The woman walks behind you, and suddenly...the gaze is gone. You take a halting breath and slowly turn your head to glance over your shoulder: no one there. You look in all directions, but can spot not a soul in sight. It was almost as though she had never appeared. Except for the cold sweat running down your back, that is.
Although you know you cannot truly flee, you book it out of the alley and don't stop until you are outside the town. With fewer buildings your field of vision opens up, and you cannot see anyone following you, but given the skill level of the person, you don't think that means anything. Why on earth would you want to be an assassin? Why would that stranger want to train you as one? It was too insane to make sense of. Tiredly evening out your breathing, you trudge home to the farm.
"...they have plenty, but they won't agree to sell to me!" you hear your father's voice as you round the corner of the barn. Who is he talking to so late inside the barn?
"But he needs the medicine! Maybe we could beg the count--" your mother's voice trickles out.
"You know the only thing that would move that scum! It would be better for our son to die in his own bed than live to be--"
Your feet give out from under you as you sit against the side of the barn, your heart pounding in your ears. You understand the gist of the conversation from the tidbits you hear, and do not move until your parents have long returned to the farmhouse. Your brother is sick again, and the new count would not provide medicine to supporters of the former count without certain "tributes" being paid, the most common form for those who could not afford to provide money being...children. As for what happened to those children, you had no doubt it was a life worse than death.
"Why does a bastard like that get to live when..." you mumble, then stop. Indeed, why should that bastard get to live? In fact, there were plenty of people in the world deserving of an early death, so why didn't they get it? An assassin, huh...
*********
"I'm signing up to train as a rogue at the academy," you announce at the end of dinner, much to your parents' shock and dismay. Being an adventurer is extremely dangerous, and they would rather you live a stable life. Furthermore, a rogue is like a jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none, one of the most expendable positions. However, your little brother breaks out in a coughing fit at that point, and the lecture dies off as they see him to bed. Your other siblings are too young to understand the risks involved.
*********
"Rogue, eh? You look like a goblin could take you out with one claw tied behind its back...try to survive training at least," the guard at the academy entrance looks you over, obviously unimpressed. Still, he nods towards the trainee barracks where you will spend the next 6 years, sparing your parents the cost of room and board, and maybe even earning some money once training missions started.
Your assigned room is little better than the size of a closet, with a window and a bunk bed. You will definitely have a roommate, but who it would be is a mystery, as they haven't shown up yet. You have little in the way of belongings, and you will be mostly wearing the training uniforms you were issued. You drop your rucksack beside the bottom bunk and stand looking out the window, lost in thought.
"Well, well, roomie, it seems we meet again," a eerily familiar voice breathes into your ear, and you nearly jump in surprise. However, when you turn around, you are met with an even greater shock.
Instead of the hooded adult woman you met on the street, grinning back at you is a average-looking boy no taller than you, with freckles on his nose and unruly hair, and dressed in loose peasant clothes. In other words, no one special, except for the fact that you knew by the feel of his gaze that this was the same person from the alley. Even though that was impossible.
"How..." you trail off in wonder, not even sure what to ask.
"Oh, come now, an assassin must be 'invisible' in all sorts of situations," the boy gives you a gap-toothed grin, then flops on the bottom bunk. "This way we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other, now won't we?"
You're not surprised that your roommate is a boy, since adventurer parties were obviously co-ed, so there was no room for gender niceties in the field, much less in the training ground. However, you are flabbergasted that your mentor, who obviously had a different build a few days ago, is now much smaller and a different gender. As far as you knew, disguise magic was just that: a disguise. It could not alter a person's actual body, just subtly change their appearance. Changing a person from an adult to a child...was impossible, right? Let alone a woman to a boy?
Before you have a chance to get your thoughts in order, there's a knock on the door. Your new roommate/mentor jumps to his feet and answers.
"Hey, neighbors! We're gonna go get some chow, wanna join us?" a stout girl smiles invitingly, as a gloomy-looking boy looks in from behind her. "I'm Zayn, and he's Livo," Zayn nods over her shoulder. They apparently will live in the next room.
"Sounds good to me, count us in! I'm Kess," your roomie says in a completely different voice from the one he was using to address you. If you didn't know better, you would think he was actually a thirteen-year-old imp. You stare, dumbfounded, until "Kess" turns to give you a smile that makes your blood curdle.
"I-I'm Rael," you finally stammer out, and follow Kess out of the room.
Dinner is relatively uneventful, but you spend most of the time not knowing if your spoon went into your mouth or your nose. You can't help sneaking glances at Kess, who seems to fit in with the other trainees impeccably. You, on the other hand, are relatively uncommunicative, although thankfully Livo is the quiet sort as well, so it doesn't draw too much attention.
Finally, you and Kess return to your room, and you have to face the truth that you will be stuck living with this person for at least the next year, and you didn't doubt it would probably be longer. The door closes and you are alone with an assassin.
"Well then," Kess smiles at you coldly, his voice returning to the husky timbre he used when you first met. "Time for the real fun to begin."