The main command building of White Squall Fortress was filled with Officers going back and forth with documents, doing their work, and sorting out the operations of the several thousand military members stationed in the cliff-top structure. Warships the size of islands crested the sea horizon outside of the fortress, and titanic beings with massive flocks and crowds of their lessers flooded the fleets in an attempt to destroy the ships and devour the Officers commanding the boats.

In one of the many corridors of the main command building, a young man with sea-green hair watched as the tall, curly-haired woman with glowing hair walked in front of him, carrying a stack of paper to deliver to the next room.

Caspian Wharifin had a new colleague.

And… he couldn’t work her out. When the Commander told him they would be working together, he didn’t realise the man meant it literally, both of them being placed under the same new superior, and doing most tasks together. He had originally thought it was to help the woman get used to the work, but when it became clear she needed very little help at all and he told his superior that, she still wasn’t transferred elsewhere. She was even allowed on the Commander’s warship for the past month, like him. Although for her, maybe that wasn’t a good thing. He shuddered as he remembered her sparring session with the Commander.

It seemed the Commander was treating her like Ross and him though. The man would get immensely interested in one or two people now and then, and would then devote himself to terrorising them until they left the Navy. The woman in front of him didn’t seem like someone who would quit easily, but that could just possibly mean when her buttons were finally fully pressed, it would be a big event.

“Officer Wharifin?”

He blinked when he heard the toneless voice and saw Adrianna Riftmire, the person in front of him, looking back at him. He shook himself out of musing.

“Ah, yes, Officer Riftmire?”

“You’ve been staring at me for the last few minutes,” she stated coolly.

… it was slightly awkward that she had noticed. He coughed. “Sorry. I was distracted……”

“……by your hair.”

Her expression instantly went cold, making him feel amused. One of the few things he had worked out about the woman was that her hair seemed to be a little bit of a sore point.

“Then I suggest as your colleague you spend your time more effectively,” she replied icily. She continued onwards with that march of hers, ignoring him once more.

He realised something. “…how did you know I was staring at you though?”

She glanced back over her shoulder to give him what he was beginning to recognise as a dubious look, so he explained himself.

“I mean, your back was turned. You shouldn’t be able to see me,” he said.

She gazed wordlessly at him, which, if this was still the beginning of November, he might’ve been a bit weirded out by it, but by now he had realised it was her wondering whether to tell him something or not. She let out a very slight sigh.

“I use spiritual energy. I can see on all sides of me at all times.” Then she began moving again.

Ah. So, don’t do anything behind her back, thinking she’s not looking.

But now he had another strange fact to add to the dozens of other observations he had made about the weird new colleague of his over the nearly three weeks they had worked together. Which included amongst them her ability to keep her voice perfectly neutral at all times, her limited facial expressions, and her glowing hair. He thought he also remembered Ross mentioning strange sleeping habits…?

Adrianna Riftmire paused and took a turn to go deliver her documents to another room of the fortress’s Main Building, leaving him alone. As always, she didn’t bother to inform anybody what she was doing until she had done it. Or at least if she thought it unimportant, which clearly showed how high interaction with him ranked on her list of priorities. Although he was beginning to think differently these last few days…

When he had asked the Commander, his superior, and a few others questions about her, they had said he was strangely curious about the new Officer. And to a certain extent, Caspian was. Just the fact she had such a striking appearance made her an unusual person, but she had a multitude of other characteristics that made her interesting to him.

One was just her general behaviour. She looked like she was in her early twenties, but she didn’t speak like one in the slightest, nor did she interact with the other Officers her age beyond what was necessary. He hadn’t been around her when she was near the Commander and their superior to see how she was around them, but…

She was also highly talented, with a seemingly perfect memory. The fact she used spiritual energy probably explained that fact, but he thought she was a Rank-1, so it was another mystery how she could use SPRT at her rank.

Also, she was taller than him! He wasn’t short and wasn’t someone who had anything against a woman being taller than him, but it was still very strange when standing next to her. Slightly embarrassing when he couldn’t reach into a tall cupboard and she ended up getting him the object too.

But he was picking up on little details that told him Adrianna Riftmire wasn’t quite as cold as she seemed. None of the Officers said they had experienced her being rude in any form, and while she spoke like the colour very light grey was an emotion, a few of her comments could be interpreted as humorous if always said without any expression that could tell you if she was being serious or not.

