The light is still high up on the walls, indicating dawn, when Anisa is roused from her sleep by Coeus waking up. Throughout the night, the coney had been curled up into a warm fuzzy ball against the doe's chest, but now was stretching and climbing out from between Anisa and Aaron, who had also cuddled up to the child. Lucia's heavy arm flops across Anisa's ribs as the larger Amazonian doe cuddles her from behind.

The smaller of the does slowly comes to her senses, furrowing her brow as she realizes the Valkyrian is more or less holding her like a doll. Gently moving the larger doe's arm aside so as not to wake her, Anisa starts to rise from the bed as well, smoothing out her wrinkled nightgown as she sits up.

Lucia mutters and rolls over onto her other side. Now that she's upright, Anisa just manages to catch a glimpse of Coeus leaving through the curtained doorway to the room. With a loud yawn, Aaron begins to stir as well.

Anisa slides from the bed, and walks over to the wardrobe to rummage through her bag and nab the borrowed tunic. Looking over her shoulder, she smiles to the buck. "Morning there, sunshine. Sleep well?"

"Huh, morning already?" Aaron mumbles. He stretches and scratches at his fur before noting the position of the sunlight coming through the narrow windows. "Barely morning. I must have slept like a rock."

"A very fuzzy rock," replies Anisa. "I think you made a good pillow for Coeus." The doe grins, then turns back to the wardrobe, starting to change out of her gown and into the tunic. "So, what's the plan for today?"

Aaron turns aside to watch Lucia, who hasn't woken up fully yet. "Breakfast first, I think … and then that exhibition fight you promised Epimethius."

Slipping into the tunic, the doe fastens her ears with a tie. "Oh yeah, I guess we do have that today." Standing up, the Lapi stretches, her back popping once or twice. She grins at Aaron. "I hope you're ready then, I haven't had a good bout since fighting that Naga."

Coeus returns to the room, looking more or less wide awake. He must be used to getting an early start every morning. "Good morning!" he pipes cheerfully.

"Ready?" Aaron practically squeaks. "Oh sure. Always ready to get pummeled in front of my family," he notes, and climbs out of the bed himself to find a fresh pair of trousers and a tunic as well.

"You can't be that bad, Xavier," Lucia says, awake now, but still unmoved. "You're bigger than Anysia is."

Anisa arches a brow at the older buck, ruffling Coeus's ears as she walks by. "You've sure been grouchy since we've come here. Did I do something wrong?" The doe crosses her arms, and leans on the doorframe. "I simply thought you'd like to show them what you've learned. You've really been doing quite well, you know."

Aaron pulls on his tunic, and sighs. "Sorry if I've come across like that, Anisa. It's just that I don't fit in well here."

Lucia finally gets out of bed, and begins a set of morning stretching exercises while Coeus tidies up the room. "I look forward to seeing your match," she comments.

"Do you want me to bring you breakfast in here?" Coeus asks the others, his little stomach making a rumbling noise.

"You don't have to fit in. You're just visiting," Anisa says in Standard. "It's not like you're moving back here. I don't exactly fit in either. Just relax and try to enjoy it; we'll be back home soon enough." She turns to Lucia, and grins, switching to Skeek. "Wanna take on the winner?"

The Valkyrian warrior pauses in her exercises, as if caught off guard by the question. "It would hardly be fair to enter into combat fresh against someone who has just been in battle," she finally says.

"It was a joke," the smaller doe says with a grin. "We'll probably be so bruised afterwards we'll want to lay down for a while." She turns to the small coney, and nods. "That'd be great, you get first dibs."

Coeus bounces upwards several feet, then dashes off past Anisa as soon as his feet hit the floor – heading for the kitchens, presumably.

"So what time is the match, anyway?" asks Anisa. "We'd better be getting ready for it."

Aaron sits on the bench near the doorway, and forces himself to look at Anisa while Lucia finishes her stretching and gets dressed. "Not until after breakfast, I'm sure. What should we do to get ready? I didn't bring any sparring gloves."

Anisa grimaces. "Neither did I, but we should definitely stretch and get the blood flowing. We can do a bit of light sparring if you'd like: just taps and nothing hard."

Aaron stands up and starts stretching, while Lucia looks on with curiosity.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" the tall warrior asks.

Walking back into the room, the smaller doe begins to stretch as well. "Do you know how to block a jab? That could help in the sparring."

"That sounds like something a sailor would do," Lucia says. "Can you show me what you mean?"

