Pressing her hands together, she waited for that sense of peace that was meant to soothe the mind during meditation. Or at least that is what her new teacher told her. 

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Attie questioned while keeping her eyes closed, "Wasn't I supposed to learn combat?"

"Hush student." The teacher said, "Meditation is the first step. You have to have your soul, body, and mind in perfect order before you begin your training." 

The teacher called himself Norrmaul. It was a strange name yet she still accepted it. He claimed to be a great teacher in combat and had even served in battle in a war or two. After hearing that, Attie was most impressed and practically begged him to teach her. Yet the closest they had come to was meditation and sitting underneath a tree, looking at the sky. If this was training, it was incredibly boring. Suddenly she felt somebody shoving her with all of their might. Her eyes opened to see that it was Norrmaul. Water enveloped around her as she fell deeper into the lake. It took Attie a few moments to realize what had happen.

She began to swim her way to the surface and pull herself out of the water. Her eyes drifted to the tree where her bag was lying. The contents of the bag was scattered across the ground. Her journal flipped upside-down, ink spilled out, quills tossed about, and her lock pick set was almost in the lake. The soaking wet Attie walked over to her bag and began to count her stuff. All that was taken was her money. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized that person was no teacher at all but a thief. And a rather rude one at that!

"Welp. Guess I'd better clean this all up." She mumbled as she began putting everything back in her bag. 

She hadn’t been on this continent for very long, a week maybe since the airship she had come across on had docked. Angel had sent Sharifa to Parvpora to start scouting the lands and getting to know them as she had with Canelux, that way when Angela sent her on jobs here Shar would know the locations already. What made things both easier and more difficult at the same time was that no other Wasp had visited Parvpora before. The few that had seen past her always lowered hood, or caught a glimpse of her body when she opened her cloak to reach out an arm had been shocked. But Shar had moved on quickly each time after she had finished what she was doing. One was getting a map of the lands and the other fresh food for her scouting.

So far her journey had brought her here, to the Lake country, and while Sharifa did enjoy a bath when she could get one, she was damned if she was ever going anywhere near water that was past her waist. One might think that four arms made it easier to swim, but they were very wrong, at least as far as Shar’s build went and her wings dragged her down as well.

At the moment the Wasp woman was walking along the shore line, she could have been flying, yes, but decided to exercise her legs a bit. So she was in a good place to see the man running down the beach towards her and then around her in his haste. Watching him for a moment Sharifa turned back to the direction he had come from to see a young human girl dragging herself out of the water. The Wasp’s solid black eyes narrowed and she muttered a spell. From under her large cloak a cloud of insects flew out and started to follow the man at Shar’s instruction, something was going on here.

Sharifa made he way to the young lady, at six and a half feet tall Sharifa was somewhat imposing, add in the cloak that covered her head to toe to hide her identity that didn’t help. Standing a few yards away Sharifa stopped and cleared her throat, keeping her head bowed to keep her face hidden, she was just standing there in a long black cloak with no visible features showing. ”What happened, young one?” Was this one young enough to be called that? Honestly for Sharifa it was hard to tell sometimes how old humans were after they passed a certain age. Then again they all looked the same to her anyway most times.

Despite being soaking wet, she was able to keep the majority of her stuff dry. Suddenly a voice caught Attie's attention. Looking up she saw a tall mysterious figure wearing a black cloak. Attie silently wondered where this person came from. She hadn't seen anybody approaching, then again she also hadn't been looking. 

"Hello tall one." Attie responded, "I got pushed into a lake by some jerk who claimed to be a combat teacher. And he stole some of my coins…"

Her mood had turned slightly grumpy due to the fact she was cheated out of a lesson. Getting pushed into a lake was fine, getting stolen from was fine, but getting cheated out of a lesson was never acceptable. Turning back to her stuff, she managed to drop them all into her bag. Everything that was important remained. If the jerk had stolen her journal then she would be hunting him down herself. But her journal was safe and sound. All the information written in its pages was safe. Attie stood up and stepped towards Sharifa a bit, hoping to get a look at the stranger's face. 

