I walked up to her door, and this time instead of focusing to hear her breathing… I ended up hearing her tears, and her body shaking. With my blood still hot from the dragon's rage my senses were even sharper… But that anger I felt inside, no matter how weak, made it even harder to enter and try to comfort her in some way. Just like before as I reached for the doors handle, it was unlocked…
“You really should lock your door you know,” I said casually, walking in and looking at the door, giving her a chance to collect herself in hopes not to embarrass her.
She pulled up a small knife but didn’t even bother to stand up. Instead of moving like a glitch, she just seemed… Broken… Or I guess fixed, depending on how you saw it.
“You’re the only one stupid enough to come in here… Locked or not…” She didn't bother sheathing her knife; she just dropped it to the floor. Several blades of different sizes and shapes were scattered all over the room. 5 were sticking into a wall across from her bed, and there were at least 13 total, the rest strewn across the ground. “How's… it going?” I muttered nervously.
It seemed like she didn't know what to say either. I had no idea what was happening. But I walked over to her and sat down next to her in the corner. At first, she tensed up, but after a long moment of silence, she slowly started to melt, leaning on me, almost like a cat, but I couldn’t tell if it was intentional, or if her body just fell that way as it relaxed, unable to hold tension any longer.
“Why is your skin so hot…” She muttered, wrapping her arms around mine as if I were some kind of pillow.
“That’s a secret.” Another long moment of silence followed. “That man… We ended up saving his life. He’s alright now…”
She hardly reacted at all, as if she already knew, or just didn’t care. Knowing her she might have even trailed us. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but my burning muscles so it’s not like I would have noticed.
“I come from a family of rogues you know… The Alshadora family… The only noble family in the whole kingdom that was given the title, despite not being knights… The firstborn son is the only exception. My brother… Kai, that is…”
As she tensed her fingers around my arm I felt them smear blood, and as I looked at her closer it became all too apparent she never so much as washed her hands… Considering how clean of a person she was at first… It only made me worry more.
“The academy assigns classes to every student. It doesn’t really matter so much before you turn 16 and go to the upper class, but it’s still important… Yamaria was a thief… Kai is a knight… I’m sure you are too, and your brother… Do you know… What I am?”
“An assassin?” I asked softly. It wasn’t within me to pretend to not know.
“That’s right…” She emotionlessly eased her grip on my arm and lifted her hand up to her eyes. “I kill people… And when I’m done I come home and wash off their blood… I wash it down into the sewer while the ground eats their corpses as if they never existed in the first place… To the world, they’re just suddenly gone… And I’m supposed to just forget them… I’m supposed to just move on… As easy as washing my hands…”
She slowly wrapped her arm back around mine and leaned on my shoulder again. “I was trained from birth to kill people, and I did. My brother treated me well… but even Kai hated me for that. He must have. I am everything he hates. Training was hard, but I can’t complain, all training is hard, no matter what you want to be. It’s not like Kai had it any easier.”
I felt my heart start to ache.
“I hate eating food… I wanted to eat with you when I first saw you… But I knew I wouldn’t be able to… So I waited… My father only ever let me eat these.” she pulled out a small pellet from her pocket the size of a hard candy.
“What is it?”
“It's a family recipe. It's incredibly bitter, it's designed to stop you from growing too big, so that way I could slip into small places and remain hidden easier, and I would be considered less of a threat. The perfect compliment to my father's enormous size.”
“Mo…”
She tried to laugh while tears started to run down her face. “That name wasn't even given to me by my parents. They said I didn't need one.”
‘So that’s why it doesn’t sound like a noble girl's name…’ “So then–”
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“Kai… he gave it to me.”
‘I figured…’ A long silence hung in the air.
“I don't like killing…” she said after wiping her tears, “I want… to help people like Kai… But even when I’m not ordered to all I can do is hurt people.”
