Shifted

Leliana smiled as the beautiful landscape around Talios Way continued. They'd been making far progress, a nice easy pace. It was about noon, and they'd probably made nine or ten kilometers in the two hours since they'd set out from their camp. Erika setting a nice slow and even pace, as if she was fully aware of the two shorter legged humaniods who were supposed to keep pace with the wagon. Leliana giggled at that thought, for in truth Erika was probably well aware of Frendar and Nano. Leliana moved to her small cot, on the left side of the wagon. Underneath it stored in two drawers, were her worldly possessions. She'd had enough of the nice dress, and changed quickly, pulling on simple black cloth pants, and a pale green cloth top. She also opened the other drawer, and pulled out her reed flute. It was a simple thing, that her mom had made for her tenth birthday. A decade old, it still worked well, and Leliana insured it was always well kept. Every time she played it, she would clean it afterwards, very carefully insuring it was completely dried out. She stuck it in the left breast pocket of her shirt, and moved back outside to sit beside her father.

Frendar looked back at the movement, and caught Leliana's eye as she sat down again. He noticed the flute and winked at her, smiling and nodding. She winked back, and started playing a familiar three note beat, very fast paced and happy in nature. He took a breath, and in his deep gravelly baritone, started singing a favorite song of hers, an old dwarven travelling song he'd taught her. It was a simple song, but with a fast and upbeat tone.

"Dwarven feet marching to the beat,
Rolling along this road.
We are bold, and never cold,
So long as we have a home.
Dwarves come on, keep those feet a-moving.
Like the rolling stone.
We're headed home along this road
Where beer and ale awaits us, ho!"

As he finished his part, Frendar moved up to the platform on his side of the wagon, and sat down. He started using it as an improvised drum, continuing the fast paced beat of the tune. Leliana played herself out, giggled, and her melodic voice took over, singing the next verse, happily and rather loudly.

"Upon this road,we know not fear
For we are brawlers and fighters
Not there nor here
Nor anywhere, for we are made of stone.
But we are not uncouth
Nor are we unkind.
And we'll gladly share a drink
But only with those who will pay
A tale or two we hasn't heard, methinks
We'll call any kin and clan,
So long as they willing ta speak
And walk and travel, and raise a pint....
And not puke in me sink!"

She laughed, and started playing the flute again, as Frendar just started improvising new verses, and repeating the first two, as was common for the song. It wasn't meant to sound smooth, or be in perfect rhythm. It was just meant to pass the time. It was simply called 'The Rover's Song' and dwarves loved it. It was rousing, funny, and set a great beat to travel too. It was also simple, easy, and for the most part true.

Frendar laughed from the pit of his belly many minutes later, when Leliana finally played the last sequence of the tune, and hauled himself up on the edge of the driving platform of the wagon. He kissed her on the cheek, hugging her tightly with one arm and mussing her hair roughly with his left hand. She smiled and giggled, hugging the dwarf tightly. Frendar laughed all the louder, and told her, "Leliana, you really know how to get a smile on a dwarf's weather beaten face, don't you?"

Leliana smiled, and hugged the dwarf. He was family, like the crazy, oddball, hilarious uncle. They were all family, but besides Liandry, in truth Frendar was the one Leliana felt the most connected to. She loved her father, but Teolan had a bad habit of treating her like a child, and moreso, like a little girl. She idolized her mother, and wanted to be more like her. She didn't want to be a little lady, who ran scared. She wanted to be like her mother, tough, beautiful, and skilled. Liandry understood this and would always indulge her daughter on some lessons of the finer points of fighting with a mace and shield. Although in truth, Liandry did so because she actually saw true potential in Leliana. She had exhibited great awareness on the intricatricies of how a shield was to be used properly, and showed promise when actually physically trying. But she didn't have the physical strength yet, as she wasn't fully matured.

Frendar also liked to indulge her in a less formal, but no less useful, type of training and sparring. Wrestling, for she had a love for the physical strain. In truth, Frendar always held back, but that was just because of the large difference in their muscle structures. He had to be careful, even when wrestling Liandry, for if he wasn't, he could easily over power and break bones without meaning too. Elves were lightweight, dextrous by nature. Frendar and dwarves in general, were built like the mountains they lived in. Hard, tough, strong, and indomitable. Pound for pound, nothing in the world was tougher then a cornered dwarf, unless it was a cornered dwarf defending his kin, clan, or home.

