Are you Shor about this? (Zenke)

Lilian let Fayla close the distance. It was easy to manage, considering Fayla had her in speed, but she waited for the swing to come and dodged to the side, rolling away from the attack. Lilian swung her hand, creating a metal grapple hook and cable that shot out, and attempted to swing it and wrap it around Fayla's ankle. She sent a very weak shock along the cable and assuming it had nabbed Fayla's ankle, Lilian would attempt to pull Fayla's leg from under her. If she actually managed to do that, Lilian would drop the cable wait for Fayla to start getting to her feet before lunging forward to hit her with her lightning strike.

If she failed to knock Fayla over she would instead swing the cable and try to lash Fayla with it before attempting to hit her with the lightning strike anyway. Either way Fayla would find lightning crackling from Lilian's fist as she stepped in for the punch. Lilian would then make a quick retreat if she could, taking a second and third shot as she backed off from Fayla.

Fayla's sweep attempt failed as Lilian sidestepped the swing, before the Human produced a grappling hook and cable from thin air. Lilian swung the hook around with alarming speed, snagging Fayla's left ankle with it. The Eldari flinched when she got a slight jolt of electricity from the cable. Lilian then yanked Fayla's leg out from underneath her, sending her crashing to the dirt. Fayla regained her feet quickly and nodded with a smile at Lilian. "Okay, I see how it is." Lilian came at her with another attack, and Fayla saw her fist crackle with electricity. The Eldari decided to try something completely different, something simple. She sidestepped the punch, and as she did so she swung her right leg and attempted to punt Lilian's legs out from underneath her.

If she succeeded, Fayla would back away and return to a combat stance to await the response. If it failed, she would charge after Lilian, parrying the first shot. The second shot would glance off her shoulder but she would continue on and send a few probing attacks Lilian's way, targeting her arms in an attempt to disarm her of her crossbow. She would try stay as close as possible, given Lilian's ranged superiority.

Lilian's punch missed and Fayla swept her legs from under her, causing her to tumble forward. She took the weight with her left hand, and let herself roll forward through it. She did end up on her back briefly but was swift returning to her feet and opening fire. Fayla parried her shots and closed the distance. The second shot glanced her as she thrust forward and struck Lilian's wrist, causing her to lose grip of her crossbow as she recoiled form the blow. Lilian blocked the second strike with her metal arm and drew her sword, ducking low and thrusting it toward's Fayla's gut. At the same time she caught the crossbow with her heel and flicked it across the sand away from them.

Lilian tried to strike Fayla in the knee before retreating backwards. She recalled exactly where her crossbow had landed, and goaded Fayla into striking at her. If she did, or hesitated to long, Lilian would dive backwards and scoop up the crossbow, firing off the last shot in the clip. She reloaded the weapon as fast as she could, but didn't fire again. Instead she raised hand and created ten metal shurikens, and swung her hand to the side sending them out in a fan pattern to drive Fayla back. Each shuriken flew with more power behind them than was normal for a simple thrown weapon thrown weapon, because of Lilian's metal abilities.

The goal was to try and goad out any counter attacks of Fayla's, before what Lilian hoped would be the grand finish with her crossbow. Assuming she actually managed to hold onto it. Fayla didn't seem to be taking things as seriously as Lilian was though.

Fayla managed to knock Lilian down with the sweep, but she rolled through and regained her feet quickly, impressing Fayla. "Nice!" Fayla's rush was successful in knocking the crossbow from Lilian's hands. However, she managed to block another attack with her metal arm, allowing her to draw her sword and catch Fayla in the gut as she tried to jump back out of range. The Eldari's speed prevented some of the impact, but she recoiled away slightly winded anyway.

