Trinsi had heard stories of the Esters a countless number of times growing up. As a child she wanted nothing more than to be a legendary warrior deserving of the name. Soon, she realized that it was not possible. Even so, she worked to be the next best thing, a knight of the Order of the Syars.

This woman, Seis, could not be an Ester. Even if she was a descendent of an Ester, it is impossible to hold the title without training with the legends themselves. There were no more Esters.

Trinsi is fuming because this ignorant and disrespectful woman has proposed such an incredulous ultimatum. The knight wordlessly hands her cloak to Lunetta, who can feel the anger radiating off her devoted knight. Not that it is anything new for the woman, but the Syardom can’t afford to lose any potential resources. Trinsi can set her ego aside for a minute.

“Don’t underestimate her,” she says to her with a hushed tone.

Trinsi snorts, “Don’t underestimate me.”

Lunetta closes her eyes so no one can see her rolling her eyes. With a reluctant sigh, she pats her friend’s shoulder, “You can do it Trin.”

The knight faces her opponent who stands a couple of meters away, holding a sword pointed at her. The stance is proper form, hence she must have had some real training in combat at some point.

The Syar draws her own sword as she approaches her, stopping when she reaches the required distance. Seis wasn’t wearing any protection like Trinsi, who didn’t know whether to write that off as unprofessionalism or laziness. Her expression is grave, and for a brief second Trinsi has the sensation of falling. Falling into a black hole, a hole as dark as her opponent’s eyes.

“Alright, on my word,” Cheron’s voice brings her back from the abyss. It occurs to him that he’s never witnessed anything close to a proper duel aside from the occasional bar fight. Unable to come up with a better way to start the fight, he settles, “On your mark, get set… go!”

Trinsi dashes forward swinging with discipline. She’s the fastest of anyone that she’s ever encountered and Seis is surprised. Despite this, she isn’t struggling to catch her hits, but that’s no concern to Trinsi, she’s only starting..

She leads the Ester around the small field and her rival obliges. Seis is studying her and the First Knight knows that she is leaving an impression. She doesn’t want the fight to drag on however, so after a minute or so, she changes gears. Her intent now is to accomplish the original goal: landing a hit on the woman.

Seis herself is quick, light footed, but rough around the edges. There is a chaos to her movements, that are dancing on the edge of tipping the whole scale over. It doesn’t take too many of Trinsi’s precise and calculated swings to corner her.

Cornered, she is close enough to look into the knight’s eyes again, and something changes. The ground drops below the Syar and she trips on a missed step. She doesn’t know how she knows that only she experiences this. The distraction isn’t grand enough to break her concentration...

...but now, Seis is different. She breaks Trinsi’s chain of strikes. Her swings transforming from the chaotic strangled defense of moments ago, and into deliberate meticulous strikes, only slightly quicker than that of the knight’s.

In her new set of movements, anyone standing witness can see that Seis is not using any energy that she does not need to use. She knows exactly how much effort to put into her hits and how to time it so she’s just ahead of her attacker and nothing more. No resources wasted.

Within seconds, she’s cornered Trinsi, disarmed, and pinned the young woman’s arms behind her.

“This is nothing to the nightmare of the Storms,” she says releasing her.

Trinsi is not happy about it, but she is not one to argue with fact to save face. She lost, and while she remains skeptical that this woman is an Ester, she cannot deny that the Syardom needs her help.

“She’s strong,” Seis says to Lunetta. “But if she is your strongest fighter, then there is not enough time in the world to prepare your army to face the Stormdom. She’s years away from reaching their level.”

Lunetta stares at Trinsi with wide eyes and the knight feels a pang of guilt. She shouldn’t have shrugged off Lunetta’s warning..

Unexpectedly, Seis continues, “I’ll help you. I’m letting you know that there’s no way for you to win ahead of time. That way you don’t get your hopes up when I tell you that I will help you. Cheron’s right, the Stormdom will come for the rest of us once the Syar’s fall. Our odds are greater together.”

---

“How are you here?”

Cheron and Seis have been trotting along meters behind Trinsi and Lunetta. The two Syars have been arguing in hushed tones for the two hours that they have been on the road. The fair haired knight is a little less quiet about her angry whispers, and has been doing the majority of the arguing. Lunetta keeps glancing back, as if easing her worries by confirming that the two southerners are still with them.

Seis contemplates ignoring Cheron’s question, but changes her mind.

“I assume you mean-”

“Why aren’t you 200 years old?”

His mentor grins, “Are you calling me old, you tart? Do I look 200 years old?”

“No! That’s what I meant. Are you’re not a real Ester? Was your mother an Ester then?”

Her brow furrows, “Like hell I’m not an Ester, did you sleep through that fight?” She cackles, and their companions up ahead look back bewildered. Seis waves, smiles and shrugs.

“My mother was an Ester,” she confirms after they turn away, “ but, I am also about 200 or so years older than I look.”

The striker’s jaw drops, “You’re milkin the cow tit, there’s no way.”

His mentor snorts again, stifling her laughter.

“Seis quit messing with me, you’re not an Ester are you? Didn’t they have faerie blood in ’em? Do some magic.”

“Faeries aren’t real you ninny.”

“You’re not 200 years old,” he glares at her, becoming more certain that she isn’t going to tell him the truth.

She backs off however, and with a whimsical tone she elaborates, “Physically I am 24. I’ve been a part of your world for 5 years now, but before I was asleep.”

Her voice lowers, Cheron gets the idea that she does not wish for the Syars to hear what she says next: “I was asleep for 200 years.”