"Long time… Cyrina…" a slim yet well-built female approached her.

"Yeah… quite a long time… master Artemis…" she answered, looking at her master's face. It was only a week, yet she seemed to have changed a lot. Still, her pleasant but serious face remains the same. Artemis sat down, facing Cyrina.

"How are you doing, Cyrina?"

"Still the same…" she replied, yet her voice seemed too faint to be heard. She looked away, not meeting her master's look.

Artemis quickly noticed it. She stood up and looked at the window. She let out a sigh and glanced at Cyrina. "Come…"

Cyrina looked at Artemis. She knows what this mean. She stood up and followed Artemis out of the inn…

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Why did you keep me? You don't know who I really am…or where I came from…why? Why…?"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"CYRINA!"

"Wha? Ahhh!" she cried as Artemis gave her another blow from behind. Cyrina stood up groggily, still dazed from the attack. She then looked fiercely at Artemis, breathing hard. Artemis gave Cyrina the same look, angry at what her apprentice was showing.

"You're slow as always. Not only your movements, but your mind as well!" she shouted at Cyrina.

Cyrina wiped the dirt from her face. "Darn… that's the second time…" she fumed. She prepared once again as Artemis made her attacking stance.

Artemis slowly moved sideward, in which Cyrina followed. She held her dagger in an attacking position, ready to counter any attack her master will make. As Artemis moved to the walls, she slowly disappeared. Cyrina knows this technique, "Cloaking…" She stopped and started sensing. "I know she's around here… she's just cloaked. Probably behind these walls… waiting for me to get close and then attack me from a blind spot…" Cyrina smirked. She jumpedover the wall, her hands close together.

"Take this!!" She shouted as she let out a force of purple mist on the walls. She did it over and over on the walls without stopping. The walls started crumbling because of the continuous force, yet there's no sign that she hit Artemis.

"What!? That's impossible! Unless…"

Suddenly, spikes of earth emerged from under the ground. Cyrina evaded, but was not fast enough to dodge the last spike. Her right leg accepted the hit, causingto lose her balance. She kneeled down, clutching her injured leg. She gritted her teeth as she tries to fight the pain. The wound then started swelling, its color changing to purple. Her eyes started welling with tears as she couldn't stand the pain any longer.

"That was very careless…" Artemis appeared in front of Cyrina, unscathed from the attack. "I know what you are thinking. When you were climbing the wall, I was already away from it and safely hidden, ready to attack with my grimtooth," Artemis narrated as she sheathed her Venomer's Jamadhar. She then approached Cyrina.

"I can take care of this!" Cyrina shouted, not looking at Artemis. But Artemis didn't listened. She kneeled down and looked carefully at the wound she had just inflicted to Cyrina. "Good…the wound isn't too deep …" She took out a bottle of green potion and applied it to the wound. Cyrina whimpered, but still tried to hide it.

"You're not very good…"

"I know. That's why I'm injured," Cyrina replied, snubbing her master.

"I'm not referring to your abilities… I'm referring to your attitude. You're skills are impressive, yet you're not good in hiding emotions. You reflect what you feel. That's why you were defeated…" She finished applying the green potion, and now she took out a red one from her pack. She applied it to the wound; Cyrina only at watch.

"So… what must I do?" Cyrina asked, sarcastic in its own words.

She looked at Cyrina, "Unless you tell me what is wrong, I can't help you."

"So now it's my fault?!" she tried standing up, yet the pain started jolting again.

Artemis sighed and stood up. From her pack, she took out a roll of fresh bandage. "I know you don't like being bandaged… so, do it yourself…" she said as she threw the bandage to Cyrina. Cyrina stared at the bandage at hand. She sat down once again and mended her wound. Artemis then turned back; "I'll meet you again after 2 days… be prepared…" and she left Cyrina.

Cyrina stopped halfway of bandaging. She looked at where Artemis was standing earlier. She never liked Artemis' treatment. She always speaks too weirdly, like she's speaking another language. "She's mean… she never tells anything straight to me…" she thought, a teardrop falling from her blood red eye. She looked down and continued bandaging, trying not to release the other teardrops ready to fall…

"No! You mustn't hold your dagger like that! You have to put a grip on that!"

"B-But it's so hard!"

"Quit whining! You will never be stronger if you keep complaining like that!"

"NO!"

That voice kept echoing inside Cyrina's head. She had just finished her training with Artemis that day, and she received not only bruises and an injury, but another heap of scolding. She silently gazed at the pool of water in front of her. Shewill never find out what's wrong with her master… or with her…

"Unless you tell me what is wrong, I can't help you."

"She raised me for 7 years. Hasn't she figured what I want…or needed…" she clutched herself, not wanting to think. True, she also doesn't know her master that much. She knew that Artemis was busy with many things. Being an assassin, she was sent on missions and battles; bloody battles between monsters and warriors alike. But after that, she knew nothing more. She sighed. "I guess I was wrong…" She took out her flute, a mere 10-inch long flute, carved roughly but beautifully, and in its end, a small red crystal was hanging, tied by two pieces of blue kobold hair. A mellow tune started filling the pool as she played the flute. For her, this was one of her comforts: to be alone and to play her flute...

"… A flute?"

"You may have played this before…would you like to try?"

They say this flute was found with me when I was brought from Alberta. From the time I held it, I had the weirdest feeling of serenity. I don't know why…I just kept it for myself though; I didn't want to tell anyone. My curiosity even grew more when I played it the first time: forI can play it very well. I only knew one song though… but it was enough for me; so long as I can play it.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"They say that when you play that tune, the wind calms down and starts swaying with it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But that is IF you can master it well."

"I'll definitely master it! You'll see!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Cyrina gasped as she snapped back from her dream. She looked at her flute, which she just played seconds ago. Was it really a dream? No… it doesn't look like it. Those images… and the voice seemed real. She put away her flute on its sheath and stood up. She then gazed at the waters, wondering what that vision she saw really was. She sighed and shrugged; she will never know the answers anyway.