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Serene Herald	The day is a balance today: a blend of sun and breeze that provides the perfect mix of warmth and cool to be utterly refreshing. Perfect Question is working out, going through the forms of the Shining Point, poised with sword sheathed, and then a sudden burst of pseed, sword drawn and a lunghe forward to strike deep, recover to guard, and then another slash. It may be only with a practice blade, but he moves precisely. Almost like clockwork. On the wall above the weapons and armor racks, a giang spider stands and watches, iridescent eyes opaque with arachnid inscruitability.
Misa	Misa steps out of the modest building atop the stone platform at a leisurely pace, eyeing the yard and the singular student therein. She makes her way down the steps into the dirt section of the yard, eyes flicking to the large spider for hardly a moment before focusing on the student at work. Usually, she would have some slight adjustment to foot spacing nudged into place with her sheathed blade, or something to similar effect. No such thing comes, today. Rather, Misa lowers to the ground, toes tucked and resting on her knees before speaking. "Your technique... is about as far as I might be able to take a person. Which is... nothing to scoff at. I suspect what you might wish to work on is more general work on balance, agility. They will help you when using these methods in the moment- and contribute more than you think to your speed of approach. Strengthen you, as well." Perhaps to illustrate what she means, she leans forward lightly, hands emerging from her voluminous sleeves to rest on the packed earth. Her arms twist outward, shifting said hands to point her fingers behind her and slightly out to the side. She leans forward further- and lifts her weight onto her hands besides. Slowly she moves further forward while extending her legs behind her- balanced out in parallel with the ground. She's remarkably steady, even as the steep angle to rest her hands closer to her center of gravity is surely straining the strength of her arms and shoulders- nevermind the rest required to remain straightened with no other ground contact.
Serene Herald	"That is of good hearing," Perfect Question replies. "And it feels right. The basics are being mastered, but the body is not all I could wish it being as of yet." Still, he smiles. "And work it will be taking, but anything worthwhile does. As for you! You are of mastering all I could teach as well, at least of the basic form. And the rest is of being more in tune, to be reaching further and delighting heaven with prowess of spirit as well as body." He sets the practice blade aside, neatly, and then seeks to mimic that pose. And it works, mostly. At least he doesn't fall imediately, but he has the basic idea down for balance.
Misa	"To be blunt," says Misa in return, slowly and with considerable control making a smooth return to her seated arrangement, and then rising to her feet again. "My focus has been more upon being ready in case someone in the vein of the Mountain does strike a blow- I have largely set other matters aside. Swift and skilled though I am, I am all too aware of what the great hammers of giants might do to one's body in a moment of poor fortune or balance." She waves the subject off, adjusting the sheathed blade sitting amid her sashes after it shifted slightly in her display. "But regardless. Judging by the... company you keep and arms you bear, and that statement, something tells me you might wish to push yourself more into meditations and the like as well, Question."
Serene Herald	It takes a moment for Question to get back to stnading, and he does so with a bit less grace than Misa does, having to brush his hands off. "I have seen the Mountain, and I am thinking the best way to deal with is blow is to not be of being where the blow lands." He looks a bit wry. "As for what you are saying? I should. Learn the patterns behind the forms. And then exercise it as it truly ought. Not simply form, but essence. Use /intent/. And...can teach intent of the Bier as well."
Misa	There's a faint hint of nod from Misa as Herald more or less confirms her statement, and she steps to turn outward, looking past the stone platform to the adjoining river for a moment. "You do not need me, so much, for that element. You should know, I think, as well as I do... once one has the physicality in place, the rest... flows, in a much more personal way. Once one gives it the proper attention and intent. I have three other forms of martial prowess to attest to that. I had no teacher when the time came to step beyond the purely mundane in the style you now work to master. I lost that instruction in the same breath that I gained the ability. We can train you, of course- though as noted, my focus is... elsewhere, at the moment, in my own development. But do not ever underestimate the value of simply taking a breath, slowing down, and examining yourself as you move through your forms."
Serene Herald	"Indeed. And the first time things happen, it's natural, but completely unexpected!" Question nods. "It was of being like that when I first grasped things. When purpose is of manifest." A solemn nod. "If that is the case, can you be showing the strikes? Or is that not to be being of help?"
