Gallus was whirling his arms at the shoulder to get them loose as Lorag and Ri'vashi began. There was little that he wanted to say while he spectated. Indeed, he wished he didn't have to blink to miss what was going on. Lorag was a powerful opponent, and likely a match for Ri'vashi's strength, but Ri'vashi was so swift and tenacious that Lorag would have his work cut out. As for their skill, being that they were both very experienced fighters, the battle of wits would be just as great between them.

Meanwhile, Janius gave Kaleeth a nod. "Alright, let's get started," he said. Thankfully, joining in with Gallus' warm-ups meant that they got to watch the fight as well. Janius hadn't seen Ri'vashi's fighting skills in action, but from what he heard of the day they arrived, he was curious to see.

Sabine looked ahead and emitted a level hum, curling her lips slightly. "I think I want to try practising some specific techniques. It has been a while since I practiced. I likely need to get them right again." Sabine looked to Peiter again, "But, if you want to practice with Gallus, that is okay." Sabine gave a smile to assure her sincerity.

---

Almost blankly, Tzirret nodded as he listened to Ma'tanza. He had been taught just as much as any other fighter that the head was precious. You had to protect it and exploit any lack of protection that one's enemy has for their head. It ended fights quickly. Tzirret hadn't heard of people changing if their head was damaged, however. That was interesting.

The next parts of the body were not quite as clear cut to Tzirret but he answered all the same. The marks left by the chains gave a better clue as to what happened to this woman, but they were no less disturbing than the swelling. "The throat. Uh, there is the windpipe..." he paused and let out a long unsure sound while he tried to remember the other part he knew. Giving up, he itched his head and but a hand on his hip. "Tzirret knows that the windpipe goes to the lungs, behind the ribs, where you breathe, but the other pipe goes to the stomach...he does not know the name for it. The foodpipe?"

Before he forgot to mention it, Tzirret also pointed out the last few things he could remember. "Oh yes, and-" Tzirret pointed to the base of the ribage, listed slightly to the left, "There is the heart. Obviously."

Ri'vashi was the next to attack, and she did so in a flurry. She performed a widely varied mix of slashes, thrusts, and feints to different parts of his body. Lorag was used to fighting aggressive foes just as he was defensive ones, and he would usually be able to find some opening to exploit between their attacks. However, Ri'vashi's defense was solid. With every attack, she seemed to predict his possible counters, and leave herself a way to avoid them. Moving himself to attack, Lorag pushed his blade against hers to catch and control it with his crossguard, then charged forward to use his mass to throw her off balance while attempting to sweep her leg with a kick. With her size, and the strength that came with being a werebear, the attempt was not as successful as he would have liked. Not only did he fail to unbalance her, but she was able to push back against him. The fight was not going as easily for Lorag as he had predicted. Some of his strikes had been close, and he was certainly keeping Ri'vashi on her toes, but Lorag was struggling, and in his duels, that was far from normal.

Stepping into the training room, Peiter and Sabine saw the fight in progress. There was still plenty of space in the room to train on their own, but they would need to do their stretched first regardless, so Peiter was content watching the battle for the moment.

---

Ma'tanza chuckled. "Foodpipe isn't quite the name, but that's what it does. It's actually the same pipe as the windpipe up to a point, then it splits off, with a little flap separating them. In these areas, there's the obvious things, like her lungs, ribs, heart, windpipe, and such, but there's a lot of things in those areas. Arteries and veins are important ones. The largest one in the body comes directly off the heart, and splits into the arms and throat. Those are some of the most dangerous arteries in the body to have cut, so a healer needs to be especially careful of wounds there. I'll show you once we cut her open. There's also a dome-shaped muscle under the lungs that let them expand and contract, and near the side of the neck, there are actually some glands you might not have known about. It won't kill someone immediately if they are damages, but they are something that needs to be healed for the long term."

Moving on, Ma'tanza waves her hand over the corpse's abdomen and groin. There were quite a lot of organs there, and she did not expect him to get close to naming them all, but she was curious to know what he was familiar with.

Once Ri'vashi went on the offensive, Janius actually stopped his stretches and warm-ups to stand and watch. He was astonished. The way Ri'vashi moved was as fast and strong as could be expected, but what was special was the uncanny way that she accounted for everything at a moment's notice. Lorag had little to no openings to exploit, nothing he could overbalance Ri'vashi with, even his brute strength couldn't help him.

