Turn 143 of 226

Diane joins the hunts. We get more skilled as a result. This leads to an improvement in our spars as well

The first hunt together is the thing that changes the dynamic. Lena tracks. Diane flushes. The tracking is the thing Lena's nose does — the musk trail through the scrub, the urine marking on the weeds, the thing that tells Lena where the animal bedded down. Diane's movement is the thing that drives the animal from cover. The animal is the thing that breaks from the brush and the breaking is the thing that puts the animal between two bodies. The animal does not know which way to run. The not knowing is the thing that makes the animal freeze. The freezing is the thing Lena's hands find.

The second night they take a deer. The deer is the thing that is the step up — the step up from raccoons and coyotes, the step up that is the weight and the speed and the hooves. The hooves are the things that find Diane's shin. The shin is the thing that is calloused from kick training and the hooves do not break the skin. Diane's arms are the things that wrap the deer's neck. The wrapping is the thing that is the clinch. The clinch is the thing Diane knows from sparring. The deer's neck is the thing that twists. The deer drops. Lena's hands are the things that hold the legs. The holding is the thing that is the takedown defense — the defense that is the thing Lena drills against Diane's double-leg. The deer does not have a double-leg. The deer has the thrashing. The thrashing is the thing the bodies control.

The hunting changes the sparring. The change is not the thing Lena expects. The change is not power or speed. The change is timing. The timing is the thing the hunts teach — the timing that is the thing the animal teaches by being the animal. The animal moves differently than a fighter. The animal does not telegraph. The animal does not feint. The animal reacts with the thing that is pure — the pure reaction, the thing that has no strategy, the thing that is only the body responding to threat. Lena's reactions sharpen. The sharpening is the thing that shows in the next sparring session.

Diane's feint is the thing Lena reads earlier. The earlier is the thing that is the half-beat — the half-beat that is the difference between blocking and countering. The half-beat is the thing the hunts built. The hunts built the half-beat because the coyote's lunge is the thing that does not telegraph and the reading of the lunge is the thing that trained Lena's eyes to see the thing before the thing happens. Diane's shooting double-leg is the thing Lena sprawls on before the entry completes. Diane's high kick is the thing Lena catches at the apex. The catching is the thing that was not possible last week.

Diane brings the same thing back. Diane's timing is the thing that reads Lena's jab earlier — the jab that is the thing Diane has been solving for months, the jab that is the thing Diane now reads at the shoulder twitch instead of the extension. The reading is the thing that lets Diane slip the jab and land the cross. The cross is the thing that hits clean. The clean is the thing that has not happened in weeks. Diane's ground game is the thing that shifts — the shift that is the hunting grip, the grip that is the thing that finds the throat and the joints with the directness the animal taught. The submissions are tighter. The escapes are faster. The bodies are the things that are climbing each other again. The climbing is the thing the hunts feed. The hunts are the new fuel. The fuel is the thing the bodies burn in the lot behind the foundry, the lot that is the thing the bodies train on and sleep on and hunt from and are home on.

The bodies eat what they kill. The deer is the thing that feeds them for two days. The cooking is the thing that is still minimal — the fire that is the pallet fragments, the meat that is the thing that is more than raw and less than done. The protein is the thing that is the fuel. The fuel is the thing that is the growth. The growth is the thing the bodies measure every morning. The tape and the scale are the things that are the ritual. The numbers are the things that climb. The climbing is the thing the bodies do together. The together is the thing the bodies are. The bodies are the animals. The animals are the hunters. The hunters are the things that spar. The sparring is the thing that is the hunt. The hunt is the thing that is the spar. The circle is the thing that is the spiral. The spiral is the thing that is the wish. The wish is the thing that is the body. The body is the thing that is Lena. Lena is the thing that is home.