Shield

It's always bewildered Lann.

Fiona doesn't have his speed with the swords; she doesn't have Evie's magic, Karok's brute strength, nor Kai's quick cunning. All she has is her shield.

In their small group, he and Fiona were among the first who had joined the Crimson Blades, but not once has Lann ever defeated Fiona in a duel. It bugs him. He, who chose to forsake a shield, and proved to many that he did not need such a thing. All he needed was another sword, and none could tell him otherwise, due to his skill in the battlefield. The Fomors raise their shields, but they can never escape Lann's blades.

And yet, here is that ordinary human girl, hiding behind a shield Lann could not get past. It annoys him. He could call her a coward. He certainly tried to before, but he immediately regretted the incredibly childish excuse, and began attacking recklessly—he ended up losing, of course.

As with all their duels, it's always ended with Lann losing. He'd then sulk the whole day as the others tried to comfort him.

Today will not such a day. He challenges Fiona to a duel once more, and the ever silent woman just looks at him, and sighs. Evie prepares tea for Kai and Karok, looking forward to the show.

Lann draws his two swords, and Fiona unsheathes her single curved blade.

Several heartbeats of silence. They eye each other, trying to gauge and predict each other's first moves.

Fiona's clear purple eyes narrow, and Lann dashes forward in a blinding speed. Unfortunately for him, Fiona's used to him by now, and her shield is up by the time Lann's right sword came down to strike her.

Left, right. More swings. In an attempt to overwhelm the woman with his superior speed, Lann doesn't stop, and goes even faster. This is the extent of his strategy. It's always been.

But this is his strength. He'd learned that trying to plan things out never ended well for him. There is no way around Fiona's shield. So he chose to play only by his strengths this time. Yet the shield greets his each and every blow, barely budging in its defense.

Fiona finds an opening, and her sword flashes forward—Lann leaps back to dodge it, and prepares to dash back to her again once he landed. But Fiona goes to the offensive, running towards him, sword raised.

The sword moves as if to swing at him; Lann lifts up his left sword to block—only to get the shield bashed to his chest. He grunts, more in surprise than in pain, and flies quite a distance away. He lands on his feet—and as if he wasn't surprised enough earlier, Fiona's already dashing towards him, her shield up.

She's never gone on the offensive before.

Lann sidesteps to his left in an attempt to take on the weaker defense at Fiona's right, and swings his swords at her. But Fiona repels his attacks quite well with a single sword, whirling to her right in order to get the annoying shield to face Lann once more.

He starts his whirlwind of attacks, once more trying to overwhelm Fiona.

Faster! I can do better! He keeps thinking, his swords slicing through air faster than anyone could follow. The shield picks up his each and every attack, and what manages to go through is repelled by Fiona's sword.

I can still do better! And he does, pushing his body further and further—his swords are mere blurs. Refusing to show any openings, batting away any attempts on a counterattack from Fiona's blade.

That shield swings forward—Lann dodges it, gets in Fiona's range. He blocks the following sword sweep coming from his left, and prepares his right blade to stab—but he finds he has no way to dodge the roundhouse kick that follows.

Fiona's kicks are a force of nature. To be honest, Lann would rather be stabbed by a Fomor than to take another one of those kicks again. That's right; he'd rather be stabbed by a Fomor right now—he thinks as he looks up at the sky.

He hears footsteps, coming in louder. He must have flown quite a distance away, judging by how long it took for them to stop.

And her face, framed by her long black hair, appears in his line of vision.

On that beautiful face, her usual taciturn expression. Lann narrows his eyes, annoyed. "You should smile every now and then."

"You're starting to sound like Kai." She holds out her hand.

Why is her shield so strong?

Maybe because unlike him, she has something to protect.

Lann sighs, and takes her unusually soft hand.