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@merryshieldmaid
merryshieldmaid:
“Why, do you know of someone slow and boring?” Merry countered, the corner of her mouth curling into a faint smile. As they started up the path towards the castle, she said, “It was nice, to have a practice partner again. I’d be grateful for your company in future.”
Brenna laughed. “Thank you.” Taking her crutches, she took a deep breath before leaning on them. Doing this always felt like a defeat, yet this time it wasn’t so hard and degrading, at least.
inogen-magiciansassitant:
Inogen smiled brightly starting to almost vibrate in her spot. Looking down at her attire she knew this probably wasn’t the right dress to start training in. “Are you going to be busy tomorrow? Can we start then? You seem tired already and I don’t want to add more things to do to your day today.”
Merry could not help but be a little amused by the younger girl’s enthusiasm - there was something almost puppy-like about her eagerness, and Merry hoped it would survive a few hard and painful sessions as she learned to defend herself. “Tomorrow is fine. I can meet you here mid-morning, if that suits?” While Caelia was in Fairyland, with the young knight she had taken such a fancy to, Merry was a free as a bird.
brennahirhyfelwr:
Brenna smiled. Somehow Merry’s version sounded better than hers. “If you ever feel like you want to practice with someone slow and boring, let me know,” she joked, adjusting her tunic before reaching for her crutches. “I’ll be happy to observe your skills again.”
“Why, do you know of someone slow and boring?” Merry countered, the corner of her mouth curling into a faint smile. As they started up the path towards the castle, she said, “It was nice, to have a practice partner again. I’d be grateful for your company in future.”
You are so brave and determined. We need more people like you. ~Your Secret Admirer
“I ...” Merry felt rather lost for words, and could feel her face and neck heating. “... thank you.”
Dear Merry, You are a gift to everyone you meet. Sincerely, Your secret admirer.
“That’s - I mean - is this . . . a joke?” Merry wondered to herself. It was hardly as if she had made many friends in Camelot, so she couldn’t imagine who would send this to her and mean it. She moved to throw the paper on the fire, but hesitated and then silently slid it into her pocket.
brennahirhyfelwr:
“The knight who spent her whole life proving people wrong. That is going to fit nicely with all the heroic tales the bards like to write about us,” she laughed. If working even harder was what it would take for the others to take her seriously again, so be it. But gods was it hard. “Thank you for practicing with me today.”
“It will indeed - the knight who overcame all the odds and proved her worth to those who would doubt her. A story indeed,” Merry said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug as she carried the weapons back over to set them on the racks for others to use. “You’re welcome. I enjoyed it.”
brennahirhyfelwr:
“You’re describing my whole life,” Brenna laughed. “Though it’s got better after I got recognition from the King but now it feels like it’s happening all over again. One little scratch and suddenly everyone doubts your skill.” Even yourself, she thought with a bitter chuckle.
Merry looked at her quietly for a moment. Clearly it was more than just a scratch, and she could understand at least in part why some might doubt whether a full recovery was possible. But equally she could understand why Brenna would resent that, even as it seemed she might have her own doubts. But it did not seem helpful, or Merry’s place, to point that out, so she just said, “Then you will just have to prove them wrong all over again, won’t you?”
brennahirhyfelwr:
Brenna nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate it.” She thought for a moment before adding: “I like practicing with you because I don’t feel compared and judged like when I train with the other knights. It’s still a challenge, a competition, but a good one. Do you know what I mean?” It was probably stupid, she thought.
Merry did understand, very well, though she had to think for a few moments before she could put her feelings into words. “Yes, I do ... I enjoy testing myself against other people and learning from them, but with men it feels ... it feels less like testing my skill and more like proving my worthiness.”
inogen-magiciansassitant:
Scratching a hand across the back of her neck, Inogen looked around the field for a moment. “Could you teach me how to use a staff?” She questioned softly. She’d someone fighting a few weeks ago spinning a long staff above their head. The idea of using that, and somehow using magic with it was intriguing to her.
“A staff?” Quarterstaffs weren’t Merry’s weapon of choice, but she had trained with him the same way she had with most others - a warrior was no good, her teacher had maintained, if they could only use one or two weapons. What happened if you lost those two and only something else was to hand? Even if you never mastered it, you needed to be able to use it. “I’m no expert but I can teach you the basics, yes.”
brennahirhyfelwr:
“Those men are idiots,” Brenna said. “Real life situations need to drag you forward not hold you back. What’s the point in excelling on the training field if you can’t use your skill in the wilderness?” She glanced at the target and then down to the bow. “Of course if you can’t get out there, you might as well just rely on the excellence on the training field,” she sighed. “I’m going to have to practice a lot.”
Merry gave a non-committal murmur. She agreed to an extent - if a person couldn’t learn to control themselves, then they would never make it on the battlefield or as a hunter. But people were also human; they got afraid, they made mistakes, and a man who fell apart one day might be perfectly in control the next. “Well, that’s what it’s for. Practice enough and it becomes second nature. You don’t need to think so much, get in your own head,” she said with a shrug. Glancing down at Brenna, she added, “Let me know if you ever need a partner.”
brennahirhyfelwr:
“I think it’s the fact that with target practice, you’ve got nothing to lose, you know?” Brenna shrugged. “The motivation is greater when hunting down an animal. Or an enemy, for that matter.” If one of her father’s murderers was running from her, she was damn well sure she would get them with her eyes closed.
