He knows the speed and the sting of those blades by now, and sidesteps to get out of range just in time. There's a dance of Alayre trying to get close and Taas keeping him far apart, using his longer reach to switch from defense to offense.

They had sparred once like this, and he's not about to make the same mistakes. That's how you ended up dead.

he was stronger, Alayre was faster. It had to even out somewhere - and then he could push through it.