Elaina put her arms down and felt deflated, “Nikk, you can’t protect everyone all the time. If she doesn’t learn how to fight now she may end up dead later. Eli can’t protect everyone all the time too…ok so maybe it will be nice to have backup. But don’t think for one minute that I am incapable of protecting Akino!” Then looking sternly at Nikk she approached him pointing her finger at him. “You know that as an angel I’m one of the best fighters, so no one in this group would be better at teaching the rest to fight.” Then she turned to Eli, “And don’t think that just because you look like my species doesn’t mean I won’t kick your butt like I did the last time.” She smiled looking at his angel form, “You don’t look half bad as an angel, an the blind fold adds a flare of mystery to you. It works for you…HEY, why don’t we fight?”

Teva wished Eli had remained in centaur form a little longer. She knew that he wasn't one, of course, but even just seeing another person that looked like one made her feel less alone. (She hadn't even realized that she'd been feeling alone.)

"I want to learn to fight," she huffed. "But I'm not at any sort of level that would benefit much from sparring with an angel with personality problems. And Elaina, you can't protect everyone all the time, either. You know that, and I didn't hear you objecting to Akino's armor."

Elaina turned to Teva, “Of course I don’t object to her armor! I’m not an idiot, she’ll need it to survive this world. For example, do you think that I could have gotten this far by myself if I wasn’t wearing enchanted clothing?” She proudly displayed herself in her clothes and gestured to them gracefully. “These clothes have saved me from countless attacks,” she blew a stray hair out of her face in frustration, “most of which where dealt behind my back…” Elaina’s eyes flickered and then she looked around before settling on Akino. “Why don’t you make sure those clothes fit. You never know when you’ll hit a growth spurt like Eli over here, haha.” All the energy was now drained out of her, she didn’t want to remember the painful memories of her past and she sure as hell didn’t want to cry to anybody about it either. She was a survivor! That’s what she did, and if she could help these guys, she would try her best to do this for them.

Teva stared at Elaina. "No. You're an idiot. You object to somebody other than you offering extra protection for Akino, as though it's… an insult to you or something. If your 'force fields' are so infallible, why does Akino even need armor? Why do you for that matter? Hm?"

She turned away, thoughtfully gazing at the armory. Maybe she wasn't meant for elegant swordplay anymore. Archery she could still do, but any melee weapon she could think of, she'd have to learn from scratch. Maybe she'd be better off with a mace, or maybe an axe… She guessed Eli would know what centaurs fought with.

Teva didn’t understand, couldn’t understand the pain and betrayal she’d faced. She ignored her comment and decided maybe it was time for bed. The memories and the pain took her energy, now she felt little more then a walking corpse, “Hey guys, I’m going to bed. I…I need some rest, guess that hike took more out of me then I thought.” Elaina turned and headed to the fairy guest quarters to get some sleep.

Akino hung there, holding the armor to her chest, basically staring at Teva and Elaina as they fought. she was so engrossed in their little fight that she completely zoned out until Eli started to change forms. Her eyes went wide with wonder and more than ever she wanted to know what her powers were. because that was so cool!!! Then Elaina told akino to try on her armor and promptly went back to arguing.
"Oh," she said, her random period of being zoned out ending. She started to put on the armor, figuring out the buckles and sorts of it slowly. As she did that she griped at the others.
"Would you two quit arguing! and I don't need a barrier Elaina if your going to get all pissy about things! I'll just let the others help me out until i can protect myself." finally she had the armor on and beamed, moving about a little. "it fits just perfectly!" she exclaimed.
then she noticed that Elaina was leaving for bed. "oh, uh, bye....?" she said looking sheepish.

Teva turned back to look at Elaina. Suddenly she didn't sound like the angel she'd been arguing with. The girl that had been trying so hard not to show any weakness. The centaur paused. "Fine. See you in the morning, then."

