A day passed while the group of students in white outfits practiced sword forms. The teacher, an honest woman raised in the area, was eventually satisfied with her students' progress despite the task being extremely painful. Even though Illuvia didn't stand out among them for doing such unimportant chores, her body took the instructions well and stored the motions for later use.
"All right, pupils!” There was a call over the soft murmur of students speaking in the groups they had gradually settled into after training side by side. Illuvia kept to herself, but on numerous occasions she would find that foolish girl yapping at her innocuously as if she hadn't made it obvious that she didn't want her to crowd her. "We're going to start moving to the standing position today, and dealing with an oncoming attacker will be our first line of defense. Quite simple and effective when handling naive novices.
A sense of eager silence descended upon the room as all eyes turned to the elevated section of the dojo main hall, where the teacher stood with her practice sword firmly grasped in two hands and her focus fixed forward. Then, with a gleeful smile, she turned to face the crowd, as though she was thinking.
"Hi there, you! Yes, you! Come on over here and assist me!"
Immediately, Illuvia felt the weight of many pairs of eyes focused on her. Rather than writhing under the overwhelming attention she was now receiving, she chose to project an outward, callous coolness as she simply raised her calm gaze to meet the Instructor's. For a breath, then two, the two held their ground, and then Illuvia started to slowly walk by the sea of white and onto the plateau, where the teacher was waiting for her, grinning broadly. Now that she was close, it might have seemed a little more sinister.
"Excellent, excellent. The teacher teased, "I thought you were going to decline. Make every effort to strike me.”
Without any other guidance, Illuvia hurled herself at her teacher, almost tripping and falling along the way, but her footing was secure as her practice sword shot up to slap that brash smile off the older woman's face. As Illuvia watched the teacher drop into stance and prepare her sword until Illuvia was actually within reach, time seemed to slow down. When it was time, the instructor executed a terrifying and graceful show of speed as she drew her practice sword and slashed diagonally at the practice sword that was attacking. Illuvia felt pain in her wrist from the abrupt shift in force, and she lost her balance instantly, falling to the side and tumbling off the stage. Painful hues flickered behind her shut eyelids.
The skin between Illuvia's shoulder blades prickled with embarrassment and wounded pride, but she stood up quietly, her only sign of rage being the blazing flames of passion in her eyes. She stomped back onto the elevated platform, slamming her practice sword into its sheathe. Then, she fell into the stance that the teacher had just adopted. They had practiced it so much that it was as natural to her as breathing. With her hands poised in anticipation and her legs still crouching, the rest of her body contorted like a spring.
The instructor launched her attack silently and unexpectedly. Of course, there were a few minor variations. For instance, the Instructor retained the grace that was always apparent in any woman who took pleasure in wielding a blade, despite the fact that her charge was every bit as careless and imprecise as Illuvia's had been. With only a few seconds to respond, Illuvia was surprisingly free of the fog that usually surrounded battle. Her body responded with ease, and her thoughts were clear. Her strong hand pulled the wooden stick out of the sheathe and flourished it overhead, striking down with a strong, diagonal slash that not only deflected the Instructor's onslaught but also disarmed her. One hand held the practice sword's length to steady it.
Without saying anything, Illuvia finished the form and slid the practice sword back into its sheath before getting up from her stance. "That wasn't bad.” The teacher eventually stated, "good job," but her eyes were a little wider. “Maybe I ought to bring you up here for additional demonstrations. You appear to perform better right away.”
To those who weren't paying attention, her excitement actually seemed even more annoying than it had before. Illuvia's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she listened to the woman explain that this form was the last one they would learn before they got better outfits. A breath at her side informed her that the woman from before was standing beside her, excited about this little piece of information.
Illuvia cast a sidelong glance at her. She didn't look bad, and she thought she had enough athleticism visible beneath her outfit. She questioned whether she was really swordswoman material. “Even so, what’s going on with my head? I've never considered a girl this way before…” the woman pulled her away from her thoughts in that awful moment and met Illuvia's eyes, her own sparkling with innocent childlikeness. To her dismay, Illuvia was blushing once more.
"Are you okay?” She inquired.
“Yes,” Illuvia managed to say.
"You sure?”
"I said yes!"
The attractive girl bounded off with a harrumph, allowing Illuvia to gradually regain her calm, or as close to it as she could manage. It took her only a moment to realize that everyone, including the instructor, was staring at her with interest in their eyes while trying not to smile condescendingly. Illuvia's cheeks flushed even more from realization, and then it didn't seem so unlikely that they would burst into flames at that very moment from sheer embarrassment. Fortunately, the teacher showed compassion and carried on explaining the promotion procedure without making fun of Illuvia.
"As I mentioned earlier, you won't always be fighting one opponent against one, so this final form is meant to assist you in fighting two opponents at once."
She asked two students to join her on the platform, and then she sat down, albeit awkwardly, with one knee fixed firmly in the ground as though she were stuck between the motions of sitting and standing up. While one student advanced in front of the other, the other came from behind. Illuvia observed with great interest to see what the Instructor would do because it appeared to be a challenging situation. The two students launched an assault with a single sound of warning.
But the teacher was quicker. She quickly raised herself to the point of being entirely on one knee and withdrew her practice sword from her sheathe far enough to prevent the front attacker from swinging downward by jamming the hilt into the student's hand. The instructor swiftly spun, pulled out her practice sword, and easily swatted the other student's blow away. Then, without pausing, she skillfully slid the practice sword back into position as the other student staggered clumsily to the ground. Illuvia was taken aback. As one of the students clenched his hand in agony and the other struggled to stand up, the teacher remained stoically ready for another attack, should the two have the courage to try.
“You just need to practice timing the hilt thrust, that's all.” The instructor gave the student attention while he was still clenching his hand. "We might work on more complicated things tomorrow... but for now let's get into groups."
Illuvia looked around the room for the woman who kept pestering her before she could stop herself and saw her practicing ferociously with another girl. She noticed another student's gaze and forced herself to relax, even though she felt her expression harden. Her name was… she didn’t remember actually. The young woman appeared completely unprepared to be a swordswoman, with sandy, untidy hair and shorter stature than Illuvia, but Illuvia was aware of this.
Illuvia prepared to draw the practice sword loose, dropping into an awkward half-seated, half-kneeling stance. Isao moved forward with a swiftness akin to a cat, his feet remaining silent on the hardwood surface as the force of his swing propelled him ahead of schedule in Illuvia's direction. The practice sword was only partially drawn out by Illuvia, allowing the hilt to block the practice sword's slashing motion just above his opponent’s fingers. The other boy dropped his weapon in pain and hopped in place. He’d gotten hit a little too hard and now he needed to rest his hand.
Illuvia, who had no partner left to practice with, gave the woman one last look before forcing herself to turn away and leaving the dojo. She didn’t know if she actually liked her or if she just liked getting on her nerves. She’d actually gotten her to want to train with her… then she’d gone and picked someone else to practice with. It was annoying and Illuvia wanted to confront her… but she didn’t want everyone looking at her like she was an idiot. Again.
