Nianzu had woken up extra early to get some added training in. Lately he had been losing his sparring matches, something that was unacceptable for him. His parents had trained him to be a strong soldier for the North. He couldn't let them down, or his pride down. If extra training was needed for him to improve, then so be it.

He headed to the place where his father used to spar with him. It was a quiet area. Somedays it was busier then other. This morning it was almost empty. Part of why he got up so early was because he wanted to train alone. Seeing the pale coat of a lioness was a huge shock for him. His first instinct was to turn around and leave, but instead he stood and watched the lioness.

She was rather petite in size, but that clearly didn't affect her. In front of her was a large tree that she would strike with her claws. She would duck and dodge around it, like she was fighting a real enemy. From where he stood, he could tell that she had been out for a while training, pushing herself.

And then she stopped. Her head whipped toward him, and her blue eyes stared at his green ones.

“Are you going to just stand there and watch?” She yelled at him as she panted. “Cause I can think of a bunch more useful things you can be doing with your time.”

He gave her a smile. “I just didn't want to interrupt your training.” Nianzu said as he approached the lioness. “I got up extra early to do some training. I was just a bit surprised someone else beat me here.” He was able to see her much better now that he was closer. She was a newer recruit from the rogue lands. This was the first time he had ever actually gotten the chance to talk to her.

“Would you mind if I train here as well?” He asked.

She shrugged before attack the tree again. Nianzu smiled and started stretching before he started to train. There was silence as he stretched, except for claws hitting the tree.

“How long have you been training today?” he asked as he started practicing his lunges. In his mind, he pictured an enemy in front of him and lunging toward him, his teeth ready to clamp down. He kept pouncing, waiting for a response.

“Before the sun came up.” She replied. “Couldn't sleep a wink. So I figured instead of tossing and turning, I would just do something more productive.”

Nianzu nodded. It made sense. There were nights he couldn't rest. Usually he would just keep trying until he eventually fell asleep. If he woke up and started training though, he felt like he would end up falling over from exhaustion. He looked at her and she didn't see tired at all.

A small smirk fell on her face and he looked away. “If you like, we could do a quick spar?” She suggested as she stepped away from the tree and turned to face him. “Picking on a defenseless tree gets boring after a while.”

“Don't know how fair of a fight that would be, since you've been out here training. You must be tired.”

She laughed. “Well, when in battle, my enemies won't care if I am tired now will they? They will not give me a chance to rest, so I figure what better way to train then the same conditions I will be in during times of battle.”

And she gave another good point, Nianzu thought. She was an interesting lioness, he thought. He was under the impression that rogue blooded lions were weak and lazy compared to the lions of the North, but she was proving him wrong. More than anything he wanted to talk to her about how she learned how to fight and what motivated her. But right now wasn't the right time.

“Alright, we can have a quick scrimmage. How about first person to get three hits?” He suggested while standing up, getting ready for the spar. Nianzu knew that he needed to stay focus in this fight. He couldn't go easy on her just because she was tired. She was going to give it her all, so he should too. As she got ready, he positioned himself across from her.

“On the count of three.” She said, her tail flicking with anticipation. “3, 2, 1” The second she said one, she pounced toward him, but he managed to jump out of the way, keeping his balance. He took his chance and lunged toward her. To his surprise he landed a hit on her shoulder. The hit must have surprised her as well, however she was quick to recover. She jumped backwards away from Nianzu but only to propel herself forward toward him.

Her attack was much more brutal then his, making him fall back a couple steps.

She started circling around him while he got himself back up. “That was pretty good.” She complimented. When he stood up, he watched her movements, waiting for her to attack so he could dodge. But she never did. She ended up stopping. “Well what are you waiting for? Your turn to strike.”

At first he hesitated, but an idea struck him. He jumped toward her back side and crouched. She went to hit him, but he managed to dodge and get on the other side of her. He hit the side of her neck at a similar force that she had hit him. But instead of stumbling, she gave him an intense stare before hitting with her right paw. Her hit was backed up by her weight and her movement. It was the first hit that really stung. His shoulder that got hit even had a couple drops of blood coming out.

He stumbled back a couple steps, but she wasn't about to leave it there. Before he could recover she lunged toward him. Instead of hitting him, she full on tackled him to the ground, though in a more playful way. She completely pinned him down.

“I think you need to do some more training.” She said with a laugh, before getting off him. “Maybe we could do some training together sometime or go on a hunt together?”

Nianzu slowly got up, his mussels feeling stiff. “Yeah that sounds good. My name is Nianzu by the way.” He said while cleaning his shoulder.

“Nice to meet you. You may call me Suyin. Tomorrow morning I'll be out training some more. If you would like to practice with me, you are more then welcome to.” She said, before heading away from Nianzu.

As he watched her leave, Nianzu felt like he could learn a lot from her, even if she was from the rogue lands.

WC: 1,153