Six months now since the beginning of her training, Luna had been practicing on the boulder since she learned the fourth form. She was a bit surprised to find that no matter how hard she trained and bruised her hands, after a quick health potion or if properly hardening her skin, they remained as soft as they were before she started training.

Other than that, nothing has changed very much. She was still training and going over everything she had been taught so far. Her mother insisted that she didn’t learn any more skills or forms and instead focused on mastering what she knew now.

The reason told to her was because her body needed to acclimate a bit before moving on to harder training. Her mother says that mindlessly pushing one's body beyond the breaking point over and over again would do nothing but create long-term health problems and that her body should at least get used to this level of power and exertion before moving on to something harder.

So, as time moved on, Luna slowly got used to the training and the mastering of her skills. Her body slowly got more comfortable with the level of training given to her, to the point that she almost missed the feeling of pushing her body harder. Almost…

But just because her training remained mostly the same and therefore got a little easier as time went by, didn’t mean her mother went easy on her when it came time for their sparring session. Sometimes leaving Luna to feel more like a bag of bruises than a person afterward.

“Not bad sweetie, and improvement to be sure, but you keep forgetting to ground yourself which makes it easy for me to put you off balance. Not to mention you tend to overextend yourself from time to time trying to get at me.” Thea said after their latest spar.

Luna gave a huff of annoyance, “Can you blame me? I can’t touch you at all! No matter what I do or how I do it, you are always half an inch away from me!” she complained.

Thea gave a few tuts before reprimanding her daughter for lack of patience. “Come on dear, you know it is not wise to get inpatient, overextending yourself just to get at the enemy is a rookie mistake that will leave you dead one day. Though… I can somewhat understand your frustration…” thinking back to the past a little.

“You know… Alv used to be like that too… when we were kids I couldn’t touch him no matter what I did… I mean… sure, out of the training ring I would always surprise him by hug tackling him out of nowhere. But when he was expecting it, it was impossible… It took me a while to realize that while I was stronger than him, he was lighter on his feet and had a way of predicting my moves before I made them.”

Turning back from her thoughts, she looked to Luna. “when someone has more speed than you, the best method of catching them isn’t to try and match them, but to trip them up and instead focus on trying to figure out their line of attack, perhaps add a little chaos to make them move the way you want them to or add some unpredictability to the fight to make it easier on you.”

“Easy for you to say… you're faster than me, can predict my every move and have decades of experience… So how am I supposed to do that?” Luna asked.

Thea thought about that. “You might have a point… I am a bit above your league, even for most people… perhaps someone more your level would be a better training partner...”

“Perhaps Anna could be your sparring partner?” Thea wondered out loud.

Luna hesitated, Anna probably was far more in her league than her mother was, but she still didn’t feel like she would be able to beat her if given a dozen chances. And the thought of constantly losing to her best friend was not something she wanted to think about. But before she could say anything on the matter, her mother was already calling for her.

“Yes Thea?” Anna asked, coming over from cleaning the table and preparing it for lunch.

“If you're not too busy, can you change and spar with Luna for a bit?” Thea asked kindly.

“Not at all, it would be my pleasure to help Luna improve and become more skillful... and not just in bed…” Anna said, making Luna blush.

After that, Anna left to change into some form-fitting combat clothing, similar to Luna’s for ease of movement, which if Van were there, he would say was practically nothing and was more akin to underwear than proper workout clothes.

Though she wasn’t fighting the dragon anymore, she still had to fight a lion, or at least that was what Luna felt it was like. She took her stance and prepared for the bout to begin, hoping to at least give a good account of herself, and not make a fool of herself instead.

“Luna dear, don’t think the difference in power is too great, for while it is true she has had years of training over you, she hasn’t been taught proper martial arts yet. Well… at least she has been taught the first form… but…” Thea had to think. “Just don’t think it's impossible to win, improbable, maybe, but not impossible! So give it your all!” she tried to say encouragingly.

Luna wanted to roll her eyes. “G thanks…” she thought sarcastically as she continued to stare at Anna on the other side.

“Don’t worry Luna.” Anna said, “After this, I will take care of you, so you can feel better…” she said in a meaningful way that made Luna want to go red in the face again. She sometimes hated how Anna was confident enough to flirt with her like that. Something she was honestly jealous of.

It also made Luna wish she didn’t grow up so quickly without Van around and cemented that when he did come back. She was going to make sure he properly did his duty in helping her with her needs so she didn’t have to ask Anna for help with it…

“Alright I want a clean fight, no use of aura in this bout!” she said looking at Anna and Luna. “Now, are the combatants ready?” Thea asked, looking at both of them with a raised hand. “Fight!” swinging her hand down and moving a few steps away to properly supervise.

