Flashback A Day in the Life

[Eliro Darkcrest]

17th OF SUMMER, 504AV
3rd BELL, AFTERNOON
MATTHEW'S BAY

“Eliro. It is not about learning to be violent. It is learning to be strong. Now, come here.” The rough voice of her father, Ancar, rang out across the deck of the Paliver. Eliro only stared at him, casting a nervous glance at her mother who rested in the shade of the main mast.

“But Papa…” She whined, stepping forward. Calmly, the Svefra walked up to his daughter, kneeling so that he could be just under the eight year old’s level.

“I know you are a gentle girl, and that is a wonderful quality. This will not take the compassion away from you. I will teach you to defend yourself so that you can keep your compassion.” Icy blue eyes bore into hers and Eliro nodded at her father, her child mind easily moved by him. But she still wore a worried look on her face. “We’ll start easy, c’mon.” He stood, patting her once on the shoulder, before goading her back towards the open deck.

The familiar rocking of the boat underneath them eased the young Svefra slightly when she stepped further into the sunlight. She shielded her eyes for a second, glancing port-wise towards the bustling docks of Zeltiva city. Their pod was anchored farther out in Matthews bay, staying away from the bustle of the city, but she could see the few fishing boats as dark spots among the reflective waves. Some were pulling up nets of kelp, others were laying down traps to gather later.

“Watch me, Eli.” Her father called her attention back and the young Svefra looked up to him. He smiled at her and brought his hands in front of his face very deliberately. With his palms open towards her, it looked as if he was going to catch a bladder-ball, except his hands were too close together. They were not shielding his face, but merely resting just at his chin. After taking the tick to observe this, Eliro copied her father. “Feet.” He reminded her and she crouched to mimic him as well. She had lived on a boat her entire life, so giving herself a strong stance was never an issue. Even at her young age, she knew exactly how to traverse a tipping slippery deck, so to copy her father’s stance she merely had to bend her knees slightly, as if she was preparing to spring up at any moment.

“Good.” Her father grinned, straightening up and taking a step towards her. “Now. This position should become instinct for you soon. You see where your hands are?” Hard calloused fingers brushed her palms. “This is the best range of motion. You can shield your face, through a punch, block an attack, and,” She followed his gaze when he glanced down at her feet, tapping her left ankle, which was furthest from him, with his right one to point it out. “You won’t lose your balance if you need to kick.”

Eliro furrowed her brows, she didn’t understand anything her father was saying. But the young Svefra would do exactly what her teacher says, confident in her father’s teaching.

“Alright.” Ancar nodded to his daughter, resuming his position. “Now, I will go slow for you, to demonstrate, and then we can make a game out of it.”

“Can Nani join us? Does she know the game?” Eliro glanced at her mother, who was laid out on the deck. She had one arm slung over her eyes, even though she was in the shade, to shield her from the sun. The other rested at the base of the Lia’s growing stomach, an unthought of motherly habit. At the mention of Eliro’s nickname for her mother and father’s partner, she glanced up to see what they were talking about.

“Don’t mind your mother, look here.” Ancar tried for his daughter’s attention again. “Marli wants to go fishing later, so if we can teach you the basics quickly, maybe she can join us.” Ancar took a step forward, slowly reaching for his daughter’s wrist with his right side. “Now, when I jab at you, like this, I want you to push my forearm away at a 45 degree angle. The top of the main mast.” Eliro envisioned the triangular point of the top of her pod’s Paliver’s main mast. Following his instruction she pushed her left hand out slowly to match his pace, grabbing his forearm and pushing it away.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. Use the opposite hand.” She retracted her hand, resuming her original position, and produced a convincingly confused expression for her teacher to interpret. He tapped her right hand with his right hand, which was on her left. Then her did the same for her left hand with his left hand. “If I go for you with my right side, block me with your right hand. Do it now.” Again Ancar slowly reached for his daughter, and she matched his pace with her right hand as well, grabbing his forearm. “Good. See, now you can push my hand completely out of your way.”

Eliro extended her small arm, her father didn’t resist as she moved his arm completely away from her. Even though her arms were much shorter, it worked. Her father grinned at her.

“Good. Good. Let’s practice a bit, so you get used to using the right hand.” He resumed his crouch in front of her, and paused. The young Svefra held her breathe as she flicked her eyes between his two palms, trying to guess which side he would attack with first. “Look right here.” He pointed pulled his hand back to pat his bare chest, right at his collar bone. “This will give away your opponents chosen direction more often than not. You’ll see it in their shoulder’s before you see it in their hands.” Eliro nodded, soaking up the information and refocusing on her father’s upper chest instead of his hands.