Misa	A pause from Misa, and she looks back at Herald a moment. "Facing off? Or simply in a vacuum, so to speak?" In either case, her right hand reaches down, taking hold of the scabbard of her sword and withdrawing it from her sashes, hanging casually at her side. "They may be... differing displays. But there are a number of things one could master, and value in most. Though I doubt I could quite show the potential responses to, say, sorceries."
Serene Herald	"It is best to study sorcery to be of countering sorcery. Or to study those who know how to be fighting it," Question muses. "As for the strike..." He thinks a long while, "I am thinking that it needs to be done as a true strike. Facing off. Yes, I am sure you are to be striking me, but it is of being the best way to truly understand it? If you are thinking I am of being able enough to learn without facing directly, I will accept that as well."
Misa	"I think you would learn in time either way- but if you would like to face off, that is certainly an option," Misa notes simply, stepping to the side to set down her actual blade and pick up one of her reed-and-wood practice blades, thoroughly meant to sting rather than injure. "But as I may remind, the form can be... overwhelming to face. Do prepare yourself- there will be... much to take in
Serene Herald	He takes his own practice weapon and holds steady. A basic guard, but there's a reason those are basic--they work. Especially in the hands of those who know them well. Left shoulder ahead, right behind, feet mirroring, as he balances and readies himself. And he watches. Intently. Form, technique, and essence all.
Misa	Misa shifts her own footing- similarly her left is forward, the sheathed practice blade held by the scabbard in her right hand behind her. Her left hand is poised to draw, and otherwise she's quite still. And then, in the moment between heartbeats, she explodes into action. In a normal moment, Misa is as swift and nimble as any human might hope to be. In this moment? Her offensive is at least twice as swift- relentless, pressing Question's guard from multiple angles to such a degree that one could be forgiven for mistaking Misa for two of herself. Her blade seems almost liquid, the wood and reed looking as though they bend with the rapid motions. She's grown stronger than average in recent days and weeks, but the strikes come in with a force that belies her rather meagrely impressive physical might. Between attacks the weapon returns to its scabbard- perhaps noteworthy. If one had the specialty of eyes to see the flows of essence in the world, the intensity of essence that suffuses Misa's body, impelling it to its superhuman speeds at this moment would be enough to appear dangerous even to the user. Similarly, the essence pouring into the false blade almost threatens to destabilize as she strikes- only to be dissipated and bled off before tipping over the edge by the sheathings interspersed throughout.
Serene Herald	The blade flashes, and Question watches it. The feel of the essence, the flow of it. The intent. And as it happens, his blade lashes out to parry--and touches Misa's, though not enough to defelct it from its course. The essence not flowing properly, but a half-formed attempt of one of the foundations of the form. The twin strikes do leave him slightly disoriented, on the back foot. Certainly still capable, and motions still as exact and swift as ever, but slightly delayed, the momentum taken away from him. And there is a gabble that from intonation and inflection is probably cursing, in the tongue of scholars.
Misa	If Misa understands the cursing, she does not react- rather, she remains as relentless as ever, continuing to drive into Question's defenses with absurd speed and force. After a moment's stumble, however, she seems to cease moving so swiftly for a bare moment. In that instant she seems to gather herself, crouching lower in readiness. And then in a movement too fast for most eyes- she darts in in a single strike with a powerful sense of finality and lethal intent. Said strike seems to gather all the barely-restrained essence and momentum she has poured into and gathered from this brief duel- right up until the moment it stops short of aiming for Herald's midsection, the woman seeming to come to a dead stop to pull the blow before striking her student with such force that if the simple, relatively flimsy training blade did not shatter, something in the target most certainly would regardless of how blunted the weapon was.
Serene Herald	Herald's eyes go wide, but even as he starts to parry, the blow is too fast. The training blade shatters spectacularly--far more so than his simple clothing suggests it ought to. The cursing is cut off in a *whuff* and he doubles over to catch his breath, blade still out as he tries to guard. "That...I started to see. I...it is endings...and I can look back to beginnings..." He coughs a bit and licks his lips while the spider chitters in unhappiness.
