The idea of a massive, moving city was lost on Xeik.  He barely noticed the rocking sway of his world.  The hodgepodge of architectural blending meant nothing to him.  The busy streets, filled with people going about their everyday lives, however, meant everything to him.  Not old enough to stand his ground, but not young enough for the world to take pity on him, he found his meager way by pilfering on those too rich to realize a few coins were missing.

"Hm?"  He perked up as his eyes caught his mark.  A merchant waddling through the streets, his pockets lined with silver.  He wasn't very smart about it either.  He could practically hear the coins jingling across the way.  The boy smiled, and darted through the crowd, weaving in and out expertly.  The merchant had no idea what hit him.  A small bump, an excuse me, and Xeik was gone, fading into the crowd.  By the time the merchant noticed anything, Xeik would be long gone.

Moments later, down a side alley, he opened the stolen coin pouch.  "Jackpot," he said to himself as he emptied the contents into his own bag, and threw the remaining evidence further into the alley.  "Not bad.  Terrance will take most of that, though, so I need to work harder."

Terrance.  The leader of the unofficial 'Thieves Guild.'  Calling it a guild, in Xeik's opinion, was an insult to real guild members.  It was more of a tyrannical monarchy, where Terrance beat down those who opposed him.  The other 'guild' members didn't stand a chance against him.  Xeik had watched many of them lose a finger just for not making the daily tribute.  He'd seen even worse happen to those who tried to escape.

But Xeik barely had to worry.  He was a better thief than any of them.  He'd only ever been caught once, and even then, he had escaped without any help.  But I can't fail again.  Just once was almost enough for Terrance to threaten my ring finger.  Another slip up…  He frowned, and shook his head.  He'd rather not think about that now.  Instead, he looked out the alleyway, and tried to find another mark.

Hmm?  He noticed another merchant, this one a little more on guard.  Still an easy mark.  Gaudy jewels marked this merchant's hands and neck, ordained with emeralds and rubies.  Xeik smirked, and weaved himself into the crowd.  Closer, and closer he came to the next target, his hand outstretched.  

Just another day…

There was a breeze and a blur of movement ahead of the boy, and the faintest hint of a laugh that was almost lost in the din of hustle and bustle of the street. The breeze lightly tossed the bejeweled man's hair an one of the chains about his neck was gone. Another blur and gust of wind, and another chain was gone, as were the rings from the fingers. Another gust and all the jewels were gone. The man went to pat the back of his neck after being tickled by the breeze, and he realized for the first time that his jewels were gone. 

"Thief! Thief!" he yelled, summoning the local guards to his location. Again, there was a soft laugh on the breeze as a single solitary black feather floated to Xeik's feet. 

Of course, by then, she was long gone. Danwe patted the pouch full of jewels on her hip. Each one of those jewels had a price, and she had a man who was in the market. Best part was, the settings would be melted down and each piece would be made into something new, so there would be no tying the pieces or jewels to any particular owner. And the money would be going to where it was going to be needed most. Hoja Mesto was a massive conglomeration of people from all over Revaliir, and that included a bunch of runaways and orphans who were struggling to live. 

So if there was anyone her money was going to help this day, it was going to be providing food and clothes for the cities guttersnipes. She looked at the kid she had just stolen his mark from. He might have gotten a ring or two off the man, but that was about it, and he would have had the guards on him in no time. He had to be one of Terrance's crew. The dark haired half-celestial shook her head with a slight roll of her eyes. The kid might have had talent if he wasn't running with a second rate boss who was just greedy. 

It was an odd thing for Xeik to witness.  His hand was reaching out, about to nab the merchant's pouch, yet in the blink of an eye, everything was gone.  He reacted quickly as he heard the faint laughter, and saw the black feather fall at his feet.  He swiftly grabbed it up, darted back into the crowd, blending himself as the man called for the guards.  It was her, wasn't it?  His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the rooftops and alleyways.  Damn it.  How does she move so fast?  It has to be magic.  He glowered, and shook his head.  Now that the guards are alerted, this area is a bust.  I don't have time to scout another one.  What i have will have to do for Terrance, he thought to himself.

With a sigh, he made his way down a side alley, and to a parallel street.  It barely took ten minutes for Xeik to weave himself in and out of the streets and side streets until he found a ragged tent, made up of various woven fabrics that had been discarded, set up in what was a dead end alley.  In front of the tent was a small line of children, ages ranging from around ten, to almost as old as fifteen.  Some of the older kids held an air of arrogance, while the younger seemed malnourished and timid.  Xeik shook his head as he noticed a particularly frail boy, shaking and barely able to stand.  He's not going to make it to tomorrow.  

