Viktorija Adelyte Kazlauskas

Chapter Ten

“Hello, my cute little students,” Emilek greeted as he arrived in the clearing; Viktorija was sitting on a tree branch with a large book on her lap. While Ismay watched Etienne go through his swordplay footwork, he was planning to go over his short sword soon; since being able to use both a long and short sword might save his life one day.

“You’re late,” Ismay growled before looking at her perfectly filed nails, they were painted a hot pink that Viktorija thought made her stand out a bit more. An enemy would see her nails even if she tried hiding in a bush.

“He’s always late,” Viktorija pointed out.

“I have news for you,” Emilek told them before Ismay could say anything back; her mouth was open, but she looked at him with narrowed eyes. Viktorija just looked at him with a raised brow, before sealing her book back into her bracelet.

“Whatever it is, please, do get on with it,” Viktorija told him, she had a patrol soon and she didn’t want the other person to hate her for being late. “I have better things to do with my time then to risk hearing lost. And if I must lose it, I would rather not lose it because of a bloody banshee.”

Emilek could only sigh at Viktorija’s words; while Ismay glared at her.

“Opps, that’s an insult to the banshee,” Viktorija finished.

Ismay was going to say something, but Viktorija disappeared behind her and tied her mouth shut with thick cloth, a knot tied at the back and Viktorija just walked over to Etienne and nudged his foot, before linking her foot with his ankle and using that to knock him over.

Emilek had hoped that the escort mission would help with some of their teamwork, but it would seem that Viktorija would only show kindness to Dedrick and Valdemarr. He had caught her talking to both near the end of the mission, she seemed to be interested it whatever it was that Dedrick was telling her.

But Emilek doubted that Viktorija would listen to anything that Ismay had to say, or she wouldn’t take it as seriously as she did whatever Dedrick was telling her. Etienne was treated with some respect, but the two never spoke to each other or sought each other out.

“I’ve sighed all of you up for the Tournament,” Emilek told them, handing each of them a form that they would need to fill out. “They’ll be three tests before it; just follow the instructions and you should do fine.”

“Most of us anyway,” Viktorija muttered as she accepted her own form, before helping Etienne from where he was laying on the ground; stunned.

Ismay just glared at her, her hands trying to untie the knot at the back of her head. But Ismay couldn’t reach it, and her nails were leaving small cuts on her neck and head.

Viktorija just rolled her eyes, she had to start making her way to the front gate soon. The start of the tests were in a few days, it meant that she could get a few more patrols into her schedule along with training sessions with her cousins and their team.

“Etienne; I thought you should know that Montgomery and Launce Atspoguļo arrived in the village yesterday,” Viktorija told him, as she untied the cloth from around Ismay’s head. It wouldn’t do for their clients to see her in such a position.

“Launce Atspoguļo is my cousin,” Etienne told Viktorija, his mother’s sister had married into the Sashan branch of the family. He had never met Aunt Julia, but his mother had kept pictures of when they were children. “He was born in Juillet, while I was born a month later in Majestueux.”

“And we’re in Juin, to think it’s been six months,” Viktorija told him. “So next month would be Launce’s seventeenth birthday.”

“What about you?” Etienne asked her.

“I was born at the end of Majestueux,” she told him.

“And I was born in the middle of Décembre,” Ismay chimed in as she read the back of her form, before blinking at the text. Now she had to worry about the possibility of being killed by her insane teammate.

Not that Ismay knew what Viktorija did in her own time, she never saw her around the village and she never saw her at the markets. Ismay didn’t know where Viktorija got her food, but she knew it wasn’t at the markets that Mama took her to.

Emilek didn’t know if Ismay or Etienne were ready for this, but he was sure they would be knocked out in the first few rounds. He knew that Viktorija was ready, too many in the Chasse Unit she was already one of them.

Why; he didn’t know. He’d just nod his head when they told them that, some even jokingly asking when he was going to give her up, so she could join their unit. His other two students didn’t know the horrors of the life they’d chosen to lead.

