Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ha! Dusty'd been certain that the blade would be deflected, but he hadn't been sure if he'd have to worry about a counterattack. Fortunately, the deerkitten hadn't committed himself to his first attack, and was plenty able to dodge the staff blow. Dusty might not have been the most nimble thing around most of his life, but he'd trained to overcome his weaknesses - even if he didn't like to admit that dancing class was useful to him in any way, it sure taught him how to be light on his feet!

"You didn't sit on me, did you?" Dusty regarded the other Fa'e suspiciously, moving forward to to press a fast offensive, first toward the youth's feet then toward his upper torso, to see if he could force his opponent off-balance.

And there it was - that moment of oh, s**t, where Dusty realized, suddenly and without doubt, that he was outclassed. It was bound to happen from time to time, and he'd come to rationalize it fairly well as he'd grown. At the very least, he didn't have to throw tantrums whenever he got his a** kicked anymore.

Dusty was fortunate, though, to have natural defenses. The staff blow landed with a noisome clunk that sounded nearly of wood-on-wood, connecting with the chestplate armor on its way up toward Dusty's neck. The force was buffered by air, hardly seeming to impede the child at all as he went for a downcut, trying to catch Devmani off-balance--

And completely missed the foot until it was already planted firmly in his belly.

The air went out of the deerkitten with a definitive whff. He staggered back but, to his credit, neither fell nor dropped his weapon, maintaining a rough defense between him and his opponent. Not necessarily a very effective one at just that moment, though - damn it, why did he always fall for those moves? He needed to watch more than just the weapon!

Dusty wasn't one that gave up easily, and he wasn't one that got intimidated, either. Any thoughts of continuing the conversation from before were banished - it was enough to keep himself in the game, block, block, deflect, choose to let a strike or two past if it was sufficiently weak or could be caught by his armor, fighting not to give up ground or be caught unaware by a strike.

But damn, it was hard! Devmani moved fast, and he was skilled enough that it barely seemed like he was attacking with only one weapon, but more like four or five. Dusty was pretty good for his age, and he'd had some experience fighting - but never against an opponent like this!

Even so, he was doing all right at first - until he got impatient with his defense, and tried to counter the attack. The child tensed up and threw his weight to his right, trying to dance outside the arc of Devmani's attacks, and swung his sword around toward the youth's left torso - but the move was a gambling one, and left his own right side utterly exposed.

Dusty might have surprised Devmani, at least a bit, by proving much more difficult to lift than his lean frame would suggest - much much heavier, in fact - but such details certainly weren't enough to save the deerkitten from defeat this time. He impacted with the ground gracelessly and, before he could so much as scrape together the thought of rolling free, he was thoroughly pinned.

Well, s**t. It didn't take him more than a few seconds to decide that there was no breaking free - he'd been way out of his league in this fight, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, results didn't lie. "... Yield," the Fa'e rasped, just a bit uncomfortable with the staff pressed up against his neck like that.

Well, that was sort of a compliment, Dusty guessed. For dealing with someone twice his age, he didn't do all that bad... but it just felt shallow to retreat to such excuses. He was supposed to be a hero! There was a kingdom whose fate balanced on his actions! So why wasn't he good enough...?

Because he wasn't pure enough, Nil had said. But that didn't have anything to do with sparring; here, he just wasn't skilled enough. And it just ate at him, knowing that.

Dustin might not have won this time, but he could at least try and lose with dignity. Trying wasn't exactly the same as doing, though - the child was markedly sullen as he got up, accepting Devmani's help, and brushed the loose dirt off the back of his pants. "I don't hurt easy," he answered shortly, not especially gracious in the face of Devmani's concern, either.

But now there was something that was really eating at him, and he couldn't ignore it. "You're a pretty good fighter, Devi. So you probably know; what's purity got to do with being a warrior, really?"

Dusty probably would have done well to pay a little more attention to Devmani's lecture about injuries, but it was already far from his mind. For Dusty, getting hurt was so rare, it was barely worth thinking about. If everything healed within just a few days, and even cuts drew no blood, what motivation was there for him to be concerned? He'd never been in a situation where he'd had to keep fighting through a debilitating injury, and so it just wasn't pertinent enough for him to listen.

And then the idea of a teacher had to come in, and Dustin's nose wrinkled. Nil had given him the lecture before, on how he wasn't supposed to be training on his own, on how all knights grew up studying under another - but c'mon! Dusty was Fa'e! He had an entire past life of experience, and all he needed was to tap into it. He didn't need a teacher - he needed a psychic. And given how fruity all the psychics he'd met were, he was fine with practicing on his own, waiting for the day that those memories he needed would be unlocked.

But Devi's words on purity... that both made sense and made nonsense. Purity of self was reasonable enough to him; that was like what Dusty believed, that if he intended good and acted on good, then that compromised some sort of purity.

But that hadn't been good enough for Nil. And Nil was the one that Dusty needed to impress.

"You don't think there's anything more to it? Like," the deerkitten struggled to come up with a good analogy, but could only draw from storybooks, "like a knight. What makes a knight pure? They do the night long vigils and they make their pledges, but that's not enough. There's something else, and I don't know," his voice went strangled here, choked on frustration. He didn't know, and he had to find out - but nobody would tell him!

Dusty's ears swiveled first toward the sound of the newcomer, then the rest of him was to follow. He puzzled over the strange woman, trying to get her measure, absorbing what she'd said at the same time as wondering why she'd felt the need to cut in and say it....

Then Devmani greeted her, and it all became so much clearer.

"Oh. You're Devi's Guardian, huh?" Obvious or not, Dusty had to state it - and, with a cheeky smile, couldn't help but open his mouth again - "Uh-oh, I didn't keep him here past his nighty time, did I?" He wasn't quite laughing, but he was obviously more than entertained to see the woman come to bully the older Fa'e. Dusty might have gotten his a** kicked, but at least he kept his Guardian in line!