Academy Chronicles

The room was quiet other than the faint hum of the computers. The sleek grey and white of the technical room seemed colder than usual with the latest from the frontlines. Gabriel lifted his navy colored eyes to look at the elderly man across the rounded virtual map. He looked tired and frustrated, they all did. It was difficult not to find the entire situation frustrating. If peace had been made with the Athwani instead of this ridiculous war then they could all be easily working on better their student’s skills and going to silly outings and such. But no, a silly dispute during peace talks and here we were six years later still at war. The kingdom was failing, the people struggling and the only ones thriving was the military. It was almost disgusting. The only thing making this worse was that my brother sends his little lackeys with demands or ‘attempts’ to make peace only to have them hunt me down to talk me into going home with some silly bribe. It’s embarrassing how low the royals were lowering their standards.

Hawk sighed heavily and stood gaining the attention of everyone in the War room, other than the General and Headmaster who was studying the projection map closely. “Look unless we are coming up with a counter attack right now there is nothing for us to do. We must wait for official orders; we are at a standstill until the King makes a choice about this latest offer. Let’s all get back to our posts and do our best to help our students, there is no reason to just sit around moping”, he growled out. They were used to my way of speaking, my gruffness. However they were also used to my silence so they were stunned until the Headmaster nodded. “Gabriel is right, go back to your students, it’s best not to worry them, I will call you back the moment we get news”, he said tiredly and watched them leave. Gabriel caught the elders eyes and nodded curtly before leaving the room swiftly taking the stairs instead of the lift like most.

Gabriel’s brisk stride had his high ponytail of glossy black locks swaying and his side locks and bangs fluttering. His almond shaped dark blue eyes were distant. The flutter of his long black coat let the black and red handle of his katana show from his belt. His typical red shirt and black pants with combat boots in place. Unlike the others he did not wear uniform, he was not part of their military. He was a ex foreign prince who swore his allegiance to the king before this stupid war, and then upon request took up a place on the Academy’s staff training the elite students, for who better to train the best than one the best? However it barely was possible for him to earn the kings trust and those around him before this war started and ruined everything. Not that it mattered to him. Gabriel was aloof to these issues, he would do his job and nothing more nor less. This meeting was the most he said in one sitting in a long time. Only his students truly heard him speak more than a handful of words at a time. Because only they have shown they are respectable at the moment. His small class were the only ones in this entire country he would entrust his life to, and he knew they would trust him with theirs no matter what their standing with him. Not all his relationships with his students were good, Nick for instance, they were always on edge together. The boy drove Gabe crazy and Gabe often set Nick off. But there was trust, there always would be with those close to him.

The long haired samurai paused on the top of the stairs before he turned to go to one the large training halls where he knew his kids would be working, or at least a few of them. The massive double doors of solid oak stood in his way and he lifted the latch and pushed the great doors open before closing them behind him. The sound of clashing metal reached his ears telling him at least one sparring session was taking place. He stepped around the marble pillars to the main hall. The great arched ceilings and pillars lined the wide long hall. The great marble flooring was like a mosaic depicting the history of the Arishima family, the royal family of Ishrenia, this kingdom he now was loyal to. The opposite wall was lined with equipment and weapons for learning and such. Center of the hall a ways down was the source of the noise. Gabriel walked closer but stopped yards away to lean on a pillar and cross his arms watching them closely with calculating dark blue eyes.

Roth Pendragon whirled around and caught Raven’s kukri’s on her arm guards. Shoving her back she danced back and around. Following some intricate steps to some complex dance only they knew the steps to. Her amber eyes were locked on her without distraction. As focused as she could ever be. This girl took her work seriously. So the blonde dropped swiftly into a crouch to avoid being beheaded and swept her foot at Ravens legs so she had to jump back onto her hands and somersaulted back ever further giving him a breather.

Panting she watched the other, sweat tickling down the back of her neck and her shirt clung to her. The last forty minutes they had been at it. With the latest meeting for the instructors Raven demanded a spar with someone, and of course only she was always willing to take her on for the simple challenge of the task. It was in the first five minutes that Roth lost track of their companions, she didn’t even know if they were in the room anymore. She wouldn’t blame them for leaving, this would take until Professor Hawk returned and call them to a stop. Everyone knew how tense Raven got when news of the war or news from the capital came to them. It was the be expected with her elder brother commanding and leading the armies, her father causing such trouble and her mother’s recent death, also it seems a pending marriage of her younger sister to a Muarian prince to create an alliance against the Athwani, she had plenty to fuss over. But she wasn’t the only one with stakes in this war. Again Roth got an offer to take command of a battalion on the front lines with an even higher payment offer. Of course she felt there was something else she was supposed to do in this war instead of leading some soldiers. Only time would tell she supposed as she bent back avoiding the tip of a blade from cutting her cheek.

