Asher walked through the back streets of Edurand having gotten lost after being separated from his cat eared companion, while waking through the thronging crowds.
Thinking the smartest thing to do would be to head back to Toras home, rather than look for her among the city center flooded by midday foot traffic.
It was indeed the correct decision or would have been had he not taken a wrong turn and gotten himself lost.
He paused retracing his steps mentally standing as still as stone, such that one couldn't be at all surprised if moss suddenly sprouted from his head.
A shuffling of feet, rounding the corner in a hurry a girl in a wide brimmed gray grave digger hat nearly slammed into him but he turned catching her by the shoulders at the last second.
She looked at him in shock, and before either of them could say anything someone else rounded the corner.
"Maggie!" A young man in a wide brim cavalier hat hat exclaimed coming to a dead stop, his eyes furrowing under his red hat as he took in the sight of the girl now revealed to be known as Maggie being held by Asher.
"Get your hands off of her, wretch!" They demanded with a plugged up voice. In a flash the longsword at their hip was drawn a neat overhead cut flying at Asher which he side stepped releasing his grip on the girl.
Dancing around a blur of strikes, his body screamed at him to draw his own sword, to meet force with force to do what is natural when your life is threatened, to kill.
He pushed this instinct down, enjoying the young knight before hims movements. They were quite good their moves sharp and form was almost perfect, but they were extending their hips too much.
No, they, or more aptly she wasn't at all over extending her hips at all. The truth of it was that this was a young lady dressed in men's garments trying to pass herself off as a boy.
Their hips were of course wider than a man's and therefore made it seem as if though they were turning slightly too much with their strikes.
The dance continued the girl using a very orthodox style of swordplay. Dodging a thrust to the throat, a sheer at the leg, a twisting double cut, not even a strand of hair being split by the flurry.
Asher reached up with a finger hooking some of his white locks out of the swords path side stepping once more which seemed to irritate this dame in disguise.
He had no intention of killing someone over a misunderstanding. When the next strike fell into chamber he stepped forward catching their hands and using their momentum against them threw them over his shoulder making the world spin.
They slammed hard against the ground not even understanding what just happened, the air being knocked out of their lungs with a loud puff, their squishy organs shocked by the impact causing them to lose consciousness.
"Hena!" Maggie exclaimed her voice shrill as she rushed forward kneeling beside her friend. Asher held his hands up, speaking calmly. "Sorry about this. Listen this was all just a misunderstanding I mean neither of you harm." He took a pace back.
"If you would kindly help explain that to your friend when she wakes up." An awkward silence fell, before Maggie slowly nodded her head in agreement realizing the boy before her was right.
Barreling around that corner in excitement like a fool she had almost ran straight into him had he not have caught her. A flush spread her face embarrassed at how she'd caused so much trouble.
After a few minutes Hena woke up, climbing to her feet sword in hand standing between Asher and her companion. "Hena, hold on!" Maggie exclaimed latching onto her arm to stop any further attempts at combat.
"Relax, this guy wasn't trying to hurt me or anything like that! I almost ran into him and he caught me thats all, okay?!" Hena paused, surveying the white haired boy before her, from his white hair to his skinny body and the curved sword which he wore in an odd fashion.
What a strange way to wear your sword, she thought, before relaxing and sheathing her own blade. Eyeing him for a moment longer with feigned distaste and a slightly sour expression before speaking.
"My name is Henalise Annarosa Witchmane, daughter of Duncan Witchmane and Duchess Annarietta Henarora Talion as well as granddaughter to the illustrious mystic and lord of this city Earl Ulysses Witchmane. You may call me Hena."
"I'm Asher." He replied with his usual flat tone. This was just his luck, to have a run in with the lord of the city's granddaughter, and slamming her into the ground of all things. It's not likely this would end well.
"You…" she started, surmising him from the corner of her eye "are a swordsman are you not? That blade at your hip is certainly not a falx. I've never seen such a curved blade before." Hena mused aloud curiously, pinching the palm of her glove absentmindedly.
"Pray tell, what kind of blade is that?" She asked twisting her head to study the profile of the sheathed weapon. It was so different from what she was used to.
The fittings were strange, the cross guard was a round disk with two rows of square holes on the outer diameter with arching branches connecting the inner diameter to its core.
The handle was rectangular about long enough for two and a half hands and had a white leather cord wrapped around it uniformly with what looked to be a weathered brass collar sitting where the handle connects to the guard.
The pommel as well was strange; with its flat shape it seemed less of a counter weight for balance and more for aesthetics.
And it's sheath was black with sort of speckled pattern with the lacquer reminding her somewhat of a fishes scales, a black cord was wrapped around it a hands length from the entrance, it had white thread woven into it giving it a spotted pattern and one end was frayed making it almost look like a tassel.
It was nice to look at but she was most curious about how it was applied in battle.
"The curved kind." Asher replied. The young Hena narrowed her eyes. 'Yes, but it must be a sword of some type. So what is it called?" "It's type is called curved." He replied again.
Henas' face reddened slightly, trying to keep from snapping at the boy in front of her.
She very much disliked when anyone got between her and the topic of swords and swordplay. Very much was she annoyed yet she was also wanting to laugh; the way he talked was the same roundabout way her father would tease her when she was small.
"Aside from 'curved' what name would you place to the sword? I carry a longsword, so what is it you carry?" She asked with a small huff. "I also carry a longsword." He answered. Now she was clearly angry though he hadn't lied. He was fully intending to be a smartass but he was telling the truth the curved blade he carried was indeed a longsword.
It was not in any way his desire to become more involved than necessary with the granddaughter of the city's lord. Her desire to learn from him was clearly like a visible itch emanating from her body, a desire he does not fault her for.
'How do you fight with it?' 'In what way do you parry and riposte?' 'What tactic is employed in attacking and defending with it?' These were all questions he correctly surmised lurked within Henalises' head. Refusing to answer her properly would hopefully rid himself of her attentions.
"Fine." She started curtly. "I will not press you since you wish to play the fool." She took Maggie's hand and brushed past him, reseating her hat back in place.
"Hena… you can't blame him for not wanting to talk after you tried to cut him up." The brown haired girl spoke timidly. "I don't…"
Henas thoughts drifted to their fight. The way that boy had moved was like trying to cut a falling leaf or a piece of silk.
Just when she thought she had cut him he had moved aside as if the blade couldn't bother him like it slid right off without an ounce of resistance.
That white hair and those focused eyes were beautiful and today would now be a fond memory instead of a shameful one where she'd lost a fight to a scrawny street rat.
She wanted to know how he fought like that and everything else. She wanted to know every little thing there was to know about him.