Kiyomi had been watching for a while, slipping into the shadow of a half-fallen wall at the edge of the training grounds long before either Cain or Maris had noticed anyone nearby. She had arrived expecting to find Cain leaning on tricks and cheap moves to hold off Maris. The last time she had seen him spar, he had relied heavily on that strange blink skill of his, disappearing and reappearing before his opponent could react. She had assumed his victories came from the novelty of it, the way it threw people off balance.
But as she leaned silently against the stone, her golden eyes sharp in the fading sunlight, Kiyomi began to realize that this was not the case at all.
Cain was genuinely strong.
