Sand colored silk billowed about a open balcony. The large Egyptian pillars sat at each corner of the room like sentinels. The floor was polished marble and cool the touch. Rugs and mats were scattered about the floor along with plush cushions. The figure of a teen applied kohl to her eyes, a cat settled on the canopied bed. Moving the small girl became surrounded by wind and sand, as she was moved from her seat to the ground far below the balcony. Opening green-grey eyes, she walked along the road. "Be well, sister." Anubis was watching from a fountain. For as long as she had been here, Anubis had always referred to her as 'sister' it was unnerving and still was but a custom between them.

"May your weight be light upon your heart." She replied softly, resuming her walk to the town center. Ignoring the cat that followed her. A tan thing with black stripes. Alysse looked about enjoying the day. Perhaps she would find a secluded spot later and dance. She did need the practice.

Vanessa

Vanessa sat in her room looking at one of the blank white walls. She had nothing against white but it was the only colour her room seemed to have despite the mahogany table sat against the wall and herself and Vanessa was really wishing for some darker tones in her room. She runs a hand through her faded orange hair muttering to herself about dying it again.

Vanessa had been in the godly realm for 2 weeks but had trouble fitting in. She was yet to find another child of Hades, he didn't seem to have many children or, at least, many in the godly realm. There were some who went as far to offer her a small smile but she was often ignored, not that she had really taken to approaching people well, that was never something she was good at.

Finally deciding to do something with her self the orange-haired teen pushed herself off her bed where she was seated and wander outside taking in the beauty of the place. Tall, graceful columns lined the cobblestone paths and architecturally perfect buildings and temples scattered over the deep green grass. Everything was perfect in the godly realm, Vanessa felt out of place in her short sleeve purple shirt and black denim pants which are slightly ripped at the knees from overuse.

Arthur sliced the last of the targets in twain with a nimble flick of the glaive he was wielding. The weapon was perfectly balanced and he spun the weapon nimbly about himself shifting through the various stances he'd decided to master that day.

After finishing he dispelled the glaive and looked around the chamber he'd cleared for private practice. The white marble was broken here and there by various banners, some ancient some modern. His prize banner fluttered in its usual place however, it was a standard of Ancient Athens it had been carried at the battle of Marathon and during the final siege of Athens. He smiled the rise and fall of nations, all summed up in a simple design emblazoned on a piece of blue cloth.

He turned from the banner and took a sip of wine from the goblet he'd left to one side, he always left a goblet to one side during practice. He couldn't recall why he'd begun the ritual but after having been in the immortal realm for a few weeks he'd noticed that he always had the goblet ready and made a habit of it.

After he finished the small goblet he collected a bundle of papers from where they sat on a nearby table. They were various historic manuscripts all in Latin, he was teaching a class in one of the parks just of off the town square in about an hour, so he decided to set off early in order to be ready for his students arrival.

Alysse bent down to pet the cat, having paused in a park. Sitting on a bench, she pulled a small pouch out of her pocket, opening it she poured out a bit of sand onto the bench and tossed in a pebble. Watching the sand intently she touched it with her god-powers moving it about the pebble. Wearing it away little by little. Slowly working intricate designs upon the stone. Her brows knitting in concentration. Pulling her legs under her she didn't look away from the whirlwind of sand as the movement speed up. It was a slow process, but peaceful and it kept her in practice. To be good at something and stay good, one needed to do it correctly and well. Her mother had drummed this into her at a young age. "Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly! Don't stick half your hand in something when you need the full hand to grasp it!" Having taken this approach to the rest of her life, Moira O'Neil had applied it to helping neighbors and thus it had led to her death. Still her daughter continued to follow it. Watching the stone she moved the whirlwind into the sun, biting her lip in focus. Small details were never easy.

If she was look Vanessa would have sidestepped to avoid collision but she wasn't looking, that's why she ran into the tall black-haired girl.

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Vanessa stumbles over her word through her words, straightening her back as the girl gave her a once over. Vanessa looked down at the ground slightly as the girl looked over her waiting for her to go off on her way but she didn't,

"Never seen you around before. Madison Jones, daughter of Hecate. You've got a lot of power, there. I'm going to guess another Greek, probably Zeus." She says. Vanessa looks up giving Madison a brief small strained smile.