Silver eyes were narrowed and on task as she let out all her pent up frustrations. Roth was the perfect opponent. She wouldn’t let her guard down and let her hurt her on accident. She could keep her in line while not hindering her. From the way she moved and attacked she needed this as well, it benefitted them both. Pushing off the jump and twist in the air and slam down on her arm gaurd she bounced over her head with leverage of her shove and she landed on her knee before shoving off to lunge at her. Black locks were falling free of their bun she tossed it in and sticking to her sweaty neck and face. Shoving off the ground Raven’s boots squealed on the marble as they did multiple times before and they locked bodies. Grunting as Roth kicked her in the abdomen she shoved away from her panting hard and with a yell rushed at her again.

Raven was worried. More news came and when Gabriel didn’t return after half an hour she challenged someone to spar. Part of her was afraid someone would try to stop her, but thankfully the crazy redhead pulled out for her. This meeting was wearing on her nerves since it happened right after she got a letter from her father wanting her home. He wanted her safe since the last meeting with dignitaries from Athwani threatened harm on his children. Of course she sent him a refusal. Raven had made it clear she wanted no ties with his throne, no claim. She would still call them family but otherwise she was to be nothing to them. Her noble rank was to be ignored and she was to study as a soldier. Raven had too much a drive to fight, to defend, and protect to be locked away like her sister, and them let out only to marry. Gabriel helped her and that she was thankful for but it was only because she believed in him first, they were just evening the field out. Even now she still had to fight out with fellow students to not call her by title and to treat her like others. At one point Raven had been an active and well known member of the royal family. But since the war she too cut ties with her family and came here with him.

Everyone under Hawks class was there for a reason of their own. They each had an ambition. And because of that each one was the potential best in their field or weapon mastery. Together we were our own makeshift family, yeah not everyone got along but it was better than what Raven had in the capital.

Another lounge and Raven faltered ever so slightly in step and slide to a stop on her knee blade to her heart and the side of her hand to the back of her neck. Both panting and sweating hard. Carefully lowering her blade Raven took Roth’s offered hand to get to her feet and shoved her blades in their holder at her lower back and went to the towels to dry a little of the perspiration on her forehead and neck and drop to sit on the cool marble leaning back on a pillar as Roth took one next to her just as worked up. Silver eyes closed as she fought to catch her breath. Her senses of who was in the room coming back now she stopped and let her-self relax a little.

Spoiler:

Jade green eyes looked down on his fellow students with an amused twinkle in them as they checked up on the fierce women below. For nearly an hour he would say they have been at it, neither one letting up the entire time as each sought to gain the upper hand. Who ever said that cat fights were a man’s fantasy had clearly been referring to other cats, there was no clothes being torn off or hair pulling, mostly, but instead savage beatings when they had the chance and serious determination. All in all, something that one would expect from gladiators in an arena more than a runaway princess and another female student.

However, their fights always proved interesting for Nicolas; whenever they would break out in a spar he always had an odd habit of finding higher ground to watch how it plays out, it could be a fence, stone wall, or for example the weapon crates he was currently lounging on to bet a bird’s eye view of the action. When Raven suddenly demanded a spar, a majority of the class had averted their gaze or wandered off to avoid the fight, Roth was one of the few who ever accepted the challenges and Nicolas never accepted any fight from the princess. Instead he always watched the ones either she or Roth fought in for his own viewing pleasure, and from the looks of it only a small amount of their class even bothered to stay to enjoy it as well.

Tilting his head as faint foot steps slowly came from the entrance beside him he watched the opening curious as to who it was, and immediately lost interest when the all to familiar head of their teacher walked by and returned to the two women as he brushed his brown hair out of his eyes and proceeded to shrug back on his black and white military jacket and hopped down onto the ground with his ever trusty spear behind his neck with his arms hanging lazily over top to hold it in place as he stood silently behind their teacher watching the two girls still going at it. “You should just let them fight till they drop Hawk, it would be good for them to see how far they can push themselves like this.” The young man commented idly as his green gaze continued to study the girls fighting, following their movements with his eyes. If their teacher had come back then that would mean either the meeting was over, or it simply was a waste of time for him, either way it was likely to ruin his fun of watching the girls beat up on each other and study their fighting styles more since they seemed so willing to show the world. “After all, they both agreed to it so they should learn when enough is enough; or else they will run into trouble later on at some point.” He said shifting his gaze towards Hawk to try and gauge how the meeting went without outright asking, there was usually some hint of it in the older man’s face that would let him know but this time he couldn’t get anything specific out of the man that would let him know if the position he had been offered to raid his ex-home land’s supply line was still open for the taking or not. And not for the first time he was wondering if he would have been happier taking the job if not for the fact that here he was able to enjoy himself as much as he wanted too; at least when their teacher wasn’t stalking the hallways or seeming to be near the women’s hot springs, perverted teacher.

Navy colored eyes lifted to the one student he could have avoided at the moment. They instantly fell on the sparring pair before him once more. He had no intention of stopping them. The way the two were going at it made it clear this was no petty spat. He leaned a little heavier on the column. “Just shut up”, he muttered to the other as he watched looking for fault. It was only when the two stopped and sat down that he pushed from the pillar. He moved to the two girls and stood some feet from them arms folded until two pairs of eyes were on him. Gabriel stood center of the hall there so everyone could see him and waited until all 15 students were gathered. They knew what this stance knew.

