While not another match for Krass in speed, Perren was fast enough to raise the dust from the paved streetways, gunning it like a madman on the run. His eyes were scattering like crazy, dashing from left to right, grabbing on the slightest clue to help him distinguish the strangers from his students. Any woman with an emerald cloak and a sheathed weapon or boy with shaggy hair and a sleeved shirt on. The search brought him to a remote part of the town, where yells and bellows of excitement guided him toward one of the small parks hidden between buildings. A crowd was surrounding something, an event of sorts, cheering on and talking about a fight. 

Perren's ears perked at that, and after groaning about how he should act next, continue the search, or do his duty as a public service worker, figured he should probably intervene. -” Excuse me, what fight?”, Perren asked, hoping that his worst fears weren’t coming to life.

Two of the bystanders were ready to jovially explain the situation until they met the deadly stare of the annoyed asker -” Oh crap, you’re of the Union guys. Listen, pal…” then quickly changed it to sir after getting a better look at the interrogator “ The guys got the ok from the local peacekeepers and have supervisors present. Paper’s bolted right there”. The bystander then sheepishly stepped aside, pointing towards a wall. 

In the middle of the crowd, two Firbolgs were slowly doing circles around each other, prodding, checking each other's movements. On the right was a lanky one, with large, thin legs, that would bend into a squat with each arched side-step. His hands were wide open, while his claws were itching for when they could strike his opponent, who hadn’t unsheathed her weapon yet, only keeping a tight grip on the scabbard. 

The audience was placing bets, sharing their “professional” opinion on the winning rates, most of them in favor of their local star, an infamous Firbolg in the area for how many victories his claws brought him. About his opponent, though, they weren’t so sure about her chances; “Look at that silly cloak, she’s totally blind with it, right?”, the audience added in scoff. Except for one person, a human girl with wild, long orange hair. While the shortest one among the public, her shouts of encouragement were the loudest there. “ C’mon Brigid, you said you can take him down, so show that creep who’s who!”, cried the human girl while shadowboxing and kicking the air.

After he noticed her, a horrified Perren started to push everyone aside to get her. “Little girl!”, he yelled, desperately trying to get her attention. When he got clear enough, his shadow covered her entirely, which made her turn around with ire, followed by confusion when she noticed his scowl. “ Hello…”, he angrily voiced under his breath. “ I’m guessing you are one of the human visitors we got, right?”, to which the girl felt a paralyzing fear she would only get when being admonished by an angry teacher. But now it was twice as frightening, especially since she knew that she wasn’t the only one in trouble.

Girl -” Yess…sir? Are you in the Union with Brigid? I met/saw most of the members by now, so I’m guessing you're the last one I haven’t seen, uhm, Brigid teacher?”.

Perren -” Correct. So what are you and Brigantia doing here? Why are YOU here, to be more specific!”

Girl -” Well, you see, Brigan…Brigid?”, she stumbled around the name, unsure which one to use “was honestly just showing me around, giving me a normal, honest, boring tour, as her stuffy dad told her. And we just looked around, honest to God, minding our own business, until that guy!”, pointing towards Brigid’s foe, “just jumped out of a back alley, stole my glove and ran off with it. “

Her attempts at playing the naive, innocent puppy dog didn’t seem to work on Perren, who was now more focused on stopping the supposed thief.  Before he could make a move, though, he was stopped by a tight tug from the girl. “ Wait, please! Please let her fight.”

Perren -” Listen, miss, I know this seems exciting to you, but this entire ordeal seems sketchy. If I intervene, then…”

Girl -” But then I won’t see how strong she is. Brigid said that if she can win this in two minutes, then she’ll feel worthy of entering a pact with me.”

Perren -” She wants to do what?”, replied Perren in shock. Until now, he wasn’t sure what his students' plans for the future were, but he wasn’t expecting Brigid to try and enter a pact so soon. He wasn’t sure of what to even say to the girl, so instead he forced onto himself a cool head and followed their lead. “ Alright miss, I’ll hear you two out after this is over. For now, I do think it’s a good idea for her to get actual combat experience. “ 

Right then, though, a sound like two metal bars clashing was sent flying through the gathering. One of the claws was parried by the sheath of her Brigid’s weapon. A second later, the same happened to the second one. The thin Firbolg then started a barrage of strikes and swipes, aiming at any weak point he could conceive. He had a height advantage over her, but he never found an opportunity to use that leverage over her. Any time he tried to move in a more favorable position, Brigid would slightly tilt her body in his direction, switch the scabbard between her arms and enter a pose for a parry. When he picked a fight with her, he wasn’t expecting to be against someone with such training.

