The sun was steadily rising above th horizon and the first rays of sunlight were breaking through the grey clouds. It was a cold and rather frosty morning, the dew that had settled on the grass overnight had frozen and become frost and any small bodies of water had also turned to ice. The ground had become hard and slippery, making it very easy to fall over when not paying attention, and any breathing became a clouded mist.

It was a slow start to the day but still nothing special. Schedules ran as normal despite the cold weather and the sound of sparring was still clearly audible all about the training arena. Most people were reluctant to practice, what with the cold air, the hard and slippery ground and the fact that injuries to the fingers hurt so much more when they were cold. In fact some combatants were holding back for fear of hurting their opponent more than they intended to.

Winter sat on a bench next to Shari, a priest at the temple of balance who traveled with Winter. Both women watched the various people training in swordsmanship, archery and other combat styles.
"They seem a little reluctant," Winter commented whilst gazing at two people sparring with staffs half heartily "It's not like they're going to kill each other."
Despite the cold and the little garments Winter wore she didn't so much as shiver while she sat still watching the spar, not even when a cold breeze blew passed.

After a while the two combatants stopped fighting and moved off muttering about the weather and getting a hot drink. Winter gave a heavy sigh and stood up, turning to look at Shari.
"You cold?" she asked "We'll be warmer if we exercise."
"Of course," Shari replied, standing up.
Winter and Shari wondered over to the empty space left by the two combatants and prepared a sparring match of their own. Since Shari didn't carry weapons Winter decided it would be best to practice hand to hand combat to start with, so she took off her three weapons and set them aside before turning back to Shari.
"Ready?" She asked.
Shari nodded and the match begun.

Winter began by running at Shari and attempting to mimic a charge, Shari had already positioned herself in a defensive stance and was getting ready to counter Winter's attack. Once Winter was an arm's length away from Shari she stopped and jumped over her, landed behind her and aimed a roundhouse kick at her back. Shari responded by turning about and grabbing Winter's leg and aiming a kick of her own. Winter jumped again and wrenched her leg free from Shari's grasp, landing cat-like on the ground in front of her.

Slamming his feet and arms rhythmically into the poles before him, Geis was a whirl of motion as he hit attacked the thin wooden poles with reckless abandon. They had been reinforced somehow, he doubted that simple plant matter could survive so many consecutive hits but he was unfamiliar with its composition- for all he knew, it was specially grown for this kind of abuse.

In the beginning, this had been nothing more than a simple routine to protect himself- he had almost died, after all. It wasn't unreasonable for him to seek training- whether he got it or not was a different matter altogether- but he was a loremaster: he could teach himself. So had begun a week of constant practice, from sunrise to sunset he hammered away at the poles, ignoring pain, ignoring heat, ignoring cold and even hunger. And now he had attracted a crowd.

Males and females of differing races, most wearing robes of some color or another, had stopped by to watch his progress. It was unnerving really, having them sit there, calm and composed like water lilies- and without an expression to mark their features. They just sat there, as if there was something to learn from his random, haphazard workout. This was a stress-relieving exercise- not a bloody spectacle! He had seen a single traveling animal training spectacle and now understood the pejorative nature of calling him a circus freak. With another growl, his fist shot forward, cleaning rebounding off the thin, weathered pole, sending it and him vibrating at the impact.

He knew he lacked grace, he knew he lacked skill- he even knew that the ones sitting in front of him could just as easily turn him inside out as they could pick up those thin wooden sticks that they used to their odd foods. They were travelers, he assumed, they certainly did not look indigenous to these regions and kept to themselves. At some silent signal, unseen signal they got up as one and moved away. The lupine shook his head. Fur-heads were addled- that was all there was to it. He turned back to the wooden poles.

He would continue. He had to.

