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Joe walked beside Kilniara, not concerned, and actually enjoying the companionable silence as she fell silent after their last exchange. They soon found their way to the dungeon entrance and paid their way through, Kilniara still lost in thought. When they made the safe area of the first floor, Joe waited for a few monts to give Kilniara ti to finish her thoughts, but after a good ten minutes of waiting, Joe decided to move on to fighting and wanted to let her know.
"Kilniara? Hey… you in there?"
Kilniara blinked a few tis, turning to him and seeming to beco aware of their surroundings, "Ah… uh… Joe!" The subtle red glow from her embarrassnt shone through her cheeks slightly and Joe smiled, putting her at ease.
"Hey. It's OK. I just… you were deep in thought, so I was going to let you keep thinking. I'll head out to fight. When you're ready, let know and we can fight together."
"No… I'm... I'm ready now, Joe."
"It's OK. You can think so more. It's no problem."
Kilniara shook her head vigorously, "No. I'm ready. It was a simple thought. I will need to think of it more carefully over the next weeks."
"Truly?"
"Yes, Joe."
"Hmm… I'm worried."
"Why?" Kilniara widened her eyes in worry.
"It takes you weeks to think of a simple thought?" Joe replied with a sarcastic smile.
Kilniara looked at him, her worry turning to surprise then to a disapproving smirk, her hand snaking out quickly to slap him lightly on his upper chest, "You mock !"
"No! I'm truly concerned! You must think for so long. Maybe we truly should see a healer to make sure that your head has not been too damaged by all the… OUCH!" Joe cried out in false anger, his smile threatening to break through his angry façade.
Kilniara shook her head before turning away, "Ha! How could my weak strength hurt you!?"
Joe smiled, then chuckled for a while, Kilniara joining him as well, a smile and laughter soon joining his. Joe nodded as their laughter ca to an end and nodded his head towards the killing fields.
"Ready?"
"Yes, Joe. I am ready."
"Great! Let's go to the sa corner as before."
Kilniara quickly nodded, and they soon threaded their way through the dungeon to the corner where they could protect their backs. The two took a mont to settle in, dropping their belongings in the corner before turning to the closest goblin. They said little, although they did begin friendly banter with one another as they engaged the first goblin.
"So, you need any help old man?"
Joe glanced at Kilniara, shock washing over his face, "Old man? Really? You've gotten really comfortable really fast!"
Kilniara didn't say much, simply smirking with an arrogant arch to her left eyebrow, "Why shouldn't I be."
Joe didn't know how to respond at that point, only smiling and shrugging, "Hmm."
Kilniara canted her head and hip, staring at him cockily, "Nothing to say?"
Joe shrugged and turned to the goblin. "Nope. I'll let my actions speak for ," Joe said as he pulled out his weaponry and quickly engaged the goblin.
Kilniara quickly jumped to his side, shouting, "Hey! You didn't wait for !"
Joe smirked and ignored her, continuing his attacks as normal, "Hey, I thought I was the slow old man… what about you? It should be easy for you to keep up!"
Kilniara, this ti, struggled to find a response and only growled, allowing her anger to suffice. She settled at his side, dropping conversation in favor of attacking. Joe also found himself falling into the old well known role of combat, but soon began to feel a discomfort that Joe couldn't quite place. It was so subtle that Joe really didn't notice it until a good way into the afternoon and when he did begin to notice it, he felt confusion overwhelm him. He struggled to find the cause of his discomfort, but was unable to, spending most of the rest of the day wrestling with it until he dismissed it, unable to find the answer. Finally, he decided to focus on trying to find what started it all, but couldn't, only knowing that he'd felt the discomfort shortly after entering the dungeon. Hmm… is it my new title? I'm not affected by the dungeon anymore, so am I feeling the discomfort from the dungeon trying to influence ? Or am I feeling uncomfortable now because the dungeon is no longer influencing ?
Joe kept up the playful banter up with Kilniara for a good while, but it soon petered out by the afternoon when she started noticing his sour mood. The conversation dried out quickly and Joe soon found himself simply fighting hard and fast, trying to ignore the discomfort that welled within him.
