[h2]Renar and Tyaethe[/h2]

Standing in the afternoon sunlight, wooden sword swung across her shoulder–the runes across its surface flickering with an unnerving red light, because of course the vampire’s idea of “necessary sparring implement” if she couldn’t use live steel was something that still let her swing recklessly and leave nothing more than some light bruising where you fell over–Tyaethe gave Renar a confused look. An improvement from the blank one she’d been wearing, but only just.

He’d wanted to spar. She’d obliged, even with the sun burning her skin. Why, then, did he seem annoyed by it?	

Renar picked himself up from where he’d been left prone on the ground, scowling. One blow. He hadn’t even seen it. Evidently, Tyaethe hadn’t been interested in playing along today. She’d even shattered his quarterstaff, snapped straight in two. 

[color=ff5000][b]”If you truly didn’t want to indulge me with a spar, you could have saved us both the trouble and simply refused, you know.”[/b][/color]

She didn’t, that was true. But she didn’t really want to do [i]anything[/i] and this was a small ask besides. Spar. Fight without intent to kill, but with enough effort that there was a learning experience in it, or at least good exercise. This… it wasn’t the [i]easiest[/i] but it still counted.

Pinching the bridge of her nose for a second, Tyaethe did her best to look Renar in the eye. Hopefully he looked down a bit. 

“What were you [i]expecting[/i]? I can’t try less with my approach and still hope to teach anything.” 

What was Renar going to do, not look down at the person far shorter than him? He resisted the urge to pinch his brow in return and grumble, limiting himself to only a sigh instead as he brushed himself off. 

[color=ff5000][b]”Something I could learn from. Though I suppose that’s my own fault for not specifying. To tell the truth, I wasn’t expecting you to actually say yes. Fine. If you’re going to go to the trouble of humoring me, once more.”[/b][/color] 

He took a replacement weapon from the training rack, and settled into a stance again. At the very least, by the end of this, he might even be able to perceive her speed at least a little. 

One pass, and Renar was on the ground again. At least the training sword was intact. He planted into the ground, using it as a crutch to lever himself up. 

[color=ff5000][b]”Incidentally, you’ve been acting strangely ever since we returned from the previous assignment. If I’m wasting my time with this line of questioning, feel free to inform me sooner rather than later.”[/b][/color] 

“It… is meant to be learned from…” Tyaethe returned, sighing, “My specialty is fighting monsters. So many things in this world, you take a swing at a vulnerability,” Tyaethe once again mimed her telegraphed opening, “And then even if it lands, it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s too tough, maybe it heals, maybe it just doesn’t care what you hurt…”

Not that this really said what to do. She would have advocated for endless movement, or just hitting so hard it can’t be ignored. It wasn’t really a transferable opinion; all that Tyaethe could do here was represent the opposition.

“I didn’t think you’d want me to treat you like Flori or Parv. What would you get from that?” If she could even do it. She was acting… subpar, maybe. Distracted. Focusing on being a good example was far easier reached.

This explained some things, at least. Even Candaeln scuttlebutt never quite mentioned the First and Youngest’s lack of actual technique. To tell the truth, he wasn’t quite inclined to share such, either. Renar supposed he understood. What would be the point for most reasonable people, when she could simply bulldoze through mundane men with physical ability alone? It wouldn’t have satisfied him, of course, but that was why he was here, volunteering to be beaten repeatedly by a vampire. 

[color=ff5000][b]”That means nothing to me, you know. I’m not privy to how you interacted with the other founding knights. Nor do I have an interest in the subject.”[/b][/color] Edwin’s godsforsaken voice almost whispered in his mind as a reminder, and Renar barely kept his scowl off his face. 

[color=ff5000][b]”I suppose this would also be the part where I call you out on dodging the question, but at this point, you could simply knock me out to stop my asking.”[/b][/color] 

“I don’t [i]want[/i] to but that doesn’t matter.” Fingers tapped on the blade in an erratic pattern. “I have sworn duties to uphold and that includes keeping as many of you alive as possible. If I have to spar a few times…”

Tyaethe shook her head, spitting a few errant hairs out. “What do you want out of this? I’m not a teacher. If I try to go much easier…”

She gestured with the now-lightless sword a few times, arms now shaking with the surprising effort. Without any magic, or the benefit of a weightless blade, it was a heavy length of wood; she [i]was[/i] just a child in body and not a strong one.

