Inside the barracks, Jon saw Tallow sparring with Amalia in one of the training rings.

It had been extended like before with flour on the ground, except that Jon could spot where it was uneven at times.

He didn’t focus on it too much, as watching Tallow and Amalia fight each other was much more interesting.

Amalia never got too close to Tallow. She switched between throwing her boomerang weapons and switching to a staff to swing at her opponent. She even moved across the field with wider movements, rolling around on the floor and covering distance with a flow that reminded Jon of a mixture of Tallow’s and Macy’s movements.

Tallow, like always, moved at a high speed, able to change her direction at a moment’s notice. Soon, Amalia threw her boomerangs and they circled Tallow for a while, striking at her multiple times, all of which Tallow was easily able to deflect with her sword.

Eventually, Tallow caught one of them with her foot and slammed it on the floor.

The boomerang turned into its half of the pole, which Tallow kicked out from under her.

Whoa… Jon was surprised at the new control Amalia had over the staff, let alone the new movements she was adding to her battle plan. They had never changed without her holding on to them before. This was nothing like what he saw on the mission.

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, amirite?” Avery asked, taking Jon’s attention away.

Enemy? There it was again. That word. Was Amalia really his enemy?

“No one asked!” Tallow shouted, catching both boy’s attention. Jon didn’t even realize she knew they were there, let alone listening.

“Is that… Jon!” Amalia stopped attacking and turned to him.

Jon smiled and waved.

“Why’d you stop?” Tallow asked her.

“I’m sorry,” Amalia said. “I’m way too distracted. Unless…”

She spoke to Jon. “Would you like to see me spar?”

Jon nodded.

“It’s not a show!” Tallow yelled. “And I doubt Jon’s gonna give you advice. No offense, Jon..”

“I wasn’t gonna ask him for advice,” Amalia said as Jon nodded in understanding. “I was just gonna ask him for…”

Tallow raised her eyebrow.

“...He has his weapon, and maybe, he could help me learn to fight against long-range attacks. Maybe....”

Tallow shrugged. “Maybe.”

She turned to Jon. “You wanna shoot her?”

Jon nodded.

“You gonna spar?” Avery asked him, exuberated. “In a wheelchair? That’s-”

“Shouldn’t you be on guard duty?” Tallow cut in.

“I’m demoted!” Avery responded.

“...Be demoted somewhere else!” Tallow yelled. “Come on, Jon.”

Jon switched places with Tallow in the ring. Amalia took her place on the other side.

“Don’t go easy on her!” Tallow said. “Shoot her in the ground!”

Jon didn’t think he could shoot Amalia in the ground since he would have to be above her. Still, he was happy to help her learn other shooting angles.

She’s the enemy… Mercy’s words suddenly echoed in Jon’s ears as he held her gun up.

Jon couldn’t see her as the enemy. He had met so many people who had tried to hurt him in the past, and she was definitely not one of them. Still, Jon wondered if he was hurting Mercy and Hector by helping Amalia train.

Despite both of their reservations, though, Tallow seemed fine training with Amalia, so he decided he wouldn’t stress about it.

“Go, Jon!” Avery cried, watching from a seat. “Go, Amalia!”

Again, you have to have some work?” Tallow asked him.

“Oh, I can’t get demoted twice,” Avery said. “It’s more like, I’m looking for a chance to get a promotion again, but until then I can sit here and watch other people fight.”

“...Sure.” Tallow ignored him and looked at the ring.

Amalia had her shield equipped on her arm.

“I’m ready, Jon!” Amalia said.

Jon nodded. He pointed his gun and fired.

Amalia quickly raised her shield, but she wasn’t fast enough. With a shrill, she was carried away by the blast until she landed at the end of the ring, sliding across the floor and leaving a trail of flour.

Ah. Jon began to wheel himself towards Amalia.

“Ohh…” Tallow’s tone betrayed her sympathetic expression. “Fun. Alright, let’s go-”

“Let me try again!” Amalia said, pushing herself off the floor. Her dress was covered in flour, but she brushed it off. She walked back up to her place in the ring. “Let’s do it again!”

Sure. Jon rolled himself back to his starting position, then raised his gun.

“Wait!” Tallow said. “Don’t you want to-”

It was too late. Jon pulled the trigger.

This time, Amalia raised the shield and lowered her position. The blast dispersed as it hit the shield, and she held her ground with some struggle.

“Keep going!” Amalia cried. “Go a-!”

She gave another small shrill as she ducked behind her shield again. The blast dissipated against her shield once more.

She began marching forward slowly. Jon kept shooting, and she kept getting closer and closer to him.

