Tanya stood at her hut, thanking the Fire of the North for the warm weather. At long last, spring was finally settling upon them. She brushed aside the niceties and marched to the apprentices' hut. She knocked on the door and waited for Stone to open it up.

Nicoma took a moment to get to the door. First she had actually been deep in sleep so it took her a moment to wake. Then in her hast to get the door she had got tangled in her hammick(sp).

"Hey Picoli." She said breathlessly when she finally got to the door.

Tanya let a wane smile pass her lips. "Problems?" she inquired.

"Oh, you know." Nicoma said, returning the smile, "Mornings."

Picoli forced back a smile. "As a warrior, you'll have to learn to like any time of the day. Other Tribes might cherish the mornings. Some the nights. Some midday, when it is hottest. Still, some warriors just don't like any time of the day at all." She thought for a moment. "I'm sort of one of those warriors. Except, I'm a warrior that embraces all times, rather than hates them all."

"Personaly, I like the night and midday." Nicoma said. "Mornings and I don't get along."

"Learn to like them," Picoli advised and without another word trotted toward the entrance to the camp, getting ready for hand-to-hand lessons.

Nicoma stood there for a moment. SLowly a smile spread over her lips and she followed her mentor, ready for her lesson.

On the way to the training hollow, Picoli explained a couple things to her apprentice. "I'm going to teach you all the forms of battle training that you'll find useful. Hand-to-hand; hand-to-weapon; and weapon-to-weapon." She paused in her speech. "Today I'm teaching you the fundimentals of hand-to-hand."

"Sweet!" Nicoma said. "THat sounds fun!" She couldn't wait for the new experience, she had never really done hand-to-hand commbat....the fights with Current had just been scuffles, she hadn't really known any special moves or anything.

"Show me your stance," Picoli ordered, squaring up with her, but not dropping into her own stance.

Nicoma got into the stance she always took when threatening people with her fists. She doubted it was right, but it was the only one she knew.

Picoli tilted her head to the side and dropped into her own position. "First, I won't tell you how to do it. If it works for you, I'll still critique it later, but we have to find out how you'll menouver (sp?) your body in it"

She nodded her head. "Ready when you are."

Nicoma took a deep breath, she was nervous about this. Hand-to-hand was new to her. When she figured she was steady enough to fight, she took a quick few steps forward and punched out at her mentor.

Picoli easily dodged Stone's fist, but she didn't strike out herself. She wanted to see what her apprentice really could do before she fought back at all. "Not bad," she encouraged. "Next time, though, be a little faster."