This was what she had come here looking for. A match of skill, something she was not often afforded in her line of work. There, there was no time to offer a duel on equal terms, for the enemy was often frightfully dangerous. No, instead, she had to fight with the same ferocity that she did against the hated Vel Aniri, without scruple or mercy.
This was different.
She anticipated his movement before he
event began to move. It was in his eyes, in the way he moved his body. Expressionless, she simply dipped her blade a little lower than it had been, altering the angle slightly. It was the style she was practiced in; she did not directly challenge his strength, rather letting him do the work for her. The blade was angled so that the momentum of his strike would carry the blade harmlessly away.
She swung upward with that reversed grip, carrying his blade high on its own momentum, sliding forward with her body. There was a fulcrum point where she could use the force of his blow and her own assisting swing to lash out with her right foot, aiming for his head.
Not hard enough to knock him out. No, this was a shot intended as a lesson, for there was much entertainment and - likely - learning to be had from this man. She did not want it over quickly, not out of some twisted personality trait, but out of the thrill of a good match. One not to the point of death.
Honor, indeed. Almost as if she understood the bow to indicate that this one, too, fought with some code of honor.