"Exactly." Vax can see that she's a quick study, and she's taking his tips seriously. "Thicker enemies? What kind of barbarians were you fighting?" He's surprised to hear she had to fight anything that big.

As for how to fix the problem, Vax frowns a little in thought. "Well, when you strike, you have to think about what you're going for. If you plan to cut off a body part, it takes a lot of strength." She's not the size of his friend Grog back home who hacks off limbs like they're paper. "But slicing someone with one of those still does a lot of damage. It can help if you have the right technique."

Vax gestures to where one of the wooden poles are for practice. He stands in front of it and assumes the stance, then lifts both hands over his head as if he's holding an imaginary sword. "If you raise your hands like this, you can come down hard, but you don't want your sword to get stuck in somebody's shoulder, so if you go in a diagonal slice, you can cut into them and away from them." He swoops his arms down in a diagonal strike.

"Give it a try. Cut the pole." He steps aside to give her room.