"I wonder how this'll turn out," Janius mumbled to Kaleeth.

Gallus took the time to find some appropriate training weapons for himself, but he didn't make his way to the training dummies yet. He wanted to see the winner of this bout as the contestants were pushed ever onwards.

---

Tzirret motioned with a more exaggerated nod as he recalled Ma'tanza's previous description of the aorta. "Right, Tzirret remembers you mentioning it when we were travelling."

The diaphragm sounded interesting as well. Although, for some reason, Tzirret had thought that the muscles used for breathing were around the ribs themselves. Additionally, he had no idea what 'glands' were, but he assumed that Ma'tanza was referring to the lumps near the back of the jaw that swell up when one is sick. He unconsciously reached up with a hand to feel at one of his own, though they hadn't swollen since he was a child, yet to be turned. To both mysteries, he supposed that it would make more sense when he saw them with his own eyes.

The lower body was something that Tzirret knew a little better from gutting animals, but he never enjoyed such experiences. There was a lot to name. He widened his eyes momentarily and exhaled with an overwhelmed expression. "Okay, um...stomach, liver...err...entrails, bowels. That little pocket of bile next to the liver. Kidneys...um...bladder, of course..." Tzirret's thoughts went from butchering experience to education on procreation. "There is the womb and...oh, what is the name?" Tzirret made fists and held them up, "The two...lumps on the womb..." Tzirret held one hand forward, "And the big bone that holds it all. Tzirret does not know that one either."

Looking up and opening his mouth in thought, Tzirret tried to think of anything else, but looked to Ma'tanza and closed his mouth in conclusion. "Tzirret has gutted kills before. That is all he knows, but he does not know what every piece does. A-apart from the stomach and...you know, the womb." In a sudden rush of recollection, Tzirret put up one finger and took another breath. "Oh, there is one more thing. Tzirret remembers that there is a lump of flesh behind the stomach that has a lot of blood. He does not know what it is or what it does, but he remembers it."

The bout between Ri'vashi and Lorag was starting to go on for longer than was normal for any duel. In general, someone's strike would find its mark in less than half a minute, but the pair was well-matched. After his initial failure to best her quickly, Lorag started taking their fight much more seriously. For a simple training duel, Lorag's expression was far more serious than any in the room had likely seen him outside of actual combat.

Ri'vashi, given her reach advantage, wanted to stay back slightly, while Lorag had to stay close to nullify that potential advantage. This gave the appearance that Lorag was applying enough pressure to keep her on the defensive, but for one trained in swordsmanship, it was easy to see that she had just as much of an advantage as he.

Lorag wanted to bring the fight to its end, before he made any mistakes, so he decided to attempt something of an unusual attack. He stepped forward for a standard slash at her torso, which she of course parried. However, while he was stepping back into position, he made another, quick swing towards her neck. Due to the awkwardness of the swing, it did not have a particularly great amount of force behind it compared to what he was capable of, but in absolute terms, it was enough to cut through her flesh were it a sharp sword. Normally, the tip of his blade would have slid across her neck, but somehow, she manage to react to this strange attack. Not only did she lean her upper body back just enough that his blade passed in front of her, but she made her own swing as well. With her blade's length, she was able to land a solid hit straight across his chest. In an actual fight, it would have opened up a sizable gash.

---

This time, Ma'tanza did not actually go through and list everything Tzirret missed, or did not get exactly right. There was quite a lot she could say, but it would probably be difficult for him to remember it all without being able to see it himself. "You know a lot more than Ma'tanza was expecting. That is good. All that's left are the limbs, but you probably know what's in there. Bones, arteries, muscles, ligaments, tendons. We'll cut them open later so you can see the details, but first, we might as well get started with the torso. Do you have your own knife? If not, you might want to go get one. Some things can be hard to cut with just claws. This one will get us started."

With a simple flick of her wrist, Ma'tanza conjured up a bound dagger, then pressed its tip against the corpse's collarbone, right below the neck. Although, she paused for a moment as she looked at the marks on her throat. She reached out with her free hand and moves some of the fur aside to get a better look at the skin underneath. "Hmm, by the looks of things, it seems like she was strangled to death. See the markings here? It looks like there was a chain around her neck. Ma'tanza wonders how it happened?"

