A Bit of a Spar

Timestamp: The Hogue, Day 2

Sitting on the forecastle steps of the Hogue and bundled up against the wind, Voah Sahnsuur flipped another page of 'Road to Salvation'.

The ship had been moving at a fair speed, the sea was calm, the excitement of the storm and sighting on the previous day had passed and the crew was seemingly getting bored. A couple of the younger crew members were playing at fighting with belaying pins, laughing and jeering at each other until one of them purposely backed the other into the Arbiter. The pins fell from his hands as he tripped back into the steps. The young man turned with a start as Voah looked up from her reading. Her eyes moved from the men to the pins and back, slightly annoyed with her lips pursed. But then she smiled, tongue in cheek as an idea came to mind. She picked up the pins and moved into a fighting stance.

"Come on then," she laughed, challenging them. Their eyes grew wide with fear and uncertainty and they backed off to find some work to do. "Oh, come on." Then, looking around the deck at some of the onlookers, she held out a pin in front of her in offering to spar.

"Anyone?" she called. "First to three blows?"

The woman known as Greyriver looked like she would accept for a moment but didn't. A few moments to pass, then Tarmen rose to the challenge. He had found the trip so far dull, helping with the ship and otherwise left with little to do.
Grabbing the pin with a playful grin, he flipped it a time or two in his hands.

“And would there be any stakes? Or just some good practice?” he asked.

"I'm afraid I haven't much to offer except a bit of fun," she replied with her own playful grin and she began stepping with graceful footwork.

She sized up the man named Tarmen. The two were of an age and very nearly the same height, both lithe and athletic. But how would he fight she wondered?

Tarmen was thoroughly intrigued by his challenger. He had seen the grace in which she had performed at the festival and noted a similar grace in her form now. Subtle and delicate, but hiding the true performance. He doubted he could match her in agility, so moved into his usual low and sturdy stance.

Voah watched him move, she almost always took the defense first in a fight unless it called for immediate action. The two began to circle and she a slowly approached to close the distance.

Seeing the circle closing, Tarmen made the first move. While starting with little movement, he began to bring some speed into his steps, making sure he couldn’t be boxed in. As he danced around Voah, Tarmen began some light jabs to test her defenses. She easily blocked and dodged his testing attacks and struck out with a few of her own.

Seeing she wouldn’t be baited into a full attack, Tarmen risked a grab on her wrist on one of her jabs, hoping to strike an early blow and get Voah at a disadvantage.

The grab momentarily caught her off guard and Tarmen dealt a blow to her at the same time. Wrenching free of his grasping hand, she pushed away his pin with her other arm batted his hand in rebuttal.

Instinctively wincing at the strike, he was nonetheless ready with another attack. He didn’t want her to move away, so closed the space further and twisted his pin to have a reverse grip to slice across her chest.

She deftly avoided the swipe, swinging around to jab him from behind. Then danced backward to start fresh.

Tarmen’s body instinctively arched away from the pain and he grabbed at his back. Laughing it off, he turned around and went right back into the fray, this time the both of them unrelenting. When he swung, she gracefully bowed away from the blows effectively dodging each one. This went on like some kind of dance where she came back with her own attacks that were also blocked or dodged.

The strange melee ballet ensued for half a minute until Tarmen came at Voah unexpectedly with an elbow to the jaw, drawing blood. This did not stop her, instead it strengthened her resolve. She spun round, kicking the pin from his hand then moved in on him with her belaying pin to his mid chest forcing him back a few paces. With his hands raised in yielding he backed away now with a broad smile on his face.

She tossed the pin to the side and licked the blood from her lip and returned the smile. “You’re the one they call Tarmen. It has been a pleasure.” She said through heavy breaths, then she bowed and took a few steps backward herself.