Xeik frowned, and crossed his arms.  Damn it…  He opened his bag, and pulled out his entire haul, handing it to the frail boy.  "Here.  Terrance will take most of it, but he'll leave you with enough that you can get food."  The boy stared in awe at Xeik, and nodded slowly.  A few of the other boys looked at Xeik in disgust, while a few others winced, knowing full well what Terrance would do to him for coming home with nothing.

"Don't worry about me," Xeik reassured the boy.  "I can handle myself."  He winked, and walked to the back of the line.  Not soon after, the inglorious Terrance made his debut, striding out of the tent like a regal king.

"Ah yes, my thieves guild…" he said aloud.  He was around twenty, and built like a bull.  The fact that he seemed more like a fat pugilist more than a thief was not lost on the majority of the boys, but no one was going to argue against his fists.  "Now, now!  What have we here?  Who's first!?"

the frail boy stepped up, showing Terrance 'his' haul.  "I'm impressed, Lewis.  This is the best I've seen yet.  Did some poor sap take pity on you while you were begging in the streets?"  The man laughed, and took the entire haul, throwing the boy a few coins, as Xeik said he would.  The rest of the line went similarly, until he came at last to Xeik.

"Well, Xeik?  I know you usually have decent hauls.  What do you have today?"  Xeik held out the black feather.  "Just this."  

Terrance's eyes narrowed, and without a word, decked Xeik, sending him crashing to the ground.  "What bull shit is this," he said, leaning down to pick up the feather.  "You trying to play like that stupid bitch, the Lightning Thief?"  He lashed out with a heavy kick into Xeik's stomach.  Xeik recoiled hard, gasping as all the air left his lungs.  "You're so stupid," he said, and kicked Xeik once more.  

"S-stop it!" called a frail voice as the young boy Xeik had saved stood forward from the onlookers.  "I-it's my fault.  I took….I took his haul.  It s-should be me!"

Xeik, gasping for air, tried to stand up.  "N-no…just step back…."

Terrance laughed.  "What?  Are you trying to stand up for your buddy here, Lewis?  Listen here, brat…"  He closed the gap between him and Lewis in an instant, and picked the boy up by his hair, tossing him into the alley wall.  "You brought me the haul, like I asked.  Xeik didn't.  I don't care if he helped you, or if you suckered him out of his haul.  What matters is, you obeyed my rules, and he did not.  Now, I have no issue beating both of you to death, but let's be real kid…you didn't break my rules."  He walked over to the fallen Lewis, and hunched down over the boy.  "Now…what's it going to be."

"I…I…"  He looked over to Xeik, who was shaking his head, despite his pain.  "I'll…stand down…then…."

"Good choice," Terrance said as he stood up straight, and looked at the other members of his Thieve's Guild.  "Anyone else want to join out little hero on death's row?"  Silence.  Not a single one looked Terrance or Xeik in the eye.  "That's what I thought."  He walked over to Xeik, pulling the boy up by his hair.  "No honor among thieves.  I'd have thought I beat enough sense into you, but…I guess I'm wrong."  

Xeik simply smirked, blood tricking from a gash in his lip.  

"I hate your face.  I've always hated it," Terrance said as he raised his fist to punch Xeik.

As Terrance lifted his fist strike Xeik again, a bolt of lightning arced down the alley and struck his hand. It was a nasty shock that made his entire body spasm, dropping Xeik back to the ground before the big man fell backwards and landed rather unceremoniously upon his rump. It might have been comical had the boys not been both shocked and scared of what they were seeing. They all looked down the alley to see where the lightning had come from, as a pair of boots clicked smartly down the cobblestones, and the silhouette of the woman that walked there. 

"You know, there is nothing more pathetic than a man who feels the need to beat on kids half his size," she said as she stepped into the light. Her hair was the closest shade to purple that black could be with brilliant streaks of silver through out. Long bangs obscured part of her face, but her eyes were a shining intelligent amethyst, and her features were fair. 

"When are you going to learn to pick on someone your own size, Terrance?" she asked, a slender eyebrow arched as she blinked slowly at the man who appeared roughly her age. She turned to Xeik and offered him a hand to get up. "You ok, Kid?" she asked him gently and turned his chin to get a good look at Terrance's handiwork. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it him so he could stop his bleeding nose. 

