The Hymer, first of the jungles.

Birthplace of lives.

Mother of mothers.

Glowing by the colour of a million greens.

Beautiful, you daresay?

Paradise, you think?

Ha!

Because Hymer’s anger,

Whether vagabond, courtesan, or minstrel.

Whether Paladin, King, Even the Imperatrix Hyn herself.

Nothing discriminates, no-one overcomes.

All listen to the final song.

Sung by the Banshees.

Jungle, Janis the White.

Nay only knew about the Assini guild through hearsay at the Academy and through Ra’fa. The latter had talked about methods used by assassins and spies, but barely talked about the Assini specifically. The Academy had not tackled the subject in depth either.

Her mother had taught her enough though. Ra’fa had told her they never accepted too risky of a contract, and that it was not a guild per se. There was probably an organization regrouping them, but most likely only managed “redistribution” of stolen goods. An Assini only answered to one master, chief or Emperor, called coin, silver or gold.

The Assini had understood Nay’s message.

“If you target me, you will die.”

As attacking her was now considered too risky, no matter the prize, she was safe.

The practice at the Soi was also something Nay could stop worrying about.

She never let herself be fooled anymore, neither through beautiful courtesans nor the devilish Karmena. The young Legio went back there just to rest, the women lending her a free room when she was there. She was not bothered by the naked women anymore and concluded she had been bothered initially because she was jealous of their bodies, not attracted to it. Now that she had her own set of worries and understood how uncomfortable and unpractical it all was, her feelings had receded.

This rhetoric was flawed by Joanna. The third girl in the Academy had become her friend through Trinne, and Nay had a hard time looking away from her. The way Joanna and her tomboyish looks moved and fought had inspired Nay a lot on her own way of fighting. Now that the end of the first year was near, Nay felt finally at peace. She had, with the brunette’s counselling, started to add some seductive movements in her techniques to distract male opponents during duels. It sometimes worked, but Virnyl guards, especially those with lots of stars on their armours, never even flinched.

“That’s normal, you can’t count on it to win. It is not made for that, it’s just there to give you an edge. Sometimes it’s clear and sharp, sometimes its dull.” Joanna explained as they ate together in the sombre common hall of the Academy.

If the tall and lean teenager held a grudge about the day of the trial against Nay, she had never shown any of it.

“I think it mostly distracted me in this case.” Retorted Nay, as she was holding her hurt shoulder hit by a Virnyl guard the day before.

Trinne wiped her mouth with a silk tissue before talking: “Your seduction attempts are lacking…”

Joanna nodded with no words, with a sad smile Nay was getting used to see on the young woman.

“Well, I’d like to see you fare any better. Trinne, you just won’t do it and Joanna…” She looked at the distinct lack of feminine wiles on her friend.

“Hey!” She shouted back. “I may have lesser forms, but I assure you I compensate with technique.”

Nay sighed, her new friend was quite similar to her Jarulavien friend Feryn in some unfortunate ways. In particular on the subject of boys.

Trinne cleared her throat at Joanna’s answer before responding in turn. “It is unbefitting of someone like me.”

“It is unbefitting of someone gna gna gna.” Repeated the two other teenagers at the same time.

Trinne had the shadow of a smile before looking outraged.

“I seem to remember you half-naked in front of a good hundred people.” Retorted Nay, almost harshly.

The redhead gave her a wry grin before answering with the same tone of voice.

“I would not have had to go this far if my opponent did not have such perverse desire to see me undressed.”

Nay got up. “I have no such…” She began, now seriously angry.

Boys sitting at adjoining tables were looking at them now, amused expressions on their face. Some were frankly obscene. A weird type of spectator was starting to grow amongst the recruits, who liked to watch the two girls fight whether with words or physically.

Joanna got between the two before the situation escalated.

“Stop that, both of you. Don’t start again, last time you had this talk, a teacher had to come and put an end to it.”

She was exaggerating, the teacher had arrived only when everything was already over.

Nay did not understand why the Duke’s daughter was annoying her so much. Since their peaceful talk in her room, almost every conversation with the red-haired girl finished in verbal abuse. They had only come to blows once or twice, but insults came regularly.

Without Joanna to calm things down, the relationship between the two would have most likely come back to what it once was.

Still, as much as Nay was annoyed by her, she could only feel respect for Trinne. And she could read the same in the other girl’s eyes.

Besides this paradoxical relationship, Nay had gotten much closer to her other girl friend.

Joanna was often a moody teenager, smiling rarely, but with a serious temper and fearing nothing.

Nay had heard rumours about her and a third year being in a relationship.

After Joanna’s recent avowals, the truth of this rumour was pretty much assured.

