Slowly Neela started to increase the speed and complexity of her movements, bringing in several kicks aimed high at head height alongside the quicker punches. She had just delivered one strong roundhouse kick, rattling the bag against the tree, when Lorenzo’s voice sounded from fairly close besides her, starling the collie who hadn’t noticed him approaching.
Caught surprised and off balance Neela started to fall down towards the ground from her kick, her foot catching on the bag when she tried to bring it back down to the ground. Neela managed to throw her arms forwards and pushed off the bag, turning the fall into a roll that left her alongside Lorenzo. Neela muttered for a few seconds, rubbing her shoulder where she had first hit the floor, before tilting her head towards Lorenzo, offering her Soon-to-be-mate’s brother a small but friendly smile, ”Heya Lorenzo, ‘m practising.” she stated simply, stepping back and cocking her head at the large wolf, ”Want ta get back inta shape, want ta be able ta defend myself if someone attacks me again.” Neela’s tone was casual but a sudden, violent twitch of her ears showed the sudden burst of undirected anger that arose at her words, ”Don’ want anyone getting hurt tryin ta protect me, not again.” She added suddenly, feeling an unusual need to explain herself.
Neela fidgeted awkwardly for a moment before her eyes caught sight of a flash of bright colour on Lorenzo’s arm. She looked closer, picking out a bracelet nestled in his fur. The bracelet itself looked quite nice but the jewel set into it was a bright, gaudy purple and didn’t seem like the sort of thing he would wear. ”Interesting bracelet ya got there.” Neela said, nodding her head downwards gently towards the bracelet, her tone of voice communicating an unvoiced question as to what the unusual jewellery was about.
.risinghope b {font-weight:bold; color:#a38750; letter-spacing:.5px}
.risinghope p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 15px; margin:0px;}
.risinghope {margin:0 auto; width:600px; background-color:#471e00; background-image:url(http://i43.tinypic.com/1vif8.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:3px double #885004; padding: 330px 0px 7px 0px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#a27e36; letter-spacing:.5px; word-spacing:.9x; line-height:13px; text-align:justify;}
</style>
[/html]