I slowly open my eyes to the sunlight shining through the small window onto my face. The sounds of clunking wooden weapons are reaching my ears and the smell of burning charcoal is in my nose. After a moment of lying there, listening, my eyes widen and my mouth falls open slightly.

I overslept!

I quickly jump up, fling on my armor and my black cloak. I pull up my hood and leave the room, through the back section of the hideout and into the main room.

I should check on Myst and Ralf.

I peek out of the side door and look out back. I see our cooker out there, billowing smoke and near it is Boyd and Oscar, practicing with wooden lances and axes. I step outside and start to approach them.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Boyd says, glancing my way before getting smacked in the side with Oscar's wooden lance. A Boyd-like grunt escapes his lips.

"End! You need more practice, Boyd! Distracted by the lady, eh?" Oscar chuckles.

"Start again! I won't stop until I win!" Boyd swings his wooden axe towards Oscar, but he blocks it.

Oscar's grin widens, "We're going to be here for a while!" Another Boyd-like grunt fills the air as he swings his axe once more.

I chuckle, "Do you know where Myst and Ralf are?" Oscar and Boyd takes another swing each at each other, then turns to face me.

"Yes, they are playing right over there, in the other clearing through those trees. Titania should be over there with them,"

Ah, that is good. I assume Ike is training with Papa. I will join Oscar and Boyd then.

Before I am able to open my mouth to ask, Oscar asks, "You should join us in our training, Star. This will be your first one with us!" I smile and place a hand on my hip as my smile widens, "Gladly,"

Oscar turns to pick up a wooden sword sitting behind him. Then he turns to me and hands it to me, with his warm smile, "Here. You are not a class who uses swords, but you do wield Falchion, so you can join us!"

I casually take the blade. I ignore the sinking feeling in my gut that reminds me what it is like to wield a sword without my magic in control and I clear my mind of those emotions. Oscar's smile is inviting. The blade in my hand is much lighter than I was used to.

"You mean I have to spar, with a girl?" I roll my eyes at Boyd.

"Shut up and bring it on, dingus!"

"Dingus? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Oscar chuckles, "Don't throw curve balls at me! I will throw them back!" Boyd says, standing up straight and facing me. He is resting his axe on his shoulder, blade pointing up and his other hand resting on his side. He removes it from his shoulder and stands in his ready stance. I do the same, lifting the wooden blade in front of me in my left hand.

I slowly turn so my left shoulder is facing Boyd, lifting my hand up, clenched and upright, above my shoulder. I tilt the blade down so it is pointing at the ground towards him while the hilt is facing upwards. I bend my knees and stand where I have easy maneuverability with my left foot in front. This stance is the one Lucina uses, the one she learned from her father. The very one my father used when I watched him practice in the courtyard back at home.

"Oh man, that's the stance of the king. Think you can handle her, Boyd?" Oscar laughs to himself, indirectly praising my defensive stance.

I grasp the hilt with my right hand behind my left and wait for Boyd to take a swing, "Come at me,"

I take a deep breath, and keep pushing my emotions to the back of my mind.

That is when Boyd raises his axe and swings it towards me in a basic maneuver. I break my stance to block the move, then place force behind it to push him back. Once I clear his axe blade, I swing it towards him at an angle.

The way axes move, they are wider and heavier than a sword. The quick swings from a sword are difficult to block with an axe. A skilled axe man only knows these advanced maneuvers to successfully block those sword techniques.

Boyd is quick though. He does manage to block my swing and retaliate against me. I quickly jump backwards to dodge his wide and slow swing. I duck and swing low, and land a hit onto Boyd's chest plate.

"End!" Oscar calls from the sidelines.

"Damn! Again!" Boyd calls out. "Swords are harder for me! I was doing better against you, Oscar!"

I turn to look at Oscar, "Come at me,"

"Oh, you sure?"

I nod. He turns to face me as Boyd steps back. I slowly enter my defensive stance once again, facing him.

"Alright, go!" Boyd calls. Oscar tilts his wooden lance until it was upright and pointing towards me, upwards. When lances face swords, they are much longer than swords are, so they can swing out of range. Swords work best in close combat, which is difficult against a lance.

I must stay close to win this one.

Oscar takes a step towards me, and swings his wide lance on my right, a left-handed swing with his right hand. I break my stance and lower my sword to block my side. His lance clunks against my sword and he quickly forces me to jump away from him.

I cannot let him keep me at this distance.

I spin around and leap forwards off of my feet. I thrust the blade down as I descend onto him and he easily blocks me with the side of his lance. I get a foothold on the ground close to him and I swing my blade around behind me to my left, spinning with it. I hear Oscar grunt a little as he quickly leaps away from me, blocking my swift maneuver.

He must have the skills to wield a steel lance.

