Han looks her dead in the eyes. She opens herself wide, and lets Machi’s longing gaze pour into her. No distraction. No hiding. And on any other day, Machi might have realized what was coming. But today is the first day she has ever kissed her stone-heart, and she could not recall even the rules of Highland fighting, ingrained in her by a lifetime of practice. For in the Highlands, when you stab someone in the back? When you hit them where it really hurts? You have the common blasted decency to look them in the eyes when you do it.

A decision crosses the space between them, faster than even regret. Leverage crumbles. Legs coil. And a champion goes sailing into the river before the pain could fully register.

(We regret to inform you that Han’s Special Time has. Experienced some unforeseen delays.)

When Machi emerges, it is not as a flailing kitten. It is not as a soaked cat, scrabbling at the deck. She _erupts_ from the river in a great spray of water that sets the barge rocking. And Han nearly tips it over, exploding off the bridge with an umbrella gripped in each hand. In the air they meet! Machi catches the kick! She shatters the umbrella! And the second whirls down on her back and spikes her to the water. A barbed rain of splinters hangs frozen in the air. Again they strike. Again, a champion falls!

[i]“Yield!”[/i] Han roars, punching and righting the swaying deck as she lands. “Yield already, you, you! Stinkhead!” She breaks another umbrella over her knee, banging the two jagged lengths of wood together, sounding her challenge to the very heavens.

[Rolling to [b]Fight[/b]: 3 + 3 + 3 = [b]9[/b]. Han takes a superior position, and gains a String on Machi. Machi gets to pick an option in return.]