A "lady" and her son...

{Okay so I know Lynn hasn't been "accepted" yet but still here is a post.}

Lynn watched as the manor came into view. It was just after sunset when the carriage pulled up outside of Robert's home. She had arrived early that day looking for the vampire and in the village it was like pulling teeth trying to get someone to tell her how to get here. Some went as far as telling her that this wasn't a place for a lady and her son. Of course to that Lynn had to laugh and say it was good she was no lady then. Finally she found someone willing to take her and Areno to Robert's home, it had come at a pretty penny that's for sure.

Shaking her head she gathers her son into her arms. They all act as if a dangerous man lives here or something. As the door to the carriage opens she steps out of it and stands looking at the house. Areno stirs in her arms and looks up as well. "Mama. where are we?" Lynn's bends and sits him on the ground. "We are at an old friend's."? She says softly looking down at her son. The driver frowns "It is not to late, miss. I could take you away from here before He even knew you are here." Lynn shakes her head. "I have nothing to fear from this man." Reaching down she takes Areno's hand. "Come it is time for you to meet a very dear friend of mine." Lynn knew that if he was up and about he would smell her before she even had a chance to knock but it was still the polite thing to do. She reaches a paw up and lets the heavy knocker bang against the door. She and Areno stood on the front step waiting for the Master of the house.

Twilight was just taking the day away as Shayd's eyes snapped open from within his chambers. Lynn was right. He smelled her scent easily before she was even out of the carriage. He took a breath, not knowing exactly what to expect of the child. Would he be insufferable? Would Lynn wish to partake in his training? Soften him? Make it all the more difficult? It was customary for assassins to be taken from their parents, given a better chance at life, away from the starvation that their parents were suffering. Or away from a family marked for death. It was a trade. Live long and suffer, or die young with your parents. That was the usual trade. This was different though.

Lynn and Robert had a history. He cared for the Leopard. More than he'd like to admit. She stirred what was left of his heart, which was far less than he would like, but knew it was necessary.

The child. The child was here.

Shayd stepped his way down the stairs, slipping his mask upon his face and letting his hair fall to his shoulders. He was in his uniform, black leather assassin's garb with the cloak placed on his back.

He opened the door. Amber eyes shining in the near dark.

"Hello Lynn, Come in please."

His eyes looked to the man on the carriage. "Their belongings. Bring them. And what they paid you. Return it."

The man nearly wet himself, the ice in Shayd's voice cutting.

The man reached into his pocket, but Shayd was already within inches of his face.

Shayd slipped his own hand into the pocket, removing the coins and pulling out 4 of them.

"Here is your fair price. Begone."

The man hopped onto his carriage, turned tail, and rode as fast as his horses would take him.

He stepped back into his home, placing the coins into Lynn's hand.

"Do not let these men cheat you. It is not like you."

He returned his gaze to the boy, sizing him up. "Boy. What is your purpose?"

Areon stares wide eyed at the man who appeared at the door. Mama said he was a friend of her's. I have to be brave in order to make her proud. He squares his shoulders and stands tall, or as tall as he can for a boy his age. Lynn looks at Robert and raises a brow. Shaking her head she moves around him and stands in his foyer. Kneeling down in front of her son she smiles. "Do not let him frighten you, little one. Trust your mama his bark is worse than his bite." She looks up at the man in question and smiles as he comes back through the door. "Its nit that I let him cheat me its the fact that being a friend of your's cost a lot of money. Seems you have been making a name for you here as well." She stands and straightens her skirt as she faces the man who had haunted her thoughts for the past few years.

When Shayd address Areno he looks at the man and with a serious face he answers "I am here to make mama proud and to become a man my father would have be happy with. Mama says that you can do this. She says you will teach me what I need to know, sir." He ends softly as he looks to Lynn.

Lynn smiles at Areno. "Do not frighten my son, Robert. I am trusting his care to you. He is the most important man in my life. And you know I don't held men that high." She says with a smile.

Shayd looked down at the boy. His amber eyes illuminating the boy's face slightly. He nodded his head and knelt before him. "That is a decent answer. Your mother is correct." He stared at him a bit longer and nodded his head. He made no other sound as Lynn chastised his methods. Instead standing and looking her in the eyes as well.

"I am going to make your son into someone who needs no other in order to survive. I will train him to use his mind to greater his goals, and to use the might his father gave him to protect those that he loves. When you asked me to take on this challenge for you, I accepted. Now you must understand what it is that I require to give him the future you desire for him. This is not a place for coddling. This is a place of working to better ourselves. He will need his mother's love, but I cannot allow you to slow his process. The fruit of a tree well tended is greatly bearing."

