head empty, many thought

"Move slower," Glenn said. Felix straightened up out of his stance instantly, throwing his head back to give his brother a derisive look.

“You always tell me that.”

Glenn shrugged in response, hopping up to sit on the low wall of the cloister. “Which clearly means you don't listen.”

Felix bared his teeth at Glenn, before he stalked over to the other side of the courtyard to restart the drill, purposefully moving as agonisingly slow as possible.

“If you're doing that hoping to spite me, it won't work,” Glenn called.

Felix rolled his eyes, continuing to work through the motions.

“I thought you were here to train as well,” he said after a few minutes of silence.

“Nah, heckling is better.”

“You're not doing much of that, either,” Felix pointed out. He finally reached the opposite edge of the courtyard, turning around to work his way back, this time at a closer-to-regular speed.

“Mainly because I'm trying to work out what the fuck you're doing with your back hand.”

Felix paused mid swing, turning to stare at Glenn. “I'll tell Father you swore.”

“No you won't. Anyway, don't stop, I need to see it a few more times to pinpoint the error.”

“You let me do it wrong the entire way here?” Felix said, annoyance leaking into his voice. “When I was running it at a snail's pace?”

Glenn leant back on his hands. “Couldn't see from that far away,” he said as if it were obvious.

Felix let out a tiny scoff, turning back to his practice.

“There!”

“I did it properly!”

“You did not,” Glenn snorted. “You're meant to be swinging true-false-true-false. You're going true-false-true-true.”

Felix ran through the sequence in place. “I'm not.”

“You just did.”

“Did not.”

With a hefty sigh, Glenn pushed himself off the wall, making his way over, drawing his sword from his hip and standing across from Felix.

“I can't mirror,” Felix reminded him. Glenn gave him a flat look, moving to stand by his side instead.

“True edge,” Glenn said as they ran through the first cut. “False edge. True... what are you even doing with your wrists?”

“That's how the cut—”

“You're cutting with the true edge instead of false, meaning there's an extra twist in here. It's going to make you lose momentum, and leave you unguarded.”

Felix took third position, running the strike again, trying to make sure the cut was with the false edge.

Glenn shook his head. “Watch my hands,” he said, before showing the cut once more.

Felix copied. Glenn pressed his lips together. “Still not right.”

“This is stupid,” Felix muttered.

Glenn reached out, grabbing the blade of Felix's sword. Felix tried to yank it back out of his grip, but Glenn held fast. He slowly guided the sword the path it was meant to take, before stepping into the strike's path to demonstrate where to target. Releasing his hold, he shifted his weight onto his back foot. “Try again.”

Felix complied, resetting to third position. He followed the path Glenn had set—

“Did you just roll the hilt over the back of your hand?” Glenn asked incredulously, tip of the sword barely an inch from his face. He hadn't even flinched.

“How else am I meant to get the right edge to cut?” Felix shot back.

“I manage just fine without—” Glenn gestured at Felix vaguely— “that. So clearly it's doable. How did you get worse?”

“I think you're bullshitting.”

“Maybe you should try following my lead again.”

Felix bristled. “Fine.”

The brothers stood side by side, Felix half a step behind Glenn in the sequence, watching his hands and following as closely as he could.

Glenn narrowed his eyes. He reached up for the ribbon tying Felix's hair back from his face, yanking it free.

“Hey!” Felix complained, trying to smack at Glenn's hand. Glenn darted back out of the way with ease.

“I'm helping, you little snot,” he said.

“How is pulling my hair meant to help?” Felix whined.

“Get into your beginning stance,” Glenn said, unfazed. Felix shot him a heated glare, but did so anyway.

Glenn tied the ribbon around one quillon of the crossguard. “Ribbon of shame,” he declared with a smirk. “That is now your true edge. Give it another shot.”

Felix ran through the sequence, true-false-true—

“Oh, fuck off,” Felix said as he easily struck forward with the false edge, the motion smoother than ever before.