Miya thrust another pin into her thick mane of hair. Carefully wound into a knot at the back of her head, carefully surrounded with a square of silk to give it a layer of add protection.

Laying on the ground was her glaive and other assorted Yamani weapons, waiting for her attention. It was late afternoon, most of the pages would be at their afternoon lessons. So the training yards were hers. She smiled, running through her stretch easily and quickly.

Kataru walked from the stables to the practice yard thinking that she would be alone. But then she saw a girl forcing pins into her hair getting ready for her excerise. Kataru looked at the assortment of weapons. Her eyes widened as she saw all Yamani weapons. The one that caought her eye was the glaive.

This girl is training with Yamani weapons...but she doesn't look like she came from the islands. I wonder who she is. she thought. Kataru looked at the weapon that was in her hand. It had been awhile since she had done a pattern dance. Maybe this little one knew how to fight like one of her warriors back home.

Kataru walked out of the shadows and stopped looking at the girl streching. "Nice assortment you have there."

Miya shrugged as she dropped down into a squat, extending one leg to the side. “Father says it’s good for my focus.” She brought her leg back in and extending her other one. “And it’s a good way too keep in touch with my heritage. Funny since he wouldn’t let me become a knight.” She brought both legs back into a squat and pressed with all her weight on her arms.

Kataru placed her glaive up against a nearby tree. She looked back at the girl and watched as she loosened her muscles. Kataru noticed that something looked familer about her but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"I'm Kataru Minamoto, a warrior from the Yamani Islands. And you are?" she asked as she started to strech herself.

Damn.

She’d been hoping to delay introductions. While she enjoyed being a princess, she disliked being Princess’d and your majesty’d every three sentences.


She slipped into the pose for push ups. “I’m Miya.” She responded.

Now she remembered. She looked alot like the King. But she figured she keep quiet about knowing her formal title.

"It's nice to meet you. Have you been training in Yamani weapons long. My favorite is the glaive. Did you know that only the female warriors in the Yamani Islands fight with these. I got this from the Emperor's daughter." She pointed to a scar on her face. " We were in a tournment and the winner was to fight the Commander of the Yamani Army, and to my surpirse, that little girl, who is kinda the size of you beat me..." She laughed.

"Sorry to bore you with my silly stories. How bout we fo a pattern dance together?" she suggested

Miya spoke as she began doing a set of push ups. “My father’s been having me train with the weapons since I was eight. It’s not of my choosing.” She pushed herself to stand up her feet. “I would like to go to the islands someday.”

She picked up her glaive. “I’d be honored to patter dance with you.”

Kataru grabbed her glaive and stood in the beginning stance. She started out slowly watching Miya follow along.

"It's great having a partner, I havn't done this with anyone since I was on the Islands." she said as she cut down and circled around and slashed the air to the side. "You should come to the islands with me sometime, I could take you to meet the Emporer, since he is kinda like my 2nd father..." Kataru looked at Miya and watched her.

Kataru speed up alittle and jumped in the air and did several complex spins and cuts and landed neatly on the ground. She had always loved adding her own ending.

“He’d be related to me somehow,” Miya responded. An uncle of some sort, she had never been good with thinking in a pattern like that. She raised her own weapon, mimicking Kataru’s own slashes and uppercuts, however she didn’t because she couldn’t managed the flips. She wanted some gymnastics training

"Sorry, bout that" Kataru said as she straightened. "I guess I'm used to doing different endings to my pattern dances." Kataru started spinning her glaive in a circler motion. She stopped suddenly when she hit her wrist, making a very interesting noise. She put her gliave up against the tree and pulled her sleeve up, revealing a silver band. She looked at Miya "These stupid things get in the way sometimes." She smiled lightly and pulled something out of her belt. "Ever used a shukusen? I find them pretty entertaining."

Miya glanced down at the weapon. “I didn’t like it. I much prefer the Yamani fan and a sword and the glaive and some hand to hand combat.”

And that in Princess Miya’s mind was well enough to protect herself, and in her father’s mind was enough to keep her occupied and focused. She flexed her fingers idly. That extra portion of energy that always seemed to be pulsing through her making itself known again.

Kataru flipped the fan into the air. When it fell neatly in her palm she snapped it closed and put it away. "If there is anything you like to work on I'd be glad to help." she said as she started practicing kicks. "You remind me of my fellow warriors... Determined." She kicked sideways and then flipped backwards. "I wish I could of stayed on the Islands, but I couldn't..."

“Why not?” Miya asked, curiously reaching back to touch her hair lightly before using a quick snap of her wrist opening the beautifully painted fan.

"Because I promised myself that when I turned 19 that I would travel back to Tortall. Despite all the complaining I got from my fellow warriors. Even the emporer was upset that his only female commander was leaving the Islands." Kataru reached to her belt and pulled out a different fan. "The emporer gave this to me before I left, and a beautiful crafted sword." She flipped it open revealing a hand painted dragon surrounded in flowers.

“Hmmm, pretty,” Miya said, studying the fan for a moment. She looked down at her feet, clad in soft boots which were covered in a fine dust. She had been given a half hour break ‘to clear her head’ and then hurry back inside to practice something she didn’t want to know.

She sighed gustily and snapped her fan together with a clatter sound.

"There seems to be something bothering you Miya." She closed her own fan and put it away. "If there is something I can do to help just let me know." she said as she patted the young girls shoulder. "If you want anymore help training, just let me know, alright?"

((I know this was a short thread, but I'm gonna wrap it up and move on to the first attempt))

Miya sighed adn rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, but thank you for the offer. I'll be sure to look you up if I need anymore."

((Alright.))

"As you say...Your Highness." she whispered and walked back towards the palace.

((Katherine was over at my house...guess she forgot to logout of her screen name...))