Palace Training Arena

He watched squires start to shuffle into the training arena, and his head cocked to the side and tilted downwards when a particularly tiny little girl approached him and asked if he was Aeden McCoy. He nodded, expecting her to say that she had been sent by someone to ask something of him or bring him some word. So when she went on to say that she was the squire he'd been set up with by a pair of southern nobles he starred at her incredulously. I mean. He knew he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but damn. She was a beensie little thing, twirling a flower between her fingers, and dressed in clothes that were entirely too girly for this sort of thing. It was all he could do to repress a groan and keep from closing his eyes to pray to the gods that she was full of more fight than she looked capable of holding. Instead he responded with a "Nice to meet you, Lady O'Hara. Please stand with the other squires, and I will begin the training session momentarily," in his best civil tone. When she went to stand with the other squires he addressed them all at once. "Welcome, squires. I am Aeden McCoy, and I will learn your names all in time. For right now, though, I must give you an introduction to today's session. Today you will all be sparring with mock weapons. Mock so that no one gets seriously injured before you learn how to properly handle weapons. Remember that while these might not kill as easily as a real weapon they can still be used with deadly force, and they can cause a lot of pain. You will all be allowed to choose which mock weapon you will use, but if you have experience with any weapons already, we encourage you to step outside of your comfort zones. I will be here to demonstrate proper maneuvers and correct anyone who thinks just swinging a sword or ax about willy nilly is the way to doe this."

He noticed the looks that the other squires cast her way, but there really wasn't much he could do about it right then. So he continued addressing the squires until they all stepped forwards to choose their weapons. Except for the little girl named Nessa. She walked up to him and tugged on his shirt to get his attention and he looked down at her expectantly. When she said she wasn't familiar with weapons he held back a grimace, but nodded. "It's alright," he said in his best tone of reassurance. "I can help you. It's what I'm here for," he said with an awkward smile. He titled his head to the side and walked her over to where the mock weapons rested. "We'd better find something that's light enough for you to handle the real thing when the time comes. The heavier your weapons and armor are, the harder strain they will put on you when you fight. And as a potential knight there will be times when you have to fight for very long periods of time, so you need to make sure your weapons and armor aren't adding too much to the strain," he explained carefully. He bent down and picked up a mock short sword that he handed to her. "How does it feel? Is it too heavy?"

He nodded to her thanks, though frowned at her question. "Good point, but that's something that we'll be doing later on. Since this is only the first of many training sessions to come, we want to perfect your skills with weapons before we add the weight of armor," he said with a shrug. He tried not to cringe at the way he saw her take the sword. Instead of commenting on it, though, he reached over and corrected her grip automatically. "You don't ever want to hold a sword so loosely," he said. "Not if you don't want to drop it and cut your toes off, anyway," he said with a soft chuckle. "Also. Any weapon you handle is going to feel weird due to your inexperience with them. However, don't feel too bad about it. It might take a little while to get used to it, but by the time you've been training for a while, your weapon will start to feel like an extension of your own arm," he assured her with a smile. "Most people who are as new to this as you are say the same thing that you just did," he said with a laugh.

He chuckled at her comment about motivation and shook his head slightly. "I was more motivating you for the here and now, not the possible in the future," he said with a grin and a shake of his head. She was definitely something else. "But, yes, good point again. Keep your suggestion in mind," he said with a laugh. He definitely liked her enthusiasm in this. "Well. You defend yourself from attackers, or you become the attacker," he said with a chuckle. "Here, let me start you off with a few practice maneuvers so that you can get a feel for the weapon before you try to go up against someone whose actually used a weapon before," he said gently. In doing so he bent over to pick up another mock short sword. It was a bit light and short for someone of his size, but he wanted to demonstrate how she should use the weapon that she would be using. "Follow me," he said as he made his way over a few paces towards a wooden pole that was in almost the center of the arena. The pole had a lot of dings in it from people using it as a training post. "I'll slow down my movements so that you can see better," he said as he swung the short sword at the pole in slow motion, hitting it against the post a few different ways. "Now do what I just showed you," he said as he took a step back. "Remember to keep a firm grip on the sword. You don't want it flying out of your hands and skewering the person who just saved your ass in battle," he teased gently. He was prepared to watch her and correct any mistakes that she made, though he did have to occasionally glance over his shoulder to watch the other squires, too. Actually. He hailed one of the servants on the other side of the arena and ordered the man to have another knight brought in. In a low tone, low enough that Nessa wouldn't be able to hear, he explained that they had a squire who had never been around weapons before. The man nodded and scurried off to go fetch one of the other knights. "Hey! The point is to not gouge each other's eyes out," he shouted at one of the other squires before he turned back to Nessa. "Go ahead and practice what I just showed you a few times. I need to go correct bad behavior before it turns into someone getting themselves seriously hurt," he said as he darted off across the arena to begin correcting some of the other squires.

He'd smiled at her words before the distraction had come in the form of him needing to act like a teacher to more than just one squire. He had quickly corrected the bad behavior among the other squires, and by that time another knight who was used to helping with these sorts of things had arrived. He instructed the other man to stay with the group of squires while he went over to check on Nessa. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched her execute the moves that he'd shown her, and with each time she seemed to grow more fluid in her movements, and more capable of performing them properly. "Good. Keep it up and you'll be the best squire in this group in no time," he said with another smile. Aeden had never been the type who was afraid to praise his students; especially not when they surprised him with their abilities. He stepped in and picked up the short sword that he had been using earlier. "Now that you have the basic maneuvers for the offensive, you need to learn those for the defensive," he said. "Slowly, I want you to come towards me and use those moves in an attempt to attack. Slowly so that you can watch how I counter them."

He'd frowned when he'd startled her into dropping her sword. "And that's why I said you need to keep a firm grasp on your sword," he'd said gently. Though he did feel kind of bad for scaring her. If he'd known about her analogy of dancing to sword fighting he probably would have cringed inwardly, but agreed outwardly. While he might not like the analogy, it was pretty accurate. When she took up her sword he gave her a brief nod and smiled faintly as she started on the offensive. He went slowly through the motions of defensive moves so that she would be able to see everything that he did. "Some people say that a good offense is the best defense," he said as he moved his sword to parry hers carefully. "And if you're smart with your defense you can use it offensively in a way that the enemy will never see coming," he elaborated as they finished. He encouraged her to attack again. "And, not to be mean, but you're going to need to be smart with your defense with your size. Chances are most of the people who you will fight against will be much larger than you are. But don't let that get to you. I've watched men half my size take down men that were twice my size," he said with a chuckle. "It's all about focusing on getting around your opponent's defenses. Once you get the basics down, it will be easier to see where your opponent is flawed. What they're trying to compensate for. And once you can spot that; the way to use their flaws to your advantage usually just comes to you," he assured her.