Moods and states of being are infectious. When someone lets out a yawn from drowsiness or fatigue, the other person nearby might unwittingly mimic it.

There was only time for a single breath. He drew the air in through his nose but didn't even have time to release it as she closed the distance. She had also taken a breath after her quick declaration. Immediately he knew that she had taken this breath with deliberate exaggeration in order for him to mirror her. But he wasn't sure how he knew this during that barely discernible moment in time. Perhaps it was his perception and own insight that allowed him to reach this conclusion. There was a tightness that pulled at his chest as his throat locked up and his airways constricted.

A thought sprung into his head, She used selective perception!

The way she breathed had manipulated his own. Right from the onset he was drawn into her pace.

Alphonse dodged a quick thrust from Mina and felt the slightest bit of pressure as the blade scraped along the chest portion of his leather armor. The strike from the dagger in Mina's other hand slid along the edge of his shortsword as he raised it on reflex. He angled his weapon along with hers and applied weight to his back foot to reestablish his stance. The continuation of her attack wasn't expected, but Alphonse instinctively curled his wrist and changed the destination of the dagger.

Alphonse pushed back to give himself some room to recover. During the exchange, his body realized that it hadn't fully released the air he'd taken into his lungs. He had taken a deep breath that mostly remained in his lungs, likely a result of the nervous tension which kept his diaphragm contracted.

The air gratefully released from his mouth. Control your breathing, Alphonse scolded himself. He formed the thought like he was commanding someone else.

Alphonse staggered his stance just as Mina pressed the attack, and he managed to draw one of his daggers with his less-dominant hand during that half-second. The combatants' daggers went wide, but in Alphonse's haste he followed through too much and exposed his left side.

He didn't know how, but it seemed as if Mina's weapon glanced off the hardened leather protecting his shoulder. There was no time to wonder about it, but subconscious reasoning said that perhaps she hadn't expected him to bend his knees and lower his shoulder quite so much. He wasn't as experienced of a fighter, so it was possible that she was anticipating a different choice of movement.

Alphonse lingered too long with his surprise. Mina saw the opening and delivered a swift kick to his abdomen. Alphonse lost his momentum and made a sloppy attempt at a backhand slice. He cursed as he lost the natural pace from strike to strike. His opponent directed the fight with quick, shuffling movements that made his options less effective. Mina was dictating the rhythm of the fight. It was like a professional billiard player always having the cue ball set up perfectly after a shot, placing it behind their own to prevent a play from the opponent and setting up for the best chance at a sink. Some would call them a pool shark. And just like a shark, Mina's moves circled and bumped before inflicting the true attack on her prey.

This was the technique of the Shin'ryen. It wasn't just about finding openings or even preparing them with debilitating attacks. It was about unpredictability and constantly leaving opponents out of their comfort zone: destroy their stance, keep their eyes darting in all directions and make them feel completely out of control.

Force the opponent to make a mistake and then capitalize on it!

As Alphonse was still losing grip on his shifting momentum, he realized that he rose slightly out of his stance. Alphonse crossed the blades of his weapons. It wasn't the prettiest defense, but it was enough to intercept an overhead attack from Mina.

Sonuvabitch! There are no openings, Alphonse thought desperately. Because she won't give me the chance to make any.

Their weapons made a glancing blow, and Mina made a hopping sidestep like she had tapped into the rabbit part of herself, thrusting forward with a dagger while holding the other just above shoulder height – primarily for defense, but also prepared for a potential follow-up. The leading dagger pressed into the breast portion of Alphonse's armor, but it did not pierce.

Retreat and deflect were starting to become Alphonse's only two options. Mina never let up with her attacks. There were no opportunities to take the initiative. Once again, Alphonse had that sinking feeling in his gut that he despised. It was a reminder that he wasn't on the offensive – only surviving. That was his whole life: surviving against forces that were beyond him.

