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After leaving Pandora, D'Altar asked Raven to track down Reggie and her
rider and ask them to join him. Soon Marialla arrived, looking a little
nervous.

"Good morning, my lady," D'Altar said, bowing a little.

"Morning, but please just call me Mari!"

"OK Mari." He looked her up and down. She was wearing a pair of baggy cotton
pants and a light t-shirt. Almost absent-mindedly, he realised she was quite
a shapely girl. He was wearing white canvas trousers, loose, with a white
sleeved vest - his usual training gear.

"OK," he started, "ready to get underway?" She looked at him and nodded but
seemed uneasy. "Do not worry, Mari.. we shall start off with a warm up. OK?
Just do what I do and I will explain everything as we go." He took off for a
light jog, both of them running quite slowly. Speeding up, they kicked heels
up behind then ran lifting their knees in front. The ran punching, they
slowed down, swinging their legs up in front of them. They were getting some
strange looks from the other inhabitants of Daere, but D'Altar hoped that
Mari's confidence would increase faster if she got used to the
'embarrassment factor of the new trainee. After some more training
exercises, they did some stretching and D'Altar was pleased to see how
flexible Mari was. She shouldn't have any problems with the techniques he
would teach her. Once they had warmed up, D'Altar turned to her, smiling at
the sheen of sweat over her body and her slightly reddened face.

She was so out of shape.  She hadn't done much of anything since the rape.
Hidden away in her office or her apartment, hadn't done anything for her
physical condition.  She flushed at the looks they were receiving.  But this
was something that she wanted, more than just about anything.  Not having to
be afraid to be out by herself would be a wonderful feeling again.

"In no time at all, this will become easier than you think!"

"I hope so," she puffed, "I really do.."

She held her side, aching from more activity than she was used to.

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.. regulate your
breathing." When her breath had slowed down, D'Altar asked her to stand
beside him. "For today, I think we shall just do some movements. I want you
to follow me - try your best to copy everything I do. They will not be very
fast and we will stay in the same place. Are you ready?"

"Yes," she smiled.

"Good. Let us begin." D'Altar brought his feet together with his hands out
in front. His right hand was in a fist at chest height, with the left
wrapping around it. He bowed slightly as a mark of respect to his own
teacher and then began to move. His motion was surprisingly graceful for a
man of his size and his arms seemed to float on the air as they moved
through it.

She watched him begin to move trying to follow his movements exactly, but
his graceful movements made her feel clumsy.  Something she'd never really
felt before now.

With one fluid motion, D'Altar stopped his body in exactly the same spot he
had started in. With another bow, he turned to face Mari.

"That was very good, Mari. You are doing extremely well."

"Thank you, but I felt like an elephant!"

"It takes time to master the movements. I will let you borrow a manuscript I
have which explains the movements, their names and the reasons behind them.
For now, though, let us go through some basic techniques." As was common
with self-defence techniques, the first one on the agenda was a block.

"This is a low section, outer forearm block." He moved his left leg
backwards, crossing his arms backfist to backfist, left arm on top. Rising
slightly, he twisted the right hand back to his hip as the left moved
downwards, finishing 30 degrees bent at the elbow. "Now it is your turn."

She attempted to copy him, feeling as if she was making a feeble attempt.
She wasn't sure if she could block anything with her movements.

"Are you sure this will work?"  she asked.

"Mari, believe it or not, all of what I am teaching you has been not only
born out through years of experience, but is based in scientific fact. As
you improve, I will explain more of it to you. Suffice it to say for now
that every stance you take is measured exactly according to your body size
and every movement is precise. Also," he blushed slightly, "I believe you
saw it working last night." He cleared his throat, embarrassed at what she
had seen (or might have seen, had she stuck around!!).

"Now let us try a middle section obverse punch, like this." Stepping forward
with the right leg, he brought his legs together, rose slightly and went
forward, executing a sharp punch with the right arm, the left having the
opposite reaction and moving back to his hip.

"Try that."

This movement seemed to go easier.  This felt more like something that she
could use.  Not really understanding that what she was learning  was to only
protect herself.  She had anger inside her that she needed to get rid of
before she could really understand what she was doing.

"You are doing very well!" D'Altar said, genuinely pleased with the girl's
aptitude for the movements. "Now we will try a front kick." Starting with
the left leg forward, he brought the right leg up knee first and then
snapped a kick out in front, held it and then folded the leg back again
before stepping to the ground with the right leg forward. "Now, the
important things here are to point the foot so it locks and to pull the toes
back. Do not worry about kicking high, rather make sure you straighten your
leg."

She was very flexible and she was able to move quickly with this kick,
following D'Altar's instructions perfectly.  Each movement seemed to get
easier and with each one her confidence grew.

They went through all of the basic movements again and D'Altar was very
pleased at how well Mari was able to execute them. She was a very attentive
pupil and was certainly making a big effort. She looked sweaty and tired,
but to D'Altar it seemed that her eyes were alive, sparkling with energy.
They stopped the movements and Mari thought she would be leaving. No such
luck, however!

"Never finish a class without putting in a physical effort," D'Altar said.
With that, he put her through a horrendous five minutes of starjumps,
push-ups, sit-ups, squat-thrusts and tuck-jumps. As she stood there, her
chest heaving with the effort, D'Altar looked at her and smiled broadly.

"Are you trying to torture me?" she smiled (and panted),

"Why of course!" he grinned. "We shall have you doing a lot more than this
in no time at all. Try to practise tonight, doing all of the basics we have
gone through today."

"I will, I promise," she smiled.

"Now, the last part of training." Mari groaned, her body slumping. "You take
me back to your apartment and let me cook you a meal while you have a shower
and get cleaned up. Are you hungry?"

"Oh no..." she stammered.  "I need to cook for you.  It would be fun.  I
haven't cooked much since I quit working in the dining hall after I joined
with Reggie.  I miss that sometimes."

"Maybe we could work together."  he smiled at finding another who seemed to
enjoy cooking as much as he did.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter Shillan,
aka

D'Altar and Raven, Beta Wing, Daere Warren

and

Dianne Eberle,
aka

Marialla and Regenta, Jnr Queenrider, Daere Warren.