"I do not mind so long as you are alright with the company of my race. I am a werewolf, and my home is the Jade Cost of your very own Elevera. I wonder if you will be able to keep up?" She has a strange look on her face. It could almost be a smile but her mouth does not move. Maybe it was in her eyes and her voice. She was interested in this newcomer but had learned first hand to never let her guard down around him.

Lakota trots off for the running paths around the academy with Hirokuun on her heels.

"Don't worry about me keeping up. I've been running for quite some time. My training revolved around it."

Werewolf... I knew something was wrong. They've plagued me long enough... But, at least it's better than another elf. She won't recognize my tattoos.
Hirokuun took off with a run. She ran fast, but it wasn't unmanageable. "So Lakota, you're a werewolf eh? How did you end up here, teaching these young ones?"

"I am not a teacher. I am a student. I was asked to aid in showing the new recruits the facilities and get them acclimated to their new home." She kept her pace brisk but not winded. She would let him keep up for now but she needed to let her wolf run, and she did not expect to hold any conversation then.

"As for why I am here, Nazarath came to me in a dream. He promised that this is where I would find healing and peace. It seems strange that I would find those things here, but not impossible."

"Nazarath came to you eh? Well, Nazarath is quite the one to come to you in a dream. It must be something good. Though, like you, I find it difficult that healing and peace can be found in a place of war."

"What is this training for exactly? I had not heard of any territories out for attack. Am I out of the know for certain things?"

Isilifeleen moved forward to the edge of the impromptue circle that had gathered around the two combatants. She did not like the wat this was shaping up. A seasoned warrior against a recruit. He might just want to teach the boy a lesson but she did not know this man and assume that idea as the right one without proof was poor judgment. She did not have to wait long before the instructor of the class stepped in and relieved the recruit and took up her blade against the warrior. She analyzes, body type stance, style and then the basics, strength, dexterity, and quickness. endurance, and force they could bring to bear and toughness to resist it.

Now she held her initial choice in her mind and as they fought reevaluated her choice in light of any new developments. and the what initiate this decision. All if this she held to herself for the outcome was unknown at these early stages.

This information she kept track of was for her own use and not to brag about to put forward. This is how she learned what made one successful at a particularly tasks or path in life. It was excellent training.

"It is true my first year here was very difficult because I am not one that seeks war. I hunt to survive I do not seek destruction, though I seem to always find it. This is a place for training combat stratagems, defense, and diplomacy. I hope and pray that its existence is preventative. Gods know that the last thing that we need as more war in our world."

Vladimir* paced to and fro. He waited for the call, but it did not come. He waited for the shout of good news, but it would not arrive. When would good fortune fall upon his ear for once? He had stood next to his father and lost a war, he had stood next to his father and lost a mother, and now, he stood outside his father's quarters losing a friend.

He frowned, but held back the tears. Tears were weak, weakness was not the Schlectan way. Schlectans were stong...no...they were impervious. Almighty beings of turth and devine justice. Both father and Norul, god of dark salvation, had told him this.

He remembered his dream from Norul's visit. The almighty being, the holiest of holy's, had spoken to him. He had said, "Vladimir, son of Vlasimor, Prince of all that is Right, heed my prophecy. I am Norul, your almighty overseer, the one you build your shrines and your altars in the name of. I am the one who watches your country and keeps it afloat. I alone control the destiny of the good and the just in this world, and only you can speak for me. I ask you to hear my words. Listen, so that you may speak in the name of glory. You have suffered many a loss fair son of mine, and you will whether one more. One more of the things you hold dear shall slip from your fingertips, but not all is lost. There is a way to correct this, but this person must fade into history for the secret to be passed on. "

Hirokuun chuckled softly as he ran beside Lakota. War... we need it. As much as people think it's a bad thing, it's necessary. he thought.

"Lakota, I see your point of view where you wish to have no war... but it's a necessity. War is chaos. And chaos disrupts law. In order for our world to be habitable, we need a balance of both. If there is no war, then there is no chaos. If there is not chaos, there is a dominance of law, and unbalance. If there is unbalance... there is no hope."

Hirokuun shakes his head, letting his braid dance around his body. "At least, that is what I have been raised to believe. And I see no reason for it to not hold true."

