At first light, Odessa entered a trampled training circle outside camp, armed with two short knives the Guardian had provided. The Guardian assessed her limitations, told her she could not outrun foes, and instructed her to target vital points, pressing her knife to his armored vest and asking if she could kill a man. Odessa realized she could not stab him despite the provocation, and the Guardian shifted the lesson to blocking.

Training continued for hours as storm clouds broke and rain poured. Odessa struggled to keep her footing in the mud, repeatedly losing a knife and barely deflecting the Guardian’s swift strikes. He demanded she stop retreating, ordered her to move laterally, and criticized her slow feet. When she edged too close to the fires, she was forced to sidestep, which he mocked as belated learning.

Odessa noticed the Guardian’s forearm cuff was made of grizzur hide, confirming the use of monster hide for Turan armor. The Guardian intensified his verbal assault, calling out her fears and cruelly naming her family’s neglect, including her father giving her away and suggesting her sister and fiancé had already moved on. The insults hit deeply, igniting Odessa’s rage.

Provoked, the Guardian dropped his sword and invited Odessa to attack with her knives. Driven by anger at the Guardian, Zavier, and her father, Odessa launched a flurry of reckless strikes aimed at his throat and face. The Guardian evaded every attempt with ease while urging her to move faster. Exhausted and blinded by rain and fury, Odessa’s final lunge missed his neck by a fraction; her knife flew from her grip and she collapsed to her knees.

As the Guardian commanded her to get up, Zavier arrived, retrieved her fallen knife, and judged the session over. He overruled the Guardian with a calm but firm “Enough,” and the Guardian left the ring without argument, disappearing into the rain. Zavier helped Odessa stand and told her he was departing for Perris on business, instructing her to rest before leaving with Tillia and the others for Ellder the next day. Odessa returned to her tent to find a prepared bath and an apple, likely arranged by the Guardian, though she chose not to dwell on it.