With two of his children now wielding deadly Carpathian steel weapons of their own, Artorias made it his paramount objective to make sure they were both taught the ins and outs of weapon safety and how to care for and use their new tools effectively. These were not toys, nor were they the simple wooden sparring swords they'd swung around as pups. These were dangerous weapons meant to cause damage and death. With great power came great responsibility, and the Lord of Cinder would be remiss if any of his children did not understand that importance and care for their weapons with the utmost reverence.

The child that worried him the most was Solaire. His boy was sweet and often naive to the true nature of the world, but as a father, Artorias would never deny his son something he wanted. Still, the great axe that Solaire had been gifted was the most concerning of the Carpathian weapons he had ever given out. It was massive and cumbersome, unlike the elegant blades the rest of the family used. Teaching and training Sol properly was going to take time and patience on both of their part. Still, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so the only way forward was to get started.

With the weather as mucky and rainy as it had been this winter, Art chose to begin their lessons indoors. His dojo had been filled with training dummies around the ring and Gwynevere had been put on high alert just in case of any unfortunate mishaps. The Lord had his sword at the ready to help with their lessons, and once everything was set, he tipped his muzzle up and gave a short call for his youngest son. Class was now in session.

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

Ever since their birthday party Solaire didn't go anywhere without his axe, Firekeeper! Partially because he was just so proud of it and excited to finally have his own really cool Carpathian steel weapon and partially because it was heavy and he was trying to get himself used to carrying it around. He hadn't really considered that part of things when he asked his parents for a big weapon like Thorn's, but there was no way he'd go back on his decision now! It just meant that he was going to have to train a lot and get really strong! His mother had helped him put together a holster for his axe with leather straps that went across his chest and around his torso to help distribute the weight. He hadn't actually gotten to use his axe yet since his dad said he had to train with it first before he could actually go fight with it, but for now he just carried it around the gardens and when he did little faux patrols around the plains.

He was just walking back into the castle after working in the greenhouse and cleaning off his paws–mostly because he knew his mom would kill him if he didn't–when he heard his dad calling for him from the side of the castle where his dojo was. Solaire's head immediately popped up with an eager grin and he hurried through wiping off his feet before tossing the towel aside and hurrying down the corridor, Firekeeper swaying lightly on his back as he moved. Stepping into his father's training area, he found him waiting for him with his sword at the ready and he knew he was finally going to get to get to try out Firekeeper for real! There was lots of training dummies sat out to practice on and it was hard to resist the temptation to pull out his axe right away. But he wanted to be a good student so he waited and instead patiently went to sit in front of his dad, giving him an excited grin as he waited eagerly to get started.

"Solaire Carpathius"

Artorias would not be kept waiting long before his son entered the dojo, Solaire striding in with a happy bounce in his step, his massive great axe slung across his back. The sire eyed the cumbersome weapon with a little trepidation and breathed a resigned sigh. Between Solaire and Thorn, his largest sons did love their matching huge weapons… Well, so long as they were safe with them, that was all that mattered, and it was up to him as their father and mentor to teach them the ways of the blade. Still, Artorias was proud of his son for taking on such a responsibility and showing an interest in a shared passion he could help guide.

"Good morning, Solaire! Are you ready to begin your training with your new weapon?" Artorias greeted his son with a toothy smile. He was still not 100% certain how he was going to teach Sol to use an axe like this, but hey, they’d both be learning by doing he supposed! Besides, how much different could fighting with an axe be than with a sword?

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

"Good morning, dad!" he replied cheerfully, giving his dad a grin. He felt like his response to his dad's question would have been obvious, but he still nodded enthusiastically regardless. "Yeah! Where are we gonna start?" He knew from watching him train with his older siblings that they probably wouldn't be starting with their real weapons, no matter how much he wanted to, so he turned his head to pull Firekeeper out of its holster and then stepped slightly off to the side to lay the large axe down out of the way. He had only been in his dad's dojo a few times so there was so much stuff in here that he had never seen or noticed before and he wanted to work with all of it! He looked to his dad expectantly, his tail wagging behind him as he waited for the lesson to start.

"Solaire Carpathius"

Artorias beamed proudly at his son, watching while Solaire removed his axe and set it aside. Solaire was correct in assuming they wouldn't be starting with their edged weapons to begin with, but Art had planned out carefully how to train his unorthodox son's requests. "All right, Sol! I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to best train you to use your new weapon since you literally have the only axe in the Hallows and I think I figured out a method to teach you the techniques safely." Not keeping his methods a mystery for long, Artorias stepped out of the ring and picked up two quarterstaffs leaned up against the wall. He brought the staffs over and handed one to Solaire. While not as hefty as the axe, the movements and control would be similar enough to teach the young budding warrior.

