Sand and Snow

"Petrificus Totalus!" Robert fired his wand at her with a mere paralyzing spell. He didn't presume that his first shot would do much. If it did, she wasn't worth being part of the team. He wanted to see what she was like under pressure.

Brian held his own wand at the ready, and Robert knew that he had no intention of letting Cassidy get pummelled too badly. Not her first time out. Robert knew it had been Brian's intention to test Cassidy himself and not to throw her into the ring with him until Cassidy was a bit more seasoned. Well, Brian's plan to attack Gelding and Burke had sidelined all of that and had forced things to come to a head a lot quicker than Robert knew Brian's own timeline had originally been.

Cassidy saw the spell coming at her quickly she raised her wand and shouted "Protego " diving to one side before calling out "Duro. " as she moved to crouch facing him her mind fixed on watching for the next move her breathing still steady as she crouched low on the mat she was not going to become big headed but focus on her task and that was to prove she was good enough to go with them on the mission and not be liability to them . She shifted on the spot as she slowly stood up moving back to her original spot in front of him.

"Protego!" He shielded himself. He flicked his wand and yanked the mat hard that she was standing on. He knew she was so busy concentrating on him that there was a good chance she was liable to end up on her tail. He caught a slight smile on Brian's face. This was a move that Robert had often caught an operative up on. They would often be intimidated enough by who Robert was and expecting him to cast some sort of large, impressive spell that when he yanked the rug out from under them, they often accused him of not dueling fairly. It was all perfectly fair. Robert knew they had all been merely unhappy that he had caught them offguard.

Suddenly feeling the rug being moved she jumped turning in the air she landed half on her knee but upright her wand still grasped in her hand "you don't think i haven't had that move done to me before " she shouted her next spell "EXPELLIARMUS. " aiming her wand right at his wand hoping to knock it out of his hand or at least let him know she knew what she was doing. her hand felt he ground under her as she watched him glancing at the others,

He disapparated and reappeared right behind her. "No, I never presume," he laughed. His disappearing and reappearing had taken him right out of her line of fire by sheer coincidence. "Rictusempra!" he flicked his wand at her. Well, it wasn't very diabolical, but it could be annoying to be jinxed with a tickling spell.

That made Brian laugh out loud. Robert didn't use that spell very often, but Brian and Khaat had pleasant memories of Remus using it when they would practice dueling out in the woods on the farm grounds. Brian remembered once of laughing so hard and so long that he had strained a rib from the stubborn tickling spell. Still, the memories were wonderful ones and reminded him of better times with Remus and Khaat when dueling was merely a game.

Cassidy felt him aperate behind her then suddenly she heard his spell she looked confused but felt it hit her , slowly and steadily she felt it at first she tried to fight it but could not bursting into laughter so much so tears formed in her eyes as she laughed falling to the mat "make it stop, please , make it stop " she said as tears rolled down her cheeks soon she curled up on the mat unable to do much of anything but laugh.

He reached down and touched her on the shoulder, using wandless magic to stop the spell. "Enough," he laughed. "You pass the test. Brian can round off the rough edges just fine, I think. Welcome aboard. Alright. You partner with Steven. I get the sense that you're used to working alone. You'll have to get past that. Nobody in my organization works alone. And I do mean no one. When you work with a partner, you have to get used to a whole different sense of loyalty and commitment than you have when you have no one else to be accountable to. So, do you think you can work with a partner?" He looked at Steven and at Cassidy both for his next question. "And--can you both be professional partners? Can you keep it above board and respectable?"

Cassidy slowly moved to sit holding her waist as she heard his words "him!" she exclaimed looking at Steven slowly standing to lean on a chair her head spinning slightly as she stood facing both men.

Steven walked over to her his arms folded as he spoke " I'm your partner whether you like it or not ,Cassie " he said looking at her closer and seeing something behind her eyes something she was holding back "what ever it is your hiding let it go " he said .

"Only my father called me Cassie " she said turning she walked to the stairs stopping level with Robert " There is nothing else but professional with me." she said looking at him right in his eyes , she saw kindness as well as the hard fighter just like her father had been she moved standing straight as she spoke then she sighed " my father used that spell when ever we were sad "she said softly her head lowered as now she told him a part of her past then looked at Steven " guess I'll see you later ...Partner" she said and small smile crossing her lips.

"Well done, Cassidy. Keep up the good work--especially tomorrow. You'll need it." He looked at Brian. "She'll do fine," Robert told him. "You still ticked with me?"

"When are you going to tell Khaat she's not going tomorrow?" Brian asked.

"If she doesn't already know, then she's really off her game," Robert said. "Her overall health is not letting her ankles heal like they should. You know that. We need to have a heart to heart with the staff to brace them on what her vulnerabilities are so that they know how to protect her. I know she wants to go along, but its too great a risk."

"Then we need to tell her tonight," Brian said.

Brian went upstairs with Robert and found Kate putting the babies to bed in the nursery. She tucked Dakota into her crib and had sat down in the rocker to soothe a rather stubborn Abbey, to get her to give up and go to sleep. Brian smiled, seeing Abbey in Kate's expert hands as she seemed to know exactly how to lull Abbey into peaceful rest.

"It's not usually that easy," Brian said softly.

"She was picking up on Khaat's anxiety," Kate said. "Once I got her away from that, the rest was easy. Brian, I added just a bit of a nerve potion to her tea for her. Khaat really did need to unwind just a wee bit. She's fine, but she is pretty restless."

"I know. Thank you. She's still awake?"

"Of course."

"I'll go see her. I think Robert wants to level with everyone on the true state of her health."

"Isn't that rather obvious?" Kate frowned.

"Well, I thought so, but I suppose if there are any questions, he'd rather get them out of the way."

They could both hear Robert giving instructions on telling them to gather for a brief moment in Khaat's room for one more important detail he had neglected to tell them.

Cassidy nodded before moving to her room and lay down on her bed quiet she covered her face and sighed to think she had never had a partner before in her whole career but now she did one she didn't like as he walked into her showering and stopped her helping Khaat, to her he was the most argumentative , stubborn, thick headed male she had ever had the miss fortune to meet.

Steven watched her move and pause he nodded when she called him partner even though he sensed he was not but only in the word . She sighed and turned to Robert "you know she's not going to work well with a partner" he said looking at him sighing as he knew he would want them to be partners one way or another.