at long last [Nairore]

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore saw the defense for exactly what it was, a rather bizarre form of a counter attack. Blade out, if Nairore carried through with her attack she would likely be several toes less a foot. Mid-slide, however, it was somewhat difficult to decide what to do in this situation. Fortunately Nairore's combat senses were remarkably honed and an idea struck her immediately as needed. She twisted in the mud, spun her sword around and drove it into the ground. This stopped all of her momentum completely, but she wasn't done.

With a quick thrust of her hips she was able to force her body off the ground, aiming to kick Alicia across the jaw. Alicia, wisely enough wove backward from the attack which gave Nairore the time necessary to find her footing again and climb to her feet. The mud sucked at her sword as she pulled it free from the ground, the dulled blade covered with dirt. The Gerudo looked at it for a moment with disdain, then gave it a flick to the side. The mud flicked off with a resounding squish noise and while the blade was noticeably cleaner, it was still dirty. Nairore grunted with displeasure.

So she tossed the sword aside. Wasn't doing her much good anyway. Before Alicia could even quirk an eyebrow at the idea, however, Nairore rushed forward again, this time with hopefully a much more effective plan to close that gap and get the close quarters advantage. Alicia put up a strong defense, but she was too conservative. Nairore doubted she would be ready for a full offensive rush, so she charged right in. A smirk spread across her face as Alicia responded with the same diagonal cross guard. Wise, not knowing what Nairore was doing she was covering all angles.

Unfortunately Nairore was counting on that. Sometimes the wise path was the predictable one and it left an opening for the cunning opponent. Or the opponent who was charging with complete reckless abandon. Nairore's hand shot out and actually grabbed Alicia's blade. It sliced into her palm, so finely honed as it was, but Nairore ignored that as she always did. First blood didn't apply to aesthetic cuts like the arms and legs simply because they didn't accomplish anything. She grabbed Alicia's sword and through it aside, setting her jaw as she plowed into the hybrid with her shoulder, sending the two of them toppling down into the mud. At which point Nairore would set upon Alicia with her fists. Simple enough.

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[alicia]

x x

Pale Watchers

Nairore was, clearly, not your typical fighter. That much had been pretty obvious since she'd decided to try a baseball slide as an attack method, but even stranger as Alicia watched the woman flip around using her sword, then toss her own weapon aside. Alicia's eyes narrowed, not confused or dismayed, but questioning. What strategy did she have that would merit the tossing aside of her only weapon? Not wanting to be thrown for a loop by some bizarre strategy, Alicia went back into her preferred guard, watching her opponent's moves carefully. However, what she did see was insane.

Nairore just started running at her. Alicia tightened up her guard, wondering ... and then Nairore grabbed her sword. For a moment, Alicia blinked, which was enough for Nairore to suddenly get in and drive her shoulder into Alicia's stomach. Luckily, her goron blood was making her skin far tougher than normal, making it such that Nairore was essentially slamming her shoulder into stone. That had to be painful.

Unfortunately, Nairore was on top. Alicia went sprawling back into the mud, though she managed to get her arms up to protect herself, blocking the punches that Nairore was raining down on either side of Alicia's head. She grunted, realizing that her guard wouldn't hold out from this angle forever. Nairore had effectively boxed Alicia into a corner, where her defensive abilities would be useless. She could actually feel her blood pumping, in response to the damage she was suffering. The last thing she wanted was for a bunch of spikes to break out on her forearms and impale an unsuspecting Nairore.

She knew that Nairore was unpredictable, rash, and brave, though also very meticulous in measuring the advantages versus the losses of each move she took. She comprehended complex moves in battle at a speed that frankly astonished the more traditional, conservative Alicia. She had just learned, and learned, and learned, and that was how she did things. But clearly there was something to be said for improvisation.

Then it's time to improvise, Alicia thought, clenching her teeth and readying herself for what was about to come. It would hurt, and it would be strange, but it was the best thing she could do in a situation like this. She let go of her calming, intentionally subdued relaxation, and let that small, barely-there spark of anger in her take seed and grow, letting it trigger the goron blood pumping through her veins. She took a deep breath, and then, in an instant, a small set of diamond-like scales burst along her arm, not exactly long enough yet to do any damage, but certainly enough to be surprising. That was really all she needed. It wasn't just the armour that had changed--as a matter of fact, that hadn't even really been the main point of what she'd done--but now her physical strength had surged, her deceptively slender frame suddenly imbued with disproportionate strength. Capitalizing on Nairore's momentary surprise at the sudden formation of crystal on her opponent's fore-arms, Alicia drew her legs out from between Nairore's, and kicked her in the chest with the force of a bull, knocking her off of her and back several feet. In an instant, she hopped back to her own feet, though as she did she slipped in the mud, an uncharacteristic snarl of displeasure breaking out on her face, though only for a moment. War-mode enabled.

