For the next minute or so, the fight proceeded slowly, with both fighters mostly just testing their opponent's defenses. However, as they became more aggressive, it also became clear that Julan was on the backfoot. Beyond a few clever moves, his tactics were mostly predictable, and he had not been able to put himself in a position to take advantage of his superior strength. By contrast, Julan had a hard time predicting Argrei, and was relying on quick reactions to protect himself. 

Once he started getting worried, Julan finally took his father's advice to heart and tried to end it quickly. He swung towards Argrei's shoulder with the intent of just using brute force to push through his defense. However, Argrei parried with his spear's haft, deflecting the force of the blow off to his left instead of trying to absorb all of the force directly. In fact, the force of Julan's blow only assisted in swinging the blunt end of Argrei's spear directly into the side of Julan's snout, followed quickly by Argrei jamming the haft hard into Julan's abdomen. 

Julan had a bloody nose and bruised stomach, and was certainly not at the advantage, but Argrei too showed himself not to be a perfect fighter. Seeing his opponent off-balance, Argrei wanted to push his advantage, but the act of spinning around his spear to bring the point to bear on Julan took far too long. It was enough time even for Julan to charge and launch a fireball straight at Argrei's chest. Given the nature of the fight, it was not a deadly spell, but it still left its burns. 

[hr]

"That never stopped." Ahnasha replied, slowly shaking her head. "I love you, son. I love you, always have loved you, and always will love you. Nothing in this world, or any other, could ever change that. And...I have been ready to slay anyone who would try and take that away from me."

Ahnasha brought her gaze up towards Rhazii once more. "I don't know how to start feeling again for the people I kill, but I need you, Rhazii. I want to make you happy, and I want to make sure that I never terrify you like this again."