the one handed or two handed swords or something in between. Left to his own devices, Romeran might have wandered around the shed for hours.

Luckily for him, Captain Pele had quickly selected a longsword and Romeran took that as a good indication that perhaps he should look for something himself. "Well I don't really know much about swords" he confessed, but he also got the feeling that Captain Pele wasn't going to tell him what he should pick or even what he should look for and that she was interested in seeing what he would pick on his own. He walked over the the swords that seemed to be of an appropriate type: grips long enough to be used two handed but a blade short enough that it could be kept in a sheath and unsheathed easily enough, a longsword. Even within this more refined category of swords there was a good deal of variation.

Romeran hesitated a glance over to Captain Pele to get an idea for what the total length should be. In the end he found a group of swords that came roughly to his sternum, tip to pommel. This did mean that the sword was considerably longer than the Captain's but this was due to the size discrepancy to the two of them rather than Romeran's choice to pick a larger weapon. He picked several of them up and weighed them in his hand. Some had wider blades that tapered quickly, designed for thrusting and others had blades which were more parallel coming to a tip only towards the end of the blade, designed for cutting.

Picking the swords up in turn Romeran swung them around a bit, taking care not to hit anything or anyone. The weight balance of a sword was much different than an axe which had most of its weight at the furthest point from the hand making them much more unwieldy than a sword. Romeran wasn't used to how 'whippy' the swords seemed by contrast. They all seemed roughly balanced a short distance along the blade from the cross-guard.

In the end, Romeran chose a sword which seemed to be a compromise between the pointed thrusting blades and the flatter cutting blades with a small fuller which ran roughly half way down the length of the blade.

"This one seems to be a compromise between some of the swords, which seemed like a good choice for a beginner rather than focusing too much on cutting or thrusting" he said, pointing to the more pointed thrusting blades and the cutting ones "I picked the size by comparing mostly to how big of a sword you chose, proportionately of course" he confessed "the very large two handers seem rather intimidating and since you had picked a sword which at least could be used with two hands it seemed a better choice than a one-handed sword which perhaps may be better with a second weapon or at least a shield" he reasoned somewhat retrospectively.

"The weight balance of them all seemed fairly similar for this type of sword, and I noticed that, for the most part, those with longer blades had longer handles or bigger pommels, I assume so that the balance point remains roughly the same?" he asked "the sword feels very different, balance wise, than an axe, it's very nimble" he noted. He was looking forward to learning how to use it quite a bit more now that he had picked one.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Recruit Romeran
@Romeran

"I am sure you could handle a two-hander all right," Pele said with a small grin. "A strong, big guy like you. But then again it does require a slightly different approach than smaller weapons. A longsword like this..." she lifted the sword she had picked towards the light coming in through the door which was left open. "It is easier to handle, while it still offers a considerable reach in comparison to short swords, daggers and the like."

"You could say that a sword with its balance allows for more versatility than an axe would. You do not just rush at your opponent and attack with brute force, not usually," the Captain said, beckoning with her other hand for Romeran to follow her back out into the open. "And yet, while I want to say that using a sword is more like a dance with the blade becoming just an extension of you, such nice descriptions are forgotten in battle. Yet, the skill remains."

She led him back towards where they had left the dummy with the rotating arms, yet she picked for them what looked like a simple thick tree stump reaching up to an average human height. It was best to start with simple things, she figured, considering that Romeran did not have any experience to fall back to.

"There is one thing you would definitely not want to do," Pele got straight to business. She faced Romeran squarely and raised the sword up above her head in both hands as if meaning to bring it down on him and cut him in half from head to toe. "See? In doing this, I leave myself fully open to attack, a large unprotected target. If the opponent was skilled enough, I'd be cut down before I knew it. You do not swing the sword about as some mindless cave-troll if you want to live."

She looked at Romeran for a moment to check whether he was paying attention, and then proceeded to something that should be done instead of what she had showed as something not to be done.

"A primary stance for a swordsman," she instructed, turning towards the stationary practice pell. "Present of yourself as little as possible to be hit." She positioned herself sideways, left foot pointing forward, right foot back and angled outwards to provide support. "Knees not locked, always ready to spring into action, and yet make sure to be steady and stable, not easily pushed over. As for what you do with your hands, with your sword..." Pele let the sword tip pointed slightly towards the ground, both hands on the hilt, left hand gripping it from below, the right hand from above. The sword seemed to rest in her hands, her left hand touching her right hip. "Looking rather harmless, no?" she chuckled, and then with what seemed a slightest movement of hands, raised the tip higher to point in the direction of what would be the old tree stump's midriff.

"Go on, try this. Once you get used to positioning yourself this way it feels natural and comfortable," she encouraged Romeran.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

Momentarily he reconsidered if maybe he should have chosen a great sword, when the captain said that he should be able to handle one, but decided against it. "I think it's easier to learn by watching, so I'd prefer to learn with a weapon closer to the one you are using, adjusted for proportions" he explained, Romeran was a visual learner and if he was going to have to compensate or change the way he struck or parried because his weapon was sized considerably differently than his instructor then he would struggle. Pele's further remarks about the advantages of the type of sword they both currently used made sense. "It's not exactly a short blade" he said in reply with a grin, the sword did come up to past his navel, tip-to-pommel. He could see how the sword was a more agile and versatile weapon than the rather aggressive axe.

Following Pele outside, he tried to get a feel for the sword in his hand. Romeran had heard a saying before about swords being an extension of the arm, or that it was a dance, or an art. He noticed that people rarely seemed to use such poetic language when talking about an axe. The Captain, however, noted that while there was a certain element of truth in the poetic language, having the skill being automatic in battle was the most important part. Romeran nodded in response, not feeling like he could or should add to the commentary.

As they walked towards the dummies again, Romeran tried swinging the sword around, taking care to leave sufficient space between himself and the captain. The sticks that he had used as a child in mock swordfights felt nothing like a real sword, he noted, as he got a feel for the inertia and arcs of the sword he now held. It was an unusual feeling but it did not feel awkward, in fact he was surprised at how naturally the sword seemed to cut through the air and how little additional inertia there was, compared to an axe, which made it much easier to redirect a blow and to recover from a swing.

When Pele stood in front of him, square, with her sword raised, Romeran naturally imitated her. It seemed like the sort of stance one would take when splitting wood. With legs apart and the axe traveling vertically down this was the best way to remain stable and also avoid a painful injury if the axe misses as it would swing clear between your legs. For a brief moment he wondered if a sword stance would really be like this. Captain Pele was quick to point out, however, that this was precisely not the thing to do. It made sense, while it was useful to keep one's legs clear and to provide a solid chopping stance, that was for a stationary object like a piece of wood, and not for an opponent wishing to harm you. "Yes I suppose that makes sense" he said, lowering from the unusual guard "fighting isn't exactly like splitting wood, for one thing the wood doesn't move or strike back" he added.

The second stance that the captain took seemed somewhat more unusual, at least at the face of it. He spent a moment examining how she stood, and then copied her. Placing his left foot forward and his right back, turned out for balance, with a slight break in his knees. That seemed quite a stable position, he agreed, and of course facing the opponent sideways rather than forward certainly presented a much smaller target. He gripped his sword in a similar manner, from this position his right hand had its palm facing inward and his left facing outward, crossed, tucked away by his right hip, just as the captain had done, point angled slightly down. "I can see why this stance makes sense" he said "you present a small profile to your opponent" he said, lifting his right hand from his sword and miming the small horizontal profile that was forward "and your sword is aimed in such a way as to move quickly in attack or defense" when he said this he mimicked what the captain had done by moving the point of his sword to go from downward angled to upwards. He was surprised at how little motion was really required. He could already tell how much practice it was going to take for him to be comfortable with the sword, but he was more eager than he had originally been, it seemed daunting but also exciting.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Romeran
@Romeran

"This is most definitely not splitting wood, Romeran," Pele agreed with a small smile as she watched him practice the new stances. "While they say that offence is the best defence, it would be foolish to focus merely on that and forget that the opponent would want to cut you down as well. As for attacks, there's only that many ways you can slice someone up or skewer them." With this Pele shifted her weight onto her forward foot, leaning her upper body forward as well, as she thrust the sword at what would be the opponent's stomach, extending her arms. "Directly up and down, side to side, and diagonally left to right, right to left - again up and down. Well, mostly."

As she spoke, she shifted her weight back again to the initial stance, yet her arms brought the sword up in a fluid motion so that her hands were now up, holding the hilt mere inches from her head, with the blade almost level, the very tip angled just a little downwards as if pointing at the face or the chest of the opponent depending on their height and stance. "When you get used to it, the motions become fluid and natural rather than choppy. Like a dance. Though in battle field it may not look all that pretty, and you have to improvise," the Captain explained, and then added a slightly different thought. "When you are fighting for your life, and that of others, some dirty tricks are always game. Kicking. Punching. Positioning yourself so that the enemy is blinded by the sun..."

Her feet remained unmoved, as she slowly brought the tip of the sword in a wide arc around her head and downwards as if to cut at the midriff of the opponent from the right, and then let the blade continue its movement to bring it up over her left shoulder, the hilt stopping just before the shoulder, and the point aimed back behind her and slightly up. Then she brought the sword in an arc down on her imaginary enemy's head, smoothly going into another thrust with a tip to the stomach, and coming to rest in the defensive stance she had shown Romeran before, hilt held at hip height, and the point of the blade up.

"Try to combine various strikes and defensive stances at first, without thinking of footwork," she told the eager learner, as she moved to stand as a 'normal person' would and turned to look at Romeran. "It may feel awkward at first, but I want to see whether you can combine some movements yourself now that I have shown you the very basics."

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

As the captain demonstrated the different attacks which were possible with the sword Romeran observed carefully. He tried to pay attention to her footwork as well as the blade work but it was difficult to focus on both at the same time. The captain's moves were fluid and elegant and she was able to chain together the attacks as if in one motion. It seemed effortless but even holding the sword and moving it around as he had done, Romeran knew that this was a long and tirelessly learned skill. The captain nimbly switched between cuts and thrusts with the blade which would force the imaginary defender to have to parry and block attacks in a more challenging manner. You could thrust with an axe, but unless it had a point at the end it was not as effective as thrusting with the sword, the variety of different attacks made the sword a more flexible weapon in that regard.

When it was Romeran's turn to try striking with the sword he became immediately nervous as he realized the captain would be watching him carefully and already felt unsure about the weapon. Romeran took a deep breath to calm his nerves and stepped forward somewhat. He returned to the stance with his left foot forward and the sword pointing in front and slightly downwards.

In a fairly efficient, but too slow, of a motion Romeran raised the sword up so that the hilt was slightly above his eye line, sword vertical and pointing back somewhat. Then he swung it down from top to bottom as if to cut his enemy in half vertically. As the blade's momentum continued he swung it down and to the left before coming up again and attacking in a diagonal motion from his left shoulder down to his right foot, instinctively shuffling forward with both feet as he did so. Without thinking or hesitating as the sword came down his right side he swung it up to repeat a diagonal attack but this time from right to left, his right foot came forward as he did so such that the attack mirrored the one from left to right. Romeran was not thinking of how or why he was moving his feet but just doing what came naturally. He realized that he had been slowly moving towards his imaginary foe as if pressing the attack. Trying not to simply cut, Romeran finished by pulling the sword back with its momentum and then thrusting forward horizontally at the midsection. Romeran ended now with his right foot forward in the symmetrical position that he started. He was several steps forward from where he had begun rather than having stood in place.

Once complete, Romeran returned to the guard position and then stood up in a natural stance and turned to the Captain "I feel like I'm moving like a snail" he said smiling somewhat "or like swinging your arms around under water." In his attempt to fluidly combine the attacks and without putting too much thought into his footwork, Romeran had moved much slower than would have been necessary in a fight. He did not feel comfortable yet, swinging the sword around with the full weight and speed that he could, fearing that he would not know how to correctly control the momentum and combine one stroke smoothly with the other. "Are there particular 'combinations' that you learn, like going from one cut to another or to a thrust, or is it entirely improvisation and reaction?" Romeran wondered if perhaps learning a handful of different but convenient transitions might ease his concerns.