The ground was still as slippery as ever which didn't make for a great terrain when most of Winter's unarmed attacks involved kicking her opponent. She aimed a kick at Shari's chest and, since the ground was hard and icy and she had to pivot on one foot to perform the move, overshot and slipped over, landing on her front.
"Are you okay?" Shari asked, not in the habit of attacking a person on the ground,
"Fine," Winter replied, getting to her feet "It's nothing serious, carry on."
Shari nodded and repositioned herself in a fighting stance.

She stepped forwards and threw her weight into a single strike with her palm, aiming for Winter's lungs. Winter swerved sideways - almost slipping for a second time - and aimed a punch at Shari whilst she had her defenses lowered. Shari had responded before Winter had even begun the strike, upon missing Shari had turned about herself and was already facing Winter by the time she had her fist up, she caught the fist in one hand and pulled it towards her whilst aiming for a punch of her own. Winter grabbed Shari's fist the same way she'd grabbed hers, blocking the counterattack.

Noticing the stalemate, Shari brought her leg up to where Winter had grabbed her fist, attempting to dislodge her own. Winter let go before the attack hit and grabbed Shari's ankle instead, pulling it up and causing Shari to slip and fall over, hitting the ground hard. Winter bent over her and outstretched her arm.
"Still okay?" She asked.
Shari nodded and took Winter's hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.
"I think we should stop for the moment," Winter said "With this terrain we might break something."
She wandered over to where she'd left her weapons, Libra, Kooru Akuchi and Kiyomeru Akuchi. Strapping them to her back again she turned to examine the rest of the arena.

Her gaze fell on a small crowd gathering around a shaking pole.
"What's going on there?" She muttered aloud.
"Looks to me like somebody boxing," Shari explained "Against a pole."
Winter looked from the pole to Shari and then back again.
"Why would anyone practice against a lump of wood?" She asked "It can't strike back, there's no training in there for plain punching."
"Some people just do," Shari answered.
Winter moved closer to the crowd around the shaking pole, however having no height advantage whatsoever over most of these people she found herself unable to see what was going on, Shari however filled her in:
"It's a Lupine," she explained "Looks pretty angry too."
"Taking it out on a pole won't make much difference," Winter commented.
Her vague understanding of normal emotions meant that she was almost always skeptical of other people and their reaction to certain things, fortunately Shari could usually fill her in on the facts she was missing.

The audience having dispersed, Geis settled more comfortably into a rhythm and into a memory. Pounding the wooden poles, he let himself go completely, falling into an abyss of his own creation.

....

Barbarians charged at him from the windswept plains, twelve attackers all told including the shaman's pet raven, he could see them now, one of them in true battle rage- foaming at the mouth and giving off the stench of sweat and excitement. The rest were making more measured forays- it would be winter soon and losing a hunter would be troublesome. The berserker charged, making a mighty leap that would have made any lupine proud but Geis had seen this move again, and again and again. As the barbarian landed, his feet absorbing the impact, he sent a clawed hand whistling through the air, tearing through thick, corded muscle of the barbarians outstretched arm. The fur-head gave a yell, tried to backhand the lupine with his remaining arm but missed- Geis had seen this attack as well and hopped backwards just out of reach.

Overbalanced, the barbarian nearly crashed to the ground and met Geis' kick, snapping his head backwards and sending head over heels to land inert in the grass, a marionette with its strings all cut. He bled copiously- had Geis severed an artery by accident? No matter, that was not what was important.

Eleven left, Geis thought grimly to himself. Unlike before, the raven did not swoop down to attack- they too, apparently, were learning from their repeated encounters.

Good, he didn't want this to be easy. He didn't want to forget how close he had come to death.

They were trying to surround him now- he couldn't let them: once they got into a circle around him he was as good as dead: the barbarians could leap almost as high as he could and if he tried to leap over their heads they would simply skewer from below. He knew, he had tried it before and failed. So he did what they least expected and charged back into their midsts.

To their credit, he only took down four more of them, before the weight of numbers slaughtered him.

....

