Hey, what's this 'Z' on my clothes? [Van please]

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

Last cycle of Winter, Era 15

L1 El Viatre

A few cycles earlier Vanderlou had expressed an interest in learning Amelia's eccentric sword style. At first, the girl had wondered why the boy wanted to learn El Viatre of all things, a style that suited her to perfection but sounded a bit... frilly for someone like Van. The girl concluded that he was trying really hard to overcome his redneck roots, or rather, the negative implications he saw in them. He struck her as someone who was rather self-conscious about his origins, much like Amelia was self-conscious about maintaining a perfect elegant façade in public. And so, she had agreed to show him a few tricks in the front yard of the Lorka... with goats and chickens as the main spectators.

Amelia stood waiting, two scabbards in her hands. True, any sane teacher would be handing out wooden practice weapons or unsharpened foils, but giving that Amelia was the teacher, obviously none of this would even be considered. That and she only had real weapons that did real harm. 'Don't try this at home' had never been the girl's motto. She was wearing boots and trousers, though not the ones she used for Zinn'ka practice, but more like travelling clothes with a golden-tinted buckle. A light colored blouse matched the white hat on her head, spirit vision revealing a small creature fluttering around the red rose on the brim.

The weather was gloomy and charged with electricity in the air, just like the girl liked it best. When the sky raged and despaired, Amelia usually felt at peace. It did not look like it was going to rain soon, though, which was good news as fencing proved difficult to teach in the average Lorka's room. Now the apprentice slash friend just had to show up for the actual lesson... he had about fourty seconds to do so, after which he would officially be late. Amelia would not like that, and chances were Vanderlou knew that full well. Thirty-nine, thirty-eight...

[Vanderlou]

Now, while it was true that Vanderlou did have many insecurities and these issues were becoming a bit of a problem they weren't the major factors that had ultimately led him to the decision that he needed instruction with the sword. No, instead there was another reason and one that was perhaps a little hard to accept, especially if anyone heard it coming from someone who's life revolved around simplicity. The reason he had asked Amelia when he could have asked for instruction in another sword style - and there were many in Zinn'sunn - was because he found El Viatre, beautiful. There was no other word to describe the seamless elegance Amelia demonstrated when she danced with that blade. Every move she made with that weapon seemed calculated, dangerous and at the same time it carried a theatrical charm if not dramatic in its flamboyance.

He thought, that if he could at least capture that kind of grace then perhaps he could become more confident about himself. Besides, the prospect of defeating and adversary with minimal bloodshed involved was extremely appealing to the good-natured half-vagaran.

By the time Vanderlou arrived at the scene Amelia had counted a little past twenty and it was obvious by the indecent state of his attire that he had come in much of a hurry. He was still busily fumbling with the buttons of his polo-shirt though now it wasn't so much of an embarassment to him. Amelia had after all seen him practically naked once, even licked his frame so what was another glance at his surprisingly chiseled physique?

"Amelia..." he waved a finger at the girl's unusual choice in headgear. "...Is the hat really necesarry? I mean, its a lovely hat but wouldn't it get in the way of your line of sight?"

When he finally took his eyes off the hat he finally noticed the pair of swords Amelia had on her and neither looked like practice-swords. For a moment he thought that maybe they were blunt, without an edge but since it was Amelia he couldn't help but believe it was exaclty the opposite.

"We'll be practicing with the real thing right off the bat?" he piped, still fumbling with his buttons as he spoke, cursing himself silently for buying something with so many buttons.

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

The girl gave a small smile upon seeing Vanderlou's chaotic and somewhat underdressed arrival on the scene, obviously determinated to make it in time, even at the expense of his own appearance. "Good, I was starting to wonder what kind of trouble you'd gotten yourself into this time," said the pot, calling the kettle black. Amelia held her arm out, offering him a nicely ornate scabbard for him to take.

"The hat? It's just a matter of habit, I guess," she shrugged lightly, "I tend to forget I'm even wearing it. The hat is quite important, you see, though you can manage without it. In El Viatre, you are known by your headgear. You can think of it as your signature; it tells others who you are, and if you get famous enough, you will be recognized by the mere sight of it. This may all sound a bit foreign to you, so I guess you just have to leave the Zinn'ka mentality for a moment."

She stepped back after Van took his own sword. "Of course it's the real thing, I would not have it any other way. It has been my experience that people learn ten or twenty times faster when their lives are on the line. It saves a lot of time indeed, and it's fun... what more could you ask for?" Flawed or not, this was Amelia's line of reasoning, and knowing her there was little, if anything, that could possibly change her mind on the matter. The girl unsheathed her smallsword and proceeded to describe it.