Leliana looked up into Frendar's crinkly face, and kissed his cheek. "Of course I do, Uncle Frendar," she replied, giggling, "You're the one who taught me!"

Frendar laughed again, smiling at his adopted kin. He never truly showed it on his face, but it touched him very deeply everytime that Leliana called him 'Uncle'. This was because, until this little group, Frendar hadn't had a family. He'd been an anomaly, a dwarven orphan, lost in Longreach. No one had known where he'd come from, or even his last name, his clan name. Frendar had tried to find out when he was younger, wasting much of his wealth chasing rumors. But he'd always ended up with dead ends. He still sometimes wondered, but no where near as much. Whoever his dwarven relatives were, they'd obviously not been able to take care of him, or hadn't wanted him, or were no longer alive. Whatever the reason, it wasn't his problem anymore. He had a clan, and they were right here. He glanced over them all, smiling. He had a wonderful shield sister in Liandry, a brilliant businessman of a brother in Teolan, a crazy experimenter brother in Nano, and of course a beautiful niece in Leliana. There wasn't much more a dwarf could ask for.

Frendar winked at Leliana again, and dismounted from the wagon, and started walking again. They weren't far now, and could just see the little column of smoke rising and the canopy of the massive oak tree that marked their destination. A small haven, a sanctuary of Talia. It was only run by about five people. It was a haven of rest, and safety, and all were welcome. The small group stopped there everytime on their way back towards Longreach, for both a fine meal, and news of the road ahead. After the sanctuary, it was still almost another two hundred long kilometers until you reached Longreach's gates, and the roads weren't always the safest, naturally. Especially the last sixty to seventy or so before you got to Longreach's west gate, for they went through the edge of the Balin Crags, the mountain range that dominated a fair amount of the northern and eastern part of Raechin. A favorite hideout for all kinds of nasty things, everything from winter wolves, to highwaymen, to Ironfist raiders.

Ironfist was the name of an orc tribe that lived in the Crags. They were a more warlike people, like all of their kind. They could be reasoned with, but also had a nasty habit of ambushing small caravans and robbing them blind. Generally no one was hurt, but occassionally there were deaths, and even worse. Rape was not completely unheard of. Generally however, as long as you were willing to pay up, they'd let you in peace. They got a very vicious reptutation, however, because of like all of their kin, they had a short temper, and generally acted on it quickly and rashly. They weren't evil, but could be brutal and merciless if they were ticked off. Although they could also be rather brutal at the beginning of the trade season.

They weren't the worst of the menances though, for in truth, Teolan actually openly traded with them, on a regular basis. He was even on a first name basis with their current chief, Bolan. In fact, Teolan had been the craftsman who had made the first pair of armored boots for Bolan's ten year old son, Olag. That had been at the beginning of the summer. But Teolan never counted his blessings when it came to Bolan and his people, he was always careful and very respectful. They in turn returned that respect. Teolan smiled as they slowly made their way down the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took them another half hour or so to make the last three kilometers, for they'd had to wait for a grizzly bear that had crossed their path. It had taken all of Teolan's ability to convince the big male that they weren't a threat to its territory. But after a few minutes, it had walked off, happy and quite full from the two large chunks of perserved venison he'd offered it as a sign of respect. Frendar had kept his hand on the handle of his battleaxe the whole time, ready to leap at the beast, even though he'd been horrendously outsized. The bear had been massive, probably close to five feet tall, on all fours, and weighing in easily over seven hundred pounds.

