Pruuna sighed as the sound of little paws smashing into cushioned pads resumed from the balcony courtyard. A glance through the kitchen window showed the now very familiar scene of Mrrowl using his arms and legs to strike practice targets attached to Murrv’s paws. Every now and again, Murrv would stop and correct Mrrowl’s form, or demonstrate a particular strike or throw.
While she wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Murrv’s repeated visits to work with Mrrowl on hand to hand combat, she had to admit that the physical exertion seemed to do the ten year old cub a lot of good. He’d stopped sulking, had seemed to return to a condition more approaching normal, and most importantly for a single mother - all of the activity meant there were no more arguments about bed time. Mrrowl was usually asleep very soon after dinner.
Seeing her child trained for combat still wasn’t sitting entirely well with Pruuna, however, Murrv had done a marvelous job stepping in to fill the void left in Mrrowl by his father’s death. She wished her son had latched onto a more passive role model, someone in any other profession for that matter, but she had to admit Mrrowl was thriving under Murrv’s tutelage. Shaking her head, a hard look crossed her face as she came to a decision.
Keeping an eye on the window, Pruuna picked up a comm unit and entered an access code...
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The pad juked left, and Mrrowl leaned in to tag it with a left jab, only to get blindsided as the right-hand pad slammed into his right ear. As his head snapped to the left, a leg swept his feet out from under him and Mrrowl crashed to the ground.
“Don’t get fixated on your target Mrrowl! Have patience and wait for your opening. Rushing will just get you killed.” Murrv stated sternly. “Always try to keep threats in front of you - don’t sacrifice your vision of one to get at the other. Circle or pull back if you must, but don’t let them surround you.”
Shaking his head to clear it, Mrrowl nodded and got up off of the hard floor, resuming a “ready” stance. Murrv smiled inwardly to see the hard set of the cub’s jawline, accented by a squint of concentration that gave the boy’s darting stare a disconcerting flinty look.
This time, Murrv led with a fast leg sweep, and was gratified to see the cub easily leap over the sweep and tag both targets at once with his feet, ending with a tuck and roll that brought Mrowwl to his feet on Murrv’s weak side. From his new position, the cub gave two moderate jabs to the elder warrior’s left kidney before swiftly moving back out of range of a countering hammer blow.
Murrv winced at how strong the cub was getting as he rubbed his back over his aching kidney for a moment, then winked to allay the concerned look that Mrrowl was giving him. It was a good thing that he’d be off for the Academy soon, the old warrior knew that he’d be outclassed in no time.
“All right, all right little warrior. That’s enough hand to hand for today,” Mrrowl’s face fell, and Murrv smiled as he added, “but tomorrow we’ll work some more on the axe.”
At the mention of Mrrowl’s favorite weapon, his eyes and face lit up and he rushed over to give his Uncle a hug with a big smile on his face, before hurrying inside towards the smell of dinner.
Murrv nodded to Pruuna on his way to the front door, and his mind raced as he noticed that her teeth were bared in a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. Other than her call to come help with Mrrowl, he had barely spoken to her since S’ruul’s funeral. With a last look, he activated the door and stepped out into the corridor, keeping half an eye on his flank as the door slammed shut behind him.
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