"Yeeeaaah," a little girl screamed as two pairs of arms swung her back and forth. Her feet touch and the dirt floor beneath her and as she was lowered, grinding her to a halt. The little child look up at her mom and dad, "Do it again! Do it again!"

The forty year old something man chuckled as his four year old daughter clung to his leg. He ran a hand threw his thining pepper hair as he shook his head, "No, honey. It's getting late. See the sun going down? We need to be getting back to your little brother."

Indeed, the sunset was beautiful as it set beyond the Yamani hills, but the small child wasn't paying attention to that but to her Bazhir mother on her other side, looking up to her expectantly as the setting sun's rays hit her so that her honey brown hair glowed as bright as the stars that were just coming out. "I'm sorry, hun, but we really do need to be heading back. The guards might lock us out again like last time elsewise, Remember?"

The tiny girl blushed at the small memory; she was at the zoo with her parents and didn't want to leave but wanted to stare at the monkeys. Her parents had given in, thinking they could make it back in time for curfew but they were wrong. Instead of sleeping on their plush mattress and swan pillows, they slept in an inn on the west side of town on uncomfortable beds and goose feathers.

Though the small child had been immensely pleased at the monkeys and sleepover, she now realized that her mommy and daddy were not so happy about the prospect of another night at the unrespectable in and missing their two year old son whom the maid had to take care of while they were gone. So instead of insisting, the lilttle girl hung her head, slipping her hands between her parents own warm ones.

The parents looked at each other over their daughter's head, hating to see her so down. The girl had been staring at her feet and was amazed to realize that they weren't touching the ground any more, but the air. She looked up at her adoring parents and screamed in delight, as she was swung back and forth, her feet trailing along the ground as she was lifted higher and higher. She must have gone twenty feet in the air.... I mean hey, she's only four. as the family walked along the path among the exotic trees, back to their home in the palace, they passed the Emporer's personal training center.

As they passed by said room, the little child pulled on the two hands swinging her along and stuck her head inside, her eyes swiveling crazily in her head, watching the men and women fight; some with their bare hands and feet, others with sakabatos or glaives.

She sucked a breath her nose, breathing in the sent of sweat and blood and the energy these men and woman poured out, but the stench didn't bother her one track mind a bit. Instead she just watched as the metal of one of the swords flung threw the air, disgaurding its oppent's weapong and planting itself at its enemy's exposed neck.

Her eyes widened in excitement at the flash of hands and feet attacking the challenger infront and having the moves returned in perfect percision.

She averted her eyes from the masterful scene to her still grasped hands as she was dragged away from the nose pressed window. "Daddy," she started, "who were those men?" The parents glanced at each other, wondering if it was wise to tell their obviously infatuated, head strong daughter.

"Well hun, " her father started out, "those are the Yamani Knights, the men who fight with glaives and are the ones who belong and protect the Emporer, his kingdom, and our land.

"The others," her mother continued, "the ones who fight with bare fists, and weapons if needed, are the Shang Warriors. They wander around the world, training, perfecting, and finishing their ordeals which they were passed on before in their original home lands."

The little shild's head turned back to face the shrinking building, speaking slowly and clearly, odd for a child her age, "I want to be just like them."

"Who hun? The Yamani or the Shang?"

She then shifted her eyes back to the road ahead, as if staring into her future. The only hint of any emotion on her rock still face, the stone hard glint of determination in her eyes as she replied,

"Both."