On the day of sparring with Qotoiyan, Alqa took a smooth rock and hit it against the blade of her sword to blunt it. She oiled the sword and fixed any nicks with her whetstone. She did the same with her dagger and sheathed both on her belt. She took the quiver and bow off and set those down, she wouldn’t need those for this. She braided her hair into four braids and then braided them together behind her head to keep her hair from her face. She stepped out of her yurt and started walking to the field. She saw Baatar coming her way and he saw her too. He turned and veered away. Her heart sank, she felt horrible and wanted to go after him. She paused, on one hand she had promised Qotoiyan she would go meet him but on the other hand she felt like she needed to talk to Baatar.

She started after Baatar but he kept speeding up to avoid her. She stopped after a bit and gave up. She turned back and started walking back to the field, but now she was no longer as excited as she had been. Tears welled uncomfortably in her eyes as she tried to stop herself from crying. Baatar was scared of her and it felt like it was her fault.

She stopped before reaching the training field and wiped the tears from her eyes. She approached the field, and saw Qotoiyan already waiting there. He was looking towards the east and didn’t see her at first. She crouched down and slowly approached Qotoiyan, like she was hunting. She smiled, trying not to laugh.

She got close, without him noticing her and she tackled him. He twisted under her and pushed her off and leaped onto her, putting his knee on her chest and his arm on her neck. That was when he actually realized it was her, he got off her and helped her up.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. Ready to start?”

“We hadn’t already?” Qotoiyan laughed and grabbed her pulling her to the ground. Alqa yelped and fell, Qotoiyan was on her before she could think of how to react and she was pinned. Qotoiyan got off her and helped her up.

“I wasn’t ready,”

“The Baltui won’t wait for you to be ready, a male won’t wait for you to be ready. Your body knows what to do, Agaa Iija gave us that much. Just don’t think, do. You will be a whole lot faster and win,”

Qotoiyan stepped back and rushed at her suddenly, Alqa tried to stop him but he blocked her with his arm and she tried to wrestle him down but when she stepped forward, she fell to the floor and he was on her, pinning her arms behind her back. “Too slow,” he said, getting off her and letting her get up.

“It’s not like I’m gonna be fighting unarmed, I have a sword, I have a dagger, I have a bow and Nergui is fast enough to keep me away from enemies,”

“But you will get into an unarmed fight at some point, whether it’s for your life or for other things,”

“Other things?”

“Yes,” Qotoiyan said, pointing to her belly. Alqa’s hand instinctively moved to her belly. Qotoiyan smiled at her, which made her blush. Then Alqa advanced towards him and tried to grapple him. He grabbed her shoulders and she grabbed his arms and pulled him closer. She ducked down, escaping from his grasp and pulled him forward, sticking her foot out to trip him. He fell and started to get up, he was on his back when Alqa pinned him. She put her knee on his chest and her left arm held down his right arm. “Good!” Qotoiyan said and Alqa got off him and helped him up. “See, you can do this,” he said, smiling at her.

Alqa smiled back. She felt immensely proud of herself for finally beating him. So proud in fact that she ignored that her entire body hurt “Again?” She asked and Qotoiyan nodded. He rushed at her and rammed into her. She fell backwards and sprawled on the floor. The wind was knocked out of her and instantly all the pain rushed back into her and she screamed which didn’t help her catch her breath. Qotoiyan rushed over to her.

“Alqa are you ok?” Qotoiyan asked, for the first time ever Alqa could detect fear in his voice. It was in stark contrast to how he had been previously. Alqa looked at him through teary eyes and waited. Everything hurt, she didn’t want to get up. Qotoiyan sat down next to her, he looked so scared. For someone so smart he clearly had no idea what to do and was freaking out. He suddenly got a look of increased fear and reach out gingerly and put a hand on Alqa’s chest. She tingled all over but he only held it there for a moment and then quickly withdrew it. Alqa grabbed his wrist. “I’m sorry I was scared you were—” Qotoiyan started to say but Alqa pulled him down next to her.

“I’m fine. It just hurt a lot and I couldn’t breathe for a moment. I’m sorry I scared you,”

“I’m glad you are,”

“Me too,”

Qotoiyan smiled and Alqa blushed. “Sorry for ruining the fun,”

“It’s ok Alqa,” Qotoiyan said, shifting himself closer. “Do you want to rest?”

“Only a little bit more. Then we use weapons,”

“Deal,”

Alqa smiled and looked up towards the sky, the sun was higher than she had thought. “It’s getting to be midday,”

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“You want to get some food?”

“Yeah,” Qotoiyan said, standing up.

Qotoiyan helped Alqa up and as soon as he let go of her she realized how wobbly her legs were. She stumbled and instinctively reached out and grabbed Qotoiyan’s wrist to stabilize herself. “Are you sure you’re ok Alqa?” Qotoiyan asked. She nodded, she released his wrist and immediately fell backwards. He reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her fall. “Would you be ok with holding on to me? Or would you rather just sit down?”

“I can hold onto you, I have no issue with that,” Alqa said, smiling.

