Okay! Nicole gets set up again and decides - not to let Iomedae win, exactly, but that she can certainly afford to give away a win on the last fight and it'd probably be good for her to see that she wins more if she does the right thing and loses if she doesn't. She's got enough of a sense now that she can just fight at Iomedae's speed, and if she wins she wins.

The opening attack from Iomedae is timed beautifully - another thing she's figured out without being told about it - so that Nicole has to focus on defending herself as Iomedae steps into range, and now Iomedae's back in that advantageous position with her shield in Nicole's face, and Nicole wasn't even prepared for it so now her sword is somewhat trapped under that shield. She leans back to try and give herself some space and this time she doesn't get the space; Iomedae steps in on her sword side and batters her over the head.

"Good! - really good. You learn fast! Let's go get some water." 

Iomedae will happily trot on over to get water, though she's not too winded from the exertion. Until a week ago she was picking vegetables all day every day. "You great warrior, Heaven sing."

"I've been fighting a very long time! You are very talented."

Once she has her helmet off, Nicole will also snag a plastic knife and cut herself off a quarter of one of the donuts. "What brought you here? I'm very glad you came."

"I was made foster child of Robert and Jenny. I told them I a holy warrior, want to sword, and Robert found this order. "

"Oh, this isn't an order exactly. There's people here in several different orders and some who aren't in any. - feel free to grab snacks if you want, they're for everyone." The table now has the fruits Nicole brought and some cheese with someone's homemade bread, in addition to the donuts. 

She very much wants to ask what 'holy warrior' means but she's trying to get a feel for whether the answer is the sort of thing that ought to be discussed aloud in front of plenty of people who haven't been told anything about magic.

Iomedae looks questioningly at Jenny who has strong opinions about food.

"The fruit's good for you, sweetheart! It'll give you energy for fighting!"

Then she will take some of the fruits, not too many so as not to be rude. "This is no holy order, Sir Gabriel telled me. But - this still help me grow to holy order, I think."

Hmm. "Well, yes, we'll teach you how to use a sword. What kind of holy order do you want to join?" 

"One for grow strong, fight Hell."

"Iomedae, they told you this isn't a religious thing. It's not respectful of these people to go around injecting religion into their - hobby activity -"

"- this order not religious, is why I need find order is religious."

"We can look up - nuns - when we get home but I really don't think they'll let you swordfight. I'm just asking you to respect these people while you're here."

"Iomedae is alright, don't worry - I did ask." Nicole gives Robert a reassuring smile. 

If hell existed she would probably also quite like to fight it, she supposes.

"...nuns probably won't let you swordfight, though. I don't think any religious order... maybe some of the really hardcore Buddhist monks, I don't know." This is not a topic she wants to stay on if it's going to get Iomedae in trouble with her foster dad. "Anyway, if you want to get involved here, we practice Saturdays and Tuesdays here, and the neighbouring barony has archery on Thursdays. Arts classes are usually first Monday of the month and we take turns to host."

"I want to learn swording." In fact now that she has had a bit of water she'd like to get back out there.

She can support wanting to learn to sword!

"Alright, want to have a few passes against me on our feet?"

Nicole finishes off her own water (which she also didn't really need, but it's best to reach the newbies good habits before the height of Atlantian summer hits) and, tossing her hair out of her eyes (despite the fact that it wasn't in her eyes), hefts her helmet back onto her head. 

"Yes, ma'am!" She is going to lose so badly and she is so excited!

They fight twenty rounds!

With an absolute newbie Nicole would do quite a lot of standing still and encouraging them gently to hit her. With Iomedae she's going to treat her more like someone who's been fighting for a year; she sets the pace at about half a notch above where she thinks Iomedae's at, and this results in her winning seventeen fights and losing three. Every time she loses she compliments Iomedae.

After the last fight she gives her another salute and reaches out for a fist-bump. "Excellent work. I really wasn't just letting you win there - you earned those - you should come back and fight more, I think you're going to be very good at this." 

Iomedae is happy. Iomedae has not really been uncomplicatedly happy since she came to America. She's been - making progress, and able to bear it, and then for the last week things have really been quite bad. But here, she is learning what Aroden commanded she learn, she's getting stronger, she's among people who know what that means even if they're missing some pieces.

"Thank you. I fight until I go to Heaven or build it here," she says to Nicole.

Nicole is also pretty thrilled to have Iomedae! She talks very oddly but she's a fantastic talent and it'll probably be really good for Lucy not to be the only younger woman fighting at practice. 

In England's green and pleasant land? Nicole almost quips, but the poor girl does not need to also be exposed to obscure song references while she is trying to learn English. "I doubt I'd stop fighting just because I went to Heaven, honestly, I think if anything if I turned out to be immortal then I'd take up jousting."

"Do you need help with anything? I think Lucy is dying to fight me, but if there's anything you need..."

"Also in Heaven we fight," Iomedae agrees, beaming at her. "I need no thing." 

"I hope to fight you again!" Nicole agrees, and goes off to meet Lucy (who has been impatiently hovering and trying to make eye contact) on the field.

Iomedae is left to her own devices for a minute. 

Iomedae will actually follow her to watch. Watching people fight isn't as good as fighting but you can learn some things from it.

"What are you working on today, Lucia?" 

"I have been working so hard on my timing for the past couple weeks but I think I'm moving on now and I want to just work on my aim, honestly? I keep not turning my wrist over quite enough and not quite getting the finger snap to put pop in the shot."

She is still getting used to being called Lucia.