“Good,” I tell her as I spin out of the way, conjuring two swords in either hand. I feint with one arm, and when she blocks with her sword, I bring my other arm around in a wide arc towards her left side. She instantly forms a shield in her left hand to block me on both fronts. “You’re getting the hang of it! Ready for me to move faster?”

“Faster?” she gasps, incredulous.

“This is nothing,” I tell her with cocky confidence. “Next lesson—don’t let your opponent see the weapon you’re going to use until it’s too late for them to block.” I spin again, lunging for her with no weapon in either hand. When I get close, I conjure a short sword. She avoids it by spinning away from me, but then I send orbs of light that resemble throwing stars toward her. Her eyes widen, and one of them hits her square in the chest.

She stumbles, hand going over her heart. She’s panting, and her eyes look up at me in confusion. “Why didn’t that hurt?”

“Light can just be light. It doesn’t have to wound. I didn’t put enough concentrated aether into it to hurt you. But you sure thought I did, didn’t you?” I ask with a snicker.

“Bastard,” she mutters.

“You need to shield faster. Now you won’t make that mistake anymore.” I wave my hand toward her. “Again.”

We continue sparring for hours. She gets better but still isn’t shifting fast enough to keep up with me. After what has to be the hundredth time I catch her off guard, she yells in frustration while I still have her pressed against my body. This time, I have to release her quickly, not wanting her to feel how her primal roar affects me.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I’ve been doing this for hundreds of years. You won’t master this in an afternoon. Plus, most people you’d be fighting won’t actually be able to change their weapons out with a thought. They’ll be stuck using the same thing they start with. Metal has its own challenges, but fighting another light channeler is infinitely harder.”

“Then why aren’t you using real weapons?” she snaps, clearly annoyed.

“Because I can tell the light not to hurt you if you don’t shield or block quick enough. I can’t do the same with a metal weapon. This is the safest way to train.” She only huffs. She knows I’m right but doesn’t want to admit it. “Let’s take a break. We’ve been going for hours. You must be exhausted.”

“And you aren’t?”