Raven was almost tense with need to know. However Hawk ignored her until they were all silently waiting for him to speak. “There was a breach of our lands by someone. We are unsure if it is Athwani or not, there are no typical signs of them there, but until further notice things are going to get harder. No action will be taken yet. So until order comes from the crown we shall continue as we have been. Now return to your studies, there are three hours until dinner”, he spoke before he moved away to meet his three best pupils. Raven looked reserved, closed at the moment, but he expected that. She looked at his with quiet silver eyes. “You three remember after dinner you’re in my office”, he said and moved past them.

Roth glanced after him before she snorted and rested her towel over her shoulder. “More running about blindly. When the hell will they get things figured out”, she grumbled. Amber eyes flickered to the thoughtful Raven. The silver eyed girl shrugged and looked at the two who were as close to friends as she has had here other than Gabe. “Well it has lasted nearly six years now, I don’t see an end nearby. Until then we just have to keep training”, she said without a fight, there was no clear view she hopped tonight in Gabe’s office will clean things up for them.

With a small grin border lining on a smirk Nick pulled down on his right arm and let his spear’s blunted end fall down and land on the marble flooring as he leaned on the opposite pillar watching the two girls still fighting. The dangerously sharp tip was only inches away from his head as it rested against him with his arms crossed, his jade gaze watching as Raven took yet another hit. “So cold, what have I ever done to you to deserve this treatment.” He jests as he continues to watch the show, still surprised that they could stay interested in the fight for so long when he would have gotten tired with it not even a half hour in. However they finally seemed to reach a mutual agreement that they took enough beating and watched as hawk took advantage of it and went into the center, informing them of some useless information since it wouldn’t make too much of a difference from the way the war was going.

Seeing as to how that wasn’t the end of the proclamation, at least for the girls; Nick pushed himself off of his comfortably pillar with a sigh and walked over to them as the Hawk once again reminded them about their little meeting. With his spear idly tapping against his shoulder green eyes watched him go away along with Roth. “If the intrusion proves to be a threat, they will have it figured out in roughly a month I would say, if not then the war will take two years to escalate to a bad enough levels that it becomes more of an all-out war instead of these battles for important entrances into eachother’s lands. Then, another six years for one of us to collapse from all of the problems going on.” He said thoughtfully as he turned his gaze back to the other two woman with a raised eyebrow. “I’m willing to take bets, anyone want to try and beat my predictions?”

Roth nodded mutely agreeing with Nick on this one. Things were rough and at this point the reason for war was so fuzzy who knew what really started it anymore. The kings were too petty to just give in to the need for peace and end this pointless war. However with the treaties with the other kingdoms in process now and everything that only meant that this war would last longer than Nick said. There was no other way at this point in time in this never ending war.

Raven turned and looked at them. “No, this will end soon. It takes the death of a royal on the battlefield or in the castle and things either escalate to an end soon or crumble hard to the opposing side. People are getting too reckless, there is bound to be a problem soon and from what I know the Athwani seek an end to this war one way or another, so there could be assassins included in this mess very soon. Another six years would be unlikely at this point, expressively with these increasing invasions on territory that go unnoticed until after the intruders are gone. This simply means soon we are going to be put on the front lines, or pretty damn close to them along with the senior masters”, she said looking to the ceiling at the paintings of fables that were present there. “Now we can only sit and wait for the worse to happen”, she said quietly to the room empty other than them.

The blonde looked at the other female before looking at Nick wondering what he thought of this. They both held reasonably points but now that she thought of it everything was on such a fine line, what was more likely to happen. Part of her hoped to be here longer, the thought of looming victory or defeat was painful to grasp.

Nick thought over the points that Raven was making as he rubbed his chin in thought, a royal being killed was granted to escalate things and people may be getting reckless but not enough to end things quickly. The invasions could also be scouting parties to scan for breaches in the line to sneak in assassins as she said, either way once a royal died it would only be a matter of time before the school got involved and was sent to assist with things. His green gaze shifted over to the blonde to evaluate her pondering expression for a moment, reading nothing to important in her he shifts it back to the princess to address her again.

“I agree that a death of a royal would be guaranteed to escalate things much faster than anything else, but the end coming soon afterwards is something I don’t see happening. At the moment, our royals are spread out through the country, with the capital holding the king to be the safest. There are only two others that could be a reason for a full blown war to start if they are killed, one commands the armies and is usually protected by his men and within an army; the other one is in a.. Similar situation.” He said calmly, with only a small amount of hesitation when referring to the princess as the other one in a similar situation before moving on to make his points. “But once things are escalated, it will still be a drawn out war. If either side could have ended things fast then they would have, our military strengths and generals are to balance for a short and sweet victory, and the death of one royal wont make things chaotic enough to give a big opening. Both sides have been preparing for war for over six years now, our armies are in place to counter each other’s, our generals have prepared themselves to face other generals, neither side holds a significant enough hold on entry points to over whelm the other. There are only two ways for a fast end to the war, one is the annihilation of the most important people in a country to cripple their military might and stability at home. The other is for some disaster or such to strike and create an opening for invasion or affect both nations so greatly that neither has the resources to go to war anymore.” He said, finally finished as he looked from Raven over to Roth, seeing if either of them had anything else to say or point out that he had missed since they were left alone in the training room once again. Normally it would have been more, enjoyable for him to be the only guy in the room; but the topics of war were hardly things to enjoy in this world unless you would never be the one fighting or were blood thirsty.