But thankfully that had not been necessary, and as the bear lumbered off, Frendar let out a deep sigh of relief. He'd fought ogres, skilled swordsmen, and even mages. But he'd rather fight any of those then a riled up male grizzly. Ogres were at least dependably stupid and slow, despite their massive strength. Other fighters, well no matter how skilled, all warriors had a failing in their defences. It was the nature of fighting, of being a warrior. Combat was a race to find, and capitalize upon, each other's defensive holes first. Even mages, despite the powerful magic and ability to summon creatures or undead, and their strong minds, were generally defenseless and easy to carve up once you got close. Grizzlies however, were like all three. Quick, strong, viciously smart, and tough as stone. Many a fighter had lost his life to an angry grizzly, because they'd not given the beast the respect it deserved.

Frendar nodded his thanks to Teolan, and the party started moving on again. Leliana watched as the wagon passed, and whistled to the bear. Teolan looked at her wide eyed, and was about to tell her off. The bear turned around and looked at her with its dark eyes. Leliana smiled sweetly, and waved, calling out. "Bye bye, mister bear, and sorry for disturbing you!"

Teolan was going to berate his daughter, but she just pointed behind him, giggling. He turned, and his jaw dropped a bit. The bear had reared up, still with the second chunk of meat in its jaws, and was waving its left paw back and forth, grunting and growling. He watched, amazed a bit, as the bear came down on all fours, and turned, trudging off into the woods. Teolan turned to look at his daughter. There was something odd about her, he'd always known. Just by the way she interacted with Sagerious and Erika. But both owl and mare were used to humaniod creatures, so he'd never given it much thought. But now he did, for to do that, to talk and yell to a wild grizzly bear, and not provoke any sort of response but what had looked like a goodbye wave? That was either very lucky, or something strange. He wasn't sure, but he knew enough about animal behavior, especially in this part of Raechin, that the bear should have either run, or charged back at the wagon. At the very least, the large bear should have just ignored the call. But none of those things had happened.

Liandry had watched the whole thing from the back of the wagon, and smiled under her helm. She kept her eyes on the road behind them, thinking about the first time she'd done that. There was a reason she had the mace known as Mercy. The weapon had the sigil of Talia on it, for Liandry, and her mother before here, and her mother's mother, and so on, had all been warrior-clerics of Talia. They had all been wanderers and the weapon, though not really magical as far as Liandry remembered, was crafted and named in reference to what her family had considered their duty. To live and protect nature how they could, whilst always trying to avoid the ending of lives wherever possible. This was what her goddess told her to do as a cleric, a preistess. As such, she always did what she could to avoid killing, even when provoked into a fight, and always would help any person, plant or animal she came upon that was injured, using her goddess given magic to try and heal their hurts.

Liandry was pleased to see the connection to nature Leliana had was just as strong as her's had been as a child. Leliana glanced back through the wagon to see her mother staring at her, smiling. Liandry nodded her approval, and Leliana blushed a little bit, and clambered back to sit with Liandry. Liandry passed Leliana her mace, knowing what her daughter was there for. She loved looking at the beauty of the simple piece, for it had the same simple, yet entrancing kind of beauty as nature. A beauty of balance and equality of parts. Leliana felt the weight, and as always happened when she got to hold her mom's mace, she envisioned herself like her mom. She idolized Liandry, and had often expressed her desire to become like her mom. Liandry had always smiled and whispered to her, "Soon my daughter, soon enough I'll teach you. For now, just be a child, and revel in it."

Leliana did as she was told, but always she was anxious. Every year on her birthday, the summer solstice, she would ask the same thing of her mom. Last year the answer had finally changed, and for the few months, Leliana and her mom had sparred many times. Leliana even had her own practise equipment. Many minutes dragged by, and Leliana heard her father's call. "Whoa, Erika, whoa girl." And then his call of "Joakim, it is Teolan and his family. May we be offered sanctuary?"

