She felt lighter. The decision to resign had taken her a week to build up the courage to admit to herself, and another week to actually vocalize. Confessing her intentions to Verum had been emotionally draining, and calling her commanders together had been similarly taxing. But now that most of them were coming with her….

Was it wrong to feel almost excited?

The nature of Callida’s resignation and moving her family to some remote location with a following of religious zealots haunting their every step hadn’t changed, but the fact that she was no longer alone in doing so changed everything. She couldn’t wait to tell Rogue about this latest development.

Leaving work a little early, Callida went home to find Rogue pouring over dozens of maps strewn across the floor of the front parlor. He was so engrossed in this task that he didn’t even notice her walk in.

“Rogue? Sweetheart?”

He hummed distractedly in reply, only looking up when she prodded his shoulder. “Oh, Callida! Hi! Sorry, I was… looking.”

“That’s alright. What are you looking at?”

“I was looking for land we could claim for a colony. Here, have a seat,” he said, shuffling a stack of maps to the side to clear some room for her.

Her brow lifted in surprise as she sat on the floor to peer over his shoulder. “Have you found anywhere promising?”

“A few places, actually, but I want to get your opinion on some things. First, I kind of want to avoid the wastelands. I know there are abandoned Resistance camps that might make initial set-up easier, but the land and climate are rough. There isn’t much by way of natural resources, and the current inhabitants are… terrifying.”

“And by ‘current inhabitants’ you mean the natural fauna?”

“Yeah, more like monsters. I’d much rather find somewhere with relatively peaceful residents, assuming that’s even possible.”

“Fair. Where did you have in mind?”

“Well, look here. See, the known world is actually quite small. I mean, it’s not small exactly, but we know that there is a lot more land north of the tribe lands, and then there’s a lot of mythology — primarily from Shark Tribe legends — about other lands not apparently connected to the mainland. But the tribe lands are saturated. We’re going to have to look outside of the tribe lands if we are hoping to find a territory of any substantial size to claim.”

“So north.”

“Yeah. Or, I suppose we could go east, deeper into the desert, but I kind of ruled that one out already.”

“You’ve ruled out going east and north of the Lion Tribe already. What’s left? North of the Bear Tribe?”

“North of the Bear Tribe, or actually west of the Bear Tribe. There’s land west of the Wolf Tribe as well, but we know almost nothing about it because of the steep, rocky mountains and cliffs that effectively cut access off from the Wolf Tribe. We could go exploring? To get there, we’d have to cut through the Bear Tribe and then travel south. It would be quite the gamble, but it would be secluded.”

“Do we want to be that secluded? I mean, what about establishing trade routes?”

“True. Being too secluded would make trade prohibitive. But anywhere we go is going to be fairly secluded. Given how much of the map we’ve already eliminated, really our only neighbors are going to be the Bear Tribe and maybe the Wolf Tribe if we are willing to carve out the path that would allow traveling between us.”

“I know Tribe Leader Recht. The Bear Tribe would be a good neighbor.”

“I thought so too. Which brings me back to this map,” he said, and shuffled through a pile of parchment until he found a particularly wide one. “This is the Bear Tribe’s territory as of… thirty years ago?”

“Before the Great War.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how much their boundaries have changed since then, but, as you can see, their territory is long and narrow and located over a swath of the Heiligtumshügel mountain range. Beyond that, in all directions as far as I can tell, is more mountains. So the question is, which direction do we want to go? And maybe that actually needs to be determined by the Bear Tribe. We probably should ask for permission. The thing is, no matter where we settle, anyone traveling to or from the colony would have to pass through the Bear Tribe, and that will be a hassle for them. It would just be good form to invite their input on which direction would be the least inconvenient.”

“So… all of that to say, ‘let’s go somewhere beyond the Bear Tribe borders and let them choose exactly where’?” she asked in a judgey tease.

“I was just thinking out loud, Callida,” he protested. “But essentially, yeah. That’s what seems to make sense to me. What do you think?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“It sounds like a decent plan to me,” she shrugged. “I have some related news.”

“Oh?”

“Well, first, I told Verum.”

“And how’d he take that?”

“Not well. He’s not fighting me about it, but he’s upset.”

“I suppose that’s to be expected,” Rogue said, trying to be understanding.

“But that’s not my news!” Callida said, gripping Rogue’s arm excitedly.

“Good news, I take it?”

“So, I called my commanders in to inform them of things. Things didn’t go to plan at all, but…. You like the commanders, right? Rapax, Arum, Baca–”

“–Moro, Adjutus, Captain Gravis if we’re counting him as ‘one of the commanders’. Even Vir, though I don’t know him super well. Yeah. They’re good guys. Why?”