“Ready?”

“Yup.” Eliro tensed, prepared for his attack.

Like flying fish, her father’s left hand protruded forward. Left or right? Left or right? Suddenly Eliro’s mind when blank and the eight year old let out a yelp and threw her own right hand forward. As soon as her hand collided with his skin Ancar gave no resistance, breaking out into a bellowing laughter instead, straightening out. She heard her mother’s chuckled from behind her and the girl grew red.

“Perhaps you are too young to start combat, my little pearl.” Eliro pouted when her father pat her head, grinning in amusement.

“No I’m not. I’m not too young.” The child looked up at the man, grabbing his hand from her head with both of hers. She squeezed his fingers.

“Please Papa, I’m not too young, I promise. I can do it.” The childe rushed through her Fratava, wiggling his fingers with her hand.

“You know I am only messing with you, Pearl. That was a fine first start. Let’s go again.”

“Yes!” She grinned, shuffling back into her defensive position as her father did. The child of the ocean had never been entirely patient, but when her father leveled his gaze on her and made no hint of movement, Eliro tried to calm her mind. A nearly impossible effort for an eight year old.

As she was concentrating on concentrating, her father’s right hand shot out. This time, she didn’t question her action and rammed her own right hand into his with full force. Again, Ancar put no resistance into his jab, so his hand when flying in the other direction. An amused grin spread across her father’s face, which only burrowed Eliro’s brow with concentration.

Refocusing her attention on his chest, she watched the man’s muscles. This time his left hand swung at her, and she threw her own left hand into it, immediately realizing her mistake. “Ahh!” She growled, glancing up at her father’s blue eyes before looking back down at his shoulder. She didn’t see that one coming. Again, his left hand reached out, but this time, the child blocked it with her right hand, forcing his arm outwards again. This time she put a little less force into it, accounting for no resistance like last time.

“Don’t be afraid to give me all you’ve got. I can handle it.” He reassured her. Elrio nodded, but as soon as her father finished his words, he threw his right hand at her. Not holding herself back, she threw her power into her left hand, removing him from the way. But before she could bring her hand back to her face, her father tapped her jaw with his left hand.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Oh!” He commented, the playful voice back one. She swung her hand out after he already retracted his, exposing her face again. Again, he tapped her jaw. “Two!” He acted surprised by being able to tap her chin the second time. The eight year old crumbled her nose, chasing after his hand with her own in anger. He blocked her jabs with ease, a playful grin on her face. Mad, at how amused he was by her efforts, Eliro brought her hands back, preparing for the next one. But this time she was determined to predict it by watching his shoulders. She saw it.

His right shoulder flexed and immediately she put her left hand out to block his arm before he got too close, but instead of meeting his right hand, she collided with his left, only shoving the limb more into her space. He tapped her chin. The temperamental Svefra growled and launched for her father, hands going for his throat. The man braced himself and caught his daughter who then began to lightly bat his chin. “Gotchya, Gotchay, Gotchya, Gotchya!” She counted her jabs, giggling as she did so. This earned her another bellowing laugh from the man, before he set her down.

“Sneaky one.” She grinned at her father, proudly. “But that is not what I am teaching you?”

“We’re Svefra, we don’t fight fair.” Elrio crossed her arms, but was a little confused. What did he mean, she won!

“No, and we don’t have to. But, the point of the lesson was to teach you to defend yourself using a more disciplined form of combat, more so than the brawling you do. Before you learn to attack, you should know how to defend.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” The child impatiently waved her father's explanation away. “I'll do it right this time.” Eliro promised, bringing her hands up to her face again in preparation. Her father only rolled his eyes.

“This is important Eli, try to stay focused. You’ll have to know a lot more than just unarmed combat if you want to be Lia one day.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” The child grumbled, not wanting to be reminded of her mother’s status, which was expected to her her status when she got older. But her father resumed his position, not hesitating this time. He threw two jabs with his left, and she managed to block both correctly. But when he threw her a jab with his right, she blocked with her left again.

“Agh!” She growled in frustration, but her father continued, not fazed by her mistakes.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Focus, Eliro. Stay calm.” He gently reminded her, and continued to give her jabs to block. Most of the time, she deflected them correctly, sometimes she missed and other times she forgot which side to block with. But as she was practicing her blocking, Eliro was focusing on her father’s shoulders. Rarely did she manage to predict his jabs. Most of the time she relied on being quicker than him, but then again he wasn’t hitting her for real, so his jabs were slower and had less power than a real opponent would.

