Outside Chinook, The War-Kin Manor, Early October

   Tolartha couldn't believe her ears. Rhuv, the Sibling in charge of the War-Kin's training program, and thus all of the trainees enrolled in it, had just told her she was to carry a message. She had, in the past carried messages to one or another of her instructors. Generally, just like everyone else, they used their cell phones, but sometimes a physical message was needed for any one of a number of reasons. But she'd never carried one to the main house much less to the War Prince. Sure she'd met him once before back in the old country. But she hadn't known who he was then, had she. All she'd known was that three Ashen War-Kin Siblings had rescued her from that cave her home village had put her in. They had tied her up and left her there. She was to be a sacrifice to the Corrupter and the Undying. What she hadn't known at the time, or until she had gotten here was that one of her rescuers had been the War Prince.

    The three Siblings had been warning the various villages of the race lived in the old world country of Romania about the Nazi threat. And the fact that the Corrupter's Undying had been behind it. They had come across the signs that at least one and possibly more members of the race had been given to the Corrupter's Undying as a sacrifice. And had acted accordingly. Tolartha had been one of them. Rhuv had been the Sibling that had been tasked with getting her to safety. He had asked her a whole lot of questions. Questions about her family, if she knew what clan she was a member of, things like that. Unfortunately she had only know her parents names but not what clan they had belonged to. Nor had she known why they had left their clans territory. It could have been anything from work to they'd been kicked out with no way of knowing which it had been.

    She had been so young at the time, only ten and the trauma of her parents deaths had blocked off most of the memories that might have helped them figure out what clan her parents had come from or why they were there. Most members of the race tried to live in enclaves of just Anvidai. That way they didn't need to move a lot or try to explain why they never went out during the day. The Lushidai were the only members of the race that could safely go out during the day And most of them stayed with the families that their people had served for generations. Or stayed in little villages of their own along with the lower class Anvidai. Only a couple of groups of Humans were considered safe enough to know about the Anvidai and they were in almost as much danger as their own people. The Siblings were warning them as well.

    So the Siblings had done the best they could and found a nearby clan that would take her in. There was a childless couple that was more than willing to take her as their own. And for a brief time Tolartha had been happy, or at least as happy as a child could be while mourning her whole family. And all would have been well if they had lived. Unfortunately they had both died in less than a year in an accident. Well before the clan had moved over the ocean to the United States. So Tolartha was passed around like an unwanted burden that no one could get rid of.

    That had been the beginning of the troubles that would follow her until she had come here to the training center. She was still afraid that the bad luck that had followed her for her whole life would rear its ugly head again. If it did there would be no reason that the Ashen War-Kin wouldn't treat her just as the Foress clan had. After all she had been the reason for so much death and disaster in her short life. She was certain that as soon as the Ashen War-Kin found out how much damage she had caused to those around her, they would turn her out and treat her the same as the Foress clan had. Tolartha couldn't remember the last time she had felt secure in her future. But it was hard to believe in yourself when no one believed in you after all.

    Still Tolartha had been grateful then and still was grateful for that rescue. But She was very nervous about everything that she did up to and including this message. And boy she really hoped it didn't show. After all she was not only to carrying a message to the War Prince Niculai but doing it during daylight hours. It was almost unheard of that a trainee would carry a spoken message to the Manor. If a message, written or spoken, needed to be sent to the Mansion generally one of the Manors Lushidai staff was used. As far as Tolartha had ever seen or heard of trainees were never sent to the Manor for any reason, much less as messengers. Hell, the students generally didn't even know that the Training facility was on the same grounds as the Manor. Tolartha hadn't known and wouldn't have if she hadn't been sent on this message run.

     All but three of the trainee's lived in town with their families. Only those who either didn't have families to live with or would have had to travel to far each day to make travel practical lived in the training center itself. In fact she was one of only three trainee's currently living in the center. The rest of the trainee's were bused in from pick up points around Chinook. Places that changed on a daily basis for security reasons. After all patterns often led to discovery by the enemy and that was a risk no one was willing to take. And there was no way that any of them would be shown the physical locale so they could just dematerialize in and out of the center. That was an even greater security risk. The trainees couldn't divulge what they didn't know.

    The specially built buses that transported the trainees had blacked out windows that were so thick they had to be bulletproof as well as blackened to be impossible to see through. Added to that a metal divider between the driver and the passengers kept the trainees from seeing out the front window. Tolartha had only ridden on it once, when she had first came to the facility with the Foress clan head and Weaver. And boy wasn't she glad that her instructors decided that she needed to stay in the training center instead of at home with her clan. Although home might have been stretching it. It was more like the place she slept was to far away for her to return each day after classes were done. The last place that Tolartha had actually felt was her home had been back before her parents had died. So staying at the training center was a blessing for her not a hardship. The other trainees had a different opinion she was sure.

    "Nope," Tolartha said quietly to herself. "Not gonna think about any of that."

