When I woke up, it was morning. I was laying in an alley. I sat up, and recalled the night before. I checked my wound on my arm; but it was healed. I wondered aloud how long I had been lying in the alley.

"Only a few hours." A voice said. I jumped up and looked around. The little girl stood a short distance from me. I stumbled to my feet.

"Leave me. you were not paid to capture me, only to kill and to help Rico, yes?" I nodded. She smiled.

I suddenly had many questions I wanted to ask, but wondered at the point of asking a child. Ah well, I decided to ask anyway.

"Little girl...Kathryn, what happened after we fell last night?"

Kathryn smiled."You allowed my escape, Stiri. You, and Almond together. I was traveling from the islands with my... With my accomplices. I met Rico on the boat."

"He is not your bother?"

"No. He, like Kos, wished only for one thing. I had an item that they wanted to have. They wished for it." She smiled. “Naught but a stone, if you must know. But I didn't have it here, I had it hidden away. Kos came here to find something else, and because I came here to stop him, I was captured. But you... You helped me escape."

"How did I help..?"

"Kos had charmed the window, so It could not be broken from the inside. He never considered the outside though. Also, I cannot let myself fly, but I can make others fly. I pushed you out of the window, and used your body as a puppet to fly down. Then I hid us in this alley and set about healing your wounds."

I looked carefully at the little girl. I don't know much about children, perhaps she was of seven years.

“You're not normal, are you?”

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She suddenly looked past me to the mouth of the alley. "Rico is looking for you." She said. She gave me a small bag of coins. “You are the mighty assassin Stiri, are you not? You do not care about the political reasons, you don't care about power. You care about your job, and being the best assassin in the kingdom. Hence, I know you have no use of the information I just gave you... However, I hope you will again be of use to me. The gold is for your silence." She bowed, and ran down the alley, and out of sight.

"There you are!"A voice behind me said. I turned around, and saw Rico there, standing in the mouth of the alley. He looked tired, and his hair was tangled and frizzy. "Did she get away?" He asked. I pocketed the gold before he saw it.

"I don't know."

"What happened?"

"I remember falling; that's it."

Rico sighed, then smiled. He handed me a large bag of coins.

"I didn't... Well. I failed my mission, but you did everything you needed to... And, it was great to finally see the legendary Stiri!"

"...Legendary, am I..?" I said, feeling the weight of the coins. Rico smiled.

"Ever since I was young, I heard stories about you. I don't mind telling you that. I realized, though, that...well, you are human, and just an assassin. Half the stories I heard about you.."

"Exaggeration.. I thought I said that."

Rico nodded."Next time I need someone killed though-"

“Feel free to find me."I said. I meant it: he paid well.

“Go back to Lord Whyte.” Rico said, “He'll pay you for helping me, and the tower's rubble now. with Kathryn gone, Kos has no reason to stay here any longer. I'm not sure exactly why he was here in the first place, but if she escaped, I'll bet he went after her, leaving his tower to fall.”

I glanced up into the sky. The tall black tower that had once marred the blue sky, the shadow it cast over the village was gone.

“Kathryn wasn't your sister.” I said. Rico looked at me carefully for a few long moments, thinking about something I couldn't guess at.

“She wasn't.” he finally said. “Do you really care to know who she was?”

“I don't really care at all. It doesn't matter to me. So long as I get paid.”

Rico nodded and turned to leave. “Remember,” he said, “Lord Whyte wants to speak to you as well. I paid you, he'll pay you also.”

“Of course.” I muttered. I also had other plans I needed to carry out.