Amara went back to the inn to grab her sword before heading out for the east gate where she would be training with Eliza. She was getting her stuff together when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Her hand gripped the sword, ready for whatever might happen.

Soon a familiar blacksmith filled the doorframe. “Mornin’ Ama.”

“Domak!” Amara dropped the sword and went in for a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Have ta pick up some of Luna’s supplies. It’s not like she can just walk into town anymore.”

“H-how is she”

“For the most part, okay . . . She uh, may be an alcoholic, though.” Domak chuckled.

“Did she say anything about me? She hates me, right?”

“I did ask her about ya.”

Amara looked down and balled her fist while her body felt unsteady. “What did she say.”

“I like her shez cute,” Domak mocked Lunella’s drunk ramblings.

“What?” Amara’s hands fell flat.

“What indeed. Seems she doesn’t hate you at least.” Domak leaned against the wall. “She even went as far as to say that she wished ya’d come with her. But those were just drunk ramblings. Still, drunken words are sober thoughts.”

Amara sat down on the bed and made a sideways expression.

“So, do ya want to go with her? Or do ya still think she’s some sort of monster?” Domak asked

“Of she’s not a monster. But I can’t go with her . . .”

“I see. Well, anyway, I’ve got stuff to deliver; anything you want me to tell her?”

Amara sat silent before answering, “Tell her I’m sorry.”

Domak nodded and then left the inn with the supplies, leaving Amara seated alone.

A short amount of time passed and Amara lightly slapped her cheeks before proceeding out of the inn. She walked through the town in her borrowed leather armor until she came to the east gate. After showing her guild card the guards let her through, on the other side in a field a short distance away she saw Eliza.

“You came after all?” Eliza laughed.

“Of course I did, just ran into Domak.”

“That your sword?”

“Yeah.”

Eliza looked over the platinum-colored sword, squinting. “This looks like Lunella’s.”

“It’s identical.” Amara grabbed her own wrist. “She had it made for me . . .”

A smug grin lit up on Eliza’s face. “I see; that’s how it is.”

She placed the sword against a tree, out of the way. Next, she took a wooden sword from her bag and handed it to Amara. “No using a real sword until you can handle a wooden one.”

The two stood and faced each other in the field. Eliza walked Amara through several techniques, and Amara replicated them; her movements were shaky and untrained. Still, she did a decent enough job at following the instructions. Their focus was on defensive guards, and they didn’t cover any sort of offense.

“Guards can be categorized by their height, either high, middle, or low. Additionally, by their direction, left, middle or right,” Eliza explained while guiding Amara to replicate them.

Amara’s feet moved in awkward motions as she tried to replicate Eliza’s whole body. It took a long time, but Amara memorized the essential guards after an hour and a lot of sweat.

“Left, Right, High, Middle,” Eliza said, sitting on the sidelines as Amara acted out several swings. “Not too bad, not too bad.”

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“Huff. When . . . Can I take a break?” Amara panted, wiping a thick layer of sweat from her face.

“You’re quite out of shape if this has worn you out,” Eliza mocked, “But okay, we can take a break.”

A thud was heard, and Amara fell back onto the ground, desperately trying to catch her breath. She laid back on the soft wispy grass of the field and stared up at the endlessly blue sky. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Still, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pick it up instantly. My real strength is in my knowledge; unfortunately, we’re not fighting monsters right now.

Eliza stood over Amara. “You doing okay? You aren’t going to die on me or anything, right?”

“I’m okay . . . Just a lot of work.”

“I bet an innkeeper like you probably doesn’t get much exercise.”

“Nope.” Amara gazed at several clouds. “How much are you going to teach me? So far, it’s only been defensive techniques. Are you going to teach me offensive ones as well?”

“Attacking can be learned as you go. As long as you can keep yourself alive, you can attack. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be fighting another swordsman anytime soon.”

“I see, as long as you can keep yourself alive.”

“Yep. Now, break-time is over. It’s time to continue. We’ve done enough of the basics next. Let’s get you applying them a bit.” Eliza picked up her wooden sword and waited for Amara to stand up. “Alright, here’s how this will work, I’m going to swing at you, and I’ll tell you what guard to do. Provided that you follow my instruction perfectly, you won’t get hit, okay?”

