Sorry for taking so long to update! I've been trying really hard to decide which universities to apply to :( Hopefully, I'll get into at least one program :/

It was the day of the meeting. Yelena peered out from under her delicately weaved straw hat, which was designed to protect her from the sun. Hurrying to catch up with her cousin that seemed to have an inexhaustable amount of energy, she huffed.

"Nutty! Why are you running again?"

Nutty grinned. "I don't know. Maybe because I'm really excited to meet him?" She gave a little twirl in place that allowed Yelena to catch up.

"But isn't the meeting at sunset? It's still noon!"

Nutty sighed. Yelena was still against meeting anyone, and it was clear that the only reason she was there was because she didn't want to suffer dealing with Walnut on a daily basis. Not that Nutty could blame her. When she turned around again, she saw that she had left Yelena behind in the crowd of the marketplace.

"You go ahead," Yelena insisted, just as a rather rude man jostled her. "I have to get some lianna polish and wax for my father, anyways. I'll meet you at the yellow striped stall for dinner and then we'll head to the fountain, alright?"

Nutty nodded and headed away. Luckily, if she could catch Janco earlier, she could warn him about Yelena's moodiness.

Meanwhile, Yelena turned away, mumbling. She felt a strange sense of relief, both from being freed from Nutty's exuberance, as well as the the exertion of keeping up with her energetic cousin. After she had attained the polish and wax from a friendly stallkeeper, she strolled around as it was still a couple of hours until dinnertime.

They say fate is a kind of magic onto itself. It works in mysterious, strange ways, weaving the threads of people's lives in intricate patterns that nobody is aware of or can change.

For example, if Harim, the carpet weaver's apprentice hadn't been so eager to leave the stall to hurry home for his mother's birthday that day, he wouldn't have left behind an old carpet he'd promised his master he would mend at home.

And if Tegan, the old carpet master hadn't heard him leaving, he would have never come out and found the abandoned carpet on the floor of his shop, half mended. And he would have never chased Harim at full speed through the crowds with the carpet.

And if Morit, the new cart driver for one of the Citadel farmers hadn't been half asleep, he would have spotted Tegan in the middle of the road and managed to avoid him. However, he only noticed the old man at the last second and jerked on the reins of his old mule.

The mule snorted in pain and reared up slightly. This proved to be too much for the old wagon wheel and it snapped, causing the wagon to overturn and the driver to fall out, unharmed. Unfortunately, the tonnes of dangerously sharp farm equipment in the back of the cart also tumbled out, flying indiscriminately in all directions.

Yelena was strolling leisurely in the shadow of a stall, glancing at the amber studded knives on display when a hard object suddenly flew and hit her from the right.

No, it was not a rake or anything like that.

It was a hard, male body that had attacked her at the last second. Stunned, Yelena gasped as she drew in air, before striking out defensively. But before her fist could connect with anything tangible, it was caught in the hard grasp of a large hand that had moved with deadly speed. Panic surging through her, she tried to roll out from underneath the man, but he was too heavy and was still pinning onto the ground. She had to resort to the switchblade hidden in her belt, her free hand reaching for it.

Another hand flew out and caught her last hope. She was so furious that she could have bit him and his stupid hands.

"Stop fighting," she heard. The only thing she could see now was the horrified face of the stallkeeper looking down on her and a head of dark hair attached to the body of her attacker.

"Let me go!" she hissed, buckling again as if to try throw him off. The stupid man finally got the point and let her get up, brushing at his clothing. She snorted, thinking this man was just as dim witted as Walnut.

But that couldn't make her stop looking at him. Not for the reasons you would think, but the fact that the man was literally covered all over with weapons. He was a walking arsenal. Leif had taught her this skill even before she could fight, and since her powers of observation were very strong, she could usually tell just how many weapons someone had and where they were located. But even thought this man's clothing wasn't baggy at all, she suspected there were more weapons than she had realised. When he had crushed her on the ground, she could barely move without hitting an elbow on a scabbard.

The stallkeeper seemed to finally have found his voice. "You saved her!" he said in a tone of awe.

Yelena shook her head in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"There was a wagon accident and it happened to be carrying what seems to me like a bunch of scythes. When it fell, they flew out and one was headed straight for you." He peered down the front of his stall, where a rusty scythe was half buried inside the wood. "Ah, there it is."

Yelena could only shake her head again. Obviously, she wasn't going to make another trip here anytime soon, if this was what life was like around here. To call it hectic would be an understatement."I suppose I should thank you," she said reluctantly as she turned to face her 'attacker'.

But he was gone again, disappearing into the shadows with an almost feline grace. It reminded her of the stories she had heard about the beautiful but lethal snow cats in northern Ixia. Nobody had ever seen one, as anyone within sight was usually hunted and killed without time for a scream to emerge.

The only thing she knew was that he had eyes that shone even in the shadows. They were a deep, rich blue that mesmerized her for a life-altering second before they were blinked and gone.

She blinked several times herself. It had happened so fast that the incident had taken on a dream-like quality. Saying a hasty farewell to the stallkeeper, she ran off to search for her cousin.

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