Wyn had bid the Regents goodnight when they received word that everyone was safely within the walls and accounted for. But she had remained sitting wake in her room until she received a message that Nerini had returned as well, was fine and would see her in the morning. She had fought the urge to go find her friend, to ensure Nerini was in fact alright but long experience told her that it would be fruitless. She knew that Nerini would be found when she wanted to be found and that morning would come soon enough.

She sent subsequent messages to Rael and Kannein, ensuring they also knew that Nerini had made it back into the city safely, assuming Rael had already filled Kanny in on what he had missed. She was certain Nerini wasn't aware that her nighttime activities weren't entirely secret anymore and probably wouldn't expect the lecture that was coming her way, if Kanny found her first. Though she wasn't of mind to give her friend a heads up, knowing that sometimes Nerini needed such a talking-to from her friend. 

The next morning she was up early and had walked through the training grounds, expecting to catch sight of Nerini going through drills to warm herself up in anticipation for the day's fights to come. When her friend did not appear as usual, worry began to set in at the strange deviation to the woman's routine. Nerini very rarely missed training, even if she had a fight or two and it would take a great deal to prevent her friend from following through with the limbering ritual.

With growing trepidation, Wyn made her way to the tournament grounds, finding Nerini's sparse tent near the back. It was removed the area allowed for high ranking courtiers and Knights, out of Nerini's desire for anonymity. 

Wyn glanced around, taking in the buzz of the morning before walking into the humid confines of her friend's sad little tent. She glanced into the interior room after realizing that Nerini had rigged it for extra privacy and warning but still finding the whole thing empty. She frowned to her own reflection as she looked at the mirror, which was one of the scant belongings inside other than the stand that contained the melee armour Nerini had worn the first day.

The tent remained still and empty as the morning dawned and the tournament grounds awoke around her. The last four fights were supposed to be today. And she wanted to head off her friend before then, to see how Nerini actually was. Wyn needed to assuage the worry that had begun to burrow into her mind at her friend's deviations the past few hours. She hadn't thought Nerini would have been seriously injured but Wyn felt an odd shift in her confidence, wondering if she had overestimated Nerini abilities.

When no word arrived, she settled herself to accept that maybe Nerini had the wisdom to withdraw without needing compulsion from her friends, if she was actually injured. She wasn't sure if that worried her even more than the thought of Nerini being injured did, however. Nerini wasn't someone who used caution of her own compulsion and for her to bow out would mean a horribly serious incident the night before.

"Yeah... or she knew I would stop her." Lady Wyn muttered to herself in sudden realization, striding out of the tent quickly, as she heard the Herald's voice, announcing the first of the day's fights was about to begin.

The crowd was voraciously hungry and clamouring for the contests as she weaved her way up to the judges stand, listening to alarming rumours and information filtering through to her awareness. She was relieved when she reached open ground and finally made it to the viewing stands, finding herself amongst a tired looking group of friends. All them appeared to be trying to maintain a mask of enthusiasm for the games, though the tensions and emotions of the night before were showing easily to Wyn.

Rael sat stiffly in her chair, frowning at the arena as Kannein glowered in that same direction. The Prince of Sellexu glanced between them and the arena with a little less of that strain, smiling when he finally saw her, though there was still exhaustion in his eyes as he tried to understand the dynamics going on.

Beside him was a dark haired young woman, large moss green eyes taking in everything she could as quickly as she could, smiling brightly in her direction when that gaze rested on her. Wyn quickly recognized that this was probably the young woman who caused so much worry the night before.

"Lady Wyn, may I introduce Lyana D'Ilnza?" Caelur offered, if only to break the strange silence that had befallen the group.

Wyn offered her a gracious bow and smiled, sitting beside the young woman. "Welcome. I heard you had quite the night. Is your brother ok?"

Lyana nodded and motioned to the arena, where Shiar leaned against the fence railing, watching a white cloaked fighter circle with another fighter. She couldn't see Shiar's expression, but she wondered if the tension in his shoulders meant he had the same expression as Kannein did. It made her wonder if Kanny had given his sister's secrets up last night at some point during the battle. She wondered if she could ask after what happened the night before in the woods without drawing out too much tension or information into the open.

Nerini was fighting left handed, with a short blade in her right, doing her best to not favour the arm but clearly using a lighter weapon that she did not have to rely on to prevent excessive use. "My brother says he came to a draw with this one a couple days ago and Prince Caelur says the whole arena has been waiting for their rematch."

Wyn nodded slowly, pulling her mind back into the conversation with the young woman. "Aye. I had expected that the events from last night might cause a couple forfeits, though."

"No, my brother is fine. A bit grumpy, but he would not decline to fight." Lyana said before quickly looking back to the contest at hand, as if she caught on to the real meaning of Wyn's words. The girl's expression turned quickly to shock as she began to realize who it was that fought before them in the arena.

