Stevan was stressed out, but there was a bit of festering rage within his body as well. If there was one thing he learned from Jin's few days of mentoring it had to be that Jin was a monumental slack. Perhaps even the world's biggest one. And who could possibly oppose Stevan's narrowed-minded reasoning? The village was well acquainted with Jin, and with hindsight, not a soul would dare defend.

Stevan sat down on the wooden stairs that led to the entrance of the second Inn, owned why a farmer who resembled a lumberjack. Except, it was now the only Inn within the colony. There weren't many customers present on this day: people simply avoided coming after the new Innkeeper poisoned one of the tradesmen on the spot, no hesitation. Fortunately, the new Innkeeper's ill-fortune provided Stevan with a place to sit for over an hour without having to move to allow customers' entry. 

Although Stevan did absolutely enjoy this quiet place where he could contemplate, he wasn't fond of being alone for this long. In short, the boy missed his brother greatly. Stevan frowned. It had been a few weeks since he''d spoken a word to Stephan. And his very last word spoken to his brother was one of vulgar language. They had a fight, and it did not end well.

Stevan just hoped dearly that it did end. His brother was known to be a bit more grudgeful. And always held words Stevan would otherwise deem trivial close to his heart. When Stevan was hospitalized, he hadn't heard of Stephan's visit to the health center after the attack on the Inn. Did Stephan even bother checking on him to make sure he was alright?

The corner of his lips fell. If Stephan did visit him, he would have stuck around till the end until he recovered.

'He probably still has me in mind after our fight,' Stevan thought. 'But this isn't really like him. The doctor told me they announced the crime committed by West and his mentor and they also listed the victims involved. Stephan would have seen that I was near death. Could it be that he was just too caught up with his training that he chose to neglect me? Or was he just not informed of the incident? Or maybe he did know but just—'

"Loud thoughts, Stevan," said a voice from behind.

Stevan jumped. He quickly dashed forward, spun around in the air, and landed on his feet. Then, his entire body deflated upon seeing exactly who snuck up on him.

It was Ryla. Ryla was quite a beautiful young girl. Her eyes were like crystals. Her skin was too smooth for someone working in this incredibly harsh sun. And her long hair reached her waist. She narrowed her eyes upon seeing the supposed stunt or rather retreat Stevan just managed. "Did it better than Clawless."

Stevan scratched his head and crimsoned.  "Ohh, it's you... Ryla. Who's Clawless?"

"My pet cat," Ryla said.

Stevan shifted on his feet. "You never told me you own a cat. Where is it?"

"He's buried in Hudson Cemetery," she said. "And why would I tell you that? You seem to not even recognize who I am."

"Of course, I recognize who you are," Stevan said.

"I'm not feeling the intimacy in 'Ohh, it's you... Ryla'," she said, "and my sense of feel is one hundred times better than yours."

Stevan continued to scratch his head. "I'm sorry."

"Mhm..."

Stevan smiled a bit. "What are you doing here? Scared the living day outta me. Almost scared me to death."

"Your heart sounds as if it'll explode in no more than three seconds," Ryla said, "at this rate, you will most definitely die of a heart attack. No 'almost' this time, sorry. Strangely, your heart only started beating this fast when you saw me." She folded her arms.

Stevan blushed, averting his eyes and looking down at the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here," Ryla said. 

"Oh, you do?" Stevan looked at her. "How come?"

Ryla fixed her dress and sat down on the stairs. "Well, I did qualify for the tournament. I was a pretty good candidate too. But I ended up dropping out pretty quickly."

Stevan walked over to her and sat down right beside her. "Why'd you drop out?"

"Everyone was going in," she answered. "The whole place has taken a toll because of this stupid event that'll only last for a day or two. After which, we'll have no food and no proper defense. My family's been struggling to buy even a grain of salt. So... that's when I decided to get myself a job here. Right now, people choosing to not fight in the tournament like me are the ones to which respect is owed. This colony hasn't fallen apart yet... thanks to us. Respect is owed."

"It sure is," Stevan said. "That's so nice of you."

