Closed Hit me with your best shot. ( Zandelia )

[Ximal]

Xi Rolled the thoughs in his head he'd been focusing on his own internal struggle which continuously raged and waged war within though as he listened to zand he thought about what would happen. Almost in a slightly telling tone she warned him about life...He klnew what life was like he knew exactly what the issues there were but that wasn't what was having the biggest effect, he could see that her movements had become visibly sluggish she'd slowed down but not actually moved anything. Was she using a form of magic ? Xi coughed lightly and brushed it off he'd mention it again later. The slowing of her movements was notice able for one so swift with her fingers. And her words, Xi rolled the thought around in his head. before speaking out to rebuttle the argument quietly. "Why be a shield? why take the hatred and the sorrow just to feel it's weight crushing you when you can b the sword that cuts a new path? There is a difference between taking the high road or the low road, it's called taking the road less travelled. I don't intent to guard people from the horrors, i intend to stamp them out." Not knowing ones past was a blessing ? That was true. Though he remembered every single moment of it, the good the bad and ...the worst. However he dealt with it, what he meant was before he went into that life he could remember nothing of his past before hand. Xi also took a noting to how she shifted, only slight but it was still there, even the slight indentation of her lip. Talking about the past wasn't much of a fond subject for her. Xi closed his eyes and sighed, every past had a plethora of them. Killing has no point...Focus is focus. To kill you need a reason, some were as simple as pleasure or release, but no as Xi's past dictated no his focus was to prevent others from going through what he did, and to prevent him going back. He'd come to terms with what had happened some time ago. Though she was right yet again every word he'd spoken of he was serious about. She'd survived through her own methods, he'd survived by being stronger than his pursuers. She paused for a time considering or labouring over what she'd taken in. What possibilities she could have gleamed from what he'd said and what he'd done. Though Xi'd gleamed an interesting fact from her as well, she could use a magic. He's seen the same levels of instant exhaustion in wrenmae before his traversal to the spires. Xi'd seen it during their ware house escapade, So he knew that she had a magic, though what it was he didn't know because he didn't feel the effects of hypnotism nor did it present in a physical way. So what ever it was left her physically drained but probably provided her with something other than influence or power. Which left the only other thing she cared for...Information. Though she came speaking towards him again. The bargain's terms again, followed by a smile, one placed in exactly the right spot. No he didn't know that it was only there to invite him but he had an inkling that he should respond back in the same fashion or perhaps in a more direct one. "Then you ask first zand, after all you know most of the answers. So it would be impolite to ask of you first. Especially when your piecing everything together." Xi smiled as he leant back into his chair nursing the liquor in his mug. Then came her next proposal, that they could get some young ladies and then just drink and sleep into oblivion. Xi sighed, that wasn't in his way of being but what she said next was CERTAINLY out of his way of being. Xi just dropped his gaze a little to change from a smile to a distinct leer, almost a stabbing glare. Though he let it slide, instead raising his hand to his forehead to brush it lightly with his finger tips. Or there was an exchange of the tails of exploits Xi didn't care really about that, mostly because he didn't have any of his own. "Sorry zand i'm more one for the women but then again i'm not one to just act like an animal and attempt to lay with every single woman that walked by. So no instead i'll choose to just stick with asking questions but as i said you get to ask the first question. "

[Zandelia]

She listened to his words upon his motivations and found them to be more telling than even he perhaps believed them to be. So far he had displayed several singular perspectives upon such matters. They were only singular in so far as one considered the words alone and enclosed in only the moment that they were uttered. The intelligence gatherer in her was able to see beyond that and wondered whether the man had ever actually talked about such thing before and received feedback. After all, it was one think to think things to be the way you viewed them, it was completely another story to try and apply those perspectives to the real world – the world tended to act back at the activist. Ximal was a violent creature, his past haunted him – what he could remember it. He sought to fashion himself into a warrior of ‘justice’ for others and claimed it wasn’t selfless too.

I wonder if he realizes how self-absorbed it sounds? How vengefully angry the words are? Whether he can see the psychological break waiting to happen? she tumbled the thoughts around in her mind. He was complex yet still simple, perhaps with time she could help direct him. She knew well that one only threw something away when it was completely useless.

