The sword had not been presented to her in a manner she felt worthy of her. Two extended hands and a bowed head was the appropriate manner for such an offering. Luckily for Jake she hadn't felt slighted, thinking that he'd only implied she would be allowed to use it where there was more room, as he'd said.
On the way to the mats, they passed several swords in solitary display within their upright rectangular cubes. One of them she paused at and whispered a few words before lifting the case and setting it onto the floor. These swords, more difficult to get at, were her prize collections. Goujian, a famous Chinese sword, sent a spark thrumming up her hand from the hilt as she curled her hand around it and lifted it from its holders. She didn't introduce it to Jake - not yet - and held it, point upwards, as she continued the rest of the way to the back of the room and then extended her free arm towards the mats there with a flourish.
"A place for us to spar," she said. "It has a protective field that no blood shall be spilled. You may swing as powerfully as you like in an attempt to remove a limb, such as my hand from its wrist," she continued, a twitch of a smile on her lips, "but your sword will only lightly touch me so that I know you have won that move, but it will not follow through. We do not have to be careful not to harm one another. It makes sparring more enjoyable."
Not to mention realistic. She believed, even with Jake McCloud's reputation as a great swordsman, that she was superior, for she practised every day without holding back, and he could not. However, he'd seen true battle on multiple occasions and she had seen only one.
She was looking forward to this.
"First, we shall use our own weapons, to demonstrate to the other the techniques best suited to them." Bao stepped out of her shoes and moved to the mat and plunged the sword towards the mat, where it stopped before it could do damage. "To make it fair, you can test how it will feel for your sword to be forced to a halt and what it will feel like when a sword is halted on you. For trust, you may swing at my arm, first."
She wondered if he would do it without making a protest or if he would be eager for the experience.