Tristis Nox

"This is exciting!” Rayna cheered.
“Be careful, Tristis, father was in the military for years and still practices.” Robert warned as I walked with them to the observing area.
“Thanks for the warning, Robby.” I nodded a thanks. He nodded back with a small blush kissing his cheeks.
“Best of luck, we will be cheering for you.” Rayna hugged me.
“Shouldn’t you cheer for your father?” I laughed and handed them whatever I didn’t need during the fight.
“Cheering for the other team every once-in-a-while is okay.” She smirked. I nodded and headed to the meeting area.
“Are you sure this is a good idea Tristis?” I looked to my left to see Anita on the side lines with the young man from before. “He is a trained military man and a weapons crafter.”
“I know, and that is what makes it even more exciting!” My eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Anita laughed and shook her head. “May the gods watch over you.”
“Thank you. And now I will show everyone woman can fight just as well as men.” I waved and walked over to the training circle.
“Weapon of choice?” The judged asked.
“Is it okay if I use one of your swords?” I asked as my eyes slid to a slim sword that I could tell was one of the sturdiest weapons I have ever seen. Excluding weapons from my homeland, of course.
“That is fine with me as long as you do not mind me using my own personal sword.” Jonathan replied.
“Fine by me.” The judge nodded and held up his hand to signal for us to shake and go to our respected corners. “Best of luck.” I smiled and gave a firm hand shake.
“May the gods protect you.” Jonathan replied back, then we walked ten paced back, and finally faced each other.
“The first to render the other person defenseless or ‘kills’ the other wins. Both contestants ready?” The judge asked. We both nodded and stared at each other; not letting any detail go unnoticed. “Begin!” The crowd erupted and Jonathan and I sized each other up and watched for muscle movements. Then without warning, well to the crowd, Jonathan charged at me with a quick swipe to my right. I shifted my position so as my blade deflected his, I spun out of the way and circled around. Throughout the fight I mostly stayed on the defensive, constantly analyzing the way he fought. I marveled at how well and beautifully he fought. Everything he did was carefully planned out with little to no extra steps or unnecessary movements. To the outside world it looked like a dance with the two of us always in sync with each other as we lunged, parried, spun, dodged, and flipped. I forgot what it was like to fight someone who had actually taken lessons and had mastered the art. Even though I was growing tired, I had no desire to stop.
However, like all great things, it finally came to an end. After having sliced and bruised each other to some degree, we both decided it was time to end our little party. I dodged him and spun around to find him at the end of my sword. We breathed heavily as we stared into each other’s eyes and the world around us fell silent. At the same time we looked down at where the other person placed their weapon, only to find that we were both ‘dead’. My sword’s tip rested in the middle of his neck, while his tip rested at my heart.
“Draw!” The judge shouted and raised both arms. “Step back and shake hands.” Once again in sync, we took a step back and dropped our weapons to our side.
“That had to be the best practice fight I have ever been honored to participate in. You are truly amazing, Tristis.” Jonathan smiled and lifted his arm.
“You have truly mastered the art of fighting; it was my honor to fight such a talented person. Let us do it again some time.” I smiled back and shook his arm.
“Anytime.” Suddenly we were brought back to the reality that we had an audience as cheers erupted from the observation area. We turned our heads to see mass amounts of people rush towards us to congratulate and giddily tells us how amazing our fight was. I became ridged when I realized I had no way to escape from the crowd. “Tristis!” Jonathan called as a wall of people came between us.
“Enough!” The crowd went silent as the judge shouted for the crowd to silence. “Let Lady Tristis and Master Jonathan out to change and address their wounds.”
Within seconds Raya and Anita were beside me, trying to usher me out of the flock of bodies. “This way, Tristis.” Anita whispered.
As I was being dragged away I mouthed a ‘thanks’ to the judged who nodded back. I was brought to the castle’s doctor, where I was soon reunited with Jonathan. “That was amazing, Tristis.” Rayna gushed as a nursed instructed me to sit.
“Thanks, it was nothing though. I had a lot of fun.” I looked down at my clothes and cringed; they were dirty and needed a lot of mending. “Anita, I’m sorry about the clothes.”
“Do not worry about it, they are only clothes. How are you doing?” She asked concerned.
“Fine, a bit bruised but what else is new?”
“How is your head? It has only been a little while since you had a bad concussion.”
“You have a concussion?” Jonathan asked alarmed.
“Yeah, but that was like a month ago.”
“Still, those can be bad! To fight like we did could have seriously harmed you.” He scolded lightly.
“Don’t worry, I heal fast and the concussion was more of a nuisance than an issue.”
“You act as though you are immortal.” Anita shook her head.
*These injuries won’t hurt me, Anita, to some degree I am…* “Maybe I am.” I smirked as I wiggled my eyebrows.
She shook her head, but then smiled, “As long as you are okay.”
“I am, right Doc?” I grinned.
The doctor looked up with some annoyance in his eyes. “Yes, besides a few shallow cuts and bruises you are fine.”
“See, how’s Jonathan?” I asked as I started to swing my legs like a four year old.
“Fine.” The annoyance now crept into his voice as he tried to treat my wounds, but found my swinging feet to be troublesome.
“Good, thank you Doctor.” I stopped my feet to appease him. Once finished, I said bye to Jonathan, Robert, the doctor, and the nurses, and headed to my room to change. Rayna and Anita tagged along, all the while gushing over the sparing match. I listened quietly as they told me their point of view of the event. We approached my door and they decided to help me pick my next outfit. I lounged back as they decided on what I should wear to tonight dinner.
“We have concluded that you shall be wearing this.” Anita held up dark brown leather, short sleeved jerkin with a buckle-up font along with a matching pair of pants that tied in the front. As I changed into the new outfit as they picked out a black leather belt and a cord choker for my accessories. “There, all better and still looking dashing.”
“Now to redoing your hair.” Rayna grinned at Anita who grinned right back. *Crap.* They dragged me to the chair at the vanity and started to take out my hair from the braids I put in earlier. I twitched at times as they hit snarls and tore through them.
“So, Anita,” I looked at her through the mirror. “Who was that young man flirting with you earlier?”
She turned bright red as she started small braids. “That was Tristan, he is the son of a Duke from the neighboring town.”
“You seem to like him a lot.”
“I do.” She smiled gently. “He is a very nice man, and I have known him most of my life. We were playmates, him, Able, and I, when his father would visit mine.” She talked about Tristan as she and Rayna finished my hair and until we were called to dinner.
“Does King Able know?”
“He knows I fancy him, he is my very protective older brother who has to make sure anyone near me is not going to hurt me.” She chuckled.
“Well, Miss Anita you must keep me updated on this new found discovery. But alas, I must escort you ladies to dinner before they start without us. Shall we?” I offered my arms to the two ladies who readily took them and off we went to the dining hall. We were stopped at the door so we could be announced in. “This didn’t happen last time.” I whispered to Anita.
“It must be something very important if we must be announced.” She had a slight confused face on, wondering what was going on.