Kotori hadn’t been joking about practice sparring on the rocky falls.  However, he wasn’t going to throw Wylan straight to the top rocks with the risk of a long fall.  Instead, the fall would only be about two feet.  If one slipped and fell hopefully they could still land on feet and if not at least gravity wouldn’t be too much against them.
The water fell around them, getting their paws wet and some water spray, like a mist, or a fine dew along their coat facing the falls.

“Starting small.  Rules are going up no higher than another foot, but also no touching the ground.  No reason to start at a height where you could get yourself killed if you fell.”  Let the death notion sink in there in case the younger wolf had dreams of grandeur and tried more than he should.  “Your room to swing a weapon is also limited. Though a dagger is certainly smaller than the longer swords some like.”  Kotori gave a second for that to sink in then asked, “any questions?”


"Kotori Fatalis"

The idea of this game looked incredibly fun. He'd get to play around on the rocks, playing a version of ‘the ground is lava’ he jumped up on the rocks where ko indicated. He extended his claws to help him, though he found the stone didn't give like bark or dirt. That was okay, he had other advantages. He extended his wings, letting them spread out his balance until he was comfortable on the rocks.


He looked to Ko when the other wolf spoke of a bladed weapon. “That's okay, a dagger is still best” he said, looking to his Uncle with hopes and expectation. Now the other would trust him with a sharp pointy thing, right?

The look said it all.  The reason Kotori hadn’t seen a weapon yet was that the kid didn’t have one.  Ahhh.  “You want to learn to use one but still don't own one, huh?” Kotori hopped off his rock and jogged off a short ways to a nearby tree.  This specific one had a larger broken branch that was just barely still hanging onto the tree, yet the leaves of the branch lay on the earth, the leaves slowly dying.

Kotori considered the branch for a moment before chomping down on it near where the branch attached to the tree.  It took two or three bites and some pulling where he got it just right and the branch broke off.  Then Kotori eyed it, sizing it in his mind, and bit into it further down, getting rid of the thinner part of the branch.  It seemed relatively close to the thickness of a dagger handle, right?

Kotori put a paw on it, lowered his head, and used his horn to scrape off the bark on one end, rolled the stick over till one end had a sharper point.  Picking it up he dropped it near Wylan.  “There you go, practice dagger.  I’d rather not get cut by a real one anyway.”

"Kotori Fatalis"

Wylan gave his uncle an exaggerated look of sadness. “Uncle Charlie said I need to prove myself first, and that making mistakes would mean they wouldn't trust me to be a warrior.” He explained, and while he loved and respected Charlie, there was a rather strong lure towards blades.

Instead of magicing a blade into existence, Ko brought him a tree branch in the rough shape of a dagger. Wylan gave a long, slow sigh. “Okay.” He said. So Ko wasn't going to trust him with one either. He'd get one… eventually. “Alright, how do you want to start this?” He asked over the stick, jumping a couple stones to get the feel for it.

“Uncle Charlie?”  Did Kotori know a Charlie?  It sure wasn’t coming to him. “You learn by doing.  Though, I’d agree with a practice blade instead of a real one until you have enough experience.  A metal weapon is for real fights, not for spars.  That means even for warriors.”  At least that was what Kotori believed.  Would he have felt that way when he was a youth trying so hard to prove himself?  Nah, he’d want the real thing to prove himself.  

“Use that for now.  You should go to the hallows.  Maybe they would be willing to teach you how to make one for yourself.  Maybe you could barter for one?”  Kotori took his position again, finding rocks that had him just about on level with Wylan,  his back legs actually in a different rock slightly lower down so he could spread himself out better.

“Let's make the first round fast.  You can attack, I’ll defend and attack back.  After that, if you feel confident enough we can go faster.  This is learning, not a real fight so we go at what pace works for you.  This is a great time for trial and error.  Try things, if they don’t work you know to try something else.”


Kotori Fatalis

 

“Yeah, he's in Grandad's youngest litter.”he explained at the confusion in Kos' voice. He couldn't imagine anyone not knowing Uncle Charlie… but then he supposed he'd never actually met Uncle Kotori before today. So much family! Maybe it was hard to know them all.


He pulled a face at Kos words, but it was just like something Charlie would say. So he couldn't really be surprised. But then his Uncle went on to mention the Hallows. Another Uncle! He grinned at that. “I do like Uncle Art. But I don't know how to get there” he admitted.


Kotori had some great advice, and Wylan room it to mean the lesson had started. He jumped forward, flaring his wings as he did so. He aimed to bonk Ko on the head with his stick-knife, and then slap his wings forward to confuse as he leaped one rock to the side.

Kotori had his own advantage, and one he’d say was pretty big.  This was his turf and these were rocks he’d climbed over any number of times.  Kotori jerked his front legs back as Wylan came at him.  For a moment, all four paws were on a relatively small rock, but only for a moment.  

The ‘dagger’ was avoided.  The wings weren’t a thing Kotori had thought much of and he felt the extra breeze they made as he flapped them out at Kotori.  Kotori was glad he’d chosen to hop back as he had also considered trying to give the boy the fun of a dagger against his horns as if it was a weapon fight.  That would have been reckless and unlikely to work.  He had also considered trying to bite the muzzle instead but that also had a smaller chance of success, especially with biting to not injure.

Kotori leaped back into his original position on two rocks but the boy was hoping sideways.  There wasn’t a perfect spot to be even with the younger sibling so he hopped near him, still slightly lower.  Kotori snapped upward, aiming to bite just above a paw to see how he handled his balance.  Wings.  Cheater!  However, like any mutation, work with what you have!

"Good attack, if the terrain wasn't familiar to me it would have probably worked on a number of wolves.  Do your wings get heavy if they get to wet?  That could be a problem if the fight went on to long."

"Kotori Fatalis"

Kotori hoped back, showing an impressive display of athleticism on the rocks as he did so. It was clear that this wasn’t Ko’s first time jumping around these rocks, and he must know exactly where the next one was behind him without looking. Wylan would have to keep that in mind, and remember that he himself couldn’t trust his footing without looking.

“They definitely get heavy in the rain, or in the ocean. But not from exertion. I only use them for timed attacks, so i’m not holding them up constantly.” He explained. His father had gone over ways to use his wings in battle at length, and had likely been speaking from experience.


"Speech"

Kotori nodded at Wylan’s explanation then grinned a bit as a memory came to him, “I recall wanting wings like Mort when I was a pup.  I tried eating a dead bird I found to see if eating wings would give me wings.”  It had been a stupid thing but, he had been out of the den all that long when he’d done it.

“They are also something else you have to protect.  I don’t think I’d target them myself since I’m for getting in close, but someone with a sword who has more of an opening might go for them if they were spread out further.”

That said he gave a moments pause, “So, did you want to try a straight-up fight here?  Feel safe enough?” Kotori looked down below them, “We aren’t too far off the ground so even if you fall, if you can keep control and land carefully you shouldn’t get to hurt.” Kotori measured the balance in his paws, ready in case Wylan decided to attack.  “We could just work on your balance going up and down, or we can see who can knock the other off their ledge first.  No rules, though I’ll attempt to not do any serious harm.”

"Kotori Fatalis"