Cearbhail:

Ok, took me maybe five hours to write this whole chapter from start to finish. Had no idea what I was doing, so I just started doing whatever and now... I was so into the zone by the end of this chapter that I wondered if I had all this in mind before I even started. But no... and honestly I don't think I could plan a chapter like this. Don't get your hopes up; nothing happens in this chapter. It's all character development and stuff. But still, I had no intention of this character being like this when I started. Happy accident. Enjoy.

[Little Ashley, age 12]

"Why do I have to learn this?" I looked up at my mom as she placed a spoon in my hands.

"This is the family trade. Everyone in our family knows how to do this… it's tradition." Mom replied as she folded her arms over her dark blue cloak. "The Everthorns are the leading alchemists of this coven, and now you are my apprentice…so I must teach you the secrets of this family."

I looked down at the wooden spoon in my hands. I didn't care about this stuff. I was already teased by the other kids in town because I dressed in weird dresses that weren't in style, and the boy I liked thought I was a freak because I could make the wind blow in any direction I wanted it to go, not to mention how light glowed off my body if I got even a little upset or happy. It wasn't really noticeable during the bright days, but more towards the evening when we hung out and watched the stars, it was more than obvious.

I looked back up at my mom and sighed, rolling my eyes. "I don't care about tradition." Tradition so far as made me a freak to the rest of the town, except to the other kids being forced to learn this stuff too. I didn't care about magick or mana, or whatever it was called. Just a normal kid… that's all I wanted to be. Why did I have to be born into this family and not one of the royal families with a knight for a father like some of the other kids that got to run around and play all day?

Mom crossed her arms and glared down at me. I felt a pressure push down on my shoulders and I knew it was only going to grow stronger until I gave up and did what she wanted me to do. So, I finally threw my arms up and said, "Ok, fine! I'll do whatever this stupid thing is. What am I doing?"

She smirked and turned to the cauldron. "A simple healing salve. It's a nice remedy for when you have someone with a broken bone under your care. Sword cuts are a problem though. There are several elixirs and potions you could craft that would help with sword cuts, bruises, but there aren't many potions you can use for broken bones. So… mana has to be used for those."

"You're going to force me to learn that… aren't you?" I asked sullenly as I looked up at her.

She nodded. "One day, you may need to know these things, and I might not be here."

…

[Little Ashley, 18 current day]

"Why do I have to do this?" I asked the man dressed in white assassin robes as he started climbing up a tree. I watched him as he scaled up to a higher branch. When he reached his little sitting perch, he turned to look down at me.

"Do what?" He asked with a shrug.

"This… Assassin thing. I'm a witch, remember? I'm not like you or Robin."

The assassin smirked as he looked down at me. "What about Red?"

I rolled my eyes. I should have guessed he would have dragged Red into all this. "She's a special kind of crazy. Always running off on her own to lure out Wolfe. She was already the tomboy of our group; that tough dirt-roller with a wooden sword instead of a staff like the rest of us."

The Assassin's eyebrows perked up. "Is that so? When I met Red, she didn't seem like the tomboy rough and tough type to me. Seemed like a proper lady."

"The ladies in your town must be pretty tough then." I replied back. Red was always outside running around. Of course, it wasn't like she had any parents. They died pretty early on and she was taken in by her grandmother, who was so old that she didn't go around so much. Red did most of the shopping for her and went out of her way to play outside as much as possible. I remembered how much I hated seeing her outside laughing her head off while I was stuck inside brewing stupid healing potions and whatnot. Mom never really let me outside to do much once I turned 13. Her apprentice had to stay home and cleanse crystals, set up ritual magick circles, and other stuff like that.

Honestly, the first day in five years I stepped outside I ran into Wolfe, the uncle of the boy I used to hang out with all the time. I thought I'd try to ask the boy out, but it ended up with me on Wolfe's ship heading to France as a prostitute. And I felt so betrayed over that. Wolfe had never really been mean to me; in fact he liked the idea of me dating his nephew and usually pushed us together before I was locked away in my mother's house. She thought it was too dangerous for me to be running around. She was right in the end, go figure. And here I was… caught up with Wolfe again. I had to help kill him, and I hated it.