Nay tried to think about something else, notably about her improving situation.

Her body was not giving her much trouble anymore, she felt less lonely, and had more time to rest. Nay finally felt like she was making progress.

Only her nightmares had gotten worse.

She may not be waking up every night, and even slept normally, but the terror was still there, each morning. She could stay in her bed, paralysed by fear for long minutes. She looked outside, through her large window, and gazed almost without blinking at the remaining shadows of the night giving their place up to the light of day.

Those times, she felt that if she moved, if she breathed too hard, it would find her.

She had no idea what “it” was. She did not want to, no, could not think about that.

She was petrified longer and longer each passing day. If it kept getting worse, she would arrive late to practice. They would need to come and get her, and she would be exposed for what she really was: an abnormal, weak, broken thing.

She had an imperious desire to be normal, feminine, just like Trinne or Joanna, who each in their own way, exuded beauty, and grace. Despite her adult body, she still could not compare to them, and felt unfit, unbecoming.

“Monster.” That was her new nickname since the event with the Assini. It had come and replaced “Yaeda-milk”. Everyone was using it, sometimes even Joanna. She was saying it admiratively, but that just hurt Nay more.

Trinne was the only one not using that word, most likely because she preferred Yaeda-milk. Nay had gotten used to that one, or so she thought, but when it came out of the arrogant lady’s mouth, it always enraged her. Which most likely explained why Trinne liked to use it so much.

The last months of the first year at the Academy went out without any further incidents. In most part because the Commandare was not there. If Nay could have seen her mother and sister, she would even have considered herself happy.

Soon, she would be able to see Lisana again, but she would have to wait two more long years before going back to her mother and little stone home.

A dark thought crossed her mind. In a month time, the Mission would start. The name, as with the Selection, showed how much the Virnyl guards liked simplicity.

It was during this Mission that most students lost their life.

Tiër-the-second was giving them a speech on their success and their tenacity from his usual wooden stand in the front of the dining hall. He was taking a lot of time to talk about the five third year students, soon to become full-fledged Virnyl guards, albeit with no stars. He talked about their soon to be responsibilities, about the work they would need to provide… his talking was not stopping.

“You have not forgotten our deal, have you, Y-a-e-d-a-m… Trinne began whispering in her ear.

“No.” Nay cut her off before she finished the nickname. “I will keep my word, except if you finish that sentence. I’ll renounce my promise and kill you myself if you do.”

“Ooooouuuuh.” Trinne responded, not worried by the threat at all.

The apprentices were supposed to get paid, and Nay tried to refocus on what Tiër-the-second was saying. She, as most students, was trying more than usual to follow what the Academy’s director was saying, so not to miss any information about that fact. Trinne was not really interested. She was the Duke’s daughter and money would never be a problem to her.

Regimus of Thiers, Tiër-the-second’s real name, regularly talked to them in the large refectory, but not once did Nay manage to listen to him from start to finish. He was currently reminding them of the rules: not getting down off the plateau, no violence, no shameful acts that would taint the name of the Virnyl guards, and so on.

Nay swore she would soon be able to physically interact with the drowsiness and boredom in the air, because of how thick it was in the room. She looked at her other neighbour in hope of not falling asleep directly on the large oak table. Joanna seemed restless. She was biting her nails. From what Nay had collected, the lean brunette’s family needed that money.

Nay would also give the money to her parents, so they would be able to pay for Lisana’s continued education in the Sage-Brother’s school. The young Legio may not be able to get down off the plateau, but she could just give it to her father directly while they trained.

That thought brought Nay a realisation.

She watched Regimus, then, assured he would not say anything interesting for the next ten minutes, addressed the teenager she had overcome in height.

“Joanna, how are you going to give the coins to your family?” She asked innocently.

The brunette, trying her best to follow what the old, overly muscled Virnyl guard was saying, answered Nay without thinking.

“Mh, through the northern lift…”

She froze as soon as the words escaped her lips.

She turned to face Nay, her large hazel eyes wide open, looking horrified.

“I did not just say that.” She whispered.

Nay gave her a sorry smile. She understood perfectly well how grave the thing her friend had just revealed was.

“There is no northern lift…to my knowledge.” Nay raised, being careful no one was listening to them.

“No…haha…of course not…I was talking about the eastern lift.”

“Talking about another eastern lift? Or the one you are not allowed to take?”

Silence.

“…Nay, please. You don’t imagine what…”

“I imagine very well Jo. Don’t worry, I won’t speak of it to anyone.”

Joanna’s shoulders relaxed visibly, and she sighed of relief.

