While she was back home in Hearthstone for a time, Ember didn't let her paws stay idle. She continued her usual training regiment out in the castle yards, wailing away on training dummies with one of the blunted sparring swords from the armory. She had left Ravenedge back up in Hemlock for her trip down for the bonfire, so she'd make do with what she had available to her. Unlike her sire and much more like her mother, Ember did not enjoy waking up early, so late morning found her out in the yards in the sparring rings, facing down a weathered training mannequin barely held together from where the young Carpathian had been absolutely brutalizing it. Ember grunted with each swing of the sword, heavier than she was used to using, and clobbering the dummy in the head, the neck, around the torso with deft slashes and swipes.

After a particularly aggressive volley of blows, Ember took a couple steps back, panting to catch her breath while she examined the pummeled and broken mannequin. She huffed under her breath, imagining it was a Saxe wolf instead of just sandbags and sticks. Oh well... one day she'd get her chance to put her blade through one of them. Setting her sword down, Em stepped out of the ring to empty a waterskin into her mouth, guzzling down the cool liquid to refresh her before she resumed her training, letting some of it splash over her face and head to cool her off from the warm summer sun. She'd continue again after a few minutes' break.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Getting to see her parents and wrestle with her dad a bit like old times had revived her a bit. It wasn't that she was unhappy here by any means, but she had admittedly been a little homesick. She was slowly but surely making The Hallows feel more like home, but she had never really made friends that weren't her family before moving here so it had been a new kind of challenge for her. The only familiar face for her was Ember, but she had left on a diplomacy mission or something of that sort shortly after she got settled in so she had mostly been left to her own devices. She'd found her own kind of routine of taking a run on the beach in the early to mid morning before she did some training or a patrol. Sometimes she'd find someone to train with, sometimes she'd do it on her own, but either way it had been nice to have a couple of things lined up each day that made her feel like she was making progress.

She finished up her run and made her way back up toward the castle, pausing for a bit in the garden to grab a drink and sit in the shade to cool off. She had mostly adjusted to Auster's heat by now, but the Auster summer was still a bit muggy and heavy for her taste. As she was sitting there though she happened to catch the distinctive sound of fighting–more accurately what sounded like a sword or something similar hitting what she imagined was one of the training dummies. Enough of the wolves around this pack had swords that the sound of their training was very familiar.

Well, that was convenient! Training was certainly more enjoyable with a partner than training alone. She got up and gave her coat a shake before trotting over to the training grounds and to her surprise she found Ember was the one she had heard training. She knew Ember had come back for the bonfire festival, but she hadn't realized that she'd be staying for a bit longer. She happened to walk up as Ember was taking a break so she walked over, saying, "Always training, even on your days off, huh?" with a grin. She glanced over at the training dummy that was practically in ribbons already and added jokingly, "Jeeze, what did that guy do?"

"Rebel Klein"

Breathing a heavy sigh as she tossed the empty waterskin aside, Ember let the cool water drip down her face and muzzle while she got her second wind about her. The day was idyllic and tranquil—sunny, birds singing, only a few fluffy white clouds in the sky and a gentle coastal breeze rippling across the plains. A perfect summer day by all accounts. While she basked in the warmth for a few moments, the sounds of approaching paws in the grass caught her attention, and Ember's eyes snapped open to look over at the approaching white and navy form of Rebel. She greeted the other fae with a lopsided smile; she was glad to see her again after her time away from home. Even if it was only temporary, knowing that the Klein girl was still around made her feel a sense of contentment knowing she'd have another friend her age to come back home to.

Ember gave a little scoff and rolled her eyes when Rebel remarked on her training on her "days off". "There are no days off for me," she remarked, rising from her haunches to her paws once more. "A Carpathian always has to be ready to act to protect others, the Hallows, and themselves." With her family teetering on the brink of war, it was important for them to always be sharp and ready should the first strokes of warfare come from their enemies to the north. When asked about what happened to the training dummy, Em just shot Rebel a wicked grin and picked up one of the two sparring swords lying in the grass, lifting it up with a proud smirk. "He had the misfortune of facing me."