Luna felt the adrenaline pump through her veins as she prepared to fight, the world around her feeling like it became more crisp and her mind working on overdrive already fearful of the kind of beating she might get. She somewhat knew what her mother would do when fighting, but Anna was a complete enigma.

Luna decided to patiently wait it out and let Anna take the first shot, her fighting style consisting of counterattacks, the way she had been taught. But Anna seemed more than content to just wait her out, her stance solid and like a rock or boulder that was immobile.

As the minutes ticked by, Luna’s nerves got more and more frayed as she waited for something to happen. But nothing did, and all she saw was Anna’s confident and calm expression like she could wait forever without worry or care.

This did more to Luna’s self-esteem and confidence in this fight than she realized, and as time went on, for her at least, it became more and more clear the difference in experience and skill that divided them. There was simply no way for Luna to go over to the other side, throw a punch or kick, and expect herself to at least show how much she improved or how far she has come.

Finally losing it a little, Luna decided to charge and do what her mother said a while earlier and go try to do something chaotic in the hopes that she causes a change that will be beneficial to her. Hardening up her whole body, she rushed and threw a punch at Anna with the expectation to not fully commit to it and instead pull it back at the last second in the hopes that when Anna reacted to it she could counter her reaction.

Unfortunately, that's not how it happened, Anna completely ignored the punch that was never going to land and when Luna was just about to draw it back, Anna moved in and attacked, giving a hefty punch to Luna’s gut in one swift motion, her leg taking a small step forward as she did so, and moving back into position. Almost like she was an automaton or golem that just did what it was programmed to do and moved back to its idle stance. Leaving a double over Luna in its wake.

“Sorry Luna, but if anyone was going to trick me into a feint, it would be Van who’s really good at that kind of stuff. I had to learn early on which were real attacks and which weren’t if I wanted to win against him.” Anna apologized as she watched Luna take a few steps back to give herself some breathing room.

Luna grunted and instead decided to switch up tactics and just go all out right away with everything she had learned and hopefully use her skills and training to carry her through the battle and achieve at least some measure of victory out of this.

Luna threw a few swift punches and a kick, but all were somewhat easily dodged by Anna, who leaned away from them and jumped back from the kick. But Luna didn’t give up and instead tried to press her attack, slowly speeding up and trying to do her best to bring out everything she learned from her training.

Left, right, forward, kick, and even a few feints and more to try and land a hit on Anna which all failed as she continued to dodge or block the few attacks she couldn’t. But eventually, Anna started to fight back a little and push Luna onto the defensive.

For Luna, it felt like Anna was just a little more faster and stronger than her like if she just was a bit better she would be able to match Anna just a little. But then came the realization that Anna wasn’t taking this fight very seriously or with her full power. And most of Luna’s fighting spirit went with that realization.

Only to come back with a need, a very strong one to land at least one solid punch or kick. With that in mind, she dropped all her defenses and literally moved her body forward like she was going to tackle Anna, surprising Anna only a little as she moved out of the way and took advantage of Luna’s open defense, throwing Luna onto the ground.

Thea then ruled in Anna’s victory and the match ended. Luna got up feeling very disappointed in herself, even a little angry. Some of the confidence she built over the months, gone.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Anna said kindly, helping Luna up. “You’ve been training for a few months, I’ve been training for most of my life to serve and protect Van, and by extension you. But don’t think that means your training is pointless, you have improved immeasurably over the course of these few months. So much so that even I’m impressed and scared how much more you are going to improve if given some more time. So don’t give up and keep at it okay?”

Luna wanted to say something sarcastic back but instead sighed inwardly to herself instead, because Anna was her best friend and knew that she meant what she said. But it still didn’t change the feeling of utter defeat that she was going through, and the wish to at least win one fight or do something that will prove that what she was doing was worth it.

“I just wish… I don’t know… that what I do seemed worth it you know? I've been training for months, but it doesn’t seem that I improved, or at least not enough to matter…” Luna confessed.

“That’s not true,” Thea said, “the reason why I chose for you to fight Anna was so you could see how much you improved. I’m sure you noticed, that even if Anna was going a little easy on you, that you could at least gauge her strength and power right? That was the point of the spar in the first place, to see if you could be able to make the distinction between someone stronger or weaker than you. Knowledge that is very important in surviving out in the world and can both help you avoid fights and learn from them. Such as what did you learn from this?” Thea asked.