Leliana handed her mom's mace back to her, and clambered to the front of the wagon, excited. No matter how many times she saw it, the beauty of the small sanctuary always entranced her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The strong, tall man peaked up as he heard the call. He quickly stuck the wood hatchet into the wood chopping block in front of him, and quickly pulled on his dusty brown cloth shirt. He wiped his hands, and turned out to the entrance of the sanctuary, walking around the large tree and the building that was around it. Then between the two smaller buildings just in front of it, down the short path that connected the sanctuary to Talios Way. It was only about a hundred metres, not very long. As he came to make out the figure at the reins of the wagon, he grinned happily. "Teolan my friend!" he called out, jogging up to the wagon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teolan smiled, as he heard a familiar voice, and saw a man jogging up to the wagon. His old friend Joakim. He'd known Joakim since the young man had been fourteen. Now twenty six, with a child of his own, he looked every bit as strong and youthful as always. He had short brown hair, and a short, thick brown beard. His eyes were a piercing amber color. He was well built, very close to six feet tall, easily a hundred and ninety pounds. He was barrel chested. He looked a gruff woodsman, and that look came from having built this sanctuary almost single handedly. He'd had some help, Teolan among the helpers, but most of the heavy work for the actual construction of the structures had been all Joakim. The man loved to work in and around nature, and had approached the main building, the church, as a challenge. He refused to work around the beautiful massive oak tree, and also had refused to cut it down.

What he had done had amazed everyone. He'd built the church around, and in the canopy of the tree. The chapel had a mass meeting area in front, four walls around it, and the tree. But no roof, for it was built to be under the canopy. The bell tower and library and such that normally was associated with all chapels of deities across Valerick were built in the tree. Nestled between V-shaped branches, with rope ladders reaching up to them. They were even carefully wall, built around the tree's branches and trunk. It was truly a marvel to see.

The man who'd done it all came up and Teolan smiled at how plain he looked. He wore his holy symbol, a thin gold chain with a silver and green pendant of the tree of life and death hanging from it. Other then that, however, he was dressed very plainly. A worn and faded brown cloth shirt, and some black rawhide pants. His feet were bare, and heavily calloused. Teolan grinned, motioning to the lackluster attire, and the sweat on Joakim's forehead, as the man climbed up to sit on Teolan's left. "So Joakim, it looks as if we caught you in the middle of some work?"

Joakim nodded, and motioned to Teolan to enter the sanctuary. Teolan gave a light touch of the reins, clicking to Erika. The mare snorted her response, lifted her head, still chewing the mouthful of weeds she had been eating, and started walking up the path. Joakim responded to Teolan's question, "Yes, we had a bit of an accident, and now one of the stalls in the stable needs a new wall. A horse we had here a few days ago got spooked by a falling hay bale, and kicked it out. So I'm just chopping up a couple small chunks of wood now. I was hoping you'd show up, I could use a hand. The wall's totalled, that horse did a lot of damage. Of course, as always, your help is appreciated, and I'll see your supplies replenished before you leave."

Teolan nodded, but thought about it. He looked back at Joakim. "Let us get settled up, and get our wagon parked and Erika situated. Then we'll go take a look." Teolan looked at Nano, who nodded, and Teolan continued, "Depending on the amount of damage, Nano here maybe able to save rebuilding it." Joakim nodded his agreement.

Leliana paid little attention to her father and Joakim's conversation, looking at her mother, and then Frendar, questioningly. Liandry and Frendar both nodded to her. She rushed into the wagon, as Teolan reined in Erika lightly, so the wagon stopped directly beside the small stable. It could hold eight horses, four stalls on each side of the building. Each stall was about ten feet by twelve feet, and the hallway between the two sides was about seven feet wide. One side of the hallway had the large double door that was common to such stalls. The other side had an opening into a rather decent sized room where horse tack was kept.

Leliana pulled out the drawer where she kept her clothes, and from underneath pulled out a wooden practise shield and mace, that were designed to look like her mother's. She also carefully placed the flute inside the drawer, and closed it. She scampered out the back, and Liandry and Frendar flanked her. Liandry smiled at her husband, as she put her helmet back on. "We'll be back for lunch in a couple hours, love." she called, waving. "We're going to go have a bit of fun and teaching first."

