Neku sat on top of the clay shingled roof with his legs hanging over the edge. It was a beautiful morning, the sun behind him in the east, throwing light on the city in front of him. In the distance was the sight of the many factories. Giant gears and pillars of smoke, whistles and bells could be heard from far off in that direction. Neku hunched forward a little, his lips curling slightly up in the sight of the foreground. Zhu Clung to Neku's shoulder while looking in every direction, twitching as if he were always nervous.

Neku looked down into the market street below him. The bazaar of Karmik street was bustling with people and a couple of city guards pushing through the crowd. Neku noticed them push a man into an alley, and not a very friendly push. The guards seemed to be operating a little shakedown. "Zhu," Neku said taking Zhu onto his arm which he extended outward, "Get their purse."

Zhu responded with action. He flew from Neku's arm and started picking up speed as he descended to street leve and avoided bystanders. He swooped in behind the guard and quickly scraped his purse of coins with his talons. Coins spilled everywhere and mobs of people rushed quickly toward the easy money. The guards just noticed, and attempted to try and recover as much coin as possible. While the guards were distracted the stranger utilized his chance and slipped away.

Zhu made a large loop as he ascended and finally circled his way back to Neku's side. "Good work Zhu," Neku said in appreciation of the falcon. He decided that staying and watching the guards get what they deserved was much more fun than running around rooftops in the morning. He watched as many people made off with large amounts of coin in hand, off to hide it somewhere safe.

Zaku looked at the situation. One of the best fighters at the academy had challenged. Zaku himself was so far an undefeated duelist. He remembered stating that he could beat this guy without even using a weapon, and he had meant it. He'd been working on a new technique. The kid seemed arrogant, and Zaku would like to see him what he looked like in a defeated position.

The opponent formed a big eatheral morningstar. "You're going down you arrogant prick!" he said with passion. He was already making a mistake, Zaku had learned at a young age to not let emotion blind him in a fight. Zaku didn't respond as he felt he didn't need any psych tactics to win this fight. The students surrounded around the two were getting a little rowdier. "What's the matter? you getting cold feet?" the opponent asked.

Zaku was getting bored of this man, his quips were especially dull and tiring, inspiring no anger, and even the thought that he could win this fight was far from realistic. Zaku focused on his shadow, and used dark magik to move it over his opponents, and masking it so it wouldn't appear like anything was happening. The opponent tried to take a step but it was to late, Zaku had his shadow in the right place. He forced small thin blades up and quickly into the man's ankles. An easy trap, leaving weaker opponents unable to continue, and a lot of confusion as to how it happened.

Zaku didn't even wait for the crowd to disperse from around the crippled man. He had training to do in the somewhere else in the academy. He walked away carelessly wondering only how he could use his technique in an actual battle. It was a little straining, and took a while. It would be hard to stall a true enemy long enough. He threw it from his mind, and continued on his way down the halls to the back to train.

Early to bed, early to rise; that was what Kaine was thinking as he stepped out of the inn he was staying at for the past night, only just arriving in Gallus the night before, now stretching with a large yawn as the busy people of the street bustled about, tending to their daily lives, Kaine merely watching in awe of the sights in which he could have only dreamed of seeing up until now, a wide, cheery grin displayed across his face.

A few passersby gave him odd looks upon noticing how happy he appeared, which they was their right, given that NO one was ever THAT happy in the Lower Class district of Gallus, but shrugged it off and continued on, likely thinking he had finally gone insane due to the lifestyle they were all forced to live. Kaine, on the other hand, could think of nothing but what he'd do, or where he'd go first. He managed to save up plenty of gold while working at his village's local blacksmith for the past 10 years, and was eager to spend every coin on foreign cuisine and delicacies, while he stayed here in Gallus.

Just as he was beginning to step out into the streets of Gallus, 2 people scurried past him, nearly slamming into him, carrying small leather pouches filled with as much gold as they could possibly carry, running as if their lives depended on their speed. A few coins managed to slip out of the pouches and clatter across the ground, neither of the 2 strangers seeming to notice as they got further away. Kaine noticed it and meant to voice his concern, "Hey! You dropped some of your money!" but to no avail, as they didn't even think to look back. "Hmm..." a confused expression formed on his face as 3 guards caught up to where he was, out of breath. "Haa...haaa... You... Did you happen to see...a couple of...scavengers...run by here...?" said one of the guards who was trying to catch his lost breath. "Uh, no...? I only saw a couple of people sprinting away with their money in hand..." replied Kaine, completely oblivious to what the guards were talking about, pointing in the direction they fled to. "They didn't even stop to pick up the gold they dropped on the way..."

