“David!” Diane exclaimed as she saw me come out of the building. She waited for a bit of a clear path and ran over to take me into a tight hug. “I didn't get to testify again!” She said and looked at my face. “Please tell me that they aren't going to kill you.”

“I could have told you that when you visited.” I said and she sighed. “I didn't know if they would still punish me with more jail time, though.”

Diane gave me a tender kiss for several seconds. “I don't know how you can be so calm.”

“Lots of practice.” I said. “Compared to life in the marsh, the army is a piece of cake.”

Diane laughed softly and gave me another brief kiss. “What did they give you?”

“Nothing.” Alex said. “He was found innocent of all charges.”

“YES!” Diane yelled and my face was suddenly covered in a bunch of kisses.

A group of soldiers were marching by with a corporal and one of the soldiers let out a surprised gasp and stopped walking. “MOM!”

Diane jumped like she had been bitten by a snake. “Spencer!” She gasped and let me go as she whirled around to stare at the son that she hadn't seen in well over a year.

Spencer realized he had stopped walking and was now out of formation. He looked a little panicked and confused about what to do.

“Resume your march!” Alex barked. “You can visit with family when you break for chow!”

Spencer jumped just like Diane had and saluted. “Yes, sir!” He said loudly and ran after his platoon.

“S-Spencer.” Diane whispered and I put an arm around her waist. “Wh-why... why is he here?”

Alex gave me a look and I shook my head slightly. Thankfully, he understood what I meant. “We're being heavily reinforced in case an offensive happens within the next two months.”

“An offensive? Where? We're so far away from where the war is happening.” Diane said.

“We can't divulge the details.” I said and turned her to face me. “Just know that I'll do my best to protect him and all the other soldiers that will be involved.”

“Y-y-you?” Diane asked, surprised. “But...”

“It's all right.” I said and gave her a tender kiss. “If you want to help, you can visit Mrs. Hansen and see if she has any of her sweet cookie bread for him.”

Diane's eyes sparkled. “I'll do just that!”

“Make sure to suggest that he share it with his platoon mates.” I cautioned her and she nodded.

“I know. Jealously and envy are the bane of a close knit group of people.” Diane said.

I smiled and gave her a brief kiss. “See you later.”

“Yes, you will.” Diane said, her eyes hard, then she gave me a huge smile and walked off at a fast pace.

“She would make a great Warrant Officer.” Gary said as he came over to us. “That command stare was something else.”

Alex chuckled and nodded. “What's up?”

“David and I need to get those cart orders done.” Gary said. “The Colonel's been extra angry that I haven't been able to make them by myself for the last three days.”

Alex nodded. “I imagine the gold is desperately needed for supplies for the brigade.”

“It's almost paying for itself, actually.” Gary said. “The best part is that it doesn't affect our plans.”

“That's a relief.” Alex said and nodded to me. “I'll let everyone know as soon as the Colonel makes a decision, one way or the other.”

I nodded back and Gary and I went to the maintenance building to get to work. He already had the necessary parts for quite a few of them and I gave him a surprised look.

“Just because I couldn't put them together, that didn't mean I didn't work on them.” Gary said.

I pat his shoulder and we started assembling the pieces. We ran out of wood pieces fairly quickly and had to go harvest some more. Luckily, Gary had a lot of the metal moving parts around, so I wouldn't need to make a trip to the next town for a couple of days.

We stopped to eat lunch in the mess hall and saw the commotion at one of the tables. Diane was there with Spencer and his face was as red as his hair. The troops around him were laughing and carrying on as they gobbled down Mrs. Hansen's dessert and Diane was talking softly to him. He barely spoke and only nodded occasionally.

“At least your idea for the dessert worked well.” Alex said from behind us and I turned to see him and Donna with their own food trays. “Mind if we sit down?”

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I shook my head and he and Donna sat across from myself and Gary. “No word yet?”

Alex shook his head and started eating. “There's no sign of Gillis or the CO, either.”

“The mages are staying quiet as well.” Donna said. “Which is great for me, because I only have to deal with a few hundred unruly soldiers every day.”

“How many staff sergeants are in the garrison?” I asked.

“Four.” Donna said. “When the rest of the brigade shows up over the next few weeks, we'll have five hundred each to look after.”

I turned to Alex. “How is the setup going?”

“I've already earmarked the people we need for the assault on the dragon's den... or nest... or whatever it is they use.” Alex said. “I really wish the mages would get off their asses and tell me if they've tracked the dragon's magic signature or not.”

I sat there and thought about it for a few minutes while we ate. If they are magical creatures, then that would mean that their choice of nesting area makes sense. Just like the marsh panthers, they must have been attracted to the fungus blooms for their high magical content. I thought. If the fungus grows there and it's perpetual summer, then the dragons won't suffer during the winter at all.

“I'm sure they have to wait for the Colonel's approval to tell you.” Donna said.

