A Lesson in Protection

[Silence Sei]

(Closed to skyler manfield)

"Akashima, Papa, really?" Anita asked her father with a bit of sarcasim to her tone. "Yes Anita, Akashima. It is well protected from outside eyes, as well as enemy soldiers. Those are two advantages we are going to need for the next few weeks." The orange haired mystic calmly began to walk into the small village, noticing the glancing looks and double takes at his appearence. Sei Orlouge was the Hero of Radasanth, after all, not the Hero of Akashima. What was he of all people doing so far away from home?

"It smells like what happens when destitution decides to inbreed," Anita mummbled quietly, only to recieve an unapproving glance from her father. "Why are we in Akashima for anyway? What 'enemy soldiers'?" Sei continued to walk, ignoring his teen's question as they slowly made their way through the simple town.

"The Radasanth Crime Syndicate has come under new management as of late," Sei said, "It's former leader, Hawk, was overthrown by his second in command. Whereas Hawk used moderation with the syndicate, Deacon flaunts it arrogantly. We are here to help hawk regain his title as the Syndicates leader."

Anita stopped for a moment, wide-eyed and shouted "WE'RE HELPING THE BAD GUYS?!" This reaction caused several villagers to turn around and look at the girl. Sei turned around and slapped his forehead. "Anita, sometimes I wish you were the mute one." He said it as a joke, but his daughter was still taken aback by Sei's harsh words.

She began to follow her father once more, who began to slowly make his way outside the village, to a giant mountain mine. "To be more exact, we're helping Hawk's apprentice. We are not helping the 'bad guys', we are helping the lesser of two evils. There is a difference." "The key word, Papa, is 'evil'."

Sei looked at the mine before them and smiled. He could hear the dripping water, smell the moldy walls, and almost taste how much algae had accumulated within the mine shaft. "I used this outpost once before when I returned home. My camp should still be in here. It was big enough for myself, Kylin, Steppenwolf, and Ciato." Sei smiled as he remembered his brothers and best friends journey back to their home town. Kylin had gone to learn shadow magic, and thus create a perfect team with Sei to stop the evil around Althanas.

But Kylin was gone, Steppenwolf was in Alerar, and Ciato....Sei knew what Ciato was up to and it made him shudder to think about. Anita noticed this twitch in her father and blinked. "Ok, so what's miss apprentices name? 'I'm so evil I'm going to kill you once you've trained me thoroughly'?" Sei sighed and looked back at his daughter. "You'll find out soon enough, you'll basically be training with her."

"WHAT?!"

Sei shook his head in disappointment. While Anita had a strong sense of justice, it typically went too far. She needed to understand that not all bad guys were truly 'bad' guys. It was like a vigilante and a guard. One was playing a role, and the other was doing his job. Sei sat down and motioned for his daughter to, which she did. The mystic did not say another word until his 'student' arrived. Not only would the apprentice get the proper training she needed to help defeat Deacon, but Anita might just learn a lesson about people.

[skyler manfield]

Traveling through Corone to get to Akashima had made Skyler more than a little jumpy; and she absolutely hated being jumpy. Instead, she decided to just be angry, and took it out on just about everyone she came across. Hawk should never have sent her to Corone, it was beyond dangerous for her to be this close to Radasanth. As far as they knew, both she and Hawk were still considered fugitives by the Crime Syndicate, so this trip could be the last one she ever took.

Somehow she made it to Akashima, although she skirted the outskirts of the town, judging it better to avoid the high probability of running across one of Deacon's men. He seemed to have them everywhere on the island - and probably elsewhere on the mainland. Skyler managed to get to the old mine shaft she'd been told to look for, and stood outside it for a long while, glaring at the darkness of the hole.

Hawk was crazy, and she'd tried to convince him of this fact, but he was stubborn, and just like he had when she'd been sent to rescue Cael from the prison beneath the Cathedral in Knife's Edge, he had insisted until she went. Skyler was becoming convinced that she had no say in her own life anymore. If she was, she never would have shown up for "training" with a complete stranger. Coulda just missed the ferry to this damned island, maybe seen what Alerar is like this time of year, she thought sullenly.

