Many days after their first session, and many days after Anne had grown used to wearing the cloak almost all the time, the guard and his trainee stood upon another corner of the courtyard; Alec had turned to point towards one of the walls that lead to the smallest part of the garden (which also lead to the outside world), the moon shone high in the sky, and Anne's eyes focused on its bright light. "Climb it." He ordered, making her eyes fall on him once more.

"What?" She asked, her hues focusing on her guardian, who did nothing but nod at her; confirming his command to actually put the effort on climbing the one wall that could easily lead her to an escape. "Am I walking into a trap?" She wondered, for she was sure she wouldn't attempt an escape, though she failed to see how he could be so sure about it.

Yet, as if he were reading her mind, Alec smirked. "Not exactly." He allowed. "If you try to run, your life would be over faster than you can say 'I'm free.'" He motioned forward calmly. "Go on."

Her eyes narrowed on Alec only long enough for her to determine that she was better off doing what he'd said; which then inspired a look in the direction of the wall before her. It looked too smooth to climb to her; regardless of the bricks that formed it, the giant barrier seemed to not have any points from where she could help herself upwards. Nonetheless she moved as fast as she possibly could toward it, before she started climbing it; at first it was a little hard for her to find a place to set her feet and hands on, making her have to stay in one place for nearly a minute, trying to come up with where to put her feet. Yet, somehow, with the heavy sigh that befell Alec, it only became a matter of time before she found a means to make her stepping that much faster by literally digging her fingers into the red material, using every ounce of strength she could master; in her mind, she could only pretend to think she was escaping, and that thought alone helped her try to find a solution to the strange climbing pattern she'd found. She knew that if she were still human she'd be sweating, or that perhaps her heart would have stopped altogether over the exhaustion, but after what felt like an eternity to Anne (and even longer to Alec, who observed in interest with his arms crossed against his chest and intrigued tilted face), she reached the top. "Now what?" She asked, knowing very well that even if she was so high up, Alec could hear her without her needing to raise her voice.

Alec's arms uncrossed as a question rose inside him whilst he watched the once-Queen standing atop the wall: why exactly had it taken her so long to do something that, even if he wasn't trained, would take any vampire mere seconds to accomplish? "Hm." With the hint of a short theory, he finally spoke again: "Balance yourself on one foot." He commanded; narrowing his eyes and taking a couple of steps back with the wish of giving her a wide range for landing.

Anne breathed, concentrating on her body almost as much as if she were about to use her talents; her arms lifted to her sides in a very lame human attempt at balance as she lifted one foot in front of her, making her guard's brows raise, and daring to accomplish the task without moving too much. Yet, it was that look from Alec's eyes, and the side smirk of disapproval that lifted his lips, that willed the once-Queen to force her arms to lower slowly; it was only but that action that had her so easily losing her balance, and she found herself waving her arms around her, unable to hold on any longer before she started falling fast toward the ground.

"BALANCE YOUR-" Alec barked, pointlessly and loudly as a groan left his lips, just before he sped towards the spot she was surely to land on. "MALEDIZIONE!" He yelled in his beloved Italian. For him, it was effortless; he could see every single dust particle around Anne as if in slow motion, leaving him as long as he wished to have to prepare himself for the force with which she would fall. His arms extended in front of him, his eyes conscious of her every movement, and, before long, she had fallen into his arms whilst her own wrapped around his neck. Regardless of his attempts, the two fell to the floor upon contact, and though it didn't exactly hurt his back, he still found himself holding his breath upon the rather unfortunate landing of her knee upon his groin.

His eyes closed, his head rested upon the ground and a gentle groan escaped his lips, which only allowed for a continued "I'm sorry, oh, lord. Alec, I'm so sorry." Coming from Anne, whose worry stopped her from removing herself from her position atop him and actually left her there, looking down at him, and searching his features for the duration of her 'stay'.