"I'm not a nice girl though," she said, "that's for sure."

"I think you're a nice girl," Stevan said, now looking at her.

Ryla hadn't said anything in response after that. A bit later, she turned to him and asked, "What's happening on your end?"

"A horrible mentor," Stevan scoffed.

Ryla raised a brow. "Isn't he one of the strongest here now though?" 

"So I thought," Stevan said. "But he's just a slack who spends his whole day doing nothing. I've had it with that guy. He's such a bad teacher."

"Talk to him about it..."

"I tried on my occasions. Never worked."

"Did you get that raccoon off my porch yet, Ryla!" shouted someone from the Inn's interior.

"It was a whole invasion, sir. I'm getting back to work now!" Ryla stood. "Hey, uh, Stevan. I gotta get back to work. That man's shouting caused my ears to bleed a multitude of times."

Stevan stood. "Hah hah. I'll see you around."

"If I don't lose all my blood before I quit working here," Ryla said.

Stevan tittered.

"RYLAAAAAAA!!!"

"Ouch! I gotta go." Ryla rushed inside.

Stevan smiled as he began to work away.

***

Jin leaned against a wall in the colony. He was simply enjoying some quiescence. The silence was quite soothing, and he loved it for this reason alone. However, his sweet silence was abruptly disturbed when a young boy, no more than twelve years old, came hurrying toward him. Jin rolled his eyes and scoffed. Why did good things say goodbye so quickly?

"Hey, Jin," Stevan slowed down. 

"Ohh hey, Stevan," Jin said, "enjoyed training with Kai? Got yourself a new mentor?"

Stevan shifted on his feet. "Well..." he averted his eyes as his face crimsoned blood red, "that new mentor didn't even consider me for one second."

Jin's eyes were again quite apathetic. There was no interest in these eyes. The first word to come to mind when looking into them was 'bored', and he did seem rather bored too. However, this stoic expression was now his normal, neutral face.

"Uhmmm...." Stevan clutched his hand to his own left arm, "did you dismiss the clones in the field? I don't see them."

"They were dismissed."

"Ohh, I see..." Stevan trailed off, slowly shifting his pupils to the ground below. Then, these pupils swiftly swept to left, returning to Jin. "Could you summon them again?"

"No."

"Ah, come on!" Stevan furrowed his brows. "Why not? I hope it isn't because I tried to get Kai to train me instead of you. Because that would make me very upset."

"I don't care about any of that." Jin narrowed his eyes. "I'm just filled with contempt because of the fact that I wasted my time training a worthless little slob like you. In fact, it's not even contempt it's--"

Stevan folded his arms. "I'm sorry."

Jin raised a brow. "What for?"

"I've never shown my gratitude to you," Stevan leaned against the wall behind him. "I just figured there wasn't anything to thank you for since, in all honesty, I can't recall being taught anything since the first training session we had. But I'm still really sorry. You're not getting paid to teach me and I'm being very selfish about this entire circumstance. I'm supposed to be training myself instead of wasting my time trying to get you to train me. Every man for himself. That's how I'm supposed to live.

"My brother and I have always been at each other's side, and I guess that made us quite dependent upon each other. But at the same time, I've always been extremely independent. Really ironic. Grew up without parents, Stephan and I. Maybe I needed this. Maybe you're just in my life to remind me that I must return to independence. I think I get it now. Every man for himself."

Jin looked at him for a good bit, then he deliberately smirked. "Took you long enough."

Stevan balled his fists while staring up at the sky. 

Jin jammed his hands in his pockets and started edging away from the alley. He got Stevan's attention. 

Stevan watched as he walked away. "Uhm.... where are you headed now?"

"To mars," Jin said without looking back. "Heard there are better opponents up there."

Stevan pushed off the wall. "Seriously though, where are you headed?"

"The training fields."

Stevan's eyes widened. The corners of his lips quirked up. He then rushed toward Jin and fell in beside him in his unhurried saunter. 

"Could we start with learning that awesome fatality you hit me with earlier today?"

"Don't push it, kid."