A War Meeting (closed to Kouzai)

Nitari observed as recruits sparred with each other. They were fairly new and had much to learn if they wanted to stay alive in this Order. Over the past few years he has come to the conclusion that finding strong willed assassins is becoming a hard task to complete. He has sent people out all over the world to look for able bodied young men and women to join the Order and keep the name going on, but he fears that will be a hard task to complete. With the word of war floating in the air and the news about the Summit and Elemental Kingdom Nitari fears that more will join their nation’s army or be too scared to even pick up a sword. The man looked up when he heard shouts coming from a teacher. He was reprimanding the recruits for not acting fast enough and telling them that they would be dead in a second if they were on a mission.

Nitari moved forward, using his cane as a support, walking past the recruits and to the large trainer. The sickle at his belt moving side to side as he made his way closer to the man with the crossed arms. “Now Anil,” Nitari said digging his cane into the dirt covered area, “that is no way to teach new recruits.” The man face went blank and states, “Grand Master Nitari, they do not listen to me. I have tried everything and they are still as foolish as ever.” Nitari sighed and faced the recruits; they quickly stood tall and stared directly at Nitari. “I want you all to prove Anil here wrong. Can you all do that?” A few of them nodded and then Nitari commended, “Well go on.” He took a few steps back, taking his cane with him, and watched. They were sparring once more and attacks were landed and blocked. Nitari continued to watch and they were stopped once more by Anil. “They did not finish,” Nitari said slightly annoyed but not showing it; he has become a master at controlling showing his emotions. “They are awful,” Anil said, “they will die as soon as they leave the island.”

The Grand Master sighed and gripped the end of his cane. “Fine then we will show them how it is done.” Everyone was shocked at what Nitari had said, because no one has seen him fight before. Some even believed him to be lame because of the cane he carried around. The trainer looked around and then at Nitari, “Are you sure?” Nitari nodded slowly and said, “Yes let’s show them how it is done.” The man took a few small steps away using his cane as support. He turned to face Anil and said, “Well come on.” Nitari looked at a recruit and said, “Give him the staff.” Nitari watched as Anil caught the staff and spun it a bit. “If you say so Grand Master,” the large man said and took a stance. Nitari nodded and said, “I don’t have all day.” Before the Grand Master could finish the sentence the large man leaped forward getting ready to strike with the wooden staff.

Nitari watched his movements and quickly moved to the side to avoid the man’s attack. Nitari turned his head to see Anil’s surprised face and in a quick motion Nitari swung his cane around and smacked the man across his back. He fell to the ground and Nitari backed up a few inches to watch him push himself off the ground. He heard a few cheers from the recruits and gave them a glare, which made them stop. “That was east,” the trainer said facing Nitari now slightly angry. Nitari watched as the man went to attack and then quickly reacted. With a simple ducking move the Grand Master dodged the attack and then hit Anil right across the head with the handle of his cane. He sprawled out onto the ground and forced himself up. He stammered, “Class over. I need to go…lie down.” The man stumbled off and Nitari said, “I think I hit him too hard. Oh well it may knock some sense into his head.” He turned to face the recruits and then asked, “Any questions?”

One hand quickly shot up and Nitari pointed to him with the cane, “Yes you.” The Grand Master said and the man asked, “How in the world did you do that?” Nitari dug his cane in the ground and answered, “I watched his movements to see where he was going. In this line of work your targets will be moving and you have to watch their movements and attack fast. If you do not do this you can be dead in an instant. I expect you all do not want to die. This takes time to master, but it is possible.” Nitari turned and headed back to the palace. He felt a slight pain circulate through his legs as he made his way up a few steps. He was beginning to feel the wear and tear on his body from being beaten and bruised so many times. He may be in his mid-thirties, but all the years of assassin work has finally caught up with him. He is not the once fast and nimble man he once was.

Nitari was grumbling to himself as he finished making his way up all the stairs leading to his room. It always takes him so long to get there and why he had to pick the biggest and tallest tower he had no idea. He froze as soon as he took a step into his office. He scanned the area and saw that every item was intact, his eyes moved over his desk, and a few scattered chairs. Then he noticed a streak of black on one of the maroon colored chairs. He ran his finger through it and smelled the substance, it was gunpowder. In one quick motion he pulled at the top of his cane and a blade came out. He pointed it in a corner and noticed a figure standing in the dark. He kept the blade raised high and then he saw a familiar face. A frown went across his face and he said, “Claudia.” He put the sword away and walked over to his desk. He sat down and said, “I do not like people being in here without my authority. You of all people know that.” He motioned to a chair and said in a somewhat kinder, but still commanding voice, “Now sit.” He sighed and then asked, "What is it you need?"