In the moment that Lorag was struck across the chest, Janius regretted blinking. He didn't know what exactly happened, but it went too fast for him to keep up. "Wait, what?" He murmured.

"I don't suppose, Ri'vashi, you could tell us how exactly you did that?" Gallus asked with a grin and hands on his hips. He assumed that the opening bout was over. Of course, it would depend on whether Lorag would want another shot right away. Knowing Lorag, that was a probable expectation.

---

Since Tzirret obtained clothes and pouches again, he had been carrying a knife with him again, mostly for cutting food. It probably wasn't as sharp as a bound dagger and no better suited to surgery, but he brought his hand to it anyway. Ma'tanza spotted the markings on the neck before he could pull his knife out.

Tzirret stepped closer to the neck and leaned down to get a closer look. He swallowed again. "Yeah, Tzirret saw that before," he looked up at Ma'tanza with an expression that was almost worried, "Maybe it happened while they were questioning her?" Tzirret stood up straight and brought a hand around to clasp his other elbow, looking back at the neck. "This one cannot imagine Gallus or Meesei doing that, though. It's...a scary thought."

"Oh...just this one's training...is all." Ri'vashi answered, somewhat nervously. She seemed almost as surprised as Lorag at his loss, slowly lowering her blade as she looked to the others. Lorag, in contrast to what the others might have expected, was not immediately issuing another challenge. Instead, he appeared as if he were in shock. His eyes were widened briefly, before he regained most of his composure.

Kaleeth, in all of her time knowing him, had never actually seen Lorag lose a fight. In terms of martial prowess, he was always the mentor, the one that she, and many others, looked to for advice. It felt strange knowing he could be beaten. "Are you going to fight again, Lorag?" She asked him.

"Huh, what? No, um...you can have it." He answered, ignoring the fact that there was another sand pit they could have been using the entire time as he pushed the tip of his blade into the sand and walked to the sidelines.

---

Ma'tanza grimaced at the thought of an execution. "Well...we really can't know what exactly happened, Ma'tanza supposes. Let's just get started."

Slowly and carefully, Ma'tanza made an incision near the collarbone, just below the corpse's neck, then pushed the blade down to make a cut all the way down her torso and to her groin. After a few more cuts, she was able to peel back the skin, exposing everything directly underneath. They could see the upper layers of muscle and fat, though most organs were still obscured underneath, apart from the inside of the breasts. There was not as much blood as she would have expected from a fresh kill, so she guessed that the Khajiit must have been dead for most of the night, allowing much of her blood to sink to her legs and feet. After giving Tzirret a moment to observe, she started pointing out the muscles she recognized and explaining their exact function, and what they connected to.

Gallus broke into a snort and a laugh. Lorag was one of the best fighters he knew. There was no way that Ri'vashi's skills were as simply taught as she said they were. "Come on, I saw that clearly as everyone else here, and I got to fight you the other day as well. Either you can read minds or Lorag told you exactly what he was going to do before you two started fighting. Are you sure there's nothing special about your 'training', Ri'vashi?"

For a while, Janius stood in nervous silence. He had heard about Lorag's fear of physical decline, so he wasn't sure if he should talk about it. Without much else to do, Janius looked to Kaleeth, then to the pit, and then stepped over to pick up weapons to spar with.

"It looks like Gallus and Lorag are free," Sabine said to Peiter, "I will practice." While she spoke, Sabine gave glances at both Lorag and Ri'vashi. She was curious to see if there was anything more to the clan leader as well.

---

During the explanation of the muscles of the torso, Tzirret could not help but pale a little under his fur. The cold flesh underneath the skin of the expired prisoner was somewhat unsettling. It reminded him slightly of human bodies where there was no fur obscuring the shapes. Still, he listened attentively and nodded at each important detail. He could hardly not appreciate the complex but cohesive ways that the different muscles lined up and allowed for human movement. There was a lot to take in, but he tried his best.

He made sure to brace himself for when this layer of muscles was peeled back. "It won't...smell underneath, will it?" Tzirret asked nervously. He had a feeling that might tip him over the edge in terms of nausea if he wasn't careful.

Ri'vashi shook her head. "There is nothing special about this one, not like that. She cannot see inside your heads. Ri'vashi just has good training and experience. She has been conditioned to fight her whole life by a master swordsman. This one's father was better than her, but she has learned from him." She explained.

