??? ???????? ??? ??? ?????????: Varian (Tangled

Sabrine's POV

I came rushing down the winding road to Old Corona. As I neared Varian's house I saw him and Quirin outside, Varian looked distressed until Quirin pointed out my arrival.

"There you are!" Varian exclaimed when I finally stopped in front of them.

"Sorry I'm late! The storm rolled in right when I made it to the mainland, and I had to stop at this place called 'The Snuggly Duckling' . It was crazy-" I began to explain.

"'The Snuggly Duckling'? You mean the pub?" Quirin asked, shaking his head.

"Wha- A pub?! You've been at a pub for the last two and a half hours?!" Varian threw his hands over his head.

"It was fine! They had cocoa and we played cards the whole time, I actually quite enjoyed myself." I smiled, hopping off of Calypso.

"You played cards with thugs the entire time." Varian sighed, dragging a hand across his face.

Quirin cut in, "Sabrine, you really should be careful with places like that. Look I know you can handle yourself but-"

"Oh, I can handle myself, Quirin!" I said, throwing back my cloak and revealing my sword sheathed at my side.

"Slow down, Sabrine, I know your friend in the city has been training you for a long time, but you needn't start swinging your sword everywhere." Quirin sighed.

"Speaking of that!" Varian piped up, "I have something to show you!"

"Bye Quirin!" I called as Varian dragged me away.

Varian led me to a more open space on the side of the house where his newest invention was waiting.

"I know you've been upset that with your work at the clinic you and your friend haven't had enough time to train together, so I built this sparring dummy so you can train while you're here!" Varian explained.

"Wow." I gasped, stepping towards the dummy.

It was a jumble of metal parts and mismatching limbs, with a squash from Quirins farm stuck on top for a head.

"Wanna give it a try?" Varian asked, watching my eyes light up.

He pulled a lever on the back of the dummy and it whirred to life. Its arms began to move, and it waved its wooden sword, and rolled around in different directions.

I unsheathed my sword and took a jab at the dummy, causing it to roll towards me. We exchanged a few strikes, and the machine did make a good partner, until things went wrong.

I took one whack at the dummy, which must have been too forceful, because that caused it to begin rolling around faster, and its limbs to flail more violently.

It lunged at me again, faster this time, and I had to dodge out of the way, almost tripping over my own feet.

"Wow, this thing is surprisingly fast." I laughed nervously as it started towards me.

I continued to fight off the dummy but was alarmed by smoke billowing from one of its arms.

"That's a little concerning..." I looked towards Varian while swinging my sword.

"Well, it is possible for one of the internal mechanisms to overheat and-" Varians explanation was interrupted by the machine's other arm flying at his head so fast he had to duck.

"That was not supposed to happen!" I heard Varian call.

Looking for a way to stop the dummy, I spotted an unarmored spot in between its middle and the wheels.