Relaxing the day away

Ahh South Gate Park. In all the years it had been since she last visited the park it still was just how she remembered it. Cherry blossom leaves would dance gracefully across the clear sky, the sun portrayed throughout the park would paint it's sky a vibrant orange. The sun would sit amongst the clear sky whilst birds would glide amongst the cherry leaves. It truly was a beautiful day in Magnolia.

Children were littered throughout the park while mothers sat by the sides, gossiping about whatever it was that women these days gossip about. Fathers playing games with their childrens, chatting away and some even playing with their animals. The sight was enough to put a smile on her face, and enough to make her feel out of place. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she looked up at the clear sky.

"What do you know, she's actually really beautiful when she is in a good mood" Rainer said standing over the relaxing Annabelle. "Our paths meet again M'Lady." Rainer said with a soft smile on his face. He backed up a little bit from her and revealed a chess board, and began setting up the pieces.

Lost in her train of thought Anna didn’t notice the person who came up to her until he spoke. Turning her head into the direction of the voice her face that had a pleasant smile turned to a scowl almost immediately when she noticed who it was, the swordsman that belong to the council hating guild. She had no qualms with the man up until he began pushing her buttons and his parting comments even managed to piss her off even more. Taking a deep breath she decided not to make those thoughts ruin this lovely day. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were stalking me.” She said calmly watching him set up a chess board.

Rainer let out a chuckle. "Not at all Lady Anna, I let it be known when I have affections for a lady, not lurk in the shadows." He looked out into the distance. "Perhaps a good time at one of the fairs here in Magnolia, a brief stop at a food vendor, where we then stroll to a nearby lake and take in the sunset." He said thinking of a date before turning his head to Anna "I'm sorry, I know you hate when I talk a lot. I digress" He said finishing his set up of the game. "No stalking, I usually come to the park on nice days and play myself in a nice game of chess. Just noticed you here with a smile on your face that's all." He said moving one of the pieces telepathically, before turning his head back to her. "You are free to join me if you enjoy chess." He said motioning to the otherside of the board.

She managed a smile when he began talking about how what would he do on a date. How long has it been since she did anything besides train and hunt down members of dark guilds? Even though she chose to lead this life, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed with it every now again. “Hmm, chess huh? I have no idea how to play this game. Papa always tried teaching me, but as you’ve seen before I’m not really a patient person, so go easy on me.” She said sitting a bit closer to the board.

Rainer smiled. "Well then I'll just teach you until your patience runs thin, then we can start again the next day." He said watching her sit. "As many as it takes. But lets start with anything you do know. Any information your father gave that has stuck around in your head? Like the pieces names?"

Until her patience runs thin huh? That might happen a bit quicker than you would imagine Mr. Rainer, Annabelle though as she looked at the pieces on the board. Naturally the first thing you would learn about a game such as chess is the name of the pieces and how many squares they were allowed to move, and since she didn’t remember jack shit about the movements of the pieces all she could do is try and rack her brain to recall the names. “Umm….Let’s see. This is the pawn?” She said as her nimble fingers point at the pawn. That one was easy since it held the status of most people in her life. Expendable. Her blue eye quickly scanned the board until it reached a familiar piece. “This is the um….horsey?” She didn’t feel confident with that answer at all but it was a horse head wasn’t it? Then again why did she say horsey? Moving on from that she tried to recall more names but saying flower piece, little sand castle and the crown twins would only make her sound more of an ass. “That’s all I can remember” She said admitting defeating. Damn you chess pieces.

"Pft." A small laugh escaped his lips, he covered his mouth with his hand immediately as if that would've cloaked the sound or made her think it came from somewhere else. He removed the hand and started waving them in mercy. "I'm sorry, its just so cute of you. Horsey." He said looking in her blue eyes with his red ones displaying an apologetic and admiring gleam. He set up the remaining pieces in the middle of the board. "Rook" He said pointing to the one that looked like a tower you would find on a castle wall. "Bishop" He said pointing to the one with a cleric like hat on. "King" He said pointing to the piece with a cross and crown. "And my favorite and most important piece the Queen." He said holding it at eye level. "Oh, and the horsey is actually called the Knight." Rainer finished naming them. "Now you tell me the names, lets see what you retained?" He asked of her.

Even though he tried to cloak the sound it was obvious he was laughing at what she said and who could blame it? It was a bunch on nonsense. Paying close attention to his words and the pieces he held she had been able to retain their names. “Pawn, Rook, Bishop, King, Queen and Horsey.” She said with a smile on her lips. Why was it called Knight when it was a horse head? She thought as she decided she would rename the piece herself.

"I suppose horsey is just as good a name as Knight." Rainer said "Although I will have to be careful not to say 'horsey' now around other experienced players." He thought aloud, hoping he would avoid that embarrassing mistake. "The Pawn can move forward one space at a time, unless it is the first time that pawn has moved. In which case it can move forward two. It can't attack what is infront of it though, only diagonal from it. Much like a C class mage attempting to take out a B class mage, it would not do so head on but when the mage is looking the other way." He gave an anology hoping it would help her learn.

Peering at the chessboard, she nodded slowly when he spoke. She remembered that much from her days living with her father so at least what he was saying felt somewhat familiar. So in short pawns move forward but only can capture diagonally, seems kinda stupid she thought but she allowed the man to continue the lesson.

