 ꓅ꆂꐇꏸꑛ ꓅ꑛꍟ ꌚꀗꐟ  ᵃ ʳᵉʸˡᵒ ᵃᵘ

ꏸꑛꋫꉣ꓅ꍟ꒓ ꌚꍟꏝꍟꁹ  ꓅ꑛꍟ ꁕꐇꍟ꒒ ꃃꍟꁍꂑꁹꌚ

꓅he next day, the princess and her three suitors prepared for the next event, sword fighting. A crowd had gathered to watch the tournament.

The first duel was Finn and Ben.

Ben swung his wooden sword in his hand, getting a feel of it's weight.

Finn took a deep breath, he had a really bad feeling about this. Ben was way taller and stronger than him and worse he really wanted to win.

The king signaled for the fight to begin and Ben stepped forward, swinging his wooden sword high.

Finn had to duck to avoid being hit in the face. He lifted his sword as Ben continued to strike him.

Ben swung his sword in an overhand strike, and this time Finn didn't duck in time to avoid being hit. Ben's sword struck him in the cheekbone, and Finn was relieved that the swords weren't real, they were just wooden practice swords and not the real thing. Still it had hurt and he would definitely have a bruise there.

Ben began to aim his strikes at Finn's sword, striking as hard as he could. Still he moved his sword swiftly, in an predictable pattern.

Finn's grip on the sword began to weaken slightly. Finn moved to readjust his grip and that's when Ben slammed his sword against Finn's. The sword flew out of Finn's hand and fell in the dirt a meter and a half from where they stood.

Ben pointed the end of his sword at Finn's throat to show that he had defeated him.

"Do you yield?" Ben questioned.

Finn thought for a moment, he could lunge for the sword, but Ben looked as if he was just waiting for him to try something like that. At this point he knew that he was lucky to make it out of this with nothing but a bruise. Ben was one of...if not the best swordsman in the highlands, and Finn's weapons of choice were the bow and the sling, so those were the skills he spent most of his time practicing.

I really need to work on my hand to hand skills, he thought. Even though, looking at Ben, he doubted that he would be able to beat him anyway, his height gave him an advantage. With most of his tight chest exposed, Finn felt intimidated just looking at the tall figure.

"I yield," he replied.

Ben lowered his sword.

Finn and Ben left the arena, and Poe stepped in. Rey turned to join him as it was their turn to duel; but she stopped as she felt her father place his hand on her shoulder.

"Remember what I taught you," he said.

Rey nodded. "Aye father, I will." She turned to leave but her father spoke again.

"And go easy on them." He smiled at her.

Rey smiled. "I can't make any promises there."

Her father smirked.

Rey approached the arena she grabbed a wooden sword; before she joined Poe where he stood waiting for her.

Her father signaled for the fight to begin and Rey didn't waste a second, she lunged at Poe bringing an overhead strike down on him. He lifted his practice weapon just in time to block her. She quickly swung a left handed blow at him and he had to move quickly to block her.

Rey continued to strike swift and hard in an irregular pattern. Poe did his best to block her, but she was quickly overwhelming him.

Ben and Finn watched impressed.

"She's even stronger than I imagined," Ben whispered in awe.

"Aye, it's almost scary. Whoever has to marry her better be careful not to make her mad," Finn replied.

"Aye, that's for sure," Ben answered, but he was detracted watching her fighting style. She was fierce but also graceful, and to him she was almost more beautiful now than she had been when she was sitting on her throne wearing fine silks. That was just a facade, this was the real her. When his parents told him that he would have to compete for the hand of the princess he hadn't wanted to, he had imagined a stuck up girl who was constantly worried about getting her hands dirty or messing up her hair. But Rey wasn't at all like that, she was the kind of girl that he had always dreamt of finding, a girl who was strong and had a taste for adventure.

He watched as Poe struggled to block Rey's strikes.

"C'mon son, you don't want to be beaten by a wee lassie!" Lord Dameron called.

"Hey, that's my daughter you're talking about!" the king replied.

Rey nearly knocked Poe's sword from his hand, but he struggled to recover it not wanting the embarrassment of being beaten by a girl.

But Lord Dameron's words had not only encouraged Poe, they had encouraged Rey to fight harder as well in order to prove that just because she was a girl it didn't mean that she couldn't beat him.

She brought her sword down again, this time it struck Poe's right hand. The sudden pain caused him to drop his sword. But he wouldn't give up, he would never hear the end of it if he got beaten by a girl in a sword fight.

He reached down attempting to grab his sword, but as he did he felt a stinging pain on his arms as Rey again hit him with her sword. She stepped between Poe and his practice sword.

He took a deep breath, again attempting to grab it.

Rey then struck him again, this time her blow landed on his shoulder.

Poe let out a pain filled groan.

Rey held her sword ready. "I can do this all day, so I suggest you yield if you don't want to be covered from head to toe in bruises."

Poe ignored her and tried to move around her from the left.

Rey quickly moved to keep him from reaching the sword. She swung her practice weapon at his back, the force the blow knocked him to the ground. Rey went over to him, placing her foot on his back to keep him from standing. She pressed the edge of her wooden blade against his throat to show him that if this was a real fight and a real sword; he would be dead by now.

"I yield," Poe whispered.

Rey smiled, moving her foot from his back and reaching down to help him to his feet.

"Thank you," Poe said.

She smiled at him and nodded. "No hard feelings, right?"

"Not from me," he pointed to where his father was looking down, disappointed. "My father on the other hand is a different matter."

"You don't think he'll start a war over it?" Rey asked, concerned.

"Nah, he'll get over it. At least we all know that our future queen is capable of leading us into battle if need be."

Rey smiled at him. "Thank you."