"It's just blocking a punch," Anisa laughs in mid stretch, "usually with the palm of your hand. They had to have taught you how to do that in Warrior class." The doe walks over to Lucia. "Here, throw a light punch, but not too hard."

Lucia shrugs and makes a fist with her right hand, which she jabs somewhat amateurishly at the smaller doe.

Holding her open paws out in front of her, Anisa blocks the punch with her palm, which absorbs the light blow. "Just like that. Nothing too hard, when you do this. You aim for the palms; it helps you to practice combos better."

"That's it?" Lucia asks, and holds her hands palms-out to Anisa. "This is nothing like shield practice."

"Well, it's one way," says the smaller doe with a grin. "It'd take time to teach you all the blocks – just ask Aaron." She makes a few light jabs at the palms.

"There are a lot of blocks," Aaron notes. "It took me a while to get used to blocking and moving at the same time."

Anisa grins playfully, practicing a dance as she continues to jab. "And he's gonna be doing a lot of blocking later, just you watch!"

Lucia's eyes widen at the pace of the blows. "And you throw so many punches when you fight? I'm just used to trading a few blows with the sword."

"That's how you win," replies the smaller doe. "Besides, this isn't about killing each other; it's just a competition and a way to keep yourself safe. You know, man to man, like nature intended."

"Nature usually hunts in packs and gathers in herds," Aaron points out … from a safe distance.

Anisa lets up from her jabs, and motions Aaron to take over. "Yes, but even in a herd it comes down to yourself usually. This way is no weapons, no gimmicks, just you and your fists.

Aaron takes up his position, and tries a few jabs at Lucia's palms to warm up and work the kinks out his back.

Wearing several bowls on his head, Coeus nearly collides with Anisa as he rushes through the doorway carrying a basket in his paws. "Whoops!"

The doe dodges the coney, snatching the bowls from the top of his noggin. "Watch it there, fastfoot! Whad'ya bring us?"

"Porridge!" Coeus says in a tone that suggests this is his absolute favorite possible breakfast. He sets down his basket on the floor, and takes out a clay pot full of still-steaming porridge, as well as a loaf of fresh-baked bread and a jar of honey. There are some wooden spoons to go with the wooden bowls as well.

Anisa sniffs the thick substance, and wilts an ear. It's not on par with one of her mother's breakfasts, but it'll have to do. "Just give me half a bowl; I'll eat more later. You'd probably only have a small helping as well, Aaron. It's not good to be full before a fight."

"Smells tasty," Aaron says, stopping his practice so he and Lucia can join in, then frowns slightly at the advice. "Okay, half a bowl for me too then. With honey, though!"

Coeus serves out the bowls, using the honey to sweeten the rather plain porridge of rice and oats.

"Trust me, it's better that you don't learn that lesson the hard way." The doe takes her bowl, and takes an experimental bite. "After the bout, you can eat as much as you want."

"Assuming you leave me any teeth," Aaron says as he gobbles his food.

Anisa grins. "You'll do fine; I taught you, after all." Taking a few more bites, the doe stops, and points at Aaron with her spoon. "One thing though," she says with a sober expression, "you'd better not hold anything back, especially not because I'm a woman. You can think of this as a test, and I expect you to do your best."

The buck nearly chokes on his food when Anisa points the spoon at him. "I won't hold back Anisa, I promise."

Taking a few more bites, the doe nods. "Good, you'd better not."

"Or you'll beat me up, right?" Aaron teases.

"You bet I will," Anisa says with a grin, then turns her attention towards finishing off her meal.

Students and spectators crowd around the edge of the sand-filled wrestling pit, eager to witness the exhibition of sky-lander unarmed combat. Among them are Epimethius the Trainer, Roland, Lucia, and Aaron's parents: Linnea and Esai. Unlike the crowds that usually gather around one of Anisa's fights, this one is eerily quiet.

The ring itself is roughly twelve feet across, giving plenty of room to move about. "In wrestling, the loser is the first one to touch outside the ring," Aaron whispers to the doe. "What sort of rules do you want to play by?"

Doing a few last minute leg stretches, Anisa looks up to her sparring partner. "If you go outside the ring, the match stops and you're brought back in. Normally, you'd lose points for that, but since we don't have anyone who knows how to keep score, we aren't doing it for points." The doe stands, and stretches her back. "We'll be fighting until one of us can't go on anymore… or is knocked out. Whichever comes first. Plus, it'll be without gloves." She looks Aaron in the eye. "And like I said, no holding back."

