Snippet #2821361

With the moon high above the clearing in the forest not far from A'hana's family home, Tora stood across from Collen with his arms resting at his sides.

"Okay Collen. We've reviewed the physical aspects of awareness from our previous lesson. So let's move on to the mental. Close your eyes."

Collen had and would be focusing extra hard to his training that night as the previous night had been unsuccessful. Just as Collen had gotten on the deck after sunset, one of the crew returned to the boat having spent the evening on shore. One who was rather drunk and decided to share stories about his luck with women to Collen. Having no way out of way of the situation without seeming suspicious, Collen had been forced to stay on deck, claiming he was unable to sleep and was just catching some fresh air.

Now he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Tora nodded and backed up to sit down on a small boulder.

"There are three birds and one woodland creature around us right now. Listen carefully, and point to where they are one by one."

Collen nodded and listened quietly. As the first bird chirped quietly, he pointed towards it's general direction. Next one was harder. He had to listen for several minutes before he was able to point towards, what he assumed was a woodpecker.

Keeping his eyes closed he tried to hear any more sounds. Something that he could pick out of the rustling of leaves in the wind. He thought he heard a small snap of a branch towards the left side and pointed, hoping it was the woodland creature Tora mentioned.

But, despite listening for another several minutes, Collen couldn't hear the last bird. He shook his head and opened his eyes, only to see a tiny bird hopping near Tora in search of food.

Tora smiled.

"Well done."

The bird flew away the moment he spoke, and Tora stood up and approached Collen.

"I believe you're ready to begin learning some basics of combat strategy. So, draw your knife and assume your stance."

Collen, trying to not look too eager and excited, nodded and took his knife. He took the stance Tora had taught him, looking at him waiting his orders.

Tora walked forward and knelt down so he sat up straight on his knees at around the same height as Collen.

"There are several things to keep in mind during combat. But we'll just focus on three tonight."

He made an "X" in front of his torso with both arms.

"The natural position of your arms makes for slashing along this X ideal. So, try it out. Practice slashing along both lines of the X from neck to hip. And make sure that you go all the way through. If you stop early, your attacks will lack power."

Collen listened his instructions closely. "Okay." He made sure his grip of the knife was firm as he made the first few slashes in the air, but struggled to have power by the end of them. He frowned, knowing he must be doing something wrong and looked at Tora. "Can you show me?"

Tora nodded and scooted forward a little so he could reach out to Collen.

"Your arms moving is one thing. But if you want power, you need to turn your hips into the strike."

Using one hand to gently take Collen's wrist, and the other on Collen's hip, he helped Collen practice the motion while helping him rotate his hips.

"Relying on your arms alone isn't enough. As soon as the attack begins you want to start rotating your hips. Doing so puts all of your body weight behind the strike, like so."

He helped Collen go through the motion slowly twice on each side, then backed up and crossed his arms again.

"Try it yourself now. As soon as the strike reaches the neck twist your hips into the remainder until it exits at the hip."

"Okay. I'll try." Collen took a minute to mentally go over the motion Tora was teaching him and struck. While the movement was still somewhat clumsy, he was able to get the power all the way through.

"It feels better", he told him and tried the movement again before doing the same on the other side. After a few more repetitions to get feel for the movement he looked at Tora for any more corrections.

Tora nodded.

"Good."

Tora then stood up.

"The chances of fighting someone your own age are slim. So it's important you understand how to apply that X attack region to an opponent larger than you are."

Tora took a somewhat less professional stance similar to the ones the pirates usually took.

"When they stand this way, blade forward and body facing you, they're showing you another target along the X I made with my arms. Right in the center."

Tora pointed to his belly, just above the belly button area.

"This is a vulnerable area to stab. So when they raise their arm to slash like this," Tora raised his front arm as if raising a sword, "You lunge in and stab that center point on the X as fast as you can."

He lowered his arm and started moving subtly about.

"Wait for my attack, then counter with a stab towards that center point."

Collen was listening his instructions closely and swallowed slightly as the image of the night flashed in his mind. The night when in the desperation he had been stabbing the man over and over again with his knife. But he had to push it out of his mind and focus on Tora's teaching. If a night like that happened again, he had to be more prepared.

The boy gave a small nod, corrected his stance and watched as Tora moved around. As Tora raised his arm, Collen lunged forward. But he was too late as Tora blocked it.