Hawk swore that the man he was sending her to train with was an old ally - not a friend, just someone he had known back when he was the leader of the Radasanth Crime Syndicate. That fact alone made Skyler uneasy. He wasn't exactly on the best terms with the Syndicate since Deacon had taken over, and neither was Skyler since she had forgone Deacon's orders to kill her mentor. All she knew was that this ally of Hawk's had never actually been in the Syndicate, in fact her mentor was the only one who had ever dealt with the man she'd be training with.

With a dejected sigh, the assassin pulled her hair back, wiped her face on her sleeve, and stomped into the mine. It was pitch black within, and she stood for a moment in the darkness to let her eyes adjust. After a few moments she could finally see the flicker of a torch further down the rather crooked mineshaft. Stepping over a pile of stones that had fallen from the ceiling, she followed the coppery glow deeper into the mine.

Blinking owlishly, she squinted against the light as she stepped into a large open area lit by torches. Sitting there was a man whose hair was the same coppery orange as the light that flickered against the walls of the mine, and a young girl sitting at his side with a frown that mimicked Skyler's. They matched the description Hawk had given her, and she dipped her head in silent greeting to the two, her face betraying just how unwilling she was to be there.

"My mentor sent me," she greeted them cryptically. If this was supposed to be a trap she didn't have to play into their hands by giving Hawk's name. One hand rested warily on the stiletto at her hip, her other clenched in a fist at her side, as though expecting to be attacked.

[Silence Sei]

"Oh. Great," Anita sarcastically said, "the killer is here to learn." The girl stood and knocked the dust off of her blue silk dress. She made sure to even dust off whatever crud there was just below her knees where the dressed ended. After standing up, the girl looked to her father, still in meditation, and back to the assassin.

She extended a hand to Skyler. Though she was opposed to the idea of training a criminal, she was not unkind. "My name is Anita, Anita Orlouge. Perhaps you have heard of me? I am known as the Daughter of the Dragon." Anita smiled as she used her left hand to hold onto the strap to her old dusty backpack. "I don't want to brag, but I've helped my father slay countless bad guys in his career."

The last statement was trying to be more of a friendly threat than anything else. However, Anita had not realized as she was talking that her father had gotten up, and was listening on every word. "Please forgive the rashness of my daughter. She sometimes does not know the appropriate times to still her tongue." The voice would enter Skylers mind, but Sei's mouth made no indication of movement.

The mystic tapped his daughter on the shoulder, and Anita gave out a yelp when she realized what was going on. Turning around, she smiled widely to her papa and asked, "How long have you been there, Papa?" Sei's icy glare was enough of an answer to cause Anita to sulk back into the darkness and begin meditating once more.

"You are Hawk's girl, correct? I have learned a lot about you through the years. My name is Sei Orlouge, better known as the Hero of Radasanth. It is a pleasure to meet you Skyler." Sei bowed to the girl with a wry grin on his face, hoping to impress her a bit. "I imagine you would like to know why Hawk has sent you to me? Especially amongst all the chaos going on with Deacon? Well, if you will take a seat beside my daughter, I will let you both know the truth."

As Sei finished Anita choked on air, it seemed. Sei knew Anita may feel uneasy about Skyler, but he hoped the feeling would not be reciporcated.

[skyler manfield]

Skyler watched the girl with a raised eyebrow as she crossed the underground chamber to introduce herself. As Anita extended her hand and bragged on her own credentials, the assassin looked down at the offered hand with distaste, as though it were covered in dirt. It wasn't so much the fact that she considered Skyler and her profession to be wrong or evil, but the fact that Anita felt Skyler was beneath her. Well, that and the fact that she had a big mouth when it came to her opinions, and didn't seem to have enough of a brain in her head to think before she spoke.

Rather than respond to Anita at all, Skyler looked instead to the man who was to be her teacher. When he apologized for his daughter - who was watching the assassin as if expecting her to cry or run away - Skyler found it impossible not to smile. When the girl's father tapped her on the shoulder and caused her to jump at least two feet of the ground, the assassin had to cover her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter. It was more than a little satisfying to see the girl shuffle off into the corner to pout.

"I'm nobody's girl," Skyler responded to Sei, trying not to let on how uncomfortable his voice in her head made her even though Hawk had warned her of it, "But yes sir, Hawk sent me to you."

