Ewan walked the perimeter of the mat that almost filled the center of the practice room. It was wide enough to accommodate most practice sessions that including throwing an opponent. Not that there would be any throwing going on for this particular workout, but habit had him walking around the edge and checking for any dangers as he would for more strenuous routines. "Sure your body has healed enough for this?" he asked Storm.
"I believe so." She wouldn't give a full vote of confidence only because she had yet to put her body to any types of limits. But it had taken some time for the pain of her body and spirit to ease into something more manageable and eventually, nonexistent. By now, Storm felt the restlessness that had been pent up for so long rising to the surface, "You know that I have not been in pain for some time, and my body feels soft." Her lips curled up slightly as she watched Ewan make his rounds, "I will not push too far."
"Good." He smiled, but there was no doubting the sincerity of his word. It was going to be a stern talking to if she did press herself too far too soon. "So, lets first see some range of motion. Arms out from your sides, feet shoulder-width apart, and twist slowly so you face the lance wall and then twist slowly the other direction. I want these twists to take full counts ten from one side the other. If you feel any tension or pain, stop twisting and start the other direction." He did the motions as he spoke, angled from her so he could watch her start to warm up and judge the effect of the exercise.
Placing her body to his specific instructions, she stuck her arms out and took a deep breath in before slowly twisting her upper body. Her movements were slow not only to follow his instruction but to gauge if she felt any tightness around her lower abdomen. When she didn't, she extended until she could face the lance wall and then continued in the other direction. Her heart sunk a little when she realized that she couldn't extend her body much further than just being parallel; that would have been easy a year ago.
Finding that she could extend in the opposite direction just as well without any pangs of pain, she returned to the middle and put her arms down.
"Very well. That seemed to be fine. We need to check strength. Time to do some curls and leg lifts." He moved to lay down on the mat, his arms at his side as he curled up lifting his back three inches off the ground but no more and hold it. Then he did the same for his legs, lifting both off the ground and holding it for a count of ten and relaxing. As he rolled to his knees, he nodded for her turn. "We are just going to make sure your muscles can take some of the contraction requirements of the workout."
Nodding, she moved so that she could play on her back on the mat. She lifted her upper body off of the ground slightly and holding it for the ten second duration. She felt the usual strain and while she noticed her relative weakness, was able to complete the task and rest her upper body. She moved to lifting her legs slightly then, and felt a little weak and uncomfortable with her lower abdomen. She wrinkled her face a little, but was able to meet the ten second mark before resting her legs.
"Hmm." It was enough to communicate how he felt about the outcome of that exercise. "Well, we will simply adjust the plan for today. Less levels and more asymmetrical work for now until your body is a little more rested. So then, we need ropes." And he went to a cupboard at a corner near the broad entryway. It was a room of the school, which meant many of the entries were very wide for observation. Only the rooms for magical practice had doors that closed.
From the cupboard he pulled out two ropes, the length of his arm. Each had thick knots at the ends and were of a smooth, woven cotton strand. He offered one to Storm. "The rope has little more give as we work to loop them about arms, torso, or legs. We will not do any pulling. A score is the looping itself. It will help with stamina and agility." He pulled his rope straight, but loose in his hands at an angle and started a slow circle.
Feeling a little disappointed in her body, she didn't remain lying on the floor. Instead she smoothly went back to a standing position and kept her comments to herself about her body needing more rest. Taking the rope, she frowned slightly and started to mirror his movements, "I am making knots around my limbs?"
"No, you are trying to loop your rope around one of my arms or my torso or my legs at the same time trying to keep me from doing the same to you. Defense and offense. Agility and stamina. As your strength improves we will add pulling the rope to unbalance the opponent to the routine and then we will move to blades -- in a few months." The smirk at the end teasing her about the time. "Like this." And he made a quick duck and turn as if she had swung her rope at his left arm, then wrapped his own rope about her left thigh before releasing. "Obviously that would not count as it was only a demonstration."
Her lips twitched as he was able to put the rope around her thigh, "Obviously." She took comfort in his open teasing with her and opened her stance a little with the task at hand. Keeping the rope loose in both hands, she started to circle Ewan a little, trying to guess what his first move would be and how she was going to react in response.
He counterstepped, keeping his distance equal as the turned about each other. For a first move, he started with a simple attempt at looping her right arm, anticipating -- and hoping -- for her to avoid or block him to help get her into the rhythm of the exercise.
She knew that he was starting easy with her, but she tucked her right arm close to her body and tried to quickly step in and loop the rope around his outstretched arm.
With her counter attack, he snapped open the rope to block and twisted away and back into position. "Nicely done. I have thought of starting Avery on this exercise since it would do little harm but get him prepared for more," he paused to select just the word he wanted, "destructive armaments. Though the rope can be as lethal in the right hands." He tried for a more complicated move, tilting and ducking once more to try for her right leg wanting her to work across to her non-dominant side.
Quickly lifting her right leg and skipping over a step, resisting the urge to take flight as she would in a realistic situation. With him being crouched, she didn't find the rope to be a weapon to take advantage, "I think this would be good for Avery, and I trust the direction that you are taking him. He is not a young boy anymore." She quickly stepped towards him, aiming her knee and shin towards his back to make him change his stance, or fail a limb for her advantage.
With a sigh, he nodded as he dipped further and turned out of harms way. "No, he is not. The years have passed too fast and he is already behind if he wants to achieve his goal. I must admit, I do not like his fascination with following in my footsteps. I will instruct him to be a warrior, but an assassin's life is not usually a good one. Of course, he does not know all I do, but I think he has started to get an idea considering he found my books on poisons that I failed to conceal from his persistent search."