Upon hearing this, one of the guards started searching the ground, picking up as much gold as possible. "Hey!" cried Kaine, a worried look on his face, "That's not yours! I just told you!" which another guard simply said "Mind your tongue when speaking to a Gallus city guard, you simpleton. And it's quite obvious that those people you saw were THIEVES. Why else would they be in such a hurry, mm?" This seemed to make Kaine think a bit before speaking, "Well...I guess that makes sense..." which prompted the guard to reply, "Yes, now mind your business and go about your day. Or else I'll throw you behind bars for meddling in the town guard's affairs."

The guard then grabbed the other two that were with him and set off in the direction the 2 "thieves" ran off to. Kaine merely watched their backs, his smile returning to his face, and yelled after them with a wave, "I hope you catch your thieves!" and turned to set off on his own adventure.

The speed... the wind in your face... the constantly moving environment... That's what one would feel if they had Scarlett's super speed. Aside of running really fast, the girl was also thinking of her conversation with her father.

Scarlett has always wanted to know more about her mother... "Your mother was an irresponsible woman. That's all you should know." He had always ignored the subjects about past... because there was much more that Scarlett didn't know...
Scarlett's father (or as he claimed so) was very caring, but never overprotective. He wanted to give Scarlett all the opportunities so she could become an independent strong woman with many stories to tell. That's why he immediately said 'Yes' after she asked him "Dad, may I go on an adventure so I can find more ways to develop my powers?"

Scarlett quickly climbed on a roof. Her eyes were filled with joy from the view. She noticed a person, who was sitting on the same roof. "Hi!" She greeted and sat next to him. "What'cha watchin'?

Piper awoke her head down on a desk. She lifted her head slowly and rubbed the red mark on her forehead. She yawned and stood up slowly stretching. This was the third time this week she'd fallen asleep in the blacksmith's. Feeling groggy Piper stood and walked around until she felt awake then she head out of the back into the main room where the owner of the shop an old man without children but a kind wife who treated Piper like her own daughter. The grizzly old man looked up at Piper and chuckled. "Fell asleep instead of going home again?" Piper blushed and nodded. The old man chuckled and gestured to a pile of weapons armors and other things the blacksmith had created with Piper's help. "Will you set up and man the outdoor sale today?" Piper smiled and nodded again.

Opening the door of the blacksmith wide she set out 3 tables and set a white cloth over it. She grabbed the tools and weapons and set them out over the 3 tables in a display. After that she grabbed a chair and sat down. Days would sometimes go by like this. Early morning Piper would man the store outside or inside other days when the store would be hers to run she would take in custom orders. The days were long and Piper was not being payed but she loved it all the same even despite the fact it was a blacksmith in the lower district. But oddly enough Piper preferred the lower district it was comfortable and welcoming unlike the pompous pampered higher district. And the blacksmith and his wife treated her like there daughter and even fed her and in return Piper worked for them and helped attract customers with her metal arm and eye.

Speaking of attracting customers it was about time Piper worked her charm. Standing up piper spun her metal arm the joint's spinning all the way around before locking in place the right way round. "Welcome to Sabara's Blacksmith~ Finest in the district! We have it all armor, tools, weapons. Custom orders inside!" There were a few people who seemed intrigued and walked over asking Piper about her arm her eye or her wares. Piper smiled and happily told the guest of Gallus the story of her arm and how it was her first custom order completed. While the people awed and ood or looked over the wares Piper watched people walk by talking about some commotion involving the police and coins. 'What could be going on?' Piper wondered as she ran her still good hand over her metallic one...

Kaine was walking by several ordinary shops, nothing truly attracting his attention, beginning to become a little let down that nothing exciting seemed to be going on just yet. Of course, it was still early in the morning; the sun had only just rose a few hours ago, and people were still just starting their day.

After a short walk only a few yards from where the 2 "thieves" had dropped their coins, Kaine noticed a blacksmith's shop. Smiling at the sight, Kaine reminisced over the good times he spent working at Joseph's shop back in his village. "Hm, I wonder if they're any good..." pondered Kaine, to himself, now about to pass it up, thinking he had no interest in buying any weapons. However, just as he was about to continue down the street, a gleam of gold struck his vision, and immediately stole his attention away.