"Forgive me, Mentor," said Claudia with a slight bow. She walked over to the desk and lowered her hood, she was one of the few who would not receive a tongue lashing for being here without Nitari's permission. But she still knew he did not like it, so she did it rarely, but only when something important needed to be brought to the attention of the Grand Master. "Mentor," started Claudia gently, "There is something you must know, it is of the gravest news but..."

Claudia paused, this could mean the different between war and peace, but it was needed, and the Grand Master would find out eventually. "Mentor, the world is as war," she started, "The Elemental Kingdom has been destroyed by...magicians, and the Summit was attacked by them as well. It is a mess, many people were killed, any several monarchs died in the scramble. I know it is not our affairs to interfere with but..."

Claudia feared the next suggestion of hers would be her last, but she had to try, the world needed help. "Mentor," she started, "We need to decide whether or not we are to go to war with the other nations. I know that we are only here to keep the peace and balance, but we have also dedicated ourselves to the well being of the nations, and if they are destroyed in this war and we did not even bother trying to help them...would that no be hypocritical of us?"

The man ignored her asking for forgiveness and just wanted her to say what she wanted. He did sense urgency in her tone, but that does not make up for her being in his room. He decided to let her speak instead of just throwing her out and going on with his day. “Out with it,” the man said telling the girl to continue. He had a feeling he already knew what she was going to tell him. It was probably going to be about how there was an attack and disasters throughout the world. The Elemental Kingdom crumbling to nothing and the death of monarchs were rumors that were being spread, but he knew they were true and he needed no one to inform him. He let go of his cane and rested it against the desk he noticed a mark on the handle and tried to rub it out. He nodded in approval once it vanished and figured it was just a blood stain from Anil. He made a mental note to make sure the man was okay.

He nodded slowly as if he was taking it in for the first time. Once she had finished telling him about the monarchs he sat there for a few seconds and said, “I know.” Nitari dug through some papers on his desk and took out a parchment. He handed it to her and replied, “That is a report from an assassin who was there during the attack on the summit. He was with that explorer; I think his name is…” he stopped and corrected himself, “was Fa. He was not on the man’s ship when it exploded though.” Nitari’s eyes fell on the paper and he continued, “He is fine. Just off doing more work. As for the Elemental Kingdom I also know about that. I have people everywhere Claudia. You can say I have my eyes on everything that happens in the world even though I tend to stay on this island.” He shuffled with a few papers and ended up shoving them all in a drawer, he would just go through them later.

“It is not our affair,” he said repeating what she said adding more emphasis. He stared at her as she continued to speak about the other nations and how they must join the war effort. Nitari stared at the girl for a few seconds thinking of what to say to her. He wanted to follow the Order’s creed and he had a feeling entering this war would harm that. He stood and walked out towards a window looking out to the palace. He could see assassins moving about and some even practicing, trying to become the best of the best. Maybe one of them will rise up in the ranks and take Nitari’s spot. He did fear the current situation will be the death of him or maybe he will get a dagger in his back. He really has no idea. “Nothing is true; everything is permitted,” Nitari said still looking out the window. Now his eyes were looking past the assassins and out into the distance. “A motto we have had ever since the Order was founded.” He walked slowly back to his seat still speaking. “One of my mentors told me what it meant to him. He said, ‘Society as a whole is weak and only we are the ones to help hold it up. We are the grand architects, we build it to fit our needs and hope the foundation holds. We also must live with the cost of our actions, be them good or bad.’” He sat back down and looked at her.

“Joining this war will cost the lives of innocents, the world will know who we are, and the Order will be put on the front lines. We will lose more men than we can recruit,” he said not feeling sorry about disagreeing with Claudia about the situation. Nitari cared about the greater good, but nations do have to fall in the end and in the future one will take its place and the story will go on. “I know you want to help the nations Claudia, but we have to think about the Order. Going into this war will be suicide and we also don’t have that many able bodied members. Our numbers are diminishing and I fear they will decrease as time passes.” Nitari was thinking about the assassins in the Elemental kingdom, his sources informed him that the magicians turned the city into rubble and even destroyed the land. “If we join in this war then our numbers will greatly decrease, maybe even wipe all of us out.”

