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."

[Silence Sei]

Anita smiled as Skyler suggested that they play hide and seek. She quickly became less excited at the prospect of comparing weapons, but shrugged her shoulders. "That's fine," Anita said, "I'll go first."

Anita quickly dropped her brown bookbag to the ground and unzipped it. The smell of fresh fruits began to illustrate the nostrils of all in the cave once the bag was fully open. Reaching in, Anita pulled out a small bottle with a cork in it and set it down, looking to Skyler. "This is my primary weapon, it's Purifying Holy Water. The bottle naturally purges undead and vampyric beings almost instantaneously. It also has the special property of never going empty, the bottle is always refilling itself."

After her explanation, Anita continued to pull out more of her weapons. Among the items in her backpack were stakes, arrows, sewing needles, a couple of apples, a single vial of posion, and a pinwheel. Anita stood triumphantly as she looked at her hoarded treasure. As she reflected on her tools of choice, Anita began to realize how similar her and Skyler were. Both girls tried to take out their targets in secret, Skyler with assassinations and Anita going as far as using posion apples.

Anita shook the thoughts of being the same as a distatsteful murderer out of her head and looked to Skyler, reaching out and attempting to tap her on her shoulder. "Go ahead, it's your turn to show me what you got." Anita was sure that she had the advantage as far as sheer weaponry went, but she would never be able to know, at least not for now.

Sei stepped back into the cave and looked to the two girls with a big smile. "Actually, Skyler," The mute said as he placed one of his battle fans over his face, "your first step will be a game of hide and seek as a matter of fact. You two will take a turn each hiding from one another. The sheer pressure will simulate the trials of the Light and Shadow magic all mystics go through to learn their Mystic Protection. Once you've got the pressure built, we will continue to the next step. We -shall- not continue until each of you have your turn and find the other."

Before either girl could protecst, Sei looked to Anita. "Skyler will hide first, and you will go find her, Anita. I don't want any lip from either of you on this subject." As Sei finished speaking, Anita scrambled to place all of the contents of her bag back in, zipped it up with a scrape along the way. The girl quickly closed her eyes and began her count.

"One... two... three... I'm counting to one hundred by the way, Skyler... four... five... six..."

[skyler manfield]

The sheer variety of the weapons Anita had was actually a bit impressive, and more than a little surprising to Skyler. As vehemently as the girl had bad-mouthed Skyler for being a murderer and one of the "bad guys", she obviously had no qualms about killing as long as she could rationalize it as being ethical somehow. Everyone had to lie to themselves about something she supposed.

As she reached down and pulled the small leather case from her bag, Sei returned, and so she stopped before she could open the case to reveal the selection of poisons within. Her other weapons were hidden in various places on her person, but she didn't have the chance to show them off.

Skyler didn't think it was very fair to play hide and seek with the girl. She'd have to be very observant, far beyond average, even if she was specifically looking for the assassin. Only one person had ever seen Skyler when she was using her ability, and that had nearly ended in tragedy. Skyler shuddered as she recalled the close call with the guard beneath the Cathedral in Knife's Edge.

"Have fun counting," the assassin said as she disappeared down the tunnel further into the mine shaft, calling back toward Anita as she did, "Might want to cheat a little if you ever intend to find me."

It only grew darker the further Skyler traveled into the mine, her eyes straining to use what little light followed her down the tunnel. She kept one hand in front of her, and the other on the wall to her right until she came to a split in the tunnel.

"Eeny meeny miny moe, which way should the killer go?" choosing the left branch, she continued on, but hurried a bit more since she figured she only had a few seconds left. It was only by luck that she found the slight indention in the wall of the tunnel, and she stepped into it, willing herself to become completely unremarkable. As long as Anita wasn't endowed with an above average talent for noticing things, Skyler would seem to fade into the dirt wall of the mine itself, even with a lantern to illuminate her. She wouldn't be invisible really, just completely unimportant and beneath notice.

With a smile, she leaned her head back against the wall, and took a deep breath.

[Silence Sei]

Sei smiled as Anita jumped with excitement upon reaching 100. Skyler was gone into the cave and it's many intersecting ways, and Anita had to locate her. The girl gripped her backpack strap and took off into the cave. Soon, Sei followed his daughter to make sure that the girl did actually find Skyler in the darkness of the cavern.