The lightning that struck Terrance was a shock to both Xeik and the cruel man.  As Xeik hit the ground again, he looked around to try and find his savior.  Oh.  It's her.  As she mocked Terrance and made her way down the alley, a few of the older boys ran past the mysterious woman, ditching Terrance to save their own skins.  Xeik was surprised as she walked straight to him, and offered her aid.  The boy was still speechless, but took her hand and let himself be pulled up.

"Thanks…" he said with a distant voice.  Did Terrance kill me?  She looks almost…angelic.  As the woman handed him her handkerchief, he glanced down at it.  "Oh.  Right…."  The pain was coming back now as the shock wore off.  "Thanks."  He pushed it against his nose, trying to staunch the bleeding.  "I'll….sorry.  I guess I'll clean it."  

"Oi, you wanna go then?" Terrance yelled, scrambling to his feet.  "I'll put you in your place!" he screamed, rushing at Danwe.  Despite the fact that he only really used his skills to beat the children, he was a skilled combatant, and wasn't a slouch when it came to close quarters combat.  With a lightning fast jab, and a flurry of blows, he had every bit of confidence that he would rain on the Lightning Thief's parade.  

Xeik saw everything that was happened, but simply stepped back.  He had witnessed her work earlier in the day, and she was infamous even among the younger boys.  As fast as the wind, gone in a flash… rumored to have even stolen a star from the sky.  

"He doesn't stand a chance, does he…" Xeik whispered to himself with a smile.  

She gently ruffled Xeik's hair. "Don't worry about it. They are easy to make," she reassured him. "I'll fix that nose of yours in a minute after I'm done dealing with the bottom-feeder," she said as Terrance yelled at her and rushed. She stepped away from Xeik to keep him from being hit again by one of Terrance's wild swings as he threatened to 'put her in her place'. Now, Terrance had bulk on her, she knew that. She also knew that close quarters was going to be his favored place to attack from. So she skipped easily out of his path, his fists coming dangerously close, but even then she dodged around like it was child's play. Almost like, to the onlooking boy, that it might have been a taunt to Terrance. 

With a laugh she did a back-hand spring, her boots connecting solidly with Terrance's jaw, before he landed in a sitting position on a nearby crate, looking rather bored at her nails. 

"Now, here is a lesson for you boys," she said lightly, her eyes kind as she looked at each of the remaining younger boys, but still wary of Terrance's position. "A true leader does not have to rule out of fear. A person is a true leader when it is loyalty that keeps his followers, not the threat of pain," she said. "No honor amongst thieves, Terrance? This is why you will always be a second rate pickpocket and scum sucker."

As if to anger him further, a few of the boys seemed moved by the Lightning Thief's words.  Some of them even started to look at Terrance with a different view, the fear fading from their eyes.  And of course, standing there, holding a bloodied handkerchief, was the boy who started this 'rebellion.'  The woman be damned, he wouldn't go out without at least taking the brat with him.  With surprising speed, he lunged at Xeik, who was still woozy from the beating he had taken earlier, and pulled him into a headlock.  He pulled Xeik's dagger from it's sheath, and pushed it against boy's throat, drawing the faintest of blood.

"Right….no honor among thieves.  Which is why he'll die right here if you take another step.  You don't give that much of a damn about his life, don't ya?  Tell ya what.  You can take everything in my tent.  It's at least three days worth of hauls…thousands of silver.  If you do that, and leave, I'll pretend none of this happened.  I'll even let ol' Xeik here off with a warning.  Two fingers…I'll only chop of two."  But for all his talk, he was shaking.  He knew that the woman outclassed him in speed, and without a lucky hit, he'd be dead in the water.

Xeik froze, feeling the edge of the blade dig into his skin.  Huh.  This isn't exactly how I intended things to happen.  Well…at least Lewis is safe.  With knowing eyes, he raised his head, his eyes locking with Danwe's.  Just take the money and go.  My life isn't worth it.  Besides…knowing Terrance, he's set a trap of some kind, or he'll have hired an assassin.  He's not exactly stupid…  

She didn't react, not at first, as Terrance grabbed the boy with the bloodied nose. If anything, she seemed to get very, very still. Her eyes darted from Terrance, to Xeik, to the other boys in the alleyway. She put on a considering air. 

"All your haul to leave… and the kid only loses two fingers…" she hummed. She saw the look in Xeik's eyes, and she lowered her head for a brief second. "I have a better idea… how about I split the haul between all these boys who earned it, you go see a healer, and the kid gets to keep ALL his fingers AND his life," she said. The other boys began looking at one another at the prospect of actually getting to keep a portion of what they had all stolen. 

