Chapter 2: Regenesis -------------------- Seyla sat in her room, contemplating her life, as usual nowadays, since the interference of those rotten twins. Ever since she could remember, Seyla had lived to prove herself to the other members of her village. To her parents, the innkeeper, the rebels, the valley girls... And now, they were all a thing of the past. She chuckled. They must be turning in their graves, she thought, to think that Seyla, the person they detested more than anyone in the world, who they thought was good for nothing, or too scary to be around, was the only one of them still alive, except for the person who killed them all. She was finally free of any pressure to be anything except what she wanted to be. "How worthless am I now?" she yelled at imaginary foes. She walked over to the mirror. The familiar glow had returned to her eyes, and she admired herself. I am beautiful, she thought. She looked herself carefully up and down, and smiledat how wrong they all were. I'm far from a failure, she thought, at least _I'm_ alive. Seyla laughed a long, hearty laugh. Tonight, Seyla was determined to make herself feel _good_. First, she asserted, she would work on herself. She was going to knock 'em dead. She opened her sack, and the closet in her room. We'll start with the clothes, she thought. She threw off her cloak and armour, and searched for something better to wear. She found a beautiful deep crimson velvet dress with a low cut neck and empire waist that almost touched the floor when she put it on. "Perfect", she exclaimed out loud. She carefully combed out her long black hair until it shone and hung straight over her shoulders. She tied a thin silver coloured silk band around her forehead to keep it out of her face. This was the first time in years that she had let her hair down, literally and figuratively, and it filled her with joy and ambition. Very carefully, she attached her retractible mithril claws to her wrists under the sleeves of the dress, so that only the very tips of them gleamed on the backs of her hand, giving the impression of exotic jewellery, although much more deadly. She looked at the finished picture. "Hmm," she said, " it needs something." She fished though her knapsack, found her ornate silver katana, and polished to a reflective shine. Then she put it in its holster and swung it around so that it hung jauntily on her hip. The result was fantastic. Seyla, on a bad day, was drop dead gorgeous, but now she was beautiful with style. Next, she thought, she would tackle the room. Looking around, the Gothic castle chamber was elaborately furnished. The carpet and the several layers of bed covers were blood red in colour, and the chairs where lushly uphostered. There was a huge armoir filled with clothes, and a table at the end of the room held a beautiful silver vase filled with white roses. Seyla immediately knew what she was going to do. Swiping one of the crimson sheets from the bed, she arranged them as curtains around the bare stone window. Rifling through her sack, she found the blanket that she used to bundle up in when she was on the road. Depicted on its back was a majestic white dragon against a black and grey mottled storm. She took some nails from her Acme adventurer's kit, and pinned it to the wall above her bed. Then, she took the dried red roses, some of which were died so dark they were barely discernible as ever being anything but black, ripped the petals off and scattered them over the table with the vase. Now, the place was starting to get some character. "Incompetents! Why did we hire the nitwits! Do you believe that I was just asked what to do with a thief and traitor who means nothing to us? Do these people think I want to keep her for a pet or something?" Seyla heard a voice outside her door. It was Sascha's. Seyla went to the door of her room, and opened it up a crack to see what was going on. Sascha was talking to an incredible handsome man with stunning white hair. The man unconsciously flipped his hair back out of his face and ended up in a temporary pose that would rival GQ any day. "Hmm..." Seyla thought to herself, "impressive." "As long as she dies, Sascha. I'll reprimand those involved for annoying you. Did I not ask you to check up on the prisonner?" Seyla noticed a young woman in uniform, who had formerly been hidden by Akfek's profile, jump to attention. "Yes, sir. Right away sir. Sorry to disturb you sir!" And with that, Lieutenant Kim began to walk in the direction of Seyla's door. Seyla quickly shut it and pretended to have been looking at the drape that was now hanging in her room when Kim came in. "Wow... you look great!" the girl said. Then, remembering her position, quickly straightened her posture and said, "Lieutenant Kimberly Hart, here to see to your situation." "Oh, stop that," Seyla said, with a warm smile, "I've been in too many armies in my fighting years. I'm Seyla. I'm not a soldier or a general, so you can just be yourself in here." Kim relaxed a bit, and allowed herself a smile. "I'm Kim," she said. "So, Kim, how do you like what I've done with the place?" Seyla looked around admiringly at her work. "You know, it looks a lot like Sascha's room!" the girl said. "Does it?" Seyla mused. "Um, I mean, I've only seen it once, and it was on official business, I had a very important message to give to her and Garland..." "Don't worry about it." Sascha said, trying to calm the girl's frantic muttering. "Hmm... Garland, is he that smashing fellow I saw outside with Sascha? He was quite a looker!" "Oh, no. That was Lord Akfek, Co-Commander of the Imperial army with Sascha." Seyla noticed a shiver go through Kim at the mention of Akfek's name. "Well, maybe sometime, we'll be introduced. So, Kim, you came to see that I was doing well. And you may safely tell Lady Sascha that my sojourn here has so far been quite enjoyable. But your eyes tell me you have a lot of questions." Seyla smiled reminiscently, " It's the same look Sascha used to get when she wanted to hear of another of my adventures. The thirst for the stuff that you've got in your look I've only seen once before. In her." Kim beamed at being so favourably compared to her idol. She looked at Seyla, and the old mercenary motioned to Kim to sit down on the bed with her. She gladly did. "Ask away," Seyla said. "Did you know Sascha well? What was she like when she was younger?" Kim was a pile of questions, and Seyla was more than willing to answer them. It had been nearly two years since she had had an opportunity to tell her stories to someone who was genuinely interested. The two sat on the bed and chatted away for about half an hour when someone burst into Seyla's room. "Hey have you seen the...... guys?" The young man looked around, and blushed. he began to apologize, when his eyes met Kim's, and they locked. Seyla had seen this look before in many a young adventurer. She smiled. "Lieutenant," she said, hoping that she had been right in her guess of rank, "Won't you join us? We were discussing historical battle tactics, and I believe I have some tea left from the mounds of food that Sascha generously had sent to me!" The young man hesitantly entered the room, and sat in the chair across from Sascha and Lt Kimberley. Almost immediately, the two started talking. Seyla smiled at the couple. They were a perfect match. Seyla decided that she would leave them alone for a while. "If you two will excuse me for a moment," she said, "Kim, could you tell me where to find Lady Sascha?" Upon gaining directions, Seyla left the two to get better acquainted, gently closing the door to her room behind her. On her way to find Sascha, Seyla allowed herself a brief sigh of regret at what she had been missing. Then, as quickly as it had gone, her smile reappeared on her face.