Day 14, during training

<snip>
Jerram frowned in thought but nodded. He turned to the landing trainees.
 "Ok, everyone, take a break.  Be back here in 30 minutes, GO."  He
turned back to Gus.  "Shall we start?"
<end snip>

Gus shrugged.  "May as well," she sighed.  "What do we do first?"

Jerram grinned.  "You can fight hand to hand, I've seen that.  How'd you
like to try it with one of these?" He picked up a training sword - a
wooden one, of course - and tossed it to her.   

Gus caught the sword awkwardly, a little startled by the weight of it. 
Her heart pounded - there was really only one use for a sword.  "Why'd I
need to learn to use one o' these?"

Jerram picked up one of his own, which exactly matched the one he'd
given Gus.  "Well, they're helpful if anyone ever tries to jump you with
one.  Sort of hard to get the best of a man in a hand-to-hand fight when
one of his hands is holding a sword, and yours isn't."  He slipped into
a fighting stance, and indicated that she should copy what he was doing.
 "I used to train Tara back at Ismene, just like this, you know."

Gus frowned.  She didn't like this - at all - and Jerram teaching was
only half the problem, but if Tara wanted it....  She sighed and moved
into position, copying Jerram.  "If a fella's gotta sword and I don't,
aint that the time to run?" she countered, managing a slight smile.

Jerram smiled.  "This is..." He swung the sword around in a rather
obvious strike, which Gus parried with no difficulty..."also a hell of a
way to work off tension!" 

He remembered that he and Tara used to spend hours and hours doing this
at Ismene, even though Vignette made it clear that she didn't really
approve of queenriders using swords.  But even she had had to agree that
it had a certain therapeutic value for the overstressed young
queenrider...it had even helped her forget her family troubles.  Jerram
guessed that the same regimen wouldn't hurt Gus, and might even help. 

The jolt vibrated down Gus's arm and her blood rose in answer.  Without
even thinking, she copied Jerram's strike - awkwardly but accurately. 
He, too, parried - providing another jolt.  "A way to hit you without
gettin' in trouble sounds like a plan to me," Gus replied.

Jerram grinned.  "Tell me that ten minutes from now!" he said, advancing
toward her and swinging the wooden sword at her time after time.  At
least, he thought, she'd be too occupied with this to think about any of
her other problems...like her father, or the person in Cabral she'd
talked about.

Gus watched Jerram's moves carefully, mimicking them as best she could. 
Within just a few moments the few basic moves Jerram was using had
become almost comfortable to Gus.  She let the strokes fall into a
rhythm and began to look for an opening.

Jerram saw this, and decided to surprise her.  Without warning, the flat
side of the wooden blade cracked across her rear end.  "Hah!  Gotcha!"
he crowed, figuring that would be the *last* time...at least in the near
future...that she'd get that complacent with an opponent!

Gus swore roundly.  Damn, that was careless - if SHE could sense the
rhythm, so could HE. "Idiot," she snarled, mostly to herself and
clenched her jaw.  The hit had stung more than really hurt, but it was
enough.  Her anger awoke within her and she swung the blade again,
harder and faster than before.

Jerram backed away slowly, letting her hit his sword again and again and
again...she might have actually scored against someone like Wargh the
Half-Swordsman, if for no other reason than the fact that her hits were
coming so fast.  With practice, she'd be quite good.  But for today,
she'd do well to learn some of the basics...such as not to overtire
yourself against an opponent who was blocking all your thrusts.  He
decided to see how long she'd keep to this strategy.

Gus continued swinging the wooden blade, with Jerram easily parrying
each attempt.  The faintly smug look in his eyes reminded her all too
well of Duggan when he knew he held all the cards.  With a roar of fury,
Gus struck again - this time at Duggan's fat oily face, feeling the
shock as she hit not wood but flesh.

"Yow!" Jerram bellowed, snapping Gus out of her trance.  He looked at
the developing bruise on his arm, where her blade had smacked him.  "You
looked like you were trying to kill someone there for a moment." 

Gus backed away, letting the blade slip from her fingers. Trying to kill
someone? Dear gods, what had she let her anger lead her to?   "I...I'm
sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean ..."

Jerram saw that she was genuinely sorry....and waited until she had
dropped her gaze to the ground.  In that instant, he easily swatted the
wooden practice sword from her hand. "Rule number one is that losing
your temper in a swordfight *usually* doesn't pay," he told her.  "Rule
number two is never to let your opponent make you feel guilty for
anything.  If you're ready, let's start again."

Gus glanced up at Jerram, trying to figure out what kind of game he was
playing.  She'd just left what was gonna be one helluva bruise on his
arm and he didn't even seem angry.  He wanted to go again?  Aaah, he
must be planning to swat me again, she thought.  Gus nodded, shrugging
off her jacket against the early morning heat. She picked up the
practice sword again and stepped back into the position.  "All right, go ahead."

Jerram grinned.  "Pretend I'm G'ret," he said, crooking a finger at her
in the unmistakeable "come get me" signal.  Now he'd see how she kept
her cool in battle.   

Gus grinned.  A fight with G'ret - now THAT she could handle.  Reminding
herself firmly that it was just a wooden sword and couldn't actually
KILL anyone, she advanced grinning on "G'ret". "Does that mean you're
gonna fight as bad as he does, too?"

Jerram grinned wickedly.  "Come on and find out?" he chuckled, bringing
his wooden blade back up into guard position. 

Gus grinned back.  She swung her blade around and was parried easily. 
She tried again - this time, swinging from a new angle, but was still
parried.  "Guess not," she muttered, still grinning.

This went on for several minutes before Jerram called a halt.  "Well,
how do you feel now?" he inquired. 

Gus blinked.  How did she feel? "Uh...sweaty?" she suggested, hoping it
was the answer he was looking for.

"That'll do for a start," Jerram said, himself looking as though he'd
been lying around doing nothing at all.  "I see the others are
back...and if the new wingleader is on schedule, she should be arriving
momentarily as well."

Gus gulped, glancing down at her sweat-stained shirt, which was
beginning to stick to her body rather more than she was comfortable
with.  "Shawnee's comin' to...to watch us?"  She brushed her hair out of
her eyes and swore softly.  Great, just great. JERRAM looked like he'd
been having a nap - but she looked like hell.  Figures.

"Better get yourself presentable...you've got a minute or two, anyhow."

"Go soak your own head," Gus retorted sharply and stalked away to wash up.

__________

Submitted by:

John Pepper aka Jerram (and Seydor)

and

Katrina Gischer aka Gus (and Loki)

Ok Barb - have Shawnee review the troops!