Breaking Boundries {open}

Trace looked around her for her next opponent, but as soon as she looked at the other man, lightening struck him and knocked him down. She looked away from him as he slumped down to the ground and focused on the woman. "Um, Hello. I'm Trace. Let me help you up." Trace said carefully as she made her way slowly over to her. "General, are you hurt?" Trace reached down to take the general's hand and helped her up. It was then, while she was take close to the General, that she noticed the waff of alchol on the General. Great, she's drunk. On top of everything, she has to be drunk? Trace thought as she pulled her up and helped her. "We can go to The Nightshadow Smiths until you can stand better. Come on, its just right over there." Trace said as she let the General put her weight on Trace's shoulders.

''thank you,'' ren replied. ''your hips.''

Trace shook her head, she didn't quite understand until she remembered her first question. "Oh, I see then." She replied as she turned slightly to kick open the shop door. "I need a chair and a cup of water!" She yelled as she made her way to her station and set Ren down on her work chair. "Dont lean back."

''i'm sorry for the inconvenience,'' she said as she took out a silk hankerchief and dabbed at her split lip. ''i just went through a bad breakup and drank more than i should have.''

Trace turned to get the water from another apprentice as she listened to Ren. "Here, drink this." She said as she handed Ren the cup. Trace frowned at the cup as she handed it over. Out of all the cups lying around the shop, they had given her the 'forged cup' from when she was very first learning to forge metals. It was sturdy and strong, but the edges weren't clean and the handle wasn't finished. She had shaved down the sharpened edges to make it less dangerous, but still worried about it. If it had been glass, her brother would have broken it and had her forge it again. "Bad breakup, huh. Care you talk about it. Talking is a bit more healthy." Trace told her as she reached for a shop towel, dipped it in a bit of forging water and started to clean up Ren's other wounds.

ren drank the water given to her and let trace clean her up. ''he broke up with me because of the match. we agreed that no matter what we would be happy with either of us winning. but he said i embarrassed him.'' ren sniffled a little. ''god i hate men.''

Trace couldn't help but laugh, which made her hand a bit less stable. As soon as the laugh was out, she covered her face and instantly felt the eyes of the other apprentices around her. "I thought he was a boy. Why is his laugh so girly?" One of them asked as they passed each other. Trace looked back at her brother, who just shrugged and started working on a new sword for some army member. "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you if I did. Guys are pretty stupid." Trace told her as she looked back and continued to clean up Ren's face. Once all the dirt had been removed, Trace noticed that she was actually a really pretty woman. "A girl with looks like yours shouldn't have to worry about men like him."

''i'm done with men,'' ren said bitterly. ''just done.'' she sat there sobering up. ''all over a simple fight. what is wrong with him?'' she said as tears started to flow from her good eye. ''why did he do this?''

Trace looked around real quick for a clean towel as she tried to clean up the General's cuts. The other workers were starting their sword work, pounding the metal into a thin line. With a sigh, she cut away a piece of clean cloth from the towel she was using and started to wipe her tears away. "Men are stupid and tend to let their ego's get into their head too much. With some men, it is worse than others. They tend to not think about things like we do." Trace said a bit loud, trying to be heard over the machinery. However, the sounds stopped halfway through her statement. "Trace, you have been with us men for two years now, at least. You should know us better than that." the closest apprentice walked over to her. "Young lady, whatever this guy said to make you cry means that he wasnt worth your time in the first place. No man should ever make a woman cry, no matter what." He gave the general a quick smile before patting Trace on the back and going back to his station. "Sorry, He's a little weird, but he knows what he's talking about, half the time." Trace said as she set the cloth down on the oddly clean desk.

"Thank you for your kindness,'' Ren said with a weak smile. ''Is there somewhere I can sleep? I don't think I can make it home in my current state.''