Tellka let out an annoyed grunt as she watched Kate step out of the dressing room, still fitting her gloves onto her hands. The older woren's tail flicked in annoyance as the younger woren looked up at her. Kate's ears fell back a bit curiously. Yes, Tellka was definitely annoyed, but it wasn't at her.

"Tellka?"

"So he won't tell you, will he?" Tellka's tail flicked in as she twirled her staff, taking a few practice swings at the air. Kate just stared at her guardian in wonder.

"Tell me what?"

"What's really bothering him."

"Tellka..." Kate let out a sigh. "If something was bothering Frank I'm sure he'd let me know..."

Tellka let out another grunt and stopped swinging at her shadow long enough to turn to the younger woren, her ears twitching with aggrivation. "Trust me Kate, it takes one to know one, and I know what it's like when people are trying to hide something." The woren performed another couple quick swings at the air before striking her fighting stance, and then eased herself back into a casual standing position as she turned to Kate. "Anyway, I guess we should start practice now. I've been thinking about your last battle at the Colosseum and I think I have an idea for you."

"Oh?" Kate's ears perked uncertainly. "What's that?"

"Well," Tellka considered the younger woren for a moment. "Since you fight hand-to-hand, naturally I've just been training you with the basic fighting tactics to cover that battle approach. But other then that, you don't really work with a style, you're just a hand-to-hand fighter."

"So?" Kate blinked, her ears flicking. Tellka began to pace around the sands thoughtfully.

"The two times you've fought out in the Colosseum, you keep coming up with these moves that don't seem to fit with the fighting technique that you've been learning. I mean, you've gotten better with your kicks and punches, but Kate..." the warrior turned to her student, letting out a light chuckle. "You've been pouncing people... half the time when you pull off your dodges I expect you to drop down on all fours and run around like that for a while."

"Uh...." Kate's tail waved in confusion as she batted an ear. "So... what do you mean?"

"I mean you seem to have this natural fighting style to you that you just default to whenever you pull off a move or go to counter someone." Tellka waved her tail thoughtfully as she considered the younger woren. "I think you'd have a much better chance if we just narrowed in on finding out what that style is, and then worked with it."

Kate stared at her guardian for a moment. "So... how do we do that?"

"You..." Tellka jabbed a finger at Kate as she spoke, "have to open yourself up to it. This is nothing I've taught you, these are just tactics that you seem to fall back on when you're in a situation where your training doesn't seem to be working, so what you're going to have to do is forget about the style I've been teaching you and begin to fight back with your natural reactions so we can figure out just what it is you're doing."

Kate's ears fell uneasily. "Are you sure that's going to work?" Tellka simply chuckled.

"No, but it'll definitely be interesting. Anyway, who knows, this just might work out in the end. Now then," the older woren dropped into a fighting stance. "Let's get started, shall we? And remember," Tellka's tail was waving with amusement. "Just act natural." With that, the woren charged.

Kate cringed before leaping to the side, then headed over to hide behind a rack of staffs. Tellka rolled her eyes.

"Alright, maybe that's a little too natural."

"But you said-"

"Just get out here and fight."

Back to Main | Back to Chapter Index