By the time Hann came back I had already fallen asleep, when I awoke the wagon was moving again. Hann never explained the deal she made, we had a couple of breaks from travel during the day. When we stopped Hann would teach me how to set traps for wild animals. Towards the Smythe duchy, the land was getting drier, plants and animals were getting rarer in the arid lands and I was told that it would only get worse the closer we got.

The earth was too hard to dig without the proper tools so we used animals' desperation and aggression to our advantage. Crackle-boars were always ready to attack if food was at stake, a small pile of foraged plants or berries was more than enough to provoke an attack. My father's sword wedged into the cracked earth at an angle and propped it up with rocks became a deadly surprise for a charging boar. They were far too heavy to stop or change course once they started sprinting, if I stood between them and food all I needed to do was jump out of the way before it reached me. The beast would skewer itself from head to tail before it realised the mistake.

Hann still insisted on training me in the evenings but with a strange addition. The cryptic thing would sit in on her talks and stare at me through its black veil. She would start training me in different types of self-defence but stopped the instant the thing voiced its disapproval. Again and again, Hann tried and failed to gain the cryptic thing's acceptance. No sword techniques or styles of combat worked so she tried unarmed fighting. Usually, bare fists were used to defuse situations where your opponent might manifest or as a last resort. It made sense to me that such skills would prove invaluable but still, many more unarmed techniques were rejected. I had no clue what the thing's criteria were but its standards were too high. It was on our fourth evening of travel when something changed.

"So that's a no to throw based combat entirely?"

Hann said, her defeat evident in her tone. With every failure, she grew more and more desperate and by now Hann was practically praying for a win.

"Unless you have something new. Yes."

It chittered condescendingly. It sat with its spindly legs crossed as it rapped the solid earth with its three fingers. It seemed bored? Or maybe impatient? It was hard for me to tell.

"No, so that's it. No throwing, reversals, grappling or brawling. That doesn't leave me with many options."

Hann was near the end of her tether. She rubbed her temple with her eyes closed as she thought. There was barely any time for me to get a word in before but now it looked like I had a chance to voice my ideas,

"I don't think I stand a chance after someone manifests and I don't think restraining someone works because I need to let them go at some point. It would be nice to take someone out before they had a chance to attack."

I remembered how I was caught off guard by Olma's rib-breaking strike, if she hadn't held back I would have died in an instant. Her movements were as fluid as water and quick as lightning. If she could resist the Collector's paralysis there was no doubt in my mind who would win. Hann pondered my words for a time until something clicked and I saw her whole mood shift,

"That's right… You've received training from one of those human monsters, I've been thinking too narrow, we aren't the same. Hmmm. Hit me."

That command came out of nowhere, at first I thought she was joking but she was adamant. I walked up to Hann and pulled back for a punch but I was stopped.

"No, you don't need to wind up like that. Just hit me like I surprised you. You don't need to worry about me, what is your instinct?"

My instinct? If I wanted someone to stop I would probably aim for the most open weak spot. She had her arms wide open and was wiggling her fingers as she got close for a grab. I didn't think too much about it, I was sure that this was part of some technique or demonstration. I nonchalantly threw out a quick jab at Hann's neck, in my mind she would block the blow and we would move on. In reality, I saw the moment her expression changed from fake aggression to real fear when she realised my intent. My fist connected with her throat as her hand was barely too late to grab my arm. Hann hunched forward coughing and gasping while she held her neck. Between sputtering coughs, she managed to say,

"Got it."

Once Hann recovered from my surprise attack, she explained her idea. Quick and decisive preemptive strikes to catch potential dangers unaware, followed by barrage style brawling to give them no chance to counter. It would require a finely honed intuition to ensure that I didn't go around hitting random people out of reflex. I waited for the cryptic thing's objection but it never came. Hann started showing me potential signs of danger, daily exercises to train my gut instinct for unknown dangers and some basic jab combinations.

For the rest of Hann's session, I didn't hear a peep from our observer, it just watched me as she taught. The longer she went without being stopped, the more vigour and enthusiasm she displayed. We talked and sparred until the evening sun had long since set.

"You've been awfully quiet, Skryke. Any difference?"

Hann's voice was filled with optimism but the cryptic thing I now knew as Skryke responded with caution,

"This approach is more meritorious than most, she's back to three. Perhaps this works, perhaps not. Only time will tell."

It was like a mountainous weight had been lifted from Hann's shoulders. For the remaining week and a half of wagon travel, all of our breaks were spent eating or training in Hann's new method but it wasn't all good news. My sense of danger was destroyed by my advancement in the Karkarin path. It was hard for me to consider anything dangerous on an instinctual level when I had been completely mangled so many times. I showed promise in barrage style combat but my lack of self-preservation complicated things.

"I guess you've just got to learn to read people and keep a close eye on your surroundings."

Hann sighed. She had tried many different methods to reawaken the fear of injury within me but it all failed. I had heavy objects launched at me, a large rock dropped from above, I was exposed to creatures like ravenous rock wolves and Hann even tried violently swinging her axe at my head close enough to graze my skin but there was no effect. We would be travelling by foot starting tomorrow so Hann called our training early so I could get a good night's rest.

I went to sleep easily, I should have slept soundly for the whole night but an overwhelming sense of dread filled me. I shot awake and lashed out at a person's face, it was Hann. I hit her with a straight jab into her nose, there was a gross click and blood spewed from her nostrils.

"Burn and damn it all what is wrong with you!"

Hann yelled while clutching her gushing nose. I didn't know why I did that but I felt awful.