Upon further inspection, Kaine found the source of the gleam to be a young girl with a metal arm and eye, tending to the blacksmith's shop in which he was only just about to pass up. "Wow!" he exclaimed, now hopping on over to the young thing, looking absolutely happy to see something so intriguing. The young girl seemed quite popular indeed, as many passersby were stopping to take a look, although most continued on, their reason likely being that they were locals who have seen her presentation one too many times.

Kaine was the most noticeable stranger among the small crowd of people that were gathering around the young girl, being the only one to run through everyone, going straight up to her and shouting at, "Hey! You're an interesting little fellow! How are you making your arm do that? Does it have a mind of its own? Where can I get one? Does it hurt? And where's your REAL arm? Oh, and what about that EYE of yours as well -- I didn't see that~! Does it allow you to see even better than normal? Or very far away? Or NO, wait! Does it let you see THROUGH things? Can you see my guts right now?" His questions seemed endless as he went on, asking all about her arm and eye, as if he'd never seen or even heard of mechanical limbs and attachments before today. Looking like a child with everything in the world to learn at once, he eagerly awaited her answer...

Piper blinked her one good eye as a stranger walked up asking question. She laughed and smiled letting her mechanical arm spin around once more before locking into place. The she went to adjust the gears on her mechanical eye causing it too zoom in and out. "My real arm? Well burnt and then cut off but eye burnt then removed..." She smiled. "My eye cannot see through things... Though I should consider adding that feature indeed." She smirked and pondered the idea. "Oh? Hurt? Not really well... I mean the cutting it off part hurt but that was my own fault... But aside that doesn't hurt... As for making it do that... Well you see using various wires and gears and hooking it up to my muscles I can move it as a person would a human arm but the flippy thingy is a trick I added so that I could move it better... I can show you the inner workings if you'd like?"

Piper picked up a screw driver quite prepared to show the man the inner workings and gears when she paused. "I haven't seen you around here... Hmp I should introduce myself." Piper threw the screw driver into the air and caught it on the way down with a bow. "Name's Piper Bandenged stranger I'm the trainee of the blacksmith here and a tinkerer I made this arm and eye nearly by myself when I was what... 10 or something well... I admit I had some help or quite some help... Anyway welcome to Gallus." She held out her mechanical while her mechanical eye preoccupied itself at zooming in on the young mans face catching in his details.

The people around the stall began to wander off or went inside too talk to the blacksmith. "Oh and sense your new here if you need anything just ask I don't mind helping out the new people here. But be warned you hang around me and you better be able to keep up this extra metal doesn't keep me on the ground." She gave a crooked grin cocking her head to the right a little as she often did without realizing and sending her short wild white hair tumbling over her face.

Despite not losing his gentle smile, Kaine's mind was buzzing with the information in which he had just received, thinking over her words and explanations, as well as her kind greeting and introduction -- simply overjoyed to see her little display of talent by catching her screw driver the way that she had. He could feel himself becoming more and more interested in the little woman known as Piper Bandenged. Eager to learn more about her, he opened with a friendly greeting of his own.

"Ha, you're cute." said Kaine, simply. "And that was a fancy little display you just put on! Yeah, I helped out the local blacksmith of my village for the past 10 years myself! Although, I doubt I could ever craft something as fancy as what you claim to have made, haha. Oh, and before I forget -- your kind greeting! I'll return the favor in full; my name's Kaine! Haha, or at least, that's what the people where I'm from call me!" Kaine's hand reached out, a beaming smile displayed across his face, waiting for Piper's hand to return the gesture. "And don't worry about me keeping up with you -- I'm pretty fast, honest." Kaine finished with a wink, oblivious to her figure of speech, as he often was when it came to sly wordplay.

A girl rose her head from her arms. Looking up, she saw her arms, a desk filled with papers, writing utensils, blown-out candles, a cup of warm tea and a plate of eggs and bread, a large library filled with many shelves, and light pouring in from second floor windows.

