Just as the pad of his paw struck her right on the back of the head. She catapulted forward, head first, and her face dug a furrow in the sand as she hit the ground.

Tarrin pulled his hand back, enormously pleased with himself. She'd preached and preached about the advantage of surprise in combat. She never even dreamed that he would change form on her. That put him right out of harm's way, and after slipping out of his clothes, he changed back right behind her and literally slapped her on the back of the head.

Allia turned over and sat down, spitting sand out of her mouth. Her sweat had made the sand stick to her face, and it looked like she painted her face. Tarrin took one look at her and started laughing. "I believe you made your point," she said icily, as the instructors and cadets stopped to look at them. The fact that Tarrin had no clothes on didn't catch everyone's eye nearly as much as the sight of the nigh-invincible Allia with her backside on the ground and her face caked with sand.

Faalken and Valden walked over from where they and their six cadets had been watching the two spar. They always watched them, because there was much to learn from watching two such as them. From time to time, Allia and Tarrin sparred with the cadets, to give them some exposure to fighting against Non-humans. Tarrin and Allia both used tactics that relied on their natural abilities; Allia's speed, and Tarrin's strength and natural weaponry. In that way, Tarrin and Allia were more cadets than Novitiates. They were even more involved with the Knights than most cadets were, since they too sparred with the Knights. To give the Knights some basics of unarmed combat, and too to fight against unconventional foes to broaden their experience. Allia had approached the idea with trepidation at first, but the tremendous respect the Knights had for her had worn away that reluctance. She often called to them by their names, which was amazing, considering she would not so much as speak to a Novice, and wasn't quite cordial to Sorcerers that talked to her.

Allia gave him a wry smile, and offered her hand. "Very well done," she complemented. "You changed form on me. I didn't think of that."

"I hope you're not talking about me," Faalken said dryly. Tarrin blinked. She spoke in Selani. Tarrin often forgot that he was the only one who could understand her when she did.

"No, Faalken," she said as Tarrin helped her to her feet. She pulled up the tail of her shirt and started wiping off the sand. "I was telling Tarrin that he did very well."

"That was a pretty clever move," Faalken agreed. "Uh, Tarrin, you can put your pants back on now," he said pointedly.

Tarrin chuckled. "The clothes don't change with me, Faalken," he said, reaching down and collecting his pants, and then putting them back on. "Why do you think I didn't do that before? I'd be losing clothes left and right."

Valden laughed. "True enough," he said. "I'd feel a bit out of place bare as a newborn in the middle of a battle."

"At least people would say you had courage," Faalken noted slyly.

"They'd say I had something," Valden returned. "I doubt it would be courage."

"Do not get too much of an opinion of yourself, Valden," Allia said calmly. "I have seen you in the baths. They would say you have something, but it would not be what fills your codpiece."

Valden gave her a strangled look, and then turned beet red. Faalken almost fell over in a sudden gale of uncontrollable laughter. Allia gave Valin a very calm, sober look, then one of those sea-blue eyes winked slyly, and a corner of her lip quirked up into a near-smile.

"Ye Gods!" Valden gasped mockingly. "Allia has a sense of humor! Great Karas, call me home, for the end is here!"

"It's a rather base one, at that," Faalken managed to gasp. He was wheezing audibly, and was bent over.

"You humans are so amusing," she said with a light smile, then she put her four-fingered hand on Valden's cheek, bent down and kissed the shorter man's other cheek like his daughter, and then turned her back to him. "I think that is enough today, Tarrin. A day of practice is always better when the student can walk away with a sense of accomplishment. And you have done very well today. Very well indeed."

"Well thank you," he said with a smile.

"Come, let us bathe. I need to get the training field off of my face and out of my hair."

Tarrin chuckled, picking up his shirt from the post where he'd left it hang. They left Faalken, who was still in a state of near-paralysis, now on his knees, laughing uncontrollably, pounding his hand on the ground.

"All kidding aside, Tarrin, you're coming along very well," she told him as they walked back to the Tower. "I know I didn't do half as well after only a month and some days."

"I had prior training," he shrugged, then he wrinkled his nose. "Goodness, Allia, put those gloves somewhere else," he said.

"I left them with Valden," she objected.

"What?"

"Valden has them," she affirmed.

"Then why do I smell Troll?" They both looked around, and there was nothing. Just grass, the Tower, and a few of the surrounding buildings that they could see.

"Maybe Valden is upwind of us," Allia shrugged.

"Maybe you're right," he agreed.

He felt a tiny shudder under his feet, conducted up through the pads on his foor. That was the only warning. But it was enough. A paw on Allia's shoulder sent her careening to the side as he lunged the other way.

As a club almost as large as Tarrin smashed the air between them and crushed into the ground, sending dirt and grass in all directions. Both Tarrin and Allia rolled to their feet.

And found themselves surrounded by four Trolls. Twelve spans tall, nearly twice as tall as their opponents, their wide-featured, brutish faces were alight with the prospect of the kill. Each one had nothing but a fur loinclout cinched with a leather belt, and all four were carrying clubs as big as Allia. Tarrin understood the nature of that selection immediately. His magical defense did not carry over to the raw physical force that the Trolls would put into those clubs. They would kill him just as fast as any human should they hit him

They wasted no time. Allia gave a ear-splitting undulating cry, the cry of alarm among her people, as her hands flashed to the daggers she kept in her boots. Tarrin was a bit more direct, as the Cat flowed into and through him. Instinct and thought were one, and they caused him to explode into action. He ducked under the massive swing of another Troll, and then kicked it in the side of the knee before it could recover. Tarrin's strength caved in the side of its knee, and it sagged to the ground with a bass-deep rumble of pain, rolling around on its back holding its knee. Allia simply stepped aside as the Troll behind her gave a vast overhanded swing, spraying dirt in every direction, then she danced lightly around it and sank one of her daggers into the back of its knee. It too sagged to the ground. Tarrin ducked under one swing, then dove forward to evade the other Troll's swing. He danced around so that one Troll shielded him from the other, a Troll that had turned to meet Allia. He saw his chance. "High and low!" he shouted to Allia in Selani. "I'll go low!"

"Go!" she barked, backpedalling out of reach of a huge swing.

Tarrin lunged forward just as the Troll in front of him started after him, which surprised it. The Troll obviously wasn't used to such small creatures attacking it. It tried to step back a bit, but Tarrin dove right between its legs, rolled, and came up sprinting. The other Troll had set its feet to deliver another overhand blow; Tarrin could see the club come up over its head. Tarrin ducked down a bit and ran between its legs.

With both paws up, and his claws out.

The Troll shrieked in abject agony, bending over as Tarrin's claws literally ripped out everything that was under its fur clout. Allia dashed forward as Tarrin knelt down, and she put a boot on his shoulder and leapt, then sprang off the head of the doubled Troll, high in the air. The other Troll, which had just turned around to see where Tarrin went, got a perfect view of Allia rear back both hands, and then throw her daggers with precise and deadly accuracy. They drove into each of the Troll's eyes, the tips and more finding the monster's brain, putting it forever into darkness.