He turned back to the child crossing his arms.

"Will you use what I teach you to better the world? To protect your mother? Do you volunteer?"

Lynn crosses her arms across her breasts as she looks up and glares at Robert. "Why don't you have someone show Areno to his rooms and you and I can continue this conversation some where without young ears listening." She says with a raised brow. Leaning down again she kisses her son's cheek. "It will be alright, little one." She smiles softly as she turns toward the living room and waits for Robert to join her.

Once they are alone she turns to face him. Taking time to take off her cloak she smiles softly at him. "I have missed you. No other man would have the nerve to tell me that I am coddling my son. He is only four, Robert. And until his training starts he is still my son. After I leave him here I will not hinder any of his training. I trust you with his life. I trust you will make him someone Arath could have been proud of. He may not have been able to watch his son grow up but I hope that he will still see some how what our son will become." Dropping her cloak on the back of a chair she stands in front of Robert in a dress that reveals more than it covers. Lynn maybe 35 in years but her body still looked 20. She worked hard to keep her looks. Her tails flicks behind her as she places her paws on her hips.

Shayd turned to the side, nodding at the boy as he walked up the stairs.

Turning back to the woman he allowed her to have her rant at him. He took it, along with her cloak, which he placed on the chair beside him.

"Lynn. I was merely pointing that he can't be coddled, not that you were doing so at this moment. I wish only to make it clear that the path won't be easy, but it will be rewarding beyond all other capacities. Your trust is well placed. There is no safer place in all of Aeternus than right here."

He failed to keep his eyes upon hers however, taking a split second to observe her many... qualities. He may be almost 500, but dammit he had the same urges as he did when he was a young man. Of course, he'd keep that in check.

"You are welcome to stay as long as you desire."

Lynn takes a deep breath which raises her breasts. Letting the air out she looks at him. "How is it that I can't stay upset at you?" She smiles as she watches him take in her curves. "I know he is in the safest place he could ever want to be. You will teach him all he needs and he will be a better man for it. He does not need his mother hanging around. I would want to hold him every time he fell or hurt himself." She crosses her arms over her breasts again and leans a hip on one of his chairs.

"I am sure this is new to you. Having the parent here and all. I will not stand in his way. In fact as soon as I find a place to open my house I will be going back to work. I brought him to you because a whore house is not a place for a little boy to grow up. He does not need to be around all that can go on a place like that." Taking another breath she looks down at her feet she blinks. Looking at him again her voice softens "He needs a place to be a man and to learn how men are supposed to act. He can not get that where I will be. I asked this of you years ago and I knew what would happen when I asked. We are both ready for this." It might sound cold but Lynn loved her son and knew that Robert would keep him safe and help him to be all he could be.

Shayd nodded his head, running a hand through his hair. That was it again. The feeling of needing to protect. "Don't worry. He will learn to pick himself up when he falls. No tears." He smiled underneath his mask and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I will not be taking the place of father. He will grow to hate me, and miss his mother's love. Understand that that is normal. I cannot stress enough the necessity for you to be absent until he is fully trained. For if he thinks he has an easy way out... he may pursue it."

As she leaned on the chair he sat upon the table. "I think... I think he is going to be happy though. He isn't going to be forced into Assassinship. That'll be a choice that niether you nor I can make for him. But I can teach him how to read, write, and craft anything his heart desires. That'll be first. He will be skilled with sword and bow to soldier standards, and if he so chooses.... beyond."

Lynn leans into his hand when he places it on her shoulder. Why was it easy to let her guard down around this man? She never let anyone see this deep into her life.

When he moves to the table she stands straight. "I am not looking for a father for him, Robert. I could have found many of those through out the last few years. That is not what he needs." She walks closer to him her hips sway with each step. "I have men tell me that I will want for nothing and my son will want for nothing. That is not what I need from you. From you need him safe and protected. I need him to grow up learning a skill. To have a better life than I can give him."

Taking a breath again she turns back to the chair and sits. Crossing her legs she looks into his amber eyes and frowns softly. Her icy blue eyes look older than their years. This life was hard but it was her own and she had fought long and hard, tooth and nail to be who and what she was. "I will leave him just as soon as I find a place for my home as I said. I am sure that at first he will hate us both. He will not understand that this is for his own good." She sighs softly as she sits back into the chair. She could live with him hating her as long as he was safe. Lynn also hoped that Robert would bring her news every once in awhile. It would be easy to leave him as long as she got some news.

