The path to the cabin was surrounded by dense green forest, the occupants of which I had no desire to find out at the time. As I hobbled down the path I would get tripped up by roots or stones, but Lavonia always caught me before I hit the dirt. The cabin was small, only large enough for one or two rooms to actually be contained in it.

Lavonia led me across the clearing and we entered into the cabin. There was a small living space that was also a dining area, much like back at home. It connected directly to the kitchen without walls. There was a door and I assumed that was the bedroom. There was a small fire place, but it was unlit. A large window overlooked the clearing outside, but the curtains were drawn together so you couldn't see out. There was a smaller window in the kitchen above the stove, the sill of which was covered with various spices and herbs.

Small pots containing little plants were placed at random throughout the room. I recognized one as sage, another as clove, but other than that the others were a complete mystery. The room had a definite lived-in feel to it.

"Welcome to my humble abode. It's not much, but it is most definitely quiet." Lavonia walked through the door and I followed.

There were two beds in here, both pushed up against opposite walls. At the end of each was a chest for personal belongings and between the two, in a narrow space, was a nightstand with another pot containing flowers. The beds were made and the wall behind the headboards had a massive window set into it.

I looked around before seating myself on one of the beds. The other was slightly messed up, so I assumed it to be Lavonia's. She smiled a little at this and took a seat on the bed as well.

"We'll have to find you some clothing of course. Maybe we'll go into town tomorrow, once you've rested up." She put an arm around my shoulder before pulling me into a slight hug. "You'll be fine."

I nodded into her shoulder. "Miss Lavonia?" I looked up to her eyes to see annoyance.

"That is one thing that will have to change right now. I am not ma'am, or lady, or miss. My name is Lavonia Anastasoula. You will call me Lavonia and that is all." She huffed a little at the end.

"Right. So, um... Lavonia?" I tried it out, going against everything I was raised to. Mum had always told me to be polite.

"What is it Sara?"

"I was wondering... well... could you tell me what you do now? You said you'd take me as an apprentice."

"Well, that was really to get that nosy old doctor out of our hair. It was also to get you to my house. I honestly wanted, and I'll be blunt here, your sister as an apprentice, not you. She held more qualities that are wanted for this profession."

"Why is it always her! She was always mum's favorite! Now she's dead and you won't even consider me?" Tears welled in my eyes at the reminder. I felt by following what Avacyn had done, then I might grow closer to her.

"Water-works won't sway me." Lavonia said. Her gaze was cold, though it held understanding. "If you want to be my apprentice, you'll have to prove yourself. It's not easy. There are no shortcuts, no excuses, and certainly no crying. It's a harsh job, and many people will die that you may have known or been friends with. But, in the end, if you do your job well and ignore their sacrifices, you may end up saving many innocents."

I looked at her in awe halfway through her lecture. It sounded dangerous, deadly, and slightly scary. It also held the promise of an adventure I always wanted to have. I steeled myself, knowing the seriousness was leaking into my eyes.

"What would you do if you faced a man far superior in your skills? You had to beat him, but had no chance."

The question caught me off gaurd, but I answered after a moments thought. "I would surrender." She snorted, but I continued, "Then when he lowered his gaurd I would launch an attack in the hopes of killing him."

"I see. Well then, let's see if you can prove yourself a worthy to be my apprentice."

"How can I prove myself?"

Lavonia smiled at this, "you've already started."

_-_

"After that I started to train with Lavonia. I didn't even know what I was training for, but I learned exciting new skills, and didn't question it. This is when I started to learn how to shoot and make a bow. It wasn't easy, and I almost always missed my targets at first, but practice certainly came through on that." I looked up at Shika, who hadn't said much.

"This place sounds very different from the five great nations and the shinobi countries around here. You never really said where this was." He glanced up at me, curiousity coming off of him in waves.

I laughed a little, "Indeed I haven't said where this was. You wouldn't know or believe me if I told you though."

"Haah... you could still tell me."

"But wouldn't that take out all the mystery?"

"It would also help me believe a lot more of what you're telling me."

"Don't believe me?"

"No, I do. Some of it seems a little... odd though. Like the whipping post or the use of a lantern." He looked up at me blankly, "nothing like I've ever heard about in the shinobi world, after all whipping is seen as torture."