The grand library was something of a really big study. The floors and walls consisted of red capet and paint, while the ceiling, which was two stories high, was painted white, two chandeliers hanging from it. Tall shelves about an entire floor high were in neat rows that branched out from a large desk in the center, of which a purple-colored girl sat. There was both a fireplace and a second-floor balcony all around the perimeter of the library, with stairs on either side of the room. And behind the desk were the large main library doors, the only other ones being on the second floor. Altogether, the grande library took up half of the Bruma household of the Follus District.

Raising her arms off the table, Mykeisha brought her plate in front of her and started eating. She never bothered getting out of her seat to change out of her nightgown, for she prefered to wear it, for there was rarely a time she needed to look presentable. She simply needed to think about what she was going to do that day, more than likely finish reading "The Half-Life".


A young white-haired woman in a maid's uniform looked over white-clothed tables of which presented many different iron goods, mostly silverware, tools, pots and pans, gears, knives, nails, swords and other iron goods. She put a couple different knives in her cloth bag, such as different cutting knives, butter knives, wood knives, scissor knives, and even daggers. She then took a look at some pots, She placed her bag in one of the larger. pots and carried it in her arms.

The woman then made her way to the one-armed, one-eyed young girl sitting out front. "Excuse me," she asked, "I apologize for interupting your conversation, but I was wondering if you had any bronze or gold good, maybe charms or jewelry?"

Piper blushed when he called her cute and huffed defiantly. She was not use to being called cute... Then again her small stature probably did give her the impression of being such. "Well it's really not fancy like I said I had some help..." Piper watched as a young woman arrived and began browsing the wares and taking a few things. Keeping one eye on the young woman she smiled. "Alright Kaine no last name hun?" She shook his hand in greeting and laughed as he quite confidently replied to her offer.

Piper pulled her hand up and adjusted her mechanical eye once more when the young woman walked over asking about charms and jewels. "Our more expensive things like that are kept inside... The blacksmith Mr.Sabara is the one who handles the payments and the more important things of that sort but all our jewelry is in gold but we do have charms in bronze... If your looking for a repair that's also inside but you have to bring the item over so it can be estimated how much repair is needed." When Piper was sure she'd answered all possible sides of the girls query she smiled. "Oh and thank you for you business madam."

Never dropping his cheery aura, Kaine responded to Piper in kind, "Haha, nope. No last name for me, I'm afraid." Kaine watched the back of the young woman as she thanked Piper and continued on into the shop. "Mr. Sabara, huh...?" muttered Kaine, placing his index finger on his chin, thinking on the name. "Oh!" he exclaimed, suddenly, his smile returning. "I think Joseph mentioned him a few times while I was working with him back in Hollenhide! Said he was quite the smith." Peeking around Piper's person, as if he'd catch a glimpse of someone he'd never met and instantly recognize them, Kaine was curious as to what the blacksmith looked like.

"Hmm... I wonder if he remembers Joseph..." said Kaine, now standing straight again, looking back to Piper. "Have you heard of him? I think he and Mr. Sabara had a trading system set up between the two of them or something." Kaine was now checking out the few gadgets and items that were displayed on the table in front of Piper, his mind in awe of interesting mechanisms he'd never seen back in Hollenhide Village.

Piper blinked and though of the name. "The name does ring a bell... Mr.Sabara and his wife kept me away from the trading business... Bad memories they often told me..." Piper trailed off and blinked. "Oh I should mention he's not my dad... Lot's of people think Mr.Sabara is and that I have his wife's last name... But they lost there kid apparently they just kinda adopted me cause my own family could care less..." Piper took a breath then brightened back up. "Anyway do you want to meet Sabara? He enjoys curious people... And you seem to have enough curiosity to fill a small continent." She giggled and smiled at her own words.

Kaine certainly was an interesting one. Not like the other people around Gallus the rich who were too high on there horses to care about anyone and the lower class who were very kind yes but lacked in a certain spirit of life. Or at least all the people Piper had met lacked it... They all seemed so content to just live life with no complaints... What ever happened to livening things up? That's what Piper already admired about Kaine he seemed so happy to see everything even if he'd seen it just a second ago.

"Huh," Neku said looking over, "AAGGGGHHHH." Neku screamed in surprise. He slipped and fell from the roof, as Zhu left frantically jumped from his shoulder and floated backward rapidly. Just as quick as he disappeared over the edge of the roof, he reappeared on the other side of the roof. Zhu nonchalantly continued flying backward until he was once again on Neku's shoulder. Neku was wearing a somewhat goofy smirk as he held himself up on the edge of the roof, his fingers pressed against a couple of clay shingles.

