AN: Sorry it's been so long.. but, you know... exams, block etcetc. by the way, this is the-only-english-rose again, as Jade lost her inspiration for this chapter, but shes working on the next.
Disclaimer: yeh... you all know, right? we don't own it.
The rain sloshed down around her as she rode her horse, Preto through the moors that stretched from the citadel to the vast white cliffs which framed the land.
From here she could see over the harbour, where a ship was being loaded, ready to sail. This was the last time she would gaze over the sea from this vantage point, or, certainly, from anywhere at all.
It was a bitter sweet goodbye; of course she had made friends her, Preto for one, but she was also anxious to return to the only home she had ever known, and to her only human friend.
A jolt of homesickness spread through her body as she thought of Ahng. They were just finishing novices when she was sent away to train at a Shang School in southern Tyra.
Now Tsari was 15, and Ahng was 16, turning 17 in a few months. Would he have changed? She thought worriedly. Was he still the same old clumsy Ahng, who was somehow out of place in the esteemed Carthaki Academy of the Arts.
It was a deceptive name, chosen so as to no draw the enemy's attention, for pupils of the Academy were not tutored in the arts of Music or Drama, but in the arts of Assassination.
Children from across the world were sent there at a young age; many orphaned, and would not leave until they were assigned their first task or exeat.
Some appeared at the gates wrapped in rough blankets, and some like Tsari just appeared in the nursery overnight. Ahng was sent by his parents who thought that his sight was a curse. He knew nothing of them; not their name nor whereabouts.
Sighing inwardly, Tsari pulled the dark gauze veil back over her face and drew her clock hood around her head. It was a very efficient disguise. Anyone looking up from the harbour would just see an anonymous black figure atop an equally black horse making it completely impossible to discern any features.
She leaned forwards and whispered into Preto's ear, turning him back towards the block of stables north of the school. There she lead Preto back to his stable, kissing him on the nose one last time before grabbing her small bag of possessions from the back of the stall and slinging it over her back.
Nimbly, she picked her way down to the bay, arriving exactly at the moment before they untied the ship.
The captain was carefully ticking off passengers on a list which he had put away just before Tsari came.
Sourly, he took out the list and pen again and was about to berate Tsari for being late and causing an inconvenience, when she gave him such a foul look that he stopped, lost for words.
She raised her eyebrows, unimpressed by the man's spluttering and gaping and snatched the list off him, her eyes scanning the paper until she found what she guessed was her name for the trip and scribbled it out.
She made an annoyed clicking sound with her tongue at the captain, thrust the list back at him and flounced along the gangplank leading onto the deck.
That night, she lay in her bunk, one hand clutching a dagger, with another strapped to her thigh, and thought about returning to the Academy again. Had the rules changed? Would she have the same room as before?
The questions were endless, but all of them seemed to boil down to one thing. Her thoughts turned to Ahng once more. Would they still be friends, was he even still at the Academy?
When they were younger, Tsari had admired Ahng greatly, and now, thinking about it, she realised that she had harboured a bit of a crush for him.
She blushed into her mattress as she remembered one night when she and Ahng had been talking, but he had seemed unusually quiet, and just before she was about to creep back to her room, he had taken her hand and kissed her softly on the mouth.
There was nothing special about the kiss, they were only children after all, But Tsari would never forget the way her heart beat twice as fast, and the tingles which ran right down her spine at his touch.
Mentally slapping herself for lingering the past, Tsari ran through the rules of the Academy in her head, one in particular ringing out clearly like the strikes of a death toll.
DO NOT BECOME PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY ATTACHED TO ANY OTHER PUPIL
The only rules Tsari had ever broken were concerning this one. Her mind flicked back to when they had first met. She was seven years old, and had been at the Academy for five years.
Master Verde had sent her to room 483 with some sheets; shyly she knocked on the door and then walked in, placing them neatly on the end of the bed. A young boy about a year older than her was standing by the window, desperately hiding the fact that he had been crying. He smiled and said warmly,
"Hi, what's your name?" Tsari was shocked; it was against the rules to speak to each other without permission.
"We are not allowed to speak to each other." She mumbled timidly, staring straight at the floor.
The boy sniffed and chuckled slightly. "I won't tell, I promise. I'm Ahng by the way." For some reason, Tsari found herself looking up at him and smiling as well. His joviality wore off onto her so easily. She doubted it would have been the same if she had met him for the first time now.
"My name's Tsari and I am 7!" She said proudly.
From then on, the two of them had conversations and played together whenever they had a moment spare and soon became close friends and were practically inseperable.
Tsari hoped with all her heart that everything would be the same when she returned. She closed her eyes against the rocking of the boat, the sound of the waves gently lapping at the side of the boat lulling her to sleep.
ok... so what did you think???
read and review!!
ps. im working on chapter 2 of my max ride fic right now...
Jade and Rose