- A Stance of Stone and Mountain's Bone

"That I am. Might I know your name, sir?"

"Hm…Arnold. Arnold of the Drakes."

Arnold took a long pass over the people behind Lia, his eyes watching each one of them with a threatening gaze, but he gave off no feeling of harm. His eyes lingered on Lukali's hooded form as his eyes frowned, something clicking in his head but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"You claim you have some word in what my partner here decides to do with my students?"

He turned his eyes away from the hooded man, much to Lukali's relief as a sigh escaped his lungs, Arnold's stone cold gaze turning back to Lia.

"Why is that?"

"Well as I have said, I am under the impression that having defended their lives from death, I should have a say in whether all my hard work will go to waste."

Arnold chuckled, finding Lia's words sophisticated yet harsh enough that it made him laugh slightly.

"Does that not just mean they sustained these injuries under your watch? Meaning that it was because of your ill work that they were harmed?"

"You can assume."

"And assume I will, as I am now under the impression that you failed in protecting them from this monster, so why should I let you decide what happens to a group you failed to protect."

"..."

Lia knew what she wanted to say, but her heart pulled at her not to say it. To say what she needed to say, she knew it would only lead to an argument, and she did not know if she had the courage to face Arnold in a fight.

So she focused her emotions and placed them in the hands of Cain, blinding her to the fear she felt imposed on her from Arnold, replaced by a raging flame that burned in her chest.

Arnold watched her silence, mistaking it for a win on his part, so he repeated himself to further bring her down.

"Why should I trust your word when it was you who failed in protecting them -"

"Because that makes your word the same as mine."

"...what?"

Arnold frowned, looking down on Lia who watched him with an unfearing gaze, a gaze that Arnold found more or less imposing.

"You weren't here to defend them. I was. I protected them from death, yet you turn and blame me for not keeping them safe. Where were you in this might I ask, and why were you not here to protect them?"

"...I was on a mission-"

"You say that, yet you blame me for being her and stopping them from falling into death's grasp. Yet you were nowhere to be found, so I ask again; what good is your word in this argument if not mine."

Arnold was both shocked and speechless that this girl was so brazen against her, despite the fact that she appeared so weak and that no one else in the room but her dared to say anything to him. In some ways, he respected her for that.

Olivia however didn't share the same found respect Arnold had given Lia, and instead lashed out in anger, defending the person she held honor for.

"How dare you! You don't have a right-"

Arnold held out a hand, a small and slight gesture, but it put a silence to Olivia's loud and booming words in an instant, while the man tried to find how Lia's gears were turning in her head.

"I am their teacher. While I understand your point of view, I was also on a mission. A mission concerning the deaths of three of my own. So I had no choice but to leave them here."

Lia took in a deep breath, fanning the flames raging in her chest, the only thing that kept her mouth moving and her engine running.

"Then why, might I ask, do you blame them for acting out? You sent them here to hold off negotiations, yet this was simply a part of that. If you did not trust them to handle this, knowing what this mission did hold, you should have never sent them here to begin with."

"What are you saying then?"

"I'm saying that ill-worth of punishment does not fall on them alone. It should, if I may say, fall on you."

"Fall on me? For what reason? Because I sent them here to do a job and they failed in that job, got themselves injured and nearly killed?"

Now Arnold was being more bold with his words, finding himself speaking before he could think. Everything Lia was saying he hated and despised, disagreeing with every word that came out of her mouth.

But what he despised the most about this argument, was the fact that he couldn't argue against her reasoning. It made sense to him and he acknowledged he made a mistake, but to say that he should simply accept that, he would never.

"I won't take the fall for someone else's mistake, if that is what you are saying."

"That is what you assume I am saying. You're not actually listening."

Even Arnold could see his party members, people he trusted and trained, fall utterly shocked at the way Lia was so early speaking to him, acknowledging no man, women, or even child had spoken to him, much less his own son.

"Then what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that yes, these students of yours broke their promise and disobeyed orders. But to simply let them wallow in their own injuries, possibly succumbing to them, is wrong. Especially when it was your mistake to send them here to do a job you were asked to do, not them."

"Then are you saying my punishment is too harsh? That I should just let them off the hook, despite the wrong that they did?"

Lia didn't answer, she simply folded her arms across her chest ignoring every word that came at her from Arnold's mouth, a trait that the man found himself hating the most about her.

'Why now does she stay silent? Why of all times now she chooses to be quiet at the height of my argument?'

His tone raised and for the first time in years, the members of his party saw Arnold get angry, and at something as petty as his teaching habits.

"Or is that not what you're saying? If so then what are you telling me?"

Again, Lia remained as silent as stone, watching him with eyes burning with a fiery gold.

"Speak! Don' hold you tongue now when I ask for elaboration."

"You're not listening to what I've been saying. You haven't listened since this whole thing started. If you want me to answer you, think before you speak."

Arnold was so glad that Lia had finally spoken that he immediately threw himself into deep thought, wondering to himself what she was talking about, ignoring Olivia's burning rage from behind her. She took more offense on his side than he did himself.

"Perhaps you should watch your tone against our commander?!"

"And why should I?"

Olivia did a double take, surprised by Lia's harsh and cold tone, but replaced the feeling inside her with a burning rage.

"You will respect those above you and learn your place you miserable -"

"And perhaps you should learn yours."

Lia's voice silenced the room, snapping Arnold for his deep thoughts as he began to realize what had happened in his moment of absence, finding himself smiling at Lia's next words.

"Whose place is it of yours to get offended on another's behalf?"