"My name is Attie." She explained, "What's yours?"

Water dripped from her hair onto her foot which reminded her that she was still wet. The sun was out and Attie expected the water to be dried up soon. She reached up to her black hair and began to twist it to force the water out. This stranger was extremely tall. Perhaps she was a half giant of some sorts. Attie quietly hoped that the stranger wasn't human. It would be far better to learn about somebody who wasn't human. Humans were boring. They had regular life-spans, weren't born with magic, and they had to buy or create everything they had. 

The young human said that she had been robbed after being pushed into the lake by someone pretending to be a combat teacher. It had to be that man that she had seen running! Grinning to herself under her hood Sharifa focused on the cloud of insects she had sent out an instruction. A moment later she could confirm that the swarm was now harassing the man, stinging and biting him furiously. After that she cut contact with the swarm and allowed it to do what it wanted to him.

Attie stood and stepped closer but Sharifa made no attempt to hide herself further, her black skin and gold and black down possibly visible under her hood. After a moment Sharifa reached two arms out and removed her hood while she spoke. ”I am Sharifa.” She replied revealing herself, inwardly curious to see the young lady’s reaction to see a Wasp up close. Shar’s two antenna unfurled from the top of her head as well as she looked back to the direction she had come from. ”I am sorry for your troubles, Attie, if I had known that the man that passed me had been a thief I would have stopped him.”

She thought a moment and looked down to the human again. ”Was it a lot of coin, Attie? If you wish I could catch up to him and get your coins back?” Shar offered as her wings buzzed and popped out from under her cloak. If Attie wanted that Sharifa could be off in a moment and catch up to the man, there was no way he could get far enough that she couldn’t catch up to him while flying. If not that was also Attie’s choice as well, it was her coin after wall.

The moment that Sharifa lowered her hood, Attie's eyes widened and a smile grew on her face. She had never seen anybody quite like this lady. 

"Wow!" Attie exclaimed, "You're beautiful! I'm sorry it's just, I've never seen anybody quite like you." 

The tutor thing had been thrown out of her mind. All she wanted to do was ask this new stranger a millions of questions. The stranger began to speak about the so called trainer but Attie was far more interested in Sharifa. She walked over to her bag and pulled out her journal to write new information down or to draw a picture of the stranger. Deciding to draw first, she ended up sketching an image of the wasp only instead of amazing art, she looked as though she was made out of triangles and squares. Attie was trying to improve on her art but so far it was not working well. She also wrote down a few notes. 

"Thank you for the offer but if he clearly wants that coin more than I do." Attie said, "He went through a lot of trouble just to get it so might as well let him have it. The thing that I wish I was able to get out of him was the knowledge of combat. After all, knowledge can be far more valuable than any coin. I just wish that I was able the find a way to learn combat."

Attie finished writing out what had happened in her journal and even left a space in case she needed to add a few more notes. Her journal was large and made up of leather, clearly made to withstand almost anything. Snapping her journal shut, she placed it in her bag and stood up with an optimistic smile on her face. 

"Oh well. I'm certain I'll be able to find one eventually!" She declared. 

The reaction that Shar got, well, it wasn’t what she had expected, that’s for sure. At first the youth’s eyes widened and then a smile grew on her face. She exclaimed that Sharifa was beautiful, quickly apologizing for the outburst, saying she hadn’t seen anyone like Shar before. Hm, well that made sense since the invasion hadn’t gotten to Parvpora and Shar knew that she was most likely the first Wasp to have set foot in these lands. Sharifa managed a smile in return, looking a bit odd given that her eyes were pure black orbs. ”Thank you, Attie.” Shar replied.

The Wasp watched as Attie retrieved her book, opened it and then started to scribble in it. Shar didn’t bother to try and lean in to see what was being written, or drawn in this case, since it wasn’t her business. She spoke as she scribbled and Sharifa listened closely.

When Attie was finished, and she was proving herself very optimistic in the face of what had happened to her. Trying to learn combat, was she? Interesting. ”I will agree, knowledge is more valuable than coin in the long run. I will say though, if he pushed you into the water for your money than he likely doesn’t actually know how to fight, at least not properly. He’s a scam artist, a coward who takes advantage of people, such as yourself.” Sharifa was blunt if nothing else.

