Swords clanged up and down the Duel Hall. Sweat pooled down the nape of her neck to where it stuck to her dueling silk rahvleir. Father and Sevra weren’t with her for the first time since they left Fremr. It was nice, Alanna didn’t miss the irony that her idea of peace could be measured by the loudness of clashing swords and people shouting at each other.

“Are you Alanna?” asked a looming willowy woman with a far longer narrower saber than normal sheathed at her belt, but it was still barely within regulation. Alanna studied her from her head of curled, short hair that didn’t stray past her ears to her elegant, exacting steps. She didn’t so much walk as she blinked from step to step, the transition between them lost in bursts of natural grace.

“Yes. Zareni?”

“Indeed.” Zareni nodded as they stepped into the circle where their referee was already waiting for them. “Loser buys drinks?”

“Sure. I only need this one more match and I’ll have hit my five.” She grinned while she pulled her dueling rapier from its sheath then unclipped her belt to drop it beside the circle full of tumbled gravel.

“What a coincidence, me too.” Zareni smirked with a wink as she tucked her knees in, right foot forward, her sword clasped in both hands with it ready at her side.

“Ladies, duelPages, introduce yourselves for the record.” The male referee shouted out as he held a glowing green stylus at the ready over his skilled tablet.

“I am duelPage Zareni of Romadan Pinespur. My talent is my speed and I have the [Footwoman] and [Duelist] archetypes.”

Alanna grinned, this would be an interesting and challenging match. But she was born to fight, or at least she might as well be since she’d been taught how since she could first walk. “I am duelPage Alanna of Aetheline Fremr. My talent concerns the use of all blades, and I have access to the [Fighter], [Duelist] and [Hunter] archetypes for a combination of [Exalted Bladeswoman].”

“Wait, you have an elevated archetype?” Zareni winced as she studied the passive red gleam of Alanna’s nimbus along her blade, the flickers of yellow that shimmered close to her exposed skin like armor, and traces of blue all around her.

“I have marked these all down along with a restriction that duelPage Alanna will be restrained to using her archetypes uncombined, but if you win and face a duelBaron then you will be allowed to duel without constraints. Is this understood?”

“Yes.” She nodded. Her parents had drilled it into her to not rely on any one facet of her training for this exact reason. She was excited though, this would be the first time in a long, long time that she’d be allowed to fight as free as this, and with a fresh, worthy opponent?

Her excitement honed her talent to the degree that the slightest twitch of her hand made the air whistle from her blade cutting the air.

“We have [Healers] and [Menders] on standby if either of you need medical attention, but remember that undue brutality will result in a fine, but not disqualification. Bow when you’re ready.”

Alanna and Zareni bowed in sync, neither of them broke eye contact. They both drew deeply from their talents, readied their skills, and resonated with their archetypes. A green light reinforced Alanna’s body, heightening her reflexes and her vitality, while the combined effects coalesced an almost stable gray light that wrapped around her blade.

If she’d been able to combine her archetypes, it’d have been either a shining white or a devouring black depending on whether she pushed or pulled.

Meanwhile, Zareni’s blade gleamed green and a washed out gray light hung around the contours of her body.

“Begin.”

Alanna leaped from her back foot, while she threw her entire self in a single thrust of her blade. She willed her blade forward with her talent so that it pulled her towards her target.

Zareni disappeared at the head of a rising wall of gravel and screaming wind. She struck behind Alanna, but with a flick of her talent, the flat of the blade whipped across Alanna’s back instead of the edge.

Alanna canceled her skill as she slapped her hand down on the ground to spin herself around in a roll that would’ve shredded her palms on the gravel, but didn’t even sting from the veil of blue light around her. Irritation gnawed at her. If she could combine her arcs, she wouldn’t have even been touched.

Welts stung from the lash of Zareni’s blade.

Zareni frowned before she vanished in a flash of beige light with bands of gray. She rushed forward in a flurry of thrusts and swipes, but every time her blade was thrown wide. Alanna’s body was a tapestry of stinging welts and bruises, but there wasn’t even a nick on her.

They both paused and panted as the light faded from both of their bodies until the component colors of their talents, skills and archetypes were visible. Zareni’s sword was a mess of chips and scores along the blade from Alanna’s parries whenever she couldn’t deflect it with her talent.

“You’re pretty good.” Alanna panted as she returned to her initial stance in the warren of shallow ditches torn into the gravel from her opponent’s speed. But I’m better, she added quietly to herself.

“Thanks.”

They simultaneously lunged and crossed blades in a clanging rattle again and again. Alanna sidestepped, caught the incoming saber on the flat of her blade, and twisted it out of her opponent’s hand to fall in a clatter.

