[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5ILCycx.png[/img]

[color=#736AFF][b][h1]Ranbu no Izayoi[/h1][/b][/color][/center]

Eliane would not have thought that they would have been back in Kugane so quickly, but ultimately, she found herself pouring a cup of tea, not coffee, this time. 

Sometimes, she truly surprised herself. 

It took her a moment to decide to enjoy outside in the courtyard. She thought it was strange that a safehouse would have an actual courtyard, but since it existed, she would make use of the amenities. It seemed like the Skaelan officer wasn’t alone outside though, as she noticed team Kirin’s older swordswoman swinging her weapon where she had decided to take a rest. 

That reminded her of something she saw during the fight with the revenant that had bothered her. She gave Izayoi a nod, but Eliane decided not to immediately approach, taking a seat to the side to enjoy her cup of hot sencha as she allowed for the other woman to finish. 

Disrupt. Cut. Pierce. Disrupt. Cut. Pierce. Izayoi finished up the last of her katas and wiped the sweat from her brow. Still nowhere at the level she [i]should[/i] be, but sparring with Robin and all of the exertion in the desert resulted in minute improvements from the last time she’d been training in Kugane before they left. 

She’d noticed Eliane in her peripheral vision partway through her exercises, of course. Her senses weren’t completely gone, at the least. Izayoi sheathed her sword and turned to face the sollan, waiting.

[color=#736AFF][b]”Is aught amiss, or am I simply blocking your view?”[/b][/color]

For Eliane, it was always interesting seeing Izayoi practice her moves, given how different her style was compared to her own swordplay. Finishing off her tea, she shook her head. “No, the view is perfectly fine. I’m surprised you’re already back to training, though.”

[color=#736AFF][b]”The desert made it abundantly clear that I cannot afford to make even the slightest pause in attempting to regain my former strength.”[/b][/color] She sat down next to Eliane, a person’s width away. 

[color=#736AFF][b]”I put my master in the grave when I was but eighteen summers young. To be unable to replicate the feats I could perform at that age is shameful.”[/b][/color]

Eliane frowned at that. “You and I both know well that doing it so soon after such grievous injuries is a detriment, not a boon.” She left it at that and moved on, though– she wasn’t Miina nor a doctor. She canted her head slightly as she looked askew at the other woman. “Which is actually what I wanted to talk about.” 

[color=#736AFF][b]”I am recovered.”[/b][/color] Was all Izayoi tersely said in response to Eliane’s first statement. It was true, even. Given that the return through the desert had been far less fraught with dangers considering the swathe they’d cut through the Blightbeasts one way, she’d had plenty of time to heal on the march. [color=#736AFF][b]”But go on. I’d been wondering if someone would have noticed what went wrong during that battle.”[/b][/color]

The pink-haired woman fixed the Mystral woman a stare at that. “That was a clusterfuck. Everything went wrong,” she bluntly replied. “Tactically, however, I can’t see much that any of us could have done differently except to have never engaged in the first place.” Of course, hindsight was always 20-20, and there was an argument to be made that it might have been impossible in the first place, given the Valheimian airship in play. 

She got to the point. “You were already injured before the battle. You were coughing up blood and that thing cut you down because of it. What happened?”

[color=#736AFF][b]”I meant the latter, yes. But no, I was not injured beforehand. The blood was from overstraining my body in attempting to save your lives.”[/b][/color] Izayoi looked up towards the midday sun, frowning.

[color=#736AFF][b]”That attack demands an excessive amount of fortitude from myself, both to keep time halted in a given area, and to move quickly enough to execute every strike while maintaining that magic.”[/b][/color]

The Wild Dance wasn’t an attack she liked to have to use at any point in her career. Between killing her master and the start of the war, Izayoi could have counted with only half a hand how many times she’d been forced to utilize the one limit break that hadn’t been a technique passed down to her. 

[color=#736AFF][b]”I developed it to defeat the attack [i]he[/i] would have slayed the rest of you with. Regardless, does that satisfy your curiosity? I will not be coughing up blood again lest I have to resort to it before I return to some measure of my full might.”[/b][/color]

Enlightened, the Skaelan officer nodded her understanding. “Yes, it does. I wasn’t aware.” She considered the Revenant, and then their current skills, fully aware that they would likely face that thing again. “Then I will have to hone my own skills as well. Would you like a spar?”

[color=#736AFF][b]”I would not turn one down, no. Live steel?”[/b][/color] At Eliane’s nod, Izayoi reached for her sword.

___

[color=#736AFF][b]”Huff…huff…yield?”[/b][/color] Izayoi struggled to catch her breath as she put one foot on Eliane’s chest, her hand pointing the tip of her blade at the prone woman’s neck.

The duel had been a hard fought thing, far closer than she would have liked or expected. Neither woman was able to use their full strength, given the restrictions of live steel. Izayoi couldn’t risk her battojutsu against a target she wasn’t willing to kill, and similarly, Eliane couldn’t exactly shoot Izayoi. Nevertheless, Eliane earned her rank as Dame Commander, to be certain.

Flat on her back and breathing heavily from exhaustion, Eliane held up her free hand in a yielding gesture. “Yeah… I yield.” 

Izayoi certainly lived up to her reputation. Although she had to yield in the end, it was a satisfying match; she was well aware her opponent was the superior swordswoman, and she knew that she had given a good accounting herself. All the better for practice. 

Standing back up once Izayoi stepped back, she sheathed her sword and dusted herself off, taking a moment to properly catch her breath in the process. “That was enjoyable… we should do this more often.”

[color=#736AFF][b]”Indeed.”[/b][/color] Izayoi nodded, sheathing her blade. [color=#736AFF][b]”You possess no small amount of skill. A few more years of seasoning, and you may have given me quite the challenge at my peak.”[/b][/color] She took a moment to wipe her brow once more. 

[color=#736AFF][b]”The others could benefit greatly from sparring with you, the younger ones especially. Do seek them out at some point.”[/b][/color]

Eliane returned a small smile at that. Considering that her swordsmanship was only one half of her fighting style, that was no small compliment. “I will. I might not want to drill them like I would my own team, but with the trials we’re about to face, they do need the experience.”

Izayoi gave a slight grunt of agreement, turning as if she made to leave the courtyard.

[color=#736AFF][b]”We’d not had the opportunity to discuss this, but you have my condolences for the deaths of your men. Take solace in the fact that your decisions had little to do with their passing.”[/b][/color]

Eliane blinked, and then nodded. “Thank you.” With that, she turned to leave as well.