This was only my second time fighting against someone, but for some reason I wasn’t nearly as nervous as the first time. Maybe because I wasn’t fighting against an expert with years of experience, or maybe because it was just a sparring with training weapons, or maybe because I felt strangely comfortable with Pat. Either way, that didn’t matter now, the only important thing was my weapon, my enemy and her weapon.

After we agreed to the sparring we set up a few rules to make it more interesting: number one, the sparring will end when one of us gets hit somewhere that would mean defeat on a normal battle, for example, if she hits my sword wrist, that would mean I wouldn’t be able to swing with my good hand so I would probably lose that fight if it were a real one; number two, only hits to the lower body and the torso could be completed, those to the shoulders, neck and head have to be stopped before connecting, but the person would be the winner; and number three, the word ‘trainee’ would be our safe word in case someone doesn’t feel good or something’s wrong.

With that settled, I went to the storage room and grabbed myself a weapon. It was a wooden short sword, a bit lighter than the metal one we had as trainees, but still had good balance so it should be useful. Then, we cleared up the center of the room leaving a 10m x 10m area for us to be able to move around, and each of us picked one side of the makeshift arena.

Once in position, we faced each other, took our stances and waited… That’s when I realized we didn’t say anything about when the fight would begin, but before I could put that thought into words, Pat gave me the answer:

- We’ll start when the clock marks 7 – she said pointing at a big clock hanging from one of the walls. I looked at it and saw that there was still a minute and a half remaining till 7 o’clock. Looking back at her, I nodded, loosened my body, closed my eyes and started breathing. This usually helped me focus in this kind of situations, but didn’t work when I was too excited or nervous, that’s why I didn’t even try to do it the day of the test.

I counted every second to make sure to open my eyes before the fight started… nine, eight… five, four, three… Suddenly I opened mi eyes, tightened my grip and let out a big breath right when the clock reached the agreed mark.

Almost instantly, Pat jumped towards me, lowering her center of gravity for a faster and more powerful thrust, with her rapier pointing forward positioned at the side of her body, ready to start attacking. Following my own advice from the test, I didn’t rush and took a neutral position with my sword in front of my body since I didn’t know what she was going to do and, since she wasn’t using a short sword but a rapier, I couldn’t try to guess based on what I would do in her position. Of course I’ve read about rapiers and their pros/cons, but just theory wasn’t enough for me to start making assumptions and fight based on that.

Pat cut the distance between us with just a couple of steps, her big eyes fixed in my stomach pit making it obvious where her attack was aimed. I was starting to feel disappointed, when I suddenly remembered the advice that Violet gave me during the test: ‘don’t look at your opponent, look at their weapon’ which made me move my gaze from Pat’s face to her weapon, instantly realizing how close I was to lose the fight.

When I saw her blade, I realized that her gaze was just a distraction, since the weapon was actually pointing down, aiming for my right thigh. Barely managing to rotate on my left leg, I dodge her first attack, but just like she had done while training, one more thrust and a slash followed the first one. I evaded the thrust aimed at my other leg just as I had done with the first one, but losing my balance in the process, which made impossible for me to dodge the slash, so I had to block it with the exact force to negate the attack, and at the same time not tumble back.

Our swords collided and luckily for me, I was barely pushed back since her attack was rather fast, bat not so strong, and I was able to withstand it , so as a result our swords locked into one another in a battle of pure strength.

- You almost got me there, you are pretty fast

- Thanks, and I must admit your reaction time was splendid

- You can thank your tutor for that, she gave me a tip or two during the test

- I’ll have to ask her then… After I beat you!

As she said that, she tried to kick my right leg that was badly positioned because of the two sidesteps I used to dodge her previous attacks, but I was already prepared for that since it wasn’t the first nor the second time I had seen that move. I pushed forward and down with all of my body weight, bended my knee and moved it outward, slightly to the side, to intercept Pat’s kick and make it loose force. That action, added to the anchor I made with my foot, leg and body, made her own leg bounce back, completely throwing her off balance.

I took my chance and pushed once more to try and throw her to the ground, if I could do that, I would be able to get on top on her and completely pin her down, which would make me the winner.

Unfortunately, I didn't even had a chance to put my plan in action.

As soon as I pushed, Pat did the complete opposite and released all the pressure she had been exerting, jumping back in the process. This move cost her tho, because she tripped on her landing and fell to the ground on her side, but I couldn’t use the opportunity, since all the momentum of my push and her sudden release of our sword lock, sent me tumbling forward face-first to the floor.

We both ended up lying flat, but she had the advantage of not being completely face down, but on her side, so giving me no time to turn around, she wide swung her rapier in a desperate attempt to get a clean hit on me that would win her the fight. Not wanting to give up yet, I rolled as fast as I could and did the same as her, trying to at least give her a blow of my own, to make it a tie. I blocked her hit with my forearm, which sent a shoot of pain all the way to my hand and shoulder, but I was able to withstand it, and most importantly, I was able to stop her attack before it reached my face or neck, leaving her completely exposed to my attack. I put the only strength remaining after blocking her hit into my right arm which was holding my sword, and threw my last swing to try and end the fight.

