Genys walked alone in the dark. The words spoken to her by Senator Ferik echoed over and over in her head.

“We grant Commander Genys full discretion on this matter.”

But why?

What was the reason they had come to their conclusion so quickly? When she and Pyrn had entered the High Round, they both had expected to be there the rest of the night—and that was excluding any recesses called. Genys had carefully crafted her arguments and rehearsed them multiple times, and the General had reviewed any and every bylaw and policy procedure so as to hasten the process whenever possible.

But it had all been over quickly.

Genys didn’t often leave camp, other than for official business, but tonight was an exception. This had shaken her—it really had. As a rule, the Senate did nothing quickly, and she had been juggling her reactions to their unorthodox haste for the last hour or so. Was this actually more normal than she thought? How much legitimate reason did she have for concern? Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to talk about it in depth with Pyrn—he was called away to resolve a border-related matter—so on the way back from the Round Genys had decided this was one of the few times a walk through the Izutis Oldtown was necessary.

She needed advice. Was something happening? Was there something under the surface? A deeper plot of some sort?

“Athes!” she swore aloud. Those are the thoughts of conspiracy theorists! Madmen and lunatics! What is happening to me?

Pyrn had vouched for her, and sure, there was a precedent for his particular sway with the higher-ups, but even he had admitted that something about that meeting had felt off.

Earlier, as they made their way toward the Round, the General had revealed he’d been looking for a way to provide her with an opportunity like this. That was why he pressed the issue with Hitten. He had noticed—as she did—that there had been something peculiar about her reassignment, and he felt her status could benefit from a chance to prove herself again.

That was just how Pyrn was, how he had always been. Ever since she had been his recruit and him her commander he had looked after her. He always looked out for his soldiers—especially the ones whose fathers he had known and fought with.

Which is also why, in preparing for their meeting he had expressed his concern that there wasn’t a particularly high likelihood of the Senate approving their proposal. Hitten was their voice for a reason, and many times similarly-minded members of Tinaria’s governing body sided with him. But having Genys argue her case in front of some of the most powerful people in Tinaria was valuable, even if it was to simply remind them of who she was and what she was capable of.

In the best of circumstances, even if the Senate approved their proposal, it would take extreme amounts of executive time to work it out—or at least that’s what they had both thought. Nothing could have prepared them for the few minutes they stood before the Senate.

Pyrn had explained the matter, introduced the proposal, and made his official vouch for Genys. She had then taken the stage to present her case, but she hadn’t even been halfway through before they granted her request.

And it has to mean there’s something wrong.

Genys let her feet lead her through the winding alleyways. She knew where she was going, even if she wasn’t consciously thinking about it. She had taken these same paths hundreds of times growing up, and she knew every twist and turn by heart. There was the puddle where she had scraped her knee racing the older girl from Upside. The scar was still there.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

No. It can’t be some plot. That’s ridiculous. Even if it was, what would be the point? What would that mean? I’m not important enough for someone to be trying to undermine me specifically, not with the Senate involved. Ufen and his friends clearly don’t have that sort of power, and anyone who did have that power could get rid of me much easier some other way. It’s not about me, If something is going on it has to be bigger.

Her thoughts continued to spiral.

Is something happening in Yarva—something more developed than we thought? Illegal weapons trafficking is concerning, sure, but not really on such a small scale. It makes sense to send someone like me to investigate something like that. If Tinaria truly felt threatened in any degree the Senate would have never left the responsibility up to me. But why so hasty?

Was she just overreacting? She hadn’t had very much experience interacting directly with the Senate over her years in the militia. Maybe there were exceptions. Maybe this really was just a matter of so little importance it wasn’t even worth the time for them to mull it over. But that didn’t feel right either, especially since Pyrn had also found it strange. It was hard to try and solve a mystery that might not even exist in the first place.

Maybe I don’t go. The Athes know my recruits need more training, but if something is really happening out there I don’t want to be right in the middle of it with a bunch of Yarvan greenskins—

She saw the shadow a second too late. The explosion of glitz broke through the silence and she felt the searing pain in her left shoulder before she even realized what had happened. Thankfully she ducked behind a corner before the other shots came, harmlessly exploding into the orb bricks now surrounding her. She put a hand to her shoulder, there was blood but it was only just grazed. None of the muscles were out of commission.

The second she heard the glitz run out she sprung. Her own glitzer was out of its holster and she was advancing on where she best thought the shot had come from. It had only been a split second, but she determined that the trajectory had come horizontally. Whoever had attacked her hadn’t been up in a window or on the rooftops, they had been across the alleyway.

She cleared the corner. There was no one there, but she could hear rapid footsteps. She rushed to the end of the alley and caught a glimpse of a cape disappearing around another corner to the left. She fired a single shot and pressed forward.

Upon rounding the other corner her attacker came into view. Genys unleashed a flurry of shots and saw the form crumple for a moment before picking itself back up and taking a few steps. It was only a moment before she had whoever it was pinned down. Genys rolled the caped figure over and was immediately hit in the face with blood and spittle.

It was a woman, and she was already dead.

She was also Yarvan.

Genys dropped the lifeless form onto the cobbles and wiped her face. She took several breaths to calm the rising, jittery adrenaline and lifted her weapon again. She fell into the familiar routine of clearing her surroundings. Her muscles responded to years of training, she could have done it in zero visibility—rain, sleet or near-pitch darkness. The streets were pretty much empty this time of night, or at least they usually were when she came out this late, but this had never been a particularly dangerous part of town. There was nothing of value here.

Whoever this woman had been, it was likely she hadn’t been there to rob anything. Given the nature of the sudden attack, she seemed to have been very intentionally waiting for Genys to arrive—as if she knew she would be exactly there at exactly that time.

The commander swept to the left and suddenly noticed she was right by the river now, and there was a line of houses on the bank, small and quaint but well-made.

And they were all familiar.

When she realized how familiar she almost dropped her glitzer in surprise.

She was right outside a house, and the door was open.

All her training dissipated as she sprinted inside. The bolt had been kicked in, everything was in disarray. Dressers were ransacked and walls were slashed. It was obvious there had been a fight, and in the middle of it all, a bleeding, crumpled body on the floor.

Genys was looking at her murdered sister.