The two finally stopped at a split in the wall, and Anita did not hesitate to go left. They came upon an indention in the cavern walls. Thre girl paused to catch her breath for a few moments, her father standing and watching her intently. "How exactly does this help us prepare for learning Mystic Protection exactly, Papa?"

Sei smiled to his daughter, and spoke 'out loud' so anybody nearby would hear. "The trials are typically faced with a sense of anticipation. Most of our lives, we wait until we can take the tests to learn the magic that us mystics naturally have imbued in us. Seeing as you and Skyler are not of mystic blood, you have to build up a sense of anticipation, and waiting for someone to find you is the perfect way to get the two of you in character so to speak."

Anita nodded with a smile to her father, looking towards the indention. "That's what I thought," she said as she approached the indentuion and reached out, tapping Skyler's frame as she did so, "She's right there, by the way." Without another question, Anita began to explain.

"If I make contact with anybody, I have a lock on them for life," Anita said, "for some reason, I pass off a tinge of an undead aura with my contact, something I am adept at finding. Now if you will excuse me, it is my turn to hide!" Anita took off as fast as she could into the darkness of the cave.

In all reality, however, Anita had merely found a way to circle back and return to the area where Sei had originally spoken to the girls about the task at hand. "Let's see the assassin beat that time, as well as find me now!" Anita said boastfully as she began to wait for the sunrise.

[skyler manfield]

Great, Skyler thought to herself, Never be rid of the brat if she's got a lock on me for life. The girl had already run into the darkness and Skyler stood counting slowly to one hundred. As she did, she stilled her breathing as much as she could, focusing on the sounds of movement within the mine. There was water dripping somewhere in quick pattering beat. A rodent scuffled down the tunnel a little ways. It took the assassin a little while to hear what she was listening for, but about the time she reached the end of her countdown the sound of Anita's voice followed the sound of her footsteps.

So the girl thought she would trick Skyler. Guess I can't blame her. I tried to trick her too, I just didn't succeed. That frustrated Skyler more than she cared to admit, even to herself. The thought that someone could know where Skyler was in spite of her ability shook her to the core. She didn't have time to focus on how much it worried her, she needed to prove herself worthy of being taught before she could improve her own skills. The assassin only waited a moment longer as she figured out just where the sounds had come from, then took off at a jog, able to move faster now than she had while she was taking the time to hide. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and as she drew closer to where Anita was "hiding" she squinted against the light of their mentor's lantern.

"Ready or not here I come," she called out as she appeared in the archway to the open area they'd originally gathered in, "Gotta learn to be more quiet if you wanna hide from an assassin."

[Silence Sei]

Anita glared at the assassin for moment, and was about to open her mouth when the two heard Sei's clapping. The applause was slow, and not unlike something someone being a smart alek would do. "Excellent, you two," he said with a big smile on your face, "you both found one another relatively quick. Anita, I'm a bit disappointed in your methods, but your strategy for hiding more than made up for my qualms about your seeking. Skyler, both your hiding and your seeking were top notch. I can easily see why Hawk put you under his wing."

The mute looked outside of the cave and noticed the darkness that was overtaking them. Sei had been fortunate enough to choose a cave that had it's own, already lit torches hanging from the walls. It wasn't until now that Sei started to smell the rain almost upon them. Stepping out of the cave and looking upwards for a moment, the mute noticed a rolling thunderstorm heading their way. The mute smiled as he stepped back into the cave and looked at the girls.

"The next challenge is a bit more physical," Sei said, placing a single arm behind his back. "I shall engage the two of you in combat, and shall do so with one arm behin my back. If you girls can cause me to either admit defeat, or use my right hand, you win the challenge." Anita blinked for a moment, looking at Skyler and then back at Sei.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to have a professional assassin fight you Papa? I mean, I'm no slouch either, but she could very well 'accidentally' slit your throat." Sei shook his head at Anita's stab (no pun intended) at Skyler. The mute trusted in the fact that Hawk's girl wanted to learn what he had to teach, and would not do something so foolish as to kill him here and now. Furthermore, Sei had the utmost confidence that in a worse case scenario, Anita would be more than capable of saving the mute.

