The air was filled with silence as the two of us studied each other before making a move. The first to move was Vaero but not soon after, I started to run towards him as well. As we got close, we both swung and with a loud clang, our swords clashed. Vaero was pushed back in the clash but quickly forced my blade to the side and used the opportunity to jump back.

I take a moment to see what he does and he closes his eyes for a brief second before opening them again with a calm gaze in his eyes. Shortly after he bolted towards me making three slashes. I blocked each strike better than when we first sparred and after the third strike he came in with a hefty overhead. Blocking his strike and pushing it to the side, I then jump back making distance before he presses on.

Before he could make his next attack, I was already running towards him. Once I was near, I swung wide but it only met with his sword. After my blade met with his, it pushed him back and before he could recover, I made an overhead attack. With little room to react, Vaero managed to block it and guide it to the side. The blade sunk into the ground from the force and he used the time from me pulling the blade from the ground to jump back. “That strength catches me off guard every time.” he says while readying himself again.

A second passes before we both charged at each other again. Our swords meet with another loud clang but this time I used as much force to push his blade to the side breaking his guard. Giving no time to recover, I swing overhead. With Vaero unable to block or move in time, he just watches the blade fly towards his face. Before the blade met with his head, I stopped it and pulled the blade away. While placing the sword onto my back, I looked to Vaero and I dejectedly claimed “It’s my loss.”.

He looked at me puzzled “What do you mean, you clearly had the chance at a finishing blow on me?”. Vaero then glares at me “Are you trying to make fun of me?”.

“No, you had the chance to finish me but backed off. If this was a real fight, I’d be dead trying to pull my blade out of the ground, so it’s my loss.” I look to see what he will say but to my surprise, a smirk formed on his face.

“There’s an old saying for those who train with a sword, ‘Emotions that can’t be described in words can be heard through swords clashing.’.” He looks down while sheathing his blade “I still don’t fully trust you but Chelsey may be right, you are a good person.”. Vaero then looks at me and asks “While Chelsey and I still reside here, is it alright if we spar some more before we leave in a few days?”.

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I raise an eyebrow to his suggestion “That doesn’t sound too bad, if I was more familiar with clashing swords, those bandits wouldn’t have got away.”. I start to nod my head “Okay, until you guys leave let us meet here again tomorrow.”

With Vaero nodding he then took his leave and walked back to the inn. Sadly the sparring wasn’t long so there was still lots of time until morning. Since there was little to do, I pulled my sword back out and started swinging.

While I was swinging away throughout the night a thought ran through my head, ‘Throughout the few sword fights I’ve had now, it feels like I’m missing something’ though, I don’t know what it is right now but the thought started to bother me. Before it hindered my practice, I cleared my mind with one intense swing and with that I was swinging with a clear mind once more.

I was lost in a trance until sunlight started to peek through some trees and hit my eyes, with that it roused me out of my trance. With one final swing, I stopped. I start to wipe the sweat off my forehead as I calm my heavy breathing. After my breathing calmed down I put my sword away while thinking on what to do next, ‘It’s morning now but I doubt that Chelsey would be awake this early,”.

With little thought on what to do with the last bit of time, I decided to walk around the streets to get more familiar with my surroundings. After I made my way out from the back of the inn, I started to walk the streets. Even when it was this early in the morning, there was still a good amount of people commuting to and from making the streets feel lively.With no direction in mind I admired what was around me as I passed by it, from what seemed to be a monster shop like what we saw in Last Haven, a weapons shop where I could hear clanging of metals being hit. There were also other shops like a medical shop where they were showing off their latest elixirs, a shop where they were only selling books and many different food places stationed with people who just started to cook for their food stalls.

I was walking around for a while taking everything in before I realized I wound back up in front of the inn I was staying at. There was a lady who looked worried and when our eyes met she took a deep breath before smiling at me. Realizing that I was out walking for longer than expected, I approached the lady apologizing to her as I came close. “Sorry Chelsey, I was walking the streets and forgot about the time.”.

With a gentle smile on her face, she responds “That’s okay, I was only worried since we didn’t know where you were since the last time Vaero saw you was behind the inn but when I went to check, there was no one there.”. There was a short pause before she added “But I’m happy to see you walking around the streets yourself!”.

“Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea if I got a good feeling of the area around me since I might be here for a bit.”.

“That's good to hear! Since that's the case you should know how to get to the Guild, no? I’ll follow your lead” She says as a small smirk formed from her lips.

I awkwardly scratch the back of my head as I tell her “I would if I could but this town is a lot bigger than Last Haven.”.

With a light giggle she starts to walk by me “I thought so since the guild is basically on the other side of town from here, I’ll show you the way.”.