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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 18:55:32 GMT -5
Part of the training complex for the soldiers, the sparring yards were made for soldiers to work on swordplay and unarmed combat. Square sections of hard-packed earth are ringed by low fences, a few benches placed between the them.
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 18:58:34 GMT -5
Mikail knew the ways into the training yards without having to get past grumpy palace guards. One just had to slip through the servants wing. It didn't hurt if one was small. The few palace servants who saw him and Ravian just smiled. City children often came to watch the soldiers practice. In the yard, the boy was overjoyed to find that the soldiers were practicing swordplay. A small group of new recruits were being trained in one yard while the others were filled with older soldiers having practice bouts against each other. "Where do you wanna go?" He asked Ravian.
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 19:02:27 GMT -5
"Over here," he said, tugging Mikail towards a fence. "If we climb that, we can watch everybody at once." He let go of Mikail, then rubbed his hands together, and he reached up and pulled himself up onto the beam. After a bit of scrabbling, he climbed to the top of the relatively short fence, and from there he could see the practices. "Come on up, Mikail," he said.
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 19:07:46 GMT -5
"I'm coming." Mikail successfully pulled himself up to the first beam but when he reached for the second one, he almost slipped off and fell to the ground. He clutched at the wooden beam he was on, holding himself tight against the wood. "Actually, I'm good here," he said.
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 19:18:29 GMT -5
Ravian looked down, hearing the smaller boy's struggles. Seeing he was having trouble, he held his hand down to his friend. "Come on, I'll pull you up," he said, leaning way over to actually be able to reach Mikail.
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 19:21:11 GMT -5
Holding tight to the railing with one hand, Makail reached up with the other to take Ravian's hand. He stood on his tipy-toes and quickly moved his hand from the lower railing to the higher one. With Ravian's help, he scrambled up into the the higher rung, staying close to the post to keep steady. "Thanks," he told his friend, looking around. They really could see more from up here.
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 20:08:23 GMT -5
Ravian struggled a little to pull up Mikail, only because he wasn't exactly developed. He was only seven, and Mikail wasn't that much smaller than him. He gripped onto the fence with both hands again and looked out to the yard, watching the varied soldiers going at it, back and forth. Some of the trainees were having an interesting time, half of them being knocked on their backsides, which made Ravian giggle to no end.
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 20:16:36 GMT -5
Mikail pointed at one pair of soldiers sparing near the trainees. They were both obviously experienced warriors, moving back and forth with liquid grace. "Some day, I'm gonna be that good," he told Ravian. "I'm gonna be the best soldier ever and win all the fights I get into," he declared.
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 20:30:29 GMT -5
Ravian looked at Mikail, then followed his line of sight to the two sparring soldiers. He grimaced, gripping the wood tight with his fingers. "Soon I'll be big enough to be a soldier," he grumbled. "Then you will be big enough and can be a soldier too. We can be soldiers together."
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 20:43:04 GMT -5
"Yeah." Mikail nodded. "I'll fight with you. We'll be the best soldiers in the army. You have to wait for me, okay? Until I'm big enough to be the best with you."
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 20:50:18 GMT -5
"Well," Ravian trailed off, rocking back and forth on his heels to the balls of his feet, as most of his weight was kept with his arms. "Well, Momma says that she's sending me to training soon. I have to be a servant first, then I can be a cadet. But first I gotta do all the servant stuff, so she says I need to start working soon." She had said next moon, but he didn't really pay attention to moons. He was usually sleeping when the moon was up and about. He looked down at Mikail. "But when you turn seven, you can come too, and I'll teach you everything so that you learn really fast."
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 21:03:00 GMT -5
Mikail wrinkled his nose. "I don't wanna be a servant. I wanna be a soldier!" He wanted to learn how to protect people and fight, not how to wash dished and do what old men told him to do. "When you start training, are you going to go away?"
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 21:15:16 GMT -5
"Mm Mm," he said, shaking his head. "And you have to be a servant first, silly. They teach you to follow orders and what swords and stuff does. But you only have to do that for a while, then you get to fight and stuff. That's what Momma told me." He pulled himself over a beam to sit on it, balancing on the top of the fence with his legs hanging over the edge. "I won't be gone all the time, but some of the time, I'll be working and stuff. And Momma says it's good cause then we can have more food."
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Post by Dawny on Jan 19, 2015 22:32:36 GMT -5
Mikail frowned. "Can I work and help get food too?" He asked. "I can give it to you, and the priests. They always give me food. Will being a servant help me make food?"
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Post by Luck Jaegar on Jan 19, 2015 22:43:49 GMT -5
Ravian nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, it will. You get lots of food if you work really hard. That's what Momma always says." And by default, Momma was always right in his eyes. He looked back out to the soldiers, excitement flaring in his eyes. He really was going to miss playing all day with Mikail, but getting to be a soldier was also a big adventure.
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