"Talk"
'Thought'
Childhood Friends
Organization headquarters
Rafaela looked at the familiar area of the claymore training facility. 'This place did not change at all,' thinks Rafaela while she looks at her uniform and her symbol. 'The same symbol from back then. Sister, I will find you and let you rest in peace,' she thinks when she notices a lone trainee practicing on the open field. Rafaela observes the little girl for a while before walking away.
'There is no reason for me to get friendly with any of them. I won't be here too long anyways,' thinks Rafaela as she enters her cell.
'I must prove to them that I am better then they labeled me. I am not a weakling,' thinks Miria as she again repeats the same slashes.
'I want to help people, even though I have given no choice,' she thinks Miria as sweat drips down on her forehead, then it flies away as she begins to try move as fast as she can with her momentaneous yoki burst.
Up from another balcony on which Rafaela was standing another claymore watches Miria train until she can barely move. 'This one is different from the others. I think when she becomes certified I will meet her and maybe we even can become more then just comrades,' thinks the warrior with a smile.
"What can I do for you Rubul?" ask the claymore.
"She is quite the hard working type, but also very curious," says Rubul as he walks out of the shadows.
"So, you say she won't live long?" ask the claymore.
"No... don't begin with assumptions. I just say what I see. How things turn out in the future only the gods know," says Rubul with a smile.
"I am sure you didn't come here to talk about her," says the claymore.
"Sharp as ever Hilda. Yes, we need you to lead a hunt. We got a request from Joka village a day ago. You where chosen to be the leader. You will meet with numbers 19, 26. and 32 in the tavern of Joka village about a week from now. Good luck." He turns and walks away.
Hilda looks back at the girl panting on the training ground. 'Become great, and don't die,' then she turns around and walks off to prepare for her departure.
Near a waterfall in a darkened forest
Clare sits on a rock and meditates trying to bring her yoma power under control. A week has passed since her waking up from the injuries Maric inflicted on her.
She's trained her mind hard in the last week, spending all her time in secluded places to master her power when they stopped to rest, but even so she was beginning to notice the tension between Irene and Teresa.
If she can believe what Noel and Sophia said, the two had a big fight about how Teresa was withholding the information about Clare's transformation. Since then the two completely ignore each other and even if they bump into one another they only stare at each other for a moment then continue to walk.
On the bright side Clare had acquired a big sister figure in Crystal's person in the last week. The number one from the different land showed her quite few methods to master her aura and be able to step further in her training. Even the "no" answer from Crystal did not foul the building bigger sister little sister relation, when she asked her to teach her more.
Noel and Sophia where also getting along well with her, even though the two didn't try too hard to accomplish it.
Irene... Irene was mystery to Clare. No matter how hard she tried to figure out the pointy eared claymore she didn't get anywhere, and since her fight with Teresa it has become even harder since she closed herself off from everyone.
Clare also notices that her senses have begun to become lot more refined since she began to meditate in remote places. She is able to pinpoint almost anything no matter how quiet it is in a twenty meter radius and her senses have only begun to improve. She can feel deep inside herself that they will become more refined at the end of her training. After all she still has six months until her powers should form. Then she will be able to help Teresa.
Thanks to this approach of her future life. Because she only cared about Teresa and how to help her, but not about herself or her safety her type slowly began to shift toward the offensive side. But Clare will realize this several months later.
Now she continues to meditate for several more hours, until she finally decides, that today training should be done for now and begins to walk back to their camp.
When she arrived she could have sworn she could cut the tension with a claymore. Teresa and Irene sat as far away as they could from each other while Noel and Sophia tried to look uninterested so they could avoid it if one of the two thought it would be good sport to vent her spent up anger on them.
Clare decided to ignore the tense aura and sits down and begins to eat her meal.
After the food is consumed she decides to walk to the nearby lake and watch the water and the star filled sky.
"Hey Clare," says Noel.
"Hmm?" ask Clare not looking away from the water.
"Could you help us make Irene and Teresa make peace with each other? This tense mood is just killing us," says Sophia softly.
"So what do you have in mind?" ask Clare with aroused curiosity.
"It's simple. We need to get the two of them together in a situation they think is an emergency. The only problem's how to stage such situation," says Sophia with thoughtful expression.
