Shiar stood in the ring watching his sister talk lightly with Caelur and Lady Wyn, smiling to himself and letting the sight calm him. His nerves were frayed from lack of sleep, his body dragging without the adrenaline of a fight to keep it going as the long several days caught up with him while he waited for this final match to begin. But seeing Lyana safe and seemingly enamoured by the Aupanan woman soothed him; his sister was precious to him but something made him feel better knowing she was already being accepted by a strong woman like Wyn.

He turned from that contemplation as the crowd's volume rose, watching the cloaked figure walk into the arena ring, hands empty, holding them both evenly at her sides. He had watched the match this morning and noted the change in weapon along with the left-hand fighting and had come to his own conclusions.

Shiar had heard the story from his men several times, how they saw her rip the bolt from her own shoulder and he remembered the sound of that scream as they rounded the last corner to find the battle completed with no foes left to slake their anger and battle lust. There had been a little blood on the ground but Lord Kannein hadn't wanted to stick around for Shiar to try and investigate, not that Shiar had paused during the moment either. Healers weren't hard to find, but there was only one that he knew of who could have returned her to full use of her arm this quickly.

He was fighting half a foe right now and that frustrated him more than anything, giving him a sense of being cheated. He didn't want this fight to happen, not like this. Shiar was going to do his best to convince her to stand down. He should be thanking this warrior who saved his sister's life, not trying his best to kill or defeat her. 

He needed to force her to back down, it was the only solution he could think of; to give her no crutch or choice but to bow out and have whatever injuries she had tended to. It was a brash plan but it was the only one he had. If it had been him, he doubted he would have been able to even grip the smaller blade she used earlier, let alone her larger sword. Surely she knew that there was no shame in it, that no one would fault her for it.

The Herald began with his announcements, bringing forth the one point Shiar was waiting for. "In the final fight between warriors, we see a rematch from our draw from the Melee. The Fox versus High Lord Shiar, winner being forerunner for the title of Champion of the Alliance. As per pre-set tournament rules, the competitors reserve the right to decide what weapons their opponent will fight with." 

 No one had enacted those rules yet, they were ancient and partial to Sellexu but no one wanted to mar their honour by handicapping a foe. He wasn't even sure why the rule had been introduced to the tournament to begin with but he wasn't going to ignore providence working on his side for once.

The Herald stopped and looked to them in askance, the Fox waved a hand at him, followed by a head shake. It was clear she had no desire to try and play mind games with her opponent. Pausing to contemplate his plan, Shiar almost found him imagining that he could feel the pain coming off of her form. It caused Shiar a moment of indecision, knowing that his motives would not be clear to anyone but him. They would only see that he was playing a game that no one understood, least of all his opponent, but he refused to play a part in the madness of this, he needed to end this now.

Shiar cleared his throat and shrugged. "Two swords, the one carried on the Foxes back."

He looked to the judge's stand, watching Lady Wyn go pale and shake her head, almost imperceptibly, the woman was concerned but her eyes sharpened on him with an unforgiving expression. His Prince glanced at her then back out to him, his expression curious. His friend was trying to piece together an uncharacteristic power play. Shiar never tried to win in an underhanded way and he hoped his friend would understand, perhaps even explain it to the others once he caught on.

Lord Kannein stood up beside the Queen who glared hard in his direction, Kannein grabbing her hand gently before she could say anything in response. They shared a look, then turned to look at him, expressions suddenly devoid of emotion. Shiar let out a breath, watching them, begging them silently to understand.

"So, that is how you want to do it." The Fox muttered in Sellexun, sketching a bow to him as she stepped back and steeled herself. Something about her words, said in anger, tickled at his memories in ways he couldn't quite place. He couldn't see her features under that hood, but he could see the stiffness in her body, the deep breaths before she moved both her arms stiffly  up and behind her, drawing her two long blades. 

"You are injured and could hurt yourself even worse in this fight. I am trying to convince you to stand down." Shiar hissed back at her, turning to face her, not yet unsheathing his own blades, "it's not worth it."

"You don't know what this is worth, My Lord. You don't get to decide when I stand down, no-one but me decides that." She faced him, looking to the herald and motioning for him to sound the start of the fight. The poor man looked confused, as Shiar still refused to draw his weapons, which didn't exactly signal the ferocity that was expected between the two fighters.

"I know it was you who saved my sister last night." He said stubbornly, shaking his head, frowning as the horn commencing the fight finally sounded. He leapt backwards and drew his bastard sword. He continued blocking her slashes as he backed away before he was forced to draw his short sword and catching a weak right thrust far easier than he should have been able to, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

"So? Let me fight my fight." She growled shifting and redirecting his weight over and past her, causing him to dive into a roll and spin away from her quick blades as she slashed back at him.  

"She told me you were hurt. She can heal you. She's a healer. Just end this fight, now." 

The figure growled and made a feint, which caused him to launch into a series of attacks that had her back pedalling and struggling to keep raising her injured arm, though she spoke like she was the one with the advantage. "Not until you concede!"

***

 Wyn frowned, moving to the railing of their booth, leaning towards the arena. "Can you hear what they're saying? They're talking about something."