“Swords dull too, my friend, if you do not keep them sharp. I cannot stop you, nor control you. Still, I would prefer it if you did not get yourself killed. There are few allies people can call upon in this world and when one has one they should be preserved,” she told him gently, information still flowing from him enough to glean further pieces of data, “but I cannot get involved with that kind of crusade”

Not without terrible consequences that is she told herself, wisely keeping those words inside her own skull.

“I am afraid that your leer is pointless,” she snorted at him through tired features, breathing slow and steady as she sipped drink another time as a restorative, “I’d much rather tumble with a nicely curved barmaid than with a mountain of muscle. Still, I shall see if we can’t find you a nice lass one day, I know a few. So, questions it is then, but what to ask?” she mused out loud, watching Ximal’s face to see if she could up some worry there, possibly detect a form of subconscious body language.

She sifted through what she already knew about the man before her, what she had been told by him and what she had gleaned by her own devices. She was beginning to see the value of face-to-face interaction in the art form of intelligence. She could spend seasons gathering proxy data and mining it for facts, misreading and purposeful planting of false information. Still, as Ximal was proving before her eyes it required an interview variance of scenario to truly gain perspective upon gathered data. What gaps in her knowledge were there that she could garner from him now? What would be the best way to approach the question?

“You escaped from slavery, that much is clear. You appear, fully free and with a vendetta against slavers in all their forms,” she mulled the words as she spoke them, thinking through her question carefully, “you tell me that you wish to protect others. I can only assume that is because there was initially someone to protect. Was there such a person? Who were they?” she asked him, wondering if she could piece together his history with the day’s progression.

Many hate slavers who have escaped, but they usually act out of anger when killing them, not a higher purpose. Why are you different? she wondered.

[Ximal]

Letting his mind ring around he coiled himself up, reliving each vivid memory that he'd received , not loosing the conversation but instead brought himself into the light of his new reality Xi took a slow breath musing upon what zand was saying. But mostly musing upon himself. What is it that people fail to see about how i think? I want to help people...I just want to stop children from going into the life i had...Just to stop them from having the same onset of horror's cast upon them. What is so difficult to see about that ? Xi sighed aloud and continued to nurse the rest of his cup lightly as he listened to zand's words upon his comment about being a sword. Xi rocked the drink back and forth in the cup as he returned her argument upon her. "I don't intend to let myself dull...I wish to grow sharper still. I need to find a place where training is less of a pass time for people and more of a way of life. I need to find somewhere like that, if i have any hope of being able to wipe out this plague...Until then though i will do what little i can where i can. And it's fine...I dont expect anyone else to help me...I never have." Though he'd learnt that his leer had done little towards her. He ind of expected as much she'd been through more than him and probably had much more intimidating and impressive men leering at her. Xi shrugged off those words but the next he paid attention too. she was more inclined towards the valley than the peak? It didn't surprise him, but at least it confirmed the whisperings around the CE at the beginning of summer and the end of spring. Before it's disassembling Xi also noted that she was trying to get him to "blow off some steam" Xi shook his head before tracing his fingers over his for head again. "Just because i look like an akalak height wise does not mean i act like one. I do not have the distinct need to take every single woman that crosses my path into my bed. Having said that what you do in your own is of no concern to me." But in fact Xi was learning here just as much as zand was, if not more he was being directly vague but he was piecing together bits and pieces of her mindset. She's lost many friends in her time, most before their time through their own carelessness or hers. She acts in the shadows and uses that to her advantage she's curt her own path but with a considerably lower body count. She's had some misadventures with men or just plainly dislikes them, whislt still finding herself attractive when mean's she's either had work in a brothel or... something far darker. Though above all of that i know she's smart, she thinks quick and she's good at picking people apart it's what she's doing to me right now but i'm giving up information to get it. Though she gave up a lot more. I know she can use magic but i don't know which...it has to be something of the mind because there were no physical changes and i felt no influence upon me...Now though we enter the questioning phase...this is where we gleam a lot more about each other...And where i can finally start to prove i'm not an idiot. Though the things she was asking now were far stronger in form that what she had asked prior...She was asking about his past whilst stating what she knew...And she certainly knew a fair amount more about him that he possibly knew about her. She was right he was free but she was dancing around the slaver issue, no she was cutting right through...Instead aiming at the reason he chose to help others. Rather than just punish slavers. So she could cut through and see that it wasn't just a revenge mission. He visibly smiled at this just somewhat happier that someone could peer through the fact it looked like he was doing this not for his own personal gain. "it's nice to see someone who sees the reason behind what i do for a change. It's true i don't do this for myself...I do this to protect children from slavery...Yes i was a child slave...And i shared duties with another child slave... though she only came into the picture when i was eight...and she was six...I protected her...Took her punishments and i just grit my teeth. But there was one poitn where i couldn't protect her...That happened when i was sixteen...and continued until i was eighteen...Thats right exactly what your thinking...I could protect ehr from the physical pain...But not that-" Xi then hammered his fist into the table."-No that i couldn't save her from...and iv'e never forgiven myself even after i crushed the petchers head with my own two hands. So yes...I've dealt with my share of the issues in the world...I've seen the horrors people can commit and are able to commit at the drop of a hat... Which is why i choose not to be a shield, and if a sword dulls i shan't be a sword either...I'll become an axe...I'll be as brutal as i have to, i'll do what i must to prevent anyone going through that." Right now Xi's eye's seemed to glow slightly brighter, the same dark colour but shining in luminescence. A determination glaring out and roaring behind them. "I think it's my turn to ask the question...I'd like to know something ...Nothing grand like why you do what you do not yet at least...No i'd like to know the real reason behind how you lost your eye...Iv'e heard rumours from some of those who used to be in the CE's fodder, my personal favourite one was that you lost it in a bar brawl by taking a bottle slash to the face... Then you cut the guy's utensil off and forced him to swallow it...Sounds like something you'd do, its why i find it to be quite amusing. But i'd like the real reason, mostly because it's something that has been bothering me, and because it's something that really doesnt seem to bother you.