Pat tried to block my sword, but failed because she was too focused on her own attack, leaving her side totally exposed. Seeing that she couldn’t react in time, I stopped my wooden blade a couple of centimeters away from her armpit, where a direct hit would’ve been really painful and could actually hurt her arm, chest and back.

We were in a complete stalemate, and after a couple of seconds in this position, Pat stopped pushing against my arm and said between breaths:

- Should we... declare a.... a draw?

- I don’t know, I think my attack was clearly more dangerous and since I blocked yours, I think I deserve the victory

- Big words coming from someone being pinned to the ground and hypothetically missing half and arm. My attack hit you a lot earlier than yours so you probably wouldn’t had been able to continue with yours on a real fight because of the pain on your arm, but since we cannot be sure, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and offering a tie.

She was right, if this were real blades, I most certainly would be missing an arm right now and my attack would’ve never been successful. So, dropping my sword and extending my hand going for a handshake I finally gave up:

- I know, I was just playing with you, a tie is more than okay.

- Excellent choice – she said as she accepted my hand and rolled to her side, lying right beside me.

We stayed like that for a long time, our heavy breathing being the only sound in the room, until I found some strength to sit up. I looked at Pat’s flushed face and broke the silence:

- That was really good, exhausting, but good

- Yeah, you almost got me there at the end, you are pretty strong for that skinny body of yours

- I’ve been training for eight years, remember? Is not the size that matters, but the technique

- What the fuck are you talking about?

- Muscles, obviously

- Too bad, I was getting interested

- Sorry to disappoint you

We both tried to laugh, but were instantly cut by our shortness of breath, so we grumbled instead. Silence came back for a bit until Pat sat up herself and looking at the clock on the wall said in a much quiet, sadder tone:

- It’s getting late so I think that's it for today. If I don’t get home for dinner my mom will kill me

- You live with your parents?

- Obviously, even with our salaries as trainees, I don’t need to move out yet. What about you? Don’t tell me you leave by yourself at 18

- Yes, not by choice, but yes

- Did your parents kick you out for being annoying? I mean I wouldn't blame them – she said laughing, but stopped immediately once she heard my answer

- I never knew my dad and my mom passed away a couple of years ago so yeah, there’s no one waiting for me at home

I saw the embarrassment on Pat’s face grow bigger and bigger, opening and closing her mouth trying to say something, but only a mumbling similar to the word ‘sorry’ came out, so I tried to help her a bit

- Hahaha look at your face, that expression is priceless. Don’t worry Pat, it’s okay. Also, I actually lied because my cat’s waiting for me at home and I promised her a big juicy stake as a celebration for yesterday's test results.

Letting out the biggest sigh, Pat relaxed a bit but still apologized

- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.

- Unfortunately I cannot accept your apologies, I’ll only forgive you if you give me a rematch for today’s sparring – I noticed that her embarrassment was gone as she accepted my challenge

- I guess I’ll have to beat you again then

- Wasn’t it a tie?

- Technical tie, I still think I beat you

- Then you’ll have no problem doing it again next time

- Exactly – She said confidently as she stood up using my shoulder as a support, and then offering me her hand to help me up, which I gladly accepted since I was pretty tired.

She walked towards a little bench that was against a wall, picked up her phone, came back and gave it to me

- Here, add yourself to my contact list

I felt a bit nervous since it had been a long time since I gave my phone number to someone, but I already was planning to get every trainee’s number just in case so this was actually a good start

- There you go

- Great, I’ll text you so you can add me too

- Sounds good.

Putting her phone away, Pat walked towards the door, opened it and turned towards me before leaving

- See you around then

I nodded and without missing the opportunity to tease her once last time , I gave her an exaggerated bow and said as annoyingly as possible:

- Good night, Miss Pat

- Such a gentleman – She answered rolling her eyes, and, responding to my gesture, she crossed her legsgrabbed an imaginary long dress, lifted it up a bit with both hands and said:

- Good night, Mr. Theo

I watched her as she crossed the door, closing it behind her and leaving me alone in complete silence inside the training room

- This might not be too bad after all – I said to myself, picking up my sword from the floor.

Between the fight and the talk, we had been there for almost half an hour, which meant I still had some time before having to get back to cook dinner and sleep, so I got the dummy that Pat was using and moved it to the center of the room, where I practiced for another hour or so, with a necessary water break in the middle, and then headed home.

It was a beautiful night, not too cold nor too hot so I took my time walking back home which made my 20 minute journey, 30+ minutes long. I got home by 9.15, took a quick shower to get the sweat off my body, eat my well-deserved dinner with my lovely feline companion, and went to bed at around 11 p.m.

It had been just my first day but I was completely worn off. I’d had more social interaction today than in my last 3 years combined, which added to the patrolling and my training with Pat, had drained all of my energy. I’ll probably get used to it with time, or at least that’s what I hoped for, because I needed to grow as fast as I could to become an agent in the least time possible.

I wanted to plan my days from now on so I could fit the most training possible in between activities, but before I could even start thinking about it, my eyelids started to weigh, making it difficult for me to keep my eyes open, so I gave up and embraced the sleepiness taking over my body.