Sei had been lost in these thoughts for too long, however, and an apple flew straight into his face. As the fruit smashed against his nose, the mystic stumbled backwards a bit. "Go Skyler!" Anita shouted to her 'teammate', and hope that the assassin would take more than this ample opportunity to strike at her father. This was, after all, a challenge against the former vampire, and one could never let their guard down in a fight...

[skyler manfield]

"I promise if I slit anyone's throat it won't be by accident," Skyler purposefully ignored the sarcastic tone Anita used when she said 'accidentally', and smiled mischievously at the girl as she continued, "And I promise it won't be his throat that I slit."

It probably wasn't all that wise to bait the girl, but when Anita threw her apple directly into their mentor's face (and with a surprising amount of force behind it), and shouted to Skyler, the assassin realized it didn't matter. If Sei wanted to challenge them to a fight, then a fight he would have. Skyler only briefly concerned herself with the fact that fighting wasn't something she was good at, but perhaps she could take the silent one down long enough for Anita to gain his focus.

Pulling a long slender blade from its place at her thigh, Skyler leaped forward, keeping her body low to the ground and aiming to take Sei's feet out from under him. The stiletto was only for her own defense, and it was carefully laid against her forearm as she tucked and rolled just before she was about to slam into his legs.

Hopefully, if all went as planned, Sei would fall, or at least lose his balance enough to be distracted and Skyler could slip out of the cave long enough to take advantage of her ability. Should things not go as planned, Skyler hadn't thought of a backup plan. It wasn't like it would be very smart to poison the man. Hawk probably wouldn't like that idea at all.

[Silence Sei]

Sei began to recover his balance as Skyler made her move. The girl withdrew a blade and swiped at her teacher, causing Sei to jump back in order to miss the edge. This sudden jump, however, because Sei’s right foot to meet with the soft dirt outside, causing an uneven shift in balance and making the mute stumble. The mute looked towards Skyler to see how she would recover from her attack, but to his surprise, she was gone.

Sei looked to his daughter, who had now withdrawn her pinwheel. Even though they had just met, Anita had loose idea of what Skyler had been planning as soon as the girl made her way out of the cavern. Anita took a single finger and used it to spin her pinwheel. After the pinwheel began to spin, Sei’s daughter dashed at him and brought her pinwheel close to Sei’s chest. Sei nearly had to bend over backwards to avoid the blow, causing him to stumble outside further.

Sei could smell the rain now; feel the trickle of water upon his pale skin. These two senses were enough for Sei to not realize the slash across his gray gi where Anita had almost ended him. Anita’s pinwheel had razor blades behind each one of the deceptively pretty red and blue windmill blades. With something as simple as spinning the pinwheel, Anita essentially wielded the power of a buzz saw, so long as the spin lasted.

Anita dashed forward again, but Sei was ready this time, already reaching behind him. Just before Anita struck at her father’s chest once more, Sei brought around one of his steel battle fans and met her in a deadlock. The two weapons were only a few inches from Sei’s chest, but the telepath had stopped the spinning blades on Anita’s pinwheel. If his daughter wanted to play rough, then Sei Orlouge was going to pay her back in kind.

The hero brought a knee up, slamming it into his daughter’s crotch. The sheer force of the blow was enough for Sei to know his knee was going to bruise. This sent Anita to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. While such a blow would be much more painful to men, Sei knew that it hurt women a fair amount as well. Sei leaned over to Anita, his hand still behind his back. “Give up?”

“Why,” Anita asked between sobs, hoping Skyler could deliver the deciding blow, “when you just lost?”

[skyler manfield]

Skyler had only stepped back into the mineshaft a few yards and crouched there in the darkness, watching as Anita took the attack further outside into the gray drizzle. The weapon the girl used was innocent looking enough, but the assassin knew from the sound it made and the wicked cut it left across Sei's shirtfront that it was not just a child's plaything. A glimmer of respect grew in Skyler's heart for the obnoxious girl she trained with.

As Sei's knee came up against Anita's groin and the girl fell with a painful grunt, Skyler winced on her behalf, but quickly exited the cave, circling around behind her current mentor. Her stiletto still in her right hand, she silently leaned over his back only touching her body against his as her blade found its point against the soft underside of his throat, pressing hard upwards into the flesh beneath his jaw. She rested her face alongside his, her mouth close to his ear.