[color=ff5000][b]”Fine, you’ve made your point.”[/b][/color] Renar said flatly, lowering his own wooden sword. As driven as he was to improve, this avenue wasn’t getting him anywhere for the moment. [color=ff5000][b]”That doesn’t make this the end of it, of course. We’ll do this again once I’m better able to follow your movements. I’m better able to improve by training with Lilia at the moment, it seems. No affront to you, of course.”[/b][/color] 

He moved to replace his weapon onto its rack before turning back to Tyaethe.

[color=ff5000][b]”And here I was under the impression that most of the order didn’t take advantage of having an immortal swordsman as a sparring partner because she refused them. Still, the degree by which I lose to you will make a good barometer for improvement. Any more advice to share, then?”[/b][/color] 

Renar doubted he’d get anything substantial out of the question, considering how [i]differently[/i] Tyaethe fought and thought about fighting compared to quite literally every other knight, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“Just… bear in mind what I said,” the paladin answered, after a pause, “There are too many things in the world that can attack you even if they leave themselves open to injury. Magic armour, vampires, wild monsters in general…”

She [i]had[/i] tried to demonstrate that. Let Renar get a few hits in, hold on just enough footing to swing back unexpectedly when he did hit. In that sort of situation, with enough speed, she didn’t need to escape the offense first.

“Most of what the Iron Roses deal with are normal humans or similar. But you’ll need to be ready for those that aren’t, who won’t be impaired the same way. How you learn to deal with that is up to you, but try not to learn on the spot. Doing it that way hurts.”

[color=ff5000][b]”Fair points.”[/b][/color] Renar conceded with a brief nod. Obvious ones, but the easiest observations to make were still important ones. [color=ff5000][b]”Admittedly, most of my experience has been against the spoken races, though I suppose orcs are the closest thing to monsters in that list.”[/b][/color] 

[color=ff5000][b]”If there’s nothing else, you never did say anything about what’s been actually bothering you to the point where it’s evident to just about everybody. Was it what the Boars were doing last we marched?”[/b][/color] 

"Nothing is bothering me," Tyaethe said, frowning and looking away. It was even true, so far as it was worth commenting on. "The pointlessness of the entire fight, of [i]enjoying[/i] it until I was about to kill some idiot boy's twin in front of him… that's just a cause."

"It's been this way since before Elionne was even born. I'll get over it, you don't need to be concerned."

[color=ff5000][b]”Twin? I take it you refer to that bunch you convinced to surrender?”[/b][/color] Renar tilted his head in curiosity. So Dame Tyaethe was one of [i]those[/i] kinds. 

[color=ff5000][b]”At least you managed to find someone worth fighting. The ones who rushed in to die were pitiful compared to the reputation of their oh-so-dreaded company. As for the rest, if you’ve been like this for two hundred years, nothing I say will convince you otherwise.”[/b][/color] He shrugged callously. 

[color=ff5000][b]”I’m not Fionn or Gerard. The Boars were simply an obstacle in my eyes, and nothing more. If you view the matter as pointless, who am I to say otherwise?”[/b][/color] 

The response was a humourless laugh. "Worth fighting? Only by dint of my own flaws. Everyone there… maybe it would have been too far to challenge them alone? I should have been able to survive that, at least, and convince them to stand down much sooner."

"So many dead, and over what? A piece of something that's rightly the church's duty. Because some monster somewhere had its pride wounded and lashed out, or thought itself better…" Tyaethe took on a bitter tone, fist clenching on the training sword. 

"Regardless… nothing is bothering me. It will pass. If that is all?" 

Really? After all that, and she still dared to claim nothing was bothering her? Far be it for Renar to give a damn about the First and Youngest outside of her combat strength, but this was just pathetic. He fixed her with a doubtful look that suggested she certainly wasn’t fooling him, but shrugged nonetheless.

[color=ff5000][b]”Do as you will, then. Do it enough, and you might even feel better. But who am I to offer advice to someone who’s spent two centuries living like this already?”[/b][/color] 

By all means, wallow in misery for another century or two. What a waste of immortality. Renar offered Tyaethe a brief salute before turning to leave, taking another quarterstaff from the track to commit to more training on his own for the day.

"'Try something else', 'talk about what's bothering you', 'is everything okay'... you think nobody's ever suggested that?" the vampire muttered, rubbing her bare arms. Too cold… and burnt. She headed off to change.