Arven was not necessarily good at everything — some books were above his comprehension, some people above his patience, some pressures too much to bear. But when it came to physical skills he was a powerhouse, and took to this particular one like a duck to water — though they were only just beginning.

He parried as instructed, and again, taking a deft step backwards to do so — then he made to strike, but did not want to... giving her the perfect opportunity to make her move.

  

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Dove smiled as it became apparent that the man was a natural. She met his movements and moved to strike, aiming for her parasol to lightly poke at his side. "We would make a curious sight for witnesses," she observed in amusement. Wherever Virgil was, she wondered if he was close enough to see what his master was getting up to.

  

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Arven gave a dashing grin at this, but then she "stabbed" him in the side -- "Ahh, you got me!" he faked dramatically, clutching at his "wound" and stumbling back against a tree. "Grant me mercy, I beg of you. I'm too good-looking to die."

  

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Dove laughed in response to the mans feigned defeat. She pretended to think on it a moment before relenting. "This is true - besides, it would be a crime to rid the world of an interesting person." She didn't think she had been quite so engaged as... well, the first time she had met him, she supposed. Not that he knew there was a prior meeting, of course.

  

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Arven chuckled at this, not missing the smoothly flirtatious element to their game. "The world always has you to fall back on", he responded, verily finding her a far more interesting person than he found himself.

He straightened up a little, then looked at his hand as if to check it for blood. "Well what do you know — I'm cured! Another miracle."

He took a step forward and swung the stick-sword over in his hand. "The first miracle being that you've managed to teach an old dog a new trick." They'd only been at this lesson for a matter of minutes, but he'd picked up the basics in a trice. And he liked it. Or maybe it was just the teacher he liked.

  

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"Do you think so? I'm glad to hear it. I don't think I could stand it if someone were to think me a bore while I found them interesting." It would make for quite the awkward dynamic, she was sure.

Another laugh escaped her as he continued his play-acting. "The Gods have deemed you worth saving, I suppose. And it is quite easy to do so when the dog is a quick learner. But you did not yet earn my name - a pity."

  

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Despite her quiet air of maturity and wisdom, Arv got the impression she didn't get out much — hence her eagerness to wander off with a strange man. It also explained why she might consider that someone could think her a bore, when in fact she was one of the most curious souls Arven had ever encountered on British soil.

He lowered the stick-sword and smiled to discover he had not yet earned her name. "Then I'll have to keep trying."

Arven continued to lead the way along the trodden path through the woods, alert once again for the roaming ferret. "For what it's worth, my name is free. All you have to do is ask for it", he remarked good-naturedly. "Or you could make one up for me if you'd prefer; I wouldn't mind that."

  

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"I'm sure you will earn it soon," she encouraged playfully when the man said that he would have to keep trying. Not that he would find much on her, if anything, when he had it. But he could write her, if he was so inclined.

Of course she kept silent the fact that she already knew his name was Arven Fisk. "Now what name could possibly suit one such as you?" She said thoughtfully as she too kept her eyes out for Virgil the ferret. "Perhaps one of the knights of the round table with how quickly you took to a sword?"

  

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The knight analogy was not unfamiliar, but Arven did not think it altogether suitable. Yes he was valiant, chivalrous, and other traits that came from being raised by a truly solid grandfather, but he was also less the type to rescue people than... well, whisk them off into even more risk.

"Are you sure I'm not the villain of the piece?" he quipped back. "I've led an innocent, unaccompanied lady astray, after all... I think that makes you the heroine, miss", he concluded lightly.

  

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"Mordred, then?" Robin asked with a laugh though that did not entirely suit, she felt. "Maybe I shall name you Tom Sawyer or Finn after Huckleberry Finn instead for they were both the adventurer sort."

The idea of being thought innocent did make her laugh. "If I were truly innocent, I don't think I would have quite the thirst to see what is in the world that I have not seen or known." She would be doing as she was supposed to be doing - obeying her parents and hiding away in isolation.

  

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He liked that she was a reader of adventure novels. Merlin, he liked everything about her. And he'd be perfectly content to have the nickname of Finn, or Huck, or Tom, or Sawyer — or even Mordred if it amused her.

The tall ranger looked down at his companion thoughtfully; "what is it you wish to see? Or know."

Everything in the world was a very broad ambition, after all. Though it was one Arven had made a dent in.

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   Robin Ashdown

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The problem with not knowing fully what was in the world was that you did not know what it was you wished to see until you actually saw it. But she knew enough from reading books to have some fair idea of where she would like to start, at least.

"I want to go to a rainforest to start. Have you ever been in one?" She remembered from when they had met before, under her other identity, that he traveled. Petra had been mentioned but she wondered if aside from ruins, he had also ventured into the wilds. They had talked of a great many things when they had met before but she didn't recall mentions of rainforests but it was possible they just hadn't touched upon the topic. "I read that one in the Amazons is one of the biggest in the world."

  

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To start? Of all the adventures in all the world, the Amazon rainforest was about the most dramatic one to target as the first item on your to-do list. It was better to start smaller.

And as they continued through the damp woodland, having engaged in a sword fight in the midst of tracking down a lost ferret, it was evident this was a small adventure worth starting with.

"It's the largest in the world", he clarified. "By a long way. And I have indeed been there. The cacophony of insects in the morning is louder than a Howler. The rain falls like a sudden velvet curtain. And although I trekked across the jungle for weeks, I saw about as much of it as an ant sees of a mountain."

  

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Dove was not at all surprised to hear that he had been to the rainforest. It sounded amazing and she was eating up his every word as if starved for them. "What a life you have lived, my dear Huck," she said, having chosen now which nickname she would call him by. She was also impressed by him: Petra, the Amazon, what other places had this explorer seen. She wanted to know, what was more a small fluttering voice in the back of her mind wanted to see these places with him.

"I suppose our dear England must seem a bore in comparison though I am personally of the mind that adventure can be found anywhere if you look hard enough." Even a to-do party was sometimes a sort of adventure, to see the ladies dancing and the gentlemen preening.

  

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Arven glanced at her curiously, experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu. He felt like he'd had this exact conversation before; he also felt as if he'd had this conversation with her before, but of course this was folly, as they'd never before met. People were capable of such uncanny inklings.

"Mm, adventure is a state of mind", replied "Huck". "As is boredom. But they are not necessarily antithetical to each other. My decision to spend more time in my homeland is perhaps the most 'boring' decision I've ever made, but may also transpire to be one of the greatest adventures of my life."

  

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"This is true. Most ladies would find a trek through this woodland a bore for there is no one to see their dress and to compliment their eyes and what not - while I am finding it quite an adventure." Indeed, she had yet to regret this impulsive choice of hers to come along with him to meet herself a ferret.

Smiling, she reached over to put her hand on his arm. "I'm glad you made that decision for if you had not, we might have never met. And I would never meet a ferret for some time yet though I suppose I still have yet to since Virgil seems intent on giving you a runaround."

  

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