Ri'vashi too put aside her weapon and stepped aside to allow the others to use the sand pit. She stood near to Gallus as they watched the next pair start to ready for their duel, though the focus on her had made her somewhat uncomfortable. "What is it that you think must be different about Ri'vashi's training?"

Kaleeth walked into the pit with Janius, though did not immediately go for a weapon. "Do you want to use swords, or just spar with our hands?" She asked.

---

Ma'tanza rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Um, well...it might. It doesn't look like there has been enough time for it to start rotting, but it might have a certain smell to it. Nothing different from butchering an animal, probably." She explained.

Without further delay, Ma'tanza began cutting through the muscle and fat to expose the organs underneath. She wanted to give Tzirret the best view possible, so she cut out the muscles obstructing the way entirely, then set them aside to be stored and preserved later. Once she was finished, the pair had a clear view of the outer layer of all of the organs in her torso

"Okay, there's a lot to explain, so Ma'tanza thinks she will start from the top. Help her get the ribs out so we can get at the heart and lungs." She requested.

Gallus blinked and turned his head to a space next to Ri'vashi. "Alright, suit yourself," he said with a smile and mild disappointment.

The follow up question caused Gallus to refocus before he could turn to ask Lorag to spar. "Hm? Well..." he glanced to the sand pit, "It is just a bit uncanny how you can predict things. Someone with less benefit of the doubt than I would think that there was some kind of magic afoot," he snickered, "Then again, I could just be jealous."

Janius stopped and turned to Kaleeth when she asked about weapons. "Hmm," Janius itched his shoulder and looked up at the ceiling, thinking, "Actually, I reckon I'd like to try out what Ra'kalesh had been teaching us." He stepped into the sandpit and raised his fists, "Let's go for some hand-to-hand first."

Although he didn't say so, Janius knew that Kaleeth got more enjoyment out of fist fighting than sword fighting. It was a little favour to her.

---

Tzirret wasn't quite sure what was churning his stomach the most. The glistening sight of the organs running through the corpse, the strange meaty smell, or the sound of the squelching flesh and cracking bones as it was all manipulated. He kept his lips tight and tried to keep his stomach calm.

As for removing the ribs, Tzirret followed Ma'tanza's lead. "So..." he tried to hook his fingers underneath the lowest rib, "...he just...breaks them out?" Tzirret tried anyway, pulling with one hand and pushing against the sternum with another. With a bit of effort, a dull crack sounded and Tzirret accidentally tore at the surrounding flesh as the rib was displace. The bone slid out, but he tensed his brow at the sickening sounds.

"Ugh. Sorry for being clumsy. This is not normally part of butchering," Tzirret mentioned tightly as he carefully placed the rib beside the corpse's head.

Ri'vashi chuckled. "Yes, well, father always said this one had a keen eye, even for a Khajiit. He always had a lot of good things to say about her, really. Well, when he wasn't berating her for her failures. No matter how much he cared about Ri'vashi, he never went easy on her. He treated this one like a soldier, probably because he never expected to be a father. This one still remembers his surprise when he started to realize that Ri'vashi was growing bigger than him. He probably did not know that Khajiit could grow so large before he found her."

Kaleeth grinned, then walked over to the weapon racks to put away her practice blade. She set aside the cloak she had been wearing, leaving her with a simple loincloth. Stepping back into the pit, she stood close to Janius and spoke up a bit more quietly than before. "So, um, how...rough should we be?" She asked. In order to really sate her more violent tendencies, she needed fights that did not involve pulling punches as much as in normal sparring matches. Though they had been rather brutal, the fights back on the ship that had taken them out of Senchal had been perfect in that regard.

---

"Don't worry." Ma'tanza said reassuringly. "As long as you don't damage the organs, it should be fine. The ribs are tough to get out, as they well should be. They're there to protect some of our most important organs, so this one would be worried if they were easy to rip out."

It took a good deal of effort to rip out each of the ribs, but eventually, they had full access to the chest cavity. Most of the organs it contained Tzirret was likely already familiar with on a basic level, so she could get into more detail. First, she cut out both the lungs and heart and set them aside, then showed him the exact path of the major arteries once they were out of the way. Afterwards, she took the heart and one of the lungs, then carefully cut them in half in such a way as to provide him a cross section of each.