Luna looked at her mom then sighed giving in. “I learned that I tend to get a little impatient at the end and that I should have at least drawn out the fight a little too… Learn Anna’s attack pattern?” she said that last bit uncertainly.

Thea nodded, “as well as a number of other things. But for now, I can say with certainty that you have improved enough that we don’t have to train like we did before. Now it's time you learn to train the basics into your body to the point it never forgets them. As well I think you should learn some bowmanship and perhaps some other weapon. From there we can have you start fighting and training against some hobgoblins who are more towards your level.” she said, thinking somewhat out loud all the things she wanted Luna to learn and experience in order to grow.

Luna’s expression became a bit complicated when she learned that she might start facing hobgoblins. In a way, it almost felt like an insult, even though she knew better and that there are many hobgoblins that are very strong. In another, she was afraid to lose to them, even though she knew that there was nothing wrong with that. Which was why she was giving a complicated expression.

Anna saw her look, “don’t think that facing hobgoblins is a bad thing, I lost to and learned a lot from facing them myself. They are also a very nice and friendly bunch, as you slowly start winning against them. You will be challenged to face more and more of them at a time, all the while they will also be using you as a sparring partner to get stronger. I still have some of the friends I made from my time training with them. You’ll like them.” she said, somewhat enthusiastically as if trying to convey that this was a good thing for Luna and not a bad one.

Luna appreciated the sentiment, some of her worries being soothed as she believed that Anna wouldn’t intentionally lie to her. “Alright…” was all she said.

“Good!” Thea said happily, “because you will be facing them starting tomorrow, as well as starting your training on the bow and making sure we improve your body to its maximum potential! Let's get to it!” she said excitedly, already thinking of a new training regime to put Luna through.

Luna groaned, but she was used to it by now, and so just accepted her fate and what was going to happen to her.

---

“Again!” Thea shouted as she ordered Luna to take another shot.

Luna did so, still tired and a little sore from the morning practice. After lunch, she had been doing nothing but shooting arrow after arrow into the many targets in front of her. Not even bothering to go and pick up the many shafts stuck into them, making them look more like a porcupine than a target. Instead, whenever one got too full, she moved down the line of targets to the next one and started again. Sometimes switching up which was the dominant arm, to get an even workout.

She must have shot hundreds by now, but her mother continued to drill her, ordering a few of the servants to constantly bring in more arrows and when far enough down the line of targets, will only then order the servants to pick up the arrows stuck in the previous targets.

“Form straight baby! You're starting to slouch again!” Thea shouted helpfully, but fully expecting Luna to fix her posture.

Luna inwardly sighed but fixed her posture, blaming her mother somewhat for it since she was so tired she could barely move her arms, not to mention her back was killing her. “Damn it, this is so hard. I know they said it didn’t matter if you have big breasts or not when using the bow, but I don’t think they considered the size of mine when they said that. Drawing the bow far enough away from my chest is such a hassle sometimes…” she thought to herself. Then after a few more shots she gave up and said as much to her mother.

“Hmmmm….” Thea said thoughtfully. “You may have a point, perhaps something to better wrap your breasts in will help. But for now, run another ten laps and come back to continue your training with the bow. You're still slouching and perhaps a brisk jog will help improve your posture.”

With a sigh of defeat, something she realized she was doing a lot now. She began her jog doing ten laps around the training yard. After doing that, she went back and picked up her bow and started firing arrows once more into the targets.

It had been a whole month since her spar with Anna, and like her mother said, she went back to training the basics until they were ingrained into her body. On top of that, she was learning how to use the bow, and how to use a sword and dagger. All the while she faced off against a few hobgoblins, which were actually pretty cool girls to hang out with after training. Sometimes even Anna joined in.

By the end of the day, she was extremely sweaty and tired and the sun finally seemed to be nearing its end. Which meant there was a fifty-fifty chance that her mother would end the training or force her to continue well into the night.

But all that changed when one of the servants came running over excitedly towards her group. Luna didn’t know what it was but she felt something like she knew what the servant was going to say even before she was even here. She could tell by the way Anna looked, who was standing near her when the servant came running over. Then she was told the most wonderful news she had ever heard.

Her husband was home…

She looked towards her mother, hope in her eyes.

“Go…” Thea said with a knowing smile.

That was all Luna needed to hear as she raced towards the entrance of her home to meet her husband, and perhaps finally scratch that itch she been waiting months to take care of...