There comes a time in the life of any great warrior in which the path before them forks, one road from the heart another from the head.
The war was coming, she could feel it. She could sense the players making key decisions all around her, like pieces slowly moving across a chessboard. But this board had too many sides, three rather than two, she wondered idly how many warriors would be consumed by that.
And then her pondering was interrupted, by a letter from her master. A letter she wished she had never seen, their guests it seemed were making their warriors uneasy, in the morning she would have to tell Leo to leave.
She closed her eyes a great sorrow the likes of which she had not felt in years filled her. Was she really meant to abandon him? She couldn't believe that fate had twisted it so, in a short time he had become a big part of her world. He thought of her not just of himself and showed her affection in a way she had never experienced.
And now her honor demanded that she through him out into the furry of a war that was hers and not his. She wasn't sure if she could do it.
And so she came to a crucial junction in her life. She had lived up till now for the honor of her clan and the man she called master, the man who had saved her and raised her , a man who resented her as much as he loved her.
Then she had met Leonardo, with his fierce determination always fighting for what was right, even if that was the life of a women she had come to hate for reasons she couldn't admit. He had swept in with passion and compassion and everything she had always wanted and never had, how could she abandon either?
She wondered if she asked would Leo leave with her? She imagined how wonderful it would be if they could just leave everything else behind , forget their clans and their honor and all the trappings of the lives they lead and just run off into no were and be together, just them no complications or responsibility.
Sadly she knew in reality he wouldn't leave and she wouldn't ask, they were alike in his bound to their honor.
She lay back waiting for sleep to come, for in the morning she would leave this junction and never be able to come back to it. In the morning regardless of what she did she knew a little part of her would die.