A kiss with a fist is better than none...

Gideon Nav has been starting her day the same way for as long as she can remember. After snatching a scant few hours of fitful sleep on the sofa, she gets up and wedges her bare feet under the edge, starting sit-ups until they number in the hundreds. Usually, there's a fantasy or two to get her through but, this morning, there's nothing but rage at a rolling boil. After sit ups, it's press ups - one hundred normal, another hundred clapping. She does chin ups and squats. She stands on her head.

Eventually, she picks up the rapier, tooth-riddled, and weighs it in her hand. It's not either of the swords that she'd come to call her own but it is, at least, perfectly weighted.

So she does drills. For the first time in seven months. And it feels really, really fucking good.