“Eli, you are focusing on my shoulder. You should focus on my chest.” Her father seemed to be realizing her errors. “I can fake you out with my shoulders.” He pointed out, then demonstrated. She watched his left shoulder flex and instinctively prepared for his left jab, but ended up receiving his right hand. “Focus on my chest. Watch.” Eliro nodded, focusing back on his collarbone, she saw both of her father’s chest muscles flex, but when he slowly reached forward with his left arm, she distinctly saw his collarbone shift. Her teacher then tried to fake her out. She watched his muscles flex and anticipated his right arm. But when his left collarbone adjusted, she realized what he meant.

“Oooh….” The realization hit the eight-year old and she looked up at her father’s face.

“You see? Let’s go one more time and then I’ll let you go.” He nodded to her and she resumed her defensive position, palms ready.

This time when her father jabbed at her, Eliro focused on his collarbones. It wasn’t easy, since the young Svefra kept wanting to let her eyes wander, juicing as much information about her opponent as possible. But she reminded herself she needed to focus on his collarbones and eventually she was able to predict his movements quicker. Jab, block. Jab, block. Jab, block. The pace continued for a few chimes until Eliro started missing more jabs and confusing her hands than she actually blocked them.

“There ya go. I think you did very well my little pearl.” Eliro gave a dramatic sigh and straightened up with her father. “One day you’ll be a great Svefran warrior. Laviku will be proud.” He grinned at her, and she grinned back.

“Can we play the game with Nani now?” She asked, shielding her eyes from the sun and looking up. at her father who was now standing at his full height.

“No, maybe next time. You are going to need a bit more practice with the basics before we play that game. But that was a great start for you.” He patted her head, and walked past Eliro.

“Someone calling me?”

“Nani!” Eliro shrieked in excitement, watching her father’s partner rise from below the deck.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Eli! What have you been up to?”

“Papa was teaching me Unarmed Combat.” She spoke the words in Common, trying to mimic the professionality that the name gave off. She glanced over to where her father was crouched by her mother, saying something to her.

“Well are you done now? Because I think we should go diving for clams. Right now is the perfect season for it in the Bay.” Eliro grinned, and glanced back at her mother.

“Nani and I are going diving!” She informed the sleepy Lia, and grabbed Marli’s hand, ready to jump out of the Paliver as soon as possible.

“Wait, wait! And what do you suppose you were going to put those clams in? Let’s get some supplies first.” Marli turned back towards the cabin, and Eliro bounced behind her, excited to be in the water.

“We’ve got a pail around here somewhere…” Marli opened the door for both of the Svefra to go down into the cabins. Eliro glanced up at her mother and father’s partner. Tri-relationships were not uncommon among Svefra, so it was not something that the young girl questioned. It was well known that Marli and her mother had been together before her father came along. But she was tired of only having a brother, and her mother was already pregnant, so Marli would have to have more children. In her eight year-old mind, it was the only rational conclusion.

“When are you and Papa going to have another baby?”

“What?” Marli spun from where she was searching the cooking cabin for a pail.

“Well… You’ve only gave me a brother. Mama is going to give me another sister, but I want another brother. She said matter-of-fact towards the Svefra. She only earned a grin from the older woman.

“And how do you know Lia Rerria is going to have a little girl?” Marli emerged from the storage cabinet, with a bucket and some rope.

“Obviously, because she had me. I’m a girl, ain’t I?” Eliro rolled her eyes as if it was as obvious as the Ocean was wet. “And you had a boy. Sooo…” But Marli was already walking outside, and so Elrio trailed her, continuing the explanation. “Mama had me, and I am a girl so she will have all girls. You had … and he is a boy, so you will have all boys. I think I would quite like to have another brother to go with my other sister. Then there can be four of us and … won’t feel left out.” The child rationalized her thinking following her Nani to where one of the anchors was tied to the Paliver.

“Seems reasonable.” Marli humored her, glancing over the edge. “Remember how to tie a Double Sling?” She stepped back so she was fully on the deck.

“Of course I do.” The young Svefra was now inflated with a bout of confidence, and she took the length of rope that was handed to her from her Nani. “Where do you want it?”

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Here, one on just a tick.” She watched her brother’s mother pull a wood and rope ladder from its packed position on the inner wall of the Paliver. She unravelled its bindings and procured the bottom rung of the rope ladder. “We’ll attach the bucket to this so that when we put it over the starboard, we can just drop the clams in. Here,” Marli handed Eliro the bucket as well. The child crouched on the deck, taking the bottom rung and the bucket.