Nairore, of course, capitalized on Alicia's momentary distraction, rushing forward and trying to get inside Alicia's guard for an uppercut, hitting Alicia square on the jaw and forcing her to stumble back further, her head spinning as she'd lost the protection of her Peace ability. Nairore moved in again, but this time Alicia caught herself, finding her footing, and ducked beneath Nairore's assault to deliver a vicious fist into Nairore's stomach, with all the tremendous, unreal force Alicia could muster. In the moment, she'd entirely forgotten that Nairore's injury had been to the stomach, and had only been aiming for the softest part of Nairore's body. Later, when she had time to think, she'd no doubt feel terribly about it.

But in the moment, Alicia was suddenly a brutal dispensary of savage force, and her eyes, now turned cold, weren't about to indicate that she was going to give up any time soon.

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore had the upperhand, then suddenly Alicia's forearms exploded outward with crystalline protrusions. Nairore was caught off guard and Alicia capitalized, freeing herself and delivering a kick that took the wind out of Nairore. It was like being kicked in the chest by a horse, and she was sent several feet back, only to land in the mud and slide. It would be hard to explain this to the orderlies back at the Medicae, but frankly Nairore was having far too much fun to bother thinking about that now. Yes, she'd just been kicked so hard in the chest she'd flown, but Nairore's idea of having fun was working her honed instinct, and Alicia was proving to be resourceful enough to make Nairore think.

There was a gap in Alicia's focus and Nairore took advantage of it, getting in to land a strong uppercut. By now her own hand was bleeding quite a bit from burst knuckles and a slash along her palm, but Nairore had never cared much about taking a few hits like that in turn for the advantage. She got careless, however, and tried to push her advantage too far. Another swing for Alicia was promptly ducked and then the hybrid delivered a strong and solid punch to Nairore's stomach. The wind was taking from her lungs and she fell to her knees, struggling to get it back. Not so much a side effect of the punch, but a reawakening of her injuries.

Just days before she would have protected that area of her with her life. She would've done anything to prevent that punch from landing. It's remarkable how fast her mindset had changed and how fast her reflexes had adapted. But her stomach wasn't completely healed and as Nairore caught her breath she began to cough harshly. While Frostbite hadn't struck her lungs, the cold that it radiated with had caused enough damage to be noteworthy. It wasn't permanent, but it was haunting her as she insisted on training even before she was completely healed.

So Nairore coughed violently and fell to all fours, the mud in front of her turning crimson as blood found its way out with the cough. She closed her eyes and tried to measure her breath against the coughing, able to take control against the fits. Once it had passed she fell back to sit in the mud, wiping the blood off of her lips with her muddy forearm, only making even more mess of herself. Not that she cared at this point. Her previous smirk was replaced with a stony expression as she looked up at Alicia and then down at the blood smears on her arm. "I guess that means you win," she commented, her voice raspy and dry.

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[alicia]

x x

Pale Watchers

Alicia could feel the blood pumping through her veins, and had to remind herself rather forcibly to keep herself in check. It was a little too easy to get swept up in a fight and start losing control, and then things would turn nasty. Her Goron blood was strange, in that sense: on one hand, it let her be smooth and calm, with the solemnity of stone; on the other, it brought out an anger and aggression that was otherwise utterly foreign to her, like the calm face of a mountain erupting into a volcano. It brought her strength beyond what she could ever normally achieve, but the anger ... the anger frightened her. When she had punched Nairore, when she had felt her fist pressing in with violent force on Nairore's flesh ... for just a second, she had enjoyed it. And that frightened her more than anything. That wasn't her.

But then, as she watched Nairore on the ground, struggling to breathe, the moment passed. She realized that something was wrong with Nairore's breathing, and then she remembered exactly what the rumours said about her injury--what they said about where she'd been injured. Alicia immediately rushed over to Nairore, the crystalline growths on her arms receding, and she bent down close to her, unsure exactly what she could do. She wanted to help Nairore up, but given that she had done this, she had preyed on that weakness, she didn't feel right doing so.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you where you'd been injured," Alicia gasped, sounding positively grief stricken. "That--that wasn't right," Alicia said remorsefully, offering a hand for Nairore to take to get back on her feet. "I am so sorry, Nairore, that ... it was not honourable. That doesn't count, we'll try again some time later when you're better."