"Woman!" He said after a few moments, voice only slightly rough, ignoring her apologies and moving swiftly to remove her from his frame so he could sit on the floor; a movement so swift, that it also left Anne sitting with her legs folded at her sides only inches away from him. His eyes scanned her quickly, looking for any damage to her, which he never did find; it seemed he'd gotten the worst of it. "Are you really going to be a damsel in distress!?" He barked without any amusement in his tone; of course he knew, after what he'd realised, that his words were slightly unfair, but what man who had just suffered his pain would not curse the person who had caused it? Whether on purpose, or lack thereof.

"No, I'm not." His ward responded, clearly irritated, as she found means of making herself comfortable, still looking in his direction with a concerned gaze; something that made Alec's brow rise with a kind touch of curiosity. "It was too high up." She admitted. "I forgot to keep my eyes only on one spot, and I just..." Her hands beat at her clothes to dust them off. "I'm sorry."

Alec almost felt bad for making his trainee angry, but he knew that he should be thankful for his observance, for these things needed to happen now, that they were fixable, instead of some day in the future in which her life could be in the line while saving the Volturi. How ironic, he thought. Only a few days ago I'd thought I'd end up killing her. "I need you to answer me something with as much honesty as you can." He requested, observing the merlot orbs that looked directly into Alec's crimsons with that frown completely frozen on her forehead and a nod to follow. Which, he took as the green light to ask. "Exactly how long did you hide as a human for?"

The question seemed unusual at that moment, and even though she'd already shared more with Alec than she had with absolutely anyone else, Anne couldn't help but feel wary of speaking her truths. Still, it was the realisation that it would all probably be in her best interest that made her force herself to speak the truth. "I only truly faced and accepted what I was a week before I went to that island you came to find me in." She confided reluctantly. To her surprise, her guard nodded; either in understanding, or a confirmation to a suspicion she could see dancing in his eyes. "I just wanted to survive," she continued. "So I learnt to only feed whenever I absolutely needed to. Of course I suspected; I'm not daft, nor is it as if there is not lore on our kind." She paused. "What human needs to drink blood to be able to be around humans without wanting to kill them one by one? Even worse, what human lives centuries without aging a day." Alec's lips twitched into a small smile. "But I never faced it. I never accepted it, because back then... all of it seemed like hell. It seemed to me like God had abandoned me; that he had cursed me for the same things my King had, regardless of the reality of the false accusations. So I hid, denying myself, and looking like whomever I drained, living their lives. Working, pretending, living and speaking like a human. Regardless of the thirst." Her head shook. "I didn't cross paths with many vampires; if any." Her eyes connected with Alec's, whose kind crimson orbs had never left her. "The man that I realised had changed me didn't exactly explain anything. Other than 'your majesty, you'll start craving blood soon.' To be honest I thought it was my fever taking over and making me hear things."

She was not surprised when Alec nodded, even before he let out a small sigh while his eyes lowered for merely a short moment prior to connecting with hers once more. "Did you ever give in to your abilities?" He wondered, searching her eyes for an answer. When Anne's head tilted slightly to the side in confusion, he explained. "I don't mean the shifting, I mean running faster than humanly possible, not breathing for longer than ten minutes," he looked over to the wall behind him to motion it before his eyes returned to Anne again. "Climbing walls, trees or anything. Jumping out from very high windows."

It didn't take long for the once-Queen's head to shake. "No." She simply replied, her frown returning smaller than before. "I never did any of that. I was in denial..." Her eyes lowered. "Up until that island I didn't want to believe what I was; as I said, I thought it was my penitence. It wasn't holy, not to me; in my eyes, my soul had died, and I was but a monster, a murderer. I didn't want anything to do with that." In her mind, the image of her mother's disappointment seemed seared. The one time she'd let her down enough for her to show it; she wondered just what she would say of her nature now. "Even feeding became a punishment."

Alec's eyes searched her features in wonder; the human way her chest lifted and lowered in little motions as she genuinely breathed in air, the soft colour on her cheeks from which flesh was not as pale as any vampire's should be, yet the means in which it still looked as perfect as pure porcelain as her nature would make it; and her lips, nearly as pink as a human's. Could the way she looked and acted be dire consequence of her continued denial of her true nature for centuries? Could she be weaker than other older vampires because she never gave into her abilities? Would he actually have to teach her everything as if she were a newborn minus the innate ability that came with having just been turned? "I reckon I fed more in my three months in that island than I did in five years." Anne suddenly informed him, pulling both of them out from their philosophical reveries, and making Alec's head bob in a nod as a decision formed inside his mind.