Stepping back into the sparring ring, Ember squared up against the tattered dummy again and demonstrated a flurry of swings from her sword for Rebel, striking the dummy across the chest, beneath the chin, across the neck, and ultimately down into the head. It was a rapid and brutal show of would-be violence against an imaginary enemy. With her showing off done, Em stepped back and nodded proudly to herself. "Have you ever used a sword before?" Ember gestured to the other sparring sword lying lonely in the grass by Rebel's paws. "Wanna come try a few swings yourself?"

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Rebel smirked and scoffed a little when Ember insisted that she never had days off with a quip about how a Carpathian always had to be ready to protect others. She knew that couldn't possibly be true. No one could possibly be on high alert and at the ready all the time. That was just a one way ticket to being burnt out. If that was really how Ember was then they needed to get this girl some relaxation stat. When Ember picked up her sword and said that her "opponent" had the misfortune of facing her with a wild grin Rebel both doubled down on the thought of getting Ember to relax sometime and was also got a glimpse of how hot the Carpathian princess was when she was battle ready. It was quite the contrast. Ember squared off with the training dummy again without hesitation and immediately launched into a barrage of blows to the already beat up dummy that proved why it was in the state it was. It was really a wonder the Hallows had any training dummies with all of these sword wielding wolves around.

Seeing Ember work with her sword was really impressive though and Rebel watched her effortless movements with curiosity and interest–while trying to be good and not let her gaze wander to her ass. It was obvious that Ember had been training with a sword since she was big enough to do so, but that wasn't all that surprising given that Artorias was her father. Art's sword work was legendary, after all. Rebel met Ember's gaze as she turned back toward her and asked if she had never used a sword and she followed the gesture she made down to the spare sparring sword that was laying in the grass beside her. "No, I've never had the chance," she admitted and glanced back at Ember with a grin when the offer was made for her to try a couple swings herself. "Yeah! I'll give it a go."

She bent down to pick up the sword then, slightly surprised by just how hefty the weapon was. She shifted the sword around between her teeth a couple of times as she got used to how it felt to hold it and finding a position that was comfortable. It was a weird feeling at first, but she got used to it pretty quickly. She gave it a couple of test swings, having to stop it from slipping out of her jaws the first couple of times until she figured how tightly she had to grip it. Now that she had that kind of figured out she stepped up to the tattered training dummy and made her first real swing, ending up hitting the lower part of the dummy's body instead of its neck like she was intending to. Even though it was poorly aimed and a bit awkward, there was a good bit of power behind it and the movement was still pretty smooth. She had never fought with weapons before, but it was pretty easy to fall into her familiar fighting stance and have a pretty good understanding of the distance between herself and her "opponent". "How do you make sure you're aiming at the right spot?" she questioned, her words a little muffled and distorted around the grip of the sword she was holding.

"Rebel Klein"

Ember, sweet and oblivious to the Klein girl's obvious attraction, missed the way Rebel's teal gaze wandered over her during her swordplay demonstration. She was far too invested in her sword fighting exercises to pay attention to her audience until she invited her over to come practice swinging a sword. When Rebel confirmed she had never used a sword before, Ember gestured to the second sparring sword with a wave, urging her to come join in on the fun! Em stepped back while Rebel entered the sparring ring and tested out the heft of the sword. The sparring swords were notably heavier than the edged weapons her family and the knights of the Hallows used. She didn't know the exact reasons why, just that they were. Her father likely had a better answer for that question.