I looked back up at the Assassin. He was still waiting for me to say or do something. "So… what are we doing anyway?"

He just stood there for a few seconds before he said, "Dodge!"

Next thing I knew there was a snowball in my face. It hit me hard enough to make me stumble back and fall onto my butt. As soon as I fell into the snow below me, I ran my hands up to my face to rub the snowball off it. As I did so, I looked up at the Assassin. He was already off the branch, falling down at me with his legs spread out like he was running. One hand was up in the air and I could see a shiny dagger in the glimmer of the summer light. I could have sworn I heard an eagle call as the Assassin fell down on top of me. I didn't have time to move; I didn't know how to react. I just lied there as the Assassin landed silently on top of me, his legs on either side. A knife was aimed at my throat, only inches away. He looked down at me with eyes that glowed with some sort of shine, like he was seeing me in a way that I could not understand so easily.

"You're dead." He replied. He stood up, retracted his knife, and stepped off of me. He walked over to the tree and started climbing again. "We'll try that again." He called as he scaled the tree.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked him as I stood up.

When he reached the top he shrugged at me and scooped up a ball of snow. "Dodge.", was his reply to my question. He said it with a shrug and the way he said it, it was like it was the most obvious advice anyone could have given me. As soon as he finished saying it, I felt a ball of snow crash into my face, and once again I was on my butt and he was standing right over me with a knife at my throat. "Can you at least try to move?" He said with a hint of a chuckle as he pushed himself off his knees and out of the snow.

I groaned as I waited for him to step away from me before I picked myself back up. "Can you at least tell me how to do this 'dodge' thing?"

He coughed into his hand and walked back to the tree. He grabbed onto a branch and started pulling himself up. "Tell me something." He said as he started climbing up. "Aren't you the oldest in your group?"

I had to think about it, but I wasn't the oldest. There were a couple older than me; the oldest was a 26 year-old by the name of Paula. She was the oldest, but she wasn't a Little, like I was. She was a full family member. I was the oldest Little, but I guess that wasn't really true anymore. For any of us. Little are apprentices that were being trained in their art by their masters or family members. My mom was my master and she never promoted me to family member status because of how hard our family trade was. Sure, I was allowed to do all the ritual planning and stuff, but I never really cared for it, and mom believed that I wasn't ready to accept the burden of being a real family member. She thought my heart wasn't in it, which it really wasn't. I didn't care, even after all this time about this family. I'd been made an outcast out of and was put on a ship to become a pleasure toy for some Frenchman because I was born in the wrong family with the wrong religious beliefs. And it has brought me here, to a point where I'm being pelted with snowballs while training with some murderer, who wants me to follow in his footsteps as mother did with me not too long ago. And he's doing it the same way she did.

"I'm the oldest of the Littles, but even so… I'm not all that strong." I said as I watched him climb the tree.

"Ah-huh, why not?" He asked as he stood on top of his branch. He looked down at me, bending down to pick up a ball of snow.

I shrugged. "My mom…well…" What did I want to say? Did I really feel like telling him about my past and becoming part of some ploy of his to get to know me? Why did I suddenly feel like telling him anyway? He was just some stranger that's been living with our family for a month or two now. Sure, his sister saved us, and if she asked me this question, I'd be more than happy to tell her. But this man…I just don't know. I can't figure out what it is about him that makes me want to tell him my secret that I've pretty much kept to myself. I finally shrugged it off as I opened my mouth to reply. "Well, it's just that.."

A snowball impacted my face and I stumbled back. I didn't fall down this time, but I did take a few steps back. My eyes were blinded by snow so I didn't really get far enough fast enough and I felt a strong hand clasp my arm. The hand tugged me down and I felt myself fall forward. My leg was kicked out behind me and next thing I knew I was face-first in the snow again and there was a warm butt sitting on my back. "Well, this is an improvement." The Assassin said as he lightly bounced his butt on my back. "You're pretty comfortable." He said as he started squirming his butt around. I rolled my eyes with annoyance. Of course he'd be trying to annoy me. He finally stopped and looked down at me. "You never answered my question." He stood back up and walked back over to the tree.

