"I had thought about asking. Wasn't sure I should. Awesome."

Ame follows Raz outside, but she doesn't draw her sword

"Actually, I'd rather learn to fight unarmed, first. It's more likely to save my life and I don't know if swordplay is even going to suit me; I might be better off with a different weapon." Also, if this is like a video game, specializing this early could soft-lock her out of better options she might only discover later.

"I agreed to test you, not tutor you. Do you even have any levels in a sword or unarmed Skill?" There's that concerned frown again.

"Sword, definitely not. Biggest blade I ever held before today was a dinner knife. Unarmed... well, let's find out."

Ame takes a breath, tries to recapture some of that cold clarity. She knows basically nothing about martial arts but she does have a firm grasp on basic causality.

She walks calmly towards Raz. She makes a fist. She deliberately lets her eyes flick towards a likely punching-target. Then she steps hard and deliberately tenses her shoulder like she's going to swing. Instead she does her best to slam her knee into Raz's gut, bracing because she knows perfectly well the blow isn't going to land.

Ame is at the upper end of the curve on speed and precision, for an untrained and unenhanced teenage girl, and she does in fact have some experience here, but she's clearly never been taught a single thing about how to fight.

She's faster and stronger than she remembers, but indeed, she doesn't even get close. Raz sidesteps and gets a hold on her arm and twists just enough to hurt, then lets go, shoving her lightly.

"Again."

When Ame fails to hit again, Raz is smirking at her and baiting her to try again. "Again." "Once more!"

After a minute Raz starts dispensing advice on form and leverage.

After two and a half, Ame suddenly knows where to put her weight to deceive, how to hide the motion of preparing a strike, on a more instinctive level.

After five, Raz seems to catch herself, stepping back sharply and calling, "Halt! Ah, bracing! I think you have a few levels in Street Fighting, but it doesn't look like you have Basic Unarmed Combat. Do you know any offensive spells? Describe your healing Skill."

Ame doesn't need to be baited, she's going to absorb every bit of skill she can, here.

Whoa, so that's what leveling up feels like. Cool.

When Raz finally remembers she's not actually supposed to be teaching Ame, Ame takes a single deep breath, during which she closes her eyes and uses her Skill to catch the rest of her breath.

"It lets me force my will on my body, like, when you try to willpower your body into acting less fatigued than you actually are, I can do that for real."

Ame doesn't actually know how it works on wounds yet, but she doesn't want to admit that. Pretending it's for demonstrative purposes, she draws the sword, pulls up her fishnet sleeve, and gives herself a little nick on the back of her arm. Then she glares at the cut until it goes away.

"It takes ongoing concentration to heal, and its slower than I'd wish, but I think that's the trade-off for how I can aim it a lot more freely than typical healing?" This is a guess, but it only makes sense that typical healing would be less aim-able than her Skill.

"...Thaaat could make you quite the effective brawler. It's like no Skill I've ever heard of. And you can cast it on others?" Her eyes narrow. "Have you ever had an analysis done?"

"My thoughts exactly. As far as I know I can use it on any living flesh that is... I can use it on my own body and on anybody I'm touching at the time. I haven't had an analysis done that I can remember."

"...Frankly, you seem like trouble. Mysterious Skills, unclear origins. Trouble."

She shakes her head and sighs.

"Try not to accidentally kill anyone, and please leave before an ancient curse returns to the world, or your vampiric father catches up to you, or any other dangerous nonsense like that."

"Pff. Sure. That's fair."

Sword, back in sheath.

"So, Gale's going around telling everyone there's a healer for hire in town, but speaking of changing the subject, is this where I offer to heal anyone you point me at, for free, no questions asked, if you do teach me to fight? And or teach me a spell or two?"

"I'm not a teacher. I'm not going to teach you. I'm just not, okay? I was getting exhilarated, it was fun, but now I'm remembering my dead friends and that's going to take days to go away. Maybe try Arwen Fairsol. Militia leader, has half a clue about the basics, will probably hit on you."

Apologetic shrug.

"Sounds perfect. Where do I find Arwen Fairsol?"

"Ask Fairsols until you find him, I suppose. Their clanhall is one north. They wear a lot of bright yellow." She indicates her colorful cloak, which is dominated by dark, almost bloody, red.

"Thank you."

Ame goes north and starts asking people dressed in yellow where to find Arwen.

Some of these people are a little uncomfortable about her clothes up close. Does she maybe want to borrow a shirt. Or pants. (They won't press, just kind of give her the cold shoulder.)

Arwen is findable after a few minutes of wandering, shirtlessly building a shed. He double-takes and grins at her mostly-bare thighs. "Well met, stranger."

Ame is quite comfortable in her current outfit, thank you. She has a good bland sarcastic smile; she doesn't approve of the people who don't want to ogle her trying to ruin it for those who do, and there're more than enough of the latter around.

"Likewise, if you're Arwen. I'm Ameron. Raz says you might be willing to spar with and or instruct me."

"Raz sent you to me? I had better give you my full attention, then."

He sets down the long timber he was carrying on one shoulder.

"Uf. S'pose I am one of the organizers of the local levy, such as it is. And I'm assuming you're interested in fighting Skills, instead of carpentry."

"Raz is kind of a big deal around here, isn't she. Yeah, I'm in desperate need of Skill levels. At least enough to survive the local dungeon. Not that building stuff is entirely uninteresting, but."

"She's a former B-rank adventurer. Yeah, she's kind of a big deal in this backwater we call home. I am honestly surprised she didn't just take over from Baroness Leonora or something. Uh, I have a few teaching Skills, mostly themed around basic combat, so that's convenient." He frowns. "You must be totally new at this, if you're asking for training enough to face our dungeon. Why here and now? And why are you wearing... That?"

"What, you don't like it?"

"I've had a very bad, then very strange day. That involved getting almost killed several times and viscerally discovering that my own healing Skill, and my fighting Skills in general, are nowhere near good enough. I didn't need to know what it feels like to get my legs ripped off but now I know. This day has also included getting dumped here in this country with nothing else but this," gesture at outfit, "and a burning desire to spend the next year leveling."

The legs-ripped-off bit throws him. He puts a serious face on. "...Sounds pretty dire. How the healing works will affect how you want to steer your training, long-term. The basics are mostly the same. Now, I want to help, and I can put this off for later, but. I would in fact like to get something out of it."

"In theory, I can recover from anything reasonable as long as I'm awake to concentrate on it. I can heal fatigue, for both of us, as much as I want. I got to Traver Hollow by sprinting up the road for like half an hour straight."

Ame smirks. "As for what you'll get out of it, I'm sure you can think of all kinds of things you could enjoy about getting up close and sweaty with me."

He looks down. "...True enough. But- Hm. Nothing levels you quite like experience against real monsters in a dungeon. But you really don't want to be alone your first time in a dungeon. What do you say I teach you, we have some fun, tomorrow we dive the first level only and split the loot sixty forty?"

"Awesome and excellent."

Ame coughs lightly.

"Can I get some water, first? I wasn't kidding about the half-hour sprint."

He has a canteen. He walks over to hand it to her.

"That's a damned powerful Skill you've got, you know. Know anything about the activation conditions for it?"