fandomhighdorms | The Gym, Sunday Morning

Evie came in shortly thereafter, optimistic and looking forward to her first sparring session in ages. "Oh, thank you again for this, Irulan. I *so* appreciate it. I haven't gotten any fighting practice in some time, although at least I've managed to keep exercising."

"Anytime, Evie," Irulan said and smiled, "I, too, am in need of some practice. Why don't you start stretching and I'll get your daggers and shield?"

"Splendid!" Evie started her stretches, only slightly worried that she would have forgotten everything Irulan taught her. Even if she had, Irulan wasn't one to be harsh about it. She jogged in place a moment, then gave Irulan an expectant look when she returned. "Ready. Or as ready as I can be."

"Here you go then," Irulan handed the shield belt to Evie then the dagger, "you remember the basic stance?"

She stepped forward to illustrate.

"Yes!" Evie was pleased that this much had stayed with her. Her balance was a little wobbly, but she managed to correct it, and hold the knife correctly. "Um. I don't remember what comes next."

"It's all right, here's what's next." Irulan demonstrated then stepped back, "remember to keep you left foot flat on the ground."

"Right!" Evie remembered the way that threw her off before, and carefully went through the basic move. At least her stamina had increased from playing all that flag football. "And, this--" She carefully slashed in front of her and across with the knife, "next? Is that right? But I wait for my opponent to move first?"

Irulan nodded, "Always study your opponent first, seek out their weaknesses and then attack."

She positioned herself in front of Evie, "Let's try then, you and I."

Gulping, Evie nodded, and carefully positioned herself. Blinking, she studied Irulan's stance, waiting for her to make a move, trying not to be distracted by any feints. "Ready!"

Waiting... waiting... waiting... did Irulan just move?

She did, knife point held low, Irulan moved forward and slashed to the left.

Evie brought her arm up to block, very clumsily, trying to deflect the blade, and remembered how to move to dodge it at the last second. Unfortunately, she didn't follow up on that, even though she thought she saw an opening there when she dodged. "Drat, drat..."

Evie dodged her strike, Irulan moved forward and allowed her arm to fall then whirled in a slashing strike, that if it connected would send Evie's shield sparking.

Which it immediately did, sending her stumbling backward, tripping and landing on her butt. "Oh!"

"Evie!" She stopped her advance and knelt next to Evie, "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Evie said, chagrined. "Just surprised." She got to her knees, and then her feet, dusting herself off. "And out of practice, as you can see." She took a breath, and set her feet in the starting position again. "Ready, though!"

Irulan suppressed a smile at Evie's enthusiasm, "Remember to control your breathing, this is also a mental exercise as much as it is physical." Irulan fell into a stance and brought her dagger at a guard position. "This time, attack me."

"Right, right, yes," Evie said, nodding. She had totally forgotten that part until now. She took a breath, let it out before she hyperventilated, then did so more slowly, and carefully brought her dagger against Irulan's shield, hoping she'd done it at the correct angle to penetrate it.

Her shield sparked but Irulan ignored it and allowed Evie's dagger point to move forward before taking action. She moved, slower than her usual speed and pivoted on one foot then thrust her knife hand forward.

Which knocked Evie's knife away and up, not difficult to do, since she was still elated that her strike had worked. "Oh!" She managed to keep her arm from going up too high, and brought it back down to guard position, to block Irulan's next move. It was starting to come back to her, the patterns you were supposed to follow.

Irulan followed up that strike with another swing but was surprised when Evie blocked the move. She shifted her weight to her right foot and feinted to the left.

Which Evie completely fell for, leaving herself wide open as she went to block with her other hand.

Irulan took advantage of that, a fast strike that, if Evie had not been shielded would have ended fatally.

"Eep!" Evie jumped back again as the shield sparked, but didn't fall over this time. "Drat. And I thought I was improving." She took a breath and wiped the back of her wrist across her forehead. "This is as difficult as I remembered."

Irulan paused to take a breath herself.

"But you are improving, I didn't expect your block." She tilted her head, "Where did you learn that move?" Irulan knelt to pick-up Evie's fallen dagger, "Although, you must remember, not all openings are openings as my people are fond of saying: Wheels within wheels, Evie."

"Wheels within wheels," Evie echoed, then turned pink. "And, well. I saw it in a movie. A Jackie Chan movie. Possibly I practiced it in front of a mirror, later on..." she said sheepishly.

Irulan grinned, it was something that now she could do these things, "Then it was a good movie. I like it, I may use it against one of the sisters when I return."

The Gym, Sunday Morning

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