A/N: I LIIIIIVE!

Okay, to be fair, I was planning on holding this one off more than the others, anyway. The Tales of Symphonia stories are mostly ignored. Which sucks, but that's how the world works.

Robyn flew back once more, and I heard the familiar thump of her body on the training floor.

"You keep leaving yourself wide open," I told her. "Get up. Resume your stance again."

There was a grumble of protest no human would ever catch, but I'm sure the young girl kept forgetting she was around only half-elves. She finally got to her feet and held her fake combat knives out in a defensive position.

"I'm ready, Sergeant Derrick," she reported, and I barely caught the hint of irritation.

Her irritation, though, was causing her downfall.

In what was becoming a normal routine, I darted forward, trying to break through the defense she had put up. As it had been for the past couple of days, she blocked a few of the attacks before I found a weak spot and shoved her back. Again I heard the thump and a grumble, and I sighed.

"Robyn, the more frustrated you get, the harder this will be," I warned. "I understand we've been going through this stance for two days, but the Earth and Heaven stance is one of the basic stances of dual combat knives."

With a huff, she was back on her feet. "It's just so irritating that I can't get this right," she voiced.

"No one is expecting you to be a master by the end of the week," I pointed out, running my hand through my short silver hair. "We have months, years quite possibly, before Lord Yuan allows you to go out on a mission."

"I know," she sighed. "It's just that everyone here is so much more experienced."

"Everyone here is also older than you," I countered. "Besides, not all of us were well trained when we got here." Then I looked to the edge of the training room and glared at the person leaning back in the chair. "Speaking of which..."

The new black mage, Teru I reminded myself, grinned. "What? Quill's doing chores, and I wanted to watch my fellow new recruit," he defended. I sighed. Newbies. "Hey, by the way, why are you using two knives, Robyn? Hoping you'll get double the attack power?"

"There's no one in either world dumb enough to believe that just because you have two weapons you have double the power," Robyn countered, rolling her eyes. "The reason I have two weapons is because while it can be risky and leave yourself more wide open, it can also be a great benefit and help catch opponents off guard, and when someone's trained right, you'll almost never be defenseless."

"Well, at least you have the philosophy of it down," I stated. "Keep that in mind. Let's try that last stance again."

We went at it a few more times, and Robyn seemed more focused. Perhaps saying her thoughts out loud had helped, or perhaps she was entertaining the idea that there was someone that stupid and became determined to not be that person. Either way, her demeanor was calmer (though, admittedly, not by all that much), allowing her to concentrate on improving her form. I was about to attack again when I heard her stomach grumble. Robyn clearly wanted to ignore it, but her muscles needed nutrition and time to relax.

"I'm pretty hungry," I declared, which wasn't really a lie. "Let's take a break for lunch; I'm sure you're hungry, too."

I knew she wanted to protest, but she knew how pointless an argument would be. She dropped her stance and nodded. "Alright," she agreed.

Teru followed us to the kitchens, apparently bored, hungry, or both. We entered, and the cooks looked up from the food. The head chef, Dorris, beamed.

"Ah, there you two are!" she exclaimed, her sapphire eyes gleaming. Then again, they were almost always gleaming. But Robyn had brought back a motherly glow I hadn't seen in years. "I was afraid I'd have to send someone after you like I did yesterday. A growing girl needs her exercise, but she needs to eat, too. And I like how this growing girl eats with gusto."

"O-oh, um... Thank you?" Robyn replied, flustered and unsure how to answer.

Dorris let out her loud, gut-filled laugh. "It's a good thing!" the woman assured. "Not like your uncle. The man may be an angel, but he should at least have an excuse to take a break."

Ah yes. It had been the night after Robyn arrived. She had been talking to Teru and Quill, and apparently at some point during the new half-elf's teasing, Robyn got angry and accidentally revealed Lord Yuan was her uncle... Well, it was more likely that he was her guardian, but they were probably close enough to feel like family.

