Despite being on the first level of the Citadel, the massive courtyard remains hidden behind towering walls of stone and sediment. An elongated central patch of neatly trimmed grass stretches out for almost fifty-meters while maintaining a twenty-meter width. At the center of the grass is a large, ovular fountain in the shape of the Arcona emblem, with water running from the tips of each pointed edge. Vegetation grows along some of the walls, and an archaic clock-face is carved into the face of one of the entryways. A small group of rotating sharpshooters are scattered across the walls as the courtyard is supposed to serve as a safe place for Arconans to enjoy some quiet time, or to meet with visitors. It has served as the venue for multiple honor-duels over time, and there is a significant crater off to the side of the grass left behind as a result of a contest between Marick Arconae and Wuntila Arconae. The duel had taken place prior to either Arconae serving as Shadow Lords and in a quieter time before all Arcona knew was warfare.

As you walk towards the back of the courtyard, closer to the base of the cliff that the Citadel is constructed upon, a tall tree shoots up from the stone, its shade guarding an entrance into the Citadel proper.

Nath allowed a pent up sigh to pass from her slender lips. The sound of flesh pounding against old stone or grass became almost as irritating as her old Apprentice's squaks of pain.

"Okay, okay, I ye~ild!" The elongated syllable was punctuated by a harsh snap of fracturing bone and a muted whimper of agony.

Within moments; or more accurately, the spaces in between those moments. That sound was the final straw that broke the Iridonian's patience. Obsidian eyes reluctantly opened, pale fingers flexed and joints popped from her sudden motion. Before her eyes had really adjusted to the light she was on her feet and advancing towards the source of her new found ire.

Long fingers grabbed at the Human's topknot and just as swiftly the sole of Nath's boot forced the male to kneel with a sharp kick behind his knee. With more than a little glee she began to twist the taught strands of dark hair and draw him back.

"You are beginning to test my patience Templar. For an hour you have insisted in grinding down the idiotic Ryn into the grass whilst I have been present. For an hour he has squeaked like a child's toy, surely the merriment has worn thin by now hmn?" She spoke in Basic ensuring there would be no misunderstanding even if her vocal cords chafed at the prospect. She had never sounded particularly feminine when she spoke that language, it did not flow as easily as her native tongue or Mando'a.

Dead eyes glared at her once Apprentice, Kordath, who had sat his bruised and battered form on the edge of the decorative fountain that made the centerpiece of the small communal area. It lasted but a second, this was more than long enough to inform the Ryn of her malicious intent.

She gave no pause for the Human to respond, using her free hand to turn his head to face her a little more. A thumb caressed at his zygomatic bone that protruded under his skin, the gesture could have been intimate if it did not feel so stiff and corpse like.

It would be now that most would expect more speaking and puffing of their ego, but the Iridonian could not offer this, there was no egotism left within her to expel the words, just a tired reserve of pain and constant bubbling anger.

“Allow me to show you the correct path." Nath resisted the urge to bite as she whispered the words at his ear, the harsh grip tightening a fraction more before shoving him forward and into the grass.

Uji caught himself before his face collided with the grass and dirt. He did not stop Nath when he could have easily done so, his mind had ticked over the possibilities and decided he was more curious than annoyed. He had very few dealings with her beyond the Nighthawk. He knew of her, knew she sequestered herself away from the others and had heard she was incredibly violent not even caring if she damaged herself in the process.

By the time he was sitting upright again Nath had maneuvered herself in front of him, hands resting calmly at her sides as she waited for him to make the first move. Kordath could be seen just over her shoulder shaking his head in warning.

Returning to his feet slowly, the Templar spent a few moments sizing up his new sparring partner. Kordath had warned him against the idea of bothering her meditations, that the Krath Priestess was unlike most of her order and would without much hesitation deal with any distractions in her own way; pain and intimidation being her way. Uji began comparing Nath’s presence to those of the Krath order he was familiar with. Unable to contain a smirk at the comparison of the Iridonian female standing before him compared to the likes of Kordath, Atyiru or even his own former apprentice, Kyo.

“Something you find amusing, Templar?” Nath’s eyebrow rose slightly as she noticed the smile, the rest of her body completely relaxed.

Uji ran his thumb across his face, retracing where Nath had caressed earlier with the smirk still imprinted on his face.

“Just thinking about how I’m going to afford to pay your Apprentice back, he promised it wouldn’t take that long to get you to react. Seems he misjudged your patience, and he made me promise to pay for an extra round for each time I injured him.”

The Priestess turned slightly her eyes flicking over her shoulder to her former Apprentice, the Ryn had already turned and began scrambling away, first on all fours then upright and retreated a safe distance away. A low growl escaped the Iridonian’s throat, covering her internal amusement at the Ryn’s habit. Kord was always finding trouble no matter who he associated with.

“You have my attention.”

“I was told you aren’t much for conversation.”

“Then why waste my time?”

