Dark as the Night

54

The following day, Tai and Odessa were met at the training center by Adam, Liam, and an older man Odessa had never met. Liam introduced him as Sensei David Graham, the primary martial arts instructor and Defense Commander for the camp.

Odessa bowed when introduced to him, in the customary fashion for the camp. Then she stood upright and looked at him. He was tall, though not as tall as Liam and James, never mind Adam, and had grey hair cut in a short, military style. His face was not overly wrinkled, but his eyes showed experience and age. She placed him in his mid-sixties.

"Do I call you Sensei?" she asked, and he smiled, though it did not reach his brown eyes.

"No, David is fine. The only people who call me Sensei are my students and former students."

"Adam told us that you are quite the gymnast," Liam said. "David and I were intrigued and thought we'd interrupt your archery training to ask that you give us a demonstration."

Odessa looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. She could read between the lines: they would never interrupt their own busy schedules just to mindlessly watch her perform. They were here because they thought her skill could be useful or might give some insight to her past. Maybe it was both. Either way, she considered, if they can learn anything about me, it can only help me learn about myself, right?

"Sure," she answered with a cheeky grin. "I don't imagine it will be very entertaining, because I'm not actually a gymnast, but if you're looking for boredom, then I'm willing to bore you." She winked, and the men chuckled.

Tai watched the exchange carefully. Like Odessa, he had a sinking feeling that there was much more going on than was being divulged to them.

The group moved to the gymnasium upstairs, and Odessa stepped into the room. She took off her shoes and pulled her long, dark hair out of its ponytail and then wrapped it in a tight bun on top of her head. She was glad for the black leggings and red tank top she'd chosen because the tight, stretchy clothing allowed her freedom of movement, even if it showed off her meager curves in a way she tended to otherwise avoid.

She sat down to stretch and warm up her muscles and ignored the men around her as they talked quietly amongst themselves. Tai crouched down next to her.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I don't know what they'll get from it, but they obviously think seeing what I can do might tell them something important about me and I'll take any new information I can get." She smiled up at him reassuringly as she bent over her outstretched leg, her temple against her knee.

Tai returned the smile, but his eyes remained worried as he looked down at her nearly upside-down face. "Alright, but if you want me to kick them out so we can get back to our schedule, just let me know, ok?"

"Sure," she agreed, her grin widening in relief.

When she was finished stretching, Odessa stood in the corner of the room by the door and motioned for the others to stand along the side of the wall. She eyeballed the distance to the far corner, as well as the walls and height of the room.

Then she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the paint, the springy wood flooring, and the cologne and aftershave of the men standing nearby. She picked Tai out immediately, having spent so much time around him, and she knew Adam's scent from having been near him the day before. Father and son both had an underlying hint of fresh wood surrounding them. She recognized Liam because he smelled remarkably like James, who always smelled clean and spicy, even while working out. David's scent was the only new one: soft, refined, musky. She could tell by the strength of his cologne that he stood next to Tai, who was closest to her.