I pushed myself back onto my feet and I looked up at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

He paused mid-climb and looked over at me. "Ok. Go ahead." He continued climbing.

"Why are we doing this?" I gestured to the tree he was climbing. "Why are you climbing this tree; why are you throwing snowballs at me; why are you doing any of this?"

When he cleared the top he scooped up a ball of snow and gently tossed it up in the air where he would catch it. "Which would you rather dodge? A snowball, a fist, a knife, or an arrow?" He looked down at me.

I shrugged. "How about none of the above?"

He shook his head. "Do you even know what you're getting into?"

"I never asked to be here!" I said back up at him.

"And yet, here you are." He responded. "And you agreed to help me. But before you can help me, I need to help you." He smirked. "And to do that, I need you… to…" He waved his free hand at me.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Dodge?" I just had enough time to say that before I felt a snowball crash into my face. I stumbled back again, but I had brought my arms up this time to protect my face. Most of the snow missed me and I was able to get away before the Assassin crashed down to top of me. He landed just a few feet away and he sprinted right for me. Ok so…now what? He was coming closer and I didn't know what to do! Next thing I knew, he was up in my face. He reached out and grabbed me by my guarded arms. He twisted his arms and spun me around until I was facing up in the air with my back arched. He was looking me in the eyes and I could see the smile in his face as he suddenly pulled his arms back. My legs gave out in the snow and the next thing I knew I was lying in the snow again, and he was right on top of me. His face was inches away from mine.

He nodded and let go of my arms. "Not bad; you know how to block, but without a shield… it's pretty meaningless." He stood up and looked down at me. "Well, it's a start anyway." He waited for me as I picked myself out of the snow. As soon as I was standing, he nodded and walked back over to the tree. He started climbing again and I started wondering how long I'd be forced to stand here and get beaten up. How many times would I have to watch him climb this tree and throw snowballs at me? I guess as long as it took to get me to learn whatever it was he wanted me to learn.

I took a deep breath as I watched him get his balance on the tree branch. He scooped up a ball of snow and then looked down at me. "See the way you're standing? Your feet aren't spread apart; you aren't ready to move. How are you supposed to dodge when you aren't even ready to move your feet?" He shook his head. I didn't look down, but I did spread my feet apart a little as he readied his snowball. I had a little something special planned this time. Every time he throws that snowball, he jumps from the tree branch. And then he runs over to fight me. I watched him train with Red and Robin. If I just kept him away from me, that should be all I would need.

I waited for him as he looked down at me. "I noticed that you still haven't answered my question."

I wouldn't fall for it this time. He was obviously trying to distract me so that he could throw the snowball at me while I was answering him. But, I honestly couldn't remember the question anyway. "Which question was that?"

He tossed the snowball up in the air, never taking his eyes off me, and I never took my eyes off him. "You said that you were the oldest of the Littles, but not the strongest. You started to say something about your mother and then well…" He caught the snowball and looked at it for a second before looking back at me. "So, let's continue where we left off. Why do you think you're not as strong as your fellow sisters?"

Oh, that question. "Well, it goes back to when I was a child." I said up at him. "Every Little has a master. Red had Mother Bo-Peep as her teacher; the strongest witch in our coven. Red was designed for greatness from the start. She got the best teaching, the best instructor…the best everything."

"I hear a little contempt in that answer." The Assassin reported back to me. He squinted his eyes. "Was that jealousy I detected in your tone?"

Was there? I didn't recall having any. Every time I thought of Red, I didn't think I felt anything like that. I respected her, but I guess there was a part of me that thought she had a blessed life. Well, if you forget the fact that her parents died when she was six or something like that. Red never acted like it bothered her though. I on the other hand I was stuck at home most of the time. No one liked me because I was the weird one, and I was one of the oldest of the younger generation. The other Littles always looked up to me for the answers to their questions about making fire and stuff. And when I'd answer them with alchemical terms, they just thought I was lying to them. My mom never taught me mana using, but she would teach me how to brew up stuff and make magick circles for certain ceremonies. That was the stuff I was forced to learn, not the rest of the stuff that came so naturally to Red. Of course, Mom didn't have any talent in mana, so she couldn't teach me what she didn't know anyway. Never thought of it like that, but perhaps I could have asked someone else. Then again, I didn't care back then about learning. I just wanted to be normal.

