Yeah, like me an' tools . . .

Great stuff.

lol eventually he will

I remember this part. He learned pretty quick though.

Well actually she didn't use two swords for that. Nor did she use a real one. All the same, yeah he sorta did.

Nidaja convinced him that he needed to learn fast pretty well. Used his strong sense of loyalty, even at that time, to Nita to push him to learn how to defend himself so he could protect her. Nidaja is a general for a good reason.

The combat tactic we see presented in this picture is called "knowing your opponent." In truth, the position of her left-paw blade is incredibly awkward, regardless what the style may be. There is no thrusting power available, and she could only swing out in two to three directions—none of which have a striking zone that could be used against a forward adversary. While the threat of the sword tip is very real, its present position precludes it from do anything offensive against the enemy the threat is directed towards. Its sole merit in a real combat scenario (from my standpoint, at least) would be as a surprise/desperate defensive measure, blocking an attack from the right while your right-paw weapon is occupied.

However. Alps, being a novice, probably doesn't know any of this. And thus it is still a quite effective tactic against him. X)

The tactic Nidaja is using isn't to teach him to block that attack, it's to be aware of what both of his opponent's hands are doing. In a real fight, she'd not likely have used this flowery move, though there are cases where blocking in such a fashion might be helpful, you are right, attacking an opponent behind her back like that is not necessary given the countless other options she'd have with two weapons.

I figured it'd be something like that; it's unlikely someone as skilled as Nidaja would do something so exposing unless she was attempting to illustrate a point. Pun intended.

Danger: sharp learning curve ahead....
Although I think this is one case where a desperate and inexperienced opponent could be more dangerous than a knowledgeable one.