30th of Summer, 508 AV
Kavala had dug up the trainer from somewhere. If there was one thing that Matthew couldn't fault her for was resourcefulness. The young Drykas-Konti had all the ingenuity of the people she hailed from, bartering this, trading that, and in this case giving riding lessons to a set of young Konti girls in exchange for their father teaching both her and Matthew a bit of unarmed combat. They were meeting every third day, and it was taking its toll. Kavala had been introduced to the man by her herbalism teacher Drae Sommers, who had become something of a close friend to Kavala. Hailed as brutal but harmless, Drae had recommended Seth and his family for Kavala's needs.
The Konti in turn had met the two little girls, knew immediately she could teach them to ride, and in turn rather than exchange coin had hit their father up for unarmed combat lessons. He was eager to make the exchange. So they traded lesson for lesson, and in this case Matthew got to tag along since Kavala was training two girls to ride and not just one.
The Akalak's name was Seth though they had both noticed that sometimes his family called him Kakkyn. He'd taken one look at them, declared both of them soft, and had extended the practice from a bell to two bells every third day. The first bell consisted of a run which basically entailed Kavala and Matthew trailing after Seth as he jogged the beaches, through the city, across some of the woods on Mura, and occasionally around Silver Lake. His pace was brutal, but all in all the exercise was doing its job. Kavala knew she was getting stronger in terms of the ability to run longer and Matthew seemed to be gaining some endurance as well. They trailed after their trainer who pushed them far past where they thought they could go.
Seth emphasized endurance, stamina, and insisted that battles were not won on strength or skill alone, but often times on staying power and the ability of one opponent to wear another opponent down. The odd pair of friends were quick to agree. After all, Seth's training helped them in more ways than one. Their bodies hardened and their minds in turn sharpened. They could study longer, focus more intently, and were no longer crippled up after hours in the library of the Opal Temple if research required it of them.
At first, Kavala was miserable and hated the training. It had been her idea because all in all she felt it was virtually impossible to go through life without knowing some basic self defense. And the best defense, was a quick offense. Her hope was that when she returned to her brothers and father, she'd be able to throw a punch with the best of them and hold her own when they sometimes rough-housed or brawled.
Seth's first day of class, after their run, consisted of some basic information. They were going to learn punching, it seemed, as a first step in unarmed combat. Seth's lectures were usually brief, to the point, but his message was always clear.
"Punches are attacks you make without weapons. They consist of a closed first used mostly in a linear or upwards fashion. One's fist may be held horizontally or vertically. One contacts one's target with the first two knuckles of the hand, closed and tucked under, though further follow through might result in the entire front of the fist making contact. There are two types of punches which determine contact. The first punch is the snapped punch, where you throw your fist out and back very quickly. The second type of punch is a pushed through punch where upon contact the fist pushes into the target rather than retreats." Seth said, standing before them in typical teaching fashion, walking back and forth, demonstrating.
"When talking about punches, your power never comes from your upper body or your arm. That will get you virtually no force at all. Your power comes from the hip snap and the force that comes from driving off the ball of your trailing foot. To punch, you should always stand with your feet a shoulder width apart, one foot slightly forward, one slightly trailing. All your power comes from that step forward, the hip snap, and the push off." Seth demonstrated, using what looked like a snap punch that was to Kavala more like a lightening fast jab than anything else.
"Now, take the stance.... make a fist, and follow through with this motion. I don't care about technique right now. I care about you focusing on the power that your body generations in stepping forward, pushing off, and channeling that power upwards to your fist. If done right... you can break through wood, bone, even snap armor if its the right type." The big Akalak said, looking fairly confident in his words.
Kavala did as he asked, taking the stance he'd demonstrated, and then moved through the motion, snapping her hip, pushing off with her trailing foot's ball, and thrusting her arm forward. She did two sets of ten... first trying a generic snap punch. The second set consisted of ten repeated push through punches. When she was done trying out the unfamiliar feeling of striking, she slipped into a natural 'at rest' position and waited for what else Seth would say.
"I'm going to demonstrate a number of punches to you. All of these punches start from your hands and arms being in a guard position." He raised his hands and demonstrated. His fists were held just below his cheekbones, closed, with his palms towards his face. He arranged his forearms almost vertical to his body.
Kavala nodded and practiced the basic guard position. She moved into it, out of it, and then tried a couple of snap punches to see how it worked. It felt awkward holding her fists up to her cheekbones, but then she realized how protective it was of her eyes, nose, and skull in general. Seth nodded at her progress, then continued speaking.
"From here on out I'm going to teach you named punches. The first of which is going to be a fore fist punch. Ready?" He said, glancing at Matthew to see if the young human was keeping up.
