When Tara awoke the next morning she sat up in bed and looked around Merrick's bedroom, which he had kindly given up for her; though she still had no idea what was going on and was hoping that she'd wake up in the morning to discover it had all been a dream. It was not a dream however and everything was very real. As she was so very tired last night she did not look very carefully at the room in which she was sleeping and so decided to do so now. The largest thing in the room was a wardrobe, which she new from raiding it last night was full of a large collection of very different but mostly dark clothes... and a lot of coats.

The second most distinguishing feature in the room was a large frosted glass fronted cabinet. Tara was surprised she had not noticed this yesterday as it was about as large as the wardrobe. She knew she shouldn't be nosing around Merrick's room like this but she knew almost nothing about him so she decided to do it anyway.

She opened the door of the glass fronted cabinet and almost fell over in shock. It contained a vast array of menacing weapons from wooden stakes to broadswords and even a pair of handguns. Tara very rarely swore but this was an occasion that called for it, she closed the cabinet and scanned the rest of the room. Other than the wardrobe and the weapons cabinet there wasn't any other furniture in the room, there was a small writing desk tucked away in a corner and the rest of the room was full of books.

She put on a dressing gown and ventured out into the main room. When she entered she saw Merrick sitting cross legged on the floor holding a small cup of hot tea. She thought he seemed a lot more composed this morning, it seemed a good night sleep was all he needed to bounce back from bringing her across dimensions... it would have killed any normal person. He smiled at her as she walked into the room.

"You found my weapons. Good. You'll be learning to use them later."

"M-me... use w-w-weapons... I couldn't..."

"No, you can't now. But you will learn. The same as you will learn to fight and the same as you will develop your powers."

Tara saw that there was no point in arguing with this, it was how it would be. Instead she walked across the room and begun studying the books on Merrick's bookshelf once again, now that she was awake and had a clear mind.

"Tea?" asked Merrick

Tara turned and saw him indicating to an oriental style tea set on the coffee table behind him. She smiled, her mother used to make tea for her like this. She went over to Merrick and sat cross legged opposite him on the floor. Merrick took the tea set from the table and placed it between them, he then set about the delicate process of making tea. In japan making tea for someone is more than just pouring them a drink, it is a delicate and precise art. After he had made the tea he blessed the cup and handed it to her. She knew what to do, she bowed her head with the cup held up to him blessing it again; she then turned the cup around in two precise movements so that the twice blessed side was facing her and drank from it.

"I see you know the proper etiquette for tea drinking, that's good, it would have just been annoying to have to teach you that." Tara smiled at him and put down her cup, she still had the feeling of being in wonderland.

"Right then, come with me and we can begin your training." Merrick got to his feet and put on his coat.

"Go where?" Tara asked, not sure if she wanted to get up

"To the roof." Merrick smiled and handed her a coat.

Tara was unsure of himself but decided to follow him anyway, she was doing a lot of things lately that she had no idea why she was doing, she was also having thoughts about things she didn't know she knew.

They climbed the stairs of the apartment building, very dreary stairs that reminded Tara of a scene from a movie... but she didn't know what movie it was or of ever having watched it. When they finally reached the roof Tara wondered why on earth he had brought her up here, there was nothing there other than a few television receivers and a large brick shed type building. To her surprise Merrick walked over to the shed and pulled a key from his pocket, he opened the door and and held out his hand inviting her to enter.

When she walked in she was amazed. The building was one big open space floored with light spongy mats and the walls were lined with all kinds of weapons imaginable. The decoration of the place was stunning, a mixture of many eastern styles that created what must be a one of a kind dojo. She walked around the place admiring the décor and and looking at the many different homage's to the many different styles of martial arts, Tara saw a couple of painting on one wall of various masters of various martial arts... she suspected they were the creators of the styles.

Merrick opened up a section of the wall and pulled out a folded crisp white outfit complete with white belt.

"Put this on and we can begin." Merrick handed it to her and she looked at him curiously, did he expect her to change right here? Merrick pointed to the far wall where there was a door handle protruding.

Tara opened the door to reveal a changing room. She locked the door and began to change, wondering the whole time what Merrick had planned. If he had a set up like this he must know what he was doing and must be a real master of many different fighting styles, she felt slightly lucky, not often would anyone get to train one on one in a set up like this.

When Tara opened the door and walked into the room she saw Merrick kneeling facing the wall with all the portraits on it. As soon as the door clicked shut Merrick bowed and turned to face her.

"I want you to know that no matter what happens out there," he pointed to the entrance to the dojo "no matter if we grow to be friends or if you grow to hate me, in here i am the master and you are my student. In here you will show the proper respect and you will listen to me and obey. Am I clear?"

Tara hesitated for a moment then nodded in acknowledgment.

"And that leads us smoothly there into the first lesson, never hesitate. You either do something or you don't. If you hesitate in combat you go down, a fight is decided in just one split second, it doesn't matter who's feeling best on the day , it's down to the split second and who's better when the moment arises."

Tara gulped, she was in for a hard time here.

"Sit down Tara."

Tara sat on the floor cross legged.

"That is not how we sit in here Tara, the way you saw me sitting when you came out of the changing room."

Tara adjusted her position so that she was kneeling.

"Now we can begin. There are two different stages of learning in the martial arts: there external martial arts and internal martial arts. The external is the fighting, the techniques and all the physical aspects of it; the internal is the strengthening of the mind and learning to focus your energy, to push your limits. You begin by training in external martial arts, only when you have mastered that can you go on to training your mind. Do you understand?"

Tara nodded, she had always wanted to learn a martial art to defend herself, but her parents had never let her; her mother didn't believe in violence and her father didn't want her to be able to fight back.

"The process of learning takes years, it would take a lifetime to master all the martial arts, I will teach you bits of each with no with no distinction between them so effectively what you will learn is one art that combines everything, a new style, one of my own creation. This will give you an edge over any other fighter because any other fighter will have to switch between styles to counter moves from different styles; you will not, it will give you a split second advantage which is all you need. I have worked on and perfected this style of fighting for over a thousand years in complete seclusion, no one knows it's secrets but me and i have never taught the technique to anyone."

Tara smiled, she felt proud that she would be the first to learn a new style of martial arts.

"First let me set a few rules, codes of etiquette. First when you enter this dojo you will remove your shoes and place them in the shoe box by the door. Second when you step onto the mat you will bow to the masters on the wall. Third you will refer to me as sensei whenever we are in her. And finally in this dojo there is no such word as can't, if you feel unable to do something you train yourself and train yourself until you can. Are you ready?"

Tara nodded again, and Merrick raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side indicating he wanted to hear something.

"Yes, sensei."

"Good then we'll start with warming up, some yoga, helps loosen the muscles and warm you up. It also helps to focus your mind."

As Merrick instructed Tara on her warm up techniques he was surprised to find that she was picking things up very quickly, almost as though she was remembering them. Had the slayer taught her to defend herself? Was she regaining her memories? The more he continued to teach her the more he saw that she was exceptionally gifted and was picking everything up at an alarming rate... he could not, however make up his mind whether this was a good thing or a bad thing...

TBC