Flashback [Middle Suvan Sea] A New Skill for a New Svefra

[Anais Seawind]

67th of Summer, 507AV

Irissa frowned in concentration, trying to mimic Anais’ movements. The dark-skinned girl was barely used to the rise and fall of the ship's deck in the waters, and keeping her balance was sometimes challenging enough without the cutlass lessons Anais insisted she needed, if she wanted to be a “real” Svefra. A disgruntled sigh left her lips; with her hands on her hips, and the cutlass dangling haphazardly from fingers that no longer really cared, Irissa looked as unwilling as she felt.

Anais, on the other hand, grinned at her new friend, happiness setting her face alight. For too long, the only company her age in the pod had been her awful cousin, Jewel. The adults were alright, but at 15 years old, Anais wasn’t quite considered an equal among them, but they certainly give me an equal share of work, she thought. Irissa, though a couple years older, was only 2 years old on the Suvan, having been born and raised in the desert, and the blond was having the time of her life showing the other girl the ropes – and the rigging, and the halyard, and the jib.

“Rissa, you have to stand better. Like I showed you, with your feet out,” Anais explained patiently, making a big deal of placing her own feet wide for stability on the ocean’s shifting surface. “Otherwise you’ll fall and spit yerself on the blade.” Comfortable, after a lifetime at sea, Anais mimed falling down, laughing at the momentary panic that leapt into her friend’s eyes. “See? If I’d had balance like yours, you’d be setting my body out to sea and praying to the All Father for my reckless, accident-prone soul.”

“It’s not funny, Ana!” Temper flashed briefly at the joke, before Irissa’s dark brown eyes calmed once again, never able to stay angry with the other girl for long. Since learning of her heritage, she’d set out to experience the life of her father, the life of a Svefra sailor, even though the Benshiran had never so much as seen the ocean before. It was impulsive, and many times over the next couple years, she had regretted her rash decision. She’d spent some time sailing with the Whitewave Pod, before ending up with the Seawinds and Anais. Though it had been just a season since joining the smaller pod, Ana had already made her feel like family, and Irissa didn’t want to let her down. "Besides, I'm more likely to beg Yahal to keep me free of your silliness," she retorted, but the words held no heat and were softened with a smile.

Resignedly, she placed her feet firmly on the deck, spreading them apart until her stance mimicked that of the other girl – wide and mostly balanced. Holding her cutlass aloft, the weapon still feeling altogether too heavy and ungainly in her hand, she looked to Anais for approval. “Like this? I don’t know how you can use these things,” she gave the weapon a shake for emphasis, “it’s far too large. Give me a good Benshiran sling any day.”

“What? No way – how can you fend off pirates and just generally look impressive with a tiny sling?” Anais giggled, shadow-fighting an imaginary pirate. She’d never really had a reason to use her cutlass for self-defense or pirate-threatening, but since she’d been a little girl her imagination had given her plenty of reasons to practice. Now she thrust the curved blade ahead of her, into the air where a pirate heart might be, if a pirate materialized in front of her. Slashing downward with the blade, she parried and slashed at imaginary limbs, feeling her blade slice through the air eagerly. The sharpened tip gleamed in the sun, and Anais flourished it overhead before striking a masterful blow to her imaginary foe.

Bright blue eyes met dark ones as Anais turned to Irissa in triumph. “See? I’m impressive. Right? You’d be scared to face me.”

The girls stared at each other in silence for several ticks before twin peals of laughter rang out over the air.

“Alright, alright. I admit it, it’s impressive,” Irissa caved, as they had both known she would. “It is pretty, though. Why is it only sharp halfway up the blade, though?”

“Each part of a sailor’s cutlass is designed to serve a purpose,” Anais intoned, in an obviously long-ago memorized piece of wisdom, before continuing easily, “at least that’s what Uncle Chelm said. The blade is sharpened at the top half and dull at the bottom because you’re supposed to use the bottom half to parry your opponent’s attacks. The top half you’d use for your own attacks. And the very tip,” she held it up, angling the blade to catch the light, “the tip is sharp on both sides for stabbing.” Another lunging thrust illustrated her point, punctuated by a vicious mock-yell.

Word count: 809

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[Anais Seawind]

“Oh! Don’t hold it like that,” Anais took a break from her phantom fighting to focus on the lesson again. The blond held her cutlass with an open grip, casually, thumb resting on the hilt. Her “student” held it in a clenched fist, tense and uncomfortably, and against everything Anais had been taught in her youth. Stepping close to the other woman, she offered the same pointers Uncle Chelm had given her years ago.

