"Shit! I can't shake the bad feeling."

"About what, Clay?" The guardsman found me at the edge of the training ground, the sides of which were lined with arguably more city guards than when I fought him and Squad Four when it had only three members.

"That when I see you fight, I'll bloody regret my decision to have a rematch with you."

"I thought you were regretting it already."

He sneered. "Someone's cocky. But yeah, I do. I just feel like I'm gonna regret it even more."

I smiled, took a deep breath, and shook Sage as a rush of jitters ran down my spine, over my ass, and to the tip of my tail. Yeah, even though I've been through it once, fighting in front of so many people still didn't make me feel good. That's why I was actually glad Clay showed up. Harper standing next to me was unusually quiet, so Clay was a nice distraction, and let's face it, even though he was almost a decade older, the man wasn't bad to look at.

"Do you know anything about her?" I pointed with my wing to the training ground, where Freyde tried to face Stella Palemoon. Even when he was doing his best, it was obvious he was out of his league, overpowered. The fight was unfair, and everyone around knew it. Hence the lack of fanfare, where only a few were actually enjoying the beating Freyde was taking. Idleaf among them, but she was a special case. She had fun wherever people were enjoying themselves, whether it was a dance, a tavern brawl, or an unfair fight involving one of her friends - my friends.

Hell, just looking at their classes and levels spoke volumes.

[Bookkeeper: lvl 59]

[Warrior: lvl 135]

Ridiculous! He knew it. The gal knew it. Yet she didn't end the fight as quickly as she could and should have, leaving Freyde to struggle. One might think she was reveling in her superiority, showing him her dominance, and truthfully I believed there was a little of that, but for the most part, she was trying to observe his prowess. That was my take on her, what I wanted to believe; however, it was hard to read in her cold eyes. Stella Palemoon might as well have been a cold-hearted bitch.

At least Freyde fared better than Meneur. The poor mage didn't stand a chance against her. His magic taking too long to conjure was a huge drawback that I knew he was working on but still had plenty of room to improve. Not a criticism, just an observation; after all, I was the same, lacking in more than one aspect. Alas, the bitch played with him, even gave him the time he needed to conjure his magic, deliberately, just to show him it was a piece of cake for her to deal with his ember magic.

"A rich brat who trains outside the barracks. Like you, I guess."

"Do I look rich to you?"

Clay took a step back and looked me over. "You look better than last time, but no. For a supposed Lady, you're not giving me a rich brat vibe."

I growled at the mention of the Lady. "Does she have a title?" She was a niece of the City Lord, the Baron of Sahal, after all. 

"Her mother is a Lady, but she's...just a Young Miss Palemoon, I guess."

"Powerful family?"

Clay laughed. "Lady Egerton, her maiden name, so I hear, married out of love."

"Meaning?" I mean, good for her, but it didn't tell me much about our future squad leader's background.

"She married an ordinary guy."

"Then why do you call her rich brat?"

"I didn't say he was poor. Moreover, the late Lord Egerton left her a considerable part of his wealth. And since she has more brains than her brother, her assets are only growing."

"I see," I breathed out, eyes fixed on the battle taking place on the training ground that was coming to an end. Palemoon probably saw and achieved what she was after, pushing Freyde hard to surrender. To his credit, he didn't do so until she knocked the sword out of his hands.

Appreciative applause broke out among the watching city guards as was befitting and proper. Nothing enthusiastic, though.

Clay cleared his throat. "Do you think you have a fighting chance?" 

That was a damn good question. "It depends on her skill levels." Unfortunately, I was pretty sure she wouldn't be as bad off as I was.

"If I had to say, she'll have the majority in over a hundred."

'Damn!' I swore under my breath. That was what I was afraid of. "Looks like I'll have to pull through my sheer resolve."

"So you believe you can win?"

No, it wasn't a concern for me he was showing, and I wasn't stupid enough to think so. "You should bet on the other gal."

"Then I will; thanks for the tip. No hard feelings, right?"

"Right. You'll know when we fight again." Clay didn't beat around the bush, and I liked that. To bet on the favorite was then only logical. Yet, I couldn't help but torment him a little. For betting on my opponent, he deserved it and he knew very well.

"Shit!" he cursed, half amused, half despairing. "I should work out a bit more then."

"I'm not sure that will cut it for you." It wasn't me who threw the remark at him; it was Harper. Our squad marksman stood next to me, nervous as shit at first glance. Or maybe she was just pissed; it was hard to tell with her. Anyway, it was one of those situations where it was better to wait for her to speak instead of daring her ire by trying to talk to her.

"Seriously, guys, why do we have to fight the bitch individually?!" Harper hissed, not giving Clay a chance to respond. "It doesn't make sense. I'm not a close combat fighter. It's fucking obvious I'm gonna get my ass handed to me."

"Yeah, no one's betting on you," Clay said frankly. "Doesn't mean you should just give up, though. That would be a crying shame."