The silver eyed girl eyed him for a long moment after he spoke before she simply shrugged and turned away. They did not know. There were things about this country that many did not know. But in the end should some one of importance died things would become serious. Right now this was but a long lasting sense of foreplay. It only took one gesture for this to become heavy and hard, and when that happened this trip wasn’t going to last long. Both kingdoms were low in resources. However should a royal on the other side be killed the same would happen, this was a mutual situation. The question was who would take the top and run this show.

“I’m going to wash, I’ll see both of you later”, she said and left the room tossing her towel in a bin and dropping her practice belt and weapons on the rack without paying attention as she swept from the room without another word.

Roth watched Raven a moment before she shook her head and looked at Nick. “An hour of going hard and she still has some energy to fight”, she said amazed and ran a hand through her short hair. “Though washing sounds wonderful now, I’ll see you at dinner”, she said and clapped him on the shoulder with a smile and trotted out of the room to head to the baths.

Nick continued to wait for Raven to say something to add to their conversation, it wasn’t often that he took the time to discuss the prospects of the war and auguring over how long it would last was rather fun. Raven may have preferred the quick end, which he couldn’t blame her since it was her country in the war, but Nick was counting on the roughly equal situations of both countries to prolong it once the real fighting started. But it was only a matter of time before the other woman had given up on the discussion and taken her leave. “Don’t forget to wash behind your ears!” He called after her with a wave good bye, his eyes shifting over to meet Roth’s gaze as she spoke.

“Fine, don’t invite me either to your shower party. I’ll save you the usual spot.” He commented with a playful smile as he watched her trot off after the other woman, rubbing his chin as his expression turned thoughtful and began to walk out after them. “But a relaxing shower is always nice, and the guys shower room is always chaotic…” Nick said as he spoke to himself, his feet already carrying him towards the girl’s shower rooms to enjoy a peaceful shower where he could relax comfortably; however the blissful thought was soon destroyed as he felt an arm hook through each of his and started dragging him back. With a small yelp he quickly looked to see two male students dragging him back towards the training area. “

“Come on Nick, it’s our turn to organize the equipment.” One said in an annoying business like tone with the other nodding in agreement as they continued dragging him back by force. “I don’t have it until tomorrow! Hawk put you guys up to this didn’t he?” Nick said disgruntled, already tuning out the student’s voices as he cursed the man’s intelligence, not even bothering to find out if he really did or not and simply settled for blaming him.

Lounging around in his chair Nick barely even touched his food as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. His elbow resting on the railing beside him as he gaze down from the second floor of the dining hall at all the other students eating their lunch and grouping together below him. His green gaze idly shifted through the masses of students and picked out those familiar to him or to watch how some of them acted differently with other people. Not as good as a way to pass time as watching someone fight, but it was better than nothing until someone else joined him and gave him something else to focus on while he ate.

Raven gestured vaguely after Nick’s reminder as she left them. Roth smirked amused and walked with him trailing after him. She shook her head amused at his muttering. Amber eyes turned to watch the boys drag the poor lad off. With a laugh she turned down a hall to the baths.


Red and black dragon designed braces were neatly secured to Ravens wrists as she knotted the leather stings on both and then sat down the secure her black boots. Swiftly she tugged on a black vest over her loose white shirt so it matched her black pants. Her belt held her practice Kukri’s as usual and she headed out once her hair was braided back. The silver eyed youth headed down the halls to Gabriel’s office where they were to meet for their morning walk as they did every morning. A brisk knock and Gabe opened it dressed in all black, shirt, pants, boots, and belt. His long hair was in its usual high ponytail and his black katana was at his waist. Mutely the pair headed outside to walk along the battlements.

Roth woke and dressed for a morning workout. Her clothing fitted to her lean body was all white and clung to her, and her shoes were as flexible as her clothing and wrapped in place by leg wrappings just as her hands and forearms were. Tieing what little hair she could up she went to their practice hall and got to work stretching out, bending her body in ways only a martial master or dancer could.

A messenger briskly strode the halls towards the head masters office a scrolls with a black ribbon and red seal in hand. He looked tired and a little roughed up but his stride was quick and urgent. Those in his way swiftly moved aside, the few who where up this early on their free day that is.

With a loud groan of displeasure Jade eyes slowly opened up to glare at his roommate rudely shaking a lazy and tired Nick. “Come on, if you sleep all day today you will never get any sleep tonight” said his roommate as she finished pulling her red hair up in a ponytail, examining herself in the mirror clearly pleased with her appearance before setting off to do her own thing leaving Nick debating on what to do for the day. With no work he had to do, the options were so vast; and yet so slim. If he opted to take a shower, then he would just get kicked out and in trouble for some odd reason, if he went for a walk around the campus then he would kill some time and perhaps find something interesting. He might meet up with Raven too, but then again Gabe was usually with her and he wasn’t in the mood to prod the other man for fun… Roth on the other hand would be working out if he remembered right.

