The Wolf and his Prey [[ATTN: Garen]]

[Nani]

Nani Hatherton

Her body felt like it was on fire, and she loved it. She was running around the Warder Yards, pushing her body to warm up. The Gaidar's hands were gloved by fingerless leather gloves, and she flexed them as she ran. Music tumbled around in her head, and she was feeling fantastic. So fantastic in fact that a few of the Ji'atalin who were watching her run had challenged her to a race. Nani grinned wide as she nodded. "You're on boys. From here, to the end of the Yards." She said, as she looked at them. They all nodded, grinning back at her, and lined up next to her. "Three, Two, One. GO!" She shouted as she took off and bolted for the end of the Warder Yards.

It was a close race, but she won in the end. Crowing in her victory, she shook hands with the guys she had raced with, and promised that she'd rematch them some day. Her movements required a cool down, so she jogged another lap before she stretched out again. Drenched in sweat, for it was a warm day, she turned around as she heard someone approaching her. Well, it wasn't the Gaidan that approached her that tipped her off, it was the silence behind her. Many found the Wolfkin unnerving, and shied away from him. Unlike them, Nani didn't care. If they could fight and protect the Tower, they were alright in her books. "Garren Gaidan. To what do I owe the pleasure? Hopefully not going to reprimand me for beating the snot out of those Ji in a race." She said with a small smile at him to show that she wasn't serious. Perhaps this man was going to ask her to spar.

There was nothing Nani loved more then sparring someone with her war fans.

[Eve]

Gold eyes glimmered in the light as they traced that Gaidar and Ji’alantin racing around the Yards. Their breaths were loud to his ears, here, where normally grunts and curt commands reigned supreme. The old Wolfkin’s lips twisted slightly at the ends, his yellow eyes sparking with something close to the old humor as he watched her, fleeing from those that dared challenge her. Like a she wolf she flitted through the packed dirt, and the young bucks followed suit, not in courtship, but in contest. He found himself remembering the old Shes of his pack, from his childhood. One in particular had never allowed the males to treat her any less. She was strong, she could hunt, she could fight, and more…she could raise the young and bring them into life, something the males could never do. The Gaidar of the Tower always reminded him of that one She, surely long gone by now. It was a bittersweet memory, but more sweet than bitter, and he cherished it.

He watched as she pulled out ahead at the end, to the disappointment of the trainees, and the amusement of the old Gaidin watching her. He watched as she shook with the others, a politeness most fully raised would never afford those beneath them, and praised them instead of corrected them. He nodded slowly, not realizing he had been a teacher so long that he even graded the fully raised, even when they didn’t know he was doing it. Waiting for the younger ones to leave, he approached the Gaidar. He knew her name, just as she knew his. “Nani Gaidar.” He said, bowing his head with the formal casualness the Warders seemed to have perfected. Formality was good for Garren. Even after all this time he still separated people into two groups. Friends were the hardest. He could never quite decide how much of himself to show. But everyone else was easy, simply going by a set of rules that would allow you to pass for ‘normal’. A proper greeting, a proper stance, a proper expression and mostly you were ignored. These things he could do, and he did them well. “I saw you with the Ji.” He nodded to the departing backs of the young men she had raced. “You seem to have developed a rapport with the young pup…the young men, I mean.” He paused, resetting his stance. “It is better than many of the Warders I’ve seen around here…. Tell me, do you fight as well as you lead?” He gave a smile at this (lips closed, unlike the personal grins he had once given his friends) meaning it as a joke. In a world of fists and swords, a unique weapon likes hers was well known, as well as the skill with which it’s wielder utilized it.

[Nani]

Nani Hatherton

"It's always been my policy that if you encourage people more then merely holding yourself apart, they are more likely to follow you into a battle. Those Ji have been training with me briefly, learning how to be fast, and hard to catch. They wanted to see if they can match my speed every time they see me running laps around the Yards." She replied before grinning. "I believe I do. But let's see if I can put my money where my mouth is." Her hands pulled her fans out and pulled the blades off them, sliding them back down pouches designed for them.

She slid her fans back into the sheathes, and turned to the Wolfkin. "You'll have to forgive me, but against someone of your skill, I'll have to use my main weapon, to give you a real fight." She said as they strolled towards the sparring area of the Practice Yards. The pair were drawing a small amount of attention, since they were a fairly mismatched pair, even if they fought similarly to each other. The Gaidar's face smiled over at him, and jerked her head to the small crowd that was forming. "Looks like we're going to have an exhibition." She said as they moved into the center of the Sparring area.

