Author's Note: Temporary title, till I think up a better one. And I'll be adding more to this chapter... I just haven't written it yet!

As I begin this report, I wonder if my life is really worth sharing. I have so many things I'm not proud of…. But I'll go through with it, for the sake of the Council. They all need to know the truth.

The real beginning of my life was not too long ago, when I finally found what I was meant to do… or so I thought.

There must have been a hundred of us in that hall. Each small face hopeful, yet all knowing that their chance of being chosen was slim to nothing.

We kneeled on the ground, in a line from door to far-off door. I was somewhere in the middle, a small girl with chopped brown hair. We all wore the same uniforms of grey. They had probably been stolen, though I didn't think about it then.

A man strode before our ranks, eyes out for the perfect match. His close-shaven head glinted in the dim overhead lights, and his muscles bulged. He was not one to mess with.

"You are all aware of why I have come to this—er—facility." His sharp voice made you want to stand at attention, maybe even salute. "I am looking for a bodyguard—not for myself—but for the politician I am employed to. He requires another, to help me."

He had come to the end of the line and turned around, continuing back. "I had heard of how greatly you are trained here, even without legal… acknowledgement. All of you are obviously capable, but who is best to do the job?"

The question hung in the air. I looked around at my fellow trainees—most were trying to look tough. They looked like kittens pretending to be tigers.

"Who here is the best fighter… and the best winner?" The bodyguard was just a few people away from me.

And that is when I did it—I opened my big mouth and the words spilled out, threatening to drown me. "I am!" I proclaimed. Those two words, arrogant words, held more power than I could control.

The bodyguard stopped in front of me, staring at the top of my head. In one quick motion he pulled out his blaster and pointed it at my head, several feet away.

"I could kill you," he said calmly. "I have no qualms about that. You would be dead in an instant and I would be no worse off than before. What say you?"

The other kids around me stared. This would be my time to apologize for speaking, I realized. But I didn't want to, so I wouldn't.

Besides, there was always that dark thought, creeping along the treeline of my mind… My chances of being chosen now were zip. My life was already so pointless, so insignificant… and there were so many people I wanted to see…

And so I stared coolly at the imposing man and said… "Bring it on."

The bodyguard smiled slowly… and pulled the trigger.

I did not flinch as the great hall echoed with gasps. I did not flinch. I smiled.

But I didn't find freeing death in an instant, or a minute later. The blaster wasn't loaded! I stared up at him, and he stared down at me.

"You looked into the eye of death, but you did not shy away. Why?"

I nearly pointed out that it wasn't the eye of death, only the eye of a blaster. But what I said was, "I'm no stranger to death—I've nearly belonged to him many times."

He put away his blaster with an impressed nod. He offered me his hand, and I took it. "You're hired."

And that was the end of the beginning… or was it the beginning of the end?