Chapter 18: "Learning the Basics"

Alaylle mutters a bit as the first few orange rays of sunlight shine through her window and onto her face. She slowly sits up in bed and stretches. Alaylle groggily skips out of bed and changes from her pink night robe into her usual clothes. After fixing her bed and tying her hair into a high ponytail, held in place with a big red ribbon of course, she heads out of her room and into the hallway to d-

Alaylle blinks her eyes. In front of her is a person that looks exactly like her, down to the ribbon! She watches as the other Alaylle blinks her eyes too. Alaylle tries stepping to the side to let the other Alaylle pass only to have the other Alaylle step to the side at the exact same time, staying in front of her. Alaylle asks while still half-asleep, "Uhh… since when do we have a mirror blocking the hallway?"

The other Alaylle laughs softly. "We don't dear…"

"Kyaaaaaahhh!" Alaylle suddenly screams and jumps into the air. After landing, Alaylle puts a hand on her heart, now fully awake. "Mommy! Don't do that! You know how I am when I wake up!"

---
Alaylle and Neyrilla quietly walk down the streets of Prontera, following them to the southeast part of the city.

"You know Mommy… you didn't have to wake up before I did and tease me like that!" Alaylle glances sideways at her mother.

Neyrilla covers her mouth softly with her fingers, stifling soft laughter. "I'm sorry dear, but I was excited about teaching you for so long…" She smiles softly at her daughter.

"Ahh… well… by the way… where are we going?"

"To visit an old friend of mine… we can borrow his practicing grounds…"

Alaylle and Neyrilla arrive at a building with a dirt field in front of it, with strangely shaped crosses stuck in the dirt.

Neyrilla nods. "This was the Swordsman Guild…"

Alaylle blinks her eyes. "Was?"

Neyrilla nods as she leads Alaylle inside. "Yes… from what I understand, the instructors had a little… disagreement over how to teach the students. The partnership of the Guild dissolved, and only one instructor remains here now. The rest moved to Izlude and became the new official Swordsman Guild."

Neyrilla makes her way to a bored looking swordswoman sitting behind a desk. "Excuse me… may I speak to a Instructor Grey?"

The swordswoman looks Neyrilla and Alaylle over and shakes her head. "Grey isn't accepting any new applicants…"

Neyrilla smiles softly. "Just tell him that Neyrilla is here and wants to use the training room."

The swordswoman shrugs with a what-are-you-going-to-do expression and heads off to relay the message.

Soon, a white haired Knight enters the room and startles at seeing Neyrilla, and then Alaylle. "Holy Doppelganger! Which one is Neyrilla and which one is Alaylle?"

Neyrilla smiles softly and shakes her head. "I see Grey is going White…"

"Gentle wit, calm, yup, that one must be Neyrilla." Grey walks over to Alaylle. "Wow! You sure grew! The last time I saw you were about wee high!" Grey flattens his palm and places it perpendicular to his knee.

Alaylle awkwardly looks at the ground and then up at Grey. "Uhm… I know you?"

"Yup! Although I'm not surprised you don't remember me… last time I saw you, you kept hiding behind your mom." Grey grins and turns back to Neyrilla. "So, want to use the training room, huh? Come in, come in!"

Grey leads Alaylle and Neyrilla deep into the old Swordsman Guild and stops. "Here you go!"

The training room is a large room in the shape of a very large square. In the center of the room, what looks to be giant floor tiles are lined up into a large square. The square almost reaches to the edges of the room, with a clearance of about 5 feet. Several wooden and padded practice weapons are neatly placed in racks along the north wall, and chairs line the west and east sides of the room. Angled windows from the ceiling allow ample sunlight to come in and light the center of the room.

Neyrilla gently nods, takes off her shoes and heads to the center of the room. Alaylle does the same, but takes a moment to look the room over.

Neyrilla quietly sits down and looks at Alaylle. "Alaylle… here, I'll teach you the basics of fighting, but first… could you tell me what you see about this room?"

Alaylle quickly sits down. "Umm… well… it's shaped like a square… there's lots of light… Um…" She thinks for a moment… then another moment… and then uses her index finger to rub against one of the floor tiles. "There's no dust here, either… Hmm?" Alaylle pokes the floor tile gently with her finger. "The floor… it's soft…" She looks at the floor tiles carefully. "And the tiles are squares."

Neyrilla nods slowly. "That's pretty good Alaylle." Neyrilla smiles softly. "And just like that, you've learned one of the basics… the environment plays a big part in fighting." She glances down at the floor. "This floor… it's made to cushion your fall until you learn how to fall without hurting yourself… not only that… the square design is to help you get a sense of distance." Neyrilla pauses for a moment. "Oh yes… by the way… we should find a weapon for you…"

Alaylle quickly pulls out her chain. "This is my weapon!"

Neyrilla inclines her head and looks it over. "It looks like a plain chain attached to a wooden stick handle… that sort of weapon… I'm not so familiar with. It must be something rather new?" Neyrilla looks over at Grey.

"Huh? Oh, yes. The chain is one of the weapons that was recently approved by the Prontera Church… Oh! And the Swordsman Guild." Grey awkwardly glances at the ceiling. "But… I've no idea how to use a weapon like that either."

"Hmm…" Neyrilla stands up and gets a padded wooden practice sword from a stand in the room. "Alaylle… try to attack me with it."

"Eyaaahh… Mommy, but… I don't wanna hurt you!"