Alanna stepped back as the referee called out a technical point in her favor. She studied her sword and smiled at the scuffs and scratches scattered throughout the length of her polished blade. This was a challenge and such a cheap trick wouldn’t work so easily a second time. Red light rippled down her blade leaving it restored as if it were fresh from the smithy.

“Nice one, but can you score again?” Zareni smirked as she brought her own slender saber back in position.

“Certainly.” Alanna did the same. Blue light returned around her as she recentered herself on the principles of her archetypes. She was a fighter and duelist trained from birth, This was her Hall and this was her match. She narrowed her eyes in a focused glare as she tapped into the [Hunter] arc as well.

It could be a scary archetype to shade one’s thoughts with when facing a human, but her prey wasn’t so easily taken down to concern herself with it now. She carefully balanced the [Hunter] with the [Fighter] until the world seemed to slow with precision. [Duelist] blazed from her center.

“Are you both ready? Go!”

Alanna rooted herself in as her quarry pranced towards her with the grace of a hawk in a dive. It’s saber swooped down for Alanna’s head, so Alanna turned as she flicked her sword across her prey’s wrist.

Blood sprayed.

Steel tumbled end over end in air as Alanna lowered herself to lunge forward. Her blade erred towards the heart, but she forced the influence of the [Hunter] down to pierce through the meat of its shoulder and out the back.

A shrieking wail echoed as Alanna forced her prey to the ground, then twisted her blade to pin it in the gravel. Everything in her vision tinted blue as she considered if she should bleed it out first or put it out of its misery instead.

Alanna shook her hands out as she focused her talent and skills along the ridge, the blade of her hands and especially the edges of her nails. She narrowed her eyes as her vision tightened to the artery in its prey, as she lunged—

Green light sprang around them both to separate them in a barrier. Alanna tapped on it with her knuckle and winced as white-hot agony severed her from her archetypes. The skin of her knuckles cracked open. She winced as she stared down at the bloody woman before her.

At Zareni.

Alanna rubbed her hands over arms, wincing as her nails trailed along her skin like knives. It was a good thing she couldn’t cut herself with any blades or she’d be mincemeat right now. Her vision swam with orange from the sudden disappearance of the overwhelmming blue of her archetypes, until she stopped that too.

Zareni’s hand hung limp at the end of her arm. Blood soaked through the white of her rahvleir from her collar to her navel.

People surrounded them as the bubble of green light forced Alanna back so that they could heal the sobbing woman. Alanna winced as she fought down the revulsion of seeing so much blood. Her parents never bled so much, but she supposed Father could shrug off any of her blows with near ease. Sevra could also use Alanna’s own talent plus her own natural skills to either not get hit in the first place, or lessen the damage considerably.

“duelPage Alanna?” The referee asked as they stepped into the bubble. She glanced over and was surprised to see the referee was a man. She hadn’t noticed before.

She nodded, numb, as she watched [Healers] tentatively pull her sword out of Zareni as streams of green light sank into her.

“You won the match, but you’ll probably be fined a considerable amount of money that you’ll need to pay before you can challenge a duelBaron. It’ll take duelPage Zareni weeks or even months to be healed if she even can be. Both of your attacks might’ve been non-fatal, but they were crippling. Just for future reference, if you fail to advance, you should have stopped after the first hit. Do you understand?”

Alanna nodded while she watched Zareni thrash under flows of baleful green light.

Then she turned around and left as soon as the referee dismissed their archetype-fueled skill that had blocked her off. She bent down to tap Zareni’s cracked blade to pour as much of the red light as she could from her talent until the blade was repaired, then improved, then enhanced.

She left the Duel Halls, ignoring stares mixed with both horror and awe.

Alanna only hoped that Zareni would still want to get a drink after this, if they’d even let her try to talk to her. She almost felt as if she were a puppeteer guiding her body with wooden steps.

“Alanna!” Father’s voice echoed dully in her ears as she looked up and saw that her parents were waiting on a bench across the Duel Halls. She found it surprisingly easy to push her way through the heavy traffic until she stood in front of them both. Usually the Lordship Square with all of the different kinds of Halls was an impassable crowd.

“Daughter, why are you covered in so much blood? The Halls have baths.” Mother asked in a gentle, concerned tone. Alanna winced at the fresh sight of the [Healers] pulling her own sword out of her victim’s shoulder. Or the scarlet pool of blood under her wrist.

“Obviously, she won and wanted to tell us straightaway.” Father rolled his eyes at Mother before he turned back to her. “How did it go? Was it easy?”

