"D'you know how to use that?" he asked her, eyeing a bare sword bound to the horse's rump along with the rest of her supplies. It was a meager pack, enough for a few days travel in the mild countryside. Everything - including the blade - looked poorly made but well cared for.
"Swing it," she grunted as she tightened the cinch of her saddle. "Hit things with it that aim to harm me."
He snorted his disapproval and turned away, frustrated with her nonchalance about what he deemed to be a dire situation.
"Listen," Annaveil sighed, "I'm not ungrateful for your concern but I've done this a hundred times and I've not once had any use for the thing." She flicked a finger against the dull iron and glanced over her shoulder at him, brow flat in annoyance.
"You've never had to use it," he pleaded, "so you don't know how. What's the harm in an extra body? A body with an arm for such things. Let me come with yo-"
Annaveil whirled around, cutting him off with a cold glare and quick words. "Follow me and I will have a use for it," she warned.