"Also how does your attack being parried or striking true change how you would combine it with another?" so far Romeran had let the momentum of the sword continue in whichever direction he had attacked and then transitioned in an natural arc towards the next motion. But if he had been attacking a dummy or hit a parrying sword or shield the attack would have deflected, perhaps making his subsequent strikes much more challenging or even impossible. Some attacks would be parried, some might simply be dodged, and yet others would strike true. This led to many different scenarios, Romeran thought, and it became another daunting affair in his mind.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Romeran
@Romeran

Pele kept a close eye on Romeran as he swung the sword around, and moved with him, though well out of reach to avoid any accidental contact.

"Not too shabby, Rome," she said when he stopped the practiced and turned to her for feedback and with more questions. "Slow is good for the beginning so that you learn how things work, and what different parts of your body need to be doing. The main thing is to retain stability as much as possible whenever you move around, so that you wouldn't lose balance and fall over."

The Captain took a few moments to think of questions posed, her fingers absent-mindedly playing with the hilt of the sword and tracing the leather wrapping as if looking for imperfections in it. Her eyes looked over Romeran's shoulder at the distant tree line, as she breathed in the fresh morning air and seemed to have lost track of her thoughts.

"You can learn combinations," she then said, focusing back on the matter at hand. "But I doubt you would be able to execute them perfectly when in a fight. You have to learn to expect the unexpected and be able to adapt to whatever your opponent comes up with. Suppose that too comes with experience, and you learn to guess what they would do from where they are looking, from their body language, from observing just that bit of a slight movement or tension in their shoulders, hips, arms. At any rate, the point is to use any movements to the maximum efficiency, no needless motions just to position yourself in a more fancy stance; work with what you have. Efficiency. Flexibility."

Pele supposed that all the information she was giving might just be words, yet she felt that things needed explaining in addition to merely showing how it worked. "Parrying and striking would definitely mess with any plans, you might find your sword blocked, or locked up in a parry. Then you have to remember that the sword is an extension of your body, in a way, so you can shift your stance, move back or to the side, or just shift the weight a little, or apply pressure differently," she explained some more.

Turning towards the dummy, Pele raised her sword above her right shoulder and brought it down at the imaginary foe's midsection, striking with enough force to create a loud thud. From there she drew a backwards arc with her sword and swung it down on the same right side of the dummy as if aiming for a shin, this time with a lighter impact. Then she withdrew slightly, moving her left foot back so that she now faced forward with her right side, with the sword returned to the low guard, tip upwards. From there she shuffled slightly forward to get back into the range and thrust the sword up at the dummy's face touching it with the tip, and then changed her stance yet again, moving her right foot back and raising the sword over the shoulder.

"Well, something like this," she told Romeran, turning towards him and letting the tip of the sword rest on the ground. "Wanna give it a try?" she gave a slight nod towards the dummy. "Make a contact with the thing and see how it affects the intended flow of your movement."

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

When the captain said his attempt was ‘not too shabby’ Romeran grinned widely. There was a good amount of practice ahead of Romeran if he truly wanted to be a competent swordsman but it was a start. As the captain explained the principles behind real combat Romeran had lifted his sword and balanced the blade against his right shoulder with the point upwards. He idly tapped the blade against his shoulders as the cool breeze blew across the training grounds.

The weight of the sword was very different in his hands. It was weighted more like holding the head of his ax with the handle as the sword blade. It made for a more nimble weapon with a much larger blade area than the relatively small sharp edge of his ax. Economy of motion, however, was something which was common across many different disciplines especially when achieving something with minimal effort was important.

“Efficient motions is important when splitting wood. It’s tiresome, repetitive, work and if you do it wrong or wastefully it will take much longer and be more exhausting to complete the task” he said as analogy to his experience. It made enough sense in this context too “it’s a bit different in this case I guess. But the idea is the same, I think, the most efficient path is the shortest path and the shortest path is the fastest. And from what I know of wrestling and other fighting it’s tiresome work, so efficiency is important to survive” Romeran said hoping that his understanding of the concept was correct.

Picturing himself performing the same actions as the captain was against the dummy was his way of trying to understand them. Her movements were fluid still even as the practice sword rebounded off the dummy. Each attack struck the dummy and as it bounced back the captain neatly redirected the course of the sword so that the next attack followed swiftly as if perfectly planned. Romeran shifted his weight from foot to foot as he watched the captain trying to follow her motions without actually moving.

When it was his turn he moved forward towards the dummy and took a two handed grip on his sword. The blade length would have been slightly overlong as a one handed sword but felt a nimble and manageable length when held in two hands. The long handle left ample room for two hands even large ones like Romeran and ended in a circular pommel. Romeran started with his left foot forward and the sword blade pointing down and back. Rotating his shoulders he brought the sword into a high guard and with a step forward with his right leg brought the sword down into contact with the dummy in what would be its shoulder.

Even though Romeran had not struck with his full weight the force of the sword against the unyielding wooden dummy caused it to rebound wildly and Romeran struggled to redirect it. He had intended to copy, more or less, what the captain had done but he had taken a higher more acute line of attack and the sword had rebounded more violently and upwards. Romeran was forced to redirect instead up any to the left. Turning his wrists over halfway he brought the sword down to strike the opposite shoulder.

The second attack recoiled with less violence, partly because Romeran had been more conscious of the result and had prepared for it, but also because he had been unable to attack the second time with the same force. Consequently he was able to recover from the second attack more easily. As he had moved forward with the opposite foot as the captain he had to step back with his right foot and recover from the second attack before shuffling forward to thrust at the mid section with his sword. His attempt to copy the captain but having not executed it exactly had caused his attacks to be more awkward and less fluid. He realized after that instead of stubbornly trying to copy he could have found more efficient attacks. He wasn’t sure what else he would have done though, he would liked to have tried some of the attacks a few times to see how he might redirect from a parry or a strike from different angles.

Stepping back from the dummy Romeran shrugged and returned the sword to his shoulder again. “Well it’s safe to say I could use some practice” he said with an earnest smile.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Romeran
@Romeran

Seeing that Romeran was able to relate sword skill to using axe and chopping wood which was something more familiar to him, Pele was satisfied that there were things that helped him to understand the point she was trying to get across.

"Yes," she then answered with a firm nod of affirmation. "Splitting wood is certainly different, but then again yes - similarities are there as well. Survival is key, as you already pointed out. Your own, and that of the comrades who rely on you."

The Captain then watched Romeran have a go at the dummy, and she could see that he was both trying to imitate what she had done, and attempt something of his own, and the result ended up being neither the one or the other really. A small grin played on her lips, as she watched him, and she allowed a soft laugh when he had finished the exercise and made the conclusion about it.

"Practice is needed, and that is for sure," she agreed, "But then again that is what training and these grounds are for, and I see that you are very motivated, so there shouldn't be a problem with it. Am I right?" Her blue eyes studied the Recruit for a few moments, though she was already sure that the answer to her question would be positive. "Speaking of a bit more training, now that we are about it either way..."

"Defend yourself!" Pele all but yelled out the warning after she had paused briefly. She swung her sword to raise it above her right shoulder as if she was about to strike right down at Romeran, having positioned herself in a threatening stance. And yet, instead of cutting right down, she maneuvered the sword around her head and in a wide arc swung it down, aiming at the outside of Romeran's right knee. Even though she had started the movement rather unexpectedly and swiftly, Pele slowed the motion down gradually, providing Rome with some time to react to the sudden change in their training and gather up some sort of defence.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

The captain was being kind after witnessing Romeran's demonstration and had simply agreed with his assessment that more practice was required. He smiled weakly and nodded, at least he'd avoided any immediate criticism. The captain's subsequent remarks about this being the purpose of their training palliated the blow. "That is right, very motivated Captain" he said in response, standing in a more relaxed posture. Romeran was holding his sword in his right hand, close to the hilt and he scratched his beard with his left hand with a grin. If it was going to take time to practice and learn at least he was an eager student and the subject matter was interesting.

The sudden attack came as a surprise to Romeran and if it wasn't for the captain's warning to defend himself Romeran would have found himself lying on the ground rubbing a sore knee. Luckily for him, the captain had taken pity on the recruit and given him enough warning for him to react. With his sword held in his right hand, Romeran didn't have time to switch to a two handed grip. His first reaction was to slide his left foot back into a guard position with his legs. With his right hand he swung the sword up above his head parallel to the ground to block the overhead strike and his left hand dropped back with his left foot.

The overhead attack had been a feint however, and the captain had moved at a slow enough speed for Romeran to catch the change in direction. As the captain brought her sword down towards his right leg, Romeran immediately dropped his right leg back switching his stance to be left foot forward, taking a step backwards as he did so. Shortly before the captain's sword would have made contact with his leg, despite having moved it backwards, Romeran was able to rotate his arm so that his sword was perpendicular to the ground, tip pointing downwards.

A clear ring sounded as the two blades clashed together. Romeran was surprised at the force of the attack even though it was clear that the captain had pulled the blow. With the attack successfully parried, Romeran shuffled back again, keeping his left foot forward. He turned his wrists over and grabbed the sword handle with his left hand entering a guard with the blade pointing towards the Captain angled slightly upwards. Romeran made no attempt to riposte. A more skilled swordsman may have counter attacked immediately after parrying, but Romeran had been taken by surprise and was more concerned with his own defense rather than attack. He waited patiently in his guard for the Captain's next move, deciding it was better for him to try and defend himself than expose himself in an attempt, most likely doomed to failure, to strike the captain.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Recruit Romeran
@Romeran

"Not bad at all," Pele said, appreciating both Romeran's reaction and strength when she moved back from the contact to a low guard, sword pointing down. "You managed to catch my feint quick enough and keep your leg."

Yet she proceeded to test the Recruit's quick thinking some more, as she moved right to circle him. She walked along in a leisurely fashion as if she were taking a morning's walk rather than conducting training, and her sword rested against her right shoulder as if it were a handle of a parasol. While Pele realised that this was no good example of how to behave in battle, she was curious of what Romeran would do and whether she could throw him off with her lackadaisical approach to sparring.

After a few slow steps, she turned swiftly to face him again, and simultaneously lunged forward and brought her sword around level with the ground. At first it looked as if she was aiming her thrust at his belly, but at the very end she raised the tip slightly to aim for his chest. Pele's blue eyes watched Romeran keenly for reaction, ready to retreat should he decide to try out an attack. She had learned not to underestimate any training partners or opponents, no matter how inexperienced.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

Letting the captain's compliment bring his guard down would have been a classic mistake but still took a great deal of effort for Romeran to avoid the trap. He smiled in response but maintained focus on the captain and her sword. A bolder student may have commented in response, but Romeran was more cautious as he was wielding an unfamiliar weapon against a far superior opponent so instead he took a step slightly backwards and to the side, circling the captain.

The captain circled to her right, in a mirror to the direction that Romeran had gone, but when she continued to do so Romeran stayed in place and instead pivoted on his back foot to keep Pele in front of him. She seemed unconcerned, relaxed, so comfortable in the situation. Romeran by contrast felt tense, he kept reminding himself not to grip the sword so tightly, he could feel the muscles in his forearm contract and then release with every step that the captain took. Pele had not called an end to the sparring, and Romeran was not about to drop his guard under an assumption.

Caution proved to be an ally for Romeran as the captain made a swift lunging attack towards him. Without too much hesitation Romeran attempted to parry in a similar fashion as he had before. He stepped his front foot backwards and brought his sword, perpendicular to the ground with the point down, in front of him to deflect the lunge. As an additional protective maneuver, Romeran's switching stance had the effect of moving his body physically out of the way of the direction of the sword. Two defenses seemed better than one, and Romeran wasn't eager to trust in his ability to read the Captain. His caution again proved wise as the captain redirected the attack upwards, but Romearn was already out of the way and his sword came in to parry.

