They walked into the entrance of the estate through a grand door. A man in a black cloak sat at a small desk. Actually Faux wasn’t sure he had seen anyone not in a black cloak. The man at the desk looked up with surprise on his face. “Master Fang Te” the old man he was with just waved the man's surprise away. “I want this one put into this year's batch” if anything, the man at the desk looked even more shocked. “But classes started two weeks ago Master” Fang didn’t respond, he just stared at the man behind the desk. “But I will be happy to get him signed in immediately as your submission.” Fang just nodded as the man behind the desk took out a book and a quill.

“What’s this now, Fang?” Faux and Fang both turned and looked at the foreboding man walking toward them. Tenzin was average height, with an average build and a forgettable face. Yet they way he walked, the aura that rolled off of him, they said predator. “What do you want, Tenzin?” Fang muttered. “Can’t a fellow master be curious?” Tenzin cut in “How long has it been since you submitted a candidate for the trials Fang? Oh I remember, never.” Master Tenzin had a greasy smile and Faux took an immediate dislike to him, so he just smiled.

Tenzin gave a small frown to the boy then caught himself and ignored him. “Thing’s change and yet so many things stay the same.” Fang responded stepping forward into Tenzin’s face “Much like you Tenzin, always barking at your better’s” This time Tenzin’s scowl stayed on his face as he spoke. “I look forward to your embarrassment Fang, your initiate is starting two weeks behind, and you won’t be here to watch over him. Only the top three are rewarded, and this is already a larger class than normal” Fang just harrumphed. “What are two weeks compared to the four years till finals. He’ll be caught up and passing the others by month's end.” Tenzin smiled coyly. “I’ll let you know how he does.”

Fang took a step back and narrowed his eyes. “You have news” Tenzin smiled and handed over a scroll sealed in wax. “From the grandmaster himself, you will have an assignment in Agothir.” “Zenut be damned” Fang said with a sigh. Fang took the scroll with a glare and turned his back to Tenzin and got down to eye level with Faux. “All right boy, I need to make this quick.” Faux watched Tenzin glare daggers into Fang’s back before turning and walking away. The man behind the desk was wide eyed and pale. “Pay attention” barked Fang. “Power, remember that. Every day, every trial, every moment you want to quit, you remember that when this is done, you will have the power to protect your friends in the future.”

Faux just stared at him. Fang looked confused. “Isn’t that what you want?” Faux smiled and nodded. Fang for the first time since they had met looked unsure. “Good,” he finally said. Then he stood and looked at the man behind the desk. “Get him started, tell Master Vadruk i’m calling in the favor he owes me. Give the boy extra attention for the first two weeks, then he’s on his own.” The man behind the desk scrambled for a reply. “Yes, master Fang, of course master Fang.” Then Fang was walking away. Faux watched him as the attendant came around from behind the desk. Yes, He wanted to protect those he would call friends. Mckale, Dagon, Faux remembered the small kindness the boy Tiberius had shown him. He said nothing as the attendant motioned him to follow. “Come with me” He followed behind the attendant and thought about getting stronger. Yes Faux wanted power to protect his friends. But also Faux would find those who took his friends, and he would have the power to kill them all.

Faux glanced around the cell. The oak door with a small barred opening allowed in the noise of others sleeping. The only source of light, a candle on a small bedside table, lit the remainder of the tiny room. A dirty bucket for his dirty business, a stool, and a hook for his robe composed the remainder. A piece of rusted metal had fallen from the bucked to the floor, perhaps the only décor here. Faux may have grown up on a comfortable straw mattress, but the last months sleeping in the gutters had hardened him to his once soft life. He glanced again at the décor, Faux had an opportunity to learn the art of death, and one day he would paint his masterpiece.

The first thing he notices as he bustles out of the recently unlocked door is the flood of other children. All of them human’s with a variety of skin tones, almost all of them appear older than him, and even some of the girls are taller. No way is it large like Mckale or Dagon, based on the physical builds of Tenzin and Fang, Faux guessed that being a giant in a crowd wasn’t conducive to their profession. He followed the others up the stairs, no one really noticing him. As they walked above ground he could see the sun poke through the curtained windows. It should be well past morning, maybe midday. The décor was gauche, there were gold candelabras and gilded frames as far as the eye could see. It made Faux sick.