"Okay, the heart is, obviously, one of the most important organs in the body for a healer. There are a lot of organs that people need to live, but if the heart stops beating, the person is as good as dead unless it can be restarted very quickly. So, you need to know how it works. As you can see, the heart has four chambers that the blood pumps through. That's the same for Khajiit, Humans, and Elves alike. Argonians are a bit different, since their hearts only have three chambers. Still, they both do the same thing."

In response to Ri'vashi's reminiscing, Gallus raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you have a way of creating more questions than you answer sometimes, clan leader," he mused. He then headed towards the second sandpit, "Still, it sounds like that kind of upbringing would make anyone a strong fighter."

Gallus paused before stepping into the sand pit, turning to Ri'vashi. "Would you mind if we tried something? Hey, Lorag!" Gallus shouted past Ri'vashi, "Let's see if Ri'vashi can take us, two on one! If you won't, I'll have to pick Peiter instead, and he's been practicing with the wrong sword for weeks!"

After a small laugh at Gallus' comment, Janius gave Kaleeth a grin. "Well, just for you, darling, as rough as you want." He suddenly raised a hand to add, "Just...let's avoid the head and the groin, alright?"

---

Again, Tzirret took in as much information as he could without staring for too long at the nauseating details. While the lungs and the heart were off-putting, they were not as bad as he thought they would be. They were actually quite interesting to see the insides of. The way the tubes in the lungs split over and over again made an interesting pattern.

In the end, looking over the great gaping hole in the corpse's chest made Tzirret feel the most uneasy. He had a feeling there would be worse sights in the lower body.

The heart was larger than Tzirret expected, but he was not unfamiliar with them in other creatures. Gallus always enjoyed grilled heart meat, Tzirret just found it tough. This heart was no exception upon prodding its surface.

With a expression that was finally more curious than worried, Tzirret asked a question. "Why does the heart have four chambers? Or even three? Wouldn't one chamber be enough?"

Lorag did not seem to be paying a great deal of attention before Gallus called his name. He looked up, almost in confusion for a few moments before he put together what Gallus was asking. "Oh, no let me...rest a bit. Just take the boy or somethin'." He answered. It was strange for him to say that he was tired, as he would rarely admit fatigue even when it was more than justified. Though, perhaps even more strange was that he did not so much as acknowledge Gallus' joke.

Kaleeth gave a quick chuckle. "Heh, no promises." She joked as she took up her guard stance. As opposed to when she fought back on the ship, her stance was much more proper. Her feet were spaced perfectly apart, with her hands ready to both attack and defend. It had not been all that difficult for either of them to learn the stances, attacks, and defenses, but the real difficulty came in being able to remember them in the heat of a fight. They had to be able not just to act with proper form, but to react with proper form in a stressful situation. That was something that Kaleeth had definite trouble with, and was far from mastering. Regardless, she began with the first attack, though it was more of a feint. She rushed forward quickly, as if she was going to attack, but then stopped just in front of him in a defensive stance. She hoped to provoke a counter for an attack that did not come, which might give her an opening.

---

Ma'tanza shook her head. "No, because then the heart wouldn't be able to do everything it is supposed to. Well...that's not exactly true. There are some creatures with only one chamber in their hearts, but they are little, simple creatures. Like worms and such. More complicated bodies need more complicated hearts...Ma'tanza thinks, at least. This one admits she is not an expert on the exact reasons everything is how it is in the body. She just knows what she was taught by her mentor. But the heart is one of the first things she learned about, so she knows about it. Some of the chambers pump the blood to the lungs and back, and others pump it to the rest of the body. If the blood wasn't able to get to the lungs, then it would be useless to the rest of the body. Now, shall we move on? This time, Ma'tanza would like you to cut out the next organ. Ask questions if you see anything curious."

Gallus lowered his brow and answered unsurely to Lorag. "Alright, as you wish." There was no reason to pry right now. Gallus instead turned to Peiter and beckoned him with an index finger, "Come 'ere, boy! It's time we got you back up to scratch."