“By Lebe’s harlot, thank you. Really, I am not a…”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Nay interrupted her with a smile.

“You two hiding something?” Trinne joined their conversation.

Joanna tensed again.

Nay intervened: “I’ve asked a rather indelicate question to Joanna, too personal.” She explained without lying.

“Ah…day of the woman?” Trinne misunderstood.

Nay only replied with a smile.

The Duke’s daughter did not want to delve deeper into the subject, and refocused on Tiër-the-second’s speech.

“Nay, you didn’t have to…” Started Joanna.

“I AM SICK OF THE THREE OF YOU! YOU ARE BOTHERING EVERYONE!” Herind, in charge of monitoring the students, screamed at them. “LADIES, GIVE ME THREE LAPS AROUND THE ACADEMY.”

The three girls were escorted outside by Herind, laughed at by their peers.

Regimus of Thiers looked at them in disgust.

“You may be good students, but young ladies should understand the importance of authority!” He reprimanded them from his stand, before continuing his speech.

They left the building, but before starting their laps, Nay winked at Herind.

“Thanks.” She said. “I couldn’t bear it anymore.”

The Virnyl guard gave her a wry smile.

“You obviously missed the director’s message about authority. GET ON WITH IT OR I’LL PUT YOUR GOLD COINS DEEP INSIDE YOUR BACK-ENDS!”

“YES HERIND!” They shouted back with one voice before starting their run.

So, there was a secret lift on the northern side of the Duke’s plateau. Nay tried to talk to Joanna about it, discreetly, but only managed on the last day of the year at the Academy, when all the students were free to go. After a large amount of gold was given to them. Nay, much like the three other students coming from Lower-Gite, were staying in their respective rooms in the Academy. She had no other place to sleep on the plateau. Sure, she could have asked Karmena for some help, but the thought of sleeping at the Soi was not one she considered brilliant.

Nay and Joanna said goodbye to Trinne once more as they reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the Academy. They were made of marble and led to the giant red oak door that characterised the Academy’s entrance. All the other students had already left, and even the usual guards at the entrance seemed to have done the same. The place was deserted.

“I’ll miss you Trinne.” Joanna said.

“Pf. In twenty minutes you’ll have forgotten me. And as if I needed the goodbyes of commoners.” Unlike her harsh words, Trinne’s face was betraying her real feelings.

“Trinne.” Nay lowered her head to the side to salute her.

“Nay.” Their gazes met.

The red-haired teenager’s eyes were of dazzling azure. Even with all the paradoxical emotions she made her feel, Nay could not look away from the teary pupils of the Duke’s daughter.

Joanna cleared her throat. “You’re not going to try to kill each other now…right?”

Trinne was finally the one to look away first.

“No, of course not…I simply have a favour to ask Yaeda-milk.”

“Trinne…” Nay responded with clenched teeth.

Joanna laughed nervously, watching each of them in turn.

“I want your bedroom key.” Said Trinne with no preamble.

Silence.

“I’m sorry, what?” Finally said Joanna and Nay simultaneously.

An image forced itself inside Nay’s head, that she quickly tried to forget.

“I need it in case I need to flee the palace in a hurry.” The Duke’s daughter explained. “We have an arrangement, have we not?”

“An arrangement?” Joanna asked, a bit lost.

“Can’t you just get back to your own room?” Nay questioned, not focusing on her other friend’s confused face.

“My room has not the same reputation yours has.” Trinne explained.

“Stop. What are you two talking about?”

Trinne sighed, in an insufferable, condescending way.

“Joanna, you remember that I told you someone wanted to kill you, yes?”

“Yes, I know, always been the case since my mother’s death.” The lean teenager responded with irritation.

Nay could not hide her surprise. “Huh?”

Trinne continued, imperturbable, in the same haughty tone.

“An Assini tried to kill Nay, you remember, that day when everyone was woken up by screams.”

Joanna did not seem to recall. “What, that was an Assini? It wasn’t just an idiot trying to get into your bed at night?”

This time, both Trinne and Nay were taken aback by the revelation.

“I ask your pardon?” Trinne said.

“Get into my bed?” Nay did not understand.

“You know, the boys believe they have a shot with us and some of them are a bit overzealous. I have to be careful to lock my door, every week one or two tried their luck.”

“What!?” Trinne and Nay exclaimed together.

Joanna looked at them in confusion.

“You did not know? There was a boy, erm, Kordelieu I believe, who was expelled after being caught red-handed. But don’t worry, that all stopped when me and Murik got together. Rather, Nay? Someone tried to murder you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We weren’t friends at the time.” Nay coldly answered.

“Still…”

“What about you Nay?” Trinne asked. “Did you not notice anything strange when you fought with the Assini?”

