A few years had passed since Meredith, a naïve and sweet tempered girl, had been taken in by the King’s Tao Master for training.

Meredith had grown into a lanky young girl with long, lustrous blonde hair and her eyes sparkled as much as they had when she first was taken in for training. She sat in the royal garden, meditating quietly while some meddlesome miscreants watched her. They snickered, watching the young girl.

They had no liking for her, thinking she had been a street urchin taken in by the king to stop her from causing damage to the kingdom. They also thought she didn’t truly have any powers besides being slightly clumsy.

Meredith sighed softly, focusing her powers into starting a fire on the wood pile before her. Her mentor stood to the side, watching and waiting. It had been nearly 10 minutes, but this exercise had a purpose.

But the upstarts had other ideas, they all ran in. Making such a ruckus as to be a distraction to even Meredith’s calm mentor. But, much to the boys annoyance, Meredith hadn’t even batted an eyelash. Her concentration was elsewhere, unable to hear them as she focused to only set fire to this wood pile.

Then one of the boys actually tackled her, snapping her out of her meditation. She was disoriented and overwhelmed by there loudness. That’s when their taunting began.

“Well if it isn’t the new witch!”

Meredith’s mentor grabbed the boy by the hair and pulled him up. He made to draw the guard’s attention to this. He thought being a noble saved him from the mentors firm discipline, but soon learned wrong.

Melody raised a firm hand, with a switch in it, and smacked it sharply across the boys bottom. The others had left as he cried out, feeling pain for the first time.

Meredith smiled as he turned accusing eyes on her once Melody released him.

“I’ll get you for this you demon wench!”

“If I am a demon wench, then you are a fire slug. Creeping your pathetic way around Hell.” Meredith had a sweet smile still on her lips and an easy air about her. Melody pointed to the exit, glaring at the spoiled brat. He ran for his life.

Melody sighed and motioned for Meredith to sit once more.

“Try again child…”

“Ok, Melody.” She settled herself in and took a deep, calming breath. She closed her eyes and focused, but not as hard as before.

The logs caught fire almost instantly, a cheerily crackling fire that was a healthy looking red and orange. Meredith smiled brightly at her teacher.

“Very good child! Now you are to try again, this time with the logs wet.” She tossed a bucket of water on the fire.

Meredith just smiled, looking at the wood. There was a slight hissing and popping for a minute, then the fire roared back to life.

“Child, have you been practicing behind my back? You’ve gotten farther in these few years than any Tao Master in the world’s history!”

“No, Lady Silversmith. I have not practiced behind your back. When we aren’t doing these exercises I am usually with the Queen and the King’s mother. As well as the princess.”

Melody smiled and set Meredith to the next task, wondering if an ancient prophecy was at hand.

Later that evening, there a near disaster in the kingdom.

An assassin, the most skilled of these thieves of lives, slipped inside the great castle. He took his time making sure he was invisible and looked around for any lighted windows. He spotted two: the king’s study and the Queen’s Parlor.

The assassin climbed up the wall silently. His quiet feet guiding him towards the Queen’s Parlor. He peered through the window, and smiled as he drew out his throwing knife.

The Queen and her companions had no idea what happened as the glass shattered and a silver blur streaked in.