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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48221
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48221
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

I think you don't have to show her USING the dagger, you can hide the skill in plain sight: She knows about daggers, she knows about dagger-fighting, the terminology, the stances, the holds, the moves. Maybe even let her act some out, with a stick or a carrot or something, to demonstrate what someone did.

She claims that earlier in life, as a kid, she was a superfan of the dagger-fighting blood sport, she watched dozens of contests. Plus you already gave her a great memory.

By analogy: My brother knows everything about football, he can quote stats, knows all the players names, their standing, who's hurt, the names of plays, all that. He doesn't PLAY football, never played football in school, but he knows everything.

If your girl knows everything about dagger fighting, it doesn't mean she's a dagger fighter. But it won't feel like a deus Ex when, in a pinch, she IS a dagger fighter.

Your creative challenge is coming up with those drop-the-mike scenes where she knows things that others do not, perhaps that professionals do not.

One way to do that is to have your crew come upon a ring fight using daggers. Some are disgusted by it, others are not, but she is rapt, and commenting as it progresses. She points out mistakes, good moves, when a fighter is in trouble. "His only chance is a Surriman defense, he has to take the cut," and so on. Her crew turns from watching the fight to watching **her** watch the fight, after which she has some explaining to do. Which as I said, she attributes to an early period where these were common where she grew up, and she was fascinated by them.

Original score: 6