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Jade waited in front of her hotel, standing in a partial en garde position. As she spent nearly half her life standing like this, it felt most natural to her. She tugged at her pants a bit to make it a bit more smooth. Formal clothing made her feel extremely stiff. At least she didn't have to wear a dress.

A large black car pulled up in front of her. The driver rolled down the side window.

"Hey you!" He called out. He had driven her around back when she was still a student at the academy. Although Jade didn't know his name, she was glad that he was the one picking her up.

"Yo, How are you doing?" She called back. "Open the trunk for me will ya?"

"Sure, need help with that?"

"Nope," She answered as she dropped two large fencing bags in the back. Then after slamming the trunk shut, she slid into the back seat. "I'm so glad to see you! Have you been well?"

"Alright, I suppose," The driver answered. "So what brings you back to the Arcane Society?"

"I'm thinking of getting a job there." Jade said. "Sent in my application already. Hopefully they'll consider me."

"Why? What's wrong with your normal job?"

"Nothing, I just feel like I don't fit in anymore now that I can see spirits and no one else can. Besides, they've got better fencers to replace me in the Olympics." She let out a small laugh.

"Well, I bet they sure miss you. From what I've seen, you're the best fencer and teacher out there."

Jade smiled at his compliment. It was kind of him to cheer her up like that. She whispered a small inaudible "thank you."

They talked until they reached the front gate of the academy.
"Well, I've gotta go pick up the others. Don't get in too much trouble okay?" The driver winked at her as she got out of the car and began removing her bags from the trunk.

"I'm amazed you'd even think such a thing." She said back playfully. "Me? Getting in trouble?"

The driver laughed, before giving a final wave and driving away. Jade, now alone, felt a bit nervous. It was like coming home again after being away for years. She wondered how many of the people here she would still know as she dragged her giant bags up to the front of the Academy. Pulling the large heavy doors open, she entered.

Schraeder's initial excitement at finding a child like Melody was quickly dissipating as he realized that she was, in fact, just a lost child that offered him almost no real knowledge or assistance. Still, Schraeder couldn't be too upset, seeing as he was in the same situation. He would just have to bring her along until they both found their destination.

"I don't," he replied, shaking his head slightly and looking around the ornate hall. "Although maybe - " he was cut off by the sound of a large door being opened, and muffled voices from what might be the next room. It was hard to tell; sound carried in this place.

"Come on," he said, gesturing for Melody to follow as he walked further into the foyer. There was a corner to the left, and following the voices, Schraeder took it. After a bit more walking, he and Melody were entering into another large hall with another door. The difference was that there was a woman with a couple of bags, and a handful of younger Cardholders that Schraeder vaguely recognized from his time here previously. He wasn't sure if they would recognize him, though, so he stayed quiet and gestured for Melody to step forward too.

Mel felt a bit upset that this man didn't have any idea where to go either. She wondered where he was leading them. But as the sound of voices got louder, she felt more certain that he was leading them to the right place.

"Thank you!" She said quietly but cheerfully, placing her fingers gently upon his arm. She whispered a quiet blessing that infused him with some energy and happiness. It was how she often thanked her friends of the forest for leading her to a patch of clovers or bushes filled with thick berries. Mel wondered if it was appropriate to thank humans in the same way.

As they stepped into the room, a tall woman, apparently named Jade, announced this man as the King. Mel wondered what she meant by that. Was this man really royalty? Around Jade, Melody felt more shy than ever. She only managed to whisper out her name before hastily stepping moving closer to the "king."

Feeling slightly awkward that she was attaching herself to a person she had just met minutes ago, she scanned around the room looking for other people who were relatively her age. There was a boy standing in the room who was a bit older than her, but at least he still looked like a teenager. Mel wondered if she should go talk to this person, silently wishing that he would be the first to talk to her.

Constance couldn’t help but notice that Hidiyoshi’s lips seemed to have become a straight rigid line across his face as Markus entered the room. She, on the other hand, gave Markus a smile and said promptly, “Just going to go over the status downstairs and what we should expect at the banquet.”

Radik gave Markus and nod and continued to finish his oatmeal. Afterwards, he wiped his mouth with a napkin, pushed the empty bowl of oatmeal away from him and cleared his throat. “Well, Now that we are all present, let us review today’s schedule and have any updates presented. I had always hoped that the cause of our next banquets get together would be for a more joyful reason, but as all three of you know, we have lost many fine cardholders within the last few months. We will need to recuperate our forces, examine their skills, train them if necessary, and then we need to figure out who or what is behind the recent attacks.” Radik sighed and then looked at Constance. “Constance, how are the preparations going?”

Constance whipped up her clipboard and began to say as her eyes skimmed the notepad that had several swirling black inked notes. “Several of our drivers have been sent to retrieve the cardholders and currently five cardholders are now accounted for. We had a little hiccup in the floral arrangement in the banquet hall, we received a special freebie, the florist sent a set of passion fruit flowers as a thank you...but it turns out a few of the banquet helpers were severely allergic to them. They are okay now after Dr. Watson was able to subside their massive swelling. Also in the kitchen had a little episode, one of the mechanical mixers was possessed by a vengeful spirit of a murdered wife, who mistook our head baker as her husband and chased him around the kitchen. That issue has been settled after holy water was dosed upon it. I think we should keep an emergency bottle properly labeled in the kitchen this time, since the last glass bottle of holy water was found empty, but maybe storing it next to the vodka might have been the problem.” Constance paused to take a breath of air and look up to survey the others in the room with smile before she continued on with her update. “Otherwise, everything is going according to plan. Once the rest of the cardholders arrive we will be able to usher them into the banquet for the ceremony, owning that no one else is severely allergic to to flowers and that nothing else becomes possessed.”