He had actually had more luck reading her body language than her expressions when it came to working her out, although when he tried to point out the real meaning of some of her words to the other Officers, they just looked at him like he was insane.

Well, he had always been like that. Good at picking up what someone was feeling based on little details. Still, Adrianna Riftmire’s body language felt a bit too… artificial. And there was her weird reaction to seeing him when they first met. Sure, Atlanteans were very rarely seen outside of their capital city in Atlantea, but he was only quarter-Atlantean, and didn’t even have their skin colouration. While not many, there were still some beastmen and magical beasts in White Squall Fortress, so she shouldn’t have been so surprised to see his appearance.

He still couldn’t work out why she hadn’t been transferred though. Or at least given a different position if the Commander didn’t want to remove her from under their superior. Her work ethic was leaving him feeling a little subpar, actually, even though he knew he worked better than most Officers, which was why he had been under the Commander’s direct command for so long.

…the Commander wasn’t trying to play matchmaker, was he? If he was, that would be horrifying, and very scary. Caspian didn’t need the Commander picking up weird new hobbies at this point. That man caused the Officers of the fortress grief even when things were going well for them all, so this could be the final straw before a riot occurred.

But he had gotten lost in his thoughts again, and had work to do, so he decided to focus on the present and get his work done before the shift was over.

…

“-and that should be the last of it,” he said, placing down the stack of papers on the desk.

“Tomorrow we’ll be going on the Commander’s ship again,” she replied, placing down her stack too.

“Ah… yeah.” He tried to prevent himself from grimacing, not wanting Adrianna to notice his reaction, although the silent stare he got didn’t give him much hope she had missed it. He raised his arms above his head to stretch. “Shift’s over then.”

Adrianna nodded and then turned around to leave the room. He followed… not because he was some creepy stalker, but just because the cafeteria was in the same direction. He wondered what to start a conversation with, so the trip to the cafeteria wouldn’t get too awkward. “So… what did you do before joining the Navy?”

She glanced at him. “I used to be a mercenary.”

… Alright, so ‘I used to kill people for a living’ wasn’t quite the answer he was expecting.

It seemed Adrianna had picked up on his thoughts because the icy-eyed woman let out a sigh. “Just so you know, I never killed anyone. I only worked in a supporting role.”

Come to think of it, I don’t know what her class type is.

“Supporting role?” he asked curiously.

“I’m an illusion mage, so I didn’t use attack spells,” she replied.

An illusion mage was a strange class to use if you were entering the Navy, with the lack of attack abilities at low ranks, and he had heard she was the new Squad Leader chosen from the elite training camp, so he wondered how that worked. To be chosen as a Squad Leader from the elite camp, you needed to have high combat strength, regardless of commanding ability, so she must have had some method of fighting she hadn’t told him yet.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He had been a Squad Leader a few years ago, although he never entered one of the training camps. He was picked for his other abilities. But there was another more important detail of her statement to address.

“…the Commander’s spars with you are always physical though?”

Her expression seemed to twitch slightly, and she slowed her pace for a moment. “You could say he’s found one trait of mine to be slightly interesting.”

That was a bit vague, however… “He seems to find whatever trait this is of yours more than just a ‘little’ interesting,” he said hesitantly.

Adrianna’s expression went flat. “The Commander is a very special kind of person. You can only accept he has his faults and move on.”

Caspian stared at her in disbelief. “…what did you just say?”

She looked at him for a brief second and then faced forward again. “I said the Commander’s only using me to keep himself entertained until the ice-storm period begins.”

No, you cannot just brush over it like that!

“Hey, I know full well what you just said, and it was not that!” he hissed, speeding up his pace to walk closer to her. “Don’t think you can just pretend I never heard what you said!”

She very slightly raised an eyebrow at him. “Then why did you ask me what I said in the first place?”

He glared at her, and when she didn’t receive an answer she just walked off. He followed after her. “You called the Commander a ‘very special person’. As your senior Officer, I cannot ignore that! You do not just call the highest commanding authority of this fortress a ‘special person’!”

“But I just did.”

“You-” he groaned and pulled at his hair, even as she continued.