“Too easy.” She shivered at the remembered sensation of how easy it had been to carve through her wrist and pierce straight through so much muscle. If she had wanted to, would her talent have sharpened her blade even more and severed that poor woman’s hand from her arm? “It was far too easy.”

“Good! I told you, you have nothing to worry about. You’re beyond ready. You’re my daughter”

“Alanna, let’s head back inside so you can bathe and maybe find some fresh clothes.” Mother urged as she tugged her away.

“I’ll meet you both at the inn! Let’s feast tonight at The Gentle Glutton. Congratulations, Alanna!” Father’s voice trailed off behind them as Mother hauled her back towards the Duel Halls. The hot summer breeze was cool enough to chill the sticky mass of blood all over her to hardened flakes that turned gritty to the touch.

“What happened?” asked Sevra, her tone made it clear that her tutor and instructor were speaking to her now, not her mother. Shame. Alanna needed some support right now— “Tell me.”

“I couldn’t use [Exalted Bladeswoman], so I had to use my arcs uncombined…'' She answered in a horrified whisper as they walked back into the gleaming halls full of dueling pits. Off to the left were the baths.

“[Hunter]?”

“Yes.”

“Alanna,” Sevra hissed as she looked around them and noticed the stares that followed them back towards the baths. Her voice quieted to a murmur, “If you can’t combine them then you can’t use [Fighter] and [Hunter] together! You know that! It’s the one you have the least with.”

“Gee, thanks. That’s helpful right now.” Alanna sulked as Sevra dragged her around the rim of the public pool full of patrons soaking after their bouts. They made their way into the back where the private pools were.

“Clean up.” Sevra pointed Alanna in, then stepped out with the door open a crack as she stood outside the door. “So, you did win then, yes?”

“I did.” Alanna sighed as she tore the silk of her rahvleir in her haste to remove it. Fortunately, there was already hot water steaming in the solitary tub in the small room. A mosaic of trees and groveswomen shimmered on the wall. Each of the ladies had a nimbus surrounding them. It was pretty. Better than the scenes of blood and gore that she might’ve expected otherwise.

She grabbed a heel of fragrant orange soap and got to work until the water turned a rusty brown from all of the blood. Her thoughts spun around and around while she cleaned her body and hair idly.

A part of her was horrified and disgusted with what had happened, but most of all, by the ease of it. If she hadn’t been paying attention she would’ve skewered the woman, no, Zareni straight through the heart. [Hunter] was the archetype she had the least amount of experience. She only had it because of all the time she had spent in the woods training with Theo. He had taught her how to stalk prey, read tracks, and helped hone her skill with a longbow.

Neither of her parents really thought a bow would be useful for her considering how if she ever needed to hunt for her own food then she hadn’t trained hard enough to afford others to do it for her. Mother found out about [Hunter] due to her mimickry talent on top of her corresponding archetype in the first place. She apparently had an Analysis skill, but Alanna couldn’t figure out the trick to it.

Alanna couldn’t help dwelling on… well everything. Long past the point that the water cooled. She should’ve spent more time lighting fires or cooking so she could have some skills that’d let her heat the water.

She had enjoyed the thrill of the fight, of testing her skills against that of another. There was something that felt right when she had a sword or even a knife in her hands. Was this what Theo or Isidora felt like when they rode a horse?

Yet it was so much more than that.

Winning at anything other than a duel or a fight was still nice, but it was just that. Nice. When she had to pit herself against another body, mind, soul and blade she either came out on top or didn’t. It took all of her and all of them. Something about that felt incredibly honest even if it was visceral.

In fact, wasn’t it a compliment to her opponent that Alanna only won because she’d had to resort to such tactics in the first place? She would’ve worn down and lost otherwise.

Guilt bit at her.

Here she was trying to justify it.

It was done, now she had to do something about it and that was that.

She climbed out of the tub and dried off with a towel, taking care to dab her face dry. Hopefully her eyes weren’t red or puffy from any tears. Father didn’t need to see that.

“Good. That’s better.” Mother nodded as she looked her up and down, even though she had pulled a robe on and had her stained and ripped rahvleir wadded in her arms. “I got you another change of clothes. Change out of that robe then we’ll check the Horse Halls for your sister and your friend.”

“Hm.” Alanna frowned as conflicting emotions tore at her. On the one hand, she wanted her sister to have made it as well as Theo, but she didn’t know yet whether or not she wanted him to win. The proposal of his proposal echoed unbidden whenever she had a spare moment to think about the future. If they were in Aethel, then the horsePage-elects would probably race by the end of the week.

At the latest.

That was far too soon for her to decide if she wanted to say yes or not to a proposal.