The days continued with a set pattern. They would wake up early, stoke the fire in the house, eat breakfast, then go forage for food, wood, herbs, and other materials, then hike back, and have a cup of tea. After that, they began their sword training. Much of which Awena was required to sit and relax, but Isilla did add several more swings, though Awena had to do them all hundred times each. She was then free for the day to relax, though Isilla herself sometimes wandered off. This kept up for about a month

That day, during training, Isilla picked up a training sword herself. "Now, defend yourself."

Awena brought her sword up hesitantly.  She had  thought the sword practice was to be just conditioning.  Training her body and mind.  She hadn't really considered that she'd have to fight Isilla.  She set her feet in the proper stance and prepared.

Isilla circled, looking over her opponent with analytical eyes. She swung in from the right, a mere probing attack and slower than what Awena had seen before.

Awena blocked, a month had not made her an expert by any means but she had done enough repitition that the motion came natually.

"Good." She jabbed with another light probe, but her foot got caught in a branch. She caught herself, but looked flustered at the mistake.

Awena stepped back to avoid the jab but her brow furrowed.  It wasn't like Isilla to make mistakes like that.  Awena wondered if Isilla was trying to lull her into making a mistake so she just held her ground and felt clever about not falling for it.

Isilla's next strike was far harder and slightly faster than the last two, coming in for a upper slice.

Awena managed to get out of the way but only because she scampered back at the same time as she blocked. Of course this overextended her arms and her sword was way out of position when she was done.

Bringing her sword back down, she struck at Awena's head.

Awena swerved to the side, barely managing to avoid most of the blow although it did catch one of her ears and stung terribly.  She stumbled and went down on one knee although she did manage to get her sword back in front of her shakily.

Letting her momentum carry, Isilla stuck her sword in the ground and started to push off for a kick. Unlucky for her, the sword's tip slid on the ground, resulting in her collapsing on the ground without even touching Awena. "What the hell is going on!" Isilla screamed out, birds taking flight some distance away.

Awena slowly got back to her feet.  "You know, the same thing happened to the boy at school.  They seemed pretty sure of themselves and then they started tripping all over the place."

"Really now? And why was that?" Isilla pushed herself up, her face betrayed her struggle to control her anger.

Awena looked at the ground.  "Well...ummm...it might be me.  People just seem to have bad luck around me.  I mean, I don't want them to, they just do!"

"Then we will train you to restrain it." She pulled herself back up, robes dirty. "Again, defend yourself!"

Isilla let her stance fall heavy and stable as she swung a hard horizontal swing. Simplicity was more reliable, less to go wrong.

Awena held her practice sword vertical in front of her, catching most of the blow on the blade.  Her arms, still unused to such exertion, where pushed to the side and her hands stung.  She wasn't sure how to restrain her power, as she had no idea where it came from, but she kept her mind focused and level.

Isilla drew her sword back and then thrusted forward, she had to trigger Awena's inner abilities. See what she was truly training.

Awena stumbled backwards, the strike breaking her concentration and she furiously tried to get out of the way.

Isilla moved to strike right away, determined to break Awena's guard. "You are slipping tainted one" she yelled out.

The sword caught Awena in the stomach and she collapsed to the group with a yell.  "I don't want to be tainted!" she gasped as she fought back tears.

Isilla shouted back at Awena, "You don't get a choice!" Her sword swung around to strike Awena across the face.

Awena got her blade up and in the way just in time but the flat of her own blade smacking into the side of her head.  She rolled backwards, not with the skill of her gymnast sister Eiriol but enough to maybe give her a little room as she tried to clear her vision.

Isilla halted her assault, letting Awena gather herself. "You learn quickly."

Awena got to her feet.  "Well, I guess I learn fast when you're trying to whack me on the head.  That and a little bit of luck although..." she put a hand to the growing bump on her head "...not lucky enough I guess."