"Fuck you!" she barked back at him, checking her weapon for the umpteenth time. "No one's giving up. All I'm saying is that it doesn't make a shred of sense." Well, she and I were on the same page on that one. What was the point of proving to everyone that Palemoon was an order of magnitude stronger than them - quite possibly even me?

"Well," spoke Clay, unfazed by Harper's outburst. "The gal asked for this from what I've been told."

"And Rayden agreed?" I took her for a woman who didn't just give in to the nobles' demands, hell, in anyone's demands, period. Was I wrong?

"Obviously," Clay motioned to the training ground from which the defeated Freyde was already leaving, not back to us, but to the healers. He didn't seem too injured. One never knew, though. Unless you had a skill like [Inner Perception] or regeneration at my level, it was better to get checked.

"To be fair," Clay went on. "It's a standard battle format. That's just the way it usually goes."

"New chick, beating up her squad?" Harper asked, hinting at our fight, as she glanced at the guardsman and me. Weirdly, things seemed to be happening in a similar way to when I first showed up here at the training grounds. Only now I was on the other side of things.

The guardsman smirked. "Believe it or not, most of the time, it's the other way around, and the newbie gets their ass kicked."

"Lucky us," she spat, sparing no sarcasm.

Was she still pissed about our fight? "Harper, I..."

"Nah, don't bother. That was fair and square, Korra. Well, you know what I mean. You're fine... for a gal. This..." she pointed to the training ground. "This is just bullshit."

"Harper Breadbaker!" Stella Palemoon bellowed. She stood upright in the middle of the training ground, her spear in her hand, the butt of it planted in the sand beneath her feet. Needless to say, at that moment, she almost looked like one of the heroines depicted on the epic wallpapers that once adorned the screen of my computer monitor. I never thought I'd see anything like that again.

"Fucking bitch! I hope you kick her ass," Harper grumbled before heading off to face our future squad leader. Quite unsure of how I would fare against her myself, I only nodded, making no promises.

"Having doubts?"

"Where the fuck have you been?!" I barked through the link of the union of rings at Deckard. In fact, I still had no idea where he was in the crowd, if he was down here at all. The range of the rings was short, but not that short. He might as well have been in one of the surrounding barracks buildings.

"Around, Little Beast."

"Shouldn't you be here with me, giving me advice on how to beat her?"

"Would it do any good to you?"

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Look, I could tell you where her flaws are, and believe me, she's full of them, but in the long run...it's something you have to learn to see through yourself."

A sudden urge to strangle him came over me. That man was lucky he wasn't standing next to me. "So, you are giving me another life lesson?"

"Quite an important one. Not all enemies you encounter can be bashed with brute strength. Sometimes you have to use your brains."

"Let me guess, to learn to see the flaws in their fighting style is better done here than out there."

"Glad to see you're using that noggin of yours. That girl won't kill you; she is just testing her new squad. Why not take advantage of it."

"She could have gone about it a little differently...this is ridiculous," I argued.

"Afraid you're gonna get your ass kicked? Pissed that she made your squad look like a bunch of little kids who don't know how to hold their weapons? Sure, everyone can see that she's healing her wounded pride on you. That girl had ambitions to be placed straight into the master guards."

"Shit! Seriously?"

"I got it straight from San, so yeah, seriously." Ah, so Deckard wasn't that casual about the fight I thought he was. He went and sought out information about our current opponent, new squad member, and future leader.

"Try to put yourself in her shoes, Little Beast. It must have been quite a shock when she found out that San wanted to assign her to you instead of the master guards."

Did he want me to feel sorry for her? "That doesn't give her the right to take her anger out on us."

"Unfair? I think she feels the same way. Anyway, that's life. I thought you knew that better than anyone."

"Seriously? Whose side are you on?"

He laughed in my head. "On yours, of course, Little Beast. Why do you think I'm telling you all this?"

"To piss me off?"

"Come on."

I took a breath and channeled my inner peace. Apparently, there was a reason behind what he told me. "To get to know her better? Know your enemy and know yourself...that kind of shit?" That was about the extent of my knowledge of the art of war from Sun Tzu.

"Isn't that basic?"

"Doesn't that go against your go-by-your-guts phylosophy?"

"When the heck did I say you had to go into battle blind?"

Fair point. "Well, anything else you can tell me about her."

He paused for a moment, quite likely watching the duel on the training ground as I did. Harper ran around trying to keep her distance from Palemoon while the bitch easily dodged her bolts. Not even the explosions of the flour bombs seemed to faze her much. 

"The spear is not her main weapon," Deckard said after a while.

The spear what?! Ah, so that's how it felt when Harper, Freyde, and Meneur found out I didn't put everything into their fight. It was humiliating, rubbing my pride the wrong way. I didn't like it at all. "...and her main weapon is?"

"I think you'll find out soon enough, Little Beast. Just know that warriors hardly ever use just one weapon. Most of them are proficient in two or more."