Shayd nodded his head, placing himself into the seat beside her. "I have never had to part a son from his mother. Not like this. I'll have to tread carefully on this one." He grinned beneath his mask, taking a deep breath once more. Of course he'd bring news of her son. Why would he withhold information like that? She had nothing to worry about there.

"And safety and skill he shall have."

Lynn looks over at him and raises a brow. "Do not tread any more caution than you would with anyone else. Do not treat him different. Yes it will be hard at first but he soon see that what I did was for the best. My son is a very smart boy." She says as she places a paw on his knee and pats it gently. "After all who wouldn't want to learn from someone with your skills? Almost 500 years of life had to teach you something." She smirks and winks at him. "I can image tracking your sister all those years wasn't the easiest thing to do. I heard Catherine tell stories about her younger years." Her smirk turns into a playful smile. "How are Catherine and Signal doing? And little Fayte? I thought you would be training her as well. I excepted to see her running down the stairs." She asks as she moves her paw back to the arm rest. Though she did care about her friends she wasn't sure she could handle a trip down memory lane with the happy couple. Thoughts of Catherine brought back memories that Lynn wanted buried for good.

Shaking her head,her ear twitches as she looks at the man beside her. "You know I still have that story book you gave me for Areno. I used to read it to him every night up until the point he told me he was to old for bed time stories." She sighs and leans her head back against the chair closing her eyes. "I do not know why I told you that. I was just saying to myself that I did not want to take a trip down memory lane and now I bring up the book you gave me. Sorry Robert I think that the long days of traveling have caught up with me. And having some to talk beside a four year old has loosened my tongue." She opens her eyes and leans her head on her shoulder looking at him with her clear blue eyes. Her tail flicks lazily beside her on the chair. Lynn had never been that great with small talk. It was easier once the clothing came off. What did that say about a person if they would rather talk to someone with no clothing on than fully dressed. The thought makes her laugh a little.

Shayd kept his eyes forward as she spoke. "You son will know not of any special sort he is. As my other students before him, he will not see my face until the day he becomes a full Assassin. As is the rite." He nodded his head, smiling at her.

"There are those that would dream about just seeing my face. Here you sit, having seen much more." He chuckled to himself, standing up, and breathing in her scent.

"It was much easier than you'd think... She left a bodycount wherever she went after all... It was subduing her that had been a problem... I had opportunities... to end it all.... I let those slip by. I wanted her alive.... it was a dark time."

He turned his attention back to his study and gave a chuckle. "He'll be begging for his mother's bedtime stories soon enough. Children love to hang on to their fancies. Funny how he would wish too be so old. 4 is barely a time to forsake such things."

Lynn smirks as he makes the comment about her seeing more of him than just his face. "And from what I remember its all pretty impressive." Uncrossing her legs she stands and walks over to him. "Should I feel honored that I have not only seen your face but the rest of your body as well? And not only have I seen it all but I saw it all the first night we met." She smiles at him.

"I know about Cat's past. She has tried to make up for what she did all those years ago. Your sister gave me a chance when I had no one. But that's not a story for retelling." Her ear twitches.

She looks at the floor as he mentions that four was still young and not old enough to give up on things. "I have tried my best to give him a normal life. I tried keeping the down and dirty parts of my business away from him. I hope that I did an alright job there. I would make sure that I would only take clients after he was asleep once he was older. I know four is still to young to remember things that go on but I want him to have choice I did not. I was never asked what I wanted to do with my life. This seemed like the natural choice for me. And I was good at it. I was 14 Robert and good at it already. My son needs more." She says softly and blinks before looking back at him. It wasn't that she was sorry for herself but that she always wondered what wit would have been like to be someone else.

Shayd tilted his head down, raising his hand. Her profession did not embarass him, and he knew it didn't do so to her either, but such things were not meant to be discussed... Not really. He understood though.

"He will have the world at his feet once I am finished." He picked up her hand, kissing the back of it and nodding his head. "With you and Arath within him, he will undoubtably be my best student

Lynn takes a deep breath and smiles again. "I want that for him. I want him to know that he can reach for the stars and know that they are his for the taking. I would never say this to him. But when I realized I was going to have a baby I panicked. I was sure I could care for him. Arath just died and I just wanted to give up. I am glad I didn't and I am hoping that all the choice since have been correct. It would have been easier if he was a girl." She says with a smirk. She actually wasn't sure it would have been have been easier. Would she have wanted a girl and to see her daughter go down the same path that she herself had. Shaking her head she frowns slightly' "Okay maybe it wouldn't have been. Don't think I could watch my daughter go down my path." Are tail flicks behind her as she stands there.