Fayla watched as Lilian attempted to lure her into making a move, but Fayla didn't take the bait, and instead stood her ground. As she expected, Lilian dove to her crossbow, reaching it and firing off a shot at Fayla. The Eldari parried it, and saw Lilian beginning to reload the magazine. Fayla saw a chance and surged forward, backing herself to get in range before Lilian could fire. But what she didn't expect was Lilian not firing her crossbow. The Human instead held up a palm and fired a barrage of small metal projectiles in a spread pattern towards her. Fayla was too close to fully dodge, so she instinctively parried a couple of the blades away. The were too many, however, and Fayla felt the sting as shurikens grazed her cheek and her left shoulder, drawing blood.

The Eldari could hear the cheers of the crowd as she reached up and felt the blood trickling from the cut on her face. She looked at Lilian and grinned. "So that's how it is, huh? Not bad." Fayla stalked forward ready for more crossbow bolts to come her way. If she managed to close to melee range, she would direct a couple of attacks with her sword, this time trying to goad Lilian into a counterattack.

If she took the bait, Fayla would suddenly be replaced by a stone replica of herself for a split-second that could block a Weak-strength attack before breaking. Once the replica broke, Fayla would follow it instantly with her strike slash, launching forward with a slash before following it up by "flash-stepping" above Lilian and trying to end the fight there and then. Hit or miss, Fayla would back-flip away and survey the scene.

The crowd cheered as Lilian drew first blood. She gave Fayla an apologetic smile as the girl wiped blood from her cheek and praised her. Then Fayla went straight into the counter attack slashing at Lilian. As she attacked Lilian spotted an opening in her defense and seen her chance to finish it. "Gotcha!" She exclaimed as as she dodged Fayla's strike and brought her sword into her side. She heard the crunch of.. stone... Her sword passed straight through Fayla, shattering her. For a moment, Lilian was confused, but then Fayla appeared and slashed her across the midriff, before vanishing.

Lilian staggered back cluching her ribs and almost lost her footing right as Fayla appeared above her and swung down. She barely managed to block, throwing up her crossbow, and was knocked from her feet. The crossbow slipped from her hand. Lilian groaned, as Fayla loomed above her. She was beaten, she knew, but she didn't want to lose so fast. How was she supposed Impress Fayla with a subpar display. With a groan she kipped up and dropped her sword, giving Fayla an impish grin. "If I'm going to lose, i'm going to go out with a bang." She said. Lilian slammed her metal fist into the palm of her other hand, imbuing it with lightning, and followed the movement up by dashing towards Fayla.

She would try to dodge around her and attempt to punch her in the sword arm with a blast of electricity that would deal average damage an hopefully disable her arm. If She didn't end it, it was probably game over for Lilian. She had no more tricks up her sleeves.

Fayla watched as Lilian kipped up with a groan. She was impressed with the Human's toughness after taking a solid hit to the body, though Lilian did manage to raise her crossbow in time to block. The weapon was sent skittering across the deck, and Fayla readied herself for Lilian's response. The fight was by far the longest in the tournament, something the crowd appreciated with fervor. Blood trickled down Fayla's face, and the two combatants faced each other.

Lilian dropped her sword and suddenly grinned mischievously at Fayla, stating that if she was going out that she was going to go out with a bang. Fayla smiled back. "I was hoping you'd say that." Lilian smashed her metal hand into her other and charged it with electrical energy. Fayla raised an eyebrow. "Huh, that's how it is, so?" Lilian launched forward with intensity, and attempted to get around Fayla's guard and attack her sword arm. Fayla let her instincts take over and she spun rapidly and swung her weapon into Lilian's attack with all of the strength she could muster. They were in the endgame now.

Fayla met her attack with a counter attack, striking her arm and causing a powerful burst of electricity to explode from her hand. The blow knocked Lilian off balance and she stumbled back, before plomping onto her butt in the dusty ring. "OW... My butt.." She complained. She let out a disapointed sigh. "You win." She said. "I just realised how tired I am after all those fights and I don't think I can stand back up." She said.

Eventually, with Fayla's help or on her own, she made it to her feet and left the ring. They're match was followed up by another between Vraska and Coro, to decide third place, however Coro forfeited, having felt he'd already lost. They were given prizes, varying amounts of coin, and the tournament was over, leaving Lilian and Fayla to walk back to the in. Lilian didn't really feel like a victor either, and ended up giving her earnings to a pack of street urchins. She expected Fayla would eventually question her about her fight with the Asentari, and prepared to answer them.