Geis stared at the sky- this session was over. How long had it taken? Minutes? Hours? Days? He didn't know- he didn't think it too long, all in all, his experience with the the clan of the Wuthering plains hadn't lasted more than an hour, he doubted that each session into his memories lasted half as much- he would die and die and die by the brutal and simple fact that he was not a trained warrior- all he had were his race's innate strengths and even those he had precious little.

He felt thirsty. Time to get a drink. Getting up he noted to other trainees, looking at him quizzically.

"Good day," he said politely, not quite knowing what else to say. He hoped that they wouldn't just smile beatifically at him like the saffron robes did.

Despite her lack of height Winter made no effort to try and see over the heads of the ground in front of her, she could hear perfectly well what was going on from here. The Lupine Shari had mention did indeed sound enraged at something, his breathing was ragged and she could tell from the noise his blows made on the wood that he was angry at something, whatever it was though didn't matter at the moment, it was the Lupine's choice if he wanted to break his knuckles against a piece of wood for as long as it took for him to calm down, not hers.

But Winter had nothing better to do that stand here and listen to the wolf's repeated strikes against an inanimate object that held absolutely no resemblance to any creature's form or anatomy. She folded her arms whilst waiting for the crowd to lose interest and disperse, and it already looked as though they had better things to do. She didn't blame them for it, standing around in cold weather watching a Lupine go crazy wasn't the most entertaining of things to do. She and Shari, however, stayed till the rest of the crowd had vanished and they had a clear view of the scene without half the arena crowding around it.

The Lupine in question was even shorter than Winter, contrary to the usual Lupine attributes of being overly tall and muscular. His fur was white rather than brown or black too, however his eyes were red which was something Winter would expect from a Lupine. She gave no indication of her opinion concerning the Lupine's non-generic attributes but merely stood where she was, watching calmly with an emotionless expression on his face. Now that she had a clear view of the creature it was clear he was taking out stress at something, the expression on his face and the way he was attacking the pole easily confirmed the fact. His eyes also seemed to be glazed over, as though he wasn't concentrating on anything else but attacking the pole and most likely the reason he was doing it.

Winter looked up at Shari, expecting her to explain the Lupine's reasoning.
"He's angry at something," Shari said.
"I can see that," Winter replied looking back at the creature "He's missing the middle too much to be calm, I doubt he's that much of a fighter either."
Shari gave no reply but Winter wasn't listening to acknowledge on in the first place. The wolf had finally ceased his assault of the pole and had noticed them. Winter glanced about briefly and noticed that the whole crowd had vanished and were now off doing other things.

She turned back to the lupine, keeping her blank expression as he addressed her.
"I suppose," she replied blankly "Does it matter?"

"I do not know," the lupine replied to the unexpected response. "It is not a lupine greeting, and it has not revealed its secrets to me." For some reason, one of the trainee before him looked vaguely familiar- but then again, all fur-heads tended to look the same after a while. Long fur for females, short fur for males. He got awfully confused when they were reversed, but most of them were not overly displeased at his poor abilities at identifying genders. He looked at the other- that one wasn't at all familiar.

He shrugged- a fur-head habit he had picked up somewhere- in the long run it didn't matter. Whether or not he recalled his experiences, his clan would know all after he died. That was just the way things had to be. He suspected that the magic was sapping his memories, but he couldn't verify it- not without another loremaster.

And he was the last. He would have to return, before he died, to pass down his Art.

His musings were cut short when he realized that he hadn't been paying attention to the two in front of him. Had they said something? He didn't know, it was disconcerting- his lack of focus and concentration. He'd have to remedy that somehow. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

"I'm sorry, were you saying something?"

Winter merely blinked at the Lupine's reply but made no further indication that she cared. Winter's misunderstanding of the phrase 'good day' seemed non-existent to the creature, as he displayed his own ignorance as to the meaning of the phrase and thus further emphasizing her own ignorance of it. She didn't make any effort to reply, as she could see that the Lupine's thoughts were wondering off again.