For some reason a familiar voice echoed in his head, Quit being a fucking pussy!

It was Ash's voice. She'd shouted and berated him similarly during their battle against the ogre, Bejhkara. He'd given in to despair when Kirie had been injured. He needed to stop letting adversity get the better of him. He needed to convert it into something else or just shut it out all-together.

It was like a slap in the face. Funny, she had tried to slap him back then too. He'd seen the strike coming and blocked it somehow, but her words woke him up better than any slap ever could.

The ghostly image of Ash's bladed hand moving to strike him morphed into Mina's dagger. Alphonse deflected it aside with his shortsword as his other dagger met Mina's own in the opposite hand.

He felt a brief rush of air pass over his face. It didn't faze him. He didn't blink.

The exchange went back and forth for the next few seconds, but suddenly the tide seemed to shift. It wasn't necessarily moving in Alphonse's favor, but there was a narrowing to Mina's eyes that suggested she was focusing more.

Alphonse couldn't always rely on athleticism and reflexes. Against other opponents, those were usually enough for him to get by. But Mina fully perceived his extra movement. She saw the subtle openings that were made larger from her purposeful strikes.

He moved like a man possessed. He read her angles and watched her whole body rather than just the weapons in her hands. When she took a step forward and made a horizontal slice with her dagger, Alphonse directed it along his own weapon, lowered his stance and lashed out with a forward kick in an attempt to strike at her ankles. If his kick had connected, she would have lost the balance necessary to step with her other foot.

Mina was too fast, too cunning and too experienced to fall for such a trick, but her eyes visibly widened when Alphonse brought his leg back underneath him sooner than expected. She had expected him to follow through with the kick, but it was more of a jab that didn't carry him forward as anticipated. He was back in his stance and easily dodged Mina's follow-up attack.

The final ten seconds of their bout had Alphonse gasping for air. Sweat crawled from his brow and obstructed his vision. He barely had time to wet the dryness building in his mouth. The blood in his head pounded behind his ears from the constant strain. Soon his limbs didn't respond the way he wanted them to. It was as if there were a few milliseconds of input delay from his brain.

This was exactly what Mina wanted – a real fight that pushed Alphonse so she could understand his limits of focus and perception. She poked at his weaknesses and observed if he could amend these problems on the fly.

They clashed for a final time. Mina twisted her weapon around his sword and shuffled her feet to the opposite side. Alphonse's sword went wide, and he moved to turn and bring the dagger up to replace it. Mina abruptly stopped and skipped in the other direction to redirect the dagger as he brought it up to defend. With Alphonse's arm crossed in front of him, Mina followed through with the motion and stepped into his stance, keeping his arm locked to his body.

Before Alphonse knew it his body was tilting forward, and he was looking at the ground. He felt weightless, like he was hovering. It was another small reminder of the aftermath of his battle against Bejhkara, when he had finally reached his limit. In this moment, he had not reached the peak of his perseverance. He hadn't hit the wall just yet when the body was forced to give up.

Not yet, Alphonse thought.

He twisted himself in the air and viewed the world from a new angle. There was a clang of steel on steel. His shoulder hit the ground and he rolled into a crouching stance. He raised his hands. It took a moment for him to realize that he only held the dagger. The shortsword rested in the grass where he had fallen. He must have released it in order to perform the strange, mid-air maneuver that kept him in the fight.

Alphonse noticed that Mina had frozen in place over the spot where his body should've remained after the impact. One of her arms was extended out to her side, prepared for the follow-up strike that no longer mattered. She observed him with a sideways glance and slight frown.

“Interesting,” she said. She straightened herself and slid her daggers into their sheaths. “Say what you will about taking the offensive, but your survival instinct is top-notch. I bet you don't even know what you did to scramble out of that situation.”

Alphonse shook his head dumbly as the adrenaline died in his system. He lowered his weapon and took a few struggling breaths.

