[Suvai Pavillion] Nothing says love like a fist to the face

[Kiska]

2nd Day of Fall of the Year 510 AV, noon

The sun was high in the sky, and sweat rolled down Kiska's forehead. The water around the pavillion was a vivid blue today, and peace permeated the air. Kiska walked foreward into the pavillion, knowing her newfound friend Ero would be right behind her. People sparred in various areas of the room with different kinds of weapons, and some even sparred unarmed. They had come here seeking trainers, an archery trainer for Kiska, and who knows what for Ero, probably many weapons. She guessed that being half Konti, the Akontak would know something about the Suvai, and probably even be looking to train in it. Looking around, Kiska saw that most of those who occupied this level of the pavillion seemed to be amateurs. There were staircases in the back of the room, one set going up and the other going down to what appeared to be a flooded area. Kiska pointed at the staircases. "I bet the masters are either upstairs or downstairs, but I can't breathe underwater, so I'll check upstairs," she said, heading to the staircase. She was about to ascend the staircase when a harsh looking Konti came down before her. She gave no excuses and almost pushed her way through without saying a word. The bow she held was made of a smooth oak colored wood. It was finely carved and strung just right. It looked like it would have made the perfect bow for Kiska. Her mouth opened in awe.This must be one of the archery masters. "Excuse me miss," she said, stopping the Konti. She had no doubt that this was a master of archery, she just hoped it was the one she was looking for. She waited for the Konti to turn around and face her, hoping she hadn't angered her. "What is it?"d the Konti, voice sharp as she turned to Kiska. She seemed as if she didn't have the time to sit and chat, or the patience. Kiska knew that she shouldn't keep this woman long, lest she wish to be on her bad side. "Could you teach me to use my bow better?" She asked. This woman looked skilled, she held her bow well, even for someone just walking around. She seemed to be in a rush though. The Konti stood for a moment, thinking. "Not now, I've got a lesson to teach. Find me here tomorrow morning and I'll teach you a little something about it. Be prepared though, unless I'm in a particularly good mood, my lessons don't come free. By the way, name's Ildin, ask for me if you can't find me." And with that she strode off and out of the pavillion. Kiska turned to Ero. "Well, I'm guessing that was the only archery trainer of the pavillion since she seemed so busy, so I'm out of luck for today," she said, only slightly disappointed. "You can go find a trainer and I can practice by myself or we could try something new together," she told her friend. She knew she could never beat this girl at any kind of fighting they did together, but she loved learning new things.

[Ero]

Ero watched the woman who had introduced herself as Ilden saunter out of the pavilion, glaring slightly. She had no love for anyone who would be rude as that for no reason. "You would be willing to train with someone who has no regard for you? I would understand if we were just random people on the street accosting a master, but to laud one's self as a teacher and treat prospective students in such a way..." Ero shook her head. It was not up to her to decide how others should treat each other, nor was it her place to judge, but she hoped that one day she might face the woman in combat, just to satisfy her own desire for putting others in their place. She realized what she had just thought and nearly laughed at the irony. Ero smiled suddenly. "Nevermind, it isn't my place to speak of such things. However, I would love to work with you on infighting. I have not been formally trained, but I have observed others in unarmed combat, and I think we could figure it out as we go along." she glowed on the inside at the thought of such a physical activity with the pretty Benshira. Ero knew that she would have the edge at first, as she was so much larger and stronger than her friend, but Kiska would most likely soon catch up. The smaller woman seemed to be someone who would fight with extreme cunning. "To be honest, though, I think we might shout seek the teachings of one of the masters here at the Pavilion. I don't want to have one of us get hurt through ignorance. Do you know if there is such a master of hand to hand combat in this place?"

