“Right,” Colin said with a firm nod, stepping backwards and gathering himself for a moment to think about the next step to his swordplay. Perhaps if he kept the blade closer to his body, his strikes would be harder to block.
The wider strikes were probably leaving him open to attack as well, not that Theo seemed intent on moving to the offensive.
Colin took Theo’s advice and feinted to the right, then turned in a full circle away from Theo, flipping his sword into his other hand and striking from the left.
Colin was naturally better with his left hand, but it was hard to find a left-handed blade, so he’d learned swordplay with his right. He was probably mistakenly hitting Theo with the blunt side as well, a fatal mistake against a true enemy.
It was, however, a creative move.
Theodore’s eyes flashed when Colin executed the bold trick; he had asked for a feint, to be sure, but wasn’t expecting a hidden ace. The lad was quick!
“Wonderful!” he exclaimed after he recovered—he hadn’t expected the strength of blow from the left particularly, and he had to adjust his stance.
“And so the card is flushed,” he quipped heartily, sheathing his sword. “Tell me, are you ambidextrous? Quite the talent for swordplay. I’d reserve this skill for necessity’s sake in the future.”
Theo took a deep breath and motioned to Colin with a wave of his fingers.
“Come! Where to next?”
“Actually, just left-handed,” Colin said, blushing at the praise. “I’m much better left-handed than right…”
Colin returned the sword to the place Theo had retrieved it from at the beginning of their little lesson, making sure that it was exactly where it had been. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was supposed to be using weapons not issued to him by the school. After that, he returned to Theo’s side.
“Um… I’m not exactly sure…” as he was puzzling over where to head next, something he’d heard one of the other students talking about came to mind. “Isn’t there a lake or something here?” Although he tried to hide it, his eyes brightened at that idea. The water source back home was a well that was filled by an inaccessible spring from a tiny higher island. Colin hadn’t seen a lake, but for the glimpse of the one on Skyloft he’d had on the way in.
“Mm…the waterfall lake,” Theo hummed. “Sure! We’d better visit now, while it’s light and the Remlits are…agreeable,” he added, cringing slightly.
To venture lakeside he veered a sharp left and descended the sandy slope toward the bazaar. Looking toward Colin he waved forward.
“Come along now!”
