D’Arden had forgotten what it was like to have a student, a pupil, someone who looked up to him and hung on his every word. It had been years since he’d trained his last apprentice Arbiter, choosing instead to take every mission that would lead him across the land, hunting evil wherever it would take root. As this young girl stood beside him, though, mimicking his movements and showing real improvement even inside of a few hours, that memory began to rekindle. As he began to see more of Elisa’s potential as a sword-slinger, he almost wished that she were younger, that he might be able to indoctrinate her as an Arbiter, rather than sending her off to become a soldier. The pain that he suffered, though, he would not wish upon anyone. The burden of the heartblade, the drive to fell evil at every corner and to seek it out whenever possible was more than most could bear, and besides all of that, she was far too old to begin Arbiter’s training now. If she were only a few years younger… but alas, this girl was not to be his next apprentice.
So instead he showed her every simple movement, every basic training in the way of the blade that he could remember. Obviously she was still too inexperienced for the more complex maneuvers, and some were downright impossible without the assistance of the manna, but many of the basics were the same no matter what kind of blade one wielded, whether it was steel, silver or crystal. Balance, leverage, proper swing arcs and stance were all things that he could impart on this suddenly willing student, and she absorbed all of it with alacrity.
They spent almost an hour in the dying light of the zagoths ’ fire, as the Deadmoon wandered through the sky overhead amongst the thin clouds that occasionally obscured its deathly white light. By the time they were finished, she was coated with a fine sheen of sweat and had shed most of her armor despite the cold. He had to admit, she was quite attractive even in the cold light, if several decades too young for his interest.
“The night grows long,” he said. “We should take advantage of the cover of night to surprise more of these demons, if still they lurk here. You may not find all of the stances I’ve taught you to be comfortable, and more of them you’ll forget before the night is out, but the basics should help you to strike stronger and faster at our enemies.”
“I’ll use them,” she said with a nod. “Let’s go.”