Kat and Grace stepped out of the vault. The moment they did so a rumbling could be heard. Both women whipped their head around to see the Vault shaking as it descended into the earth.
Kat just shook her head. "Well Grace, am I carrying you again"
Grace looked away from Kat at this "Well, um, I don't know about that"
"Come on" said Kat "This way you can tell me more about weapons, and your little wind shield will work on both of us"
Grace looked like she wanted to argue the point, but after a quick glance around and the excess snow around she seemed to give up and determine that fighting this point wasn't worth it "Well, fine but-"
Kat interrupted Grace's complaints by scooping her up and taking off in the direction of the desert
"Kat!" said Grace "I didn't want you to carry my like this"
"Well how else could I carry you?" asked Kat "I've got wings, so the backs out. I could maybe carry you over the shoulder, but still, wings. Then there is carrying you from the front, but in my opinion that's even worse. So what would you recommend Grace?"
Grace though about Kat's point and had to concede, there really is no better way to carry her. Even the other methods would still be embarrassing, if only slightly less so "Well fine then"
"So tell me a bit about these fans Grace, now that I'm committed after all" said Kat
Grace tried rather hard not to look at Kat when she heard that. Grace might not have been able to tell how but she also got a sense of those strange chains that had appeared the second time and could infer a little from that. "Well, it isn't as if I'm an expert in fans, I can't really tell you that much"
Kat gave Grace her best 'sure I believe you' look she could possibly manage. *If there is one thing I've learnt in the past 30 minutes, it's that you know more than I do about pretty much every weapon in existence. Heck I'd put good money on Grace knowing more about guns and nukes then I do despite never having once seen them.*
Grace glared at Kat's face defiantly waiting for her to break. Kat of course just kept her face in the perfect position the whole time, not letting a single muscle twitch out of palace.
"Well… fine then I guess I know a bit… and since you are carrying me as well then perhaps I should help in some way" said Grace
"Alternatively, the wind shield to block the ice would be nice, or charging the dagger" said Kat jokingly
Grace glared at Kat and continued speaking "So, fans are a tricky weapon. They have rather poor reach, and while sharp the blades can't be used for lunging attacks, making them surprisingly ineffective in a large number of situations that other weapons, even the stranger ones, will never come across
"In exchange, you gain a few things. The first one is the hidden factor. Seeing a young lady walking around with a pair of folding fans is a little strange, and since they are such an uncommon weapon many people don't even look twice unless you're a little crazy about weapons or someone like myself
"The second thing you gain is a surprising amount of versatility that is easily missed on first glance. Slicing attacks are still your leaves and greens but blunt attacks are still a good option by changing the grip slightly.
"And I sort of lied about the jabs as well. The fans are capable of it by closing them and jabbing with the blades shut, but unless you have fans designed for it, and you don't by the way, it really just isn't worth doing
"Now, because you have magic of some kind, I suspect you can make up for the lack of range with 'conducting'. Now, technically it's a rather high-level skill and I don't really know anyone personally who can, though Thyme probably could do it
"So what conducting is, is the ability to channel your element through a weapon and then control it's path afterwards. The fans make for excellent conductors even if you didn't use fire as your main element. From what little I know it takes a bit of finesse but I'm sure you can manage that sooner rather than later."
Kat flew across the ground as Grace spoke. Kat had reached a good top speed and was now making excellent time across the ice. She could feel that using so much energy on her feet was taking a slight toll, but for now she wasn't tired, and the increased speed allowed her to increase her stepping distance with some tricks and use slightly less.
"Right, so those are the advantages of the weapon are they?" said Kat
"Well, that isn't all. The final part come with defending. Fans give you a truly impressive variety of defensive options. The first is just having them open and blocking like a buckler, or-" Grace was interrupted when Kat started speaking
"What is a buckler?" asked Kat
"Uh, well, a buckler is a small shield you strap down on your forearm" said Grace, somewhat off pace. Kat nodded her understanding and the elf continued with her torrent of words
"So, as I was saying, you can use them like a buckler, treating it like a small shield, though this way of using fans should primarily be for catching projectiles you don't have the reaction time or space to dodge, and dire situations and NEVER against heavy weapons like mauls or great hammers
"Following on, you can also close them up and parry with them, the same way you would a sword. I wouldn't recommend this though, because even though a surprising number who take up this weapon fall into that habit it is completely inferior to the third defensive use, and the only one really unique to the weapon
"Well, I say unique but it isn't as though no other can do it, but it's mainly a fan tactic. So what you do is catch blades between both fans and redirected the energy. It takes a lot more practice, but it's unbelievably efficient energy wise, and does the least amount of damage to the fans if that ever becomes an issue
"The name for it is a knifehand block, though that is a martial arts term, and you aren't really using your hands, but if you can't find a fan trainer, which is fair because they are rare, try and find a martial artist who will teach you how to perform them with fans.
"It pains me a little to make that recommendation, because you really should get a dedicated trainer, but I have the feeling you won't be able to find one easily. Then again, nobody really chooses that weapon these days so it's not like I could find one either if I wanted to use them"
When Grace finally finished speaking, she was panting a little. The elf had endeavoured to breathe as little as possible during her speech and had been reaching the limit towards the end of her air supply.
Kat took this chance to shift her focus intending to see if in the distance she could spot the desert transition with her eyes, but the had some seconds thoughts. *I mean, I can feel my energy practically bleeding out of me. Running like this is so much worse than flying. Maybe I shouldn't be wasting it trying to see ahead of me.*
Changing tacts Kat tried to get Grace talking again "So, Grace, tell me why you use a dagger"
Suddenly the Grace that was breathing heavily and in need of oxygen was gone, and in her place was a weapons maniac "Well Kat, I'd love to have a few profound reasons for that but sadly the reason I use the dagger is actually quite basic if practical
"See, the dagger is perhaps the greatest last-ditch weapon. Once you have no choice but to engage in unfamiliar combat the dagger provides you with a great way to just stab people. Now that might sound crude but please let me elaborate
"See, hands are a terribly inefficient weapon without extremely specialised training however a dagger can instantly turn someone from an ineffective element to a dangerous combat just because it has a slightly pointed end
"Many people can tell you about that one lucky knife hit, and I mean well, it just makes sense. A desperate attack with a knife can seriously injure a stronger opponent, or finish of a weakened one
"Why take how we met for example. It wasn't like I was just going to shoot arrows at you for an age. I don't know if your skin is any stronger or your kimono is enchanted or whatever but had it been anyone else the arrows would have taken an age to finish off a downed opponent
"But one slice can be enough to take someone out of the fight, even if they get healed enough for it not to be permanent damage, the blood loss alone…
*Maybe this was a mistake*