>>9775327She pays no mind to the whispers and smug looks of the locals, her destination remains her only focus.
The building is larger than many of the homes in the town, but one would hesitate to call it large. Out the front sits a gangly old man, all sinew and bone. He looks at her for a moment, as if a predator taking stock of prey. Dead eyes meet his own shrewd gaze, and he relents with a shrug.
"We don't take novices," He speaks in Thai, and the girl all but snarls.
"I'm not a novice," Her Portuguese is rusty but it is passable enough.
The result is one that she desired, indignation and frustration.
"Nor do we take challengers from judokas or their Brazilian offshoots, best begone with ya," The man stands as if to leave.
"Good thing I trained with Master Ayutthaya in Argentina," She adds, in English this time.
The man halts, his anger visibly deflating.
His own response comes in broken English, "Another lost flock then, come try your hand at the origin? Why come?"
"Strength."
"Not whole truth," He tsks, "But my son send many stupid girl here to learn. What I call you?"
She pauses... "Maria."
"That not whole truth either. We see about that."
