Completed Edge-a-cation Part III

[Tazrae]

Timestamp: 72nd of Spring, 522 A.V.

Continued From: Edge-a-cation Part II

Graclin handed Tazrae’s blade back to her. “So basically, as I assume you’ve realized, the machete is just an overly large cleaver. It’s a single edged tool widely used in a whole variety of manners but weaponized in Falyndar. Others, outsiders, would consider it a short sword balanced so the weight is overly heavy towards the tip. They can be two to three feet long, if need be, or as short as a single foot. Syka is developing something of a thing for Machete Fighting and Kukri use. I suspect before we know it, that’s something Syka will be known for. We desperately need the machete for traversing the jungle, but its completely unpractical to drag a sword, machete, kukri, and assorted daggers around with us for close jungle combat. That’s why slowly and thoroughly swords such as longswords, broadswords, and bastard swords are not very common here. You just don’t often have time to fight with those sorts of blades even in the relatively tame centers of the city. Its fine to utilize those longer blades in open combat on fields of war, but the wars we fight here are completely different.” Gracelin added, pausing to let Tazrae catch up.

Taz nodded. “All of that makes sense. I can see how as a settlement we’ve adopted things over time and discarded typical weapons for more non-conventional ones that just make sense here.” She nodded, deciding she liked how Gracelin thought and how the woman approached things. Glancing down at the plain blade in her hand, she looked thoughtful. “Mathias gave me a special machete, one made for a bard, called Sweet Refrain. At his suggestion I gave it to Tegan who promised to drop it back off to me before he leaves next season. He said he’d ‘awaken’ it for me so I could start learning Vorilesence. It’s a sort of fighter’s magic.” Taz added, tilting her head sideways, feeling comfortable enough with Gracelin to admit this to her.

Gracelin nodded. “I’ve seen her. Mathias showed her to me once. She’s a bush bowie hybrid with a touch of tactical thrown in. She’s one of a kind. Mathias was the one that asked me to identify her and what her handle was about. That machete has been around a while, for certain, and I don’t think Tegan will have problems awakening her. She’s infused with magic and made from some material I’ve never seen. She’ll take to Voril well and I think she’s a very suitable weapon for you, Taz.” Gracelin added. “She’ll give you reach and magic, which will help you tremendously. But meanwhile, there’s no reason we shouldn’t practice with that plain beauty you have. She’s solid, won’t let you down, and while there’s nothing magical about her, she’ll do well by you training.” The other woman said, her eyes going from green to brown while Taz watched. It took Taz a moment to realize Gracelin’s eyes changed color.

Vantha.

Taz knew it in a heartbeat, but said nothing. Why should she? Suddenly, it made sense why Gracelin stood aloof from the rest of the settlement and rarely made it to town. Taz decided then and there she’d make more trips here, and keep the woman company as often as she had time… or at least bring her some good cooking periodically. The information the woman was giving her was invaluable and something Tazrae needed desperately for the future. There would be battles aplenty if this season was any indication. The Innkeeper was a woman of the Gods, but she was also a woman incredibly loyal to her friends and loved ones. Gracelin was definitely a friend.

[Tazrae]

The woman, being serious about her craft, got back to her teaching. “It’s nothing but smart to have something like a machete that’s both a weapon and a tool. That’s just high functionality in the jungle. And Tazrae, you belong here. I can really tell that.” Gracelin smiled, and Taz met her smile with one of her own. Yes, they were going to be good friends.

“You can call me Taz. Everyone else does.” The Innkeeper said, nodding to Gracelin’s words.

Gracelin smiled. “Grae…” She reciprocated, meeting Taz’s smile with one of her own. “I’m glad you dropped by. It gets lonely out here.” She added.

Taz grinned. “I’ll come more often. I had no idea how beautiful it is. And I’ll leave a few of the more water-loving juvenile Ixam out here for you. They are actually very social and good company. And they tend to be lazy so if you share some of your fish with them, you’ll have lifetime companionship.” The Innkeeper said, laughing lightly. She wasn’t joking in the least, and she could tell Gracelin believed her.

“Okay, The Machete.” Gracelin said, getting back to the point of the visit. “You already know its purposes outside of combat, but lets talk about it in terms of actual combat as well. It’s used for both slashing and hacking, but its fantastic at stabbing like a dagger. I can teach you methods from short sword and dagger to balance your training and round out your machete work. You just have to adapt to the balance of the weapon. There’s no such thing as perfectly balanced in terms of a machete. If one has it, then the craftsmanship of it is utter trash. What you want, as I touched on earlier, is a tip heavy blade that gives you an extension of your arm and a way to block and parry longer weapons pitted against you.” She said, pausing there.

“So does that mean it has its limitations?” Taz asked.