Then she realized she'd been ignoring a friend. She studied the faery's armor, which did indeed seem to fit perfectly. "That's amazing, Akino!" She searched for a smile, and then her eyes strayed back to the armory. If she was to be a melee fighter, then barding would be a must. But she didn't think it ought to come from here, nice as the shoes were.

Not looking back she half waved her hand and let it fall to her side as she trudged off to bed. The armor looked good on Akino, fey always did look good in their own armor. When Elaina got to the room she took the bed in the darkest corner and wrapped her wings around herself and put her barrier up. She never had a peaceful nights sleep, always as if she slept with one eye open. It didn’t take long for sleep to overtake her.

Akino glanced back over her shoulder with a slight frown. "is it just me or did she seem very un-elaina like there for a second?" she asked to no one in particular.

She pondered that for a second more, then beamed over at Teva, about to say something random, then noticed that her friend seemed a bit distracted. Akino followed Teva's gaze to the armory. "huh, what are you thinking?" she asked. "cause you keep staring over there."

"It's not just you," Teva replied, still looking at the armory. "The rapier is not my weapon. That's why the fey tried to saddle-" She coughed at the unintentional pun. "Saddle me with a broadsword. Something bigger." That and she suspected a centaur with a small, delicate sword really did look silly.

"Ah," Akino said. "you do look like you could use a nice big sword. I honestly can't figure out any sort of weapon I can use. I tried to poke around a little sword thingie, but somehow I don't think it would be any use against something bigger than Eli's raven. maybe some sort of long range weapon...." she mused aloud.

Teva looked at Akino and thought for a moment. "You could do a fair bit of damage with a slingshot. Especially if they magicked the pellets…" Some of the Queen's Rangers had preferred slingshots to bows and arrows, and they'd done impressive things with them.

"A slingshot?" akino asked, thinking of those little things that kids like to play with. "I never though of that. and if they can magic the stuff it'd really be great," she said. She flew over to the armory and started to look around. Finally she picked something up that seemed to look like a slingshot. "something like this?" she called over to teva, holding it up.

Teva followed Akino to the armory, and returned her rapier, buckler, and armor. She watched the fey search out of the corner of her eye as she did, and just as she was retrieving her bow and quiver -- the fey had done maintenance on them, some of it magic, she was sure -- Akino found a simple wooden slingshot.

The centaur trotted over and examined the find. "Like that but…" It really was a nice slingshot, simple in design with beautifully polished wood and a fine rubber strips. Of course the fey wouldn't make anything badly, but this didn't seem quite right. Akino wasn't acting as though it felt right, either.

"What about this one?" she asked, picking out another from the selection. This one was a bit smaller, with a leather grip and a nicer pocket on the sling. As an afterthought, she also picked up a blowgun, and handed both to her friend.

Akino took the other sling first and looked at it and the other one she held. "yeah, this one does look better..." she trailed off, turning her attention to the weapons. she put down the simple slingshot and took the blow gun too, experimenting with them. "So, do you think you could show me how to use these things?" she asked, somewhat sheepishly. "I'm afraid I have no experience with weapons whatsoever."

Teva shook her head. "I can only show you the basics. They're not my weapons. And I don't think bow and arrow would be practical for you." Still, she chose a blowgun and slingshot that were more her size, and then headed for the ammunition area to stock up on bullets and darts. "You'll have to find a master to really teach you, same as I will for… Well, whatever weapon I choose." What that would be, she had no idea.

Akino nodded, fluttering after Teva. "that's fine, I just need to figure out how to use the things a little now to figure out if they're good for me at least," she said as she picked out ammunition for the little weapons just like Teva was doing. "So uh, how do I hold these things?" she said, making a face and turning the slingshot this way and that.

"Follow me. I'll show you when we reach the target area." As she trotted to the range, she mentally reviewed just how to hold the weapons, and hoped she had it right. Or close enough not to teach Akino poor form, anyway.