“You aren't wrong. It just...felt right,” Alphonse gasped. “Maybe you can explain it.”

Mina shook her head. “You didn't let gravity take you. By performing a tuck and roll after your legs were kicked out you were able to direct the fall to your shoulder. That isn't something you can teach. It's something that comes naturally from experience. Even if it is something that happens from necessity, not everyone is capable of it. And how you blocked my dagger as well could be attributed to luck, but sometimes luck comes from taking action and increasing your chances of success.

“Anyway, now that I know you have these inherent qualities, I can find ways to bring them out of you deliberately.”

“Like this little bout of ours,” Alphonse said.

Mina suddenly drew one of her daggers and flicked her wrist in one smooth motion. The projectile didn't take Alphonse off guard this time. He stepped to the side, deflected it and Mina's dagger twirled through the air. Its blade barely plunged into the dirt before Alphonse snatched it out of the ground. His mouth shifted into a curious frown as he observed the blade. It only took him a moment to perceive that it was dull.

That explains why it didn't penetrate my armor, he thought.

He observed Mina as she clapped her hands together. “You noticed that quick. Yes, I think this will work out nicely.”

“You needed me to think there was the possibility of serious injury,” Alphonse reasoned.

Mina approached him, and he allowed the dagger to be plucked from his hands. “Of course,” she said.

He noticed she was using that customary habit of invading his space. Again, he remained firmly in place and didn't give any ground, but he still kept his weapon raised slightly at his side. It wasn't enough to appear defensive, but it made him feel comfortable all the same.

Alphonse noticed that Mina's gaze was locked somewhere behind him. He turned around to see a familiar beastkin warrior standing about twenty paces away with her axe gripped at chest height.

Kirie was in the process of lowering her weapon when she realized that Alphonse wasn't actually in any danger.

Alphonse grinned at her and made a placating gesture with his hand.

“Fucking hells!” Kirie spat. The flat of the axe's blade clanged against her cuisse as she relaxed. “You think maybe you could give us a warning next time? I was about ready to split her head like a melon.”

It wasn't long before Asa and the rest of the guild appeared. All of them had their weapons prepared to protect Alphonse, but they mirrored Kirie as soon as they saw her stance.

Mina shrugged dismissively. “That was fast. I honestly didn't consider the rest of you.” She smiled at Alphonse. “You have such loyal companions. How heartwarming.”

There was almost a sardonic tinge to her words, but Alphonse dismissed it. She jumped between personas so much that he couldn't place who the real Mina was. He felt like a guinea pig that she was testing all these personalities on.

Mina clapped her hands together again and directed her attention to the members of GRIM. “Ah, that's right! I believe we haven't been formerly introduced. You may call me Mina. I'm sure Mister McCarthy has already given you the details, but I will be training him in the ways of the assassin. I hope we all get along in the future.”

Alphonse observed the reactions of his guild mates. There was a mix there, but they did share one common description: flabbergasted. He wasn't surprised, given how matter-of-fact she was about her choice of words.

This is...going to be interesting, Alphonse thought.

He observed Mina as the rest of his guild collected themselves and managed to make brief introductions. They relaxed somewhat as she shifted to a more serious demeanor and explained her training regiment to everyone.

Alphonse found it strange that she decided to keep his entire guild in the loop, but perhaps it was better coming from her instead of him, since he likely would've told them anyway. The only part that made him uneasy was that she seemed particularly fixated on the word 'assassin' during her explanation. This woman clearly had a purpose for everything, and he wondered what that entailed. He assumed she was attempting to gauge their reactions based on the implications of the word.

When she was finished, nobody made any indications of disapproval.

Alphonse considered that a good start.

The rest of GRIM stayed nearby to continue their own training. Before they left, Kirie made sure to half-jokingly motion towards her eyes with two fingers and then pointed them back at Mina in a gesture of, 'I'm watching you.' Asa's threat to Mina was to simply stand there a little longer than everyone else before slowly turning away to eventually join them.

