Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ichnel smiled. She'd accepted! When she asked as to where they would duel, his grin grew even wider.

"The lack of space shall soon right itself my dear," Ichnel said.

He lifted his left hand and began to chant softly. The ground started to rumble a bit as it shifted. The plants in Ichnel's green house slithered and crawled away from the elf and human as if they could all along but only now decided to do so. The plants, almost neatly, rearranged themselves along side the primeter of Ichnel's yard, providing both space for the combatants and privacy from those along the street.
Ichnel then lifted his right hand and gestured at the ground beneath himself and Jeni. Slowly, they rose with the raised bit of Earth. Ichnel let his hands drop back to his sides, grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear.

"Not too shabby if I say so myself," he said, sweeping his eyes over his handiwork.

Ichnel and Jeni were now on a raised platform that was a good 3 feet off the ground. Ichnel glanced back at Valerye and a flower, a Dragon Lily of all things, waddled up and rooted itself about 2 yards from her.

",Do not worry Valerye, I have made it clear to the Lily that you are not prey and are my guest. It will not bite you again, but shall protect you should our duel get too explosive," Ichnel said, winking at her.

If a plant could look annoyed, the Dragon Lily did. It hissed at Ichnel, then at the two human girls, and then stoped and rustled into a position that could only be described as sulking. Ichnel laughed.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Jeni said taking on a cool, calm air. In reality she was really impressed and awed by this arena.
"Just a warning, I won't go easy on you, and I expect the same from you, my style of fighting is called Tae-Kwan-Do and where I'm from I'm the regional champion. You can use what weapons you want, or none at all." She took up a position on the opposite side of the platform, and bowed, as she had been taught. She then took her stance, it was one her favourite teacher had taught her, it allowed the opponant to start the first move, but they rarely got the opportunity to finish it.

When Jeni took her up her stance, Ichnel tilted his head to the side, looking on intently.

"Hmm...Strong stance, good posture, no holes in the defense...and I like the spirit in her eyes," he thought.

Outloud he said," Thank you. I am honored to duel a champion of your realm."

With an almost boneless grace, he bowed low. So low that, if you were to watch him, you'd wonder how Ichnel'd be able to stand up again.

Ichnel took one of the woven strips he kept in a belt purse and pulled his long pearly-white hair back into a warrior's horse-tail*. Satisfied, he rolled up his sleeves, reached back behind him, and pulled out an elegant dagger from the cloth wrapped around his waist.
The pommel was inlaid with a rose carved from a light green stone and the hilt was made of a burnished bronze. The blade, about 8 inches long, had a graceful curve and looked to made from a brass-colored steel.

"As I will not 'go easy on you' Jeni, will Arda Corm** suffice?" Ichnel asked, being that he would fight with a weapon and not Jeni.

The dagger had been a gift to him from the village elder when he'd first arrived in Bredia, in reward for defending the village and providing some of the best medicine currently available to Bredia.

Ichnel had many weapons, as he loved to teach those who would learn how to fight, but out of all them he had one favored weapon and it wasn't the dagger. He absolutely refused to use it unless the situation was dire. His dagger, Arda Corm, was for dueling or self defense...but his other weapon, Vlos Slyannen***...that was made for killing, for mortal wounds, and for destruction. Ichnel prayed that he'd never have to use it again.

Running two fingers along the blade, he said in regular elvish,"Fea en' Arda, ujere i' hyanda yassen Ehtele' maksa suula.****"

In response to the unspoken question in the air, Ichnel said, "I am dulling the blade so it won't cut you. We would not want to get blood on your lovely face, would we? That and I would rather not excite the Dragon Lilies too much. They have not eaten any rodents recently and they're very effective at well...weeding out my garden, so they are a bit hungry."



* Pony-tail
** Earth Heart
*** Blood Stars
**** Spirit of Earth, dull the blade with Spring's soft breath

((To let people know, (that may be confused) we are all heading north with Lae in the lead. All in exception to the two guests at Ichnel's house.))

She decided that before eyes would be too curious of the group. It had grown in a few ways and right now she didn't want anything stopping them from making their destination. Even though everyone was drained and hungry she decided to take the longer way around to her house. This way they wouldn't have to go through the busy marketplace.
Out of sight. Out of mind.
Right now she would worry about getting them all to her house, when they got there she would worry about food and sleeping arrangments. To tell the truth she couldn't think about it unless she wanted to start worring and not thinking correctly. She had abit of it already planned, for they would all eat downstairs together then the males will sleep upstairs in her small bow workshop, while the girls would sleep downstairs with her. The workshop where she did carve the bows would have just enough room for the two of them.
I would have to move the chair and the desk to the side....
Shaking the thoughts out of her head she focused on Emmia that happened to gracefully be on her side finally.

"What took you so long getting up here?! You do know that your going to have to stop by your house and get all your extra blankets. I wont have enough, for them to be comfortable tonight."

She wispered so the others couldn't hear. Her eyes had steadily changed back to a grey of worry while they had been walking. Looking at her friend in her happy mood she sighed.
How can she not be worring over everything! Come on, we have a group of humans to take care of! What had she gotten herself into?

