A frown formed on Lancet's confused face.
"Why not?" he asked Astensia. "Are you forbidden from teaching it or something?"
Astensia smiled at the humourous question. "Of course not, Master," she replied. "I would like to teach you but I simply do not know the greatest skills of a swordsman."
Lancet paused again, staring. For a second, he honestly thought he had misheard her.
"What?" He stared at her. "You don't?"
Astensia gave a tiny shake of her head, the feathers on her helm flapping. "Those skills are coveted, Lancet. They are beyond what most humans know and beyond what most humans can reach. I never trained for them, so I do not know them."
Lancet looked unsettled for a moment, then opened his mouth as if to argue and stopped halfway through the sentence. "But you have instant comprehension of every weapon you hold. You become a master of every—"
He broke off and his eyes widened.