"If you move, this blade moves too, but not where you'd like it to," Skyler whispered, "Won't take much to push it up through a couple of important arteries right into your brainpan. Sorry, Anita, I know I said I wouldn't slit his throat. This doesn't really count does it?"

For emphasis, the assassin pressed the point of the blade a little harder against Sei's throat, smiling at Anita as she did so. Whether the smile was jovial or malicious, even Skyler wasn't really sure.

[Silence Sei]

Sei had underestimated the abilities of the girls. Within mere moments of sending out his challenge, Skyler and Anita and proven worthy opponents. Sei smiled slightly as he felt the cold steel of Skyler’s blade against his neck. The mute simply looked down in response, where his right hand had his curved Gemini Blade pointed straight towards Skyler’s torso. As far as a normal fight would have went, they would both be dead with Anita being the sole victor.

This was a faux battle, however, and Sei had promised not to use his right hand. By bringing out his sword using his right hand, the mute had forfeited the challenge. “ I must say I am impressed by the both of you. Most mystics would not be able to topple me so fast, let alone you two .”

Sei looked to Anita, who seemed a bit hurt at that comment. Anita was the adopted daughter of Sei and that was a fact she forgot about most of the time. To be so close to someone and not be their flesh and blood made no sense to the girl. Sei had inadvertently hurt his daughter more with one comment than any knee to the pelvis ever could.

“ Anita, I—”

“It’s fine Papa. I’m fine. Anyways, we won the challenge, what’s our reward?”

Sei smiled to the two of them, quickly slipped out of Skyler’s grasp, and stepped further out into the forest. He came back seconds later with two green bags that were neatly zipped up. Sei sat the bags down and unzipped them, pulling out to perfectly dry green sleeping bags. Each of the bags had been monogrammed with each girl’s name in bright orange. Sei glanced towards Skyler and then back to Anita.

“ They are blessed with magic from Orlouge Drantrak. They have a light spell always on them to keep them constantly warm in cold weather. I figured it was something that two girls who traveled a lot would like. ” Sei may not have been the best when it came to being a good parent, but he spared no expense at trying to please his little girl.

Or any girl, for that matter.

Sei stood up and looked to the two girls once more “ I shall be leaving for the night. In the meantime, you two try not to kill one another while I’m away .” Sei them wiped some of the raindrops rolling down his features away, and left the cave once more. Soon, he was out of the vision of the girls.

Little did they know that this too was part of their training.

[skyler manfield]

The light was quickly slipping away as Sei handed the girls their reward for successfully impressing him in their mock fight. Skyler looked the sleeping bag over, trying to appear grateful, but mostly just looking a bit incredulous. Aside from the ten days she was unconscious after her close call in Salvar, Skyler couldn't remember the last time she had slept for more than an hour at a time. The assassin watched as her temporary mentor disappeared into the rainy twilight, and then turned to Anita.

"I'm thinkin' we might oughta take advantage of our little gifts," Skyler said as she stepped into the mouth of the cave with the sleeping bag tucked under her arm, "I don't mind rain, but I'd rather not stand outside in it when there's a perfectly dry cave right here."

Returning to the same cozy open area where she'd met the pair, Skyler rolled out her new sleeping bag next to where she'd left her backpack and sat down on it, crossing her legs. She watched quietly as Anita did the same, but a few moments later the girl crawled inside the warm cocoon of the sleeping bag and laid down with her head resting on her arm.

Skyler wasn't the least bit drowsy, although she was more than a little tired; her body was exhausted from the long trip to Akashima and the rigorous training Sei had put her and Anita through since she'd arrived. Pulling her bag into her lap, Skyler rummaged through the pack, pulling out a leather case and opening it carefully. Although it contained her various poisons used as the tools of her trade, these were not what Skyler sought. Instead, she drew out a rather worn out envelope and set the case aside. With great care she pulled the letter out and unfolded it, reading the words she'd already read at least a dozen times before.

"Who's the letter from?" Anita's voice surprised Skyler from her letter and she looked up at the girl, silent for a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt to answer her. There was no telling how long it would be before Sei returned, and she figured it might be smart to make an effort to get along with the rather annoying girl she was stuck with.

