Sularia, she had been to this city once before in her travels before the war, and now wished she had spent more time in it. She might have learned more that would have helped in the war effort to take over the continent, but, that was then, this is now.

Now, Sharifa had been in the city for a week now, thanks to Angela dragging her here from Onnen. Then again, it was either get dragged to Sularia, or be crucified, so it wasn't like Sharifa had a lot of options, but she did have the option regardless. But she hadn't got out of the Hive totally unscathed, before Angela had shown up to take custody of the Wasp woman, the Wasp Queen had had Shar's arm stingers literally ripped out of her. Bone, blood and the ends of nerves had been exposed while she had laid in absolute pain on the floor as Angela had come in and started her little speech. That pain, Sharifa would never forget that pain, mentally being cut off from the Hive Mind was bad enough, but the pain of her four stingers being torn from her arms was pure agony.

She was in the training yard area now, however, getting herself outfitted with some new weapons. Angela had tasked her with being a kind of ambassador, a job that Sharifa had no idea how to do, but what choice did she have? She had been getting the weapons so that she could at least defend herself, Angela had been putting strict rules on Sharifa, so she was only allowed to kill in defence of herself and those that could not defend themselves. Somewhat annoying for a Wasp that was used to kill because someone just bothered her, but she'd have to live with it, literally.

So far Sharifa had got a new bow, in fact it was almost the same as her last one, and she had managed to get two new rapiers made from stingers like she had before. That brought her some comfort that she would have weapons she was familiar with. She wanted another set of tonfas made from beetle horn, but those were rare around here to be sure, so Shar decided the next time she was on Onnen she would find herself a new set.

At the moment she had four daggers in her hands and was attacking a training dummy. Her movements were fast and precise, each arm doing something slightly different with the dagger it held, her wings flaring now and then with a buzz to help her move that much faster. She was almost a blur as she moved, and Sharifa knew that she was being watched by more than a few eyes. Since she had been here it had taken a few days for the mostly female population to be comfortable with her around, it helped that they knew it was Angela who had brought her here. So that meant that Sharifa was safe in this city from anyone attacking her, mostly anyway, visitors to the city might be a problem later on.

She made one final attack on the dummy, buzzing swiftly behind it and driving all four daggers into what would be very soft tissue on a living target. She held that for a moment before breaking off from it and sheathing the blades on her side, breathing a little heavy from all the exertion she had done with that little display. She took a moment to get some water before getting her bow and finding the range, carefully shooting one arrow at a time down at the target in a tight group, using her top arms to hold and draw the bow string back. Her lower arms folded against her stomach for now out of the way.

If one looked closely once in a while she'd wince as she drew back, or used her wrists in any way with heavy effort. Angela had been kind enough to stop most of the pain from her wounds, but the Goddess had left some natural healing to do, a kind of humility teaching idea perhaps.

It was a poor idea to challenge two warriors at once. Inside the training area was a fenced off dueling area. This area was meant for small little challenges. Sparring. The elf's movements were fast. To the left of her was a soldier from Canelux who had come to guard a merchant band. To her right was a young rosenite warrior. Jadira hadn't really planned on fighting anybody today. She accidently stepped on the rosenite's foot and bumped into the Canelux soldier. The both of them challenged her to a sparring match right then and there. The elf didn't mean to come off as rude. She had forgotten to be careful in crowds. But now she had to fight the both of them. Apparently. Canelux soldier moved first. He came charging at her. The rosenite waited.

Jadira's mind moved fast. As soon as she moved the rosenite would try to attack her. If she didn't move she would have taken the hit from the soldier. At that force and speed, he would have gotten a fierce hit on her. Instead of moving to the left or to the right, she charged right back at the soldier. He swung his mace trying to hit her head. Lowering herself to the ground until she was squatting, Jadira was out of the weapon's path. The soldier had missed her.

Her legs pushed her upwards as she grabbed his shoulders. Flipping over him, she landed on the other side. She drew her sword and placed the blade gently on the back of his neck. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Before she had even been challenged, she had placed a spell of greater agility on herself in case she ran into trouble. Her speed and agility was heightened. But Jadira didn't mention this. 