In the other pit, Janius didn't have time to process Lorag's odd reaction before Kaleeth closed in. His immediate reaction was to take a step back and bring his arm forward to parry Kaleeth's opening punches. He didn't have much space and he knew Kaleeth was going to be vicious, so he tried not to stay on the defensive for long. He threw out a couple of quick jabs with one fist, directed at Kaleeth's face but easily deflected, and then tried to regain ground by lunging forward with his other fist. Still, it was unlikely that Kaleeth was going to let him attack so easily without punishment.

---

"This one...thinks he understands," Tzirret said with hesitation. He supposed the exact nature of the heart was not as important as knowing how to heal it, so he didn't stress too much about the unknown.

Now that he was prompted to, Tzirret pulled out his own knife and carefully tried to remove the next thing he saw in the open torso. Tzirret's face tensed uneasily at the texture of the thing. After severing a number of stringy blood vessels and a pipe that spilled some yellow bile, he lifted out a soft, dark lump of flesh that was roughly 'L' shaped. It still had the gallbladder attached, weighing its remaining tubes down.

"This is the liver, right?" Tzirret asked, "This one never really knew what it did, he only knew it as food."

While Peiter perked up and headed over to Gallus, Kaleeth raised her hands to guard again Janius' attacks towards her head, since that was the part of her she needed most to protect. However, when he lunged forward with a punch, she did something different. Instead of trying to block, she accepted the hit. She did attempt to move to the side slightly so that he would hit her shoulder, but she mainly attempted to use the opening it provided to land a heavy punch to his stomach, followed by as many smaller punches as she could get in. She was forgoing defense to land as many attacks as she could, in the hopes of just outlasting him through endurance.

---

Ma'tanza actually seemed somewhat excited with Tzirret's question. It was something she found interesting, and that she hoped he would as well. "Oh, the liver does a lot of things. It does a lot to the blood flowing through the body, sort of like a filter. One of the most interesting things that it does is to deal with poisons and other toxins. Like the heart, the livers of Khajiit, Humans, and Elves, are all pretty similar, but Argonians are pretty different. Theirs is very, very strong. There's pretty much no toxin it can't handle. Luckily, healing it isn't much more complicated; you just have to return it to its natural state. Now, wounds to the liver can be tricky. It is a vital organ, but it won't kill someone immediately if it is damaged. However, there's so many blood vessels around it, and flowing into it, that wounds in that area can bleed a lot. If you can get to them quickly enough, you can save them, and it usually isn't as quick as a blade to the heart, but a lot of people bleed out before healers can get to them."

As the lesson continued, Ma'tanza proceeded in directing Tzirret to take out specific organs, then explaining what they were on a basic level. She wanted to give him a comprehensive view on anatomy so he would have the examples in his mind for future healing lessons. Certainly, this would probably not be something he would easily forget.

Janius' proper attack was placed as well as it could have been, but Kaleeth did a good job in twisting so that it wouldn't hit her properly. The nature of her next moves were as vicious as Janius predicted. Powerful strikes landed upon Janius' body with impact enough to wind him. He curled his upper body forward with his elbows near his torso and his arms up in an attempt to defend himself.

Though there were opportunities to land small strikes in return, the only big opening was a possible hook to the side of Kaleeth's head. However, the blow that Janius could land might seriously injured her, and at the same time they had agreed to avoid landing blows to the head. Janius compromised by suddenly shooting his knee up into Kaleeth's middle and trying to push her off momentarily.

"Easy. Arms up." Janius said with a bit of strain during the momentary lapse, "Your head was way too open there."

Gallus took Peiter firmly by the shoulder when he approached. "Alright, lad. Did you get to see Ri'vashi fight there? D'you reckon we could take her on?" He let Peiter go and stepped back, "Let me see your stance first." A few check-ups to Peiter's technique would pad the time between now and properly challenging the clan leader to another bout.

---

Tzirret gave the liver in his hands a look of surprise. He didn't any of what Ma'tanza had mentioned before now. "Wow. Tzirret would have thought that something that did that would be more complicated."

As they took out more and more organs, Tzirret started to get used to the gore. He only had to take a quick break twice. Once after they opened the stomach, and again when they broke open the skull to see the brain. Thankfully Tzirret didn't quite throw up on either occasion.

Each of the organs had features and functions that Tzirret had only heard about for the first time. He didn't know to think about how complex they all were as they worked together, but there seemed to be an endless amount of knowledge in just this corpse. And what Tzirret was being taught was only the basics.

