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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...

She scoffed. "Unfair fights are for scum who should be wiped off of Oduryon, much closer to you." She said in response. This man was starting to ruin her day. "But... since that is how you wish to play... allow this... 'princess' to dance." She finalized, leading to her strikes. She knew this would hurt her, and him more than she probably, but she was not going to stop until she deemed him either to weak to fight, unable to fight, surrendered... or dead. Asthan could clearly tell that he was skilled, though not in swordplay it seemed to her.

She couldn't see well... but she could tell that his face was covered in a red, food-like paste. Wait... that is what it was! She burst out laughing at this folly. It was actually quite a warm laugh, genuine happiness lasted at least five seconds before she stopped and regained her composure. She took a few more breaths and got into an entirely different stance. This time... though, with her modular armor, she slid her blade into her gauntlet, or a small crack that fit the blade. The hilt was towards her fingers, and he blade passed her arms length when she stretched it out. With one free hand, and one acting as a shield, she was ready for whatever he threw at her next.

Seeing him slash at the flour... she knew what he was doing. She grinded her teeth, and then started clicking with her tongue. The first click was quiet, the second louder, and the third even more so. Being more than angry than she was at the start, she decided to play like he was. She knelt down on one knee, and listened, waited. At this point, she didn't let him hit her, but she wasn't prepared for it and wasn't ready. Now she was. She could easily predict what he was going to and would counter. She didn't need her eyes to win, she didn't even need her legs, all she needed was her arms and her sword... and she would win.

Anything he threw at her, strikes, kicks, punches and anything else... she would parry without fail. "The power of foresight is a natural gift, given to me by my mother. And her mother before her. Thank them for your defeat." She said, using her guarded arm with the blade to back-elbow and lead to the blade going right next to his neck. "My victory?" She asked, remarking at the position he was in. The blade brushing against his neck and her elbow to his shoulder.

Zelote had a silent pause as the blade was etched closely to his neck, "Foresight you say? So much for preaching fairness in the first place then, and as for shaming me for fighting dirty, you have a natural advantage over anyone who challenges you, so don't you dare speak of fairness when it suits you.", he replied, his voice once more void of emotion as he still halted there. His blade slowly lowered as he placed its tip into the ground, his drone-like eyes never leaving her as he glared down at her.

He knew that the duel was likely done with this, her foresight made it likely that if he tried to slap the blade away with a free hand, his neck would be cut open if he was too slow to do so. With that noted, he then spoke, "Well what is it now knight? Kill me and be done with it like nothing ever happened, just like any noble that does as they wish, or is it that I'll face the judge and be sentenced to death anyway for the crime of attack nobility?", he stated, not as a question, but an acceptance of his fate.

"Regardless, I'll likely be dead anyway if you're anyone else I've met so far. So just kill me and be done with it already, won't you? I'd rather not have my ass sat down to listen to an oldman lecturing me about my crimes only to have the death penalty regardless of what he preaches. Honestly, it'd be very surprising to see a grump like you be merciful."

"Well, so much for trying to fight when all of my senses are practically blocked. And I almost never use this because I have a reason to keep it hidden. I use intuition, but you forced me to use this!" She said, quite pissed off as she pressed the blade to his neck, it almost piercing the skin. "I won't bring up a point unless I deem it the truth. So when I say I fight fairly due to my circumstances, that is the case. You, I assume, are nothing more than a man with a short temper, not to say I don't have one today as well." Her scowl was covered when she put her helmet on, the crowd slowly raising their voices in applause for the show.

"I don't kill unless I deem the person to be actually capable of killing me. And that isn't my ego speaking, it is fact." She said. "And I am no noble. I am a knight first and foremost, and I have proven my worth and mettle to those of the city. I won't disgrace myself by sullying my name and blade with an over-enticed civilian." She added, lowering her blade from his neck and unhinging it from her gauntlet, putting the blade back in her hand. She smirked, sweeping a leg behind his knees. "Though... you got dust, dirt, and flour in my eyes, which annoys me the most. Unfair, but clever. I might've asked you to join the ranks of the knights if you didn't do that, you fight better than most of my comrades."

