She stood on the other side of the room, sparring against a practice dummy. The room still had a few other people in it, all focused intently on their own training, not even noticing my entrance. As I approached, her eyes caught the movement, turning to face me with her usual smirk.
“Already? Well, when a girl’s good at what she does, she’s damn good at what she does.”
She raised her fists at me, not the slightest jest in her eyes as she prepared for the usual sparring match, springing forward even before my guard was raised. She knew what she was doing, but she was an important part of our lord’s army. Her fist felt like a brick as it connected with my cheek. As I staggered back, out of habit, I quarter turned my head, glancing to the extreme arcs of my vision to check for other dangers. The only one was the humiliation of the others watching me getting beaten as the spar drew their attention. I raised a firm guard, waiting before the next solid cross knocked an arm aside, only to be followed by a swift uppercut that sent me reeling backwards before shaking it off and holding firm, waiting for her to close to try and go on the offensive. Just as my muscles started to stretch and contract, time seemed to slow to a near standstill and I saw the smirk in her eyes before time caught up with her twisting to the side, throwing my arm past her as she left a trailing foot to send me sprawling to the ground, hard. I just heard the short laugh of someone who’d been watching before they returned to their practice. She stepped over to me, pushing me onto my back with one foot, sneering down at me.
“Pathetic…Someone semi-competent might’ve lasted half a minute…”
She pressed her foot down on my chest hard as she stepped off me to leave the training room.

After I’d picked myself off the floor and headed back to my room to check I still looked mostly human, I took a deep breath, preparing myself for later by changing into the black shirt and matching pants that would be expected of me. When the time approached, I headed to her room, knocking on the door quickly.