So with a wide yawn he forced himself out of bed and went about trying to find something to throw on, his tired gaze picking out a loose white button up shirt and black pants. Perfect for a day of lazing about seeing how his uniform was too much effort to put on when it wasn’t needed. Once his attire was complete and he slipped into a pair of comfortable sandals he made his way out into the hall, plucking his spear from the door way and made his way down to the practice hall and settled for leaning against a pillar as he watched the early risers work out before his gaze settled on Roth once again admiring her as he wish he could move like that.

Roth slide into a complete split before drawing her-self up without her hands and rolled her shoulders before she crouched a little in a starting guard position against an invisible enemy. A swift rolling duck and a jab up with her foot and she whirled around slamming her arm around and stopped turning in the other direction to jab at a torso. Bouncing back with a jump and a jumping kick Roth continued into a series of swift jabs and kicks, twists, turns, complex stepping patterns and twists and jumps into the air came into play alternating between slow and blindingly fast movements.

Gabriel listened quietly to Raven talk about her idea for a new possible move she wanted to work on perfecting with her Kukri later today. His navy eyes scanned the battlements and the soldiers present. However he was listening to her every word. Raven was one of the few he would give his utter attention to. The girl knew this so she didn’t take offense to his seemingly wandering mind. They pause in a niche and Gabriel leaned on the stone looking out at the land outside the walls. Raven leaned on the wall facing inwards arms crossed.

A runner was sent to fetch Gabriel and came panting up to him. The instructor left the princess and went to the headmasters office with a brisk stride. Raven watched him go before heading inside to watch Roth or find Nick. That way when Gabe returned he could find her easier. Quietly she walked over and stood by Nick looking around at their fellow classmates working.

Nick continued to watch Roth throughout her workout, his head moving to follow her body as she slid down on the floor and moved around the area. His green gaze trailing across her body as he follows the jabs and movements, any idea of offering to be a sparring partner was quickly forgotten when he saw how she was working out and reminded himself that he would just get to many bruises to be worth it. A few times other students would approach him and ask if he wanted to spar, but every time he would decline and return to watching the other students train or look back to check on Roth; unlike everyone else here he wasn’t exactly a morning person.

When Raven stood by him he glanced over at her before turning back to watch Roth again. “Good morning, I think that Roth over there could use a sparring partner if you’re interested….. weren’t you supposed to be with Hawk though?” He said as he turned his attention to a boy suddenly yelping in pain, with a grinning female student walking away triumphant as the kid nursed his broken wrist.

Roth was oblivious of her watchers and it showed in the way she moved, her eyes closed to the entire thing, fighting in her mind while her body mimicked what she saw there. Raven looked away to turn her gaze on Nick briefly. “Morning”, he replied lightly and looked around the room and shook her head a little when one the students ended up injured. She sighed heavily. “Yes but he was called to the headmaster suddenly”, she answered the question as she went back to watching their friend. “I hope it won’t last long he promised we could spar”, she said lightly. Raven was the only one brave enough to face the elder man, well on a common basis that is, sometimes a student would get ballsy and see if they could best the samurai but they always failed, even Raven. But to her the point was to fight the loosing battles until you don’t lose again. It was the only way to grow stronger, fighting the best.

Shaking in head Nick slid to the ground and rested against the pillar, his eyes idly scanning the room some more as he laid his spear across his lap. “You sparred for nearly an hour yesterday with Roth, and now you want to challenge Hawk and she is training already. As one of his best students, the two of you are really making me look bad around here.” He says with a sigh while rubbing the back of his head, trying to remember the last time he had sparred with anyone. Was it a month ago that he had last fought against a fellow student, he knew it had been nearly a month and a half since he had challenged Hawk to a quick spar and admitted defeat after only ten minutes of the fight. He already knew the outcome of the battle after those ten minutes, no matter what tricks he would use Hawk was skilled enough to counter them; so he wasn’t about to go revealing them through a spar unless he could gain something useful out of it.

“Well… He has been nagging on me to accept more challenges lately, if he doesn’t show up I guess I could play around with you for a couple of minutes. That is if you tell him about it so I can get him off my back for a while.” Nicolas suggested with a shrug as he looked up at the woman in front of him. It was rare for him to suggest a spar, and usually it came with a bet involved with it or conditions such as this; which would usually mean that he would get what he wanted either way.

Raven smirked a little and looked down at the other before she rested her shoulder on the pillar and crossed her arms. “Yes well, I like staying active. Besides stamina is something a warrior must have on top of skill. I plan on being one of the best like Gabe”, she said simply. Silver eyes scanned the location briefly with a thoughtful glance before she focused on two males across the way who were acting rather savagely towards each other. They must be fighting out some dispute, if Gabe returned soon they would have more than enough on their hands to keep them from fighting.

“Well your getting lazy to the point you might be dropped from this class to go back to the regular corp. You need to find a way to get your lazy ass in gear. I won’t help you with your problems with Hawk, but I am more than willing to point you out to people who would be good for you to spar with”, Raven teased looking down at him with a half smile on her lips.

