It had been a little more than a month since MacLeod had agreed to take Viv on as a student. He was still a little uneasy about her, but things had settled into a routine. Viv would show up first thing in the morning and hang around juggling her throwing knives until someone let her in. Then she would practice for an hour or two before disappearing until the late evening, when she returned for another couple of hours of sword work. Sometimes when MacLeod was out she would show Rich some judo moves, and though she kept saying she wasn’t much of a teacher she only had to throw or pin him the same way a couple of dozen times before he got the hang of it.

This evening was another such ‘lesson’. Richard kept reminding himself that she was a black belt, with far more practice than him, but still it was embarrassing to be knocked down so regularly by a girl weaker and smaller than he was. Standing ready yet again this time he was sure he had it. This time he would get her for once. This time- he would find himself flat on his back with the breath knocked out of him and Viv holding him down yet AGAIN.

“Okay, so maybe I need a little more practice at that one.” Rich admitted.

Viv grinned. Or maybe it was a smirk. “Anytime, Ryan. Happy to help.” Yup, definitely smirking.

She started to get up but was brought up short almost immediately as her necklace and his amulet tangled together.

“Damn, sorry.” Viv muttered, trying awkwardly to untangle them whilst being unable to move more than a few inches away from him. Then she gave up on that approach and he felt her press against him while she used her hands to unclasp her necklace.

>> Of course there are certain compensations with this particular teacher... >> Richie thought privately as he watched her sit up and put her shirt back in order. Even in a judo jacket her figure was really something. He sat up, unwound her pendant from his red carnelian circle underscored by a bar, then handed hers back to her.

“I should know better, I guess.” Viv apologised. “I just felt the need for a little independence boost today.”

“Is that why you wear it?” Rich asked.

Viv held it up and let it dangle through her fingers. The simple black cord supported a silver figure, a seated cat seen in profile. “Bast, Cat Goddess of the Egyptians. An amulet to be worn for confidence and independence. I bought it when I left school. The last school I went to was really tight, didn’t trust anyone. Made us pay ten pounds deposit on our textbooks and wouldn’t give it back until we’d checked them all into the library. Course I worked in the library so I just checked them in and sold them later.” She noticed his expression.

“Well, it’s the principle of the thing. If they think they can’t trust me, well...” she trailed off a bit, embarrassed, and got back to the story. “So the last day of school, which I had already decided was the last day I was ever going to school and A levels be damned, I got the deposit back and went into town to spend it properly. Had meant to buy some Jack Daniels and get properly pissed, but I was walking past this little shop with all crystals and suchlike in the window and this just jumped out at me. I’ve always liked cats. Had one on my jacket since god knows when, back in primary school anyway. So I thought, independence day for me today, I’ll buy that and have more than a hangover to show for it. Now I wear it cos.. well..” She shrugged and walked over to her bag to tuck it in a side pocket.

“Back then I thought I’d got the hang of things, reckoned I could handle anything. Even up until last month I figured no bastard would ever push me around again without me pushing back harder. Then I come in here, and your friend MacLeod gets out that bloody katana and starts taking me apart, twice a day everyday. So I kind of need a little something extra.”

This was a problem he could empathise with. Rich got up and walked over to her, went to put a hand on her shoulder, then thought better of it considering what he had seen of her reflexes about that sort of thing. “I wouldn’t say he takes you apart. You give nearly as good as you get. You beat him, what, one out of three?”

“Yeah, with fencing foils by those rules. But the Game isn’t played by competition rules. My TLF against his katana, one in seven. At best.” She said, and sat down.

Rich sat next to her. “That is way better than most people manage. You are good. I remember when I was first immortal, he kept on at me until I thought my arms would drop off, just trying to get me half way able to hold a sword. You are years ahead of where I was.”

“Yeah, well, having nutters for parents turned out sort of useful.” she changed the subject. “How about you. Who gave you the amulet?”

“What, this? Just an old friend.” Rich said, going slightly red. “Ah, why did you think someone gave it to me?”

“Naheh meriu. Eternal beloved.” Viv shrugged. “It isn’t the sort of thing you buy for yourself.”

“You read hieroglyphs?” he asked a bit incredulously. >>Does everyone read these except me? >>

“Yeah.” Viv saw he was uncomfortable and went off into another story instead. “Back in high school, we had this Humanities teacher who was really into getting kids involved in learning, letting them learn at their own pace, stuff like that. So he set these little booklets and as long as you got them all done by the end of term you could do whatever you liked in lessons, if it was vaguely on topic. So the unit they were on when I got there was all about Egypt. Now I’d only just finished the same stuff at the last school I was at, so it took me about two lessons to finish all the work he had set for a term. So he set me to colouring in these cardboard figures he had, soldiers and stuff in chariots and a fortress. Pretty cool, for school. Then I finished them, and I decided to copy out a picture from one of the text books.”

“It was a page from the Book of the Dead, and it had columns and columns of little picture writing all up the top. I figured it might be interesting to be able to read it. Got out every book in the library, school and town, and bought a few for myself. I’ve always liked languages, got a bit of a talent for them, and by the time I’d finished the picture I knew enough to write something in the spare space about our year’s rugby captain that would have been pretty embarrassing had anyone translated it again.” she grinned. He grinned too, so she risked asking, “Is that for real? I mean, original, like from Egypt when they wrote that way?”

He shrugged and nodded.

“Wow. I guess eternal can really mean it with us lot. Who do you know that’s that old? No, let me guess- an old friend.”

“It’s just kind of a long story.” Rich said, looking embarrassed again.

“No problem, it’s your life.” Viv shrugged and packed her stuff away. “I got to get going. See you tomorrow?” she asked, pulling on her trainers and putting on her sword belt.

“Yeah, I’ll see you. You know you shouldn’t just carry that around like that. You could get arrested or something.”

“For what, carrying a concealed weapon? Trust me, TLF and me have been most of the way around Europe and both Americas together. He’s stopped more trouble than he’s started.” She patted her sword fondly, then picked up her bag and headed for the door. “Later.” She waved over her shoulder and left.