Neth grunts as she's knocked off her feet at the end of the sparring match, she rubs her cheek and frowns, her sword on the ground next to her. She then looks up to her sparring partner, and they both chuckle.
"Captain... You really have let yourself go..." Miranwyn taunted playfully and extended a hand to Neth. Who shook her head, grabbing her sword and pulling herself up with the aid of her friend, "Yeah... I have... Havent I. Used to be I was the one picking YOU up the floor" She nods back and took a few steps back to prepare her stance again.
"And that simply wont do, between the Corsair pestering the Azure City, and the threats aimed at my friends... It's time to get back into shape... I have a memory to uphold too... Cant let them down, huh?" Neth smiled, even though the rest of her body tensed up and prepared for the next bout.
"I do. I remember them, and for that I will see your fighting prowess restored" Mira snapped and without warning she lunged at Neth with a precise, swift barrage of blows the former Captain could only just parry and evade, as Mira did not wholly outclass Neth, but was by far the more aggressive combatant, with Neth getting very little in the way of counterattacks whilst not leaving Mira with many openings to exploit.
But eventually an opening does appear, and Mira sweeps Neth from her feet, however the former Captain was ready for this and as she falls down she sweeps her own leg towards Mira to prevent her from delivering the "final blow", which in turn allowed Neth to spring back up to her feet and lauch a counterattack of her own, a glimpso of what lurked just beneath the rusty exterior... An exterior that was yet to be broken as the attack lacked the precision to pierce through Mira's defenses, and a single, misangled blow resulted in the sharper soldier angling her parry in a way it caused Neth to lose her grip on her sword, sending it flying a few feet away.
"There we go... I'm sure you'll be back to your old self within a few weeks" Mira pants a little under the strain, but Neth shook her head. "No. That is too long. I've sat idly by for five years. It's time to bring out the Warrior I once was." She snapped, but Mira shrugged. "Then... Continue practising your footwork? There are some dummies out, I shall return later, I am sorry Captain, I am worn and I have matters to attend to." She gave Neth a hug and made her exit.
Neth stared at the training sword and put it back in the rack, with her opponent becoming an inanimate dummy she fetched her own sword from the rack by the wall and drew it out of the scabbard. Holding it up infront of her so she could read the etching on the blade before pressing her head on the cool metal and murmured "I'll make you proud... Like you were in the hands of those who came before..." before twirling around to face the training dummy, a steely determined look in her eyes as she dug deep to try and remember the feeling of wielding the blade against the enemies of Gondor and hoisted the sword into a fighting stance. The light of the torches gleaming off of it's polished surface. It was true she still had many days of training ahead of her, but never before had she been more determined to re-realise what potential she had. So that she could once again bring her wrath to bear upon those who would seek to hurt her family, her home or her loved ones. Once more she'd stare down the darkness, and force it to blink first...
