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"Getting my blood flowing again," Kaito replied flatly. He picked up the longer bokken and stepped into the middle of the yard. He held it at arm's length, pointing away from himself, and circled slowly, spacing himself. Then he tucked his wings tightly against his back and wrapped his tail around his waist to keep it out of his way.

The back door opened again, and Andarien stepped out. "Oooh, cold feet," he winced. He hopped over to the bench and sat next to Miyuki and pulled his feet up onto the bench and put his hands over his bare feet to try to warm them.

Earendil glanced over at his son. "Your shoes don't fit?"

Andarien shook his head. "They fit even less than the clothes Uncle Helen made me," he said sadly. Before Earendil could say anything else, he added, "But Corazin called the cobbler over here this morning, and he said I should have shoes that fit by tomorrow morning."

Ignoring the conversation, Kaito began to go through his katas, making careful, graceful movements as the sword danced around him.

Kaito continued on with his katas, both arms moving fluidly. He used the entire yard, working through of of his routines which was meant for a space of that size.

Earendil was impressed. He had only ever seen Kaito with a weapon once before, when they'd been attacked by the humans in the Southland, and of course being so busy with the attack he hadn't been able to observe much. But he could see that Kaito was very skilled, and he knew that after the attack, Kaito had been surrounded by as many bodies as any of the others who had been fighting.

Yes, he thought Kaito might indeed have been a good choice to teach Andarien.

Andarien was impressed, too, but more for the artistic aspect of the katas than the fact that Kaito was wielding (or would normally be wielding) a deadly weapon.

"Mi, did you know Kaito could do this?" he asked, leaning closer to his sister.

"I didn't even know what he was talking about when he said he would teach me daishō," Andarien admitted. "And I know that's not it, because daishō means the two swords together, but still ... that's ... really neat."

He doubted he would ever be able to learn it as well as Kaito was doing now, but he had promised himself that he would try ... and seeing Kaito doing it, he had to admit, it looked awful pretty. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad as all that.

"I wonder if it looks like that when he fights, too," Andarien mused, rubbing his feet to keep them warm.

"Pretty much," Earendil affirmed, leaning back on the bench. "I didn't get to see much but it looked a lot like this. Not all in order, but still, the same control."

Suddenly Kaito stopped mid-stride and looked at the three of them. "Hey Andarien," he called, "weren't you going to join me?"

"I forgot it's cold out," Andarien called back. "Ask me again when I have some shoes."

Andarien nodded. "Tomorrow," he agreed. "Hopefully I'll have shoes by then."

Kaito nodded and returned the bokken to its sheath and wrapped the cloth around it again. "Right. Then I'm going to look for Shiro and see where I'm going to be staying."

He shook out his wings and flicked his tail back and forth again as he came back to them and put the wooden swords back into his bag.

"Can someone tell me where to find the library?" he asked, hefting his bag onto his back again. "Because I'd be willing to bet just about anything that that's where Shiro is right now."

"Find the outside wall and keep following it," Kaito nodded. "Gotcha." He grinned at the three of them and started off, hopping over the fence so that he wouldn't have to go through the shop to get to the road. "Thanks!" He waved once over his shoulder and was gone.

Earendil chuckled. "Hope he finds it all right."

"If he doesn't, he can fly," Andarien shrugged. "But my feet are cold, can we go back inside?"

It was a bit of a lazy afternoon after that, but by the time it was time to head back to Lara and Cantor's house, Andarien was more or less used to his new size, and he borrowed a pair of Corazin's boots for the walk.

Since Ponydash didn't get much time out of his ball, Andarien let him out for the walk. The Ponyta stayed close to Andarien, but Eon was frisking around with Ai, bounding around her and nipping at her playfully.

"Don't be rowdy in the house," Andarien warned them.