Astelle woke up in Angelica's arms. She shifted to get a look at the window. The sun was only rising so it seemed like morning.  She got up and walked into the bathroom.

Angelica woke up and felt around for Astelle. She wasn't there. Now it was Angelica's turn to be worried. Had Astelle just got up and left? And if she had, where had she gone? At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Astelle walked out. She sat down on the bed. Angelica decided to say what had been on her mind.

"Astelle, when you got here I thought you would have family to go to. Since you are the last of your family tree that won't really be an option and I don't really trust the law system there will treat you right. So I was wondering if you would like to stay with me on my ship." Angelica said.

Astelle thought about it. She was about to say no when she realized something. She had no one to go to and there was a mad man out to kill her. If she was going to survive she would have to have some help.

"Sure." Astelle finally said, allowing Angelica to wrap her arms around her.

"One other thing. If your going to live with me you may have to defend yourself at times. So I'm going to take you on deck so I can teach you how to use a sword, savy?" Angelica asked.

Astelle nodded and pretty soon they were both in a training area on the ship. Angelica walked over to a barrel and grabbed a sword out. It was a bit small and had a gold handle. She handed Astelle the sword. Immediately Astelle's hand started shaking. Angelica thought it might be from nerves. But she had a really strange look in her eyes, like she was having a flash back.

"Lass, are you okay?" Angelica asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

Astelle shook her head and the memory began to fade. She looked at Angelica, who looked very worried.

"Ya I'm fine." Astelle said, relaxing at Angelica's touch. Angelica nodded but didn't say anything. She grabbed her own sword and prepared to teach her the basics of using a sword. She pointed to one of the practice dummies.

"What I want to you to do is hold the sword in your dominant hand and take a few swings at the practice dummy. Just so I can see what I'm working with." Angelica instructed.

Astelle nodded and walked over to the practice dummy. She relaxed and swung as hard as she could. The moment went by in a blur but when she opened her eyes the dummy was mutilated and had the sword running through the spot where the heart would be. Angelica was looking at her with a shocked expression.

That was the way she had started her first training session.

Suddenly a memory came flashing back to her.

Angelica held her new born child in her arms. She promised herself that she would protect this child from harm. The child started to cry and Angelica rocked her to calm her down.

"Shh, shh my child. It'll be okay." Angelica cooed to the baby. She slipped a sword pendant around the girl's neck.

"There. Now you will always have something to remember mama by." Angelica said holding the child to her chest.

A week after Angelica had given birth was her child stolen from her. One night her daughter had started crying in the middle of the night but when Angelica came in to check on her, her daughter was gone.

Angelica spent months looking for her child when she finally found her six years later. In a house with to people who looked to be her adopted parents.

As much as she wanted to, Angelica knew she couldn't just barge in there and demand her daughter back. She would have to wait for the right time to reveal herself.

So with a heavy heart, she left. Never to return until her child needed her again.