[Kiska]

Kiska looked back to the girl who was obviously offended by the actions of the mistress. It was nothing Kiska wasn't used too though, being as passive as she was. "She didn't mean it Ero, she's just very busy. Don't worry about her," she said, trying to comfort the woman. At Ero's suggestion of hand to hand combat with her, Kiska was unsure. She would surely be pummelled by one such as Ero, who had training in close combat and who had much more strength than Kiska did. Though she figured that Ero wouldn't purposely hurt her, it was the accidental stuff she worried about. She knew training brought on injuries, whether supervised or not. Even with something such as archery there would be injuries. With straight out hitting each other, there would likely be many more. "That sounds fun," Kiska said after thinking for a moment. "I'm sure there's a hand to hand master somewhere around here, or at least someone who knows how this works that can tell us what to do. Master or not, guidance would be nice." She looked around the pavillion for someone. There were a few practicing unarmed combat, but they looked to be amateurs, barely any better than beginners. Kiska walked over to two practicing unarmed combat near one of the walls. They had just stopped for a break when she approached them. "Hello," she said to them. Both were Konti, but one appeared to be much older than the other. "Do either of you know if there is an unarmed combat trainer here?" The two practicioners looked at her and the older one stepped forward. "Well, mistress Ildin will teach some unarmed combat sometimes, but she's no master at it. You could ask someone around here who trains in it to help you out. There are plenty of people who practice that here," said the woman. "Oh, thank you miss," Kiska said, and turned around to Ero. "What do you suggest we do? Should we find someone to help us or do you just want to practice on our own?"

[Ero]

Ero nodded and lead her friend out onto an empty training area nearby. "I don't know very much about hand-to-hand, but I think I know more than those two." she whispered to Kiska. She was still a little perturbed at the rudeness of the woman who apparently was the unarmed combat master of this place. She shook her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts. Ero stepped out of her shoes, and pulled off her outer shirt, revealing the light training shirt she wore underneath. It was similar to what the other women had been wearing, but had subtle differences, such as a bit more support, and fitting a bit tighter. She gestured for Kiska to similarly divest herself of unnecessary clothing. Ero stepped towards the smaller woman and rolled her shoulders, limbering up. "The first thing I had to learn was that you should never limit yourself to punches and kicks. An elbow to the face will end a fight just as effectively as a punch, if not more so. A knee to the groin, similarly, will take the fight out of most men." she began to bounce on the balls of her feet. "The second thing I learned was to be unpredictable. Never fall into a pattern, never develop rote techniques that you might use multiple times in combat and have exploited by your enemy. Every movement should by premeditated, but not planned in advance. Do you understand?" With that she squared her fists and began to circle Kiska. She didn't want to hurt the other woman on their first training bout, but Ero had a feeling that Kiska had hidden strength, and would push back if pushed. "Now, up against a larger opponent, you are seemingly at a disadvantage. But I learned fighting my uncle, who is a good foot taller than me, and much much stronger than I. Where you have caution, they have overconfidence. Where they see weakness, you can hide strength. No matter how fast I throw a punch, you have the advantage in turning aside the blow and dodging, as you have less mass to move." She demonstrated a straight punch in the air. "Now, this is your first drill. Try to dodge or deflect my punches. Don't worry, If I hit you it won't hurt much." and began the drill.

[Kiska]

Kiska followed Ero to the training spot and followed orders, taking off her sandals and placing them to the side. She stood there, listening to Ero's quick explanation before she began the 'lesson'. Kiska was well enough at combat, but only long range. She was used to using a bow and arrow rather than her ownn fists, and only in self defense. She supposed this would be a good thing to learn, in case she needed to defend herself from a close ranged attack, but she knew it was going to be painful. She dodged Ero's first punch, ducking down low. This was all she really knew how to do, as Ero had not explained what she meant by deflect. Kiska was fast, being smaller than Ero, and managed to dodge a good number of the punches, though Ero was going a bit too fast for a beginner. Some of the punches landed in various regions as Kiska twisted, turned, and ducked to avoide being hit. She was nervous, and somewhat afraid that she may be hurt or make herself look foolish, but continued dodging anyway. Just as Ero was about to land yet another blow on her, Kiska reached up and grabbed the woman's arm, sweeping it off to the side and using her other arm to punch the woman in the stomach, lightly. Stunned, Kiska stopped. "Oh, I ...uh, I'm really sorry I didn't mean to... are you okay?"

