Soon, the training began in earnest.
"Again." Kanna, with not a hair out of place, stood in front of Aegis, sword outstretched.
Aegis dashed forward.
Kanna sidestepped, letting Aegis’s blade sail past her, and tapped the back of Aegis’s knee with her own sword.
"You’re lunging too early. Wait for the opening, don’t try to create it."
"Got it."
"Again."
Aegis reset her stance and went again.
---
Day two.
"Your grip is too tight," Kanna said, adjusting Aegis’s fingers on the hilt. "You want control, not a death grip. Tension slows you down."
"Feels weird holding it loose."
"It’ll feel weirder when soone knocks the sword out of your hand because you couldn’t adjust your grip in ti."
Fair point.
---
Day three.
"Better." Kanna blocked a strike and countered, forcing Aegis to scramble backward. "You’re reading my movents now instead of just reacting. Keep that up."
"I’m trying."
"Try harder. Again."
---
Day four.
Scarlett watched from the sidelines, wincing every ti Kanna landed a hit. Which was often.
"She’s doing better," Scarlett offered.
"She’s doing adequately," Kanna replied, not taking her eyes off Aegis. "Adequate isn’t enough."
"You could ease up a little."
"No."
Aegis, wheezing on the ground, raised a hand.
"I’m with Scarlett on this one."
"Noted. Get up. Again."
---
Day five.
Night training with Rosanna was sohow worse.
The ghost danced around everything Aegis did easily. Every ti Aegis thought she had an angle, Rosanna simply wasn’t there anymore.
"You’re thinking too much," Rosanna said, dodging another swing. "Combat at this level is instinct, not calculation."
"Easy for you to say." Aegis tried a feint into a low sweep. Rosanna floated over it. "You’ve been doing this for centuries."
"Lots of them, yes."
Aegis lunged, putting everything into a thrust aid at Rosanna’s midsection. Given how much body Rosanna had, this really shouldn’t have been as hard as it was. The woman’s tits alone were basically a pair of globes waiting to be poked. And yet, sohow, Rosanna twisted aside at the last second, letting the blade pass harmlessly through the space where her stomach had been.
"Closer," Rosanna admitted. "But close doesn’t win duels."
"I noticed."
Rosanna materialized behind her, and Aegis felt the cold touch of a spectral blade at her throat.
"You’re improving, though. A week ago, you wouldn’t have gotten within a foot of . Again."
---
Day six.
Aegis lay on the ditation platform, staring at the stars, every muscle in her body screaming.
"One more day," she muttered to herself.
Rosanna sat beside her, looking annoyingly serene for soone who’d just spent three hours beating the shit out of her student.
"You’re ready."
"I don’t feel ready."
"No one ever does." Rosanna’s hand, surprisingly warm for a ghost, brushed against Aegis’s cheek. "But you are. Trust ."
Aegis closed her eyes.
[One more day. Then we find out if any of this was worth it.]
---
With the training done and the only thing left to do being rest her body up, Aegis decided to take a walk around Rosevale.
It ca to her then that for soone reincarnated in her favorite ga, she’d hardly spent any ti exploring it. With all this heiress business, establishing her na, and training, she hadn’t stopped to sll the roses at all.
So, she walked.
The Noble Quarter was quiet at this hour. A few guards patrolled the streets, nodding at her as she passed, but otherwise, Aegis had the cobblestone roads mostly to herself. The lampposts cast long shadows across the ground, and sowhere in the distance, she could hear music drifting from one of the taverns in the rchant Quarter.
She passed by estates she recognized. Smaller houses too, ones she’d visited during her networking campaign, their windows dark now as their occupants slept.
Rosevale really was a beautiful city, when you took the ti to look at it.
Aegis wandered down toward the rchant Quarter, past shops she’d never entered and restaurants she’d never eaten at. A bakery with a hand-painted sign. A tailor’s shop with mannequins in the window displaying dresses she couldn’t afford six months ago. A bookstore that was closed but had a cat sleeping in the windowsill.
She stopped and watched the cat for a minute. It didn’t wake up.
[Wish I could sleep that peacefully tonight.]
Eventually, her feet carried her back toward Starcaller Manor. The building looked different at night, she thought. Less like a noble estate and more like a ho. Her ho. Still weird to think about, honestly. A year ago, she’d been dying in a hospital bed. Now she owned property.
Life was strange.
She let herself in through the front door and made her way to the sitting room. The fire had burned down to embers, casting the room in a dim orange glow. Aegis didn’t bother relighting it. She just sank into one of the couches and stared at nothing in particular.
"You’re far too young to be lting into your furniture like that, darling."
Aegis didn’t turn her head. She heard Nazraya’s footsteps, soft against the carpet, and then felt the couch dip as her professor sat down beside her.
"Can’t sleep?" Nazraya asked.
"Haven’t tried yet."
"Nervous?"
"A little." Aegis finally looked at her. "Okay, a lot."
Nazraya shifted closer, close enough that their shoulders touched.
"You’d be a fool not to be nervous. This duel determines your entire future."
"Thanks. That helps."
"I wasn’t trying to help. I was stating facts." Nazraya’s hand found Aegis’s thigh, resting there lightly. "But if it’s any consolation, I’ve seen you train. I’ve seen how far you’ve co in the past week. You’re not the sa girl who stumbled into my classroom begging for lessons."
"I didn’t beg."
"You absolutely begged."
"I negotiated aggressively."
Nazraya laughed, low and warm.
"Call it whatever you want, pet. The point is, you’ve grown. You’re stronger than you think."
Aegis leaned her head against Nazraya’s shoulder.
"And if I lose?"
"Then we’ll figure sothing out." Nazraya’s fingers traced slow circles on her thigh. "But you won’t."
"You sound sure."
"I am." Nazraya pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Now co to bed. You need rest, not brooding."
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