Anyway, like the immature adults they were, Teru and Quill screamed the revelation loudly, and suddenly all eyes were on the poor ten-year-old human girl. When she was being introduced, I was impressed by her ability to hide the nervousness I'm sure she was feeling.

That night wasn't the same way.

Her face was beet red and her eyes were impossibly wide. It didn't help when Lord Yuan made his rare appearance in the mess hall. I was pretty sure Robyn's entire body went red before she bolted out so fast everyone swore she was a blur.

The room was deadly quiet before our leader finally asked, "Someone want to tell me what that was about?"

Judging by his eyes, if anyone had hypothetically insulted her, things would not end up well.

"Quill and Teru were asking her some questions about herself, Lord Yuan," I explained, standing up. He looked at me, prompting me to continue. "While she was doing so, she brought up her relation to you."

"I see," he commented. Then he looked at everyone in the cafeteria. "Let me assure all of you: Robyn being my niece did not influence my decision to bring her into the Renegades. She is judged on her abilities, not our relation. That extends to all of you. Being exceptionally kind to her will not win more points with me, and Robyn will not get off easier than any of you." He smirked. "As I'm sure she and Sergeant Kris will be happy to share."

Kris growled, rubbing her arms in remembrance, while some soldiers snickered.

"If you don't mind me asking, is she your blood niece?" I inquired, knowing the answer was probably no.

Lord Yuan eyed me again. "Robyn and I aren't related by blood, but she's still my responsibility," he revealed.

"Then why bring her onto the Renegades? What we do is dangerous," someone piped up, bringing forth a good point.

A point that our leader answered in a way that made sense and didn't at the same time.

"Because her father had to have Robyn with the most stubborn woman on both worlds," he grumbled.

So, in a way, Robyn became princess of the compound. Not that she liked being called or treated like that; it reminded her too much of Meltokio. A month after the reveal, one person dared it as a joke, and the human girl sent him to the recovery room. In turn, Lord Yuan took her to do some "special training".

The only reason Robyn no longer had a black eye was because the blue haired half-elf allowed a white mage named Silva to heal our feisty new recruit.

However, I did begin to hear some other types of commentary floating around the Base as well, and these ones... They weren't mesmerized or light hearted teasing. Rather, they were harsh words and criticisms about her. And just her. No one made accusations against Lord Yuan, be it his decision to bring in a young human girl onto the Renegades or that - of all people - it was someone who was practically family.

It was just them whispering racist, cruel things to each other about how she was different from everyone else at home.

But right from the start, I didn't treat her different. To me, Robyn was just another recruit, another student for me to teach. When she made a correct maneuver, I didn't praise her more than I would another. When she failed, I pointed out her flaws like anyone else.

And when she was disobedient...

Well...

"Robyn, for the final time: stop complaining," I scolded when I got passed her weak defenses again. And she wasn't the only one losing her temper; I was getting very close to my limit, which was a near-impossible feat.

It was two hours or so after lunch, and we were back in the training room, now empty of any spectators. I didn't understand what had happened between the hour break I had given her and resuming her combat knife stances, but it had affected not only her performance but her attitude as well.

Robyn spat as she once again picked herself off the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're right, I should be calm about my miserable failures," she grunted with a small scowl.

I let out a long, exasperated sigh. "We've been over this," I reminded. "You won't be going out on a mission for a long time-"

"Because I'll just be a useless burden, you don't have to remind me!" she bellowed.

That caught me by surprise. When had I ever said or implied that? "Robyn, I-"

"Oh, don't start with that whole, 'That isn't true' speech," the human snorted. "You believe it, too. That's why you aren't taking this seriously, that's why you've been toying with me!"

"We're only training, Robyn; of course I'm not going to go all out," I explained, trying to get her to listen to reason.

As the case with children, she was stubborn on her point. "I don't care if we're training!" Robyn hissed. "Show me what you can do! I can take it!"

Completely exasperated, I sighed and gave in. "Very well," I accepted calmly. Then I put my dual knives away and unclipped the mounts that were on my belt. Robyn dropped her annoyance in favor of confusion.

She wasn't the first one, and she wouldn't be the last.