[Nairore]

x x

Her vision was blurring from the lack of oxygen. Inhaling while you were in a coughing fit was practically impossible, and in her current position her hair matted down over her face so she began to feel like she was drowning in the wet fibers. A muddy hand wiped the hair away and she leveled out her breathing. Big deep breaths was what the healer had told her when he mentioned her lungs hadn't fully healed yet. Nairore was never the type to listen, of course, stubborn as she was, and found she was coughing up more blood than was probably healthy.

Perhaps she should've entered this fight with her own little tricks, which might've helped speed up the healing process. She kept that in mind for later fights. Eyes locked on Alicia's instead, as she took the hybrid's hand and help to stand up. Her legs were wobbly but she was stable. When she heard Alicia's words she laughed; a rare sound in itself, even considering how close she had gotten to Merik over the last two months. He had seen quite a few of her 'rare' sights, but laughter was never one of the more common things in her arsenal, even then.

"Alicia, calm down. You take the victories you can get, right? War is not about honor or fair play. Hell, I stabbed Merik while his back was to me and I'm a goddam hero for it," she said, her voice masked with mirth but the words were honestly quite painful. She still hadn't taken the time to think about that day, and was still hiding it deep inside. She smirked and patted Alicia on the shoulder. "Plus the Knights will respect you more if you have some kind of victory over me. If you haven't noticed I'm a bit of a legend around here," she said and shrugged, turning around and searching for where her sword landed.

"My father chose right in picking you for a Lieutenant, even if you are naive as fuck," Nairore murmured as she bent over gingerly and fetched her sword. Agitating injuries hurt, not just when it happened but for a while after. But Nairore was no stranger to pain, so she just ignored it as she studied her muddy blade with disdain. "Just remember having your heart in the right place isn't a necessity to be a Knight and you should get by just fine. They respond well to examples, so feel free to break a few bones, y'know, just between us girls."

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[alicia]

x x

Pale Watchers

The distress must've been pretty visible on Alicia's face. She realized pretty quickly just how different she was from a woman like Nairore, who practically seemed to live for danger and excitement ... though that kind of lifestyle was not without its costs, Alicia noted sadly. Nairore bore her cuts, and all the blood, a little too familiarly. Of course, Alicia wasn't one to talk ... her arms still stung with pain from when the crystals had burst out of her forearms, but she was more than used to that, by now. It had been much worse, years ago, when she was younger. At least now she could control when it happened. Most of the time.

"Yes, but ... this isn't war. It was meant to be an opportunity for us to hone our skills, and for you to get some practice in ... it shouldn't have ended like this," Alicia said calmly, not sounding quite as hilariously remorseful as before, but still very sorry for what had happened. When Nairore said that the Knights would respect her more if they knew about this ... Alicia shoook her head. "No. I don't want them to respect me for something like this. We'll have to have another session, some time later, once you've recovered," Alicia said, sounding surprisingly firm.

"Thank you, Nairore. It's good to know you approve," Alicia said lightly, without a trace of irony in her voice."I did wonder, when Zenethil promoted me, if I would be up to the task ... but I think I am. I don't know if I'll ever be as tough as you," Alicia admitted, rubbing her left wrist with her right hand, "But I've had an okay time of things so far. Despite, uh, not breaking any bones," she said with a laugh, wondering if Nairore would be offended if she offered to help her walk back to the Medicae. She turned around after a moment and held out her hand, and all her swords zoomed together, folding into the one large Hollowheart blade. She examined it, a little disturbed by all the mud on it. She'd have to take a very careful time about cleaning it when she got back to her own quarters. "Would you ... would you like a hand back to the Medicae?" Alicia asked, realizing just how soaked she was. Her hair was plastered to her face and back, and her clothes, made of so much loose leather, were all but constricting around her skin. It was vaguely uncomfortable.

[Nairore]

x x

Nairore had grown up the daughter of the Knight Commander. From a young age she was heavily involved with the Knights, and that hold never let go. Blood and fighting came naturally to her. They were her life, what she had known since she had been old enough. If she were required to wear a dress she wouldn't know where to begin. It was familiarity, but it went beyond that. The blood and the fighting, the cuts she wore, it all came with a certain fondness that even Nairore didn't recognize as such. Some girls had dolls, Nairore had scars.

"Despite my efforts war might soon be upon us regardless. Best to keep your instincts honed and ready, sharp and brutal. That's why Zenethil has never argued with my treatment of the Knights: it only helps to toughen them. Going straight from the training field to full on battle can overwhelm the greener Knights, so helping them get familiar with their own blood helps ease that transition," Nairore stated calmly as she tried to brush some of the mud off of herself, though the stuff was starting to cake on and wouldn't come off easily.