He surprises me and expertly spins around, swinging his lance similarly to the way I just swung the blade, behind him and towards my left.

I swiftly duck under the move and make an attempt at hitting his chest plate, but when I turn, he is not there. I stumble slightly and feel his wooden lance thump against the left side of my chest plate. I stumble again and I lose my footing.

"End!" Boyd calls.

When I fall on my hands and knees, I turn to see that Oscar had launched himself away from me after he swung his lance, and prepared another maneuver when I ducked to swing back. He had used his long range well. That is the only weakness to a sword.

Oscar is facing to the side, so he leaps back to his feet and turns to face me, grinning. He lifts his lance and points it towards the sky, lifts it up and thumps the ground with it triumphantly while his grin is widening, "Excellent performance, Star! Not bad for facing my lance with a sword!"

I smile faintly, "Thanks," I stand up onto my feet and approach Oscar with a step, holding out my hand, "May I?"

He looks a bit surprised, but understood what I am wanting, "You wish to try a lance? Sure!" He hands it to me. I take it calmly and give him another warm smile.

I really like lances. I have always wanted to try to use one, but I don't know why.

I turn to face Boyd. He grins as he realizes what is happening.

"Let's go! I can probably beat you now!" Boyd teases, as he prepares himself. I awkwardly stand with the wooden lance, trying my best to imitate the way Oscar wields the weapon.

This time, I advance forwards first, as I knew I hold the disadvantage here. I launch myself forwards and swing the lance in front of me towards Boyd.

I am not used to this at all.

I awkwardly handle Boyd's block and stop myself from stumbling behind me. Boyd takes a step forwards, using the advantage he just received, and swings the wide axe in my direction. When you fight axes with a lance, the axe has the advantage because it is wider than a sword. It can block a lance easier and then push it away to have room to be swung without being blocked itself.

I have to be careful here. Boyd is better with his axes than I am with a lance. This is my first time using a lance. Boyd can teach me how to better my skills with this.

I study Boyd's next movement. He is swinging the axe towards me. I quickly catch my footing, and push myself backwards, back out of his range, barely causing him to miss me.

I swear I hear Oscar release a gasp from the sidelines.

I know right, this one will be tough on me. You are probably thinking in your head the move I should do next, aren't you, Oscar?

I spin around and swing the lance in a wide arc behind me. I feel the tip bash against something. I quickly spin back around, pulling the lance with me defensively, to find that I had clunked against Boyd's axe.

I lift the lance in time to block his next axe movement and use that as my advantage to leap forwards and shove the tip of the lance towards Boyd's chest plate. Boyd reacts quickly and jumps to the side, dodging my lance. Before I can bring the lance back, Boyd pushes it away with his axe blade and turns it to slice down onto me. My lance is not close enough then to block the axe and I feel the axe bash against my chest. I lose grip on the lance and it tumbles to the ground. I feel myself follow it.

"End!" Oscar calls out to us.

Dammit, I lost again. I knew that one was going to be tough. I just wanted to try.

I look up as Boyd appears above me, grinning. He holds his hand out for me to grab and he helps me up, "With a bit more practice, you will do great with a lance, Star,"

I look up at him and catch his gaze, "You are getting better with your axe, Boyd. I can learn to use this lance while fighting you,"

He smiles, "Yeah, I learned all I know by fighting against Oscar,"

"Nah! You were already good before we started sparring, bro! Maybe someday, you can beat me against that lance!"

Boyd releases a grunt, "It is close, I can feel it! Watch out, Oscar! Boyd is catching up!"

"Star, you were great!" I hear Myst's voice call from behind me. I feel her hug me as I turn to greet her, "Thanks, Myst!"

"Very impressive," Papa's deep voice roars behind me, "You have earned it, my dear,"

I turn to face Papa, a smile appearing on my lips, "Thank you, Papa. I have much to learn,"

"Ho, ho, ho! Such modesty! The more you learn, the more you teach. I learned just from watching you brawl with these two goofballs here," Papa says while grabbing an Oscar in one arm and the Boyd in the other.

"Is that what we are? Golly, I thought that was Boyd and I was the smartass!"

I chuckle as Ike materializes next to me, matching Oscar's grin, "You practiced with Oscar and Boyd for quite a while. I finished with father and heard some grunts and wooden blades clunking around over here. I thought it was just Boyd and Oscar, but found you as well! I am impressed you decided to pick up a lance and practice it, Hun," Ike glances over to Boyd, "Too bad he beat you. You can get him back later!"

Another Boyd-like grunt fills the air, "Hey! I beat her fair and square! How about you get over here and have a go!"

Ike chuckles and turns back to me. I catch his gaze and smile, as I have Oscar hand me the wooden sword, "Your turn, Hun,"

Just a practice day for the mercenaries.

What do they do on their down time? Well this is it!