"I have an idea but I am not sure if it would work for Irene too," says Clare.
"Let's hear it," says Noel.
"Well I could cry that yomas are attacking me so they could both come to the place, then we leave them alone and hope they can settle their differences. It would work with Teresa, but I don't know about Irene," explains Clare.
"Irene is an admirable commander, she would never leave any of us who she's led in trouble if she can help it, so I think it should work even on her," says Sophia thoughtfully.
"So we have a plan?" ask Noel not completely understanding the use of luring them to a secluded area and leave them be.
"I think we've got one monkey," says Sophia teasing.
"Don't call me monkey," says an annoyed Noel, then she sits down on the ground near Clare. Just as her anger came it vanishes in a second when she looks at the stars.
Sophia raises her eyebrows at Noel's reaction to the night sky, but stays quiet for several minutes.
"So when do we begin?" ask Sophia.
"We could do it now," says Clare.
Meanwhile none notice Crystal sitting in a nearby tree listening to the plan the three have made. 'This could get interesting. I have to see how this turns out.'
"Alright but first let's hide in the bushes," says Sophia as she drags the daydreaming Noel into the bushes.
Teresa sits by the fire and thinks about how the last week has turned out. 'I still can't believe how Irene acted when she found out. Still I guess she was right, but there is no way I'll tell her that,' thinks Teresa.
Meanwhile Irene is just about to fall asleep when they both hear Clare's horror filled cry.
Teresa and Irene jump to their feet grab their swords and run of toward the location the scream came from.
When the two arrive their don't find anything. No sign of any battle or Clare. They try to search for auras but they can't pick up anything. Finally Teresa realizes what's going on.
"When I get my hand on that sneaky troublemaker she will regret it," she says.
"I did not think they would pull something like this," says Irene then she look at Teresa for a long while.
"Teresa..." "Irene..." Begin both together then they stop and stay silent for another minute.
"You first," says Irene.
"No Irene, you first," says Teresa.
"Alright. Could we end this pointless grudge?" ask Irene while she looks away.
Teresa raises her eyebrows then smiles. "I think we can."
"So what did you want to say?" ask Irene as she sits down and looks at the lake.
Teresa sits down beside her. "I wanted to say that you where right. We should have told you about this."
"Peace?" ask Irene after a minute.
"Peace!" Says Teresa. Then she recalls their training as claymores. "Do you remember when we first began to train?" ask Teresa.
"Yes. It's almost like it was just yesterday. You where an insecure yet stubborn girl, the trainer had to chase you all day around so you would train," says Irene with a smile.
"And you where arrogant, you did everything like you where some kind of princess," says Teresa.
"Ah yes. That fateful match changed me. Before that I thought I was invincible. Then you came and beat me to the ground, yet you had so insecure a personality. It was humiliating, me the genius tactician was beaten, yet it also gave me the only thing what kept me running even after many of the other girls burned out from training. You gave me purpose Teresa. I trained day and night to beat you, but every time I thought I had you, you become even more powerful," Says Irene.
"To think that a rivalry could turn into such a strong friendship," Says Teresa with a smile.
"My training alienated all the other girls from me. I become so obsessed that when I noticed I was alone it was already too late. Just as I was about to fall into depression you came and offered me a chance to spar with you. I was so happy," says Irene laying back.
"Yeah. You learned skills while I learned confidence from you. I still remember how we had been holding each other at night so we both could feel more secure," says Teresa as she lays back besides Irene.
"I miss those nights. Even though you kept your promise until we had our fight, you still spent lot more time with Clare," says Irene sadly.
"Then why don't you join our family? I'm sure Clare would love to have you around."
"I don't know what to say." Says Irene.
"Say yes," says Teresa.
"Sure, let's try it," says Irene after several minutes of thinking and hugs Teresa.
"Uhmm Irene, we should go back to camp," says Teresa but Irene's only answer is a soft rhythmical breathing indicating she has fallen asleep. 'I didn't think that this tense week would completely drain her like this,' thinks Teresa as she picks up Irene and walks back towards camp.
