Fire, Swords and Mace

Later that day…

“Judging by how this armour look, Ja’Khajiit, you must be in a lot of fights and battle” The blacksmith carefully moves his hand on the breastplate. “Dents like this one, had it been unnoticed, could have caused a disaster, if it got hit by a mace or crossbow bolt. Your chain mail is also damaged in a few vital parts. I’d replace the damaged rings, but it’s gonna cost you” he stared at Jadezzar, who sat in the dark corner of the store.
“Money isn’t a problem. Also, I’d like to have mithril mail and a muscle cuirass, if you have any” he pulled out a bag of septims from his pocket. “No, sorry. No mithril here, neither a muscle cuirass that will suit your figure” The blacksmith sighed, as he started hammering the chest plate. “Is that so? Unfortunate...” the warrior grunts, before looking at his swords.
“Those are still sharp and do not need serious repairs. You sharpen and maintain it every day? Not a lot of fighters bandits or mercenaries I’ve met had well-maintained equipment like yours. By attitude, you also aren’t like a common mercenary, and you know how to bargain” the blacksmith smiled.
“Before they started a caravan, my parents had been fighting as mercenaries. I helped them and learned a lot about trading and fighting before I became a mercenary myself” said the hardened Khajiit mercenary
“Huh. It might also explain your unusual attitude compared to average Khajiits. You speak in the first person, like that Khajiit girl I met yesterday” said the blacksmith as he carefully checked the chest plate again. “Is she smaller than me? Yellow fur and eh, kinda cute looking?” Jadezzar looked out of the window, observing the streets of Kvatch.
“How did you know? Did you meet her? She’s a bit weird, in a good way. And a bit, if not very, naive, I think” the blacksmith replied.
“Yeah. Met her earlier, in uh, a bad predicament” the young Khajiit looked at the clear sky, and then at the street again before he noticed something that piqued his interest.
“Hey, blacksmith. Do you have training swords and a club? I want to refresh my skills, and it seems there is someone who could get help training herself…”

A few minutes later...