She turned her attention to Shari while she waited for the creature to snap back into reality.
"Is it common for Canine based life forms to do this?" She asked.
"Most canines are dogs or wolves," Shari pointed out "And they lack intelligence in the first place, so it is less common for them to be seen 'spacing out' as it were."
"And more intelligent ones do, I take it," Winter replied.
"A lot of people do," Shari corrected her "It's not just Lupines that do it."
"I see," Winter said, turning her attention back to the Lupine.

I wonder what's causing him to lose focus so easily, she wondered privately It might be whatever made him lose focus before, I don't really understand emotional states that well.
She looked up again and noticed that the Lupine had snapped out of his trance once again, and was already regaining the conversation.
"No," Winter replied simply "I don't waste my time talking if nobody's paying attention to listen, I don't see the point in it." She stared at the Lupine for a moment, making sure he wasn't about to phase out again.
"You seemed pretty agitated for someone fighting a piece of wood," She commented "I don't really know why you were, but I'd take your anger out on something a little less inanimate if your trying to blame something else for your emotional conditions."

"You seemed pretty agitated for someone fighting a piece of wood," She had told him. Geis shrugged, his memories were powerful tools. Shadow training his clan had called it- it wasn't meant for show. Few of the repetitious exercises he had seen were as effective as it and he was but a mere novice in its use: loremasters were rarely taught the fighting arts.

"I don't really know why you were, but I'd take your anger out on something a little less inanimate if your trying to blame something else for your emotional conditions."

Geis smiled- it was a smile full of teeth: his long canines were the only thing that had not been stunted during his odd, deprived growth period. "You are by far the most reasonable fur-head I have yet met," he said, grinning. "But on that point I disagree-" he held up a finger, completely in lecture mode. "If you cannot work through your irritation on your own, you are weak."

The last phrase was a judgment his clan had made, but he agreed with it nonetheless.

"Besides, I do not have these... 'emotional' conditions." He said quizzically, adding yet another thing on his mental checklist of words and terms that he had to go look up. His throat felt parched, and he remembered what it was that he had wanted in the first place: drink. He remembered the ornate fountain located somewhere inside the training grounds- it was an old, used thing but it served its purpose well enough and he had need of it. He was just about to offer his well-wishes to the two trainees when something clicked.

"Do you..." he asked hesitantly. "Wish to spar?"

The Lupine's reaction to Winter's statement was interesting, most people would either be completely baffled by the way she spoke or give her a very unnerved look and turn away without another word, as a matter of fact most people tended to perform the latter or the two actions. The Lupine on the other hand was completely different; he smiled. Not exactly being an expert on expressions and emotions, Winter couldn't tell if it was a cheeky smile or a genuine one, either way it was a rather toothy grin that reminded Winter of some sort of crocodile.

She kept her gaze fixed on the Lupine and her expression unchanging while he spoke, wagging a finger for some reason.
"Not really," she replied "I'm not the sort of person to get irritated by any ephemeral events and I certainly have no reason to take my stress out on something that neither deserves it nor has any degree of intelligence to register its attacker to even fight back."
Shari looked down at Winter, almost pityingly.
"And I'm not a 'fur-head'," she went on "I'm a hom..." She hesitated An atani." She finished.

Winter held the same expression despite the slip of the tongue, and chose to ignore the stare Shari was giving her at the moment. She was about to turn away, having lost interest in the Lupine when he spoke again, offering to have a spar with her. She paused, thinking about it for a moment. She had nothing better to do, and it wasn't exactly a war being declared so it wouldn't contradict her slight pacifism at all.
"Well I don't have anything better to do," she commented "Though I've never had to battle an anthropomorphous creature before, for all I know you might try and scratch me, and since you don't possess any effective close range weaponry that does seem like the most obvious choice for you."