I looked back up at the assassin. "I didn't mean there to be any malice in my tone." I said up to him. "I don't hate Red or anything, but… she's the strongest of us because she had the best teacher of us all."

"Lucy is stronger than her." The Assassin replied.

I shrugged. "In mana overall, sure, but she has no ability to control it like Red does."

"So, what are you good at?" He stopped tossing the ball of snow in his hands. "If you're not as strong as Red, not as potent as Lucy… what's your deal?"

I shrugged. "Alchemy." I said to him. "My mom never taught me anything but ritualistic magick circles, crystals, and alchemy. I never learned all that fancy combat magick that Red and Lucy were specifically taught."

"Hmm." He pondered that. "So, you're the bookworm of the group." He nodded his head. "Ok, now I understand." He dropped the ball of snow and started sitting down on the branch. Whatever plans I had to blast him off his feet were derailed before I could even start. The Assassin was calling our little match off. He now knew that I wasn't a fighter. I wasn't anything. I was just a well-trained ritual practitioner.

I shrugged. "So, what are you going to do? Are you still going to take me into your war? Or do I get to sit here and twiddle my thumbs while you go fight an entire army of Templars by yourself?" Not that I shouldn't care, but I couldn't offer him any real assistance. I just didn't know that much about combative magick. I knew air magick because it helped stir up our potions with a certain magick edge that made them more potent. That's the only reason I know anything about air magick. The only thing I knew about fire magick was that I could use it to light my cauldron to heat up whatever concoctions I needed that moment. Those were the only elemental magicks known to most alchemists. Well, that and the ability to manipulate the flow of water. That came in handy when you didn't have a spoon to stir with. But still… I can't fight something with just that. It's not like I can make the water float and then use it as a weapon, like a whip or something. That's impossible.

The Assassin was still looking down at me, scanning me. "No." He suddenly said as he stood back up. He started brushing his robes off of any snow that had accumulated on him. I had only just noticed that snow was beginning to fall down around us. When I looked up at the Assassin, he was just looking down at me from where he normally stood.

"No, what?" I asked as he glared down at me. "No… I'm not going with you? No… you're not taking me in the war? No… I don't get to sit here and twiddle my thumbs."

He shook his head, shrugging. "No, just no."

"I don't get it." I threw my arms up. "Why are you so cryptic?"

"Why is everything out of your mouth a 'no'?" He replied. "No, I'm not strong; no I'm not brave; no I can't do that. No, no, no, no, no!" He screamed to me. "That's why you can't dodge anything; you're too busy saying you can't."

"But-"

"But nothing!" He screamed down to me. "A student in my town would be taken to the whipping post if he negatively reacted to the idea of doing something. If he or she believed for a second that something was impossible, the idea of the possible would be whipped into them until it became part of who they were." He crossed his arms and glared down at me with his somewhat glowing eyes that seemed to pierce right through me. "The first thing you need to know is that nothing is true… and that everything is permitted. These lies you've told to yourself are not true. You can do whatever you set your mind to, if only you'd permit yourself to realize it." He bent down and picked up a ball of snow. "So, let's fix that mindset of yours, shall we?"

The next thing I knew my face was full of snow. It hit me so hard that I saw stars burst in my eyes. I stumbled off my feet and crashed into the snowy floor. My head spun and I was vaguely aware that the Assassin was on top of me, holding my hair back as he pulled my head out of the snow. I felt a sharp edge on my throat and I heard, "You're dead." He took the knife away and dropped my head so that it fell back into the snow. "Again!" He said as he walked off me and over to the tree.

It took me a few seconds to regain my sense of balance before I stood back up. By the time I stumbled back onto my feet, the Assassin was already standing on his branch looking down at me. When I looked up at him, he only nodded. "Ready to try again?"