“Okay, I’ve got this” Amara nodded confidently

“I will warn you, just because it’s a wooden sword doesn’t mean it’ll be painless when it hits you.” Eliza smiled, “Well, anyway, do your best!”

Eliza took a fighting stance, and so did Amara.

“Left”

Amara did her best to swing the sword into position. She managed to succeed and ram her wooden sword against Eliza’s. A vibration quaked throughout the sword spreading up and through her arms; it caused her to quickly lose her grip on the sword.

“Right”

Suddenly Amara’s brain flashed as she was reminded that she was in the middle of a swordfight. She attempted to move her sword into position, only to realize it was no longer in her hands. Eliza’s sword cut through the air and crashed into Amara’s side, sending a jolt of pain through her body. Amara fell to the ground gripping her side.

“And, you’re dead,” Eliza laughed, “If that was a real sword, you wouldn’t just be on the ground in pain. You absolutely have to get used to defense. If you can stay alive, you’ll win, okay?”

“O-okay,” Amara nodded as she rolled on the ground, trying to shake off the sting.

“Again,” Eliza called out, causing Amara’s eyes to go wide open.

Can’t you see I’m in pain!

“Get up. We’re going again.”

Despite the pain, Amara managed to crawl back up to her feet and assumed a fighting stance.

Without a chance to steel her nerves, Amara heard more instructions. “Right”

The wooden sword whistled through the air. Amara twisted her body and managed to meet the sword in a right-side block. The impact again vibrated through her, but she dared not hesitate after what happened last time.

“Left”

She moved her body again, and her sword swung over to the left side, meeting Eliza’s wooden blade once more. Amara smiled; she did it. She didn’t get hit—

“High”

Eliza’s words crawled under her skin. She. Was. In. A. Swordfight. This was not a place to get distracted. She heard the whistling of a sword and tried to bl0ck it—Whack. Amara’s vision dropped out for a second as the wooden sword collided with her forehead. She reached up and held her head as she fell to the ground once again.

“And you’re dead once again. Don’t get distracted. You need to be able to react to any move your opponent throws at you.”

“I-I’ll try.” Amara stammered as she held her throbbing head.

“Don’t ‘try’ if these were real swords, you’d be dead; you have to be able to at least keep the damage off of your vitals. Rest your head for a moment; we’re going to go again after a short break.”

The throbbing continued for a while, but soon the sharper pain faded and left Amara with just a headache. Finally, after twenty minutes, Eliza signaled for Amara to stand once more. The two girls faced each other again, and soon another battle began.

“Left”

Amara met Eliza’s sword, blocking the first attack. The vibration didn’t bother her nearly as much as before.

“Right”

The second attack was also successfully routed.

“High”

Her sword flew up and prevented Eliza’s attack from colliding with her skull. From that point on, Amara managed to follow every one of Eliza’s orders to a tee. However, Amara’s breath went ragged before long. The two managed to withhold their fierce bout for a while, but Eliza stopped calling out attacks at some point. Amara immediately took a sword to her arm, causing her to collapse yet again.

Eliza said to the grounded Amara, “You have to be ready to react to everything. You can’t just read my words. You have to be able to tell without words what attack I’m going to use.”

“I’ll do my best,” Amara said through gritted teeth.

“It’s late. Let’s stop training here. We made good progress today. Hopefully, tomorrow, we’ll make good progress as well.”

“Tomorrow?”

Eliza smirked, “That is, as long as you still want to be an adventurer.”

“Of course I do!”

“Then come to our headquarters tomorrow at dawn. Be dressed in the armor we lent you before, bring your real sword, and we’ll head out on a hunt.”

“A hunt? Already? But I did horribly today!”

“We won’t face anything too out of your league. We’re certainly not raiding an orc camp. Experience is the best teacher.”

“You’re really making me go far with the whole ‘making it up to you thing.’”

“Well, I had a good time hitting you with a stick today.” Eliza chuckled

Despite all the pain, Amara couldn’t help but chuckle as well. I can do at least this much. Compared to what Lunella went through, this is nothing.