“Mittens,” my father said and I quickly went over and gave him a hug.

“I missed you,” I said into his chest. He patted my head.

“You have done very well.” I let go of the hug and he gestured at the table in the kitchen. We both sat down. “Too well. I won’t lie and say that I had been hoping you would have failed,” I was a bit shocked at that.

“Why?” I asked. He just smiled at me.

“This job is dangerous. I have told you that. I am feeling my age and I am just forty three years old. I have been doing this for just ten years and it is rough on me. Each fight, another brush with death. While Maximilian insisted you be evaluated independently as an applicant, now that you are a Neophyte, I will make sure you are trained fully.”

“If you are going to do this, then it is with both eyes open. A single mistake is death Mittens.” I nodded at this.

“I know. I will take it seriously, I promise,” I replied. My father seemed to relax a bit at that.

“Good. Southpaw wanted to take you on as a Journeymouse. I might say yes or be forced to.”

“What, why?” I asked.

“He is next in line to be the Warrior’s Shadow after me.” I knew it! “The title goes to the Master Assassin who is still active with the highest success, which means credits.”

“Where were all those credits growing up? A billion?” I asked.

“Oh Mittens. Where did you live?”

“A house?” I asked.

“A cat sized house. With private security and a private school. None of that is cheap. But after a certain point, what would you spend the money on?” he asked me. I was struggling to come up with anything. “Too much money will lead to you getting fat and lazing about.”

“That wouldn’t happen!” I objected.

“Really?”

“Well, I would buy lots of fish,” I muttered guiltily. “I guess getting the Covenant Church to change their policies isn’t a bad thing,” I muttered.

“It isn’t. You haven’t seen your relatives for a while. At least on my side of the family, since work has kept me busy. Very busy,” he said with a slight sigh.

“They run out of assassins?” I asked.

“Yes. They run six cohorts a year. Picking one or two creatures from each to be a Neophyte. On average, only one makes it to be a Master Assassin after five years.”

“No team ups?” I asked.

“We each have our different styles. While they might get passed down, you need to develop your own. How I fight, might not be the best for you,” he said, and I nodded at that. “Speaking of fighting, you have gotten quite good.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

“Here is your badge and ID.” He pulled out a laminated card that had my picture on it.

“Division Eight under the authority of the Covenant Church,” I read on the card.

“That is our official name, since this organization doesn’t have anything more identifying. Technically we operate as official investigators on behalf of the Covenant Church. But if you use that ID outside of this facility, the call will go to Maximilian and he gets very annoyed if that happens.” I nodded at this and tucked the card away into a pocket on my shorts.

“Come on, I want to test you a bit, then we can eat,” my father said, and I quickly followed him. “Spars are technically allowed, but highly discouraged. If anyone is injured it is a huge problem. But you will be using your paws and trying to strike me.”

“What about getting them coated like you have?” I asked.

“That will happen. But I can’t fully retract them anymore. It can be quite dangerous, and you have to be very careful,” my father replied. We reached a large room with padded mats and walls. “The second floor is where members of the organization stay. The first floor is for the offices of the support staff. Basement is for holding and people not part of the organization.” Like applicants. That was where we all were and the initial room I was in when I first arrived.

“The third floor is where the upper-level members of the organization reside. Now, we are going to spar. I want you-“ I lunged right at my father, but he quickly leapt back. “-to try and strike me. You tensed before you lunged. If you only moved your feet I wouldn’t have noticed.”

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“Are Ancestral Spirits going to pay attention to this?” I asked as I circled my father.

“Yes. While you saw the snake ancestral spirit, it was weak. But a High Apostate, or a spirit versed in fighting, will mean trouble. That is how a lot of older assassins die. They think they know what they are doing, and don’t take each fight seriously,” my father replied as I moved in on him. I struck out with my paws and he deflected my strikes with his arms.

“Nice job switching up the angle of your blows, but control your eye movement. You look where you plan to strike. Stay focused on my chest and face, and watch from the sides of your vision.” I tried but it was hard. My eyes kept wanting to focus on the movement.

“Rotate your paws more to get a better angle. Control your breathing to not let your opponent know you are struggling with the tempo.” My father kept blocking and dodging strike after strike. If my claws were extended, I wouldn’t have been able to land a blow on him.

“How are you so good?” I asked while breathing heavily.

“Practice and training constantly. Light sparring like this and lots of fighting out there. I won’t risk heavy sparring, but we will do this four hours every day.” My eyes went wide at that. “If you are going to be an assassin, then I am going to make sure you are the best of the best. When you can land a blow on me, then I will be attacking back. Get some rubber tips for my claws.”

