"You two ready, then?"

"I am." She gives her girlfriend a questioning look.

Nod. "Let's go for it."

The courtyard she's chosen is one of the more remote ones - and one of the ones Wyld hasn't fully tamed yet, where the forests outside still try to spill into the complex. The remnants of mist darken the worn stone - what isn't covered by moss and stubborn vines and the roots of an enormous tree that's growing from the roof of one of the buildings defining the plaza. Uncovered walkways meander around overgrown gardens, spilling from gaps between larger columns within the peristyle surrounding the plaza. Their tile pavers are cracked, several of them thrust up in jagged lines showing the slow and inexorable progress of other roots. A grand arcade tops the peristyle, and the enclosed third floor has numerous balconies, the wooden screens over their windows long since rotted away. Domed towers with deep carvings in their heavy stone rise from each corner. The colors beneath the dust and moss are still vibrant, though, and the bones of the building itself are still strong.

It's a perilous place to fight on foot, the ground uneven and quarters tight, but it's a sniper's paradise for anyone on the upper floors.

"Nice choice," Winter says, as her bird takes off from her shoulder to make a loop around the yard. "Lots of cover."

"Thought it might be an interesting change from the main courtyards."

"Closer to an actual scenario."

"Especially a fight in this area of the world."

"Yep. Any rules you want?"

Hum. "I'd like to avoid damaging the architecture more."

"All right."

"Wyld and I usually go until someone's too bruised to move."

"Works for me."

Nod. She flourishes her scythe.

"Ready?"

She extends her hand, and her bow unfolds from her wrist in all its crystalline glory. "Ready."

Then in a flash, Winter is upon her.

Ridis leaps easily into the air, retreating to the upper balconies and letting out a stream of glittering arrows at her opponent.

She spins her scythe to deflect them, and a thin silver mist bursts out to complete the shield. Setting her stance just so, she bounds easily up the rubble to close with Ridis again, her feet nimbly finding purchase between the vines and uneven stone.

She jumps into the air, and her stream of arrows flash and sparkle, hiding her from even the senses of Winter's bird - for a moment, at least.

The bird squawks in annoyance, the first sound they've heard it make. It's raspy, rattling, dry like dust.

Winter ducks behind a pillar, away from where she last had track of Ridis.

She has the barest moment of warning - a faint whistle, a swish of air - of an incoming arrow. It might not be enough warning to dodge.

It's not.

"Fuck!" she curses as the arrow slices across her shoulder. But the direction of the arrow gives her a hint and her bird's shaken off the flash so she can look for Ridis again-

She seems to have activated something making her invisible, even once the flash wears off -

But her bird relies on more than just sight, and can locate her, even as she tries to move away from her firing position. She's above Winter, still, darting among the odd angles of the roof.

Winter jumps up.

Wide, shadowy wings spring out of her back and carry her up to Ridis's location.

She leaps away, and a very faint hum fills the air - she's falling slowly, almost hovering, as she continues firing a rapid stream of arrows at Winter.

Winter catches up to her quickly, juking to avoid the rush of arrows and slapping aside the ones that get too close and would be a debilitating hit.

Being midair does not at all interfere with her ability to swing her scythe.