"Bring your guard up and protect your left side, human," I shout as she drops her shoulder again. If I hadn't pulled back, she'd have a gaping wound.
"I'm trying, you blue demon," she says while gasping for air. "And you're human too."
I give her my finest smirk. "Don't let this outstanding human body fool you. I'm all dragon, sweetheart." I twist my wrist and her sword flies over the side of the tower.
We've trained each day for a week and spend hours building her endurance. Then, an hour with swords and a final hour in flight, though the flying is for the sheer fun of it. When I arrive at her room to begin our training sessions, she's all business and never complains about the muscle-aching work I have her do. She runs, lifts heavy bags of grain, and runs some more. Her eyes light up