Neyrilla smiles softly. "Don't worry, dear… Ahh, I know… if it'll make you feel more at ease… Grey, do you mind?"

Grey sweatdrops. "Do I have to? This is gonna be humiliating… I just know it." He looks at Neyrilla's expression and sighs. "Alright, alright… be strong my wounded pride!" Grey looks up at the ceiling and clenches his fist. He then gets a padded wooden practice sword of his own and readies it.

Neyrilla casually hold the sword and nods. "Attack whenever you wish…"

Grey grips the sword in two hands and focuses his energy 'Two-Hand Quicken!"… then dashing suddenly at Neyrilla. He swings the sword at incredible speeds at Neyrilla.

Neyrilla parries several of the strikes. She then uses simple sidesteps and dodges to evade the strikes and then gently taps Grey on the head, both of his shoulders, and both of his hands twice.

Grey collapses to his knees dramatically with a tearful expression on his face. "Complete and utter defeat!" He looks to the sky to complete his hammy overacting.

Neyrilla laughs softly. "You should have become an actor, Grey." Neyrilla turns and smiles gently at Alaylle. "See? No need to worry at all."

Alaylle gets to her feet. "Okay! Here I go!" She runs at Neyrilla and then starts trying to hit her with the chain strikes.

Neyrilla neatly dodges the strikes and taps Alaylle gently on the head, shoulders, sides, arms, and legs. She watches carefully how Alaylle fights and-

Neyrilla and Grey simultaneously sweatdrop.

Alaylle has tangled herself up in her chain, making her look like a Pupa. "Uhm… hold on a moment… I'll untangle myself…" Alaylle struggles a bit. "Ouch! Uhh… on second thought… can I get some help?"

Grey leans over to Neyrilla and whispers in her ear. "Are you sure she's your daughter?"

Neyrilla gently taps Grey on the head with her practice sword. She then walks over to Alaylle and helps untangle her from her chain.

---
After about an hour of untangling Alaylle from her chain, Alaylle, Neyrilla, and Grey sit on the floor of the training room.

Neyrilla smiles softly at Alaylle. "Don't worry dear, you're still new at this."

Alaylle blushes lightly. "Yeah… but I don't know too many people that tangle themselves up with their weapon or hit themselves with it."

Neyrilla and Grey sweatdrop simultaneously again as the thought rushes through their heads, 'She's hit herself with her weapon too?'

Neyrilla shakes her head. "Anyway, Alaylle, after watching you… you've been watching the silly fighters around Prontera, haven't you?"

Alaylle nods her head.

Neyrilla sweatdrops and nods slowly. "It shows… did you know… the whole time you were attacking me… you stayed on the same floor tile?"

Alaylle sweatdrops. "I'm not supposed to do that? I mean… they just stand still and slash away."

Neyrilla smiles softly again and sighs softly. "The quality of instruction has rather declined since my time, I guess… Anyway, you won't be able to dodge if you stand still the whole time… and it's very easy to defend only one side of your body."

"Aahh… there's a lot to this, isn't there?" Alaylle scratches her head.

Neyrilla nods. "Yes there is… but don't worry, we have lots of time to go over all of the basics…"

---
Neyrilla knocks away a chain strike and quickly turns and dashes at Alaylle, tapping her on the head a few times.

Alaylle suddenly stops and sits down on the floor. "Whew! This is really tiring!"

Neyrilla smiles at Alaylle and lowers her practice sword. "You still have a lot to learn, but… you certainly picked up the theory quickly."

Alaylle smiles up at her mother. "Thank you, Mommy!" She then notices the sunlight coming in from the windows becoming orange. "Uh oh! It's getting pretty late, isn't it? We should head home before Daddy starts wondering where we went!"

Neyrilla slowly nods and puts the practice sword away. She turns towards Grey. "Thank you again for letting us use your training room."

Alaylle hops to her feet. "Yeah! Thank you Grey!"

Grey smiles and shakes his head. "No need to thank me! I got some good material from watching you two… Feel free to come any time!"

"Oh? I think I'll take you up on that offer, Grey." Neyrilla smiles and glances over at Alaylle. "I'll teach you more tomorrow alright, Alaylle?"

"Okay! I'll do my best!" Alaylle smiles happily.

---
"Mommy! What are we gonna go over today?" Alaylle sits down next to her mother in the training room.

Neyrilla shakes her head and shrugs. "Dear it's been a few weeks, and you've learned all the basics already… everything else has to come from you."

"But, but… I wanna be all 'whoosh and bam' like you are!" Alaylle looks hopefully at Neyrilla.

Neyrilla laughs softly. "Alaylle… you've been watching those adventurers in Prontera too long…" She quietly shakes her head. "Most of what I do was made up by myself… and besides… it's not very suitable for a chain." She smiles at Alaylle gently. "But… I have an idea how to start… that would be perfect for you."

"Eehh? What is it?" Alaylle leans forward expectantly.

Neyrilla takes out a sheet of paper and hands it to Alaylle. "During your free time, go to this place… I'm sure you'll learn a lot."

Alaylle looks at the paper. The paper is a map with directions that lead to someplace near Geffen. "Alright! I'll go tomorrow!"

End of Chapter 18
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Chapter 19 Preview!

Alaylle: "Eeeehhhhh! What is this place?"

Alaylle: "But… but… how can I learn from a place like this?"

In the next chapter: "A Lesson in Patience!"

Alaylle: "!"
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