Sirius sighed. Bryn had come a long way since they had first met, but two hours just wasn’t good enough. He yawned, creeping age getting the best of him. Well, they could do better, but now was a perfect time for a break. He pushed his own sword to the ground. It wasn’t his most favored weapon – he preferred a two-handed club, though he had always been told that such a thing was primitive – but, it was the weapon he’d brought along for this excursion. Bryn had taken to the rapier, and so she wouldn’t have been able to parry his club strikes unless she was particularly gifted (and, even then, it was unlikely).

“Well, I suppose we could stop for now. Enjoy the view. It’s not the reason I picked this spot, but it is a nice consequence which we shouldn’t ignore. Consider this a training in how to keep up morale.”

Training on the tops of the mountains was important. For one, it was closer to the gods, and they always enjoyed a pleasant show. But on the other hand, Sirius was as practical as he was holy, and he knew that so far up there was less air to breathe in. It was a subtle thing, but it would mean that the body would tire sooner, and it would become disciplined faster. He tried to bring her to such high places often, but it was also important that she got the feel for other terrains. A warrior who could only fight in the desert was ill equipped for a swamp, after all.

Sirius sat himself on a rock, taking a breath. He’d let Bryn rest for a few minutes, but they had to get back to training. Of course, if he pushed himself any further, they’d have to rest here. While Sirius hadn’t yet detailed his plans exactly, he figured that they ought to head toward some of the Southern grasslands, do some rounds and find a few places to train. The villagers there tended to keep to themselves, but there were a few mountains which he had gone to for pilgrimage underneath his own teacher. Admittedly, he would probably be committing a crime of some sort by training his own apprentice there, but at this rate it didn’t matter much.

Sirius stood, reaching for his sword again. Thirty more minutes of training, and then they’d still be able to make it.

“Bryn, you better lift that sword, else I’ll leave you ‘ere alone.”

Sirius was going to train, regardless of whether his apprentice followed suit. This last thirty minutes was going to be for him. While, physically, he hadn’t held back on Bryn, he was still using somewhat basic swordplay techniques. Thing he’d learned at her age, but with more than a few years of muscle memory to back it up. Despite being an unfavored weapon, he’d still learned at least a few things beyond just bare fundamentals, so he figured now was as good a time as any to show them to Bryn.

Sirius’s motions were swift, but less forceful. It was not that he was holding back, but rather, he was planning to disorient Bryn with a flurry of blows. While he was growing tired, he knew that his apprentice must be more so. Of course, it was important to him that she knew how to fight against it. His intense barrage was slower than he figured he could do, just a warm up so that his apprentice could see some of the openings in such an attack. Of course, he was no master, so perhaps it was too slow. But, Sirius reasoned to himself, it was good to train her observation skills.