[Zandelia]

She listened, listened as his diatribe became so brimming with emotion that she didn’t even need her auristic talents to see precisely what filled him from the inside, what ate at him and still continued to poison him – so much so that miniscule flecks of spittle flew from his mouth and the other patrons in Grath’s Rest frown with disapproval as he thumped the table with a clenched fist, knuckles whitened from pure, unbridled anger. She watched him with a form of fascinated amusement, truth be told, her own version of dealing with the world and its terrible nature. She could see now that they were not so different, not when she opened the cracks in his armor for the true Ximal to shine through. He dealt with his past with anger, she dealt with it through cynicism and calculated revenge.

I am not sure which one is more effective. I kill less but then he gains more scars than I do she mused, her gaze seeking to penetrate his skin and lance into his soul.

She took her time in consideration as his following words were digested with ease, he had wasted his question on that which everyone asked her. She ignored that for now and merely spent a further span of chimes building the character of the man before her. He really did not know what it was like to be a female slave, the one who had to have their master’s bed warmed and ready for them so that they could be robbed of the last shred of their dignity. He had suffered abuse and she was sure it had been terrible but he had not experienced how low humanity could become – not really. In many ways she sympathized with him but in others she found his argument to be distinctly lacking. It did not explain the pure wrath he bore the slavers of the world, after all he had received his vengeance already. No, the only reasons he could still feel the scars so terribly were few indeed.

And of those I think only one motivation could so easily explain his rather…direct…attitude she mused, leaving her question forming for after giving her own response, she needed to get it right if she wanted to learn more of his nature.

“Ah yes, the old stories are quite humorous,” she spoke, sipping her beverage slowly between words as she considered how much to tell him, “did you know that most of them were made by me? I dotted them around various local establishments whilst pretending to be someone else. Or paid people to spread the rumors for me. The value of truth is highly prized but I find that lies are far more easily accepted by others. I know my trade well” she continued as she spun the cup in her hand, moving it with her fingers as her gaze swept away from Ximal and into her memory.

“The truth though, the truth is so very simple. Almost boring really my dear Ximal. You were a slave once,” she paused, deciding she would give him truth, but perhaps not all of it just yet, it would weaken her bargaining position, “I was a slave too, of the female variety quite obviously. That is why, perhaps, I could help you with your…agenda” she paused there, looking him directly in the eye then with her singular orb.