She had almost reached his wheelchair when they heard clapping.

“Go, girl!” Macy walked to the side of the ring giving a slow clap. “Look at that!”

Jon got distracted by Macy’s entrance and pulled the trigger.

Oh no.

Jon felt it before it happened. Another large blast fired from the gun, although this time the wheelchair didn’t tip over completely.

Amalia quickly dropped to the floor with the shield planted in front of her, protecting herself from the giant wave completely.

Jon gasped a sigh of relief. He never felt so much stimulus upon someone’s entrance. He wondered if it was because of the massage.

“Oh yeah!” Macy now jogged into the ring, approaching Amalia, who was still standing from the blast. “That was awesome.”

“I.. Yeah... It was thanks to our training…” Amalia scratched her arm in embarrassment.

Jon didn’t think it was anything to be embarrassed about. He probably should have been training more.”

“...You train together?” Tallow asked, curiously.

“Of course,” Avery said. “Macy comes by-”

“Didn’t ask you!” Tallow said, twisting Avery’s helmet around to block his face. He spent the next few minutes trying to turn it back.

“...Yes.” Amalia turned with a sad face to Tallow. “Please don’t tell Hector.”

“Why would you… but I…” Tallow shook her head. “That’s dumb that you even have to ask that.”

“Amalia’s not great at keeping secrets,” Macy said, shrugging. “She gets all weak in the knees for my brother.”

“Macy…” Amalia started.

“Not that it’s that much of a secret... but my brother’s never around.”

“And you taught her all this in two days?” Tallow responded.

“I wish I could take credit… but…” Macy shrugged, “it was all my girl.”

Tallow wanted more answers. She turned to Amalia for them.

“Where was all of that stuff before?” Even if Tallow had asked it, Jon agreed with the choice of question. “When we were fighting Eyepatch lad?”

“...That was my first time against a stronger opponent,” Amalia answered, kicking the ground in shame.“I mean, I could technically always do these things in isolation… but in that fight, I was frozen, just trying to survive. Now, after that experience, I feel… so much freer.”

She looked at Jon. “Part of that was close to being all of you. Seeing how you guys all played to your strengths. I realize that I’m not just supposed to work on one thing, but to divide myself among my tools. Jack of all trades, master of one, they say, right?”

“Master of none. Right.” Tallow put her hips on her hands. “Okay.”

“I even learned that I could manipulate my weapon from far away. I was inspired by you, Jon, and even Thalia and that Liz girl. I’m still weak myself, but if I rely on my weapon to make up for my strength… and prepare myself to make up for my disadvantages-”

“I think you better be careful,” Macy warned before giving a toothy grin. “Don’t say too much. I think she’s spying for the enemy team.”

There was the word again. Enemy. Although Macy seemed to mean it in jest.

“Spying?” Tallow crossed her arms. “Firstly, it’s reconnaissance. Secondly, she’s nowhere near Mercy’s level. There’s nothing to even spy on. With or without the weapon… and that’s not even a secret.”

“True.” Macy shrugged. “But don’t doubt my girl. She’s a fighter. And underdog. She’ll keep pushing.”

“In two days?” Tallow said out loud. “Sure.”

“I’m not…” Amalia looked between both women. “I’m not fighting. I don’t want to get mixed up in this. I want Hector to be happy.”

“He’ll never be happy,” Macy said. “And you’re already mixed up in this. Since the beginning.”

“Just ‘cause both of those things are true doesn’t mean you should get involved anyway,” Tallow said. “It’s messy as it is. And I’m not gonna be ignorant enough to ask you to try to reason with your father. I can already tell that’s a big folly.”

“Yeah…” Amalia looked down in shame. “I suppose you’re right…”

“And what about you?” Tallow asked Macy. “You fighting in the tournament to keep your brother from being married?”

“Ha! So, can I marry my brother? No, thank you.” Macy walked into the ring, beginning to do some light shadow boxing by jabbing at an invisible opponent.

“I wouldn’t push it past you,” Tallow responded, taking her place next to Jon. “You gotta all keep the red hair in the family

“Oh. So, the woman with red hair can make fun of others with the same hair color?” Macy asked. “Well let me tell you a secret, my mother was a blonde.”

“Really?” Tallow asked, unconvinced.

“No, she was a ginger. But I’m guessing yours was too.”

“My family hair color don’t mean crap compared to you and your family problems,” Tallow said. She continued her faux investigation. “And who's to say that you won’t butter up the Ninja girl all nice and tender so that your princess friend here can come in and save the day?”

“I’m sure that Highlander chick can take any punch I give her,” Macy replied, blowing the nonexistent dust off of her fists. Jon still thought it was a cool gesture.

