Of Shadows and Swords (Chiarra)

Lucius nodded a little but walked over to adjust her grip on the sword. "You can't hold it like a club. Here, like this." When her fingers were placed better and her elbows bent a bit, he nodded and pulled her hands up and back a little. "Lift up like this, and then just swing. Try to only graze it a little. Hit it full on too heard and it'll just hurt your hands."
 
He came over and adjusted her grip on the sword. She thought that this way felt much better. She nodded and took a breath before swinging at the tree. She swung, missing it, but not by much. She took a deep breath and tried again, this time, she hit it, it was more than just grazing though and it did hurt her hands like he said it would, but she hadn't hit it hard enough to hurt to bad. "How was that?' she asked, knowing she hadn't done very well.
 
Lucius winced as soon as he felt the reverb, knowing it would hurt, but opted not to get rid of the sword. He just stepped closer and closed her fingers around it a little harder for a moment, steadying the black sword so it wouldn't shake anymore, and let go when they were both still again. "Decent enough, for your first swings. It's going to take a lot of practice, though. If you really want to learn, some days I'll have you swinging at trees - or just at nothing - for an hour or two without stop." He would have to build up to that, of course.
 
"I'm sorry," she said. "Did that hurt you too?" She looked concerned for him and was. She simply nodded though, at his plans of teaching her, though she was dreading swinging for an hour or two nonstop. That would be very tiring. "Do you want to stop for today?" she asked him. "Wait until we get something to practice with?"
 
Lucius shook his head. "No, it didn't hurt me. I was thinking of your hands, because the vibrations are strong. We'll keep going, if you want to." He could almost hear her hesitation. She wasn't going to like the idea of hard work, was she?
 
She just wasn't used to hard work was all, and to her, it didn't seem like swinging a sword was, but she wasn't going to let him know that and glad she hadn't said anything like that before. It would insult him and that was the last thing she wanted. "Okay then," she said and practiced swinging it again, trying not to miss, nor hit it full on. She missed it, barely, just nicking it with the tip of the sword. She sighed softly. "This is harder than it looks."
 
Lucius nodded. "Most anything that's worthwhile is." He repositioned her with the sword again and stepped aside to let her continue swinging. "Keep going. That last one was good. Just barely hitting the tree will protect your hands, but it will also tell you how far the sword goes out when you extend your arms so far, or when you don't. It's good to know your limits."
 
She nodded and took another swing, this time, it had a bit more impact but not much, just enough for the tip to scratch past the bark. She swung again, getting a better feel for the blade and would continue to swing until he told her to stop, stopping herself occasionally to take a break.
 
"All right," Lucius said after watching and analyzing for a while. "That's good. We'll try a thrust next. Its just as it sounds. Shove the tip into the bark, and do try not to hit your ribs on the hilt, if you can help it." That was the tricky part, if she meant anticipating the force of it.
 
She was breathing heavily from all the swinging she did and nodded when he said what they were going to do next time. "I'll try not to," she said. She looked around. How long had they been practicing? "Shouldn't Archer be back by now?" she asked.
 
Lucius paused and tilted his head a bit, considering the time. "He'll be back any minute now. It's all right. He probably just got distracted by something shiny. Or female." He shrugged, shaking his head. "If you need to stop, we can."
 
She blushed a bit at that last comment about Archer, but nodded when he asked if she wanted to stop. "I'm tired and hungry," she said, moving to lay back down on the grass, resting. "Thanks for teaching me though."
 
Lucius made the sword go away and just sat down with her. "It's not much trouble. We're not doing anything else of import." He looked up at the sound of hooves and smiled a little. "Ah, here he comes." It was distant still, but coming closer.
 
She looked over at him and smiled softly. Finally, he said he was coming and she heard the sound of hooves too. "Finally," she said sitting up and looking at the direction she thought he would be coming in.
 
((Sorry, trying to get ready to go and my wardrobe isn't cooperating with me))


Lucius sat near her and they just waited until Archer approached on their horse, a bag that was presumably filled with food sitting in front of him on the saddle, kept secure by the upper parts of his thighs. He tilted his head and smiled a little when he pulled the horse up next to them and stopped. "If you're going to keep looking at me like that, I expect a parade next time, Geez. It's only food, you weirdos. You would've survived a few more minutes."
 
((It's fine ^_^ . Sorry about your wardrobe though))


"Yes, but when you've been swimming and then sword training, you get very hungry," she said. "Especially, when you hadn't eaten before hand." She sat down though, and waited patiently to get her portion of the food. "Thank you though, Archer," she said.
 
((It worked out eventually. Just too many things and then my legs weren't quite smooth enough to avoid nylons so I had to fight to keep them from rolling down, which is annoying lol))


Archer just shrugged and dismounted, bringing the food to them and flopping out the blanket Melody had wanted. "A fair enough response." He said, then paused. "Where did you get a sword?"


Lucius' manners were good enough that he didn't speak with his mouth full, but raising his hand made Archer nod in understanding. They were both glad Lucius could use his shadows freely without fear of rejection.
 
((Oh, I hate when that happens lol. Glad it worked out though ^_^ ))


She simply nodded in agreement when Lucius raised his hands. When she swallowed her food, she looked at Archer. "When do you think we can do archery practice? Tomorrow maybe?" She was still tired from sword practice and didn't want to start on that just yet. She took another bite of food.
 
((Thanks :) ))


Archer shrugged and sat down, taking some food for himself as they both scooted onto the blanket to rest. "Well, we'll have to have a real ow for that one, or you'll never know how to use a real one. Projectile weapons are a bit different from just swinging a sword. You have to be able to feel the weight of your bow and the arrows both. You're going to have a hard enough I've switching from his sword to a real one anyway." He shook his head. "We'll just wait."
 
(( ^_^ ))


"Okay," she said softly, eating her food. "It can wait." She smiled at the both of them. She ate her food and when she was done, she laid back on the blanket and sighed. "So," she asked. "What do we want to do now?"
 
Lucius shrugged a little, finishing off what was left of his food and just leaning back on a hand. "What happened to being tired?" He asked, glancing at her. He was surprised she wanted to do more. Also, when had anyone said they had to constantly be doing something? He was perfectly fine just sitting and resting here. It was nice.
 
"Well, it doesn't have to be something strenuous," she told him. "It could be something simple, like playing a game," she said shrugging softly. "Though...we don't really have anything with us to play, so never mind."
 
Archer shrugged slightly. "Lucius doesn't know many games anyway." He raised an eyebrow when Lucius looked at him. "What? It's true. You had a horrible, horrible childhood, my friend." He just grinned, content despite his words. "Like me!"
 
Archer didn't seem to mind it, but Melody did. She frowned softly and looked sad. "Both of you had horrible childhoods?" she asked them with concern.
 
Lucius glared at Archer, but Archer just ignored him and nodded. "We can't all grow up in castles with an abundance of everything, princess," He said, but it was in a teasing manner and, for once, not an insulting one. "It's the way of the world, and we were very much part of the world before you ever even knew we existed." Archer, with his parents being killed for debt, and Lucius, with his slaughtered for their race. They had both grown up too fast, and Archer at least knew that Aaric had been the only thing that saved them. Both of them. Somehow, Archer knew he would find a way to get back to the man. He had to.
 
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