Snippet #1740754

Kordoshi sipped down another glass of water and placed the cup face down near the back of the table. He didn't know where they were keeping the glasses that had been used and he really didn't care, he just wanted out. He was still wearing a mask which had been placed on him while he slept on the trip over here, and he looked in a mirror off to the side of the room.

"... I hate nobles..." He unconsciously said aloud.

He ripped the mask off his face, snapping the cordage in the back with a loud whipping crack that reverberated through the area of the room he was in and scared a few of the nobles around him. He looked at the mask in his hands and stared at it for a moment. It was a finely crafted ceramic mask with a shining and reflective surface and beautiful black and golden inlays running along its edge. It was a half mask, so his mouth and the bottom of his nose had been free which is why he was able to drink before, but the rest of it completely covered the upper half of his face. Now that it was off, he'd had enough.

He crushed the mask in his hands, causing quite a few people around him to back away in fear as he simply continued to stare at his hand as the mask cracked, shattered, and fell to the floor in several pieces.

He hated masks. Covering up the face was a sign of cowardice in the world he grew up in and was frowned heavily upon. If his master had been here to see this he'd have punished Kordoshi on the spot for allowing such a thing to occur. Assassins didn't hide their faces, they showed them to their prey before they died. He looked up with a light scowl on his face and scanned the faces of those who were now staring at him. He had a thought and inside he began to smile to himself, though his face did not share in the smile. He reached up and grabbed the hilt of his sword, giving it a light twist. Five feet of tempered golden metal shifted on his back and sent part of the crowd into a panic. He smiled and closed his eyes.

He had adjusted the position of the sword at his back just so, making sure it was easily accessible if he needed it. The sight of him reaching for a sword with a five foot blade that had no sheath had seriously disturbed many of the spectators around him which made him quite pleased. It was the only fun he'd had all night, though it was now over. His smile disappeared and he turned and walked towards the side of the room near one of the windows. He removed his sword from its clip at his back and stabbed it into the ground next to the seat. He didn't care for letting a blade lean against a surface and risk it falling to the ground. Letting your weapon hit the ground without control was extremely disrespectful to the weapon and showed no discipline on the part of the weapon's owner.

He sat down in the chair and let out a sigh as the people who had watched him before turned away from him and continued their conversations, no doubt remarking how rude, crude and awful he had just been.

"... Pathetic, underhanded, two faced, scheming, suck ups... I really hate nobles." He said to himself under his breath.

He scanned the rest of the crowd. There were literally hundreds of people and the sight was almost overwhelming. The sheer size of the room and the number of people who currently inhabited it was astonishing and somewhat unnerving. Kordoshi was never good with crowds, given the solitary nature of the life he led as an Assassin, but this was ridiculous.

As he continued to watch the crowd, a young woman in a sky blue mask and a beautiful white gown approached him and sat down in the chair next to him.

"Such a lovely evening tonight, isn't it Kordoshi?" She said.

His eyes widened slightly at the sound of her voice, and his mouth opened to say something, but no words escaped. She let out a small laugh and turned to face him in her chair, and he turned his head to face her, his eyes narrowing as he did so.

"You haven't changed have you?" She asked with a smile, "Still can't stand crowds or those of noble birth I see. When will you learn to accept people for who they are rather than what they were born with?"

Kordoshi frowned at her.

"Taira... " He said quietly, " What in the Hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, just keeping an eye on you. Master asked me to do so after all. He wants to make sure that things go smoothly between you and your new bride to be."

He squeezed the arm of the chair, splintering the wood as he did so.

"I had a feeling he was in on this the moment that Badic told me that the High King knew of my existence for a long time. So Master was grooming me to be a fighter so I'd be a good match for a stuck up little princess was he? He can keep his teachings and ride the first boat to the realm of the dead for all I care, and if you continue to treat this matter so lightly Taira, then you can join him!"

His words were intense, but his volume was controlled. Never the less there was no mistaking the anger and hatred in his voice. She took off her mask slowly, not letting any real emotion show in her actions, but when the mask came down there were tears rolling down her cheeks. Kordoshi was taken aback by the sight, as he'd only seen her cry once before and that was when he left the life of an Assassin behind. She looked at him and offered a smile despite the tears.

"You think this is easy for me? I think you forget who you're talking to and what we shared for many years... Did you forget that you and I had planned on being wed one day despite the fact that we knew you would earn your freedom before that time could come to pass? You have no idea just how hard this actually is, to be here beside you at last and not be able to do a thing about it. I'm not allowed to interfere, I'm not even supposed to be talking to you right now but... I had to."

Kordoshi had to lean back and take in the sight. Her tears, the slight tremble in her speech and the sadness in her voice all came down on him like a lead weight. He closed his eyes and turned to face forward in the chair as his grip loosened on its arm and he let out a sigh. For a long moment, there was silence between the two until Kordoshi finally broke it.

"... I'm sorry Taira." He said gently.