While I am well versed in combat knives, they aren't the first choice of weapon for me. But I tended to use them more since they were easier to find and have repaired.

Claws, however, were not as well-known.

The three lightweight metal claws were close together, not making it easy on beginner or proficient blacksmiths to sharpen. Claw artes were powerful, but they were not easy to master, as was fighting with them at all. They were an extension of the arm as much as a knife or a sword, but also quite unnatural.

In short, claws were mostly glanced over and brushed aside.

I hadn't looked back, even after seventy years.

Once the mounts were over my knuckles and I had unsheathed the prongs, Robyn snapped out of her confusion and immediately dropped into a stance. I had to give her points for being focused and ready, but her legs and arms were too wide.

Again.

Because of her stance, when she leapt (of course she leapt first), the charge wasn't precise enough. I was able to dodge with little effort, and if we were training I would have left it at that. But even though her lunge was flawed, it was serious, and she had already expressed how she wanted nothing less than serious.

Fighting is an instinct mostly, and when it kicks in, it's hard to ignore.

With no second thoughts, I concentrated my mana into the right claw and swiped, the mana racing out much like a Demon Fang. It hit Robyn directly, sending her flying back and hitting the ground harder than she had before. I knew it would take much longer for her to stand this time around, so I watched as she shakily tried to push herself up.

Robyn didn't like my actions. "Why... Why won't you...fight?" she growled, winded.

"I won't kick you while you're down," I replied. "Besides, I still believe this is a bad idea."

"If you don't come at me...with everything you've got," she argued, slowly regaining air, "then I won't get...stronger. I'll just...hold everyone back."

This was getting very tiresome.

"Robyn, how old are you?" I asked.

She finally got to her knees, and she gave me a questioning look. "What does-"

"Your age. Answer me."

"Ten," Robyn huffed. "I'm ten years and one month old."

Children. Always believing the month was important, too. "And do you know how old the next youngest is?" I followed up.

Still annoyed that she had no idea where this was going, Robyn grumbled, "I don't know."

"Teru," I revealed. "He's twenty-two. And for a half-elf, that's essentially a six-year-old, maybe even younger. Do you believe he is going out on missions any time soon?" She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, and then she looked at the ground. "Exactly. Lord Yuan would not force children to go fight his battles, not unless he is certain they are absolutely prepared for it."

"Yeah, but..." She looked at the back of her right hand, staring intently at the red orb, which I noticed glowed just a tad. Her voice lowered, like she was talking more to herself. "Teru can blow things up with his mind if he so chooses. I can't so much as jump 10 feet without this stupid thing." Her hand curled into a fist, and she hissed. "If I ever lost it, I'd be a liability. I'd be about as useless as Princess Hilda, the stupid blonde human girl who couldn't tell a spear from a sword if they pierced her! I'd be that stupid princess of the compound like they say I should be!"

Ah, there was our source of the problem.

"Some of the Renegades haven't been kind to you," I noted.

Her head shot up, like she had said all of that in her head but hadn't realized she said it aloud. Then she frowned and looked away. "Haven't been kind is putting it lightly" she muttered.

"I am surprised, though," I admitted. "You don't seem like the person who would really care if one or two people didn't like you."

"Maybe, but what if it were twenty?"

That number surprised me. "Robyn..."

"And it's not just words, either," she continued, and her fist became tighter. I could tell she was giving it everything she had to not cry. "They all glare at me like I was the one who came in and destroyed their lives and tore their families apart and- ...Why?! I didn't, and I wouldn't! It's just not fair-"

"The world, Robyn, has never been fair," I interrupted, and that's when she noticed she had failed at stopping the tears. As Robyn wiped them away, I continued. "When bad things happen, people look for something or someone to blame. Sometimes, the scapegoat in question has nothing to do with anything. And those people aren't worth the recognition you're trying to gain from them."

"But if I get better, then they'll change their mind!" Robyn argued.

