The Inn awaits its favourite guests
Sahar/Boudica - A chance to unwind
Sahar had always prided herself on her fighting style, precise and efficient. She always pushed herself to new heights with incomparable discipline.
As she stepped inside the inn, however, she felt anything but disciplined: ready to snap at the first excuse, she felt out of balance.
Once her group managed to secure a room for themselves, she ran there first thing first, sparing but a glance to her useless companions, the very source of her awful mood; she would have been foolish to expect everyone to be as well-versed in combat as she was — those were dire times after all — but that was no excuse to go easy on the disorganized buffoons she had the misfortune to travel with!
She let out a deep breath, berating herself for such impulsive thoughts. Meditation would help her even her temper once again, so that she could be ready for when they would eventually have to leave; she would not accept any drop in quality for something as childish as feeling irritated, despite said irritation being more than justified.
She settled in a corner of the room after locking the door, not wanting to be disturbed during such a delicate moment.
She assumed the position her teacher — her love — taught her, kneeling to the ground with her sword delicately held in her hands. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then another, slowing down her heartbeat, trying to clear her mind…
No matter how hard she tried, she could not achieve balance.
Unfortunately for her, she knew exactly the reason why that was: as much as she hated to admit it — she liked to think of herself as someone always in control of her feelings — she was too pent-up to maintain her focus.
Perhaps, if she tried again, she would be able to achieve her objective, not wanting to admit defeat, but deep down she knew she would just waste her time if she kept insisting on something that was not going to change.
She would not be stuck in stasis for long, however, as her practical nature had already suggested a solution: since she was too pent-up to do anything else, all she needed was a way to let out everything that was holding her back.
She dreaded the idea of meeting her companions, but that did not stop her from wandering around the inn, looking for the innkeeper: he must have had something that could serve her purpose.
It seemed, however, that someone had beaten her to it: at the counter stood Boudica, the only other more or less competent fighter, with a couple of boxing gloves she was about to take. What could she even do with them, being all by herself in the first place?
Sensing an opportunity, she made her way to her, unable to hold back a scoff as she did, and snatched a pair for herself.
"Training grounds, now," she commanded, already marching there without waiting for the barbarian to catch up; it wasn't long before she began hearing the sound of heavy steps following her. She was muttering something in her native tongue, but Sahar didn't need to be proficient in it to figure out that it was a bunch of profanities directed at her; her angry tone did the job well enough.
She had half a mind to retort with something, just to further enrage her, but she could tell that both of them felt quite feisty already; there was no need to add fuel to the fire. Alas, she refused to lower herself to the same level as that barbarian woman, as fun as that would have been.
The training grounds were empty, most likely because of the late hour.
That had been something neither of them had thought about: it made their upcoming match feel more intimate, despite its violent nature. As she put the gauntlets on, she found herself missing the audience: she could have shown off her impeccable sportsmanship, but there were no eyes that could see, except her opponent's, she supposed.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something approach her very, very fast.
She had barely enough time to dodge the punch that had been aimed her way, moving to the side before it could make contact. Had she been slower, she would have been done for.
She should have accounted for the fact that it was most unlikely that a barbarian would follow the rules of a duel, admitting that a being as primitive as her knew about them in the first place.
If that was how things were going to be, however, she would act accordingly: if Boudica wanted to swing as wildly as she wanted, she did not see why she should not do the same.
Sahar had always seen battling as something akin to dancing.
What they were doing in that moment seemed to be the furthest thing from it, and yet she soon found a rhythm and even managed to follow its flow quite easily, despite it being quite different from what she was used to. Even Boudica, for once, was following through quite well.
She could not help but be transported to her time at the Academy; the anger both of them had felt had melted away, replaced by something more playful. Sahar even found herself laughing in a genuine way when she managed to land a hit, making Boudica stumble a few feet behind.
"Thought you'd be too prissy for that," she managed to say as she caught her breath. "Not bad…"
Her half-assed compliment should not have had any effect on her, but she found herself being very pleased by her words. "You too…" she admitted. "I thought, dumb as you are, it would be easier to take you down."
Boudica let out a roar, then charged.
They both ended up on the ground, engaging in a rather undignified display of push and pull, gauntlets long forgotten to the side.
Sooner than Sahar would have liked, she found herself pinned to the ground, unable to push the hulking beast of a woman that was towering over her away. Surprisingly, however, she did not mind that position at all.
It was not long before their lips met, and with that their fight shifted to something different. She had not felt like this in a long time; memories of his past lover immediately came to mind, but Boudica quickly made her shift her focus back to her. She was unexpectedly good, making her crave more.
She had no qualms about taking what she wanted, uncaring of the fact that anyone could potentially walk in on them at any moment. They could join them, for all she cared, as long as she could keep Boudica for herself just for a little while…
That night, she had a most restful sleep.
What meditation had not managed to achieve, she had obtained by tussling with a worthy rival-turned-lover.
Finally, she felt at her best once again. That had been exactly what she had needed.
