She always had so much of her mother in her, in her face, in her eyes, but most certainly in her heart. The child grew up proud and strong she never was much for learning to sew or draw no matter how much Sara tried to teach her, she learned how to cook but that always seemed to Markus to be more for herself. She was now unto her ninth year and every day Markus saw her up on the balcony watching. As time progressed the school had prospered under Markus and he was able to hire more servants to help maintain the villa as he began to be called away more and more to attend to his duties in relation to the council seat that he held. Sara had stopped being a caretaker for Jessica a year or so before and would still come by several times a week to spend time with the young girl. Meanwhile at the academy some of his students were preparing for their graduation.

Markus was in the yard training his men as he always seemed to be, and as always as he would now and again peek up to the balcony and there he would see his daughters smiling face watching him and the men. Whenever he looked up there it felt like Jullianna was watching him through the little girl's eyes. They were only a quarter or so of the way through the morning's training when he looked up once again and she was gone. “Maybe she has finally gotten tired of watching,” he thought to himself, then suddenly the realization jolted through him, “No this is Jessica we are talking about after all”

“Rest!” he ordered his men and began to head inside to search for the little girl. After searching inside and not finding her he decided to enlist the assistance of some of the newer trainees to help find her. As he stepped into the courtyard to gather them he was surprised to see the the small frame of his young daughter standing in the yard with the students. He saw the look in her eye, a kind of determination and slyness found native in women from time to time, and he knew that she had made her mind up about something and that she was planning more than she intended to tell. He wasn't sure what it was yet but he knew it would likely be some point of contention between them. Pretending not to notice this not so very well hidden look of determination he asked what she was doing and she responds that she is simply there to clean the yard. A very unlikely story but he had no reason to deny her this and he was curious what she was up to so he allowed it. As he resumes teaching he keeps and eye on her as she moves around the outside of the yard picking up trash and broken training equipment. When the yard around the group of men was clear she sat on a bench near the equipment rack in one corner and sat watching them intently. Maybe this is what she wanted to see the group from a different angle to be a little closer, so he let her be. At the different rest periods he would watch as she walked about amongst the men and get them water and food, giving his silent permission whenever one of the men would look to him for such. As the day came to a close she quickly rushed inside to begin preparing the evening meal. The next morning she was up as early as Markus himself. He watched her hand out the training swords she had so carefully put away the night before and stored away the students things for the day’s training. Every day for almost a week she would do the same thing. Markus decided he had played along long enough and it was time to see what she was really up to. He pulled one of the servants aside and told them that just after midday to come and pull him from the yard as if he had been summoned to the council meeting. “Let us see what she will do when I am not watching” he thought to himself now determined to figure out the little girl's motives. And so he went out like he had everyday and began the lessons. And just as he had instructed just after midday the servant came out and retrieved Markus. Leaving instructions for the students to spar while he was gone, he went inside and watched from the doorway. The students not knowing any better followed his instruction and soon the yard was filled with the noise of effort and weapon clashing. Markus watched eagerly as his young daughter edged her way over to the equipment rack in the corner of the yard and pulled a training sword off the wall and snuck her way over to the far corner of the yard. He watched as his little girl that he had watched from the first day of her life until today lift the training sword and face an imaginary target. He couldn’t help but notice her footing was off a little as she attempted a simple strike. The teacher in him yearned to go and correct her form, the father in him wished to go and take the sword from her and tell her to go learn to do some more traditional woman's work. But he knew he had to let her choose her own way or she would surely resent him for it. So it seemed she would follow her mother, no matter how much he had tried to nudge her away from that life.

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