Memories Mirror (open)

[Anonymous]

Malious leaned back and thought about it a moment,   he took a drink from his stein.  "I was something of a collector...  I suppose you could call it that.   I gathered information,  secrets, and trades."  He took another drink and looked at the stein.   Then quickly snatched up the bottle he'd been pouring from and stood,  walking to the fire,   where he found a smaller kettle and placed it on a peg above the fire then proceeded to pour the remainder of the mostly full bottle into it.  

Malious waited a few moments before returning to his explanation.  Waiting until the liquid inside the second kettle heated up a bit.    He then removed it from the fire and brought the warm kettle to the table and tilted it pouring himself another glass.   He thought for a moment and got back up  finding a long chute of sugarcane he had harvested from the nearby forest.  

It took some effort but he eventually broke off a chunk  about five inches long.   he took the smaller portion and went back to the table,   pulling off a small sliver which he dropped into his now warm drink.  He then took a sip once more and almost smiled.   It was rare that he would pull out the rum,  and even rarer that he would do this with it.  

He then looked back at Isis.   "I've done many deplorable acts by most peoples standards.   Garnering information and stealing secrets is the smallest portion of the things I've had to do....."  He let that hang in the air a moment before continuing.  "..I was a high ranking member of my former organization and "family".   We would gather information on anyone Good or Bad..  moral affiliation means little when a person must survive and keep balance.   We would occasionally have to...  end..  our targets.   Always in the name of balance."  He didn't seem affected by this so much.   It was a lie of course...  He was deeply affected by every life he ever took,   and occasionally was a nice term.  It was more common that more than just one person would die on a job.  Usually by him inflicting the mortal wounds.

"I worked alone and in-so-much have learned to garner information and act upon situations in a very unique way."   He looked thoughtful for a moment.  "I left the group when they started taking the side that would pay them the most.   It started an internal collapse of the inner most workings of the group and I left before it got to me."  Its not like he was giving away too much,  this was information he would give willingly,   no one, especially around here, would know his groups name and even then they wouldn't piece it together.   True he gave out information  but he gave it in bits in pieces in a way that wouldn't allow someone to put it all together unless directly told,  who the group was,  and the full scale of the work they did.

"Now I live my days here tending to the wood,  and building meager furniture awaiting on the day one from the old group approaches me to attempt to remove me from the coil."  He didn't seem to care,  not in the least,  that some of his former comrades would perhaps one day attempt to kill him.  He looked at her watching her reactions carefully and awaiting the next question.

[Anonymous]

Sipping at the amber liquid in her stein, Isis thought about what Malious was telling her.  She had never expected him to open up as much as he was, and she was more than intrigued by what he was telling her.  She wanted to ask him more questions about it all, but she could tell that he was holding back.  Isis wasn't really sure that she wanted to press the matter.

"So your job dealt more with covert operations than overt am I right?" she asked.  It wasn't that she was pressing for more information.  She just had never dealt and gotten to talk to many people who did such things.  Her profession was entertaining and thus she tended to be around those who did similar work.  She could never imagine having to kill people and gather information.

Of course to her it seemed that he was working for a greater purpose than for himself.  Keeping the balance of the world was something she had never considered before.  Her personal world was so small, and she supposed that made her a bit immature in the end.  Isis tried to be a bit more worldly than most, but she was aware that her attempts fell to nothing.

"I couldn't imagine how it would feel to kill another person," she whispered, looking at him with sad eyes," I have never even gotten into a full blow fight with another person.  Sure I have exchanged less than savory words with people that I have encountered, but I have never had the occasion to outright kill someone or even draw the least bit of blood.  I suppose that would make me innocent in a way, almost naive in the eyes of some."

[Anonymous]

"Taking another persons life is not something that one should be proud of.   But as much as a monster as it makes me sound,  it gets easier every time."  He thought.  "It's second nature to me..."  He let that hang,   it was clear he didn't feel remorse or pain for much of the things hes done,   outwardly didn't at least.  "As I said though,   I do not dwell,   if I did dwell in the past deeds I likely would have ended my own life long ago."

Malious nodded slightly sipping from his drink again.  "Covert yes,   sometimes overt if the situation demanded.   Often times I find that being out in the open tended to make people overlook me."   He left that as is.  

"There were some even still that I knew that were very public,   to gain information,  front occupations in order to gather what information they needed."   He shrugged somewhat.  "Its not my personal preferred method however."

