Arinyagimli - The art of the swordsaint.

After dinner, a member of Arin's staff walks over to you inside the inner sanctum. She is a fine, young Wood Elf, with short brown hair, and eyes the color of grass.

"Good evening, your highness." The Wood Elf tells you, with a curtsey. "Princess Arinyagimli wants you to meet her in the training grounds."

"May I ask why she is there at this time?" You ask her.

"She is training, your highness." She tells you. "With all of the tasks you have assigned to her in the test, she has not been able to find time during the day to train. Regular training is key for swordsaints, like her."

"A swordsaint?" You ask her.

"Aye, your highness." She tells you. "She is adept with a bow, as all of the Elves of Elethiel are, but she is highly skilled with a sword. Swordsaints use battle hymns to help empower their swordfighting skills on the battlefields. It has helped us in the fight against the Dark Elves from the Underworlds, and the Demons."

"So why is this particular night of swordsaint training different from normal?" You ask her. "Surely, she would not like to be distracted by my presence."

"Normally, she would not like to be disturbed," she tells you, "but she wants to use her one night with you this week, to show you the ways of the swordsaint, and see how well you can hold up in battle against Elvenfolk."

"If that is her wish," you tell the Wood Elf, "then I will go see her in the training grounds."

"Thank you, m'lord." The Wood Elf tells you, bowing, then speaks in Elvish. "Have a good night, your highness."

You walk over to the training grounds--a place that you have used regularly since returning home from Phebis two cycles ago. It has helped yield a leaner body, fit for a king that is ready to do battle, if needed. There is noone else at the training grounds--just the handful of target dummies, archery targets, and the High Elf, Arin. You stop for a moment to watch her move and strike with the speed and agility that the Elves of Elethiel are best known for. Given her profession, your eyes wander down to the way she places her feet with every move. Every soldier in Itheria wears boots that are flat, or have low, broad heels. The ankle boots that Arin is wearing, have heels that are more narrow, and are significantly higher. A pair of opaque pink stockings rise up to mid-thigh, with elegant Elven gold trimming at the top. A set of pink garter belts can be seen, going further up her legs. Further up her tall, slender body, you see a short Elven one-piece suit, with a set of loincloths that go down to mid-thigh, with the garter belts going underneath the suit. The suit is sleeveless, allowing you to see her strong, slender arms, with a pair of pink cloth bracers on her forearms. At the front, the material is tight enough to let you get a nice glimpse of her breasts that make her relatively busty for an Elf. Her dark blue eyes spot you, and she turns to fully face you, smiling. She brings a hand up to brush some stray strands of her long brown hair away, letting you see the nice cleavage given by the low cut of her suit, and her busty chest.

"Good evening, your highness." Arin tells you, giving you a nice curtsey.

"Greetings, Arin." You tell her. "I see that you are keeping your swordplay sharp, even with your busy schedules throughout the day."

"I normally do these training regimen either at sunrise or sunset." She tells you. "Only in rare occasions, do the swordsaints of Elethiel train in broad daylight, or in the depths of the night."

"Is that out of the need for safety?" You ask her. "Or is it for some other reason?"

"Not just for maximum safety, your highness," Arin replies, "but also because it is the quietest parts of the day and night, at least in the Great Elethiel Forest."

"I see." You tell her. "So you've summoned me here to train with you. Your Wood Elven servant says that it's to see how well I can fight against Elves like you. May I ask why?"

"For one, I want to see how well my skills match up with humans that tend to be more powerful than us Elves." Arin tells you, as she walks to a spot, where a longsword is propped against a training dummy. "Then there are the Dark Elves. They have the speed and agility of us surface Elves, but they also have some of the mentality of humans. A handful of them are just as strong as humans."

"So is this how you plan to spend the one night you have with me this week, Arin?" You ask her.

"That is just part of it, your highness." Arin replies, as she gives you the extra longsword. "Being 13th in line for the throne in Elethiel, with my parents being 500 years old, there are plenty of things I can do to pass the time."

"So that makes you how old, 100? 200?" You ask her.

"180, to be exact." She replies. "That is all I will give you....for now. Shall we train, m'lord?"

You nod, and step into the center of the arena with Arin. You start with a few standard defensive stances, looking to get a feel of Arin's fighting style. Turns out, Arin's trying to get a feel of your own fighting style, even with your relative lack of fighting experience. Then again, she knows that if you weren't skilled enough two cycles ago, then chances are very high that you would not have survived in Phebis. So you and Arin spend a good amount of time trying to test each other's defensive tactics, before trying to get an attack through. You find that she is able to jump over your leg sweeps with relative ease, or roll over to your flank, to evade an overhead or diagonal slice. On the flip side, you're able to keep her unbalanced, and on the defensive, when you're able to outpower her. Seeing the ongoing stalemate, you watch as Arin starts to do one of her battle chants, and you watch her sword begin to glow with a soft, green light. Now you find yourself on your heels, as she moves faster, with green magic sparks flying out, whenever you clash swords with her. When you're able to figure out when and how to counter, you do that, and use your strong body to knock her down, while knocking her sword away. Slowly, you walk forward, pointing the tip of the longsword down at her, as she moves backwards towards her sword. All of a sudden, she kicks your shin hard enough to stagger you, then rolls away to retrieve her sword. With an Elven chant, she increases her movement speed, amplifying the power of her knee strike to your face. It knocks you down, and now it is her that is pointing her Elven longsword down at you.

"Not bad for a human with just two cycles of battle experience and training." Arin tells you. "Many of my kin with such little experience would still be considered very green. Of course, being a royal princess, I have over 170 years of training and battlefield experience."

"How is it that you can move like that, with your kind of boots?" You ask her.

"Alot of training and practice." She tells you. "I do have boots that are more consistent with your kind, which is more suitable for certain battle tactics. With these ankle boots, I can virtually spin like a dancer."

"Or have a nasty fall, if you get tripped up at the wrong time." You tell her.

"You're such a realist, your highness." Arin tells you. "But I can see why you lean more towards being tactical and learning quickly, than just brute human ****."

She offers you her free hand, which you take, and helps you back to your feet. Then she sets her Elven longsword down, so that she can wrap her arms around you, and plant a light kiss to your lips.

"Did I hurt you that much from kicking your leg, and burying my knee in your face?" Arin asks you.

"Not too much." You tell her. "I haven taken much worse, albeit from Demons."

"Good." She tells you. "I will clean up here, and then meet you in your bed chamber, if that is fine with you."

"Of course, Arin." You tell her. "Take all the time you need. I need a good bath after this activity."