Twist's breath sounded ragged in the confines of the mask she wore, and she blinked away sweat that stung at her eyes. She felt her arm sag and almost belatedly registered the corresponding drop in the thin metal foil that bisected the lower half of what vision she was granted. Just past the tip of the foil she could see the a figure in white, like herself, face a mystery behind the protective screen, his foil held calmly at the ready. For a split second she resented having to burn so much vitae during these practice sessions just to look alive and act alive at the end when the masks came off, but the thought was gone quickly in the joy of not just feeling her heart not just beating but racing in exhertion.

Despite her weeks of training she still looked like a clumsy child next to his smooth moves and grace. But she was improving- it had helped that he had finally managed to break some of her habits from other forms of knife fighting. Not that they were bad habit for those styled, but for fencing they were against the rules.
She of course had issues with the rules- or rather the strange strictness of them. The whole point of the swordplay was to kill the person, so no double hits? But she played by them anyways. Maybe when she was better they would make sense. She hoped so.

She took a deep breath and steadied her hand and nodded at the figure across from her. He nodded and they stepped forward and the dance resumed.