Renn’s blows were heavy. The kind of heavy that would let her win most confrontations purely because of the strength behind her attacks.

Most wouldn’t be able to block them. Then once you add into the fact that no man, or woman, would ever expect such heavy blows from someone who looked so young…

I blocked another swing. This time she had aimed for my left thigh. “Tsk,” she complained as she hurried to attack again, smiling all the while she did so.

Yes. She would be deadly. Even hardened warriors, people who spent most their lives on the battlefield, would be caught unaware. Even if one of them had just witnessed her kill a comrade, by cleaving him in two—armor and all, they’d still not properly prepare for the level of strength behind her blows.

After all how could they? Not only was her strength impossible for a human, she looked far too thin. Too small. Too weak.

Her appearance would be very useful to her, if she was willing to abuse it.

Blocking a quick stab to my chest, I slid my own blade along hers and sidestepped. Usually I’d give her a harsh lesson in following through so deeply, by delving the end of my own pommel into her face or stomach… But instead I just let her rush past me as I stepped aside.

She and I separated. For the first time in several minutes. That had been the longest confrontation yet, she had done nearly thirty swings that time.

Renn huffed as she slowly turned back around; staring at me with a look that told me she had realized her mistake.

“You could have hurt me,” she said.

“Killed you,” I corrected her. That was usually why those who taught in such situations would cause pain. The kind that made people never forget. The kind that made one never make the same mistake twice.

But I could neither hurt her to that level… nor did it seem I needed to.

Renn shifted a little, letting the point of her blade lower a bit. Not entirely, not all the way… She kept it pointed towards my stomach.

She had already learned not to let the sword fall out of position. The moment she did I’d charge forward, raising my speed and the strength behind my assault. As to punish her instincts.

Usually it took a handful of times before people realized it. She had understood on the first.

“How do you make my sword slide along yours so easily? Whenever I try that, yours skids to a stop,” she asked.

“You’re not accustomed to how much strength you’re supposed to be using yet. Don’t let it bother you, that will take time,” I told her.

“Time…” she mumbled. She’s started to notice a lot of my answers were rounding back to that.

It seemed to annoy her. But… it was the truth.

She could be a warrior. And not just because of her innate strength.

She was perceptive. She noticed the smallest things, and oddly did so very well. She noticed it when I shifted even just a little. She noticed it when I changed where my blade pointed, even if it was only the difference of a twitch of a thumb or finger.

It was undoubtedly thanks to her bloodline. Her ears let her hear what most couldn’t dream of. Her eyes took in everything, and she was quick enough to process it and also react to it too. Her reflexes were nearly as shocking as her strength. If she ever figured out how to harness them properly and combine them…

The woman before me would, if given the time and wasn’t killed on her first true battlefield… could become a great warrior. A phenomenal one.

A better one than Yangli, even. Which would make Lilly all the more adamant about adding her to her flock.

Honestly I was glad. Yet at the same time…

“What’s wrong?” Renn asked. She must have noticed my worry.

“Nothing,” I said as I wiped my emotions off my face.

“Yes there is… What’d I do? I can’t learn if you don’t tell me what I did wrong,” Renn glanced at herself, looking at her feet. She must have instinctively felt that her stance was wrong.

That was another reason to praise her. How many could understand so much in so little time? And do so just by feel alone?

Maybe she was a prodigy. At least of the blade. Would it carry over into other weapons? If her instincts could flow into the spear, or any other weapon…

Plus…

“Give yourself a moment. Catch your breath,” I told her right as she stepped forward, to retry in her efforts to hit me.

Renn blinked, but nodded.

She stood up a little straighter, and I watched her ears twitch and adjust as she hefted the sword again. This time she kept it pointed a little lower than usual, but still high enough that I’d not attack her over it.

Did she realize her ears moved so much when she was focused? I could see the way she was trying to shift her body… looking for what was the most comfortable way to stand. Every so often she moved a foot, or shifted an elbow.

Her tail oddly didn’t twitch much, at least in comparison to her ears. But I had also noticed she kept her tail a little too pointedly straight the entire time. She must be consciously keeping it as far away from the sword she held, and my own, as possible.

Smart, but I was going to have to get her to make that second nature. In time.

“Raise the sword a little,” I told her.

She did.

“Point it forward a bit more. And bring it out a little farther,” I stepped up to her and pulled up on one of the quillons, to help guide her to the correct height.

Renn’s ears twitched a little oddly as I stood next to her, studying her.

I nodded at her as I stepped away. She still needed a lot of work, but honestly for her first time this was very… impressive.

If I had seen her amongst the trainees a lifetime ago, I would have picked her out to join my personal detachment.

Blinking away such thoughts, I nodded. “How long do you think you could stand like that?” I asked her. I needed to focus on the now. Plus I needed to keep myself from thinking of her as I would a soldier under my command.