When the blades struck again, Romeran considered whether he should counter. But he was unsure of a safe way to attack without exposing himself. Instead, as he parried the sword he attempted to redirect the captain's blade by rotating his sword blade so that the sword now pointed upwards. A common trick with an axe was to use the beard to catch the opponent's weapon or shield and attempt to wrench it from them. As such, Romeran twisted hard with his wrists as the sword came in, trying to put enough force in the redirect to push the captain off balance. The captain's redirecting the blow, however, had caught him off guard as, the parry no longer caught the captain's blade at a right angle.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Training Recruit Romeran
@Romeran

It was clear that Romeran had not fallen for Pele's 'going for a walk' disguise, and so had kept her in his view all the time and been able to react to her sudden attack.

"Aha!" happy with his performance, she murmured contentedly under her breath as their blades crossed. Feeling that she would not be able to hold against the push as Romeran tried to manipulate his blade, and hers with it. With some quick footwork Pele stabilised her stance and relented a little, just enough to offer the Recruit a sense of control in being able to move her sword in his chosen direction little by little.

When the hold became too uncomfortable to maintain, Pele disengaged her weapon by moving it sideways and away, and all but danced, spinning, along with it to a safe distance a couple steps away. Dropping the sword point towards the ground, she tilted her head and regarded Romeran.

"It seems that you are too careful to fall for my tricks, and your defences are not that bad considering that you are not overly familiar with swords. Well then. Perhaps it is time for you to try an attack?" she invited him, remaining at an easy stance while her blue eyes watched intently for a sign of possible consequences of her invitation.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

The size difference between Romeran and Captain Pele was apparent. The Captain was not small and certainly was not weak, but Romeran was a giant of a man and very few men stood taller and even fewer were heavier. Consequently, Romeran was particularly impressed at how well the captain had managed to disengage from the parry. Romeran had tried his best to use his strength and size against the captain by wrenching his sword against hers to overpower the weapon from her grasp. Romeran was fairly confident that a less skilled opponent would have found themselves nearly flat on their back if they tried to resist or the sword flung away from them if not. The Captain, however, was not an unskilled opponent and she was able to twist and dance her way out of the position with relative ease, escaping Romeran's trap. It was an impressive dispay as well as a cautionary tale that relying on one's raw physical strength was unlikely to be a successful tactic against a skilled swordsman.

A smile crept across his face as the captain complimented his defenses. "There's a lot of sword to block with" he explained, which was true, even though Romeran had only caught the Captain's feints at the last moment because of the length of the sword and Romeran's physical strength he had been able to maneuver enough of the blade to catch the Captain's sword and had just enough strength to parry even an awkwardly caught blow. But Romeran was fairly confident the Captain was pulling her feints early to give him more notice and was pretty sure that in a real fight Romeran would not have been so lucky.

The invitation to attack was an inevitable consequence of the sparring and Romeran had expected that he wouldn't be allowed to simply defend himself the entire time. He was still unsure of the best way to attack without leaving himself open to an immediate riposte. At least this was only a training spar which would give him an opportunity to learn from his mistakes rather than pay for them. The Captain was in a low guard now, sword pointing down. Romeran circled around her as Pele had done to him moments before, keeping his sword pointing roughly towards the captain.

After three or four steps, Romeran made up his mind. The Captain had made a sequence of two attacks against the dummy earlier in their session and he decided to try something similar. He stepped forward quickly with a horizontal thrust towards the captain's mid-section. Romeran fully expected the blow to be parried. Assuming the captain parried the attack, Romeran planned to rebound his sword in the opposing direction of the captain's blade and use the momentum to swing into a diagonal cutting attack at the Captain's shoulder, just as she had done to the dummy earlier. If the captain didn't parry but instead sidestepped the thrust, he would cross his back foot behind to square himself to the captain and continue with the diagonal attack to the shoulder. If the captain did neither... well Romeran hadn't thought of that.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

The talk they'd had on the mission to the Poros, followed by the talk in the barracks as Pele'd moved from the North Wing to her new room in the Officers Quarters, had led to several sparring sessions between Pele and Arnyn the past winter. Pele had requested Arnyn's help in determining just how much she had recovered physically from her ordeals in Umbar, entrusting the Hyandaner to help assess her current condition and to keep any shortcomings confidential, should that be the case. Arnyn was touched Pele confided in her thus, and had decided to take a more careful approach.

During their first session, which was a while ago now, Arnyn had tested Pele's strength and agility by sparring with her like she would have sparred with a new Ranger who claimed to have skills: with a wait-and-see countenance, adjusting her own force and speed to the person in front of her. Pele clearly wanted to show she was doing fine, but... Seeing that Arnyn wasn't sparring to her full capabilities and still winning bouts, Pele had realized it before Arnyn had to verbalize anything: the Captain was not at the strength she had thought she was. Training new Rangers would not prove an immediate problem, but sparring with a more seasoned Ranger or actual combat against an experienced opponent... was not to be advised.

During the first few sessions, the two Rangers had tried to pinpoint Pele's issues, to see what exactly was going wrong and what the Captain still needed to work on as part of her recovery. Strength and agility in general needed improving still, and especially Pele's shoulder was not yet back to the range of motion she needed to be combat effective. Those sessions had been a reality check for Pele, but Arnyn had shown understanding and encouragement instead of judgment, adopting a constructive attitude rather than a critiquing one. It was still easy to see that Pele was having a hard time being confronted with the reality of her situation, and the two women had agreed to let the Captain work by herself for a while, especially on her shoulder, before trying again.

Now spring was in full swing, they had agreed to reassess the situation. Arnyn was waiting for Pele at a more secluded part of the larger training grounds, where they would not easily be spotted. Arnyn was waiting in her full Ranger gear, as they had agreed on just that to paint a realistic battle situation - even if it was a sparring session and not an actual fight. Yet it was good to wear the proper equipment, so they could get a proper picture of Pele's battle readiness when it came to a melee.

As she waited, the Hyandaner turned her fair-skinned face to the sun, her dark brown eyes closed as she smiled faintly. Spring was a wonderful time of year...

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

Arnyn was in a good mood. The weather was warm but not hot, the sun and the clouds took turns in ruling the sky, and there was interesting work to be done.

She always found it interesting to train new Rangers, and had done so with her fair share of people in the past. Since the creation of Gondors Rangers, however, this would be her first trainee. The order had come in the day before. Arnyn had laughed briefly when she'd read the name Trastion. The mud-covered young man she had found in the stables and whom she had pointed Pele's way without giving him the chance to clean up? That would make for a funny moment.

A date and time had been set for them, as had their location: the first obstacle course of the grounds. Arnyn wasn't at all upset at the chosen spot: she rather enjoyed obstacle courses. Apparently, Trastion had little experience to speak of. The Captain probably thought it was good to test his balance and agility before putting a sword into his hand. Arnyn was curious. She always liked to assess current skills and then go from there.

Since she was a bit early, she eyed her surroundings and then shrugged. Might as well kill some time... The Hyandaner took position at the start of the obstacle course and after gathering her focus, she took off. Using balance, agility, flexibility and strength, she hopped and weaved her way through - unemcumbered by her weapons or other equipment. After a decade of committed training and field experience, they were as much an extention of her person as her limbs.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
@Arnyn

Pele had intended to have a good night’s sleep and rest well before the planned sparring session, but for one reason or another she had ended up tossing and turning, until she eventually decided to head over to the mess and have a cup of calming tea and something to nibble on. Her guard did not seem to be very sociable, but after insisting that a light-hearted conversation would aid in her finally finding some sleep, the guard relaxed ever so slightly and agreed to some chit-chat on random topics.

Having spent much of the night up meant that morning came with the deepest and sweetest sleep, which was rudely interrupted by loud knocking on the door. “Go away!” Pele had responded while still mostly asleep, and pulled the blanket over her head unwilling to let go of the pleasant dream she had been pulled out of. The knocking was repeated though, this time accompanied with the guard’s voice: “Training grounds, Captain!” Realisation that she might arrive late made sleep finally flee, and she sat up quickly. “Just a moment!” she called back her response.

It took more than a moment for Pele to get ready, yet eventually she jogged at an easy pace through the city, the guard who had relieved his comrade in the morning now at her side. She had chosen to wear a double protection of chainmail and leather to make the sound of her movement quieter as well. Her hands were protected by hard leather gauntlets with thin metal scales worked along the top to protect fingers, hands, and forearms. These did not necessarily make eating a hastily grabbed sandwich easy, so she had entrusted one of the gauntlets to her guard, while she ate on the run, her other hand keeping a firm grip on her scabbarded sword. She’d secured her dagger and a couple other smaller weapons in various locations on her person. Recurve bow and quiver with twenty arrows was secured on her back tightly enough so that it didn’t bounce during a run. Along with the supplies of water, some food, healing kit and some other useful things she looked as if she was going off for battle. Eventually they reached the training grounds, and there was Arnyn – apparently enjoying the sun.