She danced from foot to foot as she put a little distance between them. Her feet snapped together, and she bowed to him, her respect apparent. Once he finished bowing back to her, she dashed forward, drawing her fans from her lower back, and throwing them forward at him as a distraction. If he stayed where he was, she was going to pull another fan and slide it open, swinging with her arm to get an attack in, or if he moved, she was going to chase after him, to try and get in close but not get caught.

[Eve]

“Of course,” he told her, nodding his head. “I had hoped that you would do just like. I’ve never had the chance to fight against such a weapon.” He gave her another one of those smiles, friendly, but not personal, and returned her bow. His shoulders and neck inclined for a moment, his eyes never leaving hers, arms at his side, he seemed elegant and withdrawn all at once. With the same graceful motion, he stood tall again, his form already slipping back into Ready Position.

When she snapped into motion so suddenly, he was ready for her. Watching her eyes, now the flurry and distraction of the fans, he leaned his head and back backwards away from them. Though the blades were removed, he acted as if they were there. It was a rookie mistake to learn that the training sword had no edge, and expect the real thing to be the same. The bend of his back became more pronounced as she slid the second fan upwards in a strike. Literally heels over head he went, his feet kicking out as he flipped backwards with the elegance of a gymnast. It was not a move he used often, as the time it took was precious, but he needed to keep moving to avoid the fans more deadly, in their own way, than even a sword. The flip kick struck towards one wrist, attempting to take it out before the spar had even begun, and then he was away from her, placing distance between himself and those fans.

His hands planted on the ground behind him as he finished the flip, turning it into a roll to get himself back to his feet swiftly. He landed in a crouch and stood swiftly to his feet, two body lengths away from where he had begun. Instantly he sprang to the side, moving down into a crouch in motion and attempted to get around behind her.

[Nani]

Nani Hatherton

Seeing his smile of respect filled her with happiness. It was still so strange to be considered on the same level as a Gaidan of such standing. It was something that she was so proud of herself having obtained. He was quick, she gave him that. Being able to dodge like that though surprised her. He was as nimble as she, and he was rather larger then she was. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips turned up in a grin. Her movements were quick as she dodged to the side, his kick just barely grazing her wrist. Tumbling to the side, she came up in a crouch and moved forward against him again. Her eyes flicked to the crowd, taking stock of what was there. There was a Gaidan there with a Shield strapped held in his hand while he watched the Wolfkin and Gaidar go at their spar. If she needed to, she could vault off his shield, and back flip behind Garren.

With that in her mind, she dashed to her fan on the ground, swiping it up, and moving around back to face Garen. But in the moment she had taken her eyes off him, he was behind her. Her Violet eyes flashed with surprise, before she dove to the side again, rolling, and kicking up quite a bit of dust. Not stopping her motion, she splits her legs, and jacks her body up, spinning with her legs and hands to regain her feet. The cheers from the crowd around them told her how flashy her move had been. Crouching again so that she could maintain her low center of gravity, she blinked to clear her eyes, and found her target again, directly in front of her. This time, she opened both fans and attack, slicing down from upper right to lower left, hoping to push him back, and put him back on the defensive.

[Eve]

The crowd of viewers that had joined together to watch may as well have been the roar of the ocean. Their presence distracted Garren not at all, and it wasn’t his habit to use spectators in a simple spar. Had this been a true fight he would have used everything and anything to defeat his enemy, but it was not that, and one had to know when to pull one’s punches.

He smiled when she moved from his kick, seeming to approve of the fact that she was fast enough to escape something that had clearly surprised her. Years of teaching in the Yards couldn’t leave him, and even now he was watching, grading, weighing. Even though this was for pleasure. Even though this was not a trainee. He nodded his head to her, catching her eye for one moment and then they were spinning away from each other again. As she moved to retrieve her fan, he came around behind her in that agile pivot of feet. His hands reached for her, planning on grappling her from behind, but she seemed to sense him. Her dive and roll kicked dust in to the air, and he lowered his balance even further to defend against a possible tackle. His hearing caught her motions, though, the kick of her feet on the packed earth. The cheer of the crowd momentarily blocked him from following her, but he knew where she had been before, and he moved in that direction.

The dust cleared as he came before her, moving up. She countered by slashing down and to the left, causing him to have to abandon his motion at the last moment. He twisted his shoulders as he rose, taking her strike on the shoulder instead of across the chest. He gave a quiet grunt, but knew the muscles were to hard for that to do too much damage. “First ‘blood’ is yours.” He said, giving her a quiet smile. His golden eyes flashed in approval, and he moved as she would still be contemplating the praise. He had stayed in motion even taking the strike, and he completed it by spinning utterly around and delivering a heavy, brutal spinning hammerfist strike towards her own shoulder. Then he dipped his weight, twisted his arm, and attempted to get it under hers. He wanted to grab her arm and wrench it behind her.