“Should you wish me to, at least. At any rate, the story is a short one and involves the same general abuse that you underwent. I had enough, after a while. Trained myself in weaponry, of a sort, and smashed my way to freedom. Lost my eye for that, a small price to pay” she shrugged at the ending of her words.

He had asked for the truth and he had received it, though he had not asked about anything else and so had not received. He would waste another question perhaps as she set about dissecting him, clever gambit after clever gambit. She was eager with the truth with almost everyone, though she was willing to barter certain information for more received from him. She was not a clumsy word-smith.

“Which brings me to the consideration of your motives. You have much to account for, that much is clear, and you hate slavers, which is understandable. However, I do not understand why your passion is so...all encompassing. There are a few reasons I can think of but the main one, the simplest one, is that of love. Did you love this girl slave Ximal? Did you take the beatings because you wanted to break free with her?” she asked him, gaze now firmly fixed to the man opposite her.

[Ximal]

Xi relaxed a little as he finished and began to listen to what zand had to say in response...However it wasn't as he'd pictured it. She'd made up most of them, that was to be expected. After all as she'd clearly stated it was her trade. She prided herself upon making sure that her own secrets were well hidden whilst finding a way to dig through most other peoples with relative ease. To be expected from her, Still she always found a way to skirt around an answer without ever actually giving one. Xi rolled the drink still left in his cup around, his other hand playing at his forehead. Though for once he''d actually get some semblance of a reply, a shred of the honest truth from her as opposed to a skirting around an issue. Xi placed his cup down upon the table and leant forwards. Clasping his hands and resting his atop his interlaced fingers, supporting his chin on his thumbs as he lent his lower jaw into his index fingers. His ears open and listening to zand's words. So her own story was truthful this time but boring, and only boring because she would make it so. Still that was the point of all of this, trade for trade with information. Well Xi'd learn't a few things from zand's statement, she'd been a slave in her past...And she'd under gone a similar fate to his friend. Xi felt his hands slowly pressing tighter straining to collapse shut infront of his face but holding open. Though she could help with his agenda...Would she ? she operated in the shadows and he was a beacon drawing all comers towards him, he stood there like a watchtower for all to see, but stood like a bastion, unyielding no matter what he had to do. Xi drew in a slow staggered breath lingering over the pause in the speech, still though he tilted his head down slightly until his nose touched his middle knuckles. She tne continued bolstering what he already knew. But at least she had been honest she'd escaped and her eye was the price of her freedom...His price...He was still paying...Xi felt himself smirk lightly behind his hands, possibly visible for her to spot. and then he spoke back out at the end of her recounting. "It's funny how much freedom costs...Some pay with scars, others can loose things, some have instant payments, and some carry forth continual ones...It varies from person to person, but your payment for your life...was your eye. And from the looks of that, it was an instant payment, your still paying the interest on. But an eye is something you learn to deal with. I think in retrospect...Your possibly lucky for it just being an eye and not something more substantial. After all and this may just be the male side of me speaking... It seems to add some more character to your face, instead of detracting from it." Xi smirked lightly, it was more of a compliment than anything else even if it had been said in a light hearted manner. But then came zand's response. A questioning of his motives and or his reasoning for what he chose to do ? A asking of his reasoning behind him wanting to stem the flow of children being taken into that abhorrent line of work. Though she wanted to think of an all encompassing reason. she could only think of love ? Did he love this slave girl ? Xi closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, breathing out a stream of long slow cold air. Before opening his eyes and planting them upon zand's face. Xi formulated his reply. "No, i viewed her more as a sister. I don't know about my family...I never have...I don't know if any are alive beyond that lout of a brother of mine. And then even he i dont think is my brother i just think he thinks i am...I mean he's so much...more different than i am. But no i viewed that little girl as family. And i've never really liked seeing innocent people in pain. Suffering because of something beyond their power or the malicious intent of another. So no...It wasn't a love of her. and in the end i didn't even get the chance to save her either. Here i am proclaiming i want to be the saviour of the enslaved...If i cant even save one life...then i'll never save any. " Xi let his gaze drop slightly falling from her face onto his hands. It was his turn to ask the question. "with my question i'd like to not ask a simple yes or no question...What is the reason you live? I know that sounds strange but i mean what is it you search for, what is it you live for. What is your goal. You hoard intelligence like no other, you deal with people like their just things of monetary value. So ym question is, why do you do what you do ? Consider this a two parter question as i also would like to know why you've sucjh an aversion towards men. I know most of them possibly me included are arrogant jack-offs who can think of doing nothing more than satiating their need to rut like an animal. But i'd like to know your personal reason if not then i'm sorry for asking. "

