Dia set her pen down and stretched, working the kinks out of her neck.  She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes for a moment and then sat up again.  She pulled the volume she was using closer and picked up her pen again.  She was again totally focused on her work in seconds so when the knock on the door came it made her jump.  "Come in," she called.

Ian had arranged a study for her and she'd made it her own. It shared a connecting door with her bedroom. Not that many people searched her out up here. So when Lev opened the door and stepped in she was a bit startled.

"Ian thinks it would be a good idea, and I concur, that we should work out together. More to coordinate moves in the event of trouble than for any other reason. You seem fit enough already, even if you spend too much time hunched over those books."

She blinked at the abruptness of it.  "I beg your pardon?"

"A workout. In an hour. In the gym in the basement. If you don't show up that's fine."  Lev exited the room and closed the door behind himself quietly.

She watched him go, stunned into speechlessness.  Not that it mattered.  He hadn't hung around for an answer.  She leaned back in her chair, worrying her lip.  Salem, perched on the corner of the desk, cleaning his paws methodically looked up at her and meowed.  "I know," she said.  "But he hates me so he's got to be hating this."  Salem blinked at her and returned to his ablutions.   "Still he's going with us and that's something."  Salem had no response to that all.

Dia focused on the puzzle that was Lev in silence for some time after that and was no closer to solving it when she stepped into the gym in the basement.  Lev wasn't there yet so she picked a spot in the center of the mat and sank down to the floor, settling herself comfortably and began taking deep rhythmic breaths, focusing only on her breathing, letting all thought loose.  In a matter of seconds, from long practice, she'd slipped into a light meditative state, totally relaxed and at ease.

"Are these damn cats going with us?" Lev asked, waking her from her pleasant trance with a shock. Lev was frowning down at Salem and Cele who'd both come into the room with him.

She rose gracefully to her feet in a fluid motion.  "If they wish.  Do you always start conversations in the middle?"

"In the middle of what?" he asked, beginning stretches of his own.

"Never mind," she said.  "It would be way too hard to explain."  She settled her hair more securely and moved into her own warm up routine.

He finished his routine first, and then watched her, a critical frown on his face. "So, show me what offensive and defensive moves you know."

She narrowed her eyes, thinking a moment and then she moved, so fast she was almost a blur and he was on the floor, looking up at her.

"Very nicely done, but I had more in mind me watching you execute them so I could anticipate how you might respond to a threat. Even so," with one quick motion of his own, she was under him, his arm across her throat, his lips almost touching hers.

She stared, enthralled, at his mouth, hypnotized by the clean lines of his lips, the fullness of his lower lip just begging her to..."  She screeched to a halt, blinking hard and made a twisting movement that caught him by surprise, dislodging him enough so that she was out from under him and then back on her feet.

"Good. Try that more slowly so I can see how you do it."

He watched her every movement, making her suddenly self-conscious of every part of her body. When the movement was completed he moved to stand behind her, his chest touching her back, his hips not quite up against her butt, his one hand on her waist, his other holding out one of her arms. "Here you're wasting energy. If you dip down, like this, as part of the turn, you get more power on the kick and the follow through and use less energy.  In a fight you need to conserve all the energy you can. Try it now, and I'll guide you through it."  She did, and he moved with her, making small adjustments as he touched her.

"You aren't concentrating," he told her once it was over. As if she didn't realize that. "Do it again."

She forced herself to stillness, breathing deeply, pushing away all awareness of everything except the moves she was making.  Then she went through the movement again, driving her attention in each separate component of it. 

"Much better.  Now, watch me. See if you know this move. It's similar to what you are doing, but with a twist at the end."

He showed her, moving slowly and gracefully through a turn, an crouch, a sudden upward thrust, and a whirl that ended with his foot at her throat.  "You're tall enough to manage it against most opponents. They don't expect that sort of thing from a woman."

She nodded and stepped back, then she executed the move in slow motion.  She held herself still in the final position, her foot at his throat for a moment and then relaxed her leg, lowering it to the floor.

"Very good, we should practice that. It's effective, swift and suits your form. But you need to extend a bit more.  Practice this stretch. May I show you?"

At her nod he got behind her again, and moved her, taking her through every step of the movement then freezing her just as she shot out her leg. "Here. Swivel your hip a bit more, through here." His hand was on the curve of her hip, and she followed through as he said. Suddenly he stepped back and away.  "Good, very good.  I'll come up with a training plan for you, if that's all right. We can practice after we leave as well.  Or, perhaps better yet, you and Betty Jo can practice together."

"That would be fine," she said, hiding her confusion.  "It will be good to get back to working out everyday.  It's a habit I don't want to lose."

"Good. Have you any questions?"

"No.  No I don't think so.  I appreciate what you're doing.  I hope it's not too onerous."

He frowned. "Why would it be onerous? The better you are at defending yourself, the less I need worry."

She flushed. "It's just that...I get the feeling...even before yesterday it was pretty clear that I make you uncomfortable."

He groaned. "I apologize. I've been doing my best to... I should be more disciplined myself. Obviously."

"No, please," she said, making a gesture with her hand.  "I'm the one who should apologize for intruding on you like I seem to do.  And I'm deeply grateful that you agreed to come with us, in spite of...things."

"I'm not doing it for you, so you've nothing to be grateful for. You are not responsible for this," he said, putting a hand over the sleeve of his tee shirt where the sigil was burned into his skin. "I doubt you've much more say with regard to what happens now than I do."

"I don't know.  Objects of power have rules of their own.  Once things related to them, to their purpose, are put in motion, events take on a life of their own.  It's also notable that things don't happen in a vacuum."

"Yes, and powerful forces, once unleashed, tend to cut down anyone in their way, even those who are trying to bring about whatever the change might be. So just remember, that thing is not your friend. It will use you and if it has to it will eat you up and spit what is left of you out."

"I am aware of that.  But the reminder is timely.  Thank you." She smiled a bit hesitantly.  "Same time tomorrow?"

"That's fine. See you then."  He bowed to her, turned and left, Cele at his heels.

Salem appeared at her ankles, weaving in and out between them, purring loudly.  "I know, love.   But he hates me so it doesn't matter does it?" she said softly.