Lessons

Writers: Dana, Emma
Date Posted: 16th August 2005

Characters: Shayla, J'an
Description: J'an teaches the Weyrlings self-defense
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 7, day 5 of Turn 3

The Weyrlingmaster was glad to see that they had all listened to him for
once about what to wear for this class. They were all dressed in clothing
suitable for the purpose at hand, exercise and some self defence training
that they would hopefully never need.

Most weyrlings enjoyed these classes. They were a great stress relief to
some, particularly when it came to trying to hit the large wherhide punch
bag that he brought out later on.

"Good morning," he began. "Today we're going to work on some basic self
defence, something I hope you will never need, but we teach just in case.
This is not a class on how to fight, I believe some of you already know
that," he glanced at some of the more unruly boys. They'd had sense
enough not to physically fight each other, but had come close on a few
occasions. "This is a class on how to protect yourselves. Is that
understood?"

Shayla nodded. She was a little nervous, but she had never been in better
shape than she was now, and she felt up to the challenge.

"Right, if I can ask you to form a line," began J'an. "I want you all to
stand like this." He was in a relaxed posture, feet perhaps a foot apart,
arms by his sides.

The greenrider got in line behind one of the boys - he had Impressed a
brown if she remembered correctly - and copied J'an's stance.

"Now, take a step forwards, with your left foot. Just a normal step like
this." The Weyrlingmaster demonstrated, his front foot flat on the ground.
"Notice how my right foot is, just the ball of my foot on the ground, my
heel in the air."

The line of weyrlings copied him, and Shayla looked behind her to observe
her own foot. Others were doing the same.

Glancing along the line, he checked how they were stood, "Not such a big
step there K'rev, T'wec that should be a bigger space, this is a stance in
which you should be able to keep your balance." As the boys complied, J'an
raised his hands carefully making a fist of each, with thumbs outside.
His right hand was by his cheek, guarding his face, his left forwards
slightly, over his left leg. "When you stand like this I want you to
yell. It doesn't matter what, just the fact that you have shouted and
look ready can sometimes deter someone. Now you try."

Everyone seemed to hesitate - but the uncertainity was brief. The young
man in front of Shayla was the first to yell. And soon, everyone was
yelling, and grinning as they did. Shayla was too.

"Feels good doesn't it?" said the Weyrlingmaster. "I want you to reverse
the position now, your right foot forward."

The class was starting to loosen up and get into it. Shayla reversed her
step along with the rest of the Weyrlings.

"Now I'm going to see just how steady you are on your feet." He moved to
the front of the line, "I'm just going to push you gently, if you have
your balance, you won't fall. You may rock a little, but you'll keep your
footing." Reaching out to K'rev, he gently pushed the blue weyrling, who
as had been described, rocked slightly, yet kept his footing.

The young lad had a grin on his face. "It works!" he said.

"Yes it does."

As J'an made his way down the line, Shayla rechecked her footing, making
sure that she felt completely balanced.

"Your turn Shayla," he said, reaching out to her.

She braced herself, concentrating on keeping herself balanced as his hand
suddenly pushed at her.

"That's good," he said, as she moved just slightly. "Perhaps you could
have your feet a bit further apart."

Shayla looked down and repositioned her stance. Then she looked up to
him. "Okay. Ready."

He tried again, but could see already that the greenrider was much
steadier on her feet. "Good," he said, moving onto the next weyrling
until he reached the bottom of the line.

"Right, I need a volunteer," he said.

Others, along with Shayla, offered their hands up.

"Shayla, I think you were first. I want you to hold this for me." He
reached down to pick up the punchbag. "Take these handles here, and hold
it tight against yourself like this."

She did as she was told, her fingers clenching at the handles as her eyes
flickered to the Weyrlingmaster nervously.

"I'm going to show you how to hit the punchbag safely, then I'll
demonstrate the technique slowly." Making a fist, rolling the fingers
carefully down and leaving his thumb outside, J'an pulled back his good
arm and sent it gently into the punchbag.

Surprised, Shayla looked down at the bag. She's barely felt the punch! A
little grin of relief pulled at her lips as she looked up to the
Weyrlingmaster.

"Thank you Shayla. If you could get back into line, and I'll demonstrate
this for you all."

The greenrider nodded and slipped back to her place in line.

Slipping into the stance he'd shown them, J'an drew back his good arm
slowly, allowing his body to twist at the hips, and his back foot to
pivot. "Use your hips, and you will get a greater reach."

All the Weyrlings tried it, and found what he said to be true. Shayla
twisted on the other side too - to experiment.

"Try not to twist so hard," said J'an as he watched. "You need to be
looking in a straight line over your knuckles."

**I think that's pretty straight,** Shayla thought to herself as she
twisted to the left, her eyes staring over the line of her knuckles.

"That's better," said J'an, "Try it one more time."

And they did.

Last updated on the August 16th 2005

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