“I hope I didn’t make you wait too long,” Pele said, as she came to a stop, the guard shadowing her two steps behind. She pushed her helm back a little to wipe off the perspiration from her forehead with the softer leather of the palm of her gloved hand. At least she had managed to finish eating her sandwich and to retrieve her other gauntlet from the guard before arrival, so as to look more professional. “Sort of ready for some action, and all that stuff,” she reported with a quiet laugh followed immediately by a hearty yawn, while she secured the scabbard, and the sword in it, at her belt.

~~~~~
Captain Pele Alarion
Training Romeran
@Romeran

“A lot of sword to block with, yes,” Pele repeated Romeran’s words, and added: “And also the same lot to handle.” While they had not chosen polearms, or even the largest swords available, even these still required both strength and skill to wield them successfully. Changing the direction of a longsword was not easy, and lack of speed and agility meant getting cut – or hit in this case. She had managed to retain both her footing and her weapon, but only just.

While she looked rather at ease, Pele did not let Romeran out of her sight, as she circled with him and tried to read and anticipate his attack. When he thrust his blade at her, Pele reacted with dual defences – moving her back foot, left one, to the side and back so that she rotated her whole body to move it out of the way – and raising her sword to meet Romeran’s now almost in a vertical position, hilt still upwards and point down.

The position was not very comfortable though, and she hastened to change it whilst noting the trajectory of Rome’s raised sword. This time she tried to move out of the way completely, taking a few steps to bring herself almost side by side with Romeran, while repositioning her sword to hold it tip upwards in case the Recruit would move with her and she would have to catch his sword to keep it from reaching her.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

It didn't take Trastion long to settle into his new dorm, seeing as the young man carried everything he owned in his pack, and had plenty of extra space in the trunk for more gear. Even with the stuff he'd been issued at the armory, it didn't take long to find a place for everything. Maybe once he had a chance to truly settle in and make it 'home', he'd end up with more things than he needed, but it was an odd thing to think about. Sometimes he missed his old life, but he also enjoyed the newfound freedom he'd had since leaving it behind. Now, he was starting a whole new life yet again, and it felt weird, yet also..very good. So far he had good hopes of getting along well with his roommate, and.. he hadn't really met a whole lot of the other rangers yet, but he hoped to fit in with them and, maybe eventually, feel like he was one of them.

Getting familiar with the city, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. He had spent most of yesterday simply trying to get familiar enough with where things were, so that he wouldn't get lost along the way to wherever he was trying to go. He almost couldn't believe how large the city was, being more accustomed to small villages. Thankfully, after getting lost a few times the day before, he had the general idea of how to get from one gate to another until he reached the main gate, but there was still so much to explore, he wasn't sure when he'd have time to do anymore, since his training was beginning today.

Wondering what sort of training he was to be doing today, Trastion found his way to the training ground, while some part of him felt as if he should have brought along some training gear. But, considering he wasn't sure where to find any, nor was he sure what sort of training gear might be needed for this, it seemed unlikely that he could have come completely prepared, so hopefully his trainer would have brought along anything they thought he might need. He wondered who that would be, as he passed through the gate into the training grounds, and looked around. The paper he had received stated that he was to meet his trainer at the first obstacle course, and it didn't take long to locate what appeared to be an obstacle course. Then a grin spread onto his face as he recognized the woman from the stable who had directed him to the Captain's office.

Leaning against a post as he watched her move through the course, he debated whether to call out and let her know he was there, or simply wait and let her find out in her own time. For the moment, he was content to watch what she was doing on the course, observing so he'd get an idea of what he would probably be expected to do. When it appeared that she had reached the end, Trastion called out then, "Good morning, Hyandaner!" He grinned. She made it all look very easy, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be as easy as it appeared.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

She was still holding her face up to the sky when Pele came to a halt and expressed her hopes. Arnyn turned her head toward her friend's voice, opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow when she saw Pele wiping off some sweat from her forehead. "You're late," Arnyn replied simply, foregoing the greeting as Pele had done herself. "I was early. Yet the wait was not unpleasant."

Her deep brown eyes fell on the guard a few paces behind her friend and Captain. "You have brought company today?" she inquired. Shifting her weight to one foot, Arnyn put her left hand on the pommel of her scabbarded longsword and addressed the man directly. "Will you be an active participant, sir?"

The guard cleared his throat and raised his hands. "No, ma'am," he said, mirroring the polite term almost automatically, "No - that is not why I'm here..."
Arnyn tapped the pommel with her index finger."Then why are you here?"
"Well, I'm... The King's orders, ma'am."
The Hyandaner gave him a level look. "I am well aware of the King's orders. That still does not explain why you are here."
"But... it's..." He looked over at Pele, as if beseeching her help. "I am to protect the Captain..."
Arnyn tilted her head. "From me?"
The guard opened his mouth as if to reply, then closed it again.
"Or are you instead saying I am incapable of protecting her?"
"No, no, I would never --"
"Then I reiterate: why are you here? Captain Alarion and I need privacy. Feel free to wait by the entrance. I will return the Captain to your care before leaving."
The guard hesitated, glancing between Arnyn and Pele intermittently. He clearly wasn't sure what the best thing to do was.
Arnyn frowned and her dark eyes seemed to darken more still. "Am I not speaking the common tongue?"
Intimidated, the man stepped back. "You are, ma'am... sir... Yes." He looked to Pele, to see if she would countermand the order he had somehow been given by someone who did not outrank him. When the Captain did no such thing, he nodded and gave them a salute before retreating into the direction of the entrance to the grounds.

Arnyn watched him go a ways before turning to Pele. "That was fun," she said calmly, with no more than a hint at a smile and a sparkle in her eyes to mark her amusement.

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

As she hopped down from the final platform, she heard Trastion calling out. He was here, then. Walking over to him, she flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulders. It was one of those days where she wasn't wearing it in her typical long braid.
"Good morning, my mud-covered friend!" she called back to him on her approach. Once she reached him, she nodded. "I'm honoured you decided to clean up for the occasion."

Clean as he may be, he did not exactly look prepared. It was true that recruits were not told what to expect or what to bring, but how they dealt with that gave Arnyn interesting clues about their personality. Some brought all they had - those recruits wanted very much to make a good impression and liked being prepared. Others made inquiries before they had to report in for training - those were quick thinkers, planners and unafraid to ask questions. Others still brought selected items, based on what they assumed they would be doing - those based their actions on logic, although making assumptions could be a dangerous thing. And then... there were those like Trastion: they showed up with nothing in particular, just their innocent enthusiasm. And that last group of recruits either tended to be used to having things handed to them or arranged for them, or they didn't stop to think.

Arnyn made a mental note to find out which of those two categories Trastion fit into.

"I dare conclude things with the Captain went well." Of course they had - he was here, after all. "So I was correct? No kicking?"

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

A grin spread onto his face as she greeted him back. "Well, who's to say I won't end up covered in mud by the time we're done?" He shrugged, a slight smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. "You were right, no kicking, although I think her horse was thinking about it." He added with a smile, in reply to her latter comment. "So, you were going to tell me what Hyandaner means, weren't you?" He reminded her, wondering if she'd forgotten that.

His gaze landed on the sword she wore, and he hesitated, the smile falling slightly. "Uh.. was I supposed to bring my actual sword?" He asked in surprise. "I... thought there'd be training swords... and I figured they'd be kept here at the training grounds, so..." He admitted a bit awkwardly, feeling a little idiotic now for that assumption. That was how things had worked, back home when he used to train, and he had simply assumed it would be the same here. "Should I go back and get it?" He really had no one to blame but himself, he realized. He could've asked his roommate, if not the captain herself, what he'd need to bring.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

She laughed briefly when he questioned whether he would remain mud-free. "Who knows," she replied, amused. "Ah, she sent you to see Temper? He's a very.. specific type of horse. More of a biter than a kicker, but I gather you suffered neither."

As Trastion asked her about the meaning of Hyandaner again, and then immediately looked at her sword and grew worried about not having brought his own, Arnyn couldn't hold back a grin. She shook her head and the grin faded into a merely friendly expression. "Hyandaner is Quenya." She put her right hand on her sword handle and pulled her hand-and-a-half sword from the scabbard slowly. Her eyes travelled past the ruby encrusted at the top of the hilt, and down the blade. "Hyanda," she said, before looking back to Trastion. "And -ner means... warrior."

"I'm a Hyandaner because my preferred weapon is the sword and because it was determined I distinguished myself enough with my sword skills to be named as such." She gave her next words some thought before she spoke them. "Hyandaner holds more meaning to me than its simple translation, but that is personal, perhaps." She had a long history with the term, after all. "A Ranger could also be named a Cuner for the bow, an Ehtyar for the spear, a Peleconner for the axe... A Tirdinen, for tracking and scouting. A Yantyar, for supportive roles such as logistics, weapons crafting, and what have you." Arnyn tilted her head. "No matter how good you are, however, you can only carry one such title. Some must choose what they wish to be known for."

She sheathed her sword and looked Trastion in the eyes. "You are to stay here, recruit Trastion. Surely I am not so frightening you feel the need to run away already?"
"You brought a sword with you?" she asked. "From home? Or did you pay a visit to the armory and weapons chamber? What equipment do you have, back in your room?" That is where anything he had would be, she supposed, since he had not brought it with him.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

"Temper wasn't so bad as I was expecting," He shrugged, smiling slightly. He'd been expecting much worse, as he had dealt with a very mean-tempered horse before. "He seems to like apples, at least." Trastion tilted his head and listened curiously as the ranger explained about Hyandanar's meaning. He'd known that it was Quenya, but it had been some time since he actually did any studying of that, and so he couldn't quite place the meanings of the words. "Ahh," he nodded as she explained the words to him, as well as what Hyandaner actually was; a title of sorts. That would explain why he had been sent to her to train, he thought.

He was surprised by her question if he was frightened by her, until he realized it was meant teasingly. He smiled back, relaxing slightly. "No ma'am," He answered with a grin. "Should I be afraid?" He meant it jokingly back, and vaguely wondered if he ought to take such a casual tone with the person who was to be his trainer... but she hadn't reprimanded him yet, so hopefully it was fine. "I was issued a sword at the armory," He explained. "A hand-and-a-half sword with a diamond-shaped blade, about forty-two inches long..." He paused, realizing maybe he shouldn't have spouted off so many details. "And a shield, and some armor," He tried to remember if there was anything else, and shrugged. "Basic stuff, I guess?"

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
@Arnyn

"Company?" Pele repeated Arnyn's words, and then turned to take note of her guard. It seemed that she was already getting so used to being shadowed by her guards that she did not pay them too much attention; besides, she was in a hurry because of lateness and had not thought of telling him not to follow her into the training grounds. "Ah yes..."

When her friend started talking down to the guard, Pele quietly entertained herself, trying not to show too obviously that she was greatly amused by how it went. Eventually, she took pity on the guard and offered a small nod to confirm the orders to leave the two of them be. Returning the salute of the flustered man, she looked after him only for a moment before turning her attention back to Arnyn.

"It seems to me that you are only adding to the dislike the citadel guards will soon have towards guarding me," Pele said with a laugh. "Can't say that I'm really mistreating them, but sometimes I like to tease them. Also, I have found that they do not make for good participants in tea-time conversations or very punctual alarm clocks; not that it is a part of their duties either way."

Kneeling on one knee on the ground, Pele took off her glove and then removed her pack to fish a water flask out of it and took a few sips of refreshingly cool water, as she turned her thoughts towards training. "Right. You want to test my skills with me carrying bag, bow and such, assuming that this is like a situation of walking straight into a battle situation, yes?" At least her recurve bow was rather compact and fit well enough on her back without getting in the way of sword, should she need to swing it in an arc of sorts. She then fell silent for a while, her knee still resting on the ground, as she tried to muster her mind and body to be united in a single focus on training. For some reason Pele found it difficult to look at things in a distinctly professional light this morning, even though she knew it was a must.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

"Aha, you resorted to bribery," she nodded, referring to Temper. That wasn't the worst idea with Pele's horse.

When Trastion asked whether he should be afraid and grinned, Arnyn tilted her head. She could be serious, but she could also enjoy a good jest. When she did jest, it wasn't always immediately obvious to everyone, because she didn't always sport the typical accompanying grin, nor did her words always have that joking tone. It threw off some, and she would be lying if she didn't take pleasure in that now and again.