"We'll be training with staffs together until you master the techniques and motions. Striking with a staff is very similar to aiming the head of your axe at your opponents, but this will be less lethal while we practice," Artorias explained, then motioned with a flick of his head for Sol to follow him to their first training dummy. "Unlike a sword, your axe has two points of lethality on it—the head and the pommel. How you strike with each end differs greatly, so you''ll need to be very aware of your movements, your enemy's positions, and the aim of your weapon." Slipping seamlessly into a fighting stance, Artorias demonstrated with a wide swing of the staff that bonked one of the dulled ends against the dummy's head. "The bits of the axe need to be swung like a slashing or arcing motion at your opponent to ensure the blades make full contact." Using the opposite end of the staff, Art jabbed it into the dummy's chest like a spear. "The spiked pommel can act like a spear. This is only effective with stabbing motions." Artorias stepped back then and gestured with a wave of his paw for Solaire to step up and practice for himself.

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

Solarie had never doubted that his dad would have some kind of brilliant idea or plan for their training session. After all, his dad was the best fighter and teacher! Still, he looked at his father curiously as he started talking about how he had come up with a way for him to practice safely since he had the only axe in the hallows. He watched as his dad left the ring for a moment to pick up a pair of quarterstaffs and he looked at them with a curious tilt of his head. Taking one of the quarterstaffs when it was offered to him, he moved it one way and then another experimentally while his dad explained how it would have a similar kind of motion as when he was using his axe, but would be safer for them to use for practice. "Ooooh, that's so smart," he replied with a grin, his tail wagging happily at the idea. Everyone else pretty much used swords and daggers that had wooden or dulled variations of them readily available for practice, but since he wanted such a unique weapon his training would have to be unique too!

He followed his dad over to the training dummy and listened closely to the first part of their lesson, watching with curious, wide eyes while his dad spoke about how each end of Firekeeper had to be used differently to be effective. Wide, swinging motions for the end with the double bit blades and a stabbing for the other end to use the spiked pommel like a spear. The idea of that was easy enough to follow, but he paid close attention to his dad's movements since he knew he'd have to try and imitate what he was doing soon enough and he had a feeling it was probably harder than his father made it look. When Artorias stepped back and motioned for him to give it a try, Solaire stepped up to stand in front of the dummy and made a few smaller, experimental swings with his staff to get a feel of it before he turned his head to give a harder, more intentional swing of his current weapon at his pretend opponent.

The only problem was he hadn't really paid attention to how long the staff was or how far away he was from the target and the end of the staff swung past the nose of the dummy with a wishing sound through the air and the force of his swing nearly knocked him off of his paws. He blinked with surprise as he staggered a bit and had to catch himself. When he realized what he had done he giggled at himself and gave his dad a bashful grin around the staff before resetting his stance–this time a bit closer. His swing was much more successful this time, landing with a solid thump against the neck of the training dummy. Figuring out the best way to turn his head to line up the other end of the staff with his target to make a stabbing motion was a little more awkward at first, but after a couple of moments of trial and error he managed it. After a few more swings and stabs he began to feel more comfortable and natural with his movements, landing hits on a couple of different parts of the dummy.

"Solaire Carpathius"

Artorias couldn't help the warming of his full heart in his chest as he watched Solaire pick up the staff and begin taking some experimental swings, commenting on how smart his dad's idea was. With a proud smirk and a chuckle, Artorias just shook his head. He didn't like to be the type to toot his own horn, but he'd thought it was a pretty ingenious idea too. After explaining to his son how their training was going to work and what sort of motions he should be trying to make to control his weapon to its utmost efficiency, Artorias stepped back to observe and let his son take a few swings at the dummy. Fire opal eyes watched Sol as he stepped up to the training dummy and lined up a couple short aiming swings. Then the young brute whipped his head back, and oh shit! Artorias ducked as the staff swung right over his head, barely missing clocking him by an inch.

Solaire's first swing went horribly wide, missing the target entirely. Artorias lifted his head back up once it was safe to do so, fixing Solaire with an incredulous look of disappointment that just asked "Really?!". Of course Art couldn't remain mad at his sweet dopey son for long, especially not when Sol turned his mother's eyes up to him and hit him with that shy grin. Gods dammit, he had too much of Briar in him for his own good...! "Try again. Slower this time. Keep control of your weapon," Art instructed Sol, keeping his eyes hawking on Solaire's every movement. This time the boy's swing was much more controlled, and he was rewarded with the dull thunk of the staff on the dummy's head. Artorias' expression softened with approval, his tail giving a very slow, metronome-like wag behind him. "Bene. Keep going like that, Solaire. Try aiming for different parts of the dummy and see what angles and directions of swings work best."

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