“There was no fight.” Nay explained.

Both her friends looked at her. Trinne made a weird grimace while an expression of fear appeared a short instant on Joanna’s face.

“I forgot…” Trinne said. “If you had fought, you would have noticed his style is very similar to Joanna’s. At least with daggers.”

Nay watched her lean friend.

“You are an Assini.”

Joanna gave an angry look at Trinne.

“I would have liked if you did not tell her that.” Before addressing directly to Nay: “No, I am not. My mother had…connections to them and forced me to learn under a master. My mom died two years ago, but it was too late for me, I was too involved in the business. I was faced with a choice, either become a murderer or try my luck with the Selection. Nay, no one else knows.”

Nay looked at Trinne quizzically.

She answered her untold question: “My father knew her master. I knew about her since the Selection.” The red-haired teenager then cut the conversation to a close.

“In any case, I need to leave. Nay, your key.”

“And how am I supposed to manage without my key…” said Nay grudgingly.

“You never use it anyway. Your door is always unlocked.” The Duke’s daughter replied.

How she knew about that, Nay had no idea. She was right though. Begrudgingly, Nay gave Trinne her key.

Without a thank you, Trinne left.

When she was out of sight, Joanna began talking again.

“You don’t lock your door?”

“No need, except Red…except Commandare Darkstar, no one can enter without my knowledge. And he does not need a key to enter anyway.” The young Legio explained factually, not realising how ambiguously her words could be interpreted.

Joanna gulped.

This time, it was Nay’s turn to ask her a question.

“So, the northern lift, is that an Assini passage?”

“Yes…”

“If you left their ranks, wouldn’t it be dangerous to use it?”

“There is never anyone around the lift, to lower the chances of it being discovered. If no one is using it at the same time, there should be no problems.”

“I don’t like it. What would happen if someone were there? Or if you’re spotted in the city although you should be on the plateau?”

Joanna gave her a mocking smile, which was quite the rare expression on her face.

“Nay, no one follows that rule. Murik went down in the lower city a dozen times during his first year, and he helped his father down at the harbour during his second. Have a good disguise, or a good friend amongst the Virnyl guards, and everyone looks away.”

Nay had the feeling that, as far as she was concerned, no one would look away.

“It is far too dangerous. Especially with the Duke looking for any opportunity to prevent a female Virnyl guard from ever coming to be. Your life is in danger, may I remind you.”

“Where I’m going, the Duke’s authority matters not.”

“But it’s not just the Duke trying to kill you, is it?”

“Thanks for reminding me, Nay. I am well aware.” Answered Joanna sarcastically.

“I don’t know much about them, but the Assini I met smelled of blood and murder. And if my guess is correct, the others probably don’t like you being in the Academy very much.”

“Maybe…what’s the smell of murder?” Joanna thought out loud, not really asking, so Nay did not bother answering. Rreico was a Legio’s art. Nay would not share this secret.

Joanna stopped talking to think for a minute.

“Let’s go talk somewhere else.” She then decided.

They walked in silence. High-Gite was a beauty of excess and its gigantic alleyways, more than four chariots wide, were full of people at this time in the afternoon.

Nay followed Joanna through the crowd with difficulty. She still hated the mixture of feminine perfumes and sweat in the air. The Rreico was tumultuous and unreadable, and Nay had to silence her sixth sense so she would not feel sick. But with the crowd’s noise, she was still easily overwhelmed.

At least no one pushed her around anymore. It probably helped that she was six feet tall now and wore the Academy’s reinforced fabric clothing.

After ten minutes or so, the two teenagers entered a small garden behind the courtyard of a house. There, stood a lonely stone bench of ochre colour.

“Aren’t we in a private property?” Nay asked.

“We are, but it belongs to a bourgeois family usually living in Leïn. This is their holiday home. They are never here, and I made a deal with the house’s caretaker.”

Nay nodded in admiration. She was very unsociable and felt envious of her friend’s ability to make friends. Joanna knew every student in the Academy, and everyone liked her, teachers included. Maybe more impressive yet, it was because of her that Trinne and Nay had not killed each other already.

“Nay, do you want to come with me?”

“To Lower-Gite?” Understood the young Legio.

“Yes.”

“I…I can’t, it’s too dangerous…”

“I told you, everyone does it.”

“Yes but…my situation is…unusual.”

Joanna seemed to understand.

“Because you have been chosen by Darkstar?”

Nay hesitated.

“Yes…something along those lines.”

“It will be fine. Only a day. No risks about that. But you are right, there is danger where I’m going. Not because of the Duke, just the district’s normal way of being. With you though, I’ll be safe, right?”