"This is a smallsword; it belongs to a weapon class called lightswords. You are probably accustomed to seeing shortswords and longswords, as those are the prevalent weapons in Aelyria, but anyone can easily tell the difference." Amelia rotated the blade, slowly, to show him how thin and narrow it really was. Length-wise, it had a 28" blade, a bit shorter than the average longsword perhaps, but not by a big margin. "You can feel how light it is... several times less heavy than a normal sword of its length. This sword weighs about one pound, it really is a lightweight. There are lightswords that are heavier than this, the most famous being the rapier; indeed, the rapier might just be the right blade for you, since it requires more muscle power and endurance. The rapier is longer and more flexible than the smallsword, and relies on footwork even more than the other lightswords. This, on the other hand, is more about tactics and bladework. Thankfully, picking up another blade type just takes a little bit of practice."

Amelia drew Van's attention to the point of the sword. "As you may have guessed, there's very little slashing going on with these blades. Some don't even have a cutting edge; these swords do, but it mostly just serves to discourage your foe from trying to grab the sword. Short of slicing a throat with a lucky swing, do not expect slashing to win a battle. Hit something hard and the sword may snap." There really were a lot of considerations to be made on these swords before one even started to use one. El Viatre was a cerebral style, seemingly vain and yet artistic.

"The good news," Amelia smiled faintly, "is that piercing does work incredibly well with these. You would be surprised to hear how small a hole it takes to kill an opponent. Deceptively small wounds can be lethal in a few seconds' time and often do not heal naturally. Nice and clean. Now, take a look at the sword. Lightswords differ in the cross section - smallswords have a triangular one. Normal swords, by contrast, usually have a four-side cross section for sturdiness, which we sacrifice for speed. Now, if you divide the blade's length in three equal parts," the girl placed her fingers at the junctions between these three imaginary sections, "the part near the hilt is called 'forte', the part near the point is called 'foible'. Remember that when parrying, as the goal is to touch the opponent's foible with your forte."

"As far as the hand guard goes," Amelia continued softly, clearly loving the subject - and lacking the lingering tension that came with Adjuration talk; she was thoroughly enjoying this. "There are many types. Smallswords have this D-shaped one that is quite simple, all things considered. Rapiers tend to have more ornate basket hilts that cover the whole hand, but weigh a little more. The hand guard is especially important against other El Viatre users, since the hand is a natural target for this style."

"Questions so far?" she wondered if she was going too fast.

[Vanderlou]

"El Viatre..." he said, liking how the name of the technique rolled off his tongue. Really classy, or at least it sounded classy - either or being just fine by him.

"So when the time comes ill have to get myself a signature hat as well?" the idea sounded far-fetched but since Amelia mentioned it to be a fact he had to give it some credit, besides the style did seem flamboyant enough to have a ranking system reflected by a simple choice of headgear.

"Twenty times faster," he repeated, no longer surprised with Amelia's unique brand of fun. Maybe a couple of cycles ago he would've been worried about the danger involved in training in this deadly fashion but now he had come to terms with the risks involved when he spent his time with Amelia, there was almost a kind of acceptance that was evident in his voice when he continued. "You may have a point."

Vanderlou took hold of Amelia's blade, and listened to her instructions noting the weapon's incredible lightness. Really, it was all to easy to carry and there was hardly any effort involved in swinging it around too, not that he would be doing that much with a sword with this thin an edge - as Amelia had clearly pointed out in her lessons.

"Vital points." he nodded knowing in full detail just how a well placed punch or kick in just the right point in the body could render an opponent immobile. With a sword he mused, being paralyzed for a few seconds was the least of the worries that the person on the receiving end of this blade would have.

"The forte," he lifted the sword up to the air to inspect the thickest section of the blade then slowly, he drew a nail over the flat side of the blade to its sharp pointy tip. "The foible."

"You know, judging by how much you seem to be enjoying this topic of discussion I should've bought you a lightsword instead of a hairpin.". he looked at the D-shaped handguard wondering if it was durable enough to withstand or deflect a straight-on impact from another lightsword. "On your next birth brightening would you fancy a pretty sword? Or rather something more function or better yet... both?"

"No more questions," he flexed his hands around the weapon's handle, not really gripping it tightly but rather prioritizing freedom for the hand's subtle movements. He had seen Amelia enough times in action to at least understand that unless he was practically lunging at a target there would be no need for a heavy-handed grip, hopefully he would pick up more about El Viatre in the candlemarks to come at a reasonable fast pace. "Though I had to admit I didn't think the lightsword would be practically featheweight."