[Nani]

Nani Hatherton

Her lips curled up into a smile as she heard that quiet grunt and his soft phrase. Seeing those gold eyes flash in approval, she grinned back at him, her own Violet eyes showing her pride as she watched him keep moving towards her, and took a step back away from him, moving her body lithely out of the way of his fists, before she felt her forearm gripped in his large hand. Her eyes went wide as she felt her body turned around and her arm wrenched behind her back. She fought the panic she felt as being grabbed, and looked around her for an out. Wrenching her arm down would dislocate her arm, and render her useless, even though she could fight well with both hands. Her fan was torn from her hand and thrown to the side.

Violet orbs looked around, and saw the same Gaidan from earlier with his shield. He was just to their right, which was the arm she had currently being gripped behind her back. "GAIDAN!" She shouted to gain his attention and jerked her head over towards herself. He jogged over, thinking something was wrong, and she waited for just a beat, before she jumped up, planted her feet against his shield as it turned towards her, spun her body around using the shield as a spring board, so that her arm would no longer be behind her, and she arched back over top of the Wolfkin. If he maintained his grip, his arm would be reaching over his shoulder, and she would be holding a fan to his side as a kill shot. If he let her go, then she was going to fall on her ass as she stepped back and roll onto her hands and knees to watch him make his next move.

[Eve]

When Garren heard her call out to a bystander he frowned, and for a moment *he* wondered if something was wrong. The thought that she was going to use him to cheat never crossed his mind. In fact, in his confusion and concern his grip loosened on her ever so slightly, and he moved his head to look down at her…just as she planted off the shield. She shot from his hands with almost no effort and sprung around and away from him.

Turning, he watched her quietly as she regained her balance. His brow was lifted on one side, and he still looked incredulous. “So…” he said, “That is how we’re going to play it?” He craned his neck to the left, then to the right, cracking the bones on either side. Then for the first time in quite a while (in public) his jaws split in a panting grin. It looked malicious, but had Angel been here she would have been able to inform the other that Garren was now feeling playful. He nodded and stepped back into ready stance, showing that the fight was to start anew. “Alright. We can play like that…” Hands loosely clenched, he turned one over, extended it towards her and beckoned with his fingers for her to come at him.

[Nani]

Nani Hatherton

She had surprised him, something that even surprised herself. But she was pleased with herself as she watched him cracking the bones in his neck. The sound sent shivers down her spine, and she grinned at him, as she stood up, dusting her pant legs off, grabbing another fan from her thigh sheath. The Gaidan who had walked over to check on them merely smiled and stepped back. "Oh we're going to play it like that. all or nothing Garren Gaidan." She called back, her grin mirroring his without the wolfish aspects. The maliciousness in his grin was enough to send a twinge of fear to her stomach, but her adrenaline quickly quelled that, before she let her arms trail after her, dashing forward at him.

Her body gathered, jumped, and as she descended, she opened the fans and spun down attacking him. If he was quick enough he could grab both of her hands and throw her to the ground, or try to cause her bodily harm. If she managed to out react him, then she would actually hit his face. However, if he caught her and did not put her on the ground, she was going to be using his chest as a spring board hopefully being able to get away once again. But if she wasn't lucky, and wound up under him, she just hoped her knowledge wouldn't fair her. It had been so long that she had ever been...caught.

[Eve]

Garren reached up, wrapping his large, calloused palm around one of her smaller wrists, and though he attempted to catch the other the same way, it slipped passed his outstretched hand. Instead of catching and throwing her easily, the result was him getting a face full of fan upside his head. He grunted as this happened, his eyes crossing for a moment at the blow, but he fought through it without ever loosing that Light Blinded grin. Still, he had caught and held tight to one of her wrists. Swinging his body in a large arch he used the momentum to take her along with him, slanting the spin downwards in the aim to send her to the ground face first...and fairly hard. If this worked he was straddling the backs of her knees swiftly, mounting over this area with all the care he would have his horse. Hauling her wrist along with him, he moved to catch the other, wanting to pin her to the ground until she was forced to yield.

The girl was good, he had to admit that. And she had spunk. He liked that. In a way she reminded him of a much younger Angel. Nowhere near as beautiful of course, and she didn't have that same underlying, and pleasant, scent, but she had the same vibrancy he had always been drawn to in his Bonded.