The next day Asha greeted me with a smile. She let her shoulder length crimson hair, which seemed to have reddened since we last met, flow freely.

She had ditched the royal blue tunic in place of a summery dress, which looked much more comfortable. Long, white sleeves hung from her arms, bushed up like little flowers. The white under garment continued across her chest and was topped with a ruffled edging that sat on her bosom. Over the white she wore a coral folk dress that tied across her abdomen much like a corset.

“You look beautiful.” I said, genuinely.

She blushed, clearly not accustomed to receiving praise. “I want to show you something. Please follow me, master.” She said quickly, perhaps to change the subject.

We walked for a few minutes, with Asha pointing out the occasional statue or building of interest. We were clearly in an upmarket part of the city as most of the buildings were large and obnoxious. The streets were clean and quiet. Trees had been planted at equal spacing along the edges of cobbled roads. The gentle clattering of hooves could be heard as carriages would roll pass at a leisurely pace.

Eventually we reached the bazaar, rows of narrow corridors filled with busy market stalls went back as far as I could see. Asha, looked at me, she seemed particularly fired up today.

“Smell that?” Asha asked, taking an obvious inhale through her nose.

I instinctively sniffed. It was an amazing smell. A mixture of spices and sweetness. The unmistakable mouth-watering smell of barbequing meat wafted across.

There must have been hundreds of people bustling through the narrow corridors of the bazaar. I could see people clearly haggling over all kinds of wares from vegetables to silken goods. There was a friendly, jovial atmosphere. It felt miles away from the feeling in the castle.

We stopped before a merchant who was skilfully tossing some kind of red meat before us. A large wave of flame shot up as he added a few colourful ingredients and continued mixing.

“You don’t have to call me master, you know. You can call me Kyle.” I said in a happy tone.

“What?” She replied, struggling to hear me over the noises of the shoppers.

“I said you should call me Kyle.”

“Is that a good idea, considering we want to keep your identity secret?” She made a good point.

I leant in closer to her ear as she watched the meat vendor with amazement. “Mmh. How about Kai then? It’s kind of a mixture of the two names.”

She turned to me, “I’m not sure I am comfortable calling you by your personal name, master.” She said hesitantly.

“Asha. I am your master, right?”

“Mh, mh.” She mumbled, watching the meat.

“So, as your master, I request that you call me Kai from now on. OK?”

“I will try, master.”

“You just did it again.”

“Sorry, Kai.” She said, handing the merchant a few silver coins and picking up two of the meats wrapped in some sort of bread.

She handed me one of the bundles. “Follow me.” She said, walking off purposefully.

I followed her down the corridor, swerving in and out of the oncomers and shifting my body left and right to avoid knocking anyone. At the rear of the bazar there was a small courtyard with a couple of benches and a small fountain.

“This is the life, uh.” Asha said, as she took as seat on the bench and motioned for me to sit.

“It’s nice to get away from the castle.” I agreed.

“That’s not what I mean.” Asha mumbled from her mouthful of food.

“I wanted you to come out here to see the people.” She wiped her mouth with her sleeve ungracefully.

I let out a chuckle.

“I see.”

“No, you don’t, Kai.” She moved closer to me and pointed in the distance.

“That is the Royal Academy,” she pointed at a spiral tower barely visible in the distance, “that is where I train under you and other great minds.”

She pointed to another tower slightly closer, “and that is the school I attended before the academy. There were sixty others in my class. I wasn’t popular but I had a good time.”

She moved her hand again pointing at two buildings, “this is a church and so is that. I go there to worship the gods, so do many people.”

“That,” she pointed to a large colosseum in the distance, “is where the inter-academy duels will take place.”

She took another bite of her meat and continued. “What you see here, this is nice, but it is just a facade. Only the privileged few get to live here.

“Do you not live here?” I asked, taking a bite out of my own food. It tasted like a smoky chicken kebab.

“I live in the academy,” she pointed at the spiral tower, “but my heart lives over there.” She thumbed behind her and then started picking at a red vegetable sticking out from her kebab.

