Everyone started to agree with anonymous yells  and it wasn't until the crowd turned its gaze back to the Aupanan warrior that they lost confidence in their facts and began to fall silent once more. Nerini just grinned wider as she glanced to Shiar who remained standing to the side, watching her. He didn't move, his expression unreadable and she wondered if he knew what she was about to do. She wondered if he was regretting his decision already.

"Well, you tell your mother who laboured twelve hours and chanced death to give birth to you, that she's weak." She said firmly, glancing around the crowd as she spoke. "Or the women who spend days sowing and weeding and harvesting in the fields while their husbands are at sea or war, that they are made for finer things than providing for their family and community. Or perhaps, you tell the mothers, sisters and wives of all the men you lose to ocean storms and distant wars, the ones who hold their families together and refuse to break when the whole world falls apart, that they are too delicate for the realities of life."

Silence loomed now and people glanced around at one another. "When you take a bird from birth and chain it to the ground and teach it every day that it cannot fly, soon you can remove the chains. And it will continue to hobble around the ground, never using its wings. It will be a pretty thing, resting on your shoulder as an ornament, perhaps, but it will not fly. Yet, you spend a woman's whole life, telling her she is weak, and she shows you how strong she is. You tell her she cannot do what a man does and she does more."

Nerini let out a breath, shaking her head, fearing that her words weren't truly being heard. The feeling in her chest grew, nagging at her that they would forget what she had said the moment she turned away.  She looked around, then let her gaze stop on the little boy, her expression grave. The boy gulped and lowered his sword as she took a step forward. Her movement caused the boy to go pale and take a step backwards, where he fell in line with the four little girls.

"Out of all the sword fighters here right now, who's the strongest of High Lord Shiar's men?"

The boy blinked, offering a careful shrug that caused the crowd laughed gently. Shiar cleared his throat, finally joining the conversation. "My man at arms, Fydal."

The man, hearing his name, stepped forward out of the edge of the crowd,."M'lord?" He towered above Shiar who wasn't a small man himself.  Fydal was easily three times Nerin's weight and one of his arms looked to be as wide as her waist. 

Nerini looked at the guardsman, then nodded and looked back to the boy. "Who is the fastest?"

"Clynen" Shiar answered and another of his guard stepped forward, a man about Shiar's size, slim but with an easy movement and trim build. If Shiar had caught on yet, he gave nothing away in his expression, just waiting for her to continue with a steady gaze.

"And I know, I know that your High Lord Shiar is the best swordsman in Sellexu. I would not offer such an affront to put him on the spot, but after him, who is the best swordsman here, right now?" She was addressing the little boy, whose eyes were wide as he shook his head a final time, mouth gaping. 

Once more, Shiar answered for him, his words ringing clearly through the silent village square. "Port Couth's Master at arms, the man who helped teach me, Sargent Razdu"

The final man stepped forward, offering a quick bow. Razdu was middle aged but still fit, a scar visible across his jaw, wide shoulders and a near permanent scowl in his dark eyes. He moved like a seasoned fighter and scowled like the best sword fighting teachers were wont to do.

Nerini grinned and turned to the three fighters, offering them a bow, before she turned back to the children, pointing to the steps of a statue at the edge of the crowd. "Please, go stand there, get high enough that you can see."

The girls nodded happily and ran over to the steps, climbing up onto the statue for a view, the boy following behind them uncertainly. Nerini watched the crowd thoughtfully for a moment, then offered Shiar a quick bow. " High Lord Shiar, could you please instruct the rest of your men to keep the perimeter, and stand back?"

"Lady Nerini." He said after a moment's hesitation, offering her a quick bow in return, then issuing the commands, his expression closed, still unreadable.

She shrugged her cloak back over her shoulders and faced the three guards, addressing them. "I hold none of you in ill-will, and seek not to injure or mortally wound you. I merely ask for you to spar with me."

Razdu shrugged to her and pulled out his broad sword, "which one of us, M'lady?" 

Nerini could tell he recognized her,  that he may have  seen her fight in the pass, defending a small castle against overwhelming odds and holding back most of Shiar's men by herself. Still, it relieved her that he was not fazed by this request or affronted by the challenge of what he knew to be a worthy fight. She only hoped that the other two would take his lead.

"All three of you. Together. At the same time." She smiled brightly and bowed to them, before turning and taking a few steps away from them. Nerini grinned as she heard both Clynen and Fydal drew their own weapons. 

Two curved serrated blades for the smaller man,and a giant longsword over six feet long, for Fydal. "Now, I'm just a normally sized, perhaps even smaller than average woman. I've been taught to fight and trained extensively, like these men behind me, and like your High Lord. I assure you, Aupanans aren't magical and I really am a woman. The same goes for the Cleandrian side of me too, in case you think that I'm trying to pull something over on you. The only thing different between me and any one of you here today, is how I was raised."