Watching while Rebel adjusted and readjusted her grip on the sword's hilt until she found what was comfortable for her, Ember just sat back and quietly observed, waiting for the inevitable humorous first strike of an unfamiliar wielder. Rebel almost dropping the sword a couple of times got a few reflexive giggles from Em, but she quickly composed herself and smiled sweetly at Rebel to encourage her on. The first swing went very low, striking at the bottom part of the dummy's chest (which she was sure was not what Rebel had been aiming for) and leaving a decent bash in the mannequin's form. Not enough to rend the dummy open, but respectable for a first swing. When Rebel asked how she made sure she was aiming right, Ember couldn't resist the giggles this time and had to turn away to compose herself again before addressing the other fae's question. How her sire managed to keep from laughing when training them all was beyond her.

"You learn to treat the weapon as an extension of yourself. Your blade becomes a part of your attack, not just something you have in a fight," she explained, stepping up beside Rebel in front of the training dummy. Lifting her own sword to bring it in a slow arc demonstrating a swing aimed at the dummy's head. "The more you train and the more you get used to how the weapon moves with you, the more natural those movements become. Learning how to index where the edge of your blade is is one of the first lessons my father teaches all new swordswolves." Stepping back again to give Rebel all the room to move around, she waved a paw towards the battered dummy. "Try it again, but go slow. Don't think about how hard or fast you're swinging right now. Just get used to treating the sword like part of you, the same way you treat your paws when you're walking or moving. Feel where the edge of your blade is."

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

When Ember started giggling at her attempts, Rebel shot her a playful glare. If she didn't have a sword in her mouth she'd probably would have stuck her tongue out in response. Luckily, Ember pulled it together and eventually gave her a real response to her question. Rebel stepped aside so Ember could come up to the dummy and she watched as the Carpathian princess made another swing at her target, but this time it was very slow and deliberate. The concept of the sword being an extension of herself and feeling the blade versus just holding it felt a little foreign to her, but she just listened and nodded occasionally to show she was playing attention in the hopes that once she put it in action it would begin to make more sense.

Once Ember stepped back again and instructed her to try again but more slowly this time, Rebel took her position in front of the dummy again and did what Ember told her to do–focused on getting used to the movement and treating the sword like it was part of her. She was reminded of the very early days of her learning how to fight and all the times her mother would make her repeat certain stances and moves over and over till they were muscle memory. It felt very much like she was going back to the beginning again in a lot of ways. At least she had Ember here to be her guide so she wasn't just shooting blindly in the dark trying to figure it out herself.

She carefully guided the blade toward the dummy's head, getting used to the weight of the sword more and more the longer she held it. Remembering how her parents used to train with her, she paid close attention to how her body moved with the sword, memorizing how certain muscles moved and how far her head had to turn to get it where she wanted to go so that she could replicate it again and again. Somehow she did start to figure out what Ember was talking about with all of this talk about how the weapon moved with her and how it was a part of her. She was able to think less about how it felt in her mouth and focus more on where the blade was in relation to the rest of her body. She made a couple more swings at the dummy's head, still keeping her movements slower and not trying to really put any power behind the attacks. Her movements were still a bit awkward as she experimented with a couple different ways of doing it and figuring out what felt best, but each time it got a little bit better.

"Rebel Klein"

Ember was still learning what it meant to be a good teacher and learning how different wolves learned in different ways, so in a way, Rebel was helping her as much as she was helping Rebel. With her instructions and demonstration given, Ember settled in to observe and give Rebel pointers as she needed. Her impromptu pupil was actually quite good at listening to instructions and repeating what she saw, because when she stepped up to the dummy, the Klein wolf started to mimic Ember's movements and slowly moved the sword back and forth from its resting position to down on the dummy's head. Back and forth Ember watched Rebel repeat the motions, getting used to the momentum, the movements, the weight of the sword, everything that came with learning to fight with a weapon.

"Good work! How's that feeling, Rebel?" Ember stood and moved around to the side to see Rebel's profile while she practiced her swings, giving a nod of approval. "The more you practice, the more you'll get used to the movements and working with the weight of a weapon. It'll take some time, so don't worry about getting things perfect or fast right away." After a few more minutes of practice, Em shot Rebel a wicked grin, her braided tail wagging playfully. "Wanna try swinging at something that swings back? Let's do a spar, you and me. I'll even go slow so you can get used to swinging a sword at an actual moving target."