"Whether or not I approve doesn't matter, we'll both see if Zenethil made the right choice when it comes to actual battle, when you need to take lives and order your Knights around. You'll be accountable for the lives of the Knights under you, and sometimes you need to make tough decisions. It's a lot of pressure," Nairore said flatly. While she had never led the Knights herself she had seen one or two of Zenethil's previous Lieutenants crack under all that pressure in the various battles Nairore'd been part of over the years.

She grunted and gave up on the mud that stained her clothing and skin. "I'm not going to the Medicae just yet. First I'm going to break into my own home and get a change of clothing, then find a river to wash off in so they don't ask any questions. You're welcome to come along if you want, you're a bit of a state yourself," Nairore teased, stepping forward and flicking a bit of mud off of Alicia's cheek; not that it did any good considering how covered they both were because of Nairore's little charge and tackle.

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[alicia]

x x

Alicia listened attentively while Nairore spoke, respecting her as a knight despite the fact that Alicia was actually her senior by a couple years. Nairore was a bit of a legend, and the legend had only grown after the incident with Merik. Alicia was relatively seen as a dutiful but unremarkable upstart Lieutenant who hadn't really proven herself in battle, yet. Hopefully that time would come soon. She knew she was good in a fight, particularly well equipped to protect her allies ... she mightn't be as potent as someone like Nairore in terms of sheer lethality, but there were few better at protecting their friends than Alicia was.

"Well, we each have our methods," Alicia said softly. She didn't think she'd ever be able to be as aggressive in her handling of the knights under her command as Nairore was. She tried to get some of the mud off of herself, but it wasn't really working. She made a face, trying and failing to get some of the mud out of her hair. She wasn't about to let such concerns get in her way during a fight, but otherwise she couldn't stand the thought of getting dirty or dishevelled. She looked back up at Nairore once she'd spoken about being responsible for the other knights and nodded. "I know how important that is. I'll do what I can to make sure they're ready. And when the time comes I'll be able to lead them on the field. I'm fairly sure I can do that," she said with a small smile, that spoke of a surprising confidence.

When Nairore invited her to go clean off in a river, though, Alicia's smile was replaced by a thoroughly flummoxed expression and the faintest hint of a blush. She thanked each Goddess that it was dark, and that her expression probably wouldn't be as readily visible.

"Um, well, I don't have any clothes of my own with me, and, uh...." She remembered that her own barracks weren't far away from Nairore's. What was worse was that it was a perfectly sensible suggestion. They were both absolutely filthy, and it wouldn't really do to just go to bed wearing half the training grounds. She froze a little when Nairore touched her face, trying to pass it off as a nervous giggle. Which made no sense at all. "Um, well, uh, sure! Lead the way!" She said, her voice hilariously high and hysterical.

WELP good goin' Alicia.

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[Nairore]

x x

Had it been more light Nairore probably still wouldn't have seen the baffled and, as previously put, flummoxed expression on Alicia's face, so distracted she was in getting the excess mud off of her before she tracked it in through the window of Zenethil's home. She could walk in through the front door, but the word would get to the Knight Commander fairly quickly that she had visited and he wouldn't be pleased. On the same note if she broke in through the window and left a big messy trail from there to her room and back again he would also come to her with a scolding.

She briefly entertained the idea of throwing pebbles at Lori's window and getting the young hybrid to do the shadowy deed, but Nairore hadn't seen her since the night before the incident, and considering the context of that night arriving dripping with mud with another woman and asking her to fetch a change of clothing would probably be the wrong thing to do. Honestly she hadn't thought much about it; she hadn't even been sure she would see her younger sister again after that night and had she known she was staying might've played it differently.

Or not. It was Nairore's turn to feel an odd burning in her cheeks which she quickly dismissed. Now was not the time to brood on those sorts of thoughts. Once she was healed up and ready she would have a long conversation with Lorina about exactly where their relationship stood. Life, it seemed, had gone from being quite simple and focused on her training to a complicated balancing of relationships and duties. It was new to Nairore, and it was a welcome distraction for her weary mind to focus on, to keep it from wandering off to the much darker side of things.

"We're not far from the barracks, we can fetch you some as well," Nairore said nonchalantly as she led the way out. "I don't want anyone to question why you're using the bath facilities this late at night or why you're covered in mud. The trail leads back to me and I'm not supposed to be here while I'm recovering," Nairore shrugged, snapping the training sword into the sheath on her back and heading for the door. "Besides, I've found fresh water is actually quite refreshing to bathe with."

[FADE OUT]

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