As the children piled into a grandhall, there were plates of food on all the tables. It set Faux soul on fire. He hadn’t eaten a real meal in ages. He was about to tear toward a table when a girl with brown hair stepped in front of him. His hand went for his waistband and he smiled at her. “Are you Faux? I’m Jasira, my master Varduk asked us to show you around a bit.” Jasira had a light voice, and she made a hand motion to the other two boys with her. Faux hadn’t responded, but Jasira wasn’t a fool. She saw him eyeing the food hungrily. “Come sit with us and we can have introduction over breakfast.” She turned and walked to a specific table taking a seat with one of the boys next to her and one across.

Faux had no reason to argue as long as food was on the table, so he sat down and began shoveling roast chicken from his plate into his mouth. Jasira only paused for a moment at the wildly uncouth display. She didn’t come from a noble family, but every master here had taught their submissions basic manners so as not to embarrass themselves. What she heard about Faux master must be true. “This is Jolly” She motioned to the boy next to her. Jolly was fair skinned with a baldhead and kind eyes. “Hello” Jolly gave a small wave. The two had already dug into his food, but at least he used his fork. “And that’s Kenosha” Kenosha grunted and continued to sit, waiting to begin eating until Jasira did. Kenosha had tanned skin and almond eyes. “You have already missed quite a few of the basics.

We will catch you up on what we can. The rest will be up to you.” Faux had already finished eating at this point; grease covered his mouth and chin. Jasira saw Faux look enviously at the others plates. “For starters, you shouldn’t eat too much. After this we will be given time to take care of basic hygiene. Right after that we do running and stretching. You don’t want to be full for that.” Jolly siting next to her cringed at that, apparently he had already fallen into that trap. “Then we have classes, theater, basic letters, and etiquette. Then…” “After your nice and tired from listening to Lavish talk about silverware.” Interrupts Jolly with a chuckle. Jasira rolls her eyes and continues on. “Then we do athletics again right before lunch, and finally, we do stealth training. I’m sure you notice we start our days a little later here, well you’ll see it's already dusk when we have lunch.”

During this entire conversation, Faux had not spoken once. Nor had Kenosha. Faux felt they would get along. “Well, we got your back if you need anything.” Silence followed as Faux continued to not respond. Jasira’s master had asked her to show this kid the ropes and she was happy to add more to the neutral side. She only knew some basics of what her master had explained to her. There were three factions in the Assassins guild right now. Those who wanted to keep with the old ways of pay to play. But recently a new faction had risen, those that thought the assassins should push their power forward, black mail nobles, threaten families, and bring fear to the powerful.

Her master Varduk was the third. The neutrals, those who weren’t opposed to change, but didn’t mind things staying the same. Jasira certainly wasn’t worldly enough to know the difference. She just followed her master in all things. Varduk had bought her from her family. She was the seventh daughter of a poor household, she thanked the goddess Zenut everyday he hadn’t had dark intentions. She looked at the chatterbox that was Faux once more before shrugging her shoulders and digging into her food.

As they filed out into the back courtyard, Faux was slightly dumbfounded at the size of the yard. There was an outer track that ran around the perimeter filled with hurdles, walls, ropes and more. He still followed Jasira and the other two as they walked out. There were about thirty kids total. “That’s my master Varduk '' Jasira whispered. The man stood straight with his hands behind his back. He had an angular jaw and a hooked nose giving him a rather unique look which was unusual of most of the masters that Faux had seen. “We begin with out stretches.” The man immediately moved into a pose and the children followed.

Faux was only a whisper behind, figuring it out fairly quickly. They flew through the simple stretches easily and then moved into beginner exercises like push-ups and sit-ups. It was exhausting for Faux, his body was far from it’s best condition but he pushed hard and the instructor didn’t berate him if he couldn’t finish. They moved on to a jog around the courtyard perimeter. Faux glanced at all the well build platforms and rope course. “That’s… later today” Choked out Jolly with labored breaths.

By the time they all reached the classroom, everyone was exhausted and dripping with sweat. They had been allowed to towel off briefly before dropping into a desk. A fireplace roared in the back keeping the room abnormally warm. Master Lavish, a lanky elf with cold eyes, started with basic letters. Apparently being able to read was a basic requirement for a secret society. Faux struggle to keep his droopy eyelids open, but he was used to the streets where there was danger at ever moment, so his hindbrain kept him alert. Others weren’t so lucky. Several woke to the crack of a switch across their backs or hands.