Alex glanced at her and then sighed. “I didn't think of that.”

“That's because personnel management is my job.” Donna said with a smile.

I noticed Diane as she stood up and I leaned slightly to the side to watch her. She pat her son's hand, thanked him and his platoon mates for letting her join them for lunch, and came over to my table. She carried a handbag and when she reached me, she dug into the bag and pulled out a small loaf of the sweet cookie bread.

“Mrs. Hansen said to thank you.” Diane said and bent over slightly to give me a discreet kiss. “Here's a note from her. She said if you could, the next time you go for supplies, she could use a restock.” She gave me the note and two gold coins.

“She's burned through all that so quickly?” I asked.

Diane nodded. “She also made a lot of money, especially from the troops.”

“How's Gloria?” I asked.

“Happy as can be and still making money.” Diane said with a huge smile. “She's also growing like a weed. She's up to here on me already.” She put a hand level with the bottom of her chest and laughed. “I don't know if it's from all the breads and sweets she's eating or what!”

Donna laughed, too. “I can just imagine she's rising as much as the dough is!”

Diane nodded happily. “I better go. I need to get back to the store.” She glanced around and bent down to give me another kiss and whispered. “I'll be by to visit tonight.”

“I'll leave the door open to my shop.” I whispered back.

Diane nodded left with a smile on her face. A few people watched her leave, both men and women.

“I've been wondering something.” I said and Gary, Alex and Donna turned their attention to me. “When I was in basic training, there was only a couple of handfuls of women on the whole base and only one in my boot camp.”

“I know where this is going.” Alex said with a smirk. “Donna, this is all yours.”

“Gee, thanks.” Donna said. “Go ahead and ask, David.”

“Why are there so many women in the Colonel's command?” I asked.

“I knew it.” Alex chuckled.

Donna took a deep breath and let it out. “It's quite simple, really. Women aren't as discriminated against here.”

“I don't understand.” I said.

Donna looked at Alex for help and he shook his head. “You're really leaving it all to me?”

“You're the target of the conversation and you know my own view on it.” Alex said and didn't bother to see if anyone was looking as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. “I've got to get back to work.”

I quickly cut the bread into six pieces and handed him one.

“Thanks.” Alex said and left.

I gave Gary and Donna a piece each, then ate my piece as I waited for Donna to explain. Donna took her time to cut her piece up and added butter to her now multiple pieces, then she started to talk. I already knew about the class segregation of society for normal people and some of the ways in which women were lesser in some people's eyes. That was usually done by the really rich people like lords that had both wives and mistresses and made sure that women 'knew their place' in their households.

What I hadn't known was that there was a general acceptance by the population that women were considered inferior to men. Personally, I thought that was crazy, because I grew up with one of the strongest women I had ever known. No man, not even me, could ever compare to the Hag.

I met Diane years later and she was strong and authoritative, because she helped run a store that a lot of people needed to live, myself included. I definitely did not believe that her father was a better person than her, or stronger, or even a nice person in general. That was when I realized that society believed that women were weaker, both physically and emotionally.

I couldn't really argue against the weaker physically part, since that was how a lot of women lived normal lives. They worked at home, raised kids, and took care of their families. Finding women that didn't want to do that was as difficult as it was to find a man that wanted to do it instead. Then again, the CO, the Colonel, the XO and the drill sergeant at the training base, and even Gillis were all doing their best to have military careers.

What was funny was, most of them were enlisted and weren't what they called 'line officers'. Almost none of them could rise above commander of a large group of troops, possibly a base, and that was only if the position wasn't already taken.

On the emotion side, women did react more than men; but, they also handled it better. From my own personal experience, not including the Hag because she was pretty crazy, women steeled themselves to face hardships much more quickly than men did. They accepted it and moved on, like Diane did. She was devastated when her son left her to join the army, mainly because that was how she had lost her husband, Spencer's father.

When I mentioned opening her own shop to distract her, she was all over it. She needed something to do to keep her mind off of her son and what could potentially happen with him in danger all the time, and she threw all of her effort and strength into getting the store up and running. It was pretty admirable, now that I knew what that word meant, because she told me what she had gone through to do it.

“Well, ignoring all of that nonsense, I hope the Colonel decides to use our plan.” I said and Donna and Gary looked surprised at my words. “If we do it and are even partially successful, they can't say that she's not fit for her post.”

“D-David... you...” Donna paused and looked like she wasn't sure what to say.

“I have nothing against the princess, or the Colonel when she's wearing the hat.” I said and stood. “It's not me that will ruin her career, assuming she wants it in the first place. It's her hasty and ill-informed decisions that could be disastrous.”

Donna reluctantly nodded and Gary stood up.

“Let's get back to work.” Gary said and nodded at Donna. “Ma'am.”

“See you later.” Donna said and looked at me. “Bye, David.”

“Goodbye, Donna.” I said and walked away before she could comment about me using her name.