Page 54 of The Sundered Realms

A knock at her door startled her from studying: it was Shry, in her customary all-black, absently twirling a knife.

Shry jerked her head at the enormous book and Liris’ empty notepad. “Learning anything useful?”

“Magic likes circles,” Liris said tonelessly. “Spells don’t activate without an outline, so some form is needed to invoke magic. People have experimented with different shapes within and enclosing spells. Circles are always the most reliable, but other shapes can be more powerful in the right spell. Why? Who knows.”

“So that’s a no, then,” Shry drawled. “Want to go punch things instead?”

“Gods yes.”

Liris had been navigating the university for days now, and there was a clear difference walking with Shry. A few people glared or blatantly turned away, but no one said anything.

It was the way people carefully didn’t look at her and edged away, a tension that crept in. Like they knew on some level there was a predator in their midst.

So it was just as noticeable when they reached the university sparring center and that tension evaporated. Shry casually reserved a mat for them and commented on other practitioners they passed. They must be at ease with her because she clearly spent a lot of time here.

As they started sparring, Liris revised that: the people who watched her here also understood that Shry was in complete control.

Shry ran her through the moves Liris had been trained on and tested her with new ones. Shry reacted perfectly to every blow, and her hits used precise amounts of force.

When they’d first met on the road, if Liris had surprised Shry by fighting at all she might have managed a single strike.

It was fast becoming clear that despite her training, that was it.

“Not bad,” Shry said.

Given how this session had gone so far, Liris frowned. “In what way?”

“Your defense basics are solid, you’re in good shape, and you don’t hesitate,” Shry said. “Your training emphasized resourcefulness—repurposing parts of your environment or momentum—so you’re at a disadvantage in this situation. Also in a sustained fight where your goal isn’t to get away.”

Liris stretched, keeping her muscles loose. “Yes, I think they have a special unit for ambassadors they expect to need training as assassins, but the foundation of our training was to escape.”

“Admittedly also useful for an assassin,” Shry acknowledged, without any apparent concern over the idea of Serenthuar employing ambassadors that way. “We’re going to take what you know and gear it more offensively. And, well. Usefully.”

“You know this style?” Liris asked, surprised. “Wait. Do you know all styles?”

“I’m not a master of every martial art, but I can fight any of them, if that’s what you mean.” Shry shrugged. “I had to study how humans move to learn how to blend in.”

And how they’d fight.

Liris paused. “So how does a demon move? What do I need to know?”

Shry looked at her consideringly and then moved so fast it was like she vanished.

But she didn’t, because Liris barely managed to see her striking at each of the places she was most sore.

“That’s the first thing,” Shry said in a cold voice.

“That demons are impossibly fast?” Liris managed. “I knew that.”

This time Liris didn’t see her. Her knees buckled.

“That they hate you,“ Shry said. “They will take any petty opportunity to make you suffer.”

“Okay, all demons are terrible, especially you who volunteered to let me live in your house,” Liris gasped.

“Right. I just wanted to be clear on that, since we haven’t talked much. You know, shared a meal in the kitchen. Even though we live in the same house.”

Liris blinked. “Do you eat in the kitchen?”

---