Regynn Winters

Girls Day Out

“Where are we going?” Regynn asked for what must have been the tenth time since the girls had set out on the road.

Clair glanced over her shoulder, “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.”

The priestess turned to Kyalith who rode beside her, “You know that wasn’t an answer right?”

Kya shrugged, “I wouldn’t worry about it, you know Clair isn’t going to do anything to get you in trouble, or hurt. Well.. hopefully not hurt.”

Regynn narrowed her eyes, opening her mouth to speak when her temple hound nearly collided with Clair’s horse who had stopped at the edge of a field. It took the priestess a couple of minutes to recover herself in the saddle and settle her pounding heart. “What in the Light is wrong with you? Why would you stop like that?”

“We’re here.” Clair answered, nodding toward an expanse of low grass, clear of trees or rocks.

She looked around searchingly before turning back to the blonde, “Is something special supposed to happen here?” Reggy asked.

Clair slid from the saddle and lead her horse to a spot away from the path then turned to her companions, her blue gaze intent on the priestess, “Yep. This is where I’m going to teach you to defend yourself.”

Reggy blinked, “You’re going to what?”

“Look, you carry that staff around to help you focus the power of the Light when you do whatever it is you do. But there’s nothing that says you can’t use it as a weapon too. In fact, mosts priests do. I don’t know much about fighting with sticks so we’re only going to go over the fundamentals.” she reached behind her back and withdrew a long, wickedly curved dagger, holding it out to Reggy, “This is more my area of knowledge so I’m going to teach you to fight with this too.”

The brunette glanced from one sister to the other as Kya nodded, “You can’t count on your paladin showing up to save you, you have to be able to save yourself.”

The three girls spent some time going over blocking procedures, foot movements, how to leverage the body’s momentum to deliver a solid strike, and dodging before Clair squared off with Regynn, the two of them armed with staves. It didn’t take long for the priestess to see that Clair wasn’t pulling any blows.

“You know what you need to do?” Clair commented when Reggy complained of a particularly stinging hit, “Move faster, dodge better.” and then she launched another flurry of attacks that the priestess was just barely able to fend off.

The sparring didn’t stop until dusk had fallen, then three worked together to set up a camp by a stream at the edge of the field. Kya laid out the meal she’d packed in a basket and they ate, their silence broken by occasional comments on the events of the day, the sounds of light laughter drifting on the evening air.

“Do you think I’ll be able to do it? Defend myself I mean?” Reggy asked.

Clair looked her over and shrugged, “Probably not yet, you’ll need practice. You had a hard time putting any real effort into it didn’t you? All your blows were weak.”

The priestess ducked her head, “I’ve never set out to hurt anyone before. I’m a helper, it’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”

“And you’ve been lucky so far that Jonah was the only one to take advantage. You have to be able to give as good as you get. Even when what you get is bad.” the blonde glanced around the camp then back at Reggy, “Get some sleep, we’ll start again first thing in the morning, this time with daggers. Trust me, we’re not leaving here until you can give that creep what he deserves.”