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The rogue General was waiting for her Lieutenant to show up for his training session in a dark part of the park, away from the hiking trails, frowning at the sky as she watched the stars glimmering unhelpfully. They did nothing to improve her mood or calm her constant anxieties, and she snarled up at them as if they were somehow irritating her as much as being stood up was.

Not that she could really claim that: Ekanite was not even late yet. She was just early, as her theatre training had always taught her, and it annoyed her that he was not just as punctual. In her world, those that were early were on time, and those that were on time were late.

Those that were late got to meet the pointy end of her spear. Unironically, both ends were pointy.

Sighing, Painite opted to warm herself up a bit. She stretched leisurely, moving from one leg to the other, trying to get as limber as she could be. She was two ranks higher than him, and not expecting a real fight, but she was hoping he would show some improvement. At his earnest request she had allowed him a week without her supervision, and she was curious to see if he had even survived.

Or would be, if her extremely protective edge when it came to him had not had her checking in without his knowledge, just to make sure he was okay. Stupid kid, had no idea what he was doing. What war really could be. Where he was going.

Did any of them?

Painite wrinkled her nose, turning to the vaguely familiar aura and looking at the source of her skeptically for a long moment. A memory dawned on her, and her pale eyes widened a bit. Wow, that felt like an eternity ago, and yet this officer had not changed much. Not by rank, at the very least, and Painite snorted.

It figured. Her Lieutenants seemed to be of a certain type. Ekanite would probably be the same way.

"I remember you," she said, though she could not recall the other's name. Or maybe she wasn't trying hard enough to do so. "Up and vanished, but that's not too surprising. Seems par for the course, around these parts, actually. And where ever it is you went, too. Return to our homeland for a bit?" Her accent did sound thick, though Painite could not recall if it had always been that way. Her own accent had faded over the years, though she held on to it as one of the few parts of herself that she had left.

"Well I was waiting for a Lieutenant to train, but I wasn't thinking it would be you. Still, I'm adaptable. How about a spar?" She grinned, though it was far more hollow than it used to be. There was no joy there, no thirst and zest for the battle at hand. No fun.

Painite sighed, waving her hand dismissively. Family drama could be so exhausting, which was one of the reasons why she was glad she had none. Family or drama therein. She supposed she had accidentally adopted a pseudo-son, but the only drama came from trying to make sure he did not get himself killed by idiot-ing himself into something dangerous.

So far, so good.

"Atheneite, right. Ah, yes, I remember. Wow, that does feel like an entire lifetime ago. But have either of us really changed, I wonder?"

She liked to think she had, but even now she doubted it. Though she knew what she wanted, she was unsure if she could ever attain it. Or if she was worthy of it. It was this sort of mental tearing, her opinion of herself and her future split between two outcomes, that had her frustrated to the point of exhaustion. She needed release, and now that she did not take any joy in hunting, sparring would have to do.

Painite watched as the girl lunged at her, grinning before disappearing before the first swing could connect to her face. Her favorite move, and always had been, was teleporting around during a fight. Of course, it was easiest as a General, with energy to spare. "He is a bit innocent," Painite said, reappearing behind Atheneite and summoning her spear to take a slash at her back. "but the Negaverse'll beat that out of him, right?"

"I can't say there was a lot of choice involved," Painite huffed, though it felt strangely okay to be talking about it. She had not really had a chance to talk to anyone about what was going on with her, feeling very alone and isolated. Abandoned. Even if they were sparring, and it was a less than ideal time to be having a serious conversation.

For her, really, were there better times?

Painite lifted her arm and blocked the baton with it, not moving from where she was standing as the other turned around to face her. She banished her spear and reached up with her other hand to catch the wrist that was coming for her, stopping the hand just short of her chest. She frowned, expression dark.

"I'm done making mistakes. I'm going to protect this kid, and give him a chance. No matter how hard we try to be monsters, we still have human weaknesses." She wasn't sure what she was saying, letting the other go with a shove and shaking her head.

Painite watched the other thoughtfully, then finally relented and nodded. She looked down at her hands, finding them shaking and scoffing at herself because of it.

"Don't I know it. I only corrupted him because there was no other way for me to save his life. I pulled his mom's starseed, because there was no way I could save hers. I don't know why I was out there saving anyone, anyway. But if anything were to happen to him now... I don't care," she changed her tone mid thought, hearing how pathetic she sounded.

Taking a very deep breath, she looked at Atheneite and grinned. For a moment, her eyes flashed in a familiar way, her crooked smile actually carrying something in it, rather than the emptiness she had been feeling for so long. If that was a good or bad thing was still hard to say, but at least it was something .

"You know, even though you ditched out for so long, you've come a long way. I'm pretty proud of you. You better not disappear again: I'm going to keep my eye on you this time."

Half of that sounded like a threat, and yet the other half was strangely warm.