PART II - HARD DECISIONS

As Callie exited, the door closed with an audible thud, followed by the soft click of a latch falling into place. There was silence in the bunkhouse as everyone looked at each other trying to take stock of what had just happened.

“I think we hurt her,” Lena finally said, collapsing to the bed. “I didn’t want to do that!” she added loudly, suddenly choking up.

Vanis quickly ran over to Lena. “Lena, I …”

“I didn’t want to hurt her, Vanis!” Lena said again, this time her voice quavering. “What have I done?”

Xin looked over to Tazrok, who shrugged in return.

Vanis sat and grabbed Lena’s shoulder.

Lena gasped for breath, her eyes wide and staring at nothing. She let out a series of short sobs. “What. Have. I. Done.” There was a panicked look in her eyes.

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” Vanis said. “We can talk this through.”

Lena knocked Vanis’s arm away and grabbed both his shoulders in return. “You don’t understand! We can’t abandon her! We can’t! I promised …”

“We can’t. And we won’t. I promised as well. In fact, I swore to that fact.”

“You promised? You swore?” Lena gasped out. “You did?”

“I did. You were there.”

“That’s good. She needs us. She needs me.” Lena lunged at Vanis and held him tight. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Vanis shot a puzzled look to Xin, who was simply perplexed by Lena’s behavior

“Lena,” Tazrok said, his deep voice resonating in the small space. “We will help Little One. Question is, how.”

“Right!” Lena said sharply, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Right! How do we …” She trailed off as she grabbed her pillow and wiped her eyes on it. “What do we … what do we do now?”

“Are you alright?” Vanis asked quietly. “You do not seem yourself.”

Lena responded with a sharp nod, followed quickly by two more. “Yes. I just know I need to protect her.”

Vanis stood up and paced to the back wall, against which he lightly tapped his forehead. Looking up, he moved his gaze to the Shaman, still sitting on her bed with a confused look on her reptilian face. “Xin,” Vanis said quietly, “where do you stand right now?”

Xin looked at the three faces staring at him intently. She quickly stood up, feeling cornered. “Vanis, I have said I will help the Little One and keep her secret,” she said defensively. “That has not changed.”

Vanis said nothing and just looked at the Lizardkin.

“Do you doubt me?

Vanis continued to say nothing.

“Vanis? Lena? Tazrok? Certainly you do not doubt my word?”

Vanis continued to look at Xin for another hard moment, sighed and lowered his gaze. “No Xin. It is simply that we don’t know you yet. Lena, Tazrok and I have traveled together for several days and we’ve come to know each other well. I apologize for doubting you and ask for your forgiveness.”

“Vanis … Your Majesty,” Xin said, straightening slightly, “I will accept your apology as honestly given, but I wish to stress again, my word is as much an oathbind as yours. More because it is mine! I ask you, please, do not doubt me again. We can agree on this?”

“Xinchaine of the Sunset Valley Tribe, we can, and I do.” Vanis extended a hand to Xin, who paused for a moment before she reached forward herself and clasped his wrist in return.

“Very well,” Xin said, still somewhat flustered.

“So. What do?” Tazrok said, lowering the temperature in the room.

“If we are all committed to seeing this through, then that is indeed the question,” Vanis,

“Do we all believe she is from this other world? This world She-cog-oh?” Xin asked.

“I thought it was called Earth?” Lena said.

“It does not matter what it was called. This must first be decided to inform our actions,” Xin said, her voice raised. “Do we believe her?”

“Yes. She give logic evidence.” Tazrok said matter-of-factly.

“Yes she did,” Vanis said, a look on his face somewhere between worry and skepticism. “She does make a compelling case.”

“It has to be true,” Lena said quickly. “She has no reason to lie, and her words, her surprise at everything being new, the lack of class, the Advanced Archery perk, the things she describes from the other world …”

“Could the Little One be crazy in her head?” Xin asked.

“Certainly not!” Lena said, rising from the bed

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“Lena…” Vanis said slowly. “She is right to ask.”

“Well, she’s not. She is just … a Gnome. And they are all a little … off.”

“Lena!” Vanis said sharply. “I think you can agree that when it comes to Callie, your objectivity is apparently compromised. Let us all speak without emotion.”

“I … You …” Lena looked at everyone’s faces and then slightly deflated, the realization hitting her. “You’re right, Vanis. I don’t know why I’m so worked up about her. It’s almost like she’s my own child I need to defend. But that still doesn’t change the evidence she laid out.”

Vanis nodded again and paced to the back wall. “Xin,” he said, “Do you think Callie is mad or insane?”

“Does it matter?”

“It does. Because if she is insane, we take her to the Healers and let them deal with her so that we can get back to what we are here for. Namely training our classes so we can get out from under this damnable curse. If we all believe she isn’t then we do something different. So again, Xin, what do you think?”

Xin turned and looked out the window deep in thought. In the garden she could see Callie’s pink hair standing out among the greens and the browns of the trees and grasses. It looked as if she might be speaking with someone else in a white robe. It must be another recruit. Could she really be from another world? Does it matter? She certainly doesn’t seem to be a risk. There’s no evidence she is working for the Demons. But what if … what if …. Xin played Callie’s theories over in her head again.

Xin turned and faced Vanis. “I do not believe that Callie is completely sane. Her emotions seem erratic. One moment she is serious and focused, the next she is bouncing on her bed, excited about building a blanket fort. She gets distracted far too easily. But, Vanis, you also say this is a trait of all Gnomes, so I will accept that as the reason for now, as I do not know any Gnomes myself.”