"Naivety in the act of taking another creatures life is a thing you should feel blessed by.   There are often times when I questioned my orders based on moral standing,   but the balance must always have been held.   It was ultimately not my decision,  I was simply the tool of the execution."  He took a long drink then and looked at her,  then his vision shifted to the door as a drunken tavern fly passed by the door.  As the man walked away he once more looked at Isis.  "The information I am giving you,   would be easy enough to figure out if you watched me.    I will not give specifics that may however endanger you or me.  But you are free to ask anything you please."

[Anonymous]

"You have to remember though," she said, her eyes never straying from Malious," I am not as versed in the art of observation as you are.  The things you are telling me, I would not be able to gather simply by looking at you, and if what you said about something this you know endangering either one of us if they were to be spoken is true, then why would I go looking for that sort of information in the first place?  I would like to be able to dance for a few more years yet!"

Isis smiled and downed the remained of her drink in one gulp.  It was rare that she drank any sort of alcohol, and she was surprised with herself that she had downed what had been put in front of her.  She simply supposed that it was the fact she was actually enjoying talking to Malious that caused her to forget her usual practices.

"But the balance of the world," Isis began, contemplation how to put her question into words," Wouldn't some people consider that to be an impossible thing to achieve?  There will always be evil in the world, and there will always be that which people will consider good to be in this world.  If you turn against one won't you be tipping the scale in favor of the other?"

[Anonymous]

Malious finished off the remainder of his drink  and reached in pulling out the sliver of sugarcane.  He then popped this into his mouth and chewed on it.  "Anyone can gather information on another individual.  For instance.   with time and observation I would be able to gather that you danced.   Your physical shape as a example,   you as a dancer use your legs quite often in more strenuous methods than most people,  and therefore would have stronger more defined legs.   You walk with a grace that shows you have a good sense of balance."  He thought for a moment.  "I would have guessed at first you were an acrobat or a dancer.   And because you don't exhibit daredevil like behavior but instead seem rather reserved,    I would come down to the conclusion that you were a dance."

He chewed on the sugarcane breaking it down and sucking on the sweet juices mixed with the rum.   "As for the balance.   There are times when people on either side get a little...  too much on their own side.   An evil man could do good deeds and still be evil,  just as a good man could do evil deeds and still be good.   It is by doing these acts away from the norm that they keep the balance.    It is when they go too far to one side or the other that they begin to tip the scales.    And often it is a tough judgment call.   While it may also be impossible,  the balance must always be cared for.   Pruning the branches on one side of the tree then pruning the other side. Ultimately some are so innately evil or so over zealous good that they begin to tip it by themselves.   And thus,  must be pruned.   It is simply the natural order of things."

[Anonymous]

To her, it really all seemed to be a matter of opinion in the end.  One could view someone to be too evil and view another person to be over zealous while still another person would see them to be mildly so.  Someone could see the killing of a king to be for the better good of the people or they could see it, say if they were of the royal family, to be an act of treason.  It all boiled down to opinion.

But that made another question rise in her mind.  Was their anything in the world that could be considered neither good nor evil?  Was anything in the world truly neutral?

Isis scratched her chin, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she thought.  Would it all be a matter of opinion again?  Or would there be a definitive line?

"Consider this," she began, trying to word it all carefully," Who is it that defines what is good and evil?  Wouldn't it all be a matter of opinion in the end?  And what about those who, like you, try to keep neutral during it all?  There is no way that it can all remain black and white."

[Anonymous]

"Ultimately we do not know the source,   but it was dictated in our orders,   often times it was a simple name,  and it was our job to find them and do whatever the situation called for.   We did not work for a political agenda or a religious one.   We did not let emotions control our actions or opinions either."   He shrugged dismissively "I suppose the orders came from the higher circle who would get requests from nations and decide based on the case of what was to be done.  It could have been divine for all I know."

"It was the time the council elders died that the group began to fall apart,  with new upstarts who felt we should be making money and dabbling in the affairs of the countries. I left when I saw the corruption spread,   and thankfully I was good enough to get away."  He pulled the chewed sugar cane from his mouth and threw it out the open door into the sand outside.  "I remained neutral by not allowing myself to be controlled by emotion or opinion.  No amount of pleading, bribing, threats, or coercion could deter me from my target.  As I said,   I was simply the instrument."

