The Exiled Gem

Dueling A Buffalo

(The title is not funny, btw)

'All the best, go!' Kane pushed her, and he continued. 'So next up, we have our third duo- Mabel, yes the only female in this whole campus, if you have any doubts about that- and Blaise Quill!'

Alexandra's opponent was tall, hefty and just looking at him made Alexandra want to shout, "Unfair!" Why didn't she get someone like Tristan Pendrick to duel?

Now, there was no crying over spilt milk. Alexandra readied herself, the Bull-strategy wouldn't work here. No, she needed to observe Quill from the start. The way he walked... Alexandra noticed, he didn't move his arms. He didn't use up his whole body, and it felt almost like he was dragging himself. 

Nice observations, but she had no idea how to use them to her advantage. And knowledge without application was like a human body without life. It was useless, and nothing more than a corpse.

They got ready. Alexandra's mind still working furiously to find some weakness. Master George showed his green flag, Kane's words bounced of her head, none making any sense. But, nothing happened. None of them charged. 

Alright, so he believes defense to be his strong point. Good, very good. So, we just have to see whose is better.

Alexandra smirked, and she charged. Blaise had been almost dragging himself- one possible reason to do so was that he was uncomfortable in his body.

Interesting. 

Alexandra would make him even more uncomfortable, in that case.

As she charged, Blaise got ready to parry. But Alexandra switched her direction when she was a foot away from him. And when she did that, when she didn't strike, Blaise lumbered backwards. Almost as if she had struck. Observation Number two: Blaise Quill was slow.

From there Alexandra turned herself, as he trudged backwards, she pushed herself upon him. In an effort to push him down: but the man was hefty, and not completely a dunce. He swatted Alexandra away like a fly. As he did, she almost flew to one side. But Alexandra steadied herself. 

Fine, he was not totally unaware of his own strength.

But the real question was, she had told the boys the previous night, that every person fought like an animal. Definitely, Alexandra agreed. And that, they didn't have to defeat a person. They only had to control that animal within them. But unless she knew which animal it was, what could Alexandra do, other than play around? And in fact, if the playing around lasted for more than half and hour, the duel would be announced a tie and she would get another opponent.

No, Alexandra had read him enough. She was fine with Blaise Quill. Getting an entirely new opponent, a fresh battle to fight from the very beginning, was not what she wanted. Alexandra had to end this the way she wanted it to. 

Everything felt like it happened in slow motion, because she was thinking so hard. But finally, watching Blaise Quill's big eyes, and wavy hairline, she was reminded of an animal. One which was somehow very closely related to... cattle.

A cow? 

An ox? 

A ... a buffalo! 

It kept wallowing slowly, if something troubled it, it swatted the thing away. But... how could you defeat someone who didn't react at all? 

Alexandra would have to make him attack. What could anger buffaloes to the point of attacking? Maybe, the thing they loved the most was their comfort. So, of course, taking away their comfort would antagonize the creature. Alexandra had to pull Blaise out of his comfort zone. Which perhaps, was his idleness. She had to get him to move.