They walked into the War-yisra together, Alqa clinging to Qotoiyan. They looked for a blue horsehair banner. Which wasn’t all that hard to find. They approached and the warrior handed them a small ceramic platter with meat skewers, and a small ceramic cup of gusui each. Alqa linked her army to Qotoiyan’s so she could hold her platter and cup. They went back and sat down. “Are you feeling any better?” Qotoiyan asked. The pain in her head had mostly subsided and she felt as though she might be able to stand on her own.

“I guess, I’d like to try standing on my own,”

“Want to eat first?”

“Yes, I think eating will help,” Alqa said. They ate the skewers and drank the gusui. It was rabbit, nothing special, just boiled unseasoned rabbit. When they were done, Qotoiyan returned the platters and cups while Alqa waited. When he returned he helped her up. Once she was steady he started to let go, Alqa grabbed tighter hold of him.

“I have to let you go if you’re gonna stand on your own,”

“I know, but what if I fall?”

“I believe in you,” Qotoiyan said. Alqa smiled and hugged him tightly for a moment or two and then released him and he stepped back. For a moment she felt like she would fall but managed to regain her footing. Qotoiyan smiled “I told you you could do it,”

“Thank you so much,” Alqa exclaimed. It was a little before they were ready to spar with weapons. They took positions and Alqa drew her sword, and Qotoiyan pulled out his axe. She started moving towards him. She rested her sword on her right shoulder and when she got close enough she swung downwards and Qotoiyan brought his axe up and parried her sword. She twisted her wrist to bring the tip of her sword to him.

“Good!” Qotoiyan announced and stepped back. Alqa stepped back too and after a short pause they both engaged again. Alqa used the curved sword to make rapid slashing attacks, keeping Qotoiyan on the defensive. And he, in turn, attempted multiple times to disarm Alqa with his axe, each time Alqa twisted the sword away. Qotoiyan pressed forward and hooked Alqa’s elbow with the back spike on his axe. He pulled her arm and with it, her sword, out of the way and pretended to hit her in the face with his axe.

“Good!”

Qotoiyan withdrew and came at her again. Alqa made a series of rapid slashes from alternating directions, keeping Qotoiyan from having an opening to attack. He stepped backwards at and angle and Alqa followed. The axe was more top-heavy than her sword, so all she had to do was keep it in a raised position and he would tire. Sure enough he was getting slower faster than Alqa was and she got an opening.

“Good!” Qotoiyan announced, stepping back. “You’re really good at this,”

“Thank you,” Alqa said, blushing. “Can we rest?”

“Sure,” Qotoiyan said, sitting down. Alqa went and sat down next to him. “I heard we are leaving in the next couple days,”

Alqa felt a horrible sensation in her stomach, like she was falling from the clouds. She couldn’t shake the thought, no, fear that Qotoiyan would die from her mind. Or what about anyone else. She resolved to get back to where she had been before with Baatar. Qotoiyan interrupted her thoughts.

“Thank you for sparring with me. And even more so after I hurt you,”

“You're welcome. Please don’t feel bad, or be scared of me. People get hurt, I’m fine now anyway. I just got the wind knocked out of me and hit my head,”

“Why would I be scared of you?”

“Because Baatar is scared of me,”

“Who’s Baatar?”

“Oh, right you don’t know him,” Alqa said, laughing at her own ignorance.

“Is he important?”

“I guess. Something happened and now he is scared of me,”

“He gave you the necklace,”

“Yes, he’s really sweet. I need to get him a gift,”

“What happened?”

“If I tell you, will you promise never to tell anyone?”

“I will make a blood oath,” Qotoiyan said. He reached down to pull out his dagger. Alqa shot out her hand and grabbed his before he could take hold of the dagger.

“No, just promise. You don’t need to do that. I trust you,”

“Alright. I promise,”

“Thank you. What happened was, we got drunk and kissed and he tried to push for more. I panicked and stabbed him. Now he says he is scared to make me uncomfortable again and that really hurts me. All I want is to be his friend,”

“Oh. I really don’t know how to help. I’m really sorry. I wish I could give you advice. Maybe just give him some time,”

“Thanks,” Alqa said, shifting closer.

“You’re welco—,” Qotoiyan started, stopping when Alqa hugged him. “I wasn’t expecting that,”

“I know,” Alqa said. She released him. “Want to continue?”

“Yeah,” Qotoiyan said, reaching down to pick up his axe.

Alqa took hold of his wrist, “you won’t need that,”

Qotoiyan stood up, leaving the axe. Alqa stood up too and took off her belt, leaving her sword and dagger behind as she walked off.

“Where are you going?”

“Somewhere where we won’t trip on our weapons,”

Qotoiyan followed her and they lined up. Alqa charged him with a burst of speed. Grabbing both of his shoulders she threw him to the ground. He took her down with him, throwing her over his head as he fell. He was on her so fast, but she kept him from properly pinning her. She threw her weight to one side, successfully getting on top of him. She quickly moved and sat on his stomach while holding his hands against the floor.

“You win,” Qotoiyan gasped. “Now please get off me,”

“Or I could stay here,”

“Please,”

“Fine,” Alqa said, getting off him.

“I’m gonna go rest. Would you like to hang out tomorrow?”

“If I can, I’ll head over to your yurt if possible. Bye,” Alqa said. She immediately went back to her yurt and resharpened and cleaned her weapons.