Nath turned back to the Templar at the last moment, seeing the translucent shimmer of his Force Cloak as he closed the distance. She sensed the attack coming, Uji reappeared with his first strike coming in low for her abdomen. The Priestess relied on her connection to the Force. By slowing the strike by placing the Templar’s hip in Stasis, Nath hindered the momentum of the blow. Her return was an open palm towards the Templar, finger closed in on Uji’s eyes with the intention to blind her opponent The Obelisk amplified his reflexes breaking the Stasis and ducked underneath her claws.

The two began a measured pace of trading blows, testing, prodding one another’s defenses. Uji employed his chosen style of K’tara, which spent less time spent attempting to overpower his opponent, and focused on searching for a weak point in her defense. Nath’s movements remained fluid as she dodged and brushed aside her opponent’s strikes. Nath stepped back and braced herself as she let Uji breach her defense, the Templar’s strike numbing her shoulder. He struck the soft portion of tissue in between her shoulder and clavicle.

The Templar’s extension gave her the opportunity she wanted. Ignoring the pain that radiated through her arm, Nath used her opposite hand to take hold of Uji’s wrist. She twisted it up and away and enjoyed the momentary hiss of pain from him, drawing him as she lifted the wrist higher almost to the breaking point. Then Nath swung her opposite arm, with momentum to shatter the elbow.

Instead of pulling away, Uji leapt forward and amplified his movement to clear the Priestess’s height landing behind her. Nath released the Templar instead of allowing herself to be pulled towards him. Stepping away and resuming her ready stance, she watched her opponent shake out the pain in his wrist.

“Are you planning on treating me like Atyiru this entire fight? I’m not a fragile youngling incapable of handling pain”

Uji’s eyes narrowed as he looked up, the former smirk falling away at the words.

”Struck a cord did i?... Good lets get started” Nath closed the distance and took the offensive. Her attacks left herself vulnerable to counters, as she fought without regard to her safety relishing the pain she knew was inflicted. The Templar struck back, augmenting each of his strikes to drive into the Priestess frame, holding nothing back as he struck. Pain flared through Nath’s frame as she took each blow and gave as much in return.

The Courtyard surrounding them grew into a cacophony of grunts of exertion and pain. Both combatants pushed one another across the grounds, oblivious of any observers or distractions; focused entirely on another another. Nath sensed the steps leading up to the Fountain, she retreated backward up the steps. Her opponent closed the distance, she caught one of his arms as he swung towards her. She trapped his arm with her own. Uji used his opposite forearm to pin her chest against the fountain. Both of them began to show the effects of the fight to this point. Bruises covering Nath’s forearms and upper chest began to change from the pale white of her Iridionian skin to a deeper grey hue; her bruising came to the surface. Uji blinked away blood from a scratch above his eye, his breathing quickened. To prevent exertion, Uji preserved his energy before the exhaustion of enhancing his strikes began to catch up.

Backed against the fountain and thoroughly enjoying herself, Nath took a moment to assess the situation before responding.

As Nath took each breath the burning sensation only grew, her inhaling and exhaling only growing more and more laboured as she struggled to keep her chest expanding against the male’s forearm. It pressed sharply upon her sternum, compressing pointedly as she strained for each lungful.

A blood laced grin crept across the female’s features, she enjoyed every moment of this. Internally Uji was puzzled by this woman, she was tenacious in her will not to back down, she gave him very little ground, and even now the Iridonian refused to yield to him. He pressed his advantage, slowly allowing his arm to compress upon the bone where her ribs met; for a long moment she did not stop him. Her black eyes just seemed to observe, much too akin to a scientist inspecting a specimen within a pea-tree dish.

Looking into those bottomless obsidian eyes only made a growing shiver compress its way along his spine, there was something off about this one. He felt as though he should not be anywhere near her at all. He could not place a finger on what it was, but something else was with her.

As she gasped for her breath, her lips had already began to turn ashen. Suddenly her arm shot up grabbing him by his throat but to Uji’s surprise she did not begin to squeeze down on his exposed larynx. Instead in that mere instant she drew him close enough to whisper hoarsely into his ear.

“...Death...is only...the beginning.” The words were uttered barely above a whisper, but she knew he had heard her. As soon as Nath could see they had registered within his mind she used her abilities with the Force to throw him off kilter.

A sudden wave of nausea assaulted his senses, he began to retch and the Iridonian did not hesitate to use this to her advantage. As he leaned forward to attempt to dislodge the contents of his stomach he found himself being flung into the fountain itself. The cold water shocked him back to reality once more, much akin to a short, sharp slap to the face.

Before the Human could sit up fully he felt his opponents meager body weight slam him back down under the water once more, muting his shocked outcry with a mouthful of cold water. A pale bony hand compressed at his throat keeping him pinned down, however, he had the advantage of muscle mass and easily threw her off. Nath did not vacate without a fight, sharp nails scraped so harshly against the skin of his neck that she peeled away flesh as she was thrown bodily out of the pond.

Uji swiftly sat bolt upright, choking on the fortunately clean water, but choking nonetheless. He was now actually questioning how wise it was to try and goad this woman into lashing out, even now she was beginning once more to rise to her feet in a slightly dazed manner to continue. His vision took a moment to clear fully, it had become fuzzy as he almost drowned himself on a mouthful of pond water.