There always seemed to be someone looking in Alphonse's direction as he began the next part of his lessons with Mina.

Her persona had shifted back to somber and humorless.

“Strip,” she said.

Alphonse blanked. He glanced over his shoulder to see who was looking at him this time. It was Asa, and her eyes locked with his.

It's only awkward if I make it awkward, he thought.

Even so, he still had to ask, “Why?”

Mina let out an exasperated sigh as her eyes trailed to the group behind him. “Perception is more than just visual and auditory. It pertains to all the senses. I need you to start at the very base of haptic perception as well, and I can't monitor it if your clothes block those sensations. Eventually, we will move on to all five senses when you are fully clothed.”

Alphonse moved to follow her as she broke the edge of the forest. They didn't go far, keeping the rest of his comrades in sight through a break in the trees. They entered a small open area where Mina gestured for him to sit.

Alphonse didn't know why, but he felt a tinge of embarrassment. Mina's eyes bore into him as he removed the leather armor and rested it against a tree with slow, deliberate movements. When he removed his undershirt, there was an obvious twitch of Mina's mouth as she observed him. She took a few steps to the side with her arms folded over her chest as she examined his back. He realized that she was looking at his scars. The three jagged lines from shoulder to opposite thigh seemed particularly interesting to her.

“What sort of beast did this?” Mina asked.

Alphonse tossed the shirt on his armor as he answered, “A wolf.”

“Wolf? It is an old wound,” she said. “From your own world? Do your wolves attack that way?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of hunter turns his back on a wolf?”

Alphonse pondered the question for a moment. He didn't detect anything disparaging, just genuine curiosity.

“I was young,” Alphonse answered. “My father told me not to wander into their territory. I stupidly lost track of where I was, and I ran into one of them.”

Mina nodded. She waited for him to continue, since he hadn't answered the second question.

“My father told me that wolves don't strike with their claws," Alphonse explained.  They bite. But this one pinned me down and ran its claw along my back. Then it...well, it just left.”

Alphonse was thankful for Mina's curiosity. He didn't think about the fact that he was down to his undergarments. He crossed his legs beneath him and rested his hands on his knees. He sucked in a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. A shiver went though him despite there being no wind as he recalled that cold winter day in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

“I met that wolf again when I was with my father,” Alphonse said. “He found it strange that the wolf acted that way. I started to get better at tracking and recognizing the minute details of my surroundings after that. It was a lesson learned the hard way.”

He looked up at Mina, and his frown matched hers. She had her hand held under her chin as she considered his story.

“I see,” she said. She walked around and observed the rest of his body before sitting in front of him in a similar fashion.

Alphonse was down to his undergarments, but the scarf still remained, covering his face to just under his eyes.

“So, that's what conceals you from appraisal spells,” Mina commented, motioning to the scarf.

Alphonse nodded. “Sorry, but I would prefer to keep this on.”

She mulled it over for a moment before making a slight shrug. “Wear it on your wrist. We are working on all the senses for your perception training.”

Alphonse hesitated. He raised his hand to the scarf, but he didn't remove it immediately. His eyes darted back and forth as he observed the forest. In Mina's presence, revealing his face wasn't much of an issue, but any other potential eyes would be problematic. He would have to trust her on this.

“I am a Shin'ryen,” Mina said. “Nobody will come close enough to make it an issue.”

It still took Alphonse another moment of consideration before he finally pulled the scarf down and let it hang around his neck. The main reason for concealing his features was for the few outworlders that might somehow recognize him and the people that had wanted him dead all those months ago. He already had a grasp of who was behind the assassination attempt, but there were many pieces off the board he might not know about that could be placed anytime. Ash trusted Mina, and he needed this training in order to defeat his enemies.

He removed the scarf from his neck and quickly wrapped it around his wrist.

Mina had a half-smile on her face as he looked up at her.