“And everyone’s special. Everyone is a unique, special, very distinctive individual. Even you. Especially you,” she added.

Caspian narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you just call me not right in the head?”

“Officer Wharifin, if that’s how you interpreted my words, then that means that’s what you think of your Commander,” she replied, tilting her head slightly. “As your fellow Officer, I cannot ignore that. You do not just call the highest commanding authority of this fortress ‘not right in the head’.”

He stared incredulously at her, any comeback lost amidst the mental struggle of feeling very, very annoyed, or quite stunned at the words coming out of her mouth. He finally managed to speak after a few seconds.

“Should I go find our superior to reveal your opinions about our Commander?”

She gave him one slow blink and then nodded. “Yes, let’s do that. I need to report to him about an Officer who seems to think the Commander’s mentally challenged anyway, so may as well.” And with that, she marched onwards.

There was a delay before Caspian’s thoughts caught up to what she said. He ran after her. “Hey, hey, hey, actually, let’s not do that. How about we just drop this whole conversation topic, in fact.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder and then shrugged. “If you want. But you seem to think our superior will disagree with us. I’m not sure you’re right.”

He hesitated as he considered it. Actually, the man would probably agree with them very wholeheartedly, and then proceed to punish them for daring to say it. He coughed and gestured to the open doorway at the end of the hallway. “Let’s just have lunch, and forget we ever had this conversation.”

They went into the cafeteria and got their trays of food. Adrianna sat down at a table, and he decided to sit down opposite her. She didn’t seem fazed. She didn’t even react.

“By the way…” he began, “Did I do something? Because for some reason, you’re bothering to talk to me, and it’s weirding me out.”

She slowly raised her eyes from her food to give him a dull look. “I thought you said to forget the fact we were having a conversation.”

“No, I said to forget the fact we had a conversation,” he responded, waving a fork at her. “There’s a difference.”

“You mean the conversation where you called the Commander-”

“Ah! No, no, sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” he interrupted hastily, drawing odd looks from nearby Officers. “No idea at all! Next topic, please!”

He watched, slightly surprised, as she rolled her eyes. “If you wanted to start a conversation, beginning with ‘I’m getting weirded out because you’re talking to me’ isn’t the best way.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back, raising an eyebrow. “And you think you can do better?”

“Sure,” she replied with a slight shrug. She gestured to a group of Officers in Navy uniform at one of the tables. “I just have to ask a bunch of Officers how long they’ve been in White Squall Fortress and they all get into a contest about how long they’ve survived under the Commander.”

He considered it… and realised that was actually the easiest way to begin a conversation in the fortress. “Uh… has this happened more than once?” he asked with a strange expression.

She nodded. “I made the mistake of bringing it up among a room full of Senior Officers the last time.” She made an expression Caspian interpreted as a grimace. “I had to use an invisibility spell to escape.”

“Okay then…” He took another bite of his meal and pointed his fork at her. “So, if you’re so capable of starting a conversation, then how come you don’t do it more often?”

She stared silently at him like he had said something stupid. “I don’t talk to people because I don’t like people,” she stated flatly. She glanced down at her food, then at him. “On that note, why are you making noises with your mouth in my direction? Stop doing that. It’s annoying.” Then she returned to her food.

Caspian clicked his tongue. “It’s called communication. You know, one of those essential life skills? A skill you seem to be lacking?”

“I’m a fully functional adult. I just removed features I haven’t needed since I was a teenager when I last cared about people,” she deadpanned.

“Then how come the sarcasm is still there?”

“Because, unlike good communication skills, sarcasm is essential to the fully functioning adult,” she stated calmly, pouring some water out of a jug on the table into her cup.

It seemed Adrianna Riftmire, when she bothered to engage in conversation, was a much more interesting person than she let on. He leaned forward.

“If sarcasm’s so essential to you, why haven’t I heard you use it more?”

She gazed wordlessly at him. “Because I’m always using it. Nobody notices because they can’t read my emotions, so they end up gazing blankly at me trying to work out if I was being sarcastic or not.”

He hesitated because he couldn’t quite tell if she was being serious… and then he realised he was doing exactly as she just stated. He shook his head and decided to ask her something he’d been curious about for a while now.

