Lilith bounced into the training room only to stop in astonishment as all the males in the room were whispering instead of being loud and boisterous as usual. With furrowed eyebrows she sidled over to where her best three guy friends stood in the middle of the room. She was surprised to find them all with their arms crossed over their chests and watching an empty doorway.

"Hey, guys, what's going on? Why is everyone acting so weird?"

The boys looked over at Lilith and nodded to her. Iolaus tapped her shoulder and pointed to the doorway just as a beautiful teenage girl stepped awkwardly into the room. Lilith's eyes widened in alarm as the boys descended on her like a pack of wolves. Jason and Hercules were gone in a split second, appearing again when they were pushing the male cadets away from the girl. Iolaus sighed and looked down at Lilith.

"That's Nerissa. She's a daughter of Aphrodite and Jason's Captain of the Guard, Balian. Jason brought her to the Academy because she wants to be a warrior, but...well, that."

He waved a hand as the boys sullenly dispersed and Nerissa followed Jason and Hercules over to the other two. When Lilith's and Nerissa's eyes met, the new girl broke into a grin.

"You must be Lilith. I'm Nerissa. It's nice to meet you."

The two shook hands and Lilith laughed slightly.

"You've heard of me?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course! Jason told me all about his friends here."

Iolaus put a hand on Jason's shoulder and cooed.

"You're such a sweetheart," he told his friend.

Jason made a funny face at him before pushing his hand off. The sound of hooves alerted the cadets to Cheiron's entrance. Everyone turned to face him.

"Welcome back, cadets. I hope your breaks were relaxing, but now it is time to get back to your training. Classes will start up again tomorrow, but for today I expect you all to brush up on your fighting. For any new students, remember that dinner is at seven sharp every evening and six every morning."

Iolaus leaned over to Nerissa.

"And lunch is twelve on the dot, but we can always go to Kora's instead."

Nerissa's eyebrows raised in recognition. Cheiron was still talking.

"-so make sure you all get plenty of sleep. Now, get to training."

With a nod to them all, he turned and left them all. Talking started up, this time it was more normal and loud as everyone broke into pairs or threes. Their small group had all turned to look at Nerissa. She made the group uneven. She awkwardly backed away from them.

"I'll just...practice by myself," she said.

She turned and went over to the staffs. Lilith felt bad for her. Looking around, no other guys in the room were willing to partner with her. They probably didn't want to make a fool of themselves in front of her as long as they didn't know her skill level. She turned to the three boys with her and put her hands on her hips.

"Okay, who is going to practice with her?"

Jason's hand instantly went up.

"I just want to say I won't spar with her."

The group frowned at him.

"Why not?" Hercules asked.

Jason shrugged.

"She always wants me to train her back in Corinth. I finally got her to stop pestering me about practicing when I convinced her to enroll here. Someone else can be her partner. Lilith, why don't you be my partner?"

Iolaus frowned at him.

"Why not me?"

"Because Lilith is better than you."

"Hey!"

Hercules and Lilith glanced at Nerissa, who spun the staff around, testing the length and weight. Iolaus and Jason argued their way over to a fighting mat. Lilith smiled up at Hercules.

"Have you gotten a chance to get to know her?"

Hercules looked down at his friend.

"Yeah, a little. She's nice, but she's not good around groups of people. Especially mortal males."

Lilith frowned.

"What do you mean "mortal males"?"

Hercules's folded arms dropped and he pretended to laugh.

"I have no idea. I meant guys who aren't friends with Jason. Sorry, my brain isn't working today."

The female blonde laughed.

"If you ask me, it's never working, but since you know her a little, get to know her some more. She should be more comfortable with you then, right?"

"Sure...if one conversation does that."

Lilith moved behind him and pushed him forward.

"It makes all the difference."

