Fair.

“What do you mean my mother was a warrior! She never hurt anyone!”

Aella was almost shocked this kid had known her five minutes and was already badmouthing her mother.

“whoa there A! I’m not saying she was a barbarian or a soldier or anything, like it or not you’re a warrior too-” Claire tried to explain himself

“I am not!”

“oh yeah, as far as I can tell you’re the only 16 year old girl who totally caned two full grown men in a fight today.”

“that was! … that was different, I was just defending-”

“exactly! Warriors aren’t just people who get into fights for fun, you had a reason, you believed in what you were doing, and you decided to do it yourself.”

Aella looked at the boy, already used to his girlish appearance, took a deep breath and sat back down on the log by the fire. The sun had slid behind the horizon and its light only half-heartedly tried to light the surroundings, but it was clear the twilight would make way for night soon.

Aella gazed into the fire for some time,

“So, what is the deal with my mother’s bracelet then?”

from no-where some knives hit the trunk right by Aella, she quickly turned around, making sure to come between Claire and whoever was attacking.

“Who’s out there!?”

a calm voice responded;

“Well I suck at sneak attacks anyway, to be honest I was hoping they would miss anyway, I’d prefer to face you with honour. Still though, its strange you couldn’t tell I was here… didn’t you feel the pull?”

“the pull? What are you talking about?”

Claire was the one to answer Aella’s question;

“the pull on your bracelet! It pulls in the direction of the nearest warrior who also has a bracelet like it! He’s here to kill you!”

The owner of the voice dropped from the trees, he appeared to be a young man, no older than 18.

“well its true I want to kill you, but only for a short while, I have a technique to bring you back to life if I’m quick enough, then I can take your glow and be on my way.”

“what do you mean take my glow! Why do you want to fight me?”

The boy tilted his head a little

“…you’re serious aren’t you, you have no idea what’s going on.”

the boy walked over to the camp-fire, and sat down on the log, pulling his knives from it and putting them in pockets along his clothes. Aella made sure to stand between him and Claire.

“oh don’t worry, I’m not about to fight someone who is as ignorant as you, its just not honourable. I’ll wait until you have learned enough, and I promise next time I’ll give you warning first.”

Aella saw the boy was quite relaxed, and not defensive so she relaxed a little and sat down.

“who’s the girl anyway?” the boy pointed.

“HIS name is Claire.” Aella responded.

“tomboy?”

“just boy.”

“whatever.”

the three sat around the fire in silence for about an hour, Aella didn’t know what to say, Claire wasn’t sure if she should carry on explaining stuff in the presence of someone who would sooner or later be an enemy, and the boy just seemed to not care about anything but relaxing by the fire.

–

“OK what the hell is up with you asshole! You bust in trying to kill Aella and now you just think you can hang with us!?!”

the boy looked up to see Claire standing over him.

“And what’s with you Aella!?! You’re just sitting there not doing ANYTHING, the least you could do is try and learn what is going on, and take advantage and kill this idiot who’s taking you too lightly!”

Claire looked back and forth between the two.

“ANYONE WOULD THINK YOU DONT WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER!”

Claire stood gasping, waiting for their response.

“well, I don’t want to kill him”

“I’m not in any rush to kill her either, why are you stressing out on such a pleasant night?”

Claire was clearly more pissed off that this guy was back chatting and kicked him as hard as he could.

“ow! And what was that for?”

“If you’re going to hang around then at least tell us your name!”

“… do you normally ask people questions this way?”

Claire looked set to blow again, he seemed to the boy to be like a volcano that could explode as often as it wanted, each time more violent than the next, a real nuisance.

“My name’s Timon, no need to get so stressed.”

“URGH!”

Claire sat back down in a huff, crossed his legs, folded his arms and looked intently into the fire, almost as if he was willing it to jump onto Timon.

Aella waited a little while for Claire to calm down before asking;

“why would we want to kill each other?”

both Claire and Timon looked at her then back at the fire.

Timon answered first, “your bracelet, there are 26 in the world, each one belonging to a warrior, its the destiny of the warriors to kill each other to take the glow from all the bracelets and claim the white event legacy.”

“what’s the white event legacy?”

“no one knows for sure, but the rumour is it’s the power to reshape the world as the surviving warrior sees fit.”

“It’s not just a rumour,” Claire spoke for the first time since she was fuming, “The white event itself changed the world just enough to create these circumstances, it has the power to change the universe entirely. It is powered by sheer willpower, the determination of a warrior. Whichever warrior demonstrates their will is strongest by surviving, is the only one the white legacy will respect to obey.”

“but… why should we kill each other for that?” Aella asked, not happy with the idea of having to kill, let alone fight against 25 warriors.

“Take a look around,” Timon said, “does the world look like its ok right now? I for one think it could do with change, and I don’t trust any of the other warriors to not just make themselves dictators over all existence.”

Aella stared into the fire, no one else spoke that night, and the all fell asleep around the fire.