Aaron swallows nervously and nods. He puts up his arms in a guard position and hops back a few feet before starting the "dance" of short hops that he was taught.

Reaching up, the doe unties her ears, and smoothes them back behind her head. "So, when do we start?"

"Ladies first," Aaron says with a smirk.

"In the ring," Anisa returns with her own smirk, "there are no 'ladies'." The doe walks out to the far side of the ring – what goes for her "corner" – and turns to face the buck.

The buck takes his place at the opposite side of the ring, and nods to Lucia off on in the audience.

"Let the match begin," the Valkyrian declares, "until only one is left standing."

At the Valkyrian's words, Anisa brings her fists up into the defensive posture, then bounds partway into the ring, constantly dancing and keeping her eyes on the buck.

Aaron does likewise, keeping in motion as he looks for an opening.

As soon as Aaron begins forward, the doe charges him in a series of small sprint hops, and throws a hard combo at him, hoping to catch him off guard.

The buck manages to dodge the attack, and throws a right-handed uppercut towards Anisa's exposed midsection!

Mentally cursing her sloppy punch, Anisa barely manages to dodge the buck's counter attack. Pacing back several steps, the doe readies herself for another attack, but keeps her guard up while she looks for an opening.

There are few whispers among the crowd, with the word "Zigzig" coming up often.

Remaining cautious, Aaron does not immediately follow up with another attack, waiting to regain his balance from the miss. Once he's ready though, he leaps forward and launches a left hook at the doe's head!

Anisa manages to deflect the hook with her forearm, but the blow takes her slightly off guard. She counters with a low jab to the gut, more as a defense than as an attack.

Aaron jumps back from the jab, but not fast enough to avoid feeling it! He lets out a surprised belch, and actually drops half his guard to put a hand up to his mouth in embarrassment!

The doe is taken off guard by the belch as well, but not long enough to not take advantage of it. She throws a hard combo at Aaron's gut while he covers his mouth.

The buck is pushed backwards by the blows, and loses his balance for a moment so that he has to pinwheel his arms. This time, though, he manages not to burp and gets his guard back up, albeit with a sour look to his face.

The doe, however, doesn't stop her attack, and launches another combo at the buck's head.

Aaron reels to the side, the attack getting through to strike a glancing blow to the side of his head – and causing his left ear to flop down in his face again. He tries to turn the reel to his advantage by throwing a roundhouse punch at Anisa's own head.

Anisa dodges backwards, watching Aaron's swing miss wildly. The doe dances hard to the left, then springs forward with a direct swing at the buck's head.

Still off balance from the previous blow and his own swing, Aaron staggers and nearly trips as the blow connects with the side of his head and rattles his teeth. In defense, he takes a wild swing at Anisa's midsection to try and drive her back.

The swing misses by a mile, and a small grin crosses Anisa's lips. Swinging hard, the doe makes another forward jab, this time at Aaron's head.

Aaron's head jerks back as the blow connects, and he falls back onto his tail, dazed!

The doe bounds backwards and brings her guard up, letting Aaron get back to his feet. "I told you," she whispers to him in Standard, "no holding back!"

After blinking and rubbing his jaw, Aaron gets up and brings his arms up to guard. He hops back and forth with a determined look in his eye … then dashes forward to jab at the center of the doe's chest.

Anisa puts up a sloppy block, expecting the buck to attack for the head, but instead takes the jab as it slips through her arms. The doe is knocked back, and puts up her guard to regain her lost breath. Setting her ears back, she once again throws a hard right cross, giving a shrill yell as she does so.

Unnerved by the yell, Aaron's block is slow … but manages to deflect the blow enough so that it only glances off his shoulder. He ducks down and jabs at Anisa's stomach, hoping to get under her guard.

The jab is enough to knock the doe back, but not to actually do any damage. Bringing her guard up, Anisa starts to dance around the buck, waiting for him to make another move.

Aaron tries a yell of his own, and launches another uppercut towards Anisa's jaw!

The blow connects hard, slipping right through Anisa's block. The doe is sent reeling, thrown off balance as her jaw throbs.

Aaron follows up quickly with a second punch with his other hand, aiming for the side of Anisa's head.

Anisa comes back to her senses just in time, and manages to dodge the buck's follow up. Mind still ajar, the doe acts reflexively, and launches a quick up and down combo at Aaron's head and midsection.

