Iris let out a heady breath as her hands trembled on her wooden blade. Her delicate skin had gotten roughed up by the wood; it was one of the first times she had ever touched the blade, and the first time she had used it so much.
Tightening her hands around the hilt, she raised the blade, the weapon moving in the air, before leaping forward to strike the training dummy, but the moment it touched the dummy, it got stuck there. There was no grand reason; she just didn't have the force in her arms to continue the attack.
Sighing, she let go of the blade, falling to her knees as she recovered.
Looking around, she saw a man sitting in a chair nearby; he was supposed to be her teacher. He was a great swordsman from another Kingdom, but for the whole training session he just slept.
She had to beg her father to finally get her a trainer, someone to help her learn the blade, and the only reason he even accepted was that he had been caught up in something and hadn't realized it.