"Cael," she replied, unable to keep herself from smiling when she said his name, but unsure how to explain who he was. "He's someone I met in Salvar. Should have just been a passing acquaintance... but you know how that goes."

"Yeah, I know," Anita nodded, although whether she really did know where Skyler was coming from, the assassin wasn't sure, "Tell me how you met him. I can't sleep anyway."

"It's a long story..." Skyler warned her, but Anita shrugged and motioned for Skyler to reveal the details behind the writer of the letter. "Hawk, my mentor, he asked me to go get someone out of the prison beneath the cathedral there in Knife's Edge - you ever been there?"

Anita shook her head, looking almost offended that she could be even considered as a candidate for a Salvaran prison, or any other for that matter. Skyler shrugged and continued, her eyes on the letter, her hands worrying the edges.

"Anyway, I put it off - guess I was scared - but finally I guess I just gave in. Wish I hadn't waited so long. Got down there and snuck around till I found the prisoner I was supposed to get out. He was real sick though so we couldn't just walk out of there - had to get him better first. So we spent a couple days, with me hiding whenever the guards came 'round, and feeding him and trying to get medicine on whatever wounds he had. I won't get into the details... they're a bit gory... but in the end we got out. I guess all the danger and close spaces ... made us real close."

[Silence Sei]

Anita listened closely to Skyler's story, starting to see that perhaps the assassin was not so bad after all. As Skyler finished, Anita found her eyelids drifting downwards. The teen was still awake, but just barely. The girl looked over the back of the letter from her perspective. a smile forming across her lips. It seemed as though Skyler was truly into this Cael fellow. Perhaps Anita would hunt him down later in order to gain some more insight into her temporary roomie.

"So, what's the letter say?" Anita asked, a yawn escaping with the last word of the question. The girl began to lie down, shifting her body in the sleeping bag that Sei had given the two o them. She was learning more about Skyler than she had originally wanted to know, but that wasn't a bad thing. Maybe after all of this was over and the girls got their Mystic Protections, they could even be friends.

Then, it dawned on Anita. Something her father had left out about Mystic Protection. The girl's eyes widened for a minute before going back to their drowsy look. She was sure her father had a plan for the girls, and that it would all turn out okay in the end. After all, Kyla had found a way for Anita to go through the Light Trials, perhaps Sei was intending to do something similar.

Anita really couldn't think about much more than the letter to Skyler, and the sleep she so desperately needed at the moment. As the 'Daughter of the Dragon' felt the warmth starting to form around her thanks to the gift her father had brought, she looked back at Skyler with interest in her eyes. She was all ready to hear what Cael had written to the girl who nursed him back to health.

[Quentin Boone]

Silence Sei receives:

2558 EXP
132 GP


skyler manfield receives:

878 EXP
120 GP


Congratulations!

[Philomel]

Basic Judgement:

Name of Thread: A Lesson In Protection (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?20288-A-Lesson-in-Protection)
Participants: Silence Sei and Skyler Manfield
Basic Judgement:

Sei

Strengths:

Having two characters to deal with and keep track of, you managed to keep the storytelling in general addictive and unchanging. If carrying more than one character, such as in large-scale battles with foot soldiers or armies, it is often possible to lose a sense of personality or interest (in the reader's perspective) to the main character, yet you managed to keep the interest going. Well done!
The pacing was believable and gave the story a strong rhythm that caught the reader's attention and was constant, going with the steady plot of the piece
One of your particular strengths is in using description, and using your setting to your advantage. You have a strong grasp of how to create an image in the reader's mind and relay exactly what your characters are seeing/using.


Weaknesses:

There were a few various spelling mistakes, a minor amount but nevertheless pulling down on your final score.
Try to space out paragraphs a little more, and add a new paragraph when a new person is speaking. It will help the flow of the reading a lot more. In particular this was a weakness in your first few posts (posts 1 and 3) where a heavy reliance was put on conversation to pull the plot along.
As far as linguistic techniques went, there was not much in terms of metaphor or similie, and so there is potential for you to expand in this. It would not only help capture the reader's attention but also strengthen your general description.


Skyler: If you become active again and wish to receive commentary of this thread please feel free to inbox me.


Silence Sei receives:

2558 EXP
132 GP


Skyler Manfield receives:

878 EXP
120 GP

[Alyssa Snow]

EXP & GP Added.