There is a lone bird on the shore, calling for battle.

It is not a unicorn thing to do, that’s for sure; my steady pace halts, eyes narrowing to inspect the creature shouting to the curl of the cold wind above. Obviously winged, she is of a similar height and build to myself, though perhaps more compact, and less lean. Still, the depth of her chest, and the even fit of her sinew leads me to believe that she’s got the ability to run for hours. Regardless, I’ll bet I’m stronger, and faster. She’s not the same caliber of soldier that I am, though I suppose, with some training, she could be.

Younger than I am, her pelt seems unblemished from this distance, and a pang of conscience rising within me at the thought of accepting her challenge, which almost makes me turn back around. I’ve no business fighting someone like her, thinking of Albrecht’s spell, cast by his touch upon the blue stone carefully tucked between my shoulder, and the bronze of my plate armor. I’d almost killed him, the weak, feeble old man. What would stop me from hurting her, too? Her youth?

Somehow, I doubted it.

No fight? Duir asks, his forest eyes curious, she want to train. You strong.

Too strong, I begin to tell him, but he snorts, tossing his dark, leathery nose back over the frosted beach in her direction. Careless, maybe. Go, learn restraint.

Glaring at him for a few seconds, I decide that, maybe, he’s right. Looking back down the beach at the opponent, I propel myself forward, my own trumpeting cry of battle riling through the crisp air, hooves driving down into the frost hardened beach. For the first time since my friend and I became one, he runs with me, his lithe frame almost silent as he crosses the span of beach between us, and the opponent, his small, split hooves carrying him gracefully over the hard sand, where mine simply sink.

Are you sure? I ask him, wondering why he’s chosen this fight to join me, at last, as the small figure of the mare becomes life size, her perfume drifting on the salty air.

Someone watch you, is his smirking reply, the emotional tether between us suddenly gaining resolve; our hearts beat together, one rhythm, his filled with a youthful elation at the first fight, and mine with a worry that he might get hurt. I stay safe way out.

Closing upon her, only vaguely reassured by Duir’s words, I pull towards her right side, hoping to keep my metallic guard between her teeth and my skin. My buck pulls further right, his speed decreasing as mine accelerates, and when I find myself in a suitable range to begin a physical barrage, he comes to an easy halt somewhere behind me. I feel his energy gather, the magical ripple of his strange power tingling across my skin as I lunge towards her right shoulder; with a sideline strike of my blade, hopefully angled to that it only lightly grazes her skin, rather than cleanly slicing it, if its aim is true, the cerndyr’s magic takes complete hold.

A shimmering, nearly invisible shape, I pull my crown away from the attempted strike at her shoulder, again reaching out for her back or sides with my teeth, while still enveloped in Duir’s magical, chameleon skin. A proud smile still lingers on my lips as I withdraw, pulling ever so slightly back around to the right, hoping to loop back about from another frontal assault, and the deer’s magic slips away, like water rolling across a stone. The cold, stiff sand breaks apart beneath me in clumps, attempting to impede the dance of my usually graceful legs with its clinging embrace, but I do my best to remain abreast it, the windy, wild rush of the Goddess-tossed ocean a backdrop to the thump and thunder of our hooves.

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[ OOC: :D thank you also! Duir has used his companion ability, which makes both him and Rikyn blend into their surroundings! He's still detectable, just quite difficult to see. :3 ]