The blade began to move against Xeik's skin. There was a flash, and she suddenly had a hand extended forward. A dagger blossomed from the back of the hand that held the knife to Xeik's throat. Terrance screamed and his blade clattered to the ground. His grip on Xeik faltered as he fell back clutching his bleeding hand while crying out in pain. 

She stepped down off the box and walked up to the man quivering on the ground. "Let's see you use your fists to beat another child now," she hissed low. A pair of massive black feathered wings tipped in silver spread from her back, and with several powerful flaps, blew the tent over. "I'd recommend you get up and run," she added, giving Terrance a dangerous glare. 

As the man stumbled to his feet and ran past her to the exit of the alley, she turned at looked at the kids. "He's all yours boys," she said. Needing no other invitation, the kids began throwing anything and everything they could get their hands on, and even chased after Terrance with sticks. She grabbed Lewis. 

"You know those older boys who took off?" she asked him. 
"Y-Yes ma'am," he stammered out, looking a little nervous. 
"Go find them and tell them to meet in the tower ruins. I'll give everyone a fair share of this haul, as well as a good meal," she said. The boy's face split into a smile. "Yes, ma'am!" he said eagerly and ran off to do as he was told. 

Danwe walked over to Xeik, and knelt next to him. 

"You alright?" she asked him. "You didn't lose any teeth did you?" 

Xeik watched in amazement as Terrance was thrown off guard, letting Xeik go.  The tyrannical 'king' of thieves had been overthrown.  As the Lightning Thief threatened him once more, spreading her awe inspiring black wings to further intimidate the fallen man, Xeik couldn't help but feel as though a heavy weight was lifted.  She did it.  She really did it.  As the rest of the boys chased off Terrance, the woman had a few words with Lewis, who excitedly ran off, a grin plastered across his face. 

That left Xeik. 

She walked over to him, and asked his status.  "I guess I'm fine," he said, still a little out of it.  Everything had moved so fast that he hadn't really fully grasped the situation.  "All my teeth are in check.  I think I'm okay.  Probably."  He shook his head, "The infamous Lightning Thief herself.  Never thought I'd see you in action like this.  Why, though?  I though Terrance had an agreement with the adults.  Won't this cause a problem?"

Xeik, of course, knew way more than he should of.  Had the Lightning Thief not intervened, Xeik would have taken a few more hits, and then attempted to blackmail Terrance with this information.  It was a bluff, because the reality was, Xeik had no way of verifying it, and didn't have a dead man's switch in place to trigger if he had died.  It was a risk he was willing to gamble on, though.  Yet, the woman had arrived just in the nick of time to save the day.

"It's like a stupid fairy tale.  Only you're not a white knight," he said aloud, absentmindedly.   

Her massive wings folded tightly against her back and seemed to shrink as she looked Xeik over, and gently held his face in her hands as she examined him. "I've always enjoyed that title," she smirked. "But in this instance it takes to long to say. So, from now on, kid, you can call me Danwe," she smiled. "Brace yourself, I'm going to set your nose right. It's gonna hurt but it will heal better," she warned. She quickly used her thumbs to force the cartilage and bone back into place on his face before he really could process what she said while he talked. Then she sent a warm light through her hands which helped relieve the pain. 

"Of course it will cause some problems. Terrance will probably make a big fuss about it. But the why is simple. He was sloppy. He wasn't teaching you boys, and he set up in an alleyway where just about anyone could come and raid. I was able to do it no problem. And that is the problem. IF a guild is going to exist, there has to be some loyalty to it. I've been watching how you boys work for a while, I realized that as long as Terrance was in control, you boys were in more danger than you should have been. From malnutrition alone you've lost five boys in the past month, and all Terrance does is replace them with other boys in the same straights. It's bad for the city, and bad for the other 'adult' guilds. Believe it or not, Terrance obviously didn't, there has to be some sort of camaraderie between thieves. We aren't out here alone, we need to be able to trust and rely on one another to have each other's backs," she explained. 

She laughed when he mentioned this being an almost storybook-esque situation. "Don't knock the fairytales, kid. They are iconic for a reason. And who ever said the white knight always had to be a man, huh?" she asked with a grin. "Come on, come help me with this stuff," she said. 

Terrance hadn't been lying. Aside from the trinkets and other items pilfered from the streets, there was easily around three thousand silver. It as probably more than some of the boys had ever seen in bulk sum in their entire lives. Quite literally a small fortune. 

She looked at Xeik. "See… this is just sloppy. No self-respecting Guild head should ever have loot just lying waiting to be snatched like this. And at LEAST a quarter of it should be going back to you boys to take care of yourselves, at least as far as food and shelter goes," she said.