Grae nodded. “You can’t fence with one and you truly have to rely on fast footwork and evasive body movements as a first line of defense. You can still parry and block with it, but they are less than preferred with one. What its strength is… you’ll already know. It can be fought with in a long range or in close quarters. And you really need to use your second hand and put that into play for controlling opponents. When you use a machete, you borrow from saber fighting a lot and cross train so you can use boxing and evasive body work in conjunction with your machete.” Grae added, then studied Tazrae thoughtfully.

[Tazrae]

Taz nodded, understanding what Grae was saying. “Taz, you are built well for the weapon. I can see the corded muscles in your arms and definition in your thighs. You are not overweight and you carry yourself gracefully. I have also had the advantage to see you firedance, so I know you aren’t without grace. You just need to take all these things as a package deal, work on all aspects of your training, and couple them with machete and move as one. You can do it.” She added, encouraging the Innkeeper.

Taz looked thoughtful. “What exactly is cross-training?” She asked, uncertain as to what Grae was saying.

“Oh… right. I will teach you by running you through drills, sparring, tactical analysis and cross training. Cross-training is when you combine multiple types of exercise in order to improve fitness or performance in your skill your working on. For example, unarmed combat, dancing, endurance, running, body building, boxing… there’s a whole bunch of skills that will help you be your best at machete.” Grae said, looking thoughtful.

“I have some bad habits… can you help with those?” Taz asked, looking concerned. It was one of the reasons she didn’t like sparring with her friends. She was horrible at weapons and horrible at

Gracelin smiled. “Let me guess. You close your eyes while being attacked to the face or you attack someone else’s face? Yes, I can help with that.” She said at Tazrae’s enthusiastic nod. “I can also teach you the consequences as ill-timed strikes or rushes. I can also help you differentiate between glancing blows and strikes which would disable you by the body motion of your opponent. We’ll figure out how to anticipate the movements and strikes of enemies, and most importantly I will help you with the mental fortitude to be able to stare into the eyes of your assailant which wants to kill you and not be intimidated but empowered because you have training to fall back on.” She said with firm confidence.

Tazrae smiled at this. The one and only time she’d tried to spar with someone she cared about it had failed miserably.

“So… you want me to be well versed in everything and have tools to draw from that come from a multitude of disciples if I understand you correctly.” Taz added, looking thoughtful. “And you’ll teach me how not to be afraid?” She asked, more timidly than she liked.

Gracelin smiled widely. “I can’t teach you that. That’s something your body learns when it figures out it can combat knives, swords, and anything it wants to… its bonding to your weapon and learning to trust your training. Its doing the same thing over and over again until they come as naturally as breathing.” She said, firm in her conviction.

Taz nodded slowly, getting more and more enthusiastic about this approach. She honestly should have sought out a woman for her training before anything else. A woman knew how another woman thought and it helped tremendously. She could tell Gracelin was going to be teaching her mind as well as her body and that was something that a male trainer often missed.

[Tazrae]

The Vantha interrupted her thoughts. “My first lesson is on the principle of B.A.S.E.” She said, smiling slightly. “You think of it as how you spell the word in common… B… A… S…E. We’ll start your training with the B.A. Part… It stands for Basic Anatomy. We’re going to learn how certain type sof strikes are good to finish the fight and some aren’t. We’ve talked about the basic anatomy of your weapon and what types of damage it does with what types of strikes. There’s a huge difference between a strike that will remove a couple of fingers from the left hand of a right-handed knife fighter. That can stop a fight. But we need to understand what that knife fighter is doing in order to decide if its worth it. For example… If they are just defending, it’s a given move. But if they are rushing you for a throat or gut slice, its not an option. I’ll teach you when its important to sacrifice something… like put your arm in front to defend your throat. We can often be outfought in a fight. But you have no excuse for being outsmarted. I’ll teach you that… timing and striking verses damage done and received. That’s the BA.” She added, then moved on.

“The S in BASE stands for Striking. Striking is often done improperly, and I’ll teach you how to properly do it. Edge alignment is everything with a machete. If you don’t hit with the right edge, you aren’t doing any damage. No strikes with the flat of the edge, no light tapping… I will teach you the proper force and proper delivery timing.” She added, then grinned at Taz. “E is left. What does it stand for?” She asked, hoping Taz was picking up on this.

“Energy?” Taz answered, knowing that part of winning a fight was regulating one’s endurance and timing… using energy so that you still had some when your opponent was out of it.

