Though it was a sudden advance, Gallus had fought Ri'vashi enough times before to know that she would not let him act freely for too long. He tried to twist to one side to reduce the force of Ri'vashi's shield and succeeded in maintaining his balance, but locked as his defence was in deflecting her shield with his, the oncoming sword looked like an easy hit to land. Gallus took a long step back and ducked his head, but the tip of the wooden blade still caught his upper arm before he could get to safety.

The tacit rule at this point would be for Gallus to no longer use his shield arm due to the wound that a real weapon would inflict. However, that was sometimes overlooked for superficial wounds. Gallus didn't know if he would regret inviting greater strikes, but he kept his shield up and ready and he bobbed slightly in place, staying mobile and making his mail ring in dull waves. 

Gallus' next move was to step up while wheeling his hammer around his head and striking Ri'vashi's weapon to her left in an attempt to step around her. With his shield, he wanted to try and keep her blade contained while he threw the hammer around in the opposite direction, ducked as he followed through past her, and struck at the side of her knee. He intended to have moved completely past her by the time he was done, banking on what he estimated about her mobility, if he was correct at all.

[hr]
With a few good sleeps and time to get used to the work on the road, Tzirret's initial fatigue was short-lived. As he had predicted, some of the menial tasks only needed to be done once and everything fell into a manageable routine. Irenya was still strict as ever but Tzirret was already used to her. The other healers and the assistants around them were friendly enough, at least. An effect of the march that Tzirret didn't predict was that the limited time he had with Ma'tanza seemed to make the moments more special. Tzirret savoured time where they could lay under the stars together and just talk or kiss. As well, laughing together with Bheja, S'nishi, Peiter, and Sabine also felt like it had more value. The routine balanced with the small social periods helped everyone to take their mind off their worries about the looming assault, and in some cases, about connections back in the clanhome.

A consequence of Tzirret's time with Ma'tanza drove him to pull Peiter aside slightly after they had finished swimming in the lake they had camped beside. While everyone else was drying themselves off, Tzirret murmured to Peiter with his eyes dancing between him and the others nervously. "Um, Peiter, do you have a moment to speak with this one?"