    Those thoughts were a bad place to go at anytime, but so soon after her nightmare this morning? Definitely not real estate Tolartha was going to visit if she could avoid it.That damn reoccurring dream that never failed to bring her abruptly awake. At least she didn't scream anymore. At least not normally, although she had for her first few nights staying here in the center. Before coming to stay here Tolartha hadn't had the damned thing more than once or twice a year.  It had been rare enough that she'd started to hope that maybe she was done with the thing. Lately though it had been almost every night again. what a time for that chestnut to rear its ugly head.

    Intentionally switching tracks, she thought about how she had come to be here in the training facility. She much preferred to think about her classes and how she had gotten here than anything from her past. There were no bad memories attached to any of her training. Being here was something that she hadn't even dreamed was possible. She had been told her whole life that she was a curse and had seen no reason not to believe it.

    Tolartha had been completely surprised when she had discovered that she was good at and truly enjoyed the classes. It was the first thing that she had enjoyed for as long as she could remember. It had been so long that Tolartha had forgotten enjoyment was even possible. It was also the first time in decades, in her whole life that she could remember that she hadn't been looked at with suspicion and disgust. The first time that she had felt welcomed at all. A feeling that she was still getting used to and not sure she believed was real.

    She had been so surprised when she had been sent to the training facility by Salvari, one of the two Ashen War-Kin Siblings assigned to her adoptive clan to train and keep up the fighting skills of the clan's fighters. Every clan had at least two and sometimes more Ashen War-Kin Siblings assigned to them.The Siblings were not only in charge of training the youth of the clan to fight but also keeping the adult fighters skills. They were also in charge of moderating and maintaining the local contact number that the Anvidai used for emergencies. Rather like the races own nine-one-one. The number was used for everything from attacks by the Undying Society, medical problems, even car problems. Pretty much anything other than a fire and the Anvidai called it. Each area had it's own local number so that in the unlikely event that the Undying got a number it wouldn't compromise the whole network.

    All of her life Tolartha had been told that she wasn't good enough to train. Not just because she was a foundling but because she was bad luck and had caused her families deaths. She wasn't a real member of the clan. She was just a hanger on and a curse to everyone in the clan. All Tolartha  had ever heard was how she had not only killed her birth family but the deaths of her adoptive parents were her fault as well. She was also apparently the cause of every little thing that went wrong for anyone she was living with. Hearing that  all her life it was a miracle that she could get anything right at all. And before she'd come here Tolartha had pretty much not gotten anything right. For years now it had seemed like everything she touched went wrong which just fueled how her adoptive clan had treated her.

    She hadn't been taught how to fight or to defend herself like every other member of the clans were. The only way that she had been able to learn anything had been by sneaking peeks at the lessons that everyone else had gotten. If one the Siblings teaching and maintaining the clan's fighters hadn't caught her practicing what she had watched the others do, she wouldn't be here at all. Boy, Tolartha had been certain that she was going to be in trouble for what she had done. Nope, not only was she not in trouble but the head of her clan got royally reamed for not getting her into the training earlier. Tolartha smiled at that memory even though it meant she was a petty person. Hard to not enjoy the cause of so much of her pain getting some of what he dished out back after all.

    After all not only were people her age already trained, those that weren't interested in being fighters  usually  went on in what ever it was they were going to do or, if female, married. It was rare for someone her age to be without either a job or a mate. Tolartha knew that, she was a member of a very traditional clan after all. But still she had done everything that had been asked of her since the day she had been placed with them as a scared ten year old. Tolartha had always hoped that someday she would be given the chance to help those that had succored her. Rather than being looked at as a curse on everyone around her. And in a way that had happened, it had been the Sibling who had seen what she was capable of not the clan that had adopted her. So she was going to help those who had rescued her, she was going to help the Ashen War-Kin in any way she could.

    The least the clan could have done was find her a job of some sort, other than servant of course. But no all they had done was tell her that she wasn't worth the food it took to feed her. She had pretty much just been a servant to the clan head and was always stuck with the most disgusting jobs. And if it had just been the nasty jobs she probably could have found some happiness but the clan head had demanded other things of her that were much worse. Things that still made her skin crawl and left her more than a little nauseous. At least it had only been the clan head, if he had passed her around like he had frequently threatened then her lot would have been so much worse. Even if that kind of behavior was more than just a little illegal.Even by Anvidai law, not to mention the Humans. Before she had come here Tolartha had been convinced that no one would believe her when she told them what was going on. Even now she wasn't completely sure that saying something wouldn't get her bounced right back to where she had started.

    Not that everyone in her adopted clan had been mean to her or treated her as if she was a second class citizen. But since the clan head and his council treated her as nothing, those that had been nice couldn't do much to improve her lot. It wasn't like she wanted to mate any of the males she had been raised with. Or would have been allowed to no matter what they treated her like. No, Tolartha had decided long ago that she wanted nothing to do with mates of any kind. Not if they were anything like those she had met in her home clan. Sure everyone she had met here had been kind and supportive. But no one wanted to marry someone with her background. At least not as far as Tolartha knew.

