Jay's Journey

Chapter 15

Zira's fist swung forward with as much force as she could muster, only for Vayen to easily catch it in his palm. After a brief moment, he let go, and her hand settled once again at her side.

"Zira, it's not just aboutcher arm. You like... spin your body or whatever." Vayen explained. He made a strike against empty air, and the two others watched as his whole upper body slightly pivoted to empower the blow.

"You gotta be good at it 'cause y'all got stick arms." Vayen commented. Jay sighed. This lesson really wasn't working. Maybe it was for Zira, but not for him. It was also possible that Vayen's... inelegant way of explaining things was making it more difficult, but there wasn't much to explain.

Jay still managed to mess it up, of course.

Zira struck the air with her fists a couple times, impersonating Vayen's form as best she could. Vayen nodded approvingly.

"Not that strong but strong enough to kick ass if you hit someone right." Vayen said.

"Like in the groin?" Zira asked.

"Yeah. Keep punchin like that 'till it's real easy. Jay!" Vayen called out. Jay got up from the shady spot beneath a tree he'd found and stepped out further into the clearing they'd set aside for training. It was a small area of short grass and consistent sunshine surrounded by a ring of shrubbery.

"Show me your punch." Vayen requested. Jay tried to incorporate the upper body pivot, but the result wasn't much better than any prior punches.

"More power." Vayen encouraged. Jay tried to add more gusto to the pivot, but only managed to topple off balance and almost collapse to the ground.

"Just like... I dunno, do the motion or whatever and add some strength bit by bit or somethin' like that." Vayen instructed. It was very clear that he was in unfamiliar territory as a teacher. Jay went through the motion slowly before gradually adding speed and power into it.

A ceiling was quickly reached. There was only a certain point of power where the punch wouldn't put him off balance. Of course, that level of power wasn't nearly enough to do actual harm, unless it was the person's balls, but Jay couldn't count on that.

"Jay! Feet wide apart!" Vayen called out. Jay followed the instruction, and that barely raised the ceiling. With more and more ferocity, Jay repeated the motion, but that did nothing besides making it more tiring.

"Maybe it would be good to move onto something other than combat. I'm getting tired right now and we can do more a bit later." Zira suggested.

"Uh, sure I guess." Vayen agreed.

"What do you wanna move on to?" Jay asked.

"I'm thinking I could teach you two something about stealth. That might be useful." Zira said.

"Go ahead." Vayen offered encouragingly.

"So..." Zira said, staring off into space as she pondered how to explain a skill that had become easy as breathing to her through years of practice.

"For now, the more important thing is staying quiet. That's the most important one, more so than staying out of sight." Zira thought aloud. Jay and Vayen silently waited for her to continue.

"So, first step is knowing what's beneath your feet. Usually, the sound we make comes from footsteps. You need to figure out what you're stepping on, whether if it's something that'll make noise, and if there's a way to avoid it. For example, out here, a good example would be sticks. If you step on a stick, it's loud. That's the first part of quiet footsteps. So... I suppose just walk around this clearing and try to be quiet." Zira said. She seemed to be equally uncertain about teaching.