Morgan called a tie when Noire had been dodging Lucina for at least twenty minutes without much progress on either side. Noire seemed pleased in the small achievement, and switched spots with Kenzie.
Eisso now watched his older sister throw wooden daggers, pick them up, and try again. Lucina didn't have as much landing hits as she did with the others; while Eisso had received battle training at the castle, Kenzie had more-or-less trained herself. The only thing she had guidance with where staves, and that was because Ocielle didn't have any lying around like she had daggers (out of all the types of weapons, bows and daggers seemed to be the most plentiful at home). Since Kenzie rarely dueled against Lucina, the latter didn't know how she fought, whereas Kenzie knew how Lucina fought by watching Eisso.
While he didn't want his sister to lose, he wanted to give advice to Lucina just to make it a bit more fair. Kenzie's aim wasn't the best, but when she actually hit you—regardless of whether or not the weapon was made for training or actual combat—it hurt like hell. And that wasn't something Eisso put lightly.
Eisso watched, alternating between cheering for Kenzie and cheering for Lucina. Everyone but Noire shouted advice for both of them. From simple comments to full-length rants about the best tactics, they tried to help. After about thirty minutes of fighting, Kenzie withdrew. Despite this, she still seemed in good spirits.
"I'll consider this another tie!" Morgan declared, marking one down for Lucina and Kenzie. "You did great, Kenzie; you recognized your opponent's strength and made a decision based on that. Lucina, you did great too; you scouted your opponent's moves before doing anything rash."
Eisso stood up, and Kenzie took his spot. "I should start training with you guys more often. You're stronger than I thought. Plus, that was fun."
"It can get stressful, though," Eisso replied. He picked up a training tome and walked just outside the marked off area. "Wish me luck." And with that, he entered the training area.
…
He lasted longer than he thought he would. Morgan announced an hour before Lucina had landed a hit on him. However, he messed up a spell and thrust himself on the ground. Lucina's wooden blade was at his throat in an instant.
"One point for Lucina!" Morgan called. "She wins today's tournament, earning extra dessert tonight!"
"I would've tried harder if I knew dessert was the prize," Eisso said, mostly joking. Lucina put down her sword and held out her hand. He took it and she helped him up. "Good game."
"Good game," Lucina agreed. "You surprised me, at first—you're a good sparring partner."
"Thanks," Eisso said. "Me and Kenzie should head home, though; Ocielle gave us until dinner, but I don't want to push our luck."
"You'll be here for the festival?" Morgan asked, walking over.
"Definitely," Eisso replied. "And I'll try to get Ocielle to come, too."
"That would make Mother happy," Morgan said. "But I'm holding you two up. We'll see you at the festival."
Eisso nodded, and Kenzie followed him out of the castle.
About halfway home, Kenzie spoke, "Fighting Lucina felt pretty good. I almost threw one of the daggers at her arm. Almost."
"You need to work on your aim," Eisso said. "Then you can use ranged attacks to your advantage, keep her away so she can't attack and be close enough to retaliate when she does. But you did good, overall."
"You were better than I was," Kenzie replied. "If you hadn't have lost focus, you would've won."
"That seems to be a repeating problem for me," Eisso admitted. "Almost every adult that watches me fight has pointed it out. I'm just not suited for real battle. Or at the very least, not yet. I'll learn how to prevent it, eventually, but I'm not really a battle type."
"You're more of an 'awesome little brother pacifist' type," Kenzie agreed. The compliment made Eisso smile. "But you're still a decent fighter. Some day, we'll have a one-on-one duel, just us two. I bet you'd beat me in a second."
"Don't go downgrading yourself," Eisso said. "You're just as strong as I am. It would be an even match."
"We'll see," Kenzie said. With that, they fell back into silence as they walked home.