Teolan smiled, and nodded. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of letting Leliana start learning to fight at such an early age, but she seemed to idolize Liandry, and wanted to be just like her mother. In truth, age was Teolan's only arguement against it, and he was reasonable enough to realize that wasn't a strong enough arguement to justify trying to argue with both his wife and daughter. So he let them have their way, and quickly bounded off the wagon. He moved to Erika's left, and started unhooking the wagon from the horse, taking off her tack as he did so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leliana smiled, as they moved off throught he trees and underbrush to come to the spot that they had found last year. It was a great spot for training, with two tall trees, one maple, and the other an ash tree, dominating the fifteen foot diameter area. The ground was full of twigs and small stones, and was not flat at all, with roots and dips and rises all over it. The perfect training ground, for it represented the most likely scenario. Very rarely would a warrior find themselves lucky enough to be fighting for their life on smooth flat ground, with clear sight in every direction as far as they could see.
More likely was this kind of scenario, thick woods and brush around you, rough uneven ground, and many objects and obstructions that could be used to your advantage, or against you. So this, and other small places like this along the road, was where Liandry and Frendar preferred to progress Leliana's lessons. It might be a slightly slower process, but she proved adept at learning over long stretches of time, and the closer to the real thing they got to start, the better off she'd be if she ever found herself in the real thing. That was the logic Liandry and Frendar used anyway.

Frendar smiled at her, and looked at Liandry. Liandry nodded, and moved off, leaning against the large maple tree. Frendar chuckled, as he walked over to the ash tree. He took his battleaxe off his back, and stuck it up against the tree, blades down. He also took off his gauntlets, unclasped the clip for his travelling cloak, and also took off his boots. He smiled, as Leliana moved and placed her wooden shield and mace beside her mom, and moved out to face Frendar. They shook hands, and both got into a crouch. Frendar quickly put his superior strength into play, moving straight in to try and grapple Leliana. But the young elf was no stranger to the dwarf's bull like tactics, and didn't stay there. She side stepped, and as he stumbled by, she grabbed his left arm, and quickly applied upward pressure to it, forcing him to slow down and reach across himself with his right arm. She released and fell back out of reach, waiting to strike again.

He smiled, always glad she'd come to understand the different rules of the game for both of them. She couldn't hope to have the strength to beat him, so instead her objective was simply last as long as she could, wearing Frendar down, much like she would have too if she was ever faced with an opponent who was that much stronger then her. Using her speed and stamina, to wear out the more heavily armored and slower moving opponent. She was proving to be adept at such things, dancing circles around Frendar's simple warm up, his attempts to grab hold of her head on. However she was well aware that the dwarf was simply 'stretching himself out', as he would put it. He was much craftier then this, and could move faster then these straight forward rushes would indicate.

They played at this for a few minutes, as the dwarf loosened his muscles. He did need to stretch, simply because the chainmail was rather heavy, and the weight naturally wanted to restrict his range of motion. After wearing it for almost six hours, it had definitely caused some tightening up. Not enough to have caused him issues had he needed to fight with his axe. But in a contest of endurance, dexterity, and strength like this, they'd definitely tightened up enough to be an issue.

After a few more passes, he cracked his knuckles, and smiled at Leliana. She knew that signal all to well. It was game on. He rushed her in another bull rush, but this time was ready to start fighting back. She side stepped, but he pivoted and followed, as she tried to put a lock on his left arm. His right leg stepped behind her ankles, just as she started twisting and forcing pressure on his elbow. He put all his weight into trying to force her into his foot, to trip her. But the agile young elf hopped over him, never letting go of his arm. He tried a different tact, throwing himself at her. She did as he expected, as he'd even taught her. She side stepped to the right, still controlling his left arm, pulling it across him. This was a good move, for it stopped Frendar from having any way of trying to grapple his smaller opponent. But there was a flaw.

Instead of trying to grapple, or get loose, Frendar simply turned with her sidestep, and barreled down on her, bringing his superior weight into things. She was quickly on his back, as he had taught her, and quickly was trying to put him in a throat lock using her arms. He brought his chin down hard on her right arm, grabbed it, and literally lifted her over his shoulder. If this had been a real bar fight, or brawl, he'd have flipped her over himself and basically brought her down hard on the ground in front of him. But instead he kept the tone of his throw light, and she landed hard, but not painfully so. He moved quickly, deceptively so given the weight of his armor and his own weight, and got a grip on her right arm. He put her in a decent arm lock, and started applying a little bit of pressure.