He was watching her reactions and was taking careful note of her questions figuring out what sort of person this woman was.   He watched and waited for her next question his attention turning away for a moment to the door and the rising weather outside.

[Anonymous]

"I try so hard to remain neutral myself," Isis replied, tucking a bit of loose hair behind her ear," but it is hard.  While the world of dancer and artists that I tend to be in is small, we have the minor politics that would make us seem to be a country of our own sometimes.  Some of them will sabotage the performances of others simply because they are jealous."

Isis shrugged and then stood, stretching her body to rid it of any stiffness.  She slowly walked over to the door and looked outside.  Her thoughts were elsewhere at that moment, and when she spoke next, she seemed to be somewhere else entirely.

"I appreciate each day that I am alive, but I don't want to live the rest of my life in a small bitter world where I can't make anymore of a difference even if I tried," she said, wrapping her arms around herself as a shiver ran down her spine," The world is so much bigger than what I have see of it.  I just want to be part of something bigger."

[Anonymous]

"Then get out and make your difference,   just be sure of your decisions.   If it is right to you,  then it is right."   He stood up and walked to the door and crossed his arms looking out to the nearby village and the rain which now trickled down steadily,   wind occasionally blowing slight bits of moistness into the small hut.   The effect of the rumbling thunder over the ocean and the streaking lights flowing across the ocean bound sky were eerie in their own right.  

He turned back to Isis...  "Do you think the wind feels?"   It was an odd question to be sure but none the less it was asked.   He seemed to be probing her to see what her reactions would be to the occasional question like this.   It was purely rhetorical though and posed a bit of thought to the natural world.  

"You wonder what brought me here, or better yet yourself...  the truth is you wont know until you find it  and whatever links in your past may be there don't allow yourself to get drug under.  You'll drown in the people of your past and get overwhelmed,   there's a chance you may loose all you like now and become bitter.  You must remember always to keep everything in check."  His voice was never changing always neutral  never peaking with emotion either sad or happy.   As he spoke he stood there still in the leather breaches not bothering to get anymore dressed  the wind whipping his hair about wildly.  Malious at this one moment seemed more interested in the weather pattern than anything else.

[Anonymous]

She stepped out into the wind and rain a bit, pulling the cloak that the still had about her shoulders tight around her.  With one gust of wind, the hood was whipped off of her head, and her hair was allowed to be free, whipping about as the wind decided to take it.  For the moment she stood there, she allowed her body to absorb the natural energy that was around her.

After a moment, she turned and stepped back into the house, pausing briefly beside Malious.

"If a tree fall and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" she replied before walking over to the fire.

Isis shed her cloak laying it over the back of the chair that she had been sitting in.  Her eyes, stared into the flames, turning gold in tint as they reflected the light of the fire.  There was so much she wanted to know about everything, but there was no real point in trying to learn it all.  She had to pick and choose what she wished to know.

"Curiosity is what often draws me to such things," she whispered, continuing to stare into the flames," I am curious about my past, and I will even admit that I am curious about you.  My past has yet to reveal itself to me, and you have revealed very little about you to me.  I know I can't allow myself to get drug under by it all, but isn't that how we progress in our lives?  By learning and taking risks?"

[Anonymous]

He shrugged slightly.  "Taking risks is a part of life yes,   but you cannot allow them to get the best of you."  Malious turned and walked back to the bedroom portion of the house.  Speaking up a bit. "You'll find that with many of these new discoveries that you'll make,  there will be a good bit of opposition to your main path, and if you allow yourself to get too enveloped in the minor details they will wash you away.   If you are misdirected then get back on your path and avoid it the next time you come to it."

He reappeared with a small green pack hanging over an arm.   "You might do best to always watch yourself as well.   People don't tend to like it when others come and ask questions, some may get violent,  even with mundane questions."  He dropped the bag onto the table and opened it up for her to see,   there was a few leather pouches inside of it as well as a thin silver stiletto knife.  He shuffled through the bag  opening each of the pouches.   He closed the bag back up and motioned to it.  

"You are practically moving naked to get this information...   Inside this bag is 500 gold pieces, very detailed maps of the area around here,  i drew them myself,    and a stiletto.   Take it,   you owe me nothing,   it will help on your search.    As I said before you are welcome to stay here as well,   ill sleep in here and you may use my room."  The way he said this was in a way that suggested he would indeed not take a no for an answer.