Fayla's return managed to stop the attack, dispersing the electrical energy violently which knocked Lilian onto her rear end. With that, Lilian signaled her surrender, citing fatigue from the previous fights as the reason. Fayla bowed dramatically to the crowd as they cheered, before turning to help Lilian back to her feet. The announcer called out into the crowd. "There we have it folks! your winner of this month's tournament, Rose Firemane!" Fayla waved before following Lilian out of the ring.

After the third place was determined when Vraska defeated Coro quickly, with the Eldari stating that he had already lost when he failed to defeat Fayla, the two girls headed back to the inn. Lilian gave away her winnings, feeling that she didn't deserve it as she didn't win. Fayla did the same, but kept a small portion of it separate and put it in her pouch. If quizzed on this, she would smile sheepishly. "I owe Vala 20 gold coins from a wager a while back. She bet me I couldn't stay on the back of a fenroc for more than a minute. I almost managed it, too."

When they reached the inn and sat down, Fayla bought them both a bowl of soup, and she brought them to the table. She looked inquisitively at Lilian. "So, about that fight with the Asentari. What's the deal there? You certainly seem to hate Rex now that you know what he is." Fayla shrugged. "You don't have to tell me I suppose. It's up to you."

Lilian looked at Fayla sharply. "Wait you rode a Fenroc? aren't they massive extremely aggressive armored wolves? Why? How? And how long did you hold on for?!" Lilian asked. Na'Sora, this girl was insane. And amazing. They got back to the in and Fayla bought them soup. When they were sitting and eating, she didn't hesistate to ask about her problem with Asentari. Lilian frowned. "No, my behavior wasn't acceptable earlier." Lilian said. "I owe you an explanation. But I don't hate Rex. I mistrust Asentari. Or dislike them.. Strongly." She explained.

"I lost my mother in the Contact war. She was killed by an Asentari named Darius Merciallus during the final battle. I hated asentari for starting the war when I was younger. I don't hate Asentari anymore, or atleast I thought I didn't, but seeing them brings back that pain. I never really got over her loss. As for Rex, well he doesn't seem all that bad, but he did lie to me..."

Fayla grinned at Lilian's incredulity. "Yup. We were trying to break into a bandit camp and we needed help. There was a nest nearby. Rex was there too actually. He helped me lure them out." They began to eat, and Lilian began her answer to Fayla's Asentari question with introspection. So, her mother had died in the First Contact War. That certainly explained her incredible distrust of Asentari, even for a Human. Fayla noted with interest that Lilian stated the Asentari started the war, despite the truth of what had happened being revealed at the end of the conflict when a Human was found to have attacked Lower Edia to begin with.

"Well, not to make you angry or anything, but didn't it turn out that there was fault on both sides? Some Human abducted people from Asentari lands to use as slaves or something?" Fayla was not an expert on the matter. Indeed, the Golden Council opted not to get involved when the situation escalated to the point of violence. That, and herself and Vala were busy hunting Thassa. They had overheard bits and pieces from the Humans in the towns they visited, but no more.

Fayla stroked her chin for a moment at the mention of Rex. "Well that doesn't sound right. When I met him the kid couldn't stop mentioning his heritage and background. Kairi could tell you. She was there. Actually, she was there at the Contact war as well. You should ask her about it if you see her at the Hold. She is a really good judge of character. She's the first Human who didn't get frightened or aggressive around Vala when she met her."

Fayla listened to what she had to say and pointed out that the asentari didn't exactly start the war. Lilian nodded. "True, but they never tried to communicate that. They went on the aggressive, and blamed all humans for the actions of a couple, attacked towns that had nothing to do with it. They didn't start the war but they didn't try to avoid it either." She said. "I'm sure I'm not the only person to lose a parent because of it either, and that includes the Asentari who lost parents. It was a needless war."