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

"If you want the hat, we will buy the hat; otherwise we won't," Amelia announced, "you know I like freedom, right? All the rules in the world are not worth the simple joy of choosing what you really want." The girl was addicted to freedom, as was evident from the very loose constraints she had imposed on Vanderlou when she had hired him. She had never told him how to use Adjuration, just to name one. She had just asked him never to use it against her. Likewise, she was not going to force him to be a perfect El Viatre duelist; however, she was going to teach him how to hurt people with it.

She blinked when he mentioned buying her a sword. "No, I really wanted the hairpin." She put her hand on the hat and lifted it from her head, showing the golden item underneath, then put the hat back on. "I believe in people buying their own weapons. Besides, this really fits the philosophy of El Viatre... 'everything is a weapon.' This pin can make a good main gauche, or 'left hand weapon', if needbe. I will tell you more about that later."

The girl nodded at his grip, firm yet delicate. "Good, this style is about accuracy over power. But since you also have power, that is why I recommend switching to a slightly heavier blade like the rapier, or at least getting familiar with one. I plan on getting one, myself. You see, I started this when my friend Viskyia pointed out that I really needed a self-defense skill. El Viatre was the only style that really fit my personality, but back then I was rather weak physically and a featherweight sword was the best for me. Later on I got into Zinn'ka, and I developed some muscle power, so it makes sense to adapt. I'd like to learn all the lightswords eventually... the estoc, the épée, all of them."

She took a step backwards. "Now," she said, "a fight against a longsword user may seem unfair since their blade is so much stronger. However, in order to slash, a longsword user will go about it like this." Amelia demonstrated a slash. "See? Two movements - one to bring the blade up or back and one to actually swing. But we, we only need one."

She took on a typical fencing pose, facing sort of sideways with her right foot in front of the left, the right leg bent a bit, the left foot at a square angle with the right. It was obvious to a Zinn'ka artist that this position was very much like a spring, storing energy for a sudden, explosive release. The point of the sword was aimed roughly at Vanderlou's chest, the elbow bent so that it pointed slightly upwards. The blade was the continuation of the arm and was parallel to it.

"See? The point of the sword is always, always aimed at your opponent, providing a constant, lightning-fast threat. If they so much as lower their guard for an instant, we are ready to capitalize on that, twice as fast as they can. If they raise their huge weapon to try one of their mighty swings, they will often find an additional hole in their body by the time they are finished." Amelia's eyes twinkled sinisterly at the prospect. "Additionally, this sideways stance is designed to expose as little of your body as possible - especially the vital parts of it. It is often called Lado Favorecido Forward - 'favorite side forward.' Try it."

[Vanderlou]

"I think I'll get a hat." he decided thinking that a little change would do him well. If anything he could actually use one since he didn't have any in his current wardrobe. "But... If I'm going to get a hat which will become synonymous with my name I'd like only the best!"

"You're wearing it..." he blinked at the golden ornament which graced the girl's hair, he was a little surprised she would have it on her person despite already having the hat as a headgear. "...It looks good on you." he beamed at the girl, happy that she actually liked his present enough to keep it on her person when she didn't even need to.

Before he even realized it however, the lesson proper had already started and it suddenly appeared to him that she might just enjoy El Viatre more than she did Adjuration. So why exactly was she an adjurator instead of a fencer when she obviously enjoyed being a fighter more?

He watched as the girl demonstrated the differences between an El Viatre slash and that of its contemporary counterparts noting the large gap between speed and execution of both. There was no question about it now, the way of the swift sword was by far the fastest sword style he had seen in action and the half-vagaran was liking what he saw more and more.

"Lado Fabo-F-Favorecido," he imitated Amelia's stance finding it very comfortable, almost familiar in a way. The stance reminded him of the reverse-stance of Shaassakah - save for the position of his arms and the squared angle of his left foot which was alien to him. He made sure that just like her, his legs were bent to provide the much needed spring to his step if he chose to move forward or back. His sword too, he brought forward to face Amelia, the blade-point hovering at the girl's bosom in a threatening manner - just as she wanted him to. "You know, Amelia... I could probably use this style to maim and not kill."

And by far El Viatre, as much as if didn't suit him appealed to him if only because of the virtue that it was the least violent fencing form in the empire - or anywhere else for that matter.