She still wasn’t the best knot tier, and she didn’t remember them all. But at least she knew what the double fisherman’s sling was. Although exactly how she was to do it, the eight year old was a little fuzzy. “Alright” The child muttered to herself, laying the length of rope out on the deck. It wasn’t too long or short, it seemed to be the perfect size, about three feet. The rope was slightly worn, so it was easy for her to manipulate. She unravelled it, trying to bend it into thirds.

“There ya go, create two bights.” Marli urged her on. That is what they are called.

“I know, I know.” Eliro noted what the familiar bend of rope was called, but she wanted to prove to her brother’s mother that she could tie the rope without help. Once she laid the rope out so that it had both ends heading in opposite directions with two kinks in the middle, Eliro stared at it for a tick. The first step was always the hardest. “Let me get it, just a tick.” She murmured, digging through her brain as best she could. Marly sat back on her haunched beside, her patiently waiting in the afternoon heat.

“Wrap one end…” Marli urged and Eliro grabbed the end quickly, finishing her sentence.

“... Twice around the opposite blight. I know, I just had to get a second.” She started to wrap one loop of rope with the other end.

“But what about the bucket? You don’t want to close the blight before your put anything in there.” Marli reminded her gently.

“Oh yeah.” Eliro grabbed the bucket handle, threading the rope through it. She strung the other end through the bottom rung on the ladder. Then she created the two blights again, this time with the two desired objects threaded in their proper loops. “Wrap one end twice around the opposing blight.” Eliro repeated the familiar instructions, working with the rope as she talked.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

“Then insert it under the two wraps.” She poked the end of the rope through the two loops, so that it faced the direction of the bucket.

“Great, now repeat it on the other side, with the ladder rung.” Elrio grinned at Marli, glad she was understanding the rope tying. She copied her earlier motions with the other side, a little less slowly. Once both knots had been tied she looked at the lopsided double sling. It was a relatively simple knot, but she could never make it as even as her parents could. Shrugging, she pulled the two loops apart so the two knots slid together, and then looked at Marli.

“Perfect!” The older Svefra grinned at the child, checking the strength of the rope once before standing up with it. “Okay, let’s lower it carefully so that it does not clang against the side of the ship. She stepped over to the wall of the Paliver, sliding the end of the ladder over and then feeding more ladder over the side. Eliro scampered up the wall, to watch her Nani’s progress. When the child judged the ladder to be nearly at sea-level, she yelled. “Stop!”

Marli secured the rope ladder where it was and then climbed up so that she was balancing on the wall of the Paliver, ready to jump into the nearly-clear ocean water of Matthew’s bay. “Do a flip!” Eliro called, using a tied down trimming rope to hoist herself onto the wall to jump as well.

“Only if you do!” Marli grinned at the child as she found her balance.

“You’re on.” Eliro let go of the trimming rope and pushed off from the wall. Tucking her legs into her body, she immediately felt the world start to spin. An excited squeal erupted from her mouth when she hit the water, and the Svefra let herself sink. Barely a tick passed before the Svefra felt the impact of her podmate a few feet away from her. Opening her mouth, the child took a gulp of saltwater, which immediately turned to drinking water for her. She’d been up on the ship all day so far, so she was rather thirsty, but she had to breathe as well, so the young Svefra was forced to swim back to the surface.

As she broke the water, breathing deeply, she looked up to see her father and mother’s face peering down at her. She waved to them and then watched the two faces disappear. “Uh-oh.” The child realized what the two were doing. Taking one last breathe, she dove into the cool salty water once more. A school of blunt-headed fish scattered at her presence, and Eliro searched for a quick escape from her parents playful hunt. Below her she could sense a light salinity current, likely started from the kelp farming not too far away. The minerals were being upturned and there was a pocket in the current that she could sink lower in better the water she was in now. All she had to do was get to the other side of the Paliver.

Whispering a plea to the current, her Oceanus brought the small channel up to her and she felt herself swept under the darkness of the ship with it. She felt the impact of her parents’ splash now and immediately felt the proximity of their Gnosis marks as well. Glancing behind her to get a better look with her eyes, Elrio saw nothing in the darkness. Propelling herself up and out of the current, Eliro scattered the rest of the blunt-headed fish that were seeking sanctuary at the bottom of her Pod’s Paliver.

She broke the surface of the water on the portside of the Paliver, in the shade now, and sucked in air greedily. Oh how she wished she never had to leave Laviku’s waves for anything. A shriek erupted from the eight-year old’s lips when something grabbed onto her ankle. Thrashing in fright, she could sense her father before she looked back to see him. He grinned wickedly at her before letting her go and they both went to the surface, where Eliro couldn’t stop giggling once she caught her breathe again. She had a feeling there was going to be very little clam-diving.