"Vanessa Casey, nice to meet you," she says, "Yeah I'm a Greek, daughter of Hades..." She trails off waiting for the girl's reaction

Alex looked up from the various scrolls he'd been laying out to see Katie walking towards him, he smiled as she walked up the steps into the gazebo he was stood under.

"Hi, Alex. What you've got the Greeks learning today? Swordfighting? Athenian history?" began Katie, then she looked down at the sheets and answered her own question. "Ugh. Latin. Gods save me, but I have no skill whatsoever with languages."

'What's wrong with a bit of Latin in the afternoon?' he replied his smile even wider, than before. 'Are you sure I can't tempt you into joining us?' he continued, before turning to pour wine from a amphorae into several goblets and offering one to Katie.

Alexander sipped some wine from his goblet before nodding. 'Alright then Katie, you've got yourself a deal. There isn't too much Latin today you'll be glad to here, these' he said holding up several scrolls 'are all exerts from Roman tactical manuals. Thought I'd have everyone translate them and then try 'em out see how everyone does' he paused before continuing, putting down a few scrolls, handing a couple to students who'd just arrived. 'How many vegetables have we got to shift later anyway?' he inquired 'Don't want to get all tired in sword drill and then have to lug a few tonnes of veg up hill for several hours'.

"Hades, huh?" Madison asked raising an eyebrow. "Really, I don't mind your dad. He seems a nice enough guy from the one time I met him. He's got a job to do, and he does it quite well. There's nothing evil about him... though I think my opinion of him is somewhat rare around here."

"You can say that again," Vanessa says with a roll of her hazel eyes, "He's never seemed that bad to me, well when we're not fighting, I guess," The teenager runs a hand through her orange hair with a sigh before chewing on her lip before watching a smile group of teen flock toward the square,

"What's going on there?" She asks Madison, trying to see over the people but her short height making it difficult, "I've only been here a couple of weeks I'm not used to the town schedule..."

The stone fell into her hand as a group of people, all teens. "And I was hoping for some solitude. Wonder what is going on?" Storing the stone and sand back in the pouch she tied the drawstring to her leather corded belt. Walking over she leaned against a tree, watching the scene unfold. Noting the elder teen handing out scrolls, Alysse frowned in thought. Lessons it seemed. Her words caught a few Latin words badly sounded out. Latin lessons on top of that. With a small smile she sat against the tree, and brought out her stone and sand beginning to work on the Celtic patterns again. Another treasure for her mother's crypt. Already it was nearly half ways full with the various crafts she had made. Moira O'Neil would live a life of luxury in the afterlife. Half ways listening to the Latin she focused at the task at hand, odd how a background sound helped whittle away the details into a patient blur of simple work. "I wonder if they are all demi like me? Most likely."

'And so we must keep the shield before us and our comrades in order that the unit might focus on the task of bearing the enemy back' Alexander finished explaining the translation he'd handed out. 'With that I reckon it's time to put this into practice, you should each be able to find a training sword and shield here' he indicated a pile of the weapons all heaped into the back of cart 'I would like you to take up these arms and then form up in formation as prescribed by the text' as he said this the air around Alexander seemed to shimmer and then instead of being dressed in his long coat and scarf he stood resplendent in the armour of a Centurion weapons and all.

With that he strode out of the gazebo and onto the grass plain of the park, his students rushed past eager to get to grips with something practical after what had been a rather difficult piece of translation work.

Alexander smiled, 'Sure thing, I'm ready when you are'. The air around Alexander shimmered again and he switched back into his coat, jeans, shirt and scarf. In his right hand he manifested the glaive he'd been practising with in his own chambers. The weapon consisted of 6ft long shaft, with a 1ft one edged blade on the leading end with a 1/2ft spike at the other to balance it out. Alexander began to spin the Glaive around expertly black shaft nimbly skipping around his fingers with the glinting silver blade and spike shifting around him in a blur. He took the Glaive in both hands and faced Katie in a guard stance 'Okay lets see how you do, I'll go easy on you' he said the smile dropping from his face as he focussed.