[Zandelia]

She listened intently to Ximal and, as he spoke, she knew that she was gaining further titbits of information for the later analysing of his character. He was starting to coalesce into a very complex creature, the kind of personality that she liked to deconstruct and piece back together bit by bit. Personalities were so interesting when she considered them, they were constantly changing puzzles ready to be solved multiple times. She was beginning to wonder if one could permanently fix the picture of the puzzle, the personality, with a few well-placed pins. She dismissed such musings for now and concentrated upon his words, noting how his voice altered when he mentioned the word ‘family’ and described the one he had failed to save.

Can he truly think that he can save everyone? That he can even save himself? It’s a romantic notion that shatters when it contacts reality she thought as she wondered why he even tried to make her feel better about her eye, she had come to terms with it years ago.

“On balance I would say that you can’t save anyone from themselves Ximal, but I won’t try and stop you from fulfilling your dream. At you have one, unlike most others in the world,” she told him, pausing briefly in consideration, “I would give you one thing to think on though – what would the scarred do with their new freedom, beyond hate?” she asked him rhetorically.

She finished her beverage again and poured herself the last drabs of the pitcher that was left, weighing up his own question of her and how much she would, or indeed could, tell him. In truth she had no memory of a time when she was not the way she was now, even in the thralls of slavery the love for information had endured – one of the few things they had not been able to beat, shame or rut out of her. It was part of her character in a very intrinsic way and she supposed she had her father to thank for that, though she was grudging in such gratitude. Her goal though, that was a transient concept in the extreme – her goals morphed determined by the given situation.

Do I have an over-arching goal? Perhaps. Would it be wise to tell Ximal? Perhaps not. Such considerations are not safe, nor secure enough yet she told herself, trying to find a way to answer him without, truly answering him.

“Why do I do what I do?” she asked him in return, tone adequately thoughtful for her needs, “the real question is why would I not do what I do” she returned in her usually divisive manner, speckled with enough philosophy as to smooth over the fact that she was not answering him fully yet.

“Knowledge is power, you have heard of this I presume, but what use is power without motive? I have my own motives and they are all well and to the good, but they are for another time and another day – far in the future” she continued between sips of her drink, feeling the general numbing of inebriation begin to afflict her body slowly as the chimes passed.

“My motives are generally dictated by who wants to employ me. Oh, I guard the Spires because there are few here who are dishonest. In other cities though, well then we shall see how honest people are and just how much they will pay me to make their dreams realities. Shallow? Perhaps”

“When it comes down to it Ximal, most of life is an equation where you choose between profit or loss. It happens every day and I’d rather not lose all of the time. I arm myself, therefore, not with steel but with words, secrets and knowledge. With such weapons I can make sure that I am on the winning side, that for now is enough. As to the future – well you will need more than a few drinks to earn that secret, it is very valuable indeed” she told him, finishing her beverage at last.

“For the answer to your second question you need only think about who is in power most of the time Ximal dear, and ask yourself why I would possibly dislike being controlled” she told him, the drink loosening her tongue slightly but not giving away anything she did not wish to.

“My last question for you, Ximal. What will you do if your current goal becomes untenable? That is, do you have a backup? Or can I assume you so filled with wrath that such a thing has never existed?” she asked, her gaze strong now and her curiosity piqued.

It was the last piece of the puzzle she would require for now – she would then have the past, present and the future. From that she could build a few strings which she could pull upon as and when required, if required.

