When I said fun, I had been exaggerating. Alex had been pretty rough during the training. We had training swords, but while they were more dull than a normal sword, those things could still make some cuts on you. I panted after only a few minutes, the muscles of my arms burning, I wasn't even able to land a hit on my mentor while I had a few shallow cuts on me.

"You need better stance; You'll be easily knocked down easily like that," Alex advised. She put one foot ahead of another as I did the same. I prepared to block any sudden attacks as my sis rushed forward, swinging her dull training sword; luckily I was able to block the attack and keep my footing. At least some progress was made.

We took a small break as Alex gave me some more advice. As we sat, she stated one thing in particular, "Now, swords won't be the only weapon you'll face during this mission," to which I tilted my head. "Many guards will have blasters. Don't worry about them; I'll keep them off us," she continued. I wasn't sure how she'd do that, but I trusted my sis. We bandaged the few little cuts on me and went right back after our little break. 

It was rather tough, but I got better as time went on. By the time I managed to get my barely sharp blade past my mentor's own to scrape Alex's pants, creating just the tiniest cut, I was exhausted as I sat down. "Not too shabby, lil bro." She said. I felt bad for hurting my own sister, but she looked at me reassuringly, "Don't feel so down, I'm okay," she told me, to which I smiled a little bit. "I feel like you're going to do alright," she told me, and that statement gave me the courage I truly needed to carry on this plan. 

"I feel like we're ready to do this; we'll just sneak in during the night, try not to bring attention to ourselves, and get Mom out of there," she gave me the plan again. "Lucas will stay behind us, make sure he doesn't do anything we don't need," to which I nodded again. We were ready, and I knew how to defend myself if absolutely necessary.