On seeing Zul enter Rotemdol turns to his 'friend'   

"Hopefully I will take care of business soon. You are welcome to stay
and watch, this girl here present an interesting enigma", he says.

The man takes a seat in the corner of the room, looking as unobtrusive
as possible. With his wide brimmed hat pulled low, Zul can't see much
of his face, as Rotemdol moves to welcome her.

"Happy you could make it. I see you already warmed up, very good".

Zul has entered the narrow side of a large room, about six by nine
tavars, with two columns in the middle. It seems that a few rooms
where combined into one. The left half of the opposite wall is covered
with weapons, mostly knives, of many designs, and has a door in the
middle. The right half open into a smaller room three tavars square,
padded on the floor and the walls. Flanking the door are two man size
knife targets.  In the close left corner there is a small table with
three chairs next to it. Next to the walls are a few closets with
equipment. Zul can smell what she recognises as Keylini cooking.

 [Zul] Once she´s back in the Anthill and finds a quiet corner
somewhere, she takes  a minute to tidy up. She ties her hair back in a
neat bun, forgoing her  usual tousled look, and finds a pump where she
can wash up. Upon finishing,  she heads over to Rotemdol´s place at an
easy pace.

Zul enters without even glancing at all of the training equipment,
instead  immediately turning to face Rotemdol. "Good day, teacher",
she declares in  perfect Filgan, inclining her head respectfully. "I
was not aware you were  expecting an honoured visitor. Please excuse
my most inconsiderate  intrusion." She bows slightly more deeply to
Rotemdol's guest. "Begging your  pardon, most kind sir."

The visitor nods in acknowledgement. Zul still can't see much of his
face. He's dressed in simple clothing of a dull grey colour, as if
trying to be indistinctive.

Rotemdol shows Zul to one of the closets. 

"Please put anything that is not firmly attached, including jewellery,
here so that it will 
not snag when we train". 

"Yes, teacher", she replies. If her humble bearing and use of proper
Filgan is somehow  intended as a sarcastic joke (which, given what
Rotemdol already knows about  her, it just might be), Zul isn't
letting on.

Banjo comes from inside and sits at the table to watch

Zul removes her long leather coat, swirling it to keep her nirvork
concealed) and places it in the cabinet. She pauses, glancing at the
guest,  her cheeks flushing a bit. "If it pleases the teacher, this
one would  request a moment of privacy -- in the interests of modesty,
you understand". She gestures at her rather loose-fitting,
long-sleeved tunic. "I believe I  should change into something less
likely to snag. Might you be so good as to  turn your backs, or could
I make use of another room?"

"Banjo, Could you show her to my room to change?" Rotemdol asks. Banjo
shows Zul to a small chamber and closes the door behind her.

With Zul temporarily absent, Rotemdol turns to his guest, "Can you
place her accent? she seems to use a lot of them. I have seen her use
some version of kalmas, she claims she is good with the nirvork which
we will check in a few minutes. she certainly did not learn all of
this around here".

The Visitor considers this for a moment. "Filgeth, I would say.  Be
careful of her, I've met her type before. And never trust a woman".

Meanwhile behind the closed door Zul removes her tunic and changes
into a snug,  short-sleeved shirt -- and she transfers her small
throwing knife from her  wrist to her ankle, hidden under her
wide-bottomed trousers. Her large knife  remains on her belt.

When Zul returns Rotemdol shows her the training weapons, mainly
wooden versions of most weapons. "Choose whichever fit you fancy and
lets spar a bit. Let see what you can teach me", he says as he picks
up two wooden knives, one of which has an elaborate guard, the other a
much smaller knife possibly balanced for throwing, made of curious
light form of vyrn.

"The only rule is that no one should get hurt. Make sure you are
always under full control. If you see an attack coming which you need
to do something wild to avoid let it get in, this is only practice.
Any questions before we start?"

"No, teacher.", Zul replies.

