Crow stood across from Rikki in the middle of the northern clearing with one dagger clenched in each hand and his eyes fixed on her body as he watched her for sudden movement. They circled around each other slowly, each thief waiting for the other to make the first move. Off to the side, Alistair, Simon, and Hazel all stood by the tree line to watch. It had been a while since the last time Crow had been able to fight, so they all wanted to observe the match to see how he would perform. 

In addition to that, he suspected they were hoping for an entertaining match. Alistair had once told him that his fights against Rikki were the most exciting to watch because of how fast-paced and wild they were. Both of them had the same fighting style of striking at their opponents in rapid succession to wear them down and using cheap tricks to knock them off their feet. Of course, he couldn’t watch himself fight, but he supposed he could understand why the others would find it interesting to observe.

Focusing on the match at hand, Crow’s eyes wandered critically over Rikki’s arms and legs as he searched for weak points in her posture. However, before he could move in to strike at one he found on her right side, she charged at him first with her short sword aimed at his wounded leg. He smirked to himself. It looked like she wasn’t going to go easy on him.

Sidestepping her attack, he brought the dagger in his left hand around to swing at her right shoulder. She ducked to dodge his strike and lunged at him with her sword raised. Their blades clashed loudly as the fight commenced. Crow gritted his teeth, focusing intently to keep track of her swift movements while also looking for opportunities to cut through her defense with his own weapons. She hadn’t been lying when she said she had improved earlier. They met each other blow for blow, neither thief able to gain an edge over the other. That is, until Crow felt Rikki slide her foot behind his ankle.

He cursed, shifting his weight to try and offset her attempt to unbalance him, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. As she pulled her foot back towards herself, he could already tell he wasn’t going to be able to stay on his feet. However, that didn’t mean he was going to let her take him down by himself. While she dragged his leg out from under him, he leaned unsteadily onto his back foot, freeing up his other leg to catch her behind the knee. She inhaled sharply as he pulled her to the ground with him.

Taking advantage of his fleeting opportunity to get the upper hand in the fight, Crow rolled over and hurried to get back up, but Rikki wouldn’t let him. Before he could get his feet underneath him, she lashed out with her sword, sending him off balance and toppling over once again when he tried to dodge. He spat in the grass, frustrated at how easily she was keeping him down. [i]Very well,[/i] he thought, keeping her in his sight so she couldn’t catch him by surprise again. [i]If this is how she wants it, we can play by her rules.[/i]

Just as Rikki tensed to get up, he lunged at her, bowling her over in the grass and sending her sword clattering from her hand. He was careful to keep his own daggers away from her skin, finding it more difficult not to hurt her while they were fighting like this. With a sly grin, he pinned her down with his weight and moved to aim the blade in his right hand at her throat. However, she wasn’t about to give up so easily.

While he was distracted in thinking he had won, she slipped her arm free from his grasp and struck him hard in the wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon. He grimaced and tried to restrain her again, but she was too quick. Before he could catch hold of her arm, she drove her elbow into the crook of the arm he had been using to hold himself up and forced him to fall. Now that he no longer had a secure hold on her, she slipped out from beneath him and began looking for her sword in the long grass.

Unwilling to give up, Crow scrambled to his feet and ran over to where he remembered the sword had fallen, kicking it away just before Rikki could wrap her fingers around the hilt. She muttered something foul and sprang to get up as well, coming at him with her bare hands as they continued the fight without weapons.

Close combat wasn’t a specialty of Crow’s, but since he had an advantage of strength over her, it gave him just the edge he needed to finally put an end to the match. He caught her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back, quickly following the motion by grabbing her free arm and repeating the process until he had both of her hands pinned. Then, holding both of her narrow wrists in one hand, he hooked his boot beneath the blade of the sword at his feet and carefully lifted it up to his free hand.

“Yield,” he panted, pointing the tip of the weapon at her throat.

“Fine,” Rikki said breathily. “You win.”

Crow nodded, dropping the sword and glancing off to the side as he heard Alistair whistle. “What a show,” the thief grinned at him. “Looks like you haven’t lost it after all.”

“Did you think I had?” Crow snorted, letting go of Rikki’s arms and taking a step away from her as they made their way over to join the others.

“Maybe,” Alistair shrugged. “But I definitely don’t now.”

“How do you feel?” Hazel asked, her blue eyes sweeping over him analytically.

“Honestly, I feel great,” Crow said. “No pain or fatigue or anything.”

“Good,” Hazel laced her fingers with Simon’s and turned to the blonde thief with a smile. “Just watching that made me hungry. I’m ready for supper.”

“Me too,” Simon agreed.

“All in favor of chicken for dinner, say ‘I’,” Alistair raised his hand.

“I,” Crow said in unison with everyone else. After such an intense sparring match, having a meal with meat in it sounded delicious.

He and Rikki collected their weapons from the clearing and hung back slightly as they followed the others back to the camp. “How are you doing?” he asked, glancing her over for injuries. In his intent to win the match, he had been a bit rough with her, and he hoped she hadn’t been hurt too badly.

“I’m fine aside from my wounded pride,” she smirked at him jokingly and then turned a bit more serious. “Putting my embarrassing loss aside, I’m glad you’re feeling better, Crow. It’s good to have you back.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I am too.”

Rikki hesitated for a moment, chewing on the inside of her lip, and then stepped closer to Crow and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle. He blinked in surprise as she pulled away again, “What was that for?”

“Just happy, I suppose,” she shrugged and then hastened her pace. “Come on. Let’s catch up to the others. I need to make sure Alistair isn’t talking badly about me behind my back.”

“Alright,” Crow eyed her curiously as she trotted ahead. She was a difficult woman to read. Whenever she made gestures like that, he couldn’t tell if she was still vying for his attention or if she was merely being friendly. He hoped it was the latter, but he made a mental note to keep an eye on her just in case she was still clinging to some faint hope of being with him.

Putting the thought aside for now, he hurried to catch up with the others so he could talk with them on their way back for supper.