She paused a moment and looked to the sword and dagger next to Attie’s bag, at least she wasn’t unarmed. But that was hardly a positive if she didn’t know how to use what she had. Stepping past Attie Sharifa reached down and picked up the sword and tested the balance, seemed good enough. She carefully tested the edge with a thumb, sharp to, also good. ”As for learning something about combat, that, if you so wish, I can help with.” Shar smiled, flipping the blade around so she was holding the tip of the blade carefully and holding the hilt out to Attie.

With a free hand Shar opened her cloak more and then unclipped it at her throat allowing it to drop. This showed even more of what she was hiding underneath; two more arms! She had had them folded up crossed over her chest so they wouldn’t press against her cloak. Her black skin and soft down had a bit of a shine in the light, fitting for a Wasp perhaps. Over her chest she wore a set of chitinous armour to protect her stomach and vitals, but that was all she wore, aside from a belt with various weapons attached. By the way her cloak had thunked against the ground she clearly had more weapons in there to, mostly throwing knives.

But at her hip she carried two rapiers of insect design, made from giant Wasp stingers and a set of tonfas created from beetle horn. If Attie accepted the offer Sharifa would draw one of her rapiers into her top right hand, leaving her bottom arms folded behind her back for now. ”Show me what you know already, Attie, attack me with everything you have.” Sharifa smiled, she’d stay defensive for the time being, wanting to get a barring on where Attie stood at the moment with her sword work, if any.

Sharifa seemed to understand Attie's attitude towards knowledge which made her very surprised. Most people she had come across did not share the same viewpoints. Many would claim that knowledge could be useful but coin was far more important than knowledge could ever be. As Attie curiously watched, Sharifa picked up her sword and appeared to be playing with it. The second that the wasp lady offered to train her, Attie felt like she was the definition of happiness. 

"Really?!" She squealed. 

Taking the hilt of the sword, Attie waited for instructions. A spark of fascination lit up inside her as she saw Shar drop the cloak and reveal that she had been hiding two more arms. Strange pieces of armor were over her chest and a belt carried a variety of weapons that Attie couldn't even name. Whomever this stranger was, it was clear that she was a professional. The wasp lady drew one of her rapiers in her top right hand and seemed prepared for a sparring match. Attie, however, felt suddenly nervous since she had no clear idea of what she was supposed to do. What if she messed up?

"Alright, but it probably won't be impressive. I don't know much." She admitted. 

Thinking the situation over, Attie figured that it would be a terrible idea to hit from top to bottom as Sharifa might stab her in the stomach when making the attack. Not that her trainer would hurt her but it would be a poor idea in real life. Attempting to stab her opponent would be a poor decision too since the whole stomach thing would still be an issue. The best solution that Attie could think up of was to swing from left to right with all her might. Trying to move fast, she swung at Sharifa from left to right, attempting to hit her opponent somewhere. Attie's stance was poor and her grip on the sword was tight yet unstable. It was crystal clear that she had little idea of how to use a sword properly. 

The Wasp smiled a bit at the young human’s excitement in reaction to Shar’s offer of some training. ~This isn’t like me! Why am I am offering to train a human? Bah, I have been around Angela and her family too long.~ Sharifa thought to herself. Before the invasion Shar wouldn’t give to thoughts about a human like Attie, even after Angela took in an exiled Sharifa it took some time before the Wasp opened up some more to others. She still had a bit of a prickly personality, but it was slowly, very slowly, starting to smooth out.

”I’m not expecting impressive, I just want to know where you stand in training at the moment.” Shar replied to Attie’s statement. She waited until Attie swung at her and blocked each attempt that Attie did while assessing her stance and balance. Her grip was white knuckled yet sloppy. ~I’m starting from scratch almost, at least she owns a sword.~ Sharifa thought to herself.