[Ximal]

Xi felt his shoulders slump lightly and let his hands unlace before pressing his knuckles together, keeping his head balanced upon his thumbs. Listening to zand talk about his " dream" it wasn't a dream more of a wish... Something that he'd wanted to do just to prevent the possibilities of that form occurring. He couldn't save anyone from themselves. That was true enough he couldn't even save himself...What would the scarred do with their freedom... Xi mulled offer the thought...His jaw rolling back and forth lightly. "Grow." A single word answer to an unanswerable question, the shackles and weights of a life of constraint lifted they would be free to grow and fulfil a role they never would have been able too before. Xi let the thought run around his own head. He'd grown since he left...Sure it wasn't how he'd suspected he would but that was due to his want to allow others their freedom. With freedom came possibility. Sure Xi's own possibilities had suffered due to his want to help but it had strengthened a part of himself. Rolling the thought about his head he reaffirmed his shoulders slightly feeling better about himself. Before zand spoke in response to him, and his question. He knew he wouldn't get a direct answer zand wasn't like that but then again it was something he was growing to know. Xi sighed lightly as he dropped his hand to the table and pressed his fingers into the bridge of his nose. "Knowledge is power ? Power is power...But then again the only true measure of worth that power knows is...Power. Knowledge may hold some power but it doesn't hold the overarching strength. Coin the right words into a phrase and you can change the course of an army. But it's not you which holds the power but the army. That's living through proxy. fighting through strength of mind. But when it comes down too it...everything is measured in strength of arm. Sharpness of sword. And swiftness of foot. If you cant hold your own...You have no right to hold another. But if you cant think for yourself either...Then you've no right to own such power. it's a catch twenty two." Xi smirked, would this finally see a rise out of her? some small fleck of emotion beyond the cold grin, the conniving smile and the distant pleasantries he'd received? Here he was sitting not five feet from her. And still she'd not shown him a grain of emotion out of place. Not a sliver of how she really thought about things. Her words to his eyes were a way of trying to fight. But she's not trying to fight...Look at her you moron. She's guarding herself...Using her nonchalant ways to defend herself against the terror's of this world. Using her wit as her only blade, and her guile as her only shield. She's seen things...I'd make her see more but...that's a fish for another ocean... Xi shook his head blanking liro but he couldn't help feel that he was right in some way. Whether he was right about her that was sceptical. Still Xi weighed up her statements she only had her motives dictated by those she worked for ? Xi just sighed storing the information away within his head for a later time. Still She went on to answer his second part of his question ...Xi sighed at her answer. That wasn't what he asked. But it did give him a rather clean indication that she'd been controlled by male figures in her past, at least that was a clean and clear cut explanation there. As her question came to him though, he rolled the answer around in his head. What would he do if his current goal became unattainable ? He'd thought about this for a while. With ever passing day in the spires he found the reality sinking in. He'd never truly do this by himself but he knew he could still hope. He could still wish, but if he couldn't then. "I'll find a way to help people, be it through simply helping them with mental problems or learning to fix the ailments of the physical...I will find some way to be of use to others if i cannot prevent the harshness of the world i'll find some way to help ease it. Wrath as i've said in't my cause, sure i hate people who do that but it's not wrath which drives me...but the want to release people from their pain." Xi rolled a couple of thoughts about his head as he lent over the table before simply stating his last question plain and frankly. A blunt question but one he would not settle for a round about answer too. "This is my last question for you too...Do you trust me? I dont mean in the terms of simplicity, i mean do you trust me, in the regards of at least trying to help you as well. Snd unlike every other question i don't want a round about answer that meanders around and through the truth, i want a straight answer. Do you trust me to help you?"

[Zandelia]

She watched him carefully, noting the slackened jaw and its rolling movements, the inward gaze and the slow, methodical hand motions. He was thinking upon what she was saying now, thinking deeply perhaps. It was a good sign, a sign that she was breaking through his usual barriers and getting into the heart of his persona – or at least that was one possibility. At the very least he was more open to her questioning, not dismissing it out of turn and considering her words and their weight. It was a start and she could leave Grath’s Rest with that achievement ensconced in her pocket for the future. Her drink was finished now, her fingers splayed upon the table with her left hand, caressing the hilt of her father’s dagger with the other.

