Look Beyond What You See

Weapons

Swords flash through the smoky air, crashing together again and again. Gunfire and metal on metal assault my ears. I drop and roll as Giacomo sidesteps, then jump up behind him, dagger against his throat while holding his arms down. He does a reverse grip trick so that he's holding my arms and spins around, away from my dagger, to try to trap me, but I slide out of his grip like an eel. It gets easier every time.

"I didn't know we could do that," Giacomo mutters as we return to hand-to-hand combat. Dmitri is somewhere else in the room; smoke obscures most of it. His job is to simulate a real battle environment. Why we're doing hand-to-hand sword fighting, when now most warfare is done with guns and other explosive things, I don't know, but my all-knowing tutor made it clear that I am not to question his methods.

I really just think he's reluctant to give me a gun, either because I've excelled beyond his expectations in everything he's had me try thus far, or because I'm not spectacular at aiming water orbs yet and he doesn't want to give me anything more dangerous.

A cannon blast echoes through the training room and again I drop to the floor. This time I concentrate on not wanting to be found while using water underneath me to help me slither across the ground like a water snake. I hope it works. I hope my hunch about why he didn't see me last night was right... Machine gun fire. Giacomo also drops to the floor, but he's clearly searching for me.

"Where did she go?!" he demands, frustration apparent. Dmitri snickers. No doubt he derives great pleasure from our tutor's struggles. "Dmitri, I swear, if you're interfering again--"

"Sorry, mate, you're on your own. I am a gentleman, and a gentleman always keeps his word. I swore I'd stay out of it and maintain your battlefield conditions for you," my fiancé answers airily. He's probably telling the truth. He doesn't know I learned how to be invisible--I didn't even know until a few moments ago, though apparently I've had the skill for longer--and he probably learned his lesson when he cut into the martial arts lesson earlier because Giacomo accidentally hit my bosom area. After futilely explaining to my enraged fiancé that it was purely an accident, Giacomo lost patience and nearly drowned Dmitri in a deluge. "Speaking of your battlefield conditions--" Several cannon blasts echo from various locations in the room. I wait three seconds, creeping ever closer to Giacomo with my water snake imitation, and then--

"KYYYAAAAAAAAH!" I yell as I release my invisibility and spring into the air, landing with my twin swords crossed over Giacomo's neck as he hides from the cannon fire on the ground. Giacomo curses roundly from surprise and frustration at my having won this particular sparring match (though truly, he shouldn't be upset, as he won the last couple).

"I really do not see a cause for such foul language," I remark caustically as I release Giacomo's neck from its sword-prison. "You ought to know better. You are, after all, in the presence of a lady."

"Since when could you be invisible?!" he sputters as he clamors to his feet, understandably annoyed with me. I would be annoyed with me, too.

"I'm not sure," I reply honestly. "I probably developed the skill with all the sneaking around I did in Grandmother's chateau while I was growing up."

Dmitri emerges from the smoke, looking only slightly less perplexed than our venerable tutor.

"Are you quite sure? If you've been able to use it for some time now, then why haven't you used it before?" Dmitri inquires. I shrug.

"It seems to stem from an ardent desire not to be found. I can offer no further explanation for an ability that, up until this morning's training session, I was unaware that I possessed."