"I'm thinking that you can run over to your house after we all eat. Unless you want to now...."

She implied that she would rather have her friend with her when they all reach her tree but giving her the choice was a more reasonable thing to do. Since of course her house was not far from here. Looking behind her over the group she waved them all to follow her lead turning to the left.
She smiled at them all and called out,

"Its not much far now! We should be there in a minute."

((You know, I completely missed the fact that Luke was the only active guy for awhile. >.<))

Luke's mind races as he follows the elves. Already wishing to trade his fancy looking cape for a basic cloak, his fancy vest for a doublet, and the boots...well, he actually likes the boots. Before long his mind drifts back even to it's normal state. Normal for Luke? That's easy. He's simply observing and silently admiring the interesting and somewhat provocative costume changes of the female specimens around him.
The two catching his eye the most being of course Haylin and Terra. He wonders silently how either girls have eluded his attention thus long.
Then of course the elven girls catch his gaze. He notes a certain elegance to Lae, even when she's worried. Then Marael...words fail him.

Shaking his head, he tries to get back on track. Wait, on track? His mind's usually a train wreck anyway...unless his sword is out. But that's a story for another time.
Luke gets back to watching his steps as they make their way along, while quietly he hums a tune to a song he wrote a year ago.

There was no doubt about it, Haylin was freezing. Currently she didn't have anything to cover her body to keep the goose bumbs from running up her arms and legs. Right now was the time she wished for a nice long fur coat with a nice pair of gloves and a beanie that covered most her head. However, she was stuck with this stupid skimpy getup that by now she noticed didn't retain heat well. She was cold, hungry, tired and home sick at the same time. It also didn't help the fact she still glowed like a stupid christmas tree ornament.
Glowing and miserable still didn't keep her thoughts from wandering. She couldn't help but admire the beauty of the forest and its graceful inhabitants. The trees stood tall and were amazing in their sturdy strong ways. No storm from our world could even dare manage to uproot one of these things.
Looking up in the tree tops she didn't notice a small root that poked up through the ground. Being the klutzy person as she is, she managed to trip over it and fall landing in the moss like litchen the covered a great part of the ground. Hopeing no one had noticed, she quickly got up and dusted herself off so the only thing that covered her skin was the golden dust.
Now that she was back on track and focused, she noticed that a pretty, faint hum was coming from someone in the group. It wasn't anything she had heard before, but being less than musicly inclined she didn't expect to. Curious to where the comforting tune was comeing from, she glanced around and found out it had been coming from the boy Luke. Meeting his eyes and smiling she turned her head and trudged on. Still freezing her butt off she knew this small adventure had yet to just begin.

Ichnel wasn't surprised when Jeni dodged his blade. When she swept at his ankles however, his eyes widened a fraction.

"Well this is new...interesting techinique. She obviously specializes in close-quarter combat.." Ichnel thought.

He nimbly stepped to the side, avoiding the attack. Ichnel was quite aware that he had a few avantages in this duel, but he refrained from underestimating Jeni. He'd vowed to not judge by appearance alone and Jeni was no exception this. Ichnel would try not to use his long reach, his height (6'6"), or his heavier frame too much so the fight would be balanced, but he had no qualms about using them if Jeni proved a worthy opponent.

Almost a blur, Ichnel spun around her, thrusting the butt of Arda Corm* once into her mid-back and then smacked the back of her thighs with the flat of the blade hard enough to leave small bruises.

"You have good reflexes Jeni, but they must be faster to hit me," Ichnel said as he danced out of reach.

Maybe if he got her a little riled up, her anger could be channeled into more speed?

((* Arda Corm = Earth Heart))

It was a moment before Terra noticed something she'd been too wrapped in thought to hear before. Though it had quieted for a moment, she noticed a tune was drifting along with them. Intent with curiousity, she turned to find it was Luke as the culprit, who was now missing his cape. How interesting, she hadn't taken him for a music person, but had no doubt in him now as she listened carefully to the calm and comforting melody. It almost made Terra want to sing along. And just as the thought came to her, someone did. A lovely, elven voice joined. A smile spread through her soft features at the harmony.
"Such a pretty voice..." She mumbled. But then, without warning, it stopped abruptly just after a moment or two. Disappointed, Terra turned her head again to see Marael, looking abit embarrassed. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, Terra turned back, adopting the harmony in her head. And just as Marael had joined, so did Terra. Softly, at first, but then her humming swelled to Luke's volume. Though after just a moment of this, she too was starting to feel a bit unsure of herself, but her voice held strong, blending almost just as seemlessly. Her voice was pure and sweet, yet firm in it's tone, never slipping out of tune.
She was surprising herself, really, as she continued. Before, with her horrid asthma, she would never have been able to keep this up. Especially while walking. This thought strengthened her voice too, as well as her confidence.
Noren trotted along beside her as she hummed along, brushing his furry white tail against her with each wag of his tail. His icey blue eyes, however, were locked on the leaders of their group.