Talist Forgehammer was born the second son of Ferrus Forgehammer, King of Kings, Lord of Forgeholm, and Head of the Forgehammer clan. Talist awoke on this day excited and almost bouncing on the heels of his feet. Today was his 50th birthday, and also his naming day, today was his first day as an adult. He began his day just like any other, he washed and then got dressed and ate breakfast before heading down to the training grounds.
As Talist made his way to the training grounds he was greeted by and in turn greeted those that spoke to him, even at this early hour there were many people bustling about. After all, it's not every day that a member of the Forgehammer clan had a naming day, especially one of the princes. All those that spoke to him wished him a wonderful day and some even gave him some small gifts, such things as a beard comb, a small pendant, a short letter, things of that nature.
Just before the entrance to the training grounds was a small but well-kept altar to Orzuth, the creator of the dwarven people, and in a sense, the Great-Grandfather of Talist, for you see the Forgehammer clan was special amongst the dwarves as they were blessed with the blood of Orzuth granting them the gifts of strength, speed, stamina, and wits such that they were recognized as the leaders of all Dwarven people, though the clan was small, maybe half the size of the next smallest clan.
As Talist stepped on to the training field he immediately saw his older brother, Gazu, training with a half dozen of the royal guards as they circled around him and tried to claim victory, for while he may be royalty, they would not dishonor him by taking it easy or fighting with a hand-bound to their backs. They gave it their all, but in less than half a minute all 6 of them were on the ground nursing wounds. The speed and strength of Gazu had made him seem a blur to their eyes and he struck with extreme precision at the small splits in their armor, small gaps in their defense, even the smallest crack was exploited to ensure victory.
"Ho, Talist, brother, for your naming day, I have a grand gift to give you, a duel between me and you, to first blood, nothing held back." Gazu smiled warmly as he said these words, he had not sparred against his brother in many years, his military career required him to leave for years at a time, so they sadly didn't see each other very often, but there was no way he was going to miss his brother's naming day.
"And leave you battered and bruised before the banquet? How could I ever say no?" So Talist went and took a short sword from the rack, the whole of the training grounds was enchanted such that no bout could be lethal, this allowed the soldiers to train at their best.
As soon as the two princes stood opposite one another in the ring, all other matches ended and a crowd quickly surrounded the ring, to be able to see the two princes spar was a rare sight, the soldiers all wanted to see two of the finest warriors of their people battle each other, Talist and Gazu though, had their eyes locked, not moving a muscle, each of them ready to strike at the slightest drop in the other's defense.
Gazu swung in an instant when Talist drooped his sword a hair's breadth, but while Talist might not be a battle-hardened soldier like his brother, he was no slouch either and trained extensively with a wide variety of weapons, and brought his blade back up to stop the strike before it could cut him. He then attempted to use a trick he had learned from watching the archers train, a small bit of footwork that allowed him to quickly move to the side without exposing himself, while they used it to avoid attacks from enemies, he used it to instead get into a blind spot and strike at his opponent as quickly as he could.
The soldiers watching the duel were all in shock at watching the match, none of them could ever hope to keep up with either of the combatants' moves since Gazu had made his first strike a single heartbeat had passed.
As soon as Talist went to strike Gazu, the other leaped in the air and swung at his brother back, it was a thing the elves would do in combat, with their "grace and charm" as they would say. And for somebody like Talist, it was a simple trick that was easily bested, he rolled into the space Gazu had occupied just a breath before. However as he came to his feet, he felt something wrong and tried to bring his sword between him and Gazu, but it was too late, the blade had just barely cut his shoulder, it would have been the side of his face if not for the small deflection his sword had brought. And with that the duel ended, having lasted a grand total of two heartbeats.
"Brother, do not despair if it were anyone else you would have won easily and just as quickly. I only won because of a few things I learned while dealing with the band of harpies that were plaguing the south. I learned to fight and maneuver mid-air, though limited, it works." Gazu had a warm smile on his face and in his eyes, there had never been any bad blood between the two.
Just as the brothers were helping each other up, the entire training yard was suddenly standing at attention, save for the two brothers. Ferrus Forgehammer, first of his name, King of Kings, and easily a dozen other titles that he carried was walking into the yard. "Boys, I am glad to see that you do not let peace dull your spirits. But on this day, I would prefer if my sons would instead come and talk to their father, it has been too long Gazu. I am glad to hear that those foul harpies won't trouble us from the south anymore." The king spoke with a soft voice, but none would mistake it for a weak voice, it always gave those that heard it the impression of a great beast that while it may respect what they can do, it had never met a foe that could take its crown.