<strong>A Masquerade Party on Osiris ~ Around 3 and a half years ago</strong><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>(Thalia and Samson "meet" for the first time)</em></span><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://imageshack.com/a/img819/4854/5ykq.jpg)</div>Thalia was having trouble believing just what it was she was seeing. This duel was going to go ahead and it might have been stating the obvious, but in what way could this possibly go well? Dale was too prideful and stubborn to back down, and for the opportunities the cavalryman gave him to re-consider, they also provoked him and made him want to fight all-the-more. Thalia wondered if she'd played some role in this happening. If she'd taken more time to consider Dale's offer, this might never have happened, but no - this wasn't her fault. He'd got himself into this trouble from the outset. That was if things were as they seemed and there wasn't a pre-existing grudge between himself and the rim-worlder, whose name she now knew.<em>Samson Castle.</em>Not one she'd forget in a hurry.<br/><br/>The Governor's announcement of the duel sealed it. It was too late to back down now and she wished she'd tried to step in, or implied Dale was drunk, before things went so far. Thalia felt a great sense of unease, as she watched the men prepare to fight. Somehow, she knew one of them wouldn't be walking away. It began suddenly, and with a clash of steel. Both men were obviously the mouthy types, as their words clashed as surely as they did.<br/><br/>Dale's comeback, wanting a whore to sate him after the battle, drove away the last of Thalia's good feeling for the man. He wasn't who she'd thought he was. He was a boy, not a man, judgmental and foolish, and she wouldn't be convinced he was anything else, even if he defeated Samson.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://imageshack.com/a/img843/8171/6x0j.jpg)</div>She should've walked away - there and then - and returned to the party, but she didn't. Thalia had to watch, and for that reason, memories of the duel would return to haunt her nightmares for years to come. She stood through it all - the attacks and counterattacks, blades slicing cloth and skin, meeting and parrying, while blood oozed from both men. Her eyes rolled when Dale called the rim-worlder a savage. As civilised as duelling might be, in what way was killing another man with a sword NOT savage?<br/><br/>"Walk away, Thalia. Leave," she murmured to herself, and she moved to turn, but she didn't. She stared on, gritting her teeth, before approaching several steps closer. "Please don't. You don't need to do this!" They did, in a way. Their reputations, their pride.. their honour was on the line now, but was it worth their lives? Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw Dale forced to his knees and she really, genuinely thought he might back down. What came next happened seemingly in the blink of an eye. Flashing swords and then Dale fell. He fell to the ground, and his head. "Oh gods," she said, voice catching in her throat. His head rolled to the ground, and he was gone.<br/><br/>She barely heard what was said next. It didn't register with her ears. She just saw Samson cleaning his sword, as if he was all business. Thalia looked a miserable and pitiful sight indeed. Not tearful, but very sad that this had come to pass. Her mask was in her hand and she didn't even remember taking it off. It seemed like too many people were looking her way, all of a sudden, and then she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. It was an elderly woman in a dusky pink dress. Thalia thought she was offering reassurance, when she said, "don't you think you should patch him up, dear?"<br/><br/>She took one look at Samson, and her eyes held all sorts of pain, then at the fallen body on the ground. "No, I really don't. Let a civilised man tend to his own wounds. He looks capable enough." It was only then she saw the extent of his injuries, but as far as she was concerned, he'd got off lightly. Thalia drifted back into the ballroom, the room lurching as strange, masked figures danced and the party went on as if nothing had happened.<br/>