"I understand all that you say Master," said Claudia, "And this is probably my father talking...but, we cannot sit by and allow the nations to be destroyed like this. You say we must live with the consequences of our actions, good or bad, correct? Well whether the choice of going to war is good or bad, we should be prepared to deal with the consequences. Mentor, do you not see? The nations need us, even if our numbers shrink, we still cannot afford to hide here on our island forever. Eventually the magicians will come here, if they destroy the other nations they will lay their sights on us, and if they come we may just die--we may, in fact, die without question if they come. Why put off the inevitable if that is what you say is to happen?"

Claudia had her father's sense of justice, it was inherited from her ancestors. Justice was one of the virtues of the Ezofuji family; Justice, Loyalty, Bravery and Knowledge. Such have been the ways of her people for many a years. She was not going to give up without a fight, she would probably loose this argument, but she had to try. She needed to.

"Master, you say this would be suicide, but are our missions not suicide as well? Do we not risk our lives every day when we kill those who threaten the balance?" she asked, "Is that not also a risk we must take? We cannot stay here forever, hiding, holed up like rats in their nest, only to die eventually anyway. We must strike back, with the nations. We do not have to be extensively involved, but simply tilt the balance in our favour, whether it helps or not. We must at least try. You fear that the new recruits would die easily, I know, but all they need is experience, and fighting each other is not the right kind of experience. They need to know what it is like when their lives hang in the balance between survival and certain death, that is the kind of experience that metals mens hearts, and makes them true Assasssins. Think of how much they would learn, think of the bravery and courage they would gain from this war. Perhaps, we could even recruit some of the magicians while we are there, would that not work?"

“Yes I did say that, unless you want me to repeat it to you again.” Nitari replied in a calm tone even though he was getting slightly annoyed at her idea about helping the nations. He listened to her though because he always listened to his students when they needed him most. Nitari may disagree with a good bit of the things they say, but he does listen to them. “War is good and bad,” the man said, which to a normal person would sound weird. “In war we both sides of man. The good comes out when he tries to defend his people and the bad when he ends up slicing his enemies on the battlefield. The consequences are causalities on the battlefield and in the home front.” Nitari wanted her to leave, but he was too far into this conversation to just stop.

He shuffled through the papers on the desk and ended up stopping his search. He turned his attention to Claudia and stated, “They do not need us.” Nitari had lost all ties with his nation and other assassins were asked to do the same. He found it ended up getting in the way of everything and he could use Claudia as an example. “So have our death come quicker? Why not run into the magicians before they run into us? I do not want to put the Order in that danger because you feel a connection to the outside world. We are taught to let go of all ties with our nations. If you are feeling the need to aid your nation then you can leave, but do not expect to be welcomed with opened arms.” Few people leave the Order and when they do they never come back. They are banned from every stepping on the island and if they do then they are taken care of in a quick manner.

“Our missions are suicide, but our assassins are trained and fighting something they can fight.” Nitari said in response to her. “These magicians are new to us,” he continued, “I have reports on them and even their way of fighting confuses me.” He had been given a report that the magicians and they use spells and are able to conjure up anything their mind can think of. Nitari fears for the worst when they do rear their ugly heads around the island and the assassins are forced to fight them. “Who says this is not the way things should be?” He asked. Nitari understood how the way the world worked and if it was someone’s time to die, then it was their time. He eyed the girl as she continued to speak wanting so badly for them to get into this war. A war involving the nations and this new world, there was no place for them in the mix. He then got an idea and held up his hand for her to stop moving her mouth. He lowered it and replied with, “We must know how the magicians work. How they move and operate. We will go into the New World and from there watch them and from there if we are still alive we can approach the monarchs.” He rubbed his eyes and said, “I do not agree with you, but we can at least give it a try.” He was not agreeing with her that they should go to war. He wanted to watch the magicians from afar and see how they moved in battle. They had to observe and wait.

Claudia bowed respectfully, she respected her master for his wisdom and years of extreme experience. Everything she had ever learned about the Assasssin Order, and being an Assassin, she had learned from him. Every lesson was unique, and helpful, and insightful, and especially now, his views and reasons as to why the Assassins's should not go were good, albeit perfect reasons why not to go.

However, Claudia did not always agree with her mentor's teachings, more specifically now. She was, in more ways than one, like her father. Everyone's troubles were her troubles, and she was always willing to share the burden for the betterment of all, no matter the cost. The problem with that is that many innocent people might get hurt in the process.

Even now, if the Assassins went to open war, they would loose many young, inexperienced recruits. Many lives would be lost to this new threat that could not be countered..yet. Spyimg was the next best thing in Claudia's opinion, once they found their weakness they could reveal it to the armies of the Six Nations, and take advantage of it, defeating the magicians once and for all. "Yes, mentor," she said obediently, "That would be the next best thing I believe, and I respect your judgement."