"I think not," she responded calmly when he asked if he should be afraid. "Unless you start to misbehave." Not that many people were around currently who could tell Trastion about her reputation with the ranger force in one of its previous installments, and apparently Pele hadn't shared it with him either. Arnyn smiled faintly. All the better. It was more fun for people to find out on their own.

"A hand-and-a-half sword, a shield, and some armor," she repeated. A slight frown settled on her face. "Basic stuff..."

Arnyn inhaled a slow, deep breath as she took in the recruit in front of her again. "Although there are some who carry one, I would not call a shield basic equipment for a Ranger, Trastion. Be that as it may... when I ask you a question, I expect you to answer it in full. No vagueness. You described your sword properly. I am sure you can manage the same for your armor." After a moment's thought, she nodded and decided to lead by example.

"For instance, my equipment. You will build up options over the years, and can choose to wear what you feel best suits the situation. I have a lighter and a heavier set, but usually I opt for the lighter one, since it is easier to travel in, move around in and suits my overall style better." She tapped her black leather cuirass, which displayed the White Tree and Seven Stars on the front. "I wear a leather cuirass consisting of a double layered leather breastplate and backplate. In between the layers, steel plates protest the most vulnerable areas of the torso. The neck and shoulder armor is similarly made; you could either call this a high collar or a low neck guard, and it has hardened leather pauldrons and layered rerebraces attached. The vambraces are hardened leather as well. Underneath I wear linen in summer, wool in winter; a shirt and/or a lighter or heavier gambeson, that depends on the situation and the weather. On my hands, supple leather gloves: fingerless in summer, not so in winter. My knee-length boots are supple leather as well, but my shins gain extra cover by the hardened leather greaves. I left my hooded cloak at home today, and I have a long mail shirt I can wear under the leathers, but I only take that with me if we are traveling with horses, so I don't have to carry it around all the time."

After a pause, she continued. "I carry a hand-and-a-half sword as well, as you just saw." She wore it in a back scabbard today, specially adjusted so she could draw it easily over her shoulder, despite its length. Carrying the long weapon on her back rather than at her hip made it much easier to maneuver around the obstacle course. "I left my shortbow and quiver at home today, but it is my secondary weapon." She patted the dagger on the left side of her belt. "Did you get a dagger? I strongly advise one, it can serve you well in a multitude of situations and doesn't weigh much nor does it hinder you or slow you down." The brace of throwing knives on her right hip were next. "Three throwing knives. Just a few, since they do not serve most situations. But they have come in handy in the past. I have a short sword as well, but I carry that less frequently and generally only when I leave the bow."

Finished, she raised an eyebrow at Trastion. "Now. Try again."

***
Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

"Sorry, Captain," Arnyn said with a slight smile. "Sometimes I cannot resist a bit of... fun. Yet, if he wasn't going to take part, there truly was no need for him to be here. Of course, if you disagree with my opinion and you would prefer him to return, I can go apologize for my presumption and invite him back to join us?"

At Pele's question, Arnyn nodded. "I would prefer to start that way, yes. To see where you are at currently and what needs improving further. However, first things first. How is your shoulder treating you these days? Any stiffness left? Also, can you draw the full weight of your bow? Does anything still affect your archery?" She had been wondering if that was another matter to think about, or whether the sword was to be their only focus. They had mainly worked on sword flxibility, strength and speed during earlier sessions, and after finding Pele still had bigger issues to work through first, had agreed to postpone the continuation of their work together. But now that Pele had mentioned her bow, she might as well cover that subject, too.

Meanwhile, her right hand was loose and ready at her side. Part of her was always ready for unexpected movements, even from a friend who was sitting down on one knee and who had an amused tone of voice. If Pele was thinking about catching her off guard, she would have a very hard time at it.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
@Arnyn

"You can't be serious, Arnyn! Apologise to the guard?" Pele tilted her head slightly and let out a merry laugh, as she packed away her water provisions again. "I'm happy not to be under his watchful eye constantly. This one was following me so closely that I barely had space to breathe. Forgot to leave him at the gate since I was in a hurry." While she seemed to fumble with her bag, Pele still managed to observe Arnyn's stance thoughtfully. "Should use some of my secret stash of herbs tonight, perhaps," she mentioned under her breath, a slightly mischievous glint in her eye.

Eventually she stood and shouldered her bag again, adjusting the straps to a tight fit. "I've done as much of homework on that shoulder and general fitness as I could; it is surprising how much time it takes to get back into proper shape. It's been what - two years, more..." It was one thing to provide healer's advice to other people, but somehow Pele put herself in a different category and wanted to get things done fast, disregarding all the details of her circumstances. It had taken her a long time to recover enough to be able to make a proper escape, and then the travel had taken such a long time - she hadn't had time to think of anything else except mere survival and avoiding her pursuers. Yet, she was so tired of dealing with all sorts of problems that appeared to pop up constantly and wanted to be all fit and whole again. Right now!

"It should be fine," she concluded, and tested the range of motion by making a few big arm circles back and forth to warm up both of her shoulders. Then she spent a few extra efforts on the right one, bending her arm at the elbow and rotating it, and then making a few swinging motions with an imaginary sword. "I have not used my bow for quite some time, so it would be nice to see how it looks in practice, since I've taken it with me anyway."

Feeling that the short warmup had limbered her up a little, Pele reached for her sword, and raised it up playfully, aiming to catch the reflection of the sun on the blade. Her eyes followed the blade up to the very tip and remained there, and then without warning she brought the sword down in an arc, as she moved into a lunge, aiming for Arnyn's legs. Her gaze, no longer absent-minded, watched her friend intently to see whether she'd meet her sword or simply avoid it, but this much she know - it was unlikely that anything she did would take the experienced Hyandaner by surprise.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

Listening to the Hyandaner begin to describe all of her gear, Trastion grew more and more amazed, realizing just how armed this woman was. Maybe he had reason to be afraid after all, though he dismissed that. She was here to train him, not kill him. Although he did vaguely wonder if she ever had homicidal tendencies, before mentally shrugging that thought off. She's a ranger, he reminded himself, and a highly skilled and probably well respected one, at that. Still, the amount of weapons she carried was quite impressive, and a little intimidating.

"Sorry ma'am," He answered at last, a little awkward and mentally kicking himself for not finishing the descriptions, before. "I got excited about the sword, and then thought I shouldn't bore you with all those details and such." He took a breath, thinking for a moment about what equipment he had received from the lady in the armory, then decided to start with the simplest question first. "I do have a dagger," He was pleased to reply. "Not from the armory though. That's one thing I already owned. I carry it always. I suppose it's a bit more accurately described as a hunting knife, but it works as a dagger, as well." He paused, then figured he should try and be more descriptive. "It has a polished mahogany handle with a metal scroll-ish inlay, and brass on either end; the blade is carved with more scroll-like designs, and I carry it in a leather sheath, at my back where it isn't as obvious." He drew the knife/dagger and held it out, handle-first, so that she could inspect it. Seeing it, and how decorative it looked, made him suddenly a little self-conscious about how expensive it probably appeared, and fidgeted slightly. "It belonged to... someone very important to me," He added quietly, as an explanation in case she wondered.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to recall all the gear he had gotten from the armory. "As for what I got from the armory... I got the uniform, of course," He was wearing that, figuring it would be expected, "And a maille shirt. That has riveted rings, the lady made sure to tell me, and it hangs about to my hips. There's a gambeson, I believe it's a light-weight one, but I didn't compare it to the others the lady had there." What else? He had mentioned a shield, so he supposed he ought to describe it next. "She gave me a simple, round shield made of wood. I wasn't sure if I was going to need one or not, and she didn't know whether it was standard, but I guess she figured it wouldn't hurt to add that to my gear." He explained with a shrug. "And then there's a leather jerkin, and leather bracers to match." He frowned, struggling to think if he'd left anything out. "I... think that's everything, unless I've forgotten something." He concluded, and gave a hopeful smile. "Was that better?"

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

She let him speak while he would, listening carefully as she watched his demeanor and general body language. Arnyn took the dagger when Trastion held it out to her, running a finger over the flat of the blade as he continued. It was elaborate. Fancy. Did Trastion come from money? Or had it been a gift from this person who had been important to him, and had this person been the one with means?
Her dark eyes returned to the recruit when he started talking about armor, and she held the dagger back out for him. If the small weapon was emotionally meaningful to him, she imagined he would prefer her not holding onto it for long. Besides, there was no need for her to do so.

When he was done and asked if that had been 'better', the right corner of her lips curled upward. "Yes, Trastion. That was much better. In the future, you can assume that when I ask you about something, I am looking for a well-thought out reply and giving me one will not bore me." She slanted her head with a slight frown. "And even though you were issued all of these things, you did not think you should bring any of it to your first training session?"

"I can understand the reasoning when it comes to weapons, if you are not yet used to fighting. Practice weapons would be best at first, anyway, that much is true. We are not looking to seriously injure or kill our recruits, after all." Arnyn looked mildly amused. "However, you also neglected to take any of your armor with you. Why is that, exactly?"

***
Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

A small smile formed in reply to Pele's surprise at her earlier suggestion to apologize to the guard. "From the sound of it, I might need to apologize on your behalf rather than my own," Arnyn laughed, still watching Pele's every move.

When her friend said her shoulder should be fine, Arnyn nodded. She would put that statement to the test, then. "You could try your hand at the range later, perhaps," Arnyn suggested. She had a feeling that they would be using their swords first and foremost - and she was not at all opposed to that. When Pele took out her sword and raised it into the air, Arnyn watched her friend's feet and shoulders. She remembered Pele's proclivity to unexpected attacks perfectly. It was a technique her friend often used on Rangers in training, as well.
But Arnyn was not a Ranger in training.

Most fighters would also move back.
But Arnyn was not most fighters.

Instead, as Pele's right foot went forward during her lunge's execution, Arnyn's left foot moved a large step forward also while angling her body sideways. Now very close to the Captain, Arnyn's left hand moved for Pele's sword hilt, aiming to lock her left hand over Pele's right. Arnyn brought her right hand to the small space at the top of the hilt, between the crossguard and Pele's right hand, and was planning on tightly holding onto Pele's sword with her right hand while leting go with her left hand to hit the bone of her forearm against Pele's throat.

If successful, it would unbalance Pele at least and disarm her completely at best, leaving Arnyn in control of Pele's weapon while the Hyandaner had yet to draw her own blade.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

The parry came as Romeran had expected and his sword struck the captain's vertical blade with a clang. That Pele had also sidestepped had not been expected but he had planned already for a possible evasion rather than parry and so he continued, rotating around after the captain as he swung his blade at an angle towards her. He stepped forward and across his left foot so that he employed nearly a half-turn of rotation into the attack as he turned to face the captain. Unsurprisingly, the captain had expected this and he found that her blade was already moved and angled up to intercept the attack. The two blades struck again and the sound and recoil of the collision was becoming more familiar.

As the blades collided, Romeran's sword slid down the captain's pushing their blades down towards the hilt. Romeran was not interested in getting into an interlocked position with the cross guard. While he was fairly confident he was stronger than the captain he was confident that he would live to regret an attempt to try and lock their weapons. Instead he pushed off against the captain's sword, taking a half step back with his left foot. With his sword rebounding, Romeran swung it around in the other direction, brining his hands in front of his face. He ended the maneuver with a symmetric downwards attack from Romeran's left hand side, above his head.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

Taking the dagger back, Trastion felt slightly relieved she didn't ask more about it. The less questioned asked about his past, the better. Unfortunately, he couldn't bear to part with that dagger, even to leave it safely in the dorm. His dorm, he reminded himself. Or at least, his and Mourgan's dorm. Sharing a room with someone was going to take some adjustment, and he supposed it probably would for the other guy too.

He dropped his gaze to the ground as the Hyandanar asked why he hadn't brought along any of the armor or anything, and refrained from fidgeting. How could he explain that, without telling too much about his past? This was a new challenge for him, and it seemed that it was proving more and more challenging than when he worked simple jobs. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself to give a proper answer, not some vague one that she wouldn't accept. "I didn't think that armor would be needed, if we were using practice weapons, ma'am," He explained with a slight shrug. Back home, they hadn't begun using armor in their training sessions until they were much more advanced, but he couldn't tell about that, here. "I should have asked someone, I realize that now." He had a feeling he was failing this whole thing already.

Still, he wasn't planning to give up so easily, and hoped to still redeem himself. "What can I do to correct my mistake, ma'am?" He looked up again, determined to do better, and hopefully not make any stupid mistakes again.

[Pele Alarion]

Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen
@Arnyn