"I'm sure he was happy to see you, once he knew you were safe." Caelur smiled gently, looking from Lyana to Wyn. "I told Lyana that you have learned to fight in that same style the Fox is using out there, now."

"The Lord Errgin has been defeated by The Fox!" The Herald called, pulling all their attention back to the ring, where the winner had already left, striding towards the tents without a backward glance and the loser was being hobbled off by two attendants. 

Whatever had the finishing blow had been, it was decisive.

"I was hoping, maybe while I'm here, you could teach me as well." Lyana blurted out, catching Wyn mid-rise, causing Caelur to start in surprise and look at her as well.

Wyn smiled and inclined her head, doing her best to hide her surprise, which she feared would dissuade the young woman. "I'm not usually the teacher, but I'm sure we can arrange that." She wouldn't turn the girl down, but she wasn't sure how Shiar would take to his sister associating with Aupanian women warriors.

Lyana beamed to her and nodded. "I would love that, Lady Wyn"

"Please excuse me. I need to see to something." She bowed to both of them and strode quickly off the stage after the Fox who was already disappearing into the tent lines. She knew she had been a little more abrupt with the poor girl than she should have been, but there was no way that she would let Rini continue with this madness while injured.

***

Nerini was in her tent, with her shirt and its leather overlays off, wincing as she unwrapped her shoulder, exposing a coarsely stitched wound as Wyn walked in. She looked up and then sighed, watching her friend for a long time, waiting out the silence. 

They stared at one another for a long while, Wyn watching Nerini panting in pain, with sweat beading along her forehead. It was a stalemate that was going nowhere and it looked like Nerini was suffering a great deal from the ugly looking wound and the bruise that spread out in all directions from it.

"Your silence isn't going to work on me, Rini."

"It just did."

Wyn frowned and walked closer to her. "You're hurt."

Nerini nodded and clenched her right fist, closing her eyes for a moment, as if trying to will away the injury."Not enough to quit."

"It's not a fair fight, Rini! He's lost sleep, you've lost the use of your arm!" Wyn paced away from her, shaking her head and glancing towards the door."I'll go stop it now. Rael and Kannein look ready to drag you out of the arena themselves! They won't need much encouragement from me."

"If you do that to me, I will never forgive you." Nerini said darkly, looking ready to stop her from leaving, though what her friend would do was beyond Wyn's guessing. Nerini was the better fighter, when she could use both arms but Rini would never hurt her, she was certain of that. And Wyn felt reasonably confident in her chances with the way Nerini looked at the moment.

Wyn glanced around the tent, then back to her friend, wavering, remembering the danger of those words, the history behind them. "You would."

Nerini shook her head at that, her expression blunt, pausing as a cheer went up in the crowd, "That'll be his win. They'll give an hour for both of us to rest, then we fight, then it's done. And then I'll see to this, it's not even that bad, just stiff. The healer was decent, given the time of night I arrived."

"What do you expect to happen out there? He's your equal when you're healthy. You can't even lift your arm."

"Please, Wyn. Be my friend, this is something I have to do."

"I am trying to be your friend. I'm trying to save your life, Rini."

Nerini laughed softly and looked to the ground, her expression getting a distant look to it, a look which broke Wyn's heart for its familiarity. "I'm not going to die out there. I don't even expect to win. But they need to know."

"How do you know they don't already?" Wyn wasn't a healer, but looking at the wound, at the signs of fever on Rini's face, she found herself tensed and worried about that bruise that looked so dark. Something wasn't right but there was nothing Wyn could put her finger on, nothing she could place as a source of the wrongness.

Nerini shook her head and frowned at her friend. "Because I've already heard the phrase 'this is no place for a woman' out of these people so much it makes me sick. I heard the crowd this morning, when Rael gave us a chance to step down, the derision and utmost contempt for attempting to be easy on a female, it doesn't matter if I'm hurt. They will look at me and tell themselves I quit because I was a woman."

"That isn't fair. Injury is injury." Wyn was exasperated, but not at her friend, knowing Nerini spoke the truth, as cruel as it was, she had heard the same words murmured in the crowd.

"No, but they don't judge by what they could actually do. No one would admit that they were weak. They tell stories, pump their chests and assure themselves that they, or their heroes like Shiar and my brother, could fight with only one arm and no breath left in their lungs. That it is my sex that is stopping me, not an injury. I won't be their justification to continue talking like that."

"A woman has to work twice as hard, do twice as much, to prove she's equal to a man?" Wyn asked stubbornly, shaking her head, hating the sense that Nerini was speaking and that tone in her voice that clearly communicated that it wasn't just Nerini making this decision but that odd little force within her that was impossible for her friend to ignore.

"Yeah, but hopefully, that'll end today. And no one else will have to put up with this shit."

Wyn smiled bitterly, "I'll go get you some food, and water. You've got to keep something down, so you don't faint on the way to the arena."