I couldn't say it was ok, or that It would be fine. The truth was that I didn't know either of those things. I couldn't lie to her. That would only hurt her more in the long run. And what good would it do her to know that other people were miserable too… How would that give her hope? I didn’t know what to say.
“This world… isn't very fair is it…” She muttered, her voice softening again as it returned to its much colder tone.
“I don't think that's true.” I raised a hand to the shades and slightly opened them. Light shined through the window. “The world is fair enough. But that doesn’t mean people won’t cheat. It’s always hard to win when everyone else is cheating… But you know… You can always just change the rules.”
She looked at a letter on the table. “I’m not the one that makes the rules though…”
I picked up the letter. It was from the teachers.
[Youngest daughter of Alshadora, you have been granted permission to leave academy grounds to aid in your family's work under the following conditions.
[class is assassin]
[your father, and no one else, escorts you off the grounds.]
[you are healthy when you leave.]
[You return within three days]
“Mo. This is easy to fix.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it says you have to be healthy.”
“As long as I still have all my limbs and can walk they will say I’m healthy enough...”
‘Of course they would…’ “Well, there is still the option of changing classes.”
“I can't do that either. After you assassinate someone you pretty much locked into the class. How would I get the school to change how they see me?”
‘It might be easier than you think… “The only reason the school would add so many restrictions like these would be if they wanted to keep you from going… If I understand this right… You’re only an assassin so long as you're a rogue, it’s a subcategory. So we don’t need you to suddenly not meet the specifications of being an assassin which is killing someone, but rather, we need you to no longer be considered a rogue.”
“What?”
‘Did she not understand?’ “How do they determine class?”
“Lots of things…”
I sighed.
[status]
* Race: Human
* Age: 11
* Height: 4’6’’
Strength
120
Agility
170
Endurance
140
Constitution
120
Intelligence
100
Wisdom
45
total
493
‘She’s even younger than Lu…’ I paused, trying not to think about it. “Well… You're absurdly good at everything… So… What class do you want to be?”
“What class? Something that uses knives…”
“If you want to change classes, you wouldn’t be able to use knives anymore. At least not for a while.”
Not that her spirits were ever raised… But they somehow skunk even lower. “Can I think about it….”
I let out a long groan as I stood up. “Sure… Now come on, stand up. You have to wash yourself off to keep your room clean.”
“I tried to earlier…” She slowly looked to the side. “But my legs won’t move…”
‘For someone that sounds so calm… She sure is shaken up…’ “Do you need some help?”
“No… It’s fine. I really need to pee, and I’m sure my body will force me to get up before I do.”
‘You’ve got to be kidding…’ “Alright, come on. Give me your hand.”
She hesitantly reached out ever so slightly, making me bend down to grab her hand, pulling her up to her feet. The moment she got to her feet though her legs fell out from under her as if she was paralyzed. They must have fallen asleep from how long she was sitting like that. Thankfully I caught her before she hit the ground.
“See… I told you…” She muttered
‘This is ridiculous… You're acting like a 4-year-old…’ I scoffed. “Come on. I’ll help you.”
“I can get there on my own, don’t worry…” She mumbled.
‘Is she serious?’ “Ok…” I let go and she promptly crumpled on the ground.
“Owe…” She whined.
“How about now?”
“I can make it if I just crawl…”
‘I almost want to just leave her and see how true it is…’ “Mo…” I said again, pity almost cracking my voice as I bent down to pick her back up. Carrying her to the bathroom before leaving and closing the door behind me. ‘She might actually be more hopeless than Lu… Then again, at least Lu had Aisidh… She didn’t have anyone… She’s as light as a doll and except for that one moment even acts like one. We really aren't the same, if anything she’s more like my opposite…’
“Siya!” She whined. “The blood dried in my belt and it’s stuck!”
‘Well… Good luck…’
“Siya?” Her voice cracked until it sounded like that of a little bird’s chirp. “N-nevermind, I fixed it.”
‘Definitely not the same…’