With a small huff at the comment of Hawk being one of the best nick turned his attention back to watching Roth as she did a wonderful spinning attack with her leg, head tilt to follow her movements curiously as he could already imagine her ‘opponent’ sent flying. “Sure he is.” He mumbled softly to himself in defiance.

Giving her an un-amused look Nick stared at Raven for several moments in silence. “The one person, you won’t spar with is the one person that is seen sparing the least. Who knew you would be the picky one, guess you are afraid to get showed up by a lazy guy hu.” He said with a slight smirk, he wasn’t sure if he was close to getting kicked out or not, but what he did know is that he wanted a quick fix to his little problem before it grew into a head ache later. On.

The ex princess looked at the other from the corner of her eye. Nick wasn’t the only who were bothered by praise on Gabriel’s behalf, but she understood it wasn’t out of pointless hate, but from the ongoing grudge they had against each other as student and teacher, a battle that may very well go on for years.

“It has nothing to do with worrying about you getting the better of me, I just don’t want to hurt you, when I spar I don’t hold back, there is no point, why practice and train if you don’t work to most of your potential every time? Afraid someone would learn your style, well that means nothing, so long as you’re movements aren’t predictable, and of course not everything should be practiced around public eyes. You need someone safe to spar with, I would suggest Roth but she might bruise that pretty face of yours”, she teased nudging him with the toe of her boot.

“Who ever said I was scared? I just don’t want to kill someone by mistake when we spar is all… but I’m more scared of Roth than you.” He admitted as he glanced over at Roth, watching as she continued to flow through her movements even as he was nudged with the princess’s foot. “And its not the head attached to my neck that im concerned about, at least you use weapons. With her she could easily grab the spear and pound me into dust if I gave her the chance.”

Raven stared down at him and lifted a brow. “Roth”, she laughed hard, the sound carried earning a few looks of surprise, not many heard her laugh or saw her smile. “You have some learning to do. You only worry about her because her style is unknown to you, it is an utter opposite of you. You have the spear because you like distance, and she uses her hands because she likes being up close and personal. However the only reason she would get an upper hand over you is because you are too stubborn to branch out. It is clear you are useless without that thing at your side. You need to learn closer quarter combat so if someone takes your spear you can still fight then she won’t seem as scary”, she ruffled his hair and smiled looking across the room. She waved to the approaching Gabriel.

Roth eased out of her routine, slowing down and working on cooling down by stretching while moving until she stopped and wiped her forehead with a cloth. She spotted the pair and headed over. Her amber eyes turned to Gabe who walked to their group. Raven eyed him closely as he looked almost troubled by the faint knitting of his brow. “What is wrong”, Roth asked. His navy eyes studied them all before they landed on Raven. “There was an attack on the front lines and General Elias fell”, he said and Raven tensed. “It was an ambush on a routine patrol near the ruins. They say that the attackers were leaving, and the only survivor claims it was not Athwani armor the enemy wore but something completely different”, he went on. “Upon further instruction something was found missing. We are instructed to find and get information from the archeologist who discovered the site 30 years ago”, Gabriel told them and fell silent watching them for a reaction.


Raven’s head was bowed so her bangs hide her eyes from sight but her shoulders were tense and she was silent. Roth looked a bit stunned. “When are we to leave”, she asked. “Tonight”, he replied.

His cheeks flushed softly in embarrassment as he averted his gaze from her, looking away from everyone at the fact that not only was he being laughed at by a woman who rarely seemed happy, but also because he was admitting to being afraid of Roth. The more she talked the more his blush faded away as the subject changed, the only thing he was stubborn in was his personality not so much as fighting in his mind. However from the way she talked she truly did sound like the more experienced one as she actually ruffled his hair like a little kid, instantly bringing a halfhearted growl of protest from his throat as he mumbled to himself. “The distance isn’t the only thing I like about it… and she’s would still be scarier than you.”

When he heard other approaching only then did he turn back to see Roth finished with her warm ups and coming over as Hawk made his way over, the green gaze looking into the navy ones briefly before looking over to watch another pair of students sparing. Already knowing that at least one of the people in the group was about to hear some bad news, and since Raven naturally the most interested and closest one it had to be her in his mind. His shoulders twitched slightly at the news of their General being killed, if the county wasn’t riled up some how to ever come it he could see the war ending badly for them.

“We should start getting ready for a long journey then; me and Raven have the most to pack so we should start right away.” Nicolas said slowly, his eyes glancing underneath Raven’s bangs to see her fighting back the onslaught of tears before standing up and cracking his back, spear held up above him. “Roth, would either you or Gabe mind having someone send us some breakfast if you’re not busy?” He asked already turning to walk back towards his room, giving them a wave good bye as he looked ahead. From what he knew of Raven, she wouldn’t be the one to let out her grief in public; at least with this she should be able to mourn properly for a few hours until it was time.


