"I have only had one lesson. I am not very good," Sabine added as she passed one of the wooden swords to Peiter.

Tzirret started to stand up. "This one will get something to eat and then watch."

The bout between Sabine and Peiter started off a little awkwardly for Sabine. With only one lesson and several days to forget what she had learned, the first few clashes were made up of recalling technique, sometimes painfully. After a while, they reached a point where Sabine was actually putting up a fight, although she was still less skilled than Peiter by a clear margin.

Apart from chuckling at some of the more clumsy or clever manoeuvres on the part of the combatants, Tzirret remained quiet while chewing some raw tripe and cuts from a boar. He had to take a seat further back after a few minutes as sweat started to get flung in his direction from Sabine's hair. He was soon joined by Fendros, who sat down with Rhazii on his lap to watch the training. Rhazii wasn't ready for sleep yet as Newt was, but as he watched the fight from Fendros' arms, his eyes began to droop. Fendros held a small smile and resisted the urge to give both Sabine and Peiter tips on their fencing. He may have been a young elf, but he had trained with a sword for longer than both Peiter and Sabine combined.

The sparring ended after a Sabine took yet another hit on her knuckles after an overcommitted thrust. She had managed to inflict some bruises herself, but not more than she had sustained. From then on it was drills and instruction. Fendros decided to stay around to watch while Rhazii slept in his arms and even struck up a short conversation with Tzirret, but nothing much was discussed beyond small talk. Eventually, Fendros went off to put Rhazii to bed and join the others. Tzirret followed along after another few minutes out of boredom.

The clacking and whooshing of swords was a prevailing sound until the sun dipped to the horizon and painted the jungle a speckled orange. It would be dark soon, and Peiter and Sabine had worn each other out. This time, Sabine didn't stop out of frustration, but she knew she wasn't getting any better than she had over the past hour or so. Her improvement was limited, but perceptible.

Out of breath from a repeated drill, Sabine sat herself down and laid her wooden sword to her side. Her hair had apparently shrunk with the sweat drenching it and holding the strands together. "I think I am getting better," Sabine commented while catching her breath. She leaned back to support her upper body with her arms and tried looking up at Peiter, but ended up having to blink away sweat and hair seeping into her eyes. "How long did it take to get as good as you are?"