[Ero]

Ero grunted at the light impact of the other woman's fist, nodded, and then moved to continue the drill. Just as she threw the next punch, Kiska dropped any semblance of guard and asked if Ero was okay. With a sigh, Ero nodded, then explained to Kiska the danger of what had just happened. "Just so you know, you should never drop your guard during a drill or a sparring match. If I had followed through with that last punch, it could have dislocated your jaw or something. I dunno, maybe we call it a day and wait..." as she thought about the ending of that sentence, which included 'and just train with that one master' she was reminded how much animosity she had felt earlier when the so-called "Master" ran into them earlier. "Actually never mind. How about I show you how to throw a proper punch, and I spend some time doing that drill to show you." Ero lifted up her first, and showed Kiska the proper way to hold you hands closed. It wasn't complicated. She did warn the other woman that hitting a hard sruface with anything but the first two knuckles was a good way to break bones in the hand. After that, she demonstrated a few slow punches, (again, quite simple,) and decided that they were ready to continue. Ero took a step back, and readied herself.

[Kiska]

Kiska frowned. She wasn't very good at this combat thing. She had only ever done long range combat with her bow, and only when it was defensive. Offensive combat was much difference, and though her arms were the strongest part of her body, she imagined it would involve kicking as well, and other techniques. She was a bit nervous, to say the least. She made a fist and fake punched Ero as a demonstration. "Like that?" She said, and swung a little harder, hitting the woman in the shoulder. It felt correct, so she threw another few punches, first doing a few with her right hand, then a few with her left, then alternating. "Shouldn't we have some sort of protection? Like hand wraps or padded clothing? I mean, I don't want either of us to get hurt." She hadn't stopped practicing her punches while she talked, but it definitely threw off her rhythm a little.

[Ero]

Ero let a few punches connect, just to make sure that her friend wouldn't hurt herself too much if she connected to something solid, then began doing basic blocks and deflections with her forearms. "No, don't worry about protective clothing yet. We aren't going to be hitting each other hard enough to need that yet. Basically, the way you should judge how hard to hit is to hit only as hard as you are willing to be hit." after a few more minutes, she stepped back and waved for Kiska to stop. "Thats good enough for now, we don't want to do too much in one day, so lets call it quits for now. I think I'm ready to try to find someone willing to do some suvai sparring with me. You can come with me if you want, or you can see if you can find someone else to train you more. I'm not very skilled, so I don't have very much to teach you. I could show you kicks tomorrow if you'd like, but frankly, it would probably be best for you to stick with punches for now. Or maybe not." she shrugged, indicating that while she was the teacher in this situation, she wasn't the best teacher, and Kiska might be able to find someone better who would teach in a completely different way. It was a very expressive shrug. Ero then turned and walked off to where there was a group of trio of women sparring with suvai. She smiled to herself, and tried to look confident as she walked towards them, hoping that Kiska was following her. Ero had never been to good at introducing herself to new people. As she got closer, she slowed, as to not distract the combatants. On closer inspection, she realized that only two of the women were actually sparring, the third acting as some sort of judge. She had seen matches like this before, but not in her homeland. The Akalak needed no third party to know when one had triumphed over the other. She mentally shook herself, and looked critically at the way the two women were sparring. They seemed evenly matched, as both women were moving swiftly and confidently, but neither seemed capable of landing a blow on the other. There were no flashy stunts that signified skilled beginners, but neither were there any complicated maneuvers indicative of a very skilled fighter. In fact, the more Ero watched, the more she became convinced that these two women were just slightly more skilled than she.

[Kiska]

Kiska followed Ero over to a group of Konti sparring with a weapon she had heard was called the 'Suvai', from Ero. Ero held one of these as well, and was likely hoping to join the group training before them. Kiska though, had little endurance, and was content to watch her friend practice rather than to go find some sort of training for herself. She was sure she would need what little energy she could conserve now for her classes thsi afternoon. Kiska leaned against the wall of the pavillion, still breathing heavily from their previous excercises. "You go ahead, I'm a bit tired now, and have class. I'll stay here and watch you practice," she said with a small smile. Kiska was only as interested in combat as far as she could use it defensively. She had never been interested in hurting people. Quite the opposite actually, Kiska had always been a very caring person, especially when it came to the injured. Of course, she didn't mind that other people used combat for other reasons, but she herself would not partake in pointless violence.