"Wouldn't you agree?" he knew that she would find his methods a little hypocritical. Vanderlou was completely aware of the need for self-defense, the law of nature and how only the strong could survive and yet he clng to his beliefs despire their impracticality.

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

The girl wondered briefly what kind of hat would look best on Vanderlou, and concluded that seeing him with a tricorn would be interesting, even if outrageously flashy for his temperament. Still, there would be time for that, and for now the hat was not a necessity. Teaching him how to stay alive in a duel was.

"Lado Favorecido," she repeated softly, "it's some language they speak near Kaldira, I think. That is where the style was born, anyways." Amelia watched the fellow half-Vagaran taking on the stance and corrected some minor details, stressing in particular that the back should be kept as straight as possible. As for Van's comment, she could not help but smile. "Well, yes, it can be used to incapacitate someone quite effectively, should you want to." Amelia usually did not. She thought that the very moment one stepped into a fight without destructive intent, the likelyhood of victory decreased. "Be warned, though, that mercy is sacrifice. To win without harming the other takes more skill. Do that at your own peril."

"About this stance, you may have noticed that it is very good for engaging a single opponent in front of you. It is not so good when you have multiple enemies, especially if they surround you, because your point can only threaten one at a time. Unfortunately, this is the nature of the beast - lightswords are by their very nature weaker against overwhelming numbers. Your best bet is always to evade or postpone engagement until you can split or divide your opponents and only fight one or two at a time. Thankfully, El Viatre is very good for creating distraction when you need it." Amelia demonstrated how to move while keeping the Lado Favorecido Forward stance. "Passe avant," she said, stepping forward with her feet barely lifted from the ground, right foot first, her advance almost a continuous thing independent of the legs. "Always strive for balance at any time. Keep moving throughout a duel, constantly change your distance from the opponent to keep them guessing and take away any certainties about your position."

She demonstrated the backwards steps next, which was similar except the left foot moved first. "You may want to check and memorize the terrain beforehand, so you won't have to look over your shoulder when retreating. The basic mechanic of El Viatre is this 'linear fencing' where you advance and retreat all the time. Reducing it to just this is very simplistic, though... El Viatre really is three-dimensional." She showed him how to move left and right, too, all the while keeping the stance. In order to move to the right, one shifted the right foot first and then caught up with the left; the reverse was true when moving left.

She had him perform several drills, walking in squares around the yard for some time. "Sorry for the tedious work, but getting the footwork right from the start is probably the single most important thing." Then it was time for one more drill, "This is how you circle around an opponent while maintaining the same distance." Circular movement around a point was essential when confronting a real opponent, especially in the early stages of studying each other. It was in a way a combination of the forward and backwards step, the first foot to move being that in the direction of intended movement and the other following to reform the initial stance - all the while facing the opponent. "Does it make sense?"

[Vanderlou]

Vanderlou straightened his back applying minute adjustments to the placement of his wrists and knees as Amelia pointed them out. It was quickly becoming apparent to the half-elf that El Viatre was not only the most beautiful of fencing styles on Telath, it was beggining to look like it was also the most challenging of them all.

"Passe avant." he repeated her words, imitating Amelia's movements with some difficulty. It was somewhat of a chore, the task of shuffling his feet backwards and forwards with minimal ground clearance, but when he got used to the motion involved he realized that this wasn't so different from dancing.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he said in response to her suggestion of memorizing the terrain. It was a simple enough theory but in practice he wasn't sure if he could spare enough of his concetration to survey his surroundings when he was dealing with a dangerous opponent.

"Linear fencing," he murmured imagining a battlefield where there was only attacking and retreating. He watched Amelia carefully as she demonstrated how to move from side to side, it seemed that retaining the stance was critical in El Viatre and he would make sure that slipping into this stance would become second nature for him in the brightenings to come.

When Amelia gave him a set of difficult footdrills to follow he almost winced though bore through them, perfecting them as much as he could in the little time he had since they had started. "Its alright," he shook his head at the girl forcing a smile on his face. "I'm hardly tired, carrying all those sacks of salt everday is nothing compared to this. And besides, I'm starting to understand just how integral footwork is to this style now... It was a really good eye opener Amy."

Vanderlou tried moving as she had shown him and found that his feet weren't as cold as they were before. The drills had made his movements faster, the transitions smoother than before. "It does make perfect sense though..." he moved around Amelia closing his eyes for a few moments as he did, "You know, this almost feels like dancing."

"Well, it weren't for the swords that is."