Ismay didn’t know the pain of losing family or friends, while Etienne did. Both didn’t know the fear of almost being caught by the enemy; or having to choose between your life, your client’s or a teammate’s or friend’s life. The decisions that would keep you up at night, forever wondering if you made the right choice.

Forever wondering if you could have reacted sooner; been a bit stronger or a bit faster.

“If you want to talk to them,” Viktorija told him while writing down the address of the hotel they were staying at. What he would do with the information was up to him; if he wanted to meet Launce and Montgomery on his own terms, because she didn’t know if they would want to meet Etienne.

But the three of them would do so in their own terms. Not hers, not Aldona or Azuloas or Jakoba’s, not even Justus, Emilek or Ismay’s.

“I’ll be going then,” Viktorija told them before disappearing. She had patrol duty to start, making sure those who are coming to the Tournament don’t cause any trouble, along with making sure bandits don’t jump any merchant in the confusion.

“Stop leaving the work to us!” Ismay growled at her, but Viktorija just ignored her and left without another word. She had better things to do with her time, such as training with Aldona and Azuloas, even watching paint dry was more important than talking to Ismay, or even trying to explain anything to the air head.

Plus, after her shift, Aldona and Azuloas had offered to train with her. Even Justus was fine with her training with them, muttering something about new fighting styles and scary Šuniukųs, the last one had made her pause a bit.

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When Viktorija landed in Training ground fifteen after her patrol, a girl with brown hair and eyes nodded towards her before going back to her match against Montgomery. While Viktorija didn’t think she was the best at hand-to-hand combat, she was a million times better then Ismay and was bound only to get better.

“You’re down,” Montgomery said as she landed on her back.

“Hello Viktorija,” she greeted as she pulled herself up, Viktorija spotting daggers strapped to her right leg as her skirt went up. “Aldona and Azuloas have just gone to get lunch, Launce is practicing his water walking technique.”

“Chakra control?” Viktorija asked her.

“He’s not as good as it, as the rest of us are,” she admitted standing up her arms behind her back and a smile on her face. “But I’ve got a smaller amount of chakra then he does, so most chakra control excurses are easy for me to do; I just can’t do then for long.”

“You’re still better than my teammate,” Viktorija told her.

“We haven’t met your team,” Montgomery pointed out.

“Trust me; you don’t want to,” Viktorija told them, unsealing her own sword as Montgomery did the same. “Even Azuloas and Aldona would want to kill Ismay if they have to be in the same area for then five minutes with her.”

“It takes a lot to want to kill someone,” she admitted, before putting her finger underneath her lip before hitting her forehead. “I’m Jakoba Meyer.”

“Where are Aldona and Azuloas?” Viktorija asked.

“They went to find Justus, knowing him,” Jakoba told her, putting her hand over her mouth as she giggled. “He might have gotten lost; he’ll come up with something that’ll avoid admitting that.”

“He’s late as well?” Viktorija asked her highly amused, Emilek was always late and it never bothered her when it happened.

“All the time, he’s getting better since Aldona had spoken to her,” Jakoba admitted. “He’s now one hour instead of three.”

“Gives us more time to train,” Montgomery told her.

“Emilek’s still always three hours late,” Viktorija told them.

“Brother’s from a different mother,” Jakoba joked, Montgomery and Viktorija just shrugged before showing him her sword. “Why don’t you two practice, and I’ll do my chakra control exercise; Aldona promised I’ll improve.”

“With time and patience,” Viktorija admitted. “I’ve been training with different people since I was four years old; so, over eleven years.”

“And it would show,” Jakoba told her. “I’ve trained to become a sensor and medic, back-up for any team I’m with.”

“You’re better than Ismay, trust me on that front,” Viktorija told her, moving in front of Montgomery with her sword in front of her. Most of her fights won’t allow her to move into position, but Viktorija will take advantage of the ones that did.

“You won’t win,” Montgomery told her.

“Try me,” she shot back, she knew how to use her size to her advantage. Montgomery was the same height as Aldona, so he was just bound to get taller than her by the time they reach their twenties; if any of them live that long.