"Come on, you lazy slugs! Keep those halberds up! Keep those knees high! I want to see moonlight under your lazy feet!" Thessa roared. The powerful bovine female stalked back and forth in front of the serried ranks of halberdiers marching in circles around the castle courtyard. "The Cold Blooded don't sleep, neither should you! If they attack at midnight, you should be ready to fight them at midnight!"

Jehane shook her head as she looked out the tower window at the young recruits marching back and forth in front of Mistress At Arms Thessa. It hadn't been so very long ago that she had been a recruit too, in the Paladins of the Silver Dragon. She watched as one hapless young knight fell to his knees in exhaustion. "Corwyn!" Thessa roared. "Get on your FEET, soldier!" Jehane smiled and mouthed the next words along with Thessa: "Lose your footing in training and you'll lose your head in combat!"

"Watching the recruits?" Simon asked. Her mage partner came by and stood next to her at the window, stretching out his arms. "I can understand. I can watch them all night."

"I know," Jehane said, a bit wistfully. "It reminds me of what it was like to be them."

"She certainly is inspiring," Simon admitted.

"Yes. She has this warrior spirit about her that no one else can quite match. . ."

". . . and sometimes," Simon smirked, "her top slips a bit, and you can see her nipples."

Jehane's backhand was sharp, and it stung a bit.