Amelia couldn't quite put her finger on what was different this day, but something was nonetheless. No one had interrupted her class, and---most surprisingly---the cadets seemed to stop and gaze at her whenever she came walking down the corridor, the soft click of her heels preceding her. Now, what was all that about, she wondered to herself.
As for Alan Longtooth, well, he had certainly learned his lesson, and had began to grudgingly accept the Captain just might be worth listening to. He and his fellow cadets were all inside the combat classroom, standing about talking, waiting for class to begin.
Then the door swung opened and inside came Captain Amelia. "Ah, good morning, cadets," she said.
"Good morning, Captain," rang their replies. Amelia simply nodded her head politely, and moved to the front of the classroom, watching her cadets form a line.
"I have gone through Professor Ogden's syllabus, and I must confess I'm somewhat impressed. You've gone through the various unarmed combat forms: kung fu, karate, ju-jitsui and tae-kwon-doh."
Amelia, hands clasped behind her back, walked purposefully before her students, who were hanging on her every word. "Well, now, that's all well and good, of course. However, it's highly unlikely that your average opponent will attack you with nothing but his hands and feet now, wouldn't you think?"
There were several mumured titters among the cadet's ranks. Amelia smiled and nodded.
"So, that being said, today you will begin your training in fencing," Amelia announced to them. There was a buzz of excitement in the cadets, which Amelia chose to ignore. She moved over to the equipment cabinets, unlocked it with a key, and swung the doors open. Inside the cabinet were racks of long, slender swords with basket hilts. "All right then. One at a time, you will move to the cabinet and select yourself a weapon. Come on now, move along. There you go…"
After all of her cadets were suitably armed with practise swords, Amelia moved behind her desk and slid a long box out of her bag. She opened it and withdrew a gleaming silver sword with a simple gilded basket hilt. She swished the slender blade in the air in an intricate dance until it hummed. "Yes, well… this will do quite nicely."
"Very nice. Now, kindly form into pairs, if you please," Amelia instructed them. They did what she bade them to do, forming two distinct lines now.
"Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia called out, quite to Jim's surprise. "Would you kindly come here."
"Yes, ma'am?" Jim asked once he stood before the confident, graceful Captain.
"You shall be my partner this go-round, so that I may show your classmates the drill," Amelia told him as well as the class. She brought her sword up to before her face in a salute to Jim, then assumed a combat stance. "Are you ready to begin, Mr. Hawkins?"
Jim emulated her stance, grinning. "At your service, ma'am!" he told her.
Amelia stepped forward and brought her blade about to tap Jim's before she extended her arm, thrusting her sword toward his chest. Jim angled his blade and leaned back, avoiding the red-capped tip of Amelia's sword. He then stepped back and then lunged forward to re-engage Amelia. The feline woman grinned savagely, and parried.
"You see, class," Amelia said, not even breathing heavy yet. "The trick is to keep your grip loose but firm. Loose enough to be flexible, but firm enough to not allow your opponent to knock it from your grasp." Her and Jim's swords clashed and clanged metallically, as they lunged and parried, each seeking the advantage.
Jim then tried something unexpected, spiraling his blade over and then around Amelia's, pushing her attack away, forcing her to extend more than she had wished to. Amelia recovered quickly and forced Jim back with determined attacks.
"The object, of course, is to defeat your opponent as quickly as possible," Amelia lectured, her sword flashing as she attacked.
Jim used his neat spiralling trick again, and succesfully managed to disarm a surprised Amelia. Jim grinned, saying, "And the best way to do that, is to be the only one with a sword." Jim held the red tip of his sword against Amelia's chest a moment, then stood back. "Wouldn't you say, Captain?"
"Quite. Nicely done, Mr. Hawkins," Amelia congratulated him. "But, I wouldn't look quite so smug were I you…"
Amelia lunged forward into a roll, and when she regained her feet behind Jim, she once again had her sword in hand. "Touche, Mr. Hawkins," she challenged.
"Oh, boy, " Jim groaned, and soon worked up quite a sweat as Amelia managed to chase him about the classroom, disarming him several times running.
"All right now," Amelia said as they all rested a bit. "Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Reynard, and I will now work with the rest of you lot, and if we're lucky, you'll not embarrass me to badly by the end of the lesson…"
Jim nodded and went with Marie to begin trying to help their classmates. Amelia watched her cadets, providing them assistance as she watched.
"Tighten your grip there, Mr. Gul," she warned a tiger-like cadet.
"Do try to keep your guard up, Ms. Macsy," she commented to a human girl who grimaced after her partner managaed to touch her in the side. It continued like this throughout the entire lesson. When the bell finally rang, Amelia instructed her cadets to lay their swords down so she could place them back in their racks herself, but many of the cadets insisted on replacing their swords themselves.
Soon, everyone had gone except Jim, and Amelia looked over at him. "James? May I ask a question of you?"
"Sure, Captain. Shoot!" Jim asked as he helped replace the few remaining swords away.
"Would you care to explain to me why everyone seems to act so strangely around me?" she asked, curious. "For example, I will hear voices in the hallway… but as I arrive, suddenly there's silence. Deucedly unnatural, that."
"And, that's not mentioning the fact that I seem to be besieged by a bevy of almost painfully helpful cadets. I tell you it's just not natural," Amelia complained, at a loss to this odd behavior.
"Depends, Captain. Do you want me to be honest, or protect your feelings?" Jim asked.
"What sort of question is that, Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia asked, irritated. "Of course, I want you to be honest with me."
"Well, Captain… the reason everyone clams up when you're around is most likely they are talking about you," Jim told her, just as delicately as he could manage.
"I beg your pardon," Amelia replied, stunned.
"And, the reason why everyone's ever-so-helpful to you is because they don´t want to wear you out," Jim added, a small grin appearing on his handsome face.
"The devil you say," Amelia muttered, her green eyes wide with shock.
"Look, ma'am, all I'm trying to say is that you have become every cadet's favorite teacher," Jim said. He held his hands out wide, and shrugged. "What can I say?"
"Me? A favorite?" Amelia repeated, unable to help herself. "Why… that's absolutely preposterous, Mr. Hawkins…"
"Whatever you say, ma'am," Jim told her, still grinning. "But I'm only telling you what you know is the truth."
Then he slid his sword back into the rack in the weapons locke, and left, leaving a completely amazed and most flattered Amelia in his wake…