[Flashback] Falling Upwards (Solo)

[Orin Fenix]

Orin Fenix Food Equals Love 20th of Spring, 509 AV Orin stared blankly at the wall in front of him. It had been four days since his father had beaten him, and then died in a horrible fire. And Orin had gone through those four days in a haze of disbelief. Part of the fogginess could be attributed to the drugs they had administered to him to dull the pain and stave off infection. Mostly, though, it stemmed from his inability to comprehend the complete and total destruction of everything he’d ever know. In one fell swoop, fate had taken the only home and family Orin had ever known. And it was beyond his ability to cope with. He kept noticing the strangest of details. How the light bounced off the armor of the Knight guarding him. How the bees’ fuzz waved as it flew. How the bird’s songs changed at twilight and dawn. How the nurse’s hair curled when wet. How the cracks on the ceiling resembled a river and it’s branches. How the grass smelled after the rain. How the blanket felt when he brushed his hand against it. Little things, but to Orin they were profound. He was desperate for anything that could keep his mind from dwelling on the tragedy that had befallen him. Slowly, the sound of voices raised in an argument penetrated Orin’s stupor. Coming aware for the first time since the incident, Orin raised his head from his chest. The guard noticed his movement and quickly stood up and walked to his side. ”Need anything m’boy? Food, drink, bathroom, clean clothes? Her voice was kindly and full of compassion for his plight. She was a former member of the knighthood, who, when age crept up on her, had retired happily to the Outpost, Aleeza. Her iron gray hair, held up in a bun and weather lined face with its sharp features would have been intimidating if her face wasn’t constantly wreathed with a smile. She had come out of retirement to watch over Orin’s recovery so no one else would be pulled from patrols or the spring planting. Her words had been something to the effect of ”The day I can’t look after one bed-ridden stripling is the day I want you to put me in the ground.” Orin focused his gaze on her. ”Wh-what are they fighting about?” His voice came out as an awful croak. Those were the first words he’d spoken since he had passed out by his house and been carried here. Aleeza was shocked, but she covered it quickly. ”Ah, they’re discussing what’s to be done with you. The Order was planning to take you to the orphanage but there’s been some surprising resistence from the leaders of the Outpost. They think they can ‘take care of their own.’” Aleeza cocked one eyebrow to show what she thought of that idea. Orin was surprised to find the prickle of tears in the back of his eyes. He hadn’t cried yet either, but somehow this debate brought it all crashing down. Though he had no love lost for the residents of Mithryn, the thought of being carted off to some unknown orphanage where Orin would know no one and not even know his way around was too much. He broke down, sobbing helplessly. At least he knew where everything was here and the surrounding were familiar if not comfortable. A pair of arms going around him was his first hint of Aleeza’s embrace. She gathered him to her and shushed him and cooed and made soothing noises. ”It’s alright, I’m here. Let it out, you need the release. There’s been far too little cryin’ in your life I reckon. She rocked him gently as his choking cries grew softer and softer until tear were silently running down his cheeks as he shook, wracked with grief.