Pele had expected that Arnyn would move aside to retrieve her own sword, and now she was caught. She did not like fighting in such close quarters that did not give her enough space to move around freely, but now there was no immediate way of escape. She had committed to a forward movement and could not reverse it before Arnyn was already on her.

Seeing no way of disengaging without letting go of her sword, Pele instinctively made several adjustments to protect herself against onslaught as well as she could in the circumstances. She clenched her jaw and tucked her chin to take the hit in a sturdier fashion than the absolute vulnerability of her throat would allow; at the same time, she hunched her shoulders slightly upwards and shifted her weight forward in an attempt to not be knocked over too easily.

The adjustments in her posture had caused her chin, and even shoulder, take the brunt of the impact, yet it left Pele feeling slightly shaken. She moved her right leg closer and slightly to her right to stabilise her stance and rotated her whole body a little in the same direction, and then balled her left hand into a fist, searching for an opening over her right arm and under Arnyn’s left to land a punch in a form of some unwieldy upper cut.

Meanwhile, she kept holding on to the sword, though she did not attempt to pull it away yet, feeling that she would not have enough strength for such a move unless she repositioned herself – but that was not easy with Arnyn holding on to the sword as well and limiting the control Pele had over it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Training Recruit Romeran
@Romeran

It seemed to Pele that even though Romeran was not used to handling a sword, he was already doing reasonably well and managed to keep up with her to continue his attacks. She narrowed her eyes when their weapons came close to getting locked up, but Romeran pushed away. She did not pursue him and also moved back – only a step with her right leg to create just a bit more space.

Giving the situation a quick assessment, she angled her sword to meet Romeran’s and looked at their weapons as if her whole attention was there. She kept the pressure on the sword to keep it engaged, as she quickly stepped in with her right foot and aimed a kick with her left the knee of Rome’s lead leg.

She was curious to see whether he would be solely focused on dealing with the swords, or if he would be able to see the whole picture of what she was up to and protect himself from other sorts of attacks too. As quickly as she had moved to kick, she retreated again and pulled away her sword from Romeran’s, keeping it upwards at the ready.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

Arnyn regarded Trastion for a while, in silence. She seemed to be considering his question.

"You did not think that armor would be needed, if we were using practice weapons," she repeated with a single, slow nod. She watched her recruit for a moment longer, as if she was trying to gauge his mettle. Then she moved her hand in a dismissive motion. "We will not be correcting anything." Her tone was not unkind; in fact, it was friendly, but also very decided and calm. "You will complete today's session with what you came here with. And you can decide next time whether armor is or is not needed with practice weapons."

A slight smile tugged at her lips, and her dark eyes glinted with hidden amusement as she gestured at the obstacle course. "But first, Recruit Trastion. Let me see what our Captain has sent my way. As a warm up, I would like for you to run a circle around this course five times and give me twenty-five push ups. Then I want you to run this course, and return to the spot where you are standing now." She tilted her head. "I always start my day with push ups - and a number of other exercises, but that is of no matter - and I ran down to the grounds from my home in the city. You saw me finishing the course as you arrived. I never ask Rangers in training to do anything I wouldn't or couldn't do myself."

"You may begin." Arnyn held out a hand to the obstacle course. Once Trastion began, she would start a slow walk around the course, and lean against a pole on the other side until he either gave up on or finished his assignment.

***
Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

Her hit didn't catch Pele's throat, but her chin and shoulder instead. Arnyn saw the Captain's counter coming, however: since it came from Pele's left hand, it had quite a distance to travel as far as hand to hand moves went since Arnyn was over on Pele's right side, and since Pele's fist had to go under Arnyn's arm to try and reach her it was easy enough for the Hyandaner to move her left forearm down to strike at Pele's now extended left arm. Arnyn turned along with Pele as the officer rotated her body, so she could stay where she had been before as opposed to her adversary, and the Captain's punch therefore did not land.

Arnyn used the downward motion of her left arm to try and grab Pele's left wrist, and slid her right foot forward along with her weight, bending forward toward her right knee with her torso and pulling at both Pele's sword hand and her left wrist (if successful), to try and unbalance the Captain in a forward motion. Even if she didn't catch the left wrist, it Pele would still have to step forward to avoid falling over or surrendering her sword. Arnyn started turning to her right slightly as well, and surrender her (possible) hold on Pele's left wrist in order to press her left elbow down on Pele's extended sword arm.

[Romeran]

Ranger Recruit Romeran
Studying under Captain Pele
@Pele Alarion

Thus far the sparring was going better than Romeran had anticipated. He had managed to parry or otherwise avoid the Captain's attacks, albeit Romeran still believed she had been intentionally slow with her feints. So far while he had not connected with an attack he hadn't expected to do so. The sword was beginning to feel less awkward in his hands as the weight and balance was becoming more familiar. No sooner had he redirected his sword to attack again than Pele had adjusted her sword to parry the attack. Even though he saw the block coming, Romeran was not skilled enough to attempt to redirect the attack before it collided.

The ring of steel was becoming a familiar noise as the two swords struck yet again. Romeran was finding it more difficult as the sparring continued to plan out his attacks in advance. He found himself reacting, he understood how constant training would make for a more efficient fighter, honing the instincts and opening the mind during the fight. He had become distracted by his own musing and did not see the captain's kick coming in.

As their swords were still locked and Romeran was distracted failing think ahead, the captain's foot struck Romeran's forward leg on the outside of his knee. The unexpected blow forced Romeran to cave his knee and he swung his sword out and upwards partly in an attempt to deflect the captain's sword from an opportunity attack but mostly out of falling off balance from the attack. With his leg already bent from the attack Romeran crouched and swept his front leg, which had been kicked, back, and pivoted to continue facing the captain. He resisted the urge to rub his knee, he was sure that it would leave a bruise. Attempting to recover and avoid any reprisal, Romeran backed away several steps, keeping his sword angled up and forward towards Captain Pele. With great power of will, Romeran managed not to limp as he did so.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Trastion Leithor
New recruit

Somehow it seemed that every time he attempted to make a good impression on someone, things went wrong and he messed it all up, and today was no exception. Trastion wasn't quite sure what to think when the Hyandanar told him that there would be no correcting his mistake. He felt like everything stopped for a second or two; his heartbeat, his breath, everything. She was failing him already? He hadn't even begun ranger training and he was already going to get tossed out! But then, relief settled in as she carried on, and he exhaled slowly. It took him a few seconds for the realization to set in, of what it might mean to continue today's training with what he had brought. He blinked, but before he had a chance to say anything, she had assigned him to run laps around the course.

Run five laps? He glanced over the course, nodding slowly, thinking it shouldn't be too hard. But then twenty-five push-ups, and then go through the course. The course didn't look too hard, he thought, but the push-ups, he couldn't quite think if he'd ever actually done one of those before. He'd seen it done by others, in the logging camps, and in the quarry, but somehow his mind blanked in that moment. "Yes ma'am," He answered slowly, his mind racing, trying to think whether he could do push-ups. Pull-ups he could do fine, having done those often whilst climbing trees or up rocky cliffs just for the fun of it, but that was different. Taking off at a run, he began the first lap while still going through his memory to try and decide whether he'd ever attempted to do push-ups before. It couldn't be too difficult, he assured himself, if she could do it. He should be fine.

The five laps were finished before long, and Trastion pushed back a bit of damp hair from his forehead as he slowed to a stop near his instructor. "Twenty-five?" He asked, mostly rhetorically, as he went to the ground. Push-ups were a little harder than he anticipated, Trastion discovered. After the first one, he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to manage the next twenty-four, but gritted his teeth and kept at it, pausing between each one to breathe and prepare himself for the next, determined that he was going to get through this. It seemed to take forever before he had passed the half-way point, and then, finally, only a couple more. And at last, he completed the last one, though he wasn't sure how he'd done it, and sat up on his knees. That was definitely something he'd have to work on, and get better at, he told himself, surprised by how much of one's core muscles were used in the exercise, not just arm muscles.

Slowly, he got to his feet, with his mind made up he would not complain at all about the exercises. Though, his respect for her grew a bit after realizing how much harder push-ups were than they looked. "And the course," He pushed his hair back again, wiping some sweat from his forehead, and stared at the first obstacle, a thing with some horizontal poles suspended in the air. He couldn't make sense of its actual purpose. "Uh, sorry, but... just what do I do here?" He turned back to look at her, quite confused. "I only caught the end of your run-through, so.. I didn't see what you did on some of this stuff." He added apologetically.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

Arnyn watched him run, making mental notes as he did so. She merely nodded when he confirmed the number of push ups she'd requested. Trastion went through them with effort, but he finished them. His stance was poor, but he never asked any questions.

Finally, a question came. The blonde Ranger waved away his apology. "Don't apologize for asking questions, Trastion. You are welcome to ask all the questions you need to, or would like to." Her dark eyes sparkled for a moment. "I don't bite."

"I will run through the course again for you, so you know what is expected of you. But first..." She tilted her head. "When you're running here, you're running to warm up, not running because you're late somewhere. There is no need for long strides - to the contrary. Reduce the length of your strides," she advised him, starting off at a run around the course herself, to show him what she meant.

Her steps were not long at all, and her speed was medium. Her cadence was ryhthmic. As she ran, she continued. "The longer your stride is, the more ground you cover, but you're placing too much stress on your body. The energy you need to propel your body over a long stride, is too high. The impact on the ground is also too high. It may be counterintuitive, but think many small steps, instead. Furthermore, keep your chin up and your shoulders back. Keep your hands close to your torso and don't turn into your arm movements too much - don't rotate your pelvis as you run, like this -" she showed him what she meant and let her hands and arms cross over her central line, exaggerating the movement to make it clearer. "Instead, do this," she said, and her arms moved forward and back but not over the center of her torso.

After finishing the lap and returning to Trastion, she lowered herself into a planking position, gear and all. "When doing push ups, keep your entire body straight. Think of yourself as an arrow. From your ankles to your head, your body should be one straight line. Don't do this..." She let her back slump a bit, causing her hips to dip. "... nor this..." She overcorrected then, pushing her body up too much and making an angle between her legs and her back. "One line." She returned to the full plank. "Hands underneath your shoulders. Shoulder-width apart and right under your shoulders. When you lower yourself down to the ground -" she did what she said, "you keep your body in that straight line. You go down until your face almost touches the ground. And then you push yourself back up." She repeated the process, slowly, to let him see what she meant. "The slower you do it, the more difficult it is, of course. When I ask you for push ups, I don't want you to go too fast, but there is no need to go this slowly." She showed him a couple more push ups. "This is the commonly expected speed."

Arnyn straightened again, running a hand through her long hair as she watched Trastion. "If I ask you to do something and you have questions... I'm right here," she reminded him. "Now, as for the obstacle course..."

She approached the first obstacle and extended her arms to grab onto the beginning of one of the horizontal poles. "You hold onto the crossbeam with both hands," Arnyn pulled herself up somewhat, then raised her legs to cross her ankles over the pole. "And then you move." Hand over hand, she started hang-crawling to the other end of the pole, pulling her lower legs/ankles with her every so often. The pole angled upward some, and at the end she lowered her legs until her feet easily found the crossbeam at the end, suspended a ways above the ground. Arnyn turned over first one of her hands, then the other, so she could face the other way, then let go of one hand to find her balance on the beam and then let go completely.

Next were a set of 4 hurdles: two were set low, at about knee height, and two were set high, at about chest height. "Under the low hurdles and over the taller ones," she called out, doing what she said whilst taking into account she had her longsword strapped to her back and needed to make sure it cleared the hurdles also.

A balance beam was next, which she hopped onto and ran over like it was nothing. "You can go slow here if you like," she called out to Trastion, after which she run up an angled wall and pushed over the top to jump down from the other side. Arnyn stepped onto a knee-high beam to grab the first of what they called the monkey bars. At the tenth and last bar, she dropped down gracefully, only to start climbing a tall ladder-like obstacle, clim over the top and climb back down on the other side.

A patch of different-sized stumps were next. Arnyn stepped, almost hopped, from one stump to the next, never putting two feet down on the same stump. "Some of these are large enough for both of your feet. So feel free to use the option."

After a few obstacles more, the last of which involved a rope clim onto a platform, she jumped back to the ground. She jogged back to the recruit, breathing deeper but with a smile on her face. She really did enjoy these courses. "Your turn."

[Pele Alarion]

@Arnyn
Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