Still, he had other tricks up his sleeve. Using a faint kick he successfully tricked her to make a jump backwards, during which he launched his real strike. He quickly stretched his left leg into a wide arch backwards,  then launched it into the air forwards and brought it down into an axe kick. The momentum gained by the large distance and speed pushed Brigid over her limit when she tried to shield herself from the strike, forcing her to drop the scabbard while defending. But before it could hit the ground, something made it fly towards his face, far too fast for him to dodge it. In a moment spurred by intuition, Brigid kicked the sheet as hard as he could, freeing her from the grip of the kick and she was now on the counterattack.

A quick burst from the spot made her sprinting look like that of an animal, launching itself towards its prey, making the viewers unsure if there was something wrong with their vision. She caught the scabbard once more, and with a swift turn around, she hit him another time, putting all of her might into the blow, making him spin around from the hit and landing face-first into the ground.

With that, she declared herself “ The winner!” But before she could gloat and celebrate her victory, a harsh and angry voice from the public made her cower in sweat. “ Ahhh…damn it. Morning street cleanings for a month probably. If I’m lucky.”

Brigid -” Teacher!” exclaimed Brigid in a forced surprised tone, attempting to mediate the situation. “ I’m so glad to see you back. And here…right now…”

Perren, pressing his fingers rhythmically into his shoulder, jovially asked -” Brigantia, who is this girl?”

She didn’t know if that was a trick question or a genuine one, so she wasn’t sure what the right answer was. “ Uh…that’s Aime, the human I’m taking care of whil…”

Perren -” Exactly, she is supposed to be under your care and supervision!”. His yell turned the previously brash fighter into a small jelly of a person now. She was expecting a long lecture about the fight, but she wasn’t expecting this kind of explosive reprimand from Perren. For the next two to three minutes he repeated to a silent Brigid all about the responsibilities when tasked with taking care of others.

Aime -” But she seemed serious to me”, replied Aime in her defense. “ I told you, that guy tried to steal my glove, Brigid only tried to help me.”

Perren -” I thought you said that he stole the glove, not tried to”.

Brigid -” Thanks for the assist, goalie, I appreciate it. But Perren is kind of right, I did promise to keep you safe.” She sighs, turning now towards her teacher. “ I wanted to show her some fun places around here, and one thing led to another…then I kinda irked into a fight. It was all my fault, teacher.”

Perren could only reply with an exasperated sigh, and while still miffed by the situation, he did feel a slight sense of pride when he saw her student winning using his teachings. “ We’ll talk about this later. And your punishment. Of which your parents will agree, trust me!”

Brigid -” I know”, she acknowledged, knowing that appealing to her father wasn’t going to help her out.

Perren -” Now, can you open your mouth for me? I had a worrying discussion with Victor before I even got into the city.”

Catching up to what he meant, she did as requested and pointed to her new molars, explaining afterward how Victor’s food helped her out in the end. “ I don’t know what you’re so worried about, to be honest. He kinda trashed us around, but we managed to hold our ground this time!”

Perren -” No, that just means he was just playing around. Trust me, Victor is not the kind to be holding back when wants to ‘trash around’. Ugh, that looks fine enough. I’m guessing that Arim and Zinc are also healed up as well?”

Brigid -” Yap.”

Perren -” Alright, I think I won’t check up on them then. I still need to bring Ashen the cracked container for his ritual. Brigantia, don’t make that pact yet, we’ll talk about it later!”

Brigid then stood up, facing her teacher with a straight face and straight, upward back. “No offense sir, but this is not your decision to make. I’m of the same age as Arim and he and Zinc made a pact without any fuss from you.” The girl was having more and more problems to restrain her irritation.

Perren -” True, but Arim has more experience than you ” Perren tried to reply, but his tiredness stopped him from formulating a more reasonable response.

Brigid -” And how did that turn…” but then the girl clenched her fist, lowered her head, and apologized to him. “ I understand sir, but I know what I’m doing. Trust me on this…”

Perren -” Fine…Little girl, were you educated about the Pact?”, to which the teen nodded back with a serious scowl, trying to imitate Brigid’s posture at the same time.

Perren massaged the bridge of his nose and gave up on his endeavor. “ You guys always make my homecomings filled with surprises. Alright, I give up. Do what you want. Little miss, it was a pleasure meeting you. And stay out of more trouble for the day, ok?”

Brigid -” Alright teacher”, waved back Brigid.

Aime -” Nice meeting you as well”, yelled Aime. “ You were right, he is a nice guy.”

Brigid -” Told ya. Well, that was enough excitement for the evening. Let’s meet up with Arim and the others.”

The teen was intentionally showing her obvious dislike of Arim with a large frown above a pair of biddy eyes. “ Ugh, he seems really boring and overbearing.”

Brigid -” At a first impression, though. On a second one, you’ll find him to be a relaxed, serious and very anxious over-bearer. But he’s family and a good guy…You trust me right?

-”...Yeah, fiinee, I trust you. Whatever you say.”