“And if you’re that worried,” Macy continued. “You could fight me in her place… or you could fight me right now.”

“Macy…” Amalia said “Please....”

“Jon, clear the space,” Tallow said quickly.

Jon nodded and wheeled himself out of the ring.

Macy gestured for Amalia to leave, so she did.

“So, you’re taking me up on my offer?” Macy asked Tallow. The two of them started circling just inside the perimeter of the ring across from each other.

“Not really,” Tallow said. “I’m just curious. What does the brother of a piece of reusable firewood have to offer on the battlefield?”

“You mean, badass warrior sister,” Macy corrected.

“Nope!” Tallow raised her sword next to her head. “Just show me what you got.”

“Aiight.” Despite her cool response, Macy dropped down and began punching forward continuous shots of fire. Her fists took turns extending and shooting a short fireball before returning to their resting position at her hips.

Tallow stayed her ground and deflected all of the incoming fireballs with her crescent sword. Macy eventually stopped. Tallow extinguished the last fireball with her golden claw.

“You’re good…” Macy said. “Are there any more tests you wanna give me? A physical, maybe?”

“...Nah, I’m good,” Tallow stood up straight. “I just wanted to see how it felt.”

“How what felt?” Macy asked.

“The fire. If it was different from Hector’s…”

Oh. Jon wanted to know too. Maybe he would ask Macy to shoot fire at him as well.

“...well… is it?” Macy asked in what seemed like genuine curiosity. To Jon, at least.

“Smellier,” Tallow commented. “That’s all.”

Macy snickered.

Tallow walked out of the ring to Jon.

“Let’s head out. Mercy’s probably-”

“Let’s make a bet!”

Tallow turned to Macy’s request. “A bet? For what?”

“If you can stop me from throwing you down on the floor for 3 minutes... then I’ll teach Jon how to use fire.”

“What?” Tallow looked at Jon. “What does… that doesn’t have to do with anything?”

“Do you know how to use fire?” Macy asked Jon.

Jon shook his head.

“Do you want to learn?”

Jon nodded. Fire would be cool. He thought he would learn with the others, but they seemed incredibly busy at the moment.

“Why are you doing this for him?” Tallow asked. “Heck, I don’t even trust you. I’m sure Mallory and Hector could teach Jon instead.”

“You know that’s not gonna happen,” Macy said. “They’re both too busy.”

She shrugged. “And besides, why wouldn’t I want to do anything for Jon. He’s a nice guy.”

“Then why don’t you be a nice girl and teach him for free?” Tallow yelled the entire last part.

“I also wanna fight you.” Macy tightened her fists slowly. Jon could hear the squeaking in her gloves. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Tallow and Jon shared a look.

“She’s crazy, right?” Tallow asked.

“I don’t know,” Jon answered.

“Not literally Jon, just… hmmm…” Jon watched her hum in thought. He didn’t know why, but it was fun to watch Tallow think. In fact, Tallow was the only one who seemed to take time out to think about what her next actions were without prompt. It gave Jon chills.

“Ah, what the hell, right?” Tallow drew her sword. “Everyone else is busy.”

“You don't have to fight,” Jon replied. He didn’t want to fight Tallow, but he knew that Hector said that they should avoid fighting the tournament. He was just hoping to remind her.

“Nah. It’ll be good,” Tallow said, waving away Jon’s suggestion. “It’s until first knockdown, right? And it’s better I figure out how she fights anyway before she surprises us or something.”

Jon nodded. He liked Macy, but she did seem to like beating people up, from what he heard.

“I won’t let things get too far,” Tallow added as she walked away, catching Jon’s concerned expression. “I’m not silly. Not like that Ninja chick. I'll try not to hurt her too much… but I won’t try very hard…”

Tallow stepped into the ring, making sure to pass over the flour line.

“Alright. So how we doing this?” Tallow flourished her sword before putting it back on her side. “Weapons or no weapons?”

“Weapons,” Macy said, putting her hands up. “Mana’s allowed too.”

“...Are you joking?” Tallow asked.

“Nope.” Macy began strafing the arena. “These are my weapons. You get first move, by the way.”

“First move… okay... “ Tallow muttered some other words Jon couldn’t hear under her breath before she ran at Macy with her arms crossed and her sword pointing directly towards her.

Macy took a single step back before swinging at Tallow.

Jon didn't know what it was, but the punch felt deadly. His heart jumped just from seeing it.

Tallow stepped back, not seemingly noticing this as she dodged the punch before swinging back with her sword.

Macy deflected the sword with her gloved fist, before punching away the rest of Tallow’s incoming blows.