By the time they finished with it, the corpse was unrecognisable and all but butchered. Those in the kitchen only had to separate cuts and portions and sort everything out for storage. Despite feeling occasionally sick, Tzirret had a smile on his face after all was said and done.

"This one thanks you, Ma'tanza. He has learned a lot." Tzirret said sincerely, facing Ma'tanza. He took a half-step towards her, but stopped and looked at his hands. Half the length of each of his arms were covered in blood and bodily fluids. "Uh..." he laughed nervously, "He would hug you, but...maybe we should clean up first."

Between Kaleeth and Janius, their sparring was brief, but intense. Kaleeth did not allow her beast spirit full reign over her mind, but she did voluntarily give in to its desire to fight. She ended up with a few bruises on her arms, chest, and stomach, and a bloody nose from a strike she failed to block. The pain and soreness she felt afterwards was expected, though she still ended up visiting Irenya afterwards regardless. As for the techniques Ra'kalesh had been teaching her, she was not quite as skilled as Janius. Certainly, his teachings had allowed her to improve, but in terms of technique, Janius was more refined. The only advantage she had in their duel was her strength, though that was quite a significant one.

The sparring match between Gallus, Peiter, and Ri'vashi, again, ended with a victory for her, though it was perhaps not the greatest display of her combat skills. Peiter was out of practice from their travels, and was not nearly as skilled as either Gallus or Lorag to begin with. Ri'vashi was a physically opposing and obviously talented opponent, so he hesitated in his strikes enough that she was able to turn his presence to her favor, which was, once more, a display of her observational abilities and tactical planning. She could move in such a way as to force Peiter to obstruct Gallus most of the time, and when he was able to flank her, Ri'vashi actually managed to get a hold of Peiter's blade mid-thrust and use it to strike Gallus. After their bout, Ri'vashi was forced to take her leave to tend to other duties, while Peiter, in somewhat of a state of embarrassment, continued to train with Gallus and Sabine.

---

For the next week, the majority of the Senchal clan had no official responsibilities other than to rest and recuperate from their ordeal. However, many chose to find some task to perform, either out of gratitude for the acceptance of the Orcrest clan, or just to fill their time. It took a few days, but clothing and other supplies were eventually distributed to the Senchal clan, and they were able to find enough rooms to house everyone. Most were unfurnished, converted storage rooms, but they could at least feel like actual guests in the stronghold. And they were certainly better than sleeping in a tent in the desert.

The werevulture scouts that had been sent out the day after their arrival were due back anytime in the next day or two, so Meesei was hoping to get results from their interrogations of the prisoners. They had taken a patient approach with their interrogation, especially of the Imperial. Gallus had gone through a few more sessions with him, with each ending the same way as the first. By now, the Imperial likely viewed his anger as personal.

Meesei, Gallus, and Ri'vashi had decided to meet early in the morning, outside the prison, to discuss their strategy. Meesei did not actually intend to meet with the prisoner this time, but wanted to give her advice just the same. "With luck, we will be able to get some information from them before our scouts return. Gallus, do you think that he might believe you would betray me at this point?" She asked.

Rather than berate Peiter for his apprehension, Gallus treated the duel with Ri'vashi as a learning experience. They went through techniques where Peiter was lacking, reassured him of the correct course of action with a superior opponent, and made sure that they caught up with the time lost to travel and Gallus' duties. Gallus even included Sabine in the training, though her involvement was restricted to less complex areas of swordplay.

---

The week went by peacefully for most. Though there were some tense flare-ups between the clans snugly sharing the same spaces, the camaraderie between the two groups eventually prevailed and only became stronger as living conditions improved. The Senchal clan was more or less pulling their own weight now. The amount of people seeking work of their own volition guaranteed that much.

The relative downtime was helpful to Tzirret. It meant plenty of time for catching up with his own training, practising his still wonky magic, and, of course, being with Ma'tanza. As usual, Ma'tanza was with her family more often than not, but there were a couple of occasions where they could be alone. It was only during these times that Tzirret really felt comfortable kissing Ma'tanza, but it was becoming clear in public that the two at least seemed more physically close. The limited time they had before orders would or would not be given to march out with the warband meant that Tzirret savoured what he could.