Xin looked at her feet and pondered what to say next. “I do not believe she is a risk to the camp, which is the most-important. I am also willing to believe that she may possibly be from this world called She-cog-oh. A part remains skeptical, as one should when you must take something on faith. But I am willing to proceed as if she is truthful.”

Vanis nodded. “I, too, wish to proceed that way, Xin. Her logical evidence is compelling, or at least compelling enough to have that faith in it. I too accept that she is from elsewhere.”

“So now what?” Lena said, holding the pillow to her chest. “That bell is going to ring soon and we all need to meet with our trainers. We need to tell her something before that.”

“Here’s the thing,” Vanis said, not hearing Lena. “Why would someone choose her, out of the apparently millions in this city she was in? Why would they put her in this world, in a Gnome body, cursed with Conscription, on a recruit wagon? And this woman in the hat Callie mentioned, who could she be and what part might she play in this? I don’t think we have any way to get an answer to those questions, but that’s what is troubling me. The how is easy … it’s magic … very advanced but at least we can assume it’s some kind of portal magic. I’ve never seen anything so powerful, but I’m willing to accept that as the how. No, it’s the why that is truly vexing me. Why her? Why here? Why a Gnome? Why all of it? And who is this woman in the hat?”

“Does it matter?” Tazrok said.

“Not really, no, my friend,” Vanis said. “At least it doesn’t matter right now. And until we know who to trust there’s little we can do to explore it. We need top tier Scryers and Scholars to look into this. We certainly won’t find what we need out here in a frontier training camp or on the warfront. Until this blasted curse is gone and I can return home, I can’t engage those resources without alerting people I’d much rather not.”

“We need to talk to her more,” Xin said.

“Yes. We do,” Vanis said. “We need to know everything that happened in detail before she was pushed in front of this … train thing. For that matter we need to know what a train is. Or these moo-vies she keeps referencing. And this Lord she mentioned, what was his name?”

“The Lord of the Rings,” Lena said. “He sounds like a very powerful person. Did she maybe do something to anger him?”

“And something about the throne,” Vanis said, speaking out loud mostly to himself. “She said her leaders were almost making a game out of vying for it. Did she say her world has kings? She mentioned a queen, so I suppose there must be kings. Wait, that’s right, a king recently succeeded her queen, too. Kingdom politics? I can’t imagine that she is important enough for that kind of attention. Blast! there so much we’re missing, because we’ve lacked time to ask our own questions, and spent all our time doubting her.”

“We’ve spent our time teaching her everything she needs to know about our world. Yes, we dumped a lot of information on her, but she needs it to understand how things like classes and skills work here if she is to survive,” Lena said. “I honestly hope we didn’t dump too much on her at once.”

“Yes I know,” Vanis said with a nod. “I suppose all of us need to talk. Properly and without interruption.”

“Can we do that tonight?” Xin asked. “And tomorrow? We are supposed to have time for ourselves until evening meal.”

Vanis appeared skeptical. “Perhaps. But we get our skills tonight. We are going to be in no condition to have that kind of conversation. Maybe not even tomorrow. Everyone responds differently, so who knows what conversation could even be had come morning. By that token, she may not even reveal her true class. Master Trainer Thorn seemed to be essentially guessing based on that revealed perk.”

“Regardless of when, that must be our next step. Gather information,” Xin said. “Understand more about her world.”

Everyone sat or stood in silence, contemplating what to do next.

“I believe I know what to do,” Vanis said. “For now, we can’t do anything outside of this group. We need to get Callie back in here, pledge ourselves to her protection, and let her know we believe her. I think that will be a big help in her mind, and yours as well, Lena. Mine, for that matter, too. Later, when we all return from meeting our trainers, we will have some time before the rest happens. Then we can talk as much as possible until it’s time to get our skills, and more tomorrow when we are able.”

“And next?” Lena

“I am still thinking we need someone in the leadership here we can talk to. I saw Legate Galin joking with Major Celeste after Tazrok’s … uh … discipling of the Dwarf. It makes me believe he might be approachable, that is, he seems less regimented than many officers of high rank. Master Trainer Thorn also seemed an honorable man. I couldn’t get a read on Commandant Xera, except that their words were honest and they certainly care for the recruits. A good sign, as well. If the right people are in command here, we may have options. If they are stuck on protocol and chain of command, the word of Callie will quickly get to people that would not treat her well.”

“Again, give two days,” Tazrok said.

Vanis nodded. “You’re right, Tazrok. That could still be the best choice. Two days to pry what information out of Callie we can, and help fill in everything she needs to know, and the time to evaluate the ranking officers. If needed, I will use my father’s name to get action. But ultimately he is only a Legacy King, so his command of the military is largely ceremonial. Plus, I am no longer in line for the throne, so the actual weight I can bring to bear may be much more limited than one would expect.”

“You are trying to avoid attention, Vanis. Let’s not start waving your Princely di …. um … parts around if we don’t have to,” Lena said.

“True, Lena,” Vanis said, seeming to have missed the almost-innuendo.

“Two days,” Tazrok said. “Then next plan.”

“Does anyone disagree?” Vanis asked.

Xin and Lena both shook their heads.

“I’ll go and retrieve Callie, then,” Vanis said.

“No, let me get her, please. I hurt her. I need to bring her back,” Lena said.