I shrugged. "I just can't dodge that fast."

"No!" He screamed down at me. "You just need to move faster."

I shrugged. "Ok… I just need to learn how to move faster?"

He nodded. "Better. You just need to move faster." He nodded and smiled. "That's how you should think. Ok, I wasn't fast enough, got to be faster. I know what to expect, so I should expect it. I should see it before it comes; I should be ready for anything. 'Can't' is poisonous to your mind." He bent down to pick up another ball of snow. "Ready for another one?"

"Where are you getting all this snow from?" I asked as he chucked the ball at me. I was so preoccupied with that question that my head snapped to the side as the snowball flew past me. And that caught my attention. I snapped my head back to see that I actually dodged it. And then I felt two arms grab me by my throat.

"Dead." The Assassin said again, releasing my throat. "Good dodge though. Your body is finally responding." He turned around and started climbing the tree. "Now you just have to tell yourself that you can fight. That…" He chuckled as he grabbed another snowball. "I will be impressed if we can get you there before we run out of snow on this branch."

I was still confused as to how he was getting all this snow up there. I didn't see a lot of it on the branch itself, and for there to be enough to keep making these snowballs was messing with me. "There is no way you're getting all that snow from the branch."

He looked down at me and wagged his finger at me. "No way? I'm doing it, aren't I? Perhaps your perception is poisoning the reality of how much snow exists up here. Maybe you think there is less than exists, that there could not possibly be a way for me to conjure more snowballs where such little snow exists." He shrugged. "Much like your lack of ability. You believe there is none to work with, but you have all the snow in the world, if only you could see it."

I had to admit, that one threw me for a loop. It kept me in a loop long enough for a snowball to crash lightly on my face, exploding in a puff of winter cold. I was able to look up fast enough that I could see the Assassin falling back down near me. This was it! I had a plan before. Might as well go through with it. I reached for my belt and pulled out a vial of instant burning powder. As soon as the Assassin hit the ground, I popped the lid to my powder bomb and threw it at his feet. The bomb hit wonderfully and it exploded on impact. Next thing the Assassin knew, he was surrounded in a cloud of red pepper powder. He was confused by then he reached for his eyes.

"Crap!" He cried as he started reaching for his eyes. He started wiping them madly as he started to cough. In a mad rush, he charged out of the powder and over towards me. I looked for his dagger, spotting it on his belt. I smiled as I charged over to him. As I got closer I reached for his belt, trying to grab his knife.

The Assassin's arm suddenly snatched out for my arm. He grabbed me, still blinded by the pepper powder. I don't know how he was doing it, but he knew where I was and what I was planning to do. He spun me around and next thing I knew there was a knife to my neck again. "Dead." He replied as he dropped the knife and continued wiping the powder from his eyes. "Good try though. Just what I want to see." He released me and stuck his hand in the snow. He started rubbing snow in his eyes. He managed to get enough on his face that it took most of the powder off. When he could finally open his eyes, he nodded to me. "I think I'm ready to teach you some real combative stuff now."

"Then what the heck was all this?" I yelled to him. Why did he bring me here if he wasn't being serious?"

He smiled as he rubbed more powder from his eyes. "Just getting you in the right mindset. Now…I have one day to get you ready. And then we attack Wolfe. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

I nodded. "More now than ever." I had to admit that I was beginning to enjoy this. The Assassin had done something to me, made me open to learning. My mother's teachings pretty much locked me up, but now I wanted to learn. And I think he was the teacher I wanted. So… this is why Red became an Assassin. I could see it now. He was an amazing person once you got past the annoying white robes he wore. Oh wait… I'm wearing white right now. Huh… that's odd. Our winter cloaks looked a lot like his robes. I wonder if that means anything important. Probably not. I'm just drawing a conclusion from a coincidence probably.

Cearbhail:

Ok, so we had a nice little character development for Little Ashley, the master alchemist of the group. She knows a lot of stuff that is rivaled only by Vicky and Mother Goose. Of course, if her mother were still alive, she would be the greatest master alchemist for the story, but... you know... purge and all that. Anyway, see you soon.