The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I wasn't alone in the hospital room.

"Tellka?"

"Yea?"

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my tired eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"What?" I nearly jumped out of bed, but stopped myself. That late? Already?

"What's wrong?" Tellka gave me an odd look.

"I... it.. um... what about school?" I turned to her, a question on my face. Tellka snickered. "What?" I looked at her confused and tried to understand what she saw being funny.

"It's the weekend, Kate. You don't have school for two days."

"Oh..." I layed back down and rubbed my forehead. "So I do get a break then..."

Tellka nodded. "How do you feel?"

"Okay I guess." I stretched my lg a little. It hurt, in a kind of pinching way, but not badly. It also itched like everything from the bandages.

"You'll live."

I nodded. "When do I go back home?"

"Whenever you leave. Although, we only had you payed for one day, so I suggest you leave sometime soon."

I grinned and sat up again, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "Alright, Tellka. Can I go now?"

Tellka shrugged. "If you think you're ready to."

"I am."

*************************************************************

I walked into the house and was immediatly greated by the open arms of Carrie. She hugged my tightly, told me she missed me, then led me off into the kitchen for food. It was good to be home again.

The cat formally known as Pagan, now known as Tupa, came running down the stairs with a loud 'meow' and demanded that I pet her. "I'm happy to see you too." I grinned and picked up the black ball of fur, stroking her gently. She purred and rubber her head on my arm.

I ate what Carrie fixed me and headed upstairs.

"What are you doing?" Tellka asked as she watched me shuffle through my dresser.

"Getting money. I want to go for a walk."

"Why do you need to get money for a walk?"

"Incase I find a store." I smiled as I found a small bag of coins, and plucking it out of the dresser, closed the cabinet door and headed downstairs. Carrie was walking out of the kitchen by the time I got to the bottom of the steps.

"You seem pretty active for someone who just got their leg cut." She sighed and looked at me, her hands placed on her hips. "So it doesn't hurt?"

I shrugged. "It hurts a little bit, but not much."

"Worens heal quickly." Tellka was coming down the stairs after me. Carrie ignored her and nodded to me.

"Be carefull on your walk"

I told her I would be and headed thru the front room and out the door.

Outside the air was clean and the sky was blue. I took a deep breath and headed out into the Windian street and turned right, walking along one of the less busy roads. I glanced around at the people around me. Windians, forest men, worens, many different clans wandered the streets. I managed to wander myself over to an armory shop and Tellka nudged me inside.

"Might as well look around." She told me as we walked into the store. She glanced around, taking my arm, and proceeded to drag me around the store with her.

Oh boy.. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Come on, I want to try and find you an outfit for the arena."

We stopped infront of a large display of hand and foot wear. Tellka searched for a few moments and pulled up a nice pair of gloves. "Try these on." She commanded as she handed the gloves to me. I slipped them on, surprised to find how well they actually fit.

"Why do I need these?"

"I'll explain in a moment. Take those off for a second." Telka dug through the display again and pulled out a large black bandage roll. I removes the gloves and Tellka began to bandage my hand and wrist.

"Tellka?" I gave her an odd look as she slipped the gloves back onto my hands.

"Clench your hand. How does it fit?"

I moved my fingers around, squeezed my hand into a fist and then relaxed it again. "Padded."

Tellka grinned. "Gloves and bandages on your hands and wrist keep you from getting blisters and they protect your hands when you punch someone. How much money do you have?" I brought up my pouch and handed it to Tellka. She counted through it, nodded, and handed it back to me. "Enough to get an outfit. Come on."

Tellka began taking me about the store and having me try on the different accesories. She explained certain peices and their purpose to me as we got to them.

"Boots are like gloves. They're to keep your feet from getting sore. Bandages under your boots also help with padding when you do hard jumps, landings, and kicks." She picked out a pair of boots that matched my gloves.

"The shirts I would look for," Tellka pointed to her black top, "should be low at the neck and sleevless. That's to keep you from getting too hot during long battles. They should be just a little loose, but not too loose, and kind of tight so it wont get caught up on anything as will allow a long range of flexibility." We picked out a shirt. "Chest plates protect your stomach from punches and kickes," she pointed out the jewels on her chestplate, "and these are used for decoration and defense." I gave her an odd look about the defence part. She just grinned and explained. "The guy who punches you and hits your chestplate instead will to more damage to his fist with those ornaments there." We picked out a chestplate and Tellka glanced over our inventory.

"I think that's it."

"What are those for?" I pointed to the bandages on her arms.

"These? They just make you look tougher, that's all." She showed me an example by removing the bandages from her arms. I took a long, studying look at her.

"Yea.. you look stronger with them on..." Tellka re-wrapped her arms and grabbed an extra bandage roll. We headed over to a dressing room and she waited as I tried on the outfit. It took me a moment, but I got it on.

"Not bad." Tellka nodded approvingly. We bought the outfit and headed out of the store.

"Well, now that you have the clothing for it, we're going to have to get you practicing again as soon as possible."

I sighed and gave Tellka a testy look. She snickered and we started home.

e-mail author, talonr@hotmail.com