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continued on with his argument. Not surprisingly, Moroi protection was the topic. He was the<br />
one who'd been in favor of Moroi going on the offensive against the Strigoi.<br />
"What part of 'suicide' don't you understand?" asked one of the men standing nearby. He had<br />
silvery hair and a bushy mustache. He wore a tux too, but the younger guy looked better in one.<br />
"Moroi training as soldiers will be the end of our race."<br />
"It's not suicide," exclaimed the young guy. "It's the right thing to do. We have to start looking<br />
out for ourselves. Learning to fight and use our magic is our greatest asset, other than the<br />
guardians."<br />
"Yes, but with the guardians, we don't need other assets," said Silver Hair. "You've been<br />
listening to non-royals. They don't have any guardians of their own, so of course they're scared.<br />
But that's no reason to drag us down and put our lives at risk."<br />
"Then don't," said Lissa suddenly. Her voice was soft, but everyone in the little group stopped<br />
and looked at her. "When you talk about Moroi learning how to fight, you make it sound like an<br />
all-or-nothing matter. It's not. If you don't want to fight, then you shouldn't have to. I<br />
completely understand." The man looked slightly mollified. "But, that's because you can rely<br />
on your guardians. A lot of Moroi can't. And if they want to learn self-defense, there's no reason<br />
why they shouldn't do it on their own."<br />
The younger guy grinned triumphantly at his adversary. "There, you see?"<br />
"It's not that easy," countered Silver Hair. "If it was just a matter of you crazy people wanting to<br />
get yourselves killed, then fine. Go do it. But where are you going to learn all these so-called<br />
fighting skills?"<br />
"We'll figure the magic out on our own. Guardians will teach us actual physical fighting."<br />
"Yes, see? I knew that was where this was going. Even if the rest of us don't take part in your<br />
suicide mission, you still want to strip us of our guardians to train up your pretend army."<br />
The young guy scowled at the word pretend, and I wondered if more fists would fly. "You owe<br />
it to us."<br />
"No, they don't," said Lissa.
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