Geis found the fur-head's- no she had labelled herself 'Atani' (not that he knew what that meant)- explanation a smidgen awkward: if one did not take stress out on inanimate things clearly they must take it out on animate ones. She also said the word 'deserved'. Did the ground deserve rain? Did the sky deserve stars? Nonetheless she had used it. He glanced at her curiously, perhaps she was what they called a 'cleric.' He had heard such rhetoric before from those who were close to their gods. They were even more addled than normal furheads. He found it depressing that an addled furhead was being more reasonable than almost all those he had met before.

And she was telling him that she went looking for trouble- clearly if one went looking for things to take stress out on that were both animated, intelligent and 'deserving' of their fate than it was much akin to hunting for orcs or trolls or similar foul denizens. Dangerous, life-threatening work. One in ten lupines died on their first mission when cleansing new lands.

He was curious though, at her train of thought when trying to explain her... what would it be... hesitancy? Reluctance? In fighting him.

“You have your own claws.” He told her. “Do not blame me for not growing them. I have seen fur-heads clip them every day with these tiny little blades- if you didn't they would grow much as mine do. But if that was what is worrying you-” he exerted an effort and his nails retracted. Most lupines could not do this- but then again he wasn't just a lupine. He was his clan's loremaster. “Then it is a problem easily countered.”

Winter gave the Lupine a piercing glare, at the same time her pupils appeared to grow slightly thinner than usual. While this expression gave most people the impression that she was annoyed or angry at something, Winter was merely taking a better look at the Lupine before she would have to battle him, proffering not to let her opponent let loose any surprises she was unprepared for. Aside from being slitted, Winter's eyes were able to focus directly on everything in front of her due to their peculiar shape, allowing her to keep focus on her opponent while fighting and thus increasing the speed of her reactions, it also came in handy for taking a detailed look at her opponent before battle and that was exactly what she was using them for now. The disadvantage of this being that should her enemy manage to get behind her she had no way of sensing where they were or what they were about to do.

Safe to say, the wolf wasn't hiding anything from her, he even had the curtsy to retract his claws and refrain from scratching her in any way. Having finished her inspection of the creature she already began planning on a form of strategy to use when fighting him. Taking into account the terrain they were fighting on and the Lupine's anatomy she began to formulate a possible technique to use from that, however her knowledge of canine fighting didn't extend beyond scratching and biting, and since this canine was clearly sentient she thought it unlikely that he would use any such strategy.

Thinking back to the pole the wold had been striking a few minutes before, Winter remembered his strikes being inaccurate and off center, even for someone not concentrating, taking this into account she decided the simplest strategy was to fend off his punches and wait until he had let his guard down before initiating a strike against him, an inexperienced fighter would most likely leave a lot of openings in their defenses so it wouldn't be a difficult technique to pull off. Having finally decided on her plan, her eyes grew back to their normal size and she straightened up, waiting for the Lupine to make any movements.

Geis wondered if his sparring partner had any feline blood in her. Her eyes were... uncommonly expressive for a fur-head. He watched them narrow and decided that his title of 'loremaster' or even 'loremaster apprentice' was undeserved. He couldn't tell if it was a spell, some odd fur-head ability or just his own imagination! He would have to do far more studying. He thought of his elven friend Raewyn and smiled, he would go to the great libraries and learn their crafts.

But for now he had more pressing matters at hand. A challenge issued, a challenge accepted- their battle was now unavoidable. Fates were entwined in the dance of death- even as shallow a dance as this was.

He bent down on all fours, growling at her. It may have been a spar, but lupines had their own style of fighting- as much mental as physical. Growling served to distract opponents, yes, but the main benefits were for himself: anger banished pre-battle anxiety, cleared the mind and allowed him to fall into that state of grace where anything was possible. He was a clean slate and had to be open to all possibilities. She was, he judged, the better warrior. He wouldn't be able to outthink her so he would have to rely on his heritage- the chaotic energies that had risen when Ita the Destroyer had rampaged on Arda.