Skyler nodded respectfully as Sei introduced himself to her. So this was the infamous Hero of Radasanth. Who would ever have guessed that Hawk would associate with someone who wasn't a criminal? She'd known he had contacts outside of the Crime Syndicate when he was their leader, but she had no idea just how far outside his contacts were. There was a lot she'd learned about Hawk in the last year, nothing more surprising than when he'd sent her on a retrieval mission for a friend and gotten her into the middle of the Salvarian civil war. This was a surprise as well, but not nearly as earthshaking.

When he asked her to sit beside Anita, Skyler caught herself rolling her eyes and masked it by turning her face away for a moment and rubbing her eye as though a piece of dust had managed to find its way in. Slipping past her new mentor, she took a seat beside his daughter, smirking at the girl's obvious discomfort. Skyler had been one of the "bad guys" since childhood, but had never thought of herself as one. It was a bit of an ego boost to think that she was considered intimidating or evil by anyone.

"I'm ready to learn what you have to teach, sir," Skyler told him a little more obediently than normal, "If Hawk trusts you, then so do I."

It never hurt to get on the teacher's good side.

[Silence Sei]

The youth accepted Anita's handshake and referred to herself as nobody's girl. Sei knew from these gestures that Skyler was going to be her own woman, but more than likely accept the ideas Sei had in store for her. Sei watched Skyler roll her eyes at his request and made a note of it. It was already apparent to the mute that Skyler and Anita would be at each other's throat by the hour.

Regardless, Skyler listened and then said she was ready to learn. Sei nodded and looked to his two students. His eyes first focused on Skyler. "I am sure you are not completely oblivious to the events around you," the mute said, "During Hawk's time as leader of the syndicate, you must have noticed weekly visits from a pale man named Ciato Orlouge."

Anita blinked at this and interrupted her father, "Uncle Ciato?"

The mystic nodded before going back to Skyler, "Yes, Ciato Orlouge is my brother, but more importantly, he was my contact. As you could imagine, it would look really bad if the Hero of Radasanth was caught going to and fro various syndicate strongholds without criminals in tow." At this Anita rolled her eyes and said "You mean like training an assassin on how to kill the bad guy so she can put the other bad guy back?"

As soon as Sei's eyes met Anita's, the teenage froze up and looked down. Anita pulled her brown bookbag into her lap and started rummaging through it as Sei continued. "As a result, I used my brother, a known murderer and evildoer, to help me contact your mentor, Skyler. You see, while I am the Hero of Radasanth, I am completely aware that the streets will never be completely criminal free. Every two weeks a new theives guild pops up, and I can't quell all the evil in the city. If I did a new evil would take it's place."

At this point Anita had pulled out a ham and cheese sandwhich and a small bottle of what seemed to be regular water. "Anita if you splash Skyler with that holy water, you're sleeping outside the mine tonight." Anita, in response, took the bottle, uncorked the top, and began to drink it as if that had been her intention all along.

Sei went on, "As a result, I made a deal with Hawk. I would continue to be a hero, fight crime and bring bad people to justice. I would, however, turn a blind eye to certain activities that ran amok. Now, keep in mind that I would never let a mugging or a rape escape my judgement, but I could see how other might have benefitted from say, using money to spend the night in a ladies company. I would also ignore certain murders, provided that they were used on corrupt and evil men." Sei's eyes narrowed at Skyler at this last part.

He was trying to tell her he had -known- she was responsible for at least a few of those kills.

"It was a good arrangement we had. Deacon now controls the syndicate, however, and is ten times worse than Hawk was. Hawk was a man of business, and Deacon is just cold blooded. Knowing this, Hawk and I decided that it would be best to train his favored student the art of Mystic Protecton."

When 'Mystic Protection' left the mute's mouth, Anita began to choke on her holy water in protest. Sei lifted a hand when the girl started to regain her bearings. "It is also the proper time to teach it to Anita. Mystic Protection requires two people in order to fully grasp it's concept. It is a completely defensive manuever, with several variations. There are a few things that are the same with each variation, however, Anita."

