Grayell bounced once more, then threw an arm about her waist and spun, gently slipping her onto a higher pole. He lifted her hand and then crossed his wrist with hers.
They trained relentlessly. Since they were able to walk. Some of them used this method.. the ones I trained with at any rate.
It's much harder to fight on these and maintain balance of course.
Tallia "There are some things... that we all can't escape from..."
She took in Grayell's drop of knowledge, unable to face him as he spoke. Her voice came, but it was a touch somber, as though someone had ruined a party she painstakingly set up.
Grayell slowly shifted her arm against his in a circle, then switched arms, lifting hers against his wrist again. He was still smiling, however softly.
Yes. And the only reason they ever left their home.... was to kill someone. A contract.
Grayell stepped closer, his eyes fell on hers. They weren't cruel and the smile was still there, but he was an intimidating figure all the same.
So. Care to tell me who it is?
Tallia "There are some things... that we all can't escape from..."
Her eyes grew wide. She started to tremble. Painful memories started to flash through her mind as though the barrier holding them in cracked little by little. She opened her mouth, but not a sound came. Suddenly, she jumped away from Grayell, unable to stay as close as she was previous. Slowly bringing her hands up to her chest, she gazed at the ground as tears began to fill her eyes.
"I... I... I'm... s... sorry... I..."
She shook more than ever as she spoke, her voice barely able to contain her emotions. She fell to the ground, knees in the front, her tears trailing alongside her face.
"I... I..."
She tried to stop her tears from falling, sniffing back and wiping her eyes. She tried to calm down... If she could explain herself, this wouldn't be as bad as she might think it is...
"I... was an assassin."
She looked towards Grayell, her emotions simply disappearing from her face.
"I... wasn't of good use to them, though... My mother... she was the one who had led me down that path. We... we had no choice. We wandered... many times, seeking out any places we could find to scout out our targets... or to simply remain away from the public eye... You... could never be too careful as an assassin... After all... who's to say assassins don't get assassinated....?"
She let out a nervous laugh, her humor seemingly unimproved.
"I... I was saw as an elite. One of the top ranking. It was all thanks to my mother... she had... well, silenced... a few well-known targets... They would've saw me kidnapped if my mother decided to protect me... So... I trained. Day and night... I had to live like my life would end at any given minute. To anyone else... the training... was much more than a nightmare... I was forced to throw away my fears... my passions, my desires... my feelings, my... friends, even... everything... They wanted to construct me into a doll... something they could carelessly throw away when they didn't need me anymore...
Thus... I killed... I killed many... there isn't any night I go without thinking about it... Many people... their lives gone with an instant... it was unfair... I... I never wanted to go on living a life like this..."
She pounded angrily at the ground, her fist trembling.
"I decided... I decided we were going to run... We, my mother and I, both lost everything to them... simply because we sat under their feet... So, so unfair... We... We never could get away, though... They'd always have someone watching, wherever we were... We distanced ourselves as much as possible, still clinging to that one hope that we will live a free life someday..."
She sat still for a moment, silent. She gave a smirk and shook her head. How stupid of us, she thought.
"As I became one of the best... alongside my mother... we were issued more... risky missions... They proved to be a little more challenging than we anticipated... but, we managed anyway... until..."
Stopping again, her head drifted in the direction of the ground.
"Until that night..."
She winced as she spoke, recalling vividly the events of the affair.
"We... we were sent in to assassinate various people... they were taking shelter in an orphanage, hoping to blend in and escape their fate... I knew not of their names... nor what they had managed to do to have someone come after them... it was like that for all of our missions... no personal attachments without any info... right...?"
She gave another nervous laugh, but it was louder and seemingly tingling with a bit of anger.
"So... we went in... silent as possible... my mother and I split up, taking one side and I the other, for we needed to move as quickly as possible... She took care of the males, while I took the females... I arrived at my last target, dagger ready... then... I saw her face..."
She shut her eyes.
"It... it was my friend... from several years ago... I... I couldn't..."
Tears returning to her face, she trailed off for a moment before she continued.
"I... I... never saw her after she had failed to assassinate her biggest target... They... they told us she had lost her life doing so... I hesitated for but a moment... My... my mother... she... had already taken care of her... business, and... and she was waiting for me... we had to go... then... a child... he had fallen asleep in another room... he had come to sleep with his peers... he... he screamed... we had no choice but to leave...
When... we reached... "safety"... my mother... she turned to me... she looked me in the eye, just as out of breath as I was... she placed her hands on my shoulders, smiling... and said...
'Good job.'
She... she left it at that... The next day... we reported to the higher-ups... They looked at me with a look I'd never seen before... Something told me something was very wrong... They dismissed us... We started getting less and less missions... Then... they started to come... Night and day... we had to remain alert... we were attacked... so many times... We had to run... run in any direction... I lost count to how many places I've been, how many people I had to kill... It was a nightmare, something I couldn't escape from... they wanted us out of the picture... they no longer needed us... We... finally found refuge in Metgrouhl... there was not much we could do... No longer able to support ourselves with coin, we turned to thievery... to survive... But... our troubles were not over... Mother... she had been injured... many times... in the fights... I did my best to care for her... carefully using what I could without pilfering it from another... I went to a doctor for advice... He had taken me under his wing for some time... He taught me... about the environment... how it was so providing... I learned about all kinds of plants... what could alleviate hunger, what could soothe a wound... I used the knowledge to help her as best as I could... Then one day..."
She paled a little.
"She... she was killed..."
Stopping again, her watery eyes filled again. Unlike her other pauses, she took a little bit longer until she continued, intent on finishing.
"I... I... remembered her words... from... long, long ago... She told me to seek her... if anything should happen to herself... She told me... she told me to seek out Lady Margrett..."
Finished, she wiped her face and gazed at Grayell, emotionless.
"I... I mean no harm... to anyone... but... if... if I must atone for my actions..."
She gazed at the ground, which would probably be her best friend soon if she was unlucky...
He slipped to the ground the moment she began crying, on one knee. As she continued he sat, his legs under him and as she finished, he took her hands in his and held them between them. He looked at her, so tormented and sad... and he smiled. A warm smile.
Tallia? Look at me.
Tallia "There are some things... that we all can't escape from..."
She brought her head up slowly, not sure if he wanted to hear anything from him or not... she just wished things had been different. She looked at him, sorrowfully, as she awaited her sentence...
Grayell lifted her hands to his forehead for a moment and then looked back at her.
You're in the guard now. That mean's you're my ward. No one will know about your past. And no one, and I mean no one is going to hurt you, you understand?
They so much as look at you well... you just sic mean ol' me on 'em.
He winked and his smile grew warmer, trying to cheer her up.
Last Edit: Sept 16, 2011 1:41:23 GMT -5 by Grayell
Tallia "There are some things... that we all can't escape from..."
She nodded, understanding that Grayell wouldn't let things turn out any worse for her. Her look abated a tad, as Grayell's warm smile stirred something inside her. He was like the father she never had...
"T... thank you..."
With but a gentle whisper, it was all she could manage, given she had talked herself dry.