She then moved off to Jason and Iolaus. Hercules turned to where Nerissa was. She was now looking around at the other groups. He felt bad for her. She had the look of someone who never gets picked to be on any team's side in sports. He walked casually over to her and grabbed a staff. He tapped her on the back of the head with it and smiled.

"Need a partner?"

She looked up, a look of relief spreading across her face. She then frowned.

"What about the others?"

"Ah, they're fine. Lilith said I should partner with you anyway and, honestly, I'm all for it. Come on."

Hercules moved in front of her and got into a battle stance.

"Show me what you've got, babe."

Nerissa smirked and got into a battle stance as well.

"I'm not that good, but if you're going to call me a name like that I need to attempt to teach a lesson."

Hercules grinned and swung the staff around.

"Oh, you don't like names, huh? How's doll face or hot stuff?"

"Alright, pretty boy, stop with the taunting."

She lunged forward with the staff, but Hercules blocked. He swept low with the staff, causing her to jump over it. She spun and tried to hit him in the side. He ducked and aimed for her side, but she blocked the staff with a kick. Quickly she spun and kicked him right in the chest with her other foot. Hercules slid across the mat a few feet before jumping from where he was sprawled on his back onto his feet.

"Nice kick."

"Thank you."

Hercules lunged first this time with Nerissa side-stepping the attack and giving him a good whack on his butt. He stood up straight, flipping his hair out of his face, and turned to catch her giggle at him.

"Have I been bad or something?"

"Oh, I just assumed..."

"Ah, well then..."

Hercules kicked at a ninety degree angle, kicking her in the stomach as she had been off guard. He swung around to kick with his other leg, but she dodged that one, sweeping under and knocking him to the mat with her foot. Hercules rolled back up to standing, finding her already standing as well. The two of them kept attacking with their staffs for awhile, neither getting leverage over the other. That was until Nerissa suddenly swung under Hercules staff which he had held out horizontally to block one of her attacks. He didn't know what she was going to do as she was suddenly between him and his staff with her back facing him. She grabbed both her staff and his and pulled him down with her into a somersault. Hercules landed flat on his back with her sitting on his stomach, her back still to him. She then slide out from the staffs, taking hers with her, and pointed it at his head.

"I win?" she asked.

Hercules smiled at her.

"Nah."

She stood with her feet apart which made it easy for Hercules to trip her. She landed on her back with a yelp.

"I'm going to call that a tie," Hercules told her, sitting up.

Nerissa just lay on the floor, with her eyes closed. She slammed a fist into the mat.

"I'm an idiot."

Hercules got up, dropping his staff, and went over to her. He grabbed her hand and easily pulled her up to a stand again.

"Are you kidding? You're pretty good. Your whole dodge and attack method works for your body stature. You're at the Academy to get better and you can only go up from here. From where I'm standing, you're pretty good. I take it you trained with your dad."

Nerissa sighed and picked up Hercules's abandoned staff and put both weapons back on the rack.

"Yeah, a bit. But he always said he would never acknowledge me as a warrior because I was too soft. That's why I'm here. You know, he actually told me that I'm not a warrior until I've won a battle of significance. Such a jerk."

Hercules saw what was going on. She was trying to win her father's approval just as much as he was trying to win's Zeus's. He went over and slung an arm around her shoulders.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can kick Iolaus's butt easily."

Nerissa smiled at him. Her face suddenly went serious and she pulled away from him. Hercules put up his hands like he'd just burned them.

"What? Sorry."

The girl shook her head and nodded to a group of guys nearby. They glanced over at the two of them every now and then, whispering.

"Of course Hercules would get her attention," he swore he heard one of them whisper.

He rolled his eyes.

"Ignore them," he told her," Let's go see if you can actually beat up Iolaus or not, shall we?"

She gave him a skeptical look, but he just smirked and made smoochie faces at her.

"Come on, hot stuff," he said in a funny voice," Show him what you've got."

Nerissa's face cracked as she laughed. She punched his arm before following him.

"Don't call me that!"