That’d be dangerous. For not just her, but myself. For the Society.

“Like this…? I’m not sure. Hours for sure,” she said.

“Let’s find out, then,” I said.

Renn didn’t like the sound of that, but I was serious.

I watched her for a good moment, and slowly her ears and tail slowed in their twitching. Her stiffness died, and she eventually became natural. She stood up straight. Her eyes forward, her breathing even.

She looked as calm standing there, holding up that sword, as she would just standing and walking around town.

Walking around her, I studied the woman before me. The way she stood… the muscles coiling beneath now somewhat sweaty clothes.

After a few times around her, I nodded and took up a stance right next to her. On her left.

She glanced at me, but hurried to look away. As if she thought I’d yell at her if she lost focus for even a moment.

I hefted the sword and mimicked her stance perfectly. It was a little difficult, since she held the sword with both hands… and our frames weren’t alike at all, but I managed it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Renn didn’t say anything as she studied me, and I slowly did the same as she.

I calmed myself. I loosed my muscles. I relaxed.

Renn gulped for some reason, but I ignored her as I stared forward. I picked a random tree, and kept my sword pointed at it. As if in waiting for it to charge at me.

And then I waited.

And waited.

Minutes turned into an hour. Then another. And the whole time, Renn stayed standing still right alongside me.

Renn’s tail bumped me a few times, but each time it did she hurriedly moved it. She hadn’t done so intentionally.

I focused on her breathing, and the way it sometimes changed. Every so often she took a deeper breath than usual… which made me wonder if it was something innate. Her lungs were fine; I had listened to her breathing before… specifically while she slept. But maybe excessive exercise was new to her. Her body likely needed a little more oxygen than her usual breathing allowed.

A bird landed a few feet away, and I heard Renn’s ears twitch because of it.

Then I did it.

First I moved my right foot. Just enough. I pointed my toes a little more inward. I lined up my heel a little better. I shifted my shin just enough, that honestly she might not have been able to see thanks to my pant leg being a little baggy.

The bird hadn’t noticed my movement, but Renn did. She turned her head, unworried, and studied me for a moment.

After a few minutes… Renn also moved her right foot to copy me.

I kept a smile from putting itself on my face as I then did the same to my left foot and leg.

She copied it too.

I wasn’t able to stop my smile as I glanced at her. She noticed and beamed me a smile back.

Then I shifted my torso, and lifted my elbows a little. I made sure to do so in a way that fit her own frame and body, and not my own.

She copied it this time with eagerness. Her tail wildly danced as she copied my every movement.

After about half an hour, and the arrival of nearly a dozen more birds, I had her standing in the stance that fit her best.

“I see,” she whispered with closed eyes.

“Do you?” I asked.

She nodded. “This is balanced, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Is it?”

Renn glanced at me, and I could tell she was now doubting herself.

“Swing the sword,” I offered her.

“Hm,” she nodded and then took a deep breath. Yet right as she raised it up a little, as to swing it back down… she stopped.

Holding that stance, she blinked several times and then looked at me.

I nodded as she smiled and then brought the sword down.

The whoosh from the swing scattered the birds that had been gathering around us. They flew off into the sky with cawing complaints as Renn smirked in joy. “That was definitely easier,” she said.

“Good. Can you stand in that stance again?” I asked, since she had stopped doing so.

“Oh. Right,” she hurriedly put herself back into a ready position.

Stepping around her, I studied her once again.

“A little more fine-tuning and it’ll work. Nothing a few years of practice won’t fix,” I said as I realized this stance made her butt look bigger.

“Years?” she asked, suddenly sounding worried.

“You didn’t think you’d master it in a day did you?” I asked her.

“No… but are you going to teach me for years?” she asked.

“Not like we have anything else to do,” I said. At least not at the moment.

She hesitated for a moment and allowed her sword to finally fall. Her point nearly touched the grass as she frowned at me.

“Why are you teaching me this Vim?” she asked softly.

“If you stay with me Renn… which you obviously seem to want to do, then conflict is inevitable. And during such conflict I’ll not always be able to protect you to the point of keeping you out of the carnage,” I told her my reasoning.

Renn’s frown deepened, but she didn’t argue.

“Plus you’re… emotional, Renn,” I said as I thought of the few times she had shown such emotions. Even a few weeks ago, back at that tavern where that man had killed the other. She had stepped forward, or at least would have tried to had I not stopped her. To protect that woman.

“Emotional…” she whispered the word as I nodded.

“Emotional. I don’t fault you for that, by the way. So in my opinion, when the day comes your emotions… or simply fate itself, decides you must fight for your life or the life of others, I’d like you to at least be as prepared as possible. To handle yourself,” I explained.

