It was by accident that they found out. Akeela was well versed in taking care of herself, she had practically raised herself on her own for nearly a thousand years, and though she had bigger angels she could rely on now, archangels at that, it was a hard habit to break to go to others for help. She was a good fighter and as tough as they come, ready to jump back at the opponent when they made their first move, she had promised to act only when acted upon and she didn't break promises.

They had been following her for a while, staying back in her shadow, as she skipped around the Heart Hall and down the cart laden Axis Mundi. They made comments to each other under their breath that was just loud enough for her to heard, and they went ignored, she couldn't get them for merely saying mean things because that got her sent to the corner and she didn't like going to the corner.

So she ignored them and hummed a merry tune to herself to drown out their whispering, until the other boy joined them, there problem was (she thought to herself) that they didn't like getting their butts handed to them by someone half their age.

Their voices were familiar, she knew them well, she would remember anyone who had done her wrong. It was just an engrained skill from living through the great war, always remember those who wrong you so they may never do so again, and so she listened for any sudden moves and continued on her merry way.

She made her way down to the training fields, Michael hadn't arrived yet from midday break, and she sat on one of the stone benches to wait for him. Though she wasn't allowed to practice with swords yet he always let her watch the others (and Nisroc let her practice with his daggers when Michael was preoccupied elsewhere) while they trained.

The fledgling was all alone on the training field, the others having left for midday as well and no one was due back until the sun shifted to west in its beginning stages of slowly setting. It was the perfect time to get her, and they made their attack, the biggest boy shoving her from behind back into the dirt.

Her palms and knees skidded across the pebble strewn dirt as she caught herself, tearing at the skin and little pebbles getting trapped in the scratches and cuts that littered her little palms and knees now.

Immediately though, despite the tears forming in her eyes, she spun around. Paul glared at her as he climbed over the bench, Nathanael and Brachial flanking him.

"You made me look like an idiot in front of all the warriors!"

She crawled back, knowing when to pick and choose her battles, she was strong but not nearly strong enough to face three older kids all on her own. It was only in this moment that she had the feeling she probably should have told someone about them following her for weeks.

"You got us in trouble!"

Nathanael and Brachial were marching at Paul's side now, looming over her like hungry hyenas going in for the kill. The warrior in training pulled his sword from the sheath at his side and twirled it around with skill, it was cowardly to attack someone who was unarmed, but what no one else knew didn't hurt him.

She gasped, curing her arms around her head as she ducked down, when he swung the sword around. It clashed loudly with something, and she peeked out from under her arms to see the bigger specially crafted sword that ever Power carried with them right before her eyes, and had never been so happy to see another older angel in her young life.

Nisroc looked unusually stern, eyes darkened as he parlayed the cowardly frontal attack, and she looked up to see the terrified gazes of her attackers as they backed away in horror. Perhaps not horror at the realization of what they had intended to do, beating a young fledgling like they had wanted, but more so that they had been caught.

"I would not try another time."

His voice was deeper then she'd ever heard it, rumbling like a volcano did before it was about to erupt, he was not kidding when he had said that she was as much a Power as they were. She may be too young to join but that did not mean they wouldn't protect her like she was one of their own. She turned to look at him again, flinching slightly as he pushed the smaller blade away and retracted his own without noticeably putting it away, almost daring the youngling in training to try again. Behind him, coming up to his left shoulder was another Power, glaring at the other boys, touching a hand lightly to the lieutenants shoulder as he stepped passed to kneel before the shaking fledgling.

"Are you okay little warrior?"

She nodded her head, eyes still wide in surprise, last she had seen she was alone on the training field and yet they were here anyway. Haniel smiled at her kindly and held out a hand for her to take, helping her back to her feet. They walked around Nisroc to flank his shoulder. The leader of the Power's smiled at her as she passed before returning his dark glare to the three boys.

"You will be coming with us. Commander Michael will be made aware of this unwarranted attack on an unarmed fledgling. I would pray to Father that he is in a lenient mood today."

He motioned for Haniel to step behind him to flank them to ensure they did not attempt to escape while they were marched to their doom, shivering in terror at facing the eldest archangel and his red-hot anger. Michael was level headed most of the time, gentle and softly playful with most of anyone, until someone managed to tip the scales in the other direction.

Attacking his favorite fledgling would not doubt be a sure way to tip those scales in unwanted fashion.

Nisroc turned, leading them back to the Pavilion where the other Powers had gathered to witness their young warrior almost meet the end of a sword unprovoked, scooping her up in one quick motion as he passed where Haniel had left her standing, settling her on his left arm as he finally put his sword away.

"And you little warrior, he will want to know how long this has been going on, did they follow you here?"

"They follow me everywhere."

He turned to look at her in alarm, and threw a glare over his shoulder for a moment before looking back to the fledgling sitting on his arm, "They follow you? Why did you not saying anything?"

"Because I could handle it."

One look at her palms and knees showed just how young she was, she had learned to defend herself during the war, those times called for those measures, but it showed that she was still untrained and thus easy prey for those like the ones they lead to the Archangel's office. Michael had been present the entire time, working on things between Faction leaders, completely unaware of what was unfolding in the training fields underneath him.

"I don't doubt that little warrior, but the best part of being on a team is that you do not have to fight alone, if this happens again and you don't want to go to Michael then come to me. Come to any of us. We have got your back as I have no doubt you would have ours."

He knew it was a lot to ask for from the strong willed fledgling, though she had lived with the choir for thousands of years, she had only really relied on herself and that included defending herself from those that had meant to harm her. Asking her to come to them for help was nearly as impossible as the moon trading places with the sun, but perhaps they stood a better chance of avoiding another moment like these if she knew that they were there for her to come to if she needed them. She was a fledgling after all and deserved to have the best fledglinghood that she could, despite the rough beginning.

"Promise me?"

There was no way for him to no she would do as he asked them to make her promise him.

"I promise. Cross my heart." A beat of silence followed "Do we really have to tell Michael?"

"I'm afraid so little warrior."