Oliva was left flabbergasted, a cat having caught her tongue as she failed to speak, trying several times to throw some insults towards Lia and her will.

"You…you - I…I never…"

Arnold couldn't help himself, finding some glee in Lia's insults and now finaly finding silence for him to think clearly. Looking over his shoulder, he spoke aloud, silencing everyone in the room.

"She just did."

Without waiting for a response, he turned back to Lia, who was watching him with the same stone cold and fiery gaze she had held on him, the same gaze that he found himself entranced by.

A woman without fear, who imposes fear on those who impose it.

He liked her tenacity.

"You only argued against my treatment of their wounds, to which I mistaken for you arguing against my punishment in its whole."

"Correct. Though I doubt my words have done much, nonetheless they needed to be said."

"I wouldn't doubt that myself. You have reasoning and tenacity. Something that doesn't often go hand in hand."

Arnold turned his head, looking over his group of students, focused solely on their injuries as they kept their faces planned towards the floor.

"I can have Trevor look at them, but with Becka's injuries…I'm afraid we don;t have anything that can heal a broken leg. Unless you do, I advise you to leave it at that."

Without another word to Lia, who breathed a heavy sigh of relief, having won the argument in her mind, or to Olivia, who tried to get him to stop as he ushered himself and the Master out through a different door. While Arnold and the master left, deeply engaged in a conversation, Lia found two sets of eyes broken down into her from her side.

"If you believe I did something wrong, then say something If not, then I suggest you don't."

Emma looked to Gilbert who kept silent, but a smile painted his face and it told Emma all she needed to know.

"We won't argue with you, seeing as how we might now win the fight. However, I will warn you."

"About your commander?"

"Yes. You may think of yourself high, but Arnold is a mighty man who could kill a dragon with his bare hands. I've seen him fight, and though I haven't seen you in battle, I know from experience that he would sooner kill you next time than listen to you."

Lia didn't want to seem arrogant, but her hatred for Arnold was something she couldn't quell, even if half the stories Lukali told her were lies, it was a fire that raged on inside her heart.

Suddenly, her thoughts turned to Cain and his power, while she silently compared the two.

"I won't need to worry. If Arnold is as strong as you say, it's best you warn him."

"Arrogance will get you nowhere in this fight. He let you off easy this time, next time don't be so sure."

"And who ever said there would be a next time?"

Emma was silent for a moment, her eyes passing over Rian, the hooded Lukali and Lia, who stared on at the door the Master and Arnold had left though. Suddenly, Emma found her voice, echoing the suspicion within her head.

"Just a feeling…"

With that, Gilbert and Emma led the three - Lance, Shawl and Abigail - out through the same door, all of which silently gave Lia a look of thanks. But Lia wasn't focused on that. Instead, her mind was elsewhere, turning over one line thought in her head.

'If Cain and Arnold fought, who would win…?'

***

"I don't like him."

"What's not to like? A tall, fear imposing man who could snap a dragon's neck with his bare hands? Sounds fun right?"

Lia grumbled, leaning back against the bed and its soft sheet and pillows, softer than anything she had slept on in the past few days of traveling since they left the Dorrow's Manor. Currently Cain stood against the opposite wall, leaning against it like he did with everything else.

He watches the world around him like it was dust beneath his feet but a smile painted his face, contrasting and opposing the cold look he gave the dark room. He was having fun teasing her disinterest in Arnold.

"How will we hide Lukali from him?"

"What's there to hide? Lukali came here to deal with his father, confront him if need be, so why hide him?"

"...."

"Do you think he'll take him away from you? Your friend?"

"No - it's not that, it's just…"

"You don't think you'll win?"

"Against him, how could I? He sent a group of murderers to find his son, nearly destroying an entire town in the process! Do you really think he would care about killing us to get to his son?"

"He wouldn't dare."

"He would, Cain. You and I both know it, so I need your help in instilling…well, something inside him."

"Fear isn't easily controlled you know?"

Lia slammed her fists against the bed, groaning in frustration at how fast her mind was moving, too fast for her own consciousness to keep up.

"I know that. It doesn't have to be fear - awe, honor, or…"

Suddenly it hit her. The emotion she would need to instill inside of Arnold in hopes that it kept him from killing them, especially when he learned they were hiding his son from him.

Lia would die before she let her friend fall into his hurtful grasp.

"Respect."

Cain's head raised, his interest finally spiking.

"That could work, but the feats behind such respect would be more than you are capable of."

"But not you."

"....ha…fine. I'll help you."

She sat up, smiling a bright smile that shines in the moonlight, a smile men would fall head over heels for but Cain only returned it with a small tilt of his lips.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, the sound etching between them, snapping the smile from their faces.

"Hello?"

The door creaked open, sending a small line of candle light form the outside inwards into the dark and dull room. Rian stood in the doorway his body illuminated by the glow of the hallway behind him, his face empty and shaded by the light.

"Rian? What's the matter?"

Lia couldn't count the times Rian had visited her at night for something because it had never happened before. If he needed to tell her something, or he needed to ask a question, he normally did so the day after, not that very night.

His odd set of behavior told Lia that this was serious, coupled with his next words, it no longer became a suspicion.

"Lia, sorry to bother you, I just need a moment of time."

"Of mine?"

Rian was quiet for a moment before his eyes soon found the courage to slowly drift towards Cain's immovable physique leaning against the wall. His very body gave off an awing and imposing fear that settled deep within Rian, even though he knew the man was an ally.

It gave Lia the impression that she was very lucky to be able to have a conversation with Cain and argue with him, despite the fact that some people couldn't even look him in the eyes.

"Of his…"