She has chosen a matched pair of large wooden knives with hand
guards,. Zul then faces her much taller opponent  pretty much head-on,
in a right-forward stance, her right foot turned  slightly toe-in,
with perhaps 60 percent of her weight on her back foot. Her  lead hand
is extended in front of her, the point of her knife directed at
Rotemdol's sternum. Her off hand is close to her chest, with its knife
held  nearly erect. Her back is straight, but her shoulders are
relaxed. She gazes  not at Rotemdol's eyes, but at the center of his
chest.

It appears that she's trying to keep her face impassive, but when
Rotemdol  assumes his stance, a tight half-smile creeps onto her face.
She waits for  the kandar to make the first move -- unless he asks her
to take the  initiative.

Rotemdol tries to figure out her style from her stance. It seems
naggingly familiar; Rotemdol knows of a lot of broadly similar styles,
each taught by different teachers; Her stance has elements of the
moves taught by a rather strange quasi religious revolutionary cult
called "The Trespassers", but there are also elements of the moves
taught by the now dead gladiator trainer from Filgeth, Arun Zarn

Rotemdol is happy, Zul has had some instructions and might show him
something new. If this was serious he would have worried about if she
knows the style she is showing, faking one style and possibly using
another, or just showing of an opening stand that she learned
somewhere but as he will know the reply soon he is not overly
concerned.

Rotemdol starts the sparing with very simple moves, moves to
combinations and then back to simple moves this time with no tell, (no
warning what's coming, takes a lot of time to develop and is usually
the mark of a master) and then back to simple combinations. By now it
is fairly obvious that he is ambidextrous.

Zul's knife-fighting style is economical and direct, with no right
angles and  no big movements: quick thrusts and short chopping arcs.
Her parries flow  immediately into counterstrikes. She attempts to
offset Rotemdol's longer  reach not by backing up, but by slashing his
attacking arms, then moving  closer to strike at his torso. Her style
isn't much to look at, but she  knows what she's doing. She's clearly
right-handed; her defense with her  left is just as good as with her
right, but her left-handed attacks don't  have the same crispness.

As she's handling  all this well Rotemdol increases the pace, all this
time using a variety of styles and moves to see what Zul is familiar
with to try to trace her teaching, although he draws a blank. As it is
becoming obvious that Zul can handle herself, and that she is looking
for more challenges, Rotemdol increases the tempo. He's still doing
nothing fancy. However he is starting to attack twice, three times and
sometimes four times a round and it is obvious he is not going full
out or trying very hard. 

Rotemdol's goal is to press Zul to see how she reacts when she is out
of her depth, assuming he can get there.  From what she said he thinks
that knife is not her main weapon and he will ask her to choose
another weapon if she want to show him her stuff.

But just when Rotemdol thinks he has her figured out and takes a hard
swipe at her head, instead of parrying, she suddenly ducks forward
into a somersault,  rolls between his legs, and finishes up doing a
split on the ground under  him -- with the edges of both her knives
pressed up against his inner  thighs.

"You keep holding back on me, Stretch, and I'll have to hurt you" she
whispers in Mannish, smirking. "That move worked just as you said it
would, teacher", she gushes  in Filgan. "Thank you".

"Somersaulting" Rotemdol comments while moving with total unnatural
speed but without seeming to be breathing hard "carries the danger of
not seeing the attack coming, If is hard enough even when you face
your opponent, if he is semi competent".

Rotemdol decides this is an appropriate point to stop the training
match. Zul would definitely make a good sparring partner.

"You are very good" Rotemdol comments and smiles " You promised you
will give me a few pointers on chucking steel, and show me how to use
a nirvork for something besides chasing butterflies." He draws his
very fine nirvork,  takes a plug from a cup board and put it on its
tip and hands the nirvork to Zul . As he passes the nirvork he
comments in a whisper "it is better that you use mine". Rotemdol steps
back, still holding the two knives, and waits.

Rotemdol's visitor remains silent.
--
Tim Hall
Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/