[i][h2][color=MediumSeaGreen]Lora Kadar and Sarah[/color][/h2]
[/i]


Lora spent most of the night rolling around her bed, caught between nerves for the next day and replaying the last hour or so with Cyril. Eventually sleep took her, but it gave her back far too quickly. She was one of the first up and sat quietly when the others talked, trying to keep herself calm in the face of fighting the unknown. Knowing Cyril would be in there with her would be consoling if she wasn’t also worrying that she wouldn’t be able to help if he got hurt. She tried to keep herself calm with the thought that he knew what he was doing—because he [i]did[/i]—but it was barely enough.

The Chiefs came to get them and she followed right behind the Prince, focusing on Chief Kisarin’s words. When Yihira asked about the room she stayed silent, watching the exchange with assumed indifference. She heard Ayano’s voice ring out and smiled briefly, bits of her worries turning to enthusiasm at the encouragement; maybe this fight would be fun. Fighting was never particularly fun to Lora, but it could be exciting with the right opponent. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bloodbath but a playful sort of battle.

She psyched herself up with that thought and when the doors opened Lora followed Cyril’s direction into the Arena. The space was relatively familiar, but the angle was new. She looked up and caught the filled audience, and their company off on the left. She spotted the Chiefs, and then looked back down into the arena. She was practically vibrating with nerves and a little bit of excitement, and she kept bouncing from one foot to the other. 

The other eight entered and Lora found her opponent easily: she was directly across from her and paying attention only to her. The girl smiled and Lora returned it on impulse, if with a little surprise. The girl’s smile was soft and easy, and Lora relaxed to stand still. The kindness would make it hard to wish any sort of hurt on the other girl, but she found she still preferred it to a mean snarl—perhaps this could be a playful battle. Perhaps the girl would yield before Lora had to go too far…yes, she rather hoped that, actually. 

She dragged her eyes away from the girl’s face and she briefly sized her up, taking in the bow and set of arrows, and the deep blues in her clothing. She had chosen for ranged fighting then, which would surely be interesting. Lora had brought in her spear, but had been waiting to decide how much she would actually use it based on her opponent. It was good for one solid long-range, and then she would have to retrieve it. She didn’t see any other weapons on the girl, though—maybe getting close enough to retrieve it would be exactly what she had to do to make her only weapon futile.

The cheering from above cut short suddenly, and while everyone else looked up Lora cut a glance towards Cyril. He pulled his sword and the motion set Lora exactly where she needed to be. She pulled her spear and bent gently, turning her eyes back to the girl. 

Yihira yelled and then Cyril cried out, and she ran forward towards her opponent. 

Immediately the girl moved, jumping backwards. As she did so she brought her bow up and reached over her shoulder with her free hand to grab an arrow, nocking it into place and releasing it before she even hit the ground. The arrow was meant to slow Lora's advance more than hit her, so it flew towards her legs.

Even as she landed, the young woman prepared another arrow, aimed, and let loose towards Lora's head. "Wow, you're fast! I'm impressed!"

Lora saw the arrow coming and jumped, twisting out of the way and sweeping the end of her spear through the air where she had just been. She knocked the arrow from the air with the end and it fell from the air and skidded harmlessly across the ground. She turned back to her path and saw the next arrow coming, and she dropped to the ground quickly. The arrow caught the air at the end of her hair as she fell, but lodged itself into the ground a while away. Lora rolled out and then made to stand again, looking to the girl with a wide grin. 

“You’re not too bad yourself!” she answered, pushing off the ground and racing towards her.

"Hey, thanks! That sure is nice of you!" Even as she said this, the girl kept firing arrows, constantly backing her way towards the curved wall as she did so. Clearly she was intent on keeping the distance from Lora, and didn't feel like she was being back into a corner, so to speak. She kept grinning, as if enjoying herself-

"My name's Sarah! What's yours?"

The girl kept talking but her arrows never relented, and in a very strange sort of way it was quite endearing to Lora. She kept firing and Lora kept dodging—sidestepping, jumping, tumbling, and rolling. With each step forwards the girl took a step backwards, and Lora could see the stalemate they were quickly working themselves into. She would need to change things if she was to get any closer, but it wasn’t quite the time. 

After a particularly nice spin away from an arrow, Lora returned Sarah’s smile. “Lora!” she called, dashing forwards and ducking under another arrow. There was barely any pause between each one, and Lora’s running was turning into a series of quick dodging in Sarah’s direction. “I’m pleased to meet you!” 

"Same!" Even as she shouted the word towards Lora, Sarah had apparently decided to escalate her efforts a little. Rather than firing a single arrow at once she unleashed two, and then settled into launching three at a time. Typically the middle arrow was the most accurate one actually aimed for her, with the other two being anticipations for the various directions Lora would dodge. Still, it was all really in an effort to slow her. Any slight wound would be a bonus.

The girl fired off two arrows and Lora understood the development, barely dodging both of them before she watched her draw and fire three. The first set she managed to roll under and get slightly closer to Sarah; she was ready for the second set when they came. She pulled her arm back as Sarah did, letting go of her spear as the other girl let go of the arrows. She threw it at the girl’s middle, for the maximum chance of hitting her any which way she moved. 

Sarah yelped as the spear came out her. Reacting immediately, she dodged by actually leaping to the side, making sure to use the time to fire off another set of arrows before she hit the ground, rolled, and popped back up afterwards.

Lora rose from kneeling to standing in the throw, and when the arrows came there was only time to shift so that the middle arrow only sliced through her arm. It caught the skin right on the edge and ripped it apart, following clean through and clattering to the ground behind her. The gasp she let out was involuntary, but she managed not to grab her arm, instead clenching her good hand into a fist and sprinting forwards towards Sarah. She couldn’t lick her wounds yet—the hunt was still on.