Pele's attempt to get to Arnyn had done no good, and now she had ended up with her arms crossed which only further complicated her already uncomfortable position. Her arm bent under the downward strike, and even though Pele hastened to withdraw it, she found that Arnyn caught it at the last moment.

For a few moments she struggled against the pull, but she did not have enough leverage to resist, so she gave in eventually. Pele took a long step forward with her left foot and then went down on her right knee. She reached for the sword hilt with her freed left hand as well, and then decided to change the target and take a hold of Arnyn's right wrist if she could.

She felt that if she did not do anything quickly, the Hyandaner would pull her over as she was turning away. Applying all the strength she could muster, Pele twisted her body as far left as she could, and did her best to pull the sword - and if she were lucky - Arnyn too, in the same direction with both of her hands.

[Karis Ziranphel]

Karis Ziranphel - Cûner

The sun was bright in the afternoon as Ziranphel made her way to the range located to the side of the practice fields outside the city, and a light breeze lifted her hair. There was a decent small range at the headquarters complex, but after a morning full of assisting with filing reports she had wanted a walk and wide open spaces. Besides, this range had more varied target options and even a field course.

The archery shed had plenty of gear but she had carried her own along, as had been her custom ever since she had her first bow commissioned years past. The full quiver rested at her back, buckled over her plain brown leather jerkin, and she had carried the longbow unstrung in her hand. As usual while on duty, she had her blades belted over her hips, and her dark grey trousers were tucked into supple boots.

Deciding to start with a warm up shoot at the closer targets before venturing to more challenging ones, she took her station. Bracing the lower tip against her instep, she pulled up on the grip and pushed down and sway at the upper limb, smoothly sliding the string over the tip. She looked it over critically and gave it a test draw. Satisfied, she shifted into an easy stance and drew the first arrow from her quiver to set to the string. In combat she didn’t have the luxury of time, but here she could focus and take a breath, settling her shoulders and choosing her point of aim on the target before drawing the bow, pausing for less than a heartbeat at full draw, and loose-ing to send the arrow winging to its mark.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Recruit Trastion Leithor

Blinking, Trastion listened to the lengthy list of corrections she had. He didn't know there was a right or wrong way to run, but nodded, trying to remember the various things she told him. "Right, a straight line. Thanks," He was trying not to get overwhelmed with all the information coming at him. It seemed like a lot to take in, but he knew that with practice, he would get it right. Eventually. He'd had a feeling he was doing the push-ups somewhat wrong, but at least she hadn't demanded that he do them over again. He'd get it better next time. Hopefully. And he planned to practice that in his dorm before bed, assuming he wasn't too exhausted by the time he was finished with the day.

Watching Hyandaner Arnyn go through the course, Trastion walked along so that he could better see how she was doing things, nodding in understanding as he came to understand how some of the equipment was used. Some looked rather strange, but now that he saw it in use, things made sense. "Alright, my turn," He was quite impressed how she could go through all that while wearing a sword, and it didn't get caught or slide out of the sheath or anything. He knew well enough how difficult it could be to do things with a sword, and how easily they could end up sliding out of the sheath.

Studying the first obstacle now with understanding, he smiled. It shouldn't be much different than climbing out on a tree limb, he thought, jumping up to grab onto the beam. Trastion was very familiar with tree climbing, and figured it shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish the obstacle, given his experience with trees and climbing in general. Much to his surprise, he nearly slipped off a few times, partway across. He didn't say anything, not wanting to call attention to it, and hoped that she didn't notice. It was more difficult to hold on with his upper arms aching from the push-ups he'd done earlier, and the muscles were slightly burning as he pushed them to do more work.

The hurdles gave him still more trouble, as he wasn't very used to trying to slide under low-hanging branches. He'd normally have jumped over those, and ducked under the high ones, but here he had to do the opposite. He ended up half-crawling under, not sure what else to do, and looked a bit skeptically at the taller ones. Still, leaping over things all through his childhood and teens had earned a great deal of scolding from his mother, and he grinned slightly to himself as he recalled how he and his brother used to jump diagonally off the porch of the manor, over the flower beds, landing on the lawn. And get scolded by not only their mother, but the gardener as well, for knocking off flowers or scuffing up the lawn. His boots hit the dirt now, instead of the neatly clipped lawn of his family estate, after a few failed attempts at swinging himself over the upper beam, much like he had done before in the stable yard, jumping over the fence, with one hand gripping the beam to help propel him up and over, although it didn't occur to him to ask whether it was actually acceptable to use his hands to help.

Not expecting the balance beam to give him much trouble, Trastion jumped up onto it. With all the times, growing up, that he would walk across fallen logs, sometimes using those as a bridge across the river, or balancing along the top of fences, he figured this was hardly a challenge. This was barely off the ground, although it was a bit narrower than some things he chose to balance on, and it didn't have any bark on it to provide grip. He started off about as fast as she had done it, but after a few steps he swayed, holding his arms out to either side as he came close to toppling off. Still, he remained stubbornly on the beam as if there were molten lava underneath, and finished it without too much difficulty, though at a slower pace. Who would've thought his childish games that he still continued with would actually be of help, for something like this?

Smiling slightly at that thought, he finished the beam and hopped down as if leaping into a safe zone, then paused at the monkey bars, and grabbed hole of the first. This was not something he had ever seen before, but he knew that he had plenty of arm strength. However, his arms again protested this action, reminding him with fiercer burning that he had recently done some push ups which he wasn't used to doing. And trying to swing from one bar to the next made them hurt even more so. He gritted his teeth, hanging for a little bit, both hands gripping the same bar.

The bars felt a bit slippery, though it might have been his hands being sweaty by now. His forehead grew more sweaty, making his hair stick to his forehead, and he wanted to brush it back but his hands were occupied. He had to keep moving, he reminded himself, or he'd be stuck here forever. Moving slowly and carefully across, his arms burning a little bit more with each swing forward, Trastion soon grew worried that he was going to slip off, and tried to hurry up. In his haste he actually missed the bar he was reaching for, gasping as he closed his eyes as he struggled to maintain a tight grip on the one he had. He imagined he was suspended from a high cliff, and reached forward, fumbling a bit as he searched for the next bar and grabbed onto it with his fingertips, before adjusting his grip to fully wrap around the bar. Then, opening his eyes again, he swung forward to the next one, until he reached the end and dropped down with a quiet sigh of relief.

Next was the ladder, and he went up that without too much trouble, using his legs more than his arms. "Climbing is my favorite thing to do, by the way," he called out to Arnyn with a grin, trying to keep from letting on how much his arms were hurting, before swinging around to the other side, and climbed down again. The stumps certainly looked easy enough, and he couldn't help a little grin. Not only had he worked as a lumberjack for some time before working at the quarry, he had actually grown up around lumber yards dotted with tree stumps, and had used to play on the stumps since the time he could walk. Climbing up onto the first stump, Trastion thought back to the games he and his brother used to play, with a slight pang of sorrow. They used to see who could go the furthest from stump to stump without having to touch the ground, and eventually as he got older, he realized that it took a bit of planning ahead to not get yourself trapped at a place where it was too far to jump from one to the next stump. He remembered that, and studied the stumps before him now, trying to gauge the distances. It had been a while since he actually did this, so he hoped he hadn't misjudged his abilities. Of course, there was an added challenge here; some of them were only wide enough for one foot, so he'd have to jump and balance on the same foot he landed on.

Taking a breath, he leaped, and thankfully it was a wider one. The next one wasn't, however, and he swayed and windmilled his arms until he got his balance under control, then hopped to the next, and so on until he made it to the end, with a sigh of relief. He was definitely 'rusty' with that activity, but he hadn't fallen into the 'lava' as the childhood game would have made the ground. Still, he hadn't done it nearly as effortlessly as Arnyn had done. The following few obstacles were of varying levels of challenge for Trastion, until he reached the rope going up to the platform. He smiled as he looked up at it, and imagined a nice, tall cliff face he wanted to climb up. Jumping up, he grabbed the rope as high as he could reach it, wrapping the dangling end around one leg, and trapped it with the other. He held back a groan as he realized that this would also involve his arms. Unless he could put use his legs for most of the work, he thought. Using his feet to help push himself upward as much as he could, he tried to use his arms as little as possible, though this made his climb far slower than he would normally have done. The top of the platform was the top of his imaginary cliff, and eventually, he was pulling himself over the edge, safely at the top, with a slight wince as his arm muscles protested. It wasn't as satisfying as climbing up a real cliff, but it was fun to pretend, at least. And he definitely would not want to try climbing a real cliff right now, with his arms burning like this. He waved down to his trainer with a smile, keeping up the act that he wasn't in pain.

Jumping back down, unphased by however high it was, Trastion's landing wasn't as graceful as hers, falling down onto his hands and knees. He quickly jumped up, though, and gave a quick brush at his knee area to get the dust off before jogging back to where he had started. "Did I do alright?" He asked, with a hopeful smile at the ranger who had been assigned to train him. "That was actually fun. Challenging... but fun." He decided, if his arms weren't hurting too badly, he might come every day to run through the course even if she didn't instruct him to do so. That way, he could improve at the things he'd had difficulty with, and get even better at doing the things he didn't.

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

She noticed the near slips, but did not comment. There was no need to highlight slip ups if she could not offer constructive criticism. She walked along with him as he went through the course. He was doing very well for a first-timer, and she noticed that as well. Arnyn's expression was thoughtful when he jumped off the end of the course and fell down onto his hands and then onto his knees. He jumped up quickly, however, and then made his way back to the spot she had told him to return to earlier, even though she had intentionally moved away from it after giving him his instructions, and even though she was now standing somewhere else again.

A smile lit her eyes as she clapped her hands together a few times in genuine, brief applause. "Yes, you did!" she called out as she walked over to him. "In truth, I'm impressed." She let the statement sink in for a moment. She was a firm believer in compliments when they were due. "You say climbing is your favorite thing to do - but you did well on the other obstacles as well, Trastion. Is this really the first time you are running a course like this? And if so, then where did you pick up the necessary skills?" She raised an eyebrow, although his performance ensured a faint smile lingered on her face. "And please remember that I will not accept vague answers."

She decided his performance had earned him some elaboration on the reason behind that. "I am not trying to be difficult. Rather... as your trainer, it is my task to determine the best way to build and improve on your existing skills. I cannot do that to the best of my capabilities without proper insight into who you are and what has shaped you into the man you are today." Being about ten years his senior, Arnyn might have called him a boy - but she remembered how she had felt about herself when she was nineteen and had joined the rangers: back then, in her mind, she'd been a grown woman, and she had been vexed by those referring to her as a girl, as if she was still a child. It had felt belittling to her then, and she would not do that to anyone else, now.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Recruit Trastion Leithor

Trastion couldn't help a slight smirk to himself, having returned right to where she'd said to go, even though that meant she had to walk after him. After all, that was what she'd said to do, and he would remind her of that if she said anything about him doing it, but she didn't. The smirk was gone by the time he'd turned to face her, and then was replaced by a grin, hearing her say she was impressed. He fought it back though, attempting to not act like a goofy kid or something, but it was surprisingly nice to hear someone say that he'd done so well that it was impressive.

Arnyn's following questions, however, left him thinking very carefully, and rapidly, even while she was elaborating on her reasons for asking. How could he properly answer her questions, without being vague? Without revealing more than he wanted to? And without lying, either...

"Yes ma'am, I've never actually seen one of these before now." That was easy enough to answer. "As for where I picked up the skills..." he hesitated, before giving a slight shrug. "Well, I was born near a lumber camp. My brother and I...we both grew up climbing trees, balancing across logs, playing all sorts of games around the place..." He explained. "There were some rocky bluffs not too far from there, and we did a lot of climbing on those, too. I just..I guess I developed a love for climbing anything." He smiled, pointing toward the stump patch with a small smile, "We had all kinds of stumps like that, where I grew up. Me and my brother, we used to play on those all the time. We made a game of it," The smile turned to a grin. "We'd start at a certain point, and then we'd try to see who could go the furthest hopping from stump to stump before one of us missed or lost their balance or whatever. I usually lost because I was younger and shorter, but I always tried to beat him." He laughed lightly at the memory, although his amusement faded quickly, remembering.

