Chivalry at Dusk

[Cassandra Southwind]

Winter 91, 513
The Trail of Waterfalls

Cassandra stepped to the very edge of the river, her boots sinking in the moist gravel of the riverbed. The meandering water would occasionally spray her toes from that distance, but she decided she would be finished by the time that became any discomfort. In her hands was a fishing rod, old of fashion but barely used; the Svefra knew ocean fishing best, for it was how she made her meals and her wages, and she did not often take out her river equipment.

No, the river was for leisure, for one or two fish which she may or may not throw back. Makutsi was a right and worthy deity, but Cassandra only worshipped her casually. From what little she had heard of the hearty, dancing goddess, she had told herself it was best.

The late Winter air had warmed beneath Syna's white-hot glow, but in the hours of late afternoon the cold was regaining its losses. A hard breeze tugged at her flyaways, catching on her lips and eyelashes and forcing her head to shake where her hands were too busy to fix them. Having prepared her bait and checked her line for snags, Cass tossed her fishing rod back and gave it a practiced twirl.

But before she had the chance to throw it, a peculiar sound reached her ear. Her periphery caught sight of some large and moving--she should have expected someone else to be in a public place like this, but somehow the normalcy of his presence escaped her. Instead she felt defensive, snuck up on. Leaning the rod in her left hand, she drew her knife in the other. "Who is there?" She said, her accent heavy as rope. When she saw that he was not a monster calmed only a little. "What are you thinking, sneaking around so?"

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

Raien was simply procrastinating. There were things he probably really needed to be doing. And as it just so happened that they were also things he really didn't want to be doing. Giving himself the same excuse over and over, "Eh I'll do it tomorrow, there's plenty of time left." And while for the moment he really did have time he knew deep down that he'd run out eventually. Regardless these and other similarly annoyingly goal oriented thoughts were pushed far into the back of his mind, right now he was enjoying the river, even having tucked away his shoe into a tree which in retrospect might be rather hard to find later, to make sure that he could feel the refreshingly cold soil underneath his feet and thus fully take in the serene environment around.

You could see it Raien's face, he was truly having a good time. He wasn't obsessing over anything which very seldom happened for him, and he wasn't in a crowded place, he was doing something simple in a clean environment. Maybe he'd even set away a moment to commune with Yahal later. But for now he was content with a simple stroll. And nothing else really mattered to him.

So, it should come as no surprise that when Raien saw a dark haired beauty wading in the edge of the stream he was very unalarmed, intent on simply walking by her not really wanting to risk hampering the tranquility of his stroll with human interaction. However, when the not so harmless woman turned around knife in hand, simultaneously shouting accusations of stalking, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't surprised.

Strangely while the knife did indeed concern him greatly. He also found himself slightly agitated, both for the woman's random acts that had interjected stress into his otherwise calm stroll, and the fact that she had accused him of sneaking around a wholly unhonorable act. For one it wasn't exactly a private place, and two he didn't usually partake in such things. If Raien hadn't been paying attention to his somewhat damaged pride and had been listening to his mind a more he might have been a little more empathetic and realized that the women had absolutely no idea who he was, and that there were more than a few miscreants in Lhavit. And even though this might not completely dismiss her paranoid actions, it would have allowed him to approach the situation more sensibly nonetheless.

Still, he wasn't thinking on such empathetic levels. No, currently Raien was thinking more basically on both survival and as mentioned before pride. And while he wasn't quite to the point of breaking his self imposed code and drawing his sword on his "attacker" he was in no way above flinging rather sarcastic words at her, though to be fair they were said with a slight sense of humor. Raien was on some subconscious level still trying to diffuse the situation with a jovial tone.

"Well, I was obviously stalking you. I mean why wouldn't I? It's not as if anyone ever comes here and I'd get caught." Raien immediately after speaking realized that she might still somehow take this the wrong way, and added another much less lighthearted line to make his point a little clearer. And hopefully make his intentions or lack of them unmistakable.

"But in all seriousness, I would have drawn my sword already or run if I was outright pursuing you. So, for both our sake's can you please sheathe that metal." His words were while not an outright demand, and were also more of a gentle coaxing than a question.