[Anonymous]

"I am not so naive to think that I will not encounter those that will try to hinder my pursuit of the truth of my past," she said, raising her voice so he could hear her from the other room," There is a reason that I do not remember what happened, and I aim to find out why.  Maybe I was meant to die five years ago.  Who knows?  But I will find out."

Isis watched him return with the bag, cocking her head to the side as he showed her what it contained.  Her eyes widened slightly, then narrowed in susceptive curiosity.  There was simply no rhyme or reason to anything Malious did, and he was constantly surprising her with his actions and words.  One moment she expected him to make some smartass remark and then another he would spit out things that she simply never would have thought of.  It was remarkable.

"I-I can't take this," she replied, still surprised at the kindness he was showing her.

She looked at him, trying to find within his eyes and reason to not trust him.  For all she knew, he could have been the very one to put her in her current situation, but even as she searched his eyes, she could tell that was not so.  He was helping her, and for that, she was more than grateful.

She reached out and picked up the back, turning it over in her hands.

"I understand your reasoning behind giving me this," she finally said, looking at the bag in her hands," but what I don't understand is why you are doing this.  You don't really know me, and I don't really know you.  We are two completely different people from completely different backgrounds.  So...why?"

[Anonymous]

"Perhaps its because I've been down this road.   Or it may be that I see with what you have you are ill prepared to get out of trouble.   I'd like to think that ones background would not stop me from from making a decision I am sure of.  Either way you may not be so naive to think that people wont stop you at any time,  but you certainly are naive enough to not go about your search prepared."

He pointed at the bag.  "The maps should give you a good layout of the forest it took me quite a while but I've managed to map out the majority of the land in this region."   He shrugged slightly.  "Benefits of the life I live now I suppose,  The gold will help keep you warm and dry,   and you can use it to bribe the occasional mark for information.  You'll find lips loosen much easier when you put a gold piece or two in front of them.  Make sure when you do though that you don't show them the bag,   go into a situation with a few pieces in a pocket.   Otherwise they know where to look if they try to mug you."

Old habits seemed to die hard with Malious,   he felt like he was training another subordinate.  He shook his head of that notion and looked back to the woman. "That's something you should be prepared for...."  He turned and walked to another cabinet near the table and opened it pulling out an old lacquered oak box from within.   He opened the box and inside lie a few pouches all packed in neat squares about six inches wide and long and about three inches thick,   he pulled one of the pouches out and lie it on the table closing the lid on the box and replacing it in the cabinet.

"This can always serve as an icebreaker with people."  Indicating the pouch.  "Its tobacco.  It always works  even if they don't use it.  It can be used to start friendly conversations."   He then handed the pouch to her and once more pointed to the bag.  "The stiletto in there is in case you should have been dead 5 years ago.   Likely whomever it was that did it would want to finish the job,  the loss of respect and reputation for a botched job like that is enough to make them hunt you down pretty extensively."

He looked at her blankly.  "You do know how to use one I trust?  Going around asking questions will not get you any friends quickly,  so you may need to be more ready to use it than you'd like to believe."  This all seemed rather odd that he would give this stuff away freely certainly,   but its not like it was stuff he didn't have more of to begin with.   As it was he felt a twinge of familiarity with this woman,   her blind wandering wasn't much different than how he started out.   Granted he wasn't an amnesiac but when he was younger he was dumb enough to think that his pretty face and a smile would get him what he wanted.  Needless to say his face wasn't so pretty and the smile started to fade after about the third stabbing.

[Anonymous]

Picking up the stiletto, Isis turned it around in her hand, examining it as if she were about to purchase a new instrument.  The sharpness of the blade did not escape her notice, and as she laid it back on the table, she was careful to handle it in a way that would prevent her from getting cut.  She was grateful for such a kindness from him, and it made her feel a bit more at ease with him, even with his rather stoic way about things.

"I am more inclined to think that someone would want me dead than to believe there will be a loving family missing me for these past five years," she finally said, her eyes drifting back to the fire," I don't know what would warrant someone wanting to put me into the ground, but...if I had a family, they would have been looking for me, maybe even have found me, by now.  I would have at least heard of them looking for someone by my description by this point and time."

Isis sighed, eyeing the remainder of the items.  Frankly, tobacco was a nasty thing that she never really wanted to deal with.  Even if she didn't use it, she didn't like it, but if it would aid her in her journey, then she would do what she had to with it.

