#agent sprite

Snow fell around the manor in sheets of white, and Henry walked up from the guest house. He drew his coat a little tighter around himself as a gust of wind caught him off-guard. He had dealt with worse, but the months of living in an actual house and enjoying a warm bed and hot food had turned him somewhat soft. This was certainly an improvement, though. Or at least he thought so.

     It was New Years Eve, and his time staying at the manor was drawing to a close. So, unlike holidays past, he had decided he was actually going to participate this time. Luckily, running into his father wouldn’t be an issue, since Agent Elfin had settled nicely into retirement a year or so previous.     “Henry!” He turned to find who had said his name. The shorter figure approaching him had been standing in the breakfast nook of the kitchen, just out of line of sight.     “Elfie. I thought you were going to be out with Tequila…”     “Snowstorm warning. Neither of us wanted to mess with that. Even if we’re better at handling it than most people around here.”     “Understandable-”     “I hear you’re supposed to be on your way out. What’s up with that?” she asked. Henry pursed his lips.     “I suppose I’ve been keeping things a bit quiet, but Goodfellow is taking over. I’m glad you stayed in, since this is my last night here.”     “Oh.” Elfie looked only mildly surprised. “I guess it’s a good thing we had a snowstorm then, huh?”     “Yeah. But I think the change will be a good thing.” He held up his left hand with a mischievous grin, showing off a silver ring with a stripe of green enamel around the center of it. “Taking over, in a good way. Rehabilitation is over, they’re letting me go back and finish my sentence at the Courts.”     “No way- Henry, that’s great…” Sprite laughed, a little shocked about this turn of events. “I’m glad you came up to the house, I would’ve hated to find out you left without so much as a goodbye.” Henry shook his head at that.     “You don’t really think I’d go without saying goodbye to my friend? My only friend here, outside of the ones related to me?” He lightly smacked her shoulder, before holding out a small bundle of something wrapped in a scrap of canvas.     “What’s this?”     “Something to remember me by.” Elfie gave him a look before hurrying to untie the twine holding it all together. 

     “Henry, you didn't have to-” she said softly, uncovering an old, but very well-maintained switchblade. It was certainly older than her. Older than most of the agents, if she had to venture a guess. But still in perfect working order. She flicked it open and shut a few times, listening to the satisfying click of the blade. Henry grinned.

     “If anyone deserves to have it, it's you.” He did something quite uncharacteristic then, wrapping both arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head. “Thank you for everything.”

     “Happy New Year, Henry.”

Annabelle spent most of her time either in the kitchens or in the greenhouse. So seeing her in the training rooms was a bit of a surprise to those that knew her well. 

Sprite was doing some inventory when she saw her come in. "Oh, hey babydoll! Long time no see! Coming to get some training in?" Anna nodded her head. "Alright, well, don't let me get in your way." She smiled and continued on with her work.

It's been so long since she was down here and there were so many weapons to choose from. From modern day guns to swords and things she didn't even know the name of. Her hands finally settled on a small set of knives.

As she finished up counting inventory for one section, Sprite carefully watched Annabelle out of the corner of her eye. She's never really seen the girl train before. The knives seemed to be the right choice of weapon for her, but something seemed off in the way that she threw them. Anna's stance and form were fine but the knives were hitting a lower mark then the girl intended. Sprite quickly scanned through the weapons that were out and hopefully found a solution in one of the sets she grabbed.

"Hey, Anna? Do you want to try a different set? Maybe one of these will feel better in your hands..." She laid out a few different sets. Knives as dark as night with handles to match. A set of blades so lightweight that you could forget you were holding a deadly weapon. And a set with an intricately carved handle that looked like it would only fit certain hands. "Give some of these a go."

Annabelle looked at her before setting her knives down and slowly making her way through each new set. Sprite watched with an almost hawk-like intensity. The dark knives sailed through the air and sunk deeply into the target, but still didn't hit the exact mark. The lightweight ones looked right in her hands, but didn't do much else. The ones with the intricate handle made Anna look at ease, but flew a little bit too fast. They both sighed.

Sprite went to the target and picked one knife from each set, looking at them in her hands. "You know what? Give me a few days. You're not going on any missions any time soon, right?" Annabelle shakes her head. "Great. Just, three days. Come back in three days."

~~~

Three days had passed and Anna found herself back in the training rooms. Sprite did say to meet her back in the training rooms.

The door opened again and Sprite was there holding a box with a ribbon on it. "I know that we're in-between holidays but," she shrugged her shoulders, "better late than never right?" She handed the box over.

Annabelle looked down at the box with a mix of shock and surprise. What did Sprite do? She took the lid off of the box to see a set of knives. The blades were blackened steel, almost as dark as night. The handle was beautifully carved into an intricate pattern that suited her hands perfectly. And they were lightweight but still perfectly balanced. 

"You... You made these?" She could see the marks of recent work on Sprite's hands. "For me?"

A smile started to spread across her face. "Yeah. I just like everyone to have their own specialized weapons cause I think it's important-" she never got to finish. 

Annabelle had put the box down and rushed over to throw her arms around her. A soft and whispered thanks left the younger agent.