"Good."

Tora reset his position.

"Your movement was correct. But your hesitation slowed you down. Try once more. And this time try your best to relax, observe, and react. Don't worry or think about anything else."

"Okay." Collen said taking a deep breath. He took the position again, focusing his mind on Tora and his movements. As he raised his arm again, Collen rushed forward. And to his surprise, "stabbed" Tora.

Tora gripped Collen's wrist to prevent a true stab from reaching him, but the blade tip was but a millimeter from his shirt.

"Well done."

Tora backed away a half step and stood up straight.

"We've covered the natural flow of motion for your slashes, and we've covered the weakness of the body's center line during an attack. We've one more thing to cover."

Tora backed away another step and drew his sword.

"Fear."

He took his real stance with the blade primed and ready, aimed directly at Collen's neck.

"Fear is the most debilitating enemy of all. It can cause the body to freeze which is a certain death sentence in real combat. So the final part of this lesson is learning to overcome the fear of death as it stares you down."

Tora prepared to strike.

"Prepare yourself, Collen. I won't be holding back this time."

With the sword pointed at his neck, Collen swallowed instinctively. But he had made a decision of not letting the Captain scare him, so why let anyone else? He took his stance, holding his knife and nodded at Tora signaling he was ready.

Tora's calm expression faded to one of emptiness and neutrality.

He stood perfectly still for a long, long time. Every now and then he would blink. But other than that, it almost looked more like he was posing for a painted portrait than preparing for an attack.

Every second which ticked by felt like an eternity. Tora's body remained still as stone, eyes locked on Collen's, and blade lined up with Collen's neck.

"What are you thinking about right now?"

Collen was waiting, trying his best to keep his breathing steady as he watched Tora and the blade aimed at his neck. His whole body was tensing up to prepare for that second he was going to attack. The second that seemed to never come. It made him nervous. Nervous but he didn't let the fear take over him. Instead he grabbed the knife tighter.

"Why are you not attacking", he replied as that was the main question is his mind right now.

Tora's eyes narrowed.

"I already am." He said quietly.

"You're nervous. So I've already successfully attacked you. Whether or not you even realize or accept the reality, I've frightened you. And now you've become tense because you're anticipating an attack which-"

Tora lunged forward and set his blade beside Collen's neck, using the flat to gently tap his shoulder.

"Came when you were at your most vulnerable."

Collen froze and swallowed as Tora lunged at him, barely even able to lift his dagger hand in time to try to counter attack. Feeling the tap on his shoulder he looked away, gritting his teeth. He felt extremely annoyed at himself. Without realizing it, he was gripping the knife so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He wasn't just annoyed. He was angry at himself. He had done the one thing he was not supposed to do and in a real situation, he would have been dead.

"Tora? What do you think about the Captain?" He asked all of sudden still looking away from him and towards the forest.

Tora sheathed his sword and placed a hand on Collen's shoulder.

"I think the Captain is a man who knows how to use fear to his advantage."

He knelt down and placed his other hand on Collen's other shoulder and made the boy face him.

"Collen. Your presence and how you carry yourself into battle is both your first line of defense, and your first attack. If you can project an aura of confidence that puts your opponent on edge, you've already won the opening bout. After that it's just a matter of following through."

He let go of the boy's shoulders and offered him a calm smile.

"Are you afraid of the Captain?"

The boy thought for a while. "Sometimes." He admitted. "You can never know what mood he is in. And it can change as quickly as a storm wind." He glanced down for a moment, but then looked at Tora again. "But I'm used to it. It's not too different from my life before joining the crew." He shrugged.

Indeed there was a lot of similarity in Lohran and Collen's father. Their temper, the way they only cared about themselves and not the others. Collen glanced back down. "There's only one reason he even keeps me at the ship to begin with." He shrugged again.

Tora's smile remained, but no longer reached his eyes.

"I cannot pretend to know how you feel. But I can promise that if you keep training with me and learn to subdue your fear, the Captain will no longer frighten you."

He stood up and placed a hand on Collen's shoulder.

"A man who loses the fear he relies on to control others is nothing more than a snake without fangs. It can hiss and mimic a bite. But it can do no harm... Do you understand?"

"I think so", he nodded. "Thanks."

Tora nodded.

"Then reset your stance and let's continue."