Whack! Clang! The sound of swords clashing rang across the courtyard. Shin Hye could barely deflect the oncoming blows coming from Jong Suk. What was maddening to her was the fact that it was obvious that Jong Suk wasn't even trying and he even wore no armor. He was deliberate holding down his power so Shin Hye could learn how to at least decently parry and block attacks before they could move onto more advanced moves. She pushed even harder, especially knowing that Jong Suk's iron skin would protect him from her attacks should she even manage to get past his defenses. 

Clang! With a flick of Jong Suk's wrist, he hit the hilt of Shin Hye's sword and twisted it out of her hand. 

Shin Hye stared at the sword lying there in the dirt. "Well, at least I managed to hold on for a whole minute." Jong Suk cracked a small grin as she glared.

For the past three and a half weeks, Shin Hye had been training. For the first week, Jong Suk and Hong Ki had been sent to defend several towns from demons seen in her visions so Yonghwa had taught her crossbow skills and Yu Bi had taught her how to concentrate on reigning in her fire.

She found out she was a flop at shooting targets but controlling magic came much easier. Magic was connected to her emotions, she found out. If she used her fire according to her emotions, her fire would be extremely powerful but she would also lose control and scorch everything in sight. Slowly but surely she was learning how to let just a part of her emotions out and clamp it down. 

As soon as Jong Suk had returned, she started learning swordplay from him as he was a master swordsman. The sword was too heavy for her at first, especially as her years spent only studying in the Temple did her muscles no justice. Soon though, the sword was getting lighter every day and she managed to hold onto her sword for longer periods of time. She was somewhat thankful that Jong Suk's teasing and jabs at her actually made her concentrate harder on trying to knock the sword out of his hand. One day, I'll surpass you. He'd nearly choked on his laughter when she had mentioned that as her goal last week. It was the first time she had seen him laugh, and apparently it was the first time for many others as the servants and guards around were shocked to see the normally cold and impassive General laugh. He had actually looked kind of adorable, brightening his pale features.

"Yes, Shin Hye the ahjumma, because your attacker would fight you only for a minute before he leaves." Jong Suk merely rolled his eyes at Shin Hye's childish behavior when she stuck her tongue out at him in return. Despite it being autumn, the days were still warm. He wiped the sweat off his brow and stretched out his taut mus