Tal and Alys had been in the middle of moving away from Halo when Starfall had happened. And when the dust had cleared, he had come back home to help as best he could... But King's End had needed help, too. And Torchline, even more. Halo had no ports of note, at least, and the Citadel remained unbreached and unbroken. The Tundra had taken the brunt of the damage, but fortunately it wasn't as densely inhabited as Kaiholo or the Castaway Exchange.
Though the losses had been bad enough. And the guilt Tal felt for making his choice in the middle of a catastrophe ate away at his heart even as he refused to let it rule him.
"Wouldn't be th'first-- Hey!" He'd assumed - wrongly, as it turned out - that they'd be using spear and axe to go at each other. Soleil's weaponless charge took him off guard and he barely dropped the axe in time before she barreled into range.
And he barreled right back out of it, backpedaling frantically and just barely fast enough to keep her from closing until he could take a couple of quick steps sideways to break her straight-line momentum. He flung out a jab to her right shoulder, unable to reach past her guard to her face, so trying to get her to drop it first.
Though the losses had been bad enough. And the guilt Tal felt for making his choice in the middle of a catastrophe ate away at his heart even as he refused to let it rule him.
"Wouldn't be th'first-- Hey!" He'd assumed - wrongly, as it turned out - that they'd be using spear and axe to go at each other. Soleil's weaponless charge took him off guard and he barely dropped the axe in time before she barreled into range.
And he barreled right back out of it, backpedaling frantically and just barely fast enough to keep her from closing until he could take a couple of quick steps sideways to break her straight-line momentum. He flung out a jab to her right shoulder, unable to reach past her guard to her face, so trying to get her to drop it first.