"As it should be seen, it's a horrible thing." I paused and debated on telling Shika the truth. It wasn't on whether or not he believed me, but more so on what it could change. "Give me a moment to think?"

"Sure, why not." Shika rested his head back against the wall, looking out the window at the clouds scudding slowly across the sky.

It was only 15 minutes, but in those 15 minutes I had come to a decision that might change everything.

"I'll tell you." I was looking down when I said this, but looked up when I didn't get a response. He was asleep. I sweatdropped slightly and looked out the window. It was almost noon and I decided on an early lunch. I slipped out of my room and began rummaging around the kitchen.

I apparently made quite a bit of noise, for as I was halfway through making the meal Shika spoke from the doorway. "It seems like you've had longer than a moment to think. Taking advantage of my nap?"

"As if, just making lunch. Didn't look like you'd want to go hungry." I turned to look at him after finishing chopping the carrots I would put into the fried rice. "You can go wait in my living room if you want."

He ignored me and sat on the counter. "Will you tell me?"

"Well if you weren't asleep earlier, you might know that answer." I smirked at him cheekily.

He mumbled a little, but eventually spoke louder. "Tell me?" I looked at him from the corner of my eye, and after a hesitation he said, "Please?" With great stress on the word.

I snickered a little. "Yeah yeah, I'll tell you."

"Well?"

"What? Now?" I looked at him incredulously. At his nod I sighed. I continued with the preparations for the fried rice and pulled orange chicken from the freezer. Not as good as homemade orange chicken, but the last time I tried it took me an hour to clean the kitchen.

"Alright, but no falling asleep. I'm not from any of the countries they taught in the academy. All those countries are practically ruled by shinobi or samurai. Where I grew up, there was no such thing." I looked at him to see disbelief in his eyes. "If you aren't going to listen with an open mind, I won't tell you and I won't feed you."

"Troublesome woman," He rolled his eyes, but from the look in them I could tell he would suspend his belief.

"Good. Now then, It isn't something you could exactly walk to. I had to sail here, and that was after... after being banished." I could see questions forming in his eyes. "I'll answer that later. Either way, from my track it took me almost a year and a half of sailing to reach this... land mass? Not sure about what to call it, before this I had no knowledge of anything other than the countries I'm used to. Anyways, where I come from we have knights, archers, kings and queens. Things that are nonexistent here."

"What is a knight?" The term was so foreign here.

"It's a swordsman of the realm. Comparable to the samurai here, but they use a double edged sword instead of the regular katana. They where armor, but not like anything you're used to... It's kinda hard to describe."

He nodded and took plates down from the cabinet as he saw I was almost done with our meal. I flipped the rice one last time before loading it onto the plates. The orange chicken crackled in the oil and I took the tongs and placed the pieces onto the plates as well. I grabbed my plate and we sat together at the table.

"So what did you call the country you came from?"

"I suppose you could call it... I really have no name. Though I grew to be a member of leading forces we never had need for a name in our country. The only reason there were knights or archers was because until the year my brother died we were fighting to conquer the last opposition from a country to the west. After that the name of the country was lost on the wind, as there was no more need for it."

"I see..." I saw belief in his eyes. For some unexplainable reason though I wanted to hear him voice it.

"Do you believe me Shika?" I looked straight into his eyes.

Slowly he nodded, "I think I do, crazy as it sounds."

The rest of our meal was idle chatter between us. I was thankful I didn't have to keep talking about my past while eating, it was a good break. After lunch we went to the front room with a pot of tea as well as tea cups.

"You can certainly cook now Sara, even if some of it was frozen food."

"Pineapple, you know you can just say the food was good. No need to add unnecessary facts to the matter."

He chuckled a little, "that takes all the fun from it though." His face grew serious as he asked his next question, "Will you continue with the story now?"

"Fine," I drawled out. I thought back to where I had left off before continuing, "As I said I practiced the bow with Lavonia, trying to prove myself worthy to be her apprentice. The bow became a true extension of my body during that year. I also became more fit, my strength had grown from pulling the bow so many times, and Lavonia had set an obistical course for me to run a few times a day. At times I would grieve the loss of my family, or wake from nightmares about that night, but it was, in all, a peaceful year. This was until a man came running, stumbling really, into the clearing. He was huffing hard, trying to get his breath back to speak."