I shook my head. "People - be they 'bland, normal' humans to the fabled fenrilra - are proud creatures who will, can, and have used others to feed their own egos," I stated. "They want you to reach their ridiculous expectations, only to make them even more ridiculous so that they taunt you for not meeting them. Those people, Robyn, are never worth trying to gain attention from."

My student looked at me for a very long time before returning her gaze to the Exsphere. "I guess that's true," she finally said. There was a sudden spark of determination in her emerald eyes, one Lord Yuan had told me was a clear indicator to not argue against whatever was on her mind. "That doesn't mean I shouldn't get stronger. If for no one else but me."

"That is a good mindset to have," I praised. "Now, will you stop with this foolishness and listen to my teachings? Without complaining?"

The girl finally stood up and breathed out. "Yes, Sergeant Derrick," she responded, much calmer than she had been in weeks. I nodded and went to take off my mounts. "Wait! Can you train me with your claws on? I've been fighting against knives for weeks." I raised an eyebrow, and she shuffled her feet. "And... I think they're kind of cool."

I smiled. "Thinking of switching weapons?" I inquired.

"Oh, no! I like my knives!" she insisted. "But you look better with them."

"I feel better with them," I added. "Claws have been my main weapon since I was a teenager."

Robyn tilted her head. "Elven or human teenager?"

I laughed; it had been quite a long time since I had done that when it came to my age. "I am currently somewhere in the range of being 130 and 140," I revealed. "I'll leave you to figure what that means."

"That you're in the middle or late-middle of your prime?"

"You catch on fast, my dear."

So for the following weeks, we worked on her stances. I would say she was becoming quite proficient, as her defenses were no longer as easy to break through now that she had passed the phase of keeping her limbs too far out. At the beginning of each session I would use my knives as well, but after the lunch break I would switch to my claws. It was exhilarating to use them more frequently than I had been in years past. Most trainees or others I sparred with were too scared thanks to my familiarity with my unusual weapon choice.

Not Robyn. Well, at least, she hid her fear better than most. How deadly accurate and skilled I was did have her frightened sometimes, but she held the belief that my fluidity when I wore my claws would help out her own quickness. It did, I noticed, though there were still times I caught her by complete surprise. Of course, I had been using claws for a very long time.

They are the reason I won my wife all of those years ago.

Of course, she countered that with her impossibly amazing cooking and her always gleaming eyes.

"I'm impressed with the progress you've made with her, Derrick," Lord Yuan complimented fifteen weeks into her training. We were watching her and Kail (an archer from my squad) have a sparring match from outside the training room.

"I am humbled by your compliments, Lord Yuan," I replied.

"Always the formal one," he sighed with a joking twinge. Kail jumped out of the way of Robyn's jab. "I'm not Kratos, Derrick; this place would be a lot drearier if I were."

"Lord Yuan, that's hardly the way to talk about an old friend of yours."

He chuckled, both happily and bitterly. "Perhaps, but I've always told him he's a stick-in-the-mud," he countered. His niece rolled out of the way of an ice-charged arrow. "If we can get back on topic, though, have you noticed anything strange about Robyn as of late?"

"Strange?" I repeated as I watched Kail block a swipe with his bow, struggling to push Robyn back. "Besides her anger spikes due to a few...unwanted comments, nothing noteworthy."

"I see," he stated. My archer finally threw her back, only for him to jump out of the way of a Piercing Cross, Robyn's slowly becoming go-to arte. "Maybe I should get a second opinion from a mage, then."

"Is there something that needs correction, my Lord?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"If we are talking in terms of training, nothing other than a few brush-ups on basics," he assured. "No, it's something else, and I should have known you wouldn't have an answer. You aren't very proficient in sensing mana, are you?"

No, I wasn't. Despite common misconception, not all half-elves could sense mana signatures. While I could use elemental artes, I couldn't cast magic, and therefore feeling out mana was not something that came to me.

"Is there something about her mana?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure," Lord Yuan admitted. "But it feels like her mana is much stronger than it should be. It has never been this strong in years past."

I thought about his statement. "Though, if I remember correctly, your mana becomes stronger the stronger you become," I told him.

