"Well.. To start off.. I was born not to a rich king and his stunning queen, but instead a family that lived in an alleyway, filled with rats and vermin of all kinds and shapes. My mother was dying from illness, she died when I was five, and my father was an amputee from the pit fights, now a bartender in some junkie's hole. Life was hard.. we did anything to keep alive. I served people I didn't know, being a young little waitress - didn't fuсk them, I killed my first person, a woman at nine, when she grabbed me up and tried to pull my pants down and I put a shiv through her throat - but we were still as poor as shit. In my free time.. I lifted weights, I beat up boys my age that tried stealing from me, and I kept that shiv close. Now, imagine a.. shorter me. At pubеrty, probably twelve or so.. Gods, I was strong for my age. Taller than some of the fully grown men in the bars. I could flip their bodies over and break bones in seconds. Already, I had a mean streak stretching for a mile.. so I got interested in the arena fights. My dad hated the idea, but I ignored him and threw myself in anyway. Khaom's arena.. it's the most exciting place I've ever known. The stench of shit and metallic blood's followed by the smell of roses and wine.. the satisfying screams of victims, accompanied by cheers from the crowd.. the colors weren't just steel grey and scarlet, but so much more. It was.. wonderful. Men and women fought the same gender until the later leagues, when you got down and dirty, tearing away at each other.. Anyway, my mentor. It was probably my first year in.. dad got bought by slavers, I was too much for them, according to arena officials. He's dead, for all I know.. I hadn't lost a battle just yet, so the slavers wanted me. They offered to trade forty slaves.. but the arena nobles wouldn't have it. "She is thirteen, and she kills grown women like a mantis would kill an ant!" - they said. Those offers kept going, until I killed my first man in a promotion fight. I didn't have to spare too many people.. I was a favorite for being a merciless jaсkass, I guess. Got paid well for it, got a decent home, guards, custom weapons and armor, my own sigil - a bloodied poleaxe with a skull as a shaft's end, servants, and "other" types of servants. Because if you know fighting, you know what men and women'll spend their coin on once they've got their priorities set straight. So when this blind shit, probably about sixty, came up to me in the barracks all alone and said "Would you like to train".. I swung my fist, right at his jaw. Should've broken his mouth, shattered his teeth. But no, he just.. ducked. A few more punches, and I stopped. The guy just chuckles to himself, and takes my hand. He was so weak and old, but so.. fast, agile, and simply kind. Kind. All of the old people I knew were thirsty, spoiled аsshat nobles.. "You have the fury of the greatest storms, but no control, no falter, no wisdom to prevent your wrath from consuming all until you drain yourself away." - that's what he told me, then and there. Then, he.. offered to train me. [i]Actually[/i] train me. Afterwards.. I kept fighting, kept beating. I crushed the strongest of men in seconds with a throat punch, I defeated the most cunning with a sudden unexpected slash, I cleaved the fastest into two with a simple attack at their legs. A year later, and I was eligible for the Emperor's Challenge, after slaying the champion of the arena with an axe to the cranium.. when I came back to my home, that old man merely nodded to me. He said nothing, just.. nodded. His name was Arahka, he told me. He had taught me to control myself when needed. He taught me how to adapt to my foes. He taught me the wisdom of peace, and how I should treat my foes, how I should align myself with good. That wisdom kicks into my mindset every now and then, but.. it's there. ...Arakha died a few days before the war between Trayve and Khaom began. That's.. a long story on it's own." [i]Isabella would descend into silence, after that.[/i]

"Oh...Isabella...That's quite the tale you've got there. I'm both touched and horrified..." Star sighed and embraced Bella in a hug, going silent for a minute or two before speaking again. "Maybe I'll tell you my story in return someday."

"Hey, you can tell me whenever. Anyway, about that rifle axe.. do you think that you could.. well, make one? Hell, a shotgun axe would be amazing too.."

"Easily, Bella. So, shotgun or rifle? I think a shotgun fits you better." Star gave a wink and a giggle. "I'll make it as soon as I return to my ship. I probably have enough spare parts laying around."

"A shotgun. In the meantime.. I'll be practicing with shotguns in here. I can see how they operate. Do you think you could bring it by at the council meeting? I'll be there, probably going to be drunk.. ...Okay, very drunk."

"Don't be flirty drunk...please. We don't need that behaviour at an important meeting. I'll bring it, Bella. Don't worry." Star nodded.