"Great," I sighed, just as Harper, her crossbow a few feet away, as well as her daggers, gave up the fight. Our squad marksman was visibly pissed, her profanity reaching my ears, yet what rubbed me the wrong way was that she was bleeding and pretty heavy at that. Moreover, the healers only rushed to her after Palemoon signaled that the fight was indeed over. She then walked to the middle of the training ground and assumed her heroic position, waiting for Harper and the healers to leave. Only then did she shout my name.

"Korra'leigh Grey!"

"Looks like it's your turn." Clay's remark just whizzed past my ears as I was already focused on the bitch. My full name, huh? She seemed to know about me being a Guardian. Not that it was surprising or changed much. So, taking a deep breath, I went forth.

"Good luck." I heard Clay somewhere behind me saying, but my focus was already on her, my enemy.

"Don't let her get into your head, Little Beast." Deckard's last piece of advice before I confront her. Good reminder because what she did to Harper really pissed me off, and walking into a fight already riled up was never a good way to go. Was that her intention, though? To throw me off enough to make a fool of myself. If so, she was one hell of a cunning bitch.

"Thanks, Deckard," I thought back and stood in front of her.

Stella Palemoon stood taller, almost a head above me. Nothing new under the sun. I wasn't tall, to begin with - at least as a hybrid. In my beast form, though, I could measure up to the guys and sure as hell match her height then. There wasn't much to say about her armor, a standard city guard issue one, giving no hint of her noble birth, but her gaze was a different story.

Her small nose and chestnut hair pulled into a ponytail made her dark, cold eyes stand out, making them even more piercing than I would like. She was looking down on me, not meaning it literally, judging me, waiting for my move. I didn't give her the pleasure and just stared back.

It took a while, neither of us wanting to back down. Time seemed to drag incredibly long at that moment. Yet when I saw her take a breath, I knew I had won this pissing contest.

"Korra'leigh Grey, I presume?" Her voice, feathery and strong as it was, held a thick, lofty edge. I couldn't shake the feeling that she had to push herself hard not to sound haughty.

"Yes, that's me, and you are?"

"Stella Palemoon, a new member of Squad Four. Nice to meet you."

Okay, this was weird as fuck. We both knew it wasn't true, so what the hell was I supposed to say to her? "Likewise. Heard you're supposed to be our leader?"

"You got a problem with that?"

Yes, I had. My instincts were screaming at me to prove to her that she wasn't needed in my pack. "Not really. I hope we'll get along."

"Good to hear. But to be honest, you don't seem happy about it."

"Didn't say I was." Darn my body language!

"I see. Look, Grey, I'm no more happy about this than Ironhoof, Welkes, or Breadbaker. But it is what it is. Captain Rayden assigned me to you and if you don't like it complain to her...please do. However, as long as I'm in Squad Four, we'll have to get along somehow. What that relationship will be is entirely up to you." Damn, for someone no older than Harper, meaning in her early twenties, she had some balls. That didn't mean she was right.

Shifting my weight, I took a deep breath to calm down and give myself a bit more courage. "Up to me? As far as I know, it goes both ways. So..."

"So you want to do it the hard way," Palemoon sighed to herself. "You're all the same, damn it!"

"Not what I said,'' I argued, a little taken aback, but the girl didn't seem to care, most likely expecting from me, in fact, from the entire Squad Four, a completely different attitude: to follow her word without question, to kiss her ass. It almost seemed that someone, Rayden probably, forgot to tell her that if she wanted to boss us around like that, she definitely wasn't going to win our favor.

"Fine, have it your way," she said, sounding almost disappointed, and swept me with her eyes from top to bottom. "I heard you're a Guardian. Is that true?"

"Didn't you read our files or something?" I would imagine Rayden told her at least something about us.

Palemoon gave me an icy stare. "I could but didn't. Wanted to see you for myself the way you are. So, is it true?"

"It is. I'm Guardian of Idleaf." Of course, I said it with due pride.

She nodded, her emotions hard for me to read. "Will it be a problem if I teach you a lesson then?"

Seriously, I wasn't the confrontational type - I was actually quite uncomfortable with arguments - but weren't it for Deckard's words still ringing in my head, I would give her a piece of my mind. If this was just a provocation, an attempt to throw me off, she was damn good at it. And I sincerely hoped that was the case. Because otherwise, her being truly such a bitch, couldn't have ended well.

Sighing, I looked in the direction where Idleaf was cheering among the city guards, enjoying the event. "You don't have to worry as long as you don't go too far." I didn't even want to imagine what would happen to her and the whole city if she killed me - even if only temporarily.

"Meaning what?" Ah, a careful one she was, making sure she knew where the limits were, sure of herself that she could push me to those.

"Avoid killing me." Damn, that sounded weird. "What about you? I don't want any more trouble with the City Lord."

Stella Palemoon smirked, the first proper reaction I got from her. "The same, I guess," she said, gripping her spear tighter. "Very good. Show me what you've got, and I do hope you do better than the rest of the squad."