The question took Nay by surprise.

“What? I…Joanna, I know how to defend myself, but I’ve never learnt to protect anyone. If an assassin wanted to kill you, I’d have no idea how to stop him.”

Ra’fa had never really given her any real information about the Assini, but every country, every city had its lot of hitmen. “When you observe people, look for what matters. Strange quirks, accent, his gaze, his smile. Does he smell like almonds? If he is not a pastry chef, it means he’s handling cyanide. Poison is their main weapon, always. Then comes a trap or planned accident. Then comes the assassination attempt. It is always the riskier option. A good assassin takes time and money to train. Putting him in direct contact with his target automatically accentuates the risks of losing a valuable asset.” She taught her.

Nay could handle as assassination attempt, but poison and accident…?

“I don’t know Joanna…”

“Nay, please. It would mean a lot to me.”

Her hazel eyes took away what was left of Nay’s reasoning.

“Fine, but we go down, you give the coins to your family, and we’re back up.”

“You don’t want to visit your own family?” Joanna asked her.

Nay grimaced.

“I would love to…But I’d rather not think about what my mother would do to me if she saw me breaking the rules.”

Joanna gave her a sympathetic look.

“Fine, we go down, I talk to my father, deposit the money, then go back up.”

Nay nodded.

“Let us do it tomorrow morning, we meet up on the bottom of the Academy’s stairs. Is that ok or you?” The lean teenager proposed.

“Agreed.”

The conversation finished, the two girls took a moment just to appreciate the beauty of the garden and flowers around them. The young Legio felt uneasy for a reason she was unable to explain. She looked upon her friend, gazed on her sad look, her lips, her neck, her…”

“Nay?” Joanna broke the silence.

“Yes?” The teenager was pulled out of her dreamy state.

“Do you want some help to get a boyfriend? You are attractive, but still a bit scary to everyone.”

“Erm…”

“Murik has a friend that is interested. He talked to me about it, and now that we are on a holiday, we could set up a double date. What do you say?”

Nay had no desire to accept. It would mean one less day with Lisana after all. Unfortunately, the hazel eyes full of hope made her answer against her will.

“Sure. Good to me.”

Joanna gave out a big sigh of relief. Nay knew she must have missed something, as her friend’s reaction was a bit over the top. Was there a hidden meaning in the proposal?

“Great! You know him already I’m sure, you trained with them. You know, Vondieu? He is super nice, no?”

Nay remembered him. The weird one from Jarulam. He and Murik had just finished their third year and were fully fledged Virnyl guards now. They would be tasked in following a senior guard, with stars, and help him with his work. Usually, it meant public order or surveillance work. It was a hard job, sometimes even dangerous, but free time was plenty, unlike the Virnyl guards sent outside to do special missions. Those had a specific name: Comminios. Numerous were under the direct orders of the Imperatrix.

As they were speaking about Joanna’s “friend”, Nay tried to use the opportunity to ask the brunette about something that had stayed in the back of her mind for a while.

“Can’t you ask Murik to let you through the gates, instead of taking the northern lift?”

Joanna shrugged. “They put him under Kekkir’s orders…he’s one of Regimus’ disciples.”

“Regimus…our much-esteemed strait-laced director?”

“The one and only.”

“Ah. Bad luck.”

“Murik was very nice, he even proposed to bring the coins to my father himself.”

Nay grimaced.

“I believe his proposal was honest but…” Joanna had a forced smile.

The lean teenager had clearly had a difficult childhood. Her relationship with the Virnyl guard seemed more serious than what Nay originally thought, but, obviously, that did not mean the brunette trusted easily. Which meant her asking Nay for help was surprising.

“Yeah, I see…” Nay answered.

“Ah no! We’re talking about tomorrow again. No no no, I wanted to talk about something fun! So, let’s say, next week, in front of the plaza fountain? We’ll go eat in a good restaurant, Vondieu comes from a big Jarulavien family after all.”

Nay refrained another grimace, hiding it behind a smile.

“Sure.”

Joanna got up.

“We have a deal then. Let us meet tomorrow morning Nay, and after our trip, I will buy you some new clothes for our date.”

And before Nay could answer, Joanna left.

The young Legio held her head in her hands.

She had once again gotten herself involved in a shopping trip that would never end. Her friend had had the same look as Veridienne’s. And add to that the double date? She remembered Vondieu well. They duelled regularly. He seemed to enjoy her beating him ruthlessly. His ecstatic smile, each time she kicked him on the ground, gave her the creeps. She tried to avoid him by any means possible.

Why did she agree to this ridiculous idea? She did not know.