[Cassandra Southwind]

For a few moments, the edge in his tone escaped her foreign ears. She gave him a look of candid disgust before she recognized his jest and quickly scrambled to regain the last of her composure. He was not actually stalking her, only occupying the same public space as she. And who could blame him, when a safe piece of wilderness was so difficult to find in this world?

Cassandra could.

"It is not good practice, whatever the case," she replied, flipping the knife in her hand so that its blade pointed in a less aggressive direction. Still she did not sheath it, if only because he had asked her to. Not quite out of her teenage years, Cassandra had not yet surmounted such weaknesses as petty stubbornness. This place had been so perfect in its solitude, its climate, its serene and yet beautifully imperfect atmosphere--it felt as if he had invaded it, with his noise and his sarcasm.

She tried to shrug away her frustrations, balancing the hilt of her weapon between her fingers as she turned carefully to her fishing rod and began to reel in the line. Her throw had been ruined and with it her rhythm; her disappointment rocked on heavy shoulders as she watched him out of her periphery. "You decided you cannot take me, then," she larked, forgetting to show on her face the attempt to reciprocate his humor. A part of her, the grumpy part, craved a good fight to settle her nerves. Her eyes dropped scrutiny from his feet to his scalp, noticing well the giant blade at his side. "Or are you afraid of my knife?"

There it was: half a snide grin finally crossed over her hard lips. It was as direct a challenge the Svefra would give, to an able-bodied man she barely knew.

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

Raien looked anxiously upon the brown haired Sverfa. And he was almost taken aback when he saw the look of disgust form over her features if only momentarily. It was as if she was still deciding whether to stab him or laugh, or maybe do both. This thought would have normally brought a smile to Raien's now concerned face, if of course he wasn't being threatened as he now was.

And as he was already slightly wound up from her reaction to his jest, when Raien saw her moving the knife in her hand a familiar tingle crawled his nerves. Filling him with energy, urging his legs to action and thus forcing him to heavily resist that usually useful and now annoyingly tempting urge to spring forth towards the owner of said knife. If he jumped now he wouldn't only violate his own code, but also ruin any chance that she was in fact not trying to kill him. Granted, he stood to prevent a fight, and save one of their lives if she was only toying with the blade, a bad but not uncommon habit among wielders of steel. Then again if she was indeed trying to do something then well his delay would have delivered an advantage right into her hands.

Of course the former and not the later would turn out to be true. This was displayed when she turned however slightly to reel in her forgotten line. But even though she appeared to not be openly looking for anything beyond verbal conflict the fact that she persistently refused to sheathe her blade, and even seemed to flaunt this blatant disposal of his earlier suggestion played on the fringes of any sense of ease he sought to derive from her otherwise almost normal actions. Still Raien continued to feel the equally as persistent stinging sense of dread in his chest. His anxious observing of the woman's actions even caused him to almost miss any words escaping her mouth, though even these were noted and brought due annoyance to him.

It was her next set of words that he actually payed attention to, almost draped in some kind of attempted and terribly unskilled shot at humor, the words settled it for him. However, most likely not in the expected way. Raien himself being somewhat of a extrovert, tense situations like this tended to strangle his inner comedic peoples person mercilessly. And so when he saw an attempt to end the taxing mental torture he went for it, a mediumly sized smirk-like grin covering his previously tensely clinched expression. A few just as laughable retorts following soon after the almost out of place smile, as he dared to edge slowly closer to the girl as he talked.

"Oh no, I'm afraid I see myself as a defenseless novice against one such as you who twirls a blade as it were a child's toy and not even a weapon." It wasn't really an insult, just an observation stated in the guise of humor.

"And as for the knife, I'd have to say yes. For I'm not even sure how I could defend against such a thing." Raien said this based on the fact that he now wore a well sized blade on his side. One which looked more than capable of combating most foes.

"I know I could use that stick over there?!" He said gesturing over to a branch that was not exactly a club, but not exactly a simple stick either. As his expression changed to an obviously feigned look of confusion.

"Or maybe I just shouldn't try. Not much point anyway its not as if I use weapons almost daily." By this time Raien realized that to some people he may have sounded condescendingly sarcastic. And while this may be a fair observation based upon the words alone, it in no way fit the man speaking them nor the tone. Everything was said out of a rather blunt jest. And was an attempt to calm the no doubt paranoid Sverfa. Still despite his humor and apprehensive actions regarding drawing on a women, he saw no reason to deny her if she indeed did want a quick spar, after all to not draw out of anger or worry on a women was chivalry to not spar with one based on mutual gain was nothing short of bigotry.

