[h3][center]Fightin’ Gals[/center][/h3] [center][hr][/center] [i]The Flowing Bowl - Early Afternoon [s]Outside, 2:00pm[/s][/i] “How ‘bout a fight then?” The voice belonged to none other than Megana, her gaze shifted to where she stood on the opposite end of the circle. Her limbs throbbed from fending off her last opponent, she wasn’t tired yet by any means, just from the hard blows the Imperial had delivered. Brynja couldn’t help but grin in return, a peculiar thought crossing her mind. “You wish to test your strength against me?” Brynja called out, moving to stand in the center of the circle. “Then come meet me here.” She drove the point of her blade into the ground between her feet. Meg would be her third contestor if she agreed to challenge Brynja. "That's right," Meg replied with a nod, ignoring the others around her, some who seemed a little indignant that the chit of a woman was coming between them and a fight, and others who simply believed she would fail. Truth be told, she was quite sure she would fall, but there was nothing like a duel between friends, just like when she would train with her Pa. "Don' think I won'!" She pulled her sword from its scabbard and entered the into the makeshift fighting circle, the grin on her visage much easier to note than the determination in her eyes. It was hard to keep a grin off her lips as she moved towards Meg, her hand outstretched towards her fellow kinswoman, “A fair fight then.” Meg looked at Bryja a moment, noting the grin on the warrior's face before taking a firm grasp of her hand and shaking it. So from arm wrestling to dueling? Well, at least this contest gave Meg a chance to win. "Aye, for sure. Wouldn' be fun if it was anythin' but, eh?" She lowered her voice loud enough for Meg to hear, “If I win, I’ll split my earnings with you.” Eyebrow rising for a split second, Meg couldn't help but smirk at the proposition. "Soun's like a plan t'me," she muttered under her breath; like Brynja, her voice too was only audible enough for the other Nord to hear in the current hubbub. Meg could very well use the gold, seeing she hadn't been been or expected to be paid any time soon. She let go of Brynja's hand and moved back, sword held out before her, making a convincing show of analyzing her opponent. She would lose the fight, yes, but she had to make it convincing... and [I]fun[/I]. A heavy stillness filled the air as the crowd looked on in anticipation, the only voice breaking through was the sound of Marius’ call for bets, “Place yer bets! Bets! Who will win? Will it be the short and fiery Nord? Or will it be Brynja, our towering stone giant? Come on, place yer bets!” A flurry of people rushed to Marius, slipping what septims they could spare into his hand, each speaking with excitement. [i]“Put my money on the big lass!”[/i] [i]“Here! Put mine on the fiesty one! Give that underdog a fighting chance!”[/I] Before the throngs of people had a chance to thin out, Brynja made her move. She gave Meg a slight nod to indicate she was ready, and without further delay, closed the distance between them in three lengthy strides. She appeared an intimidating figure dressed in her full suit of steel armor, but it was the way she moved, purposeful, her longsword coming up, and brought it down in a calculated swing. [i]She moves fast![/i] To be fair, Meg hadn’t ever been on the receiving end of Brynja’s attacks, so it made some sense that she had no true idea as to how her companion fought. Of course, the same could be said vice versa. In all their time together, the younger Nord had been keeping mostly to her bow, though she was more proficient with her sword. And it felt good, feeling the weight of another sword hitting against hers as she brought it up just in time to stop Brynja’s swing. It was clear that this current battle of strength wouldn’t end well for Meg, she could already feel her sword being pushed down. However, she wasn’t about to give up… not this quickly anyway. She ducked and scrambled to the right, and as she did, she grabbed her hilt with her left hand now, pulling it away from under Brynja’s sword. Blade now free and now behind the Nord, Meg attempted to strike at the other Nord’s legs. A gasp went up from the crowd at the counter attack. “We’re going to fight like that, eh?” Brynja twisted, narrowly escaping the blow that would have cut through a gap in the knee joint. She backed off, giving Megana room. The other two fights had taken most of her stamina, but she knew she could endure. She had to be practical and efficient. With the space that she had given Meg, Brynja decided to taunt her, hopefully enticing her to attack her first. “You move fast for someone whose father was a hamster. Did your mother smell of elderberries too?” Meg couldn't help but snicker at that comment. Rather than taking it offensively, it caused her amusement because her father could easily have been seen as a small furry creature among towering Nord men. "Well y'know, mice're usually too quick t'be caught. As for Ma, I couldn' rightly say, but I'm thinkin' pro'ly cheese." That said, Meg switched her sword to her right hand once more and shortened the space between herself and Brynja, this time striking at her sword arm. She had limited options. Knock Meg back, deflect the blow and fight in close quarters, or retreat again. Brynja dropped her opposing shoulder, and drove it down towards Meg, aiming to body check her. At the same time, she brought the edge of her longsword up against Meg’s blade. There was no chance for Meg to do anything with her sword, not with her falling to the ground due to Brynja’s body check. An [i]oof[/i] sound escaped her as she landed on her back, a slight grimace as she felt rocks pressing into her. She still had a hold of her blade, so her hold tightened around the hilt before slackening. She let go of her her sword and it clattered to the ground. “A’right, I yield,” she called, lifting both hands in the air from her position on the ground. She hoped that was enough of a show for those watching them. For those that had placed bets on Brynja, they gave a cheer and went to collect their funds from Marius, while those with bets on Megana turned away, disappointed that the fight had ended rather