Sensei

Aylin responded to Art's comment about her being ready to go to war with a wide grin, chuckling as her tail wagged behind her. "You can never be too ready!" she insisted with amusement. That was mostly true, though in reality she wore her armor and kept her sword with her more often than not because it was one of the few things she had that had been gifts from her father and it felt good to have them with her. Art's comment about how when she had shown up with her sword he had wondered how long it would take for her to ask for a lesson made her laugh again. "Well... When Dad's stories about you made me want to try out a sword to begin with... It really was just a matter of time," she admitted fondly. It was a bit surreal finally getting to talk to someone she had heard so much about, much less get to have him as a tutor. She immediately grinned with excitement as soon as he mentioned that he had time to give her a lesson right now even before he added the contingency of including his daughter. "Yeah! That sounds great!" she replied without hesitation.

She followed him over to the sparring rings she had spotted during her brother's tour around the castle grounds, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness as she stood across from Artorias. It felt like a long time dream come true, but she also had no idea how the method she had mostly figured out herself by trial and error would stack up. He motioned to her sword and she nodded in agreement before turning her head to draw her weapon, pulling free the silver steel bastard sword. It was a fairly simple and straight forward blade–especially compared to some of the more intricate weapons she had spotted on some of the fighters here–but it was sturdy and well made. The grip was wrapped in a dark brown leather and the sloped pieces of the cross guard had subtle engravings of vines and leaves. Her hold on the blade was easy and confident. She had spent hours and hours getting used to the weight and trying out different swings and such on her own. Whether or not those swings were good or done properly she was sure she was about to find out.

There were some basic things that her father had been more confident about teaching her–things like a firm, defensive stance and how to size up an opponent. She easily settled into a fighting stance, but it was everything that followed that felt a bit questionable for her. After making sure there was plenty of space between her and Artorias so that she wouldn't accidentally catch him with her blade, she gave it an experimental swing, sending it into a wide arc in front of her. The movement wasn't wobbly and she was able to stop the movement of the blade well enough as she went back to her original position, but the path of the blade was a little lopsided probably didn't have enough force to do the damage the honed blade was capable of. Her silver gaze went to his curiously, hopeful and eager to learn. "How was that?" she questioned, her words slightly muffled and distorted around her sword.

"Aylin Adravendi"