~Tessa~
I watched Victor and Rin walk off, not sure what to do. It was obvious that following would be a bad idea, but I'd come so far. I looked at Spati for confirmation and then slipped away. I followed at a distance. Victor may have been able to hide his aura, but there was no hiding Rin's.
I followed until they got to a room and closed the door. Now I had a dilemma. I could get closer and risk being discovered, but I didn't want to waste the effort of following.
I sort of wished that I had Tessa's strength, much as I hated to depend on her.
I crept closer to the door and placed my ear against it. I could hear victor's voice, but couldn't make out what was being said. Finally, I gave up, realizing that I was getting nowhere. I gave up and headed away from the door. Victor would do what he would do, and I trusted him about as far as I could throw him, but there was nothing I could do about it right now. Carefully I tracked down Maria--not too hard, given that her aura was as familiar to me as my own--almost was my own, in fact, except that extended periods apart tended to change both of our auras.
I tracked her down without much trouble and she stared at me. "What do you want, Tessa?" she asked me tiredly.
"How about a bit of sparring?" I asked. "It might clear both of our heads."
~Maria~
I stared at Tessa in disbelief. She wanted to spar? she was nuts. she was no match for me, but slowly, a smile began to spread across my face.
"All right, but not here. Let's take it outside."
Tessa nodded and we headed for the nearest window, and took off. We flew across to a nearby clearing. We landed and began to limber up, Tessa looking to me and copying my movements.
"You'll never win at that rate" I said, mocking her. I was rewarded by a flash of anger from Tessa.
"Better" I laughed and charged at her, flapping my wings to take off, getting above her and curling my whip around her waist from above. Before I could pull her up to meet me however, I felt the rush of air as one of Tessa's daggers rushed past me.
"So it begins" I chuckled and wondered how long it would be before we were interrupted.