“Keep your wrist loose, but not floppy,” her cutlass flapped in exaggerated movements as Anais spoke. “Your power comes from your arms, but your control comes from your wrist. Also, if you hit something really hard with a tense wrist, you might hurt yourself, and it’s hard to be intimidating if you’re yelping in pain,” a toothy grin spread across her face. While Anais understood that weapons skills were important, her experience had been entirely in practice and play and the Svefra found it difficult to take the activities seriously.

Irissa had adjusted her grip as Anais instructed, and the result was a slightly droopy, still tightly clenched stance that earned her a judgmental frown and another correction from Anais.

“Don’t make a fist. Its not going to jump out of your hand unless you throw it – don’t throw it!” The last was said on a laugh as the Benshira looked nearly ready to hurl her borrowed cutlass into the ocean. “Okay, like this,” Anais held her own cutlass out, giving the other girl a clear view of her hand. Fingers threaded under the hilt, and wrapped around it, while her thumb rested on the hilt, but in line with the blade. Clenching and unclenching her fingers caused the cutlass to shift slightly in the air, mini-slashes that were achieved with no arm movements, the blade feeling almost alive in her hand. “You try it, it shouldn’t feel so heavy this way – almost moves on its own when you get it right!”

Concentration furrowed Irissa’s brow; she’d expected this to be less about technique and more about a fun way to pass a bell or two. Anais, for all her lack of serious intent, was an exacting companion, and Irissa knew that if she didn’t manage a reasonable grip on the cutlass, the other girl would be perfectly willing to stand there and correct her until she did. This knowledge did much more to motivate her than the prospect of actually learning to wield the weapon of her new culture. After a few tentative adjustments to her own grip, she looked up in surprise.

“It does feel lighter. Still heavier than my sling, but,” Irissa flexed her wrist, pleased at the graceful way the blade obeyed her small direction. “It’s kind of fun. I guess.” And it was, even if she wasn't particularly enjoying the awkward learning aspect of the thing. She'd been going through that with so much since leaving the desert.

“Well, after I teach you how to use a cutlass, you can teach me how to use a sling. Maybe we can peg some birds with it and have ‘em for dinner instead of fish?” Anais made a face; she hated skinning the sea birds that sometimes supplemented their meals in the pod, but the meat was a fun swap from seafood every day.

“Deal,” Irissa agreed eagerly. It would be nice to feel like she knew what she was doing for a change; everyone had been glad to tell her all about the skills she lacked since she’d come to live on the sea, and although they’d been friendly about it, she often felt like she’d never catch up. But with a sling, she would be in her element again. "But I'm gonna make you do it on land - there's no place to find anything to sling on the water. We'll need rocks or something." And Irissa wasn't sure she'd be able to hit anything from the bobbing of the ship, but she was loathe to admit that to the other girl.

Word count: 671

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[Anais Seawind]

“Now that you’ve got your grip down,” Anais pointed her cutlass at Irissa’s booted feet, “we can work on our footwork. It’s real easy to practice that alone, I used to do it a lot, but it’s more fun to have a partner. Kind of a dance,” she shuffled forward a step, and back, the tip of her cutlass bobbing slightly with the movement. Uncle Chelm would have reminded her to keep her blade still, but Anais thought it looked fancier sparkling in the sun.

“Ana, I don’t know who you’ve been dancing with, but that looks nothing like a dance,” Irissa chuckled at her friend’s steps. They had looked fairly straightforward, though, and she took a small forward hop of her own.

Not at all offended, Anais nodded encouragement at the other girl, “Hey, that’s pretty good! It’s called an ‘advance’ when you move forward and a ‘retreat’ when you go backward.” A few advances and retreats accompanied the words, as she danced back and forth next to Irissa before planting her feet firmly on the wood of the deck. The toe of her left boot pointed off to the side, and Anais placed her right boot a step forward, pointed in front of her. Cutlass brandished in the air, she continued to rattle off the basic instructions she’d received from her Uncle years ago.

“This is a good place ta start, with your feet about shoulder width apart. You have better balance that way,” at this, blue eyes cut to her companion; the other girl’s footing on the water was still sometimes a challenging thing, despite the several seasons she’d been at sea. “Try ta keep your weight in between your feet – don’t lean forward or backward. Or to the side.” She took a few advancing steps forward, enjoying the lightness of the movement.

