Falik blinked and wiped the sleep from his eyes. He couldn't believe he was awake at this disgusting hour, but he had agreed to meet the others here in the outside fencing courts to practice fighiting. It was the only time of day which was safe for Natalia to practice fighting with them without being seen. Falik hoped she would come this morning.

He leaned on the pommel of his practice sword and looked around.

Sure enough, soon after Falik arrived so did Natalia. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back with a tie and her face showed no signs of sleepiness. Working with horses, you got used to waking up early, just like they did. She had been arguing with Trickster, making her late. He didn't think it was right for her to practice with her new friends. She had told him that they were good people but he still believed that they were nobles, and one day would abandon her because she was a commoner. She was mad at the horse. He thought too many un-horse like things because of her. It always made her feel guitly but for now, the horse needed to respect her choices.

"Good morning!" she said cheerily to the page. Seeing his tired eyes she commented "Not used to early mornings I see!" she laughed and looked around. Rean wasn't there yet either. She wondered if the other squire, Damien, was comming too.

Falik smiled sleepily at the girl.

"I thought I was, but this hour is just ungodly!" he replied.

"I'm glad you're here though, I was worried this was one of Damien's pranks for a minute."

Falik liked Natalia because, unlike most pages and squires, Rean and Damien excepted, she didn't make him feel like an outsider. He wasn't a titled noble like most of them, although he was part of a chieftains family, and sometimes that didn't work in his favour.

"I suppose we should wait for the others to get here?"

Natalia laughed and grinned at the page. She was glad she had friends here. "Probably. They wouldn't want to miss any of the fun!"

She walked a little bit over to the side. Natalia began to stretch out her muscles. Long ago she had leanred never practice without stretching. She felt a question come out of her mouth before she could stop it "Does any one give you a hard time about being Bazhir?"

The question she had just asked registering in her mind she stood up abruptly from touching her toes. Turning red slightly she said softly. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering because some people.." how could she explain that some of the knights mocked her. A commoner working with their horses? They were appalled. They wanted a noble's son who didn't cut it as a page. Eyes flashing at remembering this she stared at the ground.

OOC: no ones really said that yet but..well imagination is wonderful :P If someone ever makes a mean squire or page or knight, i will ask them to be mean to her! lol

Rean strode in, her face thunderous. "I hate mornings." She announced, with a grin to show she wasn't angry. While, when it came from a normal noble, that would have been a complaint, from Rean it was more like a fact. She hated mornings.

She winked, and started to stretch with Natalia. "Damien not here yet?" She asked. "Well, that was weird to ask. Obviously he isn't." She shook her head sadly, "I swear, I could start a war with my mind in the mornings." She practiced a few thrusts with her sword, and then fought an imagined enemy.

"Well, if my enemies were air, I would trample them!" She remarked, turning, she threw her sword in the air, then caught it. "I hope Damien gets here soon. I'm getting antsy." She grinned again, flipping back her long hair again, and tieing it up in high ponytail.

She raised one eyebrow, and went into the guard position. She relaxed, and proclaimed, "I'm glad we're doing this."

"Me too," Damien said as he strolled into the courtyard, "How is everyone doing on this wonderful morning," a giant smile on his face. "I see everyone else is hear, I arrived earlier but no one was here so I went for a lovely run." giving a smile he did some stretches and then grabbed his sword that he had laid down.

"You all look so alive this morning!" he said as he tapped Rean's sword with his own.

Rean groaned. "Yes. So terribly alive. And bruised from lance practice yesterday." She grinned, and hit his sword back, slipping liquidly into the gaurd position. She lowered her lashes, so that he couldn't see her eyes well to know where she was looking to hit.
Her wavey hair brushed along her back as she steadied herself for his attack. She grinned lazily, and said, "I guess we're doing pairs? We're all pretty evenly matched in most things." She mentioned, "Switch after someone in both pairs is 'dead'?"

"I do not play dead milady," Damien said hautily, "I play severely wounded but never dead!" Damien smiled as he watched her closely. "Of course pairs is fine, but you know... " he skitted a little to his left, completely stopped talking and started to consentrate on Rean and what she was doing.

Falik grinned at the other two's repartie, his brain was too fuzzy to be that witty in the mornings.

"Well Natalia, looks lik you're stuck with me, be gentle with me!" He smiled at her.

Lowering his voice a little he added "And in answer to your question, yes some people still have trouble accepting the Bazhir as real people, even more trouble accepting them as pages or knights. We don't have titles so how can we be nobility." His voice took a bitter tone.

"Still," he said brightening and adopting more conspirital tones, "some of us have more nobility in our little finger than most people with tiles."

He bowed to Natalia and swung his sword in to the guard position.

OOC: This will be interesting! I've never roleplayed swords before... :blink:

IC: Natalia grinned. "Pairs it is!" she sent Falik and understanding look with her eyes to show she had heard the answer to her question.

Twirling her practice sword around her hand her body slipped into old memories. Days of training and drilling forced into her body. She let her muscles relax so they wouldn't betray her and she stepped lightly to the side.

Swinging her sword up in an arch she stepped forward quickly and dropped her sword into a liquid like cut to the side. "I think if I died, Trickster would be quite un happy with you all. I don't exactly think you would like that fate.." she said grinning as she practiced. Her old mentor and made her practice still she could think while talking.

