As Within, So Below : Death Incarnate

The chaos felt home to Kali. Nearly all of her childhood was spent in this room, training, learning, fighting.  She had spent days upon days perfecting her craft, her proudest skill. Her swordsmanship.  And now she had the responsibility of training the future Royalguards.   However, the current training regulations that she was supposed to follow were much different that the ones from 15 years ago.  She sat there, in the luscious velvet couch, as she watched children around 11-14 twirl around in precision with their blunted swords. Stabbing and slashing at particularly nothing at all.  She was told to sit still and bark instructions at the students, the guidebook said this teaching method was called the informal teaching arts, the ITA.  She called it coddling.  Basra believed in a more brutal way of learning the art of the blade.  She believed one must learn to die first, one must learn to face death and come back breathing.   Kali smiled as she played Basra's words in her mind, a decade old memory that still felt like yesterday.  Once you endure death, you can wield it. She had hated her for all the pain she inflicted, all the days she spent in the infirmary because of her.  But now, looking back, she only felt gratitude. Basra tempered her, built her into a hunter.  Her brutal techniques were what made her a good teacher.   Kali was pulled out of her daydream by the screams of her students. Her training kicked in faster than she could blink, she sprung into the training area rushing towards the huddle of students.  "Okay, move out, who broke what ?", She asked pushing her students out of the way.   The source of the scream happened to be Richard, a young boy of 10, who had apparently broken his arm.  Kali quickly picked him up and carried him to the stretcher and first aid box lying mere 10 feet away from the training pad.   She realized she could use this situation as a learning experience, albeit at the expense of Richard's arm.  "Anyone who can tell me where Rich fu-" She bit back her horrible habit of swearing every other second. "where Rich messed up ?" She said, checking where his bone was broken and simultaneously sending a message to the Infirmary about this. She had expected too much from them.   Instead of a coherent answer all of them spoke up at once, talking over one another resulting in a cacophony of shrill voices and a few 'Shut Up'-s.   "Quiet." she said, silencing everyone of them.  Childish, as they were, they were also afraid. Most of them came from the rudimentary royal families, some from the richer commoner families. And every last one of them were told the tale of the Butcher of Berlin.   She finished bandaging Richard's broken arm, the split keeping the bone from getting damaged further.  "Richard, tried to block a strike Lee's blade, with his hand.", She picked the boy up and placed him gently on the stretcher just as two nurses came in, she gestured them to take Richard to the infirmary.  She turned towards her wide-eyed students, as they watched their fellow classmate being wheeled away.  "And regardless of what your instinct tells you to do, you never block a frontal strike, you parry them." This time they spoke in unison as they chanted out a 'Yes Ma'am'. "Alright, take five and begin with the basic movements again, point and thrust." She said offhandedly, walking away towards her velvet throne.   She felt a tug on the edge of her coat, she turned to find Alan, one of her newest, pulling on it. "Yes Alan ?" She asked, freeing her coat from the boy's grip, "What is it ?" "Ma'am, Why did they call you the Butcher of Berlin ?" The boy asked looking up at her.  "They ? And who exactly are they, Master Caldwell ?" She asked him, trying to suppress the rage she felt whenever she heard that title.  "Well no one especially miss, only Lee." He said, pointing towards the careless boy swinging around his sword at particularly nothing.  "Well.." She chose her words carefully, looking at Alan's eager face; "I killed a lot of very bad people in Berlin, protecting Lady Celia."  "Well why would they call you the Butcher then ? why not, the Hero of Berlin ?" He asked, waving his hand in the sky as if he was visualizing the name.   Kali sighed softly, ruffling the boy's hair, "Go on, your five minutes are nearly over."  Like an obedient student, Alan ran back to the training pad and took his formation among his classmates. Kali slunk back into her seat, her mind, drifting back to what she did, over an year ago. The day she dreaded to remember, the day Celia stopped talking to her.    Kali loathed old and dusty mausoleums like the ones she was standing in, it always made her allergies act up. But in this particular situation she didn't have a choice. She and Dima were responsible for the princess's safety, She had insisted for that post. She didn't expect the Major to stick her with Dima.  No Royalguard stands alone Kali, you should know that, he had told her.  She expected a moment alone with Celia, these days she rarely had that.   Of course i had to be stuck with cheery, loudmouth Dima.   