“Try to use more momentum, and exert more force as the club comes down. Also, try and attack from a different direction, and move around too” Ilden held up his shield as Katia swing the branch down. “Noted” Katia grunt as she hit the shield horizontally, sidestepped and swing the branch diagonally.
“I see someone is trying to get her hand in melee combat business. By the way, nice armour.” Jadezzar shouted from the distance, carrying three wooden swords and a wooden club.
“And I thought we’ll meet another day. What are you doing here?” Katia smiled a little, as she gathered her breath.
“Ilden! Been quite some time since our last meeting.” Jadezzar offered his hand. “And if this isn’t Dokharesh son. How you’re doing, boy? What opportunity led this young mercenary to Kvatch?” Ilden smiled and warmly shake the younger warrior hand. “Well, I had escorted a caravan from Narsis to Cheydinhal a few days ago. Took a bounty along with a group of adventurer on a bandit fort north of Imperial Isle. Stopped there for a day, escorted a trader to Chorrol. Nothing much happens because we happen to trail behind Countess Arriana Valga and her retinue. Then I decided to go south to Skingrad. Killed a bunch of bandits and marauders that roams between Skingrad and Kvatch, then go here to rest. Which I don’t get much because there’s an accident last night” Jadezzar relayed his journey. Katia rolled her eyes when he heard Jadezzar mentioned the word accident.
“As for your question, Kat, I saw someone who needs a lot of help regarding melee combat. And I happen to train a lot of militias and few mercenaries in my past” Jadezzar acted smug, as he spun the wooden sword in his hand.
“Show me your skill first, boy. I want to see how far you’ve gone since the last time we met. We might even show Katia some useful moves” Ilden grunts.
“Alright, old man. Prepare to be surprised.” the younger warrior grins as he handed Ilden one of the swords, and picked the other on his left hand.
They then started to walk in circles, eyeing each other for the opportunity for a strike. The young Khajiit mercenary lunged first, his long sword aimed at Ilden leg, who quickly parried and swept up his sword to his right arm. The strike got stopped by his shorter sword on his left hand, followed up by a thrust at Ilden chest from his long sword. Ilden’s shield stopped it halfway through, and he followed it up with a slash aimed at the somewhat larger warriorhead. Jadezzar dodged the strike and unleashed a flurry of thrusts and cuts from his swords, pushing Ilden backward as he was forced to hide behind his shield or parried the attack away until Jadezzar tricked him with a feigned strike from his longer short, followed by a quick thrust from his shorter sword, which managed to get through Ilden defence and landed on his chest.
“Nice move, young one, nice move. You managed to trick me up with that one thrust” Ilden smiled and patted Jadezzar arm as he took some breath.
“Well, I learned a lot from many people, including you. So, what do you think, Kat?” Jadezzar turned to Katia, who looked at them both intensely.
“Well, I guess I learned about some useful moves and strikes. You know what? I’ll try to face you. I wanted to test myself a bit after what Ilden taught me earlier” She picked the club and swings it around, before stretching her back, flexing her muscles and stared at the experienced fighter right on his eyes.
“Alright. Maybe I could teach you a few things too” He inhales deeply before dropping the shorter sword.
“Now, there are some things that you should know, Katia” Jadezzar began to slowly walk forward, his hands gripping the sword tightly. “What?” She replies, raising the club to her chest, ready to parry or strike at her teacher. “Always expect the unexpected, even if its very hard trick to pull” Jadezzar thrust his sword at her leg, but quickly redirect it to her stomach. She parried the sudden strike away and swing the club at his arm. He quickly countered it and swung his sword at Katia’s arm, but she suddenly dodges and swings the club at his head. He ducked, but she suddenly changed the direction of the club, hitting his thigh instead. “Nice. You got me there” Jadezzar cringed as Katia pulled the club back. “Is it painful? Sorry, I shouldn’t have hit too hard” She apologized, but the slightly older Khajiit simply chuckled.
“Nah, it’s okay. Things like this happen all the time. It’s usual to get accidentally hit when you spar with someone. Besides, I had suffered worse than a painful thigh” he smiled.
“Anyway, I can see that you’re a quick learner. Now, why not try to use a sword?” Ilden suggests as he hands his wooden sword to Katia.
“Using a sword is a bit easy to learn, hard to master. With a club or axe, you strike with the head. You swing and hit with it using the weight of the head. With a sword, it’s different. You could cut or thrust. On one side, it’s more versatile, and against a few kinds of enemy, a somewhat better choice. However, when you face an armoured enemy, it would be harder, but not impossible, to defeat. Oh, and at least weight matter less when you used a sword since you could rely on the sword edge and momentum alone. Now, try to swing and thrust around, Kat. I wanted to know how well you could use it” Jadezar explained. Katia nodded and began swinging and thrusting the sword around, surprising the mercenary with how well she uses the sword.
“I don’t expect someone as new as you to use the sword that well…” He stares in disbelief.
“I watched your moves when you sparred against Ilden, and when I faced you. I kinda figure out the basics from it. That said, I could still learn a lot. And now that I think about it…” She flexes her sword arm and stared at her left arm
“I could fight with a sword and fireball, right?” Katia turned to her trainer.
“That is an interesting and great concept. My sister Mtizsha did it. Took her months and singed furs before she mastered the use of sword and magic. And a few more to combine the use of both. But you, you could do it rather quickly, if you wanted to” the warrior spoke to her.
“Now, try to face me with the sword” Jadezzar raised his sword above his head. This time, it’s Katia who strikes first, aiming at his chest. He quickly brought his sword to bear, deflecting Katia strike and swiped at her head in one move. She ducked and leapt backwards as Jadezzar chases on, his sword thrusting and cutting through the air. He then changed the method of his attacks, using the pommel and guard as a hammer.
“Not many people did that trick, Jadezzar. Interesting tactic.” Ilden comments. He watched as Jadezzar and Katia continues to spar, with the occasional grunt when someone got hit. Katia slowly attacked back as the larger Khajiit runs out of breath until at one point she let her guard down. Jadezzar quickly seized his moment and pushed Katia to the ground with his pommel. However, she managed to land a strike right to his chest at the same time. “Well, we’re both screwed, if this is actual combat.” Jadezzar grins, before offering his hand to Katia. “And you are hard to defeat” She flashed a smile as she took Jadezzar hand and got pulled to her feet. They stared at each other's eyes for a while, smiled a little before Ilden interrupted.
“I guess we could call it enough for a day. So, why don’t we sit down and talk” Ilden suggest, as he sat on a bench?
“I’ll return these training weapons. Gonna check my gear too” Jadezzar collected the training weapons and ran to the blacksmith.