“Anyway, how old are you? You look like you’re in your early twenties, but you don’t act like it at all, so I’ve been thinking you’re older,” he said.

She glanced at him, and put down her cup after taking a drink. “I’m 21.”

He stared at her for a few seconds. “Wait, really? You’re younger than me?”

She gave him a dubious look. “Maybe, but I don’t know how old you are.”

He blinked and then coughed. “Right. Of course you don’t. I’m 22.” He considered if it was worth asking her this now, and decided he might as well. “Can I call you Adrianna?”

She opened her mouth to answer and then paused for some reason. She continued before he could comment on it, “I guess, but I’m still calling you Wharifin.”

Caspian blinked at the strange answer. “Huh? Why?”

She used her fork to point towards an open doorway, and he turned around to see what she was gesturing to. Then he hesitated as he saw three people there he recognised. Wearing light-blue badges, and giggling as they hid behind the doorframe, were three girls in their late teens, girls he knew worked for the healers’ division. They also happened to be looking at him, and he knew exactly why they were there.

“I’m not getting caught up in your love life,” Adrianna stated flatly. She got up from the table with her tray in hand.

“Uh… I swear that isn’t what this is-”

“So you have no love life?”

“Ye- wait, no, that’s not what I-” He paused as he saw the corner of her lips curled up in a faint smirk.

Is she… teasing me?

…..huh.

He got up and followed her with his tray in hand. “Anyway, I strongly object to the statement that I have no love life! That is an outright lie!”

She turned to him with a sceptical look. “Having a love life requires there being females attracted to you nearby, Wharifin. Where exactly are they, if those three,” she pointed at the girls in the distance, “Aren’t part of your love life?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you right here though?”

She stared at him for a couple of seconds. Then he watched as her face morphed into her most expressive look yet, an expression of abject horror. “Officer Wharifin, think very carefully on what you just said, and your implication, and please tell me you don’t mean it.”

He considered it. Ah, it was females attracted to him nearby, so he had suggested that she was- ohhh. He held his chin and then nodded firmly. “I have suddenly decided that I can find zero feminine characteristics about you whatsoever, so therefore, you are no longer considered a girl in my books. Situation resolved.”

She gave him a flat stare, and then rolled her eyes, and walked off to deposit her tray. “I guess if we compare our heights, I don’t have a height typical of a woman, so in that sense, yes, I have fewer feminine characteristics than you.”

Oh, he was so not going to let her off for that dig. “At least I can comfort myself in the fact that I don’t have sparkly, glowing hair,” he replied, depositing his tray as well.

She slowly turned to face him and then narrowed her ice-blue eyes. “I’d take glowing hair over phosphorescent sensory organs any day.”

Phosphorescent sensory organs? What does she- hang on.

He frowned and put his hands up to cover the top half of his ears. “They don’t glow that much.”

“I can see the veins in them,” she informed him tonelessly. “It’s like you’ve got a strange dose of mana poisoning. You remind me of an axolotl.”

He glared at her as she looked away, put a hand to her chin, and tilted her head slightly in mock contemplation. “Do Atlanteans count as amphibians?”

“I am not a sea animal,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Many sea creatures use gills to breathe underwater,” she continued, ignoring his words. “Do you have gills?”

He scoffed and crossed his arms. “No.”

“But you can breathe underwater?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, suspicious as to why she was asking this. “Yes.”

She took another glance at his ears and returned her gaze to his face. “Axolotls’ gills are external, so they look like ears.”

“I happen to know axolotls require fresh water, which doesn’t support your theory that I am some form of part humanoid amphibian,” he hissed.

“I have a reason why you might be able to breathe in saltwater,” she said calmly. She spread her hands. “Magic.”

With that last statement, she turned around and headed for the exit. Caspian glared at her leaving figure and turned to storm off in the opposite direction so he didn’t have to deal with her anymore.

…at least until their next shift that day.

…

“Officer Wharifin, watch your step,” said the emotionless voice of a woman with blue and indigo-streaked black hair.

He looked down past the tall stack of papers he held to see the pen rolling near his foot. With a sour expression, he stepped over it, then looked back at Adrianna, still annoyed about her comments from lunch. “Am I supposed to say thank you for warning me now?”

