How to fight

As you enter Trixie's house you suddenly become aware that the inside is bigger and much more impressive that the outside made it look, as you look at the assortment of trinkets and artwork displayed on the wall, with the center piece being a huge tapestry of a small group of people, you recognize Trixie immediately from her big grin and her short red hair, and you notice Thomas' likeness perched atop of a barrel with a mug of ale in his hand, the tapestry stand a full length to the roof, and is easily the height of a large house. You look over to Trixie who's turned to watch you as you walk into the grand house and marvel at it all, the suits of armor, the cases filled with all manner of shiny trinkets, and more dented and ruined scraps of metal and wood, which you assumed must be trophies from her adventure.

"Well it's not much but it's home." Roy says in a humorous manner, as he moves past with the box and heads left down the hallway.

"How.......I....Just...." You stammer as you look back outside to the neighboring houses standing only a single story tall, as you turn your puzzled face to Trixie who smiles at you.

"Well if it looked this grand on the outside, every crook and bandit would come a knocking, so our of Wizarding friend enchant the land with a few illusions and other enchantments." Trixie says as she looks around the room decorated with her lifes work and glories, a takes a moment to enjoy the nostalgic memories that now filled her mind. "Reminds me I should invite him round, normally he comes to touch up the enchantments, or rather he sends his pupils to do so, would be nice just to get together and catch up." Trixie says a loud, more for her own benefit than anyone else.

"It's incredible, how good do I have to be to get something even remotely close to this nice." You say out loud as you hear footsteps approaching as Roy returns without the bulky case.

"Oh you know, stop a few demonic incursions, overthrow a few evil warlords, stop a few royal assassinations, commit a few royal assassinations, oh and having a few gods owe you a favor always helps." Roy jokes as he returns, as he mother shoots him another withering stare, which makes him stop talking with gratifying speed.

"Well it's nice to have something to work towards, but honestly work to something simpler first, otherwise you end up loosing sight of things, for starters, focusing on keeping yourself alive is a good thing." Trixie says with a grin, which makes you shiver slightly. "To which I think I'd better appraise how you fight, try and coach you a little, ultimately if you're like me you'll work your own style out, and most of that is improvisation, as plans rarely survive past the first encounter with the enemy." Trixie says with another disconcerting smile on her face.

"So what did you have in mind." You ask with a hint of your nerves causing your voice to quake.

"Well I've got some sparring equipment, I figured I'd suit the three of us up, and I can show you a few moves give you an idea for it, and then you can practice against Roy. Roy favors a longer blade and more padding so you'll have to use your wits to find a spot to hit him, but that's the very essence of how we fight." Trixie says with a reassuring pat on your shoulders.

"Will Roy know how to hold back?" You ask as you look at the wavy haired boy as he smiles at you and throws you a wink.

"God no, but what he might lack in sense he makes up for in heart, so he fight to win, but he won't injure you, which is for the best as you wouldn't learn very well if he was making it easy for you." Trixie says with a soft reassuring tone as she playfully punches Roy in the shoulder.

The next four hours go by quickly, but also are very tiring as Trixie wasn't taking it easy, she was showing you the odd move, how to move your feet to keep you balance, how to dodge and keep your footwork to counter or continue to dodge. She coached you in great depth when you chose to strike and where you struck with the small wooded knife you were given. Roy was also making sure you learnt quickly as his wooden sword kept you on the defensive as he moved with speed without sacrificing too much accuracy, he definitely knew his way around a sword if this was anything to go by.

Bar a few bumps and scrapes mostly from your own over ambitious attempts at leaping from a strike, you manage to pick up the basics with reassuring speed, and for the last hour you had Roy on the defensive as you crouched weaved, bobbed, and ducked around him waiting for an opening for you to strike. Although by this time all of Roy's swinging and swordsmanship had left him somewhat drained while you weren't quite as burnt out, so you suspect this had a play in why the last hour had you favoring the attack. Although after the hour you could really feel the strain, as your muscles began to ache in places you didn't know you had, as sweat poured down your soft skin.