She demonstrated the slingshot first, missing the target most of the time. And that was okay. Akino knew not to expect much. This way she could at least see the basics. Teva had even less experience blowing darts, but surprised herself with a newfound knack for them. Her vastly increased lung capacity gave her a straight, true shot, and she almost couldn't help but hit the target. She made a mental note to acquire a blowgun as a backup range weapon. And to practice with it.

Nikk took everything Elaina said to him. He didnt want to argue and he could tell that she was feeling a little down, but he didnt know why. Nikk was just mad that they had to stay in the fairy hill for longer. He considered Akino's feelings tho. She probably liked it here.
Elaina left to go to bed and he thought it would be a very good idea. Even Bia was starting to get tired. Nikk watched silently as Akino and Teva sorted through the weapons. "You know Teva you can always wait till be get to Marrow Cave in order to find a weapon. Most of these weapons here are for lighter gentler creatures with high magic powers. There are creatures at Marrow cave that make more sturdy weapons."
Eli nodded his head. "If you want to you can borrow my double headed battle axe?" He was still in his angel form as he landed on the ground next to Nikk. "Im not sure if its to heavy or not though." Eli's raven had landed on his shoulder and cawed.

As she helped Akino look through the small ranged weapons, Teva looked back at those that watched them. "I used to be light and gentle, too," she replied ruefully. "I wasn't magic, but I knew the forests, and I've only ever used a hatchet for cutting wood." She shook her head, then looked back at Eli. "If a battle axe is a proper weapon for someone like me, and if you can train me in the basics then… Yes, that sounds like a good idea." Then she returned to the search for Akino's perfect slingshot.

Akino watched as Teva demonstrated the proper use of the weapons. She was a little nervous to try though it seemed unlikely she could hurt herself with either one. She held up the slingshot, trying to mimic the way the centaur girl held it and rather sloppily tried to shot at the target. she made it a little more than halfway there....which wasn't that bad she thought. "I don't think I'm doing this right!" Akino complained, trying to fly to a better height for shooting at targets. She wasn't sure just how high up she needed to be flying.

Teva stepped back and studied Akino's slingshot technique. The fairy seemed to be holding it correctly, more or less, but shooting while flying? She had no idea. "I think you need another fairy to help you out with this," she suggested, looking around and hoping to see another in training. Or something...

Akino sighed and lowered the slingshot. "I think you're right. I can't seem to judge exactly where I need to be flying in relation to the target....I guess I could shot a million times and see if I hit it." she said that, but already knew that was a silly idea. She suddenly had a better idea though. "Hey Eli! do you know how to use a slingshot?"

Eli had turned into a centaur to help out Teva. He was now looking for a his battle axe in the mess of weapons that they had. It was far in the back because it wasnt enchanted and therefore very distating to others. Akino called out to him and Eli turned and ended up knocking some stuff down. He laughed and said. "Centaurs were ment for open areas." He then focused on Akinos sling shot. "I dont use it to often, but I can teach you some."

Eli grabbed his battle axe and put it in a holster on his side. He took a sling shot that was his size and some ammo. "The trick is not to get to tired. When you pull back on the string your also pulling on your hand. Sometimes it's better to get slings that attactch to your arm before the wrist. They're easy to carry and quick to equip." Eli took a sling shot and strapped it to his arm. He put the rock in the sling and streached it back past his shoulder. "They're magic ones so you dont have to worry to much about aim, but its still important. and if you know magic words." Eli squinted his eyes and took aim. He shouted some magic words before he let go and the rock went flying into the target making it obliterate."

Open areas. Teva hated the thought of being stuck with fields and plains. Then again, she told herself, Eli (for all his centaur experience) was used to being small, and she hadn't knocked over anything in the armory, yet. Well, she hoped she hadn't. That had to be a good sign.

Back outside, she watched Eli carefully, and took a place at a vacant target to try out his slingshot technique. His method worked better than hers, even without the magic words. She did actively aim, though, out of long habit.

Still, she did prefer the blowgun and hoped both that she really did have a knack in spite of the magic. Maybe she could trade for a mundane set (gun and darts) later. After Eli demonstrated the battle axe.