When Patience had agreed that a battle arena might be a fun thing to try she had not expected... this. She had expected something like a glorified pit fight, not too different from the ones at the fortress. She thought maybe it would be a little more posh and formal than back where she came from. At the very least she expected to walk into the arena proper. Surprise. Instead she had been whisked here in what felt like an instant, to be greeted by a crowd the likes of which she had never seen. There were easily hundreds of spectators, perhaps even thousands. Well she had claimed she was ready to go right then and there. Patience decided she would have to be more careful with her words from now on. Absentmindedly she waved to the cheering crowd as she scanned the massive arena around her. Far from a boring dirt or sand pit the battleground was breathtaking in scale and detail. The whole field was a great tank of water with giant chunks and spires of ice and several seafaring ships sitting in the water. She was actually standing on a full sized Hylian frigate, an impressive replica and the centerpiece of the arena. There were also several skiffs and gunboats around the central ship, packed together tightly. There was, amazingly enough, plenty of room for the smaller ships to spread out. She guessed they were that close together so the combatants could leap from ship to ship without having to risk the icy water. The sheer size of this place felt like overkill to Patience. Even as a ranged fighter a full sized frigate alone was more than enough. Whoever this Arena Lord was he liked to throw a grand party. But who was to be her opponent, and where was he? Taking a closer look at her immediate surroundings Patience noticed her challenger standing where there had been no one a moment before. She could tell immediately she was dealing with a Zora, one armed with a trident and shield. A melee fighter matched against an archer? Who planned these fights? Seeing and hearing no obvious cue to begin the match Patience casually strolled toward the Zora, noting he was about a head shorter than herself. He was looking around at the arena and crowd, probably just as bemused as she had been on arrival. Not that the feeling was fully dissipated. She offered a generic greeting to announce herself. As expected her opponent immediately turned to face her, and Patience realized this was not a man at all. Instead she found herself face to face with an attractive young female Sea Zora, short and thin but well toned. This was a very pleasant surprise to be sure, though now she was a bit conflicted. This lady Zora was surely a competent warrior who would not hold anything back in this fight. Patience, however, was not looking forward to making this lovely specimen bleed. She sighed inwardly. It seemed this battle was not going to be in her favor as she first thought. Unable to restrain herself Patience smiled and moved close to the Zora, arms crossed under her breasts. "I had no idea they were going to be matching me against such a beauty. A shame we're meeting like this for the first time." She purred.
In the brief moments of her arrival to the arena, Cera went through a rapid series of emotions and thoughts. First came shock and bewilderment, quickly shoved aside by a tense urgency to take stock of her immediate surroundings. Ships, Water, Ice, Crowd, Arena, Woman, but no sign of monsters, traps or ambushes at work. With nary a tingle of danger nagging at her senses either, the young Zora's thoughts turned to curiosity. Standing on one of the numerous ships clustered together, she took in the impressive arena around her and the sheer size of the audience. A greeting caught her attention, turning her focus to the Woman she had only briefly noted earlier. Tilting her head slightly, Cera sized the woman up as she seemed to do the same in turn. She noted the bow and quiver, lingering on them just briefly before noting the rest of the woman's appearance. Tall, lean, oddly unprotective clothes that none the less don't seem to be especially obstructing. This was probably her opponent, if she had to guess. Any further observations were interrupted as the archer moved closer and spoke, in a tone that Cera couldn't quite put her finger on. Playful was the best she could figure after a moment of thought, though being playful during a fight was somewhat perplexing. A second thought had her reconsider, as her opponent wasn't a monster and the fight itself hadn't actually started yet. Deciding to indulge herself and roll with the playful comment, she flashed a smirk and flexed her shield arm proudly. "Nice to meet someone that appreciates an athletic bod." Dropping her arm back to her side, she scrutinized the archer a bit more to try and assess her physical abilities, giving an approving nod and continuing in a cheery tone. "Names Cera." Bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet, the Zora warrior felt a certain excitement at the prospect of pitting her footwork and shieldwork against an opponent with superior range. The archer was almost certainly nimble, and while Cera was the smaller target the other woman had the advantage of reach to go alongside having a long range weapon. Potential strategies began to buzz about in her thoughts, eager to test her skills in a new way.
Oh if only she knew how much Patience appreciated her 'bod', as she had put it. But she seemed to have missed the subtext, or she was politely deflecting. "Cera..." Patience repeated, drawing the name out and appreciating how it rolled off the tongue. Zora really did have such nice names. "That is a beautiful name. Mine is Patience. Just Patience. Don't ask, please." She smirked and held up her hands. Her name, since she had stopped adding the Issandra surname, had been earning her some funny looks and awkward questions lately. She imagined it would not be long before the event would be declared officially but maybe later... Aw, hell what did she have to lose? She put her hands behind her back and leaned in very close. "Say, Cera, what are you doing after this?" Patience whispered the question even though there was no way the crowd could have heard her if she had shouted the question. Unbeknownst to her, focused as she was on Cera, an extravagantly dressed announcer made their appearance on a high platform at the edge of the arena. In the next few moments Patience was unpleasantly shocked by a booming voice that could be heard easily across the enormous arena. She couldn't help but to laugh at herself after that, startling so easily. As the shock of adrenaline slowly ebbed Patience scolded herself mentally. This crowd was here for a battle. Perhaps she would do well to stop trying to flirt with her opponent and get her head in the game. The booming voice explaining to the crowd that there were masks beneath their seats they could use to better see the event. That made sense, most fighting arenas were kept small so the spectators could easily see and hear the fight, but this was a massive area occupied by only two combatants. The announcer went on to explain the masks would also enhance hearing but that spectators should be cautious where the mask was pointing while using this feature. Patience considered this and wondered just how much all of this cost. And it was Just for the two of them? She couldn't help but think this setup better for two mini armies, especially if they got these ships moving, maybe with magical winds? "And now, competing in the all new arena, the Sea of Fire and Ice," Fire and Ice? Patience snickered. Who came up with that name? ", Cera, the Zora warrior and Patience Issandra, the Gerudo archer!" The announcer declared and Patience choked hearing her full name. Even though almost no one inland had heard the name Issandra Patience had completely stopped using it since her escape. Somehow, someone out there knew who she was and had just announced that to so many.... Patience shivered not from the uncomfortably cold air but the thought that everyone here had heard what she took great pains to conceal. "Combatants, prepare yourselves!" Distracted as she was trying to discern the reaction of individuals in a crowd she could hardly see, Patience was a little slow to comply. A cannon went off, undoubtedly the signal to start, and Patience still had not fully shaken her shock. She realized she had not even readied her bow. Patience, you idiot! She scolded herself, turning to run for the bow of the ship, intending to jump to a small skiff directly in front of the frigate. This was a very bad start. She should have distracted Cera before running. Now the zora could get right on her heels, or just throw that trident into her back if she wasn't feeling fancy. At best she would have to stay on the run for a while, hopping from boat to boat, hoping the closer rigging of the small slowed Cera down.