"Excellent footwork at the end, we might make a scrapper out of you yet." Trixie said with a smile as she patted your shoulder again. "Also good work Roy, nice to see you haven't been wasting your time with Nate." Trixie continues with another smile. "Well I think it's time for a break, some food, and then we can move onto some other lessons." Trixie says as she leads you out of the room, and down a small set of stairs into a huge kitchen, where a few maids were working away with some food.

You sit at a table with Roy as Trixie gets a message from one of the maids and nods, before walking over to you both. "So looks like I'm having lunch in my study, got a business matter to address, you two enjoy some food, and relax, I'll make sure the lesson is ready for later, and come get you both." Trixie says as she speaks briefly to one of the maids about food, and then heads up and out of the room.

"So how are you finding it so far?" Roy asks as he squirms in his chair trying to get comfortable, a task made somewhat difficult by a bruise you gave him when you swept his legs out from under him and cause him to fall flat on his ass.

"It's hard work, but I think I'm getting the hang of it." You say with smile as you watch guiltily as Roy continues to fidget in place. "Sorry for dropping you on your butt, anything I can do to help, extra cushions or something." You say weakly as you try and avoid watching him try and find a better spot for his bruised butt.

"You could kiss it better if you wanted." Roy said with a wry smile as you looked up at you.

"Not happening in this life time." You reply with a silent laugh at how bold and full of confidence he was considering.

"Worth a shot." He replies with a soft chuckle. "But seriously this butts been through worse, you should of seen how bad I was after my first lesson with Nate." Roy says as you cough slightly and fix a gaze on him with one eye brow raised and wait for him to catch on. "Wait no, not like that." Roy says his confidence wavering slightly for the first time.

"Hey I'm not judging." You reply with a smile. "How you train is between you and Nate." You continue with a laugh as you continue to tease Roy, as he shakes his head and looks at you with slight disdain, before smiling himself.

"I suppose I walked right into that one." Roy says with a smile as he shakes his head and lets out a short laugh.

"You sure did Mr exceptional lover." You say with a smile before putting your hand on his shoulder. "But in all seriousness thanks for helping me train, by not going easy on me for being a girl." You reply with a genuine smile as Roy looks up at you and nods.

"No problem, if there was anything I learnt from growing up with my mom it was Women can fight just as hard as any man, and besides I though I saw something more than a beautiful woman when you came here this morning, I might claim to be many things, but I'm a great judge of character, and you have potential." Roy says with a smile as you smile a nod.

"It's honestly good to hear that, I was starting to wonder if I made the right call going through the portal." You say as you feel refreshed knowing that your first few steps on your new path were on solid ground.

"Oh your from the world through that portal, you'll have to tell me about it." Roy says with a smile on his face as he pulls out a book, and took out a quill. You look at him confused for a moment, before he looks up and smiles. "I do actually tell stories, and well a whole new land is some pretty good material to work with." Roy says with soft tone, as he begins to scribble away at the pages.

So you spend the next hour or so talking about home, and your relatively normal life on a farm, with your mother, and your step father, and step brother, and Roy shares some insight into his own childhood growing up with an absentee father, who had no idea who he had slept with, otherwise would maybe of thought about sticking about, about having a mother known as a hero, albeit one with a checkered past of good things, and less than good deeds, mostly involving over ambitious heists and another breakout. Ultimately it was the Mayor of the town who decided to embrace Trixie for who she was and reward her for all she had done for the land, although the rumor was that this was more because the town jail could in no way hold her, and half the town guard wouldn't arrest her, even when caught red handed. You feel like you get a good insight into Roy, and beside his confidence in himself, he seems a good guy and you wonder what he has planned for his own future, because as Thomas said you'd need a group that you could rely on.

Your thought is interrupted, as Trixie returns and walks over to the table, looking down at the paper Roy was writing on before nodding and turning to you.

"Right Emma, are you ready for the next lesson, I think you're going to like it, I always did." Trixie says with a devilish grin on her face