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

Amelia gave a tiny nod as Vanderlou's stance gradually improved. "Good," she said, "you are making progress. With enough practice, this footwork will become second nature as everything in life does. You will able to do this without even thinking. Footwork is essential because of El Viatre's dynamic nature. We fight best when we are free to move, approach and evade as we please."

"And it is like dancing in more ways than one," she smiled a trace, "except that instead of getting your foot stomped on, you find yourself with one more hole. Did you do ballroom dancing in Daltina? I hear it's all the rage among the nobility there." Amelia stepped back, still in her Lado Favorecido stance. "Now, some teachers would teach you how to parry first, but in keeping with my beliefs about combat, we will begin with the basic attack - the thrust, lunge, or Estocada. Look carefully."

From her stance, Amelia flashed her right foot forward, the left leg straightening in an instant as she lunged, providing power with both legs and arms - her left shoulder was pushed back to favor the right one as it was propelled forward, arm fully extended. Then, as quickly as the thrust began, Amelia recovered in a surprising short amount of time, shifting her weight back to its original proportions.

"Why don't you try, too?" She said calmly, "Do not worry about aiming the thrust for the time being, we will get to that in a moment, but getting the coordination right from the start is essential. This is the single most important motion of them all so a bad habit here is worse than anywhere else. The trick is in finding the right balance, extending but not overextending yourself. Find the right compromise between control and reach - too much reach will leave you unbalanced or even impaled on the opponent's sword, and too little reach will be ineffective as an attack." Amelia's smile grew more playful. "How about you try to stab me and I parry you?" She looked at him with blue eyes that seemed to say 'I dare you to say yes, I dare you to say no.'

[Vanderlou]

"I didn't, I was the one serving the drinks at the parties." he retreated, feet slipping back into the La Favorecido stance as he created some distance between him and his master. "But yes, it is very popular there. Maybe once I return Daltina and take back my nobility... maybe then I'll be able to give it a try."

"Then again," he said, his wrist brought the blade-point to meet Amelia's gaze. "I doubt it'd ever be as exhilarating as this."

The lunge Amelia demonstrated for him was fast, beautiful and efficient. It was obvious, even to a beginner like him that he couldn't afford to make a mistake here as El Viatre was first and foremost a style that was designed to initiate and end battles with a single decisive thrust.

"Stab you?" Vanderlou's brow rose at her suggestion. He could almost see the humor behind her words and he, despite being as well-mannered and kind as he was couldn't help but reciprocate her spirit. "Well, I do have faith in you." he shook his head playfully, a finger wagging in Amelia's direction. "But don't hold back, I wouldn't want to actually skewer my master now would I?" he flashed the girl a smile and prepared himself mentally for the task of attacking a girl he was actually quite fond of. Truth be told it was a difficult decision for him to make, but he realized that if he couldn't do this here then how could be fight alongside Amelia. He knew the dangers there were and he also had to accept them.

Vanderlou turned to face Amelia properly and flexed his limbs slightly. After taking a deep breath he steadied his sword at Amelia's chest and one he was certain that he had control he lunged, his right foot stomping on the ground to propell him forward, his left following passively. Just like Amelia he tried throwing his shoulder behind to allow his right arm to thrust further and deeper.

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

"I am not too eager to become a witch-on-a-stick, either, if that can reassure you," Amelia replied and prepared herself to receive Vanderlou's attacks. It took the boy a few attempts to produce a decent lunge, When he did, Amelia extended her arm and placed her sword aside slightly across her body in an obviously precalculated position, causing his blade to be deflected ever so slightly. The girl had apparently put hardly any strength into the action, it was just that the lunge couldn't affect her if she positioned her blade like that. The point of Van's smallsword flew a mere few inches from her face, but she paid it no attention, as if knowing that the trajectory, while seemingly dangerous, was entirely safe.

"Again," she said calmly, and received some more Estocadas from her apprentice. Every time, depending on where his blade was directed, she would just place her sword in one of several fixed positions, causing the threat to be deflected with minimal effort. It was obvious, though, that the thing took more practice than it first looked - Amelia's feet were also moving as the girl adjusted her distance with every attack, knowing where she must be in order to parry.

