Iris awoke softly the next morning. She rubbed her eyes as she sat upright, gazing out over the pond covered in a pillow of fog. She wore plain trousers and a tunic borrowed from Victoria, who was closest to her in size. Her long black hair was freshly washed and finally free of the bandages Mrs. Rousey had wrapped her head in. Her clothes hung on a small branch above her, and her hat rested on a rock nearby, a stick placed inside it propped up the peak of the hat to dry.

"Just in time!" Autumn said as she approached, "let's go swing some swords."

"What?" Iris asked groggily, then let out a tiny yell when Autumn grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet.

"Come on, Titus is waiting!"

Autumn ran off away from camp, and after a second of confusion, Iris blipped after her. They arrived in a small clearing on the far side of the pond, where Titus was in his workout clothes doing stretches.

"What are we starting with?" Autumn asked excitedly.

"Stretching," Titus said, "do as I do."

Autumn groaned, but Iris was glad to start with something easy. Titus lead them through a series of stretches designed to loosen up the muscles they would be using the most, primarily upper body, arms, and legs. Iris was shocked to find that Titus, despite his large frame, was significantly more flexible than both of them. After the stretches, Titus directed Autumn to summon them three training swords.

Autumn approached the trunk of a redwood, scrambling on top of bulging roots to reach the true trunk above it. She placed her hands on the trunk, breathed deeply, then with one hand she began pulling a handle from the tree as it pushed its way past bulging bark. She gripped the handle and slowly pulled out the wood sword from the trunk as if it was being constructed as it was unsheathed.

Iris looked on in wonder, "I thought you could only do that with rocks?"

"Rocks and dirt are my specialty," Autumn replied, then smiled deviously, "but I'm a Matter Witch, give me time and I can work with anything."

Titus took the sword she produced. It was made entirely of exposed-grain wood, finely shaped to mimic a claymore sword, and seemed to be finished with an oil coating that was somehow already dried into the wood. Titus balanced the sword on one hand and nodded approvingly, before tossing it to Iris.

She caught it with both arms outstretched, like catching a log tossed into her chest. It was shockingly heavy, and she crouched down to one knee as she let it tumble onto the ground in front of her.

As Autumn pulled a second sword from the trunk, Titus gripped the handle and swung it around to point at Iris, just an inch from her throat, "first death, never drop your sword."

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Iris creased her brow at him, then stubbornly grabbed the handle with both hands and stood to her feet as she hoisted up the heavy sword. She knew from reading that regular swords weighed much less than this, even large claymore-style swords, but she also knew that adventurers didn't use regular weapons. Any weapon worth using for a high level adventurer would be made of exotic materials that weighed much more than plain steel, so she did not complain.

As it was, she could hold up the weight of the sword with effort, and the balance just a few inches from the cross guard made it mostly wieldable. Clumsily, she angled the blade towards Titus, who laughed.

"Good, keep that energy," he said, deftly twirling his sword in one hand to plant the tip of it into the ground by his feet. He watched Autumn pull the final wooden sword from the trunk, and then instructed the two of them to line up behind him.

He took them through a series of simple sword forms, designed to familiarize them with the weight distribution of the sword and the basic wrist and foot motions they would be building on as a foundation. Autumn was already familiar with the basics, and appeared bored and dissatisfied with the training. More than once, Titus caught her getting ahead and attempting extra flourishes or fancy moves, which he quickly shut down. Meanwhile, Iris focused diligently on the training, watching Titus closely and mimicking his movements as best she could.

Soon sweat dripped off her face in the humid morning air, and the muscles in her arms and core began to ache. Still, she continued. After the rigid structure of the first half, the rest of the lesson consisted of Titus watching while Autumn and Iris were given free rein to practice any of the moves they had gone over. Autumn favored wide, reckless swings, which kept Titus busy trying to point out and help plug the gaps she left open in her defense. Iris took a liking to a particular move that involved swinging the sword up and backwards in an arc, then tucking the blade close to the body as she swung it forward in an upward slash. The length of the sword made the move difficult, requiring her to twist her torso and raise her two-handed grip close in front of her face to keep the tip of the sword from hitting the ground during the upper cut. She practiced this move over and over until she was able to perform it well enough that she felt a feeling of power and accomplishment that made her smile wide.

"That's enough," Titus said eventually, at which point Iris immediately dropped the sword and stretched her shoulders. He brought the blade of his sword up to her neck. "Second death."

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Iris, Autumn and Titus washed their faces in the pond, then set about their respective tasks. Titus began packing up camp, while Autumn collected some last minute ingredients for breakfast. Iris blipped back to her bedroll and checked her clothes to see if they were dry. Satisfied, she took them down, grabbed her hat -- which was still kind of wet -- and blipped away to privacy to change.

She returned to camp far more put together than anyone there had seen her before. Her hair was shiny black, tied into a low but tight ponytail at the back of her neck. Wisps of hair escaped from the brim of her wizard hat in front of her ears and framed her face. Her clothes were as clean as they could be, and though they were still stained with blood and mud in some places the black fabric did wonders to hide it.

Eli turned from where he was brushing Glimmer's fur and tending to her feathers, but Autumn was the first to speak.

"Alright!" She said, marching up and placing her hands on her hips to inspect Iris, "now you're lookin' like an adventurer."

"A bit evil, though," Titus observed.

"I look evil?" Iris's face dropped.

"Yeah!" Autumn said with excitement, "like an evil wizard here to raise an army of the dead or something!"

"You look fine," Eli said, getting back to his task.

Iris looked towards Victoria, who held up two fingers pinched close together.