She liked working out with Perry; they were nearly the same height and weight, and she could count on him neither to try to bowl her over nor go too easy on her. That wasn’t the case with the others in the weapons-classes up at the Collegia. And the Weaponsmaster for the Collegia didn’t always catch it when a partner was going easy on Abi because she was a girl. Or worse, because she was a girl and he was hoping she might be interested in him. The Blues that took weapons classes were not Artificers; most of them were highborn. The Artificers and the pure scholars were not expected to ever need to defend themselves; and indeed, why should they, any more than anyone studying outside the Collegia who was a scholar or a master of a skilled trade? So the weapons classes at the Collegia mostly held Herald Trainees, some Bardic Trainees, and the highborn Blues. Once in a while, about as often as a rare Artificer Blue with a penchant for exercise, a Healer turned up ready to learn how to fight, but it wasn’t often. The only weapons class that everyone took was archery because no matter who you were—Bard, Healer, or highborn on a journey, Artificer on a job, or scholar being sent to a temple—there was always the chance, once you were outside of Haven, that mischance would overtake you on your journey, and the only thing that would keep you from starving was a bow and your skill with it. Mags’ two older children didn’t even bother with archery classes anymore, just practice. And pretty soon even Tory would no longer need a teacher as well.

Having chosen a pair of rounded sticks about the size Abi recommended, they returned to Master Leandro and presented themselves to him. When they had been younger, they would have done this exercise wearing padded tunics and even padded trews; now he trusted them to be able to land blows precisely enough to be felt, but not injure. Well, mostly. As Perry had said, Abi suspected there was no way they’d get off without bruised knuckles.

“Half speed,” Leandro said, face thoughtful. “These are much shorter than batons; you’re going to have to hold them in the middle.”

Abi felt a great deal of relief at hearing they weren’t going to go all out. “Begin,” said the master.

“So are any of your friends in love with you?” Perry teased as he feinted for her shoulder and came in at her ribcage.

She let the point of his stick slide by easily. “No, but one of them is smitten with Kat.”

“Which one?” He ducked under a strike to his temple.