Act 1 - Part 2

7 more years pass by of them doing those similar routines. Riley has grown to become a 5 ft. 7 in. heartthrob. He has on leather armor over a long sleeve white shirt and dark brown pants.

Atina is petite-size - about 5 ft. 3 in. slim body – long wavy hair on the sides of her head. The rest of her hair is tied up in a high ponytail that extends to about half of her back. She wears a sleeveless, dark red leather vest with the backside that reaches down to her thighs; cream colored, long sleeve blouse; skin-tight white pants and knee-high black boots. She has since stopped wearing skirts and dresses after their first sparring session because those would get in the way of her maneuverability.

Today is another one of those days they have their sparring session. Unlike the first time, this one has been going for a few hours.

Riley thrusts and swings his wooden sword at Atina in rapid succession. "Come on! Try harder, Atina!" he exclaims.

Obviously, Riley has age and experience on his side; causing Atina to have difficulty finding an opening. The best she can do is block his strikes as she takes one step back each time. Riley thrusts at her again. She first uses what's supposed to be the blade part of her wooden sword to block it, raises both of her arms up, swerves around Riley then goes in for a swing. Riley slightly rotates his body and swings his sword back in retaliation.

Right before both of their wooden swords meet, a horse-drawn carriage goes out of the town. The sound of the carriage causes Atina to scream briefly. She drops her sword, falls on her knees, tightly closes her eyes, covers both of her ears and whimpers as her body shakes.

It's been a problem for as long as she can remember. One moment, she's having a regular day. Next thing, she has that phobia-like episode. Whether it be from a carriage or a wagon, if she can hear it, the outcome will be the same.

Riley watches that carriage go past them then roughly exhales through his mouth.

"That was going to be my 140th win." He says in a slightly sad way as he taps his shoulder with his sword. He turns his attention to Atina. "Though you haven't landed a hit on me yet, look on the bright side,"

He walks toward her and picks up her sword along the way. Atina opens her eyes and feels herself being lifted up so that her bottom rests on his arm. He holds both wooden swords in his other arm and glances up at her. "I really like how long you've been gradually holding your own against me." He smiles then follows it up with the usual, "Everything will be fine." He proceeds into the town. In the back of Riley's mind, he wishes it won't get interrupted every now and then; forcing him to end it for the day each time.

He strolls past a shop window with wooden sculptures on displays. The sculptures range between small to medium size of various woodland creatures. He halts.

"Woah, almost forgot."

Riley remembers today is a certain day. He turns back around, sets Atina down by the front door.

When he opens the door, there's a chime sound from the doorbell on the top part of the door. He walks toward the shop counter which looks like a glass display case. Along the shop's walls are sculptures highly detailed and life-size than the rest on the shop floor.

The Shopkeeper is a chubby middle-age male; short blond hair and triangle beard. He wears a dark teal, plaid apron over a plain white shirt and black pants with rolled up sleeves that go a few inches past the elbow. Some sawdust on his apron and lots of bandages on his hands and fingers from his woodcarving. He stands on the other side of the counter and spots Riley approaching.

"Greetings and welcome, Riley!" says the Shopkeeper in a welcoming tone.

Riley props the two wooden swords against the side of the door.

"Good day to you too."

The door swings to a close. Atina takes a few steps to the side of the door then looks at the sculptures within the relatively-small-and-narrow-but-tall store. Dark brown wood floors and walls and glass shelves. The slightly larger sculptures line up on the store shelves. Sculptures the size of humans and/or a bit larger line up against walls.

"It still amazes me how you two are able to get by after that incident 8 years ago," the Shopkeeper adds. 

'8 years ago.' That was the life-altering year for the 2 siblings as that was when Riley takes up the parental role for Atina and how she got that phobia of hers in the first place.

"I appreciate the sentiment," Riley responds as his eyes move towards Atina, making sure she doesn’t hear that. Usually, bringing up that incident is taboo to someone whenever Atina is around; especially if she's under those episodes. Fortunately, Atina seems to not pay attention to their conversation. Thank god for the sculptures distracting her. He speaks slowly, "that aside," Riley continues back to a normal tone, "Is it finished yet?"