"My sarcastic nature aside, if you truly want to take a shot at me and spar I'm sure this is as good a place as any. However, lets make something clear beforehand, it would be just that sparring. I don't intend to hurt or kill you and I hope you hold mutual beliefs if you really do want to have a little fun." Raien had to honest, he was being a little abrupt both because he loved the thrill of combat. And because he now saw a chance to salvage his otherwise ruined stroll, albeit not in the way he set out to accomplish that morning, but salvage it sparring with this woman it would.

[Cassandra Southwind]

Cassandra kept her smile on perhaps a little longer than she should have, drawing it thin as she tried to keep up with his joke. Certainly his tone and demeanor suggested that he only meant a bit of lighthearted banter, but it was true that his continued incredulity about her weapon and her ability came off a little condescending. Still, she preferred those pretenses to the kinder, less honest sort. The insinuations he made only fueled the fire of her craving, pouring adrenaline into her riled gut.

“You are mistaken then,” she followed in line with him, stepping within his giant, acerbic footprints and trailing on his train of thought like a hunter on a bear. “You see, I certainly intend to hurt and kill you. As you say: It is not as if anyone ever comes around and I get caught.”

The imitation was more a mockery than a real attempt. Even if Cass did consider herself an actress, she would not risk failing the execution for the sake of a joke. The nuance of his language was lost on her foreign tongue any way, leaving only the universal language of sarcasm to her credit. “I lack of practice, but not of natural skill,” she added quickly, and then cringed inwardly at how thoroughly awkward their foreplay had become.

She sheathed her weapon presently, quickly but not quite fluidly, and just long enough to set her fishing gear aside. In a few ticks the knife was out again, primed for a fight as it was before.

“Go on then,” she said, assuming a prepared stance with her back to the water. Her next words were stolen from an old Sunberther sparring partner, spoken more like a single word than the phrase it was. “Show me what you got!”

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

The edges of Raien's already widened lips stretched only further, revealing the white pearls that had so seldom seen the light of Syna's glow due to the rather turbulent days of late, this increased joviality came from Raien's recognition of the reciprocated jest that this fisherman turned duelist so easily played along with, proving that she was certainly a woman after Raien's own heart.

Still, regardless of how much Raien was enjoying the back and forth banter it was starting to stagnate and the adrenaline coursing through him was going along with it. So, upon hearing the challenge Raien was quick to initiate just what she had asked for. Of course not before one last phrase if only to get the last word in.

"Well, I guess I have no choice but to defend myself." The words began with an interested tone accompanied by Raien throwing his arms up as if to say "I give up" ;but all signs of jest died as the last heavenly accented syllables fell from Raien's no longer grinning mouth and his hands moved to slide metal from leather, he was aching to start what both combatants obviously craved and the time for banter was now over.

Raien's mind was now utterly occupied by strategy, intent on gaining the upper hand as soon as possible. Luckily Raien saw an obvious opportunity to do just that. As his mouth moved to recite Isurian gibberish, he prepared to take it.

Djed was a mysterious thing, and while Raien could claim neither mastery nor understanding of such a wild and primordial force he could claim the ability to influence it, if only slightly. Following in line with his cold and metallic words he began to do just that. Having to struggle to force the pulsating power into his lower limbs through the haze of an even greater sense of battle lust than was the usual for him. Raien smiled this time out of sheer joy and love of a good fight, and not petty jest.

As the last bit of power Raien could manage to direct in such a short amount of time without tiring himself too much, which wasn't actually much, forced it's way through sinew and muscle. Permeating varied spots in Raien's legs he sprung forward, the added Djed boosting him so that he was directly on course to crash into the knife wielding brunet. And while he was lunging not at a blatantly supernatural rate, he was no doubt traveling at an slightly enhanced speed.

Of course regardless of the effort the power was short lived at best, the Djed was soon returning to it's natural places throughout his body nearly the moment he sprung. Still, it was not as if they were even far apart to begin with, his attempt at garnering an advantage served it's purpose and would hopefully catch his would be murderer off guard, and give him just what he sought.

