PART XXII - VIOLATIONS AND REVELATIONS
Callie walked towards the bleachers, with Lena, Pixyl and Jesca walking close. Her mind was preoccupied, though, after the whole incident with Dregorio. Major Celeste had called it a ‘teaching opportunity’, but as the explanation of what happened had been made clear, Callie couldn’t help but to feel a little violated. On one hand, she could absolutely see the combat usefulness of the skill. But she was the one that got Taunted, and it was her mind that had been charmed, yet again. It made her, however briefly, do something that she would never do.
After Celeste and Olin had explained exactly what happened in detail, and how Taunts factor into group combat, Callie and Pixyl proceeded to get seriously reprimanded by the Major for going off-script with their sparring match. Celeste explained to all the recruits how important it was to stick with the training routines for their own safety, and that there would be plenty of time for more interesting things in the future. She concluded by asking both troublemakers why they shouldn’t be punished for disobeying orders.
“Because everyone got a great laugh?” was the best snappy retort Callie could come up with. As the crowd chuckled at Callie’s answer, and before Celeste could respond, Reynard interjected. He sharply pointed at Callie in genuine anger, snarling, “Don’t ever fucking do it again!” It was a sudden and harsh verbal disciplining that immediately silenced the otherwise jovial recruits, and made Callie feel absolutely awful and even more small than she already was. The long silence of surprise after his words only made the moment more uncomfortable.
Thankfully, before things got any more awkward, a bell rang out with a thirty-minute warning to assemble, and rather than try to salvage any remaining time for more training, all the recruits were summarily dismissed. Callie thought briefly about trying to talk to Reynard in private, but she saw him in animated, angry conversation with the Major and Trainer Olin, and thought better of it.
“Is what happened still bothering you?” Lena asked, seeing the introspection on Callie’s face.
“A little,” Callie finally said. Reynard’s harsh tone had given Callie flashbacks to when she was a teen, and the many, many times she had gotten in serious trouble and heard that same tone from her parents or school officials. But she realized it was what had happened with Dregorio that was really weighing on her mind. “I really wanted to hurt him, Lena. That isn’t me.”
“I know. We all know. Even Dregorio knows.”
“I suppose,” Callie said glumly. “But still … with only a flick of magic he forced me to do something I would never do. I don’t blame him, but … Lena, I can’t get past how much I really wanted to just hurt him! Fighting with Pixyl, that was all in fun, but with Dregorio…”
Lena didn’t really have anything to say that would help at this moment. It was a simple truth that this was a world with charms and ways to control a person’s actions. For Lena and the rest, none of this was a shock. Sure, it wasn’t pleasant, and charms could be used for great harm, so intent was a big part of how you had to evaluate, and no ill intent was intended with what had happened. Unfortunately, there was really no way to communicate that to Callie, without it sounding like her feelings were being dismissed.
“If it m-m-makes you feel any better,” Pixyl said, putting her hand on Callie’s arm, “You got me g-g-good at the end there. It was a good match, even if we got into trouble.”
Callie smiled at her friend, but it was a weak smile. Really, she just needed time to process what had happened.
Together, they found a spot in the bleacher seating and settled in to kill time until whatever was to happen began. Callie saw Tazrok off in a group with Bratig and two others, along with Trainer Rowani. All seemed as if they were exhausted, and were leaning back with largely blank looks on their faces. She debated going to say hello, but was interrupted by Vanis approaching, accompanied by his fellow Catkin recruit, Fynisse.
“I am so tired,” Fynisse groaned, flomping down on the hard seating and stretching out. “I have no idea how many times I’ve cast Ritual Circle today.”
“But you have become quite adept at it,” Vanis pointed out.
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Fynisse responded with a simple groan, and was about to say more when a hush came over the murmuring of the recruits as Juniper suddenly made an entrance to the area.
She was decked out in the standard recruit clothing of tan tunic and dark-brown pants, unbuttoned mid-thigh to make them short, and exposing her long, muscular legs. On her head, she was wearing a wide-brimmed hat identical to Callie’s, making her look like a green-skinned naturalist. She also wore her calf-high moccasin boots, which led to a look that somehow just worked for her. The Dryad scanned the audience, her eyes lighting up as they fell on her friends from the night before, and she walked to join them. Slowly, the background noise of conversations resumed, although a few eyes hungrily followed the Nymph and her long legs.