He had worked her hard but now she was thanful. Ronan had been good to her. A friend when no one else had accepted her. He was the one who had trained her with all she knew.

Her eyes flashed briefly as she remembered finding his dead body in his blacksmith shop. The raiders had needed weapons.

Falik was shocked by the speed of Natlia's blade, the girl was far better than she was giving herself credit for.

He swung his blade to protect his side from the cut aimed at him and stepped back from Natalia's attack.

"You're fast!" He said. Suddenly feeling very much the amature in the group.

He swung over in a crescent reversing it mid stroke to change the angle of of the cut down, hoping to take Natalia by surprise.


((OOC: I haven't done this before either....it's not easy!)

OOC: *stares* *ponders* *runs away* that would be me in real life if someone handed me a sword and someone came at me with it. B)

IC: Natalia's eyes saw his arm twitch giving away his reverse. She brought her sword up and blocked his downward chop. She stepped lightly back and said "Try relaxing your muscles so they don't show what your going to do."

Skipping lightly to the side she twirled her sword around her hand and began to walk towards him swinging it first to the right, loop, left, loop, right, loop...when she reached him she dove to the right but flicked her wrist to the side, changing her aim right to the page's heart.

There was no force behind the manuver though. Never in practice did Natalia use her stength. She would never hurt her friends.

Falik raised his sword just in time but the block was awkward. His sword slid along Natalia's until they were hilt to hilt. Falik cursed softly using a Bazhir word, he was annoyed with himself. In this position the bigger swordsman could usually force their opponant down. Falik was a good head taller than Natalia but he was worried about putting all his force on the sword.

He turned to the side, unlocking his sword from the position and moving his weight back quickly. He made a rapid swing up towards Natalia's throat.

Rean grinned, "Well, I plan on never dying, so this might not work out." She sidestepped, watching him closely. She knew he was good. But how good? She circled him tightly. "Hmm." She mused. Where to hit. She faced him, shrugging. HE didn't seem to have any apparent weaknesses. She swung her sword in a swift upper crecent, expecting him to block it.

Natalia felt a jolt when they went hilt to hilt. That was the thing she hated most in sword fights. Since she was a girl she was often taken for weaker than she really was but not to mention, like now, Falik was taller than her even though she was 16. A smiled played on her lips as he stepped away.

The smiled slipped away as Natalia fell into concentration. A pratice sword flying at your throat is not a happy thing. She ducked to the side and tripped on a stone. Flying forwards she found herself facing Falik's back. This works too! she thought sarcastically.

Lifting her sword she started to point it at her back. Now it was a test at his speed.

Falik spun quickly, no good having an enemy at your back, but he was a fraction to late and Natalia's blade thumped him on the shoulder making his arm sting. He wasn't sure if it was a victory stroke or not.
"That would be first blood," he said, "You'd win in a duel."

He tried not to look as disappointed as he felt.

Natalia lowered her sword and twirled it around her hand. She grinned at Falik. "Your better than you give yourself credit for!" she said trying to cheer him up. Walking in a circle she said, "Do you want to start again?"

If he said yes Natalia decided she would go a little easy on him. Not too easy, but just a little bit. It was good to practie playing your skill down incase you ever needed to fool an oppenent.

"Okay," replied Falik "but there's little point, you clearly outmatch me." He tried to square back his slumped shoulders. "Give me a moment."

He walked over to the side of the courts and made out as if he were stretching out a bit more.

"come on Al Basiri" he thought. "You are a Bazhir. Where's your fire?" He closed his eyes for a second and pictured the white fire that blazed inside when he was part of the Bazhir with The Voice. Menally he pictured himself doused in that white fire. It gave him new courage.

He opened his eyes and felt more clear-sighted and calm.

He strode back over to Natalia, nodded to her and moved his body in to the guard position.

This time he attacked first, remebering what Natalia had said he kept his muscles relaxed.
He moved his sword in a reverse pass in almost a butterfly pattern, swinging over then reversing at the very last moment and swinging under and up, at a lightning speed that almost shocked him.

It shocked Natalia even more. She wasn't ready for the swift attack. Stepping backwards she once again tripped on the blasted stone. Landing hard she winced. "Thats gonna hurt in the morning." she mumbled. Just in time she brought her sword up to meet the still on-coming Falik attack. She despertly tried to turn the sword away from her.

Seeing that wasn't getting her anwhere she rolled to the side. The cold stones were no comfort to Natalia's body. Giving an umph she started to pull herself to her feet. "Well you've been holding back, Fal-" her voice cut off and she knelt down to look at the accursed stone that she had tripped on twice now.

Looking closer at it she found some form of symbols on it. Natalia had never seen anything of the like before. Hazle eyes wide she looked at it closer. "Hey Falik, come see this. There's some sort of writing on it."

OOC: Maybe that can start us off on our adventure if we can make something of it.

OOC: It could well be, I was thinking it could be in Yamani, a message about the princess maybe?! or something else, a smaller plot?

Falik's grin of triumph at doing so well turned to a look of curiosity as Natalia pointed to the stone.

He wiped the sweat off his brow with a sleeve and bent down to have a closer look at the symbols on the stone.

"Hmmm," he said, going in to academic mode "I'm not entirely certain but it looks to me like an old form of Yamani!"