“Call it quits already.” He half coughed his words, coming back once more to his feet to meet her once again if had to. He could see her blink back her pain, fingers clenching into fists as she controlled her nerves and commanded them to obey her whims. Another disconcerting smile graced her usually stoic features.

“I yield to no man.” The words were odd, she looked psychotic now her usually pristine clothes were dishevelled and torn in places, exposing small swaths of pale scared skin.

She seemed to be waiting for his next move, eyes slowly inspecting and following every move he made. The Iridonian even seemed to inspect how his muscles functioned as he stood once more. There was nothing humane in those bottomless orbs; whatever Atyiru saw in her, he could not to save his hide.

Cautiously Uji stepped out of the pond once more, his hand rubbed where she had squeezed, he could have sworn her felt the sensation of rings on her fingers, perhaps he was imagining this, his body had already began to wind down, the process of augmenting his attacks had begun to take its toll on his body; the slow insidious sensation of fatigue had begun its sojourn along his muscles.

Both knew they would need to end this fight as quickly as possible.

“Not really expecting you to yield Voth, things are just getting a bit out of hand. As it is I’m going to be dealing with a scolding for letting things get this far.” The Templar rubbed his fingertips across his throat, his voice hoarse from her grip; he felt the bruises coming to the surface from the Iridonians fingertips.

“Enough babbling… finish what you started” Nath advanced slowly, taking her time to cover the distance. She eyed her opponent waiting for him to resume his stance or move to attack.

Just outside of arms length she puzzled at his sudden nonchalant attitude. Her anger simmered below the surface; her entire body tensed as she coiled to strike. The moment she began to move a slight smirk curved the edge of her opponents lip causing her to pause, she sensed his intention as the illusion before her shimmered to nothing.

Uji struck from behind, his fists connected multiple times against solid flesh, confusion entered his mind as he heard the satisfying grunts of pain, knowing well enough by now that Nath wasn’t the type to react in such a manner. The Templar swung away, curling into a backward flip as he landed a few feet from the tips of Nath’s drawn daggers. Twin streaks of crimson ran down his arms from where she had found her mark. Uji shook his head, clearing his senses, the Krath was not as adept at cloaking herself, her illusions however were far more potent this his own.

“Pretty good… for a Krath” Uji’s smiled genuinely impressed with his opponents capabilities.

“You are a fool... you remind me of someone close to me” Her voice was cold as stone even as her thoughts drifted for only a moment.

Nath’s attention snapped back to the present, her focus unerring as she advanced on Uji. Her knives began twisting into various patterns of death as she closed the distance. As his opponent came within reach he began ducking each strike, avoiding his opponents blows while holding back any in return. Waiting patiently for his opportunity to come, the knives began to edge closer to him as Nath began to recognize the pattern of his movements.

The Priestess growled as she closed the gap between them, her first strike sending the Templar off balance, her second dagger driving up to pierce his ribs. At the last second she hissed in frustration as Uji caught himself and grabbed her wrist, twisting her grip and forcing the knife from her hand. As the dagger struck the courtyard stones the metallic ring echoed around them, her knife stopped in mid-motion when Uji faded from sight.

“Bastard” was her only response as she knelt and picked up the knife, her senses catching his retreating presence as he left the courtyard.

---

The Typsy Rancor

Selen City

“Told you… you… you’d regret it” Kordath laughed for a moment as took another drink while eyeing his drinking partner.

Uji sat at the bar grimacing as adjusted the bandages covering his forearms.

“I knew she was determined... shouldn’t have surprised me that a woman who spends her time locked away torturing people wouldn’t be the type to back down.”

“What the hell were you thinking wanting to challenge her?” The Ryn twisted in his seat adjusting to relieve the pressure off his bruised ribs from their earlier sparring.

“I’ve heard about her enough between You, Atty and Cortel, figured I’d make a good introduction” shrugging as he spoke, Uji lifted his glass for another round. So far he was only about half caught up with his debt to the Ryn.

“You’d think between the three you would have known bet-” a loud thump caught Uji’s attention as he turned in his chair in time to see Kordath slide from his barstool unconscious. Nath stood behind him, her hand letting him slip away after his head bounced off the bar top, her glare slid to the Uji as she waited for a reaction.

The Templar shrugged slightly, turning back he took the drinks from the counter he reached out to offer her a drink. He tensed the second before her fist connected with his temple, shadows closed in around his vision as he blinked fighting to stay conscious as he slid out of his chair to the floor. Nath looked up from the two and smiled as she greeted someone.

“Was that really necessary Sister?” Atyiru’s voice seemed concerned as she looked down at the two before taking Uji’s drink from the bar and drinking it in a single gulp.

“We should check them to be su-…”

"They will be fine"

Nath took hold of her Aedile’s arm guiding her into one of the two seats as the priestess took the other. Uji rested his head against the bottom of the bar beginning to fade out…

“Bring us a bottle… This one will be paying” Nath’s punctuated the demand as she kicked the Templar beneath her stool. Uji groaned before he slipped away into the comfortable embrace of unconsciousness.