His hands moved to the ground as he manoeuvred to lift himself from it before he offered the once-Queen a hand. "Come on. Get up and close your eyes."

After a short moment of doubt, Anne finally took Alec's hand; holding it only for the strength it would take him to help her. As she stood from the ground with her guardian's help, a concerned and slightly confused frown crossed her features; her eyes searched his for a reason to his odd request, but she found none. "What are you going to do, Alec?"

His eyes dared look into her own. "I'm going to teach you how to be a vampire." He announced whilst he let go of her hand, allowing a soft smile to cross his lips in an attempt of reassurance for his once-prisoner. "Go on." He urged her with a nod of encouragement. "Close your eyes." Thankfully, with the time they had spent together, Anne seemed to have grown to at least place a little bit of trust on her guard, for which became the reason that she nodded in a smaller motion than could be seen, before her eyes slowly dared shut. "Now, imagine the wall." He continued; his eyes keen on the woman's features. "Focus completely on the wall. Think of it, where the spots your feet landed in were, your hands, your eyes." His voice faded, waiting, giving Anne time as he walked slowly around her until he stood behind her. "Now think of how you felt before you pulled a Humpty Dumpty." Anne's lips twitched into the smallest of smiles at this, even allowed a soft scoffed breath to echo from such a grin; which made Alec's own brims lift upon their corners even slightly as he rounded her to face her once more. "Balanced." He continued, not daring to interrupt his lesson with too much notice upon a funny remark. "In control." Slowly, he approached her once again, raising one of his arms to rest on her shoulder seconds before he carefully moved to lower himself for a moment, only with the means of taking hold of the back of her knee, her flesh warm against his touch, so that he could lift her leg partly. He was not at all surprised when Anne gasped, and her lids fluttered. "Relax, keep your eyes closed." Alec encouraged. "I'm not going to do anything, just focus on your balance, and don't lift your arms." Alec watched as she forced her eyes to remain closed, pressing together until small creases appeared upon their corners; she frowned, her lips pressed, but not one word dared escape her. Instead, her mind focused solely on her own body, her balance; her mind became quiet, fully aware of every single cell of her frame, specially the places in which she could feel Alec's contact, mimicking, within their tingling echoes on her flesh, almost the exact way in which she always felt when she was about to place the mask of her gift upon her features. Her breaths came calm; not that she needed them, but they relaxed her. She had nearly gotten used to such a position; the silence around her serving as a means of relaxation as much as the breeze, making the trees at the other side of the wall dance; but, suddenly, her concentration seemed to nearly break when Alec so easily let go of her. She focused, breathing, using such inhalations as a beat upon the lack of a heart to give her real one and feeling as light as she'd ever felt; she almost felt like she was floating as she balanced on her one foot. Because of it, Alec smiled genuinely as he watched, even as his arms lifted to cross against his chest; after a couple of more few quiet moments, he spoke. "Now, open your eyes, Anne." Her lids slowly lifted to reveal her shining blood red hues. Nodding toward the wall with a soft motion of his head, Alec encouraged his ward. "Climb that wall."

Anne's head bobbed in a nod, making the tips of the hair at the end of her side bangs whip against her cheek (just because she had been hiding in other people's image, it didn't mean that she did not have to modernize her own); her lower lip found itself nervously trapped between her teeth as she tried to forbid the pointless unfounded nerves from taking over her. She moved toward the wall and reached for it slowly, remembering the way her mind had felt only moments prior, while Alec talked her though her concentration, before she stared going up the wall. The journey up was a lot easier the second time; faster, even. So much so, that she had even found herself surprised when she reached the top. Slowly, she stood, but, this time, she gulped too. Her eyes moved to look down at Alec just like she had before. "Do I close my eyes here too?" She asked in a calm tone.