“I don’t understand why you’re so angry,” she replied, using a pen to write up documents while at her desk. “It’s not my fault your ear tips are semi-translucent. Be a functioning adult and move on, Wharifin.”

“I regret trying to talk to you,” he muttered. “Why don’t you go back to ignoring me as you always have?”

“If that’s what you want,” she stated, continuing to work.

He eyed her dubiously, expecting her to make another annoying comment, but she didn’t look at him. He sighed and walked across the room to place down the stack of papers. He came back over to her once he was done. “Anyway, have you completed most of these yet?” he asked, gesturing to the work she was doing.

She didn’t respond.

He frowned. “Adrianna?”

She still didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at him.

He facepalmed when he realised what she was doing. “When I said to continue ignoring me, I didn’t mean it literally!” He didn’t receive any answer, making him slam his hands down on her desk. “Hey!”

She finally raised her pale eyes to look at him. “Then what did you mean? Because I don’t know how you can ignore someone figuratively if I’m not allowed to do it literally.”

He ran a hand down his face with exasperation. “Is this how you really are? Because if so, I can understand why you seem to have no friends. Who could even put up with you?”

“You can,” she replied, unaffected by his words.

He gave her a strange look. “What do you mean I can? Haven’t I just complained that I can’t?”

“Our superior stationed you here beside me so you have no choice but to put up with me.”

He glared at her. “It shouldn’t have to be that way! I shouldn’t have to have no choice but to suffer because of you.”

She seemed to consider his answer for a moment and then pointed a pen at him. “This is just my personality. You wouldn’t have to ‘suffer’ as you put it if you hadn’t spoken to me, so in essence, this is all your fault. I can’t be blamed.”

Caspian just sighed. “Whatever, I’m done with you.” He pulled back his uniform sleeve to check his wristwatch. “The shift ends in half an hour, so let’s just agree to avoid antagonising each other until then.”

They continued working in silence for a few more minutes, and he stepped through the room’s doorway into the hallway, prepared to go get something from another room. Then he paused when he saw someone coming down the corridor.

Ross Stanhope was marching down the hallway, a dark expression on his face. “Blighted Commander…” he muttered. He looked like he was very intent on killing someone, or at least badly maiming them.

When Caspian saw the dark-haired man, he slowly began to step back into the room he and Adrianna were working in, feeling a sense of foreboding, and recognising the look on the man’s face.

Ross looked up and noticed Caspian there, then waved to him. “Hey, Caspian, come with me! Let’s go get a drink!”

Oh… nononono, I am not doing this now. Quick, I need a scapegoat.

He looked behind him and noticed Adrianna was watching him. He waved hastily to her, mouthing at her to come to him. With a strange expression, she looked between him and Ross, and then firmly shook her head.

Crap. She knows.

Ross grabbed Caspian’s wrist to drag him onwards, then frowned when he saw Caspian was distracted. “What are you looking at? ...hm?” He noticed Adrianna there and waved to her. “Yeah, you too. I need someone else who can understand my woes.”

Well, at least she can suffer beside me.

Looking slightly tired, she held up her work. “There’s another twenty minutes before the shift ends.”

“And just who is your superior, Riftmire?” Ross retorted. “Get over here.”

With what seemed to be defeat, she sighed and stood up from the desk, and then followed after Caspian and Ross. They made their way through the main command building, exiting it, and Ross took them to one of the inns on the lower level, filled with other Officers off duty. He waved to the innkeeper as they walked in.

“Get me something strong,” he called out.

“How strong?” the innkeeper asked.

“The strongest,” Ross replied with a dark voice. “I’ll need it after today.” He glanced at Caspian, then turned back to the innkeeper. “I’ll get some ale for the guy next to me too.” Then he jabbed a finger at Adrianna. “You can get your own if you want some. You don’t deserve any freebies from me after what you’ve put me through.”

Adrianna just rolled her eyes as Caspian glanced between the two curiously.

Does… Ross have something against Adrianna?

They sat at a table as the innkeeper brought the drinks. Ross took a big sip of his tankard, before slamming it down on the table. It had begun. “The Commander is insane!” he suddenly exclaimed. “He’s completely mad! You could try to bring me another man more mad than him to prove me wrong, but I swear, he is the craziest person in all the realms!”