Her mood was a little better now, the fight having been won in her favor. She took a gauntlet off and wiped her eyes, turning around towards the crowd asking for some water to use. One of her friends, a Ðrauŷ, came up and she knelt down to pick up the water, washing her face after taking her helmet back of. She called out for whos stall was broken and she went to go pay for the damages caused by her hitting him into it. Walking back to the man she fought with, she knelt in front of him if he was still on his knees. "I am Asthan Vurlou, belonging to the knights that guard the city. May I request your name? No harm will come to you in the official forms, and I will not press for you to go to court." She said with a small smile. Asthan opened her eyes with an almost evil smile. "But who said that I would be merciful? You're going to be my squire for the next month, and whatever that entails, you will do."

Zelote's pride was hurt slightly by the outcome of the match, but who is to say he had any at all? He had basically thrown it away by the time he left his family after the passing of his father, running away was the moment that aspect of him had dissolved. His hand rubbed the spot the blade had almost pierced, his heart hadn't been racing as it would, the only reason it was even doing so was purely adrenaline, honestly he had preferred if he had died there when he felt something coming up involving the knight.

But before he could say anything, he felt the eyes of the nearby dwarves looking at him, his temper was already short that time, he shot them a murderous look that showed that he would stoop as low as killing them if they didn't stop staring at him. They had caught the message as they averted their eyes, very much preferring to keep their heads, whether he was bluffing or not. Zelote then had to wipe his face of the tomato juice that had been spilled upon him no thanks to Asthan's shoulder bash, he hated the sticky feeling it left and now he'd have to wash it down...if he can even find a proper washing station.

Zelote had raised a brow at the woman's inquiry about his name, though he figured it wouldn't hurt to just tell her, with a simple sigh, he answered with, "Zelote Moss, a sellsword and...former son of the Moss family.". At that point, that family name is meaningless in the city he's in now, not that they had any influence to start with thanks to his brother. Though his expression had truly changed at the mention of being forced to be a squire for the girl before him, "...You're serious...?", he replied deadpanningly, "You have one hell of a sense of humor woman...but if it means I get some place to sleep at instead of being under a bridge...I guess it isn't....the worse..."

Auren walked through the crowds of people, making sure he did not bump into anyone. In fact, he was making sure that he kept physical contact to a minimum, and avoiding as much attention as he could; there was no sense, he reasoned, in letting the entire world know of his heritage. That could only lead to trouble.

Auren was wearing his standard getup, with one addition: a wide brimmed hat, meant to keep his face in the shadows. Other than that, his lightly armored attire allowed as little restriction on movement as possible. He liked keeping his movements fluid and quick. The hat, on the other hand, was slightly annoying, as it constantly drooped down a little, obsuring his vision- like this time.

He lifted it back up with irritation. Annoying nuisance... Why did I get THIS kind of hat?, Auren idly wondered to himself. The hat was honestly poor quality, though what could he expect, paying for it at a cheap price? However, Auren should have known better than to let his mind idle.

Blood blood blood blood blood bloo-. He quickly squashed such thoughts as best as he could, and looked for a distraction. Thankfully, one was provided in the form of a fight. If seemed like a female knight and a male fighter had some quarrel, and it drew in a crowd. Auren normally didn't like watching fights, but any distraction was a good distraction right now. He moved quickly, managing to make it to the front of the crowd.

The fight itself was actually entertaining. In the beginning, he mentally applauded the male fighter for his dirty tricks, though his incessant hateful prattle was annoying. That being said, he quickly soured against the fighter when he saw that he did not drop his sword to fight the knight on a more unequal footing- he had more of a chance to kill her. However, Auren was surprised that knight actually won. That is, until she told the entire world she had foresight.

Way to reveal your most useful trick to all your enemies..., he acidly thought. Not that he was her enemy, but still- A child bumped into Auren into his musing, causing his hat- which was drooping at this point- to fall, in addition to the child. He chuckled quietly at the child's antics, before leaning down to help the child up. "Be careful- not all adults are nice like me." Auren said, admittedly, slightly formally.

Yet all the child did was stare at him. Auren belatedly realized she could see his black veins, in addition to his other traits. He quickly grabbed his hat, and put it on. "Some wounds," Auren said to the kid, "don't heal easily." He then shooed the kid off gently. He then resumed looking at the fight, or at least the outcome of it, hoping that the child wouldn't tell her parents about him.