“In the goat merchants?” I asked quizzically, looking at the pen behind us where a tanned man was stroking goats.

“No, silly. In that direction, beyond all of this,” she held our hands out and shrugged, “that is where my heart lives. The common district. That is where most of the people live. The real people. This is the noble district.”

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“Oh, I see. The rich folks live here, and the common man lives over there. It is the same in my world.”

“My family had nothing; we are poor. My father was a soldier who died in a battle with a neighbouring kingdom when I was younger. I don’t know why. My mother worked every day to feed me and my older sister, she would work the fields beyond the common district during the day and then work as a maid for the nobles at night. My Mother worked every day trying to feed her ungrateful children.”

Asha gripped bunches of cloth from her dress, “The nobles look down on the commoners. They are happy to let them clean their houses and nurse their children, but they wouldn’t share a table with them.”

She stared straight at me with her amber eyes, “I am not stupid, Kai. If there is a war, it is not the nobility who will suffer. Thousands of men like my father will die.”

She brushed back her hair revealing pointed ears.

“Do you know why I decided to study under master Kaida?” Asha asked, clearly knowing I didn’t. “Master Kaida didn’t believe in the nobility. He said that worth was something gained through hard work and perseverance, not something handed down from Daddy.”

I was surprised at this revelation. The grumpy voice in my head did not seem the type to care about the common folk.

She tapped my chest, “he said it is what is in here that matters most.”

“Sounds like he was a sweetheart.”

Asha smirked and nudged her shoulder against mine.

“Kaida said that war was a pointless endeavour that the rich use to contain the lower classes. He wanted to stop war by gaining power.”

She took another large bite. “One day I will take you to the common district.”

“I’d like to see it now.”

She coughed, spitting out a mouthful of meat. I gave her a hard pat on the back.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

“You want to go there now? Without a guard?”

“Why not. I’m not completely without a guard.” I winked at Asha.

“There is not much to see.” She said matter-of-factly, ignoring my wink.

I stood up, stretched then reached out a hand to Asha.

“Let’s go. It will be fun.”

***

It wasn’t fun.

As we made our way out of the noble district it was clear that there was a transition of wealth. The closer we got to the common district the less groomed the foliage. The streets became narrower and the buildings less grandiose.

Eventually we reached an archway in the castle wall where two guards were chatting. They gave us a nod as we passed by.

There was a red dust inside the common district that seemed to be everywhere. It blew in the wind that brushed across the wooden roofs and settled on the cobbled road. The houses, if you could call them that, were much smaller. It was like walking into a shanty town.

“Let’s stay to the main street.” Asha said, glancing around.

“Sure.”

As we walked through the common district, Asha waved at the people who seemed friendly enough. She introduced me to a few characters along the way, we exchanged pleasantries and Asha would ask if they needed help with anything.

It was such a pleasant walk that we didn’t notice the sun starting to set. Asha suggested we return, and I agreed, so we set off back the way we came.

“I had a lovely day today, Asha.” I said, honestly.

“Me too.” She beamed.

As we walked along Asha’s attention was drawn to something down one of the side streets. She darted left and I followed without thinking.

Down this corridor a young boy was crouching at the side of the road. It looked like he had curled into a ball but as we got closer it was clear his face was full of snot and tears.

“Little boy, do you need help?” Asha called.

The boy looked up hopefully at Asha and then towards one of the shacks where two men stepped forward from the shadows.

They both wore sleeveless beige tunics that went down to their knees. It looked like these tunics were made of some kind of course wool or hemp. One of the men was holding a large wooden stick over his shoulder, while the other donned a straw hat.

“There is nothing to see here, you fine folk move along and mind your business.” The straw hatted man greeted us.

“Thanks, glad you have it under control.” I said, quickly stepping towards Asha and holding her arm. This was not a fight I wanted to get into. I pulled her to move along but she resisted, pulling her arm free.

“Little boy, do you want to come with me?” Asha said, ignoring the men.

