[center][h3][color=Slategray][b]G O H[/b][/color][/h3]
[sup]Interacting with: The Three Students
[h3]Western Forest Clearing [color=a9a9a9]||[/color] Training [color=a9a9a9]||[/color] Contentment [/h3][/sup][/center]

The old man threaded the fishing line through his calloused, wrinkly fingers as he brought the slender pole up with his opposite hand. With movements smoothed by long experience, he cast the line out into the air, then steadied both hands at the rod’s base. The corner of his mouth quirked in what might have been a smile as he waited for the first bite.

A wooden blade swept towards the lure---a plain tube of hollow wood, with the string fastened to  a plug at its other end. Goh flicked his wrist and the target nimbly hopped over the horizontal slash. With the slightest movement of his hand, the line swung like a pendulum. His student gave a determined shout and chased after it, swinging vertically this time. Goh wiggled the pole to send a loop-de-loop through the thin string and the tube danced to one side of the attack.

“Do not give chase, Gareth.” he said in a gravelly voice. “[i]Predict[/i] where your target will move, and cut it off!” 

“Yes, Master Goh!” said the boy with the habitual tone of respect that’d been drilled into him. But his teacher knew he wasn’t listening, because he kept following after the swinging target as it drifted in a new direction. Old Man Goh chuckled and spared a glance to his other students. 

“Miss Alyshia, slow down! It is more important that each sequence is [i]correct[/i], than it is for the whole form to be swift!” He continued to move the target with his fishing pole as he looked between the two of them. Though one was all wild energy and effort, and the other more controlled, neither of the two children escaped his notice.

“Yes, Master Goh!” The willowy little girl stopped and went back to her beginning stance. From a high guard, she swept her wooden sword down with focus much sharper than the practice weapon. In the same movement she turned her hips and brought it up, reinforcing the back of the blade with her hand for a simulated block. Then she circled it around her head to come down with a repetition of the first strike, but this one was followed by advancing one step forward and sweeping the tip for an upward, diagonal cut. Goh hummed and nodded as she continued the rest of the form, intentionally performing each movement at less than half her normal speed but perfecting the individual techniques step by step. 

“Master Gooooh, am I done yet!?” A fourth voice whined. As the teacher once again pulled Gareth’s target away from him at the very last moment (causing the wooden tube to actually land on the boy’s head as if taunting him, before sweeping it somewhere else), Goh’s smile turned to a frown. He looked towards his third student. On three of the thickest trees at the edge of the clearing, white chalk lines had been drawn–one vertical, one horizontal, and two crossing like an X diagonally. These eight spokes had been drawn straight and smooth by Goh’s practiced hand, and the chubby Eric stood in front of one tree. He was propped on his sword and sweating.

“Have you traced each line ten times?”

“W-well…” Goh narrowed his eyes, and the boy gulped down his lie. “Um, almost…But my arms hurt, and—”

“Then you are not finished!” He turned back to Gareth’s training, but what Eric didn’t know was that his master could still see him from the corner of his eye. To his credit, the bigger boy took a deep breath and raised his sword again. He clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he had already learned that Goh’s punishments were worse than his training. Good. Eric began striking through the air, attempting to align the tip and edge of his blade with the direction of the chalk lines in front of him each time. Goh’s smile returned. Progress was progress, after all.

Goh moved his pole in a manner identical to a movement he’d made before. He saw Gareth’s stance change. Then a crack of wood against wood rang out, and the boy cheered.

“I did it!” He turned towards his master, where the old man sat on a long-dead and dried stump. “Master Goh, did you see?”

“I did. Do you?” he asked, as he moved his arm. His student tracked the motion with those bright eyes, and squinted in confusion---just before the hollow tube clinked against the back of his head.

“Gah!”

“Do not stop moving until your opponent does, boy!” Now Goh swapped the pole from two hands into his left alone, and began moving it more swiftly, whipping the line and the target around Gareth in haphazard circles. “Keep going!”

The three children continued their training, and the old man continued barking orders. Gareth dutifully did everything he was asked, regardless of whether he had the skill to accomplish the task or not. Alyshia's grace and finesse grew keener with every repetition of the form---her talent was such that, in the time it had taken Gareth and Eric to learn a single sequence, she had learned three. She was a joy to watch, though every so often Goh was reminded that he hoped to never see her actually [i]use[/i] these techniques. Eric did as he was told, or else he was given something worse to do. This wasn’t a matter of favoritism---Garetha and Alyshia had to do the exact same exercises, and were given the exact same punishments whenever they misbehaved. What Eric was only just starting to figure out, was that [i]they[/i] misbehaved [i]less often[/i]. And once he understood the link between his own actions and the consequences he endured, then Goh could begin teaching him why that distinction was important.

But for now, perhaps, they had learned enough.

"Alright, everyone line up!" He called, reeling in Gareth's target. The boy had managed to catch it a few more times, but it was more a matter of continuing to charge after it until he caught up rather than predicting the lure's path. Goh decided to get a little more "serious" with him next time. Alyshia had just completed her last form, and Eric moved as fast as his chubby legs could carry him despite having complained a moment ago about being "so sore he couldn't move." Goh looked at the three children sternly...and then nodded.

"Very well. We'll end training early today, since it's time for the Market." Three little voices raised in cheers. "But!" They all snapped back to attention. "I expect you all to be on good behavior! Remember that this training isn't just for your sword---it is also for your spirits!"

"Yes, Master Goh!" they all recited in unison. He nodded and pretended to be reluctant. 

"Very well! Bow! Dismissed!"

They left the woods as a group, Eric and Gareth running ahead in a stubborn race while Alyshia skipped and frolicked just a few strides ahead of the old man bringing up the rear. As they walked down a gentle slope towards the village, Old Man Goh stopped for a while just to breathe it all in. He shook his head, the movement causing his white beard to whip back and forth in front of his chest. 

"I wish times like these didn't fade so quickly..." he muttered, before continuing after the children.
[hr]
[hr]
[hider=Skills and Actions]
"Though one was all wild energy and effort, and the other more controlled, neither of the two children escaped his notice."

>Dynamic Vision: Track fast moving objects

"The three children continued their training, and the old man continued barking orders."

>Training: Swordsmanship applied to Gareth, Alyshia, and Eric.
[/hider]