Misa	"Philosophizing or no, it is a simple thing," says Misa, matter-of-factly as she unceremoniously tosses what remains of the practice blade in her hand into the woods enclosing the dojo. "It is technique, and essence, and will- but ultimately it is -intent-. Focusing all those things into the pure intention to strike down that which would bar your way. Learn to let go- and then to control that which comes after- and you get to the simple, brutish truth of it. It is a killing form, by which one might best many opponents before they've the chance to realize battle is joined. And it is quite good at what it sets out to achieve, in the hands of a master."
Serene Herald	Perfect question nods, and ponders on that a long, long moment, as he controls his breathing and then stands up and stretches sore muscles with quite a wince. "I hear. I am thinking I understand. And we will be knowing when I can start doing such to you." He has a wry smile. "The style I am of knowing, well...it is of acceptance of ends, and with joy having it be others'. But it has almost no hold on those who are fully strong. I...to show you, it would be...to come into own once opponent is impeded by injuries."
Misa	"I had gathered, from seeing it," Misa notes, nodding slightly. "The forms and movements certainly tell a similar story..." she trails off, ponderous. "I would not be... discouraged, by this moment. Your... 'armour' trick, I have seen similar from a friend. And while I do not often like to laud myself... knowing what I know of Creation, I can comfortably say that I would be one of this style's foremost masters within the bounds of the world. An exception among exceptions, you might say. More than once I have learned a style simply by... observing, rather than proper tutelage." "It is easy to lose perspective, sometimes, but even as you are in this style the majority of the world would not hold well to your capabilities. Doubly so with how you are armed and armoured."
Serene Herald	"Armor trick?" He smiles wryly. "It is of being light enough I can wear it and it be hidden from prying eyes. Better to have it against attack, yes? I am of thinking I'd be laid up for weeks if it had not helped buffer the blow. As for the world?" He thinks a moment, "A scholar is of caring more about knowledge and truth and skill than emotions. It is of being a scholar's downfall to be ignoring that part of reality."
Misa	"I am simply swift enough to be upon a person in an eyeblink- some still call it a trick," Misa counters with a wry sort of half-smile, head shaking a little. "I simply prefer to remain... expectant of greater challenges. Avoid developing some sort of arrogance or such."
Serene Herald	"Indeed. And be of knowing when to stand against them, or when to be of running. As of being swift? I may be of keeping pace with wind, but not the blinks, not as of yet." He smiles a bit.
Misa	"I have... gotten more perspective, of late," Misa says with a shrug. "The things I focused on almost religiously... perhaps went to excess. Better rounding, perhaps. Or perhaps that is just the nature of things now- extremes. So tell me, then, to cease speaking of me for a moment. How does one come to my door asking for tutelage with an iridescent sword, armour of silk, and a giant, domesticated form of a famously instinct-driven sort of arachnid?"
Serene Herald	Question sighs, "Scholar I am being, of large repute, and sorcerer of small repute. My familiar will be of following me, of course. As for seeking you out?" He smiles slightly, "Skilled astrologer I am, none more skilled you will find. And so, seeking out swords in the constellations, came I to be seeking of you, yes?"
Misa	"That answers, at most, two of the questions I theoretically posed there," Misa rejoins, brow quirking a little- for all that anyone can see as much, given the obscuration of her hair. "But, well, we all do have our secrets. Histories and natures and secret names and all such. I will not press overmuch if you do not want as much."
Serene Herald	"True enough...as for the rest?" He smiles slightly, "Let me be of saying that I had to leave Chiarascuro in very much the hurry. Translating things, leading me to an abandoned manse. Fled I with treasures, leaving the manse itself to be claimed by pursuers. Content they were, and I am now leagues and hundreds of leagues away."
Misa	She nods slowly, considering. "Well. I suppose I have heard stranger stories. I do hope nothing undesireable comes of it. In the meantime... ought I let you return to your practice? You seemed to have much to think on, after the brief demonstration."
Serene Herald	"Very much. And next time, well...if I can be beating someone, I can be of demonstrating more of what I can teach if you wish to have essence flow according to the forms. But for now....more practice, and then to be seeing someone for some medicine. And I am of thanking you for the lesson!"
Misa	A bow of the head from Misa, and she offers a simple gesture to carry on as she turns to go. "Best of fortune with all such- particularly the medicine. Something one wants to go quite well, I am forced to imagine."