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin Fenix Food Equals Love Slowly Orin’s tears dried, and with a final sniff, he disentangled himself from Aleeza. He wiped the remaining water off with a sleeve, and then carefully avoided looking at her. She seemed to sense that he needed time to calm down and space to preserve the shreds of his tattered dignity. Orin wasn’t proud, but he had learned that crying in public was considered shameful. So, as he collected himself, Aleeza simply hummed a tuneless, yet oddly relaxing melody. Eventually, Orin got up enough courage to glance over at Aleeza. Though she noticed his eyes movement, she wisely stayed motionless. Sure enough, Orin sat up slightly in bed. The argument was either finished or had moved elsewhere since Orin could no longer hear anyone shouting. Swinging himself out of the bed, he walked carefully over to the open door, well aware of every cut, scrape and bruise. When Orin arrived, he peered into the hallway. No one was out there, but Orin pulled the door shut anyway. When he turned around, Aleeza was staring at him curiously. Orin scratched his head sheepishly, not sure what to say. ”Ah, thank you. I’m usually a lot more, well, put together and I really don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry you had to see all that.” Aleeza narrowed her eyes. Standing up in one fluid motion that Orin was shocked to see, considering her age. She strode over to him and took both his hands in her own. [”Listen to me little one. You should never, ever, apologize for showing emotion. Just as the body bleeds to heal, so the mind weeps to mend. Remember that.” Releasing him, she graced him with a beatific smile. ”You are, of course, very welcome.” Sitting she patted the bed beside her. ”Come, sit and talk to me. I feel like all of my old friends have forgotten me and I could do with the company, if you don’t mind.” After all of her kindness, Orin could hardly refuse. Easing himself down gingerly to both spare himself pain and to avoid knocking into Aleeza. Feeling the silence between them stretch, Orin felt obliged to fill it. ”I know my opinion doesn’t matter here but if anyone asks I would prefer to stay here.” Orin glanced out the window, eyes haunted. ”Everything I know is here. I guess, maybe I’m thinking that if I go away, it’ll feel like I’ve not got a foundation to stand on. And I do. I have the fields and the trees and the flocks. I know the people, even if they don’t know me. And I don’t…” and Orin paused a moment to get these words around the lump in his throat, ”I don’t want to go to a place where I can’t control anything, so far from everything I’ve ever experienced.” And though Orin was loathe to admit this last part, it came out in a small, weak voice. ”And I’m scared.” Aleeza’s hand squeezing his brought more comfort than Orin would’ve thought it possible for one human being to give another. ”I know.” she responded, softly, but firmly. ”And I wish there was some way I could influence their decisions but they aren’t going to listen to an old retiree like me. But the control, now the control I can do something about. Stand up.” Mystified Orin did as she asked. Following him up more sedately, Aleeza winced, likely at some ache or other in her joints. When she was fully upright, she unsheathed her dagger and handed it to Orin who took it gingerly in his hands. Orin watched wide-eyed as Aleeza took another dagger out from behind her back. Seeing the flabbergasted expression on his face, Aleeza threw back her head and laughed. When she had gotten it out of her system, she met Orin’s eyes with her own and winked. Grinning, she settled into what looked to Orin like a comfortable stance. ”First lesson: it always pays to have a spare and to have a trick up your sleeve. Now, whenever you pick up a dagger, I want you to feel like you’re in complete and total control. It sounds silly but knowing you can defend yourself if you need to goes a great way towards boosting your confidence. Now, I’m too old and you’re too scrawny and injured to teach any of the bigger weapons.” “But a dagger now, that’s a special case. It doesn’t require strength, just speed and skill. And guts. Which I think you’ve got in plenty if you would just use them. Now, you have to get in real close to the enemy, but that’s a curse as well as a blessing. People expect you to run away from their weapons, not towards. And if you get inside their reach they’re essentially powerless to stop you. So, never let anyone tell you the dagger is useless in a fight because they’ve never met a master of the art.” “Now, what’s also great about the dagger is its versatility. It can slash, stab, thrust, deflect and even parry if you know how. If you think you’re ready to learn some of those then I’d be happy to teach you.”

