Chapter 29: Real Numbers Mean Something

Four looked over at Five with surprise. Both in that Five had been listening into our conversation and that Five had honestly asked why she had thought that the girl would not make a good Ten. This was what I read from Four's Reaction, at least. 

"Well, of course," Four said. "Her name is Mia. And as I told Master, she has something she really wants that we could give to her. And she's willing to give up. Everything for it. Seems like a perfect match. She's very talented, and I think I would fit in." 

"What does she want?" I asked. I didn't miss Five's frown, though. 

"Well, our story is an interesting one. She was born Mariana d'Cuervo, a daughter to a general of the Republic." 

I closed my eyes for a second, picturing the map and picturing it picking out the large Republic a little ways to the northwest of us. 

"One of the senators turned on her father and had him killed on the battlefield. When her mother protested, she and her younger brothers were hanged. Mia managed to escape by hiding in the bottom of a fish barrel at the age of five. On the streets, she learned lots of good skills, and eventually, she found her way to us. She's intelligent and driven for revenge. She only wants the chance to kill the senator." Four explained.

I figured that was something we could easily make happen, but at the same time, that was a big ask. 

Five was shaking her head emphatically. "No, she would never make a good Numbered." 

I was curious, but Four beat me to it. 

"Why not? She has all the skills of one of us. And honestly, it'd be best for her. She would fit right in." 

Five, "Not exactly. She doesn't have enough to lose."

Four looked at her with pure confusion in her face. "What?" 

Ah, I understood. If I was right, the Numbered all gave up something to be with me. Perhaps it was that I had to break them of whatever they had and make them mine before I put them back together. But if someone was already broken and had nothing, then joining me was no hard choice. It wouldn't create the insane bonds of loyalty and friendship or family, as Four called it. 

The Numbered seemed to share in the devotion to me. If they gave up nothing, then it would be worth nothing. 

Five tried to explain it better. "Well, we," she said, gesturing to Four and herself. "Both gave up nearly everything. You left your family, which you haven't talked to in years. I gave up my entire business. If this doesn't work out... More than that.... ahrg, com'on you get it..." 

But I sense some uncertainty from Four. 

"Talk to One. She explained it to me the first time. I'm just parroting her words." Five said. 

Four was surprisingly innocent. And for someone so good at slipping into one social disguise or the other and talking her way through things. I was surprised that she didn't seem to understand this. There is something else about her that just screamed she was a better person than the rest of us. 

Not lording it over us or anything like that, but that sense of innocence. The way she cared about her students. Maybe she was so afraid of me because she never really got comfortable with the casual value of life we all held? That said something, and I was glad to have come along with Four as a buffer for Five. 

Five definitely fit in more with One and Nine, but she was even more raw in a way. I didn't think me being alone with her for a long period of time without getting to know these little bits about her first would be a good idea. It'd be too easy for me to give myself away or to act in such a way that she would take issue with it. It only took a little bit for it to become all unraveled. 

Four turned to me. "Well, I still think you should talk to her." 

I absentmindedly agreed. I wouldn't mind talking to her. Not yet, but at some point. However, she would never become a Numbered. Not just because of Five's reasoning but because I didn't want someone so young to become a Numbered. Or anyone, for that matter.

But that didn't mean I couldn't help her get revenge. I would find out the true story. If it was actually, as Four said, then I would be very interested to see how the revenge played out. 

At a seemingly random spot, Four called for a halt and lined up the trainees. She had been talking with Five and me and explaining her plan as we walked. 

Apparently, we were a pair of escaped VIPs who escaped from a group target assassination. They were hunting us down in the woods. Five was to be my bodyguard, but she was also important in her own right. But she was the one skilled in the woods craft, where I was a noble who could fight but was relatively useless. 

This role worked perfectly as I didn't have to do very much, and if I slipped up, I could just play it as part of my role. When Four explained the situation, she looked at me meaningfully. I wasn't sure if she was trying to tell me to play my role properly or whether it was she was catching on, and sooner or later, One and I would have to let her in on the secret. 