As the sun was setting Nick causally strode out towards the front gates, his spear behind his neck with his arms dangling over it in his signature position with several travel bags on either end balancing it out. Instead of his black and white military uniform, he instead wore a simple dark grey tunic, dark brown belt warped around his waist to hold up his black pants and hold the single cutlass on his left hip. To ward off the chill of the night was a long black coat blinding in with the incoming darkness and soft leather shoes as he looked around the empty courtyard in surprise. “… Either I’m so late they left without me, or I’m early for once... Everything seems to be messed up today.” He says disappointedly, a small sigh at the end as he shifts his weight to another foot and looks around for the others. He had come to the right gate he was sure, he could understand Raven taking her time and one other but he doubted it took two people to comfort the girl for so long.

A small breath was let go and Raven lifted her chin jaw clenched and she nodded to no one and turned on her heel striding from the hall without waiting for Roth or Gabriel answering Nick’s suggestion. Once she was sure no one would see her she ran to her room through all the back and least used halls. She locked her door and closed her curtains the moment she was there. Only then did she dropped to the floor and draw her knees up arms wrapping around them.

Gabriel watched her leave and then looked at Nick then Roth. “You see to that, I have a few things to do with the other students before we leave”, he told her. The blond nodded and watched him walk off as well. She sighed softly and shook her head. This was no good. She headed for the kitchens.

Roth trotted into the courtyard dressed in a black short sleeveless kimono that reached mid thigh. Under was a pair of skin tight black shorts that weren’t visible unless she was fighting. On her thigh was a knife held by a white strap, one that she never used, it was there just to make others think she used it in a fight. Her guards covered the back of her hands and flexed on her palms, set like a ring around her pointer finger and reach half up the forearm. Her boots were flexible cloth like tied up her calves with only a thick sole to protect her feet but otherwise they were cloth and string for flexibility. Her almost silver locks were clipped half back with a silver broche of a dragon. Over her shoulder was a small pack that had things they would need. She smiled lightly at him. “First ones then”, she said lightly. It wasn’t a good sign, Raven was always first. She hoped she was ok.

Gabriel came out leading their horses, his personal black beast with black tack. Raven’s painted mare, her white pelt marked with faint honey patches with her tan tack was among the four horses. Gabe handed them over mutely. He was dressed in his slightly loose black pants, his long hair tightly bound in his high ponytail. A maroon shirt hidden mostly with his long black coat and his katana strapped in place and in hand was a scroll that was sealed with the Royal and Academy seals. He looked at the two mutely then at the castle and stood ready to wait for her.

Roth took her gelding, he was light weight and small. His coat was dark brown with a mane and tail almost as white as her own hair and a broad white stripe down his face in his brown tack. She tied her pack to the back of his saddle.

Raven came out a few minutes after Gabe dressed in a pair of charcoal pants that clung to her legs and black calf high boots of leather. One belt was snug around her waist her rich kukri in place on her lower back and a loose belt was handing on her hips with a few small pouches only a square inch big each in size. Her curves pronounced by the fitted charcoal vest over the white long sleeved button up. Her neck held a leather chocker with a crescent moon pendent on it. Her raven locks were pinned in a tight bun at the back of her head which winked with onyx pieces on them, and onyx studs winked at her ears. One her shoulder was a black leather quiver with her bow and arrows in it. She said nothing as she took her horse and swung into the saddle silver eyes cold and focused. She kicked her mare into a trot out the gates leaving them to follow.

By the time that Roth had finally arrived, Nick had taken up a more comfortable position to await his lazy companions, his spear was now laying down to his side as he leaned back against the gate with his eyes closed and appearing to be asleep if it wasn’t for his foot tapping constantly on the stone ground. As the sound of footsteps grew closer his right eye opened to eye Roth up and down several times before closing it again. “Mhm, the world really is going crazy if I’m the first one here. Just wait Raven will be last, and when the fighting starts I will be the one in the middle of it.” He said jokingly, in a small attempt to lighten the mood before the others began arriving.

When Hawk finally came out Nick had to rouse himself from his comfortable position long enough to open his eyes and sleepily gaze at the party of horses that the man brought with him, his eyes looking over them as he watched Roth pick out her own and finally pushed himself up. Walking over to what he was guessing a male horse that seemed to be around the same size as the rest, he started strapping his bags onto it before pulling himself up and laying down across it’s neck with a yawn. Raven was the last one to arrive just like he predicted, only this time he hoped his others wouldn’t come true. Let Hawk or the others hog all the attention they wanted, if they were attacked tonight he was just going to sleep through it.

With the sounds of new footsteps he opened his eye to watch as their final member arrived and picked her horse out, looking as if she was ready to slaughter the people who killed her brother the moment she found them in his eyes. “If I wasn’t here before her, I bet I would have just been left behind.” He mumbled to the others as he let his horse stay in place as the others moved out before trotting out after them trying to think if he could get away with tieing his horse to Roth's pack animal and catching some shut eye.

The silence from the princess during their trip to the trading port of Crotus, where the last known location of the archeologist they sought was reported, was painful even for the anti-social Hawk. She stayed front and said nothing at all. She moved silently and was quick to pick up slack when they were setting camp and cleaning up simply to get them moving faster. When they came across bandits she didn’t bother with her arrows like she used to, she simply drew blade and harshly hacked away leaving the others with little work. A quick swipe on dead men’s clothing cleaned her blades and back on the horse she was.