Blocking one more attack Shar took a step back. ”Enough.” She spoke calmly and settled into a relaxed stance as she thought for a few moments. Her wings flared and she moved herself into the closest tree, a bit of rustling later and she dropped back to the ground again holding two three foot sticks that she had removed any twigs and leaves from. She had sheathed her rapier and held out one of the sticks to Attie to take, they were going to them as training swords. ”I don’t want you stabbing yourself or falling on your blade, so we’ll use these for now.” Sharifa explained. ”You don’t need to hold onto the blade as hard as you were, your knuckles don’t need to turn white, you don’t have as much control then.” Shar gripped her blade like she normally would and then reached out to grip Attie’s left wrist with the same pressure if allowed to do so. The pressure Attie would feel, if she allowed Shar that close, would be steady but not painful. ”Try that amount of pressure on my wrist.” Shar instructed and would keep coaching Attie on how much pressure to use until she got it right.

The second that Shar ordered the sparring match to stop, Attie lowered her sword and stood tall, ready for whatever knowledge was to come after the assessment. Watching the wasp lady fly over to the tree and rustling with the branches made Attie wonder what her teacher was up to. Perhaps there was an enemy in the trees spying on them? The truth became clear as Shar flew back down with two long sticks that would work well as fake swords. Attie took one of the sticks offered to her and listened as Shar continued speaking.

After speaking, Shar reached out and gripped Attie's left wrist with the pressure that she wanted Attie to use. The pressure never became painful but it was firm enough and steady. Nodding to her instructor's directions, Attie reached out and attempted to grab Shar's wrist with the same amount of pressure that Shar had just used. Her grip was lighter than before but now had become light in her grip. Attie tightened her grip bit by bit until the tightness seemed to match up with what Shar had earlier. After Shar helped her with understanding the correct grip strength, she freed Shar's wrist. 

Throughout this entire process, Attie had become silent only responding with necessary nods of the head. Her mind was busy inputting all this new information and as a result, her mouth had nothing to say. Every moment the level of her concentration grew as she focused intently on every single aspect of what she was being taught. She was also gathering the observations she had made of Sharifa's stance from their sparring match earlier and was visualizing how to do that in her mind. After picking up her sword stick, Attie observed her own stance. She placed her left foot in front as that was the same as the left hand holding her sword, then she placed her right foot slightly behind. Her stance wasn't great but it was an improvement upon the regular standing that she had done earlier. The balls of her feet was where all her body weight was centered upon but that was a result of many years growing up in the wild where placing weight on her heels wasn't a thing that any creature in the wild did, if they had heels. 

"What's next?" She asked ready for the next thing to learn. 

Sharifa let Attie take her own wrist and waited for Attie to get the pressure right. After a few moments Sharifa nodded. ”There, that’s about right, enough to hold and control it but not turn your knuckles white.” She instructed. Attie took up her sword stick and Sharifa watched her get into a ready stance.

Attie seemed dominate left hand so Shar switched her own stick to her top left hand to match, Shar was dominate with both top primary arms anyway. Shar studied the human’s stance for a moment before walking closer and using the stick to prod Attie’s legs. ”Put your right foot a bit further back or you won’t have the balance you need, but if it’s too far back you lose mobility.” Shar explained poking at Attie’s legs until she had them in the right place. ”Good, there, remember that.”

Stepping back a few paces the Wasp brought her stick up. ”Follow my actions to block my sword, er, stick, and watch my feet.” Shar explained and moved forward while swinging her stick down and to the right, she moved slow, this was intentional so that Attie could follow easier. Shar moved her feet and watched for Attie to match them as best she could. ”I want you to move slow as well while your practice. The point is to make this basic motions so ingrained that you don’t need to focus on doing them, you just do them from muscle memory. In time you can learn more complex moves, find what works for you best, until then you work on the basics like we are now.” As Sharifa spoke she kept up her movements, using slow swings at Attie to make her block them and moving her feet. Shar didn’t have any problem with rapping Attie on the shoulder or arms if she missed blocking a swing, it was a good learning experience to. But that wasn’t Shar’s intent, she wasn’t trying to hit Attie, just giving the human something to practice again instead of the air.