Come so far

Always keeping himself busy in some manner, Artorias had been in the castle armory tending to the upkeep of the pack's weapons and armor. He rubbed the oil-soaked rag in his paw across the surface of a leather cuirass, rehydrating the leather to keep it supple and to buff out any imperfections in the armor when his son's call reached his ears. Black auds perked up and his head lifted. It wasn't a call for danger, so he could only assume it was something Ciaran wanted his attention for. Setting his work aside, the Aegis headed out of the armory, no longer feeling the need to lock it as his children were less than half a season from turning to adolescents, and followed the call.

Artorias found his son in his dojo, training sword in his jaws and a scene of absolute carnage and bedlam strewn around him. It made the father's brows raise in surprise, impressed by what he saw. Ciaran reminded him much of himself when he was the boy's age. Eager to please his parents, following his own unorthodox path, and honing his skills to make himself the best he could be. A crooked smile pulled at the sire's cheeks as he regarded his child, stepping into the room to inspect the desecrated remains of one of the dummies. "Buna. Foarte buna. Your training is serving you well, Kea!" he applauded his son, who now stood almost as tall as he did and had very obviously gotten most of his father's genes. A mischievous gleam passed through the Aegis' eyes as he looked from the destroyed dummies back to his son. "But how good are you when facing something that strikes back?"

With his cryptic little challenge issued, Artorias gestured to the wrecked dojo. "Clear out the ring and set a dummy up in the center. We're going to do a special kind of exercise together." With his instructions given, Artorias exited the dojo once more and crossed Hearthstone to get back to the armory. He returned a few minutes later with two sets of basic leather cuirasses used for sparring and two sparring swords. But these swords were different. Padding over to his son, Art handed Kea a cuirass to put on as well as one of the swords. "Let's try a real world exercise. You're going to defend that dummy, and I'm going to try to destroy it. Your job is to stop me and protect your charge." Drawing his sparring sword, Artorias held the blade carefully between his paws as he showed it to Ciaran. These edges were not dulled. "We're going to be practicing with edged blades today, Kea. I want you to get familiar with fighting with an actual weapon. You must be very careful. Remember that we can cut each other, but more importantly, that an accidental mis-swing could harm your friends as well." He looked to the dummy to emphasize his point. A reckless swing from Ciaran could be as dangerous as a deliberate one from Artorias.

Once he had put on his armor, Artorias took his sword up and stepped out of the ring, circling it slowly like a shark intimidating its prey. This was not an exercise he had shared with any of his other children yet; Ciaran would be the first to receive it. "The point of this exercise is to get you familiar with maneuvering and fighting around a noncombatant. Practice restraint, but do not hold back. One day you could be the only thing between someone else's life or death. Try to aim for blocking or countering my attacks only. We aren't here to maim each other, and your mother would actually kill me if you lose part of your ear too." Chuckling to himself, Artorias stood at the ready. "Take your stance. When you're ready, we'll begin."

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"