Unlike most other times that he would be fighting an unarmed opponent, Gallus was as focussed and as cautious as possible. He held no illusions as to Ri'vashi's capabilities, let alone how particularly reactive she was here.

While he tried to think how to land a hit he realised that he could not rely on dizzying tricks or overwhelming power. He would have to outplay her with a combination of speed that would put her in a position where defence was most difficult. It was not an obvious puzzle to solve in the heat of the fight. In the meantime, Gallus mirrored her strafes and periodically changed stances to play havoc with any plans she was hatching.

As soon as something plausible crossed Gallus' mind, he lunged forward. With his sword against the side of his shield again, he thrust high, twisted his shield to face upwards, and the thrust low with both of the items. Gallus hoped that Ri'vashi would run out of ring space and not be able to push his shield away before he could tap the blunt end of his wooden sword to her abdomen.

[hr]
Tzirret peered up at Ma'tanza. He was nothing short of surprised. "She is...not angry anymore?"

An uneasy chuckle came from Tzirret, more out of relief than anything else. "Well, uh...Tzirret promises never to do it again! He will never try to manipulate Ma'tanza, he swears on the moons." Tzirret pointed up at the ceiling with a bewildered face, but perked ears. His eyes twiched away for a moment, "Right, uh, no more dwelling on it. Do you..." Tzirret angled his head forward slightly and looked to Ma'tanza again, "...Do you want want to find a place to chatter like we usually do?"