"Oh! Most certainly. Just a moment, please,"

The Shopkeeper then proceeds through a door behind the counter.

Atina has no idea what sort of business Riley has here; yet she patiently waits for him anyway. She glances around the carvings by the window. Those look nice, but she doesn't picture herself having those at their place.

She slightly glances up then spots 3 human figures, with fit builds, leap dashes through the alleyway. It's hard for her to make them out who they are due to them not being much sunlight shining through the alleyways. One of the trios stops and turns their head in Atina's direction. It's hard to make out, but there's a distinguishable shape of a sword in its sheath diagonally at the back of that one. Another among their group, with jagged hair that hangs in a low ponytail, hop back to the one with the sword; then the two leaps away.

The Shopkeeper returns back out, walks up to the counter and places a relatively small object that can fit into the palm of a person's hand on the counter. It's covered in a white cloth in a teardrop shape and tied with a piece of twine at the top.

"Here it is."

Riley places two gold and one silver coin for the advance payment on top of the initial payment he paid for it to be made a few months prior. He takes that covered up object into his hand.

"Thank you." Riley turns and walks back toward Atina.

"Come again!"

"Apologies for the wait." He speaks to her then notices she is still looking out the window, "Hmm?" He glances at where she's looking at but sees nothing. He faces her again. "Is something - or someone - there?"

Atina faces Riley with her head downward then shakes her head. It might be her imagination. He takes both of the wooden swords in one arm of the same hand that holds that covered-up object.

"Shall we get going then?"

He pushes the door open with the side of his body. The door chime rings again. Riley glances back at the Shopkeeper and gives a head-nod to him.

Atina walks out of the store first. Riley follows then the door swings to a close again. Later, they arrive at the porch of their home located toward the center of town. He uses his free hand to open the door for her. The interior of their 2-story home has the appearance reminiscent of a log cabin with wood floors and stone walls and a stone fireplace mantle off to the side. It's well-kept; mainly from Atina keeping the place tidy to pass the time. A kitchen area and a meal table up against the wall.

"We're home, mother," Riley speaks calmly.

"Welcome back, dears."

Their mom, Jadice, short brownish blonde hair tied up in a bun; white and blue dress with a half apron on, stands in front of a boiling pot on a lit stove in the kitchen area. Atina glances at their mom, still with a flat mouth expression.

Upon closer inspection, Jadice is not actually there nor is a boiling pot over a stove. On top of the fireplace mantle is a sword stand that holds a large sheathed dagger that's wider in width at the blade section. At the base of the hilt is half of what looks like a yin-yang symbol.

Hanging on a wall above the fireplace mantle is a large, framed family portrait. Jadice is in the above-center, in between Atina and Riley as kids with a meadow field for a background. Around Jadice's neck is the very same necklace Atina has on. On the bottom center part of the frame is a plaque that has each of their names.

Prior to 8 years ago, the topic on their dad's whereabouts were hardly - if ever - brought up.  Riley has little memory of him while Atina has zilch.  In spite of that, they were satisfied with just the 3 of them. They've never stayed at orphanages either as that will very likely tear them apart; which Riley is determined not to let happen and he kept to his word. As long as he’s around, none of the town kids would dare bully them for being ‘parentless.’

Looking at that portrait, Atina gets the sound of a carriage/wagon wheel in motion followed by a crash echo in her mind. She shut her eyes then lowers her head.

Riley walks over to the meal table. He lays both of the wooden swords, one on top of the other, at the end of it. He glances back over to Atina who doesn't seem to be cheering up any time soon.

"Atina, come here for a moment," he calls out.

Atina raises her head a tad bit then glances at Riley. He sits on one chair at one side of the table with that cloth-covered object in front of him. He gestures with his hand at her to take a seat. She goes and sits on the seat opposite him. "Watch this."