Lilian nodded when Fayla mentioned Rex hadn't shut up about who he was. "Well he never said it to me." She said with a frown. Then Fayla said should talk to Kairi about it. "I already knew that. Actually when we met, I only realised a few days later who I had met. I was in a sulk at the time, I had just lost my arm a few weeks before. She told me I had to make my own opportunities in life. I only heard the 'make your own' part, then went tearing off to build myself an arm. I found her name in my father's notebooks after, which mentioned her involvement in the war." She said. She frowned again. Maybe she should ask Kairi about him.

Fayla nodded as Lilian went on to explain her point of view on the start of the First Contact war. "Yup. As I said, there was fault on both sides. Although I can't really talk. The Eldari have also engaged in needless conflicts across the Ages. If it wasn't for the Eldross and the Order of the Sun, who knows what Asmir would look like now." Fayla looked out through the window at the setting sun, a strangely philosophical look on her face. "We're in a new Age now, and with the Eldross gone the Order is going to have a tough time preventing other needless wars."

Lilian then pointed out that although Rex had not hesitated to mention his race during the mission in Yoniva, he had not mentioned it to her. Fayla shrugged. "Well, he probably just wanted to be your friend. He probably thought that it wouldn't be smart to brag about his background in the middle of the capital of Mondolin." Lilian then mentioned some more details about her first meeting with Kairi. "Yeah, there's something about her that makes you take her words to heart." Fayla looked at her soup and smiled ruefully to herself. "You got me again." Lilian then spoke of finding mention of Kairi's involvement in the Contact war while looking through her father's notes.

"Your dad knew her too? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised really. Helping to stop a war isn't exactly small work." Fayla finished her soup and pushed the bowl away from her slightly, regarding Lilian with an interested gaze. "What's your dad like? Does he live in he capital? What about your brother?" Fayla's questions came at a swift pace, as she became more and more interested in her new friend.

Lilian shook her head. "No, I don't think they've met. But he paid allot more attention to the actual names of the poeple who took part in ending the war." She said. "My dad loves two things, his work and his family. He's never been much for violence. He didn't fight in the war, not that I'd ever blame him for not being there for mom since she wouldn't have liked him being in danger. He's always been level headed and passionate. He even forgave the asentari who killed mother. The guy came to our house, to apologise and try to make amends. I was mad at Dad for days after that. I was only fourteen at the time of course. The only time I've seen him really angry was after my run in with the Big Heanta who did this to me." She gestured to her arm.

"I swear he was planning on marching into Kyrias to hunt the beast down, but I think someone talked some sense into him. As for my brother, he's 5 years younger than me. Obviously he's a little pest sometimes, but he's a good kid. He hasn't shown signs of any powers though. I don't know if that disapoints him or not." She looked at Fayla. "What about your family?" She asked.

Fayla listened with concerted interest as Lilian described her father. He seemed like a cool guy and, more importantly, he was one of the best smiths in the land. Who know what kind of epic weaponry the guy could make. Fayla had seen the rage part coming of course. There as something about being a parent that brought out an inner rage when your child was in danger. She had seen it from her own mother when she had returned home after being rescued by Vala. "I can understand that. My mother is the same. When I got back after Vala saved me, she was absolutely livid." Lilian then mentioned her little brother. Fayla shrugged and smiled. "You never know. It's still early yet. He could end up more powerful than both of us."

Lilian then asked about Fayla's family. The Eldari shrugged, as if the answer was unimportant. "Well, my grandfather you know about already. My mother is on the Golden Council, the folks in charge of the Eldari people. She is a pretty powerful Magi, and she used to be in the Eternal Watch. But she wanted to help make some real change for our people, so she accepted a nomination to the Council when it came up. She's the youngest to ever be elected." Fayla's glaze unfocused a little, as if analyzing the memory before she spoke. She looked up at Lilian and smiled as she pointed to her eyes.