    None of which was relevant to the fact that she had been tapped to not only take a message to the War Prince but she was being sent to the Manor to deliver it. Hell's bells, none of the trainees went to the manor. Only members of the War Prices household or Siblings ever went to the manor. Even those trainees that lived at the training facility weren't allowed at the manor. Even if they figured that the two were connected somehow or other. Now Tolartha knew exactly how they were connected and the means blew her mind. She had been told to go through the office to the storage closet and find the hidden door at the back of it.

    So here she was at the hidden door that led to the manor. She had been given the code to open up the tunnel that led to it. As well as warned that if she went to the manor without express orders she would not only be out of the training but most likely out of her life. Not that Tolartha needed that particular warning. She already knew that the Siblings were a dangerous bunch even when they weren't protecting the War Prince. After all it was literally their job to kill to protect the race and the Prince. The Ashen War-Kin had started out as guards for the royal family after all. So add protecting the War Prince into the mix and they were downright terrifying. Her hand shook a bit as she entered the code that opened up the way into the manor. Gathering herself Tolartha opened the door and stepped through.

    Tolartha was so stunned by the splendor in front of her, she stopped dead in her tracks. All around her the colors were overwhelming. It was almost enough to make her forget her mission. When he'd given her the task Rhuv had implied that faster would be better so Tolartha snapped herself back into focus. Walking around the base of the  red carpeted stairs that led to the second floor. Rhuv had given her directions to the main library that the War Prince used as his office. Tolartha put more hustle into her steps and took the stairs two at a time.

    Determined to not get distracted by the beauty around her a second time, Tolartha couldn't stop herself from looking back over her shoulder at the manors grand foyer. The sight of the mosaic on the floor stunned her into immobility. The pattern that Tolartha had vaguely noticed was inscribed into the highly polished black marble floor, was that of an ancient mango tree in full bloom. The sacred tree stood out against its black background as if it was floating in space. Tolartha had never seen a better representation of the sacredness of the mango tree before in her life. Shaking herself into focus for the second time she continued down the hall to the open library doors.

      Tolartha raped gently on the door frame of the double doors to the library. Across the large book laden room she saw her War Prince sitting, lost in thought. He looked as though he had just woken from a nightmare as well but he had clearly not been asleep. Tolartha wasn't sure how she knew this but she did. After all she had seen the same look on her own face more than once over the long decades since her rescue by the Ashen War-Kin and her War Prince. So she was very familiar with it. Although she had been less troubled by the past since she had joined the training program. If this kept up maybe she would finally be free of it all together.

    Her War Prince's head snapped towards her. Tolartha waited for Niculai to acknowledge her. When he just stared at her as if he didn't see her. Clearly still lost in his won thoughts, she spoke quietly as though she didn't want to startle him.

   "My Lord?"

    For a long moment nothing happened. Nic just continued to stare at her. As if he was looking at something other than the room he was in.

    "My Lord?" She tried a little louder, still respectful.

    Finally Niculai focused completely on her, actually seeing her, not what ever thoughts his mind had been caught in. His gaze sharpened until she was stunned by the fierceness of it. As soon as she saw his attention was on her Tolartha delivered the message Rhuv had given her. She briefly wondered how she could deliver the War Princes response to Rhuv. But as that was what the War Prince had said that was what she would deliver. It wasn't that it had been crude of or anything just less than polite.

    Ultimately the War Prince was in charge of them all. Rhuv was still not going to be happy with his answer though. Briefly Tolartha wondered why she had been chosen to deliver the message but the introspection was short lived. Her War Prince was talking to her, telling her that he was going to tell Rhuv his response himself. Next Nic informed her that she should go eat and rest before classes started. Nodding to herself Tolartha turned to go before remembering who she was talking to. Tolartha turned back to Niculai and gave a deep respectful bow before turning to go again.

    All the way back to the training facility Tolartha's thoughts were in a tangle. For some reason seeing Niculai so caught in his own thoughts brought back the memories of her rescue again. Things that she had tried very hard to not think about for a very long time. Stopping dead in her tracks in the middle of the hallway that ran from the parking garage, past the training and medical facilities and eventually ended in the hidden entrance to the manor.  For a moment Tolartha was convinced that she was going to be dragged into the past but she managed to stay in the present by pure force of will. There was no way that she was going to think about any of the past. Not how her parents had died. Not everything that had happened to her before she was tied up in that cave. And definitely not what had happened after her rescue. Nope, she wasn't going to dwell on any of it.

    Shaking herself Tolartha continued her walk back to her quarters. She knew that Niculai had told her to eat something before she got some rest but her stomach wasn't going to allow that. Tolartha had zero intention of getting sick in front of the other trainees, so food was not going to happen. That would be too embarrassing for words.

    Tolartha continued on her way to her quarters, ignoring the happy shatter that came from the break room that the few trainees that lived onsite used to eat in. Normally she would have gone in and had something to eat. Talked about what they had learned in the previous nights classes. Laughed with her new friends, the first ones that she had ever really had in her life. Her thoughts were to much in her past right now to be able to deal with any company. How had she gone from being so excited to this current funk she had no clue. But there it was and all she could do was deal with it. time for bed and with any luck when it was time to get up for tonights classes she would be back in her proper mindset.