Auren's eyes narrowed at the fighter when he saw him giving the dwarves a death glare, but that was interrupted when the knight came back, and declared the fighter was to be her squire. Now, THAT was a surprise. What did she see in him? It couldn't be mere fighting skills. Nor could it be his charm- he had absolutely none. So what was her motive?

(Way to go Dark! /Applause/)

Hearing that he agreed to it made her a bit happy, to say the least. Her family wasn't really well known across Oduryon, save for the Ðrauŷ people. "I am very sure. I told you already, 'I don't bring up points unless I deem them the truth'... Did I not? She said with a cocky smile before bonking him on the head with the hilt of her blade jokingly. She had a headache now, not from using her foresight, that had no repercussions, but instead about the stamina potion. She hid it well, but when it hit, her eye flinched, still visible.

The point about him being under bridge to sleep made her feel pity. She never slept anywhere except on a bed in her life, never leaving the city and being part of both the Knights Conglomerate, a group of knights ranked above the highest in strength- in which she was the weakest- and also part of a decently wealthy family. Not rich or anything, just a bit more than enough to get by easily. Her train of thought was broken when a certain child walked up and pulled at the cloth of her outfit. The child wasn't scared, but they were worried... just a tad.

"What is it lass?" She asked in a gentle tone, kneeling down. The Ðrauŷ girl went and whispered into her ear about a man with some bad scarring on his face. Asthan misinterpreted this, thinking the child was talking about some pedophile. A small grimace crossed her face. "Don't worry lass, just run along to your parents and the knights will take care of it." She said, giving the girl a smile, hurrying her along. She looked around for someone that seemed out of the ordinary, but couldn't find anyone. Even foresight can't help with things that have already occurred.

She stood up. "Well... that isn't something I can work on right now." She mumbled. In truth, she wanted to get to the problem right away, but it would go against her vows. If it isn't happening at that moment, she can't interfere, reporting's to a knight directly are brought to the knights barracks and placed on a board, much like the bounty board near the entrance of the city. She had an idea. "Alright, first errand for you. Go report a child-rape case to the barracks, just in front of the castle yard." She said, shuffling in her gauntlet for a moment before she slid her hand out holding a piece of paper. "Hand this to the front guards of the castle and they'll let you in without me for one time." She added. She was told to carry one of these whenever she went outside of the barracks in case she found someone that might apply for knighthood. Though you don't just apply, you need to be a squire for a few years first.

For now, she would go check something out. The pungent smell of bread was in the air right about now, and she needed to investigate.

((Agreed, nice!))

The mercenary's brow twitched slightly, not from irritation, merely from slight surprise, had he not known that the woman before him could lay him out in a fair fight, then he would have called her arrogant, and if he had not been made a squire, he had tried to teach her a lesson, but as it is now, he learned his lesson and he's already paying for it by being made an underling for her. Truthfully though, he had a small admittance that he was glad at least, to have some place to stay for a while. Given the other knights and such that he had met on his travels, some whom had boasted bravado, bravery, and honor only to end up robbing and abusing for the supposed greater good, and those that truly had good hearts but had their lives cut short because of it, Zelote figured that this woman may at least be different.

"Child rape?", he said deadpanningly, his face wasn't surprised at the statement of the supposed case, it instead was very much plain, he had been very much used to hearing about this, whether its from this city or another, it was pretty common, to him to hear of it at least, and what had once been concern, eventually mellowed out into complete indifference. "All right then, I'll see you around later.", he then replied as he made off in the direction of the castle yard.

Zelote made his way into the courtyard when he spotted it and saw a gateway being guarded by two knights that seem like they can certainly lay him out like Asthan did. He had approached one and immediately saw him place a hand on the grip of his saber, which ticked him slightly but he nonetheless pulled out the paper handed to him. The knight took another hand to read it and then his posture relaxed, his hand now taken off the weapon when confirming his purpose. The knights nodded to each other and opened the gated for the newly appointed squire, whom had then made his way in to look for the office he should be reporting to.