[Orin Fenix]

Orin Fenix Food Equals Love Orin gulped but nodded. His right hand holding the dagger was sweaty so he switched the knife to the left long enough to wipe his palm on his pants. Despite Aleeza’s strong conviction that holding a weapon should bestow control Orin couldn’t quite feel it yet. Also, he was more than a bit worried about the fact that these weren’t practice blades but honest daggers with a deadly edge. Still, Aleeza was a knight at one point so Orin trusted her implicitly not to let any harm to come to either of them. Aleeza clicked her tongue, clearly displeased with something. Apparently she’d expected Orin to know a little bit more than he did. ”Well the first task before us is to correct your grip. Now you can either hold a dagger in a forward grip, like so, or a reverse grip. And, depending on the thumb placement, it can provide different stability and open up different types of attacks. Here, let me show you.” Suiting actions to words, Aleeza began slowly running through the various types of holds. Orin brought his dagger up and starting mirroring her actions. The first grip was simple and pretty much intuitive. It was basically making a fist and the same way Orin had always held the knife. The next was a slight deviation from the first. Instead of wrapping the thumb around, Orin placed it straight along the handle, locking the blade forward because of the pressure he was applying. Finally, Aleeza moved to a third position and Orin matched her. This one had his thumb along the flat of the blade itself. ”Now, those are all forward grips. They’re used mostly for offensive maneuvers. The first and last are usually the best. The first gives you the longest reach and the ability to slash and stab but you lose the ability to punch and it’s hard to stop your opponent from trapping your hand. And it’s harder to apply force the farther away the blade gets. Also, it gets tiring to keep the wrist tilted in the proper direction. This last grip gives you a bit more control and force and locks the blade into a horizontal slashing position. Now let’s move onto the reverse grips which you use to defend yourself.” Flipping the blade over, Aleeza placed her thumb over the bottom of the hilt. She showed it to Orin clearly, and then slipped his thumb around the handle. She held it out so Orin could see how it pointed. She punched with it and then swung it at the last second and Orin could see that if there had been anyone standing there it would’ve raked across his body. ”Now, this lets you have more power and it means the blade is always pointing towards the opponent. Stabbing downwards is much more effective. Also, if there’s an enemy behind you or slightly to the side, this lets you strike at them as well. Now I want you to start practicing those different grips.” Orin obeyed without question, shifting through the three forward grips and the two reverse grips at increasingly fast speeds.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin Fenix Food Equals Love The grips took a while to get used to, except for the normal one where Orin just held the handle. But Orin felt increasingly secure with each of them. While he wouldn't say he had them memorized and his muscles wouldn't spring into them unless he focused all his energy on them, but he felt that if he kept working at it, they might become instinctive. So, brow furrowed in concentration Orin switched through the various forms over, and over, and over, until going from one to the next to the next became, if not instantaneous, at least much smoother. While switching mid-fight probably wasn't such a good idea, if he had to in an emergency, Orin wanted to be able to with no problem. So, he kept practicing, with Aleeza correcting him every so often when the shift from one to another caused him to put his thumb in the wrong place or he was pointing the blade in the wrong direction. She assured him that the basis of using any weapon properly was in holding it correctly. Otherwise, she half-joked, "you might as well not be using it at all. Her voice quickly sobered and she grabbed Orin’s hand to make sure he stopped his fooling around and paid close attention to what she was about to say. A poor grip is doing half of your opponents work for him. You don't want to lose your weapon mid-fight because it slips out of your fingers or you're easily disarmed. That happens, you’re dead. So, in my mind, grips are all important. The foundation of any good weapons master and the beginning of every blow is the grip. And the better you know how to handle your weapon the more dexterous your strikes will be and the more force you can put behind them. So keep practicing young'un. I'm content to watch." Time passed. Eventually Aleeza called a stop to Orin’s movements. ”Enough of that, it’s time for us to start the real deal,” she barked out in a rough but kind tone. Orin stifled a groan of relief, not wanting to appear weak in front of this strong lady. However, his hand was cramping something awful and he gratefully put his knife away for the time being. He massaged his hand, concentrating on the spot between his thumb and index finger, which was the source of most of his pain. Aleeza’s sharp eyes caught what he was doing and she smiled, carefully disguising it as a yawn. Orin saw her pick up her blade and spin it around in her hands. She didn’t mention what was on her mind, but Orin was happy for the respite in this half-training half-companionship moment. When the ache in his hand had dulled to a more reasonable level Orin started rolling his wrist. The motion seemed to break Aleeza out of her reverie, and she shook her head before coming to stand before Orin. ”Alright, it’s time to teach you the difference between a stab and a thrust.