“You will be fine,” Grezig assured Elixir. “Especially with practice. Now, I have some rules to lay out before we begin sparring. There will be no blood. This is a friendly spar, meant for practice, so there will be no giving of grievous injuries. Bruising and a bit of discomfort are fine, but everything else is off limits. Understand?” When she was sure that the wolfdog had conceded to her rules, she took a few steps back from her and got into a ready stance. “We fight until one of us gives up or too tired to continue. Ready?” She watched Elixir, waiting to make sure she was prepared before doing any kind of attack.

Grezig watched Elixir carefully to make sure she was ready before she started. This was the wolfdog’s first real spar, so far as Grezig knew, and she wanted it to be as fair as possible. Real fights were not fair, but if Grezig immediately started with dirty fighting, then Elixir might not want to continue learning, or would just take a lot longer to figure out how to spar properly. Best to start clean.

When Elixir had gotten into her ready stance and told Grezig that she was, indeed, ready, Grezig charged at her and went for hard nudge to the shoulder. She was tempted to try biting (lightly, of course, so it wouldn’t draw blood), but she was afraid that the mutt might panic at the first sight of teeth. So, she kept her mouth shut and just tried to hit her in the shoulder with her head.

Grezig allowed Elixir to get back to her paws once she was shoved over. Still need to work on your balance, she thought, but barely had the words entered her brain that she was being jumped on! Grezig lifted herself to her back legs to try and fend off the attack, but ended up falling over backwards, pinned onto her back. Elixir had chomped down on her front leg, too! 

Grezig growled at the feeling of fangs in her leg. Even if there was no blood, she knew there’d be a teeth-shaped bruise around her leg tomorrow. In retaliation, she went for Elixir’s exposed neck/shoulder area, chomping down and shaking!

Grezig felt Elixir’s teeth leave her leg and go for her side instead. But there was barely any biting there at all before she was shaken off. Good. Feeling like she’d been on her back long enough, Grezig got her back paws underneath Elixir and shoved her off, rolling over back onto her feet at the same time. She stood over the wolfdog, panting, but watching her closely.

Grezig’s face was knocked into a bit when Elixir’s well, butt, came into contact with it. It was actually her tailbone area, but still. Grezig shook her head from getting knocked in the face, and then quickly jumped over the top of Elixir’s body while she was still on the ground, taking the the mutt’s front leg into her mouth. Let’s see how she liked it—a taste of her own medicine.

Elixir pulled her leg free of Grezig’s jaws, and Grezig tried to open her mouth so she wouldn’t scrape her leg too hard against her teeth. This was a spar, Grezig remembered, so there was no reason for excess damage. She was surprised how quickly Elixir wiggled out from under her and got to her paws though. She watched as the wolfdog trotted away and then turned to face her, lowering her center of gravity. Ah… a challenge. 

Grezig grunted, lowered her own head, and charged at Elixir, aiming for her shoulder. The two of them collided, and Grezig sent her stumbling back…

Grezig was panting as she stood there, watching Elixir slowly rise back to her paws. 

’Well, you win.’ The disappointment was clear in the wolfdog’s voice.

Grezig sat back on her haunches with an audible huff. “You did well,” she told Elixir, tail thumping on the ground behind her. “You did not win, but it was your first spar. You tried, and you got in some attacks of your own, and you tired me out. That is all that matters for now.” She chuckled for a moment, an utterly foreign sound for someone like her. “You even shoved me to the ground once. Perhaps I need to work on my own balance.”

’I hope we can do it again though. I think with practice I can be better.’

“Of course,” Grezig said, taking a deep breath to steady her heart rate. “But give it a few days. We will both be sore tomorrow, and I am not sure when we will be traveling again.” 

This had been a good first spar for Elixir. With time, Grezig was sure even the wolfdog could learn to fight like a full-blooded wolf.

Grezig stood. “Don’t practice too hard. We can get into practicing more once we actually settle down. Right now we need our strength for moving.” She gave a small smile to Elixir, and then it was gone as if it had never been there. “Thank you for the spar,” she said, dipping her head. “I need to eat now to get my strength back.” Then she turned and walked away. This had been a bit eye-opening for Grezig, who had assumed that Elixir would fail immediately, due to her dog blood. She had been proved wrong. Elixir had lost the spar, yes, but she’d definitely put up a fight, and Grezig would not soon forget.

[Exit.]