As Raien entered into the Sverfa's arm span he moved his sword into a sideways position off to his left side holding the handle with both hands, readying for an attempt to hopefully hit the woman with the face of his blade. Because regardless of her intentions Raien wasn't exactly trying to kill anyone. And also he was more or less just trying to get a feel for his opponent, it was akin to foreplay the real fight would be much more satisfying after all if they tested each other beforehand.

NoteSorry if its sloppy, I've had no sleep in over a day. -_-

[Cassandra Southwind]

And caught off guard she was. Though Cassandra had asked him well and good to make the first move, she could not have anticipated the speed with which he made it. She could only assume that it was the nature of some sort of broad-shouldered, sharp-tongued race that gave him such an advantage, leaving the magicless human to rely heavily on her wits alone. She stepped hastily back in an attempt to dodge him, but her weight had been trained forward and she was left stumbling.

It was a sod of a first impression, but she could not dwell on it.

Some might argue that she was trapped between the river behind her and the weight of his swinging blade, but Cassandra saw no hindrance in the water. Her boots splashed into the cold river, its icy wetness hindered by a Svefra varnish. She said nothing, no quip nor congratulations. Instead her eyes moved silently from his blade to his knees to his center of balance. She kept herself low as she stepped sideward onto the riverbed gravel.

She neared his nondominant side with her knife in the offensive position, moving quickly in heavy shoes. The blade fell on him with the same care he'd given her, its broad side grazing his outer thigh if it touched him at all. And then she arced away, standing in her opponent’s periphery as the river ran in hers. She met his eye, gave a taunting look. Though she did not have his strength nor his speed, though her little knife could not promise to parry his giant sword, perhaps she could out endure him.

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

As the last of his djed returned to it's designated areas his legs instead of the expected aching feeling, acquired a certain euphoric tingle. It felt amazing, Raien wished to have this feeling overtake his entire being.. And yet for some reason he knew it was a bad decision at best.

The urge to somehow use more of his somewhat newly usable magic may have been shrouding his common sense a tad bit, and instead of looking upon the woman with worry as she moved away from his strike, Raien only held one expression an entertained smile.

Of course said smile was quickly replaced with anger as another feeling ripped into his otherwise numbing legs, pain forced it's way through through his sinew and muscle as the dagger tore on the outskirts of his legs. Quickly replacing the euphoric feeling and forcing an entirely uncharacteristic angry rage-like state to come over him. His face contorting to express just that as the woman quickly skirted away denying him any kind of immediately reciprocated force.. The denial in of itself angering Raien the most.. For some reason he actually wanted to hurt this woman.

It was these exact malevolent thoughts that had somehow forced their way into his mind that snapped Raien back to full attention and away from his subconscious and very much primal urges. And while he couldn't force them down fully, he could at least try and combat them.

With this new found resolve, Raien once again went straight for the woman. She was nearing the river, something that wouldn't benefit him much, as the water could prove difficult terrain to navigate in.

But if he could only force her back into the beginning of the water, and hold her somewhat near the banks then the Sverfa would be the only one to feel the negative effects of the current while he himself stayed on the dry shore, simultaneously granting him the high ground as well as the advantage of stable terrain.

Of course there was always the chance she might see the disadvantage herself and move even move further into the water.. Raien however seemed to infatuated with his own strategy of using the water against her to actually recognize this for more than a moment. And even then he dismissed it, the benefits definitely outweighed the risks, not to mention this was combat she would most likely easily overlook his ploy.

And with this new strategy in mind Raien aimed to hit her once again with the face of his sword this time a lot harder as to knock her towards the water, however it wasn't meant to be a full on strike, it wouldn't leave a gash or break any bones, in fact it would leave a while painful harmless bruise at best.

As Raien swung, the same somewhat familiar battle lust from earlier came over him once again, and he was admittedly not any more prepared for it the second time. Why couldn't he just hit her with the blade? Of course it was a stupid thought, it was a spar why would he even just hit her? Still, while he wasn't anywhere near ready to engage in full on combat these rational thoughts seemed to weigh heavy on his mind, and somewhere albeit subconsciously something within him longed to be rid of them.