"You've been… awfully quite. Is everything OK?" Kilniara asked with a hint of trepidation.
Kilniara's comnt startled Joe, surprise shaking him as he quickly looked to her, "Huh?"
"Are you… alright? You seem angry?"
"Oh," Joe took a deep breath and considered his reaction while quickly appeasing Kilnaira, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Don't worry." But… this must really be bugging .
"Oh. OK," Kilniara trailed off.
Joe realized his abrupt ending of her concern didn't actually alleviate it in anyway and he looked at her with a smile, "Really. I'm fine. Just… sothing on my mind, but it can wait. Are you OK?"
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"I'm fine. This is easy with you here. A great master of combat makes fighting easy when he's watching out for ," Kilniara offered with a concerned smile.
Joe chuckled, "Ha! Maybe. It's probably a bit too easy for you with here. Hey! Do you want to try to fight one on your own? You're probably not ready for it yet, to be honest, but should be able to do reasonably well for a few swings."
Kilniara's eyes widened, a bit of fear showing, "You think I could fight a goblin on my own?"
"For a short while. You will make mistakes a few tis and even one mistake will likely get you killed, but I can cover your mistakes easily enough. It will give you so really good training and experience to fight in real combat solo."
"Hmm… if you truly think I can?"
"Like I said, for a few rounds, yeah. You're not ready yet to fight even one alone, but," Joe paused to waffle a hand back and forth showing that it was about fifty fifty, "you are getting pretty close."
Kilniara grinned at that point, joy shining through as her determination overwheld her fear, "Really? I'll be able to soon?"
Joe smiled and nodded, "Yeah. Sure."
"OK! I'll try! Don't let get hurt though!"
"Of course not! Let go get one, and you start wacking it when I return, OK?"
Kilniara nodded quickly in excitent, although fear began to overwhelm her excitent, "OK."
Joe smiled in encouragent and headed out, quickly attracting the closest goblin back to Kilniara, but only parrying or blocking once he returned to her side, "Right. Here you go, take over and I'll help out when you need."
Kilniara ca up on his left side, his shield hand, and Joe grimaced a bit, concerned about how he could defend her. His shield was certainly an excellent tool to block weaponry with, but its bulky nature and how he was holding it made it difficult for him to get the range he would need to extend it between Kilniara and the goblin to protect her.
He decided to turn sideways so he could bring his weapon to bear, allowing him to parry any of the goblin's strikes while still keeping the option of using his shield as a last resort battering ram to push the goblin away from Kilniara.
Kilniara did her best, but swung her weapon a bit more wildly than normal, and he quickly berated her for it as he blocked a strike that would have gotten through, "Don't swing wide! Keep your weapon in close and protect your body. Aim for the center of the body!"
"Ah yes! I understand," Kilniara panted back, quickly pulling her weapon back close to her body as Joe blocked.
Joe waited till she was ready again, continuing to parry the goblin, "You ready?"
Kilniara quickly nodded, "Yes. I am ready, Master."
Joe nodded quickly, dismissing her use of his title, "Three. Two. One. Go!"
Joe stepped back again, watching intensely for the first few monts to make sure she engaged again well. As she got back into the fight, Joe started watching her movents again, giving warning as the goblin began its combat and pointing out how to read it while she fought. She made several more mistakes, but was soon able to hold her own after landing a few hits and slowing it down with much more deliberate thrusts straight for the center of mass. The fight took a good twenty minutes, and by the end, Kilniara was sweating profusely and was quite exhausted, spending more ti resting in defense and attacking sporadically. Despite her exhaustion, Joe was pleased that she was now taking much more calculated monts to attack, likely due to her exhaustion than actual strategy, but Joe accepted what he could get. Her attacks were much improved thrusts, her half-staff striking forward for center of mass right at the torso. Huh… she got that pretty fast. Nice!
When she was finally able to take the goblin down, she leapt for joy, shouting in happiness, "I did it! I did it all by myself!"
Joe smiled and nodded, "Nice job, but I need to warn you. You really didn't win."
Kilniara looked back at Joe, seeing his smile and knew he was not angry, "Can you explain to why?"