Nerini drew her swords, spinning to meet the charge from the giant man that she had heard coming, redirecting him past her as she shifted and raised her blades to meet the quick slashes from Clynen. She used him as a shield from Razdu while she parried with the second man before she could turn and counter-attack the master at arms. Nerini didn't hold back, putting him on the defensive with a furious volley of blades before she spun and blocked a slash from Clynen.

Fydal came in with a heavy, sweeping blow that she ducked, rolling around behind him. She continued shifting to follow him as he turned to face her.  As she danced around the giant, she countered a couple attacks from Razdu.

Even then, Fydal was a good enough fighter that after a few moments of being hampered by her methods he came up with a new solution. He released the hilt with one hand, cocked his hand back and threw a punch at her jaw. a punch that was probably heavy enough to knock out anyone not made of stone.

Nerini kicked Razdu back with a boot to the chest, spinning her blades to avoid impaling Fydal as she turned into his momentum, turning her head to avoid the brunt, though two knuckles still grazed across her jaw as she spun with his momentum. She used his force, kicking her hips up even as she tugged on the extended arm to toss him across the open area to land hard on his shoulders and head. He didn't move, though the groan he emitted told her that he was still alive.

Nerini stumbled and shook her head, dazed by the sudden throbbing in her jaw and stars in her eyes from the glancing but still damaging hit. She spun towards Clynen and Razdu, who were regrouping after watching her take the hit. They seem surprised, hesitating for a moment as they regarded her, unsure of what to do. With a crack of her jaw that she knew she was going to regret later, she yelled at them. "C'mon! Don't take it easy on me! I'm an Aupanan, you've spent your whole lives hating me!"

And she launched herself into an attack driving both men back on their heels for a few moments before they countered together. Razdu swept his blade sharply under her defences as she parried with Clynen, narrowly missing her as she turned in the nick of time.

 Nerini continued to address Clynen as she shifted to keep Razdu behind the other man, catching her blades hilt to hilt with Clynen's, lifting them high. She felt him pressing down against her, before she shifted, disarming him with a flick of her wrist that sent both blades clattering to the ground. She continued the momentum, using her shoulder to check him backwards to give her the space to catch a sword thrust from the master at arms.

They exchanged attacks back and forth to get a feel for one another's style and movements before launching into a complicated dance of metal and bodies that had them spanning the cleared area before the crowd.  The dance ended abruptly with Razdu jerking to a stop, sword high and to the side, while Nerini's blades rested against his body, one on his throat and the other one across his belly. 

They paused there for a moment before Razdu nodded to her and she inclined her head, stepping back and spinning her blades back up into their sheaths as she turned to face the crowd. "Give a hand to your fighters, all great and accomplished warriors who have served this city and your safety, in outstanding fashion. No one among you could claim that their skill is anything but expertly polished."

The crowd clapped for the men, who stood to the side, looking none-the worse for wear, thankfully. Nerini had been worried about the big man that had been thrown so roughly, though he was standing easily enough. She rubbed her jaw and offered the three of them another bow, smiling. "Strength can be overcome. Speed can be redirected and skill can be learned. That's all I wanted you to know."

She paused, then glanced around, catching a whim and going with it. "Oh, and if anyone believes they can do better, I challenge you to volunteer for the Alliance guard. If you succeed in the selections, you will be trained, paid and provided the opportunity to represent Sellexu with honour."

Shiar looked at her, his expression a bit perplexed as the crowd broke and returned to its celebrating. The mood remained excited and jovial, clearly buoyed by the performance. "Enjoy yourself?"

She grinned shamelessly. "You know how it is after sitting on a boat for a couple days, you gotta stretch your legs." 

She strode over to the children, and offered them all a bow, before sending them running off, watching the girls launch into elaborate play fights with one another, including a couple boys who jumped in to join them.

"You can't change the world, overnight." Shiar said after a moment's reflection, leading her through the square and up towards the keep once she was done watching the girls run amok with their new skills and toys.

"I know. And most people will continue to believe what they believe. But Sellexu has great warriors and an amazing fighting class though you use only fifty percent of your resources. And no matter how much you tell them you accept women fighting, until they see exactly what that means, it'll be the self-defeating prophecy that wins."  She frowned in thought, her eyes unfocused.

"You put on a good show though, I think even if just for recruitment reasons, we should look at something similar, maybe stage sparring or training as we travel." Shiar nudged her with his shoulder, drawing her attention back to the present moment.

Nerini winced, rubbing her jaw, which was already colouring a dark purple. "Yeah, but no more punching people in the face. Where the hell did you get that guy? He's huge. And that Long sword? I thought my father was the last man on earth to use that kind of weapon."

Shiar could only laugh and shake his head as a response. Or, it was all he was willing to do for the moment, anyways.