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Keionx let the extendable tape measure slide back into it's dispenser with it's characteristic and satisfying slapping sound, eyeing the tree thoughtfully. She'd had a lot of practice hive building over the past few months. It served many purposes: it was good for the village and good for strength training, and she did like to construct things. Having gotten accustomed to the nuances of building in the swamp, she was starting to consider how - and where - to build a training center. Obviously, all young trolls had ample battle training from their lusus, but they would need more than just that to survive in a world where they, the children of Salamire outpost, were not supposed to exist. Everyone in the Initiative had to be ready to fight hard, and that meant training. Not every troll had a lusus that would give them that kind of hard, intensive training, or the equipment to support it. Or, in this case, the floor. A specially built training facility, like a gymnasium or salle, complete with an armory and a crafting area, would help.

But should it be in the swamp or the neighboring Busthind lowlands? Should it be in the trees or hidden in the ground? Keionx was preparing several options, which she intended to present to the people in charge and get their say in it. This tree was one such building option. She noted down her measurements on a much-harassed piece of paper and, just as she turned away to protect the paper from the ever present dripping of the leaves, she caught sight of a child coming towards her. Before she had properly registered him as that one purpleblood child that's been around, he started talking up a storm.

"Keionx Rutace." she offered her hand, tucking her weathered notepad into a safe place. "And yes, I did speak of training." she looked him over, assessing. "Thou wishest me to train you?" Well, was it not what she had planned to do? He seemed... soft... but no troll was.

"Very well. There is a place of raised, flat ground by a bend in the river. Dost thou know it?" It was a place frequently used for training, when the wooden floors and rope bridges of the village's walkways simply would not do.

"Good." she said, "Then let us go. I assume thou hast thy weapon on thee?" she asked, as they went there. The riverbend was a good place to train, and was also a good place to train others. Keionx knew, however, that the outpost preferred most activities take place high in the trees, where they would be less visible. This made a gymnasium/training facility especially important.

"How I joined..." Keionx hesitated, "Is complicated." It was, indeed, a mess of friends and role models and family and lost innocence. She would have to find a way to tell her story - perhaps, if Zariah would talk to her, she would ask him. He was good at distilling things like this. "The simple story is that my twin was part of the rebellion, and once I discovered this, I followed him. There is more to it, of course..." she said, "But, effectively, I too joined in the tunnels." There. That was a good enough story for the time being.

This child did not stop talking, did they? Well, Keionx would remedy that with training, but for now... "From below? How dost thou mean?" she asked. Salamire's swamplamps faded into the dim, glowering gloam of the swamp. The river's melodic trickling sounded nearby, and she knew that her training spot was close.

Keionx inspected the wooden sword with professional briskness - it was good quality, and that was important, but quality only did so much when the troll behind it didn't know how to use it. She handed it back. That he had met Zariah was irrelevant - Keionx was sure that he knew many people she didn't know about. Such was the consequence of Zariah's secret life.

But they weren't talking about that. They were talking about swordsmanship. "Ahh, yes." she said. She knew the technique. "That is an advanced technique. I doth not think thou art ready for it, but yes. In time. I will teach thee." She frowned, and then drew her sword.

"First, show me what thou already knowest - a brief mock fight will do." She had no idea what the boy already knew. She had no idea that it was very little. "A few basic moves will suffice, and then I shall teach thee from there. I will not hurt thee." she added, reassuringly.

Keionx had time to raise an eyebrow at his comment before she had to react to his attack. He came in fast, at her stomach. She held back her praise for the time being - this was a baseline, not a teaching session. But she remembered the move for later - The middle was a large target after all, good to aim for when other targets were harder to predict.

The rest of his movements, however, were less ordered. He had a good strategy - with the river at her back, she'd have less space to maneuver - but he was brute forcing it. She blocked his next wild strike with a forceful parry, and in the opening she created she moved so that she was at his flank.

There, she hit him with the flat of her sword. Hard. She'd said she wouldn't hurt him, yes. She hadn't said she wouldn't whack him on occasion. "Continue." she said, advancing aggressively. He'd been on the attack - it was time to see how he did on the defense.

She noted this weakness of his and pressed it further, speeding up the frequency of her attacks to see just how far he could go. He had a lot to learn, but he also had a lot of potential. She could bring that out in him, she was sure, she could...

Him grabbing for her arm was a surprise, and she found herself being pulled into her own momentum and, consequently, into the river. The way he'd caught her was very fortunitous - there re was no way to stop the movement, and she had no choice but to let herself fall into the river and deal with it.

Even as she splashed into the water, she grabbed him and pulled him in with her, grappling him until they were both soaked, the sort of thing that would never dry in the mucky air of the swamp.

"We're finished here." she said, perhaps a little snappily. Fighting could give her voice an edge when she was intense like this. She loosened her grip on him. "Thou hast great potential, but thou needst more training and more patience." she climbed out of the river to catch her breath, "Which I will help thee attain." she held out a hand to him, to help him out of the water. "Dost thou know how to do sit ups? Push ups? Crunches? The lifting of weights?"

"Of Course." said Keionx. She would teach him so much.

"'twill be hard work, Cerpin." she said, though she smiled at the gratitude. He had potential, and she would bring it out and make him strong, but it would take blood, sweat, and tears. She was ready for it - she always was ready for it. But was he?
"Don't thank me yet."

And with that, she dismissed him so that she could go about her errands of the day. They would start training in earnest tomorrow... and she would see if he was still grateful after that.