After a short while, Amelia called the exercise off. "Let's take this to the next step," she said, "observe the point of my sword." She was still in the sideways Lado Favorecido stance, her point aimed at his chest. "Imagine a cross centered on the point; it will divide my body in four sections. The parts above the point are 'high', those below are 'low'; as for left and right, the part with my right arm - the one closer to you - is 'outside', the rest of my body is 'inside'. So, you have four quadrants: high inside, high outside, low inside and low outside. We usually call them lines and each lunge will be aimed at one of them. Each line also has standard parries to deal with attacks on that line, as you have seen. In particular, there are eight main parries, two for each line. One is performed with your wrist facing up, and the other with the wrist down. As a beginner, you only need to know the simpler ones... they will serve you well in most circumstances."

Amelia extended her right arm and placed it a bit further to her right, her wrist facing up. "Sixte, or Parry Six. This is quite possibly one of the easiest parries, and guards your high outside line. Of course, the difficulty is in judging how and when to take this position, but if you do it correctly and with the right timing, this line will just be closed to your opponent. Their point will just fly past you harmlessly. Even better, when parrying your point is still almost aimed at them, which lets you counter-attack very quickly after parrying."

The girl took a few steps back. "I'm going to start attacking you, always on that line. Let me remind you that your apprenticeship does not cover medical fees." And with one of her dangerous smiles, Amelia quickly advanced on Van and unloaded a textbook Estocada - it was slow all right, but still aimed at piercing his right shoulder if he did nothing about it.

[Vanderlou]

The Estocada, it seemed, was much a far more difficult maneuver to execute than he initially anticipated it to be. In theory, the steps behind it were easy enough to emulate, a sudden burst of power from the dominant leg, throwing the shoulder backwards, straightening the Lado Favorecido arm. It had taken him only mere seconds to commit each and every detail into memory but in practice everything didn't go exactly as he had planned it out to.

It was frustrating to Van, struggling with the Estocada when Amelia easily performed it without a hitched somehow struck a nerve inside him. Behind all those layers of kindness Vanderlou was still a man and it was that spark of annoyance that ingited a surging desire to perform from deep within. He would show Amelia that he could becaome dangerous when the mood took him and only the subtle narrowing of his eyes and furrowing of his brow would reflect this sudden shift in the boy's mood.

Having performed inadequately with teh Estocada he listened intently when Amelia described the mechanics behind parrying in detail. Again, her explanation was straight to the point. "The one facing me is the outside," he drew his blade to face Amelia's Lado Favorecido. ",the one away from me is inside. Furthermore they can be classified has high and low and there are eight main parries which can be executed with a wrist facing up or one with it facing down."

"I think... I believe I understand." he mimed the parrying motion in the air, attempting to emulate the necesarry footwork involved parrying as he moved his wrist up and down. It was evident that one of the main reasons Amelia was able to deflect his attacks with minimal effort was because of her perfect footwrok. She would always adjust her feet accordingly so that she was in a position where blocking was convenient and that in itself made parrying all the more easier.

"I can afford the medical fees now... however," Vanderlou took a few steps backward while trying hard to maintain the proper posture that El Viatre demanded of its practitioners. "I don't think I can suffer anymore injuries to my pride." he grinned, bringing the smallsword to the high outer quadrant in preperation for the defense. Even if Amelia were to attack the same point at each time there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be any changes to the course of her thrusts, he needed to discern the subtle differences ahead of time and shift his footing appropriately and in his seriousness to accomplish this his pale blue eyes were slowly shifting into the gold of an eagle's.

[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

They tested the motion several times, the attack slow at first, and then becoming faster. As Vanderlou brought his sword up and outside, it intercepted Amelia's blade with minimal contact, but its presence prevented her point from touching him. Instead, it ended up hitting thin air a few inches to the right of his shoulder. Amelia retreated and repeated the exercise - every time the Estocada would be on that same line, though Vanderlou would soon realize that no two lunges were identical, and as such he had to adapt slightly to perform an optimal parry.

"Good," said the girl, a thin smile at the sight of those cursed eyes of his. It seemed that Amelia could never be allowed to teach a perfectly normal person after all. Ranging from young ladies deprived of their ability to feel to elves haunted by their rather single-minded dead friends, Amelia seemed to attract the strangest people to herself. "You are making quick progress, must be that blue blood in your veins."

They took a quick break, and the witch fanned her face with the brim of her white hat. The shapeless spirit bound to the hat flitted left and right in mild confusion. "Your sisters... how are you planning on settling the score on them, if I may ask? You don't look like the type who would enjoy hurting a woman, no matter how callous. Granted, little by little I'm beating some pragmatism into you and I think you would fight back if attacked, but actually seeking them out? By now I'm so used to your pristine good self that I'll be a little disappointed if you turn out just like me."

She put her hat back on. "Me, I'd just sink their bodies to the bottom o