He gently tugs at the twine. The corners of the cloth flow down onto the table's surface to reveal a wood carving of an almost-realistic pair of wolves sitting, facing each other, in a howl pose, on top of a circular podium tree trunk that's about an inch thick.

"Tada! Happy 18th birthday to the best sister in the whole world!"

Atina just stares at the sculpture, ignoring his exaggeration and has completely forgotten it's her special day. She looks up at Riley for a few seconds. "Pretty cool, like your big brother am I right?"

Atina looks at the sculpture a few seconds longer then up at Riley again. She nods in response. He rises from his seat, walks over to Atina, places one hand on the table and the other around the back of Atina's head. "There, there," Riley says in a comforting tone. With that same hand, he presses her head up against his chest. "It's as I always say, 'everything will be fine.'" Atina lost count of the number of times of this familiar comfort; especially with those 4 words of his.

Riley lowers his hand from Atina's head then takes 4 steps back.

"Well, I'll hit the hay early. Got a big job tonight."

He gets to the stairs when he stops his foot on the 3rd step. He turns and looks back at Atina. A sense of pride swells up within him at how much she has grown. He resumes up the steps.

Laying on his bed with one knee up, Riley is unable to fall asleep immediately. This is his first big mission, after all. The other day, he and the rest of the Guards were briefed on their task of guarding a group of nobles who will be holding a meeting inside a conference hall. That normally wouldn't be too much of an issue. Except for the high possible appearance of a certain band of assassins called the Blood Crows.

His mind drifts to the sheathed dagger on the mantle. That large dagger is one of the items Janice brought with them before they moved to the place they live now.

When he was less than 10 years old, his curiosity got the best of him; wondering why that large dagger was on display like that unlike other blades. His desire for wanting to know the answer to that grew too great.  He snuck out with it into an alleyway during the night when his mother and sister were asleep.  He, first, swings the unsheathed blade randomly around but nothing. Night after night, he keeps sneaking out doing the same. It wasn’t until one night, he added such force into a thrust that 2 ice shards, materialized a few centimeters above and below the tip of the dagger mid-air. The shards shoot straight then shatter against a wall on the opposite side. It amazes him at the sight of it that he couldn't stop grinning.

“Why hasn't my mother told me we have a magic dagger?”

Riley continues shooting at the walls and swinging in several directions to see what else it can do.  A couple of nights later, just when he got the hang of it, he got caught red-handed by his mom.  She gave him a harsh scolding and told him never to use that again. He initially wondered why his mom’s attitude is the way it is, but decided not to question her authority. From then on, Riley hasn’t used it since.

Back to the present. Riley contemplates whether to take that with him on this assignment he'll soon have.

While the latter are rare, no connections have been made between the two. He figures he needs it anyway for good measure, walks over to the fireplace mantle, grabs the sheathed dagger then returns to the stairs. He stops again and smiles as he looks at Atina.

"Good night."

"Good night, brother."

He continues to glance at Atina again who glances back at him. He feels proud to have her for a sister. He proceeds upward.

The following night a couple hours later, Riley is alone. He jogs up to a manor where the conference meeting of nobles will be held. Several other Guards are also in the area on watch duty too. Some inside, some outside. One of his colleagues, who is an early 20s male and dons the same uniform Riley wears, stands near a large double door; the entrance to the manor.

"Riley, you're late"

"My apologies."

The Guard chuckles, "I jest," then notices a familiar face behind him. "I see you brought your sister with you."

"What? No, I did not..."

When Riley turns around, he is shocked to have indeed discovered that Atina, having secretly followed him to the location. "Atina?! Why are you out here?!" he continues.

"I want to help out."

"This is a serious matter. I don't want to see you getting hurt. Go back now."

His Guard colleague interjects. "Where's the harm in it? This can give her the chance to see you in action."

After a bit of contemplation, Riley clicks his tongue then puts one hand on his hip.

"Fine."

He unsheathes the regular-size dagger with the bottom part of the hilt exposed and hands it to her. "Just stick close to either of us."

Atina slowly takes that dagger in both hands. "I understand," she says with gentle obedience. The 3 of them make their way in.