Irissa nodded, privately wondering if anything was really going to help her balance on the ship’s inconstant surface. “Why would I lean to the side?” Feet positioned as Anais had demonstrated, Irissa lunged a bit, testing her balance with the blade and the unfamiliar footing before committing to the movements, lunging forward as Anais had done moments ago.

“Um,” Anais considered the question for a moment before shrugging it away. “I don’t know. Maybe you dropped something mid-fight and wanted ta pick it up? Or you’re dodging a surprise attack? Never actually thought about it,” she admitted easily. “Uncle Chem just said not to do it. Move your feet if you have ta, but don’t lean over or you mess up your balance.” Anais stepped forward, this time crossing her back foot to the front, and taking a step further before poking her cutlass at the air in front of her.

“See, with the sling, you only have to worry about aim and timing,” Irissa offered, moving her feet along with Anais. When the blond crossed her feet stepping forward, Irissa attempted the movement as well, stumbling over her feet only a little. “None of these fancy dance steps of yours. Is this a real thing?” She pointed her cutlass downward, indicating her crossed feet curiously, “or just one of the things you do when you’re being intimidating to imaginary enemies?”

Anais stuck her tongue out at Irissa. “No-o-o-o,” she drew the word out, demonstrating the step once more, with a deep lunge at the end, and the requisite flourish of her blade. “It’s called a pass,” standing, she returned to where Irissa had paused, “you can do it forward or backward. It’s smoother than advancing, and if yer enemy is backing away fast, it’s faster than an advance over long distances. More like walking, or running.” She moved through the steps, finishing again with a lunge which she held for a moment, “and this is a lunge. See how wide my feet are? Like two steps, an' if the person in front of you isn’t expecting it, it’s a great time ta run him through with your blade.” She jabbed forward in a light attack, and then grinned. “Or at least poke ‘em a little bit.”

Word count: 683

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[Anais Seawind]

“That easy, hm? Just poke at them with the sharp end, then?” Despite the light-hearted tone, Irissa looked at the blonde doubtfully, “I don’t think I’m going to get good enough at this to even think about poking anyone a little bit with a cutlass.” But, gamely, the Benshiran Svefra attempted a fair imitation of Anais’ pass, while the other girl looked on critically.

“Well, but if you have to,” Anais began moving more slowly through the steps, exaggerating the forward movement and the crossing, “at least you’ll know how. When your foot comes up to cross over, keep your upper body like this,” she paused in her steps, giving Irissa time to examine her stance. Anais’ left foot had crossed up in front of her right, but she kept her shoulders facing forward. “If you turn yourself sideways, you can’t attack your enemy. Well, unless you can get ‘em to move to your side.” Turning her shoulders to the side as an example, Anais waved at the empty air with her weapon.

“Plus, if you’re facing sideways, you can’t defend against an attack, either.” Putting her body back into the ‘proper’ position, she arced her cutlass up and crossed it in a smooth downward slice through the air in front of her. “If you don’t want to poke at someone with yer weapon, you can at least use it to smack theirs out of the way if they try to poke at you.” Retreating, she repeated the motions again, faster and with more energy. In her mind, Anais was fighting a pirate brigand made infamous in one of the Seawind pod’s own songs. For a few ticks, she was involved in her own imaginary duel to, if not death, at least surrender, and victory was a certain thing.

Irissa nodded; she’d been watching the younger girl carefully, drawn into the lesson in spite of herself. “Ok. Its not so hard, I think. As long as everything goes slow and I can remember where my feet and arms and cutlass are all supposed to be at the same time,” she finished on a laugh. Her own arm reached out, attempting the same downward slashing movement she’d just seen Anais perform. At the last instant, she lunged forward, just a little bit, trying to achieve some of the flair the other girl was so fond of.

Brown eyes met blue in the air and both girls laughed at the feeble attempt, although Anais managed a mostly-serious “good job” between chortles that had a few of the other pod members glancing over at the pair with good-natured tolerance. Many of the adults thought it was a waste of time to teach the newest Seawind how to properly wield a cutlass – until she could competently sail, or fish or navigate the waters, she would never be far from their boats anyway. But none begrudged Anais her self-appointed role as instructor, even if it did take away from time Irissa could have spent learning to handle herself in the water.

“Okay,” Anais said, when they’d both calmed down a bit, “Let’s try sparring together. It’ll be fun. We’ll go slow,” she tapped her blade against Irissa’s, gently but the other girl wasn’t prepared and her cutlass dipped low toward the deck before the other girl caught it and lifted it back up. Anais could see the uncertainty in her friend’s eyes and continued quickly, “Really slow.”

