Next morning, I arrived at the training grounds.
The sun had barely cleared the eastern wall, casting long shadows across the training equipment.
Kyle and Sira were already there.
They were sparring in one of the marked circles, Kyle with his wooden training sword, Sira with a pair of practice daggers. Their movements were fast, fluid.
Kyle's sword came down in an overhead strike. Sira sidestepped, one dagger deflecting the blade while the other came up toward his ribs. He twisted away, the hit missing by inches, and immediately counterattacked with a horizontal slash.
They moved like dancers, each anticipating the other's moves, pushing and testing without either gaining clear advantage.
I watched for a moment.
Kyle spotted me first, disengaging from Sira with a quick backstep. "Jin! Finally!" He grinned, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Thought you were gonna spend the whole week buried in the library with Emma."