Leliana grimaced, and twisted about a bit, trying to get loose. But one thing Frendar did have was a grip of iron, and after a few short moments, she acknowledged defeat, pounding the ground with her left hand. He let go, and rose, offering her a hand. She took it and he pulled her up, and hugged her. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed the top of his head, noting she wasn't the only one sucking air. "How long was that?" Leliana asked him.

Frendar laughed, as he moved over to the tree to retrieve his possessions. From a pocket sewn in his cloak, he pulled a small water canteen. He took a deep drink, and used some on his hair, face and beard. He popped the top on it, and tossed it to Leliana. She took a long drink as well, and splashed a little in her hair. Frendar shrugged and gave it his best guess. "A third of an hour or so, perhaps a little bit longer."

Leliana smiled happily, capping the canteen, and tossing it back to Frendar. She got up, and started going through the routine of muscle loosening exercises her mother had taught her. Liandry watched, impressed that Leliana could already remember them all. She stepped out from under the tree, and spoke to her daughter, whilst Leliana kept stretching. "Leliana, after today I want you to start joining me in the morning to do these exercises, because soon enough you'll have your own arms and armor, and its important to be loose and relaxed. Or else your muscles will lock up by midday from the weight and restriction of wearing armor and carrying your own steel all the time."

Leliana nodded, focused on the exercises. She knew that Liandry expected her to keep her focus. She went through the routine, first stretching out her legs and calves, and then her arms and shoulders and neck. Then her knees and back, all with multiple stretches and exercises. The whole sequence took about a half an hour, and when she was done, she rose.

Liandry picked up Leliana's practise shield and mace, quickly tossing one and then the other to her daughter. Leliana caught the shield in her left hand, and the mace in her right. She got her left arm secured in the straps of the shield, and gripped the mace by the handle. Both were made of solid oak, so were fairly heavy, for only being made of wood. She looked expectantly at her mother. Liandry secured her shield on her left arm, and took grip of her mace's handle. She turned to face her daughter, and began the lesson by running through the five basic shield strikes they'd covered last time, getting her to perform each one a few times to insure she understood.

"Alright, so let's see what you remember." Liandry said, as she took up stance beside her daughter, shield in front of her, mace arm carefully and measurably hanging by her side. Leliana took up the same. The shields basically covered them from neck to groin and all the way across their body. Liandry called for the first strike. "So from this position, to surprise your opponent, what's the strike you can use?"

Leliana bent her knees, and replied, her face serious. "Shield bash, like this!" She stepped in hard, and her arm swung out with all her force behind it. The wooden training shield made a decent noise obviously having a lot of force behind it. Had anyone been on the other side, she'd have definitely driven them back, and maybe dazed or stunned them.

Leliana stepped back in, and Liandry nodded, her approval. "Good form, excellent execution. Now what's key to remember about this attack?"

Leliana answered from memory right away, again showing excellent learning skills. She moved through the attack slowly, stopping to illustrate her explaination. "When you first power forward, although surprise will be on your side, you are committing to a target you cannot see. Because your shield arm must come up some to let you make good solid contact with the bosk. You need to be extra aware of your periphral vision, and your sense of hearing. These will be your only defense against a devastating counter attack on your open side, should they side step the attack."

Liandry nodded again. "Very good, your quick memory is serving you well. Alright, what's the next one?"

Leliana again took up the stance, but this time, she explained what was happening, as she envisioned the opponent she didn't have. "The next one is the stagger punch. Its best used against an opponent who has a weapon you can easily deflect, like a spear or rapier. You catch their thrust on the angled part of the bosk, and tilt your shield outward, thusly," she demonstrated, and continued, "if they made the mistake of using to much follow through, they will be vulnerable, weapon extended. Bring your shield back in quickly, in a straight path, like this!" From the side of her body, she punched with her left arm. The shield's vertical edge would have made solid contact with her vulnerable opponent. She finished the explanation, as she got back to an even stance. "From that point, they will at least be staggering, if not completely winded and defenseless. If necessary, now is the perfect time to bring your mace to bear."