“Good guess, but no. In a fight, especially in a life or death fight… E stands for Everything… as in Everything goes.” She said. “All is fair in combat. You want to live. That means there’s no limitations. You strike to kill. You go for the face, eyes, fingers, legs, torso, head or even cut their spine. Honor has no place in a life-or-death fight. Grappling is encouraged, but don’t get close enough to a knife wielder for him to stab you. Use the range of your machete to your advantage. You have a midrange flexible weapon. Close in on longer weapons, move out on shorter weapons. And just because I say everything goes, doesn’t mean ‘anything’ goes. Control is everything, Tazrae. If someone has a desire to take a piece of you, have a go at it. Learn from it. Always use full contact with your weapon. Spars are not fights… that’s where honor and integrity come in. But I’m going to teach you from a life-or-death approach. That’s how life is here… that’s how you need to learn.” She said thoughtfully.

Tazrae nodded. All the theory and explanations were fine and dandy, but she was ready to learn something. And Grae seemed to sense that.

[Tazrae]

She drew her own machete and held it out for Tazrae to study her grip. “A machete is just as dangerous to the person holding it as the person being attacked. Safety starts with the grip. I’m going to show you the forward grip. It’s called forward because the blade ends up being perpendicular to your little finger. This is the one I’m going to have you use the most to begin with. Wrap your fingers around and under the handle. Your thumb is wrapped around the handle and in contact with your forefinger. I’m assuming Sweet Refrain is roughly the same sized grip as your general machete, so we’ll assume everything I’m teaching you on this blade will work on her.” Grae said.

Taz nodded, shifted her grip, and arranged her fingers the way Gracelin instructed. The grip felt good and she noted that when she held out her hand with the machete in it, the point was angled up when her wrist was locked and squared. Gracelin moved beside Tazrae, reached out, and extended her arm, locked her wrist, and squeezed her hand tightly around the machete until she was gripping it correctly with a locked wrist. Taz nodded, completely seeing Gracelin’s point.

Now, with her arm outstretched and the machete gripped properly, Grae asked her a very important question. “What are the advantages and disadvantages of this grip?”

Shit. How was Tazrae supposed to know? Taz studied her arm, noting its position and the way the blade was held. She took an experimental swipe with it. “It’s a comfortable grip. It feels natural. I have an amazing reach with this machete held like this. I can slash pretty far away from my body, but it also exposes my arm and hand. Although it feels easy… comfortable… it also feels vulnerable.” She said, glancing at Gracelin’s face to see if she was on the right track.

“Excellent. Your main advantage in holding the machete this way is that your reach is excellent. In that you were correct. It gives you finesse and room to do legwork and body work. You can slash and cut while keeping your body fairly far away from any danger the opponent might offer, especially if he or she has the same or smaller weapon. But again, you are correct in saying that it makes your hand open for injury. You must always remember to tilt your wrist slightly forward and that doing so is hard on your joints. Wrists like to be perpendicular to your arm, which makes them the strongest. And if you lock your wrist with the blade tipped back, pointed towards you, then you can easily cut yourself in the head or chest if someone shoves you back or lunges. They can also, in the case of a knife wielder, reach out and grab your elbow under your machete and slash and yank it towards them.” Grae demonstrated this and Taz found herself eye to eye with her machete before she knew what hit her. She wasn’t hurt… Grae had stopped before the blade made contact, but it was an eye-opening lesson to Tazrae.

Words: 2653

Continued In: Edge-a-cation Part IV

[Tazrae]

Grading!

Tazrae –

Machete +5, Logic +3, Interrogation +2, Psychology +1

Machete: Overly Large Cleaver, Machete: Balanced With Weight Towards The Tip, Machete: 1-3ft Long, Syka: Needs Machete Work For Jungle Traversing, Machete: Good For Close Contact, Dense Brush Fighting, Long Blades: Better For Open Field Warfare, Sweet Refrain: Bush/Bowie Hybrid with a Touch of Tactical. Sweet Refrain: One Of A Kind, Sweet Refrain: Reach & Magic, Gracelin: Color Changing Eyes, Gracelin: Vantha, Gracelin: Friend, Tazrae: Belongs To The Jungle, Gracelin: Goes By Grae, Tazrae: Invited To Gracelin’s Anytime, Machete: Used For Slashing And Hacking, Fantastic at Stabbing, Machete: Can Borrow Lessons From Dagger To Short Sword, Machete: Never Balanced, Machete: Block And Parry Excellently, Machete: Relies on Fast Footwork And Evasive Body Movements, Machete: Close Quarter Weapon OR Long Range Weapon, Machete: Relies On Saber fighting and Cross Training, Tazrae: Graceful, Tazrae: Needs To Cross-Train, Cross-Training: Combining Multiple Disciplines/Exercise In Order To Improve Fitness or Performance In A Singular Skill, Tazrae: Has Bad Habits – Closes Eyes When Striking/Being Struck At, Tazrae: Inexperienced At Timing Strikes & Rushes, Psychology: Becoming Comfortable With A Weapon, B.A.S.E : Basic Anatomy, Striking, Everything Goes, Machete: Forward Grip