"My eyes are my dad's fault. He was an Eldross, and a powerful one at that. He was probably the best Ranger they had. He taught me everything I know about surviving in the wilds, including how to use a bow." Fayla gazed slightly wistfully at her bow, Vigilance, where it rested next to her bed. "He made Vigilance for me. It looks small but it has the range of a full size longbow." If pressed, Fayla would continue, her voice lowering to nearly a whisper. "He was captured by Heanta when I was twelve. He and his unit were presumed killed." Though she stopped short of shedding a tear, there was a slight quiver in her voice. She then looked up and composed herself quickly. "As for me? Well, I'm just... me." She grinned cockily. "Though, if I had to describe myself with one term, it would be ass-kicker."

Lilian gave Fayla an interested look. "Vala saved you? Is that how you two met?" She asked. She considered that. It was unheard of for a heanta or eldari to go out of their way to help their mortal enemy, but it was already clear that neither of these girls were typical for their race. Lilian listened to Fayla's story about her mother and father. By the way she spoke about her father, it was obvious something bad had happened to him. She knew the sound of concealed grief in Fayla's voice. She asked what had happened, knowing the answer she would get. "I'm sorry. I know exactly how it feels to lose a parent..." She said lowering her head.

Lilian was drawn back to the mention of Fayla's bow, becoming curious. And excited. "I'll admit I'm curious about your bow. We don't make bows in the shop, its a different art entirely to weapon smiting. Though as you've seen with my crossbow we've mastered the construction of repeating crossbows, although not streamlined the actual construction process. Needless to say, they're time consuming to make. But anyway, is it typical for an eldari bow to be stronger despite it's size? Or just you're bow? Or is it the twilight wood? I've never seen it used in an actual bow."

Fayla nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I owed her one after that. Although we've exchanged debts so much over the years that I'm not even sure who owes what anymore." After Fayla spoke of her parents, Lilian expressed condolences about the loss of her father. Fayla looked at her with seriousness. "It's alright. I've had a long time to dwell on it. I was twelve when I lost my dad. Because of my Eldari blood, I was always instructed to treat Heanta with suspicion at all times. It was even easier to when we were told what happened to him. But when I met Vala..." Fayla trailed off slightly and when she continued it was almost as if she was also talking to herself. "I'm not sure if it was fate, the Eldross in me, or something else. We just... connected. My dad always taught me to respect all life, regardless of origins. 'Judge only by one's actions.' That was what he always said."

The topic then changed to Fayla's bow. Lilian expressed great interest in its construction and spoke about her own weapon. Fayla stroked her chin. "Your crossbow is something else, alright. I've seen repeating crossbows before, but nothing that sophisticated." Fayla stared at her bow again. "My dad made it when I began my training to be an Eldari Warrior. The twilight wood helps, but I haven't actually seen too many bows its size that possess its range. One of my dad's friends was a renowned bow-maker, and he says that the secret was how the limbs were shaped. Normally bow staves are steam-bent before being sealed with resin, but Vigilance seemed to have been made differently." Fayla smiled innocently. "I've never really investigated it, to be honest. I kinda like the mystery."

Fayla looked out of the window as the sun set. "It's getting late. You'll be heading out to the hold in the morning, I presume?" Fayla left the empty soup bowls by the door and began to get ready for bed. "I have to make tracks tomorrow too. Vala doesn't like it when I'm late, and Zendar is a good chunk of travel away."

Lilian smiled at the compliment about her crossbow. "You didn't get to see its best features." Lilian said with a grin. She was of course alluding to the rapid fire enchantment she had on it. It was a little over the top to be using in spars though. She listened with great interest to Fayla explain some of the process behind how her bow was made. Even though it was unlikey that they would ever produce bows, atleast traditional bows as opposed to some sort of crazy enchanted monstrosity her and her father might cook up, it was still interesting to learn about it.

When they were done talking, Fayla mentioned she would have to leave early, and since it was getting late she was going to go to bed. Lilian nodded. "Yeah I'm going to be going pretty early." She said. "I'm going to see about getting hot water for another bath. I'll be up in a few minutes." She said. She waved goodnight to Fayla, then stood up and approached a serving girl to see about that hot water.