Her Brother's Keeper: A Story of Alpha Centauri

Interlude 3

She was beginning to tire. Between the weight of her kozane dō armor and the slightly higher mass of her live steel naginata, her muscles were screaming at her to stop. However, she couldn’t stop. That would mean serious injury or even death. Despite her months of training, nothing had prepared her for this.

‘She’s like a robot,’ she thought as the fight dragged on. Her opponent never seemed to tire and kept going strong despite her own mounting weariness. If she had not had the advantage of the longer weapon, then the battle would have ended with her defeat long ago.

Suddenly her adversary strongly and unexpectedly went on the offensive, causing the exhausted youngster to retreat. ‘Where is the wall!’ she thought in desperation. Because of her fatigue she had lost track of exactly where she was. Now that she was busy fending off her opponent she did not have the luxury of looking away.

‘When in doubt, circle!’ she remembered from her training. By slowly rotating, it kept a defender from getting pinned. It also allowed a woman to observe their surroundings while keeping their adversary in front of them. ‘Now I just need to get my bearings.’

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