Julan tried to angle his blade around his opponent's spear, but unfortunately, he focused too much on Argrei's weapon to notice his foot delivering a clean kick to Julan's stomach, knocking him onto his back. Argrei was quick to lunge forward, thrusting his spear towards Julan's leg, but despite having the breath knocked out of him, Julan was fast and aware enough to deflect the spear to the side with his blade. 

Argrei stabbed the spear into the ground, and Julan quickly shot out a hand to grab it. Much to Argrei's surprise, trying to jerk the spear out of the ground was fruitless with Julan's iron grip. However, Argrei proved capable of thinking and adapting quickly, as he did not waste time trying to wrestle over his spear, and instead just pulled his bone dagger from his belt. 

Julan realized that he was not in a great position, and instead of trying to deal with Argrei's dagger from the ground, he decided to make the safe choice and roll to the side, out of its range. While Argrei was working to get his spear out of the mud, he got back up to his feet and raised his guard once more. 

With his spear in hand once more, Argrei eyed Julan down, staying just out of range. [i]"Hmph, you're strong for a boy."[/i]

[i]"Yeah, and...I can be even stronger."[/i] Julan replied, a potentially clever idea coming into his mind. At least, he had not thought of any potentially harmful consequences in the few seconds he was able to think about it. For a moment, Julan's hand glowed with a yellow light, which he cast upon the rest of his body. It was just a basic healing spell, even though he was not injured, but his opponent did not know that. All he would see was that Julan had cast a restoration spell on himself, and Julan knew that there were spells in that school that could enhance a person's strength. He did not know any of those spells, but again, Argrei did not know that.

Zharanthixil had been mostly quiet since they had all came outside together, but the fight was enough to coax the occasional comment from him. In this case, it was even a compliment. Technically. [i]"Well, at least you taught the boy some actually useful magic."[/i]

[hr]

"Cruel? I don't...understand. I didn't torture, I didn't make her suffer. I killed her quickly, I..." Ahnasha began, but her excuses started to fade the more she looked into Rhazii's eyes. Even out of his Khajiit form, she could still read his expression, and still read the fear it held. It was true, genuine fear of his own mother, and it was the first thing in years that had made her think twice about the path through life she had taken. About her killing, about her uncompromising ruthlessness towards her enemies. She had always thought it unpleasant, but necessary, and perhaps it was...towards their [i]actual[/i] enemies. But, now, Rhazii had planted a seed of doubt in her mind about her own judgement, and that doubt was spreading through every part of her. She had become convicted with her sense of right and wrong. Fendros had challenged her before, but she had always talked him down. But Rhazii had not backed down, and even with all of her authority, and even fighting ability, bearing down on him, he had lasted long enough to give her a moment of genuine, unfiltered self-reflection.

"I didn't know her. I guessed. The guess is probably right, but I...killed just on 'probably'. Maybe...I should..." Ahnasha hesitated, then dropped down onto her knees with tears welling in her eyes. She stared down at her hands, which were shaking visibly. For a few seconds, she closed her eyes and sat in silence before continuing with a defeated tone. "I wasn't looking forward to it. It wasn't that; I didn't enjoy it, it was just...nothing. I felt nothing. I used to, long ago. I didn't like the killing. Not people. But the war, it just...it just kept dragging on. There was never any end; just every day, fighting for our existence. Fighting an enemy that wanted to kill us in the most horrific way just for what we are. For the power in our souls. No choice, there was no choice but to fight; we'd all die if we didn't. But, I think...it changed me. I didn't even notice that girl's screams. I've heard those screams so many times, killed so many who were afraid to die, that I just don't hear them anymore."

Ahnasha looked down at her hand again, which glowed briefly with the aura of conjuration magic. "Then I started studying life and death, and it just...all seemed like it didn't matter anymore. When I kill now, I just...don't feel. Rhazii, I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't want to frighten you; I wanted to keep you far from this life. But I did frighten you. Your own mother shouldn't be terrifying to you. I shouldn't be like this, but this war broke me...and I don't know how to fix that."