"Balance on one foot." Alec commanded, looking up at her with an attempt of encouragement within a kind gaze. "You just did it." She reminded him. "Your eyes won't be closed when you have to balance on something thinner than that wall and have nowhere to go." His lips lifted slightly as the words Anne had told him before ran in his mind; every single one, as much as the reality of the ease with which escaping from tricky situations seemed to come to her. Survival; she'd always wanted to survive. A survivor's worst fear was... "Unless you want to die." He finally finished.

At those words Anne froze. He'd used the magic word; she didn't want to die. It was such a reminder that willed the once-Queen to take a deep breath and finally start lifting her foot. She forced her mind to be fully transfixed on her body's movements just the way she had done back on the ground. Her hands were completely still at her sides, Alec's words echoing in her mind along with the full bodied concentration of every single one of her limbs. This time her foot was nearly fully outstretched in front of her, like a dancer; the unnecessary breaths came slowly, pure relaxation running inside her veins with every breathing beat.

Watching the sheer concentration etch across Anne's features, Alec couldn't help but feel proud of her; she was actually doing what they had practiced only moments ago, and because of it (among many other things), Alec found Anne, thus far, to be a pretty good trainee. He almost felt scared of speaking his next words; but that was his job, after all. "Now, jump." He called toward her.

It was enough to make her eyes shift toward her guardian's in a whip as she nearly lost her balance with the sudden surprise of his words. "What?!" She called, lowering her foot to regain her balance without falling like before.

"Jump!" He repeated with a short frown as he continued to keep his arms crossed. "You are a vampire, Anne, you won't die." His eyes remained on her, details upon details reaching him from where he stood; and it was exactly because of that, that he dared not speak louder than when she had been standing by his side. "It is in your nature." He continued. "Just remind yourself to land on your feet, and don't forget to bend at the knee, or your legs will suffer for it."

Well, even she couldn't deny that such words made sense, but, well, Alec looked no bigger than a kitten from where she stood, and she could see absolutely no way in which she could make that jump without harming herself in one way or another. "You can't be serious!" She quickly claimed, frowning and begging her lord for it all to be nothing but a bad joke given to her by a mischievous boy.

But, to no avail. "DO IT, ANNE!" Alec's voice echoed in commandment this time, requesting (more than encouraging) the once-Queen to do as she was told.

So that was the catch. Anne thought as her eyes looked at the ground right below her. Her head shook for a short moment before she forced her own mind to concentrate once again. Nothing around her mattered other than her concentration. So she lifted her leg again, but, this time, she allowed her eyes to look down at the ground so far away from her current position. She knew she couldn't let the concentration slip away again; thus, she slowly attempted to remember and bring back the means in which she had felt like a floating feather when she'd been practicing back on the ground; even only moments prior in the very wall. Slowly, as she concentrated, the same weightless feeling ran through her body, and before she even realised what she was doing, Anne stepped away from the edge of the wall she'd been balancing on; unlike before, she was falling feet first, she was expecting the way in which wind formed all around her, dancing against her flesh. This wasn't a fall, it was a jump. Bend your knees, she reminded herself repeatedly as the ground got closer. Bend your knees. She could almost even hear Alec's words echoing in her mind telling her exactly those three words. Something that, when she hit the ground, became as much pointless as helpful, for it turned out to be entirely different than what she expected; yes, she'd bent her knees, and no, her legs had clearly not suffered any consequences, yet the impact from so high up had made the soles of her feet hurt in such a way that it wasn't been very long before she found herself kneeling on the ground. Her hands rested in front of her, balling against the grass of the courtyard before she let out an incredibly annoyed sigh. "Damn it." She whispered.

An action that only left one of Alec's brows lifting in surprise at the whispered annoyance; given that a halfway proud smile lifted the corners of his lips as he pushed himself to walk toward his ward. Why exactly could she be upset? She'd done it, almost perfectly, she'd done it. So when he stood right above her, with the smile still lighting up his features, he willed his arms to uncross to offer her one hand once she looked up at him, pausing for a second for her to take his hand before he said. "Again."

To Be Continued.