[DUEL] Keeping in Shape (Roho & Huozin)

[Kimaria]

And Roho was stubborn. Too stubborn for her own good at times. "You are a waste." Came her frank response. Why would anyone choose to stand by if they could put themselves to better use? And why wasn't he out hunting now, instead?

She was a soldier and so she practised her fighting technique. She did not go practising in storytelling in her spare time. Her spare time was spent fighting. Duelling. Learning the craft of battle. Her life would depend on it. The lives of her fellow soldiers would depend on it. The lives of her pride. Their pride.

"If that is how you feel, Huozin, perhaps your time would be better off spent with the hunting parties, or perhaps out with the guards, instead of here practising a craft you do not intend to use. But even guards must fight when the time comes." She was not one to dance about her words and it annoyed her to see someone wasting their potential. "So that option would not be suitable, either."  

[mouselet]

Huozin was not immune to anger. But he was not nearly as prone to losing his temper as many of his fellows in the Motoujamii-Simo. The red lion practiced control and he kept it now, firemly reigning in his temper. The lioness had only spoken truth as she saw it and while he did not have to agree with her, he did not have to allow her to pierce his shell of calm.

"What I choose to do, or not, with my life is my choice," he told Roho. "You may think of me what you will."

With that, he turned and left the practice grounds before his self-control eroded any further. He would not allow himself to become enraged and attack her. No matter how much he might wish to do so.  

[Kimaria]

Roho stood and watched him go, disappointed but not surprised. Perhaps it was fear that kept him here. Or maybe, in time, he would come to realise that his true path did not lie with the hunters as he might have believed. It was never too late to change your path in life. No such thing as fate or destiny. He was still young and the Nergui were not here yet, though there was no telling how long that would be the case.

A shiver ran through her at the thought, but she blamed it on the wind streaking across the dunes.

Yes. It was never too late to change. Perhaps one day they would fight side by side as soldiers.

/fin