Within all of the punching and slashing, Macy suddenly mixed in a kick that Tallow herself dodged.

Whoa. Tallow’s swift movements were always impressive, but Jon got even more excitement from seeing Macy’s close combat style. He had watched her practice her movements that night on the mission, but seeing it in action proved to be an even more invigorating sight.

Still, she didn’t seem to make any of the larger movements he had seen. Everything was small and precise. She stayed close to Tallow the entire time, and whenever Tallow ran somewhere else, Macy was always there to catch her and continue her own assault, never letting her get too far or run for too long. It was as if she always knew which direction Tallow would go, and could find the direction with the smallest amount of steps to cut her off.

Tallow didn’t seem disturbed by any of it. She kept up her assault like normal until Macy started lighting her fists up with fire.

It never happened more than the attack called for. Her fists were like a match, striking across the air whenever it was time to attack, then extinguishing as the fist came back, making way for the next hit.

Jon didn’t know what triggered it, but Tallow eventually reached underneath her cape and drew out a dagger.

Jon recognized it as the dagger Liz gifted her from the mission.

In one swift movement, Tallow had drawn the blade and knocked away one of Macy’s attacks.

Jon had never seen Tallow fight with a dagger before, so imagine his surprise when she wielded with the expertise of a professional.

In fact, Tallow had seemed even more skilled with the dagger than her normal sword. It was always right behind the larger swrord, coming around, switching grips, and even being tossed into the air before being caught and brought back into the battle.

Tallow’s whole style became more focused, holding her ground against Macy instead of trying to give herself more space. Whenever Macy made a punch or a kick, Tallow stuck in the same area, deflecting the blow, then retaliating by aiming for Macy’s center.

Eventually, Macy dropped low and made a large sweep kick, aiming for the back of Tallow's legs.

Tallow's legs were swept from under her. He thought that Tallow had been forced to the ground and that their bet would be over.

Tallow, still in complete control turned her face to the floor and blew hard.

A small stream of wind mana gushed out of her mouth, pushing Tallow back up into a standing position.

Jon’s amazement was interrupted by a shock to the heart when Macy’s fist suddenly zoomed towards Tallow’s face.

“Time!” Amalia yelled. Jon had forgotten to keep track of time, not that he would have been able to anyways. Macy’s fist hovered in front of Tallow’s nose. It wasn’t even lit up.

“Whoo! Good fight!” Macy said, bringing her fist back and standing up as if she wasn't trying to harm Tallow.

“...Right…” Tallow stood up straight. “...Were you even trying to knock me down?”

“Of course, I was,” Macy said. “Were you?”

“I… got bored…” Tallow put her dagger back in the sheath hidden behind her cape.

“Besides,” Macy said, “You were just so light on your feet.”

“You’re light on your feet,” Tallow said. “Just…”

Tallow’s lips moved around as if she had eaten something sour. “Were you keeping track of time?”

“Completely different from my brother, amirite?” Macy seemed to ignore Tallow’s inquiry. “He just swings his sword around like a barbarian.”

“Nah… he’s actually similar to you,” Tallow replied. “Big dumb and ugly, but tactically sound, and pretty light on his feet.”

Macy sighed. “Alright. I have a deal to uphold, don’t I?”

“Hell yeah.” Tallow turned to Jon. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Jon nodded. He wanted to be excited, but he wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn't’ even know if he would be able to do it.

Macy led the way outside. “I want to go out. It’s easier there.”

Macy began walking while Jon rolled after her.

Tallow suddenly grabbed Jon’s chair, stopping its momentum. “Avery!”

“What?” Avery suddenly woke up in a nearby chair he had found. Jon didn’t even realize he went to sleep.

“If Mercy, Hector, or whoever comes here… tell ‘em we’re outside, okay?”

“Sure… After I get some rest. I’m exhausted…” Avery put his head back down again.

Tallow sighed.

She looked back at Jon and put her hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Jon, just-”

“I get it.” Jon nodded. He grabbed Tallow's hands with his own.

“Alrighty…” Tallow slowly drew her hand from Jon with a weird glare before turning to Amalia.

“You coming, princess?” Tallow asked. “I mean… Can I just call you Amy?”

“Amy?” Amalia frowned. “I don’t know… Amy…”

She looked down in thought as she followed Macy to the outdoors.

“This chick...” Tallow shook her head while muttering to herself. “Let’s go, Jon. Am I pushing?”

Jon nodded. He wanted to save his energy for fire.

Tallow blew into the air, and wind mana began to guide the wheelchair to the outside doors.

Jon enjoyed the ride, watching as Tallow held the door open for his exit.