"...Huh?" (Open)

[Abagael Zellan]

“…Do not move the torso to the left. Lower the torso straight down as you bend the knees and move the left foot out into position…What?”

Abagael Zellan squinted down at the open book on the floor. The position her body was in couldn’t have been farther from the picture demonstration of the kata. Abby growled and shimmied until she was in some harmony with the diagram. It had only been twenty minutes since the woman had started but already she was frustrated, and getting nowhere.

It was a rare thing for Abby to be found in the training rooms. Work and a child kept her from the Temple a great deal, and it was hard to find time to concentrate towards anything else. But there were still a few rare empty days, days when Trent was at his fathers and there was no work needing her attention at the office, that needed attention.

The last time that she had been here, Abagael had found that she had a knack for boxing. Boxing however, would only take her so far. She had thought that perhaps the skills that the physical sport required would make learning more graceful defenses easier. She was wrong.

“Bring both fists by the right waist in no particular position, and then snap them up and around strongly…Around where? What in the…”

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei was casually strolling through the Academy, thinking up ideas for lessons to teach his Padawans when something interesting caught the corner of his eye.

"What's this here?" He said to himself.

Wei looked into the room, and there was a young lady looking at a book on the ground. Judging from her actions, Wei figured she was trying to learn martial arts.

"The books never help much, do they?" Wei said with a chuckle, leaning nonchalantly inside the doorway.

[Abagael Zellan]

Abagael glanced up quickly with a frown before looking back down at the page. She moved experimentally, trying to figure the process out. An exasperated sigh escaped her.

"The damn book's a frelling crock."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei chuckled, and walked over to Abagael. "Books can be hard to learn from."

Wei looked down at the book for a second, raising an eyebrow at the pictures and then glanced at the written instructions. Wei shrugged.

"Well, at least they tried."

Wei placed the tip of his foot on the corner of the page, and used his other toe to close the book on top of it to hold Abagael's place. Then he lifted her chin so she was looking at him instead of the ground.

"Why do you want to learn martial arts?" Wei asked, looking her full in the eye.

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby raised one shapely eyebrow dangerously and slowly moved the mans hand away from her. A thin smile was plastered onto her face.

"First, so people don't do that to me."

The woman took a step away from the book, agitated with the stupid thing. Abby flung her hair off her shoulders and shrugged.

"And because it's needed." here she paused to adjust the waistband of her pants,"I don't know how to fight. Well, other than box, but I wanted to add a little finese to my style."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "I am sorry for my unwanted touch."

Wei took his toe out of the book and kicked it so it slid across the room.

"When it comes to martial arts, I don't have time for people who want to fool around or act silly. The martial arts are a dangerous thing. They keep us in shape, sure. But at their heart, the martial arts are made for hurting people. I will not tolerate people taking martial arts lightly, or abusing the power that they gain from learning the martial arts."

Wei stretched for a minute or two. "I trust that you will neither take what I am about to teach you lightly, nor will you abuse what I am going to teach you."

Wei walked over to stand beside and slightly in front of Abagael. "Let's begin with a basic stance. Put your feet a little more than shoulder width apart and bend your knees. Bring your forearms into chamber next to your lower ribs."

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby watched intently, simultaneously adjusting her own position until it resembled the mans, albeit slightly.

"Wait...slow down..."

She frowned and moved her arm a little.

"...Like this?

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked over at her, and returned to a normal standing position to help her out.

"Bend you knees more," Wei said, nudging her behind her knee with his toe.

"As for your arms, not bad." Wei moved in front of her and raised her forearms so they lined up with her lowest ribs. "Right there. Helps to generate power in your punches. But that's later."

Wei circled Abby to check on the rest of her stance. "Good. Now, pay attention to me again."

Wei stood so Abby was looking at his side and assumed the basic stance she was in. "See my hips? My butt kind of looks like it's poking out, doesn't it? That's bad. So, we roll the hips forward..." Wei shifted his pelvis forward and his back looked remarkably straighter. "Now we're grounded."

[Abagael Zellan]

"Bloody hell, how do you have time to do all this when you're fighting?"

But she grounded herself as Wei had done, then took a moment to reposition her arms. Abby's tongue was between her lips in momentary concentration.

"Okay... But I'm kind of vulnerable like this, aren't I?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked at her and chuckled. "Well, it all comes naturally to me. I've been doing this since I could walk."

Wei moved next to her again. "I suppose you could say that. But if your reflexes are good, you can block most attacks. And you can move too, but it's important to keep your center of balance where it is at all times. Come along, we'll do some basic blocking."

Wei brought his forearm up over his head. "This blocks an overhead strike, obviously." Wei moved his arm down closer to his leg. "This blocks low strikes." Then he moved his forearm to the outside. "For outside strikes." Finally, Wei moved his arm in close to his chest. "And this last one is for attacks from the inside."