"That is true," he agreed. "And yet... It feels like it's still too much. It's why I want a second opinion; I don't want to have any complications should something be wrong."

"Of course," I agreed.

Suddenly there was a laugh, and our attention was brought back to the training room, where Kail looked like he had complete victory. Robyn scolded herself, but her opponent waved it off. Though all we could hear was muffled words, I could tell from the broad grin Kail did enjoy the spar, and I knew it to be sincere. I had seen his face when he was faking sincerity, and it was a face you could never mistake with the real thing.

As Kail helped Robyn to her feet, Lord Yuan and I entered the room. "Excellent work, both of you," I applauded. They bowed. "Robyn, the one thing I would work on is flexibility. I appreciate your dedication to stick to form, but you will find in the heat of battle sticking to the kata will only hinder you."

"Yes sir," she responded.

"Kail," I smirked a tad as his head tilted, "center of the bow."

It took him a couple of seconds before the sandy yellow haired archer cursed under his breath. "Every time," he hissed. "Every time, I block more to the left or right."

"If that ends up being more comfortable, be my guest," I stated. Kail sighed but nodded. "Now, I do believe it's time to eat, wouldn't you agree?"

Kail instantly brightened up. There wasn't a single Renegade would disliked Dorris' cooking, but Kail was easily the most enthusiastic about it. "I hear we're having curry tonight!" he celebrated.

"Curry?" Robyn repeated.

Immediately she was snatched up by the eager man. "I swear, your lack of diversity in food is going to drive me insane," he muttered.

"Oh, excuse me for growing up poor," the human grumbled. Lord Yuan rubbed both of his temples and scowled.

That doesn't happen often.

"Fair. Now come on, let's get you acquainted with the best thing to ever be created by mortal hands!" Kail exclaimed.

"And I thought you said I'd go less bonkers if I was with you rather than Tweedledum and Tweedledoofus," Robyn joked dryly.

He raised an eyebrow as he began to walk out, Robyn still in his grasp. "You really want Teru and Quill to keep talking your ear off?" he questioned.

Robyn sighed. "Fair."

I smiled as I watched them walk out the door. "At least there are some soldiers willing to look past her race," I said.

"And I'm glad it's the majority, too," Lord Yuan added. "Now, if-"

"You would not like Dorris to come at you with the butcher's knife, I suggest you follow me, Lord Yuan," I interrupted.

Lord Yuan sighed harshly. "I was hoping she would forget that I haven't eaten in two weeks," he mumbled.

"Unfortunately, my Lord, you gave the position of head chef to the woman with the sharpest memory," I told him.

"And whose fault is it that she's here in the first place?" he asked.

I laughed. "Yes, well, I guess I wanted to share my burden with the rest of the compound," I stated.

"Oh, I see." We both jump at the harsh tone of my wife and turned to find her standing at the doorway, arms crossed and ladle in hand. "I suppose this is what constitutes as an 'I love you' nowadays."

Women can be furious creatures if you let them be.

Doris, when she had her ladle in hand, could be the scariest of all.

I cleared my throat. "We heard it was curry tonight," I said.

"And be grateful I'm letting you have some, Derrick," she replied. I found I had nothing to say to that. "Now, come along. You two can talk and walk, I hope? Or was it lost amongst the training?"

"Dorris, I can assure you Robyn is fine with the amount of training," Lord Yuan reasoned.

"Yes, which is why I saw her legs collapse from under her when Kail put her down." Now we were both without something to say. "That's the eighth time in the past two weeks, and it's all because you two insist on thirteen almost-straight hours a day."

"I... Uh..."

"Indeed, Sergeant." She glared, and I feared for my safety, until she softened and smiled. "But I suppose she does look happy. So, you agree to cut down on the hours, and I think we'll all be happy."

Lord Yuan sighed silently and then looked at me with a smile. "Well, Derrick, do you think you could cut it down?" he requested.

I smiled and walked over to my wife. "For you, Dorris, I will make the days shorter," I promised. She grinned before leading us to the mess hall.

What Dorris failed to account for was that Robyn can be even more stubborn than her.