Meanwhile, Fendros could be seen surreptitiously asking around about seemingly strange subjects. Mostly about Mara and the ceremonies of the eight divines. Whenever Ahnasha found him doing such a thing, he either became hushed so she wouldn't hear, or change the subject entirely. Some quick investigation would reveal that he was also trying to source a particular set of jewellery.

As the tortures and questioning went on, Gallus was never enthusiastic to continue. Watching the continued suffering seemed to take the energy out of him, despite smiling and brushing off the impact if broached about it. His beatings of the Imperial Hiritus were progressively getting worse for a while, but Gallus had to credit the man on his resilience. No matter how hard he was beaten or broken, he would always have fresh taunts to throw. Thankfully, it also appeared that he was falling for Gallus' acting.

"Let's see," Gallus answered Meesei plainly with crossed arms, "I've made it abundantly clear through my planned reactions that I am not happy being your inferior. I've even fed him some hints that I wouldn't mind seeing you put down a notch...or several...into the ground." Gallus closed his mouth and took a deep breath through his nose. "I think all that's left is to wait until he offers a bargain. I'll show caution, but I'll be receptive. I might even make a deal to help him escape, and then he'll be alone with me out there in the desert, in a position of relative trust. If I can't get more information then, I don't know how else it would be possible."

After a moment looking at the floor, Gallus raised his brow and eyes to Meesei. "Dar-tzesa seems to be giving up morsels of answers for relief of her pain, but it's not much. How have the other prisoners been?"

Meesei held a mixed expression as she considered the prisoners' answers. "There has been some useful information, but not what we need. For the ones that have been receptive to questioning, they all support the story that they were sent from a local outpost based out of a farm in Orcrest to serve as support for this mission, but that they were not told the details of the plan, because they did not need to know. They all also seem to indicate that Dar-Tzesa and Hiritus were not from their outpost, but rather were sent from elsewhere. A few of them have seemed to let it slip that Hiritus is their leader, which is perhaps the most useful piece of information we have gathered."

Ri'vashi had already been informed of the progress of the interrogations beforehand, but a thought seemed to come to her mind through Gallus' explanation of his progress with the Imperial. "So you have painted yourself as being discontented with your position under Meesei? That was a good idea, in this one's opinion. It is doubtful that Hiritus would believe you to be disloyal out of any sort of respect for Vile, but for power...Ri'vashi would be more than willing to bet that he has seen the hunger for power firsthand. Many who serve Vile do so out of the desire for power of some form. Hiritus as probably seen that kind of greed, and may possess it himself. He might attempt to manipulate you to secure his escape, but he may also attempt to betray you for his own benefit or safety. Still, if we can secure useful information along the way, it may be worth the risk. As long as you are willing, of course."

"If I were unwilling, Ri'vashi, I would have objected days ago," Gallus reassured, though his smile faded slightly. "However, it is worth keeping in mind that any escape plan we'll hatch will have to be watched closely. Once the details have been worked through, I may need a few guards to stalk behind our movements in case anything unforeseen happens. I'll follow up with you later and we can all collaborate."

Gallus' face then lowered slightly as a question came to mind. He raised an eyebrow to Meesei. "Just to be sure, what will become of the prisoners when we are done here? Are they to be executed?"

There wasn't much else that Gallus could think to discuss before resuming, so he motioned slightly to move towards Hiritus' cell once he was answered.

Meesei walked with Gallus towards Hiritus' cell, speaking quietly. "Yes, it would be too dangerous to keep them alive, and I have made them no promises otherwise. It is still possible that Vile's forces as a whole do not know the clan's exact location, but they certainly would if we released any of them. Provided they cooperate, we will kill them quickly, and leave them to whatever fate awaits their souls."

The three stopped outside Hiritus' cell, though Meesei kept her distance for a moment and dropped her voice to a whisper. "We will stay outside and listen in. Say whatever you need to make your story convincing. Make yourself seem like a power-hungry subordinate. Do not be afraid to insult me if you need to; I promise I will not hold it against you...mostly." She said with a slight grin, though her expression quickly returned to a serious one.

Inside, Hiritus was awake, but trying to force himself to sleep to pass the time. He had not been outside of his windowless cell since he was first placed in it, so he had nothing but his own thoughts most of the time. The only thing that broke up the monotony of his imprisonment was interrogation, but that almost always ended in beatings.