“Ah…grow. Growth is irrational and unpredictable. I have heard it said that the captives often turn into the captors – perhaps by cutting them loose you would increase the problem you wish to solve. I would advise that you do more for them than free them, if you really wish to keep this goal of yours” she responded simply, her tone gentle rather than mocking – she was providing a service of analytical notation, something she usually charged for.

No matter, he will remember and one day perhaps will view my advice as a debt to be paid. Or perhaps just as the formation of companionship. Either way I do not leave empty handed she told herself idly, considering the man’s other words.

He was speaking in circles for her, proposing riddles that were easily refuted and thus caused her immediate suspicion. She knew he was trying to learn from her as much as she was from him, but he was getting a little more crafty in the way he was going about it. It amused her and she let a small smile paly upon her lips. He was smart but she doubted he was clever enough to figure her out without her giving him some signs to follow. She had gifted him a few this evening already and was not willing to give many more in one evening’s conversation. What she had told him about her would take assimilation and musing to fully comprehend at any rate – adding more information would hamper that process and she wanted him to know her.

Or at least the part of me I want him to know she thought.

“Power is a transient concept really, it ebbs and flows between various people and organizations. The power of one’s muscles fails as you age. Your speed will be sapped by injury, fatigue or disease. There are few things that remain the same in this world and what I know is not one of them. I cannot tell you what I mean, you have to figure it out for yourself…as it seems you are already doing my dear Ximal” she looked at him pointedly then.

“In regards to that I will ask one question of you. When you can answer it satisfactorily then I shall answer more of your questions in turn. The question is this – if power changes hands, from person to person, what remains the same and why?” she stood up then, a little unsteadily and slipped out from between the table and chair.

“Regrettably I have a prior engagement that I must attend this night Ximal, or I would stay longer – believe me,” she told him, patting his shoulder a little with minor affection and no more, “I trust you Ximal. You have helped me before and we have some common ground between us”

“But know this, when you earn my trust there is no going back. If it is broken then people are generally found a few days later in the river…or what equates for a river in the Spires,” she looked him dead in the eyes then, tone serious and stony, “have a nice evening…friend”

With that she half-walked and half-shuffled her way towards the door and the gathering night, her skin dulled to the cold but her mood cheerful for the first time in a while.

[Limey]

Ximal Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Bodybuilding 1 Repetition Works... Flux 2 ... But A Man Needs A Sparring Partner Unarmed Combat 5 A Hate For Stagnation Observation 5 A Grounded Stance Quarterstaff 2 Analyse And Overcome Endurance 2 Taking The Gloves Off Tactics 1 Noticing Patterns Gauntlet 1 Unfamiliar Waters Socialization 5 Mixing It Up: Armed And Unarmed Rhetoric 3 Taking The Pain Best Against Best? Always A Risk, But The Reward Is Worth It Victory... Just Little To Tell, Much To Search For Be A Sword To Forge, Not A Shield To Hide Zandelia: Shadow Walker Power Is Power Zandelia Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Observation 5 Ximal: A Useful Specimen Unarmed Combat 3 Hey, Look Behind You! Acrobatics 1 Dirty Tricks Endurance 2 Dance Of Flying Flesh Tonfa 4 Screw Technique, I Wanna Live! Meditation 1 Bring A Stick To A Fistfight Tactics 1 The Rhythm Of The Fight Brawling 2 Disarming With Tonfa Socialization 3 Planning Ahead Auristics 2 Regaining Control Investigation 3 Challenge Accepted Sand In The Eyes: Gotta Love The Classics Hello, Chin! Grath's Rest: A Place Of Leisure AND Business Seeing Through Different Eyes Intelligence Gathering Not In This For Your Revolution (Or Crusade) Ximal: Righteousness Hiding Rage Knowledge Is MY Power... If Not My Purpose Shared Lore: Reading Your Enemy Adapating And Surviving Never Limit To One Style, Or One Weapon Beers To Ease The Bruises Differences In Perception What Measure Is Freedom? The Nature Of Power Additional Notes : Phew! Well, that was definitely one of if not THE most comprehensive training threads I've ever graded, and it had a very deep and complex discussion tacked onto its butt. I liked it, all of it, even with your tiny, bunched together writing! Nice work, guys, keep it comin'. Any questions or queries, please PM me.