"Do you submit?" She asked. 

The surprised soldier nodded and left the sparring area. Her eyes set on the rosenite. Rosenites were known for being fierce warriors. They had speed and strength. Unlike the Canelux soldier who only trained his strength. Jadira's black hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. Simple light leather armor protected her body. A sheathed Ataiyan Katana was at her side, ready for use. It wasn't long before the rosenite charged. A dodge to the left. Her enemy had been expecting this.

Feeling the rosenite's blade barely miss her, she moved to the right. Again, the rosenite seemed to have anticipated this. Jadira was on her back before she knew it, having been flipped by the warrior. Jadira reached up and snatched the wrist of the rosenite. She placed pulled the rosenite down then used her feet to kick the stomach of the warrior. Pulling the warrior forwards allowed Jadira to reach her. But kicking her stomach caused an opposite force. Quickly, Jadira pushed the shocked rosenite backwards. Letting her fall onto the ground. Without a moment to lose, the elf stood up and put her blade underneath the warrior's chin. 

"Do you submit?" Jadira asked.

The rosenite warrior nodded. A sigh of relief escaped Jadira's lips. This was obviously a newly trained warrior. The rosenite had almost beaten Jadira though. She would need to train more if she ever wanted to be a true fighter. Especially if she had barely beaten this new warrior. 

After her practice session Sharifa had turned and was heading out of the area when the commotion from the duelling area caught her attention. In part because of the crowd that had formed around it and seemed interested in what was going on with the fenced area. Curious Shar made her way over and found a place to watch the action from the sidelines.

A lone elf woman was taking on a male and female at the same time, but the elf, she seemed familiar somehow. Then again in Shar's mind all elves looked more or less the same, but the same could be said of her own kind, there wasn't a lot of difference in looks between Wasps, aside from females being taller than males. The male attacked the elf first and without waiting for the other female to join his attack, which left him quickly defeated by the elf. The two females now fought and Sharifa leaned against the fence and watched, black eyes expressionless as she studied, her training as an intelligence gatherer coming to the fore now.

Once the fight was over, and it was a good fight she'd admit, the elf woman had won but seemed like she had just managed to do it. Shar eyed the losing female as she walked off and then grinned as she looked back to the elf, yes, she looked familiar. A war survivor perhaps? Had they met somewhere on the battlefield? It was hard to tell, but Sharifa wanted to test the elf's skills herself.

With a flare of her wings Sharifa was up and over the short fence and landed gracefully in the ring. ”Would you like to test yourself against one such as me?” Sharifa asked calmly as she set her cloak aside on a post and drew both rapiers from her sides leaving her daggers for later use. A buckler! That's what she had forgot to get was a new buckler. She'd have to remember that for later then. For now though the rapiers and daggers would be enough. Her lower arms removed the bow from her back and she set that down close to her cloak and the quiver, she wouldn't need it for this fight.

Spinning the rapiers in her primary arms, her lower arms were set ready to grapple if needed. ”So, do you accept?” Sharifa asked setting herself into a ready stance and waited for the elf to reply, and allowing the elf the first attack as well.

Jadira was surprised when Shafira entered the sparring area. She had not expected another challenge so quickly. Perhaps this was why her mentor warned her to get out of the sparring area as fast as possible. However, she still had plenty of energy. Her blade was in her hands ready for use.

"I accept your challenge." Jadira said, "We will spare but not kill." 

Jadira had been distracted earlier with two opponents. Now she only had one opponent. Somebody who she knew came from the war. An insectoid fighter wasp lady. Jadira did not know the proper name for the warrior's species. She would need to research that once she got to Onnen. This was not just a newbie warrior that she could underestimate. Shafira was obviously a warrior. There would be little hesitation with her.

She would go straight for the kill, or rather defeat since they were not allowed to kill each other during sparring. Jadira curiously wondered about why Sharifa was here. It seemed that most of insectoids stuck in groups and stayed in Onnen. Especially after their crushing defeat in the war. However if a historian looked at the war, they were evenly matched until the gods got their powers back.

