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"Then you shouldn't have a problem with the playground." Silva replied. He was ruining it, Aleric thought. He was far too aggressive.

"No, Silva. We won't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do." Aleric said, giving his brother a serious look. "This is about becoming friends, not challenging rivals."

"She's not my rival." Silva said, motioning to Ori.

"She wasn't the one I was talking about." Aleric said calmly. Silva twitched. "Ori, if you do not wish to play, that is perfectly fine. Maybe you could tell me about your rapier training? I'm afraid I'm more experienced with a staff." He smiled at the juvenile, trying to restore her excitement.

"Mmm, that might be a good idea." He replied. "But she's not my rival. Just an old... friend." He headed back towards the human playground, expecting Q to follow.

Aleric hesitated, looking at Ori for a second as he waited for the others to get a little further away.

"Hmm? He senses distrust." Silva said calmly, dropping down on one of the monkeybars again. "Mine, yours. And since we aren't enemies, then in his mind we must be rivals." He shrugged. "He thinks a little too innocently, but hell, who am I to complain?"

Aleric spoke, hoping to get Ori's attention from the other two. "Does your bondsister train with you? In your rapier training, that is. I've learned that sparring is one of the best ways to learn." She was worried, and by the way she wasn't looking at him, he had to think it was about Silva.

What could he say to that, though? That Silva wouldn't hurt the other feien? He wouldn't... for now. But Silva was still dangerous. Who knew that better than Aleric?

Silva snorted. Her misunderstanding of his brother was almost as bad as his had been when Aleric had first shown up. But he wasn't about to tell her that. Instead he just watched the two feien, thinking over Aleric's latest change. The other feien had always been able to read people, calm them down and s**t... but lately he'd been hitting more buttons than usual... as if he was reading Silva's mind. "Don't think of ******** with him, Quantel. He's one of my daily sources of amusement."

"I'm not sure how compatible a rapier would be with a staff... but I would be willing to spar with you." Aleric said, smiling once again. He stood, heading for the staff he had left next to the fort. "It's a wonderful way to get to know people, you know. Because when fighting, even pretending to fight, they don't have time to..." Hide things, was what he wanted to say. But that wouldn't quite work in this situation. It would sound as if he thought she was hiding something. Even if she was.

"Debate over their responses." He finally said. "And if this doesn't work, I'm not sure, but I might have a rapier back home. We can try sparring correctly next time." He would have to learn how, of course, but it would be worth it.

"That would be fine." Aleric said, smiling and holding out his own staff. "If you would like, I could borrow Silva's staff and show you how to use it?" He looked over to where his brother was sitting, wondering if he should interrupt the conversation between the shadow feien. He turned back to Ori. "But it wouldn't be a spar as of yet. I'd have to show you some of the moves first."

Silva shook his head. "He's got this thing for beautiful females, if that's what you're asking. But nah. He's practicing for when we get the new brat." He smirked slightly. This just proved that Aleric should be the one to raise her.

Aleric smiled. "Just give me a moment to get it." He said, taking to the air and heading towards Silva.

"We're getting a girl." Silva replied. There was no hint of his mixed feelings in his reply, just his usual drawl. "A bloom, if what they tell me is true." He reached over his back, pulling the staff hanging over his shoulder off before Aleric was even there in time to ask. "What the hell I'm going to do with a little girl, I have no idea." He had Aleric to spar with, and unlike Q, he wasn't looking for a guard dog. Especially not a little girl.

Aleric drew closer, taking the staff that was offered with a crooked smile. "Thank you." He said before heading back to Ori quickly. He dropped down beside her, holding up the staff to show his grip. "You start like this, make sure your knees are bent and your weight is on the balls of your feet." He instructed. The same words Nick and Nack had given him when he was first starting.

"I realize that. But I still don't like beating the s**t out of things so much smaller than myself." Silva said, glancing over at her. "And a juvenile girl doesn't even come up to my waist." And it was true, he treated feminine feien differently than masculine. It was just his nature. "Male or female, not many are strong enough to be worth my time, Quantel."

"Now to spin the staff you use both hands." Aleric told Ori, starting out slow as he gave an example. "This is to create a shield, but you need to do it faster for it to be effective." He sped it up, showing how it started to blur. "This way the staff is good for both offense and defense." She learned quickly, he noted, and she was an eager student. He only hoped he could teach her well enough.

This wasn't about fighting, after all.

"You're doing great!" Aleric praised her, grinning widely. "You're very good at this!" He moved so he was facing her, but still outside of striking distance. "The next trick to being able to strike from the spin." He told her, stopping mid spin and slashing the staff through the air. "That allows you to go from offense to defense before they realize it. You can slash or jab, but slashing was easier for me at first."

"There are other uses. Aleric lasts a long time in a spar, so he's tolerable. He can't beat me, though. Females are good for a snog, if you trust them not to stab you in the back while you're doing it..." Silva paused, trying to come up with some other use for others. "Information comes in handy, too. Other than that..." He shrugged.