"It's alright." She replied while she removed a tissue from her gown pocket and wiped her tears away.

"You know just how stubborn and hot headed I can be... I guess I just can't get used to this while arranged to a princess thing. I've let the stress and the anger get to me and it has clouded my judgement of the situation."

"That it has, you big dummy." She said with a smile and a giggle.

Kordoshi smiled as well and chuckled slightly. "Big dummy" was what Taira always called him when he made a mistake and had become something of a nickname for him between them whenever he would mess up. To hear her call him that again was refreshing and actually quite charming. He had missed the sound of her voice and the times they shared together. Their sharing of missions were some of his fondest memories growing up, and he looked over at her and offered her a genuine smile for the first time in over a year.

"I'm glad you came, Taira. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too Kordoshi. Life just isn't the same without you back at headquarters. Even some of the others miss you, though they'll never admit to it."

Kordoshi laughed aloud at the thought, since most of the others always said they hated his guts. Taira laughed with him and he felt the tension and the stress beginning to slowly melt away as they continued to converse.

"I remember them well. I have to admit that I almost miss them too, almost." He said casually.

"Almost... Sure. And yet if you were to go back I'd see them run up, lift you up and hug you and you'd laugh until they put you down again. You can't fool me Kordoshi, I know you." She said, laughing a bit to herself at the image.

"... Never the less Taira, tell me something. Did Master really know that all of this would go down? Did he know that this is what the High King could have planned for me all those years ago?" He asked, his smile disappearing and being replaced with a broken hearted expression.

Taira stopped laughing and looked at him with a similar expression before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. She opened her eyes and tried to smile but it just didn't work.

"I'm afraid so. Master is one of the High King's many high ranking secret officials. He happens to be an Assassin as well, and he knew full well that ever since you were a teenager that you were being considered as a prime candidate for what the High King had in mind this day."

Kordoshi let out a breath through his nose and leaned forward in the chair, his elbows finding their way to his knees as he clasped his hands together and brought them up to cover his mouth as he began to think on the matter.

Taira rose from the chair and walked to his side, placing her hand gently on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Kordoshi... I know that there isn't really anything I can say that will remedy this situation or ease your mind about the idea of being married to a woman you've never met and being brought into a lifestyle that you abhor. But even so I'd like to say that no matter what happens, I'll always be here for you. You know that, right?" She asked quietly.

His hands came away from his mouth and he was smiling. It was a comforting sight for her to see him smile after everything she had told him. He looked over at her and brought his left hand up to her face, opening it as if to stroke her cheek before suddenly turning it and giving her nose a gentle flick. It caught her off guard and she backed away a step, but regardless of the surprise she smiled and started to laugh. Kordoshi simply smiled, but no laughter escaped from him as he watched her.

"Thank you Taira, for everything. I'm not happy about what the High King has done, but now that my head is clear I can see the motivation guiding his actions this evening and I believe in his judgement on the matter. I doubt that a man like him would deliberately pair someone like me to a Princess unless he knew that there was a way for us to find a future together, as otherwise a pairing would be completely pointless and it would destroy us both in due time before any sort of peaceable life could be attained."

Taira stopped laughing and walked over to his side and once again placed her hand on his shoulder. "You're right. I've met the High King once before when he visited our headquarters shortly after you left us, and he is a kind and honest man. I believe in him as well, and I hope that you can find happiness Kordoshi... That's all I've ever wanted for you since the day we met."

Kordoshi gently placed his hand on hers as it sat on his shoulder and he continued to smile. He looked up at her for a moment and then back to the floor in front of him. For a moment he was silent, but he soon spoke once again.

"Thank you Taira. I'm sure that I will find a way to find peace with this. I always do." He said proudly.

"Yes you do Kordoshi, yes you do." She said quietly.

She leaned down and kissed his cheek, whispering something in his ear before she stood up straight, placed the mask back on her face and disappeared into the crowd before him. With her parting words Kordoshi stood up, pulled his sword from the ground by his chair and replace it on his back where it was meant to be. He sighed to himself at the thought of trying to interact with anyone here, but he resigned himself to the task. He would find anyone to speak with on this side of the room, however, so he followed Taira's initial path towards the other side of the vast room where nobody had seen or heard of the slight scene he made earlier.

As he walked towards the other side of the room, Taira's final message echoed in his mind.

... Though your future is a blur, remember that your past will always hold the answers you seek...

At present he didn't understand what she meant, but he had a feeling that in due time he'd come to understand her words.

After a minute or two of walking across the ridiculously long room, he found his way over to one of the refreshment tables and poured himself a small glass of wine. He was not a big fan of drinking, but the occasional glass was alright. Even though he had an incredibly strong tolerance to alcohol, he preferred not partaking of it when he could avoid it. Never the less he looked up and sat back against the table, despite the large blade at his back he tried to look as friendly as possible for anyone who would see him and feel that they could talk to him.