For the next lessons they moved around at least. Today’s etiquette lessons were on table lessons, so they had moved back to the dining area. Then the theater lessons were in another hall with a home stage. Faux hoped he was picking up the lessons because the day seemed to blur by. Afterward, they did more laps, by the end Faux was barely stumbling along. When they finally dropped their butts onto the bench for dinner, the sun was dipping low behind the horizon. Their plates were filled with more meat, rice and vegetables. No seasoning was harmed in the making of this meal, but even growing up in his small village, salt was a luxury most couldn’t afford. Faux powered through his meal, even Jadira and Jolly were fairly quiet and focused on food.

When they left lunch and made it back outside to the back courtyard, the lingering fatigue was visible on them all. Torches were lit around the building, leaving a ring of light that didn’t extend far. Out of the darkness stepped a new person. They were hard to see under the dark cloak and hood. Faux knew this would be Master Shade, one of the new faction followers. “Tonight, we focus on sound, you will do the course in silence, and those who make noise will be punished before assistance is provided.

The last three through the course will also not receive dinner” Master Shade extended his arm for them to begin. Faux was rather confused by the instructions, but he let the others go in front of him. It turns out that it was much harder than he expected to extend a wooden wall by rope quietly AND speedily. The jumps weren’t too challenging for the nimble boy, but his weariness showed through and he fell more than once. Landing on cobblestones, creating a racket he would be switched causing him to smile and caress his waistband. But he accepted the pain and took the advice from Shade.

The man was a cruel taskmaster, but he was fair in his mongering. In the end Faux gave it his all, but he was too far behind. He finished last, and he would get nothing for dinner. While the others went to the dining hall, he got a chagrined look from Jasira and the others, but they couldn’t assist him with this. Faux and two other downtrodden boys walked with heads down toward their rooms. One of the boys tried to make conversation, but Faux ignored him. He went into his room and closed his door; he was asleep long before the jailor came to lock him in.

“In all my years as the master theatrics instructor, I have never had such an inept pupil as you” blathered Lavish. There was a chuckle from several of the other students, but Faux just stared blandly. “Emotion may be lost on you boy, but the ability to portray it, is a necessary skill in our profession. With your dead eyed expression, you don’t exactly slip by unnoticed.” Master Lavish looked at Faux expectantly, but if he hoped for a reaction, he didn’t receive it. With a deep sigh Lavish moved on “You will bring your lunch here and we will discuss your behavior, Loman, show me an angry noble.”

It had been two weeks since Faux had arrived, the only thing that had changed since his first day, was his stamina had vastly improved. Food and daily exercise had shown their value, and Master Shade was happy with his improvement. He never missed out on a dinner meal again after that first day. Lavish’s classes were in complete contrast to that. Faux knew his basic letters and numbers and didn’t struggle as much as the others in that aspect, but he couldn’t bother himself to care about ettiquete or theatrics. Fang had told him he would train to be an assassin, he didn’t need to know stage craft to stab someone. He had been biding his time and hanging on to his patience for a while, but he felt each minute he spent with Master Lavish whittle it down even more.

“Well done Loman, well done.” Master Lavish comment drew Faux from his introspection as he stared at the taller boy. Loman was another that tried his patience. He was like a dog always in need of a pet. Loman glanced at Faux with a weasley smirk as he accepted his verbal treat. Jasira standing next to Faux just shrugged her shoulders. “Loman is a twit, Faux, don’t let him get to you. Faux, as usual, didn’t deem to respond. Jasira and Jolly had long since grown used to the silence of Kenosha and Faux, normal folk didn’t end up in a school for assassins after all.

Truth be told, Faux couldn’t care less about Loman, the one who truly got under his skin was Shinroth. The older boy was the leader in everything Master Shade taught, and Faux felt that Master Shade’s teachings were vastly more important for a budding killer. Loman made some snide comment as they shuffled out of the class, but once again Faux showed his skill at silence. Faux just bided his time, he had spent most of his time these last two weeks working on his fortitude. While he ate like a horse, his body never substantially grew in size, but it assuredly grew in stamina. He would do exercises like mountain climbers and burpees in the dank cell of a room. He would jog in place, do jumping jacks, anything he could physically do to increase his strength and endurance.

As they walked out back Master Shade was waiting for them. “Today is an important milestone for you all.” He waved around at them all. “Many of you will be deciding your path for the future soon.” Shade clasped his hands behind his back and walked amongst the children. “There is more than one path of the assassin, and you will have a dozen choices to make going forward. I’m going to get a jumpstart here and make an offer. I walk the path of Blitz, it is all about speed and surprise. So this is my offer. Whoever is the fastest to complete today's run will be my disciple. Easy, simple, quick, that is how my path proceeds, and that is how I’ll make my choice.