She sighed and kept her attention focused on the princess' quarters. Her eyes lit up when she noticed the door open, her breath hitched, expecting to see the Princess step out, but instead the royal beautician hurried past her, looking around nervously.  Kali's eyes followed the beautician as she kept glancing down at her watch. Her mind instantly started running a billion different scenarios.   Celia coughed, pulling Kali's attention to her. "Lt. Belfort ? I want to go over the speaking points for today, Can you assist me ?" She said, holding the door open for her.  Kali stood there, awestruck and mesmerized by the blue velvet dress wrapped around the princess' body with angelic grace. Kali swallowed, hard, Holy s**t she looks beautiful.  Celia blushed and cleared her throat, breaking Kali out of her daze.  "I said, i need some assistance, please come in Kali." She cooed.  This time Kali instantly followed her command and hurried into her room closing the door behind her.   Dima stood there, confused over as what exactly transpired.  He pulled out his phone and muttered to himself, "I guess I'll just stand guard here ALONE, hopefully no terrorist attacks."  Kali exhaled and straightened her uniform, "How may i help your Milady-"  Her words were cut off by Celia hugging her tightly, resting her head on her neck.  She froze, her eyes widening in surprise as her face flushed red. "Umm C-Celia ?"  "Don't worry, nobody can see us here. We're alone." Celia said looking up at her face. Initially she hated how taller Kali was than her, but now she appreciated looking up at her, as if she was gazing at the moon. Only, the moon didn't embrace her like she did.   Kali's shoulders relaxed, as her wrapped her arms around Celia, pulling her into the embrace tightly. "I missed you." She whispered, closing her eyes and resting her chin on Celia's head.  She didn't know how long they were standing there, embracing each other for. Holding onto each other like it was the end of the world. It may have been minutes, or hours. It didn't feel enough.   Celia finally let go, pulling away. "You'll be with me in the car right ?" She asked, her eyes twinkling with hope.  Kali smiled softly, intertwining her fingers with Celia's. "Of course i'll be there, as a matter of fact Dima will be there too."  Celia looked at her, confused, "I- Dima ?" She nodded, shrugging "Yep, apparently since the risk has increased, so should the security." She said, a hint of anger in her voice.  "I assume you're not much happy with the decision." Kali threw her hands up and exasperatedly ran her hands through her hurriedly combed hair, "Of course I'm not happy with the decision he's a Corporal, barely out of the academy. He's the least experienced person to assign to protective duty."   Celia sat on her bed, looking at Kali spout off her concerns. She smiled and giggled every so often. "Have i told you, you look adorable when you're concerned" She said, interrupting her train of thought.  "This is serious, Celia. I think-" Kali hesitated, "I think the major may be spying on us, I think he may know something." She said, her brows creased in worry.   Celia bolted upright and pranced towards her, "Who are you ?" She asked throwing her arms around her.  "Huh ?" Kali replied, confused by the sudden question. She asked again, "Who are you ?" "I'm Kali Belfort." She said, unsure of what answer the princess was looking for.  "Lt. Kali Belfort, one of our esteemed Royalguards." She smiled, kissing Kali on her cheek.  "If anyone can deal with traitors and spies in our midst, it's you."  "Heh, yeah no pressure or anything." She chuckled, her tone still laced with worry.  "And either way, you've got me. I learned karate when I was 7 y'know." Celia smirked, proud of herself. "I mean..." Kali muttered, "not like karate is gonna do anything against bullets." "Okay, you stop that now !" Celia huffed and pointed at the colored notes splayed out on the table, "I actually do need some help with the speaking points. They feel a little...fake i guess ?" Kali walked over to the table and grabbed a few, giving them a quick read, "Yeah because half of these are ? 'I feel the pain all of you are feeling' ? What context are you even supposed to use that in ? Please don't tell me that those are meant for the homeless."  Celia saw Kali's expression grow worse with each card she flipped through.  Kali glanced at the cards, then at Celia, "You know what ?" She quickly picked up the cards and threw them into the dimly lit fireplace. "You don't need these, you're very well spoken so I'm sure you can just wing it."   "Kali, what i say today will impact as to how the people view me as a person and as a monarch. I want them to trust me, to respect me, not to see me as an under-prepared grad student trying to wing a debate competition." Celia said, rubbing her temple. "What i say today, will either make the people love me, or want my head on a pike."   Just the thought of that sent a spark of anger through Kali, she grasped the hilt of her blade tightly.  "Can't put a Monarch's head on a pike if they're all dead." She muttered quietly, looking at her nails. "You can't just kill every person who disagrees with me, and besides they're you're people too." Kali casually picked up a rook from the chess board that was laid out on the table and started fiddling with it.  "Not anymore." She tossed the piece in her hand a few times, "They haven't been since the day they stoned my mother to death." She coldly dropped the rook on the chessboard and looked down at her feet, avoiding looking at Celia.  "Not since the day Basra took me from her bleeding corpse."  Kali bit back the rage she felt, whenever that memory came flashing back.   Celia slowly pulled her into an embrace, "I-I'm sorry Kali." She sniffled and pulled back from her, "The motorcade should almost be here. I have to go and secure the perimeter properly." She took a step back and curtsied, before turning around to leave.  "Kali, you'll be there right ? Promise ?" Celia asked  "Of course I'll be there," Kali glanced back and gave her a smile, "For you ? anything at all." She left before Celia could reply, closing the door behind her.   She marched out of the room, Dima instantly springing to attention.  "Stay here and guard the door, nobody other than the King and Queen goes in" She said walking past him and down the stairwell, checking her watch.  She nodded to the two armed guards posted at the main entrance.   As soon as she stepped outside she almost crashed into Anna.  "Oh s**t, sorry." Anna blurted out before realizing who it was, "OH KALI ! I was coming to get you, we need to-" "Do one final sweep of the route before the motorcade begins, i know Ann that's what i was heading for" Kali said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along the sidewalk, away from the main entrance.  "Do you have the list of personnel that are supposed to come in contact with the Princess ?"  Anna frowned, as if asked a preposterous question.  "I meant before the event." She added. "I'm exactly carrying it around." Ann said before waving her tab in her face, "This however, can access it anytime. The list is on our secure server." Kali grabbed the tablet out her hands and started walking away from the building, towards their rover.  "You drive, i need to check something." "Kal, sweetie, you can't just access it willy nilly. it's credential locked for Majors or above." "Well I'm-" She caught herself before she could say the words 'Part of the Justicar Triumvirate.' Her being part of a secret society within a semi-secret society wasn't exactly public knowledge. And god forbid she be the one who ratted herself out.  "I'll figure something out." She said quietly as she screamed at herself  WHAT THE s**t IS WRONG WITH YOU DUMBASS ??  She pretended to type furiously, throwing Anna a glance, who kept trying to sneak a peek at whatever she was doing.  "You can't just hack the National Justicar server, trust me I tried." Anna squeaked, narrowly avoiding a streetlight. "Shush. And focus on the road." She said from the backseat, discreetly logging into the server.  She scrolled through the list of attendants, looking for the beautician's data. She pulled up her image and thrust the tab into Ann's lap, "Her, did we do a background check on her ?" She asked, her eyes scanning the street for anything suspicious.  Ann angrily muttered something under her breath before pulling over and giving the profile a good look. "Of course we did a check, as matter of fact she used to work at Minister Yorvast's manor before her mother fell ill." She said before docking the tab into it's charging port.   Kali's quiet rage burst free as she punched straight through the windshield, shattering the glass, "Son of a b***h !" She screamed, jumping out of the rover.  Ann was caught off guard as she sat there in shock for a solid few minutes before carefully getting out of the rover. She looked at Kali, pacing around, deep in thought, her hand bleeding and riddled with glass.   "Okay, first of all, you need to tell me what the hell THAT was." She said pointing at the shattered windshield. "And secondly, we need to get you to a medic. you're bleeding." Kali slammed her injured fist against the street light this time, taking out a large chunk of metal.   "Minister Yorvast...is a backstabbing ungrateful BASTARD !" She screamed, breathing heavily, trying to calm her breathing. "That man, is responsible for half the smear campaigns and murders in the slums. and above all, he's one of the people actively advocating to abolish the royal hierarchy."  Ann finally realized the reason behind her outrage.  "So you think that this...beautician, is a spy ?"  "I don't think, I know for goddamn sure that she's a spy. I knew something was off when she was acting all squirrelly." She said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I want a full background search on her and everyone she's in contact with and i need it before the motorcade starts." She said, walking to the rover and grabbing the tablet, "I'll get to the medics, meet me there in 30 minutes." She thrust the tablet into Ann's hands before jumping into the rover and driving away.