The Assassin

They had yet to be attacked by any agent of the Courland family, but during their travels Elanna had proved herself to be a guardian despite Sira's misstep. Bandits soon found themselves dead in the space of a few heartbeats, as Elanna moved through them with a mix of graceful motion and primal savagery.

The half-blood was patient and curt with the girl, and Sira kept herself in check, making sure not to irritate the Assassin. It made things easier as time dragged on.

Eventually however, when they stopped to make camp once more, Elanna brought up Sira's lack of combat skills.

"It would be nice if I didn't have to protect you all the time," she smirked. Sira merely pouted, crossing her arms.

"I'm not that bad!"

This was met by a low chuckle, and in a split second Elanna was behind her, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, and the other hand held up to her throat, poised as if holding a knife. Sira shivered out of fear, but felt a blush rising up in her cheeks. Elanna leaned her head down, her lips brushing the girl's ear, "are you so sure?" she whispered, her breath washing over Sira's neck.

Sira swallowed hard and pushed away from the Assassin, turning to face her once she was several paces away. "F-Fine...what do you propose we do about it then?"

That had been simple enough.

They had cleared the forest a week back, having moved through several smaller towns, picking up any supplies they needed before moving on. The terrain was becoming steadily mountainous, and pine trees were growing more abundant and thicker, soon enough they would be surrounded by trees again.

Their campsite was right next to a broad river cutting a swathe through the rocky land.

Stepping onto the clear ground, well out of the way of their campfire, Elanna took a relaxed stance. "Come at me." A surprised look came to Sira's face, but a determined look quickly replaced it, eyeing the Assassin up for a moment. Then she tried to hit her, "tried" being the key word.

Elanna effortlessly leaned - never mind sidestepped - out of the way of the girl's punch. She 'dodged' in the same manner to whatever movement Sira used to try and strike her with before simply ducking out of the way and knocking her legs out from under her with a sweeping kick.

With the air temporarily knocked out of her lungs, Sira lay prone on the ground. She opened her eyes a moment later to see Elanna standing over her with a damnable smirk on her face. "Please tell me that wasn't your best shot."

Sira rolled onto her side and got to her feet, muttering to herself. "What did you expect?" she pouted a little.

A serious expression came to Elanna's face and she crossed her arms. "I expected nobles to teach their children how to defend themselves, you can't always trust guards to protect them. As you fully understand..."

Sira's brows drew together, and she looked up at the half-blood. "Then teach me."

Teach she did - Elanna was surprisingly patient and taught in no rushed pace, allowing the girl time to grow comfortable with each movement until she got them right. Each time they stopped for camp, they would spar and Elanna would teach the girl new things for her to memorize. She picked it up quicker than she expected, but it impressed her nonetheless; the girl had a fire of determination in her. She didn't want to be helpless anymore.

Every time they trained, Elanna could see the girl pushing herself further, harder. Enough for the Assassin to put a little more effort into their sparring at least; it would take years before Sira could actually defeat her in a barehanded fight. She certainly wouldn't be able to kill her if the thought came to her mind. Elanna always smiled bitterly at such thoughts.

----

Elanna ducked her head down, Sira's strike missing her as she weaved and dodged the girl. The half-blood sent out a few hits of her own, but was careful with them, aware of her own skill and strength and not wanting to truly injure Sira.

They were still in the mountains, surrounded by pine trees, pale rocky ground, waterfalls and rivers. The air was cool and crisp, and the sun was starting to set, giving the sky a warm orange hue.

As they had travelled, Sira eventually brought up her curiosity as to why Elanna was helping her. This time however, she was careful about her wording, afraid of angering the Assassin a second time. Elanna had been quiet for a long time, but eventually talked. Sira had been born into a life or wealth and relative happiness, and then that had been turned upside down. Her father's new wife wanted her dead purely because she existed, a living testament of another flame. If Sira still lived then her father's possessions and wealth would automatically go to her on his death, only temporarily put in the 'care' of his wife. But once she was of age, she would be free to do what she wished with it.

Sira was certainly of age, and so she was a threat to any plans her step-mother had.

She hadn't done anything to warrant this treatment; that was Elanna's reason.

Sira was quiet for the rest of their travel after this, mulling over the half-blood's words and the tone of her voice when she had spoken. She had sounded angry, almost protective. Perhaps she had wanted to do something good for once?

"I think I'm getting good at this!" Sira smiled, dodging one of Elanna's strikes and sending her leg out in a kick.

Parrying the blow, Elanna smirked to herself, and grabbed Sira's arm. Shifting her weight she moved to the girl's side and grabbed her other wrist in the same movement. With a sharp twist, she had spun Sira around to face her and tucked her arms behind her back. "You still need practice."

She had moved so fast that Sira could only look up at the Assassin's shadowed face in surprise. She swallowed, aware of how very close they were. "S-So I see..." she stumbled over her words, blushing again.

Elanna smiled harmlessly, and loosened her grip, making sure Sira wasn't about to fall back before she let go of her completely. "I'll see if the trap I laid caught us anything, don't move from the fire," with that she turned away, disappearing into the darkening forest around them.

Sira watched her until she could've see her form anymore, conflict clear in her gaze. At first she had dismissed it, or tried to, but now it was definitely there. Elanna was difficult to read, she put up a nonchalant, almost playful exterior; most would otherwise describe her as both uncaring and downright cocky. But sometimes, when she wasn't aware Sira was looking, she seemed so sad, as if under everything she just wanted to cry.

Sira frowned deeply, and turned away, walking back to the campfire at the river's edge. They had been following it through the mountains; Elanna said something about a 'natural path'. Settling down, she drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, staring into the fire. She couldn't help but wonder where this would all lead; maybe she would end up just staying with Elanna. Strangely, the concept of that didn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

Everyone else either didn't care or didn't know about her, where else would she go?