It was a mild winter day, but the breath still smoked from the heavy breaths of both combatants. A small circle of onlookers was formed, but the two only had eyes for each other.

Roldy came up from a sweep that had forced Kalle to step back, and threw himself into his beastly lunge, with the sharpened mosswolf bone of his suit spearing the way, but Kalle read it ahead of time and sidestepped and kicked straight upward, catching Roldy's leg and making him land clumsily. That was followed by Kalle jumping on top and securing the arms with his weight. Roldy, used to the position, prepared to set his legs and roll them both over, but as he exploded from the bottom Kalle rode him perfectly and ended up on his back, dagger in hand.

The [Esperlock] went for the stab, but he got one hand out to defend just in time, and used the shifting weight to tumble forward and scale Kalle off, but once again Kalle read him like the rider reads the bucking horse and just stayed on. It was infuriating and the [Druid] was forced to defend stab after stab, he tried removing the weapon but their handfighting was equal and finally Kalle snaked his other arm beneath the neck, dropped the dagger to secure his lock with both hands and had Harold sleeping like the dead in 45 seconds.

Of course the spar was a lot less dangerous than it sounded. Harold had large pinecones attached to his sharpened suit, and the dagger was in fact made in wood. But a dominant win nevertheless, his first in fact without using any of his active abilities. He raised his hand and got some applause, even from Roldy once the [Druid] woke back up feeling chagrined. There were no hard feelings though, they did this far too often to let a fair fight bother them.

Sten had been watching, judging, and not minding what he was seeing. It was clear Brunner had also learned from his father at some point in time, and that he'd been working these lads hard to get them to this level in a few short months.

That did not prevent such a seasoned fighter from seeing the major gaps however. "A good win, you read him like you were fighting an amateur, without a Skill?" Kalle was proud, and it showed, but he quickly explained. "I wish I had the energy left to lie, but no, I've been learning to read Roldy for a while now and my [Esper's Balm] helps a lot with sensing when he's about to try something." Sten nodded at this. "I could show a few physical cues to watch for, it could complement that ability nicely."

As they started out it was clear Sten held back and only meant to point a few things out, but Kalle, feeling high on the supply of his latest win, was eager to learn in real time and made as much clear. "A quick spar then." What followed was Sten stripping down so you could see his physical tells, and proceeding to kick the legs out from underneath Kalle whenever he approached. His footwork was not balanced enough for the lightning speed leg flying at him. If he stopped pressuring, Sten stopped kicking, so Kalle figured that his final shot to avoid complete humiliation was making Sten come to him.

"Okay, physical sparring is obviously your arena, but if I add some Spells you'll be the one who needs to approach, might make it more in my favour, so let's try?" Sten was recognising the signs of someone needing to prove themselves, even if only to themselves, but he was in a new group dynamic and could only use what he knew to work within the group he was used to, this was the time for a lesson.

Kalle hopped back, immediately whipping bolts out to force Sten to move and make it difficult to get in closer directly. Once Sten dodged a few and finally managed it, Kalle's focus switched to moving defensively. Jumping back repeatedly, always with every touch threatening a pre-loaded [Mind Blast], but he just couldn't get a read on his wily opponent. [Esper's Balm] wasn't helping. This was nothing but a Tuesday for Sten, he wasn't particularly excited or feeling deceptive when he threw out a feint he liked for the 10 000th time. His whole mind was fully focused on finding safe openings and delivering correct techniques with the appropriate force.

He moved in patterns, but as soon as you recognised them your movements shifted accordingly, and he noted it and shifted with you, forming a new pattern that was as perplexing as the last. He was overwhelming, controlling. Every second brought a new pain or disruption of your balance.

In his desperation from being caught, Kalle broke the grip and swiftly slid his wand down his forearm to deploy a point-blank [Wailing Bolt]. The ghostly skull was laden with all of a life's disappointments and fears. Dirt sprayed from the attempted dodge. In the rush of adrenaline he had fired it off full force and as it struck Sten, the 17-year old boy went berserk. He cried out pathetically but then locked eyes on Kalle and started swinging twice as fast as earlier. In seconds Kalle had a broken orbital, an arm bending the wrong way from a brutal kick and was thrown from his feet by an uppercut from hell.

Sten was still ready to follow but Brunner was suddenly there in a flurry, holding the boy. Livia arrived half a second later, firing off [Conflict De-escalation] like her life depended on it, and shouting for the spar to stop.

Kalle gave off a weak moan and Sten stopped struggling as soon as his eyes let go of Kalle's prone form. Brunner was whispering soothing words and took him by the shoulder to swiftly walk off.

Roldy was down by his friend, providing healing magic and making tutting noises. "What the hell were you thinking?" Livia and Oscar were wondering the same.

"Yeah, I probably should not have done that, this arm is gonna need a week." He was building a reputation for being injury-prone. Livia decided to try for a positive spin. "Hey, at least we're getting to know Sten!"

When Brunner and Sten came back, after having explained how Kalle's [Wailing Bolt] worked a little closer, Sten made it clear he would prefer that Kalle used his burning version when they sparred in the future, but he apologised for overreacting, but also couldn't help himself from one last dig.

"I should have been better prepared for the dangers of sparring with amateurs." The grim set to his lips remained, but as usual when Sten was just teasing, his eyes were smiling.