At this, Anita shot a glare at Skyler and stood up, carrying her sandwhich as if she thought the assassin would steal it. "One has to be attacked for Mystic Protection to activate," she said, "it has to be an intentional act of aggression towards you. If you have said the incantation correctly, the attack will stop just a few inches from you. You will then hear glass shatter and witness hundreds of glass shards floating around you. These are the basics of Mystic Protection. Papa's variation is the basic MP, which shoots out in a dome formation. Uncle Ciato'sactually sends every single broken shard towards the target he chooses. Uncle Steppenwolf's version is so sharp it can an will sever whatever attacked it, be it a hand or a weapon of prevalida strength. Whatever versions we learn will more likely than not be different as well."

Anita took a bite of her dsandwhich after her speech and resumed sitting beside Skyler, now breaking the sandwhich in half and offering her a piece. Anita really did seem bi-polar at times. "Any questions, Skyler?"

[skyler manfield]

The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place as Sei told his story, and aside from the distraction of his daughter, Skyler found his explanation to offer a bit more reason for her to trust him. She had known of Ciato Orlouge, and as a child had often been sent on errands to deliver messages to him which were to be passed on to an unknown recipient. Now she knew who that recipient was. No wonder she couldn't be allowed to take the messages directly to Hawk's contact. It wouldn't look good at all for the Hero of Radasanth to be in touch with the leader of the Radasanth Crime Syndicate - for either the Hero or the crime lord.

Every time Anita spoke up, or gave the assassin a nasty look, Skyler had to bite her tongue. If the girl had any idea how important the Crime Syndicate was, or who she'd been paid to kill during her time within the Syndicate, she might not sneer and condescend quite so much. Maybe later she'd hold Anita down and beat on her head for a while - when Sei wasn't looking of course.

Her attention was drawn back to her current mentor though, as Sei revealed just what it was she'd be learning from him. Anita stood up, and recited to Skyler the details of Mystic Protection, beaming at her father before sitting down and offering half of her sandwich. The assassin stared at the girl blankly for a moment, but rather than making any comment, Skyler took the proffered sandwich and took a large bite. The least the assassin could do was confuse the girl as much as she'd just confused Skyler.

"Do I choose what the protection spell turns into," she asked, looking back to Sei and talking around a mouthful of ham and cheese, "Or does it just... pick for me?"

[Silence Sei]

"You've been picking it through your entire life," Anita said as she took another bite of her now half sandwhich, "it's a direct focus on you as a person. Uncle Ciato has always been a man of focus, so his Mystic Protection focuses on a single target. Uncle Steppenwolf has always relied on his stregnth to cut through the darkness he feels inside, so his MP cuts through things. Papa--"

"That's enough Anita," Sei said to his daughter while shooting her a glance, "I'm sure she gets it. Now that Anita has explained thoroughly what the technique does, I can help you learn it. The path to Mystic Protection is not an easy one. It takes most people five years to learn it. Since we do not have that time, I took on my own prodigy of a daughter," Anita beamed at this comment, for she knew exactly why Sei was calling her such.

"And Hawk's prodigy. You, Skyler. I can hardly keep up with your actions as you pulled off some of your jobs. Given my vampyric senses, that's saying something. Hawk believes you will be the key to putting him back in power, though I'm not sure if he would ever directly tell you that. It's up to you to kill Deacon and bring Radasanth back to the way it was."

Sei looked to his two students and nodded. He brought up a hand to tell them to stay put, and walked outside. A few minutes passed, and Anita looked to Skyler. "So...have you always been a killer, or did someone teach you?" The girl asked out of sheer curiosity. After all, Skyler was a prodigy, like herself, and she was going to be her 'roommate' for the next few days, if not weeks.

"Maybe we will be able to become friends....maybe. Just promise not to kill me in my sleep and we'll be good... probably."

[skyler manfield]

So the protection charm would be innately tailored around her own special abilities and skills. Skyler considered what this might mean, only halfway hearing as Sei referred to her as Hawk's prodigy. Perhaps she should have acted flattered or surprised, but she knew that as far as her skills in stealth and assassination went, she was very good - after all, she'd had the best possible teacher. If her two main abilities were hiding and killing, then what possible form could the glass shards of Mystic Protection take?