--

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT OFFICE!", he yelled in annoyance, his feet now hurting and sore from pacing around the large castle for several minutes, his voice echoed loudly enough to startle even the gatekeepers outside, they looked at each other for an awkwardly long pause before they recomposed themselves. His face was basically steaming as frustration started to mount...until a hand tapped his shoulder, another knight. The knight then pointed to the door way...right in front of him...with a small sign next to it naming it as the office...

After a moment, Zelote's anger then turned into embarrassment as he was then left alone, the knights allowing a small snicker to escape them. His sense of direction was rather poor, for a long while actually since he had left home, it was so bad that he can't even read a map properly, which would be large hinderance for any group looking to travel...

(Thanks!)

When Auren saw the little girl that bumped into him talking with the knight, his first thought was, That knight is the girl's mother? He then shook off that thought- they looked too different. He could be wrong: the child could favor her father, or the knight could have taken in an orphan...

This thought process was interrupted by a growing sense of dread and caution. The child bumps into him, showing his heritage, and she goes to the knight... Put two and two together, and she's going to be looking for a monster. His initial alarm proves to be right, at first, as she scans the crowd. Act calm, don't draw attention to yourself. Meanwhile, in the back of his mind, another thought process is going on: The hunter should not be the hunted.

He squashes this menacing thought, and then his alarm, as he notices the knight giving her new squire papers and sending him off in the direction of the castle. It seems like she IS suspicious of his presence, but not in the worst case scenario. Still, Auren's not in the clear yer. He just doesn't need to draw attention to himself.

He turns to head to the inn, when he stops, seeing the knight going in the same direction he is intending to go. Just my luck... He resumes walking to the inn- he has nothing to fear, he's not shadowing her or trying to hide from her... That much. Still, he memorizes her scent, just in case.

(Here I am!)

No, she wasn't the child's mother, but she was indeed a friend of their mother- a lovely lady, though she secretly planned on killing Asthan one day, though not that she or her daughter knew. The girl would grow up to be a pretty lass, and be adopted into a royal family in a few days. She had blonde hair and green eyes, signs of beauty in young ages.

Walking to the Inn, she had no idea if he was there or not, and didn't really care- it would be an acceptable bonus on her part. Finding herself inside of the inn, she saw many a Ðrauŷ drinking merrily as they saw Asthan walk in. She waved at them all, smiling instead of grimacing. It was a pretty decent day for her all in all. She looked to the inn-keep, ordering a single drink of rum. He nodded and poured her a flagon-full. "On the house for the pride of Ommathan." He said as she reached for her coin-purse. She smiled at him gently. "Thank you." She replied.

She looked around the inn, seeing a new... hat? Grabbing her flagon as she walked over to the new man. Requesting the Ðrauŷ next to him to move over one seat kindly, him and the rest moved down by one in unison- they were quadruplets after all. Now sitting next to him, she looked at him. "It's rude to wear hat's indoors." She told him, pausing for a moment which lasted at least four seconds. "Are you new here?" She asked again. "I've never seen you around here before." She raised her metal gauntlet in the air, still holding her sword in her other quite loosely. "Another drink, if you please inn-keeper MaÐanali?" (the Ð is a TH sound) He nodded, this time she insisted on paying.

She also asked for the amazing smell she smelt from outside. "Is that the bread I recommended?" Asthan asked. She was quite inquisitive today. The inn-keep nodded one final time as he brought it out from the stone oven and set two on a wooden plate. She was almost salivating, but she swallowed and offered a piece to the stranger. "Come on, I insist."

After the whole situation of reporting the case had settled down with his temper, Zelote had then left the office with his task done, now he just had to find Asthan again and get things settled before midnight. Otherwise he'd have to find a place of his own to sleep in for the night and he'd have done that too many times already prior. The man made his way back to the marketplace and traced off on where he last saw her go off to before he left.

As he walked on, he passed by man of the locals, many of whom failed to pass him in height, which would make it very easy to spot out Asthan if she were among a crowd, which she didn't seem to be in, at least not in that area. Reluctantly, he had to go and ask around if any of the folks had seen her around, by which he was then back on her tail toward the inn.

On the way over to the building, he had bumped into the same girl that pointed out the mysterious Auren. He had scowled furiously at the kid as he passed her and found himself at the door way.