“That’s true ...” Merry said slowly, considering the point as she put her bow down. The stakes were certainly far different in actual combat or the wild than they were on a training yard. “But I’ve also seen that motivation turn into desperation, get in men’s heads and make them too tense to shoot well.”
caoranach:
The Caoránach was about to point out, rather dryly, that it was difficult to care for and protect someone when you were dead. When you have time with someone you love them. When they die you loved them. Still, she kept this to herself, intrigued by something else the young woman said. Indeed, why did she need to understand? Humans were her enemies, after all. Child slaughterers and infighters. “That would be easier, wouldn’t it?” Her expression contorted into something that resembled a bitter smile. “But in my experience it is difficult to accept things without trying to understand them.” She paused for a moment, reflecting. “When mortals do it, things rarely end well. I’ve seen the damage caused by the blind faith of men; men who tampered with things they did not understand.” She looked back at the strange maiden, something predatory creeping into her eyes. “I am not a blind lamb, acceptance and ignorance are not in my nature, and even if they were… I suspect I would be all the more dangerous for it.”
A shiver crept down Merry’s spine the more she listened to this ... being. There was something cold about the way she spoke, something far more removed from humanity than she saw even in the fairies of her home. What was this woman? Merry could not say, so she couldn’t say either what she might want from her - or what she could say to try and avoid provoking a reaction she was dangerously unprepared to face. The glint in the woman’s eyes made her wary, but all she could do was follow her instinct, and that was one of stubborn determination. “Then what is your solution? You cannot understand something, so you must condemn it - is that not a kind of ignorance in itself?”
inogen-magiciansassitant:
“Me? Learn how to fight?” She questioned with a bit of a laugh. Sure, would she want to be like the knights she read about in stories and the warrior women who had seemed to appear in Camelot? Sure. But, in reality, at least in her reality, that was an achievement she couldn’t see herself making. “I do believe I’m bettered suited toward books, rather than brawls.”
“Why not?” Merry shrugged and took another sip of her drink, watching the expression on the girl’s face shift as she considered it. At the objection, she just smile. “If that’s what you prefer. It’s true some people take to some things easier than others, but the point is if you’re prepared to put the effort it there are few skills you can’t learn.”
brennahirhyfelwr:
Brenna thought back to what she learned about archery, both from her father and later in her life. There were many things she remembered but already knew she’d have to reconsider or adjust given her current situation. Perhaps a different approach would help.
Closing her eyes to concentrate, Brenna took a deep breath before opening her eyes again and letting another arrow go towards the target. It hit right next to the target. “I find hunting different to target practice,” she stated, smiling to herself at her achievement. “Easier, in a way.” She set the bow down, satisfied for now.
“You find a moving target easier than a stationery one?” Merry asked, lifting one eyebrow in mild surprise. Notching a last arrow, she tilted the bow this time midway between where she had had it for the first two shots and relaxed the string a fraction from how she had drawn it previously.
The arrow whistled through the air, hitting closest to the centre. Better. It always took time to get used to the heft and draw on any bow, and this one was made more for long-range combat across battle fields than simply for the targets at the end of the yard. Still, it was good to stay in practice.
inogen-magiciansassitant:
“But, certainly there are other ways to protect the ones you love, that don’t involve fighting?” She wondered out loud. She couldn’t fight worth a damn. But, if she could hone her magic skills, perhaps that could be a way of fighting. “But, I do commend you, your skills are far more impressive than mine.”
“Not when it’s swords and spears you want to protect them from. I can hope it’s not necessary, but I also do not want there to come a day when I need to fight for them and cannot,” Merry pointed out. She didn’t know how she could explain it someone who had not grown up watching people going off to war and never coming back. “Practice and hard work is all it is. If you wanted to learn, you could.”
inogen-magiciansassitant:
Inogen thought for a moment before shaking her head. She couldn’t pinpoint a moment in her life so far that had been so uncomfortable but proceeded to do it anyway. “I have a habit of giving up on things when they become too difficult and moving onto the next thing.”
Merry couldn’t help being amused by the girl’s blunt honesty; her lips twitched a little as she took another long drink of water. “Then you and I are very different people,” she said. “I want to protect the people dear to me. To do that, I have to be able to fight.”
brennahirhyfelwr:
Brenna stared at her arrow, which was barely holding in the rim of the target, with resentment. “You could say that,” she muttered before looking at Merry’s shot. “I can tell you’ve done this before.” She chuckled, trying hard not to compare herself with the other in her head. Their circumstances were different but that only meant Brenna would have to try harder to perfect her form. “Let’s try again,” she said, already pulling in another arrow. This time she was much closer to the middle, not quite there but at least the arrow wasn’t threatening to fall off the target any second. To her own surprised, Brenna found herself quite pleased with that.
Merry shrugged. She was not, and knew she likely never would be, a master archer or sharpshot - she had spent too much time practising with her blades rather than her bow. But she had taken the time to make sure she could shoot at least reasonably well, and there was little point in pretending otherwise. “I was on my own a lot before I found someone to teach me, so I relied on my bow for hunting.”
Notching another arrow, she rotated the bow so it was lying flat before shooting. The arrow thunked into the target, a little closer to the centre but still off - perhaps she had drawn back a bit too much this time.
