"In most cultures, things only escalated to physical violence when there was severe disagreement or bad blood involved. Amongst therians, it was just how they prefer to communicate with one another." - Al-Sadr Barsinus, known as one of the fathers of sociology, circa VA 21.

To her credit, Zoya proved to be a seasoned fighter. Although she looked somewhat askance at Aideen - for good reason, the therian woman being a whole size larger, even larger than most human males at that - her first strikes had not shown complacence, as they were light strikes, as Zoya probed her competence instead.

Aideen just casually leaned aside or backwards to evade the probing strikes, while her feet had not moved at all from where she stood. That earned her a raised eyebrow from Zoya, who adopted a more serious expression instead, and took a guarded stance with her shield raised before her.

Since Aideen just stood and waited for her to act, Zoya made the first move, as she rushed with her shield up front and her axe held behind her body. To her surprise Aideen had not chosen to dodge to the side, nor to try to stop her rush. Instead, she pushed one end of her staff against Zoya's shield and lightly leapt backwards, as she easily gained some distance.

The next thing Zoya saw was that same staff as it tried to sweep her legs from the right. The therian woman swiftly lowered her stance, while her axe swooped in to clash against the staff. As the weapons clashed, the impact reverberated through the wooden weapons, and for a moment Zoya was taken aback by how forceful the strike had been.

"You're a lot stronger than I thought," admitted Zoya as she pulled a step back and took a more guarded stance, her large frame somewhat crouched, like a beast of prey that readied itself for a pounce. Across from her Aideen took a steadier stance with her feet wide apart, and her staff pointed Zoya's way. "Any magic involved?"

"Nothing beyond what I used during training, no," replied Aideen honestly. Artair had told her that his family rarely had mages amongst them. He was one of only two of the siblings to reach magehood, and even then he was at the lowest end of the threshold himself. Zoya was not the other, so Aideen also chose to fight her without magical aid.

Right after her words were said she went into the offense, as she gave a forceful thrust of the staff towards Zoya's chest. The therian woman was fast enough to move her shield to take the blow, but grunted in surprise as the force of the strike pushed her a step backwards.

The instant after Zoya fell back, Aideen withdrew the staff and swung its other end diagonally towards Zoya's right shoulder, a strike she only managed to block haphazardly with the haft of her axe, and even then her weapon was almost pushed back towards her body.

Physically, Zoya was superior to Aideen in strength, as despite her training their physiques are just too different, with the therian's natural endowment, further trained, easily had her best efforts eclipsed. Even so, one thing Aideen had not lacked was experience and skill, and even if the therian woman was stronger, one of her arms could not hold that well against the force exerted by both of Aideen's.

What followed was nearly the reverse of Zoya's bout with Artair. Aideen kept the therian woman constantly on the backfoot, which kept her from being able to fully utilize her superior strength and speed. From time to time, Aideen landed painful blows as well, though she refrained from striking more vital spots.

Eventually, after one too many strikes, Aideen's staff met Zoya's axe and under the incredulous gazes of the soldiers who spectated the fight, both weapons shattered into splinters of wood where they met.

"Looks like we're a bit too hard on these things," said Aideen as both women paused their fight and looked at their broken weapons. After a moment of silence, Aideen finally broke the silence with an unexpected proposal. "How about we carry on without weapons?"

"If you don't mind, sure," replied Zoya with a raised eyebrow. Both women discarded their broken weapons to the side, and Zoya tossed away her shield as well, as she crouched like a beast about to pounce.

Aideen beckoned for her to come with one hand, her stance steady as before. She had not only learnt how to use weapons for her tutors, but also learnt barehanded martial arts from them.

Both the late Ren-Gui and his successors had taught Aideen a martial art based on the redirection of force. It was an ideal martial art for someone weaker to tackle a stronger opponent with, as her tutors had demonstrated on her during their training sessions.

Aideen was younger, faster, and stronger than them, yet they still tossed her around with ease, at least early on. While Aideen had caught up with her old tutor when it comes to using weapons, she never managed to match him barehanded until he passed away. It was only years later, after years of further training against his successors that she finally gave them a good fight.

Zoya's attack was far more straightforward, her large paw-like hand descended with crushing force. Aideen didn't fight it, as instead her feet shifted forward as she slid closer to the therian woman, the other woman's forearm caught in her hands. Then Aideen whirled around and added her own strength to Zoya's momentum, as she tossed the larger therian woman over her shoulder.

Most of their audience winced sympathetically as Zoya was slammed on her back. Aideen had not pursued the other woman, and instead released her arm and took her distance. Zoya got up from the ground as she shook her head, then returned to a crouched posture.

This time, Zoya charged low, as the therian woman aimed to tackle Aideen down to the ground. What she had not expected was how Aideen had not avoided her charge, and instead welcomed her with a knee to her nose.

The impact combined Zoya's own forward momentum with Aideen's unexpected knee strike, and flattened her nose, as blood flowed freely from Zoya's nostrils. It also stopped her charge as she was dazed for a moment, and Aideen took the chance to circle behind the therian woman, then kicked behind her knee before she slammed her shoulder against the woman's back.

As Zoya fell down, Aideen grabbed the woman's right arm and twisted it behind her back, as she kept the arm immobile in a joint lock. The therian woman attempted to struggle and free herself, yet after a minute of futile attempts, she finally yielded and gave up the fight.

Aideen helped the therian woman up, and as she did so, cycled her magic through the other woman's body. The nose she had flattened with her knee strike reformed itself, and the bruises underneath the fur disappeared one by one as her healing did its work.