Roth gave the girl her distance, not even she would take a request to spar at the moment. She simply stuck to the two males of the group and tried to keep things light as could be. Gabriel quietly watched his student but otherwise he made sure everything went smoothly and they were on track and made sure Nick stayed in line.

Now as the day was beginning they were riding on the cobble road leading into the port city, great white walls stood arching around the entire city. A steady flow of people coming in and out of the place was at the massive gates wide enough to allowed 20 horses abreast through. Guards stood watch scanning the crowd and pulling people aside at random for checks. They were pulled aside but the moment Hawk flashed the pendent around his neck with the Academies crest they were waved through with an apology. Gabriel took the lead this time and had them stop at a middle class hotel with two rooms, one for the girls and one for him and Nick paid for and they left the horses and their things in the rooms with a quick meal before he pulled them outside into the back courtyard without only a stable hand sleeping present.

“Raven you will go with Nick and take the northern half of the city, Roth and I will take the south, meet back here in three hours and we will see what information we have then before we move”, Gabriel gave the orders and motioned to Roth who smiled and followed him without hesitation. As mean as it seemed she was relieved she was with Hawk, Raven was not the best company right now, let Nick work with her, because at this rate Roth was going to snap and slap the girl out of her stupor or something bad like that.

A graveyard is what would best describe the journey to find an old man. The traveling, was as quiet as a grave yard, there were corpses scattered here and there from those foolish enough to get in Raven’s way, and then there was the bitter chill; the presence of death lurking about as one could almost see frost being emitted from Raven in her cold murder mode. Not even Nick felt like prodding her with only two people around to see her burying his corpse, Hawk would most likely dig the hole himself while Roth on the other hand would just turn her back on him. She was better friends with Raven, and with Hawk supporting her no one would the wiser on where and how he went missing.

So when they finally got to a hotel room inside of the city, he wasn’t really complaining about being roomed with the teacher for once, as long as Raven was in this mood he doubted he could take a shower peacefully with her or sleep together. His green gaze shifted over to look at Roth as Hawk turned to them, thinking that he would be partnered with her so that the other man could keep an eye on Raven. But, it seemed like not even the teacher wanted to put up with her and decided to push her off on the person he liked least in the group, the only other male; perverted teacher.

“Well…. I suppose we should look at places old men go to for the time being. Come on.” He said as he picked his spear up and walked out onto the streets, stopping for a moment to look around and for the other woman to catch up before walking off in a random direction north bound, asking people when he got the urge to or talking to shop keepers about an old man named “Richard Stonewall” And was met with either none or vague leads on him. They spent well over an hour searching in the city, stopping by educated buildings and such and book stores to try and find the scholar while gathering as much information as they could.

But everywhere they stopped and asked about him, the people would get a little edgy and nervous around Raven; even to them the aura she was putting off was far from pleasant and they didn’t even know the reason. It got to the point where he wanted to straighten her out one way or another and the added frustration of trying to find an old man was starting to get to him. “Let’s check in here.” He said as they were walking down a street, his hand already locked around her wrist as he pulled her into the bar in the middle of the day. Even now there were a few men scattered around drinking and killing time, making Nick sniff to himself as he began to rethink on how to find the man. Walking up to the bartender he kept dragging Raven along until he took a seat in front of the man. “Three mugs of your strongest drink please.”

Raven watched the other two go off with a slight narrowing of her eyes before she scoffed and turned following the spear wielder. The was nothing else to do. So the princess simply stayed silent and kept watch of their surroundings while she let Nick take on all the talking. With every passing chat they had she grew more and more frustrated and irked by the whole situation. She could understand wanting her on this mission, Raven would only bother those at the Academy with her mood and the need to be out doing something, but what she didn’t understand was why she had to be stuck with Nick. Working with Gabriel would have been more effective, nothing against Nick but really.

The silver eyed fighter gritted her teeth as Nick took hold of her wrist and pulled her into some tavern. Why was he bringing her here? Only low lives bothered drinking this early in the day. But she didn’t fight his grip, it was best to just let the lad pull her about so she avoided a fight with him.

Nick sat down and she was left wavering a moment before she scoffed softly and sat down neck to her friend and rested an elbow on the counter propping her chin in her palm looking blankly at some random spot in no particular location. Why he ordered so much to drink and such a kind of drink was beyond her, but she would let him do as he pleased. Her mind swirled with memories and thoughts of bitter sweetness. She ached to simply break down and cry till she sleep without waking, Elias had been her big brother, they did everything together when they were children, and he supported her in everything she did not matter if it got them in trouble or not. They had been joined at the hip, and even no longer part of court Elias wrote to her weekly no matter what, even with the war and everything. Now she would no longer receive or send those letters, and he would no longer be there when she needed him. Of all her family it was Elias and Alienna whom she was close to of all the people in her family. On the other hand another part wanted to go out and hunt everyone who had anything to do with his death weather they were on the other side and never laid eyes on him or they were the very person who took his life, she simply wanted blood.