The Dance of the Keepers

Chapter 24 Meet You at the Wharf

Kyle must have been feeling generous, or perhaps just as tired as I was because we didn't meet for practice until one o'clock the next day. The later time proved interesting as different competitors were going through their training, Jasper and Kairos included.

Jasper was practicing on the targets, which apparently were fireproof, as he struck them over and over again with bolts of his purple lighting. I was relieved to already be on his team, he was a formidable force indeed.

"What trainer did you get him?"
I questioned Kyle as we made our way to the sparring ring.

"Marcos Romanos, a retired guard with extensive experience in Jujitsu, Karate, and Arnis."

"I don't know what all those words mean, but they sound impressive."
I replied back.

Kairos's trainer had her swimming laps in the pool, the number on the board read 102. Impressive, to say the least, not that it made me like her anymore.

Vega Darrow and her trainer, a short blonde woman wielding knives, were locked in combat on the blue sparring mats as we stepped up to the red ones. Kyle stripped off his robe and shoes and I kicked off my boots, tying my hair back in a pony tail. As my mentor turned his back to me to retrieve two practice swords from the weapons wall, I noticed a tattoo scrawled across his left shoulder blade. When he returned and handed me my blade, I nodded my head towards the black ink.

"What does your tattoo say?"

Kyle glanced over his shoulder as if reminding himself. He then turned so I could see it close up.

Blessed

I was surprised someone's as cynical as Kyle would have a tattoo like that. He shifted slightly into a different light.

"Now read it again."

Cursed

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"It's an ambigram. It's meaning changes based on the viewers perspective."
He explained, turning back around to face me.

"What made you want to have that etched permanently on your skin?"
I couldn't help but ask.

"The very things in my life that have been blessings, have in the end turned out to also be a curse. I can never let myself forget that."

In a way, I could understand and it momentarily made me melancholy to think of what a messed up world we lived in, that even the good things in our lives never seemed to stay that way.

"On guard."
Kyle stated gruffly, taking up a fighting stance.

I pushed the gloomy thoughts from my mind and mimicked his posture. I had more important things to worry about at the moment.

****

I returned to the apartment complex around six in the evening, after a four-hour practice that had left me sore and bruised (but what else was new) and a dinner at the restaurant on grounds with Jasper. We had had a good chat; he was pleased with his trainer and felt confident Marcos would be able to progress his combat skills.

Irritatingly, Vienna and Kairos has also gone to dinner together, laughing and chattering away only two tables down from where Jasper and I had been sitting. That of course, had made it difficult for me to really enjoy my meal.

Something about Kairos just rubbed me the wrong way, maybe because I felt like she was stealing my friend. But clearly Vienna liked her, so what could I say that would make a difference?

"Miss Coften? A note came for you."
The desk clerk called out to me as I was about to step into the elevator.

I walked back to the circular counter and took the slip of paper from her, wondering who would have sent me a message. It couldn't be Ranen, thank goodness, he would have sent a servant to personally deliver it.