“You're quite handsome,” she said. “Maybe at some point you could take advantage of your looks and work in counterintelligence.”

Alphonse shifted back a bit at the sudden compliment. He made a show of cracking his neck as if her words didn't phase him. “Um, thanks.”

Mina spoke as if the light conversation never happened. Her serious face returned again.

“We will start with gauging your current perception based on the stats you've accumulated. Shin'ryen usually start this training at a younger age, but I believe your stats will make up for the lost time. This means we will also focus on your interpretation of what is perceived. Then, we move on to how it can be utilized. Unfortunately, we only have a few weeks at most to get these basics out of the way. The rest is up to you.

“Information is power. It is one of the core assets for an assassin. You have an understanding of the fundamentals as a hunter – a scout – a tracker. Tell me why you focused so much on perception with your stats.”

Alphonse knew the answer.

“I figured that perception was the stat that couldn't be trained by natural means,” he answered. “Or at least, maybe not as easily as the others. Like improving our strength by constantly lifting things that are heavy. Stats give an extra push to outworlders, but we still develop our abilities the same way as anyone else.

“I'm a scout. I need to be stealthy so that my enemies have a harder time noticing me. I need better perception so that I have the information necessary to prepare my party.”

Mina raised a hand in front of her with the palm facing the ground. It was the only indication that she found his answer acceptable. She made a slow, methodical motion. “Close your eyes. I don't want you to just listen to the forest. Feel the pulsing sensation behind your eyes as well. It is an effective starting exercise. The only movement from your body should be a result of slow, even breaths. Keep them silent. After ten minutes I want you to open your eyes and observe everything around you with all senses in sync.”

Alphonse nodded and was about to get started when she turned her hand so that her palm faced him this time.

“Even with this training – ” Mina said “ – I hope that you will continue to focus on perception. You understand its value more than most. I don't want these lessons to change your mindset just because you know there is a way to naturally develop it.

“Also, it is admirable that you rely on the specialties of your party, but there are times where you will need to rely on only yourself.”

Rely only on myself, Alphonse thought. She isn't wrong.

There was something else that her words implied. He couldn't place it, but he imagined it had something to do with the role of an assassin specifically. She wasn't training him so that he could be a better scout. He would certainly improve as a scout, but her intentions didn't lie there since this was an agreement of mutual benefit.

Alphonse closed his eyes. He listened to the forest around him.

First it was the obvious things: the rustling of the leaves in the wind, the clash of weapons as his comrades trained a short distance away, the communication of birds. As he let the calm wash over him he could hear the air rushing from his nose. He started to control his breathing more.

At first he couldn't feel that pulsing behind his eyes that Mina mentioned. His eyelids pressed together, but that was only debilitating since it made his body instinctively tense up. Instead, he concentrated on the eyes themselves.

After a while he felt the pulsing. It was a slight pressure that pushed behind his eyes. There was a resonance to it that slowly crawled down his body. He focused so much on it that it became sonorous reverberations. He let the focus drift until he naturally fell into the rhythm. Soon it became like a calm wave flowing through him and reaching out around his immediate space. It wasn't like an out of body experience, but like the sensations in his vicinity were no longer restricted to just the body itself.

He didn't know how far this culmination of senses reached out from his form, but something seemed to disturb the unseen field of his awareness. The placid form of his senses around him and the steady pulsing were interrupted.

Alphonse removed a hand from where it rested on his knee. The hand darted up to a space in front of his face and grabbed something.

His eyes shot open and he saw Mina reaching towards him. His eyes avoided her face and looked at the wrist he held firmly in his grip.

Wait...how did I... Alphonse's thoughts cut off. There was no explanation he could come up with.

Alphonse's mouth parted slightly and he gave Mina a questioning look. She smiled and didn't bother to remove his hand from her wrist.

“Looks like you have incredible potential,” she said. “We might be able to accomplish more than I thought.”