"I have used smaller weapons before with various dances that I have preformed, though never in combat," Isis continued," I know how to use them though.  I've just never really had the opportunity to use them, as I've said.  I tend to avoid fights it I can."

A small smile came to her face.  The biggest fight she had ever had, had been a cat fight with another dancer.  For the life her she couldn't remember what the fight had been over in the first place, probably some spot in a show, but the end result hadn't been good for either one involved.  Her opponent had gotten a black eye and a few broken bones while she had been made to spend time in jail.

She had learned her lesson after that incident.

"Thank you though," she finally said," I do appreciate this.  There aren't many people out there who would help someone they only just met."

[Anonymous]

He looked at her then  and shook his head.  "It is far from a dance.   With a knife like that you want to aim for vital areas to ensure a quick kill or maiming.   Its not made for an extended fight due to it being so thin.    An even strike with a thicker blade will snap the blade if you aren't lucky."   He thought for a moment an picked up the blade.  "Places like here.." He indicated the point where wrist meets hand with the tip of the blade.  "and here.."   now he indicated his elbow with the blade.  "and here..."  pointing out across the front of the knuckles. "Will disable a man and stop him from using the hand."  

He then pointed to his chest over his right lung,  "Here and..."   Moving the blade around and twisting slightly over his Kidney area.  "Here,  will result in extreme pain and most likely a slow death,  but enough to get information out of them."   Then he moved the stiletto over his heart.  "Here and here...."  Moving the weapon to his neck...  "and here, and here..."  moving it to his armpit and then upper inner thigh.  "Will result in death."   He then placed the knife on the table.  "All of these are by thrusting the knife into them,  aside from the disabling blows,   those are slashing across the area. When you make to stab someone make sure you move the blade around in them to damage everything you can."

Granted it was rather macabre  but it was necessary to him for her to know this if he was giving her a knife.   "I understand your situation to a point,  and I offer my help mostly because of that alone."  Malious shrugged slightly.   "I'd rather someone go into the world to find whatever information they need, do it with a degree of success than they going out and dying for nothing."

[Anonymous]

Giving Malious her full attention, she took great care to make mental notes on all that he showed and told her.  This was something that she never would have thought she would need to know in her journey, but once she considered his words, she saw that he was right.  There was no real way for her to tell who would attack her when, and she was in need of a better way to protect herself than her emotionally tied magic.

"So I'm not the first you've seen in this sort of situation?" Isis asked, running a finger along the thin blade," How many like me have you seen fall for lack of proper guidance?"

She knew it would be a more personal question, but he had told her to ask her questions.  If he didn't answer though, she knew that she had gone to far and would reframe from it in the future.  She liked Malious though, and she didn't want to drive him off with her prying questions.

[Anonymous]

"In my former line of work many of the younger members died due to mistakes that are easy to make,   some of the veteran members would as well,  they'd get too complacent and then make a simple mistake.  Ultimately when a person looks for something they must have their wits about them or they tend to find their life get short quick...  I've even made my fair share of mistakes."

He walked out of the door into the falling rain, and looked out to the ocean nearby.   The hut wasn't next to it but he could still see it from its positioning on the edge of village.  "its getting late anymore,  as i said you may stay here if you please or even stay in the village inn,  it makes no difference to me.   But I would make the choice soon before the weather gets out of hand."   By now the leather breaches he wore were soaked.   He shook his head looking up at the black sky trying to make outlines of the edges of the storm cloud but had no luck what-so-ever  it would likely rain all night.

He stepped back inside, moved back to the table and poured himself some more of the warmed rum.

[Anonymous]

" I can no longer afford to make immature mistakes," she whispered, speaking to now one in particular," My world doesn't simply consist of this performance or the next but of something that may change the course of the rest of my life.  It is too late to turn back now..."

Sighing, she watched him. her expression distant.  It wasn't until he was back pouring himself some more to drink that she snapped back to reality and answered his question.  Her mind had been on senairos that might come her way.  Would she have to kill someone?  Would she have to inflict pain and suffering upon them to gain the information she so desired?

Would she have the guts to do any of it at all?

Her cerulean eyes, dimmed it seemed by the gravity of what she might have to do in the future, turned to look at the steadly worsening weather.  She wasn't afraid to travel in such weather, though she knew it was far from smart in most cases, but she didn't' want to leave Malious's company either.  There was a lot he could teach her, things that she might be able to use in her mission.

"I believe I will stay here with you," she finally said, smiling at him," You are quite interesting."