?


    About an hour, and multiple sparster, Burnice wasid out on the ground panting. Sadly, Kat couldn''t say she did all that well during the spars. With it just being to first contact, even her superior mental speed, it didn''t help all that much. Burnice just seemed to have a bone deep knowledge of how to move ingrained within her. Sure, Kat knew she could win if she put all her strength into her blows or took off the limiter, but that wasn''t the point. "Dammit, how are you not tired?" asked Burnice.


    Kat shrugged, "I wouldn''t say I''m not tired at all… but with regeneration and this limiter on it really wasn''t a workout for me. Sure I could push against it, maybe try to build up some muscle… but that''s just going to exhaust me for basically no reason. I''m still not entirely sure if my regeneration would let me build muscle. So… pure skill when we''re about the same speed? I lose out it seems,"


    "You''re, not, the, one, on, the, floor," said Burnice between breaths.


    Kat just rolled her eyes, "Ah yes, make it sound like I got more than a single win for every ten of yours,"


    "You were doing better towards the end," pointed out Burnice.


    Kat shrugged. *Yeah I guess I was. Towards the end it was closer to one in three… which is a big improvement in theory. In practice those wins likely had more to do with the fact you were already mostly exhausted so I''m not sure they count. Still, what do I say in response? Burnice seems really interested in giving me more credit then I''m due.* "While that statement isn''t a lie, I do feel like it''s still misleading," was what she decided on.


    "Hey, a win is a win," said Burnice.


    Kat once again rolled her eyes. Burnice wasn''t looking so the gesture was mostly meaningless, but it made Kat feel better. *Oh sure. ''A wins a win''. Makes me feel real good about myself to know that the only way I can get a reasonable win rate against you is to first run you into the ground, and then start trying. Why can''t you just ept that you out-skill me? It makes sense. I''m not annoyed by the fact. I AM annoyed by this overly humble stuff.


    Is this supposed to be your way of making sure there are no hard feelings after yesterday? Because if so I feel like this is a horrible way to go about it. I feel more confused than I did before this whole thing started. I mean… I at least understood what Burnice was feeling then. Now I''ve got no idea. Is she being nice? Is this some new form of mental torture? I just don''t know.*


    "If a ''win is a win'' then shouldn''t I be congratting you? You won more matches, and you won the final match," pointed out Kat.


    "Ah, but I''m not the one still standing," said Burnice with a grin facing the sky.


    "This wasn''t meant to be a test of endurance though!" eximed Kat. "That was literally, never the point. Why are you trying to give me so much credit?"


    "Because you seem allergic to it? I mean, I found the fact you were doing so well against a weapon that you''ve clearly never fought before. Especially as I can see that you haven''t been training with your own weapons long," said Burnice.


    *Hmm… not a bad point.* "While I still don''t think abusing my endurance to get a win in a contest of skill is following the spirit of the game, I can at least admit to that. I''m still practicing, but Mai was a good teacher and the basics weren''t terribly hard to pick up. Apparently I''m quitepatible with fans as a weapon. A rather… obsessed… elf? Told me," said Kat.


    "Why did you say that ''elf'' part like it was a question?" asked Burnice.


    "Right… so the thing about that is, my fans were picked up during the first round of the tournament. I found one of Thyme''s hidden caches while working with a woman named Grace. Though… for the elf part. Her and her team were all elves, but not originally. Some of them at least, were originally other races. Apparently they stumbled on an ancient temple and a curse transformed them into elves.


    "Some of them were more upset then the others, and I''m not sure if Grace was anything but an elf… I just felt it would be a bit rude to ask about the specifics. Still, it means that Grace may have been an elf… or she may not have been, but she was an elf when she rmended me the fans," exined Kat. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That… is a very strange curse. Though… now that you mention it I think Marigold might have offhandedly mentioned something about that group once before… I think they wanted to go into the dungeons below the elven pce in search of a way to counter the curse. They were turned down of course, unsealing those dungeons is a massive undertaking and the monsters down there are quite strong. Mostly Rank 3 and 4 things.


    "It is opened asionally to give the highest Rank knights and adventurers are ce to train, but it was opened only two decades ago, so there are no ns to open it for another three, if not longer. Though, I can''t be certain that''s where they wanted to go. As I said, it was just something Marigold might have mentioned once, not any time recently either," said Burnice.


    "I wonder if they''re still trying to get down there. Actually… do you know if they won the chance to re-enter?" asked Kat.


    Burnice shrugged, "Sorry Kat. It was just something I heard in passing. I didn''t have anything to do with the mountain climb thing either. Well, I know the results were big news… but I didn''t pay any attention to it when said news came out. I honestly couldn''t say,"


    Kat let out a sigh and said, "It''s a bit of a shame. I might have to ask Thyme if I want to see how they''re managing. I do wish I could help them out… but I didn''t leave a way to contact them and it''s not like we were great friends… it''s just… being stuck in a body you don''t like seems pretty awful,"


    Burnice shrugged and said, "I don''t know. I wouldn''t mind a new body. It''d get rid of the scars,"


    "Would… would it be rude to ask about those?" asked Kat.


    Burnice shrugged, "Dunno. Maybe at some fancy dinner party it would be, but they''re pretty obvious, and obviously old. If I hadn''t gotten over it in over a decade I''m obviously never going to. Which, to follow up the unasked question, I got them when my house burnt down. Nobody else was hurt, my parents were both out at the time.


    "My mother was off getting groceries and my father was out working when the house caught fire. I was young, maybe… three or so? I don''t remember the event much. Just the mes and the pain afterwards. From what I''ve been told, nobody knows how the fire started, and as a little kid I didn''t know I needed to run. One of the support beams copsed and a small piece of it fell on my face.


    "It knocked me out and the fact I was just there in the fire for a while is why I have scars. My parents couldn''t afford the price to get rid of them all. Which, to be fair to my parents, they''d just lost their house and most of their stuff, then they had to pay for the healing just to keep me alive. I nearly did die apparently, but I pulled through.


    "I''ve probably got the money to remove them now… but I''ve had these scars for so long I''m not sure I want to, or need to get them healed. They don''t hurt, they don''t impair my vision. I was somehow lucky enough to keep full functionality in my eyes and jaw muscles. It''s all cosmetic and well… most of the people who were going to bully me over my appearance aged out of it. I haven''t had anyone react overly negatively to my appearance in years, even amongst elves of fae.


    "Perhaps if I was more interested in dating I''d want to look my best… but I''m an elf, I''ve got time. I want to build up my power quite a bit more before I start looking for someone. Maybe in a century or two I''ll be more willing to get it healed… but well, if I find someone I love before then? Perhaps it would be a good test. To see if they arefortable with me as I am," exined Burnice.


    "I suppose it''s a very different matter when you can get your scars looked at by a healer at some point, and when you''ve got so much life," said Kat with a nod.


    "You make it sound like you don''t," said Burnice offhandedly.


    Kat shrugged, "I grew up amongst humans. Humans that didn''t really practice magic. They all had this idea that they''d die in less than a century. So… I''m still not quite sure what it means to live that long,"