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She had followed the woman for days and at last her patience was paying off. Silently, patiently, and with cunning, Dayla had been hunting down her next mark for almost a week. Not a record on either end, but at last, she had found her target's home.
Dayla shook her head, trying to get a coiled lock out of her face.
Her target was a woman named Kafi. Quiet and unassuming, adopted in a family of local socialites. Her daily routine was simple compared to the rest of her family. Instead of parties and champagne, she was usually found writing with a cup of coffee by her side.
With a bit of preparation, Dayla snuck into Kafi's home, scaling up the wall of the house and crawling through a window that had a tiny bit of open space.
Dayla was expecting her to be sleeping, considering how late it was, but there Kafi was in a comfortable looking pink robe, with unruly dark hair. She wore gloves with silver tips on the fingers, a trait ubiquitous to this woman. 'Did you really think that you would find me so easily?' She signed.
Sign language? Why? She wasn't deaf, she had to hear her entry. And as far as her dossier and observation could tell, she was smart as a whip. Why did she not speak?
'Who are you?' Dayla signed back.
'Do you want my old name, Silent One?'
She was taken aback, reading those words from her fingers. Only her clan called her that, their secret identifier. "What… Are you Yoru-Te Clan?'
'The Night Hand. The ones who stole my voice, and your voice too.' She pointed to a tiny pin-prick scar on her throat, one which matched Dayla. Just looking there, she could almost feel a sharp pain near what was left of her vocal cords.
Dayla tried to shake it off. 'Killing you was supposed to be easy. I was supposed to be the only assassin here.'
'Former. I have not killed in five years. I left the Yoru-Te, and you can too.'
'I can't, even if I wanted to.'
Kafi began to think. 'Is that so? Then, I have a proposal. Ritual combat. The victor chooses if the other lives or dies.'
'And if you let me live, I must leave the clan. That is the way of the Yoru-Te.' Dayla signed, the clan's form of agreement.
'One last thing,' Kafi signed. 'Only your weapons. No armor to save you.' She untied her robe and shrugged it off, leaving her nude. The defined muscles all over Kafi's body were draped in skin scarred like the marks of a tiger. She really was one of her own, Dayla thought.
Dayla nodded and removed each piece of body armor one by one until she matched Kafi. She even kept her gloves, which featured large retractable blades meant for climbing between the knuckles.
'Now…' Kafi flexed her fingers within the gloves, revealing sharp silver claws. 'Let the fight begin!'