abruptly. However, for Brynja, she moved towards Meg, hand outstretched as an offering to help her to her feet. “You alright, Meg?” She asked softly. Meg nodded. She could have prolonged the match, but she didn’t feel it would be the wise thing to do, especially if Brynja was to fight more people. Taking hold of the sword with her right hand, she reached up with her left and took hold of the offered hand. “Aye, thanks.” As she pulled herself up, her sleeve slipped a little down, showing the edge of the bandage still covering the half healed stab wound from when they first arrived in Skingrad. “What the- Megana Corvus. Just what the hell is that?” Brynja demanded, not releasing Meg’s wrist quite yet. Her grip actually tightened as she brought herself to look Meg in the eye. “When did this happen? And why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” Meg looked away for a moment, trying and failing not to seem like a child getting in trouble. "Been a while now," she finally muttered. "Got in a l'il trouble back when we first got to Skingrad. It's almost healed now as is... y'all had lots on your mind already, what with the Rangers. I didn' wanna be a bother when it wasn' a big deal, y'know?" “You’re coming with me.” Brynja said, and proceeded to drag Meg over to Marius, who remained rather docile and didn’t attempt to struggle. “That was a good fight lass! Here’s your cut. When do you want to fight again?” “Give me three hours, and I’ll be good as new.” Brynja gave a curt nod, and without letting go of Meg, dragged her away from the crowd and into the entrance of an alleyway. “Let me see it.” She demanded. Meg pushed her sleeve further up so that her complete forearm now showed, not wishing to further annoy Brynja. Truthfully she felt slightly giddy at the attention, but there was also the 'you're in trouble' feeling that made her inwardly cringe. "Well," she said, looking at the slightly stained bandage, "there's it." Brynja shook her head, clucking her tongue like a disapproving mother, “What are you trying to do kid? Get yourself killed? Cuz that’s what you’re gonna do if you don’t get this cleaned right quick. Just look at this, Meg. This is borderline infected. What the bloody Daedra did you do to it? Did you try and clean it?” She pushed and prodded around the wound, shaking her head. "Ow!" Meg winced a little but kept relatively still. "I did, mostly! Didn't really think of its since we had t'leave Skingrad." She knew it was stupid but she'd been in such a mood during the journey that it hadn't even crossed her mind to look over her arm. "Uhm... so... can you fix it then..?" She looked up at Brynja, sheepish as well as embarrassed at having to ask now. “Course I can. That’s what I did back in Jerall too, remember? C’mon let’s get you to the inn, so I can clean this first before I heal you.” Brynja released her, the look in her eyes softening. “And I’ll give you your half of the winnings too.” "Oh, right those." Meg finally resheathed her sword, and then let out a little sigh as she pulled her sleeve back down. "It'd be nice, finally havin' some gold." Taking in a deep breath, she slowly let it out before looking to Brynja once more. "That was fun, the duel, even though it was short. And er... thanks for... y'know." She nodded in her arm's direction. "Lead the way." Moments passed before Meg and Brynja took a seat in the corner of the inn, she had cornered the cook, and claimed a bowl of hot water with a fresh cloth. Brynja settled into her seat and gestured for Meg, and then remembered the gold. She didn’t even bother counting out the winnings, just handed her the entire pouch. She had made plenty from the two duels earlier in the day. “There ya go. Now lay your arm out flat on the table.” Meg did as she was told and laid her arm as Brynja said, though her eyes still rather wide as they stared at the money pouch. "Woah... y'sure 'bout givin' all that to me?" She looked to the older Nord, blinking. "You did most've it, y'know." “‘Course I am. What do you think I’m going to do with all this money? Blow it on booze, that’s what. Marius is giving me free room and beer anyways.” She folded a corner of the cloth, and dipped it into the hot water. Her eyes looked to Meg, “This might be hot, but it won’t burn you.” Brynja applied the wet cloth to the encrusted wound, and began to clean away the filth that had accumulated, along with the scabs. Her gaze focused entirely on the wound that she didn’t bother making small talk, not that she didn’t want to, but because her work entranced her. She repeated the steps of dipping different corners of the cloth into the hot water, eventually soaking its entirety, and gave her forearm a good, rather abrasive, stroke that cleaned up any remaining gunk. While the wound was clean, that didn’t mean it was healed. “Ok. This might itch, but it doesn’t look so bad as I thought.” Brynja wiped her hands on the sides of her pants before grabbing Meg’s wrist with one hand, and holding her free hand inches away from the wound. She closed her eyes, and focused on drawing out the restorative magick stored within her. She was exhausted from the dueling, but she hadn’t spent any of her magicka. Slowly, a pulsating white orb swirled beneath her hand. The flow of magicka radiated out around Meg’s forearm, enveloping it entirely. It felt like minutes, when it was really only seconds before she pulled her hand away. The wound healed without so much as a scar. “There we are. How does that feel?” "Bloody good," Meg replied, shaking her head. "Always amazes me when I see someone fix up wounds like that." It was also something she was envious of, but she'd never had a head for magic, and neither did the people she'd grown up around. She gently poked at the wound, tense as if expecting pain, and letting out a breath when there was none. "Thanks so much- and I promise in Talos' name I won' let a wound go untreated again. Promise." She gave Brynja a sheepish but hopefully convincing grin. “Good. If anything just come to me for goodness sake. If you let that go any longer, I would’ve had to lop your arm off, and then you’d be Megana One-Arm.” Brynja winked, the wound hadn’t been that badly infected, but she hoped that got the point across.