“Four hours?” I asked. I thought I was in good shape, but I was struggling after ten minutes.

“The more you sweat the less you will bleed. The hardest part of the missions shouldn’t be the fighting but tracking down creatures. If the fighting is difficult, then you are doing something wrong.” I began adding in kicks with my hind paws, but my father kept twisting out of the way. Even with Claw Combat aiding me, he was just too fast and able to see through my moves too easily.

“No slowing down. Or I will do this,” a paw darted up and the back of it tried to hit my nose. I quickly leaned back and swiped at his arm and rushed forward, swiping at him. He twisted out of the way and blocked of my arms with one his. When I pulled my arm back to hit him with my paw, he twisted his arm around mine and out of the way. Danger sense wasn’t triggering much, which made it hard to figure out where the attacks were coming from.

“Nice counterattack, but I could tell you faked being tired a bit there after my earlier comments. You need to control your breathing and reactions more. Also, you should have twisted around and into my attack, instead of leaning backwards. That was a missed opportunity I gave you.”

There was a clock in the room, that was how I knew it had only been half an hour after I had collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. My father just stared down at me, his breathing steadied and unhurried.

“Not bad, but not that great either. Up,” I pulled myself up slowly.

“Four hours?” I asked tiredly.

“It will be broken up at the start, but yes. One of the key ways to beat ancestral spirits is through exhaustion if they aren’t fully formed and just possessing a creature. The possessed body will quickly tire and exhaust themselves in most cases.”

“When won’t that happen?” I asked.

“Paladins use their innate constitution as badgers and their bloodlust to fuel their body while the Warrior spirit aids them. Instead of just minutes they can go for hours. Creatures that call that their own ancestral spirit to aid them. There is greater compatibility, so instead of lasting minutes, they can last a hour or so depending on their innate constitution. Now, let me show you how the food works around here.” We left the sparring room and made our way to room on the first floor, with a shrew attendant.

I could request raw food or set up a meal service if I trusted other creatures to prepare my food. “Meal service, two, fresh fish,” my father told the attendant. “I don’t like to cook.”

“What about poison or something like that?” I asked.

“Then I am taken out. Southpaw and me may have a bit of rivalry, but here on the Island, it would be too much attention. If Mousethief isn’t around, then I will make my own food,” he replied. I nodded at this. We made our way back to my room and I got a shower, while my father went off to his apartment to get cleaned up.

He returned once the food arrived. I carefully cut my fish like he had shown me with my claws. “I have been wondering, the figures in white during the test?” I asked.

“Clerics that work under Maximilian. They could be considered his possible successors. They are meant to observe and report back on important fights.” That made sense and also explained why both the one cleric and Maximilian creeped me out.

“What else besides light sparring ever day?” I asked.

“My arch enemy.” What could it be? Some secret dungeons or lair under this place with a bound ancient creature my father hoped to defeat. Or a High Apostate he was tracking down? “Paperwork.”

“What?”

“Lots of paperwork. We need to set up your account for mission payments. Travel documents in case you need to travel away from the coast. Paperwork for your medical exam and medical testing. The official contract you will get and have to sign. Then you need to learn how to fill out all the forms.”

“There is that much?” I asked.

“I might be exaggerating a bit, but there will be a lot. If any other creatures pass the final exam, there will be classes. Mission procedures. Reporting procedures. Accounting procedures.”

“What about the points?” I asked. Were they useless or something to encourage creatures with but didn’t matter?

“Applied to your ranking. Missions give money, but certain missions, most reserved for Master Assassins, they also give points. Points are an internal currency assassins use, like favors.”

“What can I spend them on?” I asked curiously.

“Light sparring requests. Technique training. There is a list of services that the retired master assassins offer. You can also spend points for equipment that can’t be purchased with money. Your claws will cost a point each.”

“Aren’t they provided?” I asked a bit surprised. I put another piece of fish into my mouth. The fresh fish was a lot better than the frozen ones.

“You want high purity celestial ore since it is going on your claws and is permanent. Not the lower grades. A point each for your claws. But the main thing is healing by the Covenant Church. Don’t ask me how, but they have some advanced healing methods for serious long-term injuries. But it isn’t cheap. So save your points after you get your claws. While Doctor Otto does good work, it is nothing compared to what the Covenant Church can do if they are motivated.”

“I was thinking of asking Gary how he did that nerve attack,” I said casually. My father froze and then stared at me.

“It won’t work. Since our paws are a bit too big, and once your claws are treated, you can’t press and twist on the nerves.” I pouted a bit. I had been hoping to fluster my father. “You will have to try harder than that Mittens to shock me.”