The boy looked at the men and then nodded. Asha kneeled and held out her arms. The boy ran towards Asha but before he could reach her the man with the wooden stick held it out stopping his escape.

“I don’t think so. You see this boy’s family owes us money. We cannot let you interfere with our business.” The straw hatted man, who I assume was the ringleader added. He then put his fingers to his mouth and whistled.

Four other men, wearing similar attire, appeared from behind us. They each brandished some kind of farming implement, such as a sickle or a hoe. Perhaps they had come from working in the field?

“What if I paid the debt?” Asha said.

“Oh yeah? What do you have in mind?” The ringleader laughed and winked at Asha.

“Asha, we should leave.” I whispered to Asha.

“You can go if you want to.” She replied, “but I am staying here.”

“OK then.” I turned and began walking away. The four men came together and blocked the entrance. They patted their weapons in a menacing manner.

“You would walk away and leave this girl to a group of thugs?” The ringleader called. “I don’t think so. Get him boys!”

I flinched instinctively as the four men guarding the entrance charged towards me. I had feared this moment would come. A fight. What’s more, a fight over a stupid street rat I had no business of being involved with. This is not how I wanted this day to go.

Luckily for me, time seemed to slow enough for me to step aside from the first fist blow. I felt a surge of adrenaline as the fist harmlessly passed by my ear. The second blow - this time a dagger - caught me by surprise. It came down from a high arc and was headed straight for my chest. Time didn’t seem to slow enough. I could see the blade coming down but my body would not react in time.

Great, I was going to die again. Just my luck.

As I contemplated which world I would be born into next, light flashed before my eyes. Then nothing.

I opened them slowly, wincing, to see a masked figure before me, wearing a similar blue uniform to that of the Royal Academy but with larger collars. The azure haired figure had met the attacker’s crude dagger with his own ornate sword. It was a thing of beauty, a decorative golden hilt led to a large silvery blade that looked both delicate and heavy.

“Are you hurt, my Lord?” My saviour glanced back and asked with an unsettling feminine tone, whilst still staving off the attackers.

“No. I’m f-f-fine.”

“Forgive me, I am Torg. I have been assigned to guard you. May I have your permission to deal with these assailants.”

“Please do.”

“Excellent.”

With that Torg riposte an oncoming assailant, swinging around with elegance and kicking him square in the chest. He then dodged another attacker and punched him square in the throat knocking him to the floor. At this the other two dropped their weapons and ran away.

“Nicely done.” I said.

Torg turned and eyed the two men near the boy. The man with a wooden stick threw it to the ground and called out to the ringleader, “I am not getting into it with a son of the sword, Max. I did not sign up for this. I am out.”

“You coward.” The ringleader replied.

The now stickless man walked towards us with his hands in the air and then continued passed us onto the street where he picked up pace.

“Utter the words.”

Before I could reply to the voice in my head, I had spoken a serious of words that made no sense. Moments later, the ringleader started screaming, clawing at his neck. Asha moved to the young boy and shielded his eyes.

The ringleader fell to the floor, writhing in agony. We did nothing. A minute passed and the writhing stopped. Hundreds of tiny snakes crawled out of the ringleader’s mouth and slithered off into nothing.

Torg moved over to the boy and picked him up on his back. Asha made sure he was fine and then moved towards me.

“Thank you, my Lord.” She bowed.

“For what?” I asked.

“I thought you were leaving us here to their mercy. But you knew all along that we were being guarded. When you said we were not completely without guard, I thought you were joking. I didn’t notice we had been followed. I have much to learn.”

I did say it in jest. I had no idea we were being followed by some kind of blue haired ninja. Who could of known that? He did come in useful though.

“My Lord,” Torg moved beside us and nodded, “I am impressed you were able to see through my stealth.”

I rubbed my hair. “I thought it would be good to see you in action Torg. In case I ever did need your protection.” I glanced towards Asha, “and Asha, I would never leave you or this child to the mercy of these animals.” I lied.