Kadian

The Great Preparation

Nearly all of the village men were at The Log, cleaning and packing their weapons.  Arrows, cloths, swords, spears, staffs, and a couple other unrecognizable, sharp objects were scattered about as the men all laughed and spoke over one another.  Mohassen was among them, and it was odd seeing him smiling so widely as he stared at the tip of one of his wooden arrows intently.  Kadian froze when she got close.  Daewon noticed her, and begrudgingly nudged Mohassen.  He looked up, still smiling, and waved her over.

“Good morning, comatose!” he said cheerily, causing the rest of the men to laugh.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Kadian asked accusingly.

Mohassen drew a finger to his lips, startling Kadian- he had never done so before.  “You have been waking yourself up for the past few weeks.  When you didn’t come out of your hut, I was confused- and everyone told me you needed a break.”

“What?!”

“I am thinking that perhaps they are right.  Besides, today is a big day.” He raised his eyebrows at the men when he said this.  “So we have an off day!”

“A what?!”

The men laughed.  “Go enjoy your day, Kadian,” a tall man told her.

“You need to be hangin’ out with da ladies, I’m sure they’ll find something for you to do!”  The rest of them murmured and nodded in agreement.  

“This-this-I need to train!”  Kadian dashed towards her hut, grabbed her spear, and disappeared in the woods.  Mohassen followed her shortly after.  

“What’s going on?” he asked he when they made it to The Patch.  Kadian had already begun practicing her stance and thrusts.  Mohassen noticed that they looked considerably better.

“I can’t tell you.  But I need to train today.  It can’t wait.”

Mohassen sighed.  “I have no weapon with me, but your opponent won’t always have one either.  I know you have never used the staff that way, but I want you to try-” Kadian swung the staff at Mohassen’s head.  He barely blocked it.  

“What the-?”  He found himself blocking and dodging a flurry of blunt hits from Kadian’s staff.  He nearly cried out when she managed to whack his knees with the staff.

“I’m going to need you to be a lot harder on me,”  Kadian said as she offered Mohassen her hand.  He shook his head and leapt to his feet.  

“You didn’t say ‘Gedaan’!”

“Ugh, Gedaan!”

“It is too late, let’s go again.  I won’t be easy on you.”  Mohassen assumed his stance.

Kadian took hers, and began to circle Mohassen.  He thought about doing the same, but he knew that it would be easier for him if he did- he wanted a challenge.  

Mohassen’s block against Kadian’s staff was hardly efficient- he managed to keep it from hitting his stomach, but hurt his knuckles in the process.  He aimed a swift kick at Kadian’s stomach, but she strategically fell to the ground before jabbing the staff at his groin area.  Thankfully, she didn’t go through with the hit.

Mohassen held up a hand.  “Have you been practicing on your own time?”

Kadian frowned.  “Very little.”

“Put that down.  We haven’t done hand to hand in a while.”

Kadian sighed and threw her staff to the ground.  “Gedaan.”

“Gedaan.”

It made little difference.  Kadian was almost unrecognizable. She executed all of the moves Mohassen had taught her, but she was much quicker, much more sure of herself.  Instead of stopping to think about her punches and dodges the way she usually did, she seemed to be relying on pure instinct.  Mohassen was now the one who had to think before he acted.