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Eventually Ember stepped around to her side and Rebel glanced her away as her teacher stopped her with some praise and questioned how it was feeling. Rebel stuck the point of the practice sword into the dirt, flexing her jaw a bit before grinning in response. "Pretty good! It's definitely using muscles I didn't even know I had, but I'm starting to get what you mean by the sword being a part of you." Rebel nodded to the reassurance Ember gave her about the time it would take to get used to the weight and movement of the weapon. It had been a while since she learned something completely new like this, but she still remembered how weird and awkward it had felt the first time she she had tried out certain fighting stances and maneuvers so this was no different. She picked the sword back up after giving her jaw a bit of a break and went back to her practice movements and swings for a little while longer, growing more confident and more experimental as she went, slowly starting to figure out her own style and trying out things to figure out what she liked and didn't like.

Eventually, Ember got her attention again and she stopped, looking Ember's way with a raised brow at the wicked grin that the princess was giving her. She didn't have to wonder what was on her mind for too long though as Ember offered to give her a target that could swing back and challenged her to a spar. A spar against the sword swinging prodigy princess huh? Well, Rebel was certainly not one to turn down a challenge! "Oh, you're on," she replied around her sword as she turned to face her newest opponent. "Don't go too easy on me. I'm a big girl, I can take a hit." As long as they were fighting with practice swords she could at least. She settled into a defensive stance, keeping her posture loose enough that she could be ready to dodge or block whatever Ember hit her with first. "Come at me, princess."

"Rebel Klein"

Ember smiled proudly and nodded when Rebel made a comment about using the sword working out muscles in her jaw that she’d never used before. "Yeah, it’s definitely a different kind of exercising for sure! It’s a great way for making your jaws stronger and building stamina too." Much to her delight, Rebel was quick to agree to a spar, responding with cocky confidence. Ember smirked, already looking forward to deflating some of the Klein girl’s arrogance with a good old fashioned humbling beat down.

As soon as Rebel took her defensive stance, Ember raised a curious brow as she studied the way her opponent was bracing up against her and how she held her sword. Giggling softly to herself, the Carpathian princess began a slow prowl around her opponent, sizing her up while making herself a mental threat to Rebel. "Oh, can you now? Well, I’ll try not to rough up that pretty face too badly." With a wicked grin, Em sauntered over to her sword and pulled it out of the sandy ground, turning to face her opponent. Rebel looked so eager and ready to spar with her sword… Ember couldn't wait to knock that sword out of her mouth.

Taking a moment to roll her head and stretch her neck, Ember limbered her body up and gave a practice swing of her sword from side to side. The sparring swords were heavier than Ravenedge was, so she'd have to compensate for the extra heft. Steely blue eyes locking onto Rebel, the Carpathian princess surged forward in a blur of motion, her lean and lithe body as fast as she was agile. She rushed up to Rebel at an angle, coming from her side rather than directly at her. Once she was within range, she swung her sword with all her might aimed at Rebel's blade, looking to deliberately clash the steel together as hard as she could to try and rattle her opponent's hold on the weapon, knowing she was a novice and exploiting that newness to sword fighting.

Ember Carpathius vs Rebel for Spar
Round 1/2
Age: 1+ years
Size: Large
Build: Light
Offensive Battle Accessory: Damascus sword
Defensive Battle Accessory: Leather cuirass
Companion 1: Raven, Male - Perception
Companion 2: Gold Cross Fox, Male - Battle
Mutation 1: Stronger bones (Defensive)
Mutation 2: Retractable feline claws (Offensive)
Mutation 3: Enhanced eyesight (Perception)
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Intellectual
Specialty: Knight & Professor

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"