It took three weeks for Alden to come and train with her again, and it was only by chance she found him. He was in the same place as last time, running through all the drills he'd obviously been instructed to practice, at least he was – up until he spotted her.

"Where've you been?" He bounced up and down, his fingers digging into her shoulders. "I've been looking all over the compound for you!"

"Umm..." Leia blinked.

"It was fun last time." He shrugged. "Way more fun than beating up the older guys. They suck."

"You wanna spar then?" she asked, barely managing to duck out of the way as he leapt at her with a wide smile on his face. He was slightly faster than before, his leg lancing out at her own, a smirk forming on his face when she skipped back out of the way. "I'm guessing that was a yes," she said, grinning as he charged towards her yet again.

He was brilliant when it came to hand to hand, far more than an assassin usually was. She knew the process of hunting down a target and taking them out quickly and quietly. Those instincts had been drilled into her by the master who'd taught her.

Never strike unless you're sure you can succeed.

Of course, she only applied that to assassinations. Everywhere else she might as well have been a suicidal maniac... or a menace.

Leia sighed, ducking under a strike, slamming her palm into his chest, scowling at how weak she was. She didn't have any core strength. All she had were the techniques her body remembered – and even then she was having to retrain herself in all of that. Her reach was completely different, as was her height.

"What's the matter?" Alden asked, slamming his foot into her chest. "You're distracted."

"Nothing you need to worry about," she said, recovering as quickly as she could, landing a few pathetically infective they were. She relied more on her speed and accuracy than raw brute strength – like she'd used to. Leia knew she'd have to rectify that soon.

After all, there was a reason Ithuriel City had fallen without much effort.

Kiryin Palace had fallen first.

Most of their Alchemists and Assassins had been wiped out, and any who remained had been cut off from providing aid thanks to someone sabotaging the portals.

And that was part of the reason why she'd wanted to delay being scouted by the very people whose company she was in. After all, there were only a certain amount of people who could've cut off any aid for the place she was now living in – and all of them were under the same roof.

There was a traitor in their midst.

Leia swore she'd be the one to flush them out. If Kiryin Palace survived, then the odds of the attack on Ithuriel City would be much lower... plus even if the attack did happen, the casualty rate would be lower.

Still, there was no way in hell she was letting Xander or Ren die again. They were like family to her, and if there was one thing she was going to save this time around it'd be them. The city she'd grown up in was just an added bonus.

"I'm going to handle it," she mumbled, dodging a particularly vicious uppercut.

Alden wasn't holding back in the slightest, and neither was Leia.

She hit as hard as she could, scowling when she felt the ache of her undertrained muscles. She needed to add stamina training to her regimen, along with pretty much everything else.

Leia flopped to the ground, her newfound friend following soon after.

"I need to get stronger," she mumbled, staring up at the sky. It was a darkening blue, the sun low on the horizon as she caught her breath.

"Same," Alden echoed, smiling sideways at her. "Tomorrow evening again?"

"I'll try," she said, groaning as she thought of all the classes she'd have to last through.

There was no way in hell she was looking forwards to Flame Basics.

In fact, she'd be skipping it if she could.

She needed to make that pill before she could even think about beginning her flame control lessons.

Otherwise they'd try to consume her.

Just like last time.