He pushed himself up and Zhu flew from his shoulder. He kicked backwards and came into a slightly angled handstand until contracted his arms and, with a heave, pushed himself right side on the roof. "Neku Yamaku, at your service," he said bowing with his left arm pointing out, in a rather over prudent manner. Zhu reappeared landing on Neku's outstretched arm, looking everywhere as if he wasn't sure what to look at. Neku returned to a normal stance with his arm still outstretched now motioning to Zhu, "and this is Zhu."

Neku looked out at the now almost normalized street. The guards had run off after their money. "I WAS watching some guards get what they deserved, but that's gone now," he said in a seemingly disappointed tone. He looked back at Scarlett once again with a happy smirk. "Anyway what, may I ask, is your name?" he said with curious amusement.

Kaine was happy to have met someone he was almost indirectly connected to him so soon after his arrival into Gallus, however, he couldn't help but respond to Piper's mentioning of her family practically abandoning her, a sympathetic expression on his face, "Wow... That's an honest shame... I wonder how anyone could ever treat their own child like that...?" Kaine's smile returned after a few short seconds and continued, "But at least you were lucky enough to cross paths with two kind people like Mr. Sabara and his wife." Kaine then grinned with his white teeth showing brightly, eyes closed while pointing his thumb at his face, "Kinda reminds me of my own story!"

Kaine then suddenly remembered Piper's proposal of meeting Mr. Sabara, and became excited once more. "Oh, and I'd LOVE to meet Mr. Sabara! He sounds like a really nice person, after all!" said Kaine, now standing straight with his hands on his waist, looking rather "heroic" without realizing it, his grin still prominent on his face.

However, just after saying this, Kaine's expression dropped into a distracted look of curiosity as his attention was drawn to a scream just a short distance away from where he and Piper were speaking. "Hm?" he hummed, now looking out of the corner of his eyes and to the right, up at the rooftop the sound came from, just in time to see what appeared to be a young man climb on top of the roof, rather awkwardly, a bird then choosing to land on his outstretched arm after he managed to straighten up. "Hmm..." repeated Kaine, rather uncertainly, as the young man began talking with a young woman who also happened to be on the same rooftop. "Huh..." muttered Kaine, "Guess it was nothing." His smile returning, he looked back to Piper.

Piper blinked and grabbed a piece of wood that said 'be back shortly' and set it on the table. "Well they did not really abandoned me I'm allowed home it's just I'm the disappointment of the family... It's a long story I can tell you latter if you-" Screams met her ear and Piper tilted her head to try and see. "Interesting... Anyway come on." She held open the door for Kaine and stepped in after him.

Inside the shop warm air filled every corner and Sabara was huffing while it wrote down orders checked other and kept the coals hot. "Sabara we have a guest." The grizzly old man looked up and over at Pipe and Kaine before standing. Piper always admired how powerful he seemed despite his age. He was a tall man with large arms and a large upper body warm eyes and hair and a bear that at one point had been jet black but was now gray.

"Pip who is this man?" Sabara questioned with a look of disapproval. Ok maybe not disapproval but certainly an amount of curiosity as if trying to figure out every place Kaine had ever placed his feet.

Piper laughed. "Don't look at him like that Sabara he's not trying to drag me off to some cave and scoop my brains out he just wanted to meet you. He's a newbie from a ways away says he worked for Joseph... And hes got quite the curiosity." Piper smiled as Sabara's face softened a little.

"Yes Joseph old friend he might have mentioned you. Your lucky Pip here caught you today I heard there been madness with the guards today sent some poor guy to jail just for mouthing him off." Sabara placed a large hand on Piper's small head and ruffled her already wild white hair making her blush and huff for feeling small and for having the maddeningly cute nickname Pip brought into the light.

"Hm...?" hummed Kaine, looking rather confused upon hearing Piper's strange analogy, and was about to ask her about it when Sabara addressed him, and stole his attention away. Now smiling, Kaine responded in kind, "Yeah, I actually ran into a few of those guards." Kaine blinked and suddenly wore a sad expression, "One of them called me a simpleton and told me to move on, or else he'd arrest me... Didn't seem like a very nice guard to me..."

