Sitting across from a man with a fawning expression, Nur ate and drank with reckless abandon. All sorts of dishes and delicacies lay before him, his eyes feasting on it all even though his mouth could only handle three at a time.

“So, you are not affiliated with a patrician family?” asked the man.

Nur shook his head, not bothering to reply and instead grabbed a large pitcher of wine and downed it all in one go.

“The Divine Court?”

A wordless denial.

“Explorates from beyond the border?”

Denial.

The man paused, the gears in his head turning in rapid pace. His polite, business-like smile breaks for but a moment. Nur notes his rapidly changing micro expressions, raising his eye at the sudden smell of greed that came and went as fast as the wind.

“Ahem, I am Imeran Iacchus. Soon to be Aspirant of the College and manipulator of Terra and Ventus, of nineteen years of age.”

As he introduced himself a ring of floating dirt condensed around one of his fingers, twirling round each of his fingers for a moment until dispersing.

“Nur, freedman. Sixteen, you know the rest.”

The two shook hands over the table, a subtle squelching sound ringing out from some sauce left on Nur’s hand. Imeran’s expression faltered slightly, but his eyes lit up suddenly.

“Sixteen!?! You have that much mastery over your domains at your age, HAH”

Imeran tightens his grip and begins to shake even more vigorously, “Friend, no…brother! It must have been destiny for us to meet. Perhaps years to come the traveling musicians will be singing of this meeting between two great minds. No that is too tame…A play! Yes, a play will be featured across the republic that will forever immortalize this happenstance.”

Nur forcibly removes his hand from the exceedingly long greeting, even wiping his hand on a nearby towel as he regards the man across from him.

“The job,” he said Curtly.

“The, what?” replied Imeran in confusion.

“The, Job, That, You, Will, Pay, Me, For” spat Nur.

A stupid look fell on Imeran’s expression, but then he straightened up and waved his hand in a sweeping gesture.

“Of course, the job. I was just swept away by the beautiful moment, apologies. With your capabilities, you are a perfect fit. In fact, I will just go ahead and say I will pay quadruple the stated amount so long as you perform as exemplary as I know you can.”

Imeran then pulled out a thin but exceedingly meticulously crafted coin purse and pulled out two golden coins. He wiped them down with a cloth and then placed them neatly in front of Nur.

“A little bonus from me, that is not tied to the job. In hopes that you will accompany me every now and then to go out and explore the wonders of the Republic’s culinary world.”

Nur eyed the coins with clear suspicion, he pushed them back towards Imeran without hesitation.

“No, the money from the job is enough.”

Imeran sighed and spoke in a sonorous tone dripping with sorrow, “I understand. This may seem jarring to you since we just met and all. I just. I just thought that you would enjoy some of the fine foods that are, mind you, just absolutely delectable. You know, the delicacies that are served by the finest cooks that only certain high-end families have access to. For some of the establishments I had planned, bah, even I would have trouble getting in to without a reservation months in adva-.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The two coins disappeared into Nur’s own coin pouch, causing the plates on the table to jump up slightly from the sheer force used.

“I accept.”

With two claps, the downcast demeanor of Imeran dissipated instantaneously leaving behind a serious wake.

“Good. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, allow me to explain what you will be doing.”

Hearing the grave tone, Nur stopped eating and leaned forward slightly.

“I have a childhood friend who has always been extremely close to me. We have gone to the Rubicon and back together, I had thought nothing could separate our bond. But lately, they have done nothing but shut themselves in a training hall I rented out for them a few months back.

So, I need you to help me stage a play. Play the part I assign you, mmm, perhaps a roguish villain that has captured me. We could make you out to be the henchman of someone they utterly despise, get them riled up so I can hear their true thoughts.”

“You want me to beat up your friend?”

Imeran clicked his tongue and laughed condescendingly,

“No, I want you to get them agitated and then survive what comes next. Between the two of you monsters, I honestly cannot fathom who is stronger than who. After I get my confirmation, I suppose it would do no harm to have a go at it. Maybe relieve some of their stress? I and my retainers will be on standby to stop it when it goes too far.”

Imeran then grasped the air, causing a shimmering glass bottle of wine to float over to the table. Grabbing it, he poured two tall pitchers full of the viscous liquid.

“Spiced wine straight from the south. To our cooperation!”

The two downed their drinks and began to plot and ploy.

----------------------------------------

An expansive yet empty room that is only lit by the soon to be setting sun which bravely shines through an opening on the roof.

Many standing targets are arrayed, some the size of a plate with others the size of a coin. All are moving with some erratic random movements whilst others are far more controlled but still experience speedy changes in direction.

Across these targets is one young woman who is wearing a sharp vest and long pants, holding a bow in one hand, and preparing to shoot an arrow with the other.

Thwip, Thwip; two arrows are loosened in quick succession and whistle through the air for a moment before hitting two of the smallest coin sized targets.

Thwip, Thwip; two more follow and crush the previous arrows and take their place on the targets.

The young woman then suddenly drops to the floor as something shoots out from the darkness and cuts apart the air where her head was just a moment before.

Without looking she pulls a dagger from her sleeve and stabs backwards as a buzzing sound rings out the moment her blade finds its mark.

Suddenly she jumps in the air, pulling her legs up and dodging yet another unseen blow. In one fluid movement she throws the dagger to the left and jumps off the limb that attempted to knock her off her feet. She vaults forward and twists in midair, drawing her bow and knocking an arrow as she lands. Firing it off, it lands with accuracy and another buzzing plays out followed by the ring of a bell.

Taking a deep breath and then two smaller ones she visibly loosens her tension while wiping the sweat off her brow and placing the bow on the ground. She then stretches and takes off several hidden bracelets and a belt from underneath her clothes and drops them to the ground, that fall with a massive crash, and finally takes off her blindfold.

She then examines the targets, this time with her actual eyes.

On each target a pin size dot can be seen to have an arrow in it whilst a mechanical dummy that was behind her has a clear piercing wound `on its heart.

“Always the last in the string that fails”, she says quietly in annoyance while she walks up to the dummy on the left. She notices that she failed to hit the mark perfectly.

She then pulls out her dagger and walks to the far end of the room. Holding it with one hand and taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and mimics her earlier motions before with perfect accuracy.

Throwing the dagger once more mid jump she lands and opens her eyes.

“Hmph, that’s more like it” she says with a smirk. Observing her perfected mistake with upturned eyes.

Then, without warning, the only door to the room slams open and the young woman’s smirk is wiped off her face as it changes to be completely neutral.

Turning around she looks at the panting and sweating young man who burst into her room with piercing eyes.

“What do you want Roarius?” asked the girl icily, her previously animated features now frozen solid.

The young man shrunk back slightly but recovered fast and said in a stammer,

“I-Its Imeran Miss Minerva he-“

Before he could finish his words Minerva appeared in front of him without so much as a single noise and examined his clothes.

She rifled through them and easily noticed the cuts in his clothes and blood on his back as he spun him around.

Pushing him back with her palm she runs to a stand beside the door and grabs a belt with two swords attached and while strapping it on she asks,

“Where?”