The buck jumps back out of range, and uses his longer reach to jab back at Anisa's shoulder.

Aaron's extra reach isn't enough, however, and the doe stays safely out of range. She bounds forward and launches an attack at the buck's tummy, trying to stay low.

The black and white Lapi oofs and dances back from the blow, then pivots and jumps to the side to try a broadside punch at Anisa's head.

The punch is sloppy, and Anisa quickly leaps to the side. Using her position to her advantage, the doe launches a hard uppercut at the buck.

Aaron leans back to avoid the blow, and counterattacks with a punch towards the doe's exposed midsection.

The blow connects, but not hard enough to actually hurt the doe. Using the miss to her advantage, Anisa bounds back hard to put some distance between her and her opponent. "See? I told you not to hold back." The doe grins, panting hard to catch her breath. "And you're doing fine. Hope you're ready though, because I'm gonna beat your pants off."

Aaron takes a few deep breaths while he has the chance, and puts his guard back up. "Bring it on, barmaid!"

As if on cue, the doe sprints at the buck, brings her arm back far, and lobs it hard at Aaron's head.

The blow staggers the buck back, but he's able to recover and launch an uppercut back towards Anisa's gut.

Anisa swivels to the left, dodging the uppercut. She throws a straight right at the buck's head, hoping to get him before he gets his guard back.

Taking another glancing blow to his head, Aaron dances back and brings his guard up.

The doe's breath starts to pick up a bit, indicating oncoming fatigue. Nevertheless, she does a straight jab at the buck's gut, putting her weight into it – what little she has, anyway.

Rather than dodge to the side, Aaron leaps over the punch and launches a kick at the doe's head – a move he's never tried before!

Anisa takes the blow to the shoulder, causing her to fall hard to the ground with a squeak of alarm. The doe stays on the ground for a bit to catch her breath, but soon staggers back to her feet, a look of determination on her face. Bringing her guard up hard, she watches the buck, trying to guess his next move.

Aaron lands back on his own feet, and his ears go down at the squeak. He looks a bit worried that he may have pushed Anisa too far, and dances from foot to foot in preparation to dodge.

Setting her own ears back, the doe charges Aaron. She starts to fake a punch, but then dives low with a leg sweep, kicking for all her legs are worth.

Unprepared for the feint, Aaron has his legs swept out from under him while guarding his upper body, and falls onto his back with an oof!

Not one to attack a man when he's down, Anisa jumps back several paces, and brings her guard up, waiting for the buck to get to his feet.

Aaron struggles to his feet, and lashes back at the doe with a punch at her chest.

The doe takes the attack hard in the ribs, and is knocked backwards, her face giving off her obvious pain. Doubling over briefly, she grits her teeth, and straightens her posture.

Aaron's face falls. "Uhh, are you okay, Anisa?" he asks quietly, lowering his guard a bit.

The crowd continues to watch in silence.

Anisa answers this with a quick hook at Aaron's head, and a loud growl of frustration.

The buck barely gets his guard back up to block the blow, and retreats a few steps. "Ouch!" he says, and throws a right jab at Anisa's previously-kicked shoulder.

Even with her injuries, the doe manages to dodge Aaron's attack. Sidestepping the punch, she brings her left foot up in a roundhouse kick aimed at the buck's noggin.

Aaron yeeps and ducks under the kick, then throws a punch at Anisa's stomach to try and keep her off-balance.

Anisa lets out another cry and winces hard as the punch connects, hitting the doe right in the middle of the belly. In obvious pain, the doe squints her eyes, and throws a hard lob downwards at the buck, strong, but not well aimed.

The buck jumps to the side to avoid the blow, and kicks out at Anisa's legs while she's still open.

The sweep hits its mark hard, and the Anisa's feet go flying high. The doe does a half-somersault mid-air, then lands hard onto her shoulders, her feet and legs following after. A few seconds pass, but the doe doesn't get up. As a matter of fact, she doesn't seem to be moving much at all.

"Anisa!" Aaron yelps and kneels down beside the doe. "Are you still alive?"

"Very interesting," Epimetheus comments, breaking the crowd's silence. "Take good note, students. This is how Gladiators fight, and why we choose weapons and try for a clean kill."

No reply comes forth, though the doe is still breathing. Her eyes shut and body limp, she appears to be knocked out. Her eyes open just momentarily, and she mutters silently, "You win… " She then becomes limp again, truly out this time.