He would have to surprise her- and surprise himself. When he felt himself truly frothing, he leapt- not at her but over her. Even as small as he was, he could easily leap ten or twenty feet in the air without the slightest running start. He turned- was she ready? Had she reacted? He couldn't tell. Powerful leg muscles flexed and Geis pounced, shooting off like an arrow towards his opponent.

Winter had decided that she would refrain from using her weapons: Kooru Akuchi, Kiyomeru Akuchi and especially Libra. Given her prowess with her weapons and the powers that Libra possessed, pitted against a Lupine who was inexperienced at battle and had no weapons to defense against hers then she would most likely cause more damage than she intended, especially with Libra's devastating ability to wound her victims in places she hadn't even touched. However Winter chose to keep the weight of the weapons on her back, training with the weight of her weapons on her back would prove useful if she would ever need to dodge an enemy before having a chance to draw any of her weapons and this was a good opportunity to practice such an art.

With that decision made she turned her attention back on the wolf preparing to strike. She took up an unarmed position of her usual stance, keeping her body low with one arm out and the other close to her chest, one arm to attack, one arm to defend, and her legs ready to dodge aside from any blows she would be unable to block effectively. With her stance all set and the battle starting, she put the wolf in her sights, making sure to keep each part of him in clear focus and to concentrate on his every movement. Winter basic skills were based on her instincts, although she had been trained in combat for most of her life she had always had the ability to react to the smallest movements of her opponent, able to see what they were about to do and then move in time to stop them.

Following the same philosophy of fighting she'd followed for years, she waited for him to make the first move and then once his first strike came move to counter attack. However, contrary to her suspicions the Lupine was taking a more animalistic approach to his attack, crouching on all fours and growling. Intimidation had no effect on Winter, but there was more than one purpose for a simple growl. Expecting a charge, Winter braced herself to take the wight of the lupine in her counter, however the Lupine never even began charging. Instead he chose to jump without even a run up, clearing Winter and landing behind her. At this Winter almost lapsed into panic, since he was behind her, she had absolutely no telling what he might do and her current stance wasn't the best for a quick turn around.

Having only one choice left to take she jumped too - higher than the wolf had done - backwards, soaring through the air in reverse. She would have a hard time landing since she could neither hear nor sense behind her, meaning she would have to rely on instinct to land safely on the ground. When she came down she bent her knees to prepare and smacked into the cold, hard earth. She slid backwards a few feet from the momentum she gained but managed to come to a halt without falling over. Her cold gaze was once again one the wold, able to see each and every movement he made.

Claws skidded on the rough, frozen ground, his promise forgotten as the lupine fought to balance himself. Geis was confused. Where was the enemy? Her scent was fresh, she couldn't have- he stiffened as he realized that somehow- impossibly, the furhead had managed to get behind him. He didn't sense magic- he had heard it was possible of course- but such a thing would have left his fur standing on end and himself crying foul. She had to of, he was certain, made a leap just as he had. They were now separated by a distance of a good ten, twenty paces.

Claws retracting, he pivoted on his left foot, moving so fast that his eyeballs continued racing even as he himself had stopped, giving him a small headache.

If he had been a... 'whole' lupine, in body as well as name, he would have tried to out-endure her and continue this battle of agility. Endurance was a wolf's forte after all, but the sickness that had robbed him of his height had robbed him of that as well: already, he felt his breathing quicken and his muscles spasm slightly- complaining at such an unreasonable use after his recent workout. He ignored it- pain had been something he had been used to for a long, long time.

It didn't mean it was a trait to have but he did possess it. Might as well put it to some practical purpose.