Kaine then started looking around the shop as he simultaneously spoke to Sabara, "So, you knew Joseph after all, huh? I thought he mentioned you once or twice." Kaine was admiring the work that was done on a long blade, fit for a top-notch warrior, as well as showing interest in a pair of studded leather fighting gloves that were on display next to it, his expressions changing between each new sight, going from awe, to excitement, to curiosity, and back to joy over and over.

Scarlett was so shocked and scared after Neku fell off the roof, she gasped and froze with her mouth open. Her heart skipped a beat, her pupils shrunk. She was relieved after she saw he was saved by a creature he called Zhu, but was still shocked.

Scarlett was still speechless a few seconds after he asked her for her name. The girl cleared her throat. "My name is Scarlett. Nice to meet you, Neku and Zhu." She raised her hand for a hand shake. "What did the guards deserve?"

"Well they were-" Neku felt something on Zhu's leg that wasn't there before. He reached with his left hand and pulled off a small square of paper tied to his leg. "When did you get this?" Neku said to Zhu, Zhu responded with a loud screech. "Fin fine, I'll look at it," Neku said in response.

Neku started unfolding the paper about the size of the end of his index finger. slowly as it unfolded it got bigger and bigger. Eventually it finally came to have no more folds and seemed around the size of a poster. In fact it was a poster and Neku read aloud the words at the top. "Fawkner Annual Fair, fun, games, rides, and the annual Fawkner tournament," Neku looked at Zhu, " When and where did you get this?" Zhu let out another screech. "Master? in town? well why would he want me to deliver this poster to the blacksmith's shop, everyone should know that it's in Talmanni Square tonight, in 4 hours no less."

Zhu scratched his feet and made a few loud caws. "Well that's a good point, and the ferris wheel could be mistaken for another factory wheel, and... well I'll do it, but when will master Zen get here?" Zhu simply flew off just over the houses of the buildings. "Zhu! ugghh, that overgrown pigeon is so stuck up sometimes." Neku bowed once more to the stranger, as he backed to the edge of the roof. "Sorry to be so rude, but duty calls, hope we meet again, maybe more 'personally'," he said with somewhat of a charming and even perverted manner. He didn't wait for an answer, he simply smirked and walked back off of the edge of the roof. He didn't fall, if someone had seen from the back they could tell the trick was something acquired from many years of moving through the lower city. he grabbed the edge of the clay tiles at the last moment and used the inertia of the fall to vault himself through the nearby window. He moved quickly and gracefully in this manner, having many years of experienced. Most common people thought it was some sort of magik all its own, because of how quick Neku could appear and disappear. Neku himself was proud of this unique skill all his own, it was one of the few things he actually possessed as a child.

Zaku was meditating in the training field. His mind was free to think, as his body prepared. He was preparing for the Annual Fair in Talmanni square. All two years living in this city he didn't care enough to go, but this year he learned of the annual tournament held, and that though it was slightly new, it had gained a fairly popular reputation for being one of the best tournaments in Gallus.

Zaku wondered what techniques he would use. His Asp Biter? maybe, but only as a last resource, it would be to easy otherwise. Suddenly Zaku heard someone running toward him. Zaku stood up and side-stepped keeping his leg out. A young boy came dashing but tripped over Zaku's foot. The boy looked to be about 17, with spiky golden hair, and he wore an orange vest over his white shirt, as well as dark long pants and tall leather travelers boots. On his belt he wore a sheathed sword. He pushed himself off the ground and sat up, looking at a rather annoyed Zaku.

"Hey Zaku, looks like I'm still not stealthy enough," he said with a smile. This was Evan Doragon a boy who had in his head befriended Zaku, and no one understood why. Zaku felt like this kid was always around to annoy him, even when he was 17 he wasn't this obnoxious. "What do you want now Evan, I'm meditating."

"I was just going to ask if you were entering the tournament tonight?" he asked with anticipation.

"Yes, what off it?" Zaku asked always tiring of Evan's constant positive attitude.

"Woohoo! We might fight each other then." Evan exclaimed with delight. Zaku now had one more reason to not go to the fair. Luckily though, he had more reason to go than not.


Evan:

Scarlett screamed when once again she witnessed Neku flying down from the roof. The same shock expression as before froze on her face. She was even more shocked while she was watching his trick.

One second later the black haired woman was in front of Neku. "WAIT! I'll help you! I'll come with you!" Scarlett wasn't from the people who would walk away when somebody had busyness. Not to mention that she has been looking for an adventure for such a long amount of time. "I don't want to miss any adventures! Ever since I started traveling, I have the feeling that I'm missing interesting events! ALL THE TIME!"