“Yes, though possessed utensils that start chasing everyone during the feast would add some element of much needed fun.” Radik commented, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile and he chuckled at the mayhem that must have taken place in the kitchen. Radik thanked Constance and turned to Hidiyoshi. “How is the condition of the protective barrier Hidiyoshi?” Hidiyoshi cleared his throat and replied, “Fairly well actually, there hasn’t been much damage to them during the past week, which seems odd after the seemingly increase in activity for the past months. The anchor points will need to be revitalized however. I will need a healers help though.” Radik mulled this though over in his head as he looked at the mask like face of Hidiyoshi. The barrier must have taken a considerable amount of damage during those months to urge Hidiyoshi to perform the sacrifices at the points. “ Very well, we shall have to see test the prowess of our healer however before she can accompany you.” Radik remarked and then added as an afterthought. “I think it will also be advisable that another experienced cardholder should come with you as well...Markus? I hope I can depend on you to ensure that Hidiyoshi’s endeavour does not become prey to hunting spirits?” Radik’s eyes left Hidiyoshi’s face to peer over at Markus, though he didn’t miss the lines on Hidiyoshi’s face harden at the advice.

Kira smiled at Kiwan as he offered her the plate of shrimp. Her eyes lit up at them, and she quickly took the plate with her dominant hand which was her left hand, impulsively, "Oh my God, I haven't had shrimp in about three years now," Kira gushed excitedly. As she popped a shrimp in her mouth she closed her eyes briefly enjoying the taste, "And I'm starving. I've only had plane and airport food for the past twenty odd hours."

"Ever since I started going out with my fiance I had to give up eating shrimp, since he's deathly allergic to shellfish," explained Kira.

Smiling widely she held out her right hand for Kiwan to shake. "My name is Kiora Morganstern Nyx, but you can call me Kira." Growing more serious and somber she said, "I inherited my father''s legacy as the holder of the Devil card. What is your card?"

Kira bit her lip realizing she was most likely being too talkative. There was a pause when Kira asked Kiwan his card and she was interrupted by the words, "Hi, I'm Jade. Which weapon do you fence? Sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting your conversation, Kiwan."

Kira turned to see a blonde haired woman who looked older and more mature than Kira. It struck Kira that with their matching blonde hair the two looked like they could possibly be related, and they both carried fencing bags. It was ironic. What would only be more ironic is if they fenced the same weapon, but there was only a 33% of that. The woman might have been intimidating to some, but to Kira she was a fellow fencer, and already the two women had something in common.

Kira couldn't help but scrutinize the woman some, however. Jade wasn't dressed nearly as formal as Kira was, but then again, Kira was the type of woman to go all out in everything she did. If Kira was going to dress up, she was going to dress to the nines. Jade also seemed to be an unfamiliar face, so no doubt she wasn't a part of any card holding family, not that that fact really bothered Kira too much. It just made Kira wonder slightly if Jade could ever understand the loss that card holding families understood. Jade was most likely not orphaned due to a fight that her parents were pulled into by fate.

Regardless, Kira decided to show her more sunny disposition to Jade. Maybe, Jade and Kira could get along as fellow fencers and anyhow, now was not the time to make assumptions and conclusions about the others she was going to be working with for the next coming months at the very least.

Answering Jade's question, Kira said smiling a radiant smile that lit up her greenish eyes, "I dabble with all three, but competitively I fence epee. I went to nationals fencing epee, my coach said I'd have gone farther if I wasn't so impulsive. I'm Kiora Nyx by the way, you can call me Kira."

After a moment's pause, Schraeder recognized two of the people in the room he had just entered. Technically speaking, he only knew one of them, since Lenka had never actually been in his presence before, but he had heard of her from her father more often than she knew. The old man was proud of her, Schraeder could see, so finally meeting her was a nice step for him.

"Jade," Schraeder said pleasantly, bowing his head to her and letting a smile creep to his face. They had met once, several years back, and Schraeder quickly ran over the list of facts that he remembered about her: she was an Olympian - a fencer, even - so he respected her for that. She could be a challenge for him to beat in a swordfight, but it would certainly be fun. She also wasn't hard on the eyes, though he would never mention it out loud.

When Jade dismissed herself to speak to the others, Schraeder turned to Lenka and bowed again, always maintaining an air of professionalism and respect. "Lenka," he said, taking a step towards her. "Of course I remember you, though I haven't really met you in person before. Your father has told me all about you, actually. I can honestly say that it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He offered her his hand to shake.

For the moment, he ignored Kira. He had never seen her before and didn't know if she would be worth talking to just yet, so he would observe before he approached her. He did note that she also held a fencing bag; she might provide an interesting distraction while Schraeder was stuck here for a while.