Spring 4988, 30 Buromoth
Winter moved onto spring, and the seniors had performed their raid on the newest Squires, who were now doing their best to keep up and start their training, working through their sword forms with the year ahead of them. Shon watched from the sidelines in his new platemail while Ryuuko crawled all over him, trying to find the best perches.
Two of this group of four were assigned the bastard sword, and one of them was left-handed. The boy was doing his best to mirror the techniques being shown by the right-handed senior beside him, but was clearly struggling.
"Not everyone's as ambidextrous as you," Rerves commented, coming to stand beside Shon.
Shon nodded but narrowed his eyes at the boys as he did. The new lefty would have to learn to use his right hand for the dual-wielding and partnered forms at least, but he was clearly more comfortable with his left, even if he was still struggling.
The boy let out a loud groan and let his sword tip fall as he stared at the sky in frustration, and Shon had seen enough. Drawing his sword, he moved towards the boys, Ryuuko jumping from his back onto Rerves' more comfortable shoulder.
Using the flat of the blade, Shon smacked the boys leading leg, "Fix your stance,"
The boy flinched and scowled, but the expression cleared at the sight of Shon's left-handed sword, and he took up the ready position again. Shon moved to stand beside him and started the form slowly, waiting for the boy to catch up as he did, "Move as slowly as you need to maintain proper form and posture. That's most important. Speed will come naturally the more you do it properly."
They moved all the way through the form once and started again before Shon continued, "You'll need to work both sides eventually, but it's fine to master this one first." the other new Squire stopped to watch with his senior as the two lefties worked through it again.
"It might help..." Shon said, pointedly looking at the senior Squire, "To stand in front of the right-handed ones and use them as a mirror, rather than trying to follow along beside them." He glanced back at the left-handed boy and reached over with his sword to smack the boy's blade up a little higher, "Don't let your sword dip. You'll get stronger with practice."
As they finished their form again, Shon sheathed his sword and started to walk away, but stopped when the boy saluted, "Thank you, Sir,"
Shon shook his head at the title, but it was the other Squire who explained, "Shon isn't a Paladin yet, but he's the best Squire we have, so remember the lessons."
"But... the armor..." None of the other Squires, unless on duty, wore their armor full time like Shon did, and clearly, that had confused him. Shon just nodded his thanks for the explanation and compliment and continued away.
Rerves jogged to catch up, a wide grin spread over his lips, "You know, for someone who doesn't talk much, you're a good teacher."
Shon only shrugged, Ryuuko hopping over to hang onto his sword as the two continued into the fortress. As the door swung closed behind him, Shon explained, "No one just knows what to do."
"Yeah, but still," Rerves said, "The young ones will have a lot harder time once we're gone." which just made Shon shrug again. Hamerfoss had been training Squires since long before they arrived and would continue to do so long after they left. But that didn't mean he shouldn't help while he was here.
The one thing he still couldn't understand was why they didn't expand the lessons to non-Squires who wanted to learn. Of all the tenants and policies of Hengist, that was the one he still couldn't comprehend. Perhaps he would learn in the following year -the last he had left.
***