Something warm and insistent swelled joyfully in her chest, and Callida found herself growing emotional for the umpteenth time that day. “Except for Vir, they’re all coming with us.”

“What?!”

“Vir was the only one I could convince to stay; he has a small family to think about, so he’s going to be the new Lion General. But the rest of them… Rogue, the rest of them want to come with us! They insisted, and frankly, I’m just so grateful and overwhelmed and excited that they’re coming, I’m not sure that my efforts to talk them out of it were very convincing. How do you feel about that?”

From the way Rogue was grinning and also tearing up, Callida knew his answer before he even said anything. “Honestly, I can’t think of six other men I’d rather come with us. How soon can we leave?”

She laughed through happy tears and rested her head against his shoulder. “Soon. Let me get Vir situated, and then we’ll go. I owe both Vir and Verum at least that much.”

Callida felt Rogue peck the top of her head and nuzzled affectionately into his neck. “M’lady, I know it’s not fair for me to feel this way, but I’m actually excited for this.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I never really settled here in the Lion Tribe, as much as I tried to. This place has just never felt like home to me.”

“I know,” she said, lifting her head to instead meet his eyes. “This isn’t going to be easy, though.”

“But I think that’s partly why I’m excited. I’ve wanted for nothing here in the Lion Tribe. We have this huge house, all the help we could want, all the food and clothing and stuff…. But it all feels so meaningless. I’m a lot more valuable out there. I have a purpose and a role, and I’m needed. I’m sorry, M’lady, but I’m not cut out for a cushy lifestyle,” he said with a small chuckle of self-deprecation.

“That’s just as well. I guess it’s my turn to step outside my comfort zone.”

He caught her chin and leaned in to kiss her tenderly, pulling back again with a smirk playing on his lips. “Then I guess it’s my turn to wear the pants.”

“Ha! You wish.”

“That sounds like a challenge.” His smirk curled into something both playful and vaguely aggressive. Callida’s body coiled like a spring, ready to match him when he chose to strike. But she still squeaked when he lunged, and Callida toppled over backwards onto the thick canvas of another map as Rogue tackled her. She countered by directing his momentum into a roll that switched their positions. “Perfect.” Callida couldn’t quite escape his arms before they’d drawn her to his chest and locked around her shoulders. Soon enough, his legs had wrapped around hers as well, and Callida was quite helpless to prevent the next roll that left her on her back again.

“You win this round,” she giggled, realizing that, while she could dislodge him, she'd probably have to hurt him to do it.

“Mn. What did I win?”

“What do you want?” He gave her a look to communicate that her question was rather stupid and then leaned down; she let her head tilt back to accept the feather-light warm-up kisses against her throat.

“If I get to pick my prize, then I want this neck,” he said.

“My neck?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Just the neck, huh?”

“Yup. Unless you beg me to take more.”

“Beg you?” she scoffed playfully.

He leaned down again, whispering in her ear, “I’m up for the challenge.” The gooseflesh blossoming across the length of her body confirmed that indeed he was. Callida shivered pleasantly.

“Maybe we should take this upstairs,” she suggested, mildly concerned that Celarus or one of the other servants would walk in on them in the front parlor of all places.

“No. Not now that I’ve got you exactly where I want you.” He collected her arms and pinned her wrists to the side, returning to his prize.

“Ro-ogue,” she whined, “we should really take this upstairs.”

“Begging already?” he asked, an eyebrow quirking at her.

“N-no.”

“Oh. Okay. Just checking.”

She pressed her lips together after that, determined not to give him the satisfaction of making her beg, but his hands tracing her arms inward and then feeling their way down her sides to her hips to then snake around and press gradually into her lower back…. “That’s cheating.”

“Is it?”

Her toes curled as he pulled her hips flush against his at the same moment his mouth greedily attacked the flesh over her jugular vein. She bit into her lip to keep herself from reacting audibly. “Primordials, Rogue! That’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” She could hear the snicker in his voice and grew indignant.

Not indignant enough. For all her determination to not be seduced…. “I don’t want to do this here.”

“Do what here?” Ugh! She wanted to smack or kiss that stupid smirk, but it burrowed under her jaw again before she could decide which.

“Rogue,” she whimpered.

“Say ‘please’.”

“What?!”

“Say it, and I’ll take you upstairs.”

Frustrated, Callida growled at him. He merely chuckled and returned to torturing her while stubbornness and desire waged war in her mind. “Fine. You win. Please?”

“Like you mean it.” His breath fluttered the hair by her ear, and Callida snapped at him.

“Rogue!”

“Say it like you mean it, Callida,” he coaxed.

She wasn’t going to swallow her pride willingly, but his next kisses had her fingers twisting through his hair, and the word escaped involuntarily. “Please,” she gasped.

“As you wish, M’lady.”