"It's... been a long time since then, of course." He added more solemnly. "My brother...he..." He stopped, looking down at the ground as a lump rose up. It was still too painful to speak about that. Clearing his throat softly, he changed the subject back to answering her question, "Anyway..." he paused to think how to proceed. "After.. I wound up on my own, I took a few miscellaneous jobs before finding one I enjoyed. I was a lumberjack for.. almost a year." He explained. "Since I was smaller than the others and so good at climbing, a lot of my job involved climbing up into the trees that were to be felled, and cutting off the limbs so they wouldn't catch on stuff, going down. After that.. I went to work at a quarry, that was in Stonecrest," He wasn't sure if she'd remember the name of the village he'd mentioned when he first met her. "I very much enjoyed that job," He smiled. "It was hard work, of course, digging stones out and all that, but there were plenty of opportunities to climb the cliff face, both on the job, and off." He hoped she wouldn't ask about why he left those jobs, if he liked them so much, and carried on to wrap up his tale, "After a little more than a year at that job, I.. sort of realized that there wasn't anything stopping me from joining the rangers, anymore... so here I am."

[Arnyn]

Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***
Training Trainee Trastion Leithor
@Rillewen

His hesitation wasn't lost on her, and she nodded quietly when he mentioned his brother the way he did. He needn't say more. She listened to the rest of his words attentively.
"I am sorry for your loss," was the first thing she said, and her tone was gentle even as she watched Trastion's expression to confirm whether she had drawn the correct conclusions.

After a moment, she continued, since she supposed Trastion would not want to talk about such a delicate subject with her. Not yet, anyway. She was still a stranger to him.
"Then this means that your balance should be well developed, as well as your finger, wrist and arm strength," she surmised. "Interesting. Walk with me, Trastion." She assumed he would remember from their meeting at the stables and their walk to headquarters that she meant for him to walk next to her, not behind her.

She guided him to a sparring area. There was a hatch, half built into the ground, half sticking above it. She opened it and beckoned for Trastion to come and take a look. "Training weapons," she said, watching for his reaction. They were wooden, and there were rounded variants without edges, but also more angular versions with edges, which more closely resembled actual blades. "We should probably start with the rounded ones," she noted drily. "Especially since you aren't wearing any armor to speak of. Let's see how your balance and your climbing hands and arms translate into swordplay. The Captain told me you have no experience at this?" She raised an eyebrow. "Or did you perhaps play at swordfighting as well?" If so, odds were she would have to correct bad habits that had formed, which could be much more difficult than teaching a blank canvas.

***

Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

Regardless of Pele's twisting and pulling, Arnyn stayed where she was. With Pele down on one knee and overextended still, her friend was in a very disadvantageous position, and badly placed to exercise any kind of strength. Arnyn had choices. She could pull her friend and captain into the dirt. It would also be very easy to elbow Pele in the face, and it would even be manageable to place a painful knee there.

The Hyandaner frowned. She would draw no pleasure from any of those options.

Moreover... Arnyn stood her ground and glanced at Pele. Surely, Pele would be aware of her predicament. Right?

"Break," she stated, instead of choosing one of the options that she would have employed without hesitation in a real fight. The Hyandaner slowly released her grip and straightened. "Pele, I remember that hand-to-hand was never one of your main strengths..." It didn't have to be; one person couldn't be great at everything. However... how had Pele ended up in such a bad position qo quickly? "But how did you let me gain the upper hand so quickly?" Arnyn carefully inspected her friend's face, and noticed the set of her eyes. "Are you still sleeping badly?"

[Pele Alarion]

@Arnyn
Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

For a few more moments Pele put in all effort that she could, and yet there were no results; and yet it also appeared that Arnyn merely maintained her position and did not do anything to finish the fight properly. Though she could, could she not? Pele stopped her attempts and quietly evaluated the situation.

When Arnyn called for a break, the Captain shook her head in disappointment and stood to her feet, pointing the sword down and slightly to her left, away from her friend.

“Not being the best at hand-to-hand does not mean I have to go fighting like some recruit who has stepped into training grounds for the first time,” Pele said, lacking any reasonable explanations that she could offer.

She bit on her lip a little, and then admitted reluctantly: “Had trouble falling asleep last night, closed my eyes only towards the morning. But generally… some nights I can’t sleep if my life depended on it, some nights I wake up with my heart racing. There is some progress for the better, and there are nights when I can enjoy deep and refreshing sleep of a full night, but not nearly enough of those, not yet.”

Pele was aware that lack of sleep was significantly hindering the recovery and improvements in any other areas, including her battle readiness. And she did what she could to deal with it, but sometimes she simply ran out of ideas.

“I’ll try to focus the best I can though,” she promised. “Can’t just stop activities, training, work, life… just because I’ve barely closed my eyes at night… some of the nights.” Yet, she immediately commented in her own mind that it did impair her decisions, that perhaps she had returned to her duties too soon. Once again Pele shook her head as if to get rid of the internal argument.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@Romeran
Training Ranger Recruit Romeran

Even though the successful kick might have provided her with opportunities to attack more fiercely with her sword, Pele did not. She merely waited for Romeran to recover a little, and with a satisfied nod acknowledged his ability not to give in to the pain and leave himself completely unprotected.

“Very good for your first time, Romeran,” she said with a small smile. “Very focused on your sword alone, though. The more you train, the more you will get used to it and be able to see a wider perspective.” She lowered her sword and tucked it under her arm as a sign of calling an end to the first sparring session.

“So… you have a plenty of strength to handle a sword easily,” Pele summarised what she had seen of his skills this far. “But how is your balance and agility? Those are very important too. At least you managed to stay upright, regardless of my kick. Sorry for that though.” A merry glint in her blue eyes was evidence to the fact that the last statement was not necessarily fully true. “Would you like to accept a challenge of a gentle sparring bout on a balance beam and try to throw me off it?”

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn

Recruit Trastion Leithor

Giving a brief nod to acknowledge that she'd understood what was too painful to say, Trastion took a deep breath and fell in step alongside her. "Yes, I suppose my arms, wrists, and hands are pretty strong," He agreed with a shrug, not mentioning how much the push-ups had caused his arms to hurt. He brushed back his damp hair and tried to dry the sweat from his forehead, wondering where they were headed now.

When they arrived, and she showed him the supply of training weapons, a grin broke out on his face. So he was right! He was quite delighted to see that shed and its contents. Accepting the rounded, wooden sword, he took a glance down the length of the wooden blade, checking whether the wood was straight or not. Thankfully, the wood had not become warped, and he took it by the handle, giving a brief twirl in his hand to test the weight and balance somewhat, as well as to help his wrists remember their former flexibility. He wondered how rusty his skills might be, and hoped to be able to impress the ranger yet again, but he wasn't going to claim any sort of skills just yet.

"Actually, yes..." He replied with a nod, smiling faintly, neither confirming or denying the statement concerning his level of experience. "He and I had an abundance of uh..wooden swords, you might say." He answered, before clearing his throat softly. "Not quite like this one, of course." He laughed slightly. "But we had many pretend duels, growing up, and fought in many pretend battles, all that sort of thing." He gazed down at the training sword, thoughtful. "That was long ago, though."

[Arnyn]

Macardil

He had acquired the necessary permission from Pele, who was now Captain, and thus he felt justified albeit not quite comfortable approaching the grounds. A distinction one wouldn't be able to tell from looking at him. He had wrapped his cloak of calm confidence around him, as he was want to do. He wasn't wearing an actual cloak this time, only a light-weight navy coat that reached halfway his upper legs. He'd dropped off his book at home on the way back from the Sixth Circle, using the occasion to strap his brown quiver to his back and take his longbow with him.

The guards at the entrance didn't seem too alarmed at his approach and for that he was grateful. It seemed that they, as well, kept their calm.
"Halt." The order came from the one to the right of the entrance.

Macardil's brown boots came to a stop a ways in front of them. "Afternoon, Raegon, Darril." He knew the both of them, as he knew all the guards who were regularly assigned to the grounds. He often spoke with them as he entered and left. For one, Macardil was sociable. Other than that, connections simply worked.

"I'm sorry, Macardil, but you are no longer a Ranger." Raegon, to his credit, did sound somewhat regretful as he took in his bow. Yet the expression on his face was also wary, and his partnered guard looked downright confused.

Macardil nodded with an understanding look. "I was released from the Dungeons a few days ago by King Elessar. While you are correct in that I am no longer a Ranger, I do have permission from the Captain to be here." He produced the slip from a safe pocket in his cloak, unfolded it and handed it to the man.

Raegon read it through, then peered up at the former Lieutenant, still looked somewhat puzzled. Darril walked over snatched the slip from Raegon's hand and shrugged. "Seems pretty clear to me." Raegon sighed, as if to convey he supposed there was nothing else to be done. "Aye. You can go in, Macardil."

"Thank you." His reply was gracious, and he nodded at both of the men before entering. Muscle memory took him to the range as he kept a seeming casual eye out for trouble. No one gave him any trouble, which wasn't all that surprising. Only their own were allowed access - usually. So why be overly cautious once you were inside the confines of the grounds?
Arriving at the range, he let his longbow touch the ground and did not make a noise as he watched Cúner Ziranphel. A slight smile played on his face as his eyes followed her as she went through the motions of pulling an arrow from her quiver, nocking it, aiming... and releasing it. She looked to be in her element.


******************



Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

***

Sparring with Captain Pele Alarion
@Pele Alarion

Arnyn frowned when Pele said she didn't want to fight like a new recruit. Did her friend mean that she would have preferred Arnyn to pull her down, or physically hurt her? That couldn't be right.
Hearing that Pele had indeed slept badly the previous night, and that she generally did not sleep very well, made concern well up in Arnyn's chest. She had hoped that the now many months since their return from the Poros, and the last few months since Pele had been recognized by the King, would have helped her friend to recover mentally and emotionally in addition to physically.

The situation would not let itself be remedied so easily, however. Time healed all wounds, it was said. But Arnyn knew that wasn't necessarily true. Not when the person in pain had not accepted what had happened, and... or... when they still lived in fear.

Arnyn held back a sigh. Then she took a few steps back and drew her longsword in one, fluid motion. She adopted the 'plow' stance, with her right foot forward and the hilt of her longsword off to the side in front of her hip joint, the point of her sword pointing at Pele's throat. Her right hand gripped the hilt right under the crossguard with normal pressure, her left hand more loosely held the pommel. The stance provided good defense while allowing for all sorts of attacks.

"Well then. Let us begin."
She waited, to see if Pele would strike first. Arnyn rarely struck first, if she could help it. A counterattack was generally more successful, after all.

[Karis Ziranphel]

Karis Ziranphel - Cûner

She had been at the range for some time. First working her way through the stationary ranged targets near to far until she was satisfied with her accuracy and tight grouping, fixing her errors so that she no longer had straggler arrows out near the edges. Then she had moved on to moving targets after a brief rest for water and to let her arms recover. She remembered the day long ago when she had been overjoyed to graduate to these swinging targets and then disheartened by the difficulty of the task. After years of practice they still presented a challenge and kept her on her toes with requiring a blend of concentration and relaxation so that she could react swiftly and with correct timing to lead the target and not miss.

Five targets were gently swaying with arrows in or near their centers, and she had just toed the release to set a sixth dropping from the rack to swing diagonally across the field toward her when she felt a presence behind her. Mentally she noted that she hadn’t heard the heavy tread she associated with many soldiers and even a few rangers. The presence didn’t approach closer, so she pulled the arrow, nocked, drew, gauged her shot, and loosed in a flow of smooth motion that barely paused. Her gaze tracked the flight of the arrow until it hit, and she couldn’t help the slight smirk of satisfaction that appeared on her lips before she lowered her arm.

Grounding the tip of the bow on the toe of her boot, she turned to see Macardil, and her smile blossomed into a grin. “Good. She let you come.” She said simply. It was good to see him with a bow in hand and quiver over his shoulder again. It looked right, and she knew he had missed it. She tipped her head towards the targets. “I need to retrieve my arrows and then could do with a break. Where do you want to start?”

[Pele Alarion]

@Arnyn
Captain Pele Alarion
Sparring with Hyandaner Arnyn Dealedwen

Pele felt somewhat lost when Arnyn did not say anything about her explanations; she almost would have wanted a bit of an argument – just to vent a bit and perhaps rile her up for fighting. So she muttered something unintelligible under her breath, and moved her sword more towards the centre, though it was still pointing down, and she was fully facing Arnyn.

She hesitated for a few moments, looking at her friend thoughtfully, as a shadow of a smile replaced her former grumpiness. Arnyn knew what she was doing, sword or no sword. It meant that she both knew what should or should not be said, and that whatever Pele came up with for the initial attack would be well countered. Now, if Pele could only find the fine balance between being careless and being too focused and overthinking every move.

Pele’s left foot moved forward a mere half-step, her shoulders straightened and tensed in preparation for action, and she adjusted the grip on her sword, firmly placing her left hand behind the right. Then she stepped forward with her right foot, raised her sword up with the hilt almost touching her left shoulder and swung it towards Arnyn’s midsection. This time she did not overcommit to the forward movement, keeping it under reasonable control in readiness to react to counter strikes, even though doing so made her own attack slower.