“Hello!” Juniper said brightly as she arrived.
“Good afternoon, Juniper,” Vanis said, standing and bowing slightly.
“What do you all think?” the Sylvan said, spinning to show off her clothes. “Wearing clothes seems very inconvenient, but quite stylish.”
“You look really nice,” Callie said, somewhat dreamily. Pixyl frowned and lightly slapped the Gnome’s shoulder, who shook her head to clear it.
“Oh, thank you Little One. I asked for a … hat I think you call it … just like yours. It seemed quite cute and fun.”
Vanis let off a slight huff of a laugh. “Would you care to join us?”
“Oh! Why thank you, your Majesty … I mean Recruit Vanis!” Juniper said, correcting herself.
“I understand you are to be a recruit as well,” Vanis said.
“Why yes. I am to be … joined you call it … with my little Symbiote shortly. I needed to sleep in my tree last night to refresh, but now I have three days before I have need to again. Healer Tasi has been so kind to me, so to thank her I located three of these Symbiote creatures and brought them back with me. I understand they are quite important to everyone. She was quite pleased!”
“You located three … back with you?” Vanis asked, a look of both shock and confusion on his face.
“Oh yes. They are ever so exciting to chase.”
Callie cleared her throat loudly, interrupting Juniper, a hard glare on her face. “Ixnay! Shhh!”
“Oh my! That’s right. I’m not supposed to talk about how I am able to locate them,” Juniper said, seeing Callie’s expression. “Everyone, forget I said anything about that.”
The dumbfounded expressions on everyone’s faces were nearly identical, save for Callie who slapped her hand to her face in disbelief.
“You are able …” Vanis began to stutter, but Callie interrupted him by clearing her throat loudly before he could finish.
The Gnome looked at everyone, and whispered just loud enough for them to hear. “Nobody says anything! This is Top Secret!” Then she added with a hiss, “Juniper, stop talking about it!”
Vanis and Pixyl looked at each other, both seeming to immediately register the implications of what they had just heard, with Lena and Jesca showing understanding a moment later. Fynisse looked confused, finally raising her paw as if to ask a question.
“TOP! SECRET!” Callie hissed again in warning.
The confused Warlock looked to Vanis for guidance, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear. After a moment, her eyes widened as she looked at the Dryad, and then she returned her gaze to Callie and nodded her head briskly.
“This cannot be a topic for discussion,” Vanis warned. “Juniper, that must include you!”
“I order everyone to s-s-say nothing,” Pixyl abruptly added, an actual warning in her voice. It was a sudden and surprising statement of authority from the Pixie, who had so far wanted no part of the fact that, as of the night before, she outranked all of the other recruits. Everyone quickly saw from the look on her face, though. She was absolutely serious.
“Understood,” Vanis said quietly with a nod, with the rest echoing his acknowledgement in short order. Even Juniper nodded, with a light 'mmm-hmm' sound. The exchange seemed to sap any levity from the group, and conversation abruptly ended for a few minutes.
Finally, with an extreme effort, Jesca hesitantly tried to restart conversation by asking Callie, “When do you get your new bow?”
Thankful for the question, Callie responded, “I need to meet with Vonn tomorrow so she can fit me. After that, it takes a week or so because of the enchantments. I’ll probably stop by after training tomorrow, before dinner.”
“Enchantments?” Fynisse asked.
“That’s right. Fizzlebek, he’s a Gnome and the head Enchanter, is going to add two of them. One so I have an endless number of arrows and another so the bow will repair itself.”
“Only two? That seems rather paltry,” Juniper said, somewhat judgmentally.
Callie shrugged. “I don’t know how it works, but I guess that’s all the bow will hold due to the quality of the wood. But Vonn is going to add some runes for a little extra power, too. That’s good, because I’ll need everything I can get. Anything I use is going to be underpowered compared to a longbow.”
A light bell rang, causing conversations to sputter to a stop, as Master Trainer Thorn walked out onto the field facing the assembled recruits.