The assassin continued to consider the possibilities in silence even after Sei left her alone with his daughter. It wasn't until Anita spoke, disturbing the tomb-like quiet of the mine, that Skyler set her wonderings aside and looked at the girl. Her fellow student was a chatty little thing, something Skyler hadn't been used to since she lived at the brothel in Radasanth, and even then the chatter was never directed at her. For a few seconds she studied the girl's face, determining if she was being mocked, or if Anita was sincere in her curiosity.

"First time I killed someone I think I was five years old," Skyler told her, trying not to remember the reasons why or the fear she'd felt with that first kill, "Suppose I was born a killer. Maybe I was made one, just real young when it happened and I don't remember. Guess it don't really matter much."

The assassin had never really thought about whether she was made a killer by the gods or by circumstance. It never mattered. After that first time, she realized it wasn't as scary as she'd thought, and when she didn't get caught after the second or third time, it just became a part of her life. Getting paid for it was a perk, and not having to do it to save her own skin was a blessing.

"Don't know we can be friends," Skyler looked the girl over as though she were speaking to a snake about to bite her, "Never really been the kind to have friends, just people I know, and people who pay me. Far as killing you in your sleep - well I ain't getting paid to kill you, so I guess so long as you keep your hands to yourself then I won't have reason to do so. Don't take it personal."

[Silence Sei]

Anita listened as Skyler began to speak to her about how young she was when she first killed. How could somebody so young not have any qualms in taking a life? The girl could understand if it had been a self-defense thing, but Skyler did not specify such a thing. She stated she was a born killer, which caused Anita to shake her head in both disbelief and argument.

"That's not true, Skyler," Anita said as she crossed her arms, "I wasn't born a killer. Nobody is born a killer, you're conditioned into it. Otherwise there would be babies trying to tear their mothers breast from their very chest." Anita thought it was a good argument, ridiculous as it had sounded. The girl had almost blatantly ignored the fact that Skyler said they probably would not be friends, or that the assassin wouldn't -try- to kill Anita in her sleep (essentially, that's what Anita registered it as).

It had been about half an hour and Sei had still not returned. Anita began to get impatient and pace back and forth across the width of the cave. "Papa has not returned yet. Maybe he is testing you and me! Yeah, that's got to be it, it's a test....the Dutchman must always have a captain...." Anita's head paused for a moment and shook her head. "Where the hell did that -last- one come from?" she said aloud as she looked to Skyler.

The girl kneeled down and picked up a few stoned lying on the ground, tossing them into the air. "Skyler, I'm not used to staying in silence this long, not even with Silence himself. It's creepy, and you need to talk more and I think I'm getting cabin fever, and I think I just broke a nail, and WHERE THE HELL IS MY DADDY?!" Anita stomped her foot and slung her backpack to and fro.

She huffed in a sigh as she plopped down on the ground and looked to Skyler. It was obvious the effects of cabin fever took control of Sei's daughter a lot sooner than it did most people. Anita never really ever had a chance to just sit down and do nothing, and as such, was going crazy just doing nothing. Perhaps Skyler could do something with the girl to keep her mind and body occupied in one way or another. At this point, Anita would let the assassin punch her in the face if it meant Anita would be busy. "Whatcha wanna do?"

[skyler manfield]

"Didn't know my mother to rip anything from her chest," Skyler said flatly, as though it were a fact the girl should have already known. The girl, who spoke too loudly and too often, had moved on already and was wearing a groove in the floor of the mine as she paced and wondered where her father was. Skyler watched, eyebrows raised, but said nothing as Anita moved back and forth.

The assassin wasn't sure how long she'd be able to put up with the girl. Anita was obviously quite high strung, and seemed never to shut up. The girl had only asked that Skyler not kill her in her sleep. If Anita didn't stop spewing out verbal diarrhea, Skyler may not be able to wait until the girl slept anyway.

When Anita practically begged Skyler to speak up, the assassin had to stop herself from laughing at the girl. How could one not be used to silence? Skyler wondered if Anita ever even slept, or if she just talked in her sleep. It was obvious she'd have to come up with something to keep the girl occupied, or Sei might send Skyler packing for tying up his daughter and stuffing a stocking in her mouth to keep her quiet and still.

"We could play hide and seek, but it ain't likely you'd be able to find me," Skyler told her, hoping the girl didn't catch her reference to the Anita's childishness, "Suppose if you've got some weapons we could compare or something."