Isilifeleen saw the two move off and so did she not with them but behind them a ways but close enough to move up if there was need, and close enough to hear with her delicate pointed ears. After the elf said War was necessary she could not let that man's words pass without comment.

"I beg to your pardon, but I agree with the female. War is not a necessity. Balance can be kept without beings killing themselves over their differences. As a fight never proves who is right of wrong Most war do not solve any real problems that are said to be their cause, It creates them. The common people of both sides sugfer because their rulers or leaders couldn't find a peaceful way to solve their differences.

"If wars could slove problems then all the problems then our thousands of years or more of war would have been solved by now. But they are not."

"That soes not mean I believed in total pacifism either. TO protect oneself one needs to be strong with force and knowledge. I do believer there are evils in the world that need to be eradicated. I know they are beings who hunger for power and glory and hope to achieve them on the backs of those who would prefer to live in peace and they must be countered. but say War is necessary is an anathema to all good people."

Isilifeleen glares fiercely at the elf who had spouted such drivel She was incredulous that he ws an elf. She cannot believe any rational, sane being would ever believe let alone suggest such a senseless statement. Though there may be some excuse for such a untenable belief, perhaps he was not raise amongst you kind.

"To be prepared for war is a prudent precaution but that it totally different than saying war is a necessity."

Calvin smiled as he pulled out his schedule.

"It seems I've got basic swordplay." He smiled at Kannizan.

****

He frowned, no information, no luck. Any longer...and he would launch the invasion. If only the stubborn teacher would tell him who had the information he needed, then all of this could be avoided...but no, it was always the hard way with these Tlyvarians. They couldn't just roll over and give up. He frowned to himself, scratching is his grizzled five 'o clock shadow and clicking his yellow teeth together. He could burn the city single handedly, but that would attract to much attention from the council. The last thing he needed was diplomacy and a bunch of squabbling old...

He stopped. Someone could easily be probing his mind. He doubted it, but it was possible. He stopped thinking and returned to his tea. Years...no centuries of mental training had allowed him to stop all thoughts to his mind. His brother was the only other person who could do this. His mind exploded into thought again.

His brother...he hated his brother. Leader of the council, prominant diplomat, powerful warrior...everything he was not. His punded his fist on the table before him and peered out the small window of the captains cabin. One week...he'd given the man one week to give him what he needed...he was beginning to think that was to generous.

Lakota was startled at the arival of a third party to her run. The woman seemed very upset with Hirokuun's words and made it known. Lakota did not wish to find herself taking sides when she hardly knew the one and the other she did not know at all. "Hirokuun, I understand chaos. I am a great lover of nature and that is the greatest form of chaos. An earthquake or tsunami can accomplish the same thing as a war, but there is such a thing as too much destruction."

Lakota quickened her running pace. She wanted to be good and tired before dinner and the thoughtful conversation had slowed her pace to a comfortable one that she could have kept up all through the night. She would take time with introductions and details over a meal. She had not asked for company and only allowed him to join her so long as he kept up.

"So, what brought you here?"

Hirokuun had heard the approach of the other stranger. Her opinions on war were childish and inexperienced. The life of grunts was expendable... and should be exercised as such. War was a necessity in order to offset the law of the world. However, he was about to argue that point when Lakota took off.

"Meet me later, and we will discuss this. Your opinions are naive, and I will explain how. Later."

With that, Hirokuun took of at a good paced run to keep up with Lakota. He was beginning to fatigue slightly, but only slightly. He would be quite good for another hour or two. He would keep pace with this Lycanthrope.

"I cam here looking for something... an unbalance. I don't know what, but it happened, and I sensed it. I had nothing better to do, and no family, so I decided I might as well come."

Lakota listened to him as she ran. An unbalance here? What could he mean by that?

"I am not sure what kind of shift you are talking about." She continued on in silence a little more then added, "Did you lose your family, or the other way around?"

"I'm not sure what shift I felt either... but something has somewhat prodded me in this direction. I'm suspecting a person, or a plot, or something. However, I'm not sure yet."

Hirokuun snorts and spits some phlegm out to the side, and then continued speaking. "I have no family, and never will. I'm too unique for my own culture."

At Hirokuun's last comment Lakota fell silent. He seemed very bitter and she suspected that there must have been a falling out there. It was not her place to prod in one's personal life if they wished it to remain private so she did not ask any further questions. She wasn't sure what else to say so she continued in thoughtful silence.