"I should've asked before my explanation, do you remember now outside of their names what each piece is capable of?" Rainer asked patiently seeing if she had retained any other information form her father. He was more than willing to teach her every piece and every formation chess had to offer, but he also knew she wasn't one for long winded conversations and maybe even still his company. He smiled at her as he awaited her response.

Trying to think back on her short time trying to learn the rules that governed the game she came up empty handed. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn’t really care for it hence why she just pushed it out of her head, she had tendency to do that with things she didn’t care about. “Not one bit. I guess I’m going to have to learn the basics, again.” She declared with a frown on her face.

He smiled in response to her frown "Now,now, no need for the frown, that just means you get to spend a little more time with me." Rainer joked hoping that wasn't the one that lit her short fuse. He gave her little time to get angry as he jumped right into explaining the next piece, picking up the Knight. "Horsie here can only move in L shaped patterns, it can move right or left one space and then up or down four or vice versa, moving left or right 4 spaces and up or down one up. Got it?" He gave her a glance, catching her blue eyes for a second seeing if they had the look of understanding before looking back at the board deciding which piece to explain next.

Rolling her eyes she would listen to the man’s explanation since he gave her no time to respond. His explanation was clear and even someone like her whom was a beginner could understand it, now hopefully she could retain that information along with the movements of the other pieces. Why did she believe it would be a long day? “Yeah, Yeah I got it. Oh bestow me more of your knowledge Master.” She said sarcastically.

"That's Mr. Masters, if you are to be so formal about it" He returned the sarcasm. He could see that she was picking it up fast, which pleased him, he might find a good chess partner yet. "Bishop" He said holding it up "Moves diagonally across the board as many spaces as you please, forward or backward, but only on the color it begins the game on, one white bishop one black bishop." He said not wasting time to see if she was getting it, he figured she did. "Rook, forwards and back, and side to side. Think the exact opposite of the Bishop." He said placing it in its spot. "The King, a stalwart piece, moving back forth or side to side, he directs his troops from behind enemy lines. The brains of the operations, if he gets cornered the game is over. I like to think of him when I play as a warrior who has grown to old for the battlefield, its the only reason I can think of why a King wouldn't be at the forefront of the battle." He said revealing some of his personal ideology before smiling as he picked up the queen. "Behind every great man, there is a powerful women as they say." Rainer proclaimed as he twirled the piece in his hand. "The queen is the most powerful piece on the board, she can move any direction, any number of spaces. Capture the queen and the opposing army is at a severe disadvantage." He ended his explanations, placing the queen in place and again waiting to see the look of understanding on Anna's face.

She was rather surprised that she had understood so quickly but just because she understood how the pieces moved it doesn’t mean that she was good at playing. Maybe getting her ass handed to her to him repeatedly may spawn some kind of strategy from her or make her flip over the chessboard. Whatever happened she decided to jot down her understanding of the game and on small piece of paper just in case she forgot. “Ok Mr. Masters, I think I have some kind of understanding.” She said waiting to see what would happen next.

"Good, good" Rainer said giving a small smile in excitement. "I always make the first move against myself, you can go first." He said cracking a bigger smile at his sad excuse for a joke before waving his hands "Hold on! A beautiful day with a game like this we should enjoy refreshments whilst playing." He used his magic to propel him in a blur to the nearest stand and back handing Anna some lemonade. He took a sip letting out a refreshing sigh. "Perfect. Alright now you can go" Rainer said looking at her.

Well here goes nothing. She thought as she removed the eye patch from her right eye revealing her pink iris. Even though this was her first game she felt pretty confident as she already came up with five different strategies for different scenarios. Taking the lemonade from the man she quickly gulped it down and cracked her knuckles. “Okay. Let’s do this.” She said rather excitedly as she made her first move.

Rainer was shocked when she took off the eye patch, he always thought she had lost it, no rumors about a pink eye. He blushed a bit for staring too long, and because he was a fan of heterochromia. He shook himself back to focus, and made his move, he already knew what he was going to do since she made her move. "How did you get that eye?" Rainer asked before realizing it might not be polite. "I-if I may ask, sorry."

This seems easy enough, she thought as she made her second move. “Huh my eye?” Anna said confusedly as she looked at the man. “Erm, I was born like this unfortunately. I hate it though it makes me look like a freak, hence the eye patch over the pink one.” She said calmly. Even though her father always told her it made her unique she usually interpreted it as looking like a freak so ever since she covered it up.

"A uniquely beautiful freak." Rainer said as he thought it aloud. He cleared his throat like that would make her un hear it, he made his move impressed by her second move, it showed strategy not belonging to a novice player. "Your move." He said looking at her. "The Wizard Saints get days off huh?"

“Like I keep telling you, I’m my own person. No one can tell me what to do. That includes the council.” She said making another move. She had no idea why he couldn’t get it through his head that she was just a Wizard Saint by rank and nothing more.

"I understand that you are your own person, its just that the Wizard Saints are a Council Creation and though they can't 'tell' you what to do, they can strongly suggests you do something." Rainer said making his move. "What I don't understand is why you took the position in the first place when you don't seem all that intrested in its perks or the council."

“I joined the Wizard Saints for one reason and one reason only. The title. You see each head of my family had mastered their magic and become superb mages during their time and each tried to trump the one before them. My aim was to trump the three strongest before me. I practiced and mastered the magic they each took years to study and instead of settling for a rank in some random guild like the others, I became the first in my family to become a wizard saint. So it was nothing more than stamping my authority over the current generation of Einzberns and the one’s to come.” She finished by moving one of her chess pieces, she knew it was a bad move but there was nothing else she could’ve done.