"I believe so." She wouldn't give a full vote of confidence only because she had yet to put her body to any types of limits. But it had taken some time for the pain of her body and spirit to ease into something more manageable and eventually, nonexistent. By now, Storm felt the restlessness that had been pent up for so long rising to the surface, "You know that I have not been in pain for some time, and my body feels soft." Her lips curled up slightly as she watched Ewan make his rounds, "I will not push too far."
"Good." He smiled, but there was no doubting the sincerity of his word. It was going to be a stern talking to if she did press herself too far too soon. "So, lets first see some range of motion. Arms out from your sides, feet shoulder-width apart, and twist slowly so you face the lance wall and then twist slowly the other direction. I want these twists to take full counts ten from one side the other. If you feel any tension or pain, stop twisting and start the other direction." He did the motions as he spoke, angled from her so he could watch her start to warm up and judge the effect of the exercise.
Placing her body to his specific instructions, she stuck her arms out and took a deep breath in before slowly twisting her upper body. Her movements were slow not only to follow his instruction but to gauge if she felt any tightness around her lower abdomen. When she didn't, she extended until she could face the lance wall and then continued in the other direction. Her heart sunk a little when she realized that she couldn't extend her body much further than just being parallel; that would have been easy a year ago.
Finding that she could extend in the opposite direction just as well without any pangs of pain, she returned to the middle and put her arms down.
"Very well. That seemed to be fine. We need to check strength. Time to do some curls and leg lifts." He moved to lay down on the mat, his arms at his side as he curled up lifting his back three inches off the ground but no more and hold it. Then he did the same for his legs, lifting both off the ground and holding it for a count of ten and relaxing. As he rolled to his knees, he nodded for her turn. "We are just going to make sure your muscles can take some of the contraction requirements of the workout."
Nodding, she moved so that she could play on her back on the mat. She lifted her upper body off of the ground slightly and holding it for the ten second duration. She felt the usual strain and while she noticed her relative weakness, was able to complete the task and rest her upper body. She moved to lifting her legs slightly then, and felt a little weak and uncomfortable with her lower abdomen. She wrinkled her face a little, but was able to meet the ten second mark before resting her legs.
"Hmm." It was enough to communicate how he felt about the outcome of that exercise. "Well, we will simply adjust the plan for today. Less levels and more asymmetrical work for now until your body is a little more rested. So then, we need ropes." And he went to a cupboard at a corner near the broad entryway. It was a room of the school, which meant many of the entries were very wide for observation. Only the rooms for magical practice had doors that closed.
From the cupboard he pulled out two ropes, the length of his arm. Each had thick knots at the ends and were of a smooth, woven cotton strand. He offered one to Storm. "The rope has little more give as we work to loop them about arms, torso, or legs. We will not do any pulling. A score is the looping itself. It will help with stamina and agility." He pulled his rope straight, but loose in his hands at an angle and started a slow circle.
Feeling a little disappointed in her body, she didn't remain lying on the floor. Instead she smoothly went back to a standing position and kept her comments to herself about her body needing more rest. Taking the rope, she frowned slightly and started to mirror his movements, "I am making knots around my limbs?"
"No, you are trying to loop your rope around one of my arms or my torso or my legs at the same time trying to keep me from doing the same to you. Defense and offense. Agility and stamina. As your strength improves we will add pulling the rope to unbalance the opponent to the routine and then we will move to blades -- in a few months." The smirk at the end teasing her about the time. "Like this." And he made a quick duck and turn as if she had swung her rope at his left arm, then wrapped his own rope about her left thigh before releasing. "Obviously that would not count as it was only a demonstration."
Her lips twitched as he was able to put the rope around her thigh, "Obviously." She took comfort in his open teasing with her and opened her stance a little with the task at hand. Keeping the rope loose in both hands, she started to circle Ewan a little, trying to guess what his first move would be and how she was going to react in response.
He counterstepped, keeping his distance equal as the turned about each other. For a first move, he started with a simple attempt at looping her right arm, anticipating -- and hoping -- for her to avoid or block him to help get her into the rhythm of the exercise.
She knew that he was starting easy with her, but she tucked her right arm close to her body and tried to quickly step in and loop the rope around his outstretched arm.
With her counter attack, he snapped open the rope to block and twisted away and back into position. "Nicely done. I have thought of starting Avery on this exercise since it would do little harm but get him prepared for more," he paused to select just the word he wanted, "destructive armaments. Though the rope can be as lethal in the right hands." He tried for a more complicated move, tilting and ducking once more to try for her right leg wanting her to work across to her non-dominant side.
Quickly lifting her right leg and skipping over a step, resisting the urge to take flight as she would in a realistic situation. With him being crouched, she didn't find the rope to be a weapon to take advantage, "I think this would be good for Avery, and I trust the direction that you are taking him. He is not a young boy anymore." She quickly stepped towards him, aiming her knee and shin towards his back to make him change his stance, or fail a limb for her advantage.
With a sigh, he nodded as he dipped further and turned out of harms way. "No, he is not. The years have passed too fast and he is already behind if he wants to achieve his goal. I must admit, I do not like his fascination with following in my footsteps. I will instruct him to be a warrior, but an assassin's life is not usually a good one. Of course, he does not know all I do, but I think he has started to get an idea considering he found my books on poisons that I failed to conceal from his persistent search."