[Cassandra Southwind]

Though the knife was not yet an extension of her arm, Cassandra knew the weight of it well. The feeling of broken flesh beneath her blade was both unique and terrible, riding on a sort of ease that never ceased to surprise her. With any less constitution she might have gasped--she had not intended to hurt him--but luckily she managed to contain herself. Perhaps it was for the better that he thought she was serious, that he feel physically the burden of her so-called natural talent. She could only hope that the cut was clean, and that she would not be blamed for a spar gone wrong.

He rushed her again, a little slower than before but no less dangerous. As the sword came at her, hard and heavy, Cass scrambled toward the water. She favored ducking low into its running current than suffering the promise of a bruise, wetting her sleeves and calves with icy damp. Inwardly she groaned, for though she was familiar with the weight of water she was not immune to hypothermia. She should have let him hit her.

At least the stunt might serve to further her reputation as a fighter. Though she would never admit it aloud, she found herself caring about what this strong stranger thought of her.

She did not give him the luxury of a pause, that time. Surely the momentum of his swing would leave him open on one side; splashing, she doubled back. She kept low as she stepped gracelessly around him, knocking the hilt of her weapon toward his side in an attempt to throw his weighted body off balance. If her maneuver was successful, he would stumble forward and wet his feet. In the event he didn't, she prepared her knife's point in both hands, toward his midsection.

[Raien Ironarm Pitrius]

As his sword once again only contacted the thin air the woman's dodge landing her straight into the cold river. Raien was hit with an odd mental response. His ploy had worked more or less, however he was also the only one to have been hit during this spar. Not that he necessarily wanted to hurt her, but he felt the strange urge to injure, an urge begotten in the midst of anger or thrilling combat. And for the most part originated from the later. Still, these thoughts were most certainly momentary, after all his quickly thought out tactic had worked. Even if it didn't seem to have as much of an effect as he'd hoped, in fact she looked a little too accustomed to the waters.

Indeed, the woman was a lot less unnerved by the river than Raien would have hoped for. Unfortunately however as was stated previously Raien's strike did happen to miss, leaving the force that backed it with no place to disperse into, and thus the blade was intent on completing a predestined course of sorts. One that to Raien's dismay would leave him obviously open on his left side.

To make matters many times worse, it seemed as if his light-footed opponent noticed the same flaw in his attack, quickly exploiting his own failure to account for the basic laws of swordsmanship and momentum. Making her move by cracking the hilt of her own dagger down on his very obviously exposed side, sending forth rippling pains that crisscrossed and jumped spasticly between every rib in the general vicinity of the strike.

This unexpected pain coupled with his unstopping horizontal swing made for a completely unsettling pairing. In fact it caused Raien himself to stumble over wetting not only his feet but the entirety of his knees, and not a modest portion of other assorted clothing and areas of flesh. The only thing that managed to stop his downward spiral was his own grasping hands, finding somewhat firm surface in the soil of the riverbed, it was a subconscious reaction to the act of falling, and one Raien now appreciated greatly that had saved him from a face full of frigid water, and most likely a bad cold or worse.

To put it frankly, he was embarrassed, his own clumsiness and lack of foresight led to his ridiculous collapse mid spar. Still, embarrassment is excellent fuel for anger. And while he wasn't exactly burning with rage on the inside, his next actions were indeed aimed at leveling the playing field somewhat. Or rather forcing the woman to take a swim along with him.

Rolling over quickly Raien flexed his hand feeling for his constant companion underneath the icy waters. Finding joy in the fact that the leather wrapped handle of his faithful blade was indeed still in his own firm grasp, this confirmation prompted him to proceed and act on yet more strategy, albeit it a quickly formulated plan at best. Pushing off slightly with his palms he attempted to hook the woman's legs with his own. Simultaneously after initiating the quick leg movement, he brought his own sword up in a familiar fashion, aiming the but end of the handle directly for the side of the woman's thigh, this time not holding back much force, the move was much like what she had done to him earlier. With luck she'd be distracted by one movement or the other. And at least one would get through most likely. If the gods favored him perhaps both might even land. Either way she'd probably end up taking an unwanted swim. And Raien with his sarcastic tongue, couldn't resist commenting on this with a small smile.

"Hope you like swimming." This was said as his legs and hands began to move. And to be honest might give away a little much. But still, in Raien's mind no harm would come from it, after all this was just a spar.