Setting her feet wide, in the stance she’d demonstrated earlier, Anais lifted her blade and held it out in front of her. After a few ticks of thought, Irissa matched her, and Anais grinned eagerly. “Great! Ready?” Not waiting for an answer, Anais stepped forward once, slowly moving her cutlass toward the other girl. “Now you do that thing I showed you just now – bring yer weapon up and smack mine away.”

Word count: 644

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[Anais Seawind]

Irissa lifted her blade, although Anais could see it was half-hearted at best. Still, she played along, allowing her cutlass to be deflected and grinning her approval at her reluctant sparring partner. Under normal circumstances, she would have called it off, seeing her podsister’s thorough lack of enjoyment at actual blade work, but Irissa really did need to learn a few of the more ‘Svefra’ skills. Anais herself didn’t mind if the older girl preferred her Benshiran sling, or if she was awful at sailing, or if she even still got seasick during stormy weather. But some of the Pod had begun whispering about her, and Anais didn’t want the words to get back to Irissa. Whether the other girl knew it or not, Anais’ motives for the sudden cutlass lessons were only about half personal gain – the other half was solidly for Irissa’s benefit.

So, if her encouraging words were a bit too loud, or bit too enthusiastic, she hoped the other girl wouldn’t notice. “Good job! See? Yer a natural!” She glanced around quickly to see if any of the other adults were within earshot, but they all seemed occupied too far away to benefit from her praise. With a slight shrug, she turned back to Irissa, “okay, now you attack me – swing the blade at me, and down, like this,” she demonstrated again slowly. Anais’ sword arm reached out, right hand crossing over toward Irissa’s left shoulder, before slicing in a graceful arc down and back to the right, blade passing through the air harmlessly in front of the other girl.

Planting her feet, Anais held her blade in front of her, waiting for what she was sure would be a fairly slow version of the move she’d just performed. The other girl stood awkwardly, and Anais felt a moment of pity; maybe they should have done this on land? Too late now, she brushed the thought away as Irissa finally began her slow approach.

Although it would have been an easy matter to block the other girl’s weapon with her own, or even just hop back and avoid contact entirely, Anais moved her blade out, just far enough to be sure the two would collide, and snapped her wrist up as Irissa’s arm reached its full length. The result was a long clanging noise without much force behind it, startling more than anything else. So when Irissa’s blade slipped from her hand and went skidding a few feet across the deck, Anais watched it in surprise. I know I didn’t hit it that hard.

“Rissa! You’re not supposed to let go,” she admonished the other girl, this time in quieter tones – the rest of the pod didn’t need to know that Irissa had dropped the blade so easily. She quickly retrieved it for her friend, but did not offer it to the other girl. “Maybe we should pick this up when we go ashore again? After you show me that sling of yers,” she added with a comforting smile. “It’s a lot to learn all at once, isn’t it?”

Irissa nodded, brown eyes holding more than a bit of gratitude now that the lessons were done for the day. “Maybe we should practice just walking. Or swimming, even. I’m pretty sure I can manage those,” her laugh was rueful, but good-natured, and Anais joined in, relieved that the other girl was so resilient – things Anais had been raised to were proving very difficult for the dessert-born Irissa, but the other girl stubbornly kept at it. Anais thought that was just as 'Svefra' as learning the cutlass, any day.

Word count: 602

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[Ambrosia Alar]

Grades!

Anais

Skills

● Acrobatics +1
● Negotiation +1
● Observation +3
● Socialization +3
● Teaching +5
● Weapon: Cutlass +3

Lores
● Irissa: Uneasy on the ocean
● Keep a wide stance to compensate for the shifting of the waves
● Cutlass: Use the dull bottom half for parrying
● Cutlass: Use the sharp top half and point for attacks
● Cutlass: Keep a relaxed grip
● Teaching: Show by example
● Anais: An exacting companion
● Irissa: Good with a sling
● Irissa: A Benshiran Svefra who is new to life at sea
● Basic footwork for swordplay
● Cutlass: Pass and lunge
● Sparring is the best way to put teaching into action
● Anais: Training Irissa so Irissa fits in
● A good teacher must be patient and able to read their pupils

Comments

Anais, I love the relationship between these two and the way you write it. I really do hope you return to us and continue writing. For now, here's your grade with some lore and skills to add as some temptation for you to return. If you feel I've missed something or if you would like lore rephrased, just send me a PM. Thanks for the read.