Vannessa watched and Madison twisted around, quiye obviously trying to see what was going on in the town square,
"Looks like they've finished with Latin and they're moving on to swordfighting. I better join in, even though I'm not what you would call a front-line demigod. In fact, I've never picked up a sword before. Mom has me working on my healing magic. Still think I should at least be able to defend myself, though. Maybe we could work together?"

Vanessa smiled slightly, "That sounds good, I've never picked up a sword though," she says sheepishly, looking toward the ground, "My dad once muttered something about a scythe probably being my best weapon, very Grim Reaper, huh?' She says, mumbling slightly. "I haven't really done anything the last few weeks except exist and be avoided or ignored at least, might as well do something with myself."

Alysse shivered as the fighting started. Her eyes looked over at the scene as she slowly stood to her full, yet not so intimidating, height of three inches past five feet. "You must practice on others, trying your hand against the same opponent will waste your potential." Set's words wound about her mind. He was right, Alysee knew as she walked to fix this problem. One of the students did not have a partner, walking towards them with a smile she stretched out her hand. Sand beckoning her call came to her like a river, forming a Khopesh. The student jabbed at her as she stepped aside it with fluidity swinging her blade up in a series of rapid strikes. The poor lad yelped and fell back under the onslaught, his sword barley halting the wicked blade. His attempts at attack only made her move to the side, but onwards still she came. Thwacking the lads wrist with the back of the khopesh, the neck of her sword striking his and knocking it away. Leveling the sword under the other demi's throat, Alysse held the position. "Don't ever let go of your sword. Drop you weapon on the battle field and you will die." She growls, remembering all too well her Father's words on the matter. The flung sword knocking over the weapon rack with a crash to end it's flight.

Alex raised one hand to Katie 'Hold on one moment' he said looking at the figure who had just attacked one of his pupils. 'Excuse me miss, but might I inquire as to what you're doing?' he pointed to the weapon wrack. 'I enjoy a good fight as much as the next demi, but I think that was a bit much and I'd ask you not to raise a real weapon against a youth armed with nothing but a dummy sword'. Alexander wasn't as cross as he sounded, he was cross, he didn't like it when people interrupted his lessons, but he was more curious about the figure than anything. He noted the Khopesh in the figures hand, the weapon was small and relatively unwieldy, the Khopesh as a weapon whilst elegant was rather cumbersome and limited in its versatility. He made a quick assessment of the weapon and the wielder before swinging his glaive around him in a defensive motion.

The teen blinked, as if remembering herself. "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to intrude. He had no partner and I thought I'd help-." Dark cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, the khopesh still light in her hand as she moves the sword to her side. "Didn't mean to get so carried away!" Alysse's Irish accent was heavy in her distress as she stammered apologies. "Oh dear..." She blinked, trying to find something to look at that wasn't terrifyingly embarrassing. Spotting the weapon rack she stabbed her sword next to it, righting the falling equipment. The khopesh dissolving to sand with the break in her will and concentration to fight. "Oh deary, dear." What had she been thinking! Getting into a senseless fight like that! Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Oh, she was going to find a nice lonely place after this and stay there! It would more peaceful and less horrifying!

Alex saw the embarrassment he'd caused the girl dispelling his weapon, he turned to the few students who'd stopped to watch. 'Well, come now, did I say stop?' he said to them in even tones 'How do you expect to be good fighters if you keep stopping?' the students returned to their drill without a word, knowing better than to push Alex.

Alex turned back to the girl walking over to the weapon wrack that she was wrestling with, he saw the sword she'd been wielding dissolve back into sand and heard her stammering some more apologies. 'You needn't worry' he began 'You've got quite the technique I must say, few people are able to make good use of a weapon like a Khopesh. In future however maybe ask to join the class before launching in with such enthusiasm?' he offered her his hand, his smile returning as he realised the humour in the incident. 'My name is Alexander Orolos, son of Nemesis, I think we got off on the wrong foot, might I ask what is your name?'