Wren took a deep breath in and opened her eyes. 'Oh Horacio...' Wren thought to herself as she stood up. Michael was standing next to Thaddeus with a worry filled face. She nodded and smiled at him to somewhat ease his worry. He began walking towards her with Thaddeus remaining at his post. "Wren, why are you-" "We will talk later Michael. Right now I am needed in the hall." Wren took one more deep breath in before walking up to and opening the large doors. No more than a few minutes had passed since Wren stepped outside to peer through Horacio's mind, and no one but Lord Valen was aware of her actions. As she returned closer to her seat she noticed there was some tension in the room. "Apologies for my delay Elders. I was held up with a rather frivolous matter." She sat down and Lord Valen looked over to her, and caught her up with what she had missed in her short time away.
...Many hours passed before they were all satisfied with the result. "Are we finally all in agreement?" Lord Valen asked the others, who all nodded in unison. "Good, now this meeting will be adjourned. Horacio, I'm leaving you in charge of Water; Abena, Fire. I want each of you to assemble a team of three. Wren and I will assemble 2 from Lunar and Lightening. We will send two separate groups; one to our neighboring territory, and the other with me, to the Tradelands." "Yes My Lord," Abena said and Horacio nodded as well. "Good, have everything ready for a few days travel, by the end of the week. This should give everyone plenty of time to assemble the necessary supplies." With the last statement, Lord Valen rose from his seat, bowed slightly, and walked out of the hall. Horacio followed suite shortly after, leaving Abena and Wren alone in the hall.
"My my, you have healed quite well haven't you Wrenny?" Wren did her best not to scowl at Abena, "Perks of my good genetics I suppose. With all do respect, I would appreciate if you would simply refer to me as Priestess, Madame, or Lady Wren. I know I am MANY years your junior, but I do not feel that we are on close enough terms for you to call me so casually. If you need assistance regarding The Units, please, do not hesitate to contact either Michael or myself. Good day ELDER Abena." Wren slightly nodded her head and turned to leave; behind her Abena was seething mad, 'That BRAT!' she thought to herself as Wren shut the door. Upon Wren exiting the hall, she saw Thaddeus talking with Michael. "Madame Priestess," Thaddeus said with a bow. "You need not address me so formally Thaddeus. We practically grew up together, you're like an older brother to me." Wren smiled at him then continued, "You will be present with us for the up coming missions right?"
Both Thaddeus and Michael had confused looks on their faces. "What mission Madame?" "We have received no such orders yet My Lady." Thaddeus and Michael answered. 'I guess Valen was leaving that to me,' Wren thought as she sighed and began walking away, "If you two are not tied up with previously scheduled matters, please follow me into the sparring room." Both the men sighed and had pained looks on their faces. 'Oh no, sparring with Madame...I hope I can make it out unscathed this time,' Thaddeus thought to himself as he rubbed his arm slowly. Wren giggled quietly when she noticed both of their reactions. After a few moments of walking and light chatter, the three of them arrived at the underground sparring room Lord Valen frequents. "We recently received some modified weapons from armory. We will need to be proficient with these weapons, same as any other. I myself have not had a good sparring match in quite some time. After a few rounds-," Wren stopped and turned to look back at Michael and Thaddeus, "-we can discuss the mission I mentioned earlier." She smirked and walked over to the sparring square.
There were two other people present in the area. They looked over to Wren, Michael, and Thaddeus with awe as well as a slight hint of pity. Wren looked over to the two and nodded, they were taken aback but waved and quickly returned to their training. "The younger one's name is Finch right? Who is the older boy with him?" Michael asked as he began stretching his arms. Thaddeus started with stretching his legs, "I believe the other boy is Sir Shoyo's son or nephew." Both Wren and Michael stopped what they were doing and looked over to Thaddeus with their mouths agape. "He, he has a son? How come I don't know of this," Wren said. "My apologies Madame Priestess, it is not actually his own son. It would be more appropriate to refer to him as Sir Shoyo's nephew." Michael and Wren finally composed themselves, and went to grab a weapon.
The newest weapons were ones Wren was familiar with; they were referred to as "cane or hook swords" but with minor modifications. Wren's eyes lit up and she quickly shuffled over to the swords. Michael groaned in the back, "Why did it have to be those!?" Michael sighed and looked over to Thaddeus, "Can you dual wield well? Those are some of Lady Wren's favorites." As Michael and Thaddeus were taking Wren picked up the lightweight "swords" in her hands. 'They did so well with the craftsmanship. They are lightweight,' she gripped the swords in either hand and swung them in a small circle on the side of her body. 'The hooks at the end are similar to a pick and are rounded but sharp, instead of them being flat, they seem more durable. ~Oh I wonder if they are good for climbing up trees.' Wren carefully hooked onto the bars above her head and carefully lifted her feet off the ground to test the strength. After her feet were off the ground she swung back and forth slightly with a broad smile on her face, 'Yes! So happy. I have to thank Han for these!' She hopped down from the bars and while holding the hook swords, she angled her hands so she could better view the blades that were above her hands.
'He made the blades slightly thicker too, and to top it off...he put a spike on the very bottom!' Wren did an excited little twirl as she clutched the weapons to her body. 'Ugh...we are doomed!' When she heard Michael's thoughts she was brought back to reality and opened her eyes, looked at the men apologetically, with a slight blush. "I'm sorry, that was most indecent of me. I was just excited that Han finally modified them to my requests." She walked over to the two who were holding their weapons by their side. Thaddeus was holding a medium sized axe with a spike on the top, and Michael had a double bladed staff. Wren grinned, "This will surely be a fun sparring session, wouldn't you agree?" Thaddeus and Michael both readied their weapons. "What sort of sparring did you have in mind Madame Priestess?" Thaddeus asked as he slowly stepped towards her, "My favorite of course."
Michael once again groaned in the background, "Anything goes?" He asked, sounding exasperated. Wren nodded, "Yes, Sir Michael and Sir Thaddeus, anything goes until the words are spoken." They all paused for a moment before Thaddeus spoke, "Well, I suppose there is nothing left to do but to begin, choose your next step wisely Madame." Thaddeus said just before he lunged to Wren's direction. *BANG! CLANG!* Their sparring match had finally began.