PART XVIII - PREDICTING CHAOS
Olin had continued to add complexity to the sword exercises, now adding an “and” to each count, turning it into an eight-count routine. This gave each strike a riposte as part of the parry, now coupled with a counter-parry. He also added a ‘switch’ movement, where the two fighters would move past each other, switching sides of their ring. 1and-4and-left-left-switch-2and-3and.
It had taken Callie a little time to fully realize what Olin and the other Trainers were trying to do. She finally understood that these simplistic exercises were building a foundation of moves and etching them into muscle-memory, then adding complexity at each step to expand them, like that old ‘wax on, wax off’ karate movie. As a result, no longer were Callie and Pixyl rolling their eyes at the simplicity of the actions. They could appreciate what was happening, and even Pixyl, with her extensive self-taught sword training, was seeing aspects of her ‘sloppy’ techniques against the new foundational moves.
“Good, good!” Olin said, ceasing his count and giving everyone a moment to rest, and for the Bladeweavers to recharge their mana with a small, awful-tasting blue potion. After a few minutes, he ordered everyone to ready themselves. “This time, I won’t be counting. One of you take lead while the other applies the correct counter. Remember, you’re not trying to hit the person, just parry and position for now.”
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Callie and Pixyl looked at each other and by some unsaid mutual agreement, Pixyl was elected to take the lead.
“Begin!” Olin said. Hesitantly, each pair of recruits started their dances. Attack, parry, riposte, counter-parry, move, switch. The lead would try to mix up the sequences, hoping to trip up their partner, but quickly their partners were able to get in their own groove with the proper response. Callie and Pixyl were no different, and their swords clashed together in a staccato rhythm of wood-on-Ether as the two giggled.
“Who do you think it will be?” Olin quietly asked the other trainers as they watched their students match movements.
“I have a guess,” Reynard replied.
“What do you mean?” Major Celeste asked.
“That’s right, this is your first time as Trainer,” Cylanae said with a smirk. “We always wonder which pair is going to be the first to start legitimately sparring, requiring we break them up.”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Celeste said, casually gesturing towards Callie and Pixyl. “Those two.”
“Definitely those two,” both Reynard and Olin echoed simultaneously.