They moved through the other three basic ones, and Liandry was quite pleased. Leliana had struggled a bit to recall the last of the five, the uppercut, but that one wasn't very common, more used if your opponent somehow got right in front of you, but without getting behind the shield. It was very rare, even Liandry had only ever used the move twice that she could recall. So she moved on, leading Leliana through some basic strikes with the mace, both the vertical and horizontal attacks. She began teaching her the proper use of her wrist as well.

Many thought that the brutality of a mace, like the other weapons it was generally catergorized with, the hammer, club and handaxe, was about raw power. This was not entirely true. Whilst true for the larger two handed versions of the weapons, the one handed versions had a little finesse trick to them, something that made them hit harder and faster. The only weapon of the four that were generally catergorized together that actually was about raw power was an axe. Unlike the other three, an axe was meant to pierce and cut into your opposition, and the more force it struck home with, the further it could go in. If you could strike hard enough to cleave through flesh and bone, there was no reason not to. The rest however, weren't meant for that. They were meant for multiple strikes, doing large amounts of internal damage. As such, of course there was a trick, a little finesse of technique.

It was all about when to release the tension of your wrist. When you swung, at the last second, you wanted to snap your wrist forward, allowing all the energy potential in that stiff muscle to come out in one short, quick motion. This not only would ensure you hit harder, but would also create a small 'bounce' effect, since you would make contact slightly faster then if you kept your wrist straight with your arm. The bouncing effect was useful, for if you timed your pulling back just right, it took less effort to bring your arm and the mace back for another swing. This was because since the mace had 'bounced' it's momentum wasn't fighting you, since it was rebounding towards you a little bit.

Generally it wasn't noticeable to any but the very well trained, but Liandry knew from experience that if a fight dragged on, every bit of energy you could conserve meant a lot. Fatigue was a warrior's worst enemy. It dulled the senses, slowed the reflexes, tired out the body, and dulled reaction time. Liandry was a true warrior, one who knew that the seemingly 'harmless' little details were what would generally get you killed. So she decided to stress this little, but extremely important detail now.

They practised for an hour or so more, as Liandry slowly taught Leliana the little bounce trick. She had a fair amount of trouble at first, although when trying to create this effect without something solid to swing at, that was to be expected. But it was good practise, as far as Liandry was concerned. It had been how she had learned, and after days and months of trying to bounce a mace off air. When it came to the first time she'd been in a fight, or a spar even, she'd noticed how much easier it had been with something solid to make contact with.

After an hour or so, however, Leliana was obviously at the edge of her stamina. It wouldn't have been obvious to anyone else, but Liandry was Leliana's mother, and could tell these things. She smiled, and looked at the sun, as if not sure whether she was going to call it off. Leliana still wanted to keep going, to impress her mom. But Liandry knew better, and could tell that all three of them were hungry. She could hear Frendar's stomach growling from across the small fifteen foot training area! She looked at Leliana, and spoke, as she hooked her mace onto her waist, although she kept her shield on. It was easier and more comfortable to carry it the same way she would wear it to fight, so that was how Liandry carried it. "Leliana, I think its time to go and join the others for lunch. Your father is probably wondering where we are. Besides," she said smiling, and nodding towards Frendar, "That dwarf's stomach is rumbling worse then a landslide!"

Frendar jokingly glared at Liandry, but his small grin gave him away. "Watch it, you durn fool elf, it ain't that loud, I'm just a wee bit peckish is all!"

Leliana shook her head, sending droplets of sweat out of her hair in all directions. "No, I want to keep going, I'm not hungry!" But then she started blushing, and Liandry and Frendar broke out laughing, as Leliana's stomach let out a long, soft growl.

Liandry, laughing good naturedly, pointed to her daughter's stomach. "Not hungry, hmm? Your tummy disagrees!"

Leliana couldn't help it and was soon laughing at herself with them. When she managed to get some control of herself, she looked at her mom. "Okay, fine." she said, still giggling, "I guess I'm a bit hungry too. Let's go clean up and enjoy lunch!"

Frendar laughed loudly, a deep belly laugh, and came up rubbed his hand roughly through Leliana's sweaty hair. "That's the first sensible thing you've said today, lassie!" They all gathered up their equipment, and headed back to the sanctuary to eat.