"Did you put my niece in the furthest bracket from yours, so she wouldn't be eliminated from this tournament quickly?" General Astra of the dwarven army asked, looking wholly impressed with the level of talent on display. If this had been her men, and women she would be embarrassed to highlight their lack of skill with such a tournament.
Russell let out a laugh, "They were put in opposite brackets so that the best fight happens last, as is tradition. And we're spending a fortune on this wedding and I don't want to pay for more damage to my kingdom than is necessary. Kara isn't going to win Astra, my daughter is attempting to show off for her wife to be, if anything I pity anyone that steps into that ring with her."
"You sound rather confident that my son won't stop your daughter," Queen Cersei spoke up.
"With that poorly made sword of his?" General Astra began to laugh openly at such an idea. He was the one who was struggling the most. Kara and Charlie weren't even using real weapons. Charlie had a practice sword in her hand and Kara had a practice warhammer and they were both destroying the competition who were using live weapons.
"It is Valyrian steel," General Tywin snapped at his dwarven counterpart.
"And what do your people know about steel and metalworking? Stick to your wooden sticks," General Astra retorted with a laugh as she smacked Russell on the arm hard.
Judy shot an apologetic look towards Santana and her family, "Apologies, this will become very heated soon, they all used to be such good friends growing up and then for whatever reason some adults that are present decided to have a competition with our children to see who was the best warrior."
"It was all in good fun! They wanted to learn how to fight, and what better way to learn then to make it a healthy competition," Russell insisted. "None of my other girls wanted to learn—"
"Healthy competition doesn't mean betting on our children!" Queen Astra spoke up, with a sigh. "I certainly didn't have Kara so that you and my husband could bet against one another."
"They hurl insults at each other, and then fight whenever they see each other, and I mean really fight, are you sure that they're still friends?" Santana asks Judy. Kara seemed to think that they were friends, but Charlie didn't seem to share the belief.
"She's still very upset about being ejected from the dwarven kingdom for Kara's wedding, as it stands they're not talking. I imagine once they get to the finals, they'll start hitting each other at some point they'll figure things out."
"Or kill each other," this was met with some chuckles from both Russell and the dwarven delegation.
Santana turned to look at Russell for a moment before frowning, she wished that Charlie could be here so she could nap on her lap. Watching people who she didn't know fight was pointless, there was no sport to this and it wasn't that impressive for Charlie to take out weaklings.
"We raise our children like this," Maribel stated simply, "Most disputes are settled like this and it works for us."
"See Judy, it's fine."
"Will this be before or after Charlie stabs Kara, or Kara tries to splatter Charlie's brains out on the sand?" Judy retorts.
"Well if Kara is untrained enough to get stabbed by your daughter, then she deserves it. I didn't spend ages training her for her to lose to Charlie."
Judy turned to look at Russell who shrugged, "We have three other children."
"Russell."
"I'm joking!"
Santana stared at him before getting up and deciding that she was going to tell her mate that she couldn't lose to Kara and die.
~ O ~
Prince Joffrey landed hard on his ass, his eyes wide as he reached for his sword only to see that it was currently in the hands of Charlie who was inspecting the blade. "Give it back," he demanded, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he could hear the laughter from the crowd that had gathered to watch the tournament.
Charlie glanced briefly at him, a bored look on her face as she inspected the sword that she had taken from him, before giving it a few good practice swings. It was far too light for her tastes but Joffery had been bragging that it was Valaryan steel, "Or what?" Charlie questions pointing the sword at him. He had always been a sniveling coward even back when they were children. A cruel coward, and humiliating him like this was actually quite amusing. "The fight isn't quite over yet is it? You can of course withdraw, but I will be keeping this sword. After I beat Kara, I'll have her melt it down and forge it into something useful."
"You can't!"
"You're right, I don't trust Kara to make me a sword that won't snap in half, and there's not enough steel in this blade to make it worth it, it feels like a toy," Charlie said, throwing his sword back at him. She motions for him to come again, so she can break her practice sword on his face. Maybe if she knocked out a few teeth he'd learn some better manners. She watches as he turns a dangerous shade of purple as he picks up his sword, getting up and lunging at her. She side steps the attack and swings her practice sword against his wrist, she can hear the crack and as he drops his sword she grabs his ridiculous cape before he inadvertently impales himself and uses it to slam him into the sand, pointing her practice sword at him. She turns to look up at her father who looks absolutely delighted, and notices the look of utter hatred on Queen Cersei's face. She wouldn't be forgetting this humiliation and she doubted that Joffery would either. Still she didn't really care, as she tried to find her future wife in the audience so she could see if this had impressed Santana. But when she doesn't see Santana she huffs, and smacks him on the top of the head with her practice sword and walks off. Fighting Kara would probably turn Santana on.
The moment that she enters the holding area, she immediately gets pounced on by a massive black jaguar and she slams to the ground, Charlie grins brightly as she gets a very rough lick to the face. "Were you impress—"
~ O ~
"I am not going to take the trophy for this unless I fucking desrve it, someone find her and drag her into the ring!" Kara bellowed. She was still pissed that she hadn't gotten a personal invite from the person she believed to be her friend. At least that's what Lena said she was.
"Will you stop bitching, troll-fucker. I'm here," Charlie said as she tucked her shirt into her pants. It was obvious from her hair and the blood that soaked through her white shirt on her left shoulder that she had clearly been having sex.
Kara blinked, "Were you—"
"Yes. I don't know why you're yelling for me though, you should have just taken the stupid trophy and called it a day," Charlie grumbled as she swung her practice sword and pointed it at Kara, who was equipped with a very real warhammer. "I mean I'm sure Lena would like to think that you're stronger than me for at least a little bit. You could have spun this whole story about how I was too scared to fight you. But instead you made a scene and interrupted things, so now Santana wants me to win the trophy."
"With a wooden practice sword?" Kara scoffed.
"You really don't want me using a real sword Kara, I'm only doing this because while I think your Aunt will find your death amusing, your mother won't and I like your mom," Charlie explains as she starts to manipulate her internal mana focusing it on her feet. She only really needed one strike to finish this.
"I mean your sisters will thank me for getting rid of you," Kara spits as she grips her hammer, Charlie would use her speed to try and win, so she needed to get the timing right for one blow. She needed to finish this in one strike.
Before the referee of the match can even say anything both women move with frightening speed, and two things happen at the same time, Charlie manages to land a solid blow with the pommel of her practice sword, putting all her mana into the blow as Kara's warhammer strikes the top of Charlie's head. The force of the blow snapping Charlie's head downward.
There was a stillness in the air as both women stood perfectly still for a moment, with everyone waiting with bated breath to see who would strike next, but as Charlie stumbles back and falls and lands on her back completely out of it, Kara simply crumples in a heap completely out of it.
~ O ~
"Well," Judy stated as she watched the medical staff rush to the ring to help the two of them. "At least Kara didn't hit her in the face, it is her wedding and Charlie really should look her best for it. With that said—it would be wise if we kept them separated until the ceremony. I have a feeling if we let our daughters spend any time together they would miss the ceremony."
"That's normal," Santana's father said almost dismissively but everyone had come to see them get married and if the two of them decided to skip the event it would simply be a wasted trip. "But I do see your point, as things progress they won't be this—attached, it's just very new for them."
"And how long will the—attachment last?" Russell questioned.
"Half a year," Maribel replied, deciding not to say that was merely on average. In the worst case it lasted until after children were born, and if her daughter was to be believed Santana didn't plan on having children for a little while.