When she arrives she puts Irene down softly so as not to wake her. She puts their swords aside and lays down beside Irene and hugs her, Irene immediately latches on. Teresa from the comfort of her closes friend also slowly falls asleep.
Finally after a half hour they have fallen asleep. Noel, Sophia and Clare return to camp viewing the two in their restful state.
Noel and Sophia snicker and promise themselves to never let the two legendary warrior live this down.
Meanwhile Clare ponders what she should do. Should she lay down besides Irene and Teresa or should she try to convince Noel and Sophia to let her sleep with them for the night?
Finally she walks over to the two warriors who begin to settle down for a good night's sleep. The two look at Clare then drag her between them. The two hug each other with Clare in the middle and after a few minutes, they also fall asleep.
Crystal watches this scene with a smile and walks close to the three women. She decides this is not her place but before she can walk away from the sleeping trio they somehow drag her into the circle. Crystal tries to gently free herself for a few minutes but then gives up and soon joins the others in slumber.
The next morning Noel, Sophia, Clare and Crystal wake together. After a short explanation they find out how Crystal got stuck with them.
The three warriors and trainee look at the still sleeping Irene and Teresa hugging and snicker. Noel decides its payback time for waking her up all the time early, so she gets a leaf from a nearby tree and begins to tickle Teresa's nose.
Teresa at first tries to swat the thing away but that does not work. She grumbles something incoherently and turns around in Irene's hug. Noel doesn't give up and this time begins to tickle her ear.
The others can barely muffle their laughter.
Finally Teresa grumbles something and sits up. She looks at the three snickering females then at Noel who has already thrown the leaf away, then at Irene who is slowly stirring from her sleep.
"Not a word." Growls Teresa as she glares at everyone. This finally breaks the self control of all four and they begin to laugh uncontrollably.
At the sound Irene wakes and looks around with confusion. She finally realizes what they are laughing at and joins Teresa in glaring at the four.
"Well now that everyone is up we should move on," says Noel enjoying her sweet revenge. Irene and Teresa glare but when it has no effect on the grinning tomboy.
A half hour later the small party is on the road nearing the next small village called Doga.
The village is very small only a few hundred people live in it. It is surrounded by mountains from the west beside the small pass through the wall of the mountains. On both sides of the pass the entrances of numerous mines adorn the foot of the mountain. While in the other directions small farm lands surround the village.
"So what are we doing here?" ask Noel.
"The village of Doga is famous for its iron mines and its superb black smiths. We are here to relax a little, then buy some tools to keep our armor and weapons in shape and prepare to go through the Dead Pass you see behind the village," explains Teresa.
"The Dead Pass?" ask Noel.
Sophia sighs softly. "Noel, the Dead Pass got its name from the fact that it's always crawling with hundreds of yomas. This is the only way through the mountains without going around them in several hundred miles so it's also a major trade route. Because of this the caravans that go through it are always hiring claymores from the organization to protect them," explains Sophia.
"Exactly. It will allow us to save lot of time and reach the west mountain range in a week instead a month, but in the pass we probably will be abused by yomas. Not to mention the high chance of encountering other warriors. Because of this we will relax a day in the village before we move on," says Irene.
"I see," says Noel.
Six year old Raki plays with his friends when they hear two adults talking with each other.
"Did you hear? Five claymores just entered the village," says one.
"Really? What do those abominations want here?" snarls the other.
"Calm down. It won't do us any good if they hear you," says the first.
The other takes several calming breaths then says, "Alright. Let's go see what they want."
"Hey Raki do you want to see these claymores?" ask one of the older boys.
"Yes!" cries Raki, then all the kids run of to see the mysterious strangers.
When they arrive Raki looks at the five beautiful women and the twelve year old girl dressed in a similar bodysuit. Raki listens to the whispers of the villagers that want to paint these claymores as blood thirsty monsters, yet this just peeks his interest more. How could pretty girls be blood thirty monsters?
"Ah Raki, there you are. I was looking for you," says hes older brother Zaki.
"Zaki what do you know about claymores?" ask Raki innocently.
"Raki stay away from them. They are nothing but trouble. Dad says they're dangerous," says Zaki sternly.
"Alright, I will," says Raki with a grin while he secretly plans on how to spy on the pretty ladies and find out more about them.
-to be continued