Fire and Ice

Fairy Tail

The two of us stepped back into the wet snow and now stood in the middle of the field.

"Here, you take this one." Rosemary said handing me one of the wooden sticks.

I took one from her clutches and watched as she stepped back way from me.

"First we will test your reflexes through sword fighting."

"Wha-. . . why sword fighting?" I asked in a nervous tone.

"Well, probably because I like sword fighting." She replied with a smirk, getting into a fighting position.
"Don't worry all you have to do is block. I'll go easy on you."

Rosemary held her stick with both hands and swung. I quickly lifted my stick up and hovered it right in front of me, not knowing if it would be affective or not.

I closed my eyes, ready for impacted. Then crack went the sticks as they collided together.
Then I felt the two sticks rhumb together, like if Rosemary was lowering hers, and a small object push into my chest.

I opened my eyes go see Rosemary's "sword" pressed into my gut.
"Got'chu." She said with a smirk.

"Yeah". I mumbled, followed by a relaxed sigh.

She stepped back and positioned herself back to her sturdy starting stance.

"Let's try me blocking first and you seeing how I do it." She said holding her stuck up so it was parallel with her nose.

"Alright."

I didn't want to hurt her, though. I am a klutz after all. I could accidentally do something wrong.
I took a gentle swing towards her stick which she swiftly and strongly bounced away from her.

"Keep your grip tight, Nashi." She informed me, returning to her starting position. 

"Right." I mumbled, holding fast to the wood.

I clashed another few times with Rosemary's weapon, but no matter what I did, she blocked everything in such a precise- angelic way.

"You're really good at this." I commented.

"Thank you. 'You ready to give it a try?"

"Yeah, I think seeing you do it, I've gained a little more confidence." I said, fixing my hands in a comfortable position on the ruff bark.

"Ok, then let us begin."

Rosemary started off slow. I dodged the  beginning blows with ease but as time went on it got more and more challenging to keep up.

Her movements where so clean that it was almost a blur when watching her strokes. I could barely dodge.

After a few minutes, her fighting patterns became more and more clear too me.

"You getting really good, Nashi. Well done." Rosemary said lowering her long broken branch.

"Thanks." I puffed, barely able to keep my stick in my hand.

"I think we can head back now. It's cold and since you've improved so much in this step, I don't need to teach you any more about enhancing your reflexes." Rosemary said, heading back towards the shed.

I followed her back into the dry wood wall of the shed. I handed the maiden the  weapon so she was able to return them both back to the depths of the shed.

"Now let's head back." The red haired maiden said, making her way to the door.

The both of us exited the shed, back into the crisp cold day.
Rosemary locked the shed back up and walked back towards the road.

"What about the stuff we brought with us?" I asked as our feet met road.

"They can be left there until tomorrow."

We walked back down the road to the house again. But before we reached the house I became curious about something.

"Rosemary, this may be a. . . strange question but does our little . . . base have a name?"

"A name?" The red hair maiden asked, turning to me.

"Yeah, a name." I said, awkwardly.

"I guess I never really thought about giving our place a name. What would you call it?"

"Uh I don't know. . . um." I began.

"Well it has to be something interesting yet. . . homey." Rosemary said scratching her head.

"Well how about. . . Fairy Tail?" I mumbled.

"Like the books?" The red-haired maiden inquired.

"No, a bit different. It starts the same with 'fairy' but ends with 'tale' like what an animal would have."

She took a minute to take in what I said. Not too soon after, Rosemary replied with,
"Fairy Tail. . .

I like it."