Duncan groaned as he opened his eyes. He winced at the light in the room. He smelled the freshly brewed pot of coffee. "I guess I have to get up at some point."

Tara glanced up from reading the morning paper as a grumbling Duncan walked in. "There's coffee on the counter."

Duncan walked over to the counter and poured himself a cup of black coffee. He winced as he glanced down at the front-page article about the destroyed city block.

Tara nodded, "It's horrible, they said they found a headless body near the epicenter of the destruction."

Duncan winced, "That's what happens when immortals die. It's called the quickening. One immortal takes another immortals power and knowledge."

Tara looked rather green at the thought of killing a person for their knowledge and power.

"Did you know the guy that died?"

"Yeah, he was a, he was a friend." Duncan sighed. He glanced at Tara in the large baggy sweats and t-shirt. "I think we should get you some other clothes though. Plus we need to get started on training so that you have a shot in hell of not dieing when another immortal comes for your head."

Tara winced, "I don't want to fight other immortals, is there a way out of it?"

"Not really, you could hide on holy ground but even that isn't always as safe as it could be."

Tara nodded, "I guess learning to fight isn't a bad idea…"

Duncan sighed as he grabbed his keys from the table, "I'm guessing this is going to hurt the pocket book. Come on then."

Duncan sat on the bench outside the store, glad to get away from the whirlwind of an annoying sales clerk that kept suggesting outfits for him rather than Tara. He groaned again when his cell phone rang. He sighed as he answered his ringing cell phone. "MacCloud here."

Joe's voice drifted out of the cell phone. "I looked through the data base and didn't find any immortals in the area with your new friend's description. I also didn't find any records of anything similar to your young ladies arrival."

"Thanks for looking. I couldn't find any sign of Akakios either. I'll keep an eye out though."

"Be safe MacCloud."

"I will." Duncan shut his phone before walking back into the store to face the damage to his pocket book.

Tara frowned at the black jeans and tight black shirt the clerk was trying to get her to go with.

The clerk smiled at her, "You totally need something other than the frumpy clothes you insisted on."

Tara frowned as she lifted up a plain blue dress from her pile. "What's wrong with this one?"

The guy shook his head with disdain, "Doesn't show off your figure very well, now does it?"

Duncan stepped up, "Not interrupting anything am I?"

The clerk smiled up at MacCloud, "Oh not at all, I was just telling the lady here that she would look lovely in a nice black number."

Duncan frowned, "Tara you about ready to go?"

Tara nodded frantically while the clerk's attention was on MacCloud.

"Please be so kind as to ring up the clothes for the young lady."

The clerk smiled and carefully folded the clothes in the pile before heading of to the register.

Tara watched the guy leave. "Sorry about so many clothes he doesn't understand the word no very well."

Duncan inclined his head, "It's fine, though next time I think we might try some place else."

Tara chuckled lightly. "I think so."

A few short hours later found Tara with a sword in her hand practicing various moves as Duncan walked around critiquing her technique.

Tara sighed and corrected her grip on the hilt of a German rapier. She hadn't been sure about the sword but it had looked to be the lightest of the swords Duncan had offered her. After swinging it around for the last thirty minutes she was very glad she hadn't picked any of the heavier blades, because her arm hurt and felt like it was going to fall off.

Tara sighed as she lost the blade because her hand cramped as she was making a vigorous trust with the sword. Duncan stepped in and touched the sword blade to her throat. "Dead" He stepped back and watched as Tara massaged her tired hand.

Tara scowled, "Can we stop for today my hand feels like it's going to fall off."

"Well another immortal isn't going to stop just because your hand gets tired."

"I know that but that doesn't change the fact that my hands are tired."

"Fine rest a minute and tell me about where you're from."

"Recently, Sunnydale California. I was a student there."

"What did you study?"

"Little bit of this and a little bit of that."

"You ready to continue?"

Tara sighed and raised her blade back into attack position, "I guess."

"Maybe in a few weeks we can practice sparing with wooden replicas. After that we'll see."

Tara sighed, "Oh joy."