“You’re talking about the tavern aren’t you? Because I stepped forward to try and help that woman,” she said.

“That and others. You also got emotionally vested in that family. The one who tried to hire us,” I said.

“Melody…” she whispered.

I nodded.

“Also, Renn… there’s nothing wrong with learning how to defend yourself and others. Personally I wish more of our members would do what you’re doing right now. I wish I could teach more of us, I wish more would let me help them learn,” I said as I hefted the sword. There were a few small rolls and bends now on the edges. But nothing bad at all, considering how hard she had swung her sword at me. I’d need to check her sword though, she didn’t know how to properly divert force yet.

“You mean like how even Lellip doesn’t want to learn, don’t you?” Renn asked as she gripped her sword tighter. It wobbled a moment, thanks to her grip, and then settled down.

“Yes. Most would have tossed that sword aside the moment I handed it to them. Hell, most wouldn’t have even took it from me Renn. To be perfectly honest… I had expected you to have done so,” I said.

“I see… is that why Pram has been acting oddly the last few days?” Renn asked.

I nodded. “She worries I’m making you into another Lilly.” Or well, another Yangli. But she didn’t need to know about him. Not yet anyway.

“Ah…” Renn nodded, understanding.

The two of us stood in silence for a short time, and I glanced up to see what time it was.

We still had many hours of daylight left… but I knew this was probably a good time to stop. Even if she was willing to continue, too much at once was detrimental. Especially since it was her first lesson.

“We’ll do this an hour or two a day from now on, depending on what we’re doing. Even while we travel, as long as we can do it without drawing attention,” I said. The two of us sparring would draw eyes, even as untrained as she was. She moved far too fast, and swung far too hard. Most would see two absolute masters of their craft, and that would draw unnecessary attention. Humans loved talking about those good with the blade. They hated war, but praised and made legends out of those good at it.

Renn nodded slowly, as if lost in thought.

“If this bothers you Renn, speak up now.”

“No!” she stepped forward, and nearly dropped her sword into the ground. If it had been sharpened it would have dug into the grass at the point. “No… I want…. I need to do this. You’re right,” Renn quickly said as she hefted the sword, worried she had hurt it somehow.

“Good. At least one of us does,” I said with a sigh.

Renn’s ears twitched as she looked at me. “Don’t lie, Vim. It doesn’t suit you,” she said with a smirk.

“Lie?” I asked. I didn’t lie. I never needed to.

“You had been smiling, Vim. So it’s obvious you were having fun too,” she said softly.

Hesitating, I wondered if I had actually been smiling.

Me? Smiling? As I taught someone how to kill?

Renn smiled at me in a way that told me she was completely serious, and correct. I probably had a ridiculous face right now as well.

“I see.”

Renn giggled as she carefully grabbed the sword at the edges. She ran her fingernail along it, and I heard the faint catch of her nail on parts where the metal had curled and dented.

I’d need to fix it later.

And…

I would need to be careful.

I was enjoying this. And most likely would continue enjoying it too.

No… the truth was I was enjoying her.

Lilly had willingly learned from me, as had Yangli… but they had not smiled while doing so. Their swings had not been out of pure joy of moving around and learning something new. Their swings had been of hate. Of anger.

They learned to kill.

Renn was learning simply because I was willing to teach her. Because she really did want to protect the Society. She wanted to help, if she could, and prove herself to me and the rest.

Spending time with me was probably also a good reason she was enjoying this moment.

“Come on let’s go back. You’re covered in sweat, so you probably need a good bath,” I said.

“Is it that bad? It feels bad on my back especially…” Renn groaned as she reached around to touch her lower back. Her face told me she had been worrying about it.

“I asked Pram to ready the baths for you, so don’t worry about it,” I said.

“Just for me?” Renn asked with a weird smile as I walked over to the stone where I had laid the spears and other swords. I hadn’t needed all of them… but habit had me grab them.

Putting my sword back into the leather bundle, I took Renn’s as she offered it to me. It didn’t take long to wrap them all up and sling them over my shoulder.

“See a single drop of sweat upon me?” I asked her.

Renn blinked as she stepped closer, studying me.

“That’s not fair,” she complained.

“So I have heard, often,” I said.

Patting her back as I guided her back towards the smithy, I gently smiled at her. “You did well by the way. You might be able to join as a tiro one day. Maybe in a few years,” I said.

“Tyro…?” Renn sounded out the word, obviously trying to think of what it meant.

“Means recruit, basically,” I said.

“Oh. Well… I guess that is what I am, isn’t it?” Renn smiled as she nodded, more than happy to accept the moniker.

“I suppose…” I guess the joke didn’t work well with her since she wasn’t aware to how deadly she actually was.

Hopefully she’d not find out anytime soon.

And hopefully… when she did…

She’d not come to love it.

At least not as much as me.