"How is any of this fair?" said Sara.

"What?"

"You get little miss sexy minx and all I can pull is douchebag Greg from the bar."

"If I remember right, you told me…"

"Shut up Kurt. We are not talking about that right now." Kurt could have sworn they were.

"Then what are we talking about?"

"I thought," said Layla, "that it somehow all worked out, I was a little scared they would try to turn us over to the fire clan, and…"

"That would've been bad," said Kurt, "like against the crown prince we wouldn't have even been able to do anything, the whole castle would have come down, there would have been no good outcome, it felt like standing wrong would get us in trouble."

"But you did so well again Kurt, somehow you know just what to say. I think it's what made the prince intervene."

"Well tomorrow we will go check out the battle square to see if we can find any cute guards then," said Sara.

"Yeah, Talia said she might want to see that too," Kurt said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Seriously? Fine whatever, see you tomorrow, you know she's only trying to get close to you for information right?," stomping through the gate then slipping back to her Dutchery.

The next day Lady Talia came and met them in the hotel lobby and they went to the battle squares.

The battle squares were a series of training mats, in which regular tournaments and rounds were held. There weren't any that were especially big today, but it had a regular weekend event. Betting and participating from the crowd was encouraged. The referees could forfeit a win if you broke the rules as well, some of the time these calls would be questionable though. It was usually a three cut match, with a reset in between cuts. Sometimes it was a tap out, or a serious wound, or a call from the referee. Those ones were typically your main event, and not your normal matches. There were also your classic boxing matches, wrestling matches and power lifting competitions as well.

This was great Kurt thought, if they had my medicine, they could really go all out, and everyone knows that's what the people want. He'd have to talk to Carl about it, later. Talia had managed to take a hold of Kurt's arm and hand, Kurt didn't really fight it, even in a normal blouse and pants, she could pull it off.

It was the perfect place to find some mercenaries, which they were hoping to find a couple that would be a more permanent protection for Layla and Kurt's trips. They would essentially be welcomed into their little settlement. And it seemed they weren't the only ones that were hiring, some people were looking for escort to the next town, or further as well. Some groups had signs for going to X town, Y spots left.

"You know I can kind of tell if that helps?" said Talia.

"What do you mean?" said Sara.

"Well my eyes see people's auras, that one over there he's sort of cheating he has some mana in him. And that one there seems like a very strong aura. It's not exact, like I can tell when people have a talent I guess, but only because it's similar to others, like that one seems more like an archer. It doesn't guarantee one can beat the other though. I can see more when they battle as well, how focused their aura remains in battle is the real difference."

"So you can tell the general strength of those around you?"

"Yes and a bit of their nature, mana I recognize or have seen often I can tell, I can tell if two people use the same spring but I wouldn't be able to tell what it does until they use it, like you two for example I really have no idea. But at the clan, I can instantly tell which spring someone has used, and so what they can generally do. It takes a bit of experience to truly understand it, there aren't any instructions for this."

"So what's so special about mine?"

"Everything, the size, the intensity, the movement, the colors, plural, though a red seems to be dominant," she seemed to stare just past Kurt, "there are complex patterns ever changing, I have no idea, I've never seen anything like it. And Layla's hers fills the entire room, it's impossible to ignore. Like usually people's auras are fuzzy and hard to distinguish and small staying around them, but you it's clear and detailed in a way I never thought possible, and massive."

"So as soon as I walked into that club."

"The very moment."

"We are so terrible at hiding this."

"Aww, look at you. All sad that someone just happened to have the exact power that can see through your disguise, because you definitely could have seen that coming, it's cute."

Sara had taken to watch the fights intensely, Kurt got the feeling she didn't like Talia. Probably thought she was a spy, and really Kurt couldn't fight that argument, she probably was. There was a certain person that had caught her eye.

"So what about that one?" said Sara.

"Yes, he's strong, seems experienced, he also had a lot of control when he was fighting, he would be a very suitable guard, and that's just the aura, as you can see the rest."

"Ohh I do," said Sara, "I mean the offer is more than fair." She started to walk to the side of the mat where the man had won his last battle. "Don't worry about me lovebirds."

"Take your time Sara, there is a whole day of this, get to know him a little," said Talia.

"So what about you? How'd you'd end up Lady Talia?" said Kurt.

"Countess Talia actually, though I guess you wouldn't know that, it's tough to say, the side of the gate our clan is one is — one of the more dangerous sides, so I guess I had a bit more fight in me then some others. My family has been in the clan for a while as well, and there were a few deaths, and I guess someone liked me."

"Liked you?"

"Ohh you think you're the only one who has taken a look at my breast before?" Kurt turned away And blushed and she giggled. "Yes, they liked me. There are advantages to my position. I earned it honestly, and a bit deviously, some types of men can be easily swayed. My eyes are not the only powers I have, and as you know being a guardian will make anyone a bit more formidable, and that was the last little bit, the Fae chose me, and that was it, I just had to get in front of him, and he liked me. And now Countess Talia is before you."

"So you really are not like the fire clan?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly know, in fact I could probably get in trouble for telling you that much, we are sort of enemies on the human side, and we don't have contact on the other side, we don't know much about how they do their thing."

"We believe it has been much more forceful of a process, capturing the young and forcing them to make their wells, as well as forcing guardians upon them. Apparently all that is sort of a crime, according to Layla, and I can't really disagree. It seems wrong to me."

"Yes they seem to have many more Fae than us. We really only…well sorry I can't exactly tell you."

"I understand. As long as you don't go hunting more Layla seems to be reasonable, it's not an unreasonable demand to make in her position."

"Yes, that is strange as well."

"What?"

"Why are you not king or prince? or are you?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.