Instead of repeating his leap he dashed forwards, this was but a small spar, he had no reason to reveal all his tricks- one or two at a time practiced on countless strangers would assure him of their effectiveness. For now he had to also rely on the basics- and this would be the first time out of death and life battles that he would be allowed to try since exiting his clan's territory. Curling his fingers together, mimicking the humans in their saffron robes, he lined up his body perpendicularly to hers and aimed a punch. He didn't put his entire weight behind it- for now he'd probably have to focus on defense and that was fine with him- he wasn't one to attack without provocation and if this helped keep him alive and not help him kill indiscriminately.... so much the better.

Thanks to the extra weight of Libra on her back as well as her other two katanas, Winter's movements were a bit slower than usual, especially when she had to take into account the weapons effect on her aerodynamics as well as weight and the momentum they would cause with any sudden movements, she had already begun to try and think of a way to use that to her advantage during the Lupine's next attempt to strike. When that time came she would have to rely on different tactics rather than last resort jumping, although she could clear heights the wolf could never reach she doubted it would help much in this situation especially seeing as the slippery ground would make it easier to slip on the higher she went, no she could not win this battle by jumping around like a grasshopper, she would need to keep both feet on the ground and take only the steps that were necessary to fight back.

She shifted her footing slightly so as to get a better stance for an attack and her foot nearly slipped too far. Then she remembered that the ground was icy and hard, a terrible pain to run on or try and hold your ground but terribly easy to move on provided you could keep your balance, that and the weight of Libra and the momentum it provided made her almost like a pendulum on the icy dirt, meaning she could dodge, counter attack and move out of the way with little effort at all and have enough time to prepare for another move.

She looked down at the earth once more thinking her tactics over, she would have been smug right now if she could have been. With her plan prepared she looked back up at the Lupine. At the moment it appeared confused for some reason, he also appeared to be tired from such a simple attack. Realizing that such confusion would only last seconds Winter positioned herself in a position ready for him to attack her by whatever means possible, it was a simple plan but still incredibly effective, if he chose to try and get behind her again it would be a simple matter to slide away and turn about to counter, if her tried a straight on charge then there was no hard task in defending against that blow. In short no matter what the wolf did next Winter had a counter already planned and was only waiting to unleash it.

The wolf took a different approach to his attack this time, aiming for a good old fashioned punch attack, Winter could tell from here that there was nothing behind the punch aside from his own muscle, which to be fair wasn't that much, however weak or not it was still heading for her and would still hurt nonetheless. As the attack drew nearer Winter shifted forwards, almost turning away from the attack and sliding behind the wolf on the icy surface, it was then that she jumped into the air again, descending beside the wolf and aiming for a roundhouse kick in mid air to send him sprawling across the ground.

She was fast, almost as fast or faster than him, one moment she was in front of his face and the next she just... wasn't. Unfortunately she tended to be... what was the word?... flashy. One did not just kick in mid-jump- he should have felt her boot slam into his back and send him flying in a different direction as he- if he had been something else- panicked. Instead, he had a moment's respite as the warrior, with an amazing amount of skill, actually kicked in mid-air, with nothing more than her own torque to fuel her attack.

It was all that saved him from a rather embarrassing loss.

He had been short to begin with and his punch had not been aimed particularly high and even if it only had about half-strength, it still carried a good amount of momentum and when her kick did strike him he was already using that momentum to move forwards and turn- the blow completed his spin and he was quickly *yanked* around to face his opponent. She was stronger than he had first thought though, and instead of facing her head on he had nearly completed a spin and a half, putting him perpendicularly towards her- a decidedly bad place to be.

He leaped backwards, his back aching from the hit. How powerful would a traditional kick from this fur-head be? She was a bit more than she let on- or perhaps he was just weak. He wondered if she had a bauble of some sort, augmenting her attack powers but considered it a moot point. A spar was a spar, whether or not she could kill him wasn't important: it was what he learned from this battle that was.

So he'd watch and learn. Twice now he had held the initiative in battle and had lost it. He waited patiently, it was her turn now to try and play hunter.