“You know Jadezzar?” Katia asked as he looked at Ilden. “Yes. And I know his father well too. The first time we met, it’s on the different side of a battle. I fought for Camaron of Sentinel side, and his father fought for Lysandus, and later Gothyrd side. The few times we met in battle, we would duel with each other. Except for some wounds, we never beat each other. Only after the War of Betony is over did I finally learn about Dokharesh. He had been a soldier in the Five Years War between Khajiit and Bosmer. No wonder he fought like a seasoned veteran, even though I swore he’s younger than me. We met again after the war, traded stories and experience. A few years later he retired and married a girl named Dranareshi. From time to time, we’ll send messages to each other. I remember when he stopped by one day, and I realized that he had been a trader for some time. By that point, I also noticed that he also has a child. Little Jad is someone who I could never forget. He’s quite mischievous, but never a truly bad kid. Could hold his own in combat” Ilden spoke, sighed and continued “Last time I met him a year ago, he had been involved in numerous small provincial conflicts and war. No longer the innocent and cute small kitten who often got carried on the back of his father, but a fearsome and hardened mercenary that could cut through many enemies. I’m surprised that you manage to land hits on him. Either he’s not up to his usual performance, or he goes easy on you. Anyway, how did you know him?” Ilden looked at Katia.
“I think it’s the latter, he goes easy on me” Katia sighed “And, yes. I know him once, a long time ago. Back when I was a child. I and my mother visited a trade caravan that stopped near our farm. That’s when I met Jad for the first time, met her sisters too. I played with her sisters until I accidentally dropped my guar doll downhill near Dunerippers. He came charging and fighting them, killing one and later returned my doll, while being bruised and covered in Duneripper blood. All for a guar doll. Can’t believe it” Katia smiled.
“I never heard Jad doing that. Must be too shy, forgot it or simply don’t want to tell it to many people. Might endanger his tough-guy aura” Ilden chuckled.
“Well, it still takes some time. Might as well come back here to you guys” Jadezzar sighed, as he lies on the grass.
“By the way, Kat, as much as you have learned today, there’s always room for improvement. And, depending on the circumstances, you should try to learn to maintain your equipment. Often the difference between life and death could be traced to whether or not you properly maintain your armour and weapons” he continued, staring into the sky above. “Well, regarding maintaining armour, I…know some of the basics. Tried to be an armour repairer once, and I screwed up badly. Let’s hope I won’t do the same when I got my set of armour and weapon” Katia sighed, unnerved by a bad experience she had.
“Maybe one day you should give it a try, again. Maybe your luck changes, and you could do better” Ilden suggests.
“Thanks, Ilden, and you too, Jad. Not many would treat me decently, and given what I had gone through and did...” Katia sighed.
“Nah, don’t think too much about it, Kat. And…and...well, nevermind, it’s nothing” Jadezzar inhales deeply. He could stare Katia and Ilden stare at him curiously when he nearly said something about what he had done as a mercenary. Some decisions and actions that he regretted, and would haunt him, maybe until his death.
“Anyway. Got to go. I have a few things I need to do. Old man business” Ilden rose from the bench.
“See you later, old man.” Jadezzar sat down and smiled at him.
“Thanks for the training, Ilden. I learned some things and blow off some steam” Katia raised her hands. Ilden shook it and walked away.
“Now what…?” Katia asked herself. She then silently thought for a few moments, thinking for steps to be done to retrieve the packages and some kind of payback to Sigrid. And her nightmare.
“Oi. Anything going on inside your head, Kat? I’ll help you if I could. I don’t have much to do with my armour being repaired. Figure out might do a little bit of helping to ease my head off some nightmares and bad memories. And shitty stuff I've done” Jadezzar spoke to Katia.
“Well…I do kinda know what I will do next, but let’s walk while we talk, alright?” Katia looked at him.
“Talking while walking. Like something I only do when I’m leading a bunch of militias and inexperienced mercs. Come on, then” Jadezzar jumped to his feet, and walked next to her.