In fact it was entirely possible that without the gods and goddesses, they would have lost the war. It wasn't because their troupes were any less powerful or magical. In fact they had far more magic than most of the insectoids. But it was because of the generals and strategy used. Unfortunately, most of the generals had relied on brute force and numbers. Jadira focused on Shafira and was ready for her. 

At Jadira's acceptance of the challenge Sharifa nodded to the words of no killing, she hadn't planned on a fight to the death anyway. ”The war is over, I no longer have a need to take a life unless warranted, so you do not have to worry about that.” Sharifa replied.

She hadn't fought anyone since the war's end, instead she been nursing her wounds and getting instructed by Angela on what was expected of her. And it was rather vague at best, Sharifa only an inkling of understanding on what was expected from her from the Goddess, and that was to learn about these lands. Well, that was what Sharifa had been doing anyway before the war, but she supposed at least now she could take her time a little more. Truth be told she and her fellow scouts hadn't been given a lot of lead time to gather intelligence on these lands and its people and what they were capable of doing.

Seemed the elf was giving Shar the first attack instead, that was fine. The wasp stepped forward without hurry and with the rapier in her right hand stabbed forward. While at the same time her left swung in a low horizontal arch trying to catch the elf off guard if she attempted to duck under the stabbing blade. Shar of course would stop her attack before any major damage may be done, but she wasn't above causing a little blood if needed.

“The same goes with me.” Jadira responded to her opponent.

She assumed that Shafira wasn’t out for blood. Just a friendly sparring match but the elf felt as though it was her responsibility to remind her opponent not to go for the kill. It had been a long while since she had fought another person. Most of the time she was fighting monsters or giant beasts. They got better payment for bringing back materials or just ridding a town of a pest. Even during the war, she had focused on taking down the giant ants and the larger opponents. It had been a while since she combated against a single individual.

Noticing that the wasps movements were somewhat slower than what was expected, Jadira realized that there must have been a second attack coming. The rapier was a piercing weapon. It worked best when going straight towards its target and piercing them. Instinct took over and Jadira dodged to the left, avoiding the piercing. Dodging was always better than ducking. She had taken a step backwards which saved her a bit from the other attack. The other attack did scratch her leg but the wound was small. Jadira chose to ignore it.

Shafira had done a full swipe at her with the sword, then it meant that her left arm would be folded in while her right arm was still pointed outwards. Jadira used her sword and attempted to slash at Shafira’s side underneath her left arm. The elf was expecting the wasp to be able to deflect the blow with her rapier, so she made a slashing movement with her sword again from upwards to downwards at an angle from right to left. Her movements were fast and to the point. But she was cautious. If it seemed that any of these blows might actually hit, she would slow down herself as fast as possible. They both had armor that would protect them. The elf wasn’t too worried. 

Sharifa didn’t react when her left handed attack managed to scratch the elf, she kept her focus on what was coming her way in reply. The elf ignored the wound, small as it was and went on the offensive now. Shar would admit that she would enjoy this, in all truth she hadn’t got to fight a lot of beings with only two arms in a pure one on one style such as this. Apart from the invasion of Canelux her life had been ridding the Hive of traitors and protecting against anything that attacked. But it was always in groups that Wasps fought, rare did even an Elite such as herself would fight one on one. They were hive minded so that’s how it went. But now, being removed from the Hive mind, Sharifa had to fight alone so this was a good starting point.

The Wasp did block the slash with her rapier, but it was her lower left hand that quickly took the rapier from her top right hand. This, at least for Shar, was faster than getting her top arms back in position, she just needed to swap what hand had what sword. To that affect, to counter Jadira’s second attack Shar moved her other rapier from her top left arm to her bottom right, so all she had to do was quickly raise and angle the blade to block the second attack.

With her free hands Shar reached out to try and punch Jadira while at the same time using her blades to make sure that she had a way to block any attack. ”Remember, I have four arms, account for that.” Shar reminded, and that’s all it was, a simple reminder, she wasn’t chastising the elf in anyway.