"You sure you wanna do this?"
"Yeah. I need to get stronger. I…well, that's not important at the moment."
"Alright. We can always talk about it afterwards. Draw."
Stella slid her knife from her hip and settled into her low, relaxed stance. Rosetta drew her swords and took her own stance, which Stella looked over. It was clearly based on the position that BLADE taught in basic combat training, but unlike the original, stiffer pose, Rosetta was far less tense, allowing her to react much quicker to her surroundings.
"So Rosie, how'd you want to do this? Start off easy and get to know each other's styles, or all in from the get go and see who collapses first?"
"One learns better in the heat of the moment. Show me what you've got."
Stella grinned for a second, savouring the thought of an all-out brawl. The she dashed forwards, bringing her knife up to deflect the defensive blow that she knew was already coming for her.
The two of them collapsed against the wall of the hall almost an hour later, utterly exhausted. Stella passed a water bottle to Rosetta before taking out a second one, and the two of them took gulps between their ragged breathes. It was a few minutes before they had the energy to speak.
"So Stel…how'd I do?"
"I won't sugar coat it, you're a damn sight better than you think you are. But I could feel your insecurity with every blocked swing of your swords."
Rosetta's eyes widened, but she let Stella continue. Was she really that easy to read?
"You're good. You're high up in the Interceptors and you deserve that spot just as much as anybody of your skill level. But everyone's got something. Irina lost her brother and she's still not recovered from it. Doug had all those debts to pay off, and now he's dealing with Lao's death. There's nothing shameful about having problems, and Mira's inhabitants are full of them. You're welcome to share as much or as little as you want, but there's no obligation."
Stella had another mouthful of water and set the bottle aside before pulling out her knife, as well as an old-fashioned whetstone attached to the outside of the sheath. As she began to look the knife over for dulled patches, Rosetta began to speak, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.
"It's hard…everyone looks up to me because I'm good at fighting. But I've always felt like they shouldn't. I'm not like Hope or Lyn or H.B or…well, any of them. I'm only good at fighting. I'm not popular with the citizens or a childhood genius or anything like that. They're all so much better than me. Compared to them, all I can do is swing some swords around. I don't feel like I deserve what I've got."
Stella glanced up at Rosie before flipping her knife over and holding the handle out to her. After a hesitant moment, the Interceptor took it and began to look it over.
"Rosetta. You're more than deserving of your status. People look up to you for a reason. You do a lot more than just fighting, but if we look at it your way, then who cares if you're only good at swinging swords around? Take pride in your strengths. There's a lot more to you than just hunting indigens, but I'll leave you to find that out for yourself. Do some soul searching and find something else to take pride in, even if it's only one thing."
Rosetta passed the knife back to Stella, who sheathed it and stood up before offering the other a hand.
"You wanna get something to eat? It's on me. Mediator pay doesn't really do much more than sit there after all."
Rosie looked up and took Stella's hand, a determined half-smile forming on her face.
"Yeah. That'd be great. Thanks Stel. And thanks for the spar too."
"Any time, Rosie. Any time."