[Syliras] New Beginnings [Complete][Awarded]

[Maya]

Maya turned to Kane when he spoke. "Ready whenever you are."

She smiled slightly and unsheathed her Talon Sword, grasping it in her right hand. With her left, she unclipped the scabbard from her belt and tossed it onto her bed. She takes up a defensive position, circling her opponent in the space, keeping him spitting distance away. "I think I'm ready," She says, pouncing as she says 'ready', her glances being parried by Kane. She attempts a different approach then, backing off for a bit. "You're good."

[Kane Roth]

The Talon sword was brandished quickly, almost eagerly Kane would venture, and she'd barely finished speaking before she'd made her first strike, her earlier sheepish nature seeming to have vanished with the emergence of the blade, and as the blade quickly sliced through the air, it's edge honing on his left flank, Kane eagerly responded, sending his longsword to clash with her own, much more magnificent blade. The resounding clamor brought a glean to Kane's eye, preparing a rebuttal, though the longsword was much more heavy than the graceful blade wielded by Maya, and before he could respond she'd already brought another blow to bear, this time slightly higher than the last and in the same direction. Catching the blow, not without difficulty, by the cross guard of his blade, and throwing it to the right, managing for a moment to pin the blade to the floor with his own, though Maya managed to retract it before he could get a foot on it, her speed and agility providing an advantage over his more bulky approach. A third blow was soon attempted, the blade coming from the lower left in an upward slash, a move which he'd never felt comfortable facing without a shield, and so being without one he sufficed for dodging, pivoting on his right foot, out of the shorter blade's reach, and soon pivoting back as the swing began to lose its momentum, the hobnails scraping the floor as he did such.

Ready to parry yet again, it seemed that Maya had backed off for a bit, and moving his blade to his left, his body along with it, she spoke, "You're good." Smiling as he placed his left hand to the edge of his blade, wrapping his fingers about it loosely, he replied, partly in word, partly in action, producing an upward slash from the stance, parried easily by Maya, though he pivoted once closer to bring the blow close enough to strike her weapon, and as the two's weapons remained against each other Kane's right foot struck out against Maya's left leg, and combining it with a hard shove to his left against her, he hoped to take her to the ground, possibly showing her that the blade wasn't the only weapon at her disposal.

"Fighting in the ring will do that to you."

[Maya]

Maya was surprised by Kane's action, and she was woefully unprepared. She slammed to the ground, though she quickly rolled on her side and, kneeling on her right leg, held the Talon Sword above her, parallel to the floor. "Fighting in the ring will do that to you."

Maya wasn't expecting this. Rings? She slowly stood up, once more distancing herself from him. "Rings?" She voiced, curious enough to stop the fighting for the meantime. "You fought in contests?"

[Kane Roth]

Quickly she went to the floor, unprepared for his action, and quickly recovered, much to her standing with Kane at such, and held the blade above her head, level with the ground. Though, she seemed surprised that he'd mentioned his pit-fighting career, and spoke the simple question, "Rings?" Already Kane could tell how Wind Reach was, with what could probably be described as an already adequate supply of violence in the streets to sate the bloodlusts of the general citizenry. Seeming to call a pause to the mock combat for a moment, she pursued the topic further, "You fought in contests?" In response, Kane brandished his blade, holding it vertically in front of his face, answering,

"Five years." After allowing the blade to fall to his right side, he explained further, a slim sheen of sweat beginning to emerge from the pores on his forehead, and already having emerged elsewhere(if one was judging only from the faint smell). "I was barely hitting puberty when they threw me in. I was better at killing than carrying sacks, I suppose..." Sheathing his weapon, if only just for a moment, to allow him free use of both of his hands, Kane continued, "Until I was your age, I slew many a foe, all for the sound of-" and at this, he softly claps, one of the few memories from his past in Sunberth he was actually somewhat proud of, the situation having been a life-or-death matter, no ethical choice having been presented to him. Placing his right hand back onto his weapon's hilt, Kane drew the blade forth, "There will be plenty of time for stories later, now is time for practice."

[Maya]

Maya listened quietly to his story, blade lowered until the hilt was being held at her waist, blade pointed up and away from her body. "There will be plenty of time for stories later, now is time for practice." said Kane, re-drawing his sword. Should have attacked while he was talking. He sheathed his sword. She was so engrossed in his story, the thought never crossed her mind. She suddenly remembered the sword in her hand, and smiled, starting to circle once more.

After a very brief time of simply walking and turning, she feinted a step towards him, stepping back and continuing to circle as he reacted to her movement. Suddenly, she pounced forward again, striking at his head. His longsword rose to deflect her blow, and she backed off once more, continuing to make her steps in the intricate dance of sparring.

[Kane Roth]

After she feinted, Kane had to recover from the anticipated strike, his balance lost for a moment, and were it not for a quick step back, the blow aimed for his head would've been much more dangerous than she'd intended. Deflecting it with his own blade, Kane sent it to the right as he managed a decent balance once again, and as she backed off, he approached slowly, placing one cautious step ahead of the next, careful not to over-expose himself moreso than he already had, and once he'd thought himself close enough to her, he tried a long strike to the right, blade parallel to the ground as he swung.

[Maya]

She ducked quickly, holding her blade above her head, forcing the longsword to slide over her and away, the sound of metal-on-metal screeching above her head. When the sword ran its course, Maya leaped up and struck at Kane from the left, arching her sword up with her body. The blade quivered inches from his skin as it was raised, and she noticed she was dangerously close to cutting him, and backed off once more, panting and wiping the sweat from her brow, as a drop fell from the bridge of her nose to the floor.

Maya smiled through the sweat, and said, "Do I won?"

[Kane Roth]

The moves were in quick succession, so much so that Kane almost hadn't realized what had happened, having been out of practice for a long time. It seemed she'd parried his strike, ducking as she did, and after he'd overshot her, his momentum lost, she rose to her feet and effectively 'killed' him with a blow from the left, the rising sweep of the talon sword probably having taken his arm off if it'd continued on its path. She'd stopped it just in time though, drawing it back as she took a short breather, wiping her brow as she asked, a smile having crept onto her face, "Do I won?"

Initially Kane was confused at the question, though he soon recognized it as a flaw in her language skills, and he nodded, smiling, his blade having drooped from the missed swing, his arms pulsing with use. "I suppose you have, this time." Turning and striding a few paces, Kane readied to face off again, drawing his weapon in front of him. Though the fight was delayed for a moment by Kane, having to rearrange his now matted hair, beginning to become soaked with sweat.

[Maya]

"I suppose you have, this time."

Maya accepted the challenge to another round of sparring, and raised her sword once more, this time sideways and angled towards her, once again in her right hand. Let's see if you can do it again. He'll probably overstep and cut your head off.

"Why don't you begin, this time?" She asks, ignoring her doom-saying thoughts.

[Kane Roth]

"Why don't you begin, this time?"

Taking the invitation, Kane took the blade low to his right, and in a flourish brought it about, slicing up from the right at her, hopefully she'd dodge the strike, even better if she managed to parry, if not, it'd serve a lesson to be a bit more agile in the future. Though, one key difference from his strike earlier was the lack of momentum behind his swing, only serving on strength from his arm, keeping his body's force in reserve for a following attack, should the current fail.