Hiashi Hyuga was experienced on the field of battle himself. He'd taken part in ninja wars, and he'd been part of a three man squad.
That, and that he had been trying to gauge her abilities instead of trying to crush her completely, had been why the fight had taken as long as it had.
"What are those odd rays and auras?" asked Hiashi as a servitor brought fresh towels.
"I am an acolyte of the Church of Sune," said Hinata after a deep breath. "I have access to certain abilities as such."
"Never heard of it," said Hiashi, frowning at the thought of one of his daughters joining some cult.
"In that world, there are beings of great power, and one has to choose a patron among them - especially when you're engaged in fighting servants of one of their number," said Hinata with a shrug. "The goddess Sune is 'The Lady Of Love' and the chosen goddess of artists and those who love another. She encourages the creation and sharing of beauty."
"Ah, so it was a practical decision based on that other world's environment," said Hiashi with a nod. Sort of like fitting in with the locals to better accomplish a mission. Acceptable.
Harsh syllables ending in an interrogative from the darkskinned maid.
"I have to teach her the local language and customs, per the Hokage's orders," said Hinata.
"Well, if it's a mission from the Hokage, you must then," said Hiashi, managing not to limp until AFTER he'd left the dojo. Form counted after all.
Ruby was quite familiar with the concept of hidden bodyguards and DID understand that this was a village of 'hidden warriors' (which she mainly understood as some kind of ranger/mage combination) and so the hidden watchers concerned her not much beyond letting the Lady Hinata know about them.
Not that the Lady Hinata needed more than the occasional prompt. Her clairvoyant abilities were quite impressive, especially when bolstered by the dagger that had been taken as loot from the High Priestess' lover. Ruby allowed a smile to briefly cross her face as that woman, a high ranked mage-cleric had been killed by Lord Naruto's solid mirror-images.
The dagger itself had no doubt played its own part. It had chafed at being used by such as the former Mistresses. Certainly the High Priestess and her lover had mentioned that and that they would enjoy breaking the will within the dagger. It might not have been a weapon of epic power, or a weapon with intelligence of its own as such things were measured, but those were just conjectures drawn from Ruby's overhearing of such commentary.
Her own weapon, given to her from Lord Naruto himself, was a minor dagger taken from the corpse of the High Priestess. Nonmagical but expensive, a dwarf-forged masterwork worth more than she herself was if it were to be sold. That it came from her now-deceased and unlamented former Mistress made the owning of the weapon all the more sweet.
Ruby was not necessarily a nice person. She was, however, very survival-oriented. Her current Master and Mistress wanted her to 'play nice' and so she would. They had even tried on several occasions to free her.
Ruby had considered that the first time it had been offered. The problem being that she didn't really understand the concept. In some ways it was more frightening than facing a village of humans had been.
So she remained. With more duties and more benefits, better status and less beatings and torture. And if it gave her the opportunity to occasionally do something messily painful to former Mistresses or at least screw with them - she could definitely live with that.
The Mistress' father/teacher (Ruby wasn't sure which) made short comments and sounded dismissive. In other words, typical of either role in Ruby's experience. Except there were no whips and she didn't see any blood.
Of course the Mistress DID use that weird Monk-like combat style where a touch could leave an arm hanging useless at one's side or cause the victim to be gasping helplessly for breath. Still, neither Mistress nor her sensei were completely out of it.
That might have been because of the Mistress wearing that Ring Of Minor Regeneration or the Bracers Of Resistance or it might have been that the two were just very skilled.
The sensei of the Mistress was definitely the more battle-experienced of the two, but slightly slower and less flexible. Mistress had the edge in speed and flexibility, but lacked the reach of the sensei's arms and didn't have quite the experience.
The use of a clerical spell to produce a blast of holy radiance had apparently caught the sensei by surprise. This had been offset by the Mistress' inexperience and telegraphing the manuever enough for the sensei to pick up and twist out of the way of the attack. Mostly.
Had it been a real fight, Ruby would have quietly slipped a dagger through the ribs of the Mistress' opponent during that moment she had pressed him.
The hidden assailants had stirred themselves a couple of times, but that was probably just more of their strange ways. In a drow citadel, strips of flesh would have been removed as reminder to those who had revealed their position through such methods.
Ah, perhaps the Mistress was going to reveal her art now. Ruby understood that this was something the Mistress enjoyed, but it was also something of a religious observance. To each their own, Ruby supposed. In a drow citadel the religious observance usually involved something that caused screaming and wailing on the part of the victim. This "Sune" of the Mistress required arts of a generally more passive nature.
Ruby could appreciate it as the Mistress had chosen the art of:
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(Posted Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:42)
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