Either way, I was appreciative of the role I got to play. Hopefully, from my observation, I would learn a lot. As she explained it to the others, Five and I wandered off into the forest, quietly picking our way through the trees, trying to get a little head start. 

I pushed the branches out of the way for the most part. Five ducked and weaved underneath them, quickly slipping through everything, her feet barely leaving a sound as she easily kept pace with me as I blundered my way through. 

We didn't talk, but every once in a while, she would touch my elbow or my back as if reassuring herself that I was still there. I didn't understand why at first, but when I noticed that her eyes never stopped moving and she rarely even looked toward me, she was so busy scanning everything that I understood why she was so touchy. 

Suddenly, a stick was in her hand, swinging in front of my face. I heard a slight thud, and a dart was embedded in the stick that she dropped to the ground and pushed me out of the way of the course of another one. We turned in a different direction than she pointed and started running, and I saw at least a couple of the blade trainees peel out behind trees. 

They were hiding off to the side and gave chase. A few moments later, we turned again and narrowly avoided someone jumping out in front of us to box us in. I saw the next ambush before she did and pulled her low. A young boy dropped down from the tree, just barely missing, landing on her back. 

We rolled and came up, standing now surrounded by four attackers. The training, weapons ready, and intense looks on their faces. Five and I stood back to back. We only stayed there for a few seconds before Five tapped my arm and said, "Now!" 

She charged towards the three of them, engaging them before they had a chance to bring out their darts or hit us down from range. The fourth assassin came at me. But she wasn't much trouble. I caught her dagger hand and twisted it, launching her and the dagger in different directions before turning to watch Five mercilessly beat down each of the trainees. 

She was fighting quite unconventionally. Five had gotten the girl's hair loose and was strangling one of the male trainees with it while using the two tangled opponents as a shield from the other attacker. Forcing him to try to sneak around and hit her from the side. 

When she let go of the hair, both of the two bodies slumped to the ground. Still moving quickly, she punched the remaining guy on his chin, sending him unconscious before she dove at the one that I had tossed. Five was tackling her to the ground at the same time that I spun around, finding the Handle diving at me with a practice knife. 

I caught her wrist as she went by, pulling her into a sleeper hold, which I locked up with my arm around her throat and head and my hand pressing the top of her head down into my chokehold. I held it for a count of ten before letting her slide to the ground unconscious. 

Five and I looked at each other and the disabled trainees all around us. 

"You think we went a little too hard?" She asked. 

I shook my head. "Nah, they were gettin' sloppy. They need to work on moving quietly and more coordinated."

Four clapped as she walked by. "It wasn't too bad. They managed to get you surrounded. At least if you hadn't been such good fighters, they might have had a chance."

Five disagreed. "You're being too easy on them for too much of a softie. At least two of them would have died, even against half-hearted opponents. They shouldn't have given themselves away. Once they were, we were surrounded, and they should have hit us with darts. Also, the fact that both of us survived to be surrounded..."

"They need some practice." Four sighed. "I know they'll learn, though. They're not half bad for how far along they are." 

Five shrugged. "Yeah, that's true. They could be worse still., I think they need some more fundamentals and fighting before They do more, much more field work like this for shrugged." 

"Yeah, I know you're not wrong that they need more fundamentals, but I think mixing it in stuff like this shows them how far they have to go, and they're much more motivated." 

Five shrugged again. "Hey. Well, you're the trainer for a reason. But that one." She pointed to the woman she'd gotten the hair hold of, "needs to either cut her hair or dedicate herself more towards your Line of work." 

Four nodded. Yeah. I don't think she's gonna do more than elegant assassinations. The real rough stuff is not cut out for. Four went around breaking some smelling salts under each trainee's nose and setting them upright. 

"All right, we got a lot to talk about," Four said to her students. 

Five and I sat off the side as Four began to dress down her failed recruits.