"Mm. Well, first off, you were only actually able to win against a weakened and injured goblin. At the beginning, you were losing. Only my blocks and parries protected you and allowed you to hit it. It was winning at the beginning but I kept it from hurting you while still allowing you to hurt it. Once it got hurt enough, it slowed down and was no longer able to fight well enough to defend against you, so you may have thought you were learning well. You were, yes, but don't forget that you were also hurting it, weakening it, making it difficult to fight back. That's why, at the end, you were able to hold your own without helping so much, or even at all at the very end.
"Also, at the end, you were tired, so instead of just attacking any ti you could, you waited until a good ti to fight, to save your strength. That was very well done, but now you need to do this all the ti, from the very beginning."
Kilniara quickly nodded, accepting and understanding, "Thank you. I can see that now that you've explained it."
"Good. Ready for another one?"
This ti, Kilniara showed a bit more worry, "Another? Uh… do you think I could?"
"You would be amazed what strength a person can drag up on the brink, but what do you think."
"I would… rather not, Master."
"Excellent. Good. You should not. You would likely have died if you had said yes, although I would not have let that happen. Don't worry. But you need to understand your own strength and fitness. You are too exhausted to fight right now."
"Yes. I am very tired."
"Do you want to help fight another, or rest and then join again later?"
"Could I rest once?"
"Sure. Do you also want to try fighting another alone as well?"
"Yes, please. I would like to continue learning," she replied with an excited cry, actually bouncing a bit at the option.
"OK. Then… let's… hmm. Well, I'll fight and then when you are feeling rested, we'll let you do another."
Kilniara quickly nodded and Joe turned to the next goblin while Kilniara turned to the corner to rest.
Joe took on two goblins before Kilniara returned, claiming to be ready again and Joe nodded as he pulled another goblin for her. This ti, Kilniara took Joe's teaching to heart and beca very cautious and deliberate in her attacks, maintaining a steady defense against the goblin with much better strikes; thrusts aid directly at center of mass. The defense proved ineffective, however, and Joe had to take a few tis to block a couple of the goblins attacks, although she did much better this ti. The fight ended in about the sa amount of ti, and Kilniara once again bounced with joy, looking to Joe with expectation.
"Much better. Sa problems, but much better. And you probably don't feel as tired, do you?"
Kilniara took a mont to assess herself before smiling up at Joe, "No! I feel… strong. I'm still weaker than if I fight with you or as a group with the others, but much better than last ti."
"Nice! Good. Well, then… make a choice. You can fight with or take a break and rest like you did last ti. When you're ready for another goblin to solo, let know."
Kilniara nodded quickly, a bright smile lighting up their corner before she joined him with the next goblin. The rest of the afternoon was spent in this fashion, with Joe taking on two goblins with Kilniara before she felt rested enough to take on a third on her own.
Kilniara proved to be improving quickly, learning much faster than Joe was used to seeing in his fellow students or even himself. By the end of the day, she was taking on a goblin solo every other fight, sharing a goblin with Joe then taking one alone.
Joe settled into the grind, zoning out and simply focused on the fight and training Kilniara, wrestling with his discomfort. Joe found that he much preferred training Kilniara than fighting, a sense of peace and comfort settling on his shoulders as he guided her. This comfort was quickly stripped each ti he began combatting the goblins while she rested.
Joe sighed, and decided to focus on teaching Kilniara, not wanting to dwell on his uneasiness. Whatever the dungeon's trying to do right now, it's not stopping , so just… keep on.
By the end of the day, Kilniara was proving herself an adept warrior, even taking on a couple of the last goblins without needing Joe's intervention. She was quite excited at her success, but Joe quickly disabused her of thinking she had 'arrived' at success and he was reinforced by her failure imdiately after the first ti. Despite her lackluster track record, her rapid improvent was exciting for Joe, and he could only continue encouraging her. When the evening fell, and it was about ti to return, Joe allowed Kilniara to fight until she'd achieved another victory before calling it a day, wanting her to finish on a high.
"Nice job! Really. Very good work. Why don't we call it a day and head ho now."
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