Sharpen Your Blades, Keep Them Ready

They came, Creed and Faite first as usual, a habit she'd noticed. She smiled warmly to each of them, andswering Faite with a wider grin and a chuckled 'Hello, Faite. Congratulations on being first today.', but maintained her stance on the boulder, paws still squared in a relaxed fighter's stance, tail waving slowly above her hips as she returned her gaze to the plains, watching as Zuriel, Baine, and Falk arrived next. As Zuriel took a seat beside Faite, Surreal bent her head to nuzzle her youngest's cheek in return. "Hello, my little cherry moon. Big things planned for today."

She could see the nerves in Falk's face, in the smile he offered in her direction. Her muzzle twitched into a smile. "It'll take retraining and time, but I know you can do this, Falk." Her voice was low, for his ears alone, gently encouraging as she leaned in to nuzzle his neck, feeling a familiar rush of fire roil through her belly and loins at the mere touch, and couldn't repress the low purring rumble that touched her throat, still at a level only he could hear. Since she'd already made plans for him to be her partner in order to teach him how to use his heightened senses of touch, hearing and smell to his advantage, and the sparring rounds would naturally be close quarters, it was going to be very interesting.

Varda was next to arrive, and Surreal gave the Destruction a simple nod, before Regulus and Kavdaya's arrival wit the prescribed mud caught her attention. She nodded to the pair, giving Regulus a nuzzle on the cheek as he took his seat. One more arrived, Miksa. She smiled gently at him as he caught her eye, winking lightly. A few more minutes were given, before, once again, she began the meeting preceding the training spars without Castiel or Ganja. However, Kavdaya had told her the little green female was ill, so Ganja would be off the hook, if only expected to work hard once she was well again.

She straightened, head raising high over her shoulders as her ears perked forward, mismatched blue and gold gaze sweeping to each face before her tail gave a flick, and she began, letting her voice carry over the group, ensuring that every ear would be reached.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, everyone. When I claimed the Plains, and created the pack, I gave you all a clear description of what I expected of you and Celestial as a whole. Thus far, you have been a tiny bit short of that goal, however, none of you are in danger of being removed from the pack." She continued after only a short pause to let everyone absorb the words, her tone firmly sober. "However; I have noticed a distinct lack of calls for practice spars from any of you, beyond the Legionary test spars. I want this to change starting today. There is no good in merely hoping that we will be ready to defend when a raid or siege comes our way. We must ensure that every set of paws in this pack will be able to defend the borders and our resources."

A sweeping glance encompassed all gathered there, though Falk would likely only be able to feel the look he was included in, possibly by some sixth sense. "Before we begin, I have a few things to include today, since I did say I would address this topic last meeting. I have noticed the hard work, and constant scent left by one of our Unit members, and hopeful Legionary." Her mismatched eyes found her pupil, a grin growing on her face as she announced, pleasure clear in her tone, "Miksa, for your hard work, I am promoting you to Legionary. Your fighting still needs training, but your instincts are very solid, and I doubt you'll need much training. I'm proud of you. Keep up the hard work!"

Her eyes turned next to Faite. "Faite, you too have shown your dedication to Celestial. You have been, consistently, among the first to arrive at every meeting. Your instincts for fighting are as good as Miksa's, and you did very well in our spar. You still have a lot to learn, but we all do, in the end. You, too will be promoted to Legionary. Congratulations, both of you." She offered both a wide grin before she ran her mind over any other news that the entire pack would need to know. Finally, her face sobered as she turned to a grimmer note.

"It has come to my attention, and I'm sure many of you may have noticed, that Castiel, another hopeful for the Legionary rank, has gone missing. I followed the last trail he left, and ran across his blood, and signs of a struggle. I want all of you to keep your eyes open for him." There was a plea for cooperation in her words and face, before she went on, beginning the next topic, the main reason for the meeting.

"Today will be our first official fighting training group session. I've set up sparring partners that will be a set pairing until the next season, at which point I will rotate you to new opponents, and repeat. New members will be included into the spar training. I expect you and your partner, slash opponent, to spar regularly, and practice often. Aside of that, I want all of you to take the time to visit the battlefield with a partner and seek out spars there."

She gazed at each of them before continuing sternly. "Even if you aren't the best at fighting, and it doesn't call to you like it does for the Legionaries, I want you to work on your skills. Spar often, practice every chance you get. That is an order from me as your Archangel." This was meant as a two pronged message, for both the pack, and her children, letting them know that it wasn't the order of a mother, one that could be tested, but of their leader, and a mandatory order that must be followed.

She gazed at each of them again, before continuing, moving on to her list of whom would be sparring whom. "This Summer, the sparring partners will be:

"Later on, we will also include a special training method my mother and Uncle taught me. This mud will be used to cover the eyes of the sighted, in order to train them for the possible event that they are blinded in a real fight. While I certainly hope you will all be able to avoid such blows, it is best to already have some experience in not being reliant on your eyesight in a fight." She nodded toward the deer hide heaped with sticky mud for reference before straightening and addressing the crowd, ending the meeting and beginning the Fighting Training Session.

"I'd like you to go with your partner and move off to a space that won't encroach on other pairs and start your spars. Falk, with me, love." She kept her hip near her mate's head as she leapt from the boulder and led them to a spot away from the others, waiting for him to be close before she began his training.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think