That feeling was not deceiving. An interesting fight including special abilities between two guys ended right before Scarlett appeared. She was also too late for the grandmother, who kicked a thief's butt, because he took her apple basket. Scarlett was so close to witness the guards too! Wasn't it ironic that her special ability was super speed?

"We can find more people on the way! We can even find them here!"

Piper laughed. "Calm down Kaine you look like you might faint from excitement." Sabara chuckled and squeezed Piper's shoulder before calmly moving back to his seat. Piper blinked and looked at Sabara. When she'd met him all those years ago he seemed so alive but now he was growing older and tired it showed under his eyes.

Piper watched Sabara take a breath and smile. "Yes we have few to no good guards left... No where is perfect." He smiled more watching Kaine. "If your interested perhaps I could offer you something on the house? For a friend of Josephs... I mean me and him go way back and I still owe him for some favors... Maybe if I can help you on your adventure I'l feel I've re-payed a little of my dept."

Piper smiled. "If you need any help choosing anything ask me the expert of wares" Piper leaned confidently on a self only to have it tip back sending her to her but and a pot sailing up into the air and on her head. Piper sighed and did not bother to move the pot from her head. "Third time this week... I really need to stabilize that..."

Silent, as always, the library could be described as silent, and large, that was another good word, but as of to describe the current situation and paint a better picture of the mood in the room, silent was the best word.

The only noises that ever occured were the sound of footsteps of either the guard, the maid or sometimes the bookworm herself, pages turning, things on a desk being fumbled with, the sound of a mechanical pen on paper, the sip of tea (it's tea-flavoured), and the absolute loudest thing, the girl's breathing, the only thing louder ever occuring in the library being her coughing. The rarest possible sound was the sound of speech, usually in French, but again, such rarely happened. However, this happened to be one of such occasions.

"Apologies for interupting," a German voice punctured the often called 'golden' silence. The woman looked up at her personal guard, a tall German man with short brown hair and round glasses, and wore an informal house-serving uniform, consisting of a black and grey striped suit and pants, the best of shoes, and navy blue gloves. His clean-shaven face did show signs of his second chore of being a personal mechanic, a little bit of soot and oil just highlighting it darker.

"I do wish to inform you of an upcoming festival tonight, in Tolmanni Square, the Fawkner Annual Fair, if you remember." Mykeisha had her eyes glued on her book again. "Yes," she responded simply. "... And I don't suppose a lady like yourself will go, correct?" "No." Mykeisha looked as if she wasn't trying to figure out what he was getting at, and in all truth, she expected her servants to know exactly what she's thinking, that's how she trusted them.

"Well, apparently there's going to be tons of rides and games, and as you know, the Fawkner tournament." Mykeisha did not respond at all. The guard pursed his lips. "You know, Miss Bruma," he explained, "Staying inside all the time like some hermit isn't good for your health." "Hermitude extends your lifespan," Mykeisha answered, in obviously more words than normal. "Yes," Aleksander responded, "But tell me, should you ever be depressed in life, would you not want to look back at something nice in your life?"

Mykeisha finally looked up at him. "It's not like you to suggest I should expose myself to the world," she explained, "Not with them looking for me. I am now pondering the possibility that you are not my guard, but in fact, an imposter out for the book and possibly, my life." And despite the melodrama in the statement she used, she said it all in the same calm melancholy ton she always used, not raising her voice any higher. "Miss Bruma, if I may," Alek explained, "It is not good one is too predictable, any mercenary will tell you that. You'll win no fights, and you wont even be able to flee or hide if one is too predictable. I, as your guard, am practicing this by asking you to do something different, make yourself do something unlikely, that is unpredictable.

Mykeisha gazed at him for a few seconds more, before lowering her gaze back on her book, but instead of reading it, was in deep thought, gripping it a little tighter. "And besides," the guard added, "It'd be great to learn magic by watching the techniques of others. And that thing you were reading, what was it? The idea of turning magical fighting into a game of artwork?" Mykeisha was unresponsive. There was a long pause. Then, the German sighed. "I thought not..." He made his way to the doors of the library to work on repairing the oven, when a small voice was interupted by a cough. It cleared it's voice and repeated itself more clearly.

"I'll do it."