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin Fenix Food Equals Love Orin scratched his head in confusion. He was having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that there were different names for attacks that all came from the same weapon. Orin was frankly baffled and he found himself forced to plead innocence. ”Why would they bother coming up with two words for the same thing?” Aleeza chuckled but there was not a hint of malice in the sound, just pure, honest joy at having a pupil who, while not maybe the sharpest she’d ever had, was eager to learn. And Orin for his part was warming to this woman in a way he had only dared to once or twice before in his life. ”The ideas people come up with these days astound me. Of course they have to have two names since the techniques are so drastically dissimilar. Now, pay close attention. A slash is when you strike an opponent with the edge of the knife, while a stab is using the tip of the dagger to penetrate the opponent’s armor or skin. Now, a slash is harder to cause serious damage with unless you hit the eyes or the throat, but it is good for causing numerous smaller injuries. And if you nick them enough times they’ll start losing blood and get tired out or in too much pain. A stab can do more damage cause it’s got more force behind it, but you have to get closer and risk losing your weapon behind. So only use it when you’ve got a clear shot.” Aleeza grinned. ”Now. Show me what you’ve learned. Up and at em, boy.” Orin’s jaw dropped. At first he thought Aleeza must be kidding. But she seemed to be totally serious as she held the knife in a way that made Orin’s attempts earlier look like the amateurish ones they were. All of the knowledge blanked from his mind at once though he did draw his dagger, though it felt uncertain in his hand. Seeing the terrified expression on his face, Aleeza frowned and without any warning at all, swung her blade overhand. Fortunately for Orin, all of that messing about before had translated into some minor skill. His finger closed about the hilt as he brought the blade up to block her strike. It hit his blade with a clang and Orin was surprised at how much force traveled up his arm. However, he held firm, not even taking a step back. Orin also felt the faintest stirrings of adrenalin in his body, the fires in his stomach rising up to the challenge. Thinking that he might catch her off guard if he tried something on the offensive, Orin went in with a lunge, stabbing at her upper arm. Orin didn’t want to cause her a serious wound on the off chance that his blow connected. That never happened, as Aleeza was apparently quite spry for her age. She grabbed his arm as she turned to avoid his dagger, and used Orin’s own momentum to throw him forward. Orin dropped to the ground, adding another layer of bruises to the ones he already had. ”’Twas a good attempt and I’m sorry for that, little one. I reacted without thought. At least I know I’ve still got it. And I think that’s a sign we should be done for now. Remember what I taught you though. Aleeza reached down. Orin took her hand, although he used the bed to lever himself off the ground to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on Aleeza. From his perspective, it seemed almost as if he were falling upwards into her arms, and when he was standing, he gave her an impulsive hug, crushing himself to her. She was clearly pleased as her arms gripped him just as tightly. She smelled like oil and honey, and her muscles were still wiry. They simply stood like that for a good long moment. Aleeza broke the silence first. ”Oh child, if only I were ten years younger, I’d happily take you myself. But I’m too old and my bones ache too much and you need someone who can keep up with your youthful energy. And, if we’re being honest, I’m not long for this world. I’ve had a good life, with few regrets, but one thing I do wish was that I had a child. So, may you humor an old lady? Will you think of me fondly in the years to come?” Orin felt tears start to come again, but this time there was good mixed in with the bad, a bittersweet trickle that tasted of salt and innocence lost. He nodded, but realizing that wasn’t enough, he detached himself until he could look up into Aleeza’s brown eyes. They were warm and shimmering, a hint that she might be fighting back tears of her own. Orin wished there was any way he could repay her beyond honoring her wish. ”I will. I promise I will.” But there seemed to be more left unspoken, and with the next series of words Orin felt the last of his boundaries drop, at least for the moment. ”You know, I never knew my mother. But, I’d like to imagine that she would be a lot like you.” The gratitude shining on her face sparked Orin’s grief and his joy, and he resumed his position with one head on her shoulder. Neither of them felt the need to say anything else. They just existed in that moment, sharing each other as if they both knew they would never meet again. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. The sound of footsteps in the hallway broke the mood, and together, they turned to face the music.

[Devi]

Your Grades have arrived! Orin Skills: Socialization - 2XP Weapon Skills: Dagger - 3XP Lores: Event: Death of my father. Socialization: Crying is a release. Weapon Skills: Benefits of fighting with a dagger. Weapon Skills: How to hold a dagger correctly. Aleeza: Kind Knight, skilled with a dagger. Comments: Lovely little flashback thread. I wonder if Orin will ever come across Aleeza again - it would certainly make for some interesting reading! It was also nice to see you focused on the grips a fair bit - I think those do make a great difference when learning dagger skills! Let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to edit your post in the Grade Request Thread. Happy Writing!