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Asthan Vulou, a knight of a kingdom in the middle of a war with her own people, was walking through the streets. It was a good day, the skies were clear and the day seemed happy. Though, the people were quite the opposite. They wore masquerade smiles and held damaged hearts within themselves. though she was always the brightest of the people. giving them actual hope and smiles whenever she passed by and had the occasional small drink. The days she walked around, people waved to her, said hello and gave her bread. They all knew the troubles she had gone through, how many lives of people she knew she had to take.

The smell of the bazaar was full of fresh bread, pies, and cakes... Asthan loved this smell, she loved the people. The Ðrauŷan people were her family, her friends... they were what made her into who she was. It was one of those off days for her, where her attitude was a little sourer than it should be, and it was quite obvious since she had her hand on her family blade, and in quite an obviously angry way. Of course, she never expected that she would have had such a bad day. She didn't suppose it could be any worse.

(I kindly request that you use either a Ðrauŷ (Dwarf) or Hüma-Mæ (Human)... please!)

hello

anyone here

Zelote had been making his way around the area, pushing past any that been a ruckus during his time at there. The bazaar was one of the leased favored places for the young mercenary as he did not enjoy the company of crowds and the noise they bring him, reminded too much of someone he knew( and would very much like to kill). He had been forcing his way through the mob and carelessly knocked over a couple Ðrauŷan folks and eventually even Asthan herself.

The blade falling to the floor made the crowd seemingly pause. Murmurs were murmured, rumors being made, bread being overly scorched and so forth. Kneeling down to pick up the sword, she clenched it with unmatched rage, a flame being fanned in her being. Her teeth gritted together, making an almost painful looking expression underneath her helmet. She was going over to the castle's barracks to wake up the soldiers because none of them were at the training grounds, which is what made her mad originally, and then she got bumped to the ground.

Looking to the man of equal height, if not just a bit smaller than she, Asthan grabbed her helmet and lifted it, hooking it onto her belt. Asthan wasn't one to naturally start a fight, but she was quite angry at this man. Forcing the hilt of her blade an inch from his nostrils, she spoke. "A duel..." Is what came out of her mouth. Her two different eye colors were surrounded by bags, showing signs of sleep deprivation and possibly insomnia. She, if this man had accepted, would not be at her full potential, leading to disgrace of both her and her family if she didn't pull this off correctly.

Though anger was quite obviously there, it was also easily seeable that she was about to collapse, and was standing up almost entirely out of sheer willpower.

The man simply halted as he heard a sword being drawn behind him. With pure instinct, he had drawn his own sword with the tip pointed out towards her body as well. He had little patience for people who snap at him, regardless who it was. Zelote had observed her weary look and moved to an aggressive stance with his blade, now prepared for a fight, he then replied, "Very well then...though you seem to be less than well to fight with me...", his voice was void of any emotion as he had intended to knock the girl on her back quickly.

He had noted though that they would be fighting in enclosed area, as people had crowded around them, he wasn't fond of so as he needed to space to fight effectively as well. The mercenary had best to end the fight quickly lest he wanted to be the one face first into the dirt.

She hadn't even flinched when she saw the blade pointed towards her, in fact, she smirked. So he will fight... good. I need a good partner for once. Asthan thought to herself. She spun the sword so that the blade now pointed towards him as she moved back a few feet, as would be the chivalrous thing to do. She took a deep breath, both out of exhaustion, and to calm her nerves. "I may be exhausted, but that never stopped me. And you... you seemed ready and prepared for combat right away, I'm impressed." She said, her smirk growing into a grin.

She definitely wasn't planning on being the one on the ground, so she got into her own stance, moving the sword behind her neck, flat end against her hair, much like those the pike-men do with their staves. Fighting in close quarters wasn't exactly her forte exactly either, much like the man in front of her, but she hadn't known he was like her in that regard. Shifting her feet across the dirt covered road in the city, she swiftly, almost inhumanly fast- even with the armor on, with a move to strike by dragging the blade on the ground behind her, sharpening it as it got closer to him. If it didn't hit him, she would sweep underneath his feet, followed by a strong punch to the gut which knocked most people out. The crowd quickly dispersed to create a circle around them, widening the area a bit more.

Zelote found the move slightly difficult to read so he did the next best thing to avoid being struck with the woman's speed; he dove past and right behind her as she swung the blade. His plate armor made it a cumbersome act, but he decided it was best to play defensively for now. As soon as he landed upon his feet, he took up his stance after making sure he had distance, if he was going to read her moves, then he'd need distance to do so quickly. After noting the woman's high speed, he swap to a more defensive stance, his sword now held in front of him with two hands.

'She's a quick one...', he muttered as he decided on what to do next, his fist clenching as if he had something up his sleeve. 'That won't be enough to beat me though...', he finished as he dashed right at her, his sword prepped to swing until he then showed it was a feint, his trick revealing to be a dash of dirt and grime he grabbed as he rolled from Asthan's first strike, he didn't plan to play fair in the fight.

She was, currently, infuriated. Asthan liked direct fights, right at each others throats the entire time, not being even two feet away from the other, exchanging blows like a drunkard orders ale; one after the other. Even with his plated armor, much similar to hers, he moved quite fast, fast enough to impress Asthan at least. She huffed and puffed, already out of breath before she looked to her belt again, noticing a small vial that was meant to boost a persons stamina if they were ever exhausted. Quickly, though, she chugged it, but the effects were not instantaneous, she would have to wait a few minutes.

She would have begun pacing to her right, like she saw others do in official duels, but she was interrupted due to her attempting a block before she realized it wasn't his true intention. Her eyes widened before the dust was in front of them. They hit her iris' and she covered her eyes with her gauntlet, unable to see and with irritated eyes. She tried to calm herself though, and within moments, not only was her stamina restored, but she had the idea to tap into her mothers side of the family, sensing things before they happen, but she decided against it. She popped her neck. "Well... a fair fight is out of the question for you... but I will stick by my oaths, and defeat you fairly." She said, getting into another position, her blade guarding the left side of her face now.

Before one could even see, she slid her sword blade into her palm, sheathing it with her palm, and charged at him, directly despite her eyes. Sliding, she attempted to kick his knees, and if she missed that, would spin around and shoulder bash him in the back, which would force him to the ground if it connected.

"Fair fights are for knights like you, not folks like me princess...", Zelote replied harshly as he readied himself for whatever was coming for him. His brow raised at the knight sheathing her blade and coming at him apparently bare-fisted, which then put him at a disadvantage once more, fist-fighters have the higher speed with their own bodied being the only weights in their hands, and they hurt...a lot.

The mercenary barely evaded having his knees busted but he wasn't quick enough to avoid a body slam, which had sent him flying into a food stand. His face was very indicative of his temper running slow, the tomato juice that plastered his face wasn't need to show that. He then decided to improvise as he grabbed a sack of flour and slashed his blade into it to create a makeshift smokescreen, once more regaining an edge.

The flour had flowed freely into the air as the sack had been cut into ribbons, the area now obscured. Zelote took the opportunity to land a strike onto a protected part of Asthan's chest plate as means of provocation and as a way to keep her on edge as he waited for his chance to strike once more. He kept up the false strikes in the mean time, psyching her out was now his game...