Lyana stepped up beside her and shook her head. " Between his fights, I told him it was the one from last night, the person from the forest, he's probably trying to convince a concession."

Wyn frowned and looked at the girl, ignoring Caelur, who stepped up on her other side. "How did you know?" Her question was a confirmation to both of them, but she needed information more than she needed secrecy.

"Injuries." Lyana said softly, considering the arena and the fight within it, ignoring Prince Caelur's intake of breath, the young woman kept speaking, refusing to let him interrupt her. 

As odd as that was, the fact that the Prince let her continue without censure was even more unsettling. "It's rare, but I can sense and heal injuries. I wanted to help last night, but I wasn't given the chance and I felt it during the fight this morning once you brought my attention to it, she's injured badly, I can feel the waves of pain coming off her, something else too. I told Shia because I figured he'd help. He said he'd try to convince her to concede, that's probably why he chose the larger swords for her."

Wyn looked at the girl for a long moment, then looked to the Prince, who offered a careful shrug, drawing a frustrated sigh from her. "You realize that by making her use her sword, he's making it worse. By telling her to back down, he's steeling her resolve."

"And now, it's even worse." Lyana murmured, nodding to the arena, bringing Wyn's notice to the darkening red stain growing on the otherwise flawlessly white uniform.

"I'll stop it." The Prince frowned, raising his hand to call over the Herald. 

But Wyn shook her head and grabbed his hand, wincing at her forwardness but plowing on anyways, the consequences be damned. She needed to save her friend from something worse than her own faux pas. "No. She won't stop. You would be forced to do something you can't undo. She will defy you." She hoped he would understand and that they had made enough inroads in their friendship for him, a future king, not be be offended by what she was saying.

Caelur frowned at that, watching Lyana, and then  looking to Wyn for a long moment, his quick mind catching up with the undercurrents of what he had been missing. "What is going on?"

Wyn winced and shook her head, glancing to Lord Kannein and the Queen who had joined them standing along the railing. "She's proving a point."

Rael winced and glanced to the arena, shaking her head. "Stupid girl." 

Though even as she said it, she gave a querying look to Wyn, who nodded at the unasked question. There were some things that they were forced to allow from Nerini, just as their friend was forced to do them, for fear of what happened when she didn't accomplish her tasks.

Kannien clenched his jaw and looked at the Sellexun Prince, then looked back to the arena, just shaking his head and refusing to speak. They were trying to look casual, just interested, to the crowd but none of them looked nearly as happy as they should be, glowering at the fight unfolding in front of them.

*** 

Her head was getting lighter and she had to focus on the pain of her shoulder to keep her from losing her concentration on what she was doing. Her vision was blurring, but she blinked the focus back into it, repeatedly, circling around him, feeling a sticky sort of warmth fill her gloves and squish against her skin as she forced her hand to keep hold of that damnably heavy sword. She was mainly using her left hand now anyways, dancing away from his blades as her right arm refused to raise itself in her defence.

 Her body seemed to vibrate with an uncontrollable heat followed by waves of sickening coolness that made her feel as if she were being pulled into winter waters. It felt as if she were about to drown, far away from the solid land she was standing on. She could barely tell she was standing on solid ground anymore.

"Concede!" She yelled at him as he tried to pull back, jumping into the air and landing a boot on his chest and sending him stumbling back in surprise. He wasn't fighting to his full ability, and she couldn't understand why, she was a mess, he should have defeated her by now.

"Concede WHAT?" He yelled back at her, regaining his feet and bringing his sword around, finding it caught by her right sword, even weaker than before. He had tempered the force of his slash, and even then, it was too much. He winced at the grunt of pain she let out, watching her sword fall from her right arm, followed by a spattering of blood that leaked from her gloves.

"That you were wrong." She panted out, lifting her left sword at the ready, shifting her feet to brace herself against the unsteady movement of the ground, though he wasn't moving closer, his blades held low. He looked bewildered, frustrated, pained, as if it was him that was injured and not her.

"About what? That you couldn't possibly fight yourself to death? You're right. You've won that award." He shook his head, raising his blades as she forced her right hand up and pulled back her hood. And suddenly his expression went pale, as if he was looking at a ghost, his expression showing he recognized exactly who he was fighting.

"That you were wrong." Her words had switched back and forth between Aupanan and Sellexun because she didn't have the control over it anymore, as the darkness rimmed her vision. 

As her eyes began to lose focus, she had finally settled on his language, her green eyes glaring at him through the black war paint, red braided hair tumbling down her shoulders. "Women do belong out here, we belong anywhere men belong."

"Foxes. I was wrong the moment I said it to you, two years ago. I've been trying to take it back since." He blinked at her, his swords lowering as he took in everything about her, his voice rising to cut through a surprised, nearly silent crowd. "I'd fight alongside any warrior, male or female, without hesitation. You've shown me that. Never doubt that for a second."

She paused, tilting her head to the side and nodding, lowering her